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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed. + Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries + +Author: Elizabeth Stone + +Editor: Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton Wilton + +Release Date: March 20, 2010 [EBook #31714] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF NEEDLE-WORK *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>There is a small amount of Greek in this text, which may require adjustment +of your browser settings to display correctly. A transliteration of +each word is included. Hover your mouse over words underlined with a +<ins class="greek" title="like this">faint red dotted line</ins> to see +them.</p> + +<p>Some words in the text have been contracted. To see the full word, hover +your mouse over words underlined with a <ins class="contr" title="like this">faint +grey dotted line</ins>.</p> +</div> + + + + +<h1 class="padtop">THE ART<br /> +<br /> +<span class="xsmlfont">OF</span><br /> +<br /> +NEEDLE-WORK,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">FROM THE EARLIEST AGES;</span></h1> + +<p class="center smlpadt smlfont">INCLUDING</p> + +<p class="center smlfont">SOME NOTICES OF THE</p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">ANCIENT HISTORICAL TAPESTRIES</p> + + +<p class="center padtop smlfont">EDITED BY</p> + +<p class="center">THE RIGHT HONOURABLE</p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">THE COUNTESS OF WILTON.</p> + + +<p class="center padtop smlfont">“I WRITE THE NEEDLE’S PRAYSE.”</p> + + +<p class="center padtop"><i>THIRD EDITION.</i></p> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase">LONDON:<br /> +<span class="lrgfont">HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont">GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.</span><br /> +——<br /> +1841.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center padtop fsmlfont">TO</p> + +<p class="center">HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY</p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">THE QUEEN DOWAGER</p> + +<p class="center">THIS LITTLE WORK,</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont">INTENDED TO ILLUSTRATE THE HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF AN ART<br /> +ENNOBLED BY HER MAJESTY’S PRACTICE, AND BY HER EXAMPLE<br /> +RECOMMENDED TO THE</p> + +<p class="center">WOMEN OF ENGLAND,</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont">IS,</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont">BY HER MAJESTY’S MOST GRACIOUS PERMISSION,</p> + +<p class="center">INSCRIBED,</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont">WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT,</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont smlpadr smlpadt">BY HER MAJESTY’S MOST GRATEFUL</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont smlpadl">AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT,</p> + +<p class="center padbase lrgpadl">THE AUTHORESS.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>If there be one mechanical art of more universal +application than all others, and therefore of more +universal interest, it is that which is practised with +the <span class="smcap">Needle</span>. From the stateliest denizen of the +proudest palace, to the humblest dweller in the +poorest cottage, all more or less ply the busy needle; +from the crying infant of a span long and an hour’s +life, to the silent tenant of “the narrow house,” all +need its practical services.</p> + +<p>Yet have the <span class="smcap">Needle</span> and its beautiful and useful +creations hitherto remained without their due meed +of praise and record, either in sober prose or sounding +rhyme,—while their glittering antithesis, the +scathing and destroying sword, has been the theme +of admiring and exulting record, without limit and +without end!</p> + +<p>The progress of real civilization is rapidly putting +an end to this false <em>prestige</em> in favour of the +“Destructive” weapon, and as rapidly raising the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>vi]</a></span> +“Conservative” one in public estimation; and the +time seems at length arrived when that triumph of +female ingenuity and industry, “<span class="smcap">The Art of Needlework</span>” +may be treated as a fitting subject of historical +and social record—fitting at least for a female hand.</p> + +<p>The chief aim of this volume is that of affording a +comprehensive record of the most noticeable facts, and +an entertaining and instructive gathering together +of the most curious and pleasing associations, connected +with “<span class="smcap">The Art of Needlework</span>,” from the +earliest ages to the present day; avoiding entirely +the dry technicalities of the art, yet furnishing an +acceptable accessory to every work-table—a fitting +tenant of every boudoir.</p> + +<p>The Authoress thinks thus much necessary in explanation +of the objects of a work on what may be +called a maiden topic, and she trusts that that +leniency in criticism which is usually accorded to the +adventurer on an unexplored track will not be withheld +from her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr fsmlfont">Page</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Introductory</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Early Needlework</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of the Tabernacle</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of the Egyptians</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of the Greeks and Romans</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Dark Ages.—“Shee-Schools”</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>viii]</a></span>CHAPTER VII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of the Dark Ages</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Bayeux Tapestry.—Part I.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Bayeux Tapestry.—Part II.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of the Times of Romance and Chivalry</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tapestry</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Romances worked in Tapestry</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework in Costume.—Part I.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework in Costume.—Part II.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">“The Field of the Cloth of Gold”</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Needle</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>ix]</a></span>CHAPTER XVII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tapestry from the Cartoons</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Days of “Good Queen Bess”</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIX.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Tapestry of the Spanish Armada; better known as the Tapestry of the House of Lords</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XX.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">On Stitchery</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXI.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">“Les Anciennes Tapisseries.” Tapestry of St. Mary Hall, Coventry. Tapestry of Hampton Court</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Embroidery</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXIII.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework on Books</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXIV.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needlework of Royal Ladies</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXV.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Modern Needlework</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_395">395</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>1]</a></span></p> + +<h1 class="padtop">THE ART<br /> +<br /> +<span class="xsmlfont">OF</span><br /> +<br /> +NEEDLEWORK.</h1> + + + +<h2 class="padtop">INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<h2 class="smlpadt">CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">“Le donne son venute in eccellenza<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">Di ciascun’arte, ove hanno posto cura;<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">E qualunque all’istorie abbia avvertenza,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">Ne sente ancor la fama non oscura.<br /></span> +<span class="i3"> * <span class="space"> </span> * <span class="space"> </span> *<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">E forse ascosi han lor debiti onori<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">L’invidia, o il non saper degli scrittori.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Ariosto.</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>In all ages woman may lament the ungallant +silence of the historian. His pen is the record of +sterner actions than are usually the vocation of the +gentler sex, and it is only when fair individuals have +been by extraneous circumstances thrown out, as +it were, on the canvas of human affairs—when they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>2]</a></span> +have been forced into a publicity little consistent +with their natural sphere—that they have become his +theme. Consequently those domestic virtues which +are woman’s greatest pride, those retiring characteristics +which are her most becoming ornament, +those gentle occupations which are her best employment, +find no record on pages whose chief aim and +end is the blazoning of manly heroism, of royal disputations, +or of trumpet-stirring records. And if this +is the case even with historians of enlightened times, +who have the gallantry to allow woman to be a component +part of creation, we can hardly wonder that +in darker days she should be utterly and entirely +overlooked.</p> + +<p>Mohammed asserted that women had no souls; +and moreover, that, setting aside the “diviner part,” +there had only existed <em>four</em> of whom the mundane +qualifications entitled them to any degree of approbation. +Before him, Aristotle had asserted that +Nature only formed women when and because she +found that the imperfection of matter did not permit +her to carry on the world without them.</p> + +<p>This complimentary doctrine has not wanted supporters. +“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Des hommes très sages ont écrit que la +Nature, dont l’intention et le dessein est toujours de +tendre à la perfection, ne produirait s’il était possible, +jamais que des hommes, et que quand il naît +une femme c’est un monstre dans l’ordre de ses productions, +né expressément contre sa volonté: ils +ajoutent, que, comme on voit naître un homme +aveugle, boiteux, ou avec quelqu’autre défaut nature; +et comme on voit à certains arbres des fruits +qui ne mûrissent jamais; ainsi l’on peut dire que la +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>3]</a></span> +femme est un animal produit par accident et par le +hasard.</span>”<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Without touching upon this extreme assertion that +woman is but “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">un monstre</span>,” an animal produced +by chance, we may observe briefly, that women have +ever, with some few exceptions,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> been considered as +a degraded and humiliated race, until the promulgation +of the Christian religion elevated them in society: +and that this distinction still exists is evident +from the difference at this moment exhibited between +the countries professing Mohammedanism and +those professing Christianity.</p> + +<p>Still, though in our happy country it is now pretty +generally allowed that women are “des créatures +humaines,” it is no new remark that they are comparatively +lightly thought of by the “nobler” gender. +This is absolutely the case even in those countries +where civilization and refinement have elevated +the sex to a higher grade in society than they ever +before reached. Women are courted, flattered, +caressed, extolled; but still the difference is there, +and the “lords of the creation” take care that it +shall be understood. Their own pursuits—public, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>4]</a></span> +are the theme of the historian—private, of the biographer; +nay, the every-day circumstances of life—their +dinners—their speeches—their toasts—and +their <i>post cœnam</i> eloquence, are noted down for immortality: +whilst a woman with as much sense, with more +eloquence, with lofty principles, enthusiastic feelings, +and pure conduct—with sterling virtue to command +respect, and the self-denying conduct of a martyr—steals +noiselessly through her appointed path in life; +and if she excite a passing comment during her +pilgrimage, is quickly lost in oblivion when that pilgrimage +hath reached its appointed goal.</p> + +<p>And this is but as it should be. Woe to that +nation whose women, as a habit, as a custom, as a +matter of course, seek to intrude on the attributes of +the other sex, and in a vain, a foolish, and surely a +most unsuccessful pursuit of publicity, or power, +or fame, forget the distinguishing, the high, the +noble, the lofty, the pure and <em>unearthly</em> vocation +of their sex. Every earthly charity, every unearthly +virtue, are the legitimate object of woman’s pursuit. +It is hers to soothe pain, to alleviate suffering, to +soften discord, to solace the time-worn spirit on +earth, to train the youthful one for heaven. Such is +woman’s magnificent vocation; and in the peaceful +discharge of such duties as these she may be content +to steal noiselessly on to her appointed bourne, +“the world forgetting, by the world forgot.”</p> + +<p>But these splendid results are not the effect of +great exertions—of sudden, and uncertain, and enthusiastic +efforts. They are the effect of a course, +of a system of minor actions and of occupations, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>5]</a></span> +<em>individually</em> insignificant in their appearance, and +noiseless in their approach. They are like “the gentle +dew from heaven” in their silent unnoted progress, +and, like that, are known only by their blessed results.</p> + +<p>They involve a routine of minor duties which +often appear, at first view, little if at all connected +with such mighty ends. But such an inference +would lead to a false conclusion. It is entirely of +insignificant details that the sum of human life is +made up; and any one of those details, how insignificant +soever <em>apparently</em> in itself, as a link in +the chain of human life is of <em>definite</em> relative value. +The preparing of a spoonful of gruel may seem a +very insignificant matter; yet who that stands by the +sick-bed of one near and dear to him, and sees the +fevered palate relieved, the exhausted frame refreshed +by it, but will bless the hand that made it? +It is not the independent intrinsic worth of each +isolated action of woman which stamps its value—it +is their bearing and effect on the mass. It is the +daily and hourly accumulation of minute particles +which form the vast amount.</p> + +<p>And if we look for that feminine employment +which adds most absolutely to the comforts and the +elegancies of life, to what other shall we refer than +to <small>NEEDLEWORK</small>? The hemming of a pocket-handkerchief +is a trivial thing in itself, yet it is a branch +of an art which furnishes a useful, a graceful, +and an agreeable occupation to one-half of the +human race, and adds very materially to the comforts +of the other half.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>6]</a></span> +How sings our own especial Bard?—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“So long as garments shall be made or worne;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as hemp, or flax, or sheep shall bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their linnen wollen fleeces yeare by yeare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as silkwormes, with exhausted spoile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of their own entrailes, for mans gaine shall toyle:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, till the world be quite dissolv’d and past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long, at least, the <small>NEEDLE’S</small> use shall last.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>’Tis true, indeed, that as far as <em>necessity</em>, rigidly +speaking, is concerned, a very small portion of +needlework would suffice; but it is also true that the +very signification of the word necessity is lost, buried +amidst the accumulations of ages. We talk habitually +of <em>mere necessaries</em>, but the fact is, that we +have hardly an idea of what merely necessities are.</p> + +<p>St. Paul, the hermit, when abiding in the wilderness, +might be reduced to necessities; and in that +noble and exalted instance of high principle referred +to by Mr. Wesley,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> where a person unknown to +others, seeking no praise, and looking to no reward +but the applaudings of his own conscience, bought +a pennyworth of parsnips weekly, and on them, and +them alone, with the water in which they were boiled, +lived, that he might save money to pay his debts.—Surely +a man of such incorruptible integrity as this +would spend nothing intentionally in superfluities of +dress—and yet, mark how many he would have. +His shirt would be “curiously wrought,” his neckcloth +neatly hemmed; his coat and waistcoat and +trousers would have undergone the usual mysteries +of shaping and seaming; his hat would be neatly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>7]</a></span> +bound round the edge; his stockings woven or +knitted; his shoes soled and stitched and tied; neither +must we debar him a pocket-handkerchief and +a pair of gloves. And see what this man—as great, +nay, a greater anchoret in his way than St. Paul, +for he had the world and its temptations all around, +while the saint had fled from both—yet see what <em>he</em> +thought absolutely requisite in lieu of the sheepskin +which was St. Paul’s wardrobe. See what was required +“to cover and keep warm” in the eighteenth +century,—nay, not even to “keep warm,” for we +did not allow either great-coat or comforter. See +then what was required merely to “cover,” and then +say whether the art of needlework is a trivial one.</p> + +<p>Could we, as in days of yore, when sylphs and +fairies deigned to mingle with mortals, and shed +their gracious influence on the scenes and actions of +every-day life—could we, by some potent spell or +by some fitting oblation, propitiate the Genius of +Needlework, induce her to descend from her hidden +shrine, and indulge her votaries with a glimpse +of her radiant <small>SELF</small>—what a host of varied reminiscences +would that glimpse conjure up in our +minds, as—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“——guided by historic truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We <em>trod</em> the long extent of backward time!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">She</span> was twin born with necessity, the first necessity +the world had ever known, but she quickly left +this stern and unattractive companion, and followed +many leaders in her wide and varied range. She +became the handmaiden of Fancy; she adorned the +train of Magnificence; she waited upon Pomp; she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>8]</a></span> +decorated Religion; she obeyed Charity; she served +Utility; she aided Pleasure; she pranked out Fun; +and she mingled with all and every circumstance of +life.</p> + +<p>Many changes and chances has it been her lot to +behold. At one time honoured and courted, she +was the acknowledged and cherished guest of the +royal and noble. Then in gorgeous drapery, begemmed +with brilliants, bedropped with gold, she reigned +supreme in hall and palace; or in silken tissue girt +she adorned the high-born maiden’s bower what time +the “deeds of knighthood” were “in solemn canto” +told. In still more rich array, in kingly purple, in +regal tissue, in royal magnificence, she stood within +the altar’s sacred pale; and her robes, rich in Tyrian +dye, and glittering with Ophir’s gold, swept the +hallowed pavement. When battle aroused the land +she inspirited the host. When the banner was unfurled +she pointed to the device which sent its message +home to every heart; she displayed the cipher +on the hero’s pennon which nerved him sooner to +relinquish life than it; she entwined those initials +in the scarf, the sight of which struck fresh ardour +into his breast.</p> + +<p>But she fell into disrepute, and was rejected from +the halls of the noble. Still was she ever busy, ever +occupied, and not only were her services freely given +to all who required them, but given with such +winning grace that she required but to be once +known to be ever loved—so exquisitely did she +adapt herself to the peculiarities of all.</p> + +<p>With flowing ringlets and silken robe, carolling +gaily as she worked, you would see her pinking the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>9]</a></span> +ruffles of the Cavalier, and ever and anon adding to +their piquancy by some new and dainty device: then +you would behold her with smoothly plaited hair, +and sad-coloured garment of serge, and looks like a +November day, hemming the bands of a Roundhead, +and withal adding numerous layers of starch. With +grave and sedate aspect she would shape and +sew the uncomely raiment of a Genevan divine; +with neat-handed alacrity she would prepare the +grave and becoming garments of the Anglican +Church, though perhaps a gentle sigh would +escape, a sigh of regret for the stately and glowing +vestments of old: for they did honour to the house +of God, not because they were stately and glowing, +but because they were offerings of <em>our best</em>.</p> + +<p>In all the sweet charities of domestic life she has +ever been a participant. Often and again has she +fled the splendid court, the glittering ball-room, and +taken her station at the quiet hearth of the gentle +and home-loving matron. She has lightened the +weariness of many a solitary vigil, and she has +heightened the enjoyment of many a social gossip.</p> + +<p>Nor even while courted and caressed in courts +and palaces did Needlework absent herself from the +habitations of the poor. Oh no, she was their familiar +friend, the daily and hourly companion of their +firesides. And when she experienced, as all do +experience, the fickleness of court favour, she was +cherished and sheltered there. And there she remained, +happy in her utility, till again summoned +by royal mandate to resume her station near the +throne. The illustrious and excellent lady who lately +filled the British throne, and who reigned still more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>10]</a></span> +surely in the hearts of Englishwomen, and who has +most graciously permitted us to place her honoured +name on these pages, allured Needlework from her +long seclusion, and reinstated her in her once familiar +place among the great and noble.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>Fair reader! you see that this gentle dame <span class="smcap">Needlework</span> +is of ancient lineage, of high descent, of +courtly habits: will you not permit me to make you +somewhat better acquainted? Pray travel onward +with me to her shrine. The way is not toilsome, nor +is the track rugged; but,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Where the silver fountains wander,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the golden streams meander,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>amid the sunny meads and flower-bestrewn paths of +fancy and taste—there will she beguile us. Do not +then, pray do not, forsake me.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">On aurait de la peine à se persuader qu’une pareille opinion eût +été mise gravement en question dans un concile, et qu’on n’eût +décidé en faveur des femmes qu’après un assez long examen. +Cependant le fait est très véritable, et ce fut dans le Concile de +Macon.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Problème sur les Femmes, où l’on essaye de prouver que +les femmes ne sont point des créatures humaines.</span>—<i>Amsterdam, +1744.</i></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +As, for instance, the ancient Germans, and their offshoots, the +Saxons, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> +Southey’s Life; vol. ii.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>11]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">EARLY NEEDLEWORK.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The use of sewing is exceeding old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As in the sacred text it is enrold:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our parents first in Paradise began.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">John Taylor.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The rose was in rich bloom on Sharon’s plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When a young mother, with her first-born, thence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Went up to Sion; for the boy was vow’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto the Temple service. By the hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She led him; and her silent soul the while,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Met her sweet serious glance, rejoic’d to think<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bring before her God.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Hemans.</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>In speaking of the origin of needlework it will be +necessary to define accurately what we mean by the +term “needlework;” or else, when we assert that +Eve was the first sempstress, we may be taken to +task by some critical antiquarian, because we may +not be able precisely to prove that the frail and +beautiful mother of mankind made use of a little +weapon of polished steel, finely pointed at one end +and bored at the other, and “warranted not to cut +in the eye.” Assuredly we do not mean to assert +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>12]</a></span> +that she did use such an instrument; most probably—we +would <em>almost</em> venture to say most <em>certainly</em>—she +did not. But then again the cynical critic +would attack us:—“You say that Eve was the first +professor of <em>needle</em>work, and yet you disclaim the +use of a needle for her.”</p> + +<p>No, good sir, we do not. Like other profound +investigators and original commentators, we do not +annihilate one hypothesis ere we are prepared with +another, “ready cut and dried,” to rise, like any +fabled phoenix, on the ashes of its predecessor. It +is not long since we were edified by a conversation +which we heard, or rather overheard, between two +sexagenarians—both well versed in antiquarian lore, +and neither of them deficient in antiquarian tenacity +of opinion—respecting some theory which one +of them wanted to establish about some aborigines. +The concluding remark of the conversation—and we +opined that it might as well have formed the commencement—was—</p> + +<p>“If you want to lay down <em>facts</em>, you must follow +history; if you want to establish a system, it is +quite easy to place the people where you like.”</p> + +<p>So, if I wished to “establish a system,” I could +easily make Eve work with a “superfine drill-eyed +needle:” but this is not my object.</p> + +<p>It seems most probable that Eve’s first needle +was a thorn:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Before man’s fall the rose was born,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">St. Ambrose sayes, without the thorn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, for man’s fault, then was the thorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without the fragrant rosebud, born.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Why thorns should spring up at the precise +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>13]</a></span> +moment of the fall is difficult to account for in a world +where everything has its use, except we suppose +that they were meant for needles: and general +analogy leads us to this conclusion; for in almost all +existing records of people in what we are pleased +to call a “savage” state, we find that women make +use of this primitive instrument, or a fish-bone. +“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Avant l’invention des aiguilles d’acier, on a dû +se servir, à leur défaut, d’épines, ou d’arêtes de +poissons, ou d’os d’animaux.</span>” And as Eve’s first +specimen of needlework was certainly completed +before the sacrifice of any living thing, we may +safely infer that the latter implements were not +familiar to her. The Cimbrian inhabitants of +Britain passed their time in weaving baskets, or in +sewing together for garments the skins of animals +taken in the chase, while they used as needles for +uniting these simple habiliments small bones of +fish or animals rudely sharpened at one end; and +needles just of the same sort were used by the +inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, when the celebrated +Captain Cook first visited them.</p> + +<p>Proceed we to the material of the first needlework.</p> + +<p>“They sewed themselves fig-leaves together, and +made themselves aprons.”</p> + +<p>Thus the earliest historical record; and thus the +most esteemed poetical commentator.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">“Those leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They gather’d, broad as Amazonian targe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, with what skill they had, together sew’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gird their waist.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It is supposed that the leaves alluded to here were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>14]</a></span> +those of the banian-tree, of which the leaves, says +Sir James Forbes, are large, soft, and of a lively +green; the fruit a small bright scarlet fig. The +Hindoos are peculiarly fond of this tree; they consider +its long duration, its outstretching arms, and +overshadowing beneficence, as emblems of the Deity, +and almost pay it divine honours. The Brahmins, +who thus “find a fane in every sacred grove,” +spend much of their time in religious solitude, under +the shade of the banian-tree; they plant it near +the dewals, or Hindoo temples; and in those villages +where there is no structure for public worship, +they place an image under one of these trees, and +there perform morning and evening sacrifice. The +size of some of these trees is stupendous. Sir James +Forbes mentions one which has three hundred and +fifty <em>large</em> trunks, the smaller ones exceeding three +thousand; and another, whereunder the chief of the +neighbourhood used to encamp in magnificent style; +having a saloon, dining room, drawing-room, bedchambers, +bath, kitchen, and every other accommodation, +all in separate tents; yet did this noble tree +cover the whole, together with his carriages, horses, +camels, guards, and attendants; while its spreading +branches afforded shady spots for the tents of his +friends, with their servants and cattle. And in the +march of an army it has been known to shelter +seven thousand men.</p> + +<p>Such is the banian-tree, the pride of Hindûstan: +which Milton refers to as the one which served +“our general mother” for her first essay in the art +of needlework.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>15]</a></span> +<span class="i4">“Both together went<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fig-tree; not that tree for fruit renown’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But such as at this day, to Indians known,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Branching so broad and long, that in the ground<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High overarch’d, and echoing walks between:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At loopholes cut through thickest shade: Those leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They gather’d, broad as Amazonian targe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, with what skill they had, together sew’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gird their waist.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Some of the most interesting incidents in Holy +Writ turn on the occupation of needlework; slight +sketches, nay, hardly so much, but mere touches +which engage all the gentler, and purer, and holier +emotions of our nature. For instance: the beloved +child of the beautiful mother of Israel, for whom +Jacob toiled fourteen years, which were but as one +day for the love he bare her—this child, so eagerly +coveted by his mother, so devotedly loved by his +father, and who was destined hereafter to wield the +destinies of such a mighty empire—had a token, +a peculiar token, bestowed on him of his father’s +overwhelming love and affection. And what was it? +“A coat of many colours;” probably including some +not in general use, and obtained by an elaborate +process. Entering himself into the minutiæ of a +concern, which, however insignificant in itself, was +valuable in his eyes as giving pleasure to his boy, +the fond father selects pieces of various-coloured +cloth, and sets female hands, the most expert of his +household, to join them together in the form of a +coat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>16]</a></span> +But, alas! to whom should he intrust the task? +She whose fingers would have revelled in it, Rachel +the mother, was no more; her warm heart was cold, +her busy fingers rested in the tomb. Would his +sister, would Dinah execute the work? No; it was +but too probable that she shared in the jealousy of +her brothers. No matter. The father apportions +the task to his handmaidens, and himself superintends +the performance. With pleased eye he +watches its progress, and with benignant smile he +invests the happy and gratified child with the +glowing raiment.</p> + +<p>This elaborate piece of work, the offering of paternal +affection to please a darling child, was probably +the simple and somewhat clumsy original of +those which were afterwards embroidered and subsequently +woven in various colours, and which came +to be regarded as garments of dignity and appropriated +to royalty; as it is said of Tamar that “she +had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with +such robes were the king’s daughters that were +virgins apparelled.” It is even now customary in +India to dress a favourite or beautiful child in a +coat of various colours tastefully <em>sewed together</em>; +and it may not perhaps be very absurd to refer +even to so ancient an origin as Joseph’s coat of +many colours the superstition now prevalent in some +countries, which teaches that a child clothed in a +garment of many colours is safe from the blasting +of malicious tongues or the machinations of evil +spirits.</p> + +<p>In the Book of Samuel we read, “And Hannah +his mother, made him a little coat.” This seems a +trivial incident enough, yet how interesting is the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>17]</a></span> +scene which this simple mention conjures up! With +all the earnest fervour of that separated race who +hoped each one to be the honoured instrument of +bringing a Saviour into the world, Hannah, then +childless, prayed that this reproach might be taken +from her. Her prayer was heard, her son was born; +and in holy gratitude she reared him, not for wealth, +for fame, for worldly honour, or even for her own +domestic comfort,—but, from his birth, and before +his birth she devoted him as the servant of the +Most High. She indulged herself with his presence +only till her maternal cares had fitted him for duty; +and then, with a tearful eye it might be, and a faltering +footstep, but an unflinching resolution, she +devoted him to the altar of her God.</p> + +<p>But never did his image leave her mind: never +amid the fair scions which sprang up and bloomed +around her hearth did her thoughts forsake her +first-born; and yearly, when she went up to the +Tabernacle with Elkanah her husband, did she +take him “a little coat” which she had made. We +may fancy her quiet happy thoughts when at this +employment; we may fancy the eager earnest questionings +of the little group by whom she was surrounded; +the wondering about their absent brother; +the anxious catechisings respecting his whereabouts; +and, above all, the admiration of the new garment +itself, and the earnest criticisms on it; especially if +in form and fashion it should somewhat differ from +their own. And then arrives the moment when the +garment is committed to its envelope; and the +mother, weeping to part from her little ones, yet +longing to see her absent boy, receives their adieux +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>18]</a></span> +and their thousand reminiscences, and sets forth on +her journey.</p> + +<p>Again she treads the hallowed courts, again she +meekly renews her vows, and again a mother’s longings, +a mother’s hopes are quenched in the full enjoyment +of a mother’s love. Beautiful and good, the +blessing of Heaven attending him, and throwing a +beam of light on his fair brow, the pure and holy child +appears like a seraph administering at that altar to +which he had been consecrated a babe, and at which +his ministry was sanctioned even by the voice of the +Most High himself, when in the solemn stillness of +midnight he breathed his wishes into the heart of +the child, and made him, infant as he was, the +medium of his communications to one grown hoary +in the service of the altar.</p> + +<p>The solemn duties ended, Hannah invests her +hopeful boy with the little coat, whilst her willing +fingers lingeringly perform their office, as if loth to +quit a task in which they so much delight. And then +with meek step and grateful heart she wends her +homeward way, and meditates tranquilly on the past +interview, till the return of another year finds her +again on her pilgrimage of love—the joyful bearer +of another “little coat.”</p> + +<p>And a high tribute is paid to needlework in the +history of Dorcas, who was restored to life by the +apostle St. Peter, by whom “all the widows stood +weeping, and showing the coats and garments which +Dorcas made while she was with them.”</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“In these were read<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The monuments of Dorcas dead:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These were thy acts, and thou shalt have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These hung as honours o’er thy grave:<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>19]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And after us, distressed,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Should fame be dumb,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thy very tomb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would cry out, Thou art blessed!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But it is not merely as an object of private and +domestic utility that needlework is referred to in +the Bible. It was applied early to the service of +the Tabernacle, and the directions concerning it are +very clear and specific; but before this time, and most +probably as early as the time of Abraham, rich and +valuable raiment of needlework was accounted of +as part of the <i>bonâ fide</i> property of a wealthy man. +When the patriarch’s steward sought Rebekah for +the wife of Isaac, he “brought forth jewels of silver, +and jewels of gold, and <em>raiment</em>.” This “raiment” +consisted, in all likelihood, of garments embroidered +with gold, the handiwork, it may be, of the female +slaves of the patriarch; such garments being in +very great esteem from the earliest ages, and being +then, as now, a component portion of those presents +or offerings without which one personage hardly +thought of approaching another.</p> + +<p>Fashion in those days was not quite the chameleon-hued +creature that she is at present; nor were +the fabrics on which her fancy was displayed quite +so light and airy: their gold <em>was</em> gold—not silk +covered with gilded silver; and consequently the +raiment of those days, inwrought with slips of gold +beaten thin and cut into spangles or strips, and +sewed on in various patterns, sometimes intermingled +with precious stones, would carry its own intrinsic +value with it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>20]</a></span> +This “raiment” descended from father to son, as +a chased goblet and a massy wrought urn does now; +and was naturally and necessarily inventoried as a +portion of the property. The practice of making presents +of garments is still quite usual amongst the eastern +nations; and to such an excess was it carried with +regard to those who, from their calling or any other +circumstance, were in public favour, that, so late as +the ninth century, Bokteri, an illustrious poet of +Cufah, had so many presents made him, that at his +death he was found possessed of a hundred complete +suits of clothes, two hundred shirts, and five hundred +turbans.</p> + +<p>Horace, speaking of Lucullus (who had pillaged +Asia, and first introduced Asiatic<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> refinements +among the Romans), says that, some persons having +waited on him to request the loan of a hundred +suits out of his wardrobe for the Roman stage, he +exclaimed—“A hundred suits! how is it possible +for me to furnish such a number? However, I will +look over them and send you what I have.”—After +some time he writes a note and tells them he had +<em>five thousand</em>, to the whole or part of which they were +welcome.</p> + +<p>In all the eastern world formerly, and to a great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>21]</a></span> +extent now, the arraying a person in a rich dress is +considered a very high compliment, and it was one +of the ancient modes of investing with the highest +degree of subordinate power. Thus was Joseph +arrayed by Pharaoh, and Mordecai by Ahasueras.</p> + +<p>We all remember what important effects are produced +by splendid robes in “The Tale of the Wonderful +Lamp,” and in many other of those fascinating +tales (which are allowed to be rigidly correct in the +delineations of eastern life). They were doubtless +esteemed the richest part of the spoil after a battle, +as we find the mother of Sisera apportioning them as +his share, and reiterating her delighted anticipations +of the “raiment of needlework” which should be +his: “a prey of divers colours, of divers colours of +needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both +sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil.”</p> + +<p>Job has many allusions to raiment as an essential +part of “treasures” in the East; and our Saviour +refers to the same when he desires his hearers not +to lay up for themselves “treasures” on earth, where +<em>moth</em> and rust corrupt. St. James even more explicitly: +“Go to now, ye rich men; weep and howl +for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your +gold and silver is cankered, and your <small>GARMENTS</small> are +moth-eaten.”</p> + +<p>The first notice we have of gold-wire or thread +being used in embroidery is in Exodus, in the directions +given for the embroidery of the priests’ garments: +from this it appears that the metal was still +used alone, being beaten fine and then rounded. +This art the Hebrews probably learnt from the +Egyptians, by whom it was carried to such an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>22]</a></span> +astonishing degree of nicety, that they could either +weave it in or work it on their finest linen. And +doubtless the productions of the Hebrews now must +have equalled the most costly and intricate of those +of Egypt. This the adornments of the Tabernacle +testify.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +Persia had great wardrobes, where there were always many +hundred habits, sorted, ready for presents, and the intendant of the +wardrobe sent them to those persons for whom they were designed by +the sovereign; more than forty tailors were always employed in this +service. In Turkey they do not attend so much to the richness as to +the number of the dresses, giving more or fewer according to the +dignity of the persons to whom they are presented, or the marks of +favour the prince would confer on his guests.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>23]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF THE TABERNACLE.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The cedars wave on Lebanon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Judah’s statelier maids are gone.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Byron.</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Gorgeous and magnificent must have been the +spectacle presented by that ancient multitude of +Israel, as they tabernacled in the wilderness of Sinai. +These steril solitudes are now seldom trodden by +the foot of man, and the adventurous traveller who +toils up their rugged steeps can scarce picture to +himself a host sojourning there, so wild, so barren +is the place, so fearful are the precipices, so dismal +the ravines. On the spot where “Moses talked with +God” the grey and mouldering remnants of a convent +attest the religious veneration and zeal of +some of whom these ruins are the only memorial; +and near them is a small chapel dedicated to the +Virgin, while religious hands have crowned even +the summit of the steep ascent by “a house of +prayer;” and at the foot of the sister peak, Horeb, +is an ancient Greek convent, founded by the Emperor +Justinian 1400 years ago, which is occupied +still by some harmless recluses, the monotony of +whose lives is only broken by the few and far +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>24]</a></span> +between visits of the adventurous traveller, or the more +frequent and startling interruptions of the wild +Arabs on their predatory expeditions.</p> + +<p>But neither church nor temple of any sort, nor +inquiring traveller, nor prowling Arab, varied the +tremendous grandeur of the scene, when the Israelitish +host encamped there. Weary and toilsome +had been the pilgrimage from the base of the mountain +where the desolation was unrelieved by a trace of +vegetation, to the upper country or wilderness, +called more particularly, “the Desert of Sinai,” +where narrow intersecting valleys, not destitute of +verdure, cherished perhaps the lofty and refreshing +palm. Here in the ravines, in the valleys, and +amid the clefts of the rocks, clustered the hosts of +Israel, while around them on every side arose lofty +summits and towering precipices, where the eye that +sought to scan their fearful heights was lost in the +far-off dimness. Far, far around, spread this savage +wilderness, so frowning, and dreary, and desolate, +that any curious explorer beyond the precincts of the +camp would quickly return to the <em>home</em> which its +vicinity afforded even there.</p> + +<p>Clustered closely as bees in a hive were the tents +of the wandering race, yet with an order and a uniformity +which even the unpropitious nature of the +locality was not permitted to break; for, separated +into tribes, each one, though sufficiently connected +for any object of kindness or brotherhood, for public +worship, or social intercourse, was inalienably distinct.</p> + +<p>And in the midst, extending from east to west, a +length of fifty-five feet, was reared the splendid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>25]</a></span> +Tabernacle. For God had said, “Let them make +me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them;” +and behold, “they came, both men and women, as +many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, +and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels +of gold; and every man that offered, offered an +offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man +with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, +and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and red skins of +rams, and badgers’ skins, brought them. Every +one that did offer an offering of silver and brass +brought the Lord’s offering: and every man with +whom was found shittim-wood for any work of the +service brought it. And all the women that were +wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought +that which they had spun, both of blue, and of +purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all +the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom +spun goats’ hair. And the rulers brought onyx-stones, +and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for +the breastplate; and spice, and oil for the light, +and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.”</p> + +<p>And all these materials, which the “willing-hearted” +offered in such abundance that proclamation +was obliged to be made through the camp to +stop their influx, had been wrought under the +superintendence of Bezaleel and Aholiab, who were +divinely inspired for the task; and the Tabernacle +was now completed, with the exception of some of +the finest needlework, which had not yet received +the finishing touches.</p> + +<p>But what was already done bore ample testimony +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>26]</a></span> +to the skill, the taste, and the industry of the “wise-hearted” +daughters of Israel. The outer covering +of the Tabernacle, or that which lay directly over +the framework of boards of which it was constructed, +and hung from the roof down the sides +and west end, was formed of tabash skins; over this +was another covering of ram-skins dyed red; a +hanging made of goats’ hair, such as is still used +in the tents of the Bedouin Arabs, had been spun +and woven by the matrons of the congregation, to +hang over the skins; and these substantial draperies +were beautifully concealed by a first or inner +covering of fine linen. On this the more youthful +women had embroidered figures of cherubim in +scarlet, purple, and light blue, entwined with gold. +They had made also sacerdotal vestments, the +“coats of fine linen” worn by all the priests, which, +when old, were unravelled, and made into wicks +burnt in the feast of tabernacles. They had made +the “girdles of needlework,” which were long, very +long pieces of fine twined linen (carried several +times round the body), and were embroidered with +flowers in blue, and purple, and scarlet: the “robe +of the ephod” also for the high priest, of light blue, +and elaborately wrought round the bottom in pomegranates; +and the plain ephods for the priests.</p> + +<p>But now the sun was declining in the western sky, +and the busy artificers of all sorts were relaxing +from the toil of the day.</p> + +<p>In a retired spot, apart from the noise of the +camp, paced one in solitary meditation. Stalwart +he was in frame, majestic in bearing; he trod the +earth like one of her princes; but the loftiness of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>27]</a></span> +demeanour was forgotten when you looked on the +surpassing benignity of his countenance. Each +accidental passer hushed his footstep and lowered +his voice as he approached; more, as it should seem, +from involuntary awe and reverence than from any +understood prohibition.</p> + +<p>But with some of these loiterers a child of some +four or five summers, in earnest chase after a +brilliant fly, whose golden wings glittered in the +sunlight, heedlessly pursued it even to the very +path of the Solitary, and to the interruption of his +walk. Hastily, and somewhat peremptorily, the +father calls him away. The stranger looks up, and +casting a glance around, from an eye to whose +brilliance that of the eagle would look dim, he for +the first time sees the little intruder. Gently placing +a hand on the child’s head, “Bless thee,” he said, +in a voice whose every tone was melody: “Bless +thee, little one; the blessing of the God of Israel be +upon thee,” and calmly resumed his walk. The +child, as if awed, mutely returned to his friends, who, +after casting a glance of reverence and admiration, +returned to the camp.</p> + +<p>Here, scattered all around, are groups occupied +in those varied kinds of busy idleness which will naturally +engage the moments of an intelligent multitude +at the close of an active day. Here a knot of +men in the pride of manhood, whose flashing eyes +have lost none of their fire, whose raven locks are yet +not varied by a single silver line, are talking politics—such +politics as the warlike men of Israel would +talk, when discoursing of the promised land and the +hostile hosts through whose serried ranks they must +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>28]</a></span> +cut their intrepid way thither, and whom, impatient +of all delay, they burn to engage. Here were elder +ones, “whose natural force” was in some degree +“abated,” and who were lamenting the decree, however +justly incurred, which forbade them to lay their +bones in the land of their lifelong hope; and here +was a patriarch, bowed down with the weight of +years, whose silver hairs lay on his shoulders, whose +snow-white beard flowed upon his breast, who as he +leaned upon his staff was recounting to his rapt auditors +the dealing of Jehovah with his people in +ancient days; how the Most High visited his father +Abraham, and had sworn unto Jacob that his seed +should be brought out of captivity, and revisit the +promised land. “And behold,” said the old man, +“it will now come to pass.”</p> + +<p>But what is passing in that detached portion of +the camp? who sojourn in yonder tents which attract +more general attention than all the others, and in +which all ages and degrees seem interested? Now a +group of females are there, eagerly conversing; +anon a Hebrew mother leads her youthful and beautiful +daughter, and seems to incite her to remain +there; now a hoary priest enters, and in a few moments +returns pondering; and anon a trio of more +youthful Levites with pleased and animated countenances +return from the same spot.</p> + +<p>On a sudden is every eye turned thitherward; for +he who just now paced the solitary glade—none +other than the chosen leader of God’s host, the majestic +lawgiver, the meekest and the mightiest of all +created beings—he likewise wends his way to these +attractive tents. With him enters Aaron, a venerable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>29]</a></span> +man, with hoary beard and flowing white robes; +and follow him a majestic-looking female who was +wont to lead the solemn dance—Miriam the sister of +Aaron; and a youth of heroic bearing, in the springtime +of that life whose maturity was spent in leading +the chosen race to conquest in the promised land.</p> + +<p>With proud and pleased humility did the fair inmates +of those tents, the most accomplished of Israel’s +daughters, display to their illustrious visitors the +“fine needlework” to which their time and talents +had been for a long season devoted, and which was +now on the eve of completion. The “holy garments” +which God had commanded to be made “for +glory and for beauty;” the pomegranates on the +hem of the high priest’s robe, wrought in blue and +purple and scarlet; the flowers on his “girdle of +needlework,” glowing as in life; the border on the +ephod, in which every varied colour was shaded off +into a rich and delicate tracery of gold; and above +all, that exquisite work, the most beautiful of all their +productions—the veil which separated the “Holy of +Holies,” the place where the Most High vouchsafed +his especial presence, where none but the high +priest might presume to enter, and he but once a +year, from the remaining portions of the Tabernacle. +This beautiful hanging was of fine white linen, but +the original fabric was hardly discernible amid the +gorgeous tracery with which it was inwrought. The +whole surface was covered with a profusion of flowers, +intermixed with fanciful devices of every sort, except +such as might represent the forms of animals—these +were rigidly excluded. Cherubims seemed to be +hovering around and grasping its gorgeous folds; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>30]</a></span> +and if tradition and history be to be credited, this +drapery merited, if ever the production of the needle +did merit, the epithet which English talent has since +rendered classical, “<em>Needlework Sublime</em>.”</p> + +<p>Long, despite the advancing shades of evening, +would the visitors have lingered untired to comment +upon this beautiful production, but one said, “Behold!” +and immediately all, following the direction of +his outstretched arm, looked towards the Tabernacle. +There a thin spiral flame is seen to gleam palely +through the pillar of smoke; but perceptibly it increases, +and even while the eye is fixed it waxes +stronger and brighter, and quickly though gradually +the smoke has melted away, and a tall vivid +flame of fire is in its place. Higher and taller it +aspires: its spiral flame waxes broader and broader, +ascends higher and higher, gleams brighter and +brighter, till it mingles in the very vault of heaven, +with the beams of the setting sun which bathe in +crimson fire the summits of Sinai.</p> + +<p>In the eastern sky the stars gleam brightly in the +pure transparent atmosphere; and ere long the +moon casts pale radiant beams adown the dark +ravines, and utters her wondrous lore to the silent +hills and the gloomy waste. The sounds of toil are +hushed; the weary labourer seeks repose; the toil-worn +wanderer is at rest: the murmuring sounds of +domestic life sink lower and lower; the breath of +prayer becomes fainter and fainter; the voice of +praise, the evensong of Israel, comes stealing +through the calm of evening, and now dies softly +away. Nought is heard but the password of the +sentinels; the far-off shriek of the bat as it flaps its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>31]</a></span> +wings beneath the shadow of some fearful precipice; +or the scream of the eagle, which, wheeling round the +lofty summits of the mountain, closes in less and +lesser circles, till, as the last faint gleam of evening +is lost in the dark horizon, it drops into its eyrie.</p> + +<p>The moon and the stars keep their eternal watch; +the beacon-light of God’s immediate presence flames +unchanged by time or chance. It may be that the +appointed earthly shepherd of that chosen flock +passes the still hours of night and solitude in communion +with his God; but silence is over the wilderness, +and the children of Israel are at rest.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>32]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF THE EGYPTIANS.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“How is thy glory, Egypt, pass’d away!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Weep, child of ruin, o’er thy humbled name!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wreck alone that marks thy deep decay<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Now tells the story of thy former fame!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>There can be little doubt that the Jewish maidens +were beholden to their residence in Egypt for that +perfectness of finish in embroidery which was displayed +so worthily in the service of the Tabernacle. +Egypt was at this time the seat of science, of art, and +learning; for it was thought the highest summary +which could be given of Moses’ acquirements to say +that he was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians. +By the researches of the curious, new proofs +are still being brought to light of the perfection +of their skill in various arts, and we are not without +testimony that the practice of the lighter and +more ornamental bore progress with that of the +stupendous and magnificent. Of these lighter pursuits +we at present refer only to the art of needlework.</p> + +<p>The Egyptian women were treated with courtesy, +with honour, and even with deference: indeed, some +historians have gone so far as to say that the women +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>33]</a></span> +transacted public business, to the exclusion of the +men, who were engaged in domestic occupations. +This misapprehension may have arisen from the +fact of men being at times engaged at the loom, +which in all other countries was then considered as +exclusively a feminine occupation; spinning, however, +was principally, if not entirely, confined to +women, who had attained to such perfection in the +pretty and valuable art, that, though the Egyptian +yarn was all spun by the hand, some of the linen made +from it was so exquisitely fine as to be called “woven +air.” And there are some instances recorded by +historians which seem fully to bear out the appellation. +For example: so delicate were the threads +used for nets, that some of these nets would pass +through a man’s ring, and one person could carry a +sufficient number of them to surround a whole wood. +Amasis king of Egypt presented a linen corslet to +the Rhodians of which the threads were each composed +of 365 fibres; and he presented another to +the Lacedemonians, richly wrought with gold; and +each thread of this corslet, though itself very fine, +was composed of 360 other threads all distinct.</p> + +<p>Nor did these beautiful manufactures lack the +addition of equally beautiful needlework. Though +the gold thread used at this time was, as we have +intimated, solid metal, still the Egyptians had attained +to such perfection in the art of moulding it, +that it was fine enough not merely to embroider, but +even to interweave with the linen. The linen corslet +of Amasis, presented, as we have remarked, to the +Lacedemonians, surpassingly fine as was the material, +was worked with a needle in figures of animals +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>34]</a></span> +in gold thread, and from the description given of +the texture of the linen we may form some idea of +the exquisite tenuity of the gold wire which was used +to ornament it.</p> + +<p>Corslets of linen of a somewhat stronger texture +than this one, which was doubtless meant for merely +ornamental wear, were not uncommon amongst the +ancients. The Greeks made thoraces of hide, hemp, +linen, or twisted cord. Of the latter there are some +curious specimens in the interesting museum of the +United Service Club. Alexander had a double +thorax of linen; and Iphicrates ordered his soldiers +to lay aside their heavy metal cuirass, and go to +battle in hempen armour. And among the arms +painted in the tomb of Rameses III. at Thebes +is a piece of defensive armour, a sort of coat or covering +for the body, made of rich stuff, and richly embroidered +with the figures of lions and other animals.</p> + +<p>The dress of the Egyptian ladies of rank was rich +and somewhat gay: in its general appearance not +very dissimilar from the gay chintzes of the present +day, but of more value as the material was usually +linen; and though sometimes stamped in patterns, +and sometimes interwoven with gold threads, was +much more usually worked with the needle. The +richest and most elegant of these were of course selected +to adorn the person of the queen; and when +in the holy book the royal Psalmist is describing the +dress of a bride, supposed to have been Pharaoh’s +daughter, and that she shall be brought to the king “in +raiment of needlework,” he says, as proof of the gorgeousness +of her attire, “her clothing is of wrought +gold.” This is supposed to mean a garment richly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>35]</a></span> +embroidered with the needle in figures in gold +thread, after the manner of Egyptian stitchery.</p> + +<p>Perhaps no royal lady was ever more magnificently +dowered than the queen of Egypt; her apparel +might well be gorgeous. Diodorus says that when +Mœris, from whom the lake derived its name, and +who was supposed to have made the canal, had arranged +the sluices for the introduction of the water, +and established everything connected with it, he assigned +the sum annually derived from this source as +a dowry to the queen for the purchase of jewels, +ointments, and other objects connected with the +toilette. The provision was certainly very liberal, +being a talent every day, or upwards of £70,700 a +year; and when this formed only a portion of the +pin-money of the Egyptian queens, to whom the revenues +of the city of Anthylla, famous for its wines, +were given for their dress, it is certain they had no +reason to complain of the allowance they enjoyed.</p> + +<p>The Egyptian needlewomen were not solely occupied +in the decoration of their persons. The deities +were robed in rich vestments, in the preparation of +which the proudest in the land felt that they were +worthily occupied. This was a source of great gain +to the priests, both in this and other countries, as, after +decorating the idol gods for a time, these rich offerings +were their perquisites, who of course encouraged +this notable sort of devotion. We are told that it +was carried so far that some idols had both winter +and summer garments.</p> + +<p>Tokens of friendship consisting of richly embroidered +veils, handkerchiefs, &c., were then, as now, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>36]</a></span> +passing from one fair hand to another, as pledges of +affection; and as the last holy office of love, the bereaved +mother, the desolate widow, or the maiden +whose budding hopes were blighted by her lover’s +untimely death, might find a fanciful relief to her +sorrows by decorating the garment which was to enshroud +the spiritless but undecaying form. The +chief proportion of the mummy-cloths which have +been so ruthlessly torn from these outraged relics +of humanity are coarse; but some few have been +found delicately and beautifully embroidered; and it +is not unnatural to suppose that this difference was the +result of feminine solicitude and undying affection.</p> + +<p>The embroidering of the sails of vessels too was +pursued as an article of commerce, as well as for the +decoration of native pleasure-boats. The ordinary +sails were white; but the king and his grandees on +all gala occasions made use of sails richly embroidered +with the phœnix, with flowers, and various +other emblems and fanciful devices. Many also +were painted, and some interwoven in checks and +stripes. The boats used in sacred festivals upon the +Nile were decorated with appropriate symbols, according +to the nature of the ceremony or the deity +in whose service they were engaged; and the edges +of the sails were finished with a coloured hem or +border, which would occasionally be variegated with +slight embroidery.</p> + +<p>Shakspeare’s description of the barge of Cleopatra +when she embarked on the river Cydnus to meet +Antony, poetical as it is, seems to be rigidly correct +in detail.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>37]</a></span> +<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">Enobarbus.</span>—I will tell you.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The barge she sat in, like a burnish’d throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Burn’d on the water: the poop was beaten gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were silver;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The water, which they beat, to follow faster,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It beggar’d all description: she did lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In her pavilion (cloth of gold, of tissue),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O’erpicturing that Venus, where we see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fancy outwork nature; on each side her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With diverse-colour’d fans, whose wind did seem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And what they undid, did.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">Agrippa.</span>—<span class="space020"> </span>O, rare for Antony!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">Enobarbus.</span>—Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So many mermaids, tended her i’ the eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And made their bends adornings; at the helm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That yarely frame the office. From the barge<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A strange invisible perfume hits the sense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her people out upon her; and Antony,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bethroned in the market-place, did sit alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And made a gap in nature.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It is said that the silver oars, “which to the tune +of flutes kept stroke,” were pierced with holes of +different sizes, so mechanically contrived, that the +water, as it flowed through them at every stroke, +produced a harmony in concord with that of the +flutes and lyres on board.</p> + +<p>Such a description as the foregoing gives a more +vivid idea than any grave declaration, of the elegant +luxury of the Egyptians.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>38]</a></span> +It were easy to collect instances from the Bible +in which mention is made of Egyptian embroidery, +but one verse (Ezek. xxvii. 7), when the prophet is +addressing the Tyrians, specifically points to the +subject on which we are speaking: “Fine linen, +with broidered work from Egypt, was that which +thou spreadest forth to be thy sail,” &c.</p> + +<p>A common but beautiful style of embroidery was +to draw out entirely the threads of linen which +formed the weft, and to re-form the body of the +material, and vary its appearance, by working in +various stitches and with different colours on the +warp alone.</p> + +<p>Chairs and fauteuils of the most elegant form, +made of ebony and other rare woods, inlaid with +ivory, were in common use amongst the ancient +Egyptians. These were covered, as is the fashion +in the present day, with every variety of rich stuff, +stamped leather, &c.: but many were likewise embroidered +with different coloured wools, with silk +and gold thread. The couches too, which in the +daytime had a rich covering substituted for the +night bedding, gave ample scope for the display of +the inventive genius and persevering industry of +the busy-fingered Egyptian ladies.</p> + +<p>We have given sufficient proof that the Egyptian +females were accomplished in the art of needlework, +and we may naturally infer that they were fond of +it. It is a gentle and a social occupation, and +usefully employs the time, whilst it does not interfere +with the current of the thoughts or the flow of +conversation. The Egyptians were an intelligent +and an animated race; and the sprightly jest or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>39]</a></span> +the lively sally would be interspersed with the +graver details of thoughtful and reflective conversation, +or would give some point to the dull routine +of mere womanish chatter. It seems almost impossible +to have lived amidst the stupendous magnificence +of Egypt in days of yore, without the +mind assimilating itself in some degree to the +greatness with which it was surrounded. The vast +deserts, the stupendous mountains, the river Nile—the +single and solitary river which in itself sufficed +the needs of a mighty empire—these majestic +monuments of nature seemed as emblems to which +the people should fashion, as they did fashion, their +pyramids, their tombs, their sphynxes, their mighty +reservoirs, and their colossal statues. And we can +hardly suppose that such ever-visible objects should +not, during the time of their creation, have some +elevating influence on the weakest mind; and that +therefore frivolity of conversation amongst the +Egyptian ladies was rather the exception than the +rule. But a modern author has amused himself, +and exercised some ingenuity in attempting to prove +the contrary:—</p> + +<p>“Many similar instances of a talent for caricature +are observable in the compositions of Egyptian +artists who executed the paintings on the tombs; +and the ladies are not spared. We are led to infer +that they were not deficient in the talent of conversation; +and the numerous subjects they proposed +are shown to have been examined with great animation. +Among these the question of dress was not +forgotten, and the patterns or the value of trinkets +were discussed with proportionate interest. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>40]</a></span> +maker of an earring, or the shop where it was +purchased, were anxiously inquired; each compared +the workmanship, the style, and the materials of +those she wore, coveted her neighbour’s, or preferred +her own; and women of every class vied +with each other in the display of ‘jewels of silver +and jewels of gold,’ in the texture of their ‘raiment,’ +the neatness of their sandals, and the arrangement +or beauty of their plaited hair.”</p> + +<p>We are too much indebted to this author’s interesting +volumes to quarrel with him for his ungallant +exposition of a very simple painting; but we +beg to place in juxta-position with the above +(though otherwise somewhat out of its place) an +extract from a work by no means characterised by +unnecessary complacency to the fair sex.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">‘Cet homme passe sa vie à forger des nouvelles,’ +me dit alors un gros Athénien qui était assis auprès +de moi. ‘Il ne s’occupe que de choses qui ne le +touchent point. Pour moi, mon intérieur me suffit. +J’ai une femme que j’aime beaucoup;’ et il me fit +l’éloge de sa femme. ‘Hier je ne pus pas souper +avec elle, j’étais prié chez un de mes amis;’ et il +me fit la description du repas. ‘Je me retirai chez +moi assez content. Mais j’ai fait cette nuit un rêve +qui m’inquiète;’ et il me raconta son rêve. Ensuite +il me dit pesamment que la ville fourmillait +d’étrangers; que les hommes d’aujourd’hui ne +valaient pas ceux d’autrefois; que les denrées +étaient à bas prix; qu’on pourrait espérer une bonne +récolte, s’il venait à pleuvoir. Après m’avoir demandé +le quantième du mois, il se leva pour aller +souper avec sa femme.</span>”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>41]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">“———Supreme<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Sits the virtuous housewife,<br /></span> +<span class="i5">The tender mother—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">O’er the circle presiding,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And prudently guiding;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The girls gravely schooling,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The boys wisely ruling;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Her hands never ceasing<br /></span> +<span class="i4">From labours increasing;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And doubling his gains<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With her orderly pains.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With piles of rich treasure the storehouse she spreads,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And winds round the loud-whirring spindle her threads:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She winds—till the bright-polish’d presses are full<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the snow-white linen and glittering wool:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blends the brilliant and solid in constant endeavour,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And resteth never.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">J. H. Merivale.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>It was an admitted opinion amongst the classical +nations of antiquity, that no less a personage than +Minerva herself, “a maiden affecting old fashions +and formality,” visited earth to teach her favourite +nation the mysteries of those implements which are +called “the arms of every virtuous woman;” viz. +the distaff and spindle. In the use of these the +Grecian dames were particularly skilled; in fact, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>42]</a></span> +spinning, weaving, needlework, and embroidery, +formed the chief occupation of those whose rank exonerated +them, even in more primitive days, from the +menial drudgery of a household.</p> + +<p>The Greek females led exceedingly retired lives, +being far more charily admitted to a share of the +recreations of the nobler sex than we of these privileged +days. The ancient Greeks were very magnificent—very: +magnificent senators, magnificent +warriors, magnificent men; but they were a people +trained from the cradle for exhibition and publicity; +domestic life was quite cast into the shade. Consequently +and necessarily their women were thrown +to greater distance, till it happened, naturally +enough, that they seemed to form a distinct community; +and apartments the most distant and +secluded that the mansion afforded were usually +assigned to them. Of these, in large establishments, +certain ones were always appropriated to the labours +of the needle.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je ne dirai</span>” (says the sarcastic author of Anacharsis) +“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">qu’un mot sur l’éducation des filles. Suivant +la différence des états, elles apprennent à lire, écrire, +coudre, filer, préparer la laine dont on fait les vêtemens, +et veiller aux soins du ménage. En général, +les mères exhortent leurs filles à se conduire avec +sagesse; mais elles insistent beaucoup plus sur la nécessité +de se tenir droites, d’effacer leurs épaules, de +serrer leur sein avec un large ruban, d’être extrêmement +sobres, et de prévenir, par toutes sortes de +moyens, un embonpoint qui nuirait à l’élégance +de la taille et à la grâce des mouvemens.</span>”</p> + +<p>Homer, the great fountain of ancient lore, scarcely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>43]</a></span> +throughout his whole work names a female, Greek +or Trojan, but as connected naturally and indissolubly +with this feminine occupation—needlework. +Thus, when Chryses implores permission to ransome +his daughter, Agamemnon wrathfully replies—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I will not loose thy daughter, till old age<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find her far distant from her native soil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath my roof in Argos, at her task<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of tissue-work.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And Iris, the “ambassadress of Heaven,” finds +Helen in her own recess—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“——weaving there a gorgeous web,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inwrought with fiery conflicts, for her sake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wag’d by contending nations.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Hector foreseeing the miseries consequent upon +the destruction of Troy, says to Andromache—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">“But no grief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So moves me as my grief for thee alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doom’d then to follow some imperious Greek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A weeping captive, to the distant shores<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Argos; there to labour at the loom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For a taskmistress.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And again he says to her—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Hence, then, to our abode; there weave or spin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And task thy maidens.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And afterwards—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">“Andromache, the while,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knew nought, nor even by report had learn’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her Hector’s absence in the field alone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She in her chamber at the palace-top<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A splendid texture wrought, on either side<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All dazzling bright with flow’rs of various hues.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>44]</a></span> +Though “Penelope’s web” is become a proverb, +it would be unpardonable here to omit specific mention +of it. Antinoüs thus complains of her:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Elusive of the bridal day, she gives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fond hope to all, and all with hope deceives.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Did not the Sun, through heaven’s wide azure roll’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For three long years the royal fraud behold?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While she, laborious in delusion, spread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spacious loom, and mix’d the various thread;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, as to life the wondrous figures rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus spoke th’ inventive queen with artful sighs:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Though cold in death Ulysses breathes no more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cease yet a while to urge the bridal hour;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cease, till to great Laertes I bequeath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A task of grief, his ornaments of death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lest, when the Fates his royal ashes claim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Grecian matrons taint my spotless fame:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When he, whom living mighty realms obey’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall want in death a shroud to grace his shade.’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus she: At once the generous train complies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor fraud mistrusts in virtue’s fair disguise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The work she plied; but, studious of delay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By night revers’d the labours of the day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While thrice the Sun his annual journey made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The conscious lamp the midnight fraud survey’d;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unheard, unseen, three years her arts prevail;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fourth, her maid unfolds th’ amazing tale.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We saw, as unperceiv’d we took our stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The backward labours of her faithless hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then urg’d, she perfects her illustrious toils;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wondrous monument of female wiles.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The Greek costume was rich and elegant; and +though, from our familiarity with colourless statues, +we are apt to suppose it gravely uniform in its hue, +such was not the fact; for the tunic was often +adorned with ornamental embroidery of all sorts. +The toga was the characteristic of Roman costume: +this gradually assumed variations from its primitive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>45]</a></span> +simplicity of hue, until at length the triumphant +general considered even the royal purple too unpretending, +unless set off by a rich embroidery of gold. +The first embroideries of the Romans were but +bands of stuff, cut or twisted, which they put on the +dresses: the more modest used only one band; +others two, three, four, up to seven; and from the +number of these the dresses took their names, always +drawn from the Greek: molores, dilores, trilores, +tetralores, &c.</p> + +<p>Pliny seems to be the authority whence most +writers derive their accounts of ancient garments +and needlework.</p> + +<p>“The coarse rough wool with the round great haire +hath been of ancient time highly commended and +accounted of in tapestrie worke: for even Homer +himself witnesseth that they of the old world used +the same much, and tooke great delight therein. +But this tapestrie is set out with colours in France +after one sort, and among the Parthians after +another. M. Varro writeth that within the temple +of Sangus there continued unto the time that he +wrote his booke the wooll that lady Tanaquil, otherwise +named Caia Cecilia, spun; together with her +distaff and spindle: as also within the chapel of +Fortune, the very roiall robe or mantle of estate, +made in her own hands after the manner of water +chamlot in wave worke, which Servius Tullius used +to weare. And from hence came the fashion and +custome at Rome, that when maidens were to be +wedded, there attended upon them a distaffe, dressed +and trimmed with kombed wooll, as also a spindle +and yearne upon it. The said Tanaquil was the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>46]</a></span> +first that made the coat or cassocke woven right +out all through; such as new beginners (namely +young souldiers, barristers, and fresh brides) put +on under their white plaine gowns, without any +guard of purple. The waved water chamelot was +from the beginning esteemed the richest and +bravest wearing. And from thence came the +branched damaske in broad workes. Fenestella +writeth that in the latter time of Augustus Cæsar +they began at Rome to use their gownes of cloth +shorne, as also with a curled nap.—As for those +robes which are called crebræ and papaveratæ, +wrought thicke with floure worke, resembling poppies, +or pressed even and smooth, they be of greater +antiquitie: for even in the time of Lucilius the poet +Torquatus was noted and reproved for wearing them. +The long robes embrodered before, called prætextæ, +were devised first by the Tuscanes. The Trabeæ +were roiall robes, and I find that kings and princes +only ware them. In Homer’s time also they used +garments embrodered with imagerie and floure, +work, and from thence came the triumphant robes. +As for embroderie itselfe and needle-worke, it was +the Phrygians invention: and hereupon embroderers +in Latine bee called phrygiones. And in the +same Asia king Attalus was the first that devised +cloth of gold: and thence come such colours to be +called Attalica. In Babylon they used much to weave +their cloth of divers colours, and this was a great wearing +amongst them, and cloths so wrought were called +Babylonica. To weave cloth of tissue with twisted +threeds both in woofe and warpe, and the same of +sundrie colours, was the invention of Alexandria; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>47]</a></span> +and such clothes and garments were called Polymita, +But Fraunce devised the scutchion, square, or +lozenge damaske worke. Metellus Scipio, among +other challenges and imputations laid against Capito, +reproached and accused him for this:—‘That his +hangings and furniture of his dining chamber, being +Babylonian work or cloth of Arras, were sold for +800,000 sesterces; and such like of late days stood +Prince Nero in 400,000 sesterces, <i>i.e.</i> forty millions.’ +The embrodered long robes of Servius Tullius, +wherewith he covered and arraied all over the image +of Fortune, by him dedicated, remained whole and +sound until the end of Sejanus. And a wonder it +was that they neither fell from the image nor were +motheaten in 560 yeares.”<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>It was long before silk was in general use, even +for patrician garments. It has been supposed that +the famous Median vest, invented by Semiramis, +was silken, which might account for its great fame +in the west. Be this as it may, it was so very +graceful, that the Medes adopted it after they had +conquered Asia; and the Persians followed their +example. In the time of the Romans the price of +silk was weight for weight with gold, and the first +persons who brought silk into Europe were the +Greeks of Alexander’s army. Under Tiberius it +was forbidden to be worn by men; and it is said +that the Emperor Aurelian even refused the earnest +request of his empress for a silken dress, on the +plea of its extravagant cost. Heliogabalus was +the first man that ever wore a robe entirely of silk. +He had also a tunic woven of gold threads; such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>48]</a></span> +gold thread as we referred to in a prior chapter, as +consisting of the metal alone beaten out and +rounded, without any intermixture of silk or woollen. +Tarquinius Priscus had also a vest of this gorgeous +description, as had likewise Agrippina. Gold thread +and wire continued to be made entirely of metal +probably until the time of Aurelian, nor have +there been any instances found in Herculaneum +and Pompeii of the silken thread with a gold +coating.</p> + +<p>These examples will suffice to show that it was +not usually the <em>material</em> of the ancient garments +which gave them so high a value, but the ornamental +embellishments with which they were afterwards +invested by the needle.</p> + +<p>The Medes and Babylonians seem to have been +most highly celebrated for their stuffs and tapestries +of various sorts which were figured by the needle; +the Egyptians certainly rivalled, though they did not +surpass them; and the Greeks seem also to have +attained a high degree of excellence in this pretty +art. The epoch of embroidery amongst the Romans +went as far back as Tarquin, to whom the Etruscans +presented a tunic of purple enriched with gold, +and a mantle of purple and other colours, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tels +qu’en portoient les rois de Perse et de Lydie</span>.” +But soon luxury banished the wonted austerity of +Rome; and when Cæsar first showed himself in a +habit embroidered and fringed, this innovation +appeared scandalous to those who had not been +alarmed at any of his real and important innovations.</p> + +<p>We have referred in a former chapter to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>49]</a></span> +practice of sending garments as presents, as marks +of respect and friendship, or as propitiatory or deprecatory +offerings. And the illustrious ladies of +the classical times had such a prophetical talent of +preparation, that they were ever found possessed, +when occasion required, of store of garments richly +embroidered by their own fair fingers, or under +their auspices. Of this there are numerous examples +in Homer.</p> + +<p>When Priam wishes to redeem the body of Hector, +after preparing other propitiatory gifts,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“——he open’d wide the sculptur’d lids<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of various chests, whence mantles twelve he took<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of texture beautiful; twelve single cloaks;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As many carpets, with as many robes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To which he added vests an equal store.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When Telemachus is about to leave Menelaus—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The beauteous queen revolv’d with careful eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her various textures of unnumber’d dyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And chose the largest; with no vulgar art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her own fair hands embroider’d every part;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the rest it lay divinely bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like radiant Hesper o’er the gems of night.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>That much of this work was highly beautiful +may be inferred from the description of the robe of +Ulysses:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In the rich woof a hound, Mosaic drawn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bore on full stretch, and seiz’d a dappled fawn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in the neck his fangs indent their hold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They pant and struggle in the moving gold.