“No more,” said she, “will I drink or eat! I’ll spin and weave me a winding-sheet, To wrap me up from the sun’s clear light, And hide my form from her wounded sight. In secret then, till my end draws nigh, I’ll toil for her; and when I die, I’ll leave behind, as a farewell boon, To the proud young princess, my whole cocoon, To be reeled and wove to a shining lace, And hung in a veil o’er her scornful face! And when she can calmly draw her breath Through the very threads that have caused my death; When she finds, at length, she has nerves so firm As to wear the shroud of a crawling worm, May she bear in mind, that she walks with pride In the winding-sheet where the silk-worm died!” [Illustration: _Plate III_ Silk-Worm, Cocoons, Chrysalis, Moths and Pinna.] CHAPTER VIII. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, &c. Great antiquity of the silk-manufacture in China--Time and mode of pruning the Mulberry-tree--Not allowed to exceed a certain height--Mode of planting--Situation of rearing-rooms, and their construction--Effect of noise on the silk-worm--Precautions observed in preserving cleanliness--Isan-mon, mother of the worms--Manner of feeding--Space allotted to the worms--Destruction of the Chrysalides--Great skill of the Chinese in weaving--American writers on the Mulberry-tree--Silk-worms sometimes reared on trees--(M. Marteloy’s experiments in 1764, in rearing silk-worms on trees in France)--Produce inferior to that of worms reared in houses--Mode of delaying the hatching of the eggs--Method of hatching--Necessity for preventing damp--Number of meals--Mode of stimulating the appetite of the worms--Effect of this upon the quantity of silk produced--Darkness injurious to the silk-worm--Its effect on the Mulberry-leaves--Mode of preparing the cocoons for the reeling process--Wild silk-worms of India--Mode of hatching, &c.--(Observations on the cultivation of silk by Dr. Stebbins--Dr. Bowring’s admirable illustration of the mutual dependence of the arts upon each other.) In China, the tradition of the silk culture is, as already shown, carried back into the mythological periods, and dates with the origin of agriculture itself. These two pursuits or avocations, namely, husbandry and the silk-manufacture, form the subject of one of the sixteen discourses to the people. It is there observed, that “from ancient times the Son of Heaven directed the plough: the Empress planted the mulberry-tree. Thus have these exalted personages, not _above_ the practice of labor and exertion, set an example to all men, with a view to leading the millions of their subjects to attend to their essential interests.”