A CURIOUS LAW.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10724, 23 October 1928, Page 9

A CURIOUS LAW.

MEN FORBIDDEN SILK

“FIT ONLY FOR WOMEN”.

"Wrought silk was brought fr Persia to Greece in 325 B C*. Rome in ihc time of Tiberius a e ions law was passed by the Sena It prohibited the use of plate go and forbade men “to debase the selves by wearing silk, lit only women.” In ancient- times silk t of the'same value as gold,-weight weight, and was thought fo grow the same manner as cotton, on tic says a writer in the Horsham *S Post. Silkworms were not. brom to Europe from India, until the si century. It is on record that Cha; luogne, in A.D. 7SO. made Off a, K of Mercia, a magnificent present two silken vests. Roger, who l King of Sicily m 1146, did much encourage the Sicilians to prod silk, so that they not only bred s worms, but spun and weve the S Gradually the manufacture of j spread into Italy and Spain, also i the South, of Franco, but- it wak to Henry IV\ (of France,) to pi mulberry trees and order the proc tion of silk throughout the kingd .Silk was not manufactured" in F land until 1604. although theto soihe account of the beautiful mantles worn by some noble ladies a grand ball held at. Kenilworth 1286, The clergy were- permitted wear silk as early as 1534. A p? advance in silk manufactures made bv the French refugees, ; came to London in 16SS and set at- Spitafields, and from then the manufacture lias gone -steadily wards. - . •