ingenuity of their artisans. They alone possessed the valuable breed of silkworms which, 600 years before, had been transferred from the remotest extremity of the East; and none others, up to this time, had manufactured its costly spoils.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF SILK CONTINUED, FROM THE PERIOD WHEN SILKWORMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE.

Diffusion of the Silk Manufacture.-Successful Establishment in Sicily.Gradual Introduction into other parts of Europe.-Marco Polo.-His Account of the prosperity of China.-Enormous quantity of Silk_produced there.-Production and Manufacture in Italy. In Spain.-In France.Commerce of Antwerp.-Acceptable gift to Queen Elizabeth.-Manufacture of Silk in England.-Invention of the Stocking Frame.-Tardiness of its adoption.

IT has been shown in the preceding chapter in what manner the culture of silk was introduced, and its manufacture laid open to the ingenuity of the western hemisphere. The extension of this branch of human ingenuity was at first exceedingly slow, and we have seen, that for a period of 600 years, it was wholly confined to the territories of the Greek empire. Its first diffusion followed upon the invasion of these territories by Roger I., king of Sicily, who, not content with carrying off the wealth of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, as some fruits of his successful enterprise, also led into captivity a considerable number of silk-weavers, whom he compulsorily settled in Palermo, obliging them to impart to his subjects the knowledge of their art.

Without stepping aside to question the right of the royal marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unoffending artisans from the ties of country and kindred, we may yet be allowed to express some satisfaction at the consequences of his cruelty. It is well for the interests of humanity that blessings, although unsought and remote, do sometimes follow in the train of conquest; that wars are not always limited in their results to the exaltation of one individual, the downfall of another, the slaughter of thousands, and the misery of millions, but sometimes prove the harbingers of peaceful arts, heralds of science, and even deliverers from the yoke of slavery or superstition.

In twenty years from this forcible establishment of the manufacture, the silks of Sicily are described as having attained a decided excellence; as being of diversified patterns

C

and colors; some fancifully interwoven with gold; some richly adorned with figures; and others tastefully embellished with pearls. The industry and ingenuity thus called forth, could not fail to exercise a beneficial influence over the character and condition of the Sicilians.

By degrees the knowledge of the several processes required in the art spread over the greater part of Italy, and was carried into Spain; but it was not until the reign of Francis I. that the silk manufacture took root in France. A still longer interval occurred before its adoption in England; and its introduction, even then, was very slow. There is no doubt, however, that the use of silk was extensively adopted in this country at an early period after the conquest; for in the year 1251, at the celebration of the marriage between Margaret, daughter of Henry III., and Alexander III., of Scotland, a most extravagant display of magnificence was made, and, on the nuptial day, 1000 English knights appeared in cointises of silk. These, however, were not retained during the entire festivities; but on the next day were thrown aside, to be replaced by robes equally gorgeous and splendid.

"No

At the close of the thirteenth century, the celebrated traveller Marco Polo gave to the world a narrative of his wanderings, wherein is contained a particular and interesting account of Cambalu, the royal city of China. It would be irrelevant to the subject of this volume to repeat many details of its opulence; but this will be sufficiently evidenced by showing the abundance of silk in which it traded. fewer," he informs us, "than 1000 carriages and pack-horses, loaded with raw silk, make their daily entry into the city; and silks of various textures are manufactured to an immense extent." He describes the whole country of China to be filled with great, rich, and crowded cities, thronged with manufac turers of silk and other valuable merchandise.

Several provinces of China are so fertile with mulberry trees, and their climate is so congenial to the nature of silkworms, that the quantity of silk produced is very great. Du Halde says, "Every body knows the abundance and beauty of the silk which is made throughout China." The ancients showed their knowledge of this abundance, when they called it the Kingdom of Silk; and the moderns know it from experience for many nations both of Asia and of Europe draw from it the superabundance of its produce; and every year ships and caravans leave the country, laden with vast quanti

* Note H.

ties of both the wrought and unwrought material. Yet although thus lavishly sent forth, still, such is the amount produced, that silken fabrics, either wrought of the simple material, or mixed with gold or silver, are consumed throughout the empire to an almost incredible amount. If any other proof were wanting of this inexhaustible abundance, it might be found in the 365 barks, which the two provinces of Nankin and Che-kiang alone send every year to the court, laden not only with pieces of wrought silk, satins, and velvets, of various kinds and colors, but even with rich and costly garments. To this evidence may also be added, the many hundred thousands of pounds' weight of wrought and unwrought silk which the provinces pay each year as tribute to the emperor.*

It has always appeared to be the policy of the rulers of this empire to restrain rather than to encourage a taste for commercial enterprise among its people. Abounding in so many productions coveted by other nations, it is remarkable that they have at all times merely tolerated foreign commerce, esteeming the great influx of money which it pours into their country as of no advantage. Possessing, under their varied range of climate, not only all the necessaries and comforts, but even the luxuries of life, and believing that they are masters of every kind of knowledge that is useful to or attainable by man, they feel themselves wholly independent of foreign nations, and affect to look with contempt upon such less fortunate beings as are compelled to leave their own countries in search of Chinese superfluities.†

Although the various periods when establishments for the production and manufacture of silk were first introduced into the different countries of Europe may be ascertained with a tolerable degree of exactness, yet some discrepancies occur in the many authors who have noticed the subject. The authority, therefore, of those among them whose assertions possess the least degree of probability, must be rejected. There is much discordance in the various accounts of the introduction of silkworms and the manufacture of their produce in Italy.

