to incite the conductors of those works, by every method which unlimited power and confummate policy could call into operation, to pay a strict attention to the revival or extention of their feveral concerns, particularly the Manufacture of Silks; which, he knew, was a prolific fource of national wealth, and confequently formed the fubftantial bafis of an immenfe fyltem of national aggrandizement. What has lately been the language of the confidential paper of the Gallic adminiftration * Unquestionably such as tended to the fame purpofe; language which ferves to how in a frong point of view the important light in which, on the other fide of the Channel, they confider the fubject. And latly, what has already been done by them to carry this, their favourite measure, into effe&? What? but by an exertion of the only effo ts in their power that could have effected it, they have endeavoured to repreis the fpirit of our Merchants, and paralyfe the arms of our Manufacturers; the former of whom were preparing to procure the means that might enable the latter who, after their art had fo long languished, congratulating themfelves upon the approach of better times, were anxious to take advantage of the revolution of public tale which, guided by good fenfe and attracted by the fuperior elegance of their fabricks, feemed to have decided in their favour, though without injury to the Cotton branches which, I have obferved, and which the flourishing ftate of the trade proves, are too firmly established to be materially affected by any circumstances extraneous or domeftic.

Calculating the difadvantages with respect to our rivals, under which we labour, or rather under which we are fuppofed to labour; for it will be the bulinefs of these fpeculations to thow that the evils we dread are in a great meafure ideal; it will be neceflary to contemplate a little more accurately,

the natural hiftory of the minute in fect from which thofe immente commercial benefits are derived, together with the ancient history of the lucra tive traffic founded upon its produce: and in doing this, while we in the ficit inftance consder its various properties, and with atonithment reflect that the film, the goffumes, the thread, ten, nay fifty, times finer than a hair, the exuvia of a worm, thould, through the medium of human ingenuity, be. come an article of the highest importance in the general fyftem; we may, in the fecond, view it as the means of existence to millions, and confequently the fource of incalculable revenue to kingdoms and itates. That Man, though in many countries, particu larly this, obliged to the Shee for great fifcal advantages, and, in many others, individually indebted to it for warm clothing and numberleis arti. cles of domestic comfort and conve. venience, fhould alfo to an infect, which in the scale of creation feems lower than even a caterpillar, owe many of the elegances of life; that from its covering the throne thould be decorated, the robe of dignity formed, the attractions of beauty till rendered more fafcinating, the arts and sciences promoted, and with the n the elegancies of life, and consequently civilization extended; are circumitances that mult ftrike us with amazeinent, and render us anxious to be informed whether the productions of a creature fo ufeful have been improved by transplantation? Or whether it is not more likely that its quality, as is the cafe with every other animal and vegetable fubitance, is in a itill higher Itate of perfection in countries to which the infect is indigenous?

This, with refpect to Silk, I hope I fhall be able to prove, in favour of that of Indottan ; at the fame time I thail fugget, that if there is any difference for broad work betwixt this and the Italian; and that there is, I ain, upon

2....

the

The Silken fleece, impurpled for the loom,

I have already obferved, that the Silk worm, was originally brought to Athens and Rome from the land of the Seres, a large track of Afia betwixt Mount Imaus and China *; the people of which, in the time of Strabo, and indeed for ages before, were famous for the manufacture of Silk. From this place, which abounded with Mulberry plantations, for the culture of which the foil was peculiarly adapted, as was the climate for nurturing the worm congenial to that tree, it is more than probable that Silk was introduced to China, Perfia, to the whole peninfula of the Indies, and in fact all over the Eaft.

The exact period when Silk become known in Europe as an article of Commerce, is, I fear, too clofely enveloped in the thick veil of antiquity to be discovered, were it material for us to be informed of it; which, more than merely for the indulgence of curiofity, it certainly is not: but although the original tranfmiffion of it, in a wrought ftate, be thus obfcure, and it is certain that the worm was not introduced until about the age of Auguftus, there are traces that the ufe of it, in ancient Greece, Asia, and Africa, is of high antiquity; for we find in the defcription of Helen's entrance at the conference of Menelaus

Rivall'd the hyacinth in vernal bloomf."

The reins of the horfes which drew the Chariot of Nausicaa were of the fame substance:

"Now mounting the gay feat, the Silken reins

Shine in her hand ‡.”

So, as we find by the Iliad, was the veft of Helen:

"The Goddefs§ foftly shook her Silken vest."

As was also her veil:

"At this the fairest of her fex obey'd: And veil'd her blushes in a Silken ihade ."

We also find that Lycophron + defcribes the women that mourned for the death of Achilles as having laid afide their rich attire, or glittering Silks, ornamented with gold.

Though Silks are mentioned in defcribing the natural ftate of Jerufalem*‡ it is uncertain whether they were in ufe in the time of Mofes, but it is cer tain that they were known to Solomon who lived about a century antecedent to the age of Homer, and that they came to him, with other costly commodities, from the East Indies, the trade to which has in all periods been a fource of riches to those that engaged in it.

It was by paying attention to this lucrative branch of traffic, that this wife Monarch was enabled to attract to his dominions thofe immenfe trea

Iliad B. 3

479.