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And this robe, Penelope says,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In happier hours her artful hand employ’d.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To invest a visitor with an embroidered robe was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>50]</a></span> +considered the very highest mark of honour and +regard.</p> + +<p>When Telemachus is at the magnificent court of +Menelaus—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“——a bright damsel train attend the guests<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With liquid odours and <em>embroider’d vests</em>.”<br /></span> +<span class="i4"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +<span class="i0">“Give to the stranger guest a stranger’s dues:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring gold, a pledge of love; a talent bring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A <em>vest</em>, a <em>robe</em>.”<br /></span> +<span class="i4"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +<span class="i0">“————in order roll’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The robes, the vests are rang’d, and heaps of gold:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And adding <em>a rich dress inwrought with art</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A gift expressive of her bounteous heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus spoke (the queen) to Ithacus.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When Cambyses wished to attain some point +from an Ethiopian prince, he forwarded, amongst +other presents, a rich vest. The Ethiopian, taking +the garment, inquired what it was, and how it was +made; but its glittering tracery did not decoy the +unsophisticated prince. When Xerxes arrived at +Acanthos, he interchanged the rites of hospitality +with the people, and presented several with Median +vests. Probably our readers will remember the +circumstance of Alexander making the mother of +Darius a present of some rich vestures, probably +of woollen fabrics, and telling her that she might +make her grandchildren learn the art of weaving +them; at which the royal lady felt insulted and +deeply hurt, as it was considered ignominious by +the Persian women to work in wool. Hearing of +her misapprehension, Alexander himself waited on +her, and in the gentlest and most respectful terms +told the illustrious captive that, far from meaning +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>51]</a></span> +any offence, the custom of his own country had +misled him; and that the vestments he had offered +were not only a present from his royal sisters, but +wrought by their own hands.</p> + +<p>Outré as appear some of the flaring patterns of +the present day, the boldest of them must be <em>quiet</em> +and unattractive compared with those we read of +formerly, when not only human figures, but birds +and animals, were wrought not merely on hangings +and carpets but on wearing apparel. Ciampini +gives various instances.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>What changes, says he, do not a long course of +years produce! Who now, except in the theatre, +or at a carnival or masquerade (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">spectaculis ac rebus +ludiciis</span>), would endure garments inscribed with +verses and titles, and painted with various figures? +Nevertheless, it is plain that such garments were +constantly used in ancient times. To say nothing +of Homer, who assigns to Ulysses a tunic variegated +with figures of animals; to say nothing of the +Massagetæ, whom Herodotus relates painted +animals on their garments with the juice of herbs; +we also read of these garments (though then considered +very antiquated) being used under the +Cæsars of Rome.</p> + +<p>They say that Alcisthenes the Sybarite had a +garment of such magnificence that when he exhibited +it in the Temple of Juno at Lacinium, where +all Italy was congregated, it attracted universal +attention. It was purchased from the Carthaginians, +by Dionysius the elder, for 120 talents. It +was twenty-two feet in breadth, of a purple ground, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>52]</a></span> +with animals wrought all over, except in the middle, +where were Jupiter, Juno, Themis, Minerva, Apollo, +Venus: on one sleeve it had a figure of Alcisthenes, +on the other of his city Sybaris.</p> + +<p>That this description is not exaggerated may be +inferred from the following passage from a homily +on Dives and Lazarus by a Bishop of Amuasan in +Pontus, given by Ciampini.</p> + +<p>“They have here no bounds to this foolish art, +for no sooner was invented the useless art of weaving +in figures in a kind of picture, such as animals +of all sorts, than (rich persons) procure flowered +garments, and also those variegated with an infinite +number of images, both for themselves, their wives, +and children. . . . . . . Whensoever +thus clothed they go abroad, they go, as it were, +painted all over, and pointing out to one another +with the finger the pictures on their garments.</p> + +<p>“For there are lions and panthers, and bears and +bulls, and dogs and woods, and rocks and huntsmen; +and, in a word, everything that can be +thought of, all drawn to the life: for it was necessary, +forsooth, that not only the walls of their houses +should be painted, but their coats (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">tunica</span>) also, +and likewise the cloak (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">pallium</span>) which covers it.</p> + +<p>“The more pious of these gentry take their subjects +from the Gospel history: <i>e.g.</i> Christ himself +with his disciples, or one of the miracles, is depicted. +In this manner you shall see the marriage of Cana +and the waterpots; the paralytic carrying his bed +on his shoulders; the blind man cured by clay; the +woman with the issue of blood taking hold of the +border (of Christ’s garment); the harlot falling at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>53]</a></span> +the feet of Jesus; Lazarus coming from the tomb: +and they fancy there is great piety in all this, and +that putting on such garments must be pleasing to +God.”</p> + +<p>The palmated garment was figured with palm-leaves, +and was a triumphal or festive garment. It +is referred to in an epistle of Gratian to Augustus: +“I have sent thee a palmated garment, in which the +name of our divine parent Constantine is interwoven.”</p> + +<p>In allusion to these lettered garments Ausonius +celebrates Sabina (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">textrice simul ac poetria</span>), whose +name thus lives when those of more important personages +are forgotten:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They who both webs and verses weave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The first to thee, O chaste Minerva, leave;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The latter to the Muses they devote:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To me, Sabina, it appears a sin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To separate two things so near akin,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So I have wrote thy verses on my coat.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whether the Tyrian robe your praise demand,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Or the neat verse upon the edge descried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know both proceed from the same skilful hand:<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In both these arts Sabina takes a pride.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It is imagined that the embroidered vestments +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>54]</a></span> +worn in Homer’s time bore a strong resemblance +to those now worn by the Moguls; and the custom +of making presents, so discernible through his +work, still prevails throughout Asia. It is not +(says Sir James Forbes) so much the custom in +India to present dresses ready made to the visitors +as to offer the materials, especially to Europeans. +In Turkey, Persia, and Arabia, it is generally the +reverse. We find in Chardin that the kings of +Persia had great wardrobes, where there were +always many hundred habits, sorted, ready for presents, +and that more than forty tailors were always +employed in this service.</p> + +<p>It is not improbable that this ancient custom of +presenting a visitor with a new dress as a token of +welcome, a symbol of rejoicing at his presence, may +have led to many of the general customs which +have prevailed, and do still, of having new clothes +at any season of joy or festivity. New clothes are +thought by the people of the East <em>requisite</em> for the +due solemnization of a time of rejoicing. The +Turks, even the poorest of them, would submit to +any privation rather than be without new clothes at +the Bairam or Great Festival. There is an anecdote +recorded of the Caliph Montanser Billah, that going +one day to the upper roof of his palace he saw a +number of clothes spread out on the flat roofs of +the houses of Bagdat. He asked the reason, and +was told that the inhabitants of Bagdat were drying +their clothes, which they had newly washed, on +account of the approach of the Bairam. The caliph +was so concerned that any should be so poor as to +be obliged to wash their old clothes for want of new +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>55]</a></span> +ones with which to celebrate this festival, that he +ordered a great quantity of gold to be instantly +made into bullets, proper to be shot out of crossbows, +which he and his courtiers threw, by this +means, upon every terrace of the city where he saw +garments spread to dry.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +Book viii. chap. 48.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +Ciampini, Vetera Monimenta, cap. xiii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="la" xml:lang="la">“Licia qui texunt, et Carmina; Carmina Musis,<br /></span> +<span class="i1" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Licia contribuunt, casta Minerva, tibi.<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ast ego rem sociam non dissociabo, Sabina,<br /></span> +<span class="i1" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Versibus inscripsi, quæ mea texta meis.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="la" xml:lang="la">“Sive probas Tyrio textam sub tegmine vestem,<br /></span> +<span class="i1" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Seu placet inscripti commoditas tituli.<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ipsius hæc Dominæ concennat utrumque venustas:<br /></span> +<span class="i1" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Has geminas artes una Sabina colet.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>56]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE DARK AGES.—“SHEE-SCHOOLS.”</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There was an auncient house not far away,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Renown’d throughout the world for sacred lore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pure unspotted life: so well they say<br /></span> +<span class="i1">It govern’d was, and guided evermore<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Through wisedome of a matrone grave and hore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose onely joy was to relieve the needes<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of wretched soules, and helpe the helplesse pore:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All night she spent in bidding of her bedes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the day in doing good and godly dedes.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapblock"> +<p>“Meantime, whilst monks’ <em>pens</em> were thus employed, nuns with +their <em>needles</em> wrote histories also: that of <em>Christ his passion</em> for their +altar-clothes; and other Scripture- (and more legend-) stories in hangings +to adorn their houses.”—<span class="smcap">Fuller, Ch. Hist., B. 6.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p>Needlework is an art so indissolubly connected +with the convenience and comfort of mankind at +large, that it is impossible to suppose any state of +society in which it has not existed. Its modes varied, +of course, according to the lesser or greater degrees +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>57]</a></span> +of refinement in other matters with which it was +connected; and when we find from Muratori that +“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">nulla s’è detto fin qui dell’Arte del Tessere dopo +la declinazione del Romano Imperio; e solo in +fuggire s’è parlato di alcune vesti degli antichi</span>,” we +may fairly infer that the <em>ornamental</em> needlework of +the time was not extensively encouraged, although +never entirely laid aside.</p> + +<p>The desolation that overran the world was found +alike in its greatest or most insignificant concerns; +and the same torrent that swept monarchs from +their thrones and peers from their halls did away +with the necessity for professors of the decorative +arts. There needed not the embroiderer of gold +and purple to blazon the triumph of a conqueror +who disdained other habiliment than the skin of +some slaughtered beast.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The matron who yet retained the principle of +Roman virtue, or the fair and refined maiden of the +eastern capital, far from seeking personal adornment, +rather shunned any decoration which might attract +the eyes and inflame the passions of untamed and +ruthless conquerors. All usual habits were subverted, +and for long years the history of the European +world is but a bloody record of war and tumult, +of bloodshed and strife. Few are the cases of peace +and tranquillity in this desert of tumult and blood-guiltiness; +but those few “isles of the blessed” in +this ocean of discord, those few sunny spots in the +gloomy landscape, are intimately connected with +our theme. The use of the needle for the daily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>58]</a></span> +necessities of life could never, as we have remarked, +be superseded; but the practice of ornamental +needlework, in common with every ennobling science +and improving art, was kept alive during this period +of desolation by the church, and by the individual +labours and collective zeal of the despised and contemned +monks.</p> + +<p>Sharing that hallowed influence which hovered +over and protected the church at this fearful season—for, +from the carelessness or superstition of the +barbarians, the ministers of religion were spared—nunneries, +with some few exceptions, were now like +refuges pointed out by Heaven itself. They were +originally founded by the sister of St. Anthony, the +hermit of the Egyptian desert, and in their primitive +institution were meant solely for those who, abjuring +the world for religious motives, were desirous to +spend their whole time in devotional exercises. But +their sphere of utility became afterwards widely extended. +They became safe and peaceable asylums +for all those to whom life’s pilgrimage had been too +thorny. The frail but repentant maiden was here +sheltered from the scorn of an uncharitable world; +the virtuous but suffering female, whose earthly +hopes had, from whatever cause, been crushed, +could here weep and pray in peace: while she to +whom the more tangible trouble of poverty had descended +might here, without the galling yoke of +charity and dependence, look to a refuge for those +evil days when the breaking of the golden bowl, the +loosing of the silver cord, should disable her from +the exertions necessary for her maintenance.</p> + +<p>Have we any—ay, with all their faults and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>59]</a></span> +imperfections on their heads—have we, in these days +of enlightenment, any sort of substitute for the blessings +they held out to dependent and suffering woman +of whatever rank?</p> + +<p>Convents became also schools for the education +of young women of rank, who here imbibed in early +youth principles of religion which might enable them +to endure with patience and fortitude those after-trials +of life from which no station or wealth could +exempt them; and they acquired here those accomplishments, +and were taught here those lighter occupations, +amongst which fine needlework and embroidery +occupied a conspicuous position, which would +qualify them to beguile in a becoming manner the +many hours of leisure which their elevated rank +would confer on them.</p> + +<p>“Nunneries,” says Fuller, “also were good shee-schools, +wherein the girles and maids of the neighbourhood +were taught to read and work; and sometimes +a little Latine was taught them therein. Yea, +give me leave to say, if such feminine foundations +had still continued, provided no <em>vow</em> were obtruded +upon them (virginity is least kept where it is most +constrained), haply the weaker sex (besides the +avoiding modern inconveniences) might be heightened +to an higher perfection than hitherto hath +been attained. That sharpnesse of their wits and +suddenness of their conceits (which their enemies +must allow unto them) might by education be improved +into a judicious solidity, and that adorned +with arts which now they want, not because they +cannot learn, but are not taught them. I say, if +such feminine foundations were extant now of dayes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>60]</a></span> +haply some virgins of highest birth would be glad +of such places, and I am sure their fathers and elder +brothers would not be sorry for the same.”</p> + +<p>Miss Lawrance gives a more detailed account of +the duties taught in them. “In consequence of +convents being considered as establishments exclusively +belonging to the Latin church, Protestant +writers, as by common consent, have joined in censuring +them, forgetful of the many benefits which, +without any reference to their peculiar creed, they +were calculated to confer. Although providing instruction +for the young, the convent was a large +establishment for various orders of women. There +were the nuns, the lay sisters, always a numerous +class, and a large body of domestics; while in those +higher convents, where the abbess exercised manorial +jurisdiction, there were seneschal, esquires, gentlemen, +yeomen, grooms, indeed the whole establishment +of a baronial castle, except the men-at-arms +and the archer-band. Thus within the convent +walls the pupil saw nearly the same domestic arrangement +to which she had been accustomed in +her father’s castle; while, instead of being constantly +surrounded with children, well born and +intelligent women might be her occasional companions. +And then the most important functions +were exercised by women. The abbess presided in +her manorial court, the cellaress performed the extensive +offices of steward, the præcentrix led the +singing and superintended the library, and the infirmaress +watched over the sick, affording them alike +spiritual and medical aid. Thus, from her first +admission, the pupil was taught to respect and to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>61]</a></span> +emulate the talents of women. But a yet more important +peculiarity did the convent school present. +It was a noble, a well-endowed, and an independent +institution; and it proffered education as a boon. +Here was no eager canvassing for scholars, no promises +of unattainable advantages; for the convent +school was not a mercantile establishment, nor was +education a trade. The female teachers of the +middle ages were looked up to alike by parent and +child, and the instruction so willingly offered was +willingly and gratefully received; the character of +the teacher was elevated, and as a necessary consequence +so was the character of the pupil.”</p> + +<p>But in addition to those inmates who had dedicated +their lives to religion, and those who were +placed there specifically for education, convents +afforded shelter to numbers who sought only temporary +retirement from the world under the influence +of sorrow, or temporary protection under the apprehension +of danger. And this was the case not +merely through the very dark era with which our +chapter commences, but for centuries afterwards, +and when the world was comparatively civilized. +Our own “good Queen Maude” assumed the veil in +the convent of Romsey, without however taking the +vows, as the only means of escaping from a forced +marriage; and in the subsequent reign, that of +Stephen, so little regard was paid to law or decorum, +that a convent was the only place where a +maiden, even of gentle birth, if she had riches, could +have a chance of shelter and safety from the machinations +of those who resorted to any sort of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>62]</a></span> +brutality or violence to compel her to a marriage which +would secure her possessions to her ravisher.</p> + +<p>It was then in the convents, and in them alone, +that, during the barbarism and confusion consequent +upon the overthrow of the ancient empire, and the +irruption of the untamed hordes who overran southern +Europe from the north and west,—it was in the +convents that some remnants of the ancient art of +embroidery were still preserved. The nuns considered +it an acceptable service to employ their +time and talents in the construction of vestments +which, being intended for the service of the church, +were rich and sumptuous even at the time when +richness and elegance of apparel were unknown +elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> It was no proof of either the ignorance +or the bad taste or the irreligion of the “<em>dark</em>” +ages, that the religious edifices were fitted up with +a rich and gorgeous solemnity which are unheard of +in these days of light and knowledge and economy. +And besides the construction of rich and elaborately +ornamented vestments for the priests, and hangings +for the altars, shrines, &c., besides these being peculiarly +the occupation of the professed sisters of +religious houses, it was likewise the pride and the +delight of ladies of rank to devote both their money +to the purchase and their time to the embroidering +of sacerdotal garments as offerings to the church. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>63]</a></span> +And whether temporarily sheltering within the walls +of a convent, or happily presiding in her own lofty +halls, it was oftentime the pride and pleasure of the +high-born dame to embroider a splendid cope, a rich +vest, or a gorgeous hanging, as a votive and grateful +offering to that holy altar where perhaps she had +prayed in sorrow, and found consolation and peace.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +“In the most inclement winter the hardy German was satisfied +with a scanty garment made of the skin of some animal.”—<span class="smcap">Gibbon.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +Muratori (Diss. 25), speaking of the mean habiliments usual in +Italy even so late as the 13th century, adds, “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Ma non per questo +s’hanno a credere così rozzi e nemici del Lusso que’ Secoli. A buon +conto anche in Italia qui non era cieco, sovente potea mirare i più +delicati lavori di Seta, che <em>servivano di ornamenti alle Chiese e alle +sacre funzioni</em></span>.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>64]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF THE DARK AGES.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Last night I dreamt a dream; behold!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw a church was fret with gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With arras richly dight:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There saw I altar, pall, and pix,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chalice, and font, and crucifix,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And tapers burning bright.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">W. S. Rose.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Over those memorials of the past which chance and +mischance have left us, time hath drawn a thick +curtain, obliterating all soft and gentle touches, +which connected harmoniously the bolder features of +the landscape, and leaving these but as landmarks +to intimate what had been there. We would fain +linger on those times, and call up the gentle spirits +of the long departed to describe scenes of quiet but +useful retirement at which we now only dimly guess. +We would witness the hour of recreation in the convent, +when the severer duties of the cloister gave +place to the cheerful one of companionship; and the +“pale votary” quitted the lonely cell and the solitary +vigil, to instruct the blooming novice in the art of +embroidery, or to ply her own accustomed and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>65]</a></span> +accomplished fingers in its fairy creations. The +younger ones would be ecstatic in their commendations, +and eager in their exertions to rival the fair +sempstress; whilst a gratified though sad smile +would brighten her own pale cheek as the lady abbess +laid aside the richly illuminated volume by which +her own attention had been engrossed, and from +which she had from time to time read short and instructive +passages aloud, commenting on and enforcing +the principles they inculcated; and holding +the work towards the casement, so that the bright +slanting rays of the setting sun which fell through +the richly carved lattice might illumine the varied +tints of the stitchery, she would utter some kind and +encouraging words of admiration and praise.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the work was a broidered scarf for some +spiritual father, a testimony of gratitude and esteem +from the convent at large; perhaps it was a tunic or +a girdle which some high and wealthy lady had bespoken +for an offering, and which the meek and +pious sisterhood were happy to do for hire, bestowing +the proceeds on the necessities of the convent; +or, if those were provided, on charity. Perhaps +it was a pair of sandals, so magnificently +wrought as to be destined as a present by some +lofty abbot to the pope himself, like those which +Robert, Abbot of St. Alban’s, sent to the Pope +Adrian the Fourth; and which alone, out of a multitude +of the richest offerings, the pope retained; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>66]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +or if it were in England (for our domestic scene will +apply to all the Christian world) it might be a magnificent +covering for the high altar, with a scripture +history embroidered in the centre, and the border, +of regal purple, inwrought with gold and precious +stones. We say, <em>if in England</em>, because so celebrated +was the English work, the Opus Anglicum,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +that other nations eagerly desired to possess it. +The embroidered vestments of some English clergymen +were so much admired at the Papal Court, that +the Pope, asking where they had been made, and +being told “in England,” despatched bulls to several +English abbots, commanding them to procure similar +ones for him. Some of the vestments of these +days were almost covered with gold and precious +stones.</p> + +<p>Or it might be a magnificent pall, in the days in +which this garment had lost its primitive character, +that taxed the skill and the patience of the fair +needlewoman. It was about the year <small>A.D.</small> 601 that +Pope Gregory sent two archbishop’s palls into +England; the one for London, which see was afterwards +removed to Canterbury, and the other to +York. Fuller gives the following account of this +garment primitively:—</p> + +<p>“The pall is a pontificall vestment, considerable +for the matter, making, and mysteries thereof. For +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>67]</a></span> +the matter, it is made of lamb’s-wooll and superstition. +I say, <em>of lamb’s-wooll, as it comes from the +sheep’s back, without any other artificiall colour</em>, spun +(say some) by a peculiar order of nunnes, <em>first cast +into the tombe of St. Peter</em>, taken from his body (say +others); surely most sacred if from both; and (superstitiously) +adorned with little black crosses. For +the form thereof, the <em>breadth exceeded not three +fingers</em> (one of our bachelor’s lamb-skin hoods in +Cambridge would make three of them), <em>having two +labells hanging down before and behind</em>, which the +archbishops onely, when going to the altar, put about +their necks, above their other pontificall ornaments. +Three mysteries were couched therein. First, humility, +which beautifies the clergy above all their +costly copes; secondly, innocency, to imitate lamb-like +simplicitie; and thirdly, industry, to follow +him who fetched his wandering sheep home on his +shoulders. But to speak plainly, the mystery of +mysteries in this pall was, that the archbishops +receiving it showed therein their dependence on +Rome; and a mote in this manner ceremoniously +taken was a sufficient acknowledgment of their subjection. +And, as it owned Rome’s power, so in after +ages it increased their profit. For, though now such +palls were freely given to archbishops, whose places +in Britain for the present were rather cumbersome +than commodious, having little more than their +paines for their labour; yet in after ages the archbishop +of Canterburie’s pall was sold for five thousand +florenes:<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> so that the Pope might well have the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>68]</a></span> +Golden Fleece, if he could sell all his lamb’s-wooll at +that rate.”<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The accounts of the rich embroidered ecclesiastical +vestments—robes, sandals, girdles, tunics, vests, +palls, cloaks, altar-cloths, and veils or hangings of +various descriptions, common in churches in the dark +ages—would almost surpass belief, if the minuteness +with which they are enumerated in some few ancient +authors did not attest the fact. Still these in the +most diffuse writers are a mere catalogue of church +properties, and, as such, would, in the dry detail, be +but little interesting to our readers. There is enough +said of them, however, to attest their variety, their +beauty, their magnificence; and to impress one with +a very favourable idea of the female ingenuity and +perseverance of those days. The cost of many of +these garments was enormous, for pearls and precious +jewels were literally interwrought, and the time +and labour bestowed on them was almost incredible. +It was no uncommon circumstance for three years to +be spent even by these assiduous and indefatigable +votaries of the needle on one garment. But it is +only casually, in the pages of the antiquarian, that +there is any record of them:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">“With their names<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No bard embalms and sanctifies his song:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And history, so warm on meaner themes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is cold on this.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Noi</span>” (says Muratori) “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">che ammiriamo, e con +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>69]</a></span> +ragione, la beltà e varietà di tante drapperie dei +nostri tempi, abbiam nondimeno da confessare un +obbligo non lieve agli antichi, che ci hanno prima +spianata la via, e senza i lumi loro non potremmo +oggidì vantare un sì gran progresso nell’Arti.</span>”</p> + +<p>And that this was the case a few instances may +suffice to show; and it may not be quite out of place +here to refer to one out of a thousand articles of +value and beauty which were lost in the great conflagration +(“which so cruelly laid waste the habitations +of the servants of God”) of the doomed and +often suffering, but always magnificent, Croyland +Abbey. It was “that beautiful and costly sphere, +most curiously constructed of different metals, according +to the different planets. Saturn was of copper, +Jupiter of gold, Mars of iron, the Sun of brass, +Mercury of amber, Venus of tin, and the Moon of +silver: the colours of all the signs of the Zodiac had +their several figures and colours variously finished, +and adorned with such a mixture of precious stones +and metals as amused the eye, while it informed the +mind of every beholder. Such another sphere was +not known or heard of in England; and it was a +present from the King of France.”</p> + +<p>No insignificant proof this of the mechanical skill +of the eleventh century.</p> + +<p>We are told that Pope Eutychianus, who lived in +the reign of the Emperor Aurelian, buried in different +places 342 martyrs with his own hands; and +he ordained that a faithful martyr should on no +account be interred without a dalmatic robe or a +purple colobio. This is perhaps one of the earliest +notices of ecclesiastical pomp or pride in vestments. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>70]</a></span> +But some forty years afterwards Pope Silvester was +invested by the hands of his attendants with a +Phrygian robe of snowy white, on which was traced +in sparkling threads by busy female hands the +resurrection of our Lord; and so magnificent was +this garment considered that it was ordained to be +worn by his successors on state occasions: and to +pass at once to the seventh century, there are +records of various church hangings which had become +injured by old age being carefully repaired at considerable +expense; which expense and trouble +would not, we may fairly infer, have been incurred +if the articles in question, even at this more advanced +period, had not been considered of value and of +beauty.</p> + +<p>Leo the Third, in the eighth century, was a magnificent +benefactor to the church. With the vessels +of rich plate and jewels of various descriptions which +were in all ages offering to the church we have +nothing to do: amongst various other vestments, +Leo gave to the high altar of the blessed Peter, the +Prince of the Apostles, a covering spangled with +gold (<em>chrysoclabam</em>) and adorned with precious +stones; having the histories both of our Saviour +giving to the blessed Apostle Peter the power of +binding and loosing, and also representing the +suffering of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and +Paul. It was of great size, and exhibited on St. +Peter and St. Paul’s days.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>71]</a></span> +Pope Paschal, early in the ninth century, had +some magnificent garments wrought, which he presented +to different churches. One of these was an +altar-cloth of Tyrian purple, having in the middle a +picture of golden emblems, with the countenance of +our Lord, and of the blessed martyrs Cosman and +Damian, with three other brothers. The cross +was wrought in gold, and had round it a border of +olive-leaves most beautifully worked. Another had +golden emblems, with our Saviour, surrounded with +archangels and apostles, of wonderful beauty and +richness, being ornamented with pearls.</p> + +<p>In these ages robes and hangings with crimson +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>72]</a></span> +or purple borders, called <em>blatta</em>, from the name of +the insect from which the dye was obtained, were +much in use. An insect, supposed to be the one so +often referred to by this name in the writings of the +ancients, is found now on the coasts of Guayaquil +and Guatima. The dye is very beautiful, and is +easily transferred. The royal purple so much +esteemed of old was of very different shades, for the +terms purple, red, crimson, scarlet, are often used +indiscriminately; and a pretty correct conception +may be acquired of the value of this imperial tint +formerly from the circumstance that, when Alexander +took possession of the city of Susa and of its +enormous treasures, among other things there were +found five thousand quintals of Hermione purple, +the finest in the world, which had been treasured up +there during the space of 190 years; notwithstanding +which, its beauty and lustre were no way diminished. +Some idea may be formed of the prodigious +value of this store from the fact that this purple was +sold at the rate of 100 crowns a pound, and the +quintal is a hundredweight of Paris.</p> + +<p>Pope Paschal had a robe worked with gold and +gems, having the history of the Virgins with lighted +torches beautifully related: he had another of +Byzantine scarlet with a worked border of olive-leaves. +This was a very usual decoration of ecclesiastical +robes, and a very suitable one; for, from the +time when in the beak of Noah’s dove it was first an +emblem of comfort, it has ever, in all ages, in all +nations, at all times, been symbolical of plenty and +peace. This pope had also a robe of woven gold, +worn over a cassock of scarlet silk; a dress certainly +worth the naming, though not so much as others +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>73]</a></span> +indebted to our useful little implement which +Cowper calls the “threaded steel.” But he had +another rich and peculiar garment, which was entirely +indebted to the needlewoman for its varied +and radiant hues. This was a robe of an amber +colour,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> <em>having peacocks</em>.</p> + +<p>Pope Leo the Fourth had a hanging worked with +the needle, having the portrait of a man seated upon +a peacock. Pope Stefano the Fifth had four magnificent +hangings for the great altar, one of which was +wrought in peacocks. We find in romance that +there was a high emblematical value attached to +peacocks; not so high, however, as to prevent our +ancestors from eating them; but it is difficult to +account for their being so frequently introduced in +designs professedly religious. In romance and +chivalry they were supereminent. “To mention the +peacock (says M. Le Grand) is to write its panegyrick.” +Many noble families bore the peacock as +their crest; and in the Provençal Courts of Love the +successful poet was crowned with a wreath formed of +them. The coronation present given to the Queen +of our Henry the Third, by her sister, the Queen of +France, was a large silver peacock, whose train was +set with sapphires and pearls, and other precious +jewels, wrought with silver. This elegant piece of +jewellery was used as a reservoir for sweet waters, +which were forced out of its beak into a basin of +white silver chased.</p> + +<p>As the knights associated these birds with all +their ideas of fame, and made their most solemn +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>74]</a></span> +vows over them, the highest honours were conferred +on them. Their flesh is celebrated as the “nutriment +of lovers,” and the “viand of worthies;” and +a peacock was always the most distinguished dish +at the solemn banquets of princes or nobles. On +these occasions it was served up on a golden dish, and +carried to table by a lady of rank, attended by a +train of high-born dames and damsels, and accompanied +by music. If it was on the occasion of a +tournament, the successful knight always carved it, +so regulating his portions that each individual, be +the company ever so numerous, might taste. For +the oath, the knight rising from his seat and extending +his hand over the bird, vowed some daring +enterprise of arms or love:—“I vow to God, to the +blessed Virgin, to the dames, and to the <em>peacock</em>, +&c. &c.”</p> + +<p>In later and less imaginative times, the peacock, +though still a favourite dish at a banquet, seems to +have been regarded more from its affording “good +eating” than from any more refined attribute. +Massinger speaks of</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i9">“the carcases<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of three fat wethers bruised for gravy, to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make sauce for a single peacock.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In Shakspeare’s time the bird was usually put +into a pie, the head, richly gilt, being placed at one +end of the dish, and the tail, spread out in its full +circumference, at the other. And alas! for the degeneracy +of those days. The solemn and knightly +adjuration of former times had even then dwindled +into the absurd oath which Shakspeare puts into the +mouth of Justice Shallow:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>75]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“By <em>cock</em> and <em>pye</em>, Sir, you shall not away to night.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In some of the French tapestries birds of all +shapes, natural and unnatural, of all sizes and in all +positions, form very important parts of the subjects +themselves; though this remark is hardly in place +here, as the tapestries are of later date, and not solely +needlework. To return, however: mention is made +in an old chronicle of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">antiquitas Congregatio Ancilarum, +quæ opere plumario ornamenta ecclesiam laborabant</i>. +It has been a subject of much discussion +whether this Opus Plumarium signified some arrangement +of real feathers, or merely fanciful embroidery +in imitation of them. Lytlyngton, Abbot of +Croyland, in Edward the Fourth’s time, gave to his +church nine copes of cloth of gold, exquisitely +feathered.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> This was perhaps embroidered imitation. +A vestment which Cnute the Great presented +to this abbey was made of silk embroidered +with eagles of gold. Richard Upton, elected abbot +in 1417, gave silk embroidered with falcons for +copes; and about the same time John Freston gave +a rich robe of Venetian blue embroidered with +golden eagles. These were positively imitations +merely; yet they evince the prevailing taste for +feathered work, and, as we have shown, feathers +themselves were much used. It is recorded that +Pope Paul the Third sent King Pepin a present of +a mantle interwoven with peacocks’ feathers.</p> + +<p>And from whatever circumstance the reverence +for peacocks’ feathers originated,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> it is not, even yet, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>76]</a></span> +quite exploded. There are some lingering remnants +of a superstitious regard for them which may have +had their origin in these very times and circumstances. +For how surely, where they are rigidly +traced, are our country customs, our vulgar ceremonies, +our apparently absurd and senseless usages, +found to emanate from some principle or superstition +of general and prevailing adoption. In some +counties we cannot enter a farm-house where the +mantel-piece in the parlour is not decorated with a +diadem of peacock feathers, which are carefully +dusted and preserved. And in houses of more assuming +pretensions the same custom frequently +prevails; and we knew a lady who carefully preserved +some peacock feathers in a drawer long after +her association with people in a higher station than +that to which she originally belonged had made her +ashamed to display them in her parlour. <em>This</em> could +not be for <em>mere</em> ornament: there is some idea of <em>luck</em> +attached to them, which seems not improbably to +have arisen from circumstances connected originally +with the “Vow of the Peacock.” At any rate, the +religious care with which peacocks’ feathers are preserved +by many who care not for them as ornaments, +is not a whit more ridiculous than to see people +gravely turn over the money in their pockets when +they first hear the cuckoo, or joyfully fasten a +dropped horse-shoe on their threshold, or shudderingly +turn aside if two straws lie across in their +path, or thankfully seize an old shoe accidentally +met with, heedless of the probable state of the beggared +foot that may unconsciously have left it there, +or any other of the million unaccountable customs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>77]</a></span> +which diversify and enliven country life, and which +still prevail and flourish, notwithstanding the extensive +travels and sweeping devastations of the +modern “schoolmaster.”</p> + +<p>Do not our readers recollect Cowper’s thanksgiving +“on finding the heel of a shoe?”—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Fortune! I thank thee, gentle goddess! thanks!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not that my muse, though bashful, shall deny<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She would have thanked thee rather, hadst thou cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A treasure in her way; for neither meed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of early breakfast, to dispel the fumes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bowel-raking pains of emptiness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor noontide feast, nor ev’ning’s cool repast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hopes she from this—presumptuous, though perhaps<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cobbler, leather-carving artist, might.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nathless she thanks thee, and accepts thy boon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whatever; not as erst the fabled cock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vain-glorious fool! unknowing what he found,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spurned the rich gem thou gavest him. Wherefore, ah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why not on me that favour, (worthier sure!)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conferr’dst, goddess! thou art blind, thou sayest:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enough! thy blindness shall excuse the deed.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Return we to our needlework.</p> + +<p>We have clear proof that, before the end of the +seventh century, our fair countrywomen were skilled +not merely in the use of the needle as applied to +necessary purposes, but also in its application to +the varied and elegant embroidered garments to +which we have so frequently alluded, as forming +properties of value and consideration. They were +chiefly executed by ladies of the highest rank and +greatest piety—very frequently, indeed, by those of +royal blood—and were usually (as we have before +observed) devoted to the embellishment of the +church, or the decoration of its ministers. It was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>78]</a></span> +not unusual to bequeath such properties. “I give,” +said the wife of the Conqueror, in her will, “to the +Abbey of the Holy Trinity, my tunic worked at +Winchester by Alderet’s wife, and the mantle embroidered +with gold, which is in my chamber, to +make a cope. Of my two golden girdles, I give that +which is ornamented with emblems for the purpose +of suspending the lamp before the great altar.”<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +Amongst some costly presents sent by Isabella, +Queen of Edward the Second, to the Pope, was a +magnificent cope, embroidered and studded with +large white pearls, and purchased of the executors +of Catherine Lincoln, for a sum equivalent to between +two and three thousand pounds of present +money. Another cope, thought worthy to accompany +it, was also the work of an Englishwoman, +Rose de Bureford, wife of John de Bureford, citizen +and merchant of London.</p> + +<p>Anciently, banners, either from being made of +some relic, or from the representation on them of +holy things, were held sacred, and much superstitious +faith placed in them; consequently the pious and +industrious finger was much occupied in working +them. King Arthur, when he fought the eighth +battle against the Saxons, carried the “image of +Christ and of the blessed Mary (always a virgin) +upon his shoulders.” Over the tomb of Oswald, the +great Christian hero, was laid a banner of purple +wrought with gold. When St. Augustine first came +to preach to the Saxons, he had a cross borne before +him, with a banner, on which was the image of our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>79]</a></span> +Saviour Christ. The celebrated standard of the +Danes had the sacred raven worked on it; and the +ill-fated Harold bore to the field of Hastings a +banner with the figure of an armed man worked in +gold thread: to the same field William bore a +standard, a gift from the Pope, and blessed by his +Holiness.</p> + +<p>It is recorded of St. Dunstan, who, as our readers +well know, excelled in many pursuits, and especially +in painting, for which he frequently forsook his +peculiar occupation of goldsmith, that on one occasion, +at the earnest request of a lady, he <em>tinted</em> a +sacerdotal vestment for her, which she afterwards +embroidered in gold thread in an exquisitely beautiful +style. Most of these embroidered works were +first tinted, very probably in the way in which they +now are, or until the freer influx of the more beautiful +German patterns, they lately were; and it is +from this previous tinting that they are so frequently +described in the old books as <em>painted</em> garments, +<em>pictured</em> vestments, &c., this term by no means +seeming usually to imply that the use of the needle +had been neglected or superseded in them. The +garments of Edward the Confessor, which he wore +upon occasions of great solemnity, were sumptuously +embroidered with gold by the hands of Edgitha, +his Queen. The four princesses, daughters of King +Edward the Elder, were most carefully educated: +their early years were chiefly devoted to literary +pursuits, but they were nevertheless most assiduously +instructed in the use of the needle, and are +highly celebrated by historians for their assiduity +and skill in spinning, weaving, and needlework. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>80]</a></span> +This was so far, says the historian, from spoiling +the fortunes of those royal spinsters, that it procured +them the addresses of the greatest princes +then in Europe, and one, “in whom the whole +essence of beauty had centered, was demanded from +her brother by Hugh, King of the Franks.”</p> + +<p>Our fair readers may take some interest in knowing +what were the propitiatory offerings of a noble +suitor of those days.</p> + +<p>“Perfumes, such as never had been seen in +England before; jewels, but more especially emeralds, +the greenness of which, reflected by the sun, +illumined the countenances of the bystanders with +agreeable light; many fleet horses, with their trappings, +and, as Virgil says, ‘champing their golden +bits;’ an alabaster vase, so exquisitely chased, that +the corn-fields really seemed to wave, the vines to +bud, the figures of men actually to move, and so +clear and polished, that it reflected the features like +a mirror; the sword of Constantine the Great, on +which the name of its original possessor was read in +golden letters; on the pommel, upon thick plates +of gold, might be seen fixed an iron spike, one of +the four which the Jewish faction prepared for the +crucifixion of our Lord; the spear of Charles the +Great, which, whenever that invincible Emperor +hurled in his expeditions against the Saracens, he +always came off conqueror; it was reported to be +the same which, driven into the side of our Saviour +by the hand of the centurion, opened, by that precious +wound, the joys of paradise to wretched +mortals; the banner of the most blessed martyr +Maurice, chief of the Theban legion, with which the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>81]</a></span> +same King, in the Spanish war, used to break +through the battalions of the enemy, however fierce +and wedged together, and put them to flight; a +diadem, precious from its quantity of gold, but +more so for its jewels, the splendour of which threw +the sparks of light so strongly on the beholders, +that the more steadfastly any person endeavoured +to gaze, so much the more dazzled he was—compelled +to avert his eyes; part of the holy and +adorable cross enclosed in crystal, where the eye, +piercing through the substance of the stone, might +discern the colour and size of the wood; a small +portion of the crown of thorns enclosed in a similar +manner, which, in derision of his government, +the madness of the soldiers placed on Christ’s sacred +head.</p> + +<p>“The King (Athelstan), delighted with such +great and exquisite presents, made an equal return +of good offices, and gratified the soul of the longing +suitor by a union with his sister. With some of +these presents he enriched succeeding kings; but to +Malmesbury he gave part of the cross and crown; by +the support of which, I believe, that place even now +flourishes, though it has suffered so many shipwrecks +of its liberty, so many attacks of its enemies.”<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>It is not to be supposed that at a time when the +“whole island” was said to “blaze” with devotion, +and when, moreover, her own fair daughters surpassed +the whole world in needlework, that the +English churches were deficient in its beautiful +adornments. Far otherwise, indeed. We forbear +to enumerate many, because our chapter has already +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>82]</a></span> +exceeded its prescribed limits; but we may particularize +a golden veil or hanging (vellum), embroidered +with the destruction of Troy, which Witlaf, +King of Mercia, gave to the abbey of Croyland; +and the coronation mantle of Harold Harefoot, son +of Cnute, which he gave to the same abbey, made +of silk, and embroidered with “Hesperian apples.” +Richard, who was abbot of St. Alban’s from 1088 to +1119, made a present to his monastery of a suit of +hangings which contained the whole history of the +primitive martyr of England, Alban.</p> + +<p>Croyland Abbey possessed many hangings for +the altars, embroidered with golden birds; and a +garment, which seems to have been a peculiar, and +considered a valuable one, being a black gown +wrought with gold letters, to officiate in at funerals. +The enigmatical letters which were worked on ecclesiastical +vestments in those days, were various and +peculiar, and have given abundant scope for antiquarian +research. We have heard it surmised that +they took their rise in times of persecution, being +indications (then, doubtless, slight and unostentatious +ones) by which the Christians might know +each other. But they came into more general use, +not merely as symbolical characters, but individual +names were wrought, and that not on personal garments +alone, for Pope Leo the Fourth placed a cloth +on the altar woven with gold, and spangled all over +with pearls. It had on each side (right and left) +a circle bounded with gold, within which the name +of his Holiness was written in precious stones. In +many old paintings a letter or letters have been +noticed on the garment of the principal figure, and +they have been taken for private marks of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>83]</a></span> +painter, but it is more probable, says Ciampini,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +that they are either copied from old garments, or +are intended to denote the dignity of the character +to which they are attached.</p> + +<p>We will conclude the present chapter by remarking +that one of the most magnificent specimens of +ancient needlework in existence, and which is in +excellent preservation, is the State Pall belonging +to the Fishmongers Company. The end pieces are +similar, and consist of a picture, wrought in gold and +silk, of the patron, St. Peter, in pontificial robes, +seated on a superb throne, and crowned with the +papal tiara. Holding in one hand the keys, the +other is in the posture of giving the benediction, +and on each side is an angel, bearing a golden vase, +from which he scatters incense over the Saint. The +angel’s wings, according to old custom, are composed +of peacocks’ feathers in all their natural vivid colours; +their outer robes are gold raised with crimson; their +under vests white, shaded with sky blue; the faces +are finely worked in satin, after nature, and they +have long yellow hair.</p> + +<p>There are various designs on the side pieces; the +most important and conspicuous is Christ delivering +the keys to Peter. Among other decorations are, of +course, the arms of the company, richly emblazoned, +the supporters of which, the merman and mermaid, +are beautifully worked, the merman in gold armour, +the mermaid in white silk, with long tresses in +golden thread.</p> + +<p>This magnificent piece of needlework has probably +no parallel in this country.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +When Robert, Abbot of St. Alban’s, visited his countryman Pope +Adrian the Fourth, he made him several valuable presents, and +amongst other things three mitres and a pair of sandals of most admirable +workmanship. His holiness refused his other presents, but +thankfully accepted of the mitres and sandals, being charmed with +their exquisite beauty. These admired pieces of embroidery were the +work of Christina, Abbess of Markgate.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> +“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Anglicæ nationis feminæ multum acu et auri textura, egregie +viri in omni valeant artificio.</span> <span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Però fu renomato Opus Anglicum.</span>”—From <span class="smcap">Muratori</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +A florene is 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> +“The pall was a bishop’s vestment, going over the shoulders, +made of sheep-skin, in memory of him who sought the lost sheep, +and when he had found it laid it on his shoulders; and it was embroidered +with crosses, and taken off the body or coffin of St. Peter.”—<span class="smcap">Camden.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +Anastasius Bibliothecarius. De Vitis Romanorum Pontificum.</p> + +<p>As this work is the fountain whence subsequent writers have chiefly +obtained their information with regard to church vestments, that is +to say, decorative ones, it may not be amiss to transcribe a passage, +taken literally at random from scores of similar ones. It will give +the reader some idea of the profusion with which the expensive garnitures +were supplied:—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sed et super altare majus fecit tetra vela holoserica alithina +quatuor, cum astillis, et rosis chrysoclabis. Et in eodem altare +fecit cum historiis crucifixi Domini vestem tyriam. Et in Ecclesia +Doctoris Mundi beati Pauli Apostoli tetra vela holoserica alithyna +quatuor, et vestem super altare albam chrysoclabam, habentem +historiam Sanctæ Resurrectionis, et aliam vestem chrysoclabam, habentem +historiam nativitatis Domini, et Sanctorum Innocentium. +Immo et aliam vestem tyriam, habentem historiam cæci illuminati, +et Resurrectionem. Idem autem sanctissimus Præsul fecit in basilica +beatæ Mariæ ad Præsepe vestem albam chrysoclabam, habentem +historiam sanctæ Resurrectionis. Sed et aliam vestem in orbiculis +chrysoclabis, habentem historias Annunciationis, et sanctorum Joachim, +et Annæ. Fecit in Ecclesia beati Laurentii foris muros eidem +Præsul vestem albam rosatam cum chrysoclabo. Sed et aliam vestem +super sanctum corpus ejus albam de stauraci chrysoclabam, cum margaritis. +Et in titulo Calixti vestem chrysoclabam ex blattin Byzanteo, +habentem historiam nativitatis Domini, et sancti Simeonis. Item +in Ecclesia sancti Pancratii vestem tyriam, habentem historiam Ascencionis +Domini, seu et in sancta Maria ad Martyres fecit vestem tyriam +ut supra. Et in basilica sanctorum Cosmæ et Damiani fecit +vestem de blatti Byzanteo, cum periclysin de chrysoclabo, et margaritis.</span>”—i. +285.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> +“De staurace.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> +“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Opere plumario exquitissime præparatas.</span>”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> +In the classical ages, they were in high repute. Juno’s chariot +is drawn by peacocks; and Olympian Jove himself invests his royal +limbs with a mantle formed of their feathers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> +The name of Dame Leviet has descended to posterity as an embroiderer +to the Conqueror and his Queen.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> +Will. of Malmesbury, 156.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> +Vet. Mon. cap. 13.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>84]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.—PART I.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Needlework sublime.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Cowper.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Great discussion has taken place amongst the +learned with regard to the exact time at which the +Bayeux tapestry was wrought. The question, except +as a matter of curiosity, is, perhaps, of little +account—fifty years earlier or later, nearly eight +hundred years ago. It had always been considered +as the work of Matilda, the wife of the conquering +Duke of Normandy until a few years ago, when the +Abbé de la Rue started and endeavoured to maintain +the hypothesis that it was worked by or under the +direction of the Empress Matilda, the daughter of +Henry the First.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> But his positions, as Dibdin +observes,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> are all of a <em>negative</em> character, and, +“according to the strict rules of logic, it must not +be admitted, that because such and such writers have +<em>not</em> noticed a circumstance, therefore that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>85]</a></span> +circumstance or event cannot have taken place.” Hudson +Gurney, Charles A. Stothard, and Thos. Amyot, +Esqrs. have all published essays on the subject,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +which establish almost to certainty the fact of the +production of this tapestry at the earlier of the two +periods contended for, viz. from 1066 to 1068.</p> + +<p>In this we rejoice, because this Herculean labour +has a halo of deep interest thrown round it, +from the circumstance of its being the proud tribute +of a fond and affectionate wife, glorying in her husband’s +glory, and proud of emblazoning his deeds. +As the work of the Empress Matilda it would still +be a magnificent production of industry and of skill; +as the work of “Duke William’s” wife these qualities +merge in others of a more interesting character.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>This excellent and amiable princess was a most +highly accomplished woman, and remarkable for her +learning; she was the affectionate mother of a large +family, the faithful wife of an enterprising monarch, +with whom she lived for thirty-three years so harmoniously +that her death had such an effect on her +husband as to cause him to relinquish, never again +to resume, his usual amusements.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>86]</a></span> +Little did the affectionate wife think, whilst employed +over this task, that her domestic tribute of +regard should become an historical memento of her +country, and blazon forth her illustrious husband’s +deeds, and her own unwearying affection, to ages +upon ages hereafter to be born. For independently of +the interest which may be attached to this tapestry as +a pledge of feminine affection, a token of housewifely +industry, and a specimen of ancient stitchery, it derives +more historic value as the work of the Conqueror’s +wife, than if it were the production of a +later time. For it holds good with these historical +tapestries as with the written histories and romances +of the middle ages;—authors wrote and ladies +wrought (we mean no pun) their characters, <em>not</em> in +the costume of the times in which the action or event +celebrated took place, but in that in which they were at +the time engaged; and thus, had Matilda the Empress +worked this tapestry, it is more than probable +that she would have introduced the armorial bearings +which were in her time becoming common, and especially +the Norman leopards, of which in the tapestry +there is not the slightest trace. In her time too the +hair was worn so long as to excite the censures of +the church, whilst at the time of the Conquest the +Normans almost shaved their heads; and this circumstance, +more than the want of beards, is supposed +by Mr. Stothard<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> to have led to the surmise of the +Anglo-Saxon spies that the Normans were all priests. +This circumstance is faithfully depicted in the tapestry, +where also the chief weapon seen is a lance, which +was little used after the Conquest. These peculiarities, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>87]</a></span> +with several others which have been commented +on by antiquarian writers, seem to establish +the date of this production as coeval with the action +which it represents, and therefore invaluable as an +historical document.</p> + +<p>“It is, perhaps,” says one of the learned writers +on the Bayeux tapestry, “a characteristic of the +literature of the present age to deduce history from +sources of second-rate authority; from ballads +and pictures rather than from graver and severer +records. Unquestionably this is the preferable +course, if amusement, not truth, be the object sought +for. Nothing can be more delightful than to read +the reigns of the Plantagenets in the dramas of +Shakspeare, or the tales of later times in the ingenious +fictions of the author of Waverley. But +those who would draw historical facts from their +hiding-places must be content to plod through many +a ponderous worm-eaten folio, and many a half-legible +and still less intelligible manuscript.</p> + +<p>“Yet,” continues he, “if the Bayeux tapestry be +not history of the first class, it is, perhaps, something +better. It exhibits genuine traits, elsewhere sought +in vain, of the costume and manners of that age +which, of all others, if we except the period of the +Reformation, ought to be the most interesting to +us; that age which gave us a new race of monarchs, +bringing with them new landholders, new laws, and +almost a new language.</p> + +<p>“As in the magic pages of Froissart, we here behold +our ancestors of each race in most of the occupations +of life, in courts and camps, in pastime and +in battle, at feasts and on the bed of sickness. These +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>88]</a></span> +are characteristics which of themselves would call +forth a lively interest; but their value is greatly +enhanced by their connection with one of the most +important events in history, the main subject of the +whole design.”</p> + +<p>This magnificent piece of work is 227 feet in +length by 20 inches in width, is now usually kept at +the Town-hall in Rouen, and is treasured as the +most precious relic. It was formerly the theme of +some long and learned dissertations of antiquarian +historians, amongst whom Montfaucon, perhaps, +ranks most conspicuous.</p> + +<p>Still so little <em>local</em> interest does it excite, that Mr. +Gurney, in 1814, was nearly leaving Bayeux without +seeing it because he did not happen to ask for it +by the title of “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Toile de St. Jean</span>,” and so his +request was not understood; and Ducarel, in his +“Tour,” says, “The priests of this cathedral to whom +we addressed ourselves for a sight of this remarkable +piece of antiquity, knew nothing of it; the circumstance +only of its being annually hung up in +their church led them to understand what we wanted; +no person there knowing that the object of our inquiry +any ways related to William the Conqueror, +whom to this day they call Duke William.”</p> + +<p>During the French Revolution its surrender was +demanded for the purpose of covering the guns; +fortunately, however, a priest succeeded in concealing +it until that storm was overpast.</p> + +<p>Bonaparte better knew its value. It was displayed +for some time in Paris, and afterwards at some seaport +towns. M. Denon had the charge of it committed +to him by Bonaparte, but it was afterwards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>89]</a></span> +restored to Bayeux. It was at the time of the usurper’s +threatened invasion of our country that so +much value was attached to, and so much pains +taken to exhibit this roll. “Whether,” says Dibdin, +“at such a sight the soldiers shouted, and, drawing +their glittering swords,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,—”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>confident of a second representation of the same +subject by a second subjugation of our country—is +a point which has not been exactly detailed to me! +But the supposition may not be considered very violent +when I inform you that I was told by a casual +French visitor of the tapestry, that ‘<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pour cela, si +Bonaparte avait eu le courage, le résultat auroit été +comme autrefois</i>.’ Matters, however, have taken +<em>rather</em> a different turn.”</p> + +<p>The tapestry is coiled round a machine like that +which lets down the buckets to a well, and a female +unrols and explains it. It is worked in different +coloured worsteds on white cloth, to which time has +given the tinge of brown holland; the parts intended +to represent flesh are left untouched by the needle. +The colours are somewhat faded, and not very multitudinous. +Perhaps it is the little variety of colours +which Matilda and her ladies had at their +disposal which has caused them to depict the horses +of any colour—“blue, green, red, or yellow.” The +outline, too, is of course stiff and rude.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> At the +top and bottom of the main work is a narrow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>90]</a></span> +allegorical border; and each division or different action +or event is marked by a branch or tree extending +the whole depth of the tapestry; and most frequently +each tableau is so arranged that the figures +at the end of one and the beginning of the next are +turned from each other, whilst above each the subject +of the scene and the names of the principal +actors are wrought in large letters. The subjects +of the border vary; some of Æsop’s fables are depicted +on it, sometimes instruments of agriculture, +sometimes fanciful and grotesque figures and borders; +and during the heat of the battle of Hastings, +when, as Montfaucon says, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le carnage est grand</span>,” +the appropriate device of the border is a <em>layer of +dead men</em>.</p> + +<p>“From the fury of the Normans, good Lord deliver +us,” was, we are told, in the ninth, tenth, and +eleventh centuries a petition in the Litanies of all +nations.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> For long did England sorrow under their +“fury,” though <em>in time</em> the Conquest produced advantageous +results to the kingdom at large. Whether +this Norman subjugation was in accordance +with the will of the monarch Edward, or whether it +was entirely the result of Duke William’s ambition, +must now ever remain in doubt. Harold asserted +that Edward the Confessor appointed him his successor +(of which, however, he could not produce +proof); to this must be opposed the improbability +of Edward thus ennobling a family of whom he felt, +and with such abundant cause, so jealous.</p> + +<p>Probably the old chronicler (Fabyan) has hit the +mark when he says, “This Edgarre (the rightful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>91]</a></span> +heir) was yonge, and specyally for Harolde was +stronge of knyghtes and rychesse, he wanne the +reygne.” Be this as it may, however, Harold on +the very day of Edward’s interment, and that was +only the day subsequent to his death, was crowned +king in St. Paul’s; apparently with the concurrence +of all concerned, for he was powerful and popular. +And his government during the chief part of his +short kingly career was such as to increase his popularity: +he was wise, and just, and gracious. “Anone +as he was crowned, he began to fordoo euyll lawes +and customes before vsed, and stablysshed the good +lawes, and specyally whiche (suche) as were for the +defence of holy churche, and punysshed the euyll +doers, to the fere and example of other.”<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>But uncontrolled authority early began to produce +its wonted results. He “waxyd so prowd, and +for couetouse wold not deuyde the prayes that he +took to hys knyghtys, that had well deseruyd it, +but kepte it to hymself, that he therby lost the +fauour of many of his knyghtys and people.”<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> This +defection from his party doubtless made itself felt +in the mortal struggle with the Norman duke which +issued in Harold’s discomfiture and death.</p> + +<p>Proceed we to the tapestry.</p> + +<p>The first scene which the needlewoman has depicted +is a conference between a person who, from +his white flowing beard and regal costume, is easily +recognized as the “sainted Edward,” and another, +who, from his subsequent embarkation, is supposed +to be Harold. The subject of the conference is, of +course, only conjectured. Harold’s visit to Normandy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>92]</a></span> +is well known; but whether, as some suppose, he +was driven thither by a tempest when on a cruise of +pleasure; whether he went as ambassador from Edward +to communicate the intentions of the Confessor +in William’s behoof; or whether, as the tapestry is +supposed more strongly to indicate, he obtained +Edward’s reluctant consent to his visit to reclaim his +brother who, a hostage for his own good conduct, +had been sent to William by Edward; these are +points which now defy investigation, even if they +were of sufficient importance to claim it. Harold is +then seen on his journey attended by cavaliers on +horseback, surrounded by dogs, and, an emblem of +his own high dignity, a hawk on his fist.</p> + +<p>One great value of this tapestry is the scrupulous +regard paid to points and circumstances which at +first view might appear insignificant, but which, as +correlative confirmations of usages and facts, are of +considerable importance. Thus, it is known to antiquarians +that great personages formerly had two +only modes of equipment when proceeding on a +journey, that of war or the chase. Harold is here +fully equipped for the chase, and consequently the +first glimpse obtained of his person would show that +his errand was one of peace. The hawk on the fist +was a mark of high nobility: no inferior person is +represented with one: Harold and Guy Earl of +Ponthieu alone bear them.</p> + +<p>In former times this bird was esteemed so sacred +that it was prohibited in the ancient laws for any +one to give his hawk even as a part of his ransom. +In the reign of Edward the Third it was made felony +to steal a hawk; and to take its eggs, even in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>93]</a></span> +person’s own ground, was punishable with imprisonment +for a year and a day, besides a fine at the +king’s pleasure. Nay, more than this, by the laws +of one part of the island, and probably of the whole,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +the price of a hawk, or of a greyhound, was once the +very same with the price of a man; and there was +a time when the robbing of a hawk’s nest was as +great a crime in the eye of the law, and as severely +punished, as the murder of a Christian. And of +this high value they were long considered. “It is +difficult,” says Mr. Mills,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> “to fancy the extravagant +degree of estimation in which hawks were held +during the chivalric ages. As symbols of high +estate they were constantly carried about by the +nobility of both sexes. There was even a usage of +bringing them into places appropriated to public +worship; a practice which, in the case of some individuals, +appears to have been recognised as a right. +The treasurer of the church of Auxerre enjoyed the +distinction of assisting at divine service on solemn +days with a falcon on his fist; and the Lord of Sassai +held the privilege of perching his upon the altar. +Nothing was thought more dishonourable to a man +of rank than to give up his hawks; and if he were +taken prisoner he would not resign them even for +liberty.”</p> + +<p>The different positions in which the hawk is +placed in our needlework are worthy of remark. +Here its head is raised, its wings fluttering, as if +eager and ready for flight; afterwards, when Harold +follows the Earl of Ponthieu as his captive, he is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>94]</a></span> +not, of course, deprived of his bird, but by a beautiful +fiction the bird is represented depressed, and +with its head turned towards its master’s breast as +if trying to nestle and shelter itself there. Could +sympathy be more poetically expressed? Afterwards, +on Harold’s release, the bird is again depicted as +fluttering to “soar elate.”</p> + +<p>The practice very prevalent in these “barbarous +times,” as we somewhat too sweepingly term them, +of entering on no expedition of war or pastime +without imploring the protection of heaven, is intimated +by a church which Harold is entering previously +to his embarkation. That this observance +might degenerate in many instances into mere form +may be very true; and the “hunting masses” celebrated +in song might, some of them, be more +honoured in the breach than the observance: nevertheless +in clearing away the dross of old times, we +have, it is to be feared, removed some of the gold +also; and the abolition of the custom of having the +churches open at <em>all times</em>, so that at any moment +the heart-prompted prayer might be offered up +under the holy shelter of a consecrated roof, has +tended very much, it is to be feared, to abolish the +habit of frequent prayer. A habit in itself, and regarded +even merely as a habit, fraught with inestimable +good.</p> + +<p>We next see Harold and his companions refreshing +themselves prior to their departure, pledging +each other, and doubtless drinking to the success of +their enterprise whatever it might be. The horns +from which they are drinking have been the subject +of critical remark. We find that horns were used +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>95]</a></span> +for various purposes, and were of four sorts, drinking +horns, hunting horns, horns for summoning the +people, and of a mixed kind.</p> + +<p>They were used as modes of investiture, and this +manner of endowing was usual amongst the Danes +in England. King Cnute himself gave lands at +Pusey in Berkshire to the family of that name, with +a horn solemnly at that time delivered, as a confirmation +of the grant. Edward the Confessor made +a like donation to the family of Nigel. The celebrated +horn of Alphus, kept in the sacristy in York +Minster, was probably a drinking cup belonging to +this prince, and was by him given together with all +his lands and revenues to that church. “When he +gave the horn that was to convey it (his estate) he +filled it with wine, and on his knees before the altar, +‘<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Deo et S. Petro omnes terras et redditus propinavit</span>.’ +So that he drank it off, in testimony that +thereby he gave them his lands.”<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Many instances +might be adduced to show that this mode of investiture +was common in England in the time of the +Danes, the Anglo-Saxons, and at the close of the +reign of the Norman conqueror.</p> + +<p>The drinking horns had frequently a screw at the +end, which being taken off at once converted them +into hunting horns, which circumstance will account +for persons of distinction frequently carrying their +own. Such doubtless were those used of old by the +Breton hunters about Brecheliant, which is poetically +described as a forest long and broad, much famed +throughout Brittany. The fountain of Berenton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>96]</a></span> +rises from beneath a stone there. Thither the +hunters are used to repair in sultry weather, and +drawing up water with their horns (those horns +which had just been used to sound the animated +warnings of the chase), they sprinkle the stone for +the purpose of having rain, which is then wont to +fall throughout the whole forest around. There too +fairies are to be seen, and many wonders happen. +The ground is broken and precipitous, and deer in +plenty roam there, but the husbandmen have forsaken +it. Our author<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> goes on to say that he personally +visited this enchanted region, but that, +though he saw the forest and the land, no marvels +presented themselves. The reason is obvious. He +had, before the time, contracted some of the scepticism +of these matter-of-fact “schoolmaster abroad” +days. He wanted faith, and therefore he did not +<em>deserve</em> to see them.</p> + +<p>The use of drinking horns is very ancient. They +were usually embellished or garnished with silver; +they were in very common use among our Saxon +ancestors, who frequently had them gilded and +magnificently ornamented. One of those in use +amongst Harold’s party seems to be very richly +decorated.</p> + +<p>The revellers are, however, obliged to dispatch, +as their leader, Harold, is already wading through +the water to his vessel. The character of Harold as +displayed throughout this tapestry is a magnificent +one, and does infinite credit to the generous and +noble disposition of Matilda the queen, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>97]</a></span> +disdained to depreciate the character of a fallen foe. +He commences his expedition by an act of piety; +here, on his embarkation at Bosham, he is kindly +carrying his dog through the water. In crossing +the sands of the river Cosno, which are dangerous, +so very dangerous as most frequently to cause the +destruction of those who attempt their transit, his +whole concern seems to be to assist the passage of +others, whose inferior natural powers do not enable +them to compete with danger so successfully as himself; +his character for undaunted bravery is such, +that William condescends to supplicate his assistance +in a feud then at issue between himself and +another nobleman, and so nobly does he bear himself +that the proud Norman with his own hands +invests him with the emblems of honour (as seen in +the tapestry); and, last scene of all, he disdained +all submission, he repelled all the entreaties with +which his brothers assailed him not personally to +lead his troops to the encounter, and the corpses of +15,000 Normans on this field, and of even a greater +number on the English monarch’s side, told in bloody +characters that Harold had not quailed in the last +great encounter.</p> + +<p>Unpropitious winds drive him and his attendants +from their intended course. Many historians accuse +the people of Ponthieu of making prisoners all +whose ill fortune threw them upon their coast, and +of treating them with great barbarity, in order to +extort the larger ransom. Be this as it may, Harold +has scarcely set his foot on shore ere he is forcibly +captured by the vassals of Guy of Ponthieu, who is +there on horseback to witness the proceeding. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>98]</a></span> +tapestry goes on to picture the progress of the captured +troop and their captors to Belrem or Beurain, +and a conference when there between the earl and +his prisoner, where the fair embroideresses have +given a delicate and expressive feature by depicting +the conquering noble with his sword elevated, and +the princely captive, wearing indeed his sword, but +with the point depressed.</p> + +<p>It is said that a fisherman of Ponthieu, who had +been often in England and knew Harold’s person, +was the cause of his capture. “He went privily to +Guy, the Count of Pontif, and would speak to no +other; and he told the Count how he could put a +great prize in his way, if he would go with him; and +that if he would give him only twenty livres he +should gain a hundred by it, for he would deliver +him such a prisoner as would pay a hundred livres +or more for his ransome.” The Count agreed to +his terms, and then the fisherman showed him +Harold.</p> + +<p>Hearing of Harold’s captivity, William the Norman +is anxious on all and every account to obtain +possession of his person. He consequently sends +ambassadors to Guy, who is represented on the +tapestry as giving them audience. The person +holding the horses is somewhat remarkable; he is a +bearded dwarf. Dwarfs were formerly much sought +after in the houses of great folks, and they were frequently +sent as presents from one potentate to another. +They were petted and indulged somewhat in +the way of the more modern fool or jester. The +custom is very old. The Romans were so fond of +them, that they often used artificial methods to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>99]</a></span> +prevent the growth of children designed for dwarfs, by +enclosing them in boxes, or by the use of tight +bandages. The sister of one of the Roman emperors +had a dwarf who was only two feet and a +hand breadth in height. Many relations concerning +dwarfs we may look upon as not less fabulous than +those of giants. They are, like the latter, indispensable +in romances, where their feats, far from +being dwarfish, are absolutely gigantic, though these +diminutive heroes seldom occupy any more ostensible +post than that of humble attendant.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Fill’d with these views th’ <em>attendant dwarf</em> she sends:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before the knight the dwarf respectful bends;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kind greetings bears as to his lady’s guest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And prays his presence to adorn her feast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The knight delays not.”<br /></span> +</div> +<span class="i4"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A hugye giaunt stiffe and starke,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">All foule of limbe and lere;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two goggling eyen like fire farden,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A mouthe from eare to eare.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before him came a dwarffe full lowe,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That <em>waited on his knee</em>.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Sir Cauline.<br /></span> +</div> +<span class="i4"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Behind her farre away a dwarfe did lag<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lasie seem’d, in being ever last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or wearied with <em>bearing of her bag</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of needments at his backe.”<br /></span> +<span class="poem smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The dwarf worked in the tapestry has the name +<span class="smcap">Tvrold</span> placed above him, and seems to have been +a dependant of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William the +Conqueror’s brother.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>100]</a></span> +The first negotiations are unsuccessful; more +urgent messages are forwarded, and in the end Duke +William himself proceeds at the head of some troops +to <em>compel</em> the surrender of the prisoner. Count Guy +is intimidated, and the object is attained; every +stage of these proceedings is depicted on the canvas, +as well as William’s courteous reception of Harold +at his palace.</p> + +<p>The portraiture of a female in a sort of porch, +with a clergyman in the act of pronouncing a benediction +on her, is supposed to have reference to the +engagement between William and his guest, that +the latter should marry the daughter of the former. +Many other circumstances and conditions were tacked +to this agreement, one of which was that Harold +should guard the English throne for William; +agreements which one and all—under the reasonable +plea that they were enforced ones—the Anglo-Saxon +nobleman broke through. It is said that his desertion +so affected the mind of the pious young +princess,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> that her heart broke on her passage to +Spain, whither they were conveying her to a forced +union with a Spanish prince. As this young lady +was a mere child at the time of Harold’s visit to +Normandy, the story, though exceedingly pretty, is +probably very apocryphal. Ducarel gives an entirely +different explanation of the scene, and says +that it is probably meant to represent a secretary or +officer coming to William’s duchess, to acquaint +her with the agreement just made relative to her +daughter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>101]</a></span> +The Earl of Bretagne is at this moment at war +with Duke William, and the latter attaching Harold +to his party, from whom indeed he receives effectual +service, arrives at Mount St. Michel, passes the +river Cosno (to which we have before alluded), and +arrives at Dol in Brittany. Parties are seen flying +towards Rennes. William and his followers attack +Dinant, of which the keys are delivered up, and the +Normans come peaceably to Bayeux; William +having previously, with his own hands, invested +Harold with a suit of armour.</p> + +<p>Harold shortly returns to England, but not before +a very important circumstance had taken place. +William and Harold had mutually entered into an +agreement by which the latter had pledged himself +to be true to William, to acknowledge him as Edward’s +successor on the English throne, and to do +all in his power to obtain for him the peaceable +possession of that throne; and as Harold was, the +reigning monarch excepted, the first man in England, +this promised support was of no trifling moment. +William resolved therefore to have the oath +repeated with all possible solemnity. His brother +Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, assisted him in this +matter. Accordingly we see Harold standing +between two altars covered with cloth of gold, a +hand on each, uttering the solemn adjuration, of +which William, seated on his throne, is a delighted +auditor; for he well knew that the oath was more +fearful than Harold was at all aware of. For “William +sent for all the holy bodies thither, and put so +many of them together as to fill a whole chest, and +then covered them with a pall; but Harold neither +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>102]</a></span> +saw them, nor knew of their being there, for nought +was shown or told to him about it; and over all was +a phylactery, the best that he could select. When +Harold placed his hand upon it, the hand trembled +and the flesh quivered; but he swore, and promised +upon his oath, to take Ele to wife, and to deliver +up England to the duke; and thereunto to do all in +his power, according to his might and wit, after the +death of Edward, if he should live, so help him God +and the holy relics there! (meaning the Gospels, +for he had none idea of any other). Many cried +‘God grant it!’ and when Harold had kissed the +saints, and had risen upon his feet, the duke led +him up to the chest, and made him stand near it; +and took off the chest the pall that had covered it, +and showed Harold upon what holy relics he had +sworn, and he was sorely alarmed at the sight.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> +Archæologia, vol. xvii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> +Biblio. Tour, vol. i., 138.