P H A L M N A; 
from the Indies to Conftantinople, in 555, under the en¬ 
couragement of the emperor Juftinian, brought with them 
great quantities of filk-worms, with inftruftions for 
hatching the eggs, rearing and feeding the worms, and 
drawing, fpinning, and working, the filk. Upon this, 
manufactures were fet up at Athens, Thebes, and Co¬ 
rinth. The Venetians, foon after this time commencing 
a commerce with the Greek empire, fupplied all the weft- 
ern parts of Europe with filks for many centuries; though 
feveral kinds of modern filk-manufaCtures were unknown 
in thole times, fuch as damalks, velvets, fatins, &c. 
About the year 1130, Roger II. king of Sicily, eftablilhed 
a filk-manufaCture at Palermo, and another in Calabria, 
managed by workmen who were a part of the plunder 
brought from Athens, Corinth, See. whereof that prince 
made a conqueft in his expedition to the Holy Land. By 
degrees, adds Mezeray, the reft of Italy, as well as Spain, 
learned from the Sicilians and Calabrians the management 
of filk-worms, and the working of filk.; and at length the 
French acquired it, by right of neighbourhood, a little 
before the reign of Francis I. and began to imitate them. 
Thuanus indeed, in contradiction to moll other writers, 
makes the manufacture of filk to be introduced into Si¬ 
cily two hundred years later, by Robert the Wife, king 
of Sicily'and count of Provence. 
It appears by the 33d of Hen. VI. c. 5. that there was 
a company of Silk-women in England fo early as the year 
1455; but thefe were probably employed in needle-works 
of filk and thread ; and we find that various forts of linall 
haberda(hery of filk were manufactured herein 1482 ; but 
Italy fupplied England and all other parts with the broad 
manufacture till the year 1489. In Spain indeed the 
culture and manufacture of filk feem to have been intro¬ 
duced at an early period by the Moors, particularly in 
Murcia, Cordova, and Granada. The iilk-manufaCturers 
of this laft town were very flourilhing when it was taken 
by Ferdinand, &c. at the clofe of the fifteenth century. 
In 1521, the French, being fupplied with workmen from 
Milan, commenced a filk-manufaCture; but it was long 
after this time before they could obtain raw filk from the 
■worms, and even in the year 1347 filk was fcarce and dear 
in France, and king Henry II. is faid to have been the 
firft in that country who wore a pair of filk knit (lock¬ 
ings j though the invention originally came from Spain, 
whence filk (lockings were brought over to Henry VIII. 
and Edward VI. After the civil wars in France, the 
planting of mulberry-trees was greatly encouraged by 
Henry IV. and his fuccefl’ors, and the produce of filk in 
France is at this day very confiderable. The great ad¬ 
vantage which the new manufacture afforded, made our 
James I. very earnelt for its introduction into England; 
and accordingly it was recommended feveral times from 
the throne, and in the mod earned terms, particularly in 
the year 1608, to plant mulberry-trees for the propagation 
of filk-worms, but unhappily without effeCt; though from 
various experiments, recorded in the Philofophical Tranf- 
aClions, &c. it appears that the fi!k-worm thrives and 
works as well in England as in any other part of Europe. 
It (hould not here be omitted, that James I. while king 
of Scotland, is faid to have once written to the earl of 
Mar, one of his friends, to borrow a pair of filk (lockings, 
in order to appear with becoming dignity before the Eng- 
lifli ambaflador; concluding his epiitle with thefe words: 
“ for ye would not, fure, that your king (hould appear 
like a ferub before llrangers.” This (hows the great ra¬ 
rity of filk articles at that period in Scotland ; and we are 
told that our own queen Elizabeth was prefented by her 
filk-vtoman, Mrs. Montague, with a pair of black filk 
(lockings, with which her majefty was 1b captivated, that 
(he rel'olved in future to wear no other dockings than filk 
ones. 
About the year 1620 the broad filk-manufaCture was 
introduced into this coiantry; and in 1629 was become 
fo confiderable in London, that the filk-throwfters of the 
city and parts adjacent were incorporated, under the name 
39 
of Mafter, Wardens, &c. of the Silk-throwfters ; and in 
1661 thiscompanyemployedaboveforty thoufand perfons. 
