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267 
upon the antique model, and wore no garments but such as were 
manufactured in his own house. Centuries after the age of 
Augustus, Rome, enervated by luxury, torn and rent by internal 
factions, fell an easy prey to the barbarous hordes of Northern 
Europe, who had no taste for dress, art, or refinement; and a 
period of barbarism overspread the Roman Empire, which is most 
appropriately called the Dark Ages, during which there is little or 
no record of art or industry, trade or commerce. The linen manu- 
facture shared in the universal wreck and ruin. 
We now come to review the linen trade in modern times, 
under new, and, in some respects, more favourable conditions. 
Religious intolerance, which in modern times persecuted to the 
death, or drove into exile the best and most industrious citizens, 
for no other reason than that they would not bow their necks to 
the yoke imposed on the faithful by their rulers; mistaken 
legislation, some times by restrictive measures, at others by 
attempting to regulate by Act of Parliament a trade which would 
have thriven better if left to itself; and last, though not least, the 
ignorant and suicidal conduct of workmen in attempting to destroy 
machinery, and combining to impose unreasonable conditions on 
their employers, and by neglecting work, when work was abundant 
and orders unfulfilled—all tended to interfere with the freedom and 
progress of the trade. 
The Conquest of England by William of Normandy (1066), 
gave an impulse to the manufactures of this country. Great 
numbers of weavers came over in his army, and others followed on 
invitation of the Conqueror. This influx of workmen was soon 
afterwards greatly increased by the sea overflowing and permanently 
inundating a large portion of Flanders, which forced many of the 
Flemings to take refuge in England. The skill of the Flemings 
in weaving was so great, that an ancient historian remarks, “that 
it seemed to be a peculiar gift bestowed on them by nature.” 
During this reign, the weavers in all the great towns in England 
were incorporated into Guilds, and had certain privileges conferred 
on them by Royal Charter, in return for which they paid certain 
fines into the exchequer. The linen made in England at this 
