_The Paper of the present Day_ (Vol. iii., p. 181.).--A. GRAYAN'S note
on the "First Paper Mill" reminds me of a too long neglected remark of
your correspondent LAUDATOR TEMPORIS ACTI on the inferiority of the
paper made in the present days as compared with that of olden times. As
a matron, whose proper business it is to be curious in such matters, I
venture to suggest that the universal use of calicos and printed cottons
in the place of linen articles of dress, is the true cause of the
deterioration of the paper of our books. The careful inspection of the
rags of present days on their arrival at a paper-mill, will, I think,
confirm my statement, if any gentleman who still clings pertinaciously
to the linen shirts of "better times" is disposed to doubt the fact.