THE SILKWORM. 



507 



to fail, what other arts could supply the de- 

 ficiency ? 



Though silk was anciently brought in smal 

 quantities to Rome * yet it was so scarce as to 



1 Silk was very little known at Rome till the reign of 

 Augustus and during a long succeeding period it re- 

 mained extremely costly, only a small quantity reaching 

 the imperial city by a circuitous and expensive land and 

 water carriage. The increasing luxury of the Roman 

 people caused the demand for silk manufacture to in- 

 crease much faster than the supply, and the price be- 

 came exorbitantly high. 



Two monks, engaged as missionaries in China, suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a quantity of silkworms' eggs, which 

 they concealed in a hollow cane ; and at length in the 

 year 552, they conveyed them in safety to Constanti- 

 nople. The eggs were hatched in the proper season by 

 the warmth of manure ; and the worms were fed with 

 the leaves of the wild mulberry-tree. These worms in 

 due time spun their silk, and propagated under the care- 

 ful tenderice of the monks, who also instructed the Romans 

 in the whole process of manufacturing their production. 

 The insects thus produced were the progenitors of the 

 generations of silkworms which have since been reared 

 in Europe and the western parts of Asia. Thus, a cane- 

 ful of the eggs of an oriental insect became the means of 

 establishing a manufacture which fashion and luxury have 

 rendered so important. 



The mulberry -tree was then eagerly planted in Europe, 

 for the nourishment of these valuable insect labourers ; 

 and on this, their natural food, they were successfully 

 reared in different parts of Greece. 



The Venetians soon after this time opened commercial 

 relations with the Greek empire, and continued for many 

 centuries the channel for supplying the western parts of 

 Europe with silks. The estimation in which this manu- 

 facture was held, continued sufficiently high for it to be 

 considered worthy of being made a regal gift : it appears 

 that in the year 790, the Emperor Charlemagne gave 

 two silken vests to Offa, king of Mercia. 



Although at this period the Roman empire was fast 

 declining, they alone possessed the valuable breed of 

 silkworms, which 600 years before had been transferred 

 from the remotest extremity of the East ; and none 

 others had manufactured its costly spoils. Roger I., 

 king of Sicily, led into captivity a considerable number 

 of silk-weavers, whom he compulsorily settled in Palermo, 

 obliging them to impart to his subjects the knowledge of 

 their art. In twenty years from this forcible establish- 

 ment of the manufacture, the silks of Italy are described 

 as having obtained a decided excellence, being of diver- 

 sified patterns and colours : some fancifully interwoven 

 with gold. By degrees the manufacture spread over the 

 greater part of Italy, and was carried into Spain and in 

 the reign of Francis I., took root in France. 



A still longer interval occurred before its adoption into 

 England, and its introduction was very slow, till the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century. Bologna was the 

 only city of Italy which possessed proper throwing mills, 

 or the machinery necessary for twisting and preparing 

 silken fibres for weaving. 



The business of a silk-factory was considered a noble 

 employment in Venice, and might be followed without 

 degradation by the higher classes. 



. The silk trade made very little progress in France till 

 the reign of Francis I., who procured artisans from Milan, 

 and introduced them into Lyons. The French then 

 made rapid progress in this pursuit ; and, in addition to 

 those of Lyons, many manufactories were speedily 

 started in the southern provinces ; supplying sufficient 

 for their own consumption, and soon afterwards a super- 

 abundance for competition in foreign markets ; furnish- 

 ing many parts of Europe with the fruits of their newly- 



be sold for its weight in gold ; and was con- 

 sidered as such a luxurious refinement in dress, 

 that it was infamous for a man to appear in 

 habits of which silk formed but half the corn- 

 cultivated art ; deriving great wealth from prosecuting 

 this branch of trade with England. Queen Elizabeth, 

 in the third year of her reign, 1560, was gratified by 

 being presented with a pair of knitted black silk stockings 

 by Mrs Montague, her silk woman ; at which she was so 

 delighted that she never afterwards condescended to wear 

 those of cloth. Sir Thomas Gresham presented Edward 

 VI. with a pair of long Spanish silk stockings, and, from 

 their rarity, this offering was deemed worthy of much 

 notice. 



When Antwerp was captured by the Duke of Parma, 

 in 1585, it was consigned during three days to indis- 

 criminate plunder and destruction ; and about a third 

 part of their artisans and merchants who wrought and 

 dealt in silk, took refuge in England, where they finally 

 settled, and taught those arts by which they had long 

 prospered 'in their native land, by which means the 

 manufacture was materially improved in this country. 



Every attempt at rearing silk-worms and producing 

 silk having, after endless trials, failed, attention was dir- 

 ected to the establishments for producing both raw and 

 wrought silks in the settlements at British India ; where 

 proximity to the country of its original production, the 

 fitness of the climate, and, above all, the cheapness of 

 labour, have contributed to insure complete success. The 

 island of Cossimbuzar and its neighbourhood, in the pro- 

 vince of Bengal, are particularly favourable to the labours 

 of the silkworm. There are at this time eight principal 

 silk-filatures, the produce of eight factories, belonging to 

 the East India Company, in Bengal. In every filature 

 there are employed, according to its size, from 3000 to 

 10,000 people ; and if to these were added the mulberry- 

 planters, worm feeders, &c., the number dependent on 

 each establishment, would be from 10,000 to 40,000 

 men, women, and children. Silk requires so much care 

 and attention for its production, and so great a number 

 of persons must be employed in an establishment for 

 rearing silkworms, that it is only in countries where the 

 number of the poorer classes is in great proportion to 

 capital, and therefore labour veiy cheap, that silk can 

 )e reared at an expense which offers successfully to com- 

 pete with other countries. The sWk, consumed in Eng- 

 and alone, exceeds four millions of pounds in a year. 

 Fourteen thousand millions of animated creatures an- 

 ually live and die to supply this little corner of the 

 world with an article of luxury. The importation of 

 raw silk from China in 1829 amounted to 600,000 Ibs. 



A Lyons newspaper in 1812 states that there were 

 10,720 looms, employing 15,506 workmen. In 1824 

 here were 24,000 looms employing 36,000 hands. 



In the year 1685, the revocation of the edicts of 

 Slantes compelled many merchants, manufacturers, and 

 artificers, to fly from France. About 70,000 made their 

 way to England and Ireland ; many of them resorted to 

 pitalfields, contributing much by their knowledge and 

 kill to the improvement of the silk manufacture. To them 

 >ve are indebted for the art of manufacturing brocades, 

 atins, black and coloured mantuas, black paduasoys, 

 ducates, watered satins, and velvets, all of which fabrics 

 lad been imported up to the year 1718. Our machinery 

 eing very defective, we were in a great degree depen- 

 dent on the throwsters of Italy for a supply of organzine ; 

 )ut at that time, Mr Lombe, of Derby, having, in the 

 lisguise of a common workman, succeeded in taking 

 ccurate drawings of the throwing machinery in Pied- 

 mont, erected a stupendous mill for that purpose on the 

 iver Derwent, at Derby, and obtained a patent for the 

 ole and exclusive property in the same for fourteen 

 r ears. This grand machine was constructed with 26,586 



