SILK. 



Unknown to the Romans, oilk was brought them from 

 Serica, where the worm was a native. But fo far were 

 they from profiting by the difcovery, that they could not 

 be induced to believe fo fine a thread fhould be the work of 

 a worm ; and thereupon formed a thoufand chimerical con- 

 jefturea of their own. 



Silk was a very fcarce commodity among them for many 

 •ges : it was even fold weight for weight with gold ; info- 

 much that Vopifcus tells us, the emperor Aurelian, who 

 died A.D. 275, rcfufcd the emprefs, his wife, a fuit of 

 filk, which (he folicited of him with inuch earneftnefs, 

 merely on account of its dearnefs. 



Others, however, with greater probability, alTert that it 

 was known at Rome fo early as the reign of Tiberius, about 

 A.D. 17. 



Galen, who lived about the year of our I^ord 173, fpeaks 

 of the rarity of filk, being no where but at Rome, and only 

 among the rich. 



Heliogabalus, the emperor, who died A.D. 220, is faid 

 by fome to be the firft perfon who wore a holofericum, i. e. 

 a garment of all filk. 



The Greeks of Alexander the Great's army are faid to 

 have been the firft who brought wrought filk from Perfia 

 into Greece, about 323 years before Chrift ; but the nianii- 

 fafture of it was confined to Berytus and Tyre, in Phoenicia, 

 whence it was difperfed over the Weft. 



At length, two monks, coming from the Indies to Con- 

 llantinople, in ^H, under the encouragement of the em- 

 peror Juftinian, brought with them great quantities of filk- 

 worms, with inltruftions for the hatching of their eggs, 

 rearing and feeding the worms, and drawing out the filk, 

 and fpinning and working it. Upon this, manufatlures 

 were fet up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. The Ve- 

 netians, foon after this time, commencing a commerce with 

 the Greek empire, fupplied all the weftern parts of Europe 

 with filks for many centuries; though fundry kinds of mo- 

 dern filk manufactures were unknown in thofe times, fuch 

 as damaflcs, velvets, fattins, &c. 



About the year 1 1 30, Roger II. king of Sicily, efta- 

 blifhed a filk manufaftory at Palermo, and another in Cala- 

 bria ; managed by workmen, who were a part of the plunder 

 brought from Athens, Corinth, &c. of which that prince 

 made a conqueft in his expedition to the Holy I^and. By 

 degrees, Mezeray adds, the reft of Italy and Spain learned, 

 from the Sicilians and Calabrians, the management of the 

 filk-worms, and the working of filk ; and at length the 

 French got it by right of neighbourhood, a little before the 

 reign of Francis I., and began to imitate them. Thnanus, 

 indeed, in contradiftion to moft other writers, makes this 

 manufafture of filk to be introduced into Sicily two hinidred 

 years later, by Robert the Wife, king of Sicily, and count 

 of Provence. 



It appears by 33 Hen. VI. cap. y. that there was a com- 

 pany of filk-wumen in England fo early as the year 1455 ; 

 but thcfe were probably employed in needle-works of filk 

 and thread : and we find that various forts of Imall haber- 

 dafliery of filk were manufaftured here in 1482 ; but Italy 

 fupplied England, and all other parts, with the broad manu- 

 facture, till the year 14B9. In Spain, indeed, the culture 

 and manufadlure of filk fetfm to have been introduced in an 

 early period by the Moors, particularly in Murcia, Cor- 

 dova, and Granada. The filk manufafturcs of this lail 

 town were very flourifliing, when it was taken by Ferdi- 

 nand, &c. at the clofe of the fifteenth century. 



