SPITALFIELDS. No part of London is more remarkably connected with a particular manufacture than Spitalfields is with that of silk. For many generations nearly all the silk-weavers of the metropolis have resided in or near this district.
When the Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV., in 1685, many thousand silk weavers were expelled from France, and sought refuge in England. Stow writes : " Spittlefields and parts adjacent became a great harbour for poor Protestant strangers, Walloons and French ; who, as in former days, so of late, have been forced to become exiles from their own country for their religion, and for the avoiding cruel persecution. . . . Great advantage hath accrued to the whole nation by the rich manufacture of weaving silks, and stuffs, and camlets, which art they brought along with them." The refugees in troduced the various silk fabrics known by the name of lustrings, alamodes, brocades, satins, mantuas, paduasoys, ducapes, and tabbies; and the silk manufacture of Spitalfields speedily became important.
From that time to the present, the Spital fields weavers have been unfavourably dis tinguished for their perpetual attempts to secure 'protection' for their trade in every possiblo way, reasonable or not ; and the statute book contains numerous enactments bearing more or less closely on this point. Their wages have at most periods been small, and the weavers have been poor; but there is no proof that matters were otherwise when protective measures were resorted to; and there is not wanting evidence that renewed energy is sliewn by the Spitalfields manu facturers, now that all hopes of a protective, system are abandoned.
All the silk spun or thrown in this country is spun in large establishments called silk mills, situated in different parts of the country, none is spun in Spitalfields : it is only the weaving which is here conducted. The tram for the weft or cross-threads is spun in England; but a good deal of the organzitae for the warp or long threads is imported from Italy. The manufacturer gives out the organ zinc and tram to the hand-loom weaver, who takes it to his humble abode, weaves it into one of the many kinds of silk goods, and takes it back to the manufacturer, who pays him a certain stipulated price for his labour. There are supposed to be about 16,000 silk looms in the Spitalfields and Bethnal Green district ; and it is further estimated that not less than 60,000 persons are wholly dependent for their daily food on the employment of these looms.
A School of Design has been established at Spitalfields, which, if fostered by the manu facturers, may render much service by im proving the taste of the designers employed in preparing patterns for the weavers.