THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE.

No 65. JULY 6TH, 1833. Price One Penny.

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF SILK.

FEEDING THE SILK WORMS.

CLEARING THE COCOONS.

The culture and manufacture of Silk, appears originally to have been confined to the Empire of China, and even at the present time, no country produces this useful material in such large quantities, or of so fine a description. When silk was first brought into Europe, so little was known of its origin, that the most absurd tales were told respecting it; by some it was said to be a kind of fleece, which adhered to the branches of trees; by others, the bark of the tree itself, and by another party, the production of a flower.

The scarcity and consequent value of silk, when it was first introduced at Rome, may be estimated by the fact, that more than two hundred years after that time, the Emperor Aurelian refused his Empress a garment of this material, on account of its immense price, twelve ounces of gold being the charge for one pound of Silk. It was not till the year 552, that the eggs of the insect, by which the silk is produced, were brought into Europe. Two monks employed as missionaries, had succeeded in penetrating into the Chinese Empire, and having obtained a thorough knowledge of the whole process of rearing the silk-worm, and manufacturing the silk, they on their return, repaired to Constantinople, and gave an account of their enterprise to the Emperor Justinian. Induced by the offer of a great reward, they once more returned to China, and succeeded, after many efforts, in eluding the vigilance of that suspicious people, and bringing to Constantinople a number of the eggs of the silk-worm, concealed in the head of a walking-cane; these were hatched by the heat of a hot-bed, and being afterwards carefully fed and attended to, the experiment, which had cost these enterprising men so much toil, was perfectly successful, and the cultivation of the silk-worm became very general over the whole of Greece. In the year 1146, we still find the management of these useful creatures, and the manufacture of their spoils, in Europe, confined to the Greek Empire.

In 947, Roger, the first King of Sicily, invaded Greece, and having sacked the cities of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, led into captivity a considerable number of silk-weavers, whom he forcibly settled at Palermo, obliging them to instruct his subjects in the art, and in twenty years, the Sicilian silks are said to have attained great excellence, from the variety of patterns in which they were wrought. The manufacture of this important article, gradually spread through the whole of Italy and Spain, but it was not until the beginning of the sixteenth century, in the reign of Francis the First, that it was introduced into France. In 1554, while its manufacture was yet but little known in England, a curious law was passed by the tyrannical Mary, for the purpose of assisting the consumption of home productions, by which it was enacted, "that whoever shall wear silk, in or upon his or her hat, bonnet, or girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur-leather, shall be imprisoned during three months, and forfeit ten pounds," making, however, a few exceptions in favour of persons of distinction. The manufacture of stockings from silk, appears about this time to have been making some progress, although, in this country at least, they were considered a peculiar rarity, for that luxurious and expensive Prince, Henry the Eighth, was obliged to wear cloth hose, except when, by great chance, he was able to obtain from Spain, a pair of silk stockings for gala days.

The Broad-Silk manufacture in England, had its origin in the following occurrence. In the year 1585, the Duke of Parma, governor of the Netherlands, then in the possession of Spain, having taken the city of Antwerp, where a large and flourishing manufactory existed, consigned it during three days, to unchecked plunder and destruction: the ruin of this noble city was a death-blow to the commerce of Flanders, and its flourishing manufactures were dispersed over different countries. A large portion of the manufacturers and merchants, employed in the silk trade, took refuge in England, where they ultimately settled, and taught the art they had imported. For many years, however, foreign goods were preferred to those of English make, but still improvements were constantly and steadily taking place, and, at the present time, the fabrics of this country are fully equal, if not superior to those of any other nation.

A curious occurrence, showing the perfection to which the English fabric has arrived, took place in 1824. A French manufacturer came over to England, and settled in London; a feeling of jealousy seems to have arisen against him, and it was broadly hinted that his manufactory was merely a cloak for the purpose of smuggling French silks. An inquiry was instituted, and his premises searched, when thirty-seven pieces of goods were seized, and condemned as foreign; and it was only after producing the individuals by whom they had actually been made, that he was able to remove the impression that they had been smuggled.

In 1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the persecution of the protestants in France, compelled many merchants, manufacturers and workmen to take refuge in England. Of these, a large number who had been employed in the silk manufacture resorted to Spitalfields, and at the present time, descendants of these emigrants may be found on the spot, engaged in the same employment. About the end of the sixteenth century, the Rev. William Lea, of St. John's College, Cambridge, invented a machine for the purpose of knitting stockings, by which the work was so much improved that vast quantities were exported, and their being of English manufacture was considered, in foreign countries, as a recommendation of their good qualities. About the same time, Henry the Fourth of France was making great exertions to extend the cultivation and manufacture of silk in his empire. To attain this end, he offered every facility to enterprising men, and, as an extraordinary inducement, proffered patents of nobility to such large manufacturers as should support their establishments successfully for the period of twelve years. He also extended the cultivation of the worm over the whole of France; but, probably on account of the climate, was obliged to abandon his plans in all but the more southern departments.

The success of the French king caused, at the time, many attempts to breed the worms to be made in England, but they all appear to have been unsuccessful, and the same result attended experiments made in our American colonies. In the year 1825, a company was formed, entitled 'the British, Irish, and Colonial Silk Company;' about eighty acres of ground were purchased near Michelstown, in the county of Cork, and the whole were planted with white mulberry-trees. The rearing of the worms was confided to an experienced foreigner, Count Dandolo, but, from some reason or other, the undertaking was abandoned. The cause of such repeated failures is not thoroughly understood; the severity of the climate has been assigned as a reason, but silk has been successfully produced in some parts of