↑ B. 6, p. 88. ¶ V. 520.

fures

fures * which enabled him to build the Temple of Jerufalem. David had, by his conquest of Idumæe, become mafter of Elath and EGongeber, two towns fituated on the eastern coast of the Red Sea. From thefe ports, fo convenient for commerce, Solomon fent his fleets to Ophir and Tarhfith, which returned laden with the richest commodities of Perfia and Indoftan. When the Syrians regained Idumæc, they enjoyed this traffic for fome time, but by one of thofe fluctuations of human affairs, of which every age has almost furnished inftances, and to which commerce is ever liable, it was from them transferred to the Tyrians. The merchandize of thefe, conveyed by the way of Rhinocolura, was ditributed over the Western hemifphere, and their returns, though coarse, being ufeful to the people of the Eattern, gave them the full poffeffion of the trade, under the favour and protection of the Perfian Monarchs. Of this, wrought Silks formed a very confider able branch, and were, through this Channel, with aromatics, precious ftones, &c. diffufed over Europe, long before an idea was entertained that the infect might be nurtured in the climates of Greece and Italy.

When the Ptolomies made themfelves mafters of Egypt†, they, by building Berenice, and other ports on the Western coast of the Red Sea, attracted the Ealt Indian trade to them the emporium for which they fixed at Alexandria, which, in confequence, became the most commercial city in the world, and for ages after continued the grand channel of traffic; the principal link of that immenfe chain, which, extending its con nexion from the Perfian gulf to the mouth of the Nile, bound together nations, cities, ports, and velfels. The commodities of India, Perfia, Arabia, and the Eastern coaft of Africa, when by these means collected, were conveyed over the Ifthmus of Suez on canals or in caravans, and again fet afloat on the Mediterranean. By this medium they were dispersed all over Europe, till, by the difcovery of the paffage to the Eaft Indies by the Cape

of Good Hope, the course of commerce was reverfed, and this country, in common with many neighbouring nations, fhared the benefit of a branch of traffic, in which, by perfevering induftry, a fpirit of adventure, and other concomitant circumstances, it has rifen fuperior to any; while thofe countries of Alia and Africa, which had fo largely profited by the tranfit of com、 modities, have declined in the fame proportion.

Thus we have feen that from those quarters of the globe, which have been termed the cradles of fcience and art, not only the knowledge, but materials for practing in and improving that knowledge, defcended to us; leaving the mythological fables of antiquity, and the mysterious original in which their infancy was enveloped, and relying only upon the fure guide which the light of the Holy Scriptures has given us, we fhall find that God (among other manufactures) had, foon after the deluge, difcovered to mankind thofe of fpinning wool and flax, and weaving them into ftuffs and linen, and, to name no more, that of dying filks and tuffs of the most beautiful and vivid colours .

From this we may infer that as flax was a plant much cultivated in Egypt, fo was the worm which produces filk much nurtured in Afia, where, I have obferved, the manufacture of this ar ticle has from the earliest periods of time been encouraged. It may therefore very naturally and muft neceffarily be implied, that in a foil fo well adapted for the culture of the mulberry tree, and in a climate fo congenial to the nature of the infect that feeds upon its leaves,the filk thus produced must,or it would be exceedingly different from every other animal or vegetable fubitance, have fuffered by transplantation.

It is certain that the climates of the Eat, though lying under the fame degrees of latitude, differ very much from the climates of the Weft, and yet Silk has been produced in many, nay, moft of them; the fame may be faid of Eu rope. Silk has been brought to a confiderable, though inferior, degree of perfection, as to its original state, in

Sicily;

Sicily; in Italy, from the extremity of the kingdom of Naples to the extremity of the Dutchy of Savoy; in Spain, and the fouthern provinces of France; and, what is very extraordinary, Silk equal to any of thefe has, according to the Philofophical Tranfactions, been, though in a small proportion, produced in England.

That mulberry trees will flourish, and the infect that feeds upon them will exift and fpin in climates which, though in nearly the fame latitude, are foreign to its natural one, is certain; but I think it is equally certain, reafoning from the analogy attendant upon the tranfplantation of other animal and vegetable productions from Alia to Europe, and vice verfa, that thefe, although removed into a climate nearly the fame, or made the fame by art, de cline in their growth, lofe their colour, flavour, itrength, and every other valuable property: fo I fhall contend do the Silk worms in Europe, whofe produce in its original state is, I have no doubt, far inferior to that of the fame infect in Afia; and the only advantage the European have over the Indottan filks, is owing to the fuperior skill of the first manufacturers. But in order to fhow that this reafoning, though analogical, is not merely fpe. culative, it will be neceffary to quote an inftance where the attempt to introduce the cultivation of Silk in climates as congenial to the nature of the worm and tree, as one would fuppofe any part of the European to be, has proved abortive.

It is well known that the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, with that Jaudable zeal and true philanthropy which has, ever fince their first estab Jichment, ftimulated them in their en deavours to benefit not only their own country but mankind in general, more than thirty years fince offered premiums for the culture of Silk, in thofe provinces of America, where, from the fimilarity of climate to thofe in the Old World, in which it had fucceeded, there was a great probability of its being productive.