In the year 1203, when the Venetians became masters of those provinces of the Greek empire which were the principal seats of the silk trade, they would hardly omit or delay to transport the manufacture and the worms into their own equally favorable climate; and it is also reasonable to imagine, that

* Nouvelle Relation de la Chine,

+ Note I.

the Genoese, when they obtained possession of Galata, would hasten to transfer such lucrative branches of industry to their own country. It may, perhaps, be subject of conjecture or controversy, in what precise manner, or at what period, the introduction took place into Italy; but it is certain that in the year 1306 the rearing of silkworms had become of so much importance in Modena as to yield a revenue to the state, and that this city had arrived at so much excellence in the production, that its silk was then esteemed the best in Lombardy. In the year 1327, it was either considered advisable to augment the revenue derived from the silk trade in Modena, or otherwise this branch of industry was found to be on the decline. At that time the magistrates passed a law, obliging every proprietor of an inclosure (without, however, specifying the extent of ground which rendered compliance with the law obligatory) to plant at least three mulberry trees; and further ordering, that all cocoons, or silkworm pods, produced, should be publicly sold in the market, the buyer and seller paying each a tax to the revenue.

Till the beginning of the sixteenth century, Bologna was the only city of Italy which possessed proper throwing mills, or the machinery requisite for twisting and preparing silken fibres for the weaver. Up to that period the Modenese were obliged to send their silk to be thrown at Bologna. At length the genius of invention or imitation roused them into sufficient energy to acquire the art of constructing and working adequate machinery for their own purpose, and thence this preliminary branch of the manufacture spread to other cities of Italy.

In the year 1300, many thousand people were employed in the silk manufacture at Florence, where it was then followed in a much greater degree than in any other of the states of Italy.

Not only was the manufacture adopted likewise in Venice, but it was held in such high esteem, that the business of a silk factory was considered a noble employment, and might be practised without degradation by the higher classes. This was equally the case with two other trades,-those of the glass-maker and druggist, which brought no contamination upon nobility in Venice. In a country where wealth was concentrated in the hands of the powerful, it was no doubt highly judicious thus to encourage its employment for objects of public advantage. A feeling, more or less powerful, has always existed in the minds of the high-born, against the employment of their time and wealth to purposes of commerce or

manufactures. All trades, save only that of war, seem to have been held by them as in some sort degrading, and but little comporting with the dignity of aristocratic blood.

The total expulsion of the Christians from Syria occasioned Egypt to become once more an entrepôt for the greater part of the trade between the eastern and western regions of the world. The Egyptian government made the monopoly thus enjoyed by its subjects a fruitful source also of revenue, and imposed very heavy duties upon the transit of merchandise. Marino Sanuto, a noble Venetian, indignant at the impositions to which the European trader was subjected, and burning moreover with true catholic zeal, addressed a work to the pope under the quaint title of "Secrets of the Faithful," in in which he proposed to suppress the Egyptian trade by force of arms. This production does not, however, appear to have been owing to the sudden ebullition of an evanescent interest, hastily sent forth for the immediate relief of his oppressed Fellow-Christians: it was begun, as he informs us in his preface, in the year 1306, and was presented to his holiness in 1321; during all which period of his literary labor, the objects of his zeal were left exposed to all the grievous exactions of the Egyptian government. Viewing with envy and displeasure the vast amount of profits which the sultan and the Saracens derived from the trades in silk and sugar, he details a plan whereby this source of prosperity might at once be turned from the race of unbelievers. Observing that silk was already produced in considerable quantities in Apulia, Romania, Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus, and that its production might be still further extended in those places, he solemnly adjures every good Christian to refuse the purchase of any merely suspected to have come from the dominions of the sultan. All direct intercourse with the unbelievers is of course to be forbidden; and this prohibition to be strictly and universally enforced by stationary armed galleys for the intercepting of illicit traders. In conclusion, this crusader against stuffs and condiments, with all the intolerant bigotry, unrelieved and unredeemed by the chivalrous daring, of Godfrey de Bouillon or our own lion-hearted Richard, calls upon the captain of the holy church to wage perpetual and equal war against the Saracens and those perfidious Christians who infringe his commands by trading with the unbelievers!

It is recorded that Henry V. of England, on his invasion of France, which led to the celebrated victory of Agincourt, occupied, by himself and his suite, two vessels, which were fitted up with all the magnificence of regal splendor. The