1808.] 
material. Anxious, therefore, to intro- 
duce the culture of silk in England, he 
caused circular letters to be sent into 
every county in the kingdom, recom- 
mending the establishment of mulberry- 
plantations ; accompanied with printed 
structions for rearing the worms, &c. 
At his decease, Charles the First was 
equally sanguine in- his endeavours for 
accomplishing so interesting an object. 
Mulberry-gardens were accordingly 
Jaid out in various parts of the king- 
dom; but without producing the de- 
sired effect. In 1629, Charles the First 
granted a patent for erecting a company 
of silk-throwsters, who were empowered 
to take apprentices, make bye-laws, and 
establish other regulations for the ma- 
nagement of their trade, within the linits 
of fuur miles round London. In 1661, 
upon an application to augment their 
powers, and extend them to twenty miles 
round London, it was stated, that there 
were employed at that time, in the throw- 
ing branch only, not less than forty thou- 
sand persons, in 1701, a prohibition 
was laid on the importation of trams, 
and all thrown silks coarser than third 
Bolognas, as also on all thrown silks of 
Persia, East India, and China, on pain 
of forfeiture. “At that time, and for 
many years afterwards, the English throw- 
sters trom the insufficiency of the ma- 
chinery then in use, were not competent 
to furnish the weavers with any other 
description of silk than singles and trams 
for the woof: the organzine for the warp 
was altogether supplied trom Italy, where 
the art of throwing it was long kept a 
most profound secret. At length, by 
the enterprizing talents of a spirited in- 
dividual, the art of throwing organzine 
was introduced. About the year 4719, 
Mr. Lombe, a merchant of London, of a 
mechanical turn, having succeeded in 
obtaining admission to the mills in Pied- 
mont, seeretly drew a plan of them, and 
established a set of mills on a similar 
construction at Derby. As a reward 
tor his exertions, George the First grant- 
ed him the exclusive privilege of working 
organzine for a term of fourteen years. 
The discovery was held to be an object 
of such national importance, that at the 
end of that period the legislature granted 
his brother, Sir Thomas Lo:nbe, who had 
succeeded to the possession of the mills, 
the sum of £14,000, on condition that 
they were |uid open, and that models of 
the machinery should be deposited in 
the Tower of London, for public inspec- 
Account of the Silk Trade m England. 
é 
405 
tion. Similar mills were, in consequence, 
set up in various parts of the country; 
but, owing to the dithculties that were 
experienced.in procuring silk of the pro. 
per quality for throwing (the King of 
Sardinia having prolubited the expor- 
tation of it in the raw state), and to there 
having subseguently found nearly full 
employment in the increased demand tor 
singles and trams, the quantities that have 
been worked into organzine have, till 
of late years, borne no proportion to the 
imports from Italy. 
About 1720, a further attempt to raise - 
silk in England was made by Sir Richard 
‘Manningham, who planted -in Chelsea- 
park two thousand mulberry trees, and 
erected large buildings for the purpose 
of raising silk; but this scheme also prov- 
ed abortive. From these repeated fai- 
lures, the idea seems to have been aban- 
doned. It was next tried in America, 
where, for a while, appearances were ra- 
ther more promising; and with a view 
to give encouravement to the effort, in 
1749 an act passed for encouraging the 
growth of raw silk in the colony of Geor- 
gia and other parts of America, by al- 
lowing it to be imported into Great 
Britain duty free. In 1769 a still more 
decided step was taken, by granting 
large bounties. ‘The Society for the En- 
couragement of Arts, Manufactures, and 
Commerce, also granted large premiums 
for encouraging the like object; but even 
with this powerful support, the guanti- 
ties that were raised were inconsiderable, 
and the rate of cost too excessive for 
competition with the silk from other 
parts. When the English East India 
Company obtained possession of Bengal, 
successful efforts were made to obtain 
@ supply from these fertile provinces, 
now forming part of the British domi- 
nions: and the result was quickly seen 
in the declension of the trade trom Alep- 
po, Valentia, Naples, Calabria, and other 
parts; from many of which, that. for- 
merly ferntished very considerable quan- 
tities; not a single bale has been imported 
for some years past; so that, generally 
speaking, the whole of the silk manufac 
tured in this country was turnished 
frora the nerthern provinces of Italy, 
Bengal, and China, 
The silk imported from Ttaly is either 
raw, or thrown, and organzines; and 
both articles, notwithstanding the im- 
provements in the English throwing mills, 
cannot yet be dispensed with jn the mas 
nufacture of several kinds of stuifs. 
-~ 
Cina 
