From the remotest period, China has been celebrated for its rich and beautiful silks. In the mythological days of the Yellow Emperor, at the commencement of the Chinese monarchy, 'the Empress cultivated the mulberry tree, and

I

taught her subjects to rear the silk-worm, and unwind the co-coons, in order to make dresses; so that the people were exempted from cold and chilblains.' Nor is this a mere tale of fiction, for, according to their own annals, they possessed a knowledge of silk manufacture 3000 years before the Christian era, but, admitting that there is exaggeration in their own accounts, we have other authorities, on whose testimony greater reliance may be placed.-We can, however, allude only to the Georgics of Virgil, in which he praises the soft wool of the Chinese which they combed from the trees,' thus shewing, that in his time, (B. C. 50) the virtues of the silken fabrics of the East had been long known, and were fully appreciated by the fair citizens of Imperial Rome, but not till the reign of Justinian (A.D. 552) was it distinctly known by Europeans that the splendid tissues, in which they had habited themselves for so many ages, and which they had even partially manufactured from the raw transported material, were the product originally of A WORM. Two Persian monks, it is related, had penetrated through India into the empire of China, as Missionaries of the Roman See, and conceiving that it might be of essential service to the Western world, were the insect itself imported instead of its produce, they contrived to secrete a number of its eggs in the hollow of a cane, and to escape with them to Constantinople. From this small race, have sprung all the successive generations of silk-worms, which have supplied silk to Europe from that period to the present date. Till the conquest of Western Greece, (A.D. 1446,) the Greeks were sole in the possession and culture of the silkworm, but Norman Roger, with a sagacity not common in his day, then carried off as prisoners a considerable number of silk weavers and spinners, whom he settled at Palermo. By them the Sicilians were instructed in the art; the valuable secret was speedily disclosed in Italy; England in the reign of James I, sought to naturalize the silk-worm, but the attempt proved abortive; France then embarked in the enterprise, and more fortunate than her neighbour and ally, she has pushed this branch of industry so far, as to produce annually no less than 3,000,000 pounds weight of raw silk, in consequence of which increase, the country now imports one-tenth of foreign silk, where it used to import one half, for its internal resources and the employment of its looms.* In

*The Editor is compelled, most reluctantly, to postpone till next month, the interesting and instructive remarks of his dear friend, Mr. Milne, on the Silk-worm.

SILK WEAVING,

The same tardy process now prevails in China, which was followed by their earliest ancestors. No alteration is perceptible in their materials or their machinery, while in England where the manufacture was totally unknown until the fourteenth century, Sir Thomas Lombe, so far back as 1718, erected at Derby a machine driven by a waterwheel, every revolution of which threw off 73,726 yards of organized silk thread, or 318,504,960 yards per day! Notwithstanding the apparent simplicity of their looms, the Chinese will imitate exactly the newest and the most delicate pattern from England or France, equalling them in the richness of their colours and the beauty of their embroidery. In Canton alone, there are 17,000 persons, men, women, and children annually employed in the silk trade, but the greatest number of weavers is found in the province of Kyang-nan, in which, and more particularly in the neighbourhood of its capital, Nankin, all the silken fabrics are woven, intended for the Emperor's use.

Besides the ordinary silk of which we have now spoken, there is a particular sort of wild silk, named Kyen-cheu, spun by an insect of the caterpillar tribe, and abounding in the province of Shantung. The silk produced by it is of a grey colour, void of any gloss, and, when woven, resembles drugget, an article which is highly valued, and of great durability.

In concluding this paper, we cannot but keep before the minds of our readers the obligations they owe,-obligations in some measure arising from the subject we have contemplated to the land of Sinim. Her sons were the inventors of this art; her sons have been our instructors; her sons have been our temporal benefactors.-Have we reaped their carnal things, and shall we not sow unto them our spiritual things? Have they imparted to us this gift of their industry and genius, and shall we withhold from them the unspeakable gift, which God has freely given to us? Have they revealed to us this valued art, and shall we refrain from declaring to them that better science, which leads up the guilty to the cross of Emmanuel?