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Archæol. vols. xviii., xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> +One writer, Bolton Corney, Esq., maintains that this work was +provided at the expense of the Chapter of Bayeux, under their superintendence, +and from their designs. “If it had not (says he) been +devised within the precincts of a church it could not have escaped +female influence: it could not have contained such indications of +<em>celibatic</em> superintendence. It is not without its domestic and festive +scenes; and comprises, exclusive of the borders, about 530 figures; +but in this number there are only three females.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> +Henry III., 25.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Archæol. vol. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> +The attempts to imitate the human figure were, at this period, +stiff and rude: but arabesque patterns were now <em>chiefly</em> worked; and +they were rich and varied.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> +Henry III., 554.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> +Fabyan’s Chron.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Rastell’s Chron.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> +Henry II., 515.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> +Hist. Chiv.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> +Archæol. 1 and 3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> +Master Wace. Roman de Rou, &c., by Taylor.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> +Archæologia, vol. xix.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> +“Her knees were like horn with constant kneeling.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>103]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.—PART II.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But bloody, bloody was the field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere that lang day was done.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Hardyknute.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“King William bithought him alsoe of that<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Folke that was forlorne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slayn also thoruz him<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In the bataile biforne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ther as the bataile was,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">An abbey he lite rere<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Seint Martin, for the soules<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That there slayn were.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the monkes well ynoug<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Feffed without fayle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is called in Englonde<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Abbey of Bataile.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Immediately after the solemn ceremony described +in the foregoing chapter, Harold is depicted as returning +to England and presenting himself before +the king, Edward the Confessor. “But the day +came that no man can escape, and King Edward +drew near to die.” His deathbed and his funeral +procession are both wrought in the tapestry, but by +some accident have been transposed. His remains +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>104]</a></span> +are borne in splendid procession to the magnificent +house which he had builded (<i>i.e.</i> rebuilded), Westminster +Abbey; over which, in the sky, a hand is +seen to point as if in benediction. It is well known +that the Abbey was barely finished at the time of +the pious monarch’s death, and this circumstance is +intimated in an intelligible though homely manner +in the tapestry by a person occupied in placing a +weathercock on the summit of the building.</p> + +<p>The first pageant seen within its walls was the +funeral array of the monarch who so beautifully +rebuilt and so amply endowed it. Before the high +altar, in a splendid shrine, where gems and jewelry +flashed back the gleams of innumerable torches, and +amid the solemn chant of the monks, whose “Miserere” +echoed through the vaulted aisles, interrupted +but by the subdued wail of the mourners, or the +emphatic benediction of the poor whose friend he +had been, were laid the remains of him who was +called the Sainted Edward; whose tomb was considered +so hallowed a spot that the very stones +around it were worn down by the knees of the pilgrims +who resorted thither for prayer; and the very +dust of whose shrine was carefully swept and collected, +exported to the continent, and bought by +devotees at a high price.</p> + +<p>We next see in the tapestry the crown <em>offered</em> to +Harold (a circumstance to be peculiarly remarked, +since thus depicted by his opponent’s wife), and +then Harold shows right royally receiving the +homage and gratulations of those around.</p> + +<p>But the next scene forbodes a change of fortune: +“<span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Isti mirant stella</span>,” is the explanation wrought +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>105]</a></span> +over it. For there appeared “a blasing starre, +which was seene not onelie here in England, but +also in other parts of the world, and continued the +space of seven daies. This blasing starre might be +a prediction of mischeefe imminent and hanging +over Harold’s head; for they never appeare but as +prognosticats of afterclaps.”</p> + +<p>Popular belief has generally invested these ill-omened +bodies with peculiar terrors. “These +blasing starres—dreadful to be seene, with bloudie +haires, and all over rough and shagged at the top.” +They vary, however, in their appearance. Sometimes +they are pale, and glitter like a sword, without +any rays or beams. Such was the one which is said +to have hung over Jerusalem for near a year before +its destruction, filling the minds of all who beheld it +with awe and superstitious dread. A comet resembling +a horn appeared when the “whole manhood +of Greece fought the battaile of Salamis.” +Comets foretold the war between Cæsar and +Pompey, the murder of Claudius, and the tyranny +of Nero. Though <em>usually</em>, they were not <em>invariably</em>, +considered as portents of evil omen: for the birth +and accession of Alexander, of Mithridates, the +birth of Charles Martel, and the accession of +Charlemagne, and the commencement of the Tátár +empire, were all notified by blazing stars. A very +brilliant one which appeared for seven consecutive +nights soon after the death of Julius Cæsar was +supposed to be conveying the soul of the murdered +dictator to Olympus. An author who wrote on one +which appeared in the reign of Elizabeth was most +anxious, as in duty bound, to apply the phenomenon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>106]</a></span> +to the queen. But here was the puzzle. “To have +foretold calamities might have been misprision of +treason; and the only precedent for saying anything +good of a comet was to be drawn from that +which occurred after the death of Julius Cæsar;” +but it so happened that at this time Elizabeth was +by no means either ripe or willing for her apotheosis.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Comets, one author writes, “were made to the end +the etherial regions might not be more void of +monsters than the ocean is of whales and other +great thieving fishes, and that a gross fatness being +gathered together as excrements into an imposthume, +the celestial air might thereby be purged, +lest the sun should be obscured.” Another says, +they “signifie corruption of the ayre. They are +signes of earthquake, of warres, chaunging of kyngdomes, +great dearth of corne, yea, a common death +of man and beast.” So a poet of the same age:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There with long bloody hair a blazing star<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Threatens the world with famine, plague, and war;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To princes death, to kingdoms many crosses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To all estates inevitable losses;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To herdsmen rot, to plowmen hapless seasons,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To sailors storms, to cities civil treasons.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But a writer on comets in 1665 crowned all +previous conjecture. “As if God and Nature +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>107]</a></span> +intended by comets to ring the knells of princes; +esteeming the bells of churches upon earth not +sacred enough for such illustrious and eminent performances.”</p> + +<p>No wonder that the comet in Harold’s days was +regarded with fearful misgivings.</p> + +<p>It did not, however, dismay him. Duke William, +as may be supposed, did not tamely submit to a +usurpation of what he considered, or affected to consider, +his own dominions—a circumstance which we +see an envoy, probably from his party in England, +makes him acquainted with. He holds a council, +seemingly an earnest and animated one, which +evidently results in the immediate preparation of +a fleet; of which the tapestry delineates the various +stages and circumstances, from the felling of the +timber in its native woods to the launching of the +vessels, stored and fully equipped in arms, provisions, +and heroes for invasion and conquest.</p> + +<p>William in this expedition received unusual assistance +from his own tributary chiefs, and from +various other allies, who joined his standard, and +without whom, indeed, he could not, with any +chance of success, have made his daring attempt. +A summer and autumn were spent in fitting-up the +fleet and collecting the forces, “and there was no +knight in the land, no good serjeant, archer, nor +peasant of stout heart, and of age for battle, that +the duke did not summon to go with him to +England; promising rents to the vavassors, and +honours to the barons.” Thus was an armament +prepared of seven hundred ships, but the one which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>108]</a></span> +bore William, the hero of the expedition, shone +proudly pre-eminent over the rest. It was the gift +of his affectionate queen. It is represented in the +canvas of larger size than the others: the mast, +surmounted by a cross, bears the banner which was +sent to William by the Pope as a testimony of his +blessing and approbation. On this mast also a +beacon-light nightly blazed as a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">point d’approche</i> of +the remainder of the fleet. On the poop was the +figure of a boy (supposed to be meant for the conqueror’s +youngest son), gilded, and looking earnestly +towards England, holding in one hand a banner, in +the other an ivory horn, on which he is sounding a +joyful reveillee.</p> + +<p>But long the fleet waited at St. Valeri for a fair +wind, until the barons became weary and dispirited. +Then they prayed the convent to bring out the +shrine of St. Valeri and set it on a carpet in the +plain; and all came praying the holy relics that +they might be allowed to pass over sea. They +offered so much money, that the relics were buried +beneath it; and from that day forth they had good +weather and a fair wind. “Than Willyam thanked +God and Saynt Valary, and toke shortly after shyppynge, +and helde his course towarde Englande.”</p> + +<p>On the arrival of the fleet in England a banquet +is prepared. The shape of the table at which +William sits has been the theme of some curious +remarks by Father Montfaucon, which have been +copied by Ducarel and others. It is in form of a +half-moon, and was called by the Romans <em>sigma</em>, +from the Greek <ins class="greek" title="Greek letter final sigma, s">ς</ins>. It was calculated only for seven +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>109]</a></span> +persons; and a facetious emperor once invited eight, +on purpose to raise a laugh against the person for +whom there would be no place.</p> + +<p>“A knight in that country (Britain) heard the +noise and cry made by the peasants and villains +when they saw the great fleet arrive. He well knew +that the Normans were come, and that their object +was to seize the land. He posted himself behind a +hill, so that they should not see him, and tarried +there watching the arrival of the great fleet. He +saw the archers come forward from the ships, and +the knights follow. He saw the carpenters with +their axes, and the host of people and troops. He +saw the men throw the materials for the fort out of +the ships. He saw them build up and enclose the +fort, and dig the fosse around it. He saw them +land the shields and armour. And as he beheld all +this his spirit was troubled; and he girt his sword +and took his lance, saying he would go straightway +to King Harold and tell the news. Forthwith he +set out on his way, resting late and rising early; +and thus he journeyed on by night and by day to +seek Harold his lord.” And we see him in the +tapestry speeding to his beloved master.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Harold is not idle. But the fleet +which, in expectation of his adversary’s earlier arrival, +he had stationed on the southern coast, had +lately dispersed from want of provisions, and the +King, occupied by the Norwegian invasion, had not +been able to reinstate it; and “William came +against him (says the Saxon chronicle) unawares +ere his army was collected.” Thus the enemy found +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>110]</a></span> +nor opposition nor hinderance in obtaining a footing +in the island.</p> + +<p>Taken at such disadvantage, Harold did all that +a brave man could do to repel his formidable adversary. +The tapestry depicts, as well as may be +expected, the battle.</p> + +<p>“The priests had watched all night, and besought +and called upon God, and prayed to him in their +chapels, which were fitted up throughout the host. +They offered and vowed fasts, penances, and orisons; +they said psalms and misereres, litanies and kyriels; +they cried on God, and for his mercy, and said +paternosters and masses; some the <span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Spiritus Domini</span>, +others <span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Salus Populi</span>, and many <span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Salve Sancte +Parens</span>, being suited to the season, as belonging to +that day, which was Saturday.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">And now, behold! that battle was gathered +whereof the fame is yet mighty.</span></p> + +<p>“Then Taillefer, who sang right well, rode, +mounted on a swift horse, before the duke.</p> + +<p>“Loud and far resounded the bray of the horns, +and the shocks of the lances, the mighty strokes of +clubs, and the quick clashing of swords. One while +the Englishmen rushed on, another while they fell +back; one while the men from over sea charged +onwards, and again at other times retreated. When +the English fall, the Normans shout. Each side +taunts and defies the other, yet neither knoweth +what the other saith; and the Normans say the +English bark, because they understand not their +speech.</p> + +<p>“Some wax strong, others weak; the brave exult, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>111]</a></span> +but the cowards tremble, as men who are sore dismayed. +The Normans press on the assault, and the +English defend their post well; they pierce the +hauberks and cleave the shields; receive and return +mighty blows. Again some press forwards, others +yield, and thus in various ways the struggle proceeds.”</p> + +<p>The death of Harold’s two brothers is depicted, +and, finally, his own. It is said that his mother +offered the weight of the body in gold to have the +melancholy satisfaction of interring it, and that the +Conqueror refused the boon. But other writers +affirm, and apparently with truth, that William +immediately transmitted the body, unransomed, to +the bereaved parent, who had it interred in the +monastery of Waltham.</p> + +<p>With the death of Harold the tapestry now ends, +though some writers think it probable that it once +extended as far as the coronation of William. +There can be little doubt of its having been intended +to extend so far, though it is impossible now +to ascertain whether the Queen was ever enabled +quite to complete her Herculean task. Enough +there is, however, to stamp it as one of the “most +noble and interesting relics of antiquity;” and, as +Dibdin calls it, “an exceedingly curious document +of the conjugal attachment, and even enthusiastic +veneration of Matilda, and a political record of more +weight than may at first sight appear to belong to +it.” Taking it altogether, he adds, “none but +itself could be its parallel.”</p> + +<p>Almost all historians describe the Normans as +advancing to the onset “singing the song of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>112]</a></span> +Roland,” that is, a detail of the achievements of the +slaughtered hero of Roncesvalles, which is well +known to have been, for ages after the event to +which it refers, a note of magical inspiration to +deeds of “derring do”. On this occasion it is +recorded that the spirit note was sung by the minstrel +Taillefer, who was, however, little contented to +lead his countrymen by voice alone. It is not possible +that our readers can be otherwise than pleased +with the following animated account of his deeds:<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4 smcap">The Onset of Taillefer<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Foremost in the bands of France,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arm’d with hauberk and with lance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And helmet glittering in the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if a warrior-knight he were,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rushed forth the minstrel Taillefer—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Borne on his courser swift and strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He gaily bounded o’er the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And raised the heart-inspiring song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Loud echoed by the warlike throng)<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of Roland and of Charlemagne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Oliver, brave peer of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Untaught to fly, unknown to yield,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a knight and vassal bold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose hallowed blood, in crimson flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Dyed Roncesvalles’ field.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Harold’s host he soon descried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clustering on the hill’s steep side:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then turned him back brave Taillefer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus to William urged his prayer:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Great Sire, it fits me not to tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long I’ve served you, or how well;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet if reward my lays may claim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grant now the boon I dare to name;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Minstrel no more, be mine the blow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That first shall strike yon perjured foe.’<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>113]</a></span> +<span class="i0">‘Thy suit is gained,’ the Duke replied,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Our gallant minstrel be our guide.’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Enough,’ he cried, ‘with joy I speed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Foremost to vanquish or to bleed.’<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And still of Roland’s deeds he sung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While Norman shouts responsive rung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As high in air his lance he flung,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With well directed might;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back came the lance into his hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like urchin’s ball, or juggler’s wand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And twice again, at his command,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Whirled its unerring flight.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While doubting whether skill or charm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had thus inspired the minstrel’s arm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Saxons saw the wondrous dart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fixed in their standard bearer’s heart.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Now thrice aloft his sword he threw,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">’Midst sparkling sunbeams dancing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And downward thrice the weapon flew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like meteor o’er the evening dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">From summer sky swift glancing:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And while amazement gasped for breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another Saxon groaned in death.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“More wonders yet!—on signal made,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With mane erect, and eye-balls flashing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The well taught courser rears his head,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">His teeth in ravenous fury gnashing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He snorts—he foams—and upward springs—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Plunging he fastens on the foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And down his writhing victim flings,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Crushed by the wily minstrel’s blow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus seems it to the hostile band<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enchantment all, and fairy land.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Fain would I leave the rest unsung:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Saxon ranks, to madness stung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Headlong rushed with frenzied start,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hurling javelin, mace, and dart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No shelter from the iron shower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sought Taillefer in that sad hour;<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>114]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Yet still he beckoned to the field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Frenchman, come on—the Saxons yield—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strike quick—strike home—in Roland’s name—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For William’s glory—Harold’s shame.’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then pierced with wounds, stretched side by side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The minstrel and his courser died.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>We have dwelt on the details of the tapestry with +a prolixity which some may deem tedious. Yet +surely the subject is worthy of it; for, in the first +place, it is the oldest piece of needlework in the +world—the only piece of that era now existing; and +this circumstance in itself suggests many interesting +ideas, on which, did our space permit, we could +readily dilate. Ages have rolled away; and the +fair hands that wrought this work have mouldered +away into dust; and the gentle and affectionate +spirit that suggested this elaborate memorial has +long since passed from the scene which it adorned +and dignified. In no long period after the battle +thus commemorated, an abbey, consecrated to praise +and prayer, raised its stately walls on the very field +that was ploughed with the strife and watered with +the blood of fierce and evil men. The air that erst +rang with the sounds of wrath, of strife, of warfare, +the clangour of armour, the din of war, was now +made musical with the chorus of praise, or was +gently stirred by the breath of prayer or the sigh of +penitence; and where contending hosts were marshalled +in proud array, or the phalanx rushed impetuous +to the battle, were seen the stoled monks in +solemn procession, or the holy brother peacefully +wending on his errand of charity.</p> + +<p>But the grey and time-honoured walls waxed +aged as they beheld generation after generation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>115]</a></span> +consigned to dust beneath their shelter. Time and +change have done their worst. A few scattered +ruins, seen dimly through the mist of years, are all +that remain to point to the inquiring wanderer the +site of the stupendous struggle of which the results +are felt even after the expiration of eight hundred +years.</p> + +<p>These may be deemed trite reflections: still it is +worthy of remark, that many of the turbulent spirits +who then made earth echo with their fame would +have been literally and altogether as though they +never had been—for historians make little or no +mention of them—were it not for the lasting monument +raised to them in this tapestry by woman’s +industry and skill.</p> + +<p>Matilda the Queen’s character is pictured in +high terms by both English and Norman historians. +“So very stern was her husband, and hot, that no +man durst do anything against his will. He had +earls in his custody who acted against his will. +Bishops he hurled from their bishoprics, and abbots +from their abbacies, and thanes into prison;” yet it +is recorded that even his iron temper was not proof +against the good sense, the gentleness, the piety, +and the affection of a wife who never offended him +but once; and on this occasion there was so much +to palliate and excuse her fault, proceeding as it did +from a mother’s yearnings towards her eldest son +when he was in disgrace and sorrow, that the usually +unyielding King forgave her immediately. She +lived beloved, and she died lamented; and, from +the time of her death, the King, says William of +Malmsbury, “refrained from every gratification.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>116]</a></span> +Independently of the value of this tapestry as an +historical authority, and its interest as being projected, +and in part executed, by a lady as excellent +in character as she was noble in rank, and its high +estimation as the oldest piece of needlework extant—independently +of all these circumstances, it is +impossible to study this memorial closely, “rude +and skilless” as it at first appears, without becoming +deeply interested in the task. The outline engravings +of it in the “Tapisseries Anciennes Historiées” +are beautifully executed, but are inferior in +interest to Mr. Stothart’s (published by the Society +of Antiquarians), because these have the advantage +of being coloured accurately from the original. In +the study of these plates alone, days and weeks +glided away, nor left us weary of our task.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> +The Comet of 1618 carried dismay and horror in its course. Not +only mighty monarchs, but the humblest private individuals seem to +have considered the sign as sent to them, and to have set a double +guard on all their actions. Thus Sir Symonds D’Ewes, the learned +antiquary, having been in danger of an untimely end by entangling +himself among some bell-ropes, makes a memorandum in his private +diary never more to exercise himself in bell-ringing when there is a +comet in the sky.—<span class="smcap">Aikin.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> +By Thomas Amyot, Esq., F.S.A.—Archæol., vol. xix</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>117]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF THE TIMES OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“As ladies wont<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To finger the fine needle and nyse thread.”<br /></span> +<span class="poem smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Though, during bygone ages, the fingers of the fair +and noble were often sedulously employed in the +decoration and embellishment of the church, and of +its ministers, they were by no means universally so. +Marvellous indeed in quantity, as well as quality, +must have been the stitchery done in those industrious +days, for the “fine needle and nyse thread” +were not merely visible but conspicuous in every +department of life. If, happily, there were not proof +to the contrary, we might be apt to imagine that +the women of those days came into the world <em>only</em> +“to ply the distaff, broider, card, and sew.” That +this was not the case we, however, well know; but +before we turn to those embroideries which are more +especially the subject of this chapter, we will transcribe, +from a recent work,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> an interesting detail of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>118]</a></span> +the household responsibilities of the mistress of a +family in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.</p> + +<p>“While to play on the harp and citole (a species +of lute), to execute various kinds of the most costly +and delicate needle-work, and in some instances to +‘pourtraye,’ were, in addition to more literary pursuits, +the accomplishments of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries, the functions which the mistress +of an extensive household was expected to fulfil +were never lost sight of.</p> + +<p>“Few readers are aware of the various qualifications +requisite to form the ‘good housewife’ during +the middle ages. In the present day, when household +articles of every kind are obtainable in any +country town, and, with few exceptions, throughout +the year, we can know little of the judgment, the +forethought, and the nice calculation which were +required in the mistress of a household consisting +probably of three-score, or even more persons, and +who, in the autumn, had to provide almost a twelvemonth’s +stores. There was the fire-wood, the rushes +to strew the rooms, the malt, the oatmeal, the honey +(at this period the substitute for sugar), the salt +(only sold in large quantities), and, if in the country, +the wheat and the barley for the bread—all to be +provided and stored away. The greater part of the +meat used for the winter’s provision was killed and +salted down at Martinmas; and the mistress had to +provide the necessary stock for the winter and +spring consumption, together with the stockfish +and ‘baconed herrings’ for Lent. Then at the +annual fair, the only opportunity was afforded for +purchasing those more especial articles of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>119]</a></span> +housewifery which the careful housewife never omitted +buying—the ginger, nutmegs, and cinnamon, for the +Christmas posset, and Sheer-Monday furmety; the +currants and almonds for the Twelfth-Night cake +(an observance which dates almost as far back as +the Conquest); the figs, with which our forefathers +always celebrated Palm-Sunday; and the pepper, +the saffron, and the cummin, so highly prized in +ancient cookery. All these articles bore high prices, +and therefore it was with great consideration and +care that they were bought.</p> + +<p>“But the task of providing raiment for the family +also devolved upon the mistress, and there were no +dealers save for the richer articles of wearing apparel +to be found. The wool that formed the chief +clothing was the produce of the flock, or purchased +in a raw state; and was carded, spun, and in some +instances woven at home. Flax, also, was often +spun for the coarser kinds of linen, and occasionally +woven. Thus, the mistress of a household had most +important duties to fulfil, for on her wise and prudent +management depended not merely the comfort, +but the actual well-being of her extensive household. +If the winter’s stores were insufficient, there +were no markets from whence an additional supply +could be obtained; and the lord of wide estates and +numerous manors might be reduced to the most +annoying privations through the mismanagement of +the mistress of the family.”</p> + +<p>The “costly and delicate needle-work” is here, +as elsewhere, passed over with merely a mention. +It is, naturally, too insignificant a subject to task +the attention of those whose energies are devoted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>120]</a></span> +to describing the warfare and welfare of kingdoms +and thrones. Thus did we look only to professed +historians, though enough exists in their pages to +evidence the existence of such productions as those +which form the subject of our chapter, our evidence +would be meagre indeed as to the minuter details: +but as the “novel” now describes those minutiæ of +every day life which we should think it ridiculous to +look for in the writings of the politician or historian, +so the romances of the days of chivalry present us +with descriptions which, if they be somewhat redundant +in ornament, are still correct in groundwork; +and the details gathered from romances have in, it +may be, unimportant circumstances, that accidental +corroboration from history which fairly stamps their +faithfulness in more important particulars: and it +has been shown, says the author of ‘Godefridus,’ by +learned men, in the memoirs of the French Academy +of Inscriptions, that they may be used in common +with history, and as of equal authority whenever +an inquiry takes place respecting the <em>spirit +and manners of the ages</em> in which they were composed. +But we are writing a dissertation on romance +instead of describing the “clodes ryche,” to which +we must now proceed.</p> + +<p>So highly was a facility in the use of the needle +prized in these “ould ancient times,” that a wandering +damsel is not merely <em>tolerated</em> but <em>cherished</em> +in a family in which she is a perfect stranger, solely +from her skill in this much-loved art.</p> + +<p>After being exposed in an open boat, Emare was +rescued by Syr Kadore, remained in his castle, and +there—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>121]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“She tawghte hem to <em>sewe</em> and <em>marke</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All <em>maner of sylkyn werke</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of her they wer ful fayne.”<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Syr Kadore says of her—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She ys the konnyngest wommon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I trowe, that be yn Crystendom,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of <em>werk</em> that y have sene.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And again describing her—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She <em>sewed sylke</em> werk yn bour.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>This same accomplished and luckless lady had, +princess though she was, every advantage of early +tuition in this notable art, having been sent in +her childhood to a lady called Abro, who not only +taught her “curtesye and thewe” (virtue and good +manners), but also</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Golde and sylke for to sewe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amonge maydenes moo:”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>evidently an old dame’s school; where, however, +we may infer from the arrangement of the accomplishments +taught, and the special mention of +needlework, that the extra expense would be for +the <em>sewing</em>; whereas, in our time and country (or +county), the routine has been, “<small>REDING AND SOING, +THREE-PENCE A WEEK: A PENY EXTRA FOR MANNERS</small>.”</p> + +<p>This expensive and troublesome acquirement—the +art of sewing in “golde and silke”—was of general +adoption: gorgeous must have been the appearance +of the damsels and knights of those days, +when their</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“——Clothys wyth bestes & byrdes wer <em>bete</em>,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i4">All abowte for pryde.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>122]</a></span> +“By that light Amadis saw his lady, and she +appeared more beautiful than man could fancy woman +could be. She had on a robe of <em>Indian silk, +thickly wrought with flowers of gold</em>; her hair was +so beautiful that it was a wonder, and she had covered +it only with a garland.”<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>“Now when the fair Grasinda heard of the coming +of the fleet, and of all that had befallen, she made +ready to receive Oriana, whom of all persons in the +world she most desired to see, because of her great +renown that was everywhere spread abroad. She +therefore wished to appear before her like a lady of +such rank and such wealth as indeed she was: the +robe which she put on was adorned with <em>roses +of gold, wrought with marvellous skill, and bordered +with pearls and precious stones</em> of exceeding +value.”<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“His fine, soft garments, wove with cunning skill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All over, ease and wantonness declare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These with her hand, such subtle toil well taught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For him, in silk and gold, Alcina wrought.”<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Mayde Elene, al so tyte.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a robe of samyte,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i2">Anoon sche gan her tyre,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To do Lybeau’s profyte<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In kevechers whyt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Arayde wyth golde wyre.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A velvwet mantyll gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pelored<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> wyth grys and gray<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sche caste abowte her swyre;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sercle upon her molde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of stones and of golde,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The best yn that empyre.”<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>123]</a></span> +We read perpetually of “kercheves well schyre,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Arayde wyth ryche gold wyre.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But the labours of those days were not confined to +merely good-appearing garments: the skill of the +needlewoman—for doubtless it was solely attributable +to that—could imbue them with a value far +beyond that of mere outward garnish.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She seyde, Syr Knight, gentyl and hende,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wot thy stat, ord, and ende,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Be naught aschamed of me;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If thou wylt truly to me take,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And alle wemen for me forsake<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ryche i wyll make the.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wyll the geve an alner,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imad of sylk and of gold cler,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wyth fayr ymages thre;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As oft thou puttest the hond therinne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mark of gold thou schalt wynne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In wat place that thou be.”<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But infinitely more marvellous is the following:—“King +Lisuarte was so content with the tidings of +Amadis and Galaor, which the dwarf had brought +him, that he determined to hold the most honourable +court that ever had been held in Great Britain. Presently +three knights came through the gate, two of +them armed at all points, the third unarmed, of good +stature and well proportioned, his hair grey, but of +a green and comely old age. He held in his hand a +coffer; and, having inquired which was the king, dismounted +from his palfrey and kneeled before him, +saying, ‘God preserve you, Sir! for you have made +the noblest promise that ever king did, if you hold it.’ +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>124]</a></span> +‘What promise was that?’ quoth Lisuarte. ‘To +maintain chivalry in its highest honour and degree: +few princes now-a-days labour to that end; therefore +are you to be commended above all other.’ +‘Certes, knight, that promise shall hold while I +live.’ ‘God grant you life to complete it!’ quoth +the old man: ‘and because you have summoned a +great court to London, I have brought something +here which becomes such a person, for such an occasion.’ +Then he opened the coffer and took out a +Crown of Gold, so curiously wrought and set with +pearls and gems, that all were amazed at its beauty; +and it well appeared that it was only fit for the brow +of some mighty lord. ‘Is it not a work which the +most cunning artists would wonder at?’ said the +old knight. Lisuarte answered, ‘In truth it is.’ +‘Yet,’ said the knight, ‘it hath a virtue more to be +esteemed than its rare work and richness: whatever +king hath it on his head shall always increase his +honour; this it did for him for whom it was made +till the day of his death: since then no king hath +worn it. I will give it you, sir, for one boon.’——‘You +also, Lady,’ said the knight, ‘should purchase +a rich mantle that I bring:’ and he took from the +coffer the richest and most beautiful mantle that +ever was seen; for besides the pearls and precious +stones with which it was beautified, there were +figured on it all the birds and beasts in nature; so +that it looked like a miracle. ‘On my faith,’ exclaimed +the Queen, ‘this cloth can only have been +made by that Lord who can do everything.’ ‘It is +the work of man,’ said the old knight; ‘but rarely +will one be found to make its fellow: it should belong +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>125]</a></span> +to wife rather than maiden, for she that weareth it +<em>shall never have dispute with her husband</em>.’ Britna +answered, ‘If that be true, it is above all price; I +will give you for it whatsoever you ask.’ And +Lisuarte bade him demand what he would for the +mantle and crown.”<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>But the robe which occupied the busy fingers of +the Saracen king’s daughter for seven long years, +and of which the jewelled ornaments inwrought in +it—as was then very usual—were sought far and +wide, has often been referred to (albeit wanting in +fairy gifts) as a crowning proof of female industry +and talent. We give the full description from the +Romance of ‘<span class="smcap">Emare</span>,’ in Ritson’s collection:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Sone aftur yu a whyle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ryche Kynge of Cesyle<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the Emperour gaun wende,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A ryche present wyth hym he browght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A cloth that was wordylye wroght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He wellcomed hym at the hende.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Syr Tergaunte, that nobyll knyghte hyghte,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He presented the Emperour ryght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sette hym on hys kne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wyth that cloth rychyly dyght.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full of stones ther hit was pyght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">At thykke as hit myght be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Off topaze and rubyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And other stones of myche prys,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That semely wer to se,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of crapowtes and nakette,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As thykke ar they sette<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For sothe as y say the.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>126]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“The cloth was displayed sone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Emperoer lokede therupone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And myght hyt not se,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For glysteryng of the ryche ston<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Redy syght had he non,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sayde, How may thys be?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Emperour sayde on hygh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sertes thys ys a fayry,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or ellys a vanyte.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Kyng of Cysyle answered than,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So ryche a jewell ys ther non<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In all Crystyante.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The amerayle<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> dowghter of hethennes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Made this cloth withouten lees,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And wrowghte hit all with pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And purtreyed hyt with gret honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wyth ryche golde and asowr,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i2">And stones on ylke a side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, as the story telles in honde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stones that yn this cloth stonde<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sowghte they wer full wyde.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seven wynter hit was yn makynge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or hit was browght to endynge,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In herte ys not to hyde.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In that on korner made was<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Idoyne and Amadas,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With love that was so trewe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For they loveden hem wit honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Portrayed they wer with trewe-love flour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of stones bryght of hewe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wyth carbankull and safere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kasydonys and onyx so clere,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sette in golde newe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deamondes and rubyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And other stones of mychyll pryse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And menstrellys with her gle.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>127]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“In that other korner was dyght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trystram and Isowde so bryght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That semely wer to se,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for they loved hem ryght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As full of stones ar they dyght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As thykke as they may be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of topase and of rubyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And other stones of myche pryse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That semely wer to se,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With crapawtes and nakette,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thykke of stones ar they sette,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For sothe as y say the.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In the thyrdde korner, with gret honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was Florys and dame Blawncheflour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As love was hem betwene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For they loved wyth honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Purtrayed they wer with trewe-love-flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With stones bryght and shene.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ther wer knyghtes and senatowres,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Emerawdes of gret vertues,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To wyte withouten wene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deamondes and koralle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perydotes and crystall,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And gode garnettes bytwene.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In the fowrthe korner was oon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Babylone the sowdan sonne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The amerayle’s dowghter hym by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For hys sake the cloth was wrowght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She loved hym in hert and thowght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As testy-moyeth thys storye.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fayr mayden her byforn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was purtrayed an unykorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With hys horn so hye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flowres and bryddes on ylke a syde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wyth stones that wer sowght wyde,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Stuffed wyth ymagerye.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>128]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“When the cloth to ende was wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the sowdan sone hit was browght,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That semely was of syghte:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘My fadyr was a nobyll man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the sowdan he hit wan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wyth maystrye and myghth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For gret love he yaf hyt me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I brynge hit the in specyalte,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thys cloth ys rychely dyght.’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He yaf hit the Emperour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He receyved hit wyth gret honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thonkede hym fayr and ryght.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>We must not dismiss this subject without recording +a species of mantle much celebrated in romance, +and which must have tried the skill and patience of +the fair votaries of the needle to the uttermost. We +all have seen, perhaps we have some of us been +foolish enough to manufacture, initials with hair, as +tokens or souvenirs, or some other such fooleries. +In our mothers’ and grandmothers’ days, when “fine +marking” was the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sine quâ non</i> of a good education, +whole sets of linen were thus elaborately marked; +and often have we marvelled when these tokens of +grandmotherly skill and industry were displayed to +our wondering and aching eyes. What then should +we have thought of King Ryence’s mantle, of rich +scarlet, bordered round with the beards of kings, +sewed thereon full craftily by accomplished female +hands. Thus runs the anecdote in the ‘Morte +Arthur:’—</p> + +<p>“Came a messenger hastely from King Ryence, +of North Wales, saying, that King Ryence had discomfited +and overcomen eleaven kings, and everiche +of them did him homage, and that was thus: they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>129]</a></span> +gave him their beards cleane flayne off,—wherefore +the messenger came for King Arthur’s beard, for +King Ryence had purfeled a mantell with king’s +beards, and there lacked for one a place of the mantell, +wherefore he sent for his beard, or else he +would enter into his lands, and brenn and slay, and +never leave till he have thy head and thy beard. +‘Well,’ said King Arther, ‘thou hast said thy message, +which is the most villainous and lewdest message +that ever man heard sent to a king. Also thou +mayest see my beard is full young yet for to make +a purfell of; but tell thou the king that—or it be +long—he shall do to <em>me</em> homage on both his knees, +or else he shall leese his head.’”</p> + +<p>In Queen Elizabeth’s day, when they were beginning +to skim the cream of the ponderous tomes of +former times into those elaborate ditties from which +the more modern ballad takes its rise, this incident +was put into rhyme, and was sung before her majesty +at the grand entertainment at Kenilworth +Castle, 1575, thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“As it fell out on a Pentecost day,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">King Arthur at Camelot kept his Court royall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With his faire queene dame Guenever the gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And many bold barons sitting in hall;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With ladies attired in purple and pall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heraults in hewkes,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> hooting on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cryed, <i>Largesse, largesse, Chevaliers tres hardie</i>.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A doughty dwarfe to the uppermost deas<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Right pertlye gan pricke, kneeling on knee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With steven<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> fulle stoute amids all the preas,<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>130]</a></span> +<span class="i1">Sayd, Nowe sir King Arthur, God save thee, and see!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sir Ryence of Northgales greeteth well thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bids thee thy beard anon to him send,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else from thy jaws he will it off rend.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“For his robe of state is a rich scarlet mantle,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With eleven kings beards bordered about,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there is room lefte yet in a kantle,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i1">For thine to stande, to make the twelfth out:<br /></span> +<span class="i1">This must be done, be thou never so stout;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This must be done, I tell thee no fable,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Maugre the teethe of all thy rounde table.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When this mortal message from his mouthe past,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Great was the noyse bothe in hall and in bower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The king fum’d; the queen screecht; ladies were aghast;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Princes puff’d; barons blustered; lords began lower;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Knights stormed; squires startled, like steeds in a stower;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pages and yeomen yell’d out in the hall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then in came Sir Kay, the king’s seneschal.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Silence, my soveraignes, quoth this courteous knight,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And in that stound the stowre began still:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then the dwarfe’s dinner full deerely was dight;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of wine and wassel he had his wille:<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And when he had eaten and drunken his fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An hundred pieces of fine coyned gold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were given this dwarfe for his message bold.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But say to Sir Ryence, thou dwarfe, quoth the king,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That for his bold message I do him defye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shortly with basins and pans will him ring<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Out of North Gales; where he and I<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With swords, and not razors, quickly shall trye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether he or King Arthur will prove the best barbor:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And therewith he shook his good sword Excalábor.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>131]</a></span> +Drayton thus alludes to the same circumstance:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Then told they, how himselfe great Arthur did advance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To meet (with his Allies) that puissant force in France,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Lucius thither led; those Armies that while ere<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Affrighted all the world, by him strooke dead with feare:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Th’ report of his great Acts that over Europe ran,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In that most famous field he with the Emperor wan:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As how great Rython’s selfe hee slew in his repaire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who ravisht Howell’s Neece, young Helena the faire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for a trophy brought the Giant’s coat away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Made of the beards of kings.”<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>——<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And Spenser is too uncourteous in his adoption +of the incident; for he not only levels tolls on the +gentlemen’s beards, but even on the flowing and +golden locks of the gentle sex:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Not farre from hence, upon yond rocky hill,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Hard by a streight there stands a castle strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which doth observe a custom lewd and ill,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And it hath long mayntaind with mighty wrong:<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For may no knight nor lady passe along<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That way, (and yet they needs must passe that way,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">By reason of the streight, and rocks among,)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they that Ladies locks doe shave away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that knight’s berd for toll, which they for passage pay.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A shamefull use, as ever I did heare,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Said Calidore, and to be overthrowne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But by what means did they at first it reare,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And for what cause, tell, if thou have it knowne.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sayd then that Squire: The Lady which doth owne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This Castle is by name Briana hight;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Then which a prouder Lady liveth none;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She long time hath deare lov’d a doughty knight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sought to win his love by all the meanes she might.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>132]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“His name is Crudor, who through high disdaine<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And proud despight of his selfe-pleasing mynd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Refused hath to yeeld her love againe,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Untill a Mantle she for him doe fynd,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With beards of knights and locks of Ladies lynd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which to provide, she hath this Castle dight,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And therein hath a Seneschall assynd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cald Maleffort, a man of mickle might,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who executes her wicked will, with worse despight.”<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“To pluck the beard” of another has ever been +held the highest possible sign of scorn and contumely; +but it was certainly a refinement on the +matter, for which we are indebted to the Morte +Arthur, or rather probably, according to Bishop +Percy, to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s history originally, +for the unique and ornamental purpose to which +these despoiled locks were applied. So particularly +anxious was Charlemagne to shew this despite to +an enemy that, as we read in Huon de Bordeaux, +he despatched no less than fifteen successive messengers +from France to Babylon to pull the beard +of Admiral Gaudisse. And this, by no means pleasant +operation, was to be accompanied by one even +still less inviting.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Alors le duc Naymes, & tres tous les Barons, +s’en retournèrent au palais avec le Roy, lequel +s’assist sur un banc doré de fin or, & les Barons +tous autour de luy. Si commanda qu’on luy amenast +Huon, lequel il vint, et se mist à genoux +devant le roy, ou luy priant moult humblement que +pitié & mercy voulsist avoir de luy. Alors le roy +le voyant en sa presence luy dist: Huon puisque +vers moy veux estre accordé, si convient que faciez +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>133]</a></span> +ce que je vous or donneray. Sire, ce dist Huon, +pour obeir à vous, il n’est aujourd’huy chose en ce +monde mortel, que corps humain puisse porter, que +hardiment n’osasse entreprendre, ne ia pour peur +de mort ne le laisseray à faire, & fust à aller jusques +à l’arbre sec, voire jusques aux portaux d’enfer +combattre aux infernaux, comme fist le fort Hercule: +avant qu’à vous ne fusse accordé. Huon, ce +dist Charles, je cuide qu’en pire lieu vous envoyeray, +car, de quinze messages qui de par moy y ont este +envoyez, n’en est par revenu un seul homme. Si +te diray ou tu iras, puis que tu veux qui de toy +aye mercy, m’a volonté est, qu’il te convient aller +en la cité de Babylonne, par devers diray, & gardes +que sur ta vie ne face faute, quand là seras venu +tu monteras en son palais, là ou tu attendras l’heure +de son disner & que tu le verras assis à table. Si +convient que tu sois armé de toutes armes, l’espee +nuë au poing, par tel si que le premier & le plus +grand baron que tu verras manger à sa table tu +luy trencheras le chef quel qu’il soit, soit Roy, ou +Admiral. Et apres ce te convient tant faire que +la belle Esclarmonde fille à l’Amiral Gaudisse tu +fiances, & la baises trois fois en la presence de son +pere, & de tous sous qui la seront presens, car je +veux que tu sçaches que c’est la plus belle pucelle +qu’aujourd’huy soit en vie, puis apres diras de par +moy à l’Admiral qu’il m’envoye mille espreuiers, +mille ours, mille viautres, tous enchainez, & mille +jeune valets, & mille des plus belles pucelles de son +royaume, & avecques ce, convient <em>que tu me rapportes +une poignee de sa barbe, et quatre de ses +dents machoires</em>. Ha! Sire, dirent les Barons, bien +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>134]</a></span> +desirez sa mort, quant de tel message faire luy +enchargez, vous dites la verité ce dit le Roy, car si +tant ne fait que j’aye la barbe & les dents machoires +sans aucune tromperie ne mensonge, jamais +ne retourne en France, ne devant moi ne se monstre. +Car je le ferois pendre & trainer. Sire, ce dit +Huon, m’avez vous dit & racompté tout ce que +voulez que je face. Oui dist le Roy Charles ma +volonté est telle, si vers moy veux avoir paix. Sire +ce dit Huon, au plaisir de nostre Seigneur, je feray +& fourniray vostre message.</span>”</p> + +<p>In what precise way the beards were sewed on +the mantles we are not exactly informed. Whether +this royal exuberance was left to shine in its own +unborrowed lustre, its own naked magnificence, as +too valuable to be intermixed with the grosser +things of earth: whether it was thinly scattered +over the surface of the “rich scarlet;” or whether +it was gathered into locks, perhaps gemmed round +with orient pearl, or clustered together with brilliant +emeralds, sparkling diamonds, or rich rubies—“Sweets +to the sweet:” whether it was exposed to +the vulgar gaze on the mantle, or whether it was +so arranged that only at the pleasure of the mighty +wearer its radiant beauties were visible:—on all +these deeply interesting particulars we should rejoice +in having any information; but, alas! excepting +what we have recorded, not one circumstance +respecting them has “floated down the tide of +years.” But we may perhaps form a correct idea +of them from viewing a shield of human hair in +the museum of the United Service Club, which +may be supposed to have been <em>compiled</em> (so to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>135]</a></span> +speak) with the same benevolent feelings as that of +the heroes to whom we have been alluding. It is +from Borneo Island, and is formed of locks of hair +placed at regular intervals on a ground of thin +tough wood: a refined and elegant mode of displaying +the scalps of slaughtered foes. These coincidences +are curious, and may serve at any rate +to show that King Ryence’s mantle was not the +<em>invention</em> of the penman; but, in all probability, +actually existed.</p> + +<p>The ladies of these days did not confine their +handiwork merely to the adornment of the person. +We have seen that among the Egyptians the +couches that at night were beds were in the daytime +adorned with richly wrought coverlets. So +amongst the classical nations</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“———the menial fair that round her wait,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At Helen’s beck prepare the room of state;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath an ample portico they spread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The downy fleece to form the slumberous bed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And o’er soft palls of purple grain, unfold<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><em>Rich tapestry, stiff with inwoven gold</em>.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And during the middle ages the beds, not +excluded from the day apartments, often gave +gorgeous testimony of the skill of the needlewoman, +and were among the richest ornaments of the sitting +room, so much fancy and expense were lavished on +them. The curtains were often made of very rich +material, and usually adorned with embroidery. +They were often also trimmed with expensive furs: +Philippa of Hainault had a bed on which sea-syrens +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>136]</a></span> +were embroidered. The coverlid was often very +rich:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The ladi lay in hire bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With riche clothes bespred,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of gold and purpre palle.”<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Here beds are seen adorned with silk and gold.”<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“———on a bed design’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With gay magnificence the fair reclin’d;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High o’er her head, on silver columns rais’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With broidering gems her proud pavilion blaz’d.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Thence pass’d into a bow’r, where stood a bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With milkwhite furs of Alexandria spread:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath, a richly broider’d vallance hung;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pillows were of silk; o’er all was flung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rare wrought coverlet of phœnix plumes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which breathed, as warm with life, its rich perfumes.”<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The array of the knights of these days was gorgeous +and beautiful; and though the materials +might be in themselves, and frequently were costly, +still were they entirely indebted to the female hand +for the rich elegance of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tout ensemble</i>. And the +custom of disarming and robing knights anew after +the conflict, whether of real or mimic war, to which +we have alluded as a practice of classical antiquity, +was as much or even more practised now, and afforded +to the ladies an admirable opportunity of +exhibiting alike their preference, their taste, and +their liberality.</p> + +<p>“Amadis and Agrayes proceeded till they came +to the castle of Torin, the dwelling of that fair +young damsel, where they were disarmed and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>137]</a></span> +mantles given them, and they were conducted into +the hall.”<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>“Thus they arrived at the palace, and there was +he (the Green Sword Knight) lodged in a rich +chamber, and was disarmed, and his hands and face +washed from the dust, and they gave him a rose-coloured +mantle.”<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The romance of “Ywaine and Gawin” abounds in +instances:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A damisel come unto me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The semeliest that ever I se,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lufsumer lifed never in land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hendly scho toke me by the hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sone that gentyl creature<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Al unlaced myne armure;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into a chamber scho me led,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with a mantil scho me cled;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It was of purpur, fair and fine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the pane of ermyne.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Again—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The maiden redies hyr fal rath,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bilive sho gert syr Ywaine bath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cled him sethin<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> in gude scarlet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forord wele with gold fret,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A girdel ful riche for the nanes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of perry<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> and of precious stanes.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The mayden was bowsom and bayne<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forto unarme syr Ywayne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Serk and breke both sho hym broght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ful craftily war wroght,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of riche cloth soft als the sylk,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tharto white als any mylk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sho broght hym ful riche wedes to wer.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>138]</a></span> +On the widely acknowledged principle of “Love +me, love my dog,” the steed of a favoured knight +was often adorned by the willing fingers of the fair.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Each damsel and each dame who her obeyed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She task’d, together with herself, to sew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With subtle toil; and with fine gold o’erlaid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A piece of silk of white and sable hue:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With this she trapt the horse.”<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The tabards or surcoats which knights wore over +their armour was the article of dress in which they +most delighted to display their magnificence. They +varied in form, but were mostly made of rich silk, +or of cloth of gold or silver, lined or trimmed with +choice and expensive furs, and usually, also, having +the armorial bearings of the family richly embroidered. +Thus were women even the heralds of +those times. Besides the acknowledged armorial +bearings, devices were often wrought symbolical of +some circumstance in the life of the wearer. Thus +we are told in Amadis that the Emperor of Rome, +on his black surcoat, had a golden chain-work +woven, which device he swore never to lay aside till +he had Amadis in chains. The same romance gives +the following incident regarding a surcoat.</p> + +<p>“Then Amadis cried to Florestan and Agrayes, +weeping as he spake, good kinsman, I fear we have +lost Don Galaor, let us seek for him. They went to +the spot where Amadis had smitten down King +Cildadan, and seen his brother last on foot; but so +many were the dead who lay there that they saw +him not, till as they moved away the bodies, Florestan +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>139]</a></span> +knew him by the sleeve of his <em>surcoat</em>, which +was of azure, worked with silver flowers, and then +they made great moan over him.”</p> + +<p>The shape of them, as we have remarked, varied +considerably; besides minor alterations they were +at one time worn very short, at another so long as +to trail on the ground. But this luxurious style +was occasionally attended with direful effects. +Froissart names a surcoat in which Sir John Chandos +was attired, which was embroidered with his +arms in white sarsnet, argent a field gules, one on +his back and another on his breast. It was a long +robe which swept the ground, and this circumstance, +most probably, caused the untimely death of one of +the most esteemed knights of chivalry.</p> + +<p>Sir John Chandos was one of the brightest of +that chivalrous circle which sparkled in the reign +of Edward the Third. He was gentle as well as +valiant; he was in the van with the Black Prince +at the battle of Cressy; and at the battle of Poictiers +he never left his side. His death was unlooked +for and sudden. Some disappointments had depressed +his spirits, and his attendants in vain +endeavoured to cheer them.</p> + +<p>“And so he stode in a kechyn, warmyng him by +the fyre, and his servantes jangled with hym, to <ins class="contr" title="thentent">thētent</ins> +to bring him out of his melancholy; his servantes +had prepared for hym a place to rest hym: +than he demanded if it were nere day, and <ins class="contr" title="therewith">therew<sup>t</sup></ins> +there <ins class="contr" title="came">cāe</ins> a man into the house, and came before +hym, and sayd,</p> + +<p>‘Sir, I have brought you tidynges.’</p> + +<p>‘What be they, tell me?’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>140]</a></span> +‘Sir, surely the <ins class="contr" title="frenchmen">frēchmen</ins> be rydinge abrode.’</p> + +<p>‘How knowest thou that?’</p> + +<p>‘Sir,’ sayd he, ‘I departed fro saynt Saluyn with +them.’</p> + +<p>‘What way be they ryden?’</p> + +<p>‘Sir, I can nat tell you the certentie, but surely +they take the highway to Poiters.’</p> + +<p>‘What <ins class="contr" title="Frenchmen">Frēchmen</ins> be they; canst thou tell me?’</p> + +<p>‘Sir, it is Sir Loys of Saynt Julyan, and Carlovet +the Breton.’</p> + +<p>‘Well, quoth Sir Johan Chandos, I care nat, I +have no lyst this night to ryde forthe: they may +happe to be <ins class="contr" title="encountred">encoūtred</ins> though I be nat ther.’</p> + +<p>“And so he taryed there styll a certayne space in +a gret study, and at last, when he had well aduysed +hymselfe, he sayde, ‘Whatsoever I have sayd here +before, I trowe it be good that I ryde forthe; I +must retourne to Poictiers, and anone it will be +day.’</p> + +<p>‘That is true sir,’ quoth the knightes about +hym.</p> + +<p>‘Then,’ he sayd, ‘make redy, for I wyll ryde +forthe.’</p> + +<p>“And so they dyd.”</p> + +<p>The skirmish commenced; there had fallen a +great dew in the morning, in consequence of which +the ground was very slippery; the knight’s foot +slipped, and in trying to recover himself, it became +entangled in the folds of his magnificent <em>surcoat</em>; +thus the fall was rendered irretrievable, and whilst +he was down he received his death blow.</p> + +<p>The barons and knights were sorely grieved. +They “lamentably complayned, and sayd, ‘A, Sir +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>141]</a></span> +Johan Chandos, the floure of all chivalry, vnhappely +was that glayue forged that thus hath <ins class="contr" title="wounded">woūded</ins> you, +and brought you in parell of dethe:’ they wept +piteously that were about hym, and he herde and +vnderstode them well, but he could speke no +worde.”—“For his dethe, his frendes, and also +some of his enemyes, were right soroufull; the Englysshmen +loued hym, bycause all noblenesse was +founde in hym; the frenchmen hated him, because +they doubted hym; yet I herde his dethe greatly +complayned among right noble and valyant knightes +of France<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>.”</p> + +<p>Across this surcoat was worn the scarf, the indispensable +appendage of a knight when fully +equipped: it was usually the gift of his “ladye-love,” +and embroidered by her own fair hand.</p> + +<p>And a knight would encounter fifty deaths sooner +than part with this cherished emblem. It is recorded +of Garcia Perez de Vargas, a noble-minded +Spanish knight of the thirteenth century, that he and +a companion were once suddenly met by a party of +seven Moors. His friend fled: but not so Perez; +he at once prepared himself for the combat, and +while keeping the Moors at bay, who hardly seemed +inclined to fight, he found that his scarf had fallen +from his shoulder.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He look’d around, and saw the Scarf, for still the Moors were near,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they had pick’d it from the sward, and loop’d it on a spear.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘These Moors,’ quoth Garci Perez, ‘uncourteous Moors they be—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now, by my soul, the scarf they stole, yet durst not question me!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>142]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“‘Now, reach once more my helmet.’ The Esquire said him, nay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘For a silken string why should you fling, perchance, your life away?’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘I had it from my lady,’ quoth Garci, ‘long ago,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never Moor that scarf, be sure, in proud Seville shall show.’<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But when the Moslems saw him, they stood in firm array:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He rode among their armed throng, he rode right furiously.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Stand, stand, ye thieves and robbers, lay down my lady’s pledge,’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He cried, and ever as he cried, they felt his faulchion’s edge.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“That day when the lord of Vargas came to the camp alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scarf, his lady’s largess, around his breast was thrown:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bare was his head, his sword was red, and from his pommel strung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seven turbans green, sore hack’d I ween, before Garci Perez hung.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It casts a redeeming trait on this butchering +sort or bravery to find that when the hero returned +to the camp he steadily refused to reveal the name +of the person who had so cravenly deserted him.</p> + +<p>But the favours which ladies presented to a knight +were various; consisting of “jewels, ensigns of +noblesse, scarfs, hoods, sleeves, mantles, bracelets, +knots of ribbon; in a word, some detached part of +their dress.” These he always placed conspicuously +on his person, and defended, as he would have done +his life. Sometimes a lock of his fair one’s hair inspired +the hero:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Than did he her heere unfolde,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And on his helme it set on hye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With rede thredes of ryche golde,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Whiche he had of his lady.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full richely his shelde was wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With asure stones and beten golde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But on his lady was his thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The yelowe heere what he dyd beholde.”<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>143]</a></span> +It is recorded in “Perceforest,” that at the end +of one tournament “the ladies were so stripped of +their head attire, that the greatest part of them +were quite bareheaded, and appeared with their +hair spread over their shoulders yellower than the +finest gold; their robes also were without sleeves; +for all had been given to adorn the knights; hoods, +cloaks, kerchiefs, stomachers, and mantuas. But +when they beheld themselves in this woful plight, +they were greatly abashed, till, perceiving every one +was in the same condition, they joined in laughing +at this adventure, and that they should have engaged +with such vehemence in stripping themselves +of their clothes from off their backs, as never to +have perceived the loss of them.”</p> + +<p>A sleeve (more easily detached than we should +fancy those of the present day) was a very usual +token.</p> + +<p>Elayne, the faire mayden of Astolat gave Syr +Launcelot “a reed sleeve of scarlet wel embroudred +with grete perlys,” which he wore for a token on +his helmet; and in real life it is recorded that in a +serious, but not desperate battle, at the court of +Burgundy, in 1445, one of the knights received +from his lady a sleeve of delicate dove colour, elegantly +embroidered; and he fastened this favour on +his left arm.</p> + +<p>Chevalier Bayard being declared victor at the +tournament of Carignan, in Piedmont, he refused, +from extreme delicacy, to receive the reward assigned +him, saying, “The honour he had gained was solely +owing to the sleeve, which a lady had given him, +adorned with a ruby worth a hundred ducats.” The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>144]</a></span> +sleeve was brought back to the lady in the presence +of her husband; who knowing the admirable character +of the chevalier, conceived no jealousy on the +occasion: “The ruby,” said the lady, “shall be +given to the knight who was the next in feats of +arms to the chevalier; but since he does me so +much honour as to ascribe his victory to my sleeve, +for the love of him I will keep it all my life.”</p> + +<p>Another important adjunct to the equipment of a +knight was the pennon; an ensign or streamer +formed of silk, linen, or stuff, and fixed to the top +of the lance. If the expedition of the soldier had +for its object the Holy Land, the sacred emblem of +the cross was embroidered on the pennon, otherwise +it usually bore the owner’s crest, or, like the surcoat, +an emblematic allusion to some circumstance +in the owner’s life. Thus, Chaucer, in the “Knighte’s +Tale,” describes that of Duke Theseus:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And by his banner borne is his <em>penon</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Minotaure which that he slew in Crete.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The account of the taking of Hotspur’s pennon, +and his attempt at its recapture, is abridged by +Mr. Mills<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> from Froissart. It is interesting, as displaying +the temper of the times about these comparatively +trifling matters, and being the record of +history, may tend to justify our quotations of a +similar nature from romance.</p> + +<p>“In the reign of Richard the Second, the Scots +commanded by James, Earl of Douglas, taking advantage +of the troubles between the King and his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>145]</a></span> +Parliament, poured upon the south. When they +were sated with plunder and destruction they rested +at Newcastle, near the English force which the +Earl of Northumberland and other border chieftains +had hastily levied.</p> + +<p>“The Earl’s two sons were young and lusty knights, +and ever foremost at the barriers to skirmish. Many +proper feats of arms were done and achieved. The +fighting was hand to hand. The noblest encounter +was that which occurred between the Earl Douglas +and Sir Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur. The +Scot won the pennon of his foeman; and in the +triumph of his victory he proclaimed that he would +carry it to Scotland, and set it on high on his castle +of Dalkeith, that it might be seen afar off.</p> + +<p>“Percy indignantly replied, that Douglas should +not pass the border without being met in a manner +which would give him no cause for boasting.</p> + +<p>“With equal spirit the Earl Douglas invited him +that night to his lodging to seek for his pennon.</p> + +<p>“The Scots then retired and kept careful watch, +lest the taunts of their leader should urge the +Englishmen to make an attack. Percy’s spirit +burnt to efface his reproach, but he was counselled +into calmness.</p> + +<p>“The Scots then dislodged, seemingly resolved +to return with all haste to their own country. But +Otterbourn arrested their steps. The castle resisted +the assault; and the capture of it would have been +of such little value to them that most of the Scotch +knights wished that the enterprise should be +abandoned.</p> + +<p>“Douglas commanded, however, that the assault +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>146]</a></span> +should be persevered in, and he was entirely influenced +by his chivalric feelings. He contended that +the very difficulty of the enterprise was the reason +of undertaking it; and he wished not to be too far +from Sir Henry Percy, lest that gallant knight +should not be able to do his devoir in redeeming +his pledge of winning the pennon of his arms again.</p> + +<p>“Hotspur longed to follow Douglas and redeem +his badge of honour; but the sage knights of the +country, and such as were well expert in arms, +spoke against his opinion, and said to him, ‘Sir, +there fortuneth in war oftentimes many losses. If +the Earl Douglas has won your pennon, he bought +it dear, for he came to the gate to seek it, and was +well beaten: another day you shall win as much of +him and more. Sir, we say this because we know +well that all the power of Scotland is abroad in the +fields; and if we issue forth and are not strong +enough to fight with them (and perchance they have +made this skirmish with us to draw us out of the +town), they may soon enclose us, and do with us +what they will. It is better to loose a pennon than +two or three hundred knights and squires, and put +all the country to adventure.’”</p> + +<p>By such words as these, Hotspur and his brother +were refrained, but the coveted moment came.</p> + +<p>“The hostile banners waved in the night breeze, +and the bright moon, which had been more wont to +look upon the loves than the wars of chivalry, +lighted up the Scottish camp. A battle ensued of +as valiant a character as any recorded in the pages +of history; for there was neither knight nor squire +but what did his devoir and fought hand to hand.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>147]</a></span> +The Scots remained masters of the field: but the +Douglas was slain, and this loss could not be recompensed +even by the capture of the Percy.</p> + +<p>Little did the “gentle Kate” anticipate this +catastrophe when her fairy fingers with proud and +loving alacrity embroidered on the flowing pennon +the inspiring watchword of her chivalric husband +and his noble family—<span class="smcap">Esperance</span>.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> +Historical Memoirs of Queens of England.—H. Lawrance.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> +Emare.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> +<i>Bete</i>—inlayed, embroidered.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> +Amadis of Gaul, bk. i. ch. xv.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> +Ibid. bk. iv. ch. iii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> +Orl. Fur.: transl. by Rose.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> +<i>Samyte</i>—rich silk.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> +<i>Pelored</i>—furred.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> +Lybeaus Disconus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> +<i>Schyre</i>—clear.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> +<i>Hende</i>—kind, obliging.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> +<i>Alner</i>—pouch, bag or purse.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> +Launfal.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> +Amadis of Gaul, bk. i. ch. xxx.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> +<i>Hende</i>—kind, civil, obliging.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> +Saracen king.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> +<i>Asowr</i>—azure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> +<i>Hewke</i>—herald’s coat.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> +<i>Steven</i>—voice, sound</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> +<i>Kantle</i>—a corner.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> +Drayton’s Polyolbion, Song 4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> +Faerie Queene. Book vi.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> +The Kyng of Tars.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> +Orl. Fur.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> +Partenopex of Blois.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> +Amadis of Gaul.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> +Ibid.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> +<i>Rath</i>—speedily.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> +<i>Sethin</i>—afterward.