176 THE MODERN HISTORY OP SILK. 



it was generally known what advantages had been 

 reaped by the French, and other continental king- 

 doms, in this trade, that the rich generally adopted 

 the recommendations of their sovereign. So averse 

 were our countrymen to exert themselves in this 

 lucrative trade, that it was nearly twelve years be- 

 fore a taste for the manufactm-e was matured. At 

 length every effort was used, but in vain, to extend 

 the numbers of Silkworms. When it was dis- 

 covered that the climate of Britain was not conge- 

 nial to the propagation of the insect, the hopes that 

 were entertained soon began to die away, and in a 

 few years the experiment was in a manner aban- 

 doned as hopeless. 



The king, finding his projects frustrated at home, 

 now turned his thoughts to his colonies ; and he was 

 advised, that the climate of Virginia was of such a 

 temperature, that the insect might there be success- 

 flilly cultivated. He wrote the Virginian Company 

 a very particular letter on the subject, recommending 

 that they should substitute the cultivation of mul- 

 beiTy-trees, and rearing of Silkworms, for the gi-owth 

 of tobacco, which he considered a " pernicious and 

 offensive weed." 



The Virginian Company entered heartily into the 

 king's views; and being furnished with a work written 

 by one of the Company, Mr John Bonoeil, on the 

 Culture of the Silkworm, they entertained notions 

 that they would speedily be enabled to produce such 