In 1521, the French, being fupplied with workmen from 

 Milan, commenced a lilk manufadure ; but it was long 

 after this time before they could obtain raw filk from the 

 Vol. XXXII. 



worms ; and even in the year 1547, filk was fcarce and dear 

 in France ; and Henry II. is faid to have been the firft who 

 wore a pair of filk knit ftockings ; though the firft inven- 

 tion originally came from Spain, whence filk ftockings were 

 brought over to Henry VIII. and Edward VI. After the 

 civil wars in France, the plantations of mulberry-trees were 

 greatly encouraged by Henry IV. and his (ueeen'ori ; and 

 the produce of filk is at this day very confiderable. 



The great advantage which the new manufatture afforded, 

 made our king James I. veryearneft for its being introduced 

 into England : accordingly it was recommended feveral 

 times from the throne, and in the moft earneft terms, parti- 

 cularly in the year 1608, to plant mulberry-trees, &c. for 

 the propagation of filk-worms ; but unhappily without ef- 

 feft ; though from the various experiments we meet with in 

 the Philofophical TranfaAions, and other places, it appears 

 that the filk-worm thrives and works as well, in all relpeftt, 

 in England, as in any other part of Europe. 



However, towards the latter end of this king's reign, t. e. 

 about the year 1620, the broad filk manufafture was intro- 

 duced into this country, and profecuted with great vigour 

 and advantage. In 1629, the filk manufacture was become 

 fo confiderable in London, that the filk-throwfters of the 

 city, and parts adjacent, were incorporated under the name 

 of mafter, wardens, &c. of the filk-throwilers ; and in 166 1, 

 this company of filk-throwllers employed above forty thou- 

 fand perlons. The revocation of the edift of Nantes, in 

 1685, contributed in a great degree to promote the filk 

 manufafture in this kingdom ; as did alfo the invention of 

 the filk throwing machine at Derby, in 1719; for an ac- 

 count of which, fee Silk, Manufallure of. 



So high in reputation was the Engliih filk manufafturc, 

 that even in Italy, as Kcyfler (Travels, vol. i. p. 289.) 

 informs us, in 1730, the Englifti filks bore a higher price 

 than the Italian. 



The filk-worm is an infeft not more remarkable for the 

 precious matter it fnrnifhcs for divers ftufls, than for the 

 many forms it afiumes, before and after its being enveloped 

 in the rich cod or ball which it weaves for itlelf. From a 

 fmall egg, about the fize of a pin's head, which is its firft 

 itate, it becomes a pretty big worm, or caterpillar, of a 

 whitifh colour, inclining to yellow. In this Hate it feeds 

 on mulberry-leaves, till, being come to maturity, it winds 

 itfelf up in a filkcn bag, or cafe, about the fize and (hape 

 of a pigeon's egg ; and becomes metamorphofed into an 

 aurelia : in this liate it remains without any figns ot lite, or 

 motion ; till at length it awakes to become a butterfly, after 

 making itfelf a paft'agc out of its filkcn fepulchro ; and, at 

 laft, dying indeed, it prepares itfelf, by an egg wh;ch it 

 cafts, for a new life ; which the warmtii nt the fummer 

 weather aflifts it in refumiiig. 



As foon as the filk-worm, or caterpillar, is arrived at the 

 fize and ftrength ncceftary for beginning his cod, he makes 

 his web ; for it is thus they call that fiiglit tiilue, which is 

 the beginning and ground of this admirable work. This is 

 his firft day's employment. On the fecoiid, he forms his 

 filjiculus, or ball, and covers himfelf ulmofl over witii iilk. 

 The third day, he is quite hid ; and the following days he 

 employs himfelf in thickening and ftrongtiicniiig iiis ball ; 

 always working from one fingle end, which he never breaks 

 by his own fault ; and which is l"o line, and lo long, that 

 thole wlio have examined it attentively, think they fpeak 

 witliin compafs, when they affirm that each b.iU contains 

 filk enough to reach tiie length of (i\ Engiifli miles. 



In ten days' time, the ball is in its perfei'lion ; and it i« 



now to be taken down from the branches of the mulbirry- 



trces, where the worms have hung it. But this bufinefs 



4 X requires 



