182 THE MODEBN HISTORY OF SILK. 



services he had rendered the country, in erecting n 

 iTiachine which was supposed would very soon have 

 the effect to enable us to dispense wholly with the 

 supplies of thrown silk we had previously been in 

 the habit of importing from Italy. But, instead of 

 being any real advantage, it is most certainly true, 

 that the establishment of throwing mills in England 

 has proved one of the most fomnidable obstacles to 

 the extension of the silk manufacture. These mills 

 were originally constructed in consequence of the 

 heavy duties laid upon thrown, or organzine, silk ; 

 and the circumstance of their having been erected, 

 and a large amount of capital invested in them, has 

 been urged, and, till lately, with success, as a rea- 

 son for continuing these high duties. 



From this period the manufacture advanced 

 gradually, though slowly, until about 1785, or 

 1790, when the general substitution of cottons for 

 silk, in articles of dress and furniture, gave it a 

 check from which it did not recover for some years. 

 So rapid was the change of fashion, that, in Spital- 

 fields alone, about four thousand looms were shut 

 up in 1 793 ; which, when in full work, seven years 

 before, had given employment to about ten thou- 

 sand persons. 



The trade experienced an evident revival be- 

 tween the years 1798 and 1800, and has made an 

 astonishing progress within the last fifteen or twenty 

 years. This has been, in no inconsiderable degree. 



