A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



and will so long as they keep the stock-jobbers 

 from breaking in upon them.' In spite of its 

 prohibition the importation of French goods 

 still continued, and for its greater protection 

 the company received a confirmation of their 

 charter by Act of Parliament in 1698," and 

 an important extension of their powers and 

 privileges. The sole right ' of making, dress- 

 ing and lustrating of plain and black alamodes, 

 renforcez, and lustrings ' in England and 

 Wales was granted to them for fourteen years. 

 Before the expiration of its charter, however, 

 a change in the public taste had set in, fabrics 

 of a different texture had become fashionable, 

 and the company lost all its money and was 

 finally broken up. 



The weavers in 1 7 1 3 10 presented a petition 

 to Parliament against the commercial treaty 

 with France, in which they stated ' that by 

 the encouragement of the Crown and of divers 

 Acts of Parliament, the silk manufacture is 

 come to be above twenty times as great as 

 it was in the year 1664, and that all sorts of 

 as good black and coloured silks, gold and 

 silver stuffs and ribands, are now made here 

 as in France. The black silk for hoods and 

 scarfs, not made here above twenty-five years 

 ago, hath amounted annually to above 

 ,300,000 for several years past, which before 

 were imported from France. Which increase 

 of the silk manufacture hath caused an 

 increase of our exportation of woollen goods to 

 Turkey, Italy &c.' 



The silk industry received a great impetus 

 from the exertions of Sir Thomas Lombe, 

 who introduced from Italy the process of 

 organzining (or preparing for the weaver) raw 

 silk by machinery, for which he was granted 

 a patent in 1718. When his patent ran out 

 in 1732 he applied for a renewal on the 

 grounds that it was owing to his ingenuity 

 that silk was now 5*. a pound cheaper in 

 England. Such outcry, however, was raised 

 by the cotton manufacturers and others, who 

 wished to use his apparatus, that Parliament 

 refused the renewal, but voted him 14,000 

 as compensation. 



In 1718 also a certain John Apletree 

 conceived the notion of rendering England 

 independent of importing Italian raw silk by 

 a system of silkworm farming upon an ex- 

 tensive scale. A patent was granted him, 

 and he issued a prospectus inviting the public 

 to subscribe to the amount of a million pounds. 

 A plantation of silkworms was actually made 

 in Chelsea walled park. The apparatus 

 included an evaporating stove and ' a certain 



* Slat, of the Realm, vii, 428. 

 " S. W. Beck, Draper"! Diet. 309. 



engine called the Egg Cheste.' u But the 

 English climate not being suitable for silk- 

 worm farming, the experiment soon proved a 

 complete failure. 



The Spitalfields industry now advanced 

 with great rapidity ; but foreign competition, in 

 spite of prohibitory legislation, continued to 

 increase, and was much encouraged by the 

 preference shown to French materials and 

 fashions over those of native design. On the 

 other hand, the tide of fashion in France set 

 with at least equal strength in favour of 

 English goods. 1 * 



The growing fashion for wearing Indian 

 calicoes and printed linen was the cause of 

 serious disturbances in 1719." On 13 

 June a mob of about 4,000 Spitalfields 

 weavers paraded the streets of the City attack- 

 ing all females whom they could find wearing 

 Indian calicoes or linens, and sousing them 

 with ink, aqua fortis, and other fluids. The 

 Lord Mayor obtained the assistance of the 

 Trained Bands to suppress the rioters, two of 

 whom were secured by the Horse Grenadiers 

 and lodged in the Marshalsea Prison. As 

 soon as the Guards left, the mob re-assembled, 

 the weavers tearing all the calico gowns they 

 could meet with. The troops were hurried 

 back from Whitehall, and new arrests were 

 made. The weavers then attempted to 

 rescue their comrades, and were not deterred 

 by volleys of blank cartridge fired by the 

 soldiers ; one of the troops then fired ball, 

 wounding three persons. The next day 

 four of the mob were committed to Newgate 

 for rioting, and on Sunday night two more 

 were sent there for felony in tearing the 

 gown off the back of one Mrs. Beckett. 14 



In 1721 the manufacture of silk in England 

 had increased in value to 700,000 more 

 than formerly. 16 It is described as ' one of 

 the most considerable branches of the manu- 

 factures of this kingdom ' in an Act passed in 

 the same year for the encouragement of this 

 industry. 16 This Act granted on the exporta- 

 tion of wrought fabrics a drawback, or re- 

 payment of part of the duties exacted, on the 

 importation of the raw material, which was 

 practically equivalent to a bounty. The high 

 duties on foreign silk led to smuggling on a 

 most extensive scale. French writers estimate 

 the average exportation of silks from France 

 to England from 1688 to 1741 at about 



11 H. D. Traill, Social Engl. v, 148-9 ; T. F. 

 Croker, Walkfr. Lond. to Fulbam (1860), 90-1. 

 " Porter, op. cit. 63. 



11 William C. Sydney, Engl. and the English, ii,l95- 

 " Orig. Weekly Journ. 20 June, 1719. 

 " C. King, Brit. Merchant (1721), ii, 220. 

 " Stat. 8 Geo. I, cap. 15. 



'34 



