it—­mysteries hitherto unknown, or very imperfectly understood in Europe, and encouraged by his liberal promises, they undertook to bring to the capital a sufficient number of those wonderful insects to whose labours man is so much indebted.  This they accomplished by conveying the eggs of the silk-worm in a hollow cane.  They were hatched by the heat of a dunghill; fed with the leaves of a wild mulberry-tree, and they multiplied and worked in the same manner as in those climates where they first became objects of human attention and care.  Vast numbers of these insects were soon reared in different parts of Greece, particularly in the Peloponnesus.  Sicily afterwards undertook to breed silk-worms with equal success, and was imitated from time to time in several towns of Italy.  In all these places extensive manufactures were established and carried on with silk of domestic production.  The demand for silk from the East diminished, of course.  The subjects of the Greek emperors were no longer obliged to have recourse to their enemies, the Persians, for a supply of it; and a considerable change took place in the nature of the commercial intercourse between Europe and India.

Before the introduction of the silk-worm into Europe, and as often as its production is mentioned by the Greek and Roman authors, they had not, for several centuries after the use of it became common, any certain knowledge either of the countries to which they were indebted for this favourite article of elegance, or the manner in which it was produced, By some, silk was supposed to be a fine down adhering to the leaves of trees or flowers; others imagined it to be a delicate species of wool or cotton; and even those who had learned that it was the work of an insect, show by their description that they had no distinct idea of the manner in which it was formed.  A circumstance concerning the traffic of silk among the Romans merits observation.  Contrary to what usually takes place in the operations of trade, the more general use of that commodity seems not to have increased the quantity imported in such proportion as to answer the growing demand for it; and the price of silk was not reduced during the course of 250 years from the time of its being first known in Rome.  In the reign of Aurelian it still continued to be valued at its weight in gold.  (See Robertson’s History of India.)

It is a singular circumstance in the history of silk, that, on account of its being an exertion of a worm, the Mahomedans consider it as an unclean dress, and it has been decided with the unanimous assent of all their doctors, that a person wearing a garment made entirely of silk cannot lawfully offer up the daily prayers enjoined by the Koran. (Herbel.  Bibl.  Orient.) C.V.

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LADIES’ FASHIONS.

(To the Editor of the Mirror.)

If you think the following observations conformable to the plan of your useful and entertaining publication, perhaps you may be induced to give them a place, or notice the subject I have in view, in some other way.