450 MORUS ALBA. 
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, " a present 
which was thought much of." They were cut out of a piece of silk, and sewed 
together, like the cloth hose that were worn previously to the reign of Elizabeth. 
James I., when king of Scotland, was forced to beg the loan of a pair of silk 
stockings of the Earl of Mar, to appear in before the English embassador, enforc- 
ing his request with the cogent appeal, "For ye would not, sure, that your king 
should appear as a scrub before strangers" a circumstance which probably led 
him to promote the cultivation of silk, both in England and in America. The 
manufacture of silk was introduced into Britain in the XVth century ; but it did 
not appear to make much progress till the time 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 manufactures of England. 
In 1605, James I., probably in imitation of Henry IV., passed his famous edict 
for introducing the culture of silk into Britain ; and from the " Issues of the Ex- 
chequer," &c, of his reign, it appears that, by the year 1608, he planted largely 
himself. Hartlib, in his "Legacy," &c, printed in 1652, quotes some passages 
from Bonoeil's work on mulberries, &c, issued in 1609; and among other letters 
from King James to his lords lieutenants, recommending the planting of mulberry- 
trees, and offering them at two farthings each. Though this attempt to rear 
silkworms in England proved unsuccessful, the manufacture of the raw material 
supplied by other countries, was in an extremely flourishing condition. The 
silk-throwsters of London 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 manufacture continued gradually to advance ; and 
so flourishing had it become, that it is stated in a preamble to a statute passed in 
1666, that there were at that time no fewer than forty thousand individuals 
engaged in the trade. A considerable stimulus was given to the English silk 
manufacture by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685 ; when about fifty 
thousand French artisans took refuge in Britain. At this period, the consump- 
tion of silk goods was so great in England, that, besides the quantity manufac- 
tured in the country, there were annually imported an amount exceeding six 
hundred thousand pounds sterling. After the failure of the attempts of James I., 
to establish the culture of silk in Britain, another trial appears to have been made 
in the year 1629. This may be inferred from a grant having been made to Wal- 
ter Aston, of the custody of the garden, mulberry-trees, and silkworms, near St. 
James', in the county of Middlesex; although this may possibly have been a 
continuation of the project of the year 1605. In 1718. the scheme was again 
renewed, and a patent granted to John Appleton, Esquire, for producing raw 
silk of the growth of England. To accomplish this undertaking, he was author- 
ized to raise a fund by joint-stock subscription. This he accomplished, dividing 
the capital into shares of five pounds each. A deed of trust was executed, and 
enrolled in the court of chancery ; directors for managing the concerns of the 
company were chosen by the subscribers, and Chelsea Park, being conveniently 
situated, and possessing, as was supposed, a soil favourable for the purpose, was 
fixed upon as the theatre of their operations. A lease of this place for one hun- 
dred and twenty-two years was obtained, and two thousand mulberry-trees were 
soon actually planted ; this forming but a small part, however, of the vast quan- 
tity which the company contemplated raising. Many large edifices were erected 
at a great expense, upon the spot, the remains of which, at the present day, are 
said to be entirely obliterated. Mr. Henry Barham, who probably was a mem- 
ber of this company, published, at this time, an essay on the silkworm, wherein 
he laboured to prove that all objections and difficulties raised against the prose- 
cution of what he calls " this glorious undertaking." were mere phantoms. The 
