198 THE SILK-WOKM. 



common article of dress. It was brought 

 from China at an enormous expence, manu- 

 factured again by the Phoenicians, and sold 

 at Rome for its weight of gold. In the 

 reign of Justinian this commerce was in- 

 terrupted by the conquests of the Scythian 

 tribes, and all attempts to procure it failed, 

 till two Persian monks had the address to 

 convey some of the eggs of the insect from 

 China to Constantinople, concealed in the 

 hollow of a cane. They were hatched, and 

 the breed carefully propagated. This hap- 

 pened in 555 ; and some years after we find 

 that the Greeks understood the art of pro- 

 curinor and manufacturincj of silk as well 

 as the Orientals. Roger, king of Sicily, 

 brought the manufacture to that island in 

 1130, forcibly carrying off the weavers from 

 Greece, and settling them in Sicily. From 

 that island the art passed into Italy, and 

 thence into France ; and the revocation of 

 the edict of Nantz established the manufac- 

 tory of silk in Britain. 



Silk, as spun by the animal, is in the 

 state of fine threads, varying in colour from 

 white to reddish yellow. It is very elastic, 



