l62 THE EARLY HISTORY OF SILK. 



that prince had the mortification to find, at Con- 

 stantinople, not only the Silkworm feeding in 

 healthful vigour, but also extensive manufactories 

 established for weaving different fabrics. He, how- 

 ever, had the address to conceal the chagrin he must 

 have experienced, and, even with a degree of flat- 

 tery, con-esponding to that of a more civilized 

 prince in modern times, complimented the Romans 

 on the progress they had made, and assured them 

 their manufactories were equal in quality to those 

 of China, and their management and culture of the 

 worms were not less successful.'^ 



Although the culture of these insects turned out 

 as successful as possible, still a considerable number 

 of years elapsed before silk became a cheap article. 

 As a proof of this, we find, that, in the year 790, 

 the Emperor Charlemagne considered silk as a gift 

 worthy of royalty, for he presented Offa, King of 

 Mercia, with two vests made of that substance. 



About this time the Venetians opened a commer- 

 cial treaty with the Greeks, for the pui-pose of 

 supplying the west of Europe with silks, tlie manu- 

 facture of that nation. 



It was well for Europe that the Silkworm had 

 been so successfully introduced as to render the 

 importation of Chinese silk unnecessary. For a 



" See Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the lloman Empire, 

 chap. xiii. 



