136 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



tlie material of the tapestry hangings in 

 the great halls of that enchanted castle 

 where the young king of the Black Isles 

 miserably languished, while he received 

 every day a cowhiding at the hands of his 

 unfaitliful spouse. The trade in silk, car- 

 ried by caravans from one city to another, 

 is frequently alluded to : a merchant, dy- 

 ing at Damascus, left, we are told, 100 

 loads of brocades and other silks there, 

 made up in bales, ready to be sent to Bag- 

 dad, and the narrative shows that the son 

 felt it a matter of filial duly as well as a 

 good business venture to carry out his 

 father's project by traveling with the goods 

 to tlie Moslem capital. The gilded youth of 

 that day, if desirous to see the world, usually 

 made the grand tour in a caravan. Bales 

 of silk formed a considerable part of the 

 riches of the robbers' cave, whose door 

 yielded to the words " Open sesame ! " and 

 made the fortunes of Ali Baba. There is 

 a neat slory of a practical joke practiced 

 by the Caliph Haroun Alraschid on an ob- 

 scure citizen of Bjgdad : the man was stu- 

 pefied by a powerful narcotic, and while in 

 this condition was carried into the palace 

 and put to bed. The next morning he 

 was greeted with every attention and cere- 

 mony as the Commander of the Faithful, 

 while the real Caliph watched him through 

 a lattice and enjoyed his bewilderment. 

 The fun was fast and furious, but it came 

 very near being spoiled by the uncontrol- 

 able mirth that ensued when a pair of 

 silken drawers was handed to the sham 

 Caliph ; he had not been used to such 

 lu.xuries, and he put on the garment as if 

 it were a jacket, drawing its legs over his 

 arms. In another tale, the pomp and 

 wealth of the King of India are described 

 by Sindbad the Sailor in a sort of official 

 report to the Caliph of Bagdad ; one of 

 the details is that a thousand men clad in 

 cloth of gold and silk march before the 

 oriental monarch. 



The patterns of silk, or their quality, 

 bore at that time some definite relation to 

 the rank of their user. Thus it is related 

 of Zobeide, that when in a strange city, 

 though ignorant of the language and cus- 



toms, by carefully studying a curtain of 

 silk stuff hung before a gateway, she dis- 

 covered that this was the entrance to the 

 palace of the reigning prince of the coun- 

 try. But Zobeide was peculiarly qualified 

 for this study ; she was doubtless a good 

 judga of silk. A small patrimony which 

 she inherited at Bagdad had been invested 

 by her in the business of rearing silkworms. ■ 

 She was so prosperous in producing and 

 selling silk, that she was able to restore 

 the fortunes of each of her sisters when 

 they came to her successively in a state of 

 beggary. Eventually she became rich 

 enough to own and occupy " a magnifi- 

 cent house, whose front was adorned with 

 fine columns, and had a gate of ivory." 

 Haroun Alraschid, in disguise, shared the 

 hospitalities of this mansion one evening ; 

 he was charmed with its owner, and made 

 her his wife and the mistress of his 

 harem. 



The mystery connected with the pro- 

 duction of silk is used to advantage by 

 Shakespeare. The fatal handkerchief 

 whose loss brought about the death of 

 Desdcmona, was a silken fabric. Othello 

 tells her, 



*' There's magic in the web of it. 



'' A sibyl, that had numbered in the world 



" The Mm to course two hundred compasses. 



" In her prophetic fury sewed the work. 



" The worms were hallowed that did breed the silk, 



" .\nd it was dyed in mummy, which the skillful 



" Conserved, of maidens' hearts." 



In Cymbeline, Shakespeare makes one 

 of the characters — Belisarius, a banished 

 lord — say that his free life in the moun- 

 tains of Wales is " prouder than rustling 

 in unpaid-for silk." The great dramatist 

 has perpetrated many anachronisms, but 

 this happens not to be one of them. There 

 is evidence of the introduction of " seolc " 

 into England as early as the seventh cen- 

 tury, which will fairly serve for the time of 

 the tragedy. In an Anglo-saxon marriage 

 described by Strutt, it is specified that the 

 bride was led into church between two 

 sweet boys with laces and rosemary tied 

 about their silken sleeves. 



The Abbey of Theleme, according to 

 the veracious chronicles of Rabelais, was 

 to be organized on the principle of having 



