“Which late hathe in England doo make thys paper thynne,That now in our Englyssh thys booke is prynted inne.”
“Which late hathe in England doo make thys paper thynne,That now in our Englyssh thys booke is prynted inne.”
“Which late hathe in England doo make thys paper thynne,
That now in our Englyssh thys booke is prynted inne.”
His mill was situate at or near Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, and that it was considered worthy of especial notice is evident from an entry made in Henry the Seventh’s Household Book, on the 25th of May, 1498—“For a rewarde geven at the paper-mylne, 16s. 8d.” And again in 1499—“Geven in rewarde to Tate of the mylne, 6s. 8d.”
Still, it appears to me far less probable that Shakspeare alluded to this mill, although established at a period corresponding in many respects with that of occurrences referred to in connection, than to that of Sir John Spielman’s, which, standing as it did in the immediate neighbourhood of Jack Cade’s rebellion, and being esteemed so important at the time, as to call forth the marked patronage of Queen Elizabeth; while the extent of the operations carried on there, if we may judge from the remarks of a poet of the time, were equally calculated to arouse undivided national interest; one can hardly help thinking, that the prominence to which Shakspeare assigns the existence of a paper mill, coupled assuch allusion is with an acknowledged liberty, inherent in him, of transposing events, to add force to his style, as also with very considerable doubt as to the exact year in which he wrote the play, that the reference made was to none other than that of Sir John Spielman’s establishment of 1588, concerning which we find it said—
“Six hundred men are set to work by him,That else might starve or seek abroad their bread,Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,And who may boast they are with paper fed.”
“Six hundred men are set to work by him,That else might starve or seek abroad their bread,Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,And who may boast they are with paper fed.”
“Six hundred men are set to work by him,
That else might starve or seek abroad their bread,
Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,
And who may boast they are with paper fed.”
Be the introduction or establishment of the invention, so far as this country is concerned, when it may; little progress appears to have resulted therefrom, even so late as the middle of the 17th century. In 1695, a company was formed in Scotland “for manufacturing white writing and printing paper,” relating to which, “Articles concluded and agreed upon at a general meeting at Edinburgh, the 19th day of August,” in the same year, may still be seen by those who are sufficiently curious, in the Library of the British Museum. It is also recorded in the Craftsman (910), that William the Third granted the Huguenots refuged in England a patent for establishing paper manufactories, and that Parliament likewise granted to them other privileges, amongst which, in all probability, that very unsatisfactorypractice of putting up each ream with two quires composed entirely of sheets spoiled in course of production. Their undertaking, however, like that of many others, appears to have met with very little success.
In fact, the making of paper here scarcely reached any high degree of perfection until about 1760-5, at which period the celebrated James Whatman established his reputation at Maidstone.
The report of the Juries of the Great Exhibition of 1851—a work from whence information might very naturally be sought, and which one would have supposed to be unexceptionable in point of authenticity,—contains, I regret to say, a very unfortunate misstatement with reference to the position of Mr. Whatman at that time. It is there stated that he gained his knowledge of the manufacture prior to establishing these well-known mills “by working as a journeyman in most of the principal paper manufactories of the Continent,” which is altogether an erroneous assertion; for Mr. Whatman previously to his being engaged as a manufacturer, was an officer in the Kent Militia, and acquired the information, which eventually rendered him so successful, by travelling in the suite of the British Ambassador to Holland, where the best papers were then made, and the insight thus obtained enabled his geniusto effect the great improvements afterwards so universally admitted.
At the present time, Whatman’s papers (so called) are manufactured at two mills, totally distinct, both of which are still worked by the descendants of Mr. Whatman’s successors; the paper in the one case being readily distinguished by the water-mark, “J. Whatman, Turkey Mill,” and in the other, by the water-mark simply “J. Whatman,” but bearing upon the upper wrapper of each ream the original and well-known stamp, containing the initials L. V. G., which are those of L. V. Gerrevink, as celebrated a Dutch manufacturer prior to Mr. Whatman’s improvements, as Mr. Whatman’s name has since become in all parts of the world.
In making so marked an allusion to this particular manufacture, I am bound, perhaps, to qualify it in some measure by directing attention to the comparatively recent application of continuous or rotatory motion which has, indeed, effected no more wonderful or extraordinary results than in the singular conversion of pulp into paper.