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> +<i>Perry</i>—jewels.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> +<i>Bayne</i>—ready.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> +Orl. Fur., canto 23.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> +Froissart, by Lord Berners, vol. i. p. 270.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> +The Fair Lady of Faguell.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> +Hist. Chivalry.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>148]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">TAPESTRY.</span></h2> + + +<p>The term <em>tapestry</em> or <em>tapistry</em> (from <em>tapisser</em>, to +line, from the Latin word <em lang="la" xml:lang="la">tapes</em>, a cover of a wall or +bed), is now appropriated solely to woven hangings +of wool and silk; but it has been applied to all sorts +of hangings, whether wrought entirely with the +needle (as originally indeed all were) or in the loom, +whether composed of canvass and wool, or of painted +cloth, leather, or even paper. This wide application +of the term seems to be justified by the derivation +quoted above, but its present use is much more +limited.</p> + +<p>In the thirteenth century the decorative arts had +attained a high perfection in England. The palace +of Westminster received, under the fostering patronage +of Henry III., a series of decorations, the remains +of which, though long hidden, have recently +excited the wonder and admiration of the curious.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> +“Near this monastery (says an ancient Itinerary) +stands the most famous royal palace of England; in +which is that celebrated chamber, on whose walls all +the warlike histories of the whole Bible are painted +with inexpressible skill, and explained by a regular +and complete series of texts, beautifully written in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>149]</a></span> +French over each battle, to the no small admiration +of the beholder, and the increase of royal magnificence.”</p> + +<p>Round the walls of St. Stephen’s chapel effigies of +the Apostles were painted in oil; (which was thus +used with perfectness and skill two centuries before +its presumed discovery by John ab Eyck in 1410,) +on the western side was a grand composition of the +day of Judgment: St. Edward’s or the “Painted +Chamber,” derived the latter name from the quality +and profuseness of its embellishments, and the walls +of the whole palace were decorated with portraits or +ideal representations, and historical subjects. Nor was +this the earliest period in which connected passages +of history were painted on the wainscot of apartments, +for the following order, still extant, refers to +the <em>renovation</em> of what must previously—and at some +considerable interval of time probably, have been +done.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Anno, 1233, 17 Hen. 3. Mandatum est Vicecomiti +South’ton quod Cameram regis lambruscatam +de castro Winton depingi faciat eisdem historiis +quibus fuerat pri’us depicta.</span>”</p> + +<p>About 1312, Langton, Bishop of Litchfield, commanded +the coronation, marriages, wars, and funeral +of his patron King Edward I., to be painted in the +great hall of his episcopal palace, which he had +newly built.</p> + +<p>Chaucer frequently refers to this custom of painting +the walls with historical or fanciful designs.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And soth to faine my chambre was<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ful wel depainted——<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the wals with colours fine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were painted bothe texte and glose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the Romaunt of the Rose.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>150]</a></span> +And again:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But when I woke all was ypast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For ther nas lady ne creture,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save on the wals old portraiture<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of horsemen, hawkis, and houndis,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hurt dere all ful of woundis.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Often emblematical devices were painted, which +gave the artist opportunity to display his fancy and +exercise his wit. Dr. Cullum, in his History of +Hawsted, gives an account of an old mansion, +having a closet, the panels of which were painted with +various sentences, emblems, and mottos. One of +these, intended doubtless as a hint to female vanity, +is a painter, who having begun to sketch out a female +portrait, writes “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Dic mihi qualis eris</span>.”</p> + +<p>But comfort, or at least a degree of comfort, had +progressed hand in hand with decoration. Tapestry, +that is to say needlework tapestry, which, like the +Bayeux tapestry of Matilda, had been used solely for +the decoration of altars, or the embellishment of other +parts of sacred edifices on occasions of festival, or the +performance of solemn rites, had been of much more +general application amongst the luxurious inhabitants +of the South, and was introduced into England as furniture +hanging by Eleanor of Castile. In Chaucer’s +time it was common. Among his pilgrims to Canterbury +is a tapestry worker who is mentioned in the +Prologue, in common with other “professors.”</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“An haberdasher and a carpenter,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A webbe, a dyer, and a tapiser.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And, again:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I wol give him all that falles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To his chambre and to his halles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will do painte him with pure golde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And <em>tapite</em> hem ful many a folde.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>151]</a></span> +These modes of decorating the walls and chambers +with paintings, and with tapestry, were indeed contemporaneous; +though the greater difficulty of obtaining +the latter—for as it was not made at Arras +until the fourteenth century, all that we here refer +to is the painful product of the needle alone—many +have made it less usual and common than the former. +Pithy sentences, and metrical stanzas were often +wrought in tapestry: in Wresil Castle and other +mansions, some of the apartments were adorned in +the Oriental manner with metrical descriptions called +Proverbs. And Warton mentions an ancient suit of +tapestry, containing Ariosto’s Orlando, and Angelica, +where, at every group, the story was all along illustrated +with short lines in Provençal or old French.</p> + +<p>It could only be from its superior comfort that an +article so tedious in manufacture as needlework +tapestry could be preferred to the more quickly-produced +decorations of the pencil; it was also rude in +design; and the following description of some tapestry +in an old Manor House in King John’s time, though +taken from a work of fiction, probably presents a +correct picture of the style of most of the pieces exhibited +in the mansions of the middle ranks at that +period.</p> + +<p>“In a corner of the apartment stood a bed, the +tapestry of which was enwrought with gaudy colours +representing Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. +Adam was presenting our first mother with a large +yellow apple, gathered from a tree that scarcely +reached his knee. Beneath the tree was an angel +milking, and although the winged milkman sat on a +stool, yet his head overtopped both cow and tree, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>152]</a></span> +and nearly covered a horse, which seemed standing +on the highest branches. To the left of Eve appeared +a church; and a dark robed gentleman +holding something in his hand which looked like a +pincushion, but doubtless was intended for a book: +he seemed pointing to the holy edifice, as if reminding +them that they were not yet married. On the +ground lay the rib, out of which Eve (who stood the +head higher than Adam) had been formed; both +of them were very respectably clothed in the ancient +Saxon costume; even the angel wore breeches, which, +being blue, contrasted well with his flaming red +wings.”</p> + +<p>No one who has read the real blunders of artists +and existing anachronisms in pictures detailed in +“Percy Anecdotes,” will think the above sketch at +all too highly coloured; though doubtless the +tapestry hangings introduced by Queen Eleanor +which would be imitated and caricatured in ten +thousand different forms, were in much superior style. +The Moors had attained to the highest perfection in +the decorative arts, and from them did the Spaniards +borrow this fashion of hangings,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> and “the coldness +of our climate (says her accomplished biographer, +Miss Agnes Strickland, speaking of Eleanor,) must +have made it indispensable to the fair daughter of +the South, chilled with the damp stone walls of English +Gothic halls and chambers.” Of the chillness +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>153]</a></span> +of these walls we may form some idea, from a feeling +description of a residence which was thought sufficient +for a queen some centuries later. In the year +1586, Mary, the unhappy Queen of Scots, writes +thus:—</p> + +<p>“In regard to my lodging, my residence is a place +inclosed with walls, situated on an eminence, and +consequently exposed to all the winds and storms of +heaven. Within this inclosure there is, like as at Vincennes, +a very old hunting seat, built of wood and +plaister, with chinks on all sides, with the uprights; +the intervals between which are not properly filled up, +and the plaister dilapidated in the various places. +The house is about six yards distant from the walls, +and so low that the terrace on the other side is as +high as the house itself, so that neither the sun nor +the fresh air can penetrate it at that side. The damp, +however, is so great there, that every article of furniture +is covered with mouldiness in the space of four days.—In +a word, the rooms for the most part are fit rather +for a dungeon for the lowest and most abject criminals, +than for a residence of a person of my rank, +or even of a much inferior condition. I have for +my own accommodation only wretched little rooms, +and so cold, that were it not for the protection of the +curtains and tapestries which I have had put up, I +could not endure it by day, and still less by night.”<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>The tapestries, whether wrought or woven, did not +remain on the walls as do the hangings of modern +days: it was the primitive office of the grooms of +the chamber to hang up the tapestry which in a royal +progress was sent forward with the purveyor and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>154]</a></span> +grooms of the chamber. And if these functionaries +had not, to use a proverbial expression, “heads on +their shoulders,” ridiculous or perplexing blunders +were not unlikely to arise. Of the latter we have +an instance recorded by the Duc de Sully.</p> + +<p>“The King (Henry IV.) had not yet quitted +Monceaux, when the Cardinal of Florence, who had +so great a hand in the treaty of the Vervins, passed +through Paris, as he came back from Picardy, and to +return from thence to Rome, after he had taken +leave of his Majesty. The king sent me to Paris to +receive him, commanding me to pay him all imaginable +honours. He had need of a person near +the Pope, so powerful as this Cardinal, who afterwards +obtained the Pontificate himself: I therefore +omitted nothing that could answer His Majesty’s +intentions; and the legate, having an inclination to +see St. Germain-en-Laye, I sent orders to Momier, +the keeper of the castle, to hang the halls and +chambers with the finest tapestry of the Crown. +Momier executed my orders with great punctuality, +but with so little judgment, that for the legate’s +chamber he chose a suit of hangings made by the +Queen of Navarre; very rich, indeed, but which +represented nothing but emblems and mottos against +the Pope and the Roman Court, as satirical as they +were ingenious. The prelate endeavoured to prevail +upon me to accept a place in the coach that was +to carry him to St. Germain, which I refused, being +desirous of getting there before him, that I might +see whether everything was in order; with which +I was very well pleased. I saw the blunder of the +keeper, and reformed it immediately. The legate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>155]</a></span> +would not have failed to look upon such a mistake +as a formed design to insult him, and to have represented +it as such to the Pope. Reflecting afterwards, +that no difference in religion could authorise such +sarcasms, I caused all those mottos to be effaced.”<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>In the sixteenth century<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> a sort of hanging was +introduced, which, partaking of the nature both of +tapestry and painting on the walls, was a formidable +rival to the former. Shakspeare frequently alludes +to these “painted cloths.” For instance, when Falstaff +persuades Hostess Quickly, not only to withdraw +her arrest, but also to make him a further +loan: she says—</p> + +<p>“By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be +fain to pawn both my plate and the <em>tapestry</em> of my +dining chambers!”</p> + +<p>Falstaff answers—</p> + +<p>“Glasses, glasses is the only drinking, and for +thy walls a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the +Prodigal, or a German Hunting in water-work, is +worth a thousand of these fly-bitten tapestries. Let +it be ten pounds if thou canst. If it were not for +thy humours, there is not a better wench in England! +Go wash thy face and draw thy action.”</p> + +<p>In another passage of the play he says that his +troops are “as ragged as Lazarus in the <em>painted +cloth</em>.”</p> + +<p>There are now at Hampton Court eight large +pieces or hangings of this description; being “The +Triumphs of Julius Cæsar,” in water-colours, on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>156]</a></span> +cloth, and in good preservation. They are by +Andrea Mantegna, and were valued at 1000<i>l.</i> at the +time, when, by some strange circumstance, the Cartoons +of Raphael were estimated only at 300<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Tapestry was common in the East at a very +remote era, when the most grotesque compositions +and fantastic combinations were usually displayed +on it. Some authors suppose that the Greeks took +their ideas of griffins, centaurs, &c., from these +Tapestries, which, together with the art of making +them, they derived from the East, and at first they +closely imitated both the beauties and deformities +of their patterns. At length their refined taste +improved upon these originals; and the old grotesque +combinations were confined to the borders of +the hanging, the centre of which displayed a more +regular and systematic representation.</p> + +<p>It has been supposed by some writers that the invention +of Tapestry, passed from the East into +Europe; but Guicciardini ascribes it to the Netherlanders; +and assuredly the Bayeux Tapestry, the +work of the Conqueror’s Queen, shows that this art +must have acquired much perfection in Europe before +the time of the Crusades, which is the time +assigned by many for its introduction there. Probably +Guicciardini refers to woven Tapestry, which +was not practised until the article itself had become, +from custom, a thing of necessity. Unintermitting +and arduous had been the stitchery practised in the +creation of these coveted luxuries long, very long +before the loom was taught to give relief to the busy +finger.</p> + +<p>The first manufactories of Tapestry of any note +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>157]</a></span> +were those of Flanders, established there long before +they were attempted in France or England. The +chief of these were at Brussels, Antwerp, Oudenarde, +Lisle, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes. At +Brussels and Antwerp they succeeded well both in +the design and the execution of human figures and +animals, and also in landscapes. At Oudenarde the +landscape was more imitated, and they did not succeed +so well in the figure. The other manufactories, +always excepting those of Arras, were inferior to these.</p> + +<p>The grand era of general manufactories in France +must be fixed in the reign of Henry the IV. Amongst +others he especially devoted his attention to the +manufacture of Tapestry, and that of the Gobelins, +since so celebrated, was begun, though futilely, in +his reign. His celebrated minister, Sully, was entangled +in these matters somewhat more than he himself +approved.</p> + +<p>1605. “I laid, by his order, the foundations of the +new edifices for his Tapestry weavers, in the horse-market. +His Majesty sent for Comans and La +Planche, from other countries, and gave them the +care and superintendence of these manufactures: +the new directors were not long before they made +complaints, and disliked their situation, either because +they did not find profits equal to their hopes +and expectations, or, that having advanced considerable +sums themselves, they saw no great probability +of getting them in again. The king got rid +of their importunity by referring them to me.”<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>1607. “It was a difficult matter to agree upon a price +with these celebrated Flemish tapestry workers, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>158]</a></span> +we had brought into France at so great an expense. +At length it was resolved in the presence of Sillery +and me, that a 100,000<i>l.</i> should be given them for +their establishment. Henry was very solicitous +about the payment of this sum; ‘Having,’ said he, +‘a great desire to keep them, and not to lose the advances +we have made.’ He would have been better +pleased if these people could have been paid out of +some other funds than those which he had reserved +for himself: however, there was a necessity for satisfying +them at any price whatever. His Majesty made +use of his authority to oblige De Vienne to sign an +acquittal to the undertakers for linen cloth in imitation +of Dutch Holland. This prince ordered a complete +set of furniture to be made for him, which he +sent for me to examine separately, to know if they +had not imposed upon him. <em>These things were not +at all in my taste</em>, and I was but a very indifferent +judge of them: the price seemed to me to be excessive, +as well as the quantity. Henry was of +another opinion: after examining the work, and +reading my paper, he wrote to me that there was +not too much, and that they had not exceeded his +orders; and that he had never seen so beautiful a +piece of work before, and that the workman must +be paid his demands immediately.”<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>The manufactory languished however, even if it +did not become entirely extinct. But it was revived +in the reign of Louis XIV., and has since dispersed +productions of unequalled delicacy over the civilised +world.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>159]</a></span> +It was called “Gobelins,” because the house in +the suburbs of Paris, where the manufacture is carried +on, was built by brothers whose names were +Giles and John Gobelins, both excellent dyers, and +who brought to Paris in the reign of Francis I. the +secret of dying a beautiful scarlet colour, still known +by their name.</p> + +<p>In the year 1667 this place, till then called “Gobelines’ +Folly,” changed its name into that of “Hotel +Royal des Gobelins,” in consequence of an edict +of Louis XIV. M. Colbert having re-established, +and with new magnificence enriched and completed +the king’s palaces, particularly the Louvre and the +Tuilleries, began to think of making furniture suitable +to the grandeur of those buildings; with this +view he called together all the ablest workmen in +the divers arts and manufactures throughout the +kingdom; particularly painters, tapestry makers +from Flanders, sculptors, goldsmiths, ebonists, &c., +and by liberal encouragement and splendid pensions +called others from foreign nations.</p> + +<p>The king purchased the Gobelins for them to work +in, and laws and articles were drawn up, amongst +which is one that no other tapestry work shall be +imported from any other country.</p> + +<p>Nor did there need; for the Gobelins has ever +since remained the first manufactory of this kind in +the world. The quantity of the finest and noblest +works that have been produced by it, and the number +of the best workmen bred up therein are incredible; +and the present flourishing condition of the +arts and manufactures of France is, in great measure, +owing thereto.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>160]</a></span> +Tapestry work in particular is their glory. During +the superintendence of M. Colbert, and his successor +M. de Louvois, the making of tapestry is said to +have been practised to the highest degree of perfection.</p> + +<p>The celebrated painter, Le Brun, was appointed +chief director, and from his designs were woven +magnificent hangings of Alexander’s Battles—The +Four Seasons—the Four Elements—and a series of +the principal actions of the life of Louis XIV. M. de +Louvois, during his administration, caused tapestries +to be made after the most beautiful originals in the +king’s cabinet, after Raphael and Julio Romano, and +other celebrated Italian painters. Not the least interesting +part of the process was that performed by +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rentrayeurs</i>, or fine-drawers, who so unite the +breadths of the tapestry into one picture that no +seam is discernible, but the whole appears like one +design. The French have had other considerable +manufactories at Auvergne, Felletin and Beauvais, +but all sank beneath the superiority of the Gobelins, +which indeed at one time outvied the renown of that +far-famed town, whose productions gave a title to +the whole species, viz., that of Arras.</p> + +<p>Walpole gives an intimation of the introduction +of tapestry weaving into England, so early as the +reign of Edward III., “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">De inquirendo de mysterâ +Tapiciorum, London</span>;” but usually William Sheldon, +Esq., is considered the introducer of it, and he +allowed an artist, named Robert Hicks, the use of +his manor-house at Burcheston, in Warwickshire; +and in his will, dated 1570, he calls Hicks “the only +auter and beginner of tapistry and arras within +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>161]</a></span> +this realm.” At his house were four maps of Oxford, +Worcester, Warwick, and Gloucestershires, +executed in tapestry on a large scale, fragments of +which are or were among the curiosities of Strawberry-hill. +We meet with little further notice of +this establishment.</p> + +<p>This beautiful art was, however, revived in the +reign of James I., and carried to great perfection +under the patronage of himself and his martyr son. +It received its death blow in common with other +equally beautiful and more important pursuits during +the triumph of the Commonwealth. James gave +£2000 to assist Sir Francis Crane in the establishment +of the manufactory at Mortlake, in Surry, +which was commenced in the year 1619. Towards +the end of this reign, Francis Cleyn, or Klein, a +native of Rostock, in the duchy of Mecklenburg, +was employed in forming designs for this institution, +which had already attained great perfection. +Charles allowed him £100 a year, as appears from +Rymer’s Fœdera: “Know ye that we do give and +grant unto Francis Cleyne a certain annuitie of one +hundred pounds, by the year, during his natural +life.” He enjoyed this salary till the civil war, and +was in such favour with the king, and in such reputation, +that on a small painting of him he is described +as “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Il famosissimo pittore Francesco Cleyn, miracolo +del secolo, e molto stimato del re Carlo della +gran Britania, 1646</span>.”</p> + +<p>The Tapestry Manufacture at Mortlake was indeed +a hobby, both of King James and Prince Charles, +and of consequence was patronised by the Court. +During Charles the First’s romantic expedition to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>162]</a></span> +Spain, when Prince of Wales, with the Duke of +Buckingham, James writes—“I have settled with +Sir Francis Crane for my Steenie’s business, and I +am this day to speak with Fotherby, and by my +next, Steenie shall have an account both of his business, +and of Kit’s preferment and supply in means; +but Sir Francis Crane desires to know if my Baby +will have him to hasten the making of that suit of +Tapestry that he commanded him.”<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>The most superb hangings were wrought here after +the designs of distinguished painters; and Windsor +Castle, Hampton Court, Whitehall, St. James’s, Nonsuch, +Greenwich, and other royal seats, and many +noble mansions were enriched and adorned by its productions. +In the first year of his reign, Charles was +indebted £6000 to the establishment for three suits +of gold tapestry; Five of the Cartoons were wrought +here, and sent to Hampton Court, where they still +remain. A suit of hangings, representing the Five +Senses, executed here, was in the palace at Oatlands, +and was sold in 1649 for £270. Rubens sketched +eight pieces in Charles the First’s reign for tapestry, +to be woven here, of the history of Achilles, intended +for one of the royal palaces. At Lord Ilchester’s, +at Redlinch, in Somersetshire, was a suit +of hangings representing the twelve months in compartments; +and there are several other sets of the +same design. Williams, Archbishop of York, and +Lord Keeper, paid Sir Francis Crane £2500 for the +Four Seasons. At Knowl, in Kent, was a piece of the +same tapestry wrought in silk, containing the portraits +of Vandyck, and St. Francis himself. At +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>163]</a></span> +Lord Shrewsbury’s (Hoythorp, Oxfordshire) are, +or were, four pieces of tapestry from designs by +Vanderborght, representing the four quarters of the +world, expressed by assemblages of the nations in +various habits and employments, excepting Europe, +which is in masquerade, wrought in chiaroscuro. +And at Houghton (Lord Oxford’s seat) were beautiful +hangings containing whole lengths of King +James, King Charles, their Queens, and the King of +Denmark, with heads of the Royal Children in the +borders. These are all mentioned incidentally as +the production of the Mortlake establishment.</p> + +<p>After the death of Sir Francis Crane, his brother +Sir Richard sold the premises to Charles I. During +the civil wars, this work was seized as the property +of the Crown; and though, after the Restoration, +Charles II. endeavoured to revive the manufacture, +and sent Verrio to sketch the designs, his intention +was not carried into effect. The work, though languishing, +was not altogether extinct; for in Mr. Evelyn’s +very scarce tract intituled “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Mundus Muliebris</span>,” +printed in 1690, some of this manufacture is amongst +the articles to be furnished by a gallant to his mistress.</p> + +<p>One of the first acts of the Protectorate after the +death of the king, was to dispose of the pictures, +statues, tapestry hangings, and other splendid ornaments +of the royal palaces. Cardinal Mazarine enriched +himself with much of this royal plunder; and +some of the splendid tapestry was purchased by the +Archduke Leopold. This however found its way +again to England, being repurchased at Brussels for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>164]</a></span> +£3000 by Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of +George III.</p> + +<p>In 1663 “two well-intended statutes” were made: +one for the encouragement of the linen and <em>tapestry +manufactures</em> of England, and discouragement of +the importation of foreign tapestry:—and the other—start +not, fair reader—the other “for regulating +the packing of herrings.”<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> +See Smith’s History of the Ancient Palace of Westminster.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> +But not from them would be derived the art of painting with +the needle the representation of the human figure. Hence, perhaps, +the awkward and ungainly aspect of these, in comparison with the +arabesque patterns. From a fear of its exciting a tendency to idolatry +Mohammed prohibited his followers from delineating the form of men +or animals in their pictorial embellishments of whatever sort.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> +Von Raumer’s Contributions, 297.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> +Sully’s Memoirs. We have, in a subsequent chapter, a more full +account of this Tapestry.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> +Gent’s Mag., 1830.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> +Sully’s Memoirs, vol. ii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> +Sully’s Memoirs, vol. iii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> +Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. i. No. 26.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> +“The rich tapestry and arras hangings which belonged to St. +James’s Palace, Hampton Court, Whitehall, and other Royal Seats, +were purchased for Cromwell: these were inventoried at a sum not +exceeding £30,000. One piece of eight parts at Hampton Court was +appraised at £8,260: this related to the History of Abraham. Another +of ten parts, representing the History of Julius Cæsar, was appraised +at £5019.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>165]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">ROMANCES WORKED IN TAPESTRY.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And storied loves of knights and courtly dames,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pageants and triumphs, tournaments and games.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Rose’s Partenopex.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>It has been a favourite practice of all antiquity to +work with the needle representations of those subjects +in which the imagination and the feelings were +most interested. The labours of Penelope, of Helen, +and Andromache, are proverbial, and this mode of +giving permanency to the actions of illustrious individuals +was not confined to the classical nations. The +ancient islanders used to work—until the progress of +art enabled them to weave the histories of their giants +and champions in Tapestry; and the same thing is +recorded of the old Persians; and this furniture is +still in high request among many Oriental nations, +especially in Japan and China. The royal palace of +Jeddo has profusion of the finest Tapestry; this indeed +is gorgeous, being wrought with silk, and +adorned with pearls, gold, and silver.</p> + +<p>It was considered a right regal offering from one +prince to another. Henry III., King of Castile, sent +a present to Timour at Samarcand, of Tapestry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>166]</a></span> +which was considered to surpass even the works of +Asiatic artists in beauty: and when the religious and +military orders of some of the princes of France and +Burgundy had plunged them into a kind of crusade +against the Turkish Sultan Bajazet, and they became +his prisoners in the battle of Nicopolis, the King of +France sent presents to the Sultan, to induce him to +ransom them; amongst which Tapestry representing +the battles of Alexander the Great was the most +conspicuous.</p> + +<p>Tapestry was not used in the halls of princes alone, +but cut a very conspicuous figure on all occasions of +festivity and rejoicing. It was customary at these +times to hang ornamental needlework of all sorts from +the windows or balconies of the houses of those streets +through which a pageant or festal procession was to +pass; and as the houses were then built with the +upper stories far overhanging the lower ones, these +draperies frequently hung in rich folds to the ground, +and must have had, when a street was thus in its +whole length appareled and partly roofed by the +floating streamers and banners above—somewhat the +appearance of a suite of magnificent saloons.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Then the high street gay signs of triumph wore,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Covered with shewy cloths of different dye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which deck the walls, while Sylvan leaves in store,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And scented herbs upon the pavement lie.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Adorned in every window, every door,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With carpeting and finest drapery;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But more with ladies fair, and richly drest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In costly jewels and in gorgeous vest.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When the Black Prince entered London with King +John of France, as his prisoner, the outsides of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>167]</a></span> +houses were covered with hangings, consisting of +battles in tapestry-work.</p> + +<p>And in tournaments the lists were always decorated +“with the splendid richness of feudal power. +Besides the gorgeous array of heraldic insignia near +the Champions’ tents, the galleries, which were made +to contain the proud and joyous spectators, were +covered with tapestry, representing chivalry both in +its warlike and its amorous guise: on one side the +knight with his bright faulchion smiting away hosts +of foes, and on the other side kneeling at the feet of +beauty.”</p> + +<p>But the subjects of the tapestry in which our ancestors +so much delighted were not confined to <i>bonâ fide</i> +battles, and the matter-of-fact occurrences of every-day +life. Oh no! The Lives of the Saints were frequently +pourtrayed with all the legendary accompaniments +which credulity and blind faith could invest +them with. The “holy and solitary” St. Cuthbert +would be seen taming the sea-monsters by his +word of power: St. Dunstan would be in the very act +of seizing the “handle” of his Infernal Majesty’s +face with the red-hot pincers; and St. Anthony in +the “howling wilderness,” would be reigning omnipotent +over a whole legion of sprites. Here was food +for the imagination and taste of our notable great-grandmother! +Yet let us do them justice. If some +of their religious pieces were imbued even to a ridiculous +result, with the superstitions of the time, there +were others, numberless others, scripture pieces, as +chaste and beautiful in design, as elaborate in execution. +The loom and needle united indeed brought +these pieces to the highest perfection, but many a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>168]</a></span> +meek and saintly Madonna, many a lofty and energetic +St. Paul, many a subdued and touching Magdalene +were produced by the unaided industry of the +pious needlewoman. Nay, the whole Bible was +copied in needlework; and in a poem of the fifteenth +century, by Henry Bradshaw, containing the Life of +St. Werburgh, a daughter of the King of the Mercians, +there is an account “rather historical than legendary,”<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +of many circumstances of the domestic +life of the time. Amongst other descriptions is that +of the tapestry displayed in the Abbey of Ely, on the +occasion of St. Werburgh taking the veil there. This +Tapestry belonged to king Wulfer, and was brought +to Ely Monastery for the occasion. We subjoin +some of the stanzas:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“It were full tedyous, to make descrypcyon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the great tryumphes, and solempne royalte,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Belongynge to the feest, the honour and provysyon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By playne declaracyon, upon every partye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the sothe to say, withouten ambyguyte,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All herbes and flowres, fragraunt, fayre, and swete,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were strawed in halles, and layd under theyr fete.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Clothes of golde and arras<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> were hanged in the hall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Depaynted with pyctures, and hystoryes manyfolde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well wroughte and craftely, with precious stones all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glysteryng as Phebus, and the beten golde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lyke an erthly paradyse, pleasaunt to beholde:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As for the said moynes,<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> was not them amonge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But prayenge in her cell, as done all novice yonge.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>169]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“The story of Adam, there was goodly wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And of his wyfe Eve, bytwene them the serpent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How they were deceyved, and to theyr peynes brought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was Cayn and Abell, offerynge theyr present,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sacryfyce of Abell, accepte full evydent:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tuball and Tubalcain were purtrayed in that place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The inventours of musyke and crafte by great grace.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Noe and his shyppe was made there curyously<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sendynge forthe a raven, whiche never came again;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And how the dove returned, with a braunche hastely,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A token of comforte and peace, to man certayne:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abraham there was, standing upon the mount playne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To offer in sacrifice Isaac his dere sone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And how the shepe for hym was offered in oblacyon.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The twelve sones of Jacob there were in purtrayture,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And how into Egypt yonge Josephe was solde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was imprisoned, by a false conjectour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">After in all Egypte, was ruler (as is tolde).<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was in pycture Moyses wyse and bolde,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our Lorde apperynge in bushe flammynge as fyre,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nothing thereof brent, lefe, tree, nor spyre.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The ten plages of Egypt were well embost,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The chyldren of Israel passyng the reed see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kynge Pharoo drowned, with all his proude hoost,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And how the two table, at the Mounte Synaye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were gyven to Moyses, and how soon to idolatry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The people were prone, and punysshed were therefore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Datan and Abyron, for pryde were full youre.”<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Then <em>Duke</em> Joshua leading the Israelites: the +division of the promised land; Kyng Saull and David, +and “prudent Solomon;” Roboas succeeding;</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The good Kynge Esechyas and his generacyon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so to the Machabus, and dyvers other nacyon.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>170]</a></span> +All these</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Theyr noble actes, and tryumphes marcyall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Freshly were browdred in these clothes royall.”<br /></span> +<span class="i5"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +<span class="i0">“But over the hye desse, in the pryncypall place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the sayd thre kynges sate crowned all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The best hallynge<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> hanged, as reason was,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereon were wrought the nine orders angelicall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dyvyded in thre ierarchyses, not cessynge to call<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus</i>, blessed be the Trynite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dominius Deus Sabaoth, three persons in one deyte.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then followed in order our Blessed Lady, the +twelve Apostles, “eche one in his figure,” the four +Evangelists “wrought most curyously,” all the disciples</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Prechynge and techynge, unto every nacyon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The faythtes<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> of holy chyrche, for their salvacyon.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“Martyrs then followed, right manifolde;” Confessors +“fressely embrodred in ryche tyshewe and +fyne.” Saintly virgins “were brothered<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> the clothes +of gold within,” and the long array was closed on the +other side of the hall by</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Noble auncyent storyes, and how the stronge Sampson<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Subdued his enemyes by his myghty power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Hector of Troye, slayne by fals treason;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of noble Arthur, kynge of this regyon;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With many other mo, which it is to longe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Playnly to expresse this tyme you amonge.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But the powers of the chief proportion of needlewomen, +and of many of the subsequent tapestry looms +were devoted to giving permanence to those fables +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>171]</a></span> +which, as exhibited in the Romances of Chivalry, +formed the very life and delight of our ancestors in</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“———that happy season<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere bright Fancy bent to reason;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the spirit of our stories,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Filled the mind with unseen glories;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Told of creatures of the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spirits, fairies, goblins rare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guarding man with tenderest care.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>These fables, says Warton, were not only perpetually +repeated at the festivals of our ancestors, but +were the constant objects of their eyes. The very +walls of their apartments were clothed with romantic +history.</p> + +<p>We have mentioned the history of Alexander in +Tapestry as forming an important part of the peace +offering of the king of France to Bajazet, and probably +there were few princes who did not possess a +suit of tapestry on this subject; a most important +one in romance, and consequently a desired one for +the loom.</p> + +<p>There seems an innate propensity in the writers of +the Romance of Chivalry to exaggerate, almost to +distortion, the achievements of those whose heroic +bearing needed no pomp of diction, or wild flow of +imagination to illustrate it. Thus Charlemagne, one +of the best and greatest of men, appears in romance +like one whose thirst for slaughter it requires myriads +of “Paynims” to quench.</p> + +<p>Arthur, on the contrary, a very (if history tell +truth) a very “so-so” sort of a man, having not one +tithe of the intellect or the magnanimity of him to +whom we have just referred—Arthur is invested in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>172]</a></span> +romance with a halo of interest and of beauty which +is perfectly fascinating; and it seems almost impossible +to divest oneself of these impressions and to +look upon him only in the unattractive light in which +history represents him.</p> + +<p>A person not initiated in romance would suppose +that the real actions of Alexander—the subjugator of +Greece, the conqueror of Persia, the captor of the +great Darius, but the generous protector of his +family—might sufficiently immortalize him. By no +means. He cuts a considerable figure in many +romances; but in one, appropriated more exclusively +to his exploits, he “surpasses himself.” The world +was conquered:—from north to south, and from east +to west his sovereignty was acknowledged; so he +forthwith flew up into the air to bring the aerial potentates +to his feet. But this experiment not answering, +he descended to the depths of the waters +with much better success; for immediately all their +inhabitants, from the whale to the herring, the cannibal +shark, the voracious pike, the majestic sturgeon, +the lordly salmon, the rich turbot, and the delicate +trout, with all their kith, kin, relations, and allies, +the lobster, the crab, and the muscle,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The sounds and seas with all their finny drove”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>crowd round him to do him homage: the oyster lays +her pearl at his feet, and the coral boughs meekly +wave in token of subjection. Doubtless in addition +to the legitimate “battles” these exploits, if not +fully displayed, were intimated by symbols in the +Tapestry.</p> + +<p>The Tale of Troy was a very favourite subject for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>173]</a></span> +Tapestry, and was found in many noble mansions, +especially in France. It has indeed been conjectured, +and on sufficient grounds, that the whole Iliad had +been wrought in a consecutive series of hangings. +Though during the early part of the middle ages +Homer himself was lost, still the “Tale of Troy +divine” was kept alive in two Latin works, which in +1260 formed the basis of a prose romance by a +Sicilian.</p> + +<p>The great original himself however, had become +the companion not only of the studious and learned, +but also of the fair and fashionable, while yet the +Flemish looms were in the zenith of their popularity. +This subject formed part of the decoration of Holyrood +House, on the occasion of the marriage of Henry +the Seventh’s daughter to James, King of Scotland +in 1503. We are told in an ancient record, that the +“hanginge of the queene’s gret chammer represented +the ystory of Troye toune, that the king’s grett +chammer had one table, wer was satt, hys chamerlayne, +the grett sqyer, and many others, well served; +the which chammer was haunged about with the +story of Hercules, together with other ystorys.” +And at the same solemnity, “in the hall wher the +qwene’s company wer satt in lyke as in the other, +an wich was haunged of the history of Hercules.”</p> + +<p>The tragic and fearful story of Coucy’s heart +gave rise to an old metrical English Romance, called +the ‘Knight of Courtesy and the Lady of Faguel.’ +It was entirely represented in tapestry. The incident, +a true one, on which it was founded, occurred +about 1180; and was thus:—</p> + +<p>“Some hundred and odd years since, there was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>174]</a></span> +in France one Captain Coucy, a gallant gentleman +of an ancient extraction, and keeper of Coucy Castle, +which is yet standing, and in good repair. He fell +in love with a young gentlewoman, and courted her +for his wife. There was a reciprocal love between +them; but her parents understanding of it, by way +of prevention, they shuffled up a forced match ’twixt +her and one Monsieur Faiell who was a great heir: +Captain Coucy hereupon quitted France in discontent, +and went to the wars in Hungary against the +Turk; where he received a mortal wound, not far +from Bada. Being carried to his lodging, he languished +for some days; but a little before his death +he spoke to an ancient servant of his, that he had +many proofs of his fidelity and truth; but now he +had a great business to intrust him with, which he +conjured him by all means to do, which was, That +after his death, he should get his body to be opened +and then to take his heart out of his breast, and put +in an earthen pot, to be baked to powder; and then +to put the powder in a handsome box, with that +bracelet of hair he had worn long about on his left +wrist, which was a lock of Mademoiselle Faiell’s +hair, and put it among the powder, together with a +little note he had written with his own blood to her; +and after he had given him the rites of burial, to +make all the speed he could to France, and deliver +the box to Mademoiselle Faiell. The old servant +did as his master had commanded him, and so went +to France; and coming one day to Monsieur Faiell’s +house, he suddenly met with him, who examined +him because he knew he was Captain Coucy’s servant, +and finding him timorous and faltering in his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>175]</a></span> +speech, he searched him, and found the said box in +his pocket with the note, which expressed what was +therein. He dismissed the bearer with menaces, +that he should come no more near his house: Monsieur +Faiell going in, sent for his cook, and delivered +him the powder, charging him to make a little well-relished +dish of it, without losing a jot of it, for it +was a very costly thing; and commanded him to +bring it in himself, after the last course at supper. +The cook bringing in the dish accordingly, Monsieur +Faiell commanded all to void the room, and +began a serious discourse with his wife: However +since he had married her, he observed she was +always melancholy, and he feared she was inclining +to a consumption; therefore he had provided for +her a very precious cordial, which he was well assured +would cure her. Thereupon he made her eat +up the whole dish; and afterwards much importuning +him to know what it was, he told her at last, she +had eaten Coucy’s heart, and so drew the box out +of his pocket, and showed her the note and bracelet. +In a sudden exultation of joy, she with a far-fetched +sigh said, ‘<em>This is precious indeed</em>,’ and so +licked the dish, saying, ‘<em>It is so precious, that ’tis +pity to put ever any meat upon ’t</em>.’ So she went to +bed, and in the morning she was found stone +dead.”<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>But a more national, a more inspiriting, and a +more agreeable theme for the alert finger or the +busy loom is found in the life and adventures of +that prince of combatants, that hero of all heroes, +Guy Earl of Warwick. Help me, shades of renowned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>176]</a></span> +slaughterers, whilst I record his achievements! Bear +witness to his deed, ye grisly phantoms, ye bloody +ghosts of infidel Paynims, whom his Christian +sword mowed down, even as corn falls beneath the +the reaper’s sickle, till the redoubtable champion +strode breast deep in bodies over fifteen acres covered +with slaughtered foes!<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> And all this from +Christian zeal!</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In faith of Christ a Christian true<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The wicked laws of infidels,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He sought by power to subdue.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“So passed he the seas of Greece,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To help the Emperour to his right,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the mighty Soldan’s host<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of puissant Persians for to fight:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where he did slay of Sarazens<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And heathen Pagans many a man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slew the Soldan’s cousin dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Who had to name, Doughty Colbron.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Ezkeldered that famous knight,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To death likewise he did pursue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Almain, king of Tyre also,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Most terrible too in fight to view:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He went into the Soldan’s host,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Being thither on ambassage sent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And brought away his head with him,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He having slain him in his tent.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Or passing by his</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Feats of arms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In strange and sundry heathen lands,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>note his beneficent progress at home—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>177]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“In Windsor forest he did slay<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A boar of passing might and strength;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The like in England never was,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For hugeness both in breadth and length.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some of his bones in Warwick yet,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Within the castle there do lye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One of his shield bones to this day<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Hangs in the city of Coventry.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“On Dunsmore heath he also slew<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A monstrous wild and cruel beast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Call’d the dun cow of Dunsmore heath,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Which many people had opprest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some of her bones in Warwick yet<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Still for a monument doth lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which unto every looker’s view,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As wondrous strange they may espy.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And the dragon in the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He also did in flight destroy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which did both men and beasts oppress,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And all the country sore annoy:”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Or look we at him all doughty as he was, as the +pilgrim of love, as subdued by the influence of the +tender passion, a suppliant to the gentle Phillis, +and ready to compass the earth to fulfil her wishes, +and to prove his devotion:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Was ever knight for lady’s sake<br /></span> +<span class="i1">So tost in love, as I, Sir Guy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Phillis fair, that Lady bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As ever man beheld with eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She gave me leave myself to try<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The valiant knight with shield and spear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere that her love she would grant me,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Who made me venture far and near.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Or, afterwards view him as—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“All clad in grey in Pilgrim sort,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">His voyage from her he did take,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto that blessed, holy land,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For Jesus Christ, his Saviour’s sake.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>178]</a></span> +Lastly, recal we the time when the fierce and ruthless +Danes were ravaging our land, and there was +scarce a town or castle as far as Winchester, which +they had not plundered or burnt, and a proposal +was made, and per force acceded to by the English +king to decide the struggle by single combat. But +the odds were great: Colbrand the Danish champion, +was a giant, and ere he came to a combat he +provided himself with a cart-load of Danish axes, +great clubs with knobs of iron, squared barrs of steel +lances and iron hooks wherewith to pull his adversary +to him.</p> + +<p>On the other hand the English—and sleepless +and unhappy, the king Athelstan pondered the +circumstance as he lay on his couch, on St. John +Baptist’s night—had no champion forthcoming, +even though the county of Hants had been promised +as a reward to the victor. Roland, the most valiant +knight of a thousand, was dead; Heraud, the pride +of the nation, was abroad; and the great and valiant +Guy, Earl of Warwick, was gone on a pilgrimage. +The monarch was perplexed and sorrowful; but an +angel appeared to him and comforted him.</p> + +<p>In conformity with the injunctions of this gracious +messenger, the king, attended by the Archbishop +of Canterbury and the Bishop of Chichester, placed +himself at the north gate of the city (Winchester) +at the hour of prime. Divers poor people and pilgrims +entered thereat, and among the rest appeared +a man of noble visage and stalwart frame, but wan +withal, pale with abstinence, and macerated by reason +of journeying barefoot. His beard was venerably +long and he rested on a staff; he wore a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>179]</a></span> +pilgrim’s garb, and on his bare and venerable head +was strung a chaplet of white roses. Bending low, +he passed the gate, but the king warned by the +vision, hastened to him, and entreated him “by his +love for Jesus Christ, by the devotion of his pilgrimage, +and for the preservation of all England, +to do battle with the giant.” The Palmer thus conjured, +underwent the combat, and was victorious.</p> + +<p>After a solemn procession to the Cathedral, and +thanksgiving therein, when he offered his weapon to +God and the patron of the Church, before the High +Altar, the pilgrim withdrew, having revealed himself +to none but the king, and that under a solemn pledge +of secrecy. He bent his course towards Warwick, +and unknown in his disguise, took alms at the hands +of his own lady—for, reader, this meek and holy pilgrim, +was none other than the wholesale slayer, +whose deeds we have been contemplating—and then +retired to a solitary place hard by—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Where with his hand he hew’d a house,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Out of a craggy rock of stone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lived like a palmer poor,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Within that cave himself alone.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Nor was this at all an unusual conclusion to a life +of butchery; all the heroes of romance turned hermits; +and as they all, at least all of Arthur’s Round +Table, were gifted with a very striking development +of the organ of combativeness, their profound piety +at the end of their career might not improbably +give rise to a very common adage of these days +regarding sinners and saints.</p> + +<p>But here was a theme for Tapestry-workers! a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>180]</a></span> +real original, genuine English romance; for though +the only pieces now extant be, or may be, translated +from the French, still there are many concurring +circumstances to prove that the original, often +quoted by Chaucer, was an ancient metrical English +one. That it is difficult to find who Sir Guy was, +or in fact, to prove that there ever was a Sir Guy +at all, is nothing to the purpose; leave we that to +antiquarians, and their musty folios. Guy of +Warwick was well known from west to east, even as +far as Jerusalem, where, in Henry the Fourth’s time, +Lord Beauchamp was kindly received by those in +high stations, because he was descended from</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A shadowy ancestor, so renowned as Guy.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>One tapestry on this attractive subject which was +in Warwick Castle, before the year 1398, was so +distinguished and valued a piece of furniture, that a +special grant was made of it by King Richard II. +conveying “that suit of arras hangings in Warwick +Castle, which contained the story of Guy Earl of +Warwick,” together with the Castle of Warwick and +other possessions, to Thomas Holland, Earl of +Kent. And in the restoration of forfeited property +to this lord after his imprisonment, these hangings +are particularly specified in the patent of King +Henry IV., dated 1399.</p> + +<p>And the Castle wherein the tapestry was hung +was worthy of the heroes it had sheltered. The +first building on the site was supposed to be coeval +with our Saviour, and was called Caer-leon; almost +overthrown by the Picts and Scots, it lay in ruins +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>181]</a></span> +till Caractacus built himself a manor-house, and +founded a church to the honour of St. John the +Baptist. Here was afterwards a Roman fort, and +here again was a Pictish devastation. A cousin of +King Arthur rebuilt it, and then lived in it—Arthgal, +first Earl of Warwick, a Knight of the Round +Table; this British title was equivalent to <em lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ursus</em> in +Latin, whence Arthgal took the Bear for his ensign: +and a successor of his, a worthy progenitor of our +valiant Sir Guy, slew a mighty giant in a duel; and +because this giant’s delicate weapon was a tree pulled +up by the roots, the boughs being snagged from it, +the Earls of Warwick, successors of the victor, bore +a ragged staff of silver in a sable shield for their +cognisance.</p> + +<p>We are told that,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When Arthur first in court began,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And was approved king,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By force of arms great victoryes wanne,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And conquest home did bring.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then into England straight he came<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With fifty good and able<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knights, that resorted unto him,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And were of his round table.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Of these the most renowned were Syr Perceval, +Syr Tristan, Syr Launcelot du Lac, Syr Ywain, +Syr Gawain, Syr Galaas, Syr Meliadus of Leonnoys, +Sir Ysaie, Syr Gyron, &c. &c., and their various +and wondrous achievements were woven into a +series of tales which are known as the “Romances +of the Round Table.” Of course the main subject +of each tale is interrupted by ten thousand varied +episodes, in which very often the original object +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>182]</a></span> +seems entirely lost sight of. Then the construction +of many of these Romances, or rather their want of +construction, is marvellous; their genealogies are +interminable, and their geography miraculous.</p> + +<p>One of the most marvellous and scarce of these +Romances, and one, the principal passages of which +were frequently wrought into Tapestry, was the +“Roman du Saint Greal,” which is founded upon +an incident, to say the least very peculiar, but +which was perhaps once considered true as Holy +Writ. St. Joseph of Arimathœa, a very important +personage in many romances, having obtained the +hanap, or cup from which our Saviour administered +the wine to his disciples, caught in the same cup +the blood which flowed from his wounds when on +the Cross. After he had first achieved various adventures, +and undergone an imprisonment of forty-two +years, St. Joseph arrives in England with the +sacred cup, by means of which numerous miracles +are performed; he prepares the Round Table, and +Arthur and his Knights all go in quest of the hanap, +which by some, to us unaccountable, circumstance, +had fallen into the hands of a sinner. All make the +most solemn vow to devote their lives to its recovery; +and this they must indeed have done, and +not short lives either, if all recorded of them be +true. None, however, but two, ever <em>see</em> the sacred +symbol; though oftentimes a soft ray of light would +stream across the lonesome wild, or the dark pathless +forest, or unearthly strains would float on the +air, or odours as of Paradise would entrance the +senses, while the wandering and woeworn knight +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>183]</a></span> +would feel all fatigue, all sense of personal inconvenience, +of pain, of sickness, or of sorrow, vanish +on the instant; and then would he renew his vows, +and betake himself to prayer; for though all unworthy +to see the Holy Grayle, he would feel that it +had been borne on viewless pinions through the air +for his individual consolation and hope. And Syr +Galahad and Syr Perceval, the two chaste and +favoured knights who, “after the dedely flesshe had +beheld the spiritual things,” the holy St. Grael—never +returned to converse with the world. The +first departed to God, and “flights of angels sang +him to his rest;” the other took religious clothing +and retired to a hermitage, where, after living “a +full holy life for a yere and two moneths, he passed +out of this world.”</p> + +<p>But wide as is the range of the Romances of the +“Round Table,” they form but a portion of those +which solaced our ancestors. Charlemagne and his +Paladins were, so to speak, the solar system round +which another circle revolved; Alexander furnished +the radiating star for another, derived chiefly perhaps +from the East, where numbers of fictitious tales +were prevalent about him; and many Romances were +likewise woven around the mangled remains of +classic heroes.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The mightiest chiefs of British song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scorn’d not such legends to prolong;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They gleam through Spenser’s elfic dream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mix in Milton’s heavenly theme;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Dryden in immortal strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had raised the ‘Table Round’ again.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The Stories of the Tapestry in the Royal Palaces +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>184]</a></span> +of Henry VIII. are preserved in the British +Museum.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<p>These are some of them re-copied from Warton:—</p> + +<p>In the tapestry of the Tower of London, the +original and most ancient seat of our monarchs, +there are recited, Godfrey of Bulloign; the Three +Kings of Cologne; the Emperor Constantine; St. +George; King of Erkenwald; the History of Hercules; +Fame and Honour; the Triumph of Divinity; +Esther and Ahasueras; Jupiter and Juno; St. +George; the Eight Kings; the Ten Kings of +France; the Birth of our Lord; Duke Joshua; the +Riche History of King David; the Seven Deadly +Sins; the Riche History of the Passion; the Stem of +Jesse; Our Lady and Son; King Solomon; the +Woman of Canony; Meleager; and the Dance of +Maccabee.</p> + +<p>At Durham Place were the Citie of Ladies (a +French allegorical Romance); the Tapestrie of +Thebes and of Troy; the City of Peace; the Prodigal +Son; Esther, and other pieces of Scripture.</p> + +<p>At Windsor Castle the Siege of Jerusalem; Ahasueras; +Charlemagne; the Siege of Troy; and +Hawking and Hunting.</p> + +<p>At Nottingham Castle, Amys and Amelion.</p> + +<p>At Woodstock Manor, the tapestrie of Charlemagne.</p> + +<p>At the More, a palace in Hertfordshire, King +Arthur, Hercules, Astyages, and Cyrus.</p> + +<p>At Richmond, the arras of Sir Bevis, and Virtue +and Vice fighting.</p> + +<p>Among the rest we have also Hannibal, Holofernes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>185]</a></span> +Romulus and Remus, Æneas, and Susannah.</p> + +<p>Many of these subjects were repeated at Westminster, +Greenwich, Oatlands, Bedington in Surrey, +and other royal seats, some of which are now +unknown as such.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> +Warton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> +Arras, a very common anachronism. After the production of +the arras tapestries, arras became the common name for all tapestries: +even for those which were wrought before the looms of Arras +were in existence.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> +Moynes—nun. Lady Werburg</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> +<i>Spyre</i>—twig, branch.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> +<i>Youre</i>—burnt.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> +<i>Hallynge</i>—Tapestry.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> +<i>Faythtes</i>—feats, facts.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> +<i>Brothered</i>—embroidered.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> +<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> +“Fifteen acres were covered with the bodies of slaughtered +Saracens; and so furious were the strokes of Sir Guy, that the pile +of dead men, wherever his sword had reached, rose as high as his +breast.”—Ellis, vol. ii.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> +Harl. MSS. 1419.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>186]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.—PART I.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“What neede these velvets, silkes, or lawne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Embrodery, feathers, fringe and lace.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Bp. Hall.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save their own painted skins, our Sires had none.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As yet black breeches were not.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Cowper.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Manifold indeed were the varieties in mode +and material before that <i>beau ideal</i> of all that is +graceful and becoming—the “black breeches”—were +invented. For though in many parts of the globe +costume is uniform, and the vest and the turban of +a thousand years ago are of much the same make +as now, this is not the case in the more polished +parts of Europe, where that “turncoat whirligig +maniac, yclept Fashion,” is the pole-star and beacon +of the multitude of men, from him who has the +“last new cut from Stultz,” to him who is magnificent +and happy in the “reg’lar bang-up-go” from +the eastern parts of the metropolis.</p> + +<p>It would seem that England is peculiarly celebrated +for her devotion at Fashion’s shrine; for we +are told that “an Englishman, endevoring sometime +to write of our attire, made sundrie platformes +for his purpose, supposing by some of them to find +out one stedfast ground whereon to build the summe +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>187]</a></span> +of his discourse. But in the end (like an orator +long without exercise) when he saw what a difficult +peece of worke he had taken in hand, he gave over +his travell, and onely drue the picture of a naked +man, unto whome he gave a paire of sheares in the +one hand, and a piece of cloth in the other, to the +end he should shape his apparell after such fashion +as himselfe liked, sith he could find no kind of +garment that could please him anie while together, +and this he called an Englishman. Certes this +writer shewed himself herein not to be altogether +void of iudgement, sith the phantasticall follie of our +nation, even from the courtier to the carter, is such, +that no forme of apparell liketh vs longer than the +first garment is in the wearing, if it continue so long +and be not laid aside, to receive some other trinket +newlie devised.</p> + +<p>“And as these fashions are diverse, so likewise +it is a world to see the costlinesse and the curiositie; +the excesse and the vanitie; the pompe and the +brauerie; the change and the varietie; and, finallie, +the ficklenesse and the follie that is in all degrees; +insomuch that nothing is more constant in England +than inconstancie of attire.</p> + +<p>“In women, also, it in most to be lamented, that +they doo now far exceed the lightnesse of our men +(who nevertheless are transformed from the cap +even to the verie shoo) and such staring attire as +in time past was supposed meet for none but light +housewives onlie, is now become a habit for chast +and sober matrons.</p> + +<p>“Thus <em>it is now come to passe, that women are +become men, and men transformed into monsters</em>.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>188]</a></span> +This ever-revolving wheel is still turning; and +so all-important now is <small>THE MODE</small> that one half of +the world is fully occupied in providing for the personal +embellishment of the other half and themselves; +and could we contemplate the possibility of +a return to the primitive simplicity of our ancient +“sires,” we must look in the same picture on one half +of the world as useless—as a drug on the face of creation. +Why, what a desert would it be were all +dyers, fullers, cleaners, spinners, weavers, printers, +mercers and milliners, haberdashers and modistes, +silk-men and manufacturers, cotton-lords and fustian-men, +tailors and habit makers, mantuamakers and +corset professors, exploded? We pass over pin and +needle makers, comb and brush manufacturers, +jewellers, &c. The ladies would have nothing to +live for; (for on grave authority it has been said, +that “woman is an animal that delights in the toilette;”) +the gentlemen nothing to solace them. +“The toilette” is the very zest of life with both; +and if ladies are more successful in the results of +their devoirs to it, it is because “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nous sommes faites +pour embellir le monde</span>,” and not because gentlemen +practice its duties with less zeal, devotion, or assiduity—as +many a valet can testify when contemplating +his modish patron’s daily heap of “failures.” +Indeed to put out of view the more obvious, weighty, +and important cares attached to the due selection +and arrangement of coats, waistcoats, and indispensables, +the science of “Cravatiana” alone is one +which makes heavy claims on the time, talents, and +energies of the thorough-going gentleman of +fashion. He should be thoroughly versed in all its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>189]</a></span> +varieties—The Royal George: The Plain Bow: +The Military: The Ball Room: The Corsican: +The Hibernian Tie: The Eastern Tie: The Hunting +Tie: The Yankee Tie: (the “alone original” +one)—The Osbaldiston Tie: The Mail Coach Tie: +The Indian Tie, &c. &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Though of these and their numberless offshoots, +the Yankee Tie lays most claim to originality, the +Ball Room one is considered the most exquisite, and +requires the greatest practice. It is thus described +by a “talented” professor:—</p> + +<p>“The cloth, of virgin white, well starched and +folded to the proper depth, should be made to sit +easy and graceful on the neck, neither too tight nor +loose; but with a gentle pressure, curving inwards +from the further extension of the chin, down the +throat to the centre dent in the middle of the neck. +This should be the point for a slight dent, extending +from under each ear, between which, more immediately +under the chin, there should be another slight +horizontal dent just above the former one. It has +no tie; the ends, crossing each other in broad folds +in front, are secured to the braces, or behind the +back, by means of a piece of white tape. A brilliant +broach or pin is generally made use of to secure +more effectually the crossing, as well as to give an +additional effect to the neckcloth.”</p> + +<p>What a world of wit and invention—what a fund +of fancy and taste—what a mine of zeal and ability +would be lost to the world, “if those troublesome +disguises which we wear” were reduced to their old +simplicity of form and material! Industry and +talent would be at discount, for want of materials +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>190]</a></span> +whereon to display themselves; and money would +be such a drug, that politicians would declaim on +the miseries of being <em>without</em> a national debt. Commerce, +in many of its most important branches, would +be exploded; the “manufacturing districts” would +be annihilated; the “agricultural interest” would, +consequently and necessarily, be at a “very low +ebb;” and the “New World,” the magnificent and +imperial empress (that is to be) of the whole earth, +might sink again to the embraces of those minute +and wonderful artificers from whom, I suppose, she +at first proceeded—the coral insects; for who would +want cotton! No, no. Selfish preferences, individual +wishes, must merge in the general good of the human +race; and however “their own painted skins” might +suffice our “sires,” clothing, “sumptuous,” as well +as “for use,” must decorate ourselves.</p> + +<p>To whom, then, are the fullers, the dyers, the +cleaners—to whom are the spinners and weavers, +and printers and mercers, and milliners and haberdashers, +and modistes, and silk-men and manufacturers, +cotton lords and fustian men, mantuamakers +and corset professors, indebted for that nameless +grace, that exquisite finish and appropriateness, which +gives to all their productions their charm and their +utility?—To the <span class="smcap">Needlewoman</span>, assuredly. For +though the raw materials have been grown at Sea +Island and shipped at New York,—have been consigned +to the Liverpool broker and sold to the Manchester +merchant, and turned over to the manufacturer, +and spun and woven, and bleached and printed, and +placed in the custody of the warehouseman, or on +the shelf of the shopkeeper—of what good would it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>191]</a></span> +be that we had a fifty-yard length of calico to shade +our oppressed limbs on a “dog-day,” if we had not +the means also to render that material agreeably +available? Yet not content with merely rendering +it available, this beneficent fairy, the needlewoman, +casts, “as if by the spell of enchantment, that ineffable +grace over beauty which the choice and +arrangement of dress is calculated to bestow.” For +the love of becoming ornament—we quote no less +an authority than the historian of the ‘State of +Europe in the Middle Ages,’—“is not, perhaps, to +be regarded in the light of vanity; it is rather an +instinct which woman has received from Nature to +give effect to those charms which are her defence.” +And if it be necessary to woman with her charms, is +it not tenfold necessary to those who—Heaven help +them!—have few charms whereof to boast? For, as +Harrison says, “it is now come to passe that men +are transformed into monsters.”</p> + +<p>“Better be out of the world than out of the +fashion,” is a proverb which, from the universal assent +which has in all ages been given to it, has now +the force of an axiom. It was this self evident proposition +which emboldened the beau of the fourteenth +century, in spite of the prohibitions of popes +and senators,—in spite of the more touching personal +inconvenience, and even risk and danger, attendant +thereupon—to persist in wearing shoes of +so preposterous a length, that the toes were obliged +to be fastened with chains to the girdle ere the +happy votary of fashion could walk across his own +parlour! Happy was the favourite of Crœsus, who +could display chain upon chain of massy gold wreathed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>192]</a></span> +and intertwined from the waistband to the shoe, +until he seemed almost weighed down by the burthen +of his own wealth. Wrought silver did excellently +well for those who could not produce gold; and for +those who possessed not either precious metal, and +who yet felt they “might as well be out of the world +as out of the fashion,” latteen chains, silken cords, +aye, and cords of even less costly description, were +pressed into service to tie up the <em>crackowes</em>, or piked +shoes. For in that day, as in this, “the squire endeavours +to outshine the knight, the knight the +baron, the baron the earl, the earl the king, in +dress.” To complete the outrageous absurdity of +these shoes, the upper parts of them were cut in imitation +of a church-window, to which fashion Chaucer +refers when describing the dress of Absalom, the +Parish Clerk. He—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Had Paul ’is windowes corven on his shose.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Despite the decrees of councils, the bulls of the +Pope, and the declamations of the Clergy, this ridiculous +fashion was in vogue near three centuries.</p> + +<p>And the party-coloured hose, which were worn +about the same time, were a fitting accompaniment +for the crackowes. We feel some difficulty in realising +the idea that gentlemen, only some half century +ago, really dressed in the gay and showy habiliments +which are now indicative only of a footman; but it +is more difficult to believe, what was nevertheless +the fact, that the most absurd costume in which the +“fool” by profession can now be decked on the stage, +can hardly compete in absurdity with the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">outré</i> costume +of a beau or a belle of the fourteenth century. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>193]</a></span> +The shoes we have referred to: the garments, male +or female, were divided in the middle down the whole +length of the person, and one half of the body was +clothed in one colour, the other half in the most +opposite one that could be selected. The men’s +garments fitted close to the shape; and while one +leg and thigh rejoiced in flaming yellow or sky-blue, +the other blushed in deep crimson. John of Gaunt +is portrayed in a habit, one half white, the other a +dark blue; and Mr. Strutt has an engraving of a +group assembled on a memorable occasion, where +one of the figures has a boot on one leg and a shoe +on the other. The Dauphiness of Auvergne, wife +to Louis the Good, Duke of Bourbon, born 1360, is +painted in a garb of which one half all the way down +is blue, powdered with gold fleurs-de-lys, and the +other half to the waist is gold, with a blue fish or +dolphin (a cognizance, doubtless) on it, and from the +waist to the feet is crimson, with white “fishy” ornaments; +one sleeve is blue and gold, the other +crimson and gold.</p> + +<p>In addition to these absurd garments, the women +dressed their heads so high that they were obliged +to wear a sort of curved horn on each side, in order +to support the enormous superstructure of feathers +and furbelows. And these are what are meant by +the “horned head-dresses” so often referred to in +old authors. It is said that, when Isabel of Bavaria +kept her court at Vincennes, <small>A.D.</small> 1416, it was necessary +to make all the doors of the palace both +higher and wider, to admit the head-dresses of the +queen and her ladies, which were all of this horned +kind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>194]</a></span> +This high bonnet had been worn, under various +modifications, ever since the fashion was brought +from the East in the time of the Crusades. Some +were of a sugar-loaf form, three feet in height; +and some cylindrical, but still very high. The +French modistes of that day called this formidable +head-gear <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnet à la Syrienne</i>. But our author +says, if female vanity be violently restrained in one +point, it is sure to break out in another; and Romish +anathemas having abolished curls from shading fair +brows, so much the more attention was paid to head-gear, +that the bonnets and caps increased every year +most awfully in height and size, and were made in +the form of crescents, pyramids, and horns of such +tremendous dimensions, that the old chronicler +Juvenal des Ursins makes this pathetic lamentation +in his History of Charles VI.:—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Et avoient les dames et damoyselles de chacun +costé, deux grandes oreilles si larges, que quand +elles vouloient passer par l’huis d’une chambre il +fallait qu’elles se tournassent de costé et baisassent, +ou elles n’eussent pu passer:</span>” that is, “on every +side old ladies and young ladies were seen with such +high and monstrous ears (or horns), that when they +wanted to enter a room they were obliged perforce +to stoop and crouch sideways, or they could not +pass.” At last a regular attack was made on the +high head-gear of the fifteenth century by a popular +monk, in his sermons at Nôtre Dame, in which he +so pathetically lamented the sinfulness and enormities +of such a fashion, that the ladies, to show their +contrition, made <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">auto da fés</i> of their Syrian bonnets +in the public squares and market-places; and as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>195]</a></span> +Church fulminated against them all over Europe, +the example of Paris was universally followed.</p> + +<p>Many attempts had previously been made by +zealous preachers to effect this alteration. In the +previous century a Carmelite in the province of +Bretagne preached against this fashion, without the +power to annihilate it: all that the ladies did was to +change the particular shape of the huge coiffures +after every sermon. “No sooner,” says the chronicler, +“had he departed from one district, than the +dames and damoyselles, who, like frightened snails, +had drawn in their horns, shot them out again longer +than ever; for nowhere were the <em>hennins</em> (so called, +abbreviated from <em>gehinnin</em>, incommodious,) larger, +more pompous or proud, than in the cities through +which the Carmelite had passed.</p> + +<p>“All the world was totally reversed and disordered +by these fashions, and above all things by the strange +accoutrements on the heads of the ladies. It was a +portentous time, for some carried huge towers on +their foreheads an ell high; others still higher caps, +with sharp points, like staples, from the top of which +streamed long crapes, fringed with gold, like banners. +Alas, alas! ladies, dames, and demoiselles +were of importance in those days! When do we +hear, in the present times, of Church and State interfering +to regulate the patterns of their bonnets?”<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>It is no wonder that fashions so very extreme and +absurd should call forth animadversion from various +quarters. Thus wrote Petrarch in 1366:—</p> + +<p>“Who can see with patience the monstrous, fantastical +inventions which the people of our times +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>196]</a></span> +have invented to deform, rather than adorn, their +persons? Who can behold without indignation +their long pointed shoes; their caps with feathers; +their hair twisted and hanging down like tails; the +foreheads of young men, as well as women, formed +into a kind of furrows with ivory-headed pins; their +bellies so cruelly squeezed with cords, that they suffer +as much pain from vanity as the martyrs suffered for +religion? Our ancestors would not have believed, +and I know not if posterity will believe, that it was +possible for the wit of this vain generation of ours to +invent so many base, barbarous, horrid, ridiculous +fashions (besides those already mentioned) to disfigure +and disgrace itself, as we have the mortification +to see every day.”</p> + +<p>And thus Chaucer, a few years later:—</p> + +<p>“Alass! may not a man see as in our daies the +sinnefull costlew array of clothing, and namely in +too much superfluite, or else in too disordinate scantinese: +as to the first, not only the cost of embraudering, +the disguysed indenting, or barring, ounding, +playting, wynding, or bending, and semblable waste +of clothe in vanitie.” The common people also +“were besotted in excesse of apparell, in wide surcoats +reaching to their loines, some in a garment +reaching to their heels, close before and strowting +out on the sides, so that on the back they make men +seem women, and this they called by a ridiculous +name, <em>gowne</em>,” &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Before this time the legislature had interfered, +though with little success: they passed laws at Westminster, +which were said to be made “to prevent +that destruction and poverty with which the whole +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>197]</a></span> +kingdom was threatened, by the outrageous, excessive +expenses of many persons in their apparel, above +their ranks and fortunes.”</p> + +<p>Sumptuary edicts, however, are of little avail, if +not supported in “influential quarters.” King +Richard II. affected the utmost splendour of attire, +and he had one coat alone which was valued at +30,000 marks: it was richly embroidered and inwrought +with gold and precious stones. It is not in +human nature, at least in human nature of the “more +honourable” gender, to be outdone, even by a king. +Gorgeous and glittering was the raiment adopted by +the satellites of the court, and, heedless of “that +destruction and poverty with which the whole kingdom +was threatened,” they revelled in magnificence. +Of one alone, Sir John Arundel, it is recorded, that +he had at one time fifty-two suits of cloth of gold +tissue. At this time, says the old Chronicle,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Cut werke was great bothe in court and tounes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bothe in mens hoddes, and also in their gounes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brouder and furres, and gold smith werke ay newe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In many a wyse, eche day they did renewe.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Unaccountable as it may seem, this rage of expense +and show in apparel reached even the (then) +poverty-stricken sister country Scotland; and in +1457 laws were enacted to suppress it.</p> + +<p>It is told of William Rufus, that one morning +while putting on his new boots he asked his chamberlain +what they cost; and when he replied “three +shillings,” indignantly and in a rage he cried out, +“you—how long has the king worn boots of so +paltry a price? Go, and bring me a pair worth a +mark of silver.” He went, and bringing him a much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>198]</a></span> +cheaper pair, told him falsely that they cost as much +as he had ordered: “Ay,” said the king, “these +are suitable to royal majesty.”