Serge

in commerce, a woollen stuff mae | nufactured in a loom, of which there are varie | ous kinds, denominated either from their dife i ferent qualities, or from the places where they are wrought; the most considerable of which is the English serge, which is highly valued abroad, and of which a manufacture had been j for some years carried on in France, In the manufacture of serges, the longest wool is chosen for the warp, and the shortest j for the woof. Put before either kind is used, | it is first scoured, by putting it ina copper of © liquor, somewhat more than luke-warm, coms 4 posed of three parts of fair water and one of | urine. After it has staid in it long enough for the liquor to take off the grease, . it is stirred briskly about with a wooden peel, — taken out, drained, washed ina running water, and dried in the shade; beaten with sticks on a wooden rack, to drive out the coarser dust and filth; and then picked clean with the hands. It is then greased with oil of olives, and the longest wool combed with large combs, heated in a little furnace for that purpose: to | clear it from the oil, it is put into a ve el of i hot soap-water, whence being taken out, wrung, and dried, it is spun on the wheel. As to the shorter wool, intended for the woof, it is only carded on the knee with small fine cards, and then spun on the wheel, without being scoured of its oil: and here it is to be observed, that the thread for the warp is always to be spun finer, and much better twisted, © than that of the woof, ae The wool both for the warp and woof being | spun, and the thread reeled into skeins; that of the woof is put on spools, fit for the cavity of the shuttle; and that for the warp is wound on a kind of wooden bobbins, to fit it for warps | ing; and when warped, it is stiffened with a size, usually made of the shreds of parchments | and, when dried, put into the loom, and | mounted so as to be raised by four treddles, placed under the loom, which the workman makes to act transversely, equally, and alters nately, one after another, with his feet; and as | the threads are raised, throws the shuttle. See _Weavine. The serge, on being taken from the loom, | is carried to the fuller, who fulls or scours. it, _ in the trough of his mill, with fullers-earth: — and after the first fulling, the’ knots, ends, straws, , sticking out on either side of the surface, are taken off with a kind of pliers, or iron pincers, after which it is returned int@ _ the fulling-trough, where it is worked with water somewhat more than lake warm, with soap di olved therein for near two hours: it is then washed out till such time as the water becomes quite clear, and there be no signs of soap left; then it is taken out of the troughs the knots, . again pulled off, and then put on the tenter to dry, taking care as fast as it dries to stretch it out both in length and breadth till it be brought to its just dimensions. ~ When well dried, it is taken off the tenter, and dyed, shorn, and pre ed. SERGEANT, or SERJEANT AT LAW, or of the Coif, is the highest degree taken at the common law, as that of Doctor is of the civil law; and as these are supposed to he the most fearned and experienced in the practice of the courts, there is one court appointed for them to plead in by themselves, which is the common pleas, where the common law of England is most strictly observed: but they are not re- ‘stricted from pleading in any other court, where the judges, who cannot have that honour till they have taken the degree of serjeant at law, call them brothers. 619