DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 1()9 



erected, particularly in the province of Granada, 

 then under the dominion of a Moorish prince. 



In France, the silk trade experienced a consider- 

 able improvement during the reign of Francis I. At 

 that period Milan was under his yoke, and from 

 thence he carried weavers to Lyons, and cherished 

 by all means the progi'ess of the trade. This gave 

 a spirit to the manufacture, and was the means of 

 spreading a taste for it in several of the neighbour- 

 ing provinces. And so rapidly did these arts im- 

 prove and extend, that they soon were enabled to 

 export to England and other countries great quanti- 

 ties of their silken goods. 



Some historians say, that the SilkwoiTn was in- 

 troduced into France in the reign of Charles VIII, 

 at so early a period as the fifteenth century, by some 

 of his noble followers in his Italian campaign ; while 

 others assert that it was brought from Sicily. It 

 seems quite certain that the mulben-y-tree was first 

 introduced from the latter counti-y, and that the 

 Silkworm Moth was not propagated in Provence 

 till the reign of Henry IV, whose anxiety to esta- 

 blish the insect more generally, prompted him to 

 make extensive nurseries of mulberry plants, and be 

 gave them gratis to every one desirous of possessing 

 them. 



It appeared to him, that as mulberry-trees were 

 plentiful in his kingdom, he might render an essen- 



VOL. II. M 



