C o t t o n .
The Romans believed it to be the fame kind which was produced
at Rome from the fdk-thread which had found its way
there in the time o f Pliny, which makes him complain of the
great trouble the Roman women had in winding and weaving
their filk, whilft the Seres had no more to do than to gather it
from the leaves o f trees. “ Undegeminus fceminis nojlris labor
“ redordiendifila rurfufque texendiP It was long before the m a -
nufaiiure o f filks was eftablifhed at Rome. The ufe was dif-
couraged by a law forbidding men to debafe themfelves by the
wearing o f filk, as fit. only for women. The effeminate Helio-
gabalus is the firft on record who wore a drefs entirely o f filk.
The manufactory even in the ribband or haberdafhery way did
not reach our kingdom till about the year 1482. Spain had very
long the ilart o f us. Our monarchs were forced to be content
with cloth ftockings. Henry VIII. accidentally got a pair now
and then from Spain. Sir Thomas Grejham prefented a pair to
Edward VI. which was much talked of. Mrs I Montague, filk-
woman to queen Elizabeth, prefented her with a pair of black
filk, after which, her highnefs would never wear any o f cloth.
Broad filks were not woven in England till the year 1620. The
fouthern and weftern parts of Europe for centuries pofleffed that
fpecies o f manufacture.
T h e manufacture o f cotton muft have been of great antiquity.
Du Halde * mentions the fhrub, and the time o f the fowing,
which immediately follows the harveft, and in the fame field.
The produce is woven into calicoes, and into a cloth well known
in England by the name of Nanquins, fo called from the place
* Vol. i. p. 3.19.
o f
of manufacture. I imagine that the Chinefe have not at prefent
fufficient quantity o f raw materials, as great quantities are faid
of late to have been imported from India.
Of the woollen manufactures I can fay very little. In the W o o l l e n s .
province o f Shenji the fheep and goats are-fheered thrice a year;
and of the wool of the one and the hair of the other, mixed, is
made a fluff much in requeft. The fheep are the great tailed
kind.
T h e Porcelain is of unknown antiquity. The Jefuit D'En- P o r c e l a i n .
trecolles who had a church in a town in the province o f King-te-
ching, a firft rate city, which contained upwards of a million o f
people, could not trace the origin. That reverend father has
been indefatigable in his enquiry ; and has produced a mod
elaborate account of the materials and procefs.
T h e firft knowledge which the Europeans had o f China was S e r e s .
by the means of the Seres, inhabitants o f the northern parts o f
the empire. Thefe very diftant people were among the nations
whom the fame o f AuguJlus had reached, and who complimented
him with an embaffy, which took four years journey to perform.
They prefented the emperor with pearls, pretious ftones, and
elephants. Silk is not mentioned; yet probably Virgil learned
from them that it was the production of their country, as I remark
from the line o f his at p. 107. Horace informs us how
expert the Seres were in the ufe o f the bow.
Puer quis ex aula capillis
A d cyathum ftatuetur un£Hs
Do£tus fagittas tendere, Sericas
A rcu paterno.
T he