In the context of materials, stuff can refer to any manufactured material. This is illustrated from a quote by Sir Francis Bacon in his 1658 publication New Atlantis: "Wee have also diverse Mechanicall Arts, which you have not; And Stuffes made by them; As Papers, Linnen, Silks, Tissues; dainty Works of Feathers of wonderfull Lustre; excellent Dies, and many others." In Coventry, those completing seven-year apprenticeships with stuff merchants were entitled to become freemen of the city.One type of stuff was a type of coarse thickly woven cloth manufactured in various places, formerly including Kidderminster. Originally it was probably entirely of wool, but later a "woolsey-linsey" cloth, made with a warp of linen yarn and a worsted weft. The gowns of most English lawyers are still described as "stuff gowns" (though probably now made of other fibres). This is in contrast with those of King's Counsel, which are made of silk, whence they are termed "silks". Thus, "stuff" in this context refers to fabric not made of silk or silk substitutes. The word was still in English upper-class usage in this sense in the 1960s. In Victorian dressmaking terminology, stuff was used as a generic term for woven fabrics, with cloth generally reserved for woollens (as opposed to worsteds).