Towards the middle of the 18th century the most important centre of artistic silks existed at Talavera, where it was established on a very large scale by King Fernando VI. and supported by the state. It was founded in 1748 under the superintendence of a Frenchman called Jean Roulière, who was educated at Lyon, a great mechanician, who entered the manufactory with a yearly salary of £450, and 4 per cent. of the sale. Fine church vestments were made there, and the richest stuffs woven with silver and gold for decorating apartments and furniture, of which a vast quantity remain in the palaces of Madrid, Aranjuez, the Escorial and La Granja. In 1762 the Spanish government handed over this manufactory to the firm of Uztariz and Company; it remained in their hands until 1780, and at this period it continued to be worked for five years by the state; in 1785 it passed to the superintendence of the Tribunal of Commerce entitled Cinco Gremios Mayores de Madrid. The French invasion of 1808 and general decay of the country contributed towards the extinction of this industry. In a similar manner to the silk manufactures established at Toledo, silks of all kinds were made at Seville, Granada, Murcia, and other provinces, to a very great extent during the 16th and 17th centuries. This industry continues in the present day, and specimens exist at the South Kensington Museum, made in 1874, which recall the ancient style of these stuffs. EMBROIDERIES. It is probable that the history of embroidery in Spain followed the same steps as that of gold and silver stuffs, owing to the great similarity which exists between these industries, as may be seen by the banner called de las Navas, which is composed of both these materials. Ornamentation in the Oriental style must have fallen sooner into disuse than in woven fabrics owing to the fashion of introducing figures in ecclesiastical vestments, which much before the Renaissance period became so general in Europe. The first mention which I find of the existence of this artistic industry appears in the Ordenanzas de Sevilla, 1433; it refers to regulating this industry, and preventing certain frauds, by which we may infer its existence from an earlier period. Similar dispositions appear in one of the Ordinances of Toledo, dated 1496, and as sumptuary laws were continually issued we have constant references to the existence of this industry: [consult "Sempere, Hist. del Lujo," vol. ii. 8vo]. These legal prohibitions did not, however, reach church vestments; after the aggrandizement of the monarchy by the conquest of the New World such enormous sums were spent on these objects, that notwithstanding the ravages of time, wars, disturbances of all kinds, and vandalisms and neglect, the cathedrals of Toledo and Seville, and many other churches, are museums of this style of art.