</p> + +<p>This is merely a specimen of the monarch’s shallow-headed +extravagance; but the costume of his time +and that immediately preceding it was infinitely +superior in grace and dignity to that of the fantastical +period we have been describing. The English +at this period were admired by all other nations, and +especially <em>by the French</em>, from whom in subsequent +periods <em>we</em> have copied so servilely, for the richness +and elegance of their attire. With a tunic simply +confined at the waist, over this, when occasion required, +a full and flowing mantle, with a veil confined +to the back of the head with a golden circlet, +her dark hair simply braided over her beautiful +and intelligent brow and waving on her fair throat, +the wife of the Conqueror looked every inch a queen, +and what was more, she looked a modest, a dignified, +and a beautiful woman.</p> + +<p>The male attire was of the same flowing and +majestic description: and the “brutal” Anglo-Saxons +and the “barbarous” Normans had more +delicacy than to display every division of limb or +muscle which nature formed, and more taste than +to invent divisions where, Heaven knows, nature +never meant them to be. The simple <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coiffure</i> required +little care and attendance, but if a fastening +did happen to give way, the Anglo-Norman lady +could raise her hand to fasten it if she chose. The +arm was not pinioned by the fiat of a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">modiste</i>.</p> + +<p>And the material of a dress of those days was as +rich as the mode was elegant. Silk indeed was not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>199]</a></span> +common; the first that was seen in the country was +in 780, when Charlemagne sent Offa, King of Mercia, +a belt and two vests of that beautiful material; +but from the particular record made of silk mantles +worn by two ladies at a ball at Kenilworth in 1286, +we may fairly infer that till this period silk was not +often used but as</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“———a robe pontifical,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne’er seen but wonder’d at.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Occasionally indeed it was used, but only by persons +of the highest rank and wealth. But the woollens +were of beautiful texture, and Britain was early +famous in the art of producing the richest dyes. The +Welsh are still remarkable for extracting beautiful +tints from the commonest plants, such most probably +as were used by the Britons anciently; and it is +worthy of note that the South Sea cloths, manufactured +from the inner bark of trees, have the same +stripes and chequers, and indeed the identical +patterns of the Welsh, and, as supposed, of the ancient +Britons. Linen was fine and beautiful; and +if it had not been so, the rich and varied embroidery +with which it was decorated would have set off a +coarser material.</p> + +<p>Furs of all sorts were in great request, and a +mantle of regal hue, lined throughout with vair or +sable, and decorated with bands of gold lace and +flowers of the richest embroidery, interspersed with +pearls, clasped on the shoulder with the most precious +gems, and looped, if requisite, with golden +tassels, was a garment at which a nobleman, even of +these days, need not look askance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>200]</a></span> +Robert Bloet, second bishop of Lincoln, made a +present to Henry I. of a cloak of exquisitely fine +cloth, lined with black sables with white spots, +which cost a sum equivalent to £1500 of our money. +The robes of females of rank were always bordered +with a belt of rich needlework; their embroidered +girdles were inlaid, or rather inwrought, with gold, +pearls, and precious stones, and from them was +usually suspended a large purse or pouch, on which +the skill of the most accomplished needlewomen was +usually expended.</p> + +<p>This rich and becoming mode of dress was gradually +innovated upon until caprice reigned paramount +over the national wardrobe. For “fashion +is essentially caprice; and fashion in dress the +caprice of milliners and tailors, with whom <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">recherche</i> +and exaggeration supply the place of education and +principle.” That this modern definition applied as +accurately to former times as these, an instance may +suffice to show. Richard I. had a cloak made, at +enormous cost, with precious and shining metals +inlaid <em>in imitation of the heavenly bodies</em>; and +Henry V. wore, on a very memorable occasion, when +Prince of Wales, a mantle or gown of rich blue satin, +full of small eyelet-holes, as thickly as they could be +put, and a needle hanging by a silk thread <em>from +every hole</em>.</p> + +<p>The following incident, quoted from Miss Strickland’s +Life of Berengaria, will show the esteem +in which a rich, and especially a furred garment was +held. Richard I. quarrelled with the virtuous St. +Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, on the old ground of exacting +a simoniacal tribute on the installation of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>201]</a></span> +prelate into his see. Willing to evade the direct +charge of selling the see, King Richard intimated +that a present of a fur mantle worth a thousand +marks might be a composition. St. Hugh said he +was no judge of such gauds, and therefore sent the +king a thousand marks, declaring, if he would devour +the revenue devoted to the poor, he must have his +wilful way. But as soon as Richard had pocketed +the money he sent for the fur mantle. St. Hugh set +out for Normandy to remonstrate with the king on +this double extortion. His friends anticipated that +he would be killed; but St. Hugh said, “I fear him +not,” and boldly entered the chapel where Richard +was at mass, when the following scene took place:—</p> + +<p>“Give me the embrace of peace, my son,” said +St. Hugh.</p> + +<p>“That you have not deserved,” replied the king.</p> + +<p>“Indeed I have,” said St. Hugh, “for I have +made a long journey on purpose to see my son.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he took hold of the king’s sleeve and +drew him on one side. Richard smiled and embraced +the old man. They withdrew to the recess +behind the altar and sate down.</p> + +<p>“In what state is your conscience?” asked the +bishop.</p> + +<p>“Very easy,” said the king.</p> + +<p>“How can that be, my son,” said the bishop, +“when you live apart from your virtuous queen, and +are faithless to her; when you devour the provision +of the poor, and load your people with heavy exactions? +Are those light transgressions, my son?”</p> + +<p>The king owned his faults, and promised amendment; +and when he related this conversation to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>202]</a></span> +courtiers he added, “Were all our prelates like +Hugh of Lincoln, both king and barons must submit +to their righteous rebukes.”</p> + +<p>Furs were much used now as coverings for beds; +and they were considered a <em>necessary</em> part of dress +for a very considerable period.</p> + +<p>In Sir John Cullum’s Hawsted, mention is made +that in 1281 Cecilia, widow of William Talmache, +died, and, amongst other bequests, left “to Thomas +Battesford, for black coats for poor people, xxx<i>s.</i> in +part.” “To John Camp, of Bury St. Edmunds, +furrier, for furs for the black coats, viij<i>s.</i> xj<i>d.</i>” On +which the reverend and learned author remarks, +“We should now indeed think that a black coat +bestowed on a poor person wanted not the addition +of fur: such, however, was the fashion of the time; +and a sumptuary law of Edward III. allows handicraft +and yeomen to wear no manner of furre, nor of +bugg,<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> but only lambe, coney, catte, and foxe.”</p> + +<p>The distinction in rank was expressly shown by +the kind of fur displayed on the dress, and these +distinctions were regulated by law and rigidly enforced. +By a statute passed in 1455, for regulating +the dress of the Scottish lords of parliament, the +gowns of the earls are appointed to be furred with +ermine, while those of the other lords are to be lined +with “criestay, gray, griece, or purray.”</p> + +<p>The more precious furs, as ermine and sable, were +reserved exclusively for the principal nobility of +both sexes. Persons of an inferior rank wore the +<em>vair</em> or <em>gris</em> (probably the Hungarian squirrel); the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>203]</a></span> +citizens and burgesses, the common squirrel and +lamb skins; and the peasants, cat and badger skins. +The mantles of our kings and peers, and the furred +robes of the several classes of our municipal officers, +are the remains of this once universal fashion.</p> + +<p>Furs often formed an important part of the ransom +of a prisoner of rank:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Sir,” quoth Count Bongars, “war’s disastrous hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath cast my lot within my foeman’s power.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Name ransome as you list; gold, silver bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Palfreys, or dogs, or falcons train’d to flight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or choose you <em>sumptuous furs, of vair or gray</em>;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I plight my faith the destin’d price to pay.”<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Certain German nobles who had slain a bishop +were enjoined, amongst other acts of penance, “ut +varium, griseum, ermelinum, et pannos coloratos, +non portent.”</p> + +<p>The skin of the wild cat was much used by the +clergy. Bishop Wolfstan preferred lambskin; saying +in excuse, “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Crede mihi, nunquam audivi, in +ecclesia, cantari <em>catus</em> Dei, sed <em>agnus</em> Dei; ideo +calefieri agno volo</span>.”</p> + +<p>The monk of Chaucer had</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“———his sleeves purfiled, at the hond,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With gris, and that the finest of the lond.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It is not till about the year 1204 that there is any +specific enumeration of the royal apparel for festival +occasions. The proper officers are appointed to bring +for the king on this occasion “a golden crown, a red +satin mantle adorned with sapphires and pearls, +a robe of the same, a tunic of white damask; +and slippers of red satin edged with goldsmith’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>204]</a></span> +work; a balbrick set with gems; two girdles +enamelled and set with garnets and sapphires; white +gloves, one with a sapphire and one with an amethist; +various clasps adorned with emeralds, turquois, +pearls, and topaz; and sceptres set with +twenty-eight diamonds.”<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>So much for the king:—And for the queen—oh! +ye enlightened legislators of the earth, ye +omnipotent and magisterial lords of creation, look +on that picture—and on this.</p> + +<p>“For our lady the queen’s use, sixty ells of fine +linen cloth, forty ells of dark green cloth, a skin +of minever, a <em>small brass pan</em>, and <em>eight towels</em>.”</p> + +<p>But John, who in addition to his other amiable +propensities was the greatest and most extravagant +fop in Europe, was as parsimonious towards others +as selfish and extravagant people usually are. Whilst +even at the ceremony of her coronation he only afforded +his Queen “three cloaks of fine linen, one of +scarlet cloth, and one grey pelisse, costing together +12<i>l.</i> 5<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>;” he himself launched into all sorts of +expenditure. He ordered the minutest articles for +himself and the queen; but the wardrobe accounts +of the sovereigns of the middle ages prove that they +kept a royal warehouse of mercery, haberdashery, +and linen, from whence their officers measured out +velvets, brocades, sarcenets, tissue, gauzes, and +trimmings, of all sorts. A queen, says Miss Strickland, +had not the satisfaction of ordering her own +gown when she obtained leave to have a new one; the +warlike hand of her royal lord signed the order for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>205]</a></span> +the delivery of the materials from his stores, noting +down with minute precision the exact quantity to a +quarter of a yard of the cloth, velvet, or brocade, of +which the garment was composed.</p> + +<p>“Blessed be the memory of King Edward III. +and Philippa of Hainault his queen, who first invented +clothes,” was, we are told, the grateful +adjuration of a monkish historian, who referred +probably not to the first assumption of apparel, but +to the charter which was granted first by that +monarch to the “cutters and linen armourers,” subsequently +known as the merchant-tailors, who at +that period were usually the makers of all garments, +silk, linen, or woollen. Female fingers had sufficient +occupation in the finer parts of the work; in +the “silke broiderie” with which every garment of +fashion was embellished; in the tapestry; in the +spinning of wool and flax, every thread of which was +drawn by female hands, and in the weaving of which +a great portion was also executed by them.</p> + +<p>In the forty-fourth year of this king, “as the +book of Worcester reporteth, they began to use +cappes of divers coloures, especially red, with costly +lynings; and in the year 1372, the forty-seventh of +the above prince, they first began to wanton it in a +new round curtall weede, which they call a cloake, and +in Latin <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">armilausa</i>, as only covering the shoulders, +and this notwithstanding the king had endeavoured +to restrain all these inordinances and expenses in +clothing; as appears by the law by Parliament +established in the thirty-sixth year of his reign. +All ornaments of gold or silver, either on the daggers, +girdles, necklaces, rings, or other ornaments for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>206]</a></span> +body, were forbid to all that could not spend ten +pounds a-year; and farther, that no furre or pretious +and costly apparel, should be worne by any +but men possessed of 100<i>l.</i> a year.”</p> + +<p>Besides the rigid enactments of the law, and the +anathemas of divines, other and gentler means were +from time to time resorted to as warnings from that +sin of dress which seems inherent in our nature, or +as inducements to a more becoming one. We quote +a specimen of both:—</p> + +<p>“There was a lady whiche had her lodgynge by +the chirche. And she was alweye accustomed for to be +longe to araye her, and to make her freshe and gay, +insomuch that it annoyed and greued moche the +parson of the chirche, and the parysshens. And it +happed on a Sonday that she was so longe, that she +sent to the preeste that he shod tarye for her, lyke +as she had been accustomed. And it was thenne +ferforthe on the day. And it annoyed the peple. +And there were somme that said, How is hit? shall +not this lady this day be pynned ne wel besene in a +Myrroure? And somme said softely, God sende to +her an evyll syght in her myrroure that causeth us +this day and so oftymes to muse and to abyde for +her. And thene as it plesyd God for an ensample, +as she loked in the myrroure she sawe therein +the Fende, whiche shewed hymselfe to her so fowle +and horryble, that the lady wente oute of her wytte, +and was al demonyak a long tyme. And after God +sente to her helthe. And after she was not so longe +in arayeng but thanked God that had so suffered +her to be chastysed.”<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>207]</a></span> +The ‘Garment of Gude Ladyis’ is a lecture of a +most beguiling kind, and an exquisite picture.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Wald my gud lady lufe me best,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And wirk after my will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I suld ane garment gudliest<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Gar mak hir body till.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Of he honour suld be her hud,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Upoun hir heid to weir,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Garneist with governance so gud,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Na demyng<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> suld hir deir.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Hir kirtill suld be of clene constance,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Lasit with lesum lufe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mailyeis<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> of continwance<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For nevir to remufe.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Her gown suld be of gudliness,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Weill ribband with renowne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Purfillit<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> with plesour in ilk place,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Furrit with fyne fassoun.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Her belt suld be of benignitie,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">About hir middill meit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hir mantill of humilitie,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To tholl<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> bayth wind and weit.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Hir hat suld be of fair having<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a>,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And her tepat of trewth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hir patelet<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> of gude pansing,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Hir hals-ribbane of rewth.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Hir slevis suld be of esperance,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To keip hir fra dispair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hir gluvis of the gud govirnance,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To hyd hir fingearis fair.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>208]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“Hir schone suld be of sickernes<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i1">In syne that scho nocht slyd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hir hois of honestie, I ges,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">I suld for hir provyd.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Wald scho put on this garmond gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">I duret sweir by my seill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That scho woir nevir grene nor gray<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That set hir half so weill.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> +Lady’s Magazine.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> +Bugg—buge, lamb’s furr.—Dr. Jamieson.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> +Ancassin and Nicolette.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> +The first instance in which the name of this stone is found.—Miss +Lawrence.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> +The Knyght of the Toure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> +<i>Demyng</i>—censure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> +<i>Deir</i>—dismay.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> +<i>Mailyeis</i>—network.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> +<i>Purfillit</i>—furbelowed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> +<i>Fassoun</i>—address, politeness.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> +<i>Tholl</i>—endure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> +<i>Having</i>—behaviour.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> +<i>Patelet</i>—run.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> +<i>Sickernes</i>—steadfastness.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>209]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.—PART II.</span></h2> + +<div class="chapblock"> +<p>“And the short French breeches make such a comelie vesture +that, except it were a dog in a doublet, you shall not see anie so +disguised as are my countriemen of England.”—<span class="smcap">Holinshed.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Out from the Gadis to the eastern morne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not one but holds his native state forlorne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When comelie striplings wish it were their chance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Cenis’ distaffe to exchange their lance;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And weare curl’d periwigs, and chalk their face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still are poring on their pocket glasse;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tyr’d with pinn’d ruffs, and fans, and partlet strips,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And buskes and verdingales about their hips:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tread on corked stilts a prisoner’s pace.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Bp. Joseph Hall.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“They brought in fashions strange and new,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With golden garments bright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The farthingale and mighty ruff,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With gowns of rich delight.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">A Warning-Piece to England.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>The queen (Anne Neville) of Richard III. seems +to have been somewhat more regally accoutred than +those of her royal predecessors to whom we referred +in the last chapter. Among “the stuff delivered to +the queen at her coronation are twenty-seven yards +of white cloth of gold for a kirtle and train, and a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>210]</a></span> +mantle of the same, richly furred with ermine. This +was the dress in which she rode in her litter from +the Tower to the palace of Westminster. This was +an age of long trains, and the length was regulated +by the rank of the wearer; Anne, for her whole +purple velvet suit, had fifty-six yards. From the entries +of scarlet cloth given to the nobility for mantles +on this occasion, we find that duchesses had thirteen +yards, countesses ten, and baronesses eight.”</p> + +<p>The costume of Henry VII.’s day differed little +from that of Edward IV., except in the use of shirts +bordered with lace and richly trimmed with ornamental +needlework, which continued a long time in +vogue amongst the nobility and gentry.</p> + +<p>A slight inspection of the inventories of Henry +VIII.’s apparel will convince us of a truth which we +should otherwise, readily have guessed, viz., that no +expense and no splendour were spared in the “swashing +costume” of his day. Its general aspect is too +familiar to us to require much comment. We may +remark, however, that four several acts were passed +in his reign for the reformation of apparel, and that +all but the royal family were prohibited from wearing +“any cloth of gold of purpure colour, or silk of +the same colour,” upon pain of forfeiture of the same +and £20 for every offence. Shirt bands and ruffles +of gold were worn by the privileged, but none under +the degree of knight were permitted to decorate +their shirts with silk, gold, or silver. Henry VIII.’s +“knitte gloves of silk” are particularly referred to, +and also his “handkerchers” edged with gold, silver, +or fine needlework. These handkerchiefs, wrought +with gold and silver, were not uncommon in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>211]</a></span> +after-times. In the ballad of George Barnwell, it is +said of Milwood—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A handkerchief she had,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">All wrought with silk and gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which she, to stay her trickling tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Before her eyes did hold.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In the east these handkerchiefs are common, and it +is still a favourite occupation of the Egyptian ladies +to embroider them.</p> + +<p>We are surprised now to find to what minute particulars +legal enactments descended. “No husbandman, +shepherd, or common labourer to any artificer, +out of cities or boroughs (having no goods of their +own above the value of £10), shall use or wear any +cloth the broad yard whereof passeth 2<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>, or any +hose above the price of 12<i>d.</i> the yard, upon pain of +imprisonment in the stocks for three days.”</p> + +<p>It was in a subsequent reign, that of Mary, that a +proclamation was issued that no man should “weare +his shoes above sixe inches <em>square</em> at the toes.” We +have before seen that the attention of the grave and +learned members of the Senate, the “Conscript Fathers” +of England, was devoted to the due regulation +of this interesting part of apparel, when the +shoe-toes were worn so long that they were obliged to +be tied up to the waist ere the happy and privileged +wearer could set his foot on the ground. Now, +however, “a change came o’er the spirit of the day,” +and it became the duty of those who exercised a +paternal surveillance over the welfare of the community +at large to legislate regarding the <em>breadth</em> +of the shoe-toes, that they should not be above “sixe +inches square.”</p> + +<p>“Great,” was anciently the cry—“Great is Diana of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>212]</a></span> +the Ephesians;” but how immeasurably greater and +mightier has been, through that and all succeeding +ages, the supreme potentate who with a mesh of +flimsy gauze or fragile silk has constrained nations +as by a shackle of iron, that shadowy, unsubstantial, +ever-fleeting, yet ever-exacting deity—<span class="smcap">Fashion</span>! At +her shrine worship all the nations of the earth. The +savage who bores his nose or tattooes his tawny skin +is impelled by the same power which robes the +courtly Eastern in flowing garments; and the dark-hued +beauty who smears herself with blubber is influenced +by the selfsame motive which causes the +fair-haired daughter of England to tint her delicate +cheek with the mimic rose.</p> + +<p>And it is not merely in the shape and form of +garments that this deity exercises her tyrannic sway, +transforming “men into monsters,” and women likewise—if +it were possible: her vagaries are infinite +and unaccountable; yet, how unaccountable soever, +have ever numberless and willing votaries. It was +once the <em>fashion</em> for people who either were or fancied +themselves to be in love to prove the sincerity +of their passion by the fortitude with which they +could bear those extremes of heat and cold from +which unsophisticated <em>nature</em> would shrink. These +“penitents of love,” for so the fraternity—and a +pretty numerous one it was—was called, would clothe +themselves in the dog-days in the thickest mantles +lined throughout with the warmest fur: when the +winds howled, the hail beat, and snow invested the +earth with a freezing mantle, they wore the thinnest +and most fragile garments. It was forbidden to +wear fur on a day of the most piercing cold, or to +appear with a hood, cloak, gloves, or muff. They +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>213]</a></span> +supposed or pretended that the deity whom they +thus propitiated was <span class="smcap">Love</span>: we aver that the autocrat +under whose irreversible decrees they thus succumbed—was +<span class="smcap">Fashion</span>.</p> + +<p>And, after all, who is this all-powerful genius? +What is her appearance? Whence does she arise? +Did she alight from the skies, while rejoicing stars +sang Pæans at her birth? Was she born of the +Sunbeams while a glittering Rainbow cast a halo of +glory around her? or did she spring from Ocean +while Nereids revelled around, and Mermaids +strung their Harps with their own golden locks, soft +melodies the while floating along the glistering +waves, and echoing from the Tritons’ booming shells +beneath? No. Alas, no! She is subtle as the air; +she is evanescent as a sunbeam, and unsubstantial +as the ocean’s froth;—but she is none of these. +She is—but we will lay aside our own definition in +order that the reader may have the advantage of +that of one of the greatest and wisest of statesmen.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Quelqu’un qui voudrait un peu étudier d’où +part en première source ce qu’on appelle <span class="smcap">les Modes</span> +verrait, à notre honte, qu’un petit nombre de gens, +de la plus méprisable espèce qui soit dans une ville, +laquelle renferme tout indifféremment dans son sein; +pour qui, si nous les connaissions, nous n’aurions +que le mépris qu’on a pour les gens sans mœurs, ou +la pitié qu’on a pour les fous, disposent pourtant +de nos bourses, et nous tiennent assujettis à tous +leurs caprices.</span>”</p> + +<p>Can this indeed be that supereminent deity for +whom so “many do shipwrack their credits,” and +make themselves “ridiculous apes, or at best but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>214]</a></span> +like the cynnamon-tree, whose bark is more worth +than its body.”</p> + +<p>“Clothes” writes a venerable historian, “are for +necessity; warm clothes for health; cleanly for +decency; lasting for thrift; and rich for magnificence. +Now, there may be a fault in their number, +if too various; making, if too vain; matter, if too +costly; and mind of the wearer, if he takes pride +therein.</p> + +<p>“<em>He that is proud of the russling of his silks, like +a madman laughs at the rattling of his fetters.</em> For, +indeed, clothes ought to be our remembrancers of +our lost innocency. Besides, why should any brag +of what’s but borrowed? Should the Estrige snatch +off the Gallant’s feather, the Beaver his hat, the +Goat his gloves, the Sheep his sute, the Silkworm +his stockings, and Neat his shoes (to strip him no farther +than modesty will give leave), he would be left +in a cold condition. And yet ’tis more pardonable +to be proud, even of cleanly rags, than (as many are) +of affected slovennesse. The one is proud of a molehill, +the other of a dunghill.”</p> + +<p>But the worthy Fuller’s ideal picture of suitable +dress was the very antipodes of the reality of Elizabeth’s +day, when that rage for foreign fashions +existed which has since frequently almost inundated +the island, and our ancestors masked themselves</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“———in garish gaudery<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To suit a fool’s far-fetched livery.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A French hood join’d to neck Italian,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thighs from Germany and breast from Spain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An Englishman in none, a fool in all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Many in one, and one in several.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>215]</a></span> +And Shakspeare, who has perhaps suffered no +peculiarity of his time to escape observation, makes +Portia satirize this affectation in her English admirer:—“How +oddly he is suited! I think he bought +his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his +bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour everywhere.”</p> + +<p>A reverend critic thus remarks on the luxurious +modes of his time: “These tender Parnels must +have one gown for the day, another for the night; +one long, another short; one for winter, another for +summer. One furred through, another but faced; +one for the workday, another for the holiday. One +of this colour, another of that. One of cloth, another +of silk or damask. Change of apparel; one afore +dinner, another at after: one of Spanish fashion, +another of Turkey. And to be brief, never content +with enough, but always devising new fashions and +strange. Yea, a ruffian will have more in his ruff +and his hose than he should spend in a year. He +which ought to go in a russet coat spends as much +on apparel for him and his wife as his father would +have kept a good house with.”</p> + +<p>The following is of later date, and seems, somewhat +unjustly we think, to satirize the fair sex +alone.</p> + +<p>“Why do women array themselves in such fantastical +dresses and quaint devices; with gold, with +silver, with coronets, with pendants, bracelets, earrings, +chains, rings, pins, spangles, embroideries, +shadows, rebatoes, versicoloured ribbons, feathers, +fans, masks, furs, laces, tiffanies, ruffs, falls, calls, +cuffs, damasks, velvets, tassels, golden cloth, silver +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>216]</a></span> +tissue, precious stones, stars, flowers, birds, beasts, +fishes, crisped locks, wigs, painted faces, bodkins, +setting sticks, cork, whalebone, sweet odours, and +whatever else Africa, Asia, and America can produce; +flaying their faces to produce the fresher +complexion of a new skin, and using more time in +dressing than Cæsar took in marshalling his army,—but +that, like cunning falconers, they wish to +spread false lures to catch unwary larks, and lead +by their gaudy baits and dazzling charms the minds +of inexperienced youth into the traps of love?”</p> + +<p>Though the costume of Elizabeth’s day, especially +at the period of her coronation was, splendid, it had +not attained to the ridiculous extravagance which +at a later period elicited the above-quoted strictures; +and we are told that her own taste at an early period +of life was simple and unostentatious. Her dress +and appearance are thus described by Aylmer, Lady +Jane Grey’s tutor, and afterwards Bishop of +London.</p> + +<p>“The king (Henry VIII.) left her rich clothes +and jewels; and I know it to be true, that, in seven +years after her father’s death, she never in all that +time looked upon that rich attire and precious +jewels but once, and that against her will. And +that there never came gold or stone upon her head, +till her sister forced her to lay off her former soberness, +and bear her company in her glittering gayness. +And then she so wore it as every man might +see that her body carried that which her heart misliked. +I am sure that her maidenly apparel, which +she used in King Edward’s time, made noblemen’s +daughters and wives to be ashamed to be dressed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>217]</a></span> +and painted like peacocks; being more moved with +her most virtuous example than with all that ever +Paul or Peter wrote touching that matter. Yea, this +I know, that a great man’s daughter (Lady Jane +Grey) receiving from Lady Mary, before she was +queen, good apparel of tinsel, cloth of gold and velvet, +laid on with parchment-lace of gold, when she saw it, +said, ‘What shall I do with it?’ ‘Marry!’ said a +gentlewoman, ‘wear it.’ ‘Nay,’ quoth she, ‘that +were a shame, to follow my Lady Mary against +God’s Word, and leave my Lady Elizabeth, which +followeth God’s Word.’ And when all the ladies, +at the coming of the Scots’ Queen Dowager, Mary +of Guise, (she who visited England in Edward’s +time), went with their hair frownsed, curled, and +double-curled, she altered nothing, but kept her old +maidenly shame-facedness.”</p> + +<p>And there is a print from a portrait of her when +young, in which the hair is without a single ornament, +and the whole dress remarkably simple.</p> + +<p>Yet this is the lady whose passion for dress in +after life could not be sated; to whom, or at least +before whom (and the Queen was not slow in appropriating +and resenting the hint<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a>), Latimer, +Bishop of London, thought it necessary to preach +on the vanity of decking the body too finely; and +who finally left behind her a wardrobe containing +three thousand dresses. A modern fair one may +wonder how such a profusion of dresses could be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>218]</a></span> +accommodated at all, even in a royal wardrobe, with +fitting respect to the integrity of puffs and furbelows. +But clothes were not formerly kept in drawers, +where but few can be laid with due regard to the +safety of each, but were hung up on wooden pegs, +in a room appropriated to the sole purpose of receiving +them; and though such cast-off things as +were composed of rich substances were occasionally +<em>ripped</em> for domestic uses (viz., mantles for infants, +vests for children, and counterpanes for beds), articles +of inferior quality were suffered to <em>hang by the +walls</em> till age and moths had destroyed what pride +would not permit to be worn by servants or poor +relations. To this practice, also, does Shakspeare +allude: Imogen exclaims, in ‘Cymbeline,’—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, for I am richer than to hang by the walls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must be ripp’d—”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The following regulations may be interesting; +and the knowledge of them will doubtless excite +feelings of joy and gratitude in our fair readers that +they are born in an age where “will is free,” and +the dustman’s wife may, if it so please her, outshine +the duchess, without the terrors of Parliament before +her eyes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“By the Queene.</p> + +<p>“Whereas the Queene’s Maiestie, for avoyding of +the great inconvenience that hath growen and dayly +doeth increase within this her Realme, by the inordinate +excesse in Apparel, hath in her Princely +wisdome and care for reformation thereof, by sundry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>219]</a></span> +former Proclamations, straightly charged and commanded +those in Authoritie under her to see her +Lawes provided in that behalfe duely executed; +Whereof notwithstanding, partly through their negligence, +and partly by the manifest contempt and +disobedience of the parties offending, no reformation +at all hath followed; Her Maiestie, finding by experience +that by Clemencie, whereunto she is most +inclinable, so long as there is any hope of redresse, +this increasing evill hath not beene cured, hath +thought fit to seeke to remedie the same by correction +and severitie, to be used against both these +kindes of offenders, in regard of the present difficulties +of this time; wherein the decay and lacke +of hospitalitie appeares in the better sort in all +countreys, principally occasioned by the immeasurable +charges and expenses which they are put to +in superfluous apparelling their wives, children, and +families, the confusion also of degrees in all places +being great; where the meanest are as richly apparelled +as their betters, and the pride that such +inferior persons take in their garments, driving +many for their maintenance to robbing and stealing +by the hieway, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>“Her Maiestie doth straightly charge and command—</p> + +<p>“That none under the degree of a Countess wear:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Cloth of gold or silver tissued;</p> + +<p>Silke of coulor purple.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Under the degree of a Baronesse:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Cloth of golde;</p> + +<p>Cloth of silver;</p> + +<p>Tinselled satten;</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>220]</a></span> +Sattens branched with silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Sattens striped with silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Taffaties brancht with silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Cipresses flourisht with silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Networks wrought in silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Tabines brancht with silver or golde;</p> + +<p>Or any other silke or cloth mixt or embroidered +with pearle, golde, or silver.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Under the degree of a Baron’s eldest sonne’s wife:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Any embroideries of golde or silver;</p> + +<p>Passemaine lace, or any other lace, mixed with +golde, silver, or silke;</p> + +<p>Caules, attires, or other garnishings for the head +trimmed with pearle.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Under the degree of a Knighte’s wife:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Velvet in gownes, cloakes, savegards, or other +uppermost garments;</p> + +<p>Embroidery with silke.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Under the degree of a Knighte’s eldest sonne’s +wife:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Velvet in kirtles and petticoates;</p> + +<p>Sattens in gownes, cloakes, savegards, or other +uppermost garments.</p> +</div> + +<p class="negmargin">“Under the degree of a Gentleman’s wife, bearing +armes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="List of fabrics"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl" rowspan="6" style="font-size: 750%;">}</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Satten in kirtles,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Damaske,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tuft taffetie,</td> + <td class="tdl">in gownes.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Plaine taffetie,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Grograine</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>221]</a></span> +Venice and Paris seem to have been the chief +sources of fashion; from these depôts of taste were +derived the flaunting head-dresses, the “shiptire,” +the “tire valiant,” &c., which were commonly worn +in these days of gorgeous finery, and which were +rendered still more <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">outré</i> and unnatural by the <em>dyed</em> +locks which they surmounted. The custom of dyeing +the hair is of great antiquity, and was very prevalent +in the East. Mohammed dyed his hair red; Abu +Bekr his successor did the same, and it is a custom +among the Scenite Arabs even to this day.</p> + +<p>The ancients often mixed gold dust in their hair, +and the Gauls used to wash the hair with a liquid +which had a tendency to redden it. It was doubtless +in personal compliment to Queen Elizabeth, that all +the fashionables of her day dyed their locks of a hue +which is generally considered the reverse of attraction. +Periwigs, which were introduced into England +about 1572, were to be had of <em>all colours</em>. It is in +allusion to this absurd fashion that Benedick says of +the lady whom he might chuse to marry:—“Her +hair shall be of what colour it please God.”</p> + +<p>Men first wore wigs in Charles the Second’s time; +and these were gradually increased in size, until they +reached the acme of their magnificence in the reign +of William and Mary, when not only men, but even +young lads and children were disguised in enormous +wigs. And though in the reign of Queen Anne this +latter custom was not so common, yet the young +men had the want of wigs supplied by artificial curlings, +and dressing of the hair, which was then only +performed by the women.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>222]</a></span> +One Bill preserved amongst the Harl. MSS. +runs thus:—</p> + +<p>“Next door to the Golden Ball, in St. Bride’s +Lane, Fleet Street, Lyveth Lidia Beercraft. Who +cutteth and curleth ladies, gentlemen, and children’s +hair. She sells a fine pomatum, which is mixed with +ingredients of her own making, that if the hair be +never so thin, it makes it grow thick; and if short, +it makes it grow long. If any gentleman’s or children’s +hair be never so lank, she makes it curle in a +little time, and to look like a periwig.”</p> + +<p>And this, indeed, the looking like a periwig, seems +to have been then the very <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beau ideal</i> of all beauty +and perfection, for another fair tonsoress advertises +to cut and curl hair after the French fashion, “after +so fine a manner, that <em>you shall not know it to be their +own hair</em>.”</p> + +<p>How applicable to these absurdities are the lines +of an amiable censor of a later day!—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">“We have run<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through ev’ry change, that Fancy, at the loom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exhausted, has had genius to supply;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, studious of mutation still, discard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A real elegance, a little us’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For monstrous novelty and strange disguise.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To return to Elizabeth:—</p> + +<p>The best known, and most distinguishing characteristic +of the costume of her day was the ruff; which +was worn of such enormous size that a lady in full +dress was obliged to feed herself with a spoon two feet +long. In the year 1580, sumptuary laws were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>223]</a></span> +published by proclamation, and enforced with great exactness, +by which the ruffs were reduced to legal +dimensions. Extravagant prices were paid for them, +and they were made at first of fine holland, but early +in Elizabeth’s reign they began to wear lawn and +cambric, which were brought to England in very +small quantities, and sold charily by the yard or +half yard; for there was then hardly one shopkeeper +in fifty who dared to speculate in a whole piece of +either. So “strange and wonderful was this stuff,” +says Stowe, speaking of lawn, “that thereupon rose +a general scoff or byeword, that shortly they would +wear ruffs of a spider’s web.” And another difficulty +arose; for when the Queen had ruffs made of this +new and beautiful fabric, there was nobody in England +who could starch or stiffen them; but happily +Her Grace found a Dutchwoman possessed of that +knowledge which England could not supply, and +“Guillan’s wife was the first starcher the Queen had, +as Guillan himself was the first coachman.”</p> + +<p>“Afterward, in 1564, (16th of Elizabeth), one +Mistress Dinghen Vauden Plasse, born at Teenen in +Flanders, daughter of a worshipful knight of that +province, with her husband, came to London, and +there professed herself a starcher, wherein she excelled; +unto whom her own nation presently repaired +and employed her, rewarding her very liberally for +her work. Some of the curious ladies of that time, +observing the neatness of the Dutch, and the nicety +of their linen, made them cambric ruffs, and sent +them to Mistress Dinghen to starch; soon after they +began to send their daughters and kinswomen to +Mistress Dinghen, to learn how to starch; her usual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>224]</a></span> +price was, at that time, 4<i>l.</i> or 5<i>l.</i> to teach them to +starch, and 20<i>s.</i> to learn them to see the starch. This +Mrs. Dinghen was the first that ever taught starching +in England.”</p> + +<p>The <small>RUFFS</small> were adjusted by poking sticks of iron, +steel, or silver, heated in the fire—(probably something +answering to our Italian iron), and in May +1582 a lady of Antwerp, being invited to a wedding, +could not, although she employed two celebrated +laundresses, get her ruff plaited according to her +taste, upon which “she fell to sweare and teare, to +curse and ban, casting the ruffes under feete, and +wishing that the devill might take her when shee +did wear any neckerchers againe.” This gentleman, +whom it is said an invocation will always summon, +now appeared in the likeness of a favoured suitor, +and inquiring the cause of her agitation, he “took +in hande the setting of her ruffes, which he performed +to her great contentation and liking; insomuch, as +she, looking herself in a glasse (as the devill bade +her) became greatly enamoured with him. This +done, the young man kissed her, in the doing whereof, +he writhed her neck in sunder, so she died +miserably.”</p> + +<p>But here comes the marvel: four men tried in +vain to lift her “fearful body” when coffined for +interment; six were equally unsuccessful; “whereat +the standers-by marvelling, caused the coffin to be +opened to see the cause thereof: where they found +the body to be taken away, and a blacke catte, very +leane and deformed, sitting in the coffin, <em>setting of +great ruffes and frizling of haire</em>, to the great +feare and woonder of all the beholders.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>225]</a></span> +The large hoop farthingales were worn now, but +they were said to be adopted by the ladies from a +laudable spirit of emulation, a praiseworthy desire +on their parts to be of equal standing with the “nobler +sex,” who now wore breeches, stuffed with rags +or other materials to such an enormous size, that a +bench of extraordinary dimension was placed round +the parliament house, (of which the traces were +visible at a very late period) solely for their accommodation.</p> + +<p>Strutt quotes an instance of a man whom the +judges accused of wearing breeches contrary to the +law (for a law was made against them): he, for his +excuse, drew out of his slops the contents; at first a +pair of sheets, two table-cloths, ten napkins, four +shirts, a brush, a glass, and a comb; with nightcaps +and other things of use, saying, “Your worship may +understand, that because I have no safer a storehouse, +these pockets do serve me for a room to lay +up my goods in,—and, though it be a strait prison, +yet it is big enough for them, for I have many +things of value yet within it.” His excuse was +heartily laughed at and accepted.</p> + +<p>This ridiculous fashion was for a short time disused, +but revived again in 1614. The breeches +were then chiefly stuffed with hair. Many satirical +rhymes were written upon them; amongst others, “A +lamentable complaint of the poore Countrye Men +agaynst great hose, for the loss of their cattelles +tales.” In which occur these:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“What hurt, what damage doth ensue,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And fall upon the poore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For want of wool and flaxe, of late,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Whych monstrous hose devoure.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>226]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“But haire hath so possess’d, of late,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The bryche of every knave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That no one beast, nor horse can tell,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Whiche way his taile to save.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Henry VIII. had received a few pairs of silk +stockings from Spain, but knitted silk ones were +not known until the second year of Elizabeth, +when her silk-woman, Mrs. Montague, presented +to Her Majesty a pair of black knit silk stockings, +for a new-year’s gift, with which she was +so much pleased that she desired to know if the +donor could not help her to any more, to which +Mrs. Montague answered, “I made them carefully +on purpose for your Majestie; and seeing +they please you so well, I will presently set more in +hand.” “Do so (said the Queen), for I like silk +stockings so well, that I will not henceforth wear +any more cloth hose.” These shortly became common; +though even over so simple an article as a +stocking, Fashion asserted her supremacy, and +at a subsequent period they were two yards +wide at the top, and made fast to the “petticoat +breeches,” by means of strings through eyelet +holes.</p> + +<p>But Elizabeth’s predilection for rich attire is well +known, and if the costume of her day was fantastic, +it was still magnificent. A suit trimmed with sables +was considered the richest dress worn by men; and +so expensive was this fur, that, it is said a thousand +ducats were sometimes given for “a face of sables.” +It was towards the close of her reign that the celebrated +Gabrielle d’Estrées wore on a festive occasion +a dress of black satin, so ornamented with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>227]</a></span> +pearls and precious stones, that she could scarcely +move under its weight. She had a handkerchief, +for the embroidering of which she engaged to pay +1900 crowns. And such it was said was the influence +of her example in Paris, that the ladies ornamented +even their shoes with jewels.</p> + +<p>Yet even this costly magnificence was afterwards +surpassed by that of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, +with whom it was common, even at an ordinary +dancing, to have his clothes trimmed with great +diamond buttons, and to have diamond hatbands, +cockades, and earrings, to be yoked with great and +manifold ropes and knots of pearl; in short, to be +manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in jewels: insomuch +that at his going to Paris in 1625, he had +twenty-seven suits of clothes made, the richest that +embroidery, lace, silk, velvet, gold, and gems could +contribute; one of which was a white uncut velvet +set all over, both suit and cloak, with diamonds +valued at fourscore thousand pounds, besides a great +feather, stuck all over with diamonds, as were also +his sword, girdle, hatband, and spurs.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p> + +<p>It would but weary our readers were we to dwell +on the well-known peculiarities of the “Cavalier +and Roundhead” days; and tell how the steeple-crowned +hat was replaced at the Restoration by the +plumed and jewelled velvet; the forlorn, smooth, +methodistical pate, by the curled ringlets and flowing +lovelock; the sober, sombre, “sad” coloured +garment, with its starched folds, by the gay, varied, +flowing drapery of all hues. Then, how the plume +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>228]</a></span> +of feathers gave way to the simpler band and +buckle, and the thick large curling wig and full +ruffle, to the bagwig, the tie, and stock.</p> + +<p>The dashing cloak and slashed sleeves were succeeded +by the coat of ample dimensions, and the +waistcoat with interminable pockets resting on the +knees; the “breeches” were in universal use, +though they were not of the universal “black” +which Cowper immortalises; but “black breeches” +and “powder” have had their reign, and are succeeded +by the “inexpressible” costume of the present +day. We will conclude a chapter, which we fear to +have spun out tediously, by Lady Morgan’s animated +account of the introduction, in France, of +that universally-coveted article of dress—a Cashmir +shawl:—</p> + +<p>“While partaking of a sumptuous collation (at +Rouen), the conversation naturally turned on the +splendid views which the windows commanded, and +on the subjects connected with their existence. The +flocks, which were grazing before us had furnished +the beautiful shawls which hung on the backs of the +chairs occupied by our fair companions, and which +might compete with the turbans of the Grand +Signor. It would be difficult now to persuade a +Parisian <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">petite maitresse</i> that there was a time when +French women of fashion could exist without a +cashmir, or that such an indispensable article of +the toilet and <em>sultan</em> was unknown even to the most +elegant. ‘The first cashemir that appeared in +France,’ said Madame D’Aubespine, (for an educated +French woman has always something worth +hearing to say on all subjects,) ‘was sent over by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>229]</a></span> +Baron de Tott, then in the service of the Porte, to +Madame de Tessé. When they were produced in +her society, every body thought them very fine, but +nobody knew what use to make of them. It was +determined that they would make pretty <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">couvre-pieds</i> +and veils for the cradle; but the fashion wore +out with the shawls, and ladies returned to their +eider-down quilts.’</p> + +<p>“Monsieur Ternaux observed that ‘though the +produce of the Cashmerian looms had long been +known in Europe, they did not become a vogue +until after Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt; and +that even then they took, in the first instance, but +slowly.’ The shawl was still a novelty in France, +when Josephine, as yet but the wife of the First +Consul, knew not how to drape its elegant folds, +and stood indebted to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">brusque</i> Rapp for the +grace with which she afterwards wore it.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">‘Permettez que je vous fasse l’observation,’ said +Rapp, as they were setting off for the opera; ‘que +votre schall n’est pas mis avec cette grâce qui vous +est habituelle.’</span></p> + +<p>“Josephine laughingly let him arrange it in the +manner of the Egyptian women. This impromptu +toilette caused a little delay, and the infernal machine +exploded in vain!</p> + +<p>“What destinies waited upon the arrangement +of this cashemir! A moment sooner or later, and +the shawl might have given another course to +events, which would have changed the whole face +of Europe.”<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>230]</a></span> +The Empress Josephine (says her biographer) +had quite a passion for shawls, and I question whether +any collection of them was ever as valuable as +hers. At Navarre she had one hundred and fifty, +all extremely beautiful and high-priced. She sent +designs to Constantinople, and the shawls made +after these patterns were as beautiful as they were +valuable. Every week M. Lenormant came to Navarre, +and sold her whatever he could obtain that +was curious in this way. I have seen white shawls +covered with roses, bluebells, perroquets, peacocks, +&c., which I believe were not to be met with any +where else in Europe; they were valued at 15,000 +and 20,000 francs each.</p> + +<p>The shawls were at length sold <em>by auction</em> at +Malmaison, at a rate much below their value. All +Paris went to the sale.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> +“Her Majesty told the ladies, that if the Bishop held more +discourse on such matters, she would fit him for heaven; but he +should walk thither without a staff, and leave his mantle behind +him.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> +Life of Raleigh, by Oldys.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> +Lady Morgan’s France in 1829-30.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>231]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Where are the proud and lofty dames,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their jewell’d crowns, their gay attire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their odours sweet?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where are the love-enkindled flames,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bursts of passionate desire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laid at their feet?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where are the songs, the troubadours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The music which delighted then?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It speaks no more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is the dance that shook the floors,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the gay and laughing train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all they wore?<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The royal gifts profusely shed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The palaces so proudly built,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With riches stor’d;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The roof with shining gold o’erspread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The services of silver gilt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The secret hoard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Arabian pards, the harness bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bending plumes, the crowded mews,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lacquey train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where are they?—where!—all lost in night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And scatter’d as the early dews<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across the plain.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Bowring’s Anc. Span. Romances.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Romance and song have united to celebrate the +splendours of the “Field of the Cloth of Gold.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>232]</a></span> +The most scrupulously minute and faithful of recorders +has detailed day by day, and point by point, +its varied and showy routine, and every subsequent +historian has borrowed from the pages of the old +chronicler; and these dry details have been so expanded +by the breath of Fancy, and his skeleton +frame has been so fleshed by the magical drapery of +talent, that there seems little left on which the +imagination can dilate, or the pen expatiate.</p> + +<p>The astonishing impulse which has in various +ways within the last few years been given to the +searching of ancient records, and the development +of hitherto obscure and comparatively uninteresting +details, and vesting them in an alluring garb, has +made us as familiar with the domestic records of the +eighth Henry, as in our school-days we were with +the orthodox abstract of necessary historical information,—that +“Henry the Eighth ascended the +throne in the 18th year of his age;” that “he +became extremely corpulent;” that “he married +six wives, and beheaded two.” Not even affording +gratuitously the codicil which the talent of some +writer hath educed—that “if Henry the Eighth +had not beheaded his wives, there would have been +no impeachment on his gallantry to the fair sex.”</p> + +<p>But in describing this, according to some, “the +most magnificent spectacle that Europe ever beheld,” +and to others, “a heavy mass of allegory and frippery,” +historians have been contented to pourtray +the outward features of the gorgeous scene, and +have slightly, if at all, touched on the contending +feelings which were veiled beneath a broad though +thin surface of concord and joy. Truly, it were a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>233]</a></span> +task of deep interest, even slightly to picture them, +or to attempt to enter into the feelings of the chief +actors on that field.</p> + +<p>First and foremost, as the guiding spirit of the +whole, as the mighty artificer of that pageant on +which, however gaudy in its particulars the fates of +Europe were supposed to depend, and the earnest +eyes of Europe were certainly fixed—comes <span class="smcap">Wolsey</span>.—Gorgeously +habited himself, and the burnished +gold of his saddle cloth only partially relieved by the +more sombre crimson velvet; nay, his very shoes +gleaming with brilliants, and himself withal so lofty +in bearing, of so noble a presence, that this very +magnificence seemed but a natural appendage, +Wolsey took his lofty way from monarch to monarch; +and so well did he become his dignity, that none +but kings, and such kings as Henry and Francis, +would have drawn the eyes of the myriad spectators +from himself. And surely he was now happy; +surely his ambition was now gratified to the uttermost; +now, in the eyes of all Europe did the two +proudest of her princes not merely associate with +him almost as an equal, but openly yield to his +suggestions—almost bow to his decisions. No—loftily +as he bore himself, courtly as was his demeanour, +rapid and commanding as was his eloquence, +and influential as seemed his opinions on all +and every one around—the cardinal had a mind ill +at ease, as, despite his self-control, was occasionally +testified by his contracted brow and thoughtful +aspect. After exerting all the might of his mighty +influence, and for his own aggrandisement, to procure +this meeting between the two potentates, he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>234]</a></span> +had at the last moment seen fit to alter his policy. +He had sold himself to a higher bidder; he had +pledged himself to Charles in the very teeth of his +solemn engagement to Francis. Even whilst celebrating +this league of amity, he was turning in his +own mind the means by which to rupture it; and +was yet withal, nervously fearful of any accident +which should prematurely break it, or lead to a discovery +of his own faithlessness.—So much for his +enjoyment!</p> + +<p>Our <span class="smcap">King Henry</span> was all delight, and eager impetuous +enjoyment. He had not outlived the good +promise of his youth; nor had his foibles become, +by indulgence, vices. He loved to see all around +him happy; he loved, more especially, to make them +so. He delighted in all the exercises of the field; +he was unrivalled in the tilt and the tournament; +and when engaged in them forgot kings and kingdoms. +His vanity, outrageous as it was, hardly sat +ungracefully on him, so much was it elevated then +by buoyant good humour—so much was it softened +at that time by his noble presence, his manly grace, +his kingly accomplishments, and his regal munificence. +The stern and selfish tyrant whom one +shudders to think upon, was then only “bluff King +Hal,” loving and beloved, courted and caressed by +an empire. He gave himself up to the gaieties of +the time without a care for the present, a thought +for the future. Could he have glanced dimly into +that future! But he could not, and he was happy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Francis</span> was admirably qualified to grace this +scene, and to enjoy it, as probably he did enjoy it, +vividly. Yet was this gratification by no means +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>235]</a></span> +unalloyed. His gentle manly nature was irritated at +certain stipulations of Henry’s advisers, by which +their most trivial intercourse was subjected to +specific regulations. There were recorded instances +enough of treacherous advantages taken to justify +fully this conduct on the part of Henry’s ministers; +but Francis felt its injustice, as applied to himself, +and at that time, made use of a generous and well-known +stratagem to convince others. But in the +midst of his enjoyments he had misgivings on his +mind of a more serious nature, caused by the Emperor’s +recent visit to Dover. These misgivings +were increased by the meeting between Henry and +Charles at Gravelines; and too surely confirmed by +quickly-following circumstances.</p> + +<p>The gentle and good <span class="smcap">Katharine</span> of England, +and the equally amiable Queen <span class="smcap">Claude</span>, the carefully-trained +stepdaughter of the noble and admirable +Anne of Bretagne, probably derived their +chief gratification here from the pleasure of seeing +their husbands amicable and happy. For queens +though they were, their happiness was in domestic +life, and their chief empire was over the hearts of +those domesticated with them.</p> + +<p>Not so the <span class="smcap">Dowager Queen</span> of France—the lively, +and graceful, and beautiful Duchess of Suffolk; for +though very fond of her royal brother, and devoted +to her gallant husband, she had yet an eye and an +ear for all the revelries around, and had a radiant +glance and a beaming smile for all who crowded to +do homage to her charms. And yet her heart must +have been somewhat hard—and that we know it was +not—if she could have inhaled the air of France, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>236]</a></span> +trod its sunny soil, without recollections which must +have dimmed her eye at the thoughts of the past, +even whilst breathing a thanksgiving for the present. +Somewhat less than five years ago, she had been +taken thither a weeping bride; youth, nature, inclination, +nay, hope itself, sacrificed to that expediency +by which the actions of monarchs are regulated. +We are accustomed to read these things so +much as mere historical memoranda, to look upon +them in their cold unvarnished simplicity of detail, +like the rigid outlines of stiff old portraits which we +can scarcely suppose were ever meant to represent +living flesh and blood—that it requires a strong +effort to picture these circumstances to our eyes as +actually occurring.</p> + +<p>In considering the state policy of the thing—and +the apparent national advantage of the King of +England’s sister being married to the King of +France—we forget that this King of England’s +sister was a fair young creature, with warm heart, +gushing affections, and passions and feelings just +opening in all the vividness of early womanhood; +and that she was condemned to marry a sickly, +querulous, elderly man, who began his loving rule +by dismissing at once, even while she was “a +stranger in a foreign land,” every endeared friend +and attendant who had accompanied her thither; +and that, worse than all, her young affections had +been sought and gained by a noble English gentleman, +the favourite of the English king, and the +pride of his Court.</p> + +<p>Surely her lot was hard; and well might she +weepingly exclaim, “Where is now my hope?” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>237]</a></span> +Little could she suppose (for Louis, though infirm, +was not aged) that three or four short months would +see her not only at liberty from her enforced vows, +but united to the man of her heart.</p> + +<p>Must there not, while watching the tilting of her +graceful and gallant husband, must there not have +been melancholy in her mirth?—must there not, in +the keen encounter of wits during the banquet or +the ball—must there not have mingled method with +her madness?</p> + +<p>Who shall record, or even refer to the hopes, and +feelings, and wishes, and thoughts, and reflections +of the thousands congregated thither; each one +with feelings as intense, with hopes as individually +important as those which influenced the royal King +of France, or the majestic monarch of England! +The loftiest of Christendom’s knights, the loveliest +of Christendom’s daughters were assembled here; +and the courteous Bayard, the noble Tremouille, the +lofty Bourbon, felt inspired more gallantly, if possible, +than was even their wont, when contending in +all love and amity with the proudest of England’s +champions, in presence of the fairest of her blue-eyed +maidens,—the noblest of her courtly dames.</p> + +<p>Nor were the lofty and noble alone there congregated. +After the magnificent structure for the king +and court, after every thing in the shape of a tenement +in, out, or about the little town of Guisnes, +and the neighbouring hamlets, were occupied, two +thousand eight hundred tents were set up on the +side of the English alone. No noble or baron +would be absent; but likewise knights, and squires, +and yeomen flocked to the scene: citizens and city +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>238]</a></span> +wives disported their richest silks and their heaviest +chains; jews went for gain, pedlars for knavery, +tradespeople for their craft, rogues for mischief. +Then there were “vagaboundes, plowmen, laborers, +wagoners, and beggers, that for drunkennes lay in +routes and heapes, so great resorte thether came, +that bothe knightes and ladies that wer come to see +the noblenes, were faine to lye in haye and strawe, +and hold theim thereof highly pleased.”</p> + +<p>The accommodations provided for the king and +privileged members of his court on this occasion +were more than magnificent; a vast and splendid +edifice that seemed to be endued with the magnificence, +and to rise almost with the celerity of that +prepared by the slaves of the lamp, where the +richest tapestry and silk embroidery—the costliest +produce of the most accomplished artisans, were +almost unnoticed amid the gold and jewellery by +which they were surrounded—where all that art +could produce, or riches devise had been lavished—all +this has been often described. And the tent +itself, the nucleus of the show, the point where the +“brother” kings were to confer, was hung round +with cloth of gold: the posts, the cones, the cords, +the tents, were all of the same precious metal, which +glittered here in such excessive profusion as to give +that title to the meeting which has superseded all +others—“The Field of the Cloth of Gold.”</p> + +<p>This gaudy pageant was the prelude to an era of +great interest, for while dwelling on the “galanty +shew” we cannot forget that now reigned Solyman +the magnificent, and that this was the age of Leo +the Tenth; that Charles the Fifth was now beginning +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>239]</a></span> +his influential course; that a Sir Thomas More +graced England; and that in Germany there was +“one Martin Luther,” who “belonged to an order of +strolling friars.” Under Leo’s munificent encouragement, +Rafaello produced those magnificent +creations which have been the inspiration of subsequent +ages; and at home, under Wolsey’s enlightened +patronage, colleges were founded, learning +was encouraged, and the College of Physicians first +instituted in 1518, found in him one of its warmest +advocates and firmest supporters.</p> + +<p>A modern writer gives the following amusing +picture of part of the bustle attendant on the event +we are considering. “The palace (of Westminster) +and all its precincts became the elysium of tailors, +embroiderers, and sempstresses. There might you +see many a shady form gliding about from apartment +to apartment, with smiling looks and extended +shears, or armed with ell-wands more potent than +Mercury’s rod, driving many a poor soul to perdition, +and transforming his goodly acres into velvet +suits, with tags of cloth of gold. So continual were +the demands upon every kind of artisan, that the +impossibility of executing them threw several into +despair. One tailor who is reported to have undertaken +to furnish fifty embroidered suits in three +days, on beholding the mountain of gold and velvet +that cumbered his shop-board, saw, like Brutus, the +impossibility of victory, and, with Roman fortitude, +fell on his own shears. Three armourers are said +to have been completely melted with the heat of +their furnaces; and an unfortunate goldsmith +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>240]</a></span> +swallowed molten silver to escape the persecutions of +the day.</p> + +<p>“The road from London to Canterbury was covered +during one whole week with carts and waggons, +mules, horses, and soldiers; and so great was +the confusion, that marshals were at length stationed +to keep the whole in order, which of course increased +the said confusion a hundred fold. So many were +the ships passing between Dover and Calais, that +the historians affirm they jostled each other on the +road like a herd of great black porkers.</p> + +<p>“The King went from station to station like a +shepherd, driving all the better classes of the country +before him, and leaving not a single straggler behind.”</p> + +<p>Though we do not implicitly credit every point of +this humorous statement, we think a small portion +of description from the old chronicler Hall (we will +really inflict <em>only</em> a small portion on our readers) +will justify a good deal of it; but more especially it +will enlighten us as to some of the elaborate conceits +of the day, in which, it seems, the needle was +as fully occupied as the pen.</p> + +<p>Indeed, what would the “Field of the Cloth of +Gold” have been without the skill of the needlewoman? +<em>Would it have been at all?</em></p> + +<p>“The Frenche kyng sette hymself on a courser +barded, covered with purple sattin, broched with +golde, and embraudered with corbyns fethers round +and buckeled; the fether was blacke and hached +with gold. Corbyn is a rauen, and the firste silable +of corbyn is <em>Cor</em>, whiche is a harte, a penne in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>241]</a></span> +English, is a fether in Frenche, and signifieth pain, and +so it stode; this fether round was endles, the buckels +wherwith the fethers wer fastened, betokeneth +sothfastnes, thus was the devise, <em>harte fastened in +pain endles, or pain in harte fastened endles</em>.</p> + +<p>“Wednesdaie the 13 daie of June, the twoo +hardie kynges armed at all peces, entered into the +feld right nobly appareled, the Frenche kyng and +all his parteners of chalenge were arraied in purple +sattin, broched with golde and purple velvet, embrodered +with litle rolles of white sattin wherein +was written <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">quando</em>, all bardes and garmentes wer +set full of the same, and all the residue where was +no rolles, were poudered and set with the letter ell +as thus, L, whiche in Frenche is she, which was interpreted +to be <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">quando elle</em>, when she, and ensuyng +the devise of the first daie it signifieth together, +<em>harte fastened in pain endles, when she</em>.</p> + +<p>“The Frenche kyng likewise armed at al pointes +mounted on a courser royal, all his apparel as wel +bardes as garmentes were purple velvet, entred the +one with the other, embrodred ful of litle bookes of +white satten, and in the bokes were written <em>a me</em>; +aboute the borders of the bardes and the borders of +the garmentes, a chaine of blewe like iron, resemblyng +the chayne of a well or prison chaine, whiche +was enterpreted to be <em>liber</em>, a booke; within this +boke was written as is sayed, <em>a me</em>, put these two +together, and it maketh <em>libera me</em>; the chayne betokeneth +prison or bondes, and so maketh together +in Englishe, <em>deliver me of <ins class="contr" title="bondes">bŏdes</ins></em>; put +to <ins class="contr" title="the">y<sup>e</sup></ins> reason, +the fyrst day, second day, and third day of chaunge, +for he chaunged but the second day, and it is <em>hart +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>242]</a></span> +fastened in paine endles, when she deliuereth me not +of bondes</em>; thus was thinterpretation made, but +whether it were so in all thinges or not I may not +say.”</p> + +<p>The following animated picture from an author +already quoted, has been drawn of this spirit-stirring +scene:—</p> + +<p>“Upon a large open green, that extended on the +outside of the walls, was to be seen a multitude of +tents of all kinds and colours, with a multitude of +busy human beings, employed in raising fresh pavilions +on every open space, or in decorating those +already spread with streamers, pennons, and banners +of all the bright hues under the sun. Long lines of +horses and mules, loaded with armour or baggage, +and ornamented with gay ribbons to put them in +harmony with the scene, were winding about all over +the plain, some proceeding towards the town, some +seeking the tents of their several lords, while mingled +amongst them, appeared various bands of +soldiers, on horseback and on foot, with the rays of +the declining sun catching upon the heads of their +bills and lances; and together with the white cassock +and broad red cross, marking them out from +all the other objects. Here and there, too, might +be seen a party of knights and gentlemen cantering +over the plain, and enjoying the bustle of the scene, +or standing in separate groups, issuing their orders +for the erection and garnishing of their tents; while +couriers, and poursuivants, and heralds, in all their +gay dresses, mingled with mule drivers, lacqueys, +and peasants, armourers, pages, and tent stretchers, +made up the living part of the landscape.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>243]</a></span> +“The sounding of the trumpets to horse, the +shouts of the various leaders, the loud cries of +the marshals and heralds, and the roaring of artillery +from the castle, as the king put his foot in the +stirrup, all combined to make one general outcry +rarely equalled. Gradually the tumult subsided, +gradually also the confused assemblage assumed a +regular form. Flags, and pennons, and banderols, +embroidered banners, and scutcheons; silver pillars, +and crosses, and crooks, ranged themselves in long +line; and the bright procession, an interminable +stream of living gold, began to wind across the +plain. First came about five hundred of the gayest +and wealthiest gentlemen of England, below the +rank of baron; squires, knights, and bannerets, rivalling +each other in the richness of their apparel +and the beauty of their horses; while the pennons +of the knights fluttered above their heads, marking +the place of the English chivalry. Next appeared +the proud barons of the realm, each with his banner +borne before him, and followed by a custrel with the +shield of his arms. To these again succeeded the +bishops, not in the simple robes of the Protestant +clergy, but in the more gorgeous habits of the +Church of Rome; while close upon their steps rode +the higher nobility, surrounding the immediate +person of the king, and offering the most splendid +mass of gold and jewels that the summer sun ever +shone upon.</p> + +<p>“Slowly the procession moved forward to allow +the line of those on foot to keep an equal pace. Nor +did this band offer a less gay and pleasing sight +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>244]</a></span> +than the cavalcade, for here might be seen the +athletic forms of the sturdy English yeomanry, +clothed in the various splendid liveries of their +several lords, with the family cognisance embroidered +on the bosom and arm, and the banners and +banderols of their particular houses carried in the +front of each company. Here also was to be seen +the picked guard of the King of England, magnificently +dressed for the occasion, with the royal +banner carried in their centre by the deputy standard +bearer, and the banner of their company by their +own ancient. In the rear of all, marshalled by +officers appointed for the purpose, came the band +of those whose rank did not entitle them to take +place in the cavalcade, but who had sufficient interest +at court to be admitted to the meeting. +Though of an inferior class, this company was not +the least splendid in the field; for here were all the +wealthy tradesmen of the court, habited in many a +rich garment, furnished by the extravagance of +those that rode before; and many a gold chain +hung round their necks, that not long ago had lain +in the purse of some prodigal customer.”</p> + +<p>But we cease, being fully of opinion with the old +chronicler that “to tell the apparel of the ladies, +their riche attyres, their sumptuous juelles, their +diversities of beauties, and their goodly behaviour +from day to day sithe the fyrst metyng, I assure +you ten mennes wittes can scarce declare it.”</p> + +<p>And in a few days, a few short days, all was at +an end; and the pomp and the pageantry, the mirth +and the revelry, was but as a dream—a most bitter, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>245]</a></span> +indeed, and painful dream to hundreds who had +bartered away their substance for the sake of a +transient glitter:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“We seken fast after felicite<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But we go wrong ful often trewely,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus may we sayen alle.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Homely indeed, after the paraphernalia of the +“Field of the Cloth of Gold,” would appear the +homes of England on the return of their masters. +For though the nobles had begun to remove the +martial fronts of their castles, and endeavoured to +render them more commodious, yet in architecture +the nation participated neither the spirit nor the +taste of its sovereign. The mansions of the gentlemen +were, we are told, still sordid; the huts of the +peasantry poor and wretched. The former were +generally thatched buildings composed of timber, +or, where wood was scarce, of large posts inserted in +the earth, filled up in the interstices with rubbish, +plastered within, and covered on the outside with +coarse clay. The latter were light frames, prepared +in the forest at small expense, and when erected, +probably covered with mud. In cities the houses +were constructed mostly of the same materials, for +bricks were still too costly for general use; and the +stories seem to have projected forward as they rose +in height, intercepting sunshine and air from the +streets beneath. The apartments were stifling, +lighted by lattices, so contrived as to prohibit the +occasional and salutary admission of external air. +The floors were of clay, strewed with rushes, which +often remained for years a receptacle of every pollution.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>246]</a></span> +In an inventory of the goods and chattels of Sir +Andrew Foskewe, Knight, dated in the 30th year of +King Henry the Eighth, are the following furnitures. +We select the hall and the best parlour, in +which he entertained company, first premising that +he possessed a large and noble service of rich +plate worth an amazing sum, and so much land as +proved him to be a wealthy man:—</p> + +<p>“The hall.—A hangin of greine say, bordered +with darneng (or needlework); item a grete side +table, with standinge tressels; item a small joyned +cuberde, of waynscott, and a short piece of counterfett +carpett upon it; item a square cuberde, and a +large piece of counterfett wyndowe, and five formes, +&c.</p> + +<p>“Perler.—Imprim., a hangynge of greene say and +red, panede; item a table with two tressels, and a +greyne verders carpet upon it; three greyne verders +cushyns; a joyned cupberd, and a carpett upon it; +a piece of verders carpet in one window, and a piece +of counterfeit carpett in the other; one Flemishe +chaire; four joyned stooles; a joyned forme; a +wyker skryne; two large awndyerns, a fyer forke, +a fyer pan, a payer of tonges; item a lowe joyned +stole; two joyned foote-stoles; a rounde table of +cipress; and a piece of counterfeitt carpett upon it; +item a paynted table (or picture) of the Epiphany +of our Lord.”<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>But notwithstanding this apparent meagreness of +accommodation, luxury in architecture was making +rapid strides in the land. Wolsey was as magnificent +in this taste as in others, as Hampton Court, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>247]</a></span> +“a residence,” says Grotius, “befitting rather a +god than a king,” yet remains to attest. The walls of +his chambers at York Place, (Whitehall,) were hung +with cloth of gold, and tapestry still more precious, +representing the most remarkable events in sacred +history—for the easel was then subordinate to the +loom.</p> + +<p>The subjects of the tapestry in York Place consisted, +we are told, of triumphs, probably Roman; +the story of Absalom, bordered with the cardinal’s +arms; the Petition of Esther, and the Honouring of +Mordecai; the History of Sampson, bordered with +the cardinal’s arms; the History of Solomon; the +History of Susannah and the Elders, bordered with +the cardinal’s arms; the History of Jacob, also bordered; +Holofernes and Judith, bordered; the Story +of Joseph, of David, of St. John the Baptist; the +History of the Virgin; the Passion of Christ; the +Worthies; the Story of Nebuchadnezzar; a Pilgrimage; +all bordered.</p> + +<p>This place—Whitehall—Henry decorated magnificently; +erected splendid gateways, and threw a +gallery across to the Park, where he erected a tilt-yard, +with all royal and courtly appurtenances, and +converted the whole into a royal manor. This was +not until after fire had ravaged the ancient, time-honoured, +and kingly palace of Westminster, a place +which perhaps was the most truly regal of any +which England ever beheld. Recorded as a royal residence +as early—almost—as there is record of the +existence of our venerable abbey; inhabited by +Knute the Dane; rebuilt by Edward the Confessor; +remodelled by Henry the Third; receiving lustre +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>248]</a></span> +from the residence, and ever-added splendour from +the liberality of a long line of illustrious monarchs, +it had obtained a hold on the mind which is even +yet not passed away, although the ravages of time, +and of fire, and the desecrations of subsequent +ages, have scarcely left stone or token of the original +structure.</p> + +<p>After the fire, however, Henry forsook it. He it +was who first built St. James’s Palace on the site of +an hospital which had formerly stood there. He also +possessed, amongst other royal retreats, Havering +Bower, so called from the legend of St. Edward receiving +a ring from St. John the Evangelist on this +spot by the hands of a pilgrim from the Holy Land; +which legend is represented at length in Westminster +Abbey; Eltham, in Kent, where the king frequently +passed his Christmas; Greenwich, where Elizabeth +was born; and Woodstock, celebrated for</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“the unhappy fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Rosamond, who long ago<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Prov’d most unfortunate.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The ancient palace of the Savoy had changed its +destination as a royal residence only in his father’s +time. With the single exception of Westminster—if +indeed that—the most magnificent palace which +the hand of liberality ever raised, which the finger +of taste ever embellished. Various indeed have been +the changes to which it has been doomed, and now +not one stone remains on another to say that such +things have been. Now—of the thousands who +traverse the spot, scarce one, at long and far distant +intervals, may glance at the dim memories of the +past, to think of the plumed knights and high-born +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>249]</a></span> +dames who revelled in its halls; the crowned and +anointed kings who, monarch or captive, trod its +lofty chambers; the gleaming warriors who paced its +embattled courts; the gracious queen who caused its +walls to echo the sounds of joy; the subtle heads +which plodded beneath its gloomy shades; the unhappy +exiles who found a refuge within its dim +recesses; or<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> the lame, the sick, the impotent, who +in the midst of suffering blessed the home that +sheltered them, the hands that ministered to their +woes.</p> + +<p>No. The majestic walls of the Savoy are in the +dust, and not merely all trace, but all idea of its +radiant gardens and sunny bowers, its sparkling +fountains and verdant lawns, is lost even to the +imagination in the matter-of-fact, business-like demeanour +of the myriads of plodders who are ever +traversing the dusty and bustling environs of Waterloo-bridge. +In our closets we may perchance compel +the unromantic realities of the present to yield +beneath the brilliant imaginations of the past; but +on the spot itself it is impossible.</p> + +<p>Who can stand in Wellington-street, on the verge +of Waterloo-bridge, and fancy it a princely mansion +from the lofty battlements of which a royal banner +is flying, while numerous retainers keep watch below? +Probably the sounds of harp and song may be heard +as lofty nobles and courtly dames are seen to tread +the verdant alleys and flower-bestrewn paths which +lead to the bright and glancing river, where a costly +barge (from which the sounds proceed) is waiting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>250]</a></span> +its distinguished freight. Ever and anon are these +seen gliding along in the sunbeams, or resting at +the avenue leading to one or other of the noble +mansions with which the bright strand is sprinkled.