OH. v.] HISTORY OF SILK, ETC. 95 



" To proceed with the leaf, for which the mul- 

 berry is chiefly cherished, the benefits of it are so 

 great, that they are frequently let to farmers for 

 vast sums, so that one sole tree has yielded the 

 proprietor a rent of twenty shillings per annum for 

 the leaves only, and six or seven pounds of silk, 

 worth as many pounds sterling, in five or six weeks, 

 for those who kept the worms. We know that till 

 after Italy had made silk above a thousand years, 

 they received it not in France, it being hardly yet a 

 hundred since they betook themselves to this manu- 

 facture in Provence, Languedoc, Dauphine, and Ly- 

 onnais, and not in the Orleannois till the time of 

 Henri IV. ; but it is incredible what a revenue that 

 amounts to in that kingdom. About the same time 

 it was, or a little after, that King James did, with 

 extraordinary care, recommend it to this nation by 

 a book of directions, acts of council, and all other 

 princely assistance. But this did not take, no more 

 than that of Henry the Fourth's proposal about the 

 environs of Paris, who filled the highways, gardens, 

 and parks of France with the trees, beginning with 

 his own garden for encouragement. 



" Yet I say this could not be brought into example 

 till this present great monarch, Louis XIV., by the 

 indefatigable diligence of Monsieur Colbert, so suc- 

 cessfully revived it, that it is prodigious to consider 

 what a happy progress they have made in it ; — to 

 our shame be it spoken, who have no other discour- 

 agements from any insuperable difficulty but our 

 sloth and want of industry, since wherever these 

 trees will grow and prosper, the silkworm will do 

 so also. 



" It is demonstrable that mulberries, in four or five 

 years, may be spread all over this land ; and when 

 the indigent and young daughters in proud families 

 are as willing to gain three or four shillings a day 

 for gathering silk, and busying themselves in this 

 sweet and easy employment, as some do to get 



