CHAP. C. L^RTICA'CE^. iVO rus. 1353 



commenced in the Crimea, by the planting of all the best varieties of M. diba 

 in the government garden at Odessa; where, according to M. Descemet ( 7>/i. 

 Hist., &c., p. 55.), they succeed perfectly. In Spain, the culture of silk was 

 introduced, as we have already seen, by the Arabs ; and it is universally 

 allowed to have been in a highly flourishing state in the fifteenth century ; but it 

 has declined ever since ; and at the present day, as Capt. S. E. Cook informs 

 us, it is one of the most neglected branches of agriculture in Spain ; being 

 almost confined " to Valencia, Catalonia, Murcia, and a part of Grenada." 

 {Sketches in Spai?2, &c., vol. ii. p. 38.) In Egypt, the culture of silk was 

 introduced some years since, by the Pa9ha Ibrahim, and it is in a prosperous 

 state. 31. a. multicaulis is also mentioned among the trees that have been 

 planted in the government gardens at Algiers. (Seep. 178.) 



The first record of silk in Britain is of a ])resent sent by Charlemagne to 

 Offa, king of Mercia, in 780, consisting of a belt and two silken vests. Silk is 

 mentioned in a chronicle of the date of 1286, in which vve are told that some 

 ladies wore silk mantles at a festival at Kenilworth about that period ; and, 

 by other records, we find that silk was worn by the English clergy in 1534. 

 Henry VIII. had the first pair of silk stockings that were ever seen in 

 England sent to him from Spain ; and Edward VI. had " a pair of long 

 silk hose," from the same country, presented to him by Sir Thomas Gresham 

 (who built the Royal Exchange) ; " a present which was thought much 

 of" {Howell's Hist, of the World, iii. p. 222.) These stockings were cut 

 out of a piece of silk, and sewed together, like the cloth hose that were 

 worn previously ; the first knit silk stockings were worn in England by 

 Queen Elizabeth. Silk manufactures were introduced into England in the 

 fifteenth century ; but they do not appear to have made much progress " till the 

 age of Elizabeth ; the tranquillity of whose long reign, and the influx of the 

 Flemings, occasioned by the disturbances in the Low Countries, gave a powerful 

 stimulus to the manufacturers of England." {M'Culloch.) In 1609, James I., 

 probably in imitation of Henry IV., passed his famous edict for introducing 

 the culture of the silkworm into Britain (see p. IS^i.) ; and from the 

 Issues of the Excheqtier, «&c., of his reign, lately published, it appears that he 

 planted largely himself. One of the entries in this curious work is an order, 

 dated Dec. 5. 1608, directing the payment to " Master William Stallenge " 

 of the " sum of 935/., for the charge of four acres of land, taken in for His 

 Majesty's use, near to his palace of Westminster, for the planting of mulberry 

 trees ; together with the charge of walling, levelling, and planting thereof 

 with mulberry trees," &c. By another entry, we find that the attempt to rear 



and other materials, together with workmanship, for making a place for His 

 Majesty's silkworms, and for making provision of mulberry leaves for them." 

 Hartlib, in his Legacy, &c., printed in 1652, quotes some passages from 

 Boneil on Mulberries, a work, printed in 1609 ; and among others a letter from 

 King .James to his lords lieutenants, recommending the planting^of mulberry 

 trees, and offering them at 2 farthings each. (See Legacy, &c., ed. 2., p. b^.') 

 Though this attempt to rear silkworms in England proved unsuccessful, the 

 manufacture of the raw material, supplied by other countries, was extraordinarily 

 flourishing. The silk-throwsters (twisters) of the metropolis were united 

 into a fellowship in 1562; and were incorporated in 1629. Though retarded 

 by the civil wars in the time of Charles I. and the commonwealth, the manu- 

 facture continued gradually to advance; and so flourishing had it become, 

 that it is stated in a preamble to a statute passed in 1666 (13 & 14 Chas. 2. 

 c. 15.), that there were at that time no fewer than 40,000 individuals engaged 

 in the trade. {M'^Culloch.) A considerable stimulus was given to the Eng- 

 lish silk manufacture by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685; when 

 above 50,000 French artisans took refuge in England. At this period, the 

 consumption of silk goods was so great in England, that, besides the quantity 



