A. D. 1365. 573 



themfelves, brought on their ruin and the lofs of all their fettle- 

 ments, except the one on the Niger. Thefe eftabliftiments (if they were 

 unqueflionably authenticated) might be confidered as a renovation of 

 the antient commerce carried on by the Carthaginians on the African 

 coaft, and the firfl: rudiments of the difcoveries, which, extending along 

 the whole coaft of that continent, and at length to India, entirely un- 

 hinged the fyftem of antient commerce, and paved the way to thofe 

 mighty revolutions which have affeded the whole furface of the globe *.. 

 [See De Guignes, en Mem. de lilteratu?-e, V. xxxvii,/)/>. 518-521.] 



The Flemings, who knew, better than any other people in the weft 

 parts of Europe, how to turn all raw materials to the mofl profitable 

 ufes, this year (and probably long before and after) received rabbit flcins 

 from England, which, we may fuppofe, they made mto hats. {^Rot. pat. 

 prim. 39 Edw. Ill, 7n. 28.] 



1367 — Some writers have thought it worth while to inform us, that 

 a thouland citizens of Genoa, all drefled in filk, welcomed the pope to 

 their city, when he Hopped there in his way from Avignon to Rome : 

 and the exhibition of fo much finery is adduced as a proof of the great 

 opulence of the city f . 



May 1 5'" It is worthy of notice, that Galeaz, lord of Milan, offer- 

 ed his fecond daughter in marriage to Lionel, the fecond furviving fon 

 of King Edward, and to give, as her portion, lands in Piedmont of the 

 annual value of 24,000 gold florins (then equal to three ihillings fter- 

 ling each) together with 100,000 in ready money ; or, if it were more 

 agreeable to the king and his fon to have all money, he offered to give 

 250,000 gold florins, befides furnifhing his daughter magnificently with 

 dreffes and jewels, and even furniture, and conduding her and the mo- 



* ' The ivory brought from the Tooth coaft by and Carthage enjoyeJ thtir fecret trades to the 

 ' the merchants of Dieppe gave birth to the works Caffiterides and the African coaft. 

 ' in ivory, by which that town was enriched as f Quere, if not rather a proof that l,OCO 

 ' long as the ware continued to be eftecmed by the dretfes of filk appeared in tlie eye of the writer a 

 ' pubHc' \_Spc9acle de la Nature, Fl iv, jt). 429, veiy extraordinary difplay of magnifcence ? When 

 ed. 1739.] — Notwitiiftanding the very refpeiflabie filk was more worn by the ladies of this country 

 authority of De Guignes, the author of the Spec- than it is at prefent, would it have been vi'orthy 

 tacle de la Nature, &c. the whole hillory of the of notice, even in a newfpaper, that 1,000 ladies 

 French colonies on the African coaft is contro- appeared in filk gowns in Hyde park or Kenfing- 

 verted ; and it is generally aflerted, that no Eu- ton gardens ? Neither was the difplay of filk be- 

 lopcan ever failed beyond Barbary before the Por- yond fome others of much earlier ages. In the 

 tuguefe. It is faid that the Portuguefe kept their year II30 all the attendants at the coronation din- 

 difcoveries as fecret as pofTible ; but, admitting the ner of Roger king of Sicily were drefled in iilk. 

 authenticity of the French difcoveries, the fecret \^A'ex. Tenec. ap. Muratori Script. V. v, col. 622.] 

 of them muft have been much better preferved, as Sicily, it is true, was then a chief feat of the filji 

 it fcems pretty certain that the Portuguefe had no manufadlure. But even in the remote ifland cf 

 knowlege of any voyages made by the French to Great Britain the difplay of fdk and other finery 

 the coall of Africa previous to their own. But a at the marriage of Alexander III king of Scot- 

 continuation of a fecret trade for above a hundred land to the daughter of Henry III king of Eng- 

 years was not fo prafticable in the fourteenth and land in the year 1251 (See above, p. 4C0) was ra- 

 fifteenth centurief, as when the Phoenicians of Gadir ther fuptrior to this boafted exhibition of Gciio-* 



the Stately. 4 