More than thirty years have paffed away, and, although the political ftate of that country has changed, the natural till remains the fame; we might therefore alk, what has been the event of this philanthropic attempt to exsend the Manufactures and Commerce,

and confequently to add to the riches, of thofe Colonies? I fear that the anfwer would give as little fatisfaction to the ingenious and benevolent projector of this plan, as the process has to thofe that have tried the experiment. Yet it is hardly to be doubted but that Silk has been produced equal to the Italian, though from the manner in which it was twisted or thrown into Organzine it may have appeared inferior, but certainly inferior in its ori ginal texture to that which is the growth of Perfia and Indoftan. In. deed upon the art of the thrower, on which I fhall have occafion to oblerve in future, feems in a great degree to depend the criterion by which the manufacturer judges of the value of the article; though I fhall with great diffidence fubmit that this criterion ap. pears to me to be a falfe one, and that its intrinfic worth can only be appreciated from a comparison of the varions fpecies in a ftate perfectly raw.

That the Silks of Feria and Indoftan are, in this fate, fuperior to those of Italy, may, to continue the analogical mode of reafoning, I think be inferred, by a comparison of the ther productions of nature, in the East and in the Welt: the various moths and but. terfiies, for infance, how beautiful is the formation! how large the fize! how vivid the colours of thofe infects in Afia, when placed in a comparative point of view with thofe of the fame fpecies in Europe! The fame obfer. vation will equally apply to the plu mage of the Eastern birds; to their fruit, flowers, and every other production which demands the torrid ray, or is, by the operation of a tropical tun, forced into the utmost extent of exiftence, or the moft florid ftate of cultivation. This must be peculiarly ne ceflary for the growth of Silk in large quantities, and therefore it follows as a confequential deduction, that the quality of the Afiatic must be superior to that of the European.

Silks, as they are indigenous to, feem by the all wite decree of Providence to he particularly adapted for, the climate in which they were firft cultivated, which from its warmth demands a lighter and thinner fabric than could be constructed from wool. The fame may be faid of cottons, the plant from which they are manufactured being alio a native of Perfia and Indoftang and I do conceive that it would be as prefump

prefumptuous for a merchant of those countries to attempt to vie with us in the exhibition of wool, and to put their fcanty fleeces, which have the coarfenefs and bad qualities of horfehair, and are nearly incapable of being manufactured, into comparifon with ours, as it is for us to lay that, in the lighter and more elegant article Silk, they are not fuperior to the Eus

ropean.

8

If this is granted; if the fuperiority of the Silks of Indoitan, in a raw ftate, is established; whence, it may be afked, arifes the prejudice against them which has, and I fear does till operate in the minds of the artificers in this country, with respect to their ca. pability, if properly thrown into Or. ganzine, of framing a warp equal to the Italian ?

This is a queftion of the utmost im portance in the prefent ftate of the manufacture, and will lead to an inquiry

NOVEMPER 23.

MISS BROWN, from the Margate Theatre, appeared for the firft time at Drury lane, as Amelia Wildenbaim, in the play of Lovers' Vows. She is young and well-proportioned in perion, and her manner was marked by appropriate fimplicity.--Cherry, in the rhyming Butler, was very diverting.

27. Mr, TURNER, a Barrister, who a few feafons ago made an unfuccefsful attempt at Covent Garden in the character of Macbeth, appeared at Drurylane, as the reprefentative of Richard III.; and, though we cannot consider it on the whole as a firit-rate performance, yet it evinced his having diligently purfued the path of improve ment, and acquired a degree of skill which entitles him to a refpectable ita. tion on the boards of a London theatre. He was much applauded.

DEC. 2. Mr. Turner repeated his performance of Richard III. and a real tragedy was likely to have refulted; for in the fighting-fcene between Richard and Richmond, at the clofe of the play, Charles Kemble, who performed the latter part, accidentally thrust his foil into the mouth of Mr.

Turner, in confequence of which he emitted a confiderable quantity of blood upon the ftage. He, however, continued the conteft for fome time in this itate, the appearance of which pro duced the utmoft alarm among the audience, who, on the dropping of the curtain, infifted upon knowing whe ther Mr. Turner was feriously hurt.

On this, Mr. C. Kemble came forward, and allayed the general alarm, by affuring the houfe that Mr. T. was but flightly wounded.

15. Mr. Stephen Kemble clofed his career, for this feafon at leaft, at Drury, Jane Theatre, with the performance of Shylock, for his own benefit, and re, ceived much applaufe.

After the play, having changed his drefs for that of Fallaff, Mr. Kemble, with a strong expreffion of grateful fenfibility, delivered the following ADDRESS,

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

To carry coal to Newcattle-abfurd !-' Who has not oft this hackney'd adage

heard?

Yet it implies at least fome fhare of wit, Thither to go Coal-laden from this Pit. What! on a London audience Falstaff [chequer rob ! Sooner, perhaps, thou might it th' ExWhat!

fob!