THE STORY OF ARTIFICIAL SILK 
were the only people who had it. They kept 
their monopoly of it for a thousand years. 
They forbade anyone to take silk goods or 
silkworms out of China. They wanted silk 
all to themselves. 
When the Emperor and Empress died, the 
Chinese built altars to their memory. They 
planted mulberry trees around these altars. 
The great Confucius wrote about what they 
had done and the Chinese have never forgotten 
it. 
The people of Europe knew nothing about 
silk until about 2,275 years ago. Then 
Alexander the Great captured great quantities 
of silk goods in the East and brought them 
home to his palaces in Greece and Macedonia. 
Very soon afterwards, the Romans learned 
how to make silk goods. They made them 
into garments in Sicily and Venice. No 
doubt, when the Romans came to England, 
they brought silk clothes and used them on 
State occasions. 
But when the Romans left England, there 
was little or no silk in England for a thousand 
years. There was only wool, linen and 
leather.