</p> + +<p>Of these, perhaps, the most gorgeous is York-place, +while farthest in the distance rise the fortified +walls of the old palace of Westminster, inferior only +to those of the ancient abbey, which are seen to +rise, dimmed, yet distinct, in the soft but glowing +haze cast around by the setting sun.</p> + +<p>And that building seen on the opposite side of +the river? Strangely situated it seems, and in a +swamp, and with none of the felicity of aspect appertaining +to its loftier neighbour, the Savoy. Yet +its lofty tower, its embattled gateway, seem to infer +some important destination. And such it had. +The unassuming and unattractively placed edifice +has outlived its more aspiring neighbours; and +while the stately palace of the Savoy is extinct, and +the slight remains of Westminster are desecrated, +the time-honoured walls of Lambeth yet shelter the +head of learning and dignify the location in which +they were reared.</p> + +<p>Eastward of our position the city looks dim and +crowded; but, with the exception of the sprinkled +mansions to which we have alluded, there is little to +break the natural characteristics of the scene between +Temple-bar and the West Minster. The hermitage +and hospital on the site of Northumberland +House harmonise well with the scene; the little +cluster of cottages at Charing has a rural aspect; +and that beautiful and touching memento of unfailing +love and undiminished affection—that tribute +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>251]</a></span> +to all that was good and excellent in woman—the +Cross, which, formed of the purest and, as yet, unsoiled +white marble, raised its emblem of faith and +hope, gleaming like silver in the brilliant sky—that—would +that we had it still!</p> + +<p>Somewhat nearer, the May-pole stands out in gay +relief from the woods which envelop the hills northward, +where yet the timid fawn could shelter, and +the fearful hare forget its watch; where yet perchance +the fairies held their revels when the moon +shone bright; where they filled to the brim the +“fairy-cups” and pledged each other in dew; where +they played at “hide and seek” in the harebells, +ran races in the branches of the trees, and nestled +on the leaves, on which they glittered like diamonds; +where they launched their tiny barks on the sparkling +rivulets, breathing ere morning’s dawn on the +flowers to awaken them, tinting the gossamer’s web +with silver, and scattering pearls over the drops of +dew.</p> + +<p>Closer around, among meadows and pastures, are +all sounds and emblems of rural life; which as yet +are but agreeably varied, not ruthlessly annihilated, +by the encroachments of population and the increase +of trade.</p> + +<p>Truly this is a difficult picture to realise on +Waterloo-bridge, yet is it nevertheless a tolerably +correct one of this portion of our metropolis at the +time of “The Field of the Cloth of Gold.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> +Henry.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> +Strutt’s Manners and Customs.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> +It was at length converted into an hospital.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>252]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE NEEDLE.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A grave Reformer of old Rents decay’d.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">J. Taylor.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“His garment—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thornes together pind and patched was.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Tush, tush, her neele, her neele, her neele, man; neither flesh nor fish,<br /></span> +<span class="i3"> A lytle thing with an hole in the ende, as bright as any syller,<br /></span> +<span class="i3"> Small, long, sharp at the point, and straight as any piller.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Diccon.</i> “I know not what it is thou menest, thou bringst me more in doubt.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Knowest not what Tom tailor’s man sits broching thro’ a clout?<br /></span> +<span class="i3"> A neele, a neele, a neele, my gammer’s neele is gone.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Gammer Gurton’s Needle.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>It is said in the old chronicles that previous to the +arrival of Anne of Bohemia, Queen of Richard the +Second, the English ladies fastened their robes with +skewers; but as it is known that pins were in use +among the early British, since in the barrows that +have been opened numbers of “neat and efficient” +ivory pins were found to have been used in arranging +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>253]</a></span> +the grave-clothes, it is probable that this remark +is unfounded.</p> + +<p>The pins of a later date than the above were made +of boxwood, bone, ivory, and some few of silver. +They were larger than those of the present day, +which seem to have been unknown in England till +about the middle of the fifteenth century. In 1543, +however, the manufacture of brass pins had become +sufficiently important to claim the attention of the +legislature, an Act having been passed that year by +which it was enacted, “That no person shall put to +sale any pins, but only such as shall be double +headed and have the head soldered fast to the +shank, the pins well smoothed, and the shank well +sharpened.”</p> + +<p>Gloucestershire is noted for the number of its pin +manufactories. They were first introduced in that +county, in 1626, by John Tilsby; and it is said that +at this time they employ 1,500 hands, and send up +to the metropolis upwards of £20,000 of pins annually.</p> + +<p>Our motto says, however, that his garment</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“With thornes together pind and <em>patched</em> was;”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>and a French writer says, that before the invention +of steel needles people were obliged to make use of +thorns, fish bones, &c., but that since “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’établissement +des sociétés, ce petit outil est devenu d’un +usage indispensable dans une infinité d’arts et d’occasions</span>.”</p> + +<p>He proceeds:—“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De toutes les manières d’attacher +l’un à l’autre deux corps flexibles, celle qui se +pratique avec l’aiguille est une des plus universellement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>254]</a></span> +répandues: aussi distingue-t-on un grand +nombre d’aiguilles différentes. On a les aiguilles à +coudre, ou de tailleur; les aiguilles de chirurgie, +d’artillerie, de bonnetier, ou faiseur de bas au métier, +d’horloger, de cirier, de drapier, de gainier, de +perruquier, de coiffeuse, de faiseur de coiffe à perruques, +de piqueur d’étuis, tabatières, et autres +semblables ouvrages; de sellier, d’ouvrier en soie, +de brodeur, de tapissier, de chandelier, d’emballeur; +à matelas, à empointer, à tricoter, à enfiler, à presser, +à brocher, à relier, à natter, à boussole ou aimantée, +&c. &c.</span>”</p> + +<p>Needles are said to have been first made in England +by a native of India, in 1545, but the art was +lost at his death; it was, however, recovered by +Christopher Greening, in 1560, who was settled with +his three children, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas, by +Mr. Damar, ancestor of the present Lord Milton, +at Long Crendon, in Bucks, where the manufactory +has been carried on from that time to the present +period.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>Thus our readers will remark, that until far on in +the sixteenth century, there was not a needle to be +had but of foreign manufacture; and bearing this +circumstance in mind, they will be able to enter +more fully into the feelings of those who set such +inestimable value on a needle. And, indeed, <em>if</em> all +we are told of them be true, needles could not be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>255]</a></span> +too highly esteemed. For instance, we were told of +an old woman who had used one needle so long and +so constantly for mending stockings, that at last the +needle was able to do them of itself. At length, +and while the needle was in the full perfection of its +powers, the old woman died. A neighbour, whose +numerous “olive branches” caused her to have a +full share of matronly employment, hastened to +possess herself of this domestic treasure, and gathered +round her the weekly accumulation of sewing, +not doubting but that with her new ally, the +wonder-working needle, the unwieldy work-basket +would be cleared, “in no time,” of its overflowing +contents. But even the all-powerful needle was of +no avail without thread, and she forthwith proceeded +to invest it with a long one. But thread it she could +not; it resisted her most strenuous endeavours. In +vain she turned and re-turned the needle, the eye +was plain enough to be seen; in vain she cut and +screwed the thread, she burnt it in the candle, she +nipped it with the scissars, she rolled it with her +lips, she twizled it between her finger and thumb: +the pointed end was fine as fine could be, but enter +the eye of the needle it would not. At length, determined +not to relinquish her project whilst any +hope remained of its accomplishment, she borrowed +a magnifying glass to examine the “little weapon” +more accurately. And there, “large as life and +twice as natural,” a pearly gem, a translucent drop, +a crystal <em>tear</em> stood right in the gap, and filled to +overflowing the eye of the needle. It was weeping +for the death of its old mistress; it refused consolation; +it was never threaded again.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>256]</a></span> +We give this incident on the testimony of a gallant +naval officer; an unquestionable authority, +though we are fully aware that some of our readers +may be ungenerously sceptical, and perhaps even +rude enough to attempt some vile pun about the +brave sailor’s “drawing a long yarn.”</p> + +<p>If, however, Gammer Gurton’s needle resembled +the one we have just referred to, and that, too, at a +time when a needle, even not supernaturally endowed, +was not to be had of English manufacture, +and therefore could only be purchased probably at +a high price, we cannot wonder at the aggrieved +feelings of her domestic circle when the catastrophe +occurred which is depicted as follows:—The parties +interested were the Dame Gammer Gurton herself; +Hodge, her farming man; Tib, her maid; Cocke, +her boy; and Gib, her cat. The play from which +our quotation is taken is not without some pretensions +to wit, though of the coarsest kind: it is supposed +to have been first performed at Christ’s College, +Cambridge, in 1566; and Warton observes on +it, that while Latimer’s sermons were in vogue at +court, Gammer Gurton’s needle might well be +tolerated at the university.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6 smcap">Act I. Scene 3. Hodge and Tib.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “I am agast, by the masse, I wot not what to do;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I had need blesse me well before I go them to:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Perchance, some felon spirit may haunt our house indeed,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And then I were but a noddy to venter where’s no need.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“I’m worse than mad, by the masse, to be at this stay.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I’m chid, I’m blam’d, and beaten all th’ hours on the day.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Lamed and hunger starved, pricked up all in jagges,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Having no patch to hide my backe, save a few rotten ragges.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>257]</a></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “I say, Tib, if thou be Tib, as I trow sure thou be,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">What devil make ado is this between our dame and thee?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“Truly, Hodge, thou had a good turn thou wart not here this while;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">It had been better for some of us to have been hence a mile:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">My Gammer is so out of course, and frantike all at once,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That Cocke, our boy, and I poor wench, have felt it on our bones.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “What is the matter, say on, Tib, whereat she taketh so on?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“She is undone, she saith (alas) her life and joy is gone:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">If she hear not of some comfort, she is she saith but dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Shall never come within her lips, on inch of meat ne bread.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And heavy, heavy is her grief, as, Hodge, we all shall feel.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “My conscience, Tib, my Gammer has never lost her neele?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“Her neele.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Her neele?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“Her neele, by him that made me!”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “How a murrain came this chaunce (say Tib) unto her dame?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“My Gammer sat her down on the pes, and bade me reach thy breches,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And by and by, a vengeance on it, or she had take two stitches<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To clout upon the knee, by chaunce aside she lears,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And Gib our cat, in the milk pan, she spied over head and ears.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ah! out, out, theefe, she cried aloud, and swapt the breeches down,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Up went her staffe, and out leapt Gib at doors into the town:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And since that time was never wight cold set their eyes upon it.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">God’s malison she have Cocke and I bid twentie times light on it.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “And is not then my breches sewed up, to-morrow that I shuld wear?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>258]</a></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Tib.</i><span class="space"> </span>“No, in faith, Hodge, thy breches lie, for all this never the near.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Now a vengeance light on al the sort, that better shold have kept it;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The cat, the house, and Tib our maid, that better should have swept it.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Se, where she cometh crawling! Come on, come on thy lagging way;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ye have made a fair daies worke, have you not? pray you, say.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12"> <span class="space"> </span> ———<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6 smcap">Act I. Scene 4. Gammer, Hodge, Tib, Cocke.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gammer.</i> “Alas, alas, I may well curse and ban<br /></span> +<span class="i4">This day, that ever I saw it, with Gib and the milke pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">For these, and ill lucke together, as knoweth Cocke my boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Have stacke away my dear neele, and rob’d me of my joy,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">My fair long straight neele, that was mine only treasure,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The first day of my sorrow is, and last of my pleasure.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Might ha kept it when ye had it; but fools will be fools still:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Lose that is fast in your hands? ye need not, but ye will.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gammer.</i> “Go hie the, Tib, and run along, to th’ end here of the town.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Didst carry out dust in thy lap? seek where thou porest it down;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And as thou sawest me roking in the ashes where I morned,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">So see in all the heap of dust thou leave no straw unturned.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Your neele lost? it is pitie you shold lacke care and endles sorrow.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Tell me, how shall my breches be sewid? shall I go thus to-morrow?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gammer.</i> “Ah, Hodge, Hodge, if that I could find my neele, by the reed,<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>259]</a></span> +<span class="i4">I’d sew thy breches, I promise the, with full good double threed,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And set a patch on either knee, shall last this months twain,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Now God, and Saint Sithe, I pray, to send it back again.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “Whereto served your hands and eyes, but your neele keep?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">What devil had you els to do? ye keep, I wot, no sheep.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I’m fain abrode to dig and delve, in water, mire and clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Sossing and possing in the dirt, still from day to day<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A hundred things that be abroad, I’m set to see them weel;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And four of you sit idle at home, and cannot keep a neele.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gammer.</i> “My neele, alas, I lost, Hodge, what time I me up hasted,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To save milk set up for thee, which Gib our cat hath wasted.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Hodge.</i> “The devil he take both Gib and Tib, with all the rest;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I’m always sure of the worst end, whoever have the best.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Where ha you ben fidging abroad, since you your neele lost?”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gammer.</i> “Within the house, and at the door, sitting by this same post;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Where I was looking a long hour, before these folke came here;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But, wel away! all was in vain, my neele is never the near!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” says Hazlitt, “is a +regular comedy, in five acts, built on the circumstance +of an old woman having lost her needle +which throws the whole village into confusion, till it +is at last providentially found sticking in an unlucky +part of Hodge’s dress. This must evidently +have happened at a time when the manufactures of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>260]</a></span> +Sheffield and Birmingham had not reached the +height of perfection which they have at present +done. Suppose that there is only one sewing needle +in a village, that the owner, a diligent notable old +dame, loses it, that a mischief-making wag sets it +about that another old woman has stolen this valuable +instrument of household industry, that strict +search is made every where in-doors for it in vain, +and that then the incensed parties sally forth to +scold it out in the open air, till words end in blows, +and the affair is referred over to the higher authorities, +and we shall have an exact idea (though, +perhaps, not so lively a one) of what passes in this +authentic document between Gammer Gurton and +her gossip Dame Chat; Dickon the Bedlam (the +causer of these harms); Hodge, Gammer Gurton’s +servant; Tyb, her maid; Cocke, her ’prentice boy; +Doll Scapethrift; Master Baillie, his master; Dr. +Rat, the curate; and Gib, the cat, who may fairly +be reckoned one of the <i>dramatis personæ</i>, and performs +no mean part.”</p> + +<p>From the needle itself the transition is easy to +the needlework which was in vogue at the time when +this little implement was so valuable and rare a +commodity. We are told that the various kinds of +needlework practised at this time would, if enumerated, +astonish even the most industrious of our +modern ladies. The lover of Shakspeare will remember +that the term <em>point device</em> is often used by +him, and that, indeed, it is a term frequently met +with in the writers of that age with various applications; +and it is originally derived, according to +Mr. Douce, from the fine stitchery of the ladies.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>261]</a></span> +It has been properly stated, that <em>point device</em> signifies +<em>exact</em>, <em>nicely</em>, <em>finical</em>; but nothing has been +offered concerning the etymology, except that we +got the expression from the French. It has, in +fact, been supplied from the labours of the needle. +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Poinct</i>, in the French language, denotes a <em>stitch</em>; +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">devise</i> any thing <em>invented</em>, disposed, or <em>arranged</em>. +<em>Point devise</em> was, therefore, a particular sort of patterned +lace worked with the needle; and the term +<em>point lace</em> is still familiar to every female. They +had likewise their <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">point-coupé</em>, <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">point-compté</em>, <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">dentelle +au point devant l’aiguille</em>, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>But it is apparent, he adds, that the expression +<em>point devise</em> became applicable, in a <em>secondary</em> sense, +to whatever was uncommonly exact, or constructed +with the nicety and precision of stitches made or +devised with the needle.</p> + +<p>Various books of patterns of needlework for the +assistance and encouragement of the fair stitchers +were published in those days. Mr. Douce<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> enumerates +some of them, and the omission of any part of +his notation would be unpardonable in the present +work.</p> + +<p>The earliest on the list is an Italian book, under +the title of “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Esemplario di lavori: dove le tenere +fanciulle et altre donne nobile potranno facilmente +imparare il modo et ordine di lavorare, cusire, raccamare, +et finalmente far tutte quelle gentillezze et +lodevili opere, le quali pò fare una donna virtuosa +con laco in mano, con li suoi compasse et misure. +Vinegia, per Nicolo D’Aristotile detto Zoppino, +<small>MDXXIX</small>.</span> 8vo.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>262]</a></span>The next that occurs was likewise set forth by an +Italian, and entitled, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les singuliers et nouveaux +pourtraicts du Seigneur Federic de Vinciolo Venitien, +pour toutes sortes d’ouvrages de lingerie</span>. +Paris, 1588. 4to.” It is dedicated to the Queen of +France, and had been already twice published.</p> + +<p>In 1599 a second part came out, which is much +more difficult to be met with than the former, and +sometimes contains a neat portrait, by Gaultier, of +Catherine de Bourbon, the sister of Henry the +Fourth.</p> + +<p>The next is “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouveaux pourtraicts de point +coupé et dantelles en petite moyenne et grande +forme, nouvellement inventez et mis en lumière. +Imprimé à Montbeliard</span>, 1598. 4to.” It has an address +to the ladies, and a poem exhorting young +damsels to be industrious; but the author’s name +does not appear. Vincentio’s work was published +in England, and printed by John Wolfe, under the +title of “New and Singular Patternes and Workes +of Linnen, serving for paternes to make all sortes of +lace, edginges, and cutworkes. Newly invented for +the profite and contentment of ladies, gentilwomen, +and others that are desireous of this Art. 1591. 4to.” +He seems also to have printed it with a French +title.</p> + +<p>We have then another English book, of which +this is the title: “Here foloweth certaine Patternes +of Cutworkes; newly invented and never published +before. Also, sundry sortes of spots, as flowers, +birdes, and fishes, &c., and will fitly serve to be +wrought, some with gould, some with silke, and +some with crewell in coullers; or otherwise at your +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>263]</a></span> +pleasure. And never but once published before. +Printed by Rich. Shorleyker.” No date. In oblong +quarto.</p> + +<p>And lastly, another oblong quarto, entitled, “The +Needle’s Excellency, a new booke, wherein are divers +admirable workes wrought with the needle. +Newly invented and cut in copper for the pleasure +and profit of the industrious.” Printed for James +Boler, &c., 1640. Beneath this title is a neat engraving +of three ladies in a flower garden, under +the names of Wisdom, Industrie, and Follie. Prefixed +to the patterns are sundry poems in commendation +of the needle, and describing the characters +of ladies who have been eminent for their skill in +needlework, among whom are Queen Elizabeth and +the Countess of Pembroke. The poems were composed +by John Taylor the water poet. It appears +that the work had gone through twelve impressions, +and yet a copy is now scarcely to be met with. This +may be accounted for by supposing that such books +were generally cut to pieces, and used by women to +work upon or transfer to their samplers. From the +dress of a lady and gentleman on one of the patterns +in the last mentioned book, it appears to have +been originally published in the reign of James the +First. All the others are embellished with a multitude +of patterns elegantly cut in wood, several of which are +eminently conspicuous for their taste and beauty.</p> + +<p>We are happy to add a little further information +on some of these works, and on others preserved in +the British Museum.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les singuliers et nouveaux Pourtraicts du Seigneur +Federic de Vinciolo Venitien, pour toutes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>264]</a></span> +sortes d’ouvrages de Lingerie. Dédié à la Reyne. +A Paris</span>, 1578.”<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>The book opens with a sonnet to the fair, which +announces to them an admirable motive for the +work itself:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pour tromper vos ennuis, et l’esprit employer.</span>”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aux Dames et Damoyselles.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7 smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sonnet.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">“L’un s’efforce à gaigner le cœur des <ins class="contr" title="grands">grãds</ins> Seigneurs<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pour posseder en fin une exquise richesse;<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’autre aspire aux estats, pour monter en altesse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Et l’autre, par la guerre alléche les honneurs.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">“Quand à moy, seulement pour chasser mes langueurs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je me sen satisfaict de vivre en petitesse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Et de faire si bien, qu’aux Dames ie delaisse<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Un grand contentement en mes graves labeurs.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">“Prenez doncques en gré (mes Dames) ie vous prie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ces pourtrais ouvragez lesquels ie vous dedie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pour tromper vos ennuis, et l’esprit employer.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">“En ceste nouveauté, pourrez beaucoup apprendre,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Et maistresses en fin en cest œuvre vous rendre,<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le travail est plaisant: Si grand est le loyer.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Which, barring elegant diction and poetic rule, +may be read thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whilst one man worships lordly state<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As yielding all that he desires—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This, fertile acres begs from fate;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Another, bloody laurels fires.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To dissipate my devils blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trifles, I’m satisfied to do;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For surely if the fair I please,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My very labours smack of ease.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>265]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Take then, fair ladies, I you pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The book which at your feet I lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To make you happy, brisk and gay.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There’s much you here may learn anew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">comme il faut</i> will render you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bring you joy and honour too.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Proceed we to the—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ouvrages de point Coupé</span>,” of which there are +thirty-six. Some birds, animals, and figures are +introduced; but the patterns are chiefly arabesque, +set off in white, on a thick black ground.</p> + +<p>Then, with a repetition of the ornamented title-page, +come about fifty patterns, which are represented +much like the German patterns of the present +day, in squares for stitches, but not so finely wrought +as some which we shall presently notice. These +patterns consist of arabesques, figures, birds, beasts, +flowers, in every variety. To many the stitches are +ready counted (as well as pourtrayed), thus:—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce Pélican contient en longueur 70 mailles, et +en hauteur 65.</span>” This pattern of maternity is represented +as pecking her breast, towards which three +young ones are flying; their course being indicated +by the three lines of white stitches, all converging +to the living nest.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce Griffon <ins class="contr" title="contient">cõtient</ins> en hauteur 58 mailles, et en +<ins class="contr" title="longueur">lõgueur</ins> 67.</span>” Small must be the skill of the needlewoman +who does not make this a very rampant +animal indeed.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce Paon contient en longueur 65 mailles, et en +hauteur 61.</span>”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Licorne en hauteur <ins class="contr" title="contient">cõtiẽt</ins> 44 mailles, et en +longueur 62</span>, &c. &c.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>266]</a></span> +“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La bordure contient 25 mailles.</span>”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La bordure de haut <ins class="contr" title="contient">cõtiẽt</ins> 35 mailles.</span>” This is +a very handsome one, resembling pine apples.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce quarré contient 65 mailles.</span>” There are several +of these squares, and borders appended, of +very rich patterns.</p> + +<p>But the book contains far more ambitious designs. +There are Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, +Saturn, Neptune, and others, whose dignities and +vocation must be inferred from the emblematical +accompaniments.</p> + +<p>There is “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Déesse des fleurs représentant le +printemps</span>.”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Déesse des Bleds representant l’esté.</span>”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce Bacchus representant l’Autonne.</span>”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ceste figure representant l’hiver</span>,” &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Appended is this “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Extraict du Privilege</span>.”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Per grace et privelege du Roy, est permis a Jean +le Clerc le jeune, tailleur d’histoires à Paris, d’imprimer +ou faire imprimer <ins class="contr" title="vendre">vẽdre</ins> et distribuer un livre +intitulé livre de patrons de Lingerie, <span class="smcap">Dedie a la +Royne</span>, nouvellement inventé par le Seigneur Federic +de Vinciolo Venitien, avec deffences à tous +Libraires, Imprimeurs, ou autres, de quelque condition +et qualité quilz soyent, de faire ny contrefaire, +aptisser ny <ins class="contr" title="agrandir">agrãdir</ins>, ou pocher lesdits figures, ny +exposer en vente ledict Livre sans le <ins class="contr" title="congé">cõgé</ins> ou permission +dudict le Clerc, et ce jusques au temps et +terme de neuf ans finis et accomplis, sur peine de +confiscation de tous les livres qui se trouveront imprimez, +et damande arbitraire: comme plus a plein +est declaré en lettres patentes, données à Paris ce +douziesme jour de Novembre, 1587.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>267]</a></span> +Another work, preserved in the British Museum, +was published at Strasbourg, 1596, seemingly from +designs of the same Vinciolo. These consist of +about six-and-thirty plates, with patterns in white +on a black ground, consisting of a few birds and +figures, but chiefly of stars and wreaths pricked out +in every possible variety; and at the end of the +book a dozen richly wrought patterns, without any +edging, were seemingly designed for what we should +now call “insertion” work or lace.</p> + +<p>There is another, by the same author, printed at +Basil in 1599, which varies but slightly from the +foregoing.</p> + +<p>This Frederick de Vinciolo is doubtless the same +person who was summoned to France, by Catherine +de Medicis, to instruct the ladies of the court in the +art of netting the lace of which the then fashionable +ruffs were made.</p> + +<p>In another volume we have—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Corona delle Nobili et virtuose Donne, nel +quale si dimostra in varij Dissegni tutte le sorti di +Mostre di punti tagliati, punti in Aria, punti Fiamenghi, +punti à Reticelle, e d’ogni altre sorte, cosi +per Freggi, per Merli, e Rosette, che con l’Aco si +usano hoggidì per tutta l’Europa.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">E molte delle quali Mostre possono servire ancora +per opere a Mazzette.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Con le dichiarationi a le Mostre a Lavori fatti +da Lugretia Romana.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">In Venetia appresso Alessandro di Vecchi, 1620.</span>”</p> + +<p>The plates here are very similar to those in the +above-mentioned works. Some are accompanied by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>268]</a></span> +short explanations, saying where they are most used +and to whom they are best suited, as—</p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Hopera Bellissima, che per il più le Signore +Duchese, et altre Signore si servono per li suoi +lavori.</span>”</p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Queste bellissime Rosette usano anco le gentildonne +Venetiane da far traverse.</span>”</p> + +<p>But certainly the best work of the kind is, “The +Needle’s Excellency,” referred to in Mr. Douce’s +list. It contains a variety of plates, of which the +patterns are all, or nearly all, arabesque. They are +beautifully executed, many of them being very similar +to, and equally fine with, the German patterns +before the colouring is put on, which, though it +guides the eye, defaces the work. These are seldom +seen uncoloured, the Germans having a jealousy of +sending them; but we have seen, through the polite +attention of Mr. Wilks, of Regent Street, one or two +in this state, and we could not but admire the extreme +delicacy and beauty of the work. Some few +of the patterns in the book we are now referring to +are so extremely similar, that we doubt not the modern +artists have borrowed the <em>idea</em> of their beautifully +traced patterns from this or some similar work; +thereby adding one more proof of the truth of the +oft quoted proverb, “There is nothing new under +the sun.”</p> + +<p>As a fitting close to this chapter, we give the +Needle’s praises in full, as sung by the water poet, +John Taylor, and prefixed to the last-mentioned +work.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>269]</a></span> +<span class="i3 smcap">The Praise of the Needle.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“To all dispersed sorts of arts and trades,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I write the needles prayse (that never fades)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as children shall be got or borne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as garments shall be made or worne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as hemp or flax, or sheep shall bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their linnen wollen fleeces yeare by yeare:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as silkwormes, with exhausted spoile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of their own entrailes for man’s gaine shall toyle:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea till the world be quite dissolv’d and past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long at least, the needles use shall last:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And though from earth his being did begin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet through the fire he did his honour win:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And unto those that doe his service lacke,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He’s true as steele and mettle to the backe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He hath indeed, I see, small single sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet like a pigmy, <em>Polipheme</em> in fight:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As a stout captaine, bravely he leades on,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Not fearing colours) till the worke be done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through thicke and thinne he is most sharpely set,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With speed through stitch, he will the conquest get.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as a souldier (Frenchefyde with heat)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Maim’d from the warres is forc’d to make retreat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So when a needles point is broke, and gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><em>No point Mounsieur</em>, he’s maim’d, his worke is done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And more the needles honour to advance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a tailor’s javelin, or his lance;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for my countries quiet, I should like,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That women kinde should use no other pike.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It will increase their peace, enlarge their store,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To use their tongues lesse, and their needles more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The needles sharpnesse, profit yields, and pleasure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sharpnesse of the tongue, bites out of measure.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A needle (though it be but small and slender)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet it is both a maker and a mender:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A grave Reformer of old rents decay’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stops holes and seames and desperate cuts display’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus without the needle we may see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We should without our bibs and biggins bee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No shirts or smockes, our nakednesse to hide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No garments gay, to make us magnifide:<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>270]</a></span> +<span class="i0">No shadowes, shapparoones, caules, bands, ruffs, kuffs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No kerchiefes, quoyfes, chinclouts, or marry-muffes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No croscloaths, aprons, handkerchiefes, or falls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No table-cloathes, for parlours or for halls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No sheetes, no towels, napkins, pillow beares,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor any garment man or woman weares.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus is a needle prov’d an instrument<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of profit, pleasure, and of ornament.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which mighty queenes have grac’d in hand to take,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And high borne ladies such esteeme did make,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That as their daughters daughters up did grow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The needles art, they to the children show.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as ’twas then an exercise of praise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So what deserves more honour in these dayes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than this? which daily doth itselfe expresse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mortall enemy to idlenesse.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The use of sewing is exceeding old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As in the sacred text it is enrold:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our parents first in Paradise began,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who hath descended since from man to man:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mothers taught their daughters, sires their sons<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus in a line successively it runs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For generall profit, and for recreation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From generation unto generation.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With work like cherubims embroidered rare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The covers of the tabernacle were.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by the Almighti’s great command, we see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Aaron’s garments broidered worke should be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And further, God did bid his vestments should<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be made most gay, and glorious to behold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus plainly and most truly is declar’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The needles worke hath still bin in regard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For it doth art, so like to nature frame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if it were her sister, or the same.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flowers, plants and fishes, beasts, birds, flyes, and bees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hills, dales, plaines, pastures, skies, seas, rivers, trees;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There’s nothing neere at hand, or farthest sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But with the needle may be shap’d and wrought.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In clothes of arras I have often seene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Men’s figur’d counterfeits so like have beene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That if the parties selfe had been in place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet art would vie with nature for the grace;<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>271]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Moreover, posies rare, and anagrams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Signifique searching sentences from names,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">True history, or various pleasant fiction,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sundry colours mixt, with arts commixion,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All in dimension, ovals, squares, and rounds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arts life included within natures bounds:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that art seemeth merely naturall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In forming shapes so geometricall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And though our country everywhere is fild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With ladies, and with gentlewomen, skild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In this rare art, yet here they may discerne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some things to teach them if they list to learne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as this booke some cunning workes doth teach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Too hard for meane capacities to reach)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So for weake learners, other workes here be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As plaine and easie as are A B C.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus skilful, or unskilful, each may take<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This booke, and of it each good use may make,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All sortes of workes, almost that can be nam’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here are directions how they may be fram’d:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for this kingdomes good are hither come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the remotest parts of Christendome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Collected with much paines and industrie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From scorching <em>Spaine</em> and freezing <em>Muscovie</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From fertill <em>France</em>, and pleasant <em>Italy</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From <em>Poland</em>, <em>Sweden</em>, <em>Denmark</em>, <em>Germany</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And some of these rare patternes have beene fet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond the bounds of faithlesse <em>Mahomet</em>:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From spacious <em>China</em>, and those kingdomes East,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from great <em>Mexico</em>, the Indies West.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus are these workes, <em>farrefetcht</em> and <em>dearely bought</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And consequently <em>good for ladies thought</em>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor doe I derogate (in any case)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or doe esteeme of other teachings base,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For <em>tent worke</em>, <em>rais’d worke</em>, <em>laid worke</em>, <em>frost works</em>, <em>net worke</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Most curious <em>purles</em>, or rare <em>Italian cut worke</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fine, <em>ferne stitch</em>, <em>finny stitch</em>, <em>new stitch</em>, and <em>chain stitch</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brave <em>bred stitch</em>, <em>Fisher stitch</em>, <em>Irish stitch</em>, and <em>Queen stitch</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The <em>Spanish stitch</em>, <em>Rosemary stitch</em>, and <em>Mowse stitch</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The smarting <em>whip stitch</em>, <em>back stitch</em>, and the <em>crosse stitch</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All these are good, and these we must allow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And these are everywhere in practise now:<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>272]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And in this booke there are of these some store,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With many others, never seene before.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here practise and invention may be free.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as a squirrel skips from tree to tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So maids may (from their mistresse or their mother)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Learne to leave one worke, and to learne another,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For here they may make choice of which is which,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And skip from worke to worke, from stitch to stitch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Until, in time, delightful practise shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(With profit) make them perfect in them all.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus hoping that these workes may have this guide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To serve for ornament, and not for pride:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To cherish vertue, banish idlenesse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For these ends, may this booke have good successe.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> +It is worth while to remark the circumstance, that by a machine +of the simplest construction, being nothing in fact but a tray, 20,000 +needles thrown promiscuously together, mixed and entangled in every +way, are laid parallel, heads to heads, and points to points, in the +course of three or four minutes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> +Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 92.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> +This seems to be a somewhat earlier edition of the second book +in Mr. Douce’s list.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>273]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">TAPESTRY FROM THE CARTOONS.</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">“For, round about, the walls yclothed were<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With goodly Arras of great majesty,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Woven with gold and silk so close and nere,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That the rich metal lurked privily,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As faining to be hidd from envious eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Yet here, and there, and every where unwares<br /></span> +<span class="i1">It shew’d itselfe and shone unwillingly;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Like to a discolour’d Snake, whose hidden snares<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the greene gras his long bright burnisht back declares.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Raphael, whose name is familiar to all “as a household +word,” seems to have been equally celebrated +for a handsome person, an engaging address, an +amiable disposition, and high talents. Language +exhausts itself in his eulogy.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> But the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>274]</a></span> +extravagant encomiums of Lanzi and others must +be taken in a very modified sense, ere we arrive at +the rigid truth. The tone of morals in Italy “did +not correspond with evangelical purity;” and Raphael’s +follies were not merely permitted, but encouraged +and fostered by those who sought eagerly +for the creations of his pencil. His thousand engaging +qualities were disfigured by a licentiousness +which probably shortened his career, for he died at +the early age of thirty-seven.</p> + +<p>Great and sincere was the grief expressed at +Rome for his untimely death, and no testimony of +sorrow could be more affecting, more simple, or +more highly honourable to its object than the +placing his picture of the Transfiguration over his +mortal remains in the chamber wherein he died.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>275]</a></span> +It was probably within two years of the close of +his short life when he was engaged by Pope Leo the +Tenth to paint those cartoons which have more than +all his works immortalised his name, and which +render the brief hints we have given respecting him +peculiarly appropriate to this work.</p> + +<p>The cartoons were designs, from Scripture chiefly, +from which were to be woven hangings to ornament +the apartments of the Vatican; and their dimensions +being of course proportioned to the spaces they +were designed to fill, the tapestries, though equal in +height, differed extremely in breadth.</p> + +<p>The designs were,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>1. The Nativity.</p> + +<p class="negmargin">2. The Adoration of the Magi.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Numbers 3, 4 and 5 bracketed with the same title"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl" rowspan="4" style="font-size: 500%;">}</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">3.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">4.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Slaughter of the Innocents.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">5.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>6. The Presentation in the Temple.</p> + +<p>7. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes.</p> + +<p>8. St. Peter receiving the Keys.</p> + +<p>9. The Descent of Christ into Limbus.</p> + +<p>10. The Resurrection.</p> + +<p>11. Noli me tangere.</p> + +<p>12. Christ at Emmaus.</p> + +<p>13. The Ascension.</p> + +<p>14. The Descent of the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<p>15. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen.</p> + +<p>16. The Conversion of St. Paul.</p> + +<p>17. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra.</p> + +<p>18. Paul Preaching.</p> + +<p>19. Death of Ananias.</p> + +<p>20. Elymas the Sorcerer.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>276]</a></span> +21. An earthquake; showing the delivery of Paul +and Silas from prison: named from the +earthquake which shook the foundations of +the building. The artist endeavours to +render it ideally visible to the spectator by +placing a gigantic figure, which appears to +be raising the superincumbent weight on +his shoulders; but the result is not altogether +successful.</p> + +<p>22. St. Peter healing the cripple.</p> + +<p>23-24. Contain emblems alluding to Leo the +Tenth. These are preserved in one of +the private apartments of the Vatican +palace.</p> + +<p>25. Justice. In this subject the figures of Religion, +Charity, and Justice are seen above +the papal armorial bearings. The last +figure gives name to the whole.</p> +</div> + +<p>When the cartoons were finished they were sent +into Flanders to be woven (at the famous manufactory +at Arras) under the superintendence of Barnard +Van Orlay of Brussels, and Michael Coxis, artists +who had been for some years pupils of Raphael at +Rome. Two sets were executed with the utmost +care and cost, but the death of Raphael, the murder +of the Pope, and subsequent intestine troubles seem +to have delayed their appropriation. They cost +seventy thousand crowns, a sum which is said to +have been defrayed by Francis the First of France, +in consideration of Leo’s having canonised St. +Francis of Paola, the founder of the Minims.</p> + +<p>Adrian the Second was a man “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">alienissimo +da ogni bell’arte;</span>” an indifference which may +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>277]</a></span> +account for the cartoons not being sent with the +tapestries to Rome, though some accounts say that +the debt for their manufacture remained unliquidated, +and that the paintings were kept in Flanders +as security for it. They were carried away by the +Spanish army in 1526-7 during the sack of Rome, +but were restored by the zeal and spirit of Montmorenci +the French general, as set forth in the +woven borders of the tapestries Nos. 6 and 9. Pope +Paul the Fourth (1555) first introduced them to the +gaze of the public by exhibiting them before the +Basilica of St. Peter on the festival of Corpus Domini, +and also at the solemn “function of Beatification.” +This use of them was continued through +part of the last century, and is now resumed.</p> + +<p>In 1798 they were taken by the French from +Rome and sold to a Jew at Leghorn, and one of +them was burnt by him in order to extract the gold +with which they were richly interwoven; but happily +they did not furnish so much spoil as the speculator +hoped, and this devastation was arrested. The one +that was destroyed represented Christ’s Descent into +Limbus; the rest were repurchased for one thousand +three hundred crowns, and restored to the +Vatican in 1814.</p> + +<p>We have alluded to two sets of these tapestries, +and it is believed that there were two; whether +<em>exactly</em> counterparts has not been ascertained. We +have traced the migrations of one set. The other +was, according to some authorities, presented by +Pope Leo the Tenth to our Henry the Eighth; +whilst others say that our king purchased it from +the state of Venice. It was hung in the Banqueting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>278]</a></span> +House of Whitehall, and after the unhappy execution +of Charles the First, was put up, amongst other +royal properties, to sale. Being purchased by the +Spanish ambassador, it became the property of the +house of Alva, and within a few years back was sold +by the head of that illustrious house to Mr. Tupper, +our consul in Spain, and by him sent back to this +country.</p> + +<p>These tapestries were then exhibited for some +time in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and were +afterwards repurchased by a foreigner. Probably +they have been making a “progress” throughout +the kingdom, as within this twelvemonth we had +the satisfaction of viewing them at the principal +town in a northern county. The motto of our chapter +might have been written expressly for these tapestries, +so exquisitely accurate is the description as +applied to them of the gold thread:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“As here and there, and every where unwares<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It shew’d itselfe and shone unwillingly;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like to a discolour’d snake, whose hidden snares<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the greene gras his long bright burnisht back declares.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The cartoons themselves, the beautiful originals +of these magnificent works, remained in the Netherlands, +and were all, save seven, lost and destroyed +through the ravages of time, and chance, and revolution. +These seven, much injured by neglect, and +almost pounced into holes by the weaver tracing his +outlines, were purchased by King Charles the First, +and are now justly considered a most valuable possession. +It is supposed that the chief object of +Charles in the purchase was to supply the then +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>279]</a></span> +existing tapestry manufactory at Mortlake with +superior designs for imitation. Five of them were +<em>certainly</em> woven there, and it is far from improbable +that the remaining ones were also.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>There was also a project for weaving them by a +person of the name of James Christopher Le Blon, +and houses were built and looms erected at Chelsea +expressly for that purpose, but the design failed.</p> + +<p>The “British Critic,” for January, this year, has +the following spirited remarks with regard to the +present situation of the cartoons. “The cartoons +of Raffaelle are very unfairly seen in their present +locale; a long gallery built for the purpose by William +the Third, but in which the light enters through +common chamber windows, and therefore is so much +below the cartoons as to leave the greater part of +them in shade. We venture to say there is no +country in Europe in which such works as these—unique, +and in their class invaluable—would be +treated with so little honour. It has been decided +by competent opinions, that their removal to London +would be attended with great risk to their preservation, +from the soot, damp, accumulation of dust, +and other inconveniences, natural or incident to a +crowded city. This, however, is no fair reason for +their being shut up in their present ill-assorted +apartment. There is not a petty state in Germany +that would not erect a gallery on purpose for them; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>280]</a></span> +and a few thousand pounds would be well bestowed +in providing a fitting receptacle for some of the +finest productions of human genius in art; and of the +full value of which we <em>alone</em>, their possessors, seem +to be comparatively insensible. Various portions +of cartoons by Raffaelle, part of the same series or +set, exist in England; and it is far from unlikely +that, were there a proper place to preserve and exhibit +the whole in, these would in time, by presentation +or purchase, become the property of the country, +and we should then possess a monument of the +greatest master of his art, only inferior to that +which he has left on the walls of the Vatican.”</p> + +<p>Of all these varied and beautiful paintings, that of +the Adoration of the Magi, from the variety of character +and expression, the splendor and oriental +pomp of the whole, the multitude of persons, between +forty and fifty, the various accessaries, elephants, +horses, &c., with the variety of splendid and ornamental +illustrations, and the exquisite grouping, is +considered as the most attractive and brilliant in +tapestry. As a piece of general and varied interest +it may be so; but we well remember being, not so +suddenly struck, as attracted and fascinated by the +figure of the Christ when, after his resurrection, he +is recommending the care of his flock to St. Peter. +The colours have faded gradually and equably—(an +advantage not possessed by the others, where some +tints which have stood the ravages of time better +than those around them, are in places strikingly and +painfully discordant)—but in this figure the colours, +though greatly faded, have yet faded so harmoniously +as to add very much to the illusion, giving +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>281]</a></span> +to the figure really the appearance of one risen from +the dead. The outline is majestic; turn which way +we would, we involuntarily returned to look again. +At length we mentioned our admiration to the +superintendent, and the reply of the enthusiastic +foreigner precluded all further remark—for nothing +further could be said:—</p> + +<p>“Madam, I should have been astonished if you +had not admired that figure: <em>it is itself</em>; it is precisely +<em>the finest thing in the world</em>.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> +For example:—“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Egli avea tenuto sempre un contegno da guadagnarsi +il cuore di tutto. Rispettoso verso il maestro, ottenne dal +Papa che le sue pitture in una volta delle camere Vaticane rimanessero +intatte; giusto verso i suoi emuli ringraziava Dio d’averlo fatto +nascere a’ tempi del Bonarruoti; grazioso verso i discepoli gl’istruì +e gli amò come figli; cortese anche verso gl’ignoti, a chiunque +ricorse a lui per consiglio prestò liberalmente l’opera sua, e per far +disegni ad altrui o dar gl’indirizzo lasciò indietro talvolta i lavori +propri, non sapendo non pure di negar grazia, ma differirla.</span>”—Lanzi, +vol. ii.</p> + +<p>Consequently when his body before interment lay in the room in +which he was accustomed to paint, “<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Non v’ebbe sì duro artefice che +a quello spettacolo non lagrimasse.”—“Ne pianse il Papa.</span>”</p> + +<p>Of his works:—“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Le sue figure veramente amano, languiscono, temono, +sperano, ardiscono; mostrano ira, placabilità, umiltà, orgoglio, +come mette bene alla storia: spesso chi mira que’ volti, que’ guardi, +quelle mosse, non si ricorda che ha innanzi una immagine; si sente +accendere, prende partito, crede di trovarsi in sul fatto.—Tutto parla +nel silenzio; ogni attore, <em>Il cor negli occhi e nella fronte ha scritto</em>; i +piccioli movimenti degli occhi, degli narici, della bocca, delle dita +corrispondono a’ primi moti d’ogni passione; i gesti più animati e +più vivi ne descrivono la violenza; e ciò ch’è più, essi variano in +cento modi senza uscir mai del naturale, e si attemperano a cento caratteri +senza uscir mai dalla proprietà. L’eroe ha movimenti da eroe, +il volgar da volgare; e quel che non descriverebbe lingua nè penna, +descrive in pochissimi tratti l’ingegno e l’arte di Raffaello.</span>”—p. 65.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Il paese, gli elementi, gli animali, le fabbriche, le manifatture, +ogni età dell’uomo, ogni condizione, ogni affetto, tutte comprese con +la divinità del suo ingegno, tutto ridusse più bello.</span>”—p. 71.</p> + +<p>I have thought this long extract pardonable as applied to one +whose finest designs are now, through so many channels, rendered familiar +to us.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> +In a priced catalogue of His Majesty’s collection of “Limnings,” +edited by Vertue, is the following entry. “Item, in a slit box-wooden +case, some <small>TWO CARTOONS</small> of Raphael Urbinus for hangings to be +made by, and <em>the other <small>FIVE</small> are by the King’s appointment delivered +to Mr. Francis Cleen at Mortlake, to make hangings by</em>.”—<span class="smcap">Cartonensia.</span></p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>282]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">THE DAYS OF “GOOD QUEEN BESS.”</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A worthie woman judge, a woman sent for staie.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When Fame resounds with thundring trump, which rends the ratling skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pierceth to the hautie Heavens, and thence descending flies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through flickering ayre: and so conjoines the sea and shore togither,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In admiration of thy grace, good Queene, thou’rt welcome hither.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet"><i>The Receyving of the Queene’s Maiestie into hir Citie of Norwich.</i><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapblock"> +<p>“We may justly wonder what has become of the industry of the +English ladies; we hear no more of their rich embroiderings, and +curious needlework. Is all the domestic simplicity of the former +ages entirely vanished?”—<span class="smcap">Aikin.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p>The age of Elizabeth presents a never-failing field +of variety through which people of all tastes may +delightedly rove, gathering flowers at will. The +learned statesman, the acute politician, the subtle +lawyer, will find in the measures of her Burleigh, +her Walsingham, her Cecil, abundant food for approbation +or for censure; the heroic sailor will glory +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>283]</a></span> +over the achievements of her time; the adventurous +traveller will explore the Eldoradic regions with +Raleigh, or plough the waves with Drake and Frobisher; +the soldier will recal glorious visions of +Essex and Sidney, while poesy wreathes a bay +round the memory of the last, which shines freshly +and bright even in the age which produced a Ben +Jonson, and him “who was born with a star on his +forehead to last through all time”—Shakspeare.</p> + +<p>The age of Elizabeth was especially a learned +age. The study of the dead languages had hitherto +been confined almost exclusively to ecclesiastics and +scholars by profession, but from the time of Henry +the Seventh it had been gradually spreading +amongst the higher classes. The great and good +Sir Thomas More gave his daughters a learned +education, and they did honour to it; Henry the +Eighth followed his example; Lady Jane Grey +made learning lovely; and Elizabeth’s pedantry +brought the habit into full fashion.</p> + +<p>If a queen were to talk Sanscrit, her court would +endeavour to do so likewise. The example of +learned studies was given by the queen herself, who +translated from the Greek a play of Euripides, and +parts of Isocrates, Xenophon, and Plutarch; from +the Latin considerable portions of Cicero, Seneca, +Sallust, Horace, &c. She wrote many Latin letters, +and is said to have spoken five languages with +facility. As a natural consequence the nobility and +gentry, their wives and daughters, became enthusiasts +in the cause of letters. The novelty which +attended these studies, the eager desire to possess +what had been so long studiously and jealously +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>284]</a></span> +concealed, and the curiosity to explore and rifle the +treasures of the Greek and Roman world, which +mystery and imagination had swelled into the marvellous, +contributed to excite an absolute passion +for study and for books. The court, the ducal +castle, and the baronial hall were suddenly converted +into academies, and could boast of splendid +tapestries. In the first of these, according to +Ascham, might be seen the queen reading “more +Greeke every day than some prebendarie of this +church doth read <em>Latin</em> in a whole week;” and while +she was translating Isocrates or Seneca, it may be +easily conceived that her maids of honour found it +convenient to praise and to adopt the disposition of +her time. In the second, observes Warton, “the +daughter of a duchess was taught not only to distil +strong waters, but to construe Greek; and in the +third, every young lady who aspired to be fashionable +was compelled, in imitation of the greater +world, to exhibit similar marks of erudition.”</p> + +<p>A contemporary writer says, that some of the +ladies of the court employ themselves “in continuall +reading either of the holie Scriptures, or histories +of our owne or forren nations about us, and diverse +in writing volumes of their owne, or translating of +other mens into our English and Latine toongs. I +might here (he adds) make a large discourse of such +honorable and grave councellors, and noble personages, +as give their dailie attendance upon the +queene’s majestie. I could in like sort set foorth a +singular commendation of the vertuous beautie, or +beautiful vertues of such ladies and gentlewomen +as wait upon his person, betweene whose amiable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>285]</a></span> +countenances and costlinesse of attire there seemeth +to be such a dailie conflict and contention, as that it +is verie difficult for me to gesse whether of the twaine +shall beare awaie the preheminence. This further +is not to be omitted, to the singular commendation +of both sorts and sexes of our courtiers here in England, +that there are verie few of them which have +not the use and skill of sundrie speaches, beside an +excellent veine of writing before-time not regarded. +Would to God the rest of their lives and conversations +were correspondent to these gifts! for as our +common courtiers (for the most part) are the best +lerned and endued with excellent gifts, so are manie +of them the worst men when they come abroad, that +anie man shall either heare or read of. Trulie it is +a rare thing with us now to heare of a courtier which +hath but his owne language. And to saie how +many gentlewomen and ladies there are, that beside +sound knowledge of the Greeke and Latine toongs, +are thereto no lesse skilful in the Spanish, Italian, +and French, or in some one of them, it resteth not +in me. Sith I am persuaded, that as the noblemen +and gentlemen doo surmount in this behalfe, so +these come verie little or nothing at all behind them +for their parts, which industrie God continue, and +accomplish that which otherwise is wanting!”<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + +<p>At this time the practice (derived from the chivalrous +ages, when every baronial castle was the +resort of young persons of gentle birth, of both +sexes) was by no means discontinued of placing +young women, of gentle birth, in the establishment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>286]</a></span> +of ladies of rank, where, without performing any +menial offices, they might be supposed to have their +own understood duties in the household, and had in +return the advantage of a liberal education, and +constant association with the best company. Persons +of rank and fortune often retained in their +service many young people of both sexes of good +birth, and bestowed on them the fashionable education +of the time. Indeed their houses were the +best, if not then the only schools of elegant learning. +The following letter, written in 1595, is from a +young lady thus situated:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">“To my good mother Mrs. Pake, at Broumfield, +deliver this.</p> + +<p class="smcap">“Deare Mother,</p> + +<p>“My humble dutye remembred unto my +father and you, &c. I received upon Weddensday +last a letter from my father and you, whereby, I +understand, it is your pleasures that I should certifie +you what times I do take for my lute, and the rest +of my exercises. I doe for the most part playe of +my lute after supper, for then commonlie my lady +heareth me; and in the morninges, after I am +reddie, I play an hower; and my wrightinge and +siferinge, after I have done my lute. For my drawinge +I take an hower in the afternowne, and my +French at night before supper. My lady hath not +bene well these tooe or three dayes: she telleth me, +when she is well, that she will see if Hilliard will +come and teche me; if she can by any means she +will, &c. &c.—As touchinge my newe corse in service, +I hope I shall performe my dutye to my lady +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>287]</a></span> +with all care and regard to please her, and to behave +myselfe to everye one else as it shall become me. +Mr. Harrisone was with me upone Fridaye; he heard +me playe, and brought me a dusson of trebles; I +had some of him when I came to London. Thus +desiring pardone for my rude writinge, I leave you +to the Almightie, desiringe him to increase in you +all health and happines.</p> + +<p class="sig">“Your obedient daughter,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Rebecca Pake</span>.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Could any thing afford a stronger contrast to the +grave and certainly severe study to which Elizabeth +had habituated herself, than the vain and fantastic +puerility of many of her recreations and habits,—the +unintellectual brutality of the bearbaits which she +admired, or the gaudy and glittering pageants in +which she delighted? She built a gallery at Whitehall +at immense expense, and so superficially, that it +was in ruins in her successor’s time; but it was +raised, in order to afford a magnificent reception to +the ambassadors who, in 1581, came to treat of an +alliance with the Duke of Anjou. It was framed of +timber, covered with painted canvas, and decorated +with the utmost gaudiness. Pendants of fruit of +various kinds (amongst which cucumbers and even +carrots are enumerated) were hung from festoons +of flowers intermixed with evergreens, and the whole +was powdered with gold spangles; the ceiling was +painted like a sky with stars, sunbeams, and clouds, +intermixed with scutcheons of the royal arms; and +glass lustres and ornaments were scattered all +around. Here were enacted masques and pageants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>288]</a></span> +chiefly remarkable for their pedantic prolixity of +composition, and the fulsome and gross flattery +towards the queen with which they were throughout +invested.</p> + +<p>Everything, in accordance with the rage of the +day, assumed an erudite, or, more truly speaking, a +pedantic cast. When the queen (says Warton) +paraded through a country town, almost every +pageant was a pantheon. When she paid a visit at +the house of any of her nobility, at entering the hall +she was saluted by the Penates, and conducted to +her privy chamber by Mercury. Even the pastry +cooks were expert mythologists. At dinner, select +transformations of Ovid’s metamorphoses were exhibited +in confectionary; and the splendid iceing of +an immense historic plum-cake was embossed with a +delicious basso-relievo of the destruction of Troy. +In the afternoon, when she condescended to walk in +the garden, the lake was covered with Tritons and +Nereids; the pages of the family were converted +into wood-nymphs, who peeped from every bower; +and the footmen gambolled over the lawns in the +figure of satyrs.</p> + +<p>Scarcely we think could even the effusions of +Euphues—a fashion also of this period—be more +wearisome to the spirit than a repetition of these +dull delights.</p> + +<p>This predilection for learning, and the time perforce +given to its acquisition, must necessarily have +subtracted from those hours which might otherwise +have been bestowed on the lighter labours and +beguiling occupations of the needle. Nor does it +appear that after her accession Elizabeth did much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>289]</a></span> +patronise this gentle art. She was cast in a more +stirring mould. In her father’s court, under her +sister’s jealous eye, within her prison’s solitary walls, +her needle might be a prudent disguise, a solacing +occupation, “woman’s pretty excuse for thought.” +But after her own accession to the throne <em>action</em> was +her characteristic.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless we are not to suppose that, because +needlework was not “a rage,” it was frowned upon +and despised. By no means. It is perhaps fortunate +that Elizabeth did not especially patronise +it; for so dictatorial and absolute was she, that by +virtue of the “right divine” she would have made +her statesmen embroider their own robes, and her +warriors lay aside the sword for the distaff. But +as, happily, it now only held a secondary place in +her esteem, we have Raleigh’s poems instead of his +sampler, and Bacon’s learning instead of his stitchery. +But it was not in her nature to suffer any +thing in which she excelled to lie quite dormant. +She was an accomplished needlewoman; some exquisite +proofs of her skill were then glowing in all +their freshness, and her excellence in this art was +sufficiently obvious to prevent the ladies of her +court from entirely forsaking it. Many books, with +patterns for needlework, were published about this +time, and in a later one Queen Elizabeth is especially +celebrated in a laudatory poem for her skill in it. +That proficiency in ornamental needlework was an +absolute requisite in the accomplishments of a +country belle, may be inferred from the prominent +place it holds in Drayton’s description of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>290]</a></span> +well-educated daughter of a country knight in Elizabeth’s +days:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The silk well couth she twist and twine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make the fine march pine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And with the needlework:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she couth help the priest to say<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His mattins on a holy day,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sing a psalm in kirk.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She wore a frock of frolic green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Might well become a maiden queen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which seemly was to see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hood to that so neat and fine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In colour like the columbine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ywrought full featously.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The march pine or counterpanes here alluded to, +taxed in these days to the fullest extent both the +purse of the rich and the fingers of the fair. Elizabeth +had several most expensively trimmed with +ermine as well as needlework; the finest and richest +embroidery was lavished on them; and it was no +unusual circumstance for the counterpane for the +“standing” or master’s bed to be so lavishly adorned +as to be worth a thousand marks.</p> + +<p>At no time was ornamental needlework more admired, +or in greater request in the every-day concerns +of life, than now. Almost every article of +dress, male and female, was adorned with it. Even +the boots, which at this time had immense tops +turned down and fringed, and which were commonly +made of russet cloth or leather, were worn by some +exquisites of the day of very fine cloth (of which +enough was used to make a shirt), and were embroidered +in gold or silver, or in various-coloured +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>291]</a></span> +silks, in the figures of birds, animals, or antiques; +and the ornamental needlework alone of a pair of +these boots would cost from four to ten pounds. +The making of a single shirt would frequently cost +10<i>l.</i>, so richly were they ornamented with “needleworke +of silke, and so curiously stitched with other +knackes.”</p> + +<p>“Woman’s triflings,” too, their handkerchiefs, +reticules, workbags, &c., were decorated richly. We +have seen within these few days a workbag which +would startle a modern fair one, for, as far as regards +<em>size</em>, it has a most “industrious look,” but which, +despite the ravages of near three centuries, yet gives +token of much original magnificence. It is made of +net, lined with silk; the material, the net itself, (a +sort of honeycomb pattern, like what we called a +few years ago the Grecian lace,) was made by the +fair workwoman in those days, and was a fashionable +occupation both in France and England. This bag +is wrought in broad stripes with gold thread, and +between the stripes various flowers are embroidered +in different coloured silks. The bag stands in a +sort of card-board basket, covered in the same style; +it is drawn with long cords and tassels, and is large +enough perhaps, on emergency, to hold a good sized +baby.</p> + +<p>It is more than probable that female skill was in +request in various matters of household decoration. +The Arras looms, indeed, had long superseded the +painful fingers of notable dames in the construction +of hangings for walls, which were universally +used, intermingled and varied in the palaces and +nobler mansions by “painted cloth,” and cloth of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>292]</a></span> +gold and silver. Thus Shakspeare describes Imogen’s +chamber in Cymbeline:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Her bed-chamber was hanged<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tapestry of silk and silver.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>We have remarked that Henry the Eighth’s +palaces were very splendid; Elizabeth’s were +equally so, and more consistently finished in minor +conveniences, as it is particularly remarked that +“easye quilted and lyned formes and stools for the +lords and ladyes to sit on” had superseded the +“great plank forms, that two yeomen can scant +remove out of their places, and waynscot stooles so +hard, that since great breeches were layd asyde +men can skant indewr to sitt on.” Her two presence +chambers at Hampton Court shone with +tapestry of gold and silver, and silk of various +colours; her bed was covered with costly coverlids +of silk, wrought in various patterns, by the needle; +and she had many “chusions,” moveable articles of +furniture of various shapes, answering to our large +family of tabourets and ottomans, embroidered with +gold and silver thread.</p> + +<p>But it was not merely in courts and palaces that +arras was used; it was now, of a coarser fabric, +universally adopted in the houses of the country +gentry. “The wals of our houses on the inner +sides be either hanged with tapisterie, arras-work,<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> +or painted cloths, wherein either diverse histories, +or hearbes, beasts, knots, and such like are stained, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>293]</a></span> +or else they are seeled with oke of our owne, or +wainescot brought hither out of the east countries.” +The tapestry was now suspended on frames, which, +we may infer, were often at a considerable distance +from the walls, since the portly Sir John Falstaff +ensconced himself “behind the arras” on a memorable +occasion; Polonius too met his death there; +and indeed Shakspeare presses it into the service +on numerous occasions.</p> + +<p>The following quotation will give an accurate +idea of properties thought most valuable at this +time; and it will be seen that ornamental needlework +cuts a very distinguished figure therein. It +is a catalogue of his wealth given by Gremio when +suing for Bianca to her father, who declares that the +wealthiest lover will win her, in the Taming of the +Shrew.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gremio.</i> “First, as you know, my house within the city<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Is richly furnished with plate and gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Basons and ewers, to lave her dainty hands;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In ivory coffers I have stuff’d my crowns;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In cypres chests my <em>arras</em>, counterpoints,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Fine linen, <em>Turkey cushions boss’d with pearl,</em><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><em>Valence of Venice gold, in needlework</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Pewter and brass, and all things that belong<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To house or house-keeping.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The age of Elizabeth was one which powerfully +appeals to the imagination in various ways. The +æra of warlike chivalry was past; but many of its +lighter observances remained, and added to the +variety of life, and perhaps tended to polish it. We +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>294]</a></span> +are told, for instance, that as the Earl of Cumberland +stood before Elizabeth she dropped her glove; and +on his picking it up graciously desired him to keep +it. He caused the trophy to be encircled with +diamonds; and ever after, at all tilts and tourneys, +bore it conspicuously placed in front of his high +crowned hat. Jousting and tilting in honour of the +ladies (by whom prizes were awarded) continued +still to be a favourite diversion. There were annual +contentions in the lists in honour of the sovereign, +and twenty-five persons of the first rank established +a society of arms for this purpose, of which the +chivalric Sir Henry Lee was for some time president.</p> + +<p>The “romance of chivalry” was sinking to be succeeded +by the heavier tomes of Gomberville, Scudery, +&c., but the extension of classical knowledge, the +vast strides in acquirement of various kinds, the +utter change, so to speak, in the system of literature, +all contributed to the downfall of the chivalric +romance. Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia introduced a +rage for high-flown pastoral effusions; and now too +was re-born that taste for metaphorical effusion and +spiritual romance, which was first exhibited in the +fourth century in the Bishop of Tricca’s romance of +“Barlaam and Josaphat,” and which now pervaded +the fast-rising puritan party, and was afterwards +fully developed in that unaccountably fascinating +work, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Nevertheless, as +yet</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">“Courted and caress’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High placed in hall, a welcome guest,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>295]</a></span> +the harper poured to lord and lady gay not indeed +“his unpremeditated lay,” but a poetical abridgment +(the precursor of a fast succeeding race of +romantic ballads) of the doughty deeds of renowned +knights, so amply expatiated upon in the time-honoured +folios of the “olden time.” The wandering +harper, if fallen somewhat from his “high +estate,” was still a recognised and welcome guest; +his “matter being for the most part stories of old +time, as the tale of Sir Topas, the reportes of Bevis +of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and +Clymme of the Clough, and such other old romances +or historical rhimes.” Though the character of the +minstrel gradually lost respectability, yet for a considerable +part of Elizabeth’s reign it was one so +fully acknowledged, that a peculiar garb was still +attached to the office.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Mongst these, some bards there were that in their sacred rage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recorded the descents and acts of everie age.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some with their nimbler joynts that strooke the warbling string;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In fingering some unskild, but onelie vsed to sing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vnto the other’s harpe: of which you both might find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Great plentie, and of both excelling in their kind.