The revocation of the ediCl of Nantes, in 1685, contri¬ 
buted in a great degree to promote the filk-manufaCture 
in England, as did alfo the invention of the (ilk-throwing 
machine at Derby in 1719. So high in reputation was 
the Englith filk-manufa&ure, that even in Italy, accord¬ 
ing to Keyfler, the Englifh filks bore a higher price than 
the Italian. 
We have remarked, that fome laudable attempts had 
been made, but without any confiderable degree of fuc- 
cefs, to rear the filk-worm in Great Britain. In 1791 the 
public were informed, by a manufacturer in Paifley, of 
his having prepared a web entirely of the filk produced 
by worms of his own rearing: and in the TranfaCtions of 
the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. vii. a 
number of very ufeful experiments are recorded with re¬ 
gard to the food and management of thefe infeCls. Pro¬ 
bably the want of a fufficient number of mulberry-trees 
has hitherto rendered ineffectual the efforts of our coun¬ 
trymen to introduce and rear any confiderable quantity 
of filk-worms. From the attempts that have already 
been made, it appears that the white mulberry is preferable 
to the black in feeding, and that the latter is to be pre¬ 
ferred to the lettuce. Twelve cocoons, the produce of 
worms fed upon the white mulberry, weighed feven 
penny-weights two grains; while an equal number of 
thofe that had been fed upon the black mulberry weighed 
only fix penny-weights three grains : fix penny-weights 
were obtained from the fame number of worms fed upon 
common lettuce. 
But endeavours to produce raw filk in Great Britain 
feem the more worthy of encouragement, as that country 
appears to poflefs fome advantages of which Italy and 
many of the (ilk-countries are deprived. In Italy, the 
chryfalides foon come to life; and it is there necefi'ary 
to deftroy them, left, by eating their way out, they (hould 
injure the filk. In order to eifeCt this, they are collected 
and placed in heated ovens, where the filk, without lin¬ 
gular caution, is apt to be damaged. In our climate, 
where every progrefllon of the infeCl-tribe is (lower, there 
is fufficient time to wind off the filk without killing the 
chryfalis. But, befides the injury that may be done to the 
filk in Italy, from the length of time which it is necefi'ary 
to keep the chryfalis in thefe ovens, they are there ob¬ 
liged to fuft'er the moth to eat its way out of the larged 
cones, in order to have eggs from the mod vigorous and 
healthy. Hence, they lofe all the filk of thefe cones ; 
whereas, in this country, the filk may be gathered while 
the moths are preferved. Thus, we feem to polfefs two 
ftriking advantages, which may probably compenfate for 
the want of others which our climate has denied us. 
Even the climate of England is in fome refpeCts fupe- 
rior to thofe where filk is raifed. In the fouth of France, 
the frofts are often fo intenfe as to kill the mulberry- 
leaves after they are out: at that feafon of the year, this 
is feldom the cafe in South Britain; which is alfo more 
free from lightning, and thofe fultry heats that have al¬ 
ways been deemed prejudicial to the filk-worm. From 
thefe confiderations, the time may probably arrive, when 
our countrymen, by farther knowledge and experience 
upon this fubjeiSl, may be enabled to avail themfelves of 
thefe advantages, and become entitled to a rank as dif- 
tinguifhed among the raifers, as that which they have 
long held among the manufacturers, of filk. 
At Charlton Park, near Blackheath, Kent, the feat of 
the late fir T. M. Wilfon, bart. were lately fold by auCtion, 
near two hundred loads of fine oak-timber, befides feveral 
of mulberry-trees, in fine prefervation, although of near 
two hundred years’ vegetation. As much furprife was 
exprefled by the company who attended the fale, at feeing 
fuch a quantity of mulberry-trees, and as the auctioneer 
could not gratify the curiofity of his cuffomers, we may 
jull mention, that by the fpecial order of king James, the 
firft mulberry-garden known in England was planted here 
by 