'Shall we whose souls are lighted,

With wisdom from on high?

Shall we to these benighted

The light of life deny?'

VISITATION.

Among the various collateral means necessary to be used to promote the prosperity and efficiency of Sabbath Schools, there is none of greater importance or more practical utility than the visitation of the families, to which the children belong, by the teacher himself. We are much mistaken if we imagine that the duties of our office as instructors of the young, terminate when we have communicated the usual lesson in the class, and explained a portion of the word of God to our young charge on the Sabbath day. We are not deeply impressed with the responsibility of our work, and not at all imbued with the spirit of our office, neither have we sufficiently the salvation of our youthful charge at heart, if we are content to allow the visitation of our scholars at home to be entirely neglected by ourselves, or only partially performed by others. The children committed to our care are the sacred trust of God and the church, and to God we are accountable for the manner in which we discharge our duty towards them. We are to act the part of husbandmen, and consider the children as tender plants, needing our constant care and attention. We are to train them for God, to be fruitful vines in the vineyard of Christ on earth, and to be ornaments of the church militant below, that they may be members of the church triumphant above. We are to sow the seed of the kingdom in their hearts in faith, and to water it with our most fervent prayers, that God would give the increase. We must watch the tender buds of promise and piety, and, if possible, screen them from the blighting and withering influence of the world to which they are daily exposed. Our eye must follow them wherever they go-our gentle voice must be ever ready to counsel, and if needs be, to admonish them. Our hand must lead them beside the still waters, and into the green pastures of religion, and our hearts must be their confidence. In short, they must dwell in our affections and engage our incessant regard. If we would be efficient Sabbath School Teachers, we must make ourselves acquainted with the habits and dispositions-the circumstances and position of each child entrusted to our care; so that our instructions may have a direct, personal, and practical application to them, in checking what is evil, and in encouraging what is good. They may be exposed to many temptations, and in that case it is our duty to guard them against yielding to the enticements of the tempter. They may have

pious parents, who are grieved with the conduct of their children, and in that case, it is our duty to assist the parents in shewing them their folly, and in leading them into the ways of religion. They may be guilty of keeping bad company-using bad expressions-disobeying their parents and wasting their time in idleness, and in such cases it is our duty to warn them against these evils. But how can we make ourselves acquainted with these traits of character, except by the plan of visitation. Our knowledge of the cases above-mentioned cannot be obtained in any other way than by consulting their parents or friends, and therefore, the instructions of those teachers who entirely neglect this part of their duty-must be very defective, and to say the least, not so useful as they otherwise might be.

It is a painful fact, that many of the parents of the children of our Sabbath Schools are constantly neutralizing the efforts of the devoted teacher, and that the good impressions made on the Sabbath are effaced, if not entirely obliterated during the week, by the evil example and the corrupt precepts of the society, among which many of them are compelled to mingle either at their own homes or at their places of work. This, I believe, is the greatest difficulty the teacher has to contend with, and the only way he can take to remove it is, by visitation. The object of the visit must be to secure the co-operation of the parents, for until you have this you almost labour in vain. In visiting, the first thing to be done is to gain the esteem of the parents, and this will be no difficult matter if you have gained the affection of the child. The next point to be remembered is, to make them as interesting as possible, they should not be dull, formal calls, or as Todd observes, 'like duns, as a creditor calls upon a debtor, when the visit is unpleasant to both parties, on the other hand, they should be friendly and familiar, so that it may be at once seen that your motives are sincere, and that you are really desirous to benefit their children.

In addition to the benefits which must accrue to the child by your visits, consider also what an interesting field of labour is opened to you, into the family where the children reside; you may be made the means of leading some to the house of God, who have hitherto entirely neglected and forsaken it to read the Scriptures, that precious volume, which hitherto has scarcely ever been perused-to the commencement of family prayer, which has been entirely omitted to train their children in the nurture and admo