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The superstitions of various kinds, the omens, the +warnings, the charms, the “potent spells” of the +wizard seer, which</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Could hold in dreadful thrall the labouring moon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or draw the fix’d stars from their eminence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still the midnight tempest,”—<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>the supernatural agents, the goblins, the witches, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>296]</a></span> +the fairies, the satyrs, the elves, the fauns, the +“shapes that walk,” the</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“Uncharnel’d spectres, seen to glide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the lone wood’s unfrequented path”—<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>the being and active existence of all these was considered +“true as holy writ” by our ancestors of the +Elizabethan age. On this subject we will transcribe +a beautifully illustrative passage from Warton:—</p> + +<p>“Every goblin of ignorance” (says he) “did not +vanish at the first glimmerings of the morning of +science. Reason suffered a few demons still to +linger, which she chose to retain in her service under +the guidance of poetry. Men believed, or were +willing to believe, that spirits were yet hovering +around, who brought with them <em>airs from heaven, or +blasts from hell</em>; that the ghost was duly relieved +from his prison of torment at the sound of the curfew, +and that fairies imprinted mysterious circles on +the turf by moonlight. Much of this credulity was +even consecrated by the name of science and profound +speculation. Prospero had not yet <em>broken +and buried his staff</em>, nor <em>drowned his book deeper +than did ever plummet sound</em>. It was now that the +alchemist and the judicial astrologer conducted his +occult operations by the potent intercourse of some +preternatural being, who came obsequious to his call, +and was bound to accomplish his severest services, +under certain conditions, and for a limited duration +of time. It was actually one of the pretended feats +of these fantastic philosophers to evoke the queen +of the fairies in the solitude of a gloomy grove, who, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>297]</a></span> +preceded by a sudden rustling of the leaves, appeared +in robes of transcendant lustre. The Shakspeare +of a more instructed and polished age would not +have given us a magician darkening the sun at noon, +the sabbath of the witches, and the cauldron of +incantation.”</p> + +<p>It were endless, and indeed out of place here, to +attempt to specify the numberless minor superstitions +to which this credulous tendency of the public +mind gave birth or continuation; or the marvels of +travellers,—as the Anthropophagi, the Ethiops with +four eyes, the Hippopodes with their nether parts +like horses, the Arimaspi with one eye in the forehead, +and the Monopoli who have no head at all, +but a face in their breast—which were all devoutly +credited. One potent charm, however, we are constrained +to particularise, since its infallibility was +mainly dependent on the needlewoman’s skill. It +was a waistcoat which rendered its owner invulnerable: +we believe that if duly prepared it would be +found proof not only against “silver bullets,” but +also against even the “charmed bullet” of German +notoriety. Thus runs the charm:—</p> + +<p>“On Christmas daie at night, a thread must be +sponne of flax, by a little virgine girle, in the name +of the divell; and it must be by hir woven, and also +<em>wrought with the needle</em>. In the brest or forepart +thereof must be made <em>with needleworke</em> two heads; +on the head at the right side must be a hat and a +long beard, and the left head must have on a crowne, +and it must be so horrible that it maie resemble +Belzebub; and on each side of the wastcote must +be <em>wrought</em> a crosse.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>298]</a></span> +The newspaper, that now mighty political engine, +that “thewe and sinew” of the fourth estate of the +realm, took its rise in Elizabeth’s day. How would +her legislators have been overwhelmed with amazement +could they have beheld, in dim perspective, this +child of the press, scarcely less now the offspring of +the imagination than those chimeras of their own +time to which we have been alluding; and would +not the wrinkled brow of the modern politician be +unconsciously smoothened, would not the careworn +and profound diplomatist “gather up his face into +a smile before he was aware,” if the <span class="smcap">First Newspaper</span> +were suddenly placed before him? It is not +indeed in existence, but was published under the +title of “<i>The English Mercurie</i>,” in April, 1588, on +the first appearance near the shores of England of +the Spanish Armada, a crisis which caused this innovation +on the usual public news-letter circulated in +manuscript. No. 50, dated July 23, 1588, is the +first now in existence; and as the publication only +began in April, it shows they must have been issued +frequently. We have seen this No. 50, which is +preserved in the British Museum.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p>In it are no advertisements—no fashions—no law +reports—no court circular—no fashionable arrivals—no +fashionable intelligence—no murders—no robberies—no +reviews—no crim. cons.—no elopements—no +price of stocks—no mercantile intelligence—no +police reports—no “leaders,”—no literary memoranda—no +poets’ corner—no spring meetings—no +radical demonstrations—no conservative dinners—but</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>299]</a></span> +“The</p> + +<p class="center">“English Mercurie,</p> + +<p class="center">“Published by <span class="smcap">Authoritie</span>,</p> + +<p class="center">“For the Prevention of False Reportes,</p> + +<p class="center smlpadl">“<i>Whitehall, July 23, 1588.</i>”</p> + +<p>Contains three pages and a half, small quarto, of +matter of fact information.</p> + +<p>Two pages respecting the Armada then seen +“neare the Lizard, making for the entrance of the +Channell,” and appearing on the surface of the water +“like floating castles.”</p> + +<p>A page of news from Ostend, where “nothing +was talked of but the intended invasion of England. +His Highnesse the Prince of Parma having compleated +his preparationes, of which the subjoined +Accounte might be depended upon as <em>exacte and +authentique</em>.”</p> + +<p>Something to say—for a newspaper.</p> + +<p>And a few lines dated “London, July 13, of the +lord mayor, aldermen, common councilmen, and +lieutenancie of this great citie” waiting on Her Majesty +with assurances of support, and receiving a +gracious reception from her.</p> + +<p>Such was the newspaper of 1588.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>The great events of Elizabeth’s reign, in war, in +politics, in legislation, belong to the historian; the +great march of mind, the connecting link which that +age formed between the darkness of the preceding +ones (for during the period of the wars of the Roses +all sorts of art and science retrograded), and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>300]</a></span> +high cultivation of later days, it is the province of +the metaphysician and philosopher to analyse; and +even the lighter characteristics of the time have +become so familiar through the medium of many +modern and valuable works, that we have ventured +only to touch very superficially on some few of the +more prominent of them.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> +Harrison.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> +From this separate mention of <em>tapisterie</em> and <em>arras-work</em> by so +accurate a describer as Harrison, it would seem that tapestry of the +needle alone was not, even yet, quite exploded.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> +Sloane MSS. No. 4106.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>301]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">TAPESTRY OF THE SPANISH ARMADA, BETTER KNOWN +AS TAPESTRY OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He did blow with his wind, and they were scattered.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">‘Inscription on the Medal.’<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>The year 1588 had been foretold by astrologers to +be a wonderful year, the “climacterical year of the +world;” and the public mind of England was at that +period sufficiently credulous and superstitious to be +affected with vague presentiments, even if the preparation +of an hostile armada so powerful as to be +termed “invincible,” had not seemed to engraft on +these vague surmises too real and fearful a groundwork +of truth.</p> + +<p>The preparations of Philip II. in Spain, combined +with those of the Duke of Parma in the Low +Countries, and furthered by the valued and effective +benediction of the shaken and tottering, but +still influential and powerful head of the Roman +church, had produced a hostile array which, with +but too much probability of success, threatened the +conquest of England, and its subjugation to the +papal yoke. Not since the Norman Conquest had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>302]</a></span> +any event occurred which, if successful, would be +fraught with results so harassing and distressing to +the established inhabitants of the island. Though +the Norman Conquest had, undoubtedly, <em>in the +course of time</em>, produced a beneficial and civilising +and ennobling influence on the island, it was long +and bitter years ere the groans of the subjugated +and oppressed Anglo-Saxons had merged in the +contented peacefulness of a united people.</p> + +<p>Yet William was certainly of a severe temper, +and was incited by the unquenchable opposition of +the English to a cruel and exterminating policy. +Philip of Spain seemed not to promise milder measures. +He was a bigot, and moreover hated the +English with an utter hatred. During his union +with Mary he had utterly failed to gain their good +will, and his hatred to them increased in an exact +ratio to the failure of his desired influence with +them. Neither time, nor trouble, nor care, nor expense, +was spared in this his decided invasion; and +it is said that from Italy, Sicily, and even America, +were drafted the most experienced captains and soldiers +to aid his cause. Well, then, might England +look with anxiety, and even with terror, to this +threatened and fast approaching event.</p> + +<p>But her energies were fully equal to the emergency. +Elizabeth, now in the full plenitude of her +power, was at the acme of her influence over the +wills, and in a great degree over the affections of +her subjects, at least over by far the greater portion +of them; one factious and discontented party there +was, but too insufficient to be any effectual barrier +to her designs. And the cause was a popular one: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>303]</a></span> +Protestants and Romanists joined in deprecating a +foreign yoke. Her powerful and commanding energies +did not forsake her. Her appeal to her subjects +was replied to with heart-thrilling readiness, +the city of London setting a noble example; for +when ministers desired from it five thousand men +and fifteen ships, the lord mayor, in behalf of the +city, craved their sovereign to accept of ten thousand +soldiers and thirty ships.</p> + +<p>This spirited precedent was followed all through +the empire, all classes vied with each other in contributing +their utmost quota of aid, by means and +by personal service, and amongst many similar instances +it is recorded of “that noble, vertuous, honourable +man, the Viscount Montague, that he now +came, though he was very sickly, and in age, with a +full resolution to live and dye in defence of the +queene, and of his countrie, against all invaders, +whether it were pope, king, and potentate whatsoever, +and in that quarrell he would hazard his life, +his children, his landes and goods. And to shew his +mynde agreeably thereto, he came personally himselfe +before the queene, with his band of horsemen, +being almost two hundred; the same being led by +his owne sonnes, and with them a yong child, very +comely, seated on horseback, being the heire of his +house, that is, ye eldest sonne to his sonne and heire; +a matter much noted of many, to see a grandfather, +father, and sonne, at one time on horsebacks afore a +queene for her service.”</p> + +<p>For three years had Philip been preparing, in all +parts of his dominions, for this overwhelming expedition, +and his equipments were fully equal to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>304]</a></span> +extensive preparations; and so popular was the +project in Spain, and so ardent were its votaries, +that there was not a family of any note which had not +contributed some of its dearest and nearest members; +there were also one hundred and eighty Capuchins, +Dominicans, Jesuits, and Mendicant friars; and +so great was the enthusiastic anticipation, that even +females hired vessels to follow the fleet which contained +those they loved; two or three of these were +driven by the storm on the coast of France.</p> + +<p>This Armada consisted of about one hundred and +fifty ships, most of which were of an uncommon size, +strength, and thickness, more like floating castles +than anything else; and to this unwieldy size may, +probably, be attributed much of their discomfiture. +For the greater holiness of their action, twelve were +called the Twelve Apostles; and a pinnace of the +Andalusian squadron, commanded by Don Pedro de +Valdez, was called the “Holy Ghost.” The fleet is +said to have contained thirty-two thousand persons, +and to have cost every day thirty thousand ducats.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Parma’s contemporary preparations +were also prodigious, and of a nature which plainly +declared the full certainty and confidence in which +the invaders indulged of making good their object. +But the preparations were doomed not to be even +tried. The finesse and manœuvres of the shrewd +Sir Francis Walsingham<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> had caused the invasion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>305]</a></span> +to be retarded for a whole year, and by this time +England was fully prepared for her foes. The result +is known. The hollow treaty of peace into which +Parma had entered in order, when all preparations +were completed, to take her by surprise, was entered +into with an equal share of hypocritical policy by Elizabeth. +“So (says an old historian) as they seemed +on both sides to sew the foxe’s skin to the lion’s.”</p> + +<p>So powerful was the effect on the public mind, +not only of this projected enterprise, but of its +almost unhoped for discomfiture, that all possible +means were taken to commemorate the event. One +method resorted to was the manufacture of tapestry +representing a series of subjects connected with it. +At that time Flanders excelled all others in the +manufacture of tapestry, it was scarcely indeed introduced +into England; and our ancestors had a +series of ten charts, designed by Henry Cornelius +Vroom, a celebrated painter of Haarlem, from +which their Flemish neighbours worked beautiful +draperies, which ornamented the walls of the House +of Lords.</p> + +<p>At the time of the Union with Ireland, when +considerable repairs and alterations were made +here, these magnificent tapestries were taken down, +cleaned, and replaced, with the addition of large +frames of dark stained wood, which set off the work +and colouring to advantage. They formed a series +of ten pictures, round which portraits of the distinguished +officers who commanded the fleet were +wrought into a border.</p> + +<p>With a prescience, which might now almost seem +prophetic, Mr. John Pine, engraver, published in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>306]</a></span> +1739 a series of plates taken from these tapestries; +and “because,” says he, “time, or accident, or moths +may deface these valuable shadows, we have endeavoured +to preserve their likeness in the preceding +prints, which, by being multiplied and dispersed +in various hands, may meet with that security from +the closets of the curious, which the originals must +scarce always hope for, even from the sanctity of +the place they are kept in.”</p> + +<p>“On the 17th day of July, 1588, the English discovered +the Spanish fleet with lofty turrets like +castles, in front like a half moon, the wing thereof +spreading out about the length of seven miles, sailing +very slowly, though with full sails, the winds +being as it were tired with carrying them, and the +ocean groaning under the weight of them.”</p> + +<p>This forms the subject of the first tableau. The +English commanders suffered the Spaniards to pass +them unmolested, in order that they might hang +upon their rear, and harass them when they should +be involved in the Channel; for the English navy +were unable to confront such a power in direct and +close action. The second piece represents them +thus, near Fowey, the English coast displayed in the +back-ground, diversified perhaps somewhat too elaborately +into hill and dale, and the foliage scattered +somewhat too regularly in lines over each hill, but +very pretty nevertheless. A small village with its +church and spire appears just at the water edge, +Eddystone lighthouse lifts its head above the waters, +and, fit emblem of the patriotism which now burned +throughout the land, and even glowed on the waters, +a huge sea monster uprears itself in threatening +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>307]</a></span> +attitude against the invading host, and shows a +countenance hideous enough to scare any but Spaniards +from its native shores.</p> + +<p>No. 3 represents the first engagement between +the hostile fleets, and also the subsequent sailing of +the Spanish Armada up the channel, closely followed +by the English, whose ships were so much +lighter, that in a running warfare of this kind they +had greatly the advantage. The sea is alive too +with dolphins and other strange fish, with right +British hearts, as it has been said that “they +seemed to oppose themselves with fierce and grim +looks to the progress of the Spanish fleet.” The +view of the coast here is very good; and, where it +retires from Start Point so as to form a bay or harbour, +the perspective is really admirably indicated +by two vessels dimly defined in the horizon.</p> + +<p>The views of the coast are varied and interesting; +and the distances and perspective views are much +more accurately delineated than was usual at the +time; but, as we have remarked, they were designed +by an eminent painter, and one whose particular +<i>forte</i> was the delineation of shipping and naval +scenes.</p> + +<p>The pictures are certainly as a series devoid of +variety. In two of them the Calais shore is introduced; +and the intermixture of fortifications, +churches, houses, and animated spectators, eagerly +crowding to behold the fleets sailing by, produces +an enlivening and busy scene, which, set off by the +varied, lively, and appropriate colouring of the tapestry, +would have a most striking effect. But the +man who, unmoved by the excitement about him, is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>308]</a></span> +calmly fishing under the walls, without even turning +his head toward the scene of tumult, must be blessed +with an apathy of disposition which the poor enraged +dolphins and porpoises might have envied.</p> + +<p>With these exceptions the tapestries are all sea +pieces with only a distant view of the coast, and +portray the two fleets in different stages of their +progress, sometimes with engagements between +single ships, but generally in an apparent state of +truce, the English always the pursuers, and the +Spaniards generally drawn up in form of a crescent. +The last however shows the invading fleet hurriedly +and in disorder sailing away, when bad weather, +the Duke of Parma’s delay, and a close engagement +of fourteen hours, in which they “suffered grievously,” +having “had to endure all the heavy cannonading +of their triumphant opponents, while they +were struggling to get clear of the shallows,” convinced +them of the impossibility of a successful close +to their enterprise, and made them resolve to take +advantage of a southern breeze to make their passage +up the North sea, and round Scotland home.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He that fights and runs away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May live to fight another day.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>So, however, did <em>not</em> the Spaniards. “About these +north islands their mariners and soldiers died daily +by multitudes, as by their bodies cast on land did +appear. The Almighty ordered the winds to be so +contrary to this proud navy, that it was, by force, +dissevered on the high seas west upon Ireland; +and so great a number of them driven into sundry +dangerous bays, and upon rocks, and there cast +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>309]</a></span> +away; some sunk, some broken, some on the sands, +and some burnt by the Spaniards themselves.”</p> + +<p>Misfortune clung to them; storm and tempest on +the sea, and inhospitable and cruel treatment when +they were forced on shore so reduced them, that of +this magnificent Armada only sixty shattered vessels +found their home; and their humbled commander, +the Duke de Medina Sidonia, was led to understand +that his presence was not desired at court, and that +a private country residence would be the most +suitable.</p> + +<p>It was on this occasion, when the instant danger +was past but by no means entirely done away, as +for some time it was supposed that the Armada, after +recruiting in some northern station, would return, +that Elizabeth with a general’s truncheon in her +hand rode through the ranks of her army at Tilbury, +and addressed them in a style which caused +them to break out into deafening and tumultuous +shouts and cries of love, and honour, and obedience +to death. Thus magnificently the English heroine +spoke:</p> + +<p>“My loving People,—We have been persuaded +by some that are careful of our safety to take heed +how we commit ourselves to armed Multitudes; but +I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my +faithful and loving People. Let Tyrants fear; I have +always so behaved myself that, under <span class="smcap">God</span>, I have +placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal +Hearts and Goodwill of my Subjects; and therefore I +am come amongst you, as you see at this time, not for +my Recreation and Disport, but being resolved, in the +midst and heat of the Battle, to live and die amongst +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>310]</a></span> +you all; to lay down for my <span class="smcap">God</span>, and for my kingdom, +and for my People, my Honour, and my Blood, even +in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak +and feeble Woman, but I have the Heart and Stomach +of a King, and of a King of England too; and +think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince +of Europe should dare to invade the Borders of +my Realm; to which, rather than any Dishonour +shall grow by me, I myself will take up Arms, I myself +will be your General, Judge, and Rewarder of +every one of your Virtues in the Field; I know +already, for your forwardness, you have deserved +Rewards and Crowns; and we do assure you, in the +word of a Prince, they shall be duly paid you. In +the mean time my Lieutenant-general shall be in my +stead, than whom never Prince commanded a more +noble or worthy subject; not doubting but, by your +obedience to my General, by your Concord in the +camp, and your Valour in the Field, we shall shortly +have a famous victory over those Enemies of my +GOD, of my Kingdoms, and of my People.”</p> + +<p>The tapestry, the magnificent memorial of this +great event, was lost irreparably in the devastating +fire of 1834. Some fragments, it is said, were preserved, +but we have not been able to ascertain this +fact. One portion still exists at Plymouth, though +shorn of its pristine brilliancy, as some of the silver +threads were drawn out by the economists of the +time of the Commonwealth. This piece was cut out +to make way for a gallery at the time of the trial of +Queen Caroline, was secreted by a German servant +of the Lord Chamberlain, and sold by him to a +broker who offered it to Government for 500<i>l.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>311]</a></span> +Some inquiry was made into the circumstances, +which, however, do not seem to have excited very +great interest, since the relic was ultimately bought +by the Bishop of Landaff (Van Mildert) for 20<i>l.</i> +By him it was presented to the corporation of Plymouth, +who still possess it.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> +He contrived, by means of a Venetian priest, his spy, to obtain +a copy of a letter from Philip to the Pope; a gentleman of the bedchamber +taking the keys of the cabinet from the pockets of his holiness +as he slept. Upon intelligence thus obtained, Walsingham got +those Spanish bills protested at Genoa which should have supplied +money for the preparations.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>312]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">ON STITCHERY.</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Here have I cause in men just blame to find,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That in their proper praise too partial bee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And not indifferent to womankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2"> * <span class="space"> </span> * <span class="space"> </span> * <span class="space"> </span> * <span class="space"> </span> *<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Scarse do they spare to one, or two, or three,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rowme in their writtes; yet the same writing small<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does all their deedes deface, and dims their glories all.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Faerie Queene.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapblock"> +<p>“Christine, whiche understode these thynges of Dame Reason, replyed +upon that in this manere. Madame Ise wel <ins class="contr" title="that">y<sup>t</sup></ins> ye myght +fynde ynowe & of grete nombre of women praysed in scyences and +in crafte; but knowe ye ony that by <ins class="contr" title="the">y<sup>e</sup></ins> vertue of their felynge & +of subtylte of wytte <em>haue founde of themselfe</em> ony newe craftes and +scyences necessary, good, & couenable that were neuer founde before +nor knowne? for it is not so grete maystry to folowe and to +lerne after ony other scyence founde and comune before, as it is +to fynde of theymselfe some newe thynge not accustomed before.</p> + +<p>“<i>Answere.</i>—Ne doubte ye not <ins class="contr" title="the">y<sup>e</sup></ins> contrary my dere frende but many +craftes and scyences ryght notable hathe ben founde by the wytte +and subtylte of women, as moche by speculacyon of understandynge, +the whiche sheweth them by wrytynge, as in craftes, <ins class="contr" title="that">y<sup>t</sup></ins> +sheweth theym <em>in werkynge of handes</em> & of laboure.”—<i>The +Boke of the Cyte of Ladyes.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p>Again we must lament that the paucity of historical +record lays us under the necessity of concluding, by +inference, what we would fain have displayed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>313]</a></span> +direct testimony. The respectable authority quoted +above affirms that “many craftes and scyences ryght +notable hathe ben founde by the wytte and subtylte +of women,” and it specifies particularly “werkynge +of handes,” by which we suppose the “talented” +author means needlework. That the necessity for +this pretty art was first created by woman, no one, we +think, will disallow; and that it was first practised, +as it has been subsequently perfected, by her, is +a fact of which we feel the most perfect conviction.</p> + +<p>This conviction has been forced upon us by a train +of reasoning which will so readily suggest itself to +the mind of all our readers, that we content ourselves +with naming the result, assured that it is +unnecessary to trouble them with the intervening +steps. One only link in the chain of “circumstantial +evidence” will we adduce, and that is afforded by +the ancient engraving to which we have before alluded +in our remarks upon Eve’s needle and thread. +There whilst our “general mother” is stitching +away at the fig-leaves in the most edifying manner +possible, our “first father,” far from trying to “put +in a stitch for himself,” is gazing upon her in the +most utter amazement. And while she plies her +busy task as if she had been born to stitchery, his +eyes, <em>not</em> his fingers,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Follow the nimble fingers of the fair,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>with every indication of superlative wonder and admiration.</p> + +<p>In fact, it is no slight argument in favour of the +original invention of sewing by women, that men +very rarely have wit enough to learn it, even when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>314]</a></span> +invented. There has been no lack of endeavour, +even amongst the world’s greatest and mightiest, +but poor “work” have they made of it. Hercules +lost all the credit of his mighty labours from his +insignificance at the spinning wheel, and the sceptre +of Sardanapalus passed from his grasp as he was +endeavouring to “finger the fine needle and nyse +thread.”</p> + +<p>These love-stricken heroes might have said with +Gower—had he then said it—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“What things she bid me do, I do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And where she bid me go, I go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And where she likes to call, I come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I serve, I bow, I look, I lowte,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My eye followeth her about.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What so she will, so will I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When she would set, I kneel by.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when she stands, then will I stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><em>And when she taketh her work in hand</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of <em>wevyng or of embroidrie</em>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then can I <em>only</em> muse and prie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon her fingers long and small.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Our modern Hercules, the Leviathan of literature, +was not more successful.</p> + +<p><i>Dr. Johnson.</i>—“Women have a great advantage +that they may take up with little things, without +disgracing themselves; a man cannot, except with +fiddling. Had I learnt to fiddle I should have done +nothing else.”</p> + +<p><i>Boswell.</i>—“Pray, Sir, did you ever play on any +musical instrument?”</p> + +<p><i>Dr. Johnson.</i>—“No, Sir; I once bought a flageolet, +but I never made out a tune.”</p> + +<p><i>Boswell.</i>—“A flageolet, Sir! So small an instrument? +I should have liked to hear you play on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>315]</a></span> +violoncello. <em>That</em> should have been your instrument.”</p> + +<p><i>Dr. Johnson.</i>—“Sir, I might as well have played +on the violoncello as another; but I should have +done nothing else. No, Sir; a man would never +undertake great things could he be amused with +small. I once tried knotting; Dempster’s sister +undertook to teach me, but <em>I could not learn it</em>.”</p> + +<p><i>Boswell.</i>—“So, Sir; it will be related in pompous +narrative, ‘once for his amusement he tried knotting, +nor did this Hercules disdain the distaff.’”</p> + +<p><i>Dr. Johnson.</i>—“Knitting of stockings is a good +amusement. As a freeman of Aberdeen, I should +be a knitter of stockings.”</p> + +<p>Nor was Dr. Johnson singular in his high appreciation +of the value of some sort of stitchery to his +own half of the human race, if their intellects unfortunately +had not been too obtuse for its acquisition. +The great censor of the public morals and +manners a century ago, the Spectator, recommends +the same thing, though with his usual policy he +feigns merely to be the medium of another’s advice.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Spectator,—You are always ready to receive +any useful hint or proposal, and such, I believe, +you will think one that may put you in a way to +employ the most idle part of the kingdom; I mean +that part of mankind who are known by the name +of the women’s men, beaux, &c. Mr. Spectator, +you are sensible these pretty gentlemen are not +made for any manly employments, and for want of +business are often as much in the vapours as the +ladies. Now what I propose is this, that since knotting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>316]</a></span> +is again in fashion, which has been found a +very pretty amusement, that you will recommend it +to these gentlemen as something that may make +them useful to the ladies they admire. And since +it is not inconsistent with any game or other diversion, +for it may be done in the playhouse, in their +coaches, at the tea-table, and, in short, in all places +where they come for the sake of the ladies (except +at church, be pleased to forbid it there to prevent +mistakes), it will be easily complied with. It is +besides an employment that allows, as we see by +the fair sex, of many graces, which will make the +beaux more readily come into it; and it shows a +white hand and a diamond ring to great advantage; +it leaves the eyes at full liberty to be employed as +before, as also the thoughts and the tongue. In +short, it seems in every respect so proper that it is +needless to urge it further, by speaking of the satisfaction +these male knotters will find when they see +their work mixed up in a fringe, and worn by the +fair lady for whom, and with whom, it was done. +Truly, Mr. Spectator, I cannot but be pleased I +have hit upon something that these gentlemen are +capable of; for it is sad so considerable a part of +the kingdom (I mean for numbers) should be of no +manner of use. I shall not trouble you further at +this time, but only to say, that I am always your +reader and generally your admirer.<span class="space"> </span>C.B.</p> + +<p>“P.S.—The sooner these fine gentlemen are set +to work the better; there being at this time several +fringes that stay only for more hands.”</p> + +<p>But, alas! the sanguine writer was mistaken in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>317]</a></span> +supposing that at last gentlemen had found a something +“of which they were capable.” The days of +knotting passed away before they had made any +proficiency in it; nor have we ever heard that +they have adopted any other branch or stitch of +this extensive art. There is variety enough to +satisfy anybody, and there are gradations enough +in the stitches to descend to any capacity but a +man’s. There are tambour stitch—satin—chain—finny—new—bred—ferne—and +queen-stitches; +there is slabbing—veining—and button stitch; seeding—roping—and +open stitch: there is sockseam—herring-bone—long +stitch—and cross stitch: there is +rosemary stitch—Spanish stitch—and Irish stitch: +there is back stitch—overcast—and seam stitch: +hemming—felling—and basting: darning—grafting—and +patching: there is whip stitch—and fisher +stitch: there is fine drawing—gathering—marking—trimming—and +tucking.</p> + +<p>Truly all this does require some <ins class="greek" title="nous">νους</ins>, and the +lords of the creation are more to be pitied than +blamed for that paucity of intellect which deprives +them of “woman’s pretty excuse for thought.”</p> + +<p>Raillery apart, sewing is in itself an agreeable +occupation, it is essentially a useful one; in many +of its branches it is quite ornamental, and it is a +gentle, a graceful, an elegant, and a truly feminine +occupation. It causes the solitary hours of domestic +life to glide more smoothly away, and in those social +unpretending reunions which in country life and in +secluded districts are yet not abolished, it takes +away from the formality of sitting for conversation, +abridges the necessity for scandal, or, to say the least +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>318]</a></span> +of it, as we have heard even ungallant lordly man +allow, it keeps us out of mischief.</p> + +<p>And there are frequent and oft occurring circumstances +which invest it with characteristics of a still +higher order. How many of “the sweet solicitudes +that life beguile” are connected with this interesting +occupation! either in preparing habiliments for +those dependent on our care, and for love of whom +many an unnecessary stitch which may tend to extra +adornment is put in; or in those numberless pretty +and not unuseful tokens of remembrance, which, +passing from friend to friend, soften our hearts by +the intimation they convey, that we have been cared +for in our absence, and that while the world looked +dark and desolate about us, unforgetting hearts far, +far away were holding us in remembrance, busy +fingers were occupied in our behoof. Oh! a reticule, +a purse, a slipper, how valueless soever in itself, +is, when fraught with these home memories, +worth that which the mines of Golconda could not +purchase. And of such a nature would be the feelings +which suggested these well-known but exquisite +lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The twentieth year is well nigh past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since first our sky was overcast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, would that this might be the last!<br /></span> +<span class="i12">My Mary!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Thy spirits have a fainter flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see thee daily weaker grow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’Twas my distress that brought thee low,<br /></span> +<span class="i12">My Mary!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Thy needles, once a shining store,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For my sake restless heretofore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now rust disused and shine no more,<br /></span> +<span class="i12">My Mary!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>319]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“For though thou gladly would’st fulfil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The same kind office for me still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy sight now seconds not thy will,<br /></span> +<span class="i12">My Mary!<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But well thou play’dst the housewife’s part,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all thy threads with magic art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have wound themselves about this heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i12">My Mary!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>An interesting circumstance connected with needlework +is mentioned in the delightful memoir written +by lady Murray, of her mother, the excellent and +admirable Lady Grisell Baillie. The allusion itself +is very slight, merely to the making of a frill or a +collar; but the circumstances connected with it are +deeply interesting, and place before us a vivid picture +of the deprivations of a family of rank and +consequence in “troublous times,” and moreover +offer us a portrait from <em>real life</em> of true feminine +excellence, of a young creature of rank and family, +of cultivated and refined tastes and of high connexions, +utterly forgetting all these in the cheerful +and conscientious discharge, for years, of the most +arduous and humble duties, and even of menial and +revolting offices. It may be that my readers all +are not so well acquainted with this little book as +ourselves, and, if so, they will not consider the following +extract too long.</p> + +<p>“They lived three years and a half in Holland, +and in that time she made a second voyage to Scotland +about business. Her father went by the borrowed +name of Dr. Wallace, and did not stir out for +fear of being discovered, though who he was, was +no secret to the wellwishers of the revolution. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>320]</a></span> +great desire was to have a good house, as their +greatest comfort was at home; and all the people +of the same way of thinking, of which there were +great numbers, were continually with them. They +paid for their house what was very extravagant for +their income, nearly a fourth part; they could not +afford keeping any servant, but a little girl to wash +the dishes.</p> + +<p>“All the time they were there, there was not a +week that my mother did not sit up two nights, to +do the business that was necessary. She went to +market, went to the mill to have the corn ground, +which it seems is the way with good managers there, +dressed the linen, cleaned the house, made ready +the dinner, mended the children’s stockings and +other clothes, made what she could for them, and, +in short, did everything.</p> + +<p>“Her sister, Christian, who was a year or two +younger, diverted her father and mother and the +rest who were fond of music. Out of their small +income they bought a harpsichord for little money, +but is a <em>Rucar</em> now in my custody, and most valuable. +My aunt played and sang well, and had a +great deal of life and humour, but no turn to business. +Though my mother had the same qualifications, +and liked it as well as she did, she was forced +to drudge; and many jokes used to pass betwixt +the sisters about their different occupations. Every +morning before six my mother lighted her father’s +fire in his study, then waked him (she was ever a +good sleeper, which blessing, among many others, +she inherited from him); then got him, what he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>321]</a></span> +usually took as soon as he got up, warm small beer +with a spoonful of bitters in it, which he continued +his whole life, and of which I have the receipt.</p> + +<p>“Then she took up the children and brought +them all to his room, where he taught them everything +that was fit for their age; some Latin, others +French, Dutch, geography, writing, reading, English, +&c.; and my grandmother taught them what +was necessary on her part. Thus he employed and +diverted himself all the time he was there, not being +able to afford putting them to school; and my +mother, when she had a moment’s time, took a lesson +with the rest in French and Dutch, and also diverted +herself with music. I have now a book of songs of +her writing when there; many of them interrupted, +half-writ, some broke off in the middle of a sentence. +She had no less a turn for mirth and society than +any of the family, when she could come at it without +neglecting what she thought more necessary.</p> + +<p>“Her eldest brother, Patrick, who was nearest +her age, and bred up together, was her most dearly +beloved. My father was there, forfeited and exiled, +in the same situation with themselves. She had seen +him for the first time in the prison with his father, +not long before he suffered;<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> and from that time +their hearts were engaged. Her brother and my +father were soon got in to ride in the Prince of +Orange’s Guards, till they were better provided for +in the army, which they were before the Revolution. +They took their turn in standing sentry at the +Prince’s gate, but always contrived to do it together, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>322]</a></span> +and the strict friendship and intimacy that then +began, continued to the last.</p> + +<p>“Though their station was then low, they kept +up their spirits; the prince often dined in public, +then all were admitted to see him: when any pretty +girl wanted to go in they set their halberts across +the door and would not let her pass till she gave +each of them a kiss, which made them think and +call them very pert soldiers. I could relate many +stories on this subject; my mother could talk for +hours and never tire of it, always saying it was the +happiest part of her life. Her <em>constant attention was +to have her brother appear right in his linen and +dress</em>; they wore little point cravats and cuffs, which +many a night she sat up to have in as good order +for him as any in the place; and one of their greatest +expenses was in dressing him as he ought to be.</p> + +<p>“As their house was always full of the unfortunate +people banished like themselves, they seldom +went to dinner without three, four, or five of them +to share it with them; and many a hundred times +I have heard her say she could never look back upon +their manner of living there without thinking it a +miracle. They had no want, but plenty of everything +they desired, and much contentment, and +always declared it the most pleasing part of her life, +though they were not without their little distresses; +but to them they were rather jokes than grievances. +The professors and men of learning in the place +came often to see my grandfather; the best entertainment +he could give them was a glass of alabast +beer, which was a better kind of ale than common. +He sent his son Andrew, the late Lord Kimmerghame, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>323]</a></span> +a boy, to draw some for them in the cellar, +and he brought it up with great diligence, but in +the other hand the spigot of the barrel. My grandfather +said, ‘Andrew! what is that in your hand?’ +When he saw it he ran down with speed, but the +beer was all run out before he got there. This occasioned +much mirth, though perhaps they did not +well know where to get more.</p> + +<p>“It is the custom there to gather money for the +poor from house to house, with a bell to warn people +to give it. One night the bell came, and no money +was there in the house but a orkey, which is a doit, +the smallest of all coin; everybody was so ashamed +no one would go to give it, it was so little, and put it +from one to the other: at last my grandfather said, +‘Well, then, I’ll go with it; we can do no more +than give all we have.’ They were often reduced +to this by the delay of the ships coming from Scotland +with their small remittances; then they put +the little plate they had (all of which they carried +with them) in the lumber, which is pawning it, till +the ships came: and that very plate they brought +with them again to Scotland, and left no debt behind +them.”</p> + +<p>This is a long but not an uninteresting digression, +and we were led to it from the recollection that +Lady Grisell Baillie, when encompassed with heavy +cares, not only sat up a night or two every week, +but felt a satisfaction, a pleasure, in doing so, to +execute the needlework required by her family. +And when sewing with a view to the comfort and +satisfaction of others, the needlewoman—insignificant +as the details of her employment may +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>324]</a></span> +appear—has much internal satisfaction; she has a definite +vocation, an important function.</p> + +<p>Nor few nor insignificant are her handmaidens, +one or other of whom is ever at her side, inspiriting +her to her task. Her most constant attendant is a +matron of stayed and sober appearance, called <span class="smcap">Utility</span>. +The needlewoman’s productions are found +to vary greatly, and this variation is ascribed with +truth to the influencing suggestions of the attendant +for the time being.</p> + +<p>Thus, for instance, when Utility is her companion +all her labours are found to result in articles of which +the material is unpretending, and the form simple; +for however she may be led wandering by the vagaries +of her other co-mates, it is always found that +in moments of steady reflection she listens with the +most implicit deference to the intimations of this +her experienced and most respectable friend.</p> + +<p>But occasionally, indeed frequently, Utility brings +with her a fair and interesting relative, called <span class="smcap">Taste</span>; +a gentle being, of modest and retiring mien, of most +unassuming deportment, but of exquisite grace; +and it is even observed that the needlewoman is +more happy in her labours, and more universally +approved when accompanied by these two friends, +than by any other of the more eccentric ones who +occasionally take upon themselves to direct her +steps.</p> + +<p>Of these latter, <span class="smcap">Fashion</span> is one of her most frequent +visitors, and it is very often found that as she +approaches Utility and Taste retire. This is not, +however, invariably the case. Sometimes the three +agree cordially together, and their united suffrages +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>325]</a></span> +and support enhance the fame of the needlewoman +to the very highest pitch; but this happy cordiality +is of infrequent occurrence, and usually of short +duration. Fashion is fickle, varying, inconstant; +given to sudden partialities and to disruptions unlooked +for, and as sudden. She laughs to scorn +Utility’s grave maxims, and exaggerates the graceful +suggestions of Taste until they appear complete +caricatures. Consequently they, offended, retire; +and Fashion, heedless, holds on her own course, +keeping the needlewoman in complete subjection to +her arbitrary rule, which is often enforced in her +transient absence by her own peculiar friend and +intimate—<span class="smcap">Caprice</span>. This fantastic being has the +greatest influence over Fashion, who having no staple +character of her own, is easily led every way at the +beck of this whimsical and absurd dictator. The +productions which emanate from the hands of the +needlewoman under their guidance are much sought +for, much looked at, but soon fall into utter contempt.</p> + +<p>But there is another handmaiden created for the +delight and solace of mankind in general, and who +from the earliest days, even until now, has been the +loving friend of the needlewoman; ever whispering +suggestions in her ear, or tracing patterns on +her work, or gently guiding her finger through the +fantastic maze. She is of the most exquisite beauty: +fragile in form as the gossamer that floats on a summer’s +breath—brilliant in appearance as the colours +that illumine the rainbow. So light, that she floats +on an atom; so powerful that she raises empires, +nay, the whole earth by her might. Her habits +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>326]</a></span> +are the most vagrant imaginable; she is indeed +the veriest little gossip in creation, but her disposition +to roam is not more boundless than her power +to gratify it.</p> + +<p>One instant she is in the depths of the ocean, +loitering upon coral beds; the next above the stars, +revelling in the immensity of space; one moment +she tracks a comet in his course, the next hobnobs +with the sea-king, or foots a measure with mermaids. +A most skilful architect, she will build palaces on +the clouds radiant with splendour and beautiful as +herself; then, demolishing them with a breath, she +flies to some moss-grown ruin of the earth, where a +glimpse of her countenance drives away the bat and +the owl; the wallflower, the moss, and the ivy, are +displaced by the rose, the lily, and the myrtle; the +damp building is clothed in freshness and splendour, +the lofty halls resound with the melody of the lute +and the harp, and the whole scene is vivid with light +and life, with brilliancy and beauty. Again, in an +instant, all is mute, and dim, and desolate, and the +versatile sorceress is hunting the otter with an Esquimaux; +or, pillowed on roses whose fragrance is +wafted by softest zephyrs around, she listens to the +strain which the Bulbul pours; or, wrapped in +deepest maze of philosophic thought, she “treads +the long extent of backward time,” by the gigantic +sepulchres of Egyptian kings; or else she flies +“from the tempest-rocked Hebrides or the icebound +Northern Ocean—from the red man’s wilderness +of the west—from the steppes of Central Asia—from +the teeming swamps of the Amazon—from +the sirocco deserts of Africa—from the tufted islands +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>327]</a></span> +of the Pacific—from the heaving flanks of Ætna—or +from the marbled shores of Greece;”—and draws +the whole circle of her enchantments round the +needlewoman’s fingers, within the walls of an humble +English cottage.</p> + +<p>But it were equally unnecessary and useless to +dilate on her fairy wanderings. Suffice it to say +that so great is the beneficent liberality of this fascinating +being, that every corner of her rich domain +is open to the highest or lowest of mortals without +reserve; and so lovely is she herself, and so bewitching +is her company, that few, few indeed, are they +who do not cherish her as a bosom friend and as +the dearest of companions.</p> + +<p>Bearing, however, her vagrant characteristics in +mind, we shall not be surprised at the peculiar ideas +some people entertain of her haunts, nor at the +strange places in which they search for her person. +One would hardly believe that hundreds of thousands +have sought her through the smoke, din, and +turmoil of those lines “where all antipathies to +comfort dwell,”—the railroads; while others, more +adventurous, plough the ocean deep, scale the mighty +mountains, or soar amid the clouds for her; or, +strange to say, have sought her in the battle field +’mid scenes of bloody death. Like Hotspur, such +would pluck her—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“From the pale-faced moon;”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>or would</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Dive into the bottom of the deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where fathom-line could never touch the ground”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>for her.</p> + +<p>But she is a lady before whom strength and pride +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>328]</a></span> +fall nerveless and abased; her gracious smiles are +to be wooed, not commanded; her bright presence +may be won, not forced;</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“For spotless, and holy, and gentle, and bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She glides o’er the earth like an angel of light.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Possessing all the gentleness of her mother—<em>Taste</em>, +she shrinks from everything rude or abrupt; +and when, as has frequently been the case, persons +have attempted to lay violent hands upon her, she +has invariably eluded their vigilance, by leaving in +her place, tricked out in her superabundant ornaments +to blind them, her half-brother—<em>Whim</em>, who +sprang from the same father—<em>Wit</em>, but by another +mother—<em>Humour</em>. She herself, wanderer as she is, +is not without her favourite haunts, in which she +lingers as if even loath to quit them at all.</p> + +<p>Finally, wherever yet the <em>accomplished</em> needlewoman +has been found, in the Jewish tabernacle of +old—in the Grecian dome where the “Tale of Troy +divine” glowed on the canvass—or in the bower of +the high-born beauty of the “bright days of the +sword and the lance”—in the cell of the pale recluse—or +in the turretted prison of the royal captive—there +has <span class="smcap">Fancy</span> been her devoted friend, her +inseparable companion.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> +She was then a mere child, not more, if I remember rightly, than +twelve years old.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>329]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">“LES ANCIENNES TAPISSERIES;” TAPESTRY OF ST. +MARY’S HALL, COVENTRY; TAPESTRY OF HAMPTON +COURT.</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There is a sanctity in the past.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Bulwer.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>All monuments of antiquity are so speedily passing +away, all traces of those bygone generations on +which the mind loves to linger, and which in their +dim and indistinct memories exercise a spell, a holy +often, and a purifying spell on the imagination are +so fleeting, and when <em>irrevocably</em> gone will be so +lamented—that all testimonies which throw certain +light on the habits and manners of the past, how +slight soever the testimonies they afford, how trivial +soever the characteristics they display, are of the +highest possible value to an enlightened people, who +apply the experience of the past to its legitimate +and noblest use, the guidance and improvement of +the present.</p> + +<p>In this point of view the work which forms the +subject of this chapter<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> assumes a value which its +intrinsic worth—beautiful as is its execution—would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>330]</a></span> +not impart to it; and it is thus rendered not less +valuable as an historical record, than it is attractive +as a work of taste.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Là chez eux</span>, (we quote from the preface to the +work itself,) <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">c’est un siège ou un tournoi; ici un +festin, plus loin une chasse; et toujours, chasse, +festin, tournoi, siège, tout cela est <em>pourtraict au vif</em>, +comme aurait dit Montaigne, tout cela nous retrace +au naturel la vie de nos pères, nous montre leurs +châteaux, leurs églises, leurs costumes, leurs armes +et même, grâce aux légendes explicatives, leur +langage à diverses époques. Il y a mieux. Si nous +nous en rapportons à l’inventaire de Charles V., +exécuté en 1379, toute la littérature française des +siècles féconds qui précédèrent celui de ce sage +monarque, aurait été par ces ordres traduite en laine.</span>”</p> + +<p>This book consists of representations of all the +existing ancient tapestries which activity and research +can draw from the hiding-places of ages, +copied in the finest outline engraving, with letter-press +descriptions of each plate. They are published +in numbers, and in a style worthy of the +object. We do not despair of seeing this spirited +example followed in our own country, where many +a beautiful specimen of ancient tapestry, still capable +of renovation by care—is mouldering unthought of +in the lumber-rooms of our ancient mansions.</p> + +<p>We have seen twenty-one numbers of this work, +with which we shall deal freely: excepting, however, +the eight parts which are entirely occupied by the +Bayeux Tapestry. Our own chapters on the subject +were written before we were fortunate enough +to obtain a sight of these, which include the whole +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>331]</a></span> +of the correspondence on the tapestry to which we +in our sketch alluded.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Tapisserie de Nancy.</span>—“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">aurait une illustre +origine, et remonterait à une assez haute antiquité. +Prise dans la tente de Charles le Téméraire, lors de la +mort de ce prince, en 1477, devant la capitale de +la Lorraine, qu’il assiégeait, elle serait devenue un +meuble de la couronne, et aurait servi au palais des +ducs de ce pays, depuis René 2 jusqu’à Charles IV.——C’est +une de ces anciennes tapisseries flamandes +dont le tissu, de laine tres fine, est éclairé par l’or +et la soie. La soie et la laine subsistent encore, +mais l’or ne s’aperçoit plus que dans quelques endroits +et à la faveur d’un beau soleil. Nous ferons +remarquer que le costume des divers personnages +que figurent dans notre monument est tout à fait +caractéristique. Ce sont bien là les vêtements et +les ornements en usage vers la moitié du quinzième +siècle, et la disposition artistique, le choix du sujet, +ainsi que l’exécution elle-même portent bien l’empreinte +du style des œuvres de 1450 environ.——La +maison de Bourgogne était fort riche en joyaux, en +vaisselle d’or ou d’argent et en <em>tapis</em>.</span>”</p> + +<p>The tapestry presents an allegorical history, of +which the object is to depict the inconveniences consequent +on what is called “good cheer.” Later on +this formed the subject of “a morality.” Originally +this tapestry was only one vast page, the requisite +divisions being wrought in the form of ornamented +columns. It was afterwards cut in pieces, and unfortunately +the natural divisions of the subject were +not attended to in the severment. More unhappily +still the pieces have since been rejoined in a wrong +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>332]</a></span> +order; and after every possible endeavour to read +them aright, the publishers are indebted to the +“Morality” before referred to, which was taken from +it, and was entitled “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Nef de Santé, avec le +gouvernail du corps humain, et la condamnaçion des +bancquetz, a la louenge de Diepte et Sobriéte, et la +Traictie des Passions de l’ame.</span>”</p> + +<p><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Banquet, Bonnecompagnie, Souper, Gourmandise, +Friandise, Passetemps, Je pleige d’autant, Je boy à +vous</span>, and other rare personifications, not forgetting +that indispensable guest <em>then</em> in all courtly pastime, +Le fol, “go it” to their hearts’ content, until they +are interrupted <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vi et armis</i> by a ghastly phalanx in +powerful array of Apoplexie, Ydropsie, Epilencie, +Pleurisie, Esquinancie, Paralasie, Gravelle, Colicque, +&c.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tapisserie de Dijon.</span>—“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">On conviendra qu’il +serait difficile de trouver un monument de ce genre +plus fidèle sur le rapport historique, plus intéressant +pour les arts, et plus digne d’être reproduit par la +gravure. Je ferai en outre remarquer combien cet +immense tableau de laine, qui est unique, renferme +de détails précieux à la fois pour la panoplie, pour +les costumes, et l’architecture du commencement du +16 siècle, ainsi que pour l’histoire monumentale de +Dijon.</span>”</p> + +<p>This tapestry, judging by the engravings in the +work we quote, must be very beautiful. The groups +are spirited and well disposed; and the countenances +have so much <em>nature</em> and expression in them, +as to lead us readily to credit the opinion of the +writer that they were portraits. The buildings are +well outlined; and in the third piece an excellent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>333]</a></span> +effect is produced by exposing—by means of an +open window, or some simple contrivance of the sort—part +of the interior of the church of Nôtre Dame, +and so displaying the brave leader of the French +army, La Tremouille, as he offers thanks before the +shrine of the Virgin.</p> + +<p>The tapestry was worked immediately after the +siege of Dijon, (1513) and represents in three scenes +the most important circumstances relating to it; +the costumes, the arms, and the architecture of the +time being displayed with fidelity and exactitude. +The first represents the invading army before the +walls; the second a solemn procession in honour of +Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Espoir. In the midst is +elevated the image of the Virgin, which is surrounded +by the clergy in their festal vestments, by the religious +communities, by the nobility, the bourgeois, +and the military, all bearing torches.</p> + +<p>To this solemn procession was attributed the truce +which led to a more lasting peace, though there are +some heterodox dissentients who attribute this substantial +advantage to the wisdom and policy of the +able commander La Tremouille, who shared with +Bayard the honourable distinction of being “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans +peur et sans reproche</span>.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tapisseries de Bayard.</span>—A château which belonged +to this noted hero was despoiled at the +Revolution, and it was doubtless only owing to an +idea of its worthlessness that some of the ancient +tapestry was left there. These fragments, in a deplorable +state, were purchased in 1807, and there +are yet sufficient of them to bear testimony to their +former magnificence, and to decide the date of their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>334]</a></span> +creation at the close of the fourteenth or beginning +of the fifteenth century. The subjects are taken +from Homer’s “Iliad,” and “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">il est probable</span> (says +M. Jubinal) <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">que ce poëme se trouvait originairement +reproduit en laine presque tout entier, malgré sa +longueur, car ce n’était pas le travail qui effrayait +nos aïeux.</span>”</p> + +<p>Valenciennes was celebrated for the peculiar fineness +and gloss of its tapestry. By the indefatigable +industry of certain antiquarians, some pieces in good +preservation representing a tournament, have lately +been taken from a garret, dismantled of their triple +panoply of dust, cleaned and hung up; after being +traced from their original abode in the state apartments +of a prince through various gradations, to the +damp walls of a registry office, where, from their +apparent fragility alone, they escaped being cut into +floor mats.</p> + +<p>Those of the <span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chateau D’Haroue</span>, and of the +<span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Collection Dusommerard</span>, are also named here; +but there is little to say about them, as the subjects +are more imaginary than historical. They are of +the sixteenth century, representing scenes of the +chase, and are enlivened with birds in every position, +some of them being, in proportion to other +figures, certainly <em>larger</em> than life, and “twice as +natural.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tapisseries de la Chaise Dieu.</span>—“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Abbaye +de la Chaise Dieu fut fondée en 1046 par Robert +qu’Alexandre 2de canonisa plus tard en 1070; et +dont l’origine se rattachait à la famille des comtes +de Poitou.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Robert fut destiné de bonne heure aux fonctions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>335]</a></span> +du sacerdoce.</span>” He went on pilgrimage to the tombs +of some of the Apostles, and it was on his return +thence that he was first struck with the idea of +founding a cœnobitical establishment.</p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Réuni à un soldat nommé Etienne, à un solitaire +nommé Delmas, et à un chanoine nommé Arbert, +il se retira dans la solitude, et s’emparant du désert +au profit de la religion, il planta la croix du Sauveur +dans les lieux jusqu’à-là couverts de forêts et de +bruyères incultes, et rassembla quelques disciples +pour vivre auprès de lui sous la règle qu’un ange +lui avait, disait il, apportée du ciel.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bientôt la réputation des cénobites s’étendit; +Robert fut reconnu comme leur chef. De toutes +parts on accourut les visiter. Des donations leur +furent faites, et sur les ruines d’une ancienne église +une nouvelle basilique s’éleva.</span></p> + +<p>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Telle est à peu prés l’histoire primitive de +l’abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu.</span>”</p> + +<p>The <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chaise-Dieu</span> tapestries are fourteen in number, +three of them are ten feet square, and the +others are six feet high by eighteen long, excepting +one which measures nearly twenty-six feet. Twelve +are hung on the carved wood-work of the choir of +the great church, and thus cover an immense space. +Further off is the ancient choir of the monks, of +which the wood-work of sculptured oak is surprisingly +rich. Not even the cathedral of Rheims, of +which the wood-work has long been regarded as the +most beautiful in the kingdom, contains so great a +number. Unhappily in times of intestine commotion +this chef d’œuvre has been horribly mutilated +by the axes of modern iconoclasts, more ferocious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>336]</a></span> +than the barbarians of old. The two other tapestries +are placed in the Church of the Penitents, an +ancient refectory of the monks which now forms a +dependent chapel to the great temple.</p> + +<p>These magnificent hangings are woven of wool +and silk, and one yet perceives almost throughout, +golden and silver threads which time has spared. +When the artist prepared to copy them for the +work we are quoting, no one dreamt of the richness +buried beneath the accumulated dust and dirt of +centuries. They were carefully cleaned, and then, +says the artist, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je suis ébloui de cette magnificence +que nous ne soupçonnions plus. C’est admirable. +Les Gobelins ne produisent pas aujourd’hui +de tissus plus riches et plus éclatans. Imaginez-vous +que les robes des femmes, les ornemens, les +colonnettes sont émaillés, ruisselants de milliers +de pierres fines et de perles</span>,” &c.</p> + +<p>It would be tedious to attempt to describe individually +the subjects of these tapestries. They +interweave the histories of the Old and New Testaments; +the centre of the work generally representing +some passage in the life of our Saviour, whilst +on each side is some correspondent typical incident +from the Old Testament. Above are rhymed quatrains, +either legendary or scriptural; and below +and around are sentences drawn from the prophets +or the psalms.</p> + +<p>These tapestries appear to have been the production +of the close of the fifteenth and the beginning +of the sixteenth centuries, denoting in the architecture +and costumes <em>more</em> the reigns of Charles VIII. +and Louis XI., than of Louis XII. and Francis I. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>337]</a></span> +Such pieces were probably long in the loom, since +the tapestry of Dijon, composed of a single <i>lai</i> of +twenty-one feet, required not less, according to a +competent judge, than ten years’ labour.</p> + +<p>There are some most beautiful, even amongst +these all-beautiful engravings, which we much regret +to see there—engravings of the tapestry in the +cathedral of Aix, which tapestry ought still to enrich +our own country. Shame on those under whose +barbarous rule these, amongst other valuable and +cherished monuments, were, as relics of papistry, +bartered for foreign gold. “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’histoire manuscrite +de la ville d’Aix dit que cette tapisserie avait servi +à l’église de St. Paul de Londres ou à toute autre +église cathédrale d’Angleterre; qu’à l’époque de la +Réformation, les tableaux et les tapisseries ayant été +exclus des temples, les Anglais cherchèrent à vendre +dans les pays étrangers quelques-unes des tapisseries +qui ornaient leurs cathédrales, et <em>qu’ils en brûlèrent +un plus grand nombre</em>!</span>”</p> + +<p>This tapestry represents the history of our Saviour, +in twenty seven compartments, being in the whole +about 187 feet long. It is supposed to have been +woven about 1511, when William Warham was +Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chancellor. Warham +had been previously Bishop of London; and +as his arms are on this tapestry, and also the arms +of two prior bishops of London who are supposed to +have left legacies to ornament the church which were +applied towards defraying the expenses of this manufacture, +it seems quite probable that its destination +was St. Paul’s, and not any other cathedral +church. The arms of the king are inwrought in two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>338]</a></span> +places; for Henry contributed to the embellishment +of this church. He loved the arts; he decorated +churches; and though he seceded from the Roman +communion, he maintained throughout his life magnificent +decorations in his favourite churches as well +as the worship of the ancient Catholic Church. It +was first under Edward, and more decidedly under +Elizabeth, that the ceremonies of the church were +completely changed, and that those which had been +considered only decent and becoming were stigmatised +as popish. Nor did this fantasy reach its +height until the time of Cromwell.</p> + +<p>Lord Douglas, Earl of Buchan, who founded the +Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, endeavoured +during the interval of the Peace of Amiens, to treat +with the Archbishop of Aix for the repurchase of +this tapestry. He would have placed it in a Gothic +church belonging to an ancient Scotch Abbey on +his domains. He had already ornamented this +church with several beautiful monuments of antiquity, +and he wished to place this tapestry there as +a national monument, but the treaty was broken off.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Tapestries of Aulhac</span>, representing the +siege of Troy, and those of <span class="smcap">Beauvais</span>, embracing a +variety of subjects from history both sacred and profane; +of the <span class="smcap">Louvre</span>, representing the Miracle of +St. Quentin, tapestry representing <span class="smcap">Alexander</span>, +King of Scotland; and those of <span class="smcap">St. Remi</span>, at +Rheims, are all engraven and described.</p> + +<p>Those of the magnificent cathedral church at +Rheims, consisting of forty tapestries, forming different +collections, but all on religious subjects, will +probably form the material for future numbers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>339]</a></span> +That there are ancient tapestries existing in England +fully equal to those in France is, we think, +almost certain; but of course they are not to be +summoned from the “vasty deep” of neglect and +oblivion by the powerless voice of an obscure individual. +Gladly would we, had it been in our power, +have enriched our sketch by references to some of +them.</p> + +<p>The following notice of a tapestry at Coventry is +drawn from “Smith’s Selections of the ancient Costume +of Britain;” and the names of the tapestries +at Hampton Court Palace from “Pyne’s Royal Residences.” +We have recently visited Hampton Court +for the express purpose of viewing the tapestries. +There, we believe, they were, entirely (with the +exception of a stray inch or two here and there) +hung over with paintings.</p> + +<p>The splendid though neglected tapestry of St. +Mary’s Hall at Coventry offers a variety of materials +no less interesting on account of the sanctity +and misfortunes of the prince (Henry VI.) who is +there represented, than curious as specimens of the +arts of drawing, dyeing, and embroidery of the time +in which it was executed.</p> + +<p>It is thirty feet in length and ten in height; and +is divided into six compartments, three in the upper +tier and three in the lower, containing in all upwards +of eighty figures or heads. The centre compartment +of the upper row, in its perfect and original +state, represented the usual personification of the +Trinity—(the Trinity Guild held its meetings in +the hall of St. Mary) surrounded by angels bearing +the various instruments of the Passion. But the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>340]</a></span> +zeal of our early reformers sacrificed this part of the +work, and substituted in its stead a tasteless figure +of Justice, which now holds the scales amidst the +original group of surrounding angels.</p> + +<p>The right hand division of this tier is occupied +with sundry figures of saints and martyrs, and the +opposite side is filled with a group of female saints.</p> + +<p>In the centre compartment below is represented +the Virgin Mary in the clouds, standing on the +crescent, surrounded by the twelve Apostles and +many cherubs. But the two remaining portions of +this fine tapestry constitute its chief value and importance +to the city of Coventry, as they represent +the figures of Henry VI., his Queen, the ambitious, and +crafty, and cruel, yet beautiful and eloquent and +injured Margaret of Anjou, and many of their attendants. +During all the misfortunes of Henry, the +citizens of Coventry zealously supported him; and +their city is styled by historians “Queen Margaret’s +secret bower.” As the tapestry was purposely made +for the hall, and probably placed there during the +lives of the sovereigns, the figures may be considered +as authentic portraits.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>The first Presence Chamber in Hampton Court +is (or was) hung with rich ancient tapestry, representing +a landscape, with the figures of Nymphs, +Fawns, Satyrs, Nereides, &c.</p> + +<p>There is some fine ancient tapestry in the King’s +Audience Chamber, the subjects being, on one side, +Abraham and Lot dividing their lands; and on the +other, God appearing to Abraham purchasing ground +for a burying-place.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>341]</a></span> +The tapestry on the walls of the King’s Drawing-Room +represents Abraham entertaining the three +Angels; also Abraham, Isaac, and Rebecca.</p> + +<p>The tapestry which covers three sides of the +King’s State Bedchamber represents the history of +Joshua.</p> + +<p>The walls of the Queen’s Audience Chamber are +covered with tapestry hangings, which represent the +story of Abraham and Melchisedec, and Abraham +and Rebecca.</p> + +<p>The Ball Room is called also the Tapestry Gallery, +from the superb suite of hangings that ornament +its walls, which was brought from Flanders +by General Cadogan, and set up by order of +George I. The series of seven compartments describes +the history of Alexander the Great, from the +paintings of the celebrated Charles le Brun. The +first represents the story of Alexander and his horse +Bucephalus; the second, the visit of Alexander to +Diogenes; the third, the passage of Alexander over +the Granicus; the fourth, Alexander’s visit to the +mother and wife of Darius, in their tent, after the +battle of Arbela; the fifth, Alexander’s triumphal +entrance into Babylon; the sixth, Alexander’s +battle with Porus; the seventh, his second entrance +into Babylon.—These magnificent hangings were +wrought at the Gobelins.</p> + +<p>The tapestry hangings in the king’s private +bedchamber describe the naval battle of Solebay +between the combined fleets of England and France +and the Dutch fleet, in 1672.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>Of all the tapestries here recorded, the last only, +representing the Battle of Solebay, are now visible.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> +“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Anciennes Tapisseries Historiées, ou Collection des Monumens +les plus remarquables, de ce genre, qui nous soient restés du +moyen age.” A Paris.</span></p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>342]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">EMBROIDERY.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Flowers, Plants and Fishes, Beasts, Birds, Flyes, and Bees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hils, Dales, Plaines, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There’s nothing neere at hand, or farthest sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But with the Needle may be shap’d and wrought.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">John Taylor.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Perhaps of all nations in very ancient times the +Medes and Babylonians were most celebrated for +the draperies of the apartments, about which they +were even more anxious than about their attire. +All their noted hangings with which their palaces +were so gorgeously celebrated were wrought by the +needle. And though now everywhere the loom is +in request, still these and other eastern nations +maintain great practice and unrivalled skill in +needle embroidery. Sir John Chardin says of the +Persians, “Their tailors certainly excel ours in their +sewing. They make carpets, cushions, veils for +doors, and other pieces of furniture of felt, in Mosaic +work, which represents just what they please. +This is done so neatly, that a man might suppose +the figures were painted instead of being a kind of +inlaid work. Look as close as you will, the joining +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>343]</a></span> +cannot be seen;” and the Hall of Audience at +Jeddo, we are told, is a sumptuous edifice; the roof +covered with gold and silver of exquisite workmanship, +the throne of massy gold enriched with pearls, +diamonds, and other precious stones. The tapestry +is of the finest silk, wrought by the <em>most curious +hands</em>, and adorned with pearls, gold, and silver, +and other costly embellishments.</p> + +<p>About the close of the ninth or beginning of the +tenth century, the Caliph Moctadi’s whole army, +both horse and foot, (says Abulfeda) were under +arms, which together made a body of 160,000 men. +His state officers stood near him in the most splendid +apparel, their belts shining with gold and gems. +Near them were 7000 black and white eunuchs. +The porters or door-keepers were in number 700. +Barges and boats, with the most superb decorations, +were swimming on the Tigris. Nor was the palace +itself less splendid, in which were hung <em>38,000 +pieces of tapestry, 12,500 of which were of silk embroidered +with gold</em>. The carpets on the floor were +22,000. A hundred lions were brought out with a +keeper to each lion. Among the other spectacles +of rare and stupendous luxury, was a tree of gold +and silver, which opened itself into eighteen larger +branches, upon which, and the other less branches +sate birds of every sort, made also of gold and silver. +The tree glittered with leaves of the same metals, +and while its branches, through machinery, appeared +to move of themselves, the several birds upon them +warbled their natural notes.</p> + +<p>The skill of the eastern embroiderer has always +had a wide field for display in the decoration of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>344]</a></span> +<em>tents</em>, which were in such request in hot countries, +among Nomadic tribes, or on military excursions.</p> + +<p>The covering of tents among the Arabs is usually +black goats’ hair, so compactly woven as to be impervious +to rain. But there is, besides this, always +an inner one, on which the skill and industry of the +fair artisan—for both outer and inner are woven +and wrought by women—is displayed. This is often +white woollen stuff, on which flowers are usually +embroidered. Curious hangings too are frequently +hung over the entrances, when the means of the +possessors do not admit of more general decoration. +Magnificent <em>perdahs</em>, or hangings of needlework, are +always suspended in the tents of persons of rank +and fashion, who assume a more ambitious decoration; +and there are accounts in various travellers of +tents which must have been gorgeous in the extreme.</p> + +<p>Nadir Shah, out of the abundance of his spoils, +caused a tent or tabernacle to be made of such +beauty and magnificence as were almost beyond description. +The outside was covered with fine scarlet +broad cloth, the lining was of violet coloured satin, +on which were representations of all the birds and +beasts in the creation, with trees and flowers; the +whole made of pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, +amethysts, and other precious stones; and the tent-poles +were decorated in like manner. On both sides +of the peacock throne was a screen, on which were +the figures of two angels in precious stones. The +roof of the tent consisted of seven pieces; and when +it was transported to any place, two of these pieces +packed in cotton were put into a wooden chest, two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>345]</a></span> +of which chests were a sufficient load for an elephant: +the screen filled another chest. The walls +of the tent—tent-poles and tent-pins, which were of +massy gold, loaded five more elephants; so that for +the carriage of the whole were required seven elephants. +This magnificent tent was displayed on all +festivals in the public hall at Herat, during the +remainder of Nadir Shah’s reign.</p> + +<p>Sir J. Chardin tells us that the late King of +Persia caused a tent to be made which cost 2,000,000<i>l.</i> +They called it the House of Gold, because gold +glittered everywhere about it. He adds, that there +was an inscription wrought upon the cornice of the +antechamber, which gave it the appellation of the +Throne of the second Solomon, and at the same +time marked out the year of its construction. The +following description of Antar’s tent from the +Bedouin romance of that name has been often +quoted:—</p> + +<p>“When spread out it occupied half the land of +Shurebah, for it was the load of forty camels; and +there was an awning at the door of the pavilion +under which 4000 of the Absian horse could skirmish. +It was embroidered with burnished gold, +studded with precious stones and diamonds, interspersed +with rubies and emeralds, set with rows of +pearls; and there was painted thereon a specimen +of every created thing, birds and trees, and towns, +and cities, and seas, and continents, and beasts, and +reptiles; and whoever looked at it was confounded +by the variety of the representations, and by the +brilliancy of the silver and gold: and so magnificent +was the whole, that when the pavilion was pitched, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>346]</a></span> +the land of Shurebah and Mount Saadi were illuminated +by its splendour.”</p> + +<p>Extravagant as seems this description, we are +told that it is not so much exaggerated as we might +imagine. “Poetical license” has indeed been indulged +in to the fullest extent, especially as to the +size of the pavilion; yet Marco Polo in sober earnest +describes one under which 10,000 soldiers might be +drawn up <em>without incommoding the nobles at the +audience</em>.</p> + +<p>It is well known that Mohammed forbade his +followers to imitate any animal or insect in their +embroideries or ornamental work of any sort. Hence +the origin of the term <em>arabesque</em>, which we now use +to express all odd combinations of patterns from +which human and animal forms are excluded. That +portion of the race which merged in the Moors of +Spain were especially remarked for their magnificent +and beautiful decorative work; and from them +did we borrow, as before alluded to, the custom of +using tapestry for curtains.</p> + +<p>At the present day none are perhaps more patient +and laborious embroiderers than the Chinese; their +regularity and neatness are supposed to be unequalled, +and the extreme care with which they work preserves +their shades bright and shining.</p> + +<p>The Indians excel in variety of embroidery. They +embroider with cotton on muslin, but they employ +on gauze, rushes, skins of insects, nails and claws of +animals, of walnuts, and dry fruits, and above all, +the feathers of birds. They mingle their colours +without harmony as without taste; it is only a +species of wild mosaic, which announces no plan, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>347]</a></span> +and represents no object. The women of the wandering +tribes of Persia weave those rich carpets +which are called Turkey carpets, from the place of +their immediate importation. But this country was +formerly celebrated for magnificent embroideries, +and also for tapestries composed of silk and wool +embellished with gold. This latter beautiful art, +though not entirely lost, is nearly so for want of +encouragement. But of all eastern nations the +Moguls were the most celebrated for their splendid +embroideries; walls, couches, and even floors were +covered with silk or cotton fabrics richly worked +with gold, and often, as in ancient times, with gems +inwrought. But this empire has ever been proverbial +for its splendour; at one time the throne of the +Mogul was estimated at 4,000,000<i>l.</i> sterling, made +up by diamonds and other jewels, received in gifts +during a long succession of ages.</p> + +<p>We have, in a former chapter, alluded to the custom +of embroidery in imitation of feathers, and also +for using real feathers for ornamental work. This +is much the custom in many countries. Some of +the inhabitants of New Holland make artificial +flowers with feathers, with consummate skill; and +they are not uncommon, though vastly inferior, here. +Various articles of dress are frequently seen made +of them, as feather muffs, feather tippets, &c.; and +we have seen within the last few months a bonnet +covered with <em>peacock’s</em> feathers. This, however, is +certainly the <em>extreme</em> of fancy. The celebrated Mrs. +Montague had hangings ornamented with feathers: +the hangings doubtless are gone: the name of the +accomplished lady who displayed them in her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>348]</a></span> +fashionable halls is sinking into oblivion, but the +poet, who perchance merely glanced at them, lives +for ever.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">ON MRS. MONTAGUE’S FEATHER HANGINGS.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“The birds put off their ev’ry hue,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To dress a room for Montague.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The peacock sends his heavenly dyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His <em>rainbows</em> and his <em>starry eyes</em>;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The pheasant plumes, which round infold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His mantling neck with downy gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The cock his arch’d tail’s azure shew;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And, river blanch’d, the swan his snow.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All tribes beside of Indian name,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That glossy shine, or vivid flame,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where rises, and where sets the day,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whate’er they boast of rich and gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Contribute to the gorgeous plan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Proud to advance it all they can.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This plumage, neither dashing shower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor blasts that shape the dripping bow’r,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall drench again or discompose—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But screen’d from ev’ry storm that blows<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It boasts a splendour ever new,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Safe with protecting Montague.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Some Canadian women embroider with their own +hair and that of animals; they copy beautifully the +ramifications of moss-agates, and of several plants. +They insinuate in their works skins of serpents and +morsels of fur patiently smoothed. If their embroidery +is not so brilliant as that of the Chinese, it +is not less industrious.</p> + +<p>The negresses of Senegal embroider the skin of +different animals of flowers and figures of all colours.</p> + +<p>The Turks and Georgians embroider marvellously +the lightest gauze or most delicate crape. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>349]</a></span> +They use gold thread with inconceivable delicacy; +they represent the most minute objects on morocco +without varying the form, or fraying the finest gold, +by a proceeding quite unknown to us. They frequently +ornament their embroidery with pieces of +money of different nations, and travellers who are +aware of this circumstance often find in their old +garments valuable and interesting coins.</p> + +<p>The Saxons imitate the designs of the most accomplished +work-people; their embroidery with untwisted +thread on muslin is the most delicate and +correct we are acquainted with of that kind.</p> + +<p>The embroidery of Venice and Milan has long +been celebrated, but its excessive dearness prevents +the use of it. There is also much beautiful embroidery +in France, but the palm for precedence is +ably disputed by the Germans, especially those of +Vienna.</p> + +<p>This progress and variations of this luxury +amongst various nations would be a subject of +curious research, but too intricate and lengthened +for our pages. We have intimations of it at the +earliest period, and there is no age in which it appears +to have been totally laid aside, no nation in +which it was in utter disrepute. Some of its most +beautiful patterns have been, as in architecture, the +adaptation of the moment from natural objects, for +one of the first ornaments in Roman embroidery, +when they departed from their primitive simplicity +in dress, was the imitation of the leaf of the acanthus—the +same leaf which imparted grace and +ornament to the Corinthian capital.</p> + +<p>But it would be endless to enter into the subject +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>350]</a></span> +of patterns, which doubtless were everywhere originally +simple enough, with</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or scarlet crewel.