The largest paper now made by hand, which is termed Antiquarian, measures 53 inches by 31, and so great is the weight of liquid pulp employed in the formation of a single sheet, that nofewer than nine men are required, besides additional assistance in raising the mould out of the vat by means of pulleys; while by the aid of thepaper machine, the most perfect production may be ensured, of a continuous length, and eight feet wide, without any positive necessity for personal superintendence.
The principle of paper making by machinery is simply this, instead of employing moulds and felts of limited dimensions, as was originally the practice, the peculiar merit of the invention consists in the adaptation of an endless wire-gauze to receive the paper pulp, and again an endless felt, to which in progress the paper is transferred; and thus by a marvellously delicate adjustment, while the wire at one end receives but a constant flow of liquid pulp, in the course of two or three minutes we may have, carefully wound on a roller at the other extremity, the most beautiful and serviceable of fabrics. Instead of counting sheets in course of production as formerly, or even measuring the length by yards, we may actually have the paper drawn out as it were, and wound up, miles in length. In the recent Dublin Exhibition, a sheet was exhibited which was said to have been of sufficient length to wrap round the world; but, I must confess, that I am not in a position to vouch for the accuracy of the statement. An anecdote,however, is told, (the truth of whichI have no reason todoubt,) of the patentee of this machine, and a relative or friend of his, of some considerable standing and influence in the pottery district, who were dining together about the period at which this machine was first adopted; when the one speaking of the advantages which he conceived the new mode would prove to his friend, alluded above all others to the remarkable capability which it possessed of producing paper of any length that could possibly be required. “Well,” said his friend, “I very much doubt that, but if you can make mefive milesof the quality I require, I shall certainly have little hesitation in admitting all the perfection and suitability which you have laboured to impress upon me.” The very next day the machine was set to work, and timed, in order to ascertain the required length wound upon the reel, which, after being charged with Excise duty, was forwarded without delay to its destination; and, as may be conceived, to the utter astonishment of his incredulous friend.
It is a fact, which certainly deserves to be noticed for its singularity as well as for the strong point of view in which it places the merits of this invention, that an art of such great importance to society as that of the manufacture of paper,should have remained for at least eight centuries since paper is first believed to have been in use, and that upwards of 200 of those years should have elapsed since its first introduction into England, without any mechanical improvement whatever as regards the processes which were then employed. It is true, that various attempts from time to time were made, but in every instance they appear to have met with very little success. In France, an ingenious artist contrived three figures in wood to do the work of the vatman, the coucher, and the layer; but, after persevering for six months, and incurring considerable expense, he was at length compelled to abandon his scheme. And although paper was previously manufactured in China, in Persia, and indeed throughout all Asia, sometimes of considerable length, I might mention that it was so, not by machinery, but by means of a mould of the size of the paper intended to be made, suspended like a swing, and having men placed at the distance of about every four feet, for the purpose of producing an uniform shaking motion, after the mould had been immersed in the vat, in order to compact the pulp.
Such then was the rude state of this important manufacture, even up to the commencement of the present century, when another ingeniousFrenchman, named Didot, brought over to this country a small model of a continuous machine, with the view of getting the benefit of English capital and mechanical skill to bring it into an operative state; and fortunately for the vigorous development of this embryo project, which had proved an abortion in France, he communicated his ideas of the practicability of the measure to a mercantile firm of considerable opulence, who, with great public spirit, at once concluded an agreement with him for the purchase of a principle which might be said at that period never to have been tried. The firm alluded to was that of the Messrs. Fourdrinier, who at that time, and for several years afterwards, were the principal stationers and paper manufacturers in Great Britain.
