To this is to be added an equal quantity of fo reign silk imported, chiefly from Italy. The cost of manufacture nearly doubles the value of the raw material in the plainer qualities, and in the highly finished, such as fine ribbons, may be said to triple it.
Paris also contains extensive silk manufactures. As the persons indirectly supported by such a branch greatly exceed the number of weavers, it is no exaggeration to compute at 60,000 or 70,000 the individuals, young and old, supported in Lyons and its district, by the silk trade in all its different stages. This important manufacture has under gone considerable fluctuations, having suffered a di. minution, previous to 1790, from the general in troduction of cottons, and having felt severely the calamities of the Revolution, which necessarily re duced the consumption of an article of luxury. At present the amount of the silk manufacture of France is nearly L..5,000,000, a sum equal indeed to its amount in 1790, but which shows that this manu facture has not kept pace with the increase of wealth and population,—a consequence, doubtless, of the cheapness and beauty of the cotton fabrics. The export of French silks is about a third of the quan tity made.
Leather in France is not taxed as with us, and the effects of the exemption are apparent in the price of the articles of which it is the chief material; all of which are cheaper by a third than in England. The value of leather annually prepared for sale in France is (Chaptal, Vol. H. p. 187) nearly L. 3,000,000 Sterling; when made up into articles as boots, shoes, saddles, harness, its value is nearly double.
Jewellery, as well as watch and clock making, are carried to a considerable extent in France, particu larly at Paris; a time-piece is there a much more frequent article of ornamental furniture than in England, and the number of new watches made an-. nually in the kingdom, is not less than 300,000; al together, the value of these different kinds of work manship amounts to L.1,500,000 of which more than the half is made in the capital. The works in bronze, belong still more particularly to the capital, and form, in their different branches and stages, of which gilding is the chief, a farther annual value of L.1,500,000 Sterling.
Paris is remarkable for other fabrics of taste and luxury ; in particular, the porcelain of Sevres near St Cloud, and the beautiful but very expensive ta pestry of the Gobelins. The materials of the latter
are silk and the finest woollen thread; the subjects woven into the work are taken from paintings exe cuted on purpose. Both the establishments have been long conducted by government at a sacrifice, and both are now on a reduced 'scale, the articles being far too costly for private individuals. The lat ter are more frequently purchasers of passementerie, by which is understood artificial flowers, fringes, gold and silver lace, with a variety of trifling but tasteful articles, all sufficiently adapted to a city where so much more is thought of display than of utility.
The value of all the soap made in France is com puted at L.1,400,000. The main ingredient is olive oil, and Marseilles was formerly the seat of this manufacture for almost all France; an advantage owing both to the extent of the olive-grounds in the south-east of the kingdom, and the vicinity of Mar seilles to Italy, the Levant, and Spain. whence soda and olive oil were imported in vast quantities. The disorders of the Revolution, and the establishment of similar manufactures in other parts of France, have caused to Marseilles the loss of a third of its soap works ; they are still, however, very exten sive. Of the oil used in France, whale-oil forms a very small proportion; the great supply is of vege table oil, viz. the rape and cole-seed of the north and the olive-oil of the south. The collective value of these is very considerable,—not short (Chaptal, I. p. 186) of L. 3,000,000 Sterling, almost all con sumed in France, where lamps instead of candles are in very general use.
Beer, formerly little drank in France, has be come of extended consumption since 1790; but even at present, the quantity used does not exceed L. 2,000,000 Sterling, its place being supplied by cyder in the north, and by wine in the south. The consumption which corresponds to that of our home made spirits, and, in a great measure, to that of our rum, is in brandy, of which the value annually made is between L.2,000,000 and L. 3,000,000 Sterling. Farther, there are at Paris a number of establish ments very recently formed for the singular purpose of distilling from potatoes a spirituous liquor which (Chaptal, Vol. IL p. 197) has been generally ap proved, and has been brought into competition with brandy.