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 extenfion 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 fuch as tended to the fame purpofe; language which ferves to how in a ftrong point of view the important light in which, on the other fide of the Channel, they consider the fubject. And lastly, what has already been done by them to carry this, their favourite mealure, into effect? What? but by an exertion of the only efforts in their power that could have effected it, they have endeavoured to reprefs 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 talte which, guided by good fenfe and at. tracted 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 or the trade proves, are too firmly eftablished to be materially affected by any circumitances extraneous or domeftic.

Calculating the difadvantages with refpect to our rivals, under which we labour, or rather under which we are fuppofed to labour; for it will be the bufinefs of thefe fpeculations to thow that the evils we dread are in a great measure ideal, it will be neceffary to contemplate a little more accurately,

the natural hiftory of the minute in. fect from which thofe immenfe 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 first inftance confider its various properties, and with aftonishment reflect that the film, the goffamer, the thread, ten, nay fifty, times finer than a hair, the exuvie of a worm, fhould, through the medium of human ingenuity, become an article of the highest importance in the general fyftein; we may, in the fecond, view it as the means of exiftence 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 Sheep for great fifcal advantages, and, in many others, individually indebted to it for warm clothing and numberless articles of domestic comfort and convevenience, thould alfo to an infect, which in the fcale 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 Itill rendered more fafcinating, the arts and sciences promoted, and with them the elegancies of life, and confequently civilization, extended; are circumstances that muft ftrike us with amazement, and render us anxious to be informed whether the productions of a creature fo ufeful have been improved by tranf plantation? Or whether it is not more likely that its quality, as is the cafe with every other animal and vegetable fubftance, is in a fill 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 Indoftan; at the fame time I fhall fuggeit, that if there is any difference for broad wwork betwixt this and the Italian, and that there is, I am, upon

the

fures which enabled him to build the Temple of Jerufalem. David had, by his conquet of Idunæ, become mafter of Elath and Eongeber, two towns fituated on the eastern coast of the Red Sea. From thefe ports, fo convenient for commerce, Solomon fear his fleets to Ophir and Farhfin, which returned laden with the richest commodities of Persia and Indoftan. When the Syrians regained Idunce, they enjoyed this traffic for fome time, bu by one of thofe fluctuations of human affairs, of which every age has almoft 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 Weltern hemisphere, and their returns, though coarfe, being ufeful to the people of the Eastern, gave them the full poffetion of the trade, under the favour and protection of the Perfian Monarchs. Of this, wrought Silks formed a very confiderable branch, and were, through this Channel, with aromatics, precious ftones, &c. diffused over Europe, long before an idea was entertained that the infect might be nurtured in the climates of Greece and Italy.

When the Prolomies made themfelves masters of Egypt, they, by building Berenice, and other ports on the Western coaft of the Red Sea, attracted the East 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 im menfe chain, which, extending its con nexion from the Perlian gulf to the mouth of the Nile, bound together nations, cities, ports, and vefels. The commodities of India, Perfia, Arabia, and the Eastern coast of Africa, when by thefe means collected, were conveyed over the Innus of Suez on canals or in caravans, and again fet afont on the Mediterranean. By this medium they were difperfed all over Europe, till, by the difcovery of the paffage to the East Indies by the Cape

of Good Hope, the courfe of commerce was reverted, and this country, in common with many neighbouring nations, thared the benefit of a branch of traffic, in which, by perfevering induf try a fpirit of adventure, and other concomitant circun tances, it has rifen fuperior to any; while thofe countries of Afia 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 cradies of fcience and art, not only the knowledge, but materials for practifing in and imor ving 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 thall find that God (among other manufactures) had, foon after the deluge, difcovered to minkind thofe of pinning wool and flax, and weaving them into tuffs 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 Atia, where, I have obferved, the manufacture of this ar ticle has from the earliest perio ls of time been encouraged. It may therefore very naturally and mult 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 intect that feeds upon its leaves,the filk thus produced muit,or it would be exceedingly different from every other animal or vegetable fub. stance, have fuffered by tranfplantation.

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 fud of Eu rope. Silk has been brought to a confiderable, though inferior, degree of perfection, as to its original ftate, 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 these has, according to the Philofophical Tranfactions, been, though in a mall 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 transplantation of other animal and vegetable productions from Afia to Europe, and vice verfa, that thefe, although removed into a climate nearly the fame, or made the fame by art, decline in their growth, lofe their coJour, flavour, ftrength, and every other valuable property fo I thall contend do the Silk worms in Europe, whofe produce in its original ftate 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 fkill of the first manufacturers. But in order to fhow that this reafoning, though analogical, is not merely fpesulative, 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 laudable zeal and true philanthropy which has, ever fince their first estab lifhment, 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 itate of that country has changed, the natural kill remains the fame; we might therefore afk, what has been the event of this philanthropic attempt to extend the Manufactures and Commerce,

and confequently to add to the riches, of thofe Colonies? I fear that the an fwer 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 twifted or thrown into Organzine it may have appeared inferior, but certainly inferior in its criginal texture to that which is the growth of Perfia and Indoftan. In. deed upon the art of the throwiter, 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 appears to me to be a falfe one, and that its intrinfic worth can only be appre ciated from a comparison of the va rious fpecies in a state perfectly raw.

That the Silks of Perfia 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 other productions of nature, in the Eaft and in the Weft the various moths and butterfies, for inftance, 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 those of the fame fpecies in Europe! The fame obiervation will equally apply to the plumage of the Eattern birds; to their fruit, flowers, and every other produc tion which demands the torrid ray, or is, by the operation of a tropical fen, forced into the utmost extent of exiftence, or the most florid flate of cultivation. This must be peculiarly necellary for the growth of Silk in large quantities, and therefore it follows as a confequential deduction, that the quality of the Afiatic must be fuperior to that of the European.

Silks, as they are indigenous to, seem by the all wife decree of Providence to he particularly adapted for, the chamate in which they were firft cultivated, which from its warmth demands a lighter and thinner fabric than could be constructed from wool. The une may be laid of cottons, the plant from which they are manufactured being alto a native of Perfia and Indo:tan; and I do conceive that it would be as prefump

prefumptuous for a merchant of those countries to attempt to "ie with us in the exhibition of wool, and to put their fcanty fleeces, which have the coarseness and bad qualities of horfehair, and are nearly incapable of he ing manufactured, into comparifon with ours, as it is for us to fay that, in the lighter and more elegant article Silk, they are not fuperior to the Eu

ropean.

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

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

not only into the fifcal confequence of the article, and the manner of preparing it for exportation, both in Bengal and Italy, but alfo into the grounds upon which merchants and manufac turers have formed their opinions, and of the neceffity (which has a iten from political circumftances, but which may prove highly beneficial to commercial) that there now is for the combating and repression of that prejudice. Thele points, together with the profpect of a further extenfion of the Silk Manufacture, arifing from events in another country, to which I have juft alluded; the cogent reafons that our Gallic neighbours have to with for its reprefiion in this kingdom, and a further confideration of the advantage to be made of their late prohibition with refpect to the raw and organzined material, &c.; will form the fubjects of future speculations.

NOVEMBER 23.

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

27. Mr. TURNER, a Barrifter, 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 confider it on the whole as a firit-rate perform ance, yet it evinced his having diligently pursued the path of improve ment, and acquired a degree of skill which entitles him to a refpectable itation 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 thrult his foil into the mouth of Mr.