In order to accomplish the arduous object which those gentlemen then had in view, they appear to have laboured without intermission for nearly six years, when, after incurring an expense which would have exhausted any fortune of moderate extent (upwards of £60,000), they at length succeeded in giving some sort of organization and connection to the mechanical parts, for which they obtained a patent, and finding eventually that there was little prospect of being recompensed for labour and risk, or even reimbursedtheir expenses, unless Parliament should think proper to grant an extension of their patent, they determined upon making a fresh application to the Legislature for that purpose. But, it would appear that although in the Bill as it passed the House of Commons, such prolonged period extended to fourteen years; in the Lords it was limited to seven, with an understanding that such term should be extended to seven years more in the event of the patentees proving, upon a future application, that they had not been sufficiently remunerated. No such application, however, was made, in consequence of a Standing Order of the House of Lords, placed on their journal subsequently to the passing of the said act; which regulation had the effect of depriving the Messrs. Fourdrinier of any benefit whatever from the invention; and ultimately, so great were the difficulties they had to encounter, and so little encouragement or support did they receive, that the time and attention required to mature this valuable invention, and the large capital which it absorbed, were the means of reducing that wealthy and liberal firm to the humiliating condition of bankruptcy; and only within the past few months the surviving partner, Mr. Henry Fourdrinier, to whom mainly we owe the success of the invention, and as unquestionably our present high positionin the scale of nations, was carried to his grave, in his ninetieth year, comparatively a beggar. A leading article in theTimes, June 17, 1847, speaking of Mr. Henry Fourdrinier, thus concludes by advocating his claims:—“Three days only are past since an assembly, illustrious for rank and station, met to celebrate and immortalize the memory of Caxton. What more fitting or graceful opportunity of paying a tribute of respect and justice to his fellow-labourer in an adjoining field? the one the father of printing, the other the inventor of a process by which the full benefits of printing have been realized to the civilized world. And in the case of Mr. Fourdrinier this advantage is found, that he can receive in person the tribute of a nation’s gratitude; an octogenarian, he still lives; unlike Caxton, he is not yet a subject for posthumous honours. It is not a monument he wants, but justice. The world, no doubt, according to ancient precedent, would rather pay its tribute of admiration, if we should not rather say its debt of homage, after death. But it is fortunately in the power of the present age to point to a modern example of tardy but full reparation made to a living man, a great improvement upon the old rule, the mockery of a national funeral, and Westminster Abbey. Lord Dundonald’s casewill always stand as a brilliant exception to the common neglect of contemporary merit, and by his side it would be well to place, at no great interval, the man who in a humbler sphere, but better suited to an age of peace, has benefitted humanity by facilitating the diffusion of letters, and the acquisition of knowledge.” Powerful and influential as is that journal, however, this worthy man was still left to combatso bitter a reverse, without even the means of procuring comfort in his declining years.
But I am happy to say that an appeal has lately been made to that particular branch of trade so materially benefitted by the invention, the paper manufacturers, in the hope that thus a sufficient fund may be raised to furnish his surviving daughters with a competent annuity for the remainder of their days. And I sincerely hope that the results of this laudable effort may speedily prove to be as worthy the spirit of its originators, as on the part of the public generally it deserves consideration, as being supremely a national duty. For, be it remembered, that while the value and importance of such an invention to the paper maker is sufficiently clear and conclusive, from the fact of its general adoption throughout the united kingdom, by no less than 700 manufacturers (averaging, probably, twicethat number of machines); so on the other hand, we surely cannot remain unmindful of its effects and benefits upon ourselves, when in contrasting the results of the paper-making-machine with the productions of a former period, we find the cost reduced to the consumer considerably more than one-half, in some instances to actually a fourth.
Thus then, it will be seen that as civilization has advanced, the facilities for recording and transmitting facts have uniformly improved and multiplied until now, instead of oral tradition, necessarily uncertain; instead of the bark and leaf, perishable or fragile; instead of the papyrus, so brittle; the parchment, so costly; the raw cotton paper, so expensive; instead of inscriptions by the unwieldy style and by the slow-paced pen, we have now a cheap, serviceable material, manufactured from the most useless of fabrics, and even from the very refuse of our clothing, which, conjointly with that art which preserves all other arts, enables us far to surpass in recording and transmitting power, even the greatest demands in the world’s history.
Note.—Since the “proof” sheet was put into my hands, I have heard with very great satisfaction, that some interest has at length been awakened in the case of the Fourdriniers, and that a list has been commenced, headed with liberal subscriptions from his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby, the Proprietors ofThe Times,Illustrated London News, and several leading firms connected with the Paper Trade.—R. H.
Note.—Since the “proof” sheet was put into my hands, I have heard with very great satisfaction, that some interest has at length been awakened in the case of the Fourdriniers, and that a list has been commenced, headed with liberal subscriptions from his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby, the Proprietors ofThe Times,Illustrated London News, and several leading firms connected with the Paper Trade.—R. H.