The cloths used at present for painting upon are prepared in the worst and most dangerous manner imaginable; the colourmen, to whom everything is left, begin by brushing the cloth over with strong glue, to lay the flue, and prevent its absorbing any oil, as I suppose: then, with stiff paint, the greatest part of which is whiting, they plaster over the glue twice, seldom 3 times; it is then done, when the excise man has stamped it. In a very short space of time, if kept in rolls, it gets so brittle, that it would be as easy to unfold a manuscript of Herculaneum as this, without breaking or cracking in ten thousand places. -If the picture be hung in a damp place, it comes off altogether in great flakes; and in time, with the greatest of care, it becomes covered with circular cracks, like network, for which there is no remedy. ,