NEW COMPOSITION FOR THE MAKING OF HATS
Year: 1792

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES BURN,
of Alnwick, in the County of Northumberland, Hatter, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Third,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date as
Westminster, the Second day of March, in the thirty-second year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said James Burn, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said James Burn, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, by myself and themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies,
servants or agents, or such others as I, the said James Burn, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my "NEW
COMPOSITION FOR THE MAKING OF HATS," within that part of His Majesty's
Kingdom of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said James
Burn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of us, should in our
discretions seem meet. In which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso.
that if I, the said James Burn, should not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything
therein-before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding,
as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Burn, in pursuance of and in
compliance with the said proviso, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and declare that my New Composition for the Making of
Hats consists of the following particulars, in the proportions following (that
is to say) :-
Three ounces and an half of mole furr, two ounces and an half of rabbit's
wool, one ounce of beaver, and a quarter of an ounce of Aleppo wool; and in
order to subdue the obstinate nature of the mole furr, so as that it may
incorporate with other furrs usually made into hats, I use a little aqua regia;
but as that process destroys the elastic quality of the furr, I correct it by a
little sweet or Florence oil, which sheaths the pungent points of the aqua regia.
With this preparation I make hats of the finest quality.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Burn, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the thirty-second year of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace
of God
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith,
and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and ninety-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
above-named James Burn (being
first duly stamped), in the presence
of us,
THO MADDISON.
THO. ROBINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of March, in
the thirty-second year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said James Burn came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid; and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified in form above written. And also the Instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the several Statutes made in the
sixth year of the reign of the late King and Queen William and Mary of
England, and so forth; and in the seventeenth and twenty third years of the
reign of His present Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year above written.