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leaf of the mulberry, could be unwound into tissues of such endless variety 

 and beauty. The first silk was, without doubt, made in China ; for many 

 years the most celebrated women, from the empress down, were accustomed 

 to rear and feed silk worms, and employed themselves in winding and 

 weaving the silk made by them. From China, the eggs of the worm were 

 carried into Persia. The Emperor Aurelian, who died A. D. 275, refused 

 his empress a silk dress, on account of its cost. The nature of the silk 

 worm was utterly unknown in Europe until the reign of Justinian, A. D.555. 

 At this time two Persian monks went to India, and brought over the eggs 

 of the silk worm secretly, in hollow canes, and these were the progenitors 

 of all the generations of silk worms since reared in Asia and in Europe. 

 Their first difi'usion in Italy was the consequence of the invasion of Greece 

 by Roger I., king of Sicily, who carried several silk weavers- to Palermo. 

 Francis I., of France, in 1522, began the silk manufacture at Lyons, 

 which has constantly flourished since. After the Norman conquest silk 

 dresses were worn in England. Several caterpillars beside the silk worm 

 spin silk. Spiders form balls of silk to enclose their eggs. The young 

 branches of the paper mulberry afford a species of silk. Cloth resembling 

 silk has been made from the stalks of nettles, stalks of hops, various 

 grasses, &c. 



LACE. 



This beautiful fabric is, without doubt, one of the most ornamental addi- 

 tions to dress, and one of great antiquity, as it may often be seen bordering 

 dresses in pictures of Grecian beauties. Antwerp, Mechlin, and Brussels, 

 have long been celebrated for the perfection of its manufacture. In the 

 time of Charles I., Queen Anne, and George I., laces were much worn. 



Brussels is still the most valuable of all laces. Brussels lacft has a 

 hexagonal mesh, formed by twisting and plaiting four threads of flax to a 

 perpendicular line of mesh. Mechlin is formed of three flax threads, plaited 

 to a perpendicular pillar. Valenciennes is an irregular hexagon, formed of 

 two threads, plaited at the top of the mesh. Lisle is a diamond mesh, 

 formed of two threads plaited to a pillar. Alencon point is formed by two 

 threads to a pillar, with octagonal and square meshes, alternately. Gold 

 lace is formed by covering yellow silk threads with flattened gold wire, 

 which is then woven into lace or cloth. Gold may be placed on the thread 

 less in thickness than the three hundred and fifty thousandth part of an inch, 

 in so perfect a manner that the most admirable microscope will not show 

 any break or imperfection in it. 



FURS, 



As articles of dress have always been very highly esteemed in northern 

 countries on account of their warmth. In England they are employed to 

 ornament people of rank, such as the nobles, judges, and even the sovereign 

 is sometimes decorated with ermine. The Poles, Persians, Russians, and 

 Turks, all inherit from their progenitors an attachment to fur clothing. 

 Even in Egypt and Syria, and in the hot climates of Independent Tartary 