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And patient minds must often have planned, and +assiduous fingers must long have wrought, ere such +an achievement was perfected, as even the covering +of the joint stool described by Cowper:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“At length a generation more refin’d<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Improved the simple plan; made three legs four,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave them a twisted form vermicular,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And o’er the seat with plenteous wadding stuff’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Induc’d a splendid cover, green and blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And woven close, or needlework sublime.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There might ye see the piony spread wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lapdog and lambkin with black staring eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But from the days of Elizabeth the practice of +ornamental needlework, of embroidery, had gradually +declined in England: the literary and scholastic +pursuits which in her day had superseded the +use of the needle, did not indeed continue the +fashion of later times; still the needle was not resumed, +nor perhaps has embroidery and tapestry +ever from the days of Elizabeth been so much practised +as it is now. Many <em>individuals</em> have indeed +been celebrated, as one thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She wrought all needleworks that women exercise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With pen, frame, or stoole; all pictures artificial,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Curious knots or trailes, what fancy could devise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beasts, birds, or flowers, even as things natural.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>351]</a></span> +But still embroidery had ceased to be looked upon +as a necessary accomplishment, or taught as an important +part of education. In the early part of the +last century women had become so mischievous +from the lack of this employment, that the “Spectator” +seriously recommends it to the attention of +the community at large.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="smcap">“Mr. Spectator,</p> + +<p>“I have a couple of nieces under my direction +who so often run gadding abroad, that I do not +know where to have them. Their dress, their tea, +and their visits, take up all their time, and they go +to bed as tired doing nothing, as I am often after +quilting a whole under-petticoat. The only time +they are not idle is while they read your Spectator, +which being dedicated to the interests of virtue, I +desire you to recommend the long-neglected art of +needlework. Those hours which in this age are +thrown away in dress, play, visits, and the like, were +employed in my time in writing out receipts, or +working beds, chairs, and hangings for the family. +For my part I have plied my needle these fifty +years, and by my good will would never have it out +of my hand. It grieves my heart to see a couple of +idle flirts sipping their tea, for a whole afternoon, in +a room hung round with the industry of their great-grandmother. +Pray, Sir, take the laudable mystery +of embroidery into your serious consideration; and +as you have a great deal of the virtue of the last +age in you, continue your endeavours to reform +the present.</p> + +<p class="sig">“I am, &c., ———”</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>352]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“In obedience to the commands of my venerable +correspondent, I have duly weighed this important +subject, and promise myself from the arguments +here laid down, that all the fine ladies of England +will be ready, as soon as the mourning is over (for +Queen Anne) to appear covered with the work of +their own hands.</p> + +<p>“What a delightful entertainment must it be to +the fair sex whom their native modesty, and the +tenderness of men towards them exempt from public +business, to pass their hours in imitating fruits and +flowers, and transplanting all the beauties of nature +into their own dress, or raising a new creation in +their closets and apartments! How pleasing is +the amusement of walking among the shades and +groves planted by themselves, in surveying heroes +slain by the needle, or little Cupids which they have +brought into the world without pain!</p> + +<p>“This is, methinks, the most proper way wherein +a lady can show a fine genius; and I cannot forbear +wishing that several writers of that sex had chosen +to apply themselves rather to tapestry than rhyme. +Your pastoral poetesses may vent their fancy in +great landscapes, and place despairing shepherds +under silken willows, or drown them in a stream of +mohair. The heroic writers may work of battles as +successfully, and inflame them with gold, or stain +them with crimson. Even those who have only a +turn to a song or an epigram, may put many valuable +stitches into a purse, and crowd a thousand +graces into a pair of garters.</p> + +<p>“If I may, without breach of good manners, imagine +that any pretty creature is void of genius, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>353]</a></span> +would perform her part herein but very awkwardly, +I must nevertheless insist upon her working, if it +be only to keep her out of harm’s way.</p> + +<p>“Another argument for busying good women in +works of fancy is, because it takes them off from +scandal, the usual attendant of tea-tables and all +other inactive scenes of life. While they are forming +their birds and beasts, their neighbours will be +allowed to be the fathers of their own children, and +Whig and Tory will be but seldom mentioned where +the great dispute is, whether blue or red is now the +proper colour. How much greater glory would +Sophronia do the general if she would choose rather +to work the battle of Blenheim in tapestry than signalise +herself with so much vehemence against those +who are Frenchmen in their hearts!</p> + +<p>“A third reason I shall mention is, the profit that +is brought to the family when these pretty arts are +encouraged. It is manifest that this way of life not +only keeps fair ladies from running out into expenses, +but is at the same time an actual improvement.</p> + +<p>“How memorable would that matron be, who shall +have it subscribed upon her monument, ‘She that +wrought out the whole Bible in tapestry, and died +in a good old age, after having covered 300 yards of +wall in the Mansion House!’</p> + +<p>“The premises being considered, I humbly submit +the following proposals to all mothers in Great +Britain:—</p> + +<p>“1. That no young virgin whatsoever be allowed +to receive the addresses of her first lover, but in a +suit of her own embroidering.</p> + +<p>“2. That before every fresh humble servant she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>354]</a></span> +shall be obliged to appear with a new stomacher at +the least.</p> + +<p>“3. That no one be actually married until she +hath the child-bed pillows, &c., ready stitched, as +likewise the mantle for the boy quite finished.</p> + +<p>“These laws, if I mistake not, would effectually +restore the decayed art of needlework, and make +the virgins of Great Britain exceedingly nimble-fingered +in their business.”</p> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>355]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK ON BOOKS.</span></h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“And often did she look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On that which in her hand she bore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In velvet bound and broider’d o’er—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her breviary book.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Marmion.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">“Books are ours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within whose silent chambers treasure lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Preserved from age to age—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These hoards of truth we can unlock at will.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Wordsworth.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Deep indeed are our obligations for those treasures +which “we can unlock at will:” treasures of far more +value than gold or gems, for they oftentimes bestow +that which gold cannot purchase—even forgetfulness +of sorrow and pain. Happy are those who have a taste +for reading and leisure to indulge it. It is the most +beguiling solace of life: it is its most ennobling pursuit. +It is a magnificent thing to converse with the +master spirits of past ages, to behold them as they +were; to mingle thought with thought and mind +with mind; to let the imagination rove—based however +on the authentic record of the past—through +dim and distant ages; to behold the fathers and +prophets of the ancient earth; to hold communion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>356]</a></span> +with martyrs and prophets, and kings; to kneel at +the feet of the mighty lawgiver; to bend at the shrine +of the eternal poet; to imbibe inspiration from the +eloquent, to gather instruction from the wise, and +pleasure from the gifted; to behold, as in a glass, +all the majesty and all the beauty of the mighty +<span class="smcap">Past</span>, to revel in all the accumulated treasures of +Time—and this, all this, we have by reading the privilege +to do. Imagination indeed, the gift of heaven, +may soar elate, unchecked, though untutored through +time and space, through Time to Eternity, and may +people worlds at will; but that truthful basis which +can alone give permanence to her visions, that knowledge +which ennobles and purifies and elevates them +is acquired from books, whether</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Song of the Muses, says historic tale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Science severe, or word of Holy Writ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Announcing immortality and joy.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The “word of Holy Writ,” the <span class="smcap">Bible</span>—we pass +over its hopes, its promises, its consolations—these +themes are too sacred even for reference on our light +page—but here, we may remark, we see the world in +its freshness, its prime, its glory. We converse +truly with godlike men and angelic women. We see +the mighty and majestic fathers of the human race +ere sin had corrupted all their godlike seeming; ere +sorrow—the bequeathed and inherited sorrows of +ages—had quite seared the “human face divine;” +ere sloth, and luxury, and corruption, and decay, +had altered features formed in the similitude of +heaven to the gross semblance of earth; and we +walk step by step over the new fresh earth as yet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>357]</a></span> +untrodden by foot of man, and behold the ancient +solitudes gradually invaded by his advancing steps.</p> + +<p>Most gentle, most soothing, most faithful companions +are books. They afford amusement for the +lonely hour; solace perchance for the sorrowful one: +they offer recreation to the light-hearted; instruction +to the inquiring; inspiration to the aspiring +mind; food for the thirsty one. They are inexhaustible +in extent as in variety: and oh! in the +silent vigil by the suffering couch, or during the +languor of indisposition, who can too highly praise +those silent friends—silent indeed to the ear, but +speaking eloquently to the heart—which beguile, +even transiently, the mind from present depressing +care, strengthen and elevate it by communion with +the past, or solace it by hopes of the future!</p> + +<p>Listen how sweetly one of the first of modern men +apostrophises his books:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“My days among the dead are past;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Around me I behold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where’er these casual eyes are cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The mighty minds of old;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My never-failing friends are they,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With whom I converse day by day.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“With them I take delight in weal,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And seek relief in woe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And while I understand and feel<br /></span> +<span class="i1">How much to them I owe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My cheeks have often been bedew’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tears of thoughtful gratitude.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“My thoughts are with the dead; with them<br /></span> +<span class="i1">I live in long past years;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their virtues love, their faults condemn,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Partake their hopes and fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from their lessons seek and find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Instruction with a humble mind.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>358]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“My hopes are with the dead; anon<br /></span> +<span class="i1">My place with them will be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I with them shall travel on<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Through all futurity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet leaving here a name, I trust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That will not perish in the dust.”<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Yet how little are we of the present day, who have +books poured into our laps, able to estimate their +real value! Nor is it possible that they can ever +again be estimated as they once were. The universal +diffusion of them, the incalculable multiplication +of them, seems to render it impossible that the world +can ever be deprived of them. No. We must call +up some of the spirits of the “pious and painful” +amanuenses of those days when the fourth estate of +the realm, the public press—<small>WAS NOT</small>—to tell us the +real value of the literary treasures we now esteem so +lightly. He will tell us that in his day the donation +of a single book to a religious house was thought to +give the donor a claim to eternal salvation; and that +an offering so valued, so cherished, would be laid on +the high altar amid pomp and pageantry. He might +perhaps personally remember the prior and convent +of Rochester pronouncing an irrevocable sentence of +damnation on him who should purloin or conceal +their treasured Latin translation of Aristotle’s physics. +He would tell us that the holiest and wisest +of men would forego ease and luxury and spend +laborious years in transcribing books for the +good of others; he will tell us that amongst many +others, Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury, did this, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>359]</a></span> +perchance he will name that Guido de Jars, in his +fortieth year, began to copy the Bible on vellum, +with rich and elegant decorations, and that the suns +of half a century had risen and set, ere, with unintermitting +labour and unwearied zeal, he finished it +in his ninetieth. He will also tell us, that when a +book was to be sold, it was customary to assemble all +persons of consequence and character in the neighbourhood, +and to make a formal record that they +were present on this occasion. Thus, amongst the +royal MSS. is a book thus described:—</p> + +<p>“This book of the Sentences belongs to Master +Robert, archdeacon of Lincoln, which he bought of +Geoffrey the chaplain, brother of Henry vicar of +Northelkingston, in the presence of Master Robert +de Lee, Master John of Lirling, Richard of Luda, +clerk, Richard the Almoner, the said Henry the vicar +and his clerk, and others: and the said archdeacon +gave the said book to God and saint Oswald, and to +Peter abbot of Barton, and the convent of Barden.”</p> + +<p>These are a few, a very few of such instances as a +spirit of the fourteenth century might allude to—to +testify the value of books. Indeed, even so late as +the reign of Henry the VI., when the invention of +paper greatly facilitated the multiplication of MSS. +the impediments to study, from the scarcity of books, +must have been very great, for in the statutes of St. +Mary’s College, Oxford, is this order—“Let no scholar +occupy a book in the library above one hour, or +two hours at the most; lest others shall be hindered +from the use of the same.”</p> + +<p>The scarcity of parchment seems indeed at times +to have been a greater hindrance to the promulgation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>360]</a></span> +of literature than even the laborious and tedious +transcription of the books. About 1120, one Master +Hugh, being appointed by the convent of St. +Edmondsbury to write a copy of the Bible, for their +library, could procure no parchment in England. +The following particulars of the scarcity of books before +the era of printing, gathered chiefly by Warton, +are interesting.</p> + +<p>In 855, Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres in France, sent +two of his monks to Pope Benedict the third, to beg +a copy of Cicero de Oratore, and Quintilian’s Institutes, +and some other books: for, says the abbot, +although we have part of these books, yet there is +no whole or complete copy of them in all France.</p> + +<p>Albert, abbot of Gemblours, who with incredible +labour and immense expense had collected a hundred +volumes on theological, and fifty on general +subjects, imagined he had formed a splendid library.</p> + +<p>About 790, Charlemagne granted an unlimited +right to hunting to the abbot and monks of Sithin, +for making their gloves and girdles of the skins of +the deer they killed, and covers for their books.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the tenth century, books were +so scarce in Spain, that one and the same copy of the +Bible, St. Jerome’s Epistles, and some volumes of +ecclesiastical offices and martyrologies, often served +several different monasteries.</p> + +<p>Amongst the constitutions given to the monks of +England by Archbishop Lanfranc, in 1072, the following +injunction occurs: At the beginning of Lent, +the librarian is ordered to deliver a book to each of +the religious; a whole year was allowed for the perusal +of this book! and at the returning Lent, those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>361]</a></span> +monks who had neglected to read the books they had +respectively received, are commanded to prostrate +themselves before the abbot to supplicate his indulgence. +This regulation was partly occasioned by the +low state of literature in which Lanfranc found the +English monasteries to be; but at the same time it +was a matter of necessity, and partly to be referred +to the scarcity of copies of useful and suitable +authors.</p> + +<p>John de Pontissara, Bishop of Winchester, borrowed +of his cathedral convent of St. Swithin at +Winchester, in 1299, <span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Bibliam bene Glossatam</span>, or +the Bible, with marginal annotations, in two large +folio volumes; but he gives a bond for due return +of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity. This +Bible had been bequeathed to the Convent the same +year by his predecessor, Bishop Nicholas de Ely: +and in consideration of so important a bequest, and +100 marks in money, the monks founded a daily mass +for the soul of the donor.</p> + +<p>About 1225 Roger de Tusula, dean of York, gave +several Latin Bibles to the University of Oxford, +with a condition that the students who perused them +should deposit a cautionary pledge.</p> + +<p>The Library of that University, before the year +1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept +in chests in the choir of St. Mary’s Church.</p> + +<p>Books often brought excessive prices in the +middle ages. In 1174, Walter, Prior of St. Swithin’s +at Winchester, and afterwards abbot of Westminster, +purchased of the monks of Dorchester in Oxfordshire +Bede’s Homilies and St. Austin’s Psalter, for +twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>362]</a></span> +embroidered in silver the history of Birinus converting +a Saxon king.</p> + +<p>About 1400, a copy of John de Meun’s Roman +de la Rose was sold before the palace-gate at Paris +for forty crowns, or 33<i>l.</i> 6<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p>In Edward the Third’s reign, one hundred marks +(equal to 1000<i>l.</i>) were paid to Isabella de Lancaster, +a nun of Ambresbury, for a book of romance, purchased +from her for the king’s use.</p> + +<p>Warton mentions a book of the Gospels, in the +Cotton Library, as a fine specimen of Saxon calligraphy +and decorations. It is written by Eadfrid, +Bishop of Durham, in the most exquisite manner. +Ethelwold his successor did the illuminations, the +capital letters, the picture of the cross, and the +Evangelists, with infinite labour and elegance; and +Bilfred, the anchorite, covered the book, thus +written and adorned, with silver plates and precious +stones. It was finished about 720.</p> + +<p>The encouragement given in the English monasteries +for transcribing books was very considerable. +In every great abbey there was an apartment called +“The Scriptorium;” where many writers were constantly +busied in transcribing not only the Service +Books for the choir, but books for the Library. The +Scriptorium of St. Alban’s Abbey was built by +Abbot Paulin, a Norman, who ordered many +volumes to be written there, about 1080. Archbishop +Lanfranc furnished the copies. Estates were +often granted for the support of the Scriptorium. +That at St. Edmundsbury was endowed with two +mills. The tithes of a rectory were appropriated +to the Cathedral convent of St. Swithin, at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>363]</a></span> +Winchester, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad libros transcribendos</i>, in the year +1171.</p> + +<p>Nigel in the year 1160 gave the monks of Ely +two churches, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad libros faciendos</span>.</p> + +<p>When the library at Croyland Abbey was burnt +in 1091, seven hundred volumes were consumed +which must have been thus laboriously produced.</p> + +<p>Fifty-eight volumes were transcribed at Glastonbury +during the government of one Abbot, about +the year 1300. And in the library of this monastery, +the richest in England, there were upwards of four +hundred volumes in the year 1248.</p> + +<p>But whilst there is sufficient cause to admire the +penmen of former days, in the mere transcription of +books, shall we not marvel at the beauty with which +they were invested; the rich and brilliant illuminations, +the finely tinted paintings, the magnificent +and laborious ornament with which not merely every +page, but in many manuscripts almost every line +was decorated! They, such as have been preserved, +form a valuable proportion of the riches of the principal +European libraries: of the Vatican of Rome; +the Imperial at Vienna; St. Mark’s at Venice; the +Escurial in Spain; and the principal public libraries in +England.</p> + +<p>The art of thus illuminating MSS., now entirely +lost, had attained the highest degree of perfection, +and is, indeed, of ancient origin. In the remotest +times the common colours of black and white have +been varied by luxury and taste. Herodotus and +Diodorus Siculus mention purple and yellow skins, +on which MSS. were written in gold and silver; and +amongst the eastern nations rolls of this kind (that is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>364]</a></span> +gold and silver on purple), exquisitely executed, are +found in abundance, but of a later date. Still they +appear to have been familiar with the practice at a +much more remote period; and it is probable that the +Greeks acquired this art from Egypt or India. From +the Greeks it would naturally pass to the Latins, who +appear to have been acquainted with it early in the +second century. The earliest specimen of purple or +rose-coloured vellum is recorded in the life of the +Emperor Maximinus the younger, to whom, in the +commencement of the third century, his mother made +a present of the poems of Homer, written on purple +vellum in gold letters. Such productions were, +however, at this time very rare. The celebrated +Codex Argenteus of Ulphilas, written in silver and +gold letters on a purple ground, about 360, is probably +the most ancient existing specimen of this magnificent +mode of calligraphy. In the fourth century +it had become more common: many ecclesiastical +writers allude to it, and St. Jerome especially does +so; and the following spirited dialogue has reference +to his somewhat condemnatory allusions.</p> + +<p>“Purple vellum Greek MSS.,” says Breitinger, “if +I remember rightly, are scarcer than white crows!”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Belinda.</span> “Pray tell us ‘all about them,’ as the +children say.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Philemon.</span> “Well, then, at your next court visit, let +your gown rival the emblazoned aspect of these old +purple vellums, and let stars of silver, thickly +‘powdered’ thereupon, emulate, if they dare, the +silver capital Greek letters upon the purple membranaceous +fragments which have survived the desolations +of time! You see, I do not speak <em>coldly</em> upon +this picturesque subject!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>365]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Alimansa.</span> “Nor do I feel precisely as if I were in +the <em>frigid</em> zone! But proceed and expatiate.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Philemon.</span> “The field for expatiating is unluckily +very limited. The fact of the more ancient MSS. +before noticed, the <em>Pentateuch</em> at <em>Vienna</em>, the fragment +of the Gospels in the British Museum, with a +Psalter or two in a few libraries abroad, are all the +MSS. which just now occur to me as being distinguished +by a <em>purple tint</em>, for I apprehend little more +than a <em>tint</em> remains. Whether the white or the purple +vellum be the more ancient, I cannot take upon +me to determine; but it is right you should be informed +that St. Jerom denounces as <em>coxcombs</em>, all +those who, in his own time, were so violently attached +to your favourite purple colour.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lisardo.</span> “I have a great respect for the literary +attainments of St. Jerom; and although in the +absence of the old Italic version of the Greek Bible, +I am willing to subscribe to the excellence of his +own, or what is now called the <em>Vulgate</em>, yet in matters +of taste, connected with the harmony of colour, you +must excuse me if I choose to enter my protest +against that venerable father’s decision.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Philemon.</span> “You appear to mistake the matter +St. Jerom imagined that this appetite for purple +MSS. was rather artificial and voluptuous; requiring +regulation and correction—and that, in the +end, men would prefer the former colour to the +intrinsic worth of their vellum treasures.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>We must not omit the note appended to this +colloquy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>366]</a></span> +“The general idea seems to be that <span class="smcap">Purple Vellum</span> +MSS. were intended only for ‘choice blades,’ +let us rather say, tasteful bibliomaniacs—in book +collecting. St. Jerom, as Philemon above observes, +is very biting in his sarcasm upon these ‘purple +leaves covered with letters of gold and silver.’—‘For +myself and my friends (adds that father), let us have +lower priced books, and distinguished not so much +for beauty as for accuracy.’</p> + +<p>“Mabillon remarks that these purple treasures +were for the ‘princes’ and ‘noblemen’ of the +times.</p> + +<p>“And we learn from the twelfth volume of the +Specileginum of Theonas, that it is rather somewhat +unseemly ‘to write upon purple vellum in letters of +gold and silver, unless at the particular desire of a +prince.’”</p> + +<p>“The <em>subject</em> also of MSS. frequently regulated +the mode of executing it. Thus we learn from the +28th Epistle of Boniface (Bishop and Martyr) to the +abbess Eadburga, that this latter is entreated ‘to +write the Epistles of St. Peter, the master and +Apostle of Boniface, in letters of gold, for the greater +reverence to be paid towards the Sacred Scriptures, +when the Abbess preaches before her carnally-minded +auditors.’”</p> + +<p>About the close of the seventh century the Archbishop +of York procured for his church a copy of the +Gospels thus adorned; and that this magnificent +calligraphy was then new in England may be inferred +from a remark made on it that “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">inauditam ante +seculis nostris quoddam miraculam</span>.”</p> + +<p>This art, however, shortly after declined +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>367]</a></span> +everywhere; and in England the art of writing in gold +letters, even without the rich addition of the purple-tinted +material, seems to have been but imperfectly +understood. The only remarkable instance of it +is said to be the charter of King Edgar, in the new +Minster at Winchester, in 966. In the fourteenth +century it seems to have been more customary than +in those immediately preceding it.</p> + +<p>But we have been beguiled too long from that +which alone is connected with our subject, viz., the +<em>binding</em> of books. Probably this was originally a +plain and unadorned oaken cover; though as books +were found only in monastic establishments, or in +the mansions of the rich, even the cover soon became +emblematic of its valuable contents.</p> + +<p>The early ornaments of the back were chiefly of +a religious character—a representation of the Virgin, +of the infant Saviour, of the Crucifixion. Dibdin +mentions a Latin Psalter of the ninth century in this +primitive and substantial binding, and on the oaken +board was riveted a large brass crucifix, originally, +probably, washed with silver; and also a MS. of the +Latin Gospels of the twelfth or thirteenth century, in +oaken covers, inlaid with pieces of carved ivory, representing +our Saviour with an angel above him, +and the Virgin and Child.</p> + +<p>The carved ivory may probably be a subsequent +interpolation, but it does not the less exemplify the +practice. But as the taste for luxury and ornament +increased, and the bindings, even the clumsy wooden +ones, became more gorgeously decorated—the most +costly gems and precious stones being frequently +inlaid with the golden ornaments—the shape and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>368]</a></span> +form of them was altogether altered. With a view +to the preservation and the safety of the riches lavished +on them, the bindings were made double, +each side being perhaps two inches thick; and on a +spring being touched, or a secret lock opened, it +divided, almost like the opening of a cupboard-door, +and displayed the rich ornament and treasure within; +whilst, when closed, the outside had only the +appearance of a plain, somewhat clumsy binding.</p> + +<p>At that time, too, books were ranged on shelves +with the leaves in front; therefore great pains were +taken, both in the decoration of the edges, and also +in the rich and ornamental clasps and strings which +united the wooden sides. These clasps were frequently +of gold, inlaid with jewels.</p> + +<p>The wooden sides were afterwards covered with +leather, with vellum, with velvet,—though probably +there is no specimen of velvet binding before the +fourteenth century; and, indeed, as time advanced, +there is scarcely any substance which was not applied +to this purpose. Queen Elizabeth had a +little volume of prayers bound in solid gold, which +at prayer-time she suspended by a gold chain at +her side; and we saw, a few years ago, a small +devotional book which belonged to the Martyr-King, +Charles, and which was given by him to +the ancestress of the friend who showed it to us, +beautifully bound in tortoise-shell and finely-carved +silver.</p> + +<p>But it was not to gold and precious stones alone +that the bindings of former days were indebted for +their beauty. The richest and rarest devices of the +needlewoman were often wrought on the velvet, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>369]</a></span> +brocade, which became more exclusively the fashionable +material for binding. This seems to have +been a favourite occupation of the high-born dames +about Elizabeth’s day; and, indeed, if we remember +the new-born passion for books, which was at its +height about that time, we shall not wonder at their +industry being displayed on the covers as well as +the insides<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a>. But very probably this had been a +favourite object for the needle long before this time, +though unhappily the fragility of the work was equal +to its beauty, and these needleworked covers have +doubtless, in very many instances, been replaced by +more substantial binding.</p> + +<p>The earliest specimen of this description of binding +remaining in the British Museum is “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Fichetus +(Guil.) Rhetoricum, Libri tres. (Impr. in Membranis) +4to. Paris ad Sorbonæ</span>, 1471.” It has an illuminated +title-page, showing the author presenting, on his +knees, his book to the Pope; and it is decorated +throughout with illuminated letters and other ornaments; +for long after the invention of printing, +blank spaces were left, for the capitals and headings +to be filled up by the pencil. Hence it is that we +find some books quite incomplete; these spaces +having been left, and not filled up.</p> + +<p>When the art of illuminating still more failed, +the red ink was used as a substitute, and everybody +is acquainted with books of this style. The binding +of Fitchet’s ‘Rhetoric’ is covered with crimson satin, +on which is wrought with the needle a coat-of-arms: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>370]</a></span> +a lion rampant in gold thread, in a blue field, with a +transverse badge in scarlet silk; the minor ornaments +are all wrought in fine gold thread.</p> + +<p>The next in date which I have seen there is a description +of the Holy Land, in French, written in +Henry VII.’s time, and illuminated. It is bound in +rich maroon velvet, with the royal arms: the garter +and motto embroidered in blue; the ground crimson; +and the fleurs-de-lys, leopards, and letters of +the motto in gold thread. A coronet, or crown, of +gold thread, is inwrought with pearls; the roses at +the corners are in red silk and gold; and there is a +narrow border round the whole in burnished gold +thread.</p> + +<p>There is an edition of Petrarch’s Sonnets, printed +at Venice in 1544. It is in beautiful preservation. +The back is of dark crimson velvet, and on each +side is wrought a large royal coat-of-arms, in silk +and gold, highly raised. The book belonged to +Edward VI., but the arms are not his.</p> + +<p>Queen Mary’s Psalter, containing also the history +of the Old Testament in a series of small paintings, +and the work richly illuminated throughout, had +once an exterior worthy of it. The crimson velvet, +of which only small particles remain to attest its +pristine richness, is literally thread-bare; and the +highly-raised embroidery of a massy fleur-de-lys is +also worn to the canvas on which it was wrought. +On one side scarcely a gold thread remains, which +enables one, however, to perceive that the embroidery +was done on fine canvas, or, perhaps, rather +coarse linen, twofold: that then it was laid on the +velvet, seamed to it, and the edges cut away, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>371]</a></span> +stitches round the edge being covered with a kind +of cordon, or golden thread, sewed over;—just, indeed, +as we sew muslin on net.</p> + +<p>There are three, in the same depository, of the +date of Queen Elizabeth. One a book of prayers, +copied out by herself before she ascended the throne. +The back is covered with canvas, wrought all over +in a kind of tentstitch of rich crimson silk, and silver +thread intermixed. This groundwork may or may +not be the work of the needle, but there is little +doubt that Elizabeth’s own needle wrought the +ornaments thereon, viz., H. K. intertwined in the +middle; a smaller H. above and below, and roses +in the corners; all raised high, and worked in blue +silk and silver. This is the dedication of the book: +“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Illustrissimo ac potentissimo Henrico octavo, Angliæ, +Franciæ, Hiberniæq. regi, fidei defensori, et +secundum Christum ecclesiæ Anglicanæ et Hibernicæ +supremo capiti. Elizabeta Majest. S. humillima +filia omne felicitatem precatur, et benedictionem +suam suplex petit.</span>”</p> + +<p>There is in the Bodleian library among the MSS. +the epistles of St. Paul, printed in old black letter, +the binding of which was also queen Elizabeth’s +work; and her handwriting appears at the beginning, +viz.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">August.</span>—I walk many times into the pleasant +fields of the Holy Scriptures, where I plucke up the +goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning: eate +them by reading: chawe them by musing: and laie +them up at length in the hie seate of memorie by +gathering them together: that so having tasted thy +sweeteness I may the less perceive the bitterness of +this miserable life.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>372]</a></span> +The covering is done in needlework by the queen +(then princess) herself: on one side an embroidered +star, on the other a heart, and round each, as borders, +Latin sentences are wrought, such as “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Beatus qui +Divitias scripturæ legens verba vertit in opera.”—“Vicit +omnia pertinax virtus.</span>” &c., &c.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>There is a book in the British Museum, very +<i>petite</i>, a MS containing a French Pastoral—date 1587—of +which the satin or brocade back is loaded with +needlework in gold and silver, which now, however, +looks heavy and tasteless.</p> + +<p>But the most beautiful is Archbishop Parker’s, +“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">De Antiquitate Britannicæ Ecclesiæ</span>:” A.D. 1572.</p> + +<p>The material of the back is rich green velvet, but +it is thickly covered with embroidery: there has not +indeed, originally, been space to lay a fourpenny-piece. +It is entirely covered with animals and +flowers, in green, crimson, lilac, and yellow silk, and +gold thread. Round the edge is a border about an +inch broad, of gold thread.</p> + +<p>Of the date of 1624 is a book of magnificent penmanship, +by the hand of a female, of emblems and +inscriptions. It is bound in crimson silk, having +in the centre a Prince’s Feather worked in gold-thread, +with the feathers bound together with large +pearls, and round it a wreath of leaves and flowers. +Round the edge there is a broader wreath, with +corner sprigs all in gold thread, thickly interspersed +with spangles and gold leaves.</p> + +<p>All these books, with the exception of the one +quoted from Ballard’s Memoirs, were most obligingly +sought out and brought to me by the gentlemen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>373]</a></span> +at the British Museum. Probably there are +more; but as, unfortunately for my purpose, the +books there are catalogued according to their +authors, their contents, or their intrinsic value, +instead of their outward seeming, it is not easy, +amidst three or four hundred thousand volumes, to +pick out each insignificant book which may happen +to be—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“In velvet bound and broider’d o’er.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> +Southey.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> +We have seen cartouche-boxes embroidered precisely in the +same style, and probably therefore of the same period as some +of the embroidered books here referred to.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> +Ballard’s Memoirs.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>374]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">NEEDLEWORK OF ROYAL LADIES.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Thus is a Needle prov’d an Instrument<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of profit, pleasure, and of ornament,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which mighty Queenes have grac’d in hand to take.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">John Taylor.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Needlework is an art so attractive in itself; it is +capable of such infinite variety, and is such a beguiler +of lonely, as of social hours, and offers such +scope to the indulgence of fancy, and the display of +taste; it is withal—in its lighter branches—accompanied +with so little bodily exertion, not deranging +the most <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">recherché</i> dress, nor incommoding the most +elaborate and exquisite costume, that we cannot +wonder that it has been practised with ardour even +by those the farthest removed from any necessity +for its exercise. Therefore has it been from the +earliest ages a favourite employment of the high +and nobly born.</p> + +<p>The father of song hardly refers at all to the +noble dames of Greece and Troy but as occupied +in “painting with the needle.” Some, the heroic +achievements of their countrymen on curtains and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>375]</a></span> +draperies, others various rich and rare devices on +banners, on robes and mantles, destined for festival +days, for costly presents to ambassadors, or for offerings +to friends. And there are scattered notices at +all periods of the prevalence of this custom. In all +ages until this of</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“inventions rare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Steam towns and towers.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>the preparation of apparel has fallen to woman’s +share, the spinning, the weaving, and the manufacture +of the material itself from which garments were made. +But, though we read frequently of high-born dames +spinning in the midst of their maids, it is probable +that this drudgery was performed by inferiors and +menials, whilst enough, and more than enough of +arduous employment was left for the ladies themselves +in the rich tapestries and embroideries which +have ever been coveted and valued, either as articles +of furniture, or more usually for the decoration +of the person.</p> + +<p>Rich and rare garments used to be infinitely more +the attribute of high rank than they now are; and +in more primitive times a princess was not ashamed +to employ herself in the construction of her own apparel +or that of her relatives. Of this we have an +intimation in the old ballad of ‘Hardyknute’—beginning</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Stately stept he east the wa’,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stately stept he west.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Farewell, my dame, sae peerless good,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">(And took her by the hand,)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fairer to me in age you seem,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Than maids for beauty fam’d.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>376]</a></span> +<span class="i0">My youngest son shall here remain<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To guard these lonely towers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shut the silver bolt that keeps<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sae fast your painted bowers.<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And first she wet her comely cheeks,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And then her boddice green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her silken cords of twisted twist,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Well plett with silver sheen;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And apron set with mony a dice<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of needlewark sae rare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wove by nae hand, as ye may guess,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Save that of Fairly fair.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But it harmonises better with our ideas of high or +royal life to hear of some trophy for the warrior, +some ornament for the knightly bower, or some decorative +offering for the church, emanating from the +taper fingers of the courtly fair, than those kirtles +and boddices which, be they ever so magnificent, +seem to appertain more naturally to the “milliner’s +practice.” Therefore, though we give the +gentle Fairly fair all possible praise for notability +in the</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Apron set with mony a dice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of needlework sae rare,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>we certainly look with more regard on such work +as that of the Danish princesses who wrought a +standard with the national device, the Raven,<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> on it, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>377]</a></span> +and which was long the emblem of terror to those +opposed to it on the battle-field. Of a gentler character +was the stupendous labour of Queen Matilda—the +Bayeux tapestry—on which we have dwelt too +long elsewhere to linger here, and which was wrought +by her and under her superintendence.</p> + +<p>Queen Adelicia, the second wife of Henry I., was +a lady of distinguished beauty and high talent: she +was remarkable for her love of needlework, and the +skill with which she executed it. One peculiar production +of her needle has recently been described by +her accomplished biographer; it was a standard +which she embroidered in silk and gold for her +father, during the memorable contest in which he +was engaged for the recovery of his patrimony, and +which was celebrated throughout Europe for the +exquisite taste and skill displayed by the royal +Adelicia in the design and execution of her patriotic +achievement. This standard was unfortunately captured +at a battle near the castle of Duras, in 1129, +by the Bishop of Liege and the Earl of Limbourg, the +old competitor of Godfrey for Lower Lorraine, and +was by them placed as a memorial of their triumph +in the great church of St. Lambert, at Liege, and +was for centuries carried in procession on Rogation +days through the streets of that city. The church +of St. Lambert was destroyed during the French +Revolution. The plain where this memorable trophy +was taken is still called the “Field of the Standard.”</p> + +<p>Perhaps, second only to Queen Matilda’s work, +or indeed superior to it, as being entirely the +production of her own hand, were the needlework +pieces of Joan D’Albert, who ascended the throne +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>378]</a></span> +of Navarre in 1555. Though her own career was +varied and eventful, she is best known to posterity +as the mother of the great Henry IV. She adopted +the reformed religion, of which she became, not +without some risk to her crown thereby, the zealous +protectress, and on Christmas-day, 1562, she made +a public profession of the Protestant faith; she prohibited +the offices of the Catholic religion to be performed +in her domains, and suffered in consequence +many alarms from her Catholic subjects. But she +possessed great courage and fortitude, and baffled +all open attacks. Against concealed treachery she +could not contend. She died suddenly at the court +of France in 1572, as it was strongly suspected, by +poison.</p> + +<p>This queen possessed a vigorous and cultivated +understanding; was acquainted with several languages, +and composed with facility both in prose +and verse. Her needlework, the amusement and +solace of her leisure hours, was designed by her as +“a commemoration of her love for, and steadiness +to, the reformed faith.” It is thus described by +Boyle: “She very much loved devices, and she +wrought with her own hand fine and large pieces of +tapestry, among which was a suit of hangings of a +dozen or fifteen pieces, which were called <span class="smcap">The Prisons +Opened</span>; by which she gave us to understand +that she had broken the pope’s bonds, and shook off +his yoke of captivity. In the middle of every piece +is a story of the Old Testament which savours of +liberty—as the deliverance of Susannah; the departure +of the children of Israel out of Egypt; the +setting Joseph at liberty, &c. And at all the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>379]</a></span> +corners are broken chains, shackles, racks, and gibbets; +and over them in great letters, these words of the +third chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, +<span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ubi Spiritus ibi Libertas</span>.</p> + +<p>“To show yet more fully the aversion she had conceived +against the Catholic religion, and particularly +against the sacrifice of the mass, having a fine +and excellent piece of tapestry, made by her mother, +Margaret, before she had suffered herself to be cajoled +by the ministers, in which was perfectly well +wrought the sacrifice of the mass, and a priest who +held out the holy host to the people, she took out +the square in which was this history, and, instead of +the priest, with her own hand substituted a fox, +who turning to the people, and making a horrible +grimace with his paws and throat, delivered these +words, <span class="smcap" lang="la" xml:lang="la">Dominus vobiscum</span>.”</p> + +<p>We are told that Anne of Brittany, the good +Queen of France, assembled three hundred of the +children of the nobility at her court, where, under +her personal superintendence, they were instructed +in such accomplishments as became their rank and +sex, but the girls, most especially, made accomplished +needlewomen. Embroidery was their occupation +during some specified hours of every day, +and they wrought much tapestry, which was presented +by their royal protectress to different +churches.</p> + +<p>Her daughter Claude, the queen of Francis I., +formed her court on the same model and maintained +the same practice; Queen Anne Boleyn was educated +in her court, and was doomed to consume a +large portion of her time in the occupation of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>380]</a></span> +needle. It was an employment little suited to her +lively disposition and coquettish habits, and we do +not hear, during her short occupation of the throne, +that she resorted to it as an amusement.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">“Ai lavori d’Aracne, all’ago, ai fusi<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="it" xml:lang="it">Inchinar non degnò la man superba.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The practice of devoting some hours to embroidery +seems to have continued in the French court. +When the young Queen of Scots was there, the +French princesses assembled every afternoon in the +queen’s (Catherine of Medici’s) private apartment, +where “she usually spent two or three hours in +embroidery with her female attendants.”</p> + +<p>It is also said, that Katharine of Arragon was in +the habit of employing the ladies of her court in +needlework, in which she was herself extremely +assiduous, working with them and encouraging them +by her example. Burnet records, that when two +legates requested once to speak with her, she came +out to them with a skein of silk about her neck, and +told them she had been within at work with her +women. An anecdote, as far as regards the skein +of silk, somewhat more housewifely than queenly.</p> + +<p>In this she differed much from her successor, +Queen Catherine Parr, for having had her nativity +cast when a child, and being told, from the disposition +of the stars and planets in her house, that she +was born to sit in the highest seat of imperial majesty; +child as she was, she was so impressed by +the prediction, that when her mother required her +to work she would say, “My hands are ordained +to touch crowns and sceptres, not needles and +spindles.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>381]</a></span> +When the orphaned daughter of this lady, by +the lord admiral, was consigned to the care of the +Duchess of Suffolk, the furniture of “her former +nursery” was to be sent with her. The list is rather +curious, and we subjoin it.</p> + +<p>“Two pots, three goblets, one salt parcel gilt, a +maser with a band of silver and parcel gilt, and +eleven spoons; a quilt for the cradle, three pillows, +three feather-beds, three quilts, a testor of scarlet +embroidered with a counterpoint of silk say belonging +to the same, and curtains of crimson taffeta; two +counterpoints of imagery for the nurse’s bed, six +pair of sheets, six fair pieces of hangings within the +inner chamber; four carpets for windows, ten pieces +of hangings of the twelve months within the outer +chamber, two quishions of cloth of gold, one chair +of cloth of gold, two wrought stools, a bedstead gilt, +with a testor and counterpoint, with curtains belonging +to the same.”</p> + +<p>Return we to Katharine of Arragon: her needlework +labours have been celebrated both in Latin and +English verse. The following sonnet refers to specimens +in the Tower, which now indeed are swept +away, having left not “a wreck behind.”</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I read that in the seventh King Henrie’s reigne,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Fair Katharine, daughter to the Castile king,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came into England with a pompous traine<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of Spanish ladies which shee thence did bring.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She to the eighth King Henry married was,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And afterwards divorc’d, where virtuously<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Although a Queene), yet she her days did pass<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In working with the <em>needle</em> curiously,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As in the Tower, and places more beside,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Her excellent memorials may be seen;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereby the <em>needle’s</em> prayse is dignifide<br /></span> +<span class="i1">By her faire ladies, and herselfe, a Queene.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>382]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Thus far her paines, here her reward is just,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her works proclaim her prayse, though she be dust.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The same pen also celebrated her daughter’s skill +in this feminine occupation.</p> + +<p>Mary was skilled in all sorts of embroidery; and +when her mother’s divorce consigned her to a private +life, she beguiled the intervals of those severer +studies in which she peaceably and laudably occupied +her time in various branches of needlework. It +is not unlikely the Psalter we have alluded to elsewhere +was embroidered by herself; and a reference +to the fashionable occupations of the day will bring +to our minds various trifling articles, the embroidery +of which beguiled her time, though they have +long since passed away.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Her daughter Mary here the sceptre swaid,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And though she were a Queene of mighty power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her memory will never be decaid,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Which by her works are likewise in the Tower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Windsor Castle, and in Hampton Court,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In that most pompous roome called Paradise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who ever pleaseth thither to resort,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">May see some workes of hers, of wondrous price.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her greatness held it no disreputation<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To take the needle in her royal hand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which was a good example to our nation<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To banish idleness from out her land:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus this Queene, in wisdom thought it fit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The needle’s worke pleas’d her, and she grac’d it.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>We extract the following notice of the gentle and +excellent Lady Jane Grey, from the ‘Court Magazine.’</p> + +<p>“Ten days’ royalty! Alas, how deeply fraught +with tragic interest is the historic page recording +the events of that brief period! and how immeasurable +the results proceeding therefrom. Love, beauty, +religious constancy, genius, and learning, were seen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>383]</a></span> +in early womanhood intermingling their glorious +halo with the dark shadowings of despotism, imprisonment, +and violent death upon the scaffold!</p> + +<p>“In the most sequestered part of Leicestershire, +backed by rude eminences, and skirted by lowly and +romantic valleys, stands Bradgate, the birth-place +and abode of Lady Jane Grey. The approach to +Bradgate from the village of Cropston is striking. +On the left stands a group of venerable trees, at the +extremity of which rise the remains of the once +magnificent mansion of the Greys of Groby. On +the right is a hill, known by the name of ‘The Coppice,’ +covered with slate, but so intermixed with +fern and forest-flowers as to form a beautiful contrast +to the deep shades of the surrounding woods. +To add to the loveliness of the scene, a winding +trout-stream finds its way from rock to rock, washing +the walls of Bradgate until it reaches the fertile +meadows of Swithland.</p> + +<p>“In the distance, situate upon a hill, is a tower, +called by the country-people Old John, commanding +a magnificent view of the adjoining country, including +the distant castles of Nottingham and Belvoir. +With the exception of the chapel and kitchen, the +princely mansion has now become a ruin; but a +tower still stands, which tradition points out as her +birth-place. Traces of the tilt-yard are visible, with +the garden-walls, and a noble terrace whereon Jane +often walked and sported in her childhood; and the +rose and lily still spring in favourable nooks of that +wilderness, once the pleasance, or pleasure-garden +of Bradgate. Near the brook is a beautiful group +of old chestnut-trees.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>384]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“‘This was thy home then, gentle Jane,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">This thy green solitude; and here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At evening from the gleaming pane,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thine eye oft watched the dappled deer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(While the soft sun was in its wane)<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Browsing beside the brooklet clear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brook runs still, the sun sets now,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The deer yet browseth—where art thou?’<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“Instead of skill in drawing she cultivated the +art of painting with the needle, and at Zurich is +still to be seen, together with the original MS. of +her Latin letters to the reformer Bullinger, a toilet +beautifully ornamented by her own hands, which +had been presented by her to her learned correspondent.”</p> + +<p>In the court of Catherine de Medicis Mary +Queen of Scots was habituated to the daily practice +of needlework, and thus fostered her natural taste +for the art which she had acquired in the convent—supposed +to have been St. Germaine-en-Laye, where +she was placed during the early part of her residence +in France. She left this convent with the +utmost regret, revisited it whenever she was permitted, +and gladly employed her needle in embroidering +an altarpiece for its church.</p> + +<p>This predilection for needlework never forsook +her, but proved a beguilement and a solace during +the weary years of her subsequent imprisonment, +especially after she was separated from the female +friends who at first accompanied her. During a +part of her confinement, while she was still on comparatively +friendly terms with Elizabeth, she transmitted +several elegant pieces of her own needlework +to this princess. She wrought a canopy, which was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>385]</a></span> +placed in the presence-chamber at Whitehall, consisting +of an empalement of the arms of France and +Scotland, embroidered under an imperial crown. +It does not appear at what period of her life she +worked it. During the early part of her confinement +she was asked how, in unfavourable weather, +she passed the time within. She said that all that +day she wrought with her needle, and that the +diversity of the colours made the work seem less +tedious; and she continued so long at it till very +pain made her to give over.</p> + +<p>“Upon this occasion she entered into a pretty +disputable comparison between carving, painting, +and working with the needle; affirming painting, in +her own opinion, for the most commendable quality. +No doubt it was during her confinement in England +that she worked the bed still preserved at +Chatsworth.”</p> + +<p>The following notices from her own letters, though +trifling, are interesting memorials of this melancholy +part of her life:—</p> + +<p>“July 9, 1574.—I pray you send me some +pigeons, red partridges, and Barbary fowls. I +mean to try to rear them in this country, or +keep them in cages: it is an amusement for a +prisoner, and I do so with all the little birds I can +obtain.</p> + +<p>“July 18, 1574.—Always bear in mind that my +will in all things be strictly followed; and send me, +if it be possible, some one with my accounts. He +must bring me patterns of dresses and samples of +cloths, gold and silver, stuffs and silks, the most +costly and new now worn at court. Order for me +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>386]</a></span> +at Poissy a couple of coifs, with gold and silver +crowns, such as they have made for me before. Remind +Breton of his promise to send me from Italy +the newest kind of head-dress, veils, and ribands, +wrought with gold and silver, and I will repay +him.</p> + +<p>“September 22.—Deliver to my uncle the cardinal +the two cushions of my work which I send +herewith. Should he be gone to Lyons, he will +doubtless send me a couple of beautiful little dogs; +and you likewise may procure a couple for me; for, +except in reading and working, I take pleasure +solely in all the little animals I can obtain. You +must send them hither very comfortably put up in +baskets.</p> + +<p>“February 12, 1576.—I send the king of France +some poodle-dogs (barbets), but can only answer for +the beauty of the dogs, as I am not allowed either +to hunt or to ride.”<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>It is said that one of the articles which in its preparation +beguiled her, perchance, of some melancholy +thoughts, was a waistcoat which, having +richly and beautifully embroidered, she sent to her +son; and that this selfish prince was heartless +enough to reject the offering because his mother +(still surely Queen of Scotland in his eyes) addressed +it to him as prince.</p> + +<p>The poet so often quoted wrote the subjoined +sonnet in Queen Elizabeth’s praise, whose skill with +her needle was remarkable. She was especially an +adept in the embroidering with gold and silver, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>387]</a></span> +and practised it much in the early part of her life, +though perhaps few specimens of her notability now +exist:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When this great queene, whose memory shall not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By any terme of time be overcast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For when the world and all therein shall rot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet shall her glorious fame for ever last.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When she a maid had many troubles past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From jayle to jayle by Maries angry spleene:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Woodstocke, and the Tower in prison fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And after all was England’s peerelesse queene.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet howsoever sorrow came or went,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She made the needle her companion still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in that exercise her time she spent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As many living yet doe know her skill.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus shee was still, a captive, or else crown’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A needlewoman royall and renown’d.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Of Mary II., the wife of the Prince of Orange, +Bishop Fowler writes thus:—“What an enemy she +was to idleness! even in ladies, those who had the +honour to serve her are living instances. It is +well known how great a part of the day they were +employed at their needles and several ingenuities; +the queen herself, when more important business +would give her leave, working with them. And, +that their minds might be well employed at the +same time, it was her custom to order one to read +to them, while they were at work, either divinity or +some profitable history.”</p> + +<p>And Burnet thus:—“When her eyes were endangered +by reading too much, she found out the +amusement of work; and in all those hours that +were not given to better employment she wrought +with her own hands, and that sometimes with so +constant a diligence as if she had been to earn her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>388]</a></span> +bread by it. It was a new thing, and looked like +a sight, to see a queen working so many hours +a day.”</p> + +<p>Her taste and industry in embroidery are testified +by chairs yet remaining at Hampton Court.</p> + +<p>The beautiful and unfortunate Marie Antoinette, +lively as was her disposition, and fond as she was of +gaiety, did not find either the duties or gaieties of a +court inconsistent with the labours of the needle. +She was extremely fond of needlework, and during +her happiest and gayest years was daily to be found +at her embroidery-frame. Her approach to this was +a signal that other ladies might equally amuse +themselves with their various occupations of embroidery, +of knitting, or of <em>untwisting</em>—the profitable +occupation of that day; and which was so fashionable, +such a “rage,” that the ladies of the court +hardly stirred anywhere without two little workbags +each—one filled with gold fringes, laces, +tassels, or any <em>golden</em> trumpery they could pick up, +the other to contain the gold they unravelled, which +they sold to Jews.</p> + +<p>It is said to be a fact that duchesses—nay, princesses—have +been known to go about from Jew to +Jew in order to obtain the highest price for their +gold. Dolls and all sorts of toys were made and +covered with gold brocades; and the gentlemen +never failed rendering themselves agreeable to their +fair acquaintance by presenting them with these +toys!</p> + +<p>Every one knows that the court costume of the +French noblemen at that period was most expensive; +this absurd custom rendered it doubly, trebly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>389]</a></span> +so; and was carried to such an excess, that frequently +the moment a gentleman appeared in a +new coat the ladies crowded round him and soon +divested it of all its gold ornaments.</p> + +<p>The following is an instance:—“The Duke de +Coigny one night appeared in a new and most expensive +coat: suddenly a lady in the company remarked +that its gold bindings would be excellent for untwisting. +In an instant he was surrounded—all the +scissors in the room were at work; in short, in a few +moments the coat was stripped of its laces, its galoons, +its tassels, its fringes; and the poor duke, +notwithstanding his vexation, was forced by <em>politeness</em> +to laugh and praise the dexterity of the fair +hands that robbed him.”</p> + +<p>But what a solace did that passion for needlework, +which the queen indulged in herself and +encouraged in others, become to her during her +fearful captivity. This unhappy princess was born +on the day of the Lisbon earthquake, which seemed +to stamp a fatal mark on the era of her birth; and +many circumstances occurred during her life which +have since been considered as portentous.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“’Tis certain that the soul hath oft foretaste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of matters which beyond its ken are placed.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>One circumstance, simple in itself and easily explained, +is recorded by Madame Campan as having +impressed Marie with shuddering anticipations of +evil:—</p> + +<p>“One evening, about the latter end of May, she +was sitting in the middle of her room, relating several +remarkable occurrences of the day. Four wax +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>390]</a></span> +candles were placed upon her toilet; the first went +out of itself—I relighted it; shortly afterwards the +second, and then the third, went out also: upon +which the queen, squeezing my hand with an emotion +of terror, said to me, ‘Misfortune has power to +make us superstitious; if the fourth taper go out +like the first, nothing can prevent my looking upon +it as a fatal omen!’—The fourth taper went out.”</p> + +<p>At an earlier period Goëthe seems, with somewhat +of a poet’s inspiration, to have read a melancholy +fate for her. When young he was completing +his studies at Strasburg. In an isle in the middle +of the Rhine a pavilion had been erected, intended +to receive Marie Antoinette and her suite, on her +way to the French court.</p> + +<p>“I was admitted into it,” says Goëthe, in his +Memoirs: “on my entrance I was struck with the +subject depicted in the tapestry with which the +principal pavilion was hung, in which were seen +Jason, Creusa, and Medea; that is to say, a representation +of the most fatal union commemorated in +history. On the left of the throne the bride, surrounded +by friends and distracted attendants, was +struggling with a dreadful death; Jason, on the +other side, was starting back, struck with horror at +the sight of his murdered children; and the Fury +was soaring into the air in her chariot drawn by +dragons. Superstition apart, this strange coincidence +was really striking. The husband, the bride, +and the children, were victims in both cases: the +fatal omen seemed accomplished in every point.”</p> + +<p>The following notices of her imprisonment would +but be spoiled by any alteration of language. We +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>391]</a></span> +shall perceive that one of her greatest troubles in +prison, before her separation from the king and the +dauphin, was the being deprived of her sewing implements.</p> + +<p>“During the early part of Louis XVI.’s imprisonment, +and while the treatment of him and his +family was still human, his majesty employed himself +in educating his son; while the queen, on her +part, educated her daughter. Then they passed +some time in needlework, knitting, or tapestry-work.</p> + +<p>“At this time the royal family were in great want +of clothes, insomuch that the princesses were employed +in mending them every day; and Madame +Elizabeth was often obliged to wait till the king +was gone to bed, in order to have his to repair. +The linen they brought to the Tower had been lent +them by friends, some by the Countess of Sutherland, +who found means to convey linen and other +things for the use of the dauphin. The queen wished +to write a letter to the countess expressive of her +thanks, and to return some of these articles, but +her majesty was debarred from pen and ink; and +the clothes she returned were stolen by her jailors, +and never found their way to their right owner.</p> + +<p>“After many applications a little new linen was +obtained; but the sempstress having marked it with +crowns, the municipal officers insisted on the princesses +picking the marks <em>out</em>, and they were forced +to obey.</p> + +<p>“<i>Dec. 7.</i>—An officer, at the head of a deputation +from the commune, came to the king and read +a decree, ordering that the persons in confinement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>392]</a></span> +should be deprived of all scissors, razors, knives—instruments +usually taken from criminals; and that +the strictest search should be made for the same, as +well on their persons as in their apartments. The +king took out of his pocket a knife and a small morocco +pocket-book, from which he gave the pen-knife +and scissors. The officer searched every +corner of the apartments, and carried off the razors, +the curling-irons, the powder-scraper, instruments +for the teeth, and many articles of gold and silver. +They took away from the princesses their knitting-needles +and all the little articles they used for their +embroidery. The unhappy queen and princesses +were the more sensible of the loss of the little instruments +taken from them, as they were in consequence +forced to give up all the feminine handiworks +which till then had served to beguile prison +hours. At this time the king’s coat became ragged, +and as the Princess Elizabeth, his sister, was mending +it, as she had no scissors, the king observed +that she had to bite off the thread with her teeth—‘What +a reverse!’ said the king, looking tenderly +upon her; ‘you were in want of nothing at your +pretty house at Montreuil.’ ‘Ah, brother!’ she +replied, ‘can I feel a regret of any kind while I +share your misfortunes?’”</p> + +<p>The Empress Josephine is said to have played +and sung with exquisite feeling: her dancing is +said to have been perfect. She exercised her pencil, +and—though such be not now antiquated for an +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">élégante</i>—her needle and embroidery-frame, with +beautiful address.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of her eventful career, when, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>393]</a></span> +after her divorce from Bonaparte, she kept a sort of +domestic court at Navarre or Malmaison, she and +her ladies worked daily at tapestry or embroidery—one +reading aloud whilst the others were thus occupied; +and the hangings of the saloon at Malmaison +were entirely her own work. They must have been +elegant; the material was white silk, the embroidery +roses, in which at intervals were entwined her +own initials.</p> + +<p>An interesting circumstance is related of a conversation +between one of those ministering spirits a +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sœur de la charité</i> and Josephine, in a time of peculiar +excitement and trouble. At the conclusion +of it, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sœur</i>, having discovered with whom she +was conversing, added, “Since I am addressing the +mother of the afflicted, I no longer fear my being +indiscreet in any demand I may make for suffering +humanity. We are in great want of lint; if your +majesty would condescend”——“I promise you +shall have some; we will make it ourselves.”</p> + +<p>From that moment the evenings were employed +at Malmaison in making lint, and the empress +yielded to none in activity at this work.</p> + +<p>Few of my readers will have accompanied me to +this point without anticipating the name with which +these slight notices of royal needlewomen must conclude—a +name which all know, and which, knowing, +all reverence as that of a dignified princess, a noble +and admirable matron—Adelaide, our Dowager +Queen. It was hers to reform the morals of a court +which, to our shame, had become licentious; it was +hers to render its charmed circle as pure and virtuous +as the domestic hearth of the most scrupulous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>394]</a></span> +British matron; it was hers to combine with the +chilling etiquette of regal state the winning virtues +of private life, and to weave a wreath of domestic +virtues, social charities, and beguiling though simple +occupations, round the stately majesty of England’s +throne.</p> + +<p>The days are past when it would be either pleasurable +or profitable for the Queen of the British +empire to spend her days, like Matilda or Katharine, +“in poring over the interminable mazes of +tapestry;” but it is well known that Queen Adelaide, +and, in consequence of her Majesty’s example, those +around her, habitually occupied their leisure moments +in ornamental needlework; and there have +been, of late years, few Bazaars throughout the kingdom, +for really beneficent purposes, which have not +been enriched by the contributions of the Queen +Dowager—contributions ever gladly purchased at a +high price, not for their intrinsic worth, but because +they had been wrought by a hand which every +Englishwoman had learnt to respect and love.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> +This sacred standard was taken by the Saxons in Devonshire, +in a fortunate onset, in which they slew one of the Sea-kings with +eight hundred of his followers. So superstitious a reverence was +attached to this ensign that its loss is said to have broken the spirit +of even these ruthless plunderers. It was woven by the sisters of +Inguar and Ubba, who divined by it. If the Raven (which was +worked on it) moved briskly in the wind, it was a sign of victory, +but if it drooped and hung heavily, it was supposed to prognosticate +discomfiture.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> +Von Raumer’s Contributions.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>395]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="fsmlfont">ON MODERN NEEDLEWORK.</span></h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">“Our Country everywhere is fild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With Ladies, and with Gentlewomen, skild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In this rare Art.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Taylor.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“For here the needle plies its busy task,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pattern grows, the well-depicted flower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unfolds its bosom; buds, and leaves, and sprigs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And curling tendrils gracefully dispos’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Follow the nimble fingers of the fair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wreath that cannot fade.”<br /></span> +<span class="poet smcap">Cowper.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapblock"> +<p>“The great variety of needleworks which the ingenious women of +other countries, as well as of our own, have invented, will furnish us +with constant and amusing employment; and though our labours +may not equal a Mineron’s or an Aylesbury’s, yet, if they unbend the +mind, by fixing its attention on the progress of any elegant or imitative +art, they answer the purpose of domestic amusement; and, +when the higher duties of our station do not call forth our exertions, +we may feel the satisfaction of knowing that we are, at least, innocently +employed.”—<span class="smcap">Mrs. Griffiths.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p>The triumph of modern art in needlework is +probably within our own shores, achieved by our +own countrywoman,—Miss Linwood. “Miss +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>396]</a></span> +Linwood’s Exhibition” used to be one of the lions of +London, and fully deserves to be so now. To +women it must always be an interesting sight; and +the “nobler gender” cannot but consider it as a +curious one, and not unworthy even of their notice +as an achievement of art. Many of these pictures +are most beautiful; and it is not without great +difficulty that you can assure yourself that they are +<i>bonâ fide</i> needlework. Full demonstration, however, +is given you by the facility of close approach to some +of the pieces.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most beautiful of the whole collection—a +collection consisting of nearly a hundred pieces +of all sizes—is the picture of Miss Linwood herself, +copied from a painting by Russell, taken in about +her nineteenth year. She must have been a beautiful +creature; and as to this copy being done with a +needle and worsted,—nobody would suppose such a +thing. It is a perfect painting. In the catalogue +which accompanies these works she refers to her +own portrait with the somewhat touching expression, +(from Shakspeare,)</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Have I lived thus long——”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>This lady is now in her eighty-fifth year. Her +life has been devoted to the pursuit of which she +has given so many beautiful testimonies. She had +wrought two or three pieces before she reached her +twentieth year; and her last piece, “The Judgment +of Cain,” which occupied her ten years, was finished +in her seventy-fifth year; since when, the failure of +her eyesight has put an end to her labours.</p> + +<p>The pieces are worked not on canvas, nor, we are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>397]</a></span> +told, on linen, but on some peculiar fabric made +purposely for her. Her worsteds have all been +dyed under her own superintendence, and it is +said the only relief she has ever had in the manual +labour was in having an assistant to thread her +needles.</p> + +<p>Some of the pieces after Gainsborough are admirable; +but perhaps Miss Linwood will consider +her greatest triumph to be in her copy of Carlo +Dolci’s “Salvator Mundi,” for which she has been +offered, and has refused, three thousand guineas.</p> + +<p>The style of modern embroidery, now so fashionable, +from the Berlin patterns, dates from the commencement +of the present century. About the year +1804-5, a print-seller in Berlin, named Philipson, published +the first coloured design, on checked paper, +for needlework. In 1810, Madame Wittich, who, +being a very accomplished embroideress, perceived +the great extension of which this branch of trade was +capable, induced her husband, a book and print-seller +of Berlin, to engage in it with spirit. From +that period the trade has gone on rapidly increasing, +though within the last six years the progression has +been infinitely more rapid than it had previously +been, owing to the number of new publishers who +have engaged in the trade. By leading houses up +to the commencement of the year 1840, there have +been no less than fourteen thousand copper-plate +designs published.</p> + +<p>In the scale of consumption, and, consequently, +by a fair inference in the quantity of needlework +done, Germany stands first; then Russia, England, +France, America, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, &c., +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>398]</a></span> +the three first names on the list being by far the +largest consumers. It is difficult to state with precision +the number of persons employed to <em>colour</em> +these plates, but a principal manufacturer estimates +them as upwards of twelve hundred, chiefly +women.</p> + +<p>At first these patterns were chiefly copied in silk, +then in beads, and lastly in dyed wools; the latter +more especially, since the Germans have themselves +succeeded in producing those beautiful “Zephyr” +yarns known in this country as the “Berlin wools.” +These yarns, however, are only dyed in Berlin, being +manufactured at Gotha. It is not many years +since the Germans drew all their fine woollen yarns +from this country: now they are the <em>exporters</em>, and +probably will so remain, whatever be the <em>quality</em> of +the wool produced in England, until the art of +<em>dyeing</em> be as well understood and as scientifically +practised.</p> + +<p>Of the fourteen thousand Berlin patterns which +have been published, scarcely one-half are moderately +good; and all the best which they have produced +latterly are copied from English and French prints. +Contemplating the improvement that will probably +ere long take place in these patterns, needlework +may be said to be yet in its infancy.</p> + +<p>The improvement, however, must not be confined +to the Berlin designers: the taste of the consumer, +the public taste must also advance before needlework +shall assume that approximation to art which +is so desirable, and not perhaps now, with modern +facilities, difficult of attainment. Hitherto the chief +anxiety seems to have been to produce a glare of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>399]</a></span> +colour rather than that subdued but beautiful effect +which makes of every piece issuing from the Gobelins +a perfect picture, wrought by different means, +it is true, but with the very same materials.</p> + +<p>The Berlin publishers cannot be made to understand +this; for, when they have a good design to +copy from, they mar all by the introduction of some +adventitious frippery, as in the “Bolton Abbey,” +where the repose and beautiful effect of the picture +is destroyed by the introduction of a bright sky, and +straggling bushes of lively green, just where the +Artist had thought it necessary to depict the stillness +of the inner court of the Monastery, with its solemn +grey walls, as a relief to the figures in the foreground.</p> + +<p>Many ladies of rank in Germany add to their +pin-money by executing needlework for the warehouses.</p> + +<p>France consumes comparatively but few Berlin +patterns. The French ladies persevere in the practice +of working on drawings previously traced on +the canvas: the consequence is that, notwithstanding +their general skill and assiduity, good work is +often wasted on that which cannot produce an +artist-like effect. They are, however, by far the +best embroideresses in chenille,—silk and gold. +By embroidery we mean that which is done on a +solid ground, as silk or cloth.</p> + +<p>The tapestry or canvas-work is now thoroughly +understood in this country; and by the help of the +Berlin patterns more <em>good</em> things are produced here +as articles of furniture than in France.</p> + +<p>The present mode of furnishing houses is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>400]</a></span> +favourable to needlework. At a time when fashion +enacted that all the sofas and chairs of an apartment +should match, the completely furnishing it with +needlework (as so many in France have been) was +the constant occupation of a whole family—mother, +daughters, cousins, and servants—for years, and +must indeed have been completely wearisome; but +a cushion, a screen, or an odd chair, is soon accomplished, +and at once takes its place among the many +odd-shaped articles of furniture which are now found +in a fashionable saloon.</p> + +<p>Francfort-on-the-Maine is much busying itself +just now with needlework. The commenced works +imported from this city are made up partly from +Berlin patterns, and partly from fanciful combinations; +but although generally speaking <em>well worked</em>, +they are too complicated to be easy of execution, +and very few indeed of those brought to this country +are ever <em>finished</em> by the purchaser.</p> + +<p>The history of the progress of the modern tapestry-needlework +in this country is brief. Until the year +1831, the Berlin patterns were known to very few +persons, and used by fewer persons still. They had +for some time been imported by Ackermann and +some others, but in very small numbers indeed. In +the year 1831, they, for the first time, fell under the +notice of Mr. Wilks, Regent-street, (to whose kindness +I am indebted for the valuable information on +the Berlin patterns given above,) and he immediately +purchased all the good designs he could +procure, and also made large purchases both of +patterns and working materials direct from Berlin, +and thus laid the foundation of the trade in England. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>401]</a></span> +He also imported from Paris a large selection of +their best examples in tapestry, and also an assortment +of silks of those exquisite tints which, as yet, +France only can produce; and by inducing French +artists, educated for this peculiar branch of design, +to accompany him to England, he succeeded in +establishing in England this elegant art.</p> + +<p>This fashionable tapestry-work, certainly the most +useful kind of ornamental needlework, seems quite +to have usurped the place of the various other embroideries +which have from time to time engrossed +the leisure moments of the fair. It may be called +mechanical, and so in a degree it certainly is; but +there is infinitely more scope for fancy, taste, and +even genius here, than in any other of the large +family of “satin sketches” and embroideries.</p> + +<p>Yes, there is certainly room in worsted work for +genius to exert itself—the genius of a painter—in +the selection, arrangement, and combination of +colours, of light and shade, &c.; we do not mean in +glaring arabesques, but in the landscape and the +portrait. There is an instance given by Pennant,<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> +where the skill and taste of the needlewoman imparted +a grace to her picture which was wanting in +the original.</p> + +<p>“In one of the apartments of the palace (Lambeth) +is a performance that does great honour to the +ingenious wife of a modern dignitary—a copy in +needlework of a Madonna and Child, after a most +capital performance of the Spanish Murillo. There +is most admirable grace in the original, which was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>402]</a></span> +sold last winter at the price of 800 guineas. It +made me lament that this excellent master had +wasted so much time on beggars and ragged boys. +Beautiful as it is, the copy came improved out of the +hand of our skilful countrywoman: a judicious +change of colour of part of the drapery has had a +most happy effect, and given new excellence to the +admired original.”</p> + +<p>Whilst recording the triumphs of modern needlework, +we must not omit to mention a school for the +education of the daughters of clergy and decayed +tradesmen, in which the art of silk-embroidery was +particularly cultivated. This school was under the +especial patronage of Queen Charlotte; and a bed +of lilac satin, which was there embroidered for her, +is now exhibited at Hampton Court, and is really +magnificent.</p> + +<p>Could we now take a more extended view of +modern needlework, how wide the range to which +we might refer,—from the jewelled and golden-wrought +slippers of the East to the grass-embroidered +mocassins of the West; from the gorgeous and +glittering raiment of the courtly Persian, the voluptuous +Turk, or the luxurious Indian, to the simple, +unattractive, yet exquisitely wrought garment made +by the Californian from the entrails of the whale: +a range wide as the Antipodes asunder in every +point except one! that is—the equal though very +differently displayed skill, ingