ON SILK MANUFACTURE IN THE EXHIBITION. 227 



disposition to cultivate the more showy and weighty fabrics for furniture 

 and ecclesiastical purposes, which give scope for the introduction of infe- 

 rior materials at the expense of intrinsic value, still prevails. As much 

 that appeared at the International Exhibitions of 1851 and 1855 as of 

 Austrian supply, was really from Italy, then under the dominion of tha^ 

 country, the display is not so considerable of the raw and thrown article 

 as on those occasions. 



France. — The silk industry of this country is so important, from the 

 large capital invested, the number of persons employed, and the perfec- 

 tion to which it has attained, that the position it occupies is deservedly 

 prominent. As compared with the display of silk textures made in 1851 

 some disappointment may perhaps be felt, which can be thus explained. 

 In that year the manufacturers of Lyons betrayed so little disposition in 

 the first instance to expose their goods to competition, that in order to 

 render it really worthy of the country, the Chamber of Commerce of that 

 city interfered and purchased specimens of the most choice silks, not only 

 of recent production, but of former years, which were very tastefully dis. 

 played and commanded universal admiration. The situation also which 

 the French silks occupied on that occasion was one of the most com- 

 manding in the building, while the artistic and uniform character of the 

 lofty and well-lighted cases in which they were exhibited assisted the 

 general effect. And lastly, it must be conceded that, as compared with 

 the English departments, the superiority was too obvious to be disputed- 

 In all these particulars the French are now unfortunate. The manufac- 

 turers of Lyons and St. Etienne exhibit only their most recent produc- 

 tions, and these, with few exceptions, do not, from the prevailing fashion 

 for comparative simplicity of design, involve the necessity for elaborate 

 patterns and complicated workmanship. The choice of situation made 

 by the French Commission for this important department is certainly 

 not a happy one, and this is not improved by the confined character of 

 the glass cases in which the goods are displayed, on one side exposed to 

 the utmost glare of light, and on the other suffering under a noonday 

 eclipse. As regards the comparison generally instituted between the 

 French and English silk goods, the great improvement so clearly visible 

 in the latter since 1851, as elsewhere noticed, place those of the former 

 at a disadvantage. But it must not from hence be inferred that the 

 fancy silks of France are in any important particular inferior to what 

 they were at that epoch ; and in one remarkable instance of what can be 

 produced when ingenuity, taste, artistic skill, and pecuniary courage are 

 combined, two specimens by one manufacturer {France, 1871) are exhi- 

 bited, which are unquestionably the most elaborately beautiful that 

 have ever yet been seen. The ground of each is the same, namely, rich 

 white satin, but the patterns are different ; and both involve for their 

 complete development no less than about 300 tints of colour, all of which 

 in their distinct gradations are shown on reels strung together, and 

 classed according to their separate shades. One pattern consists of 



