l68 THE IIISTOBV OF SILK 



title of " Secrets of the Faithful," in which he wish- 

 ed to instigate the holy father to suppress these 

 grievous exactions by hostile measures, and recom- 

 mended, as a prudent step, that his countrymen 

 should forbear using Chinese silks, averring that the 

 quantity produced in Crete, Sicily, Romania, Apulia, 

 and Cyprus, would be sufficient, if attention were 

 directed to the extended propagation of the worms. 

 He imiJlores all true Christians to abstain from the 

 purchase of any silk merely suspected to have come 

 through the hands of these infidels. He recom- 

 mended the establishment of galleys to intercept 

 smuggling. 



So rare were silks in the reign of Edward VI, that 

 Sir Thomas Gresham presented that monarch with 

 a pair of Spanish long silk hose, which the king 

 considered as a high compliment, from their rarity ; 

 and that extravagant king, Henry VHI, seldom 

 wore silk stockings except upon great occasions, and 

 these he procured from Spain. Queen Elizabeth, 

 in the third year of her reign, (1560,) was presented 

 by her silk woman, Mrs Montague, with a pair of 

 silk stockings, which so greatly delighted her, that 

 she never afterwards wore cloth hose. But we do 

 not find that the manufacture made any progress 

 during her reign. 



By slow degrees part of Spain had now acquired 

 considerable reputation for different fabrics of silk, 

 and manufactories of some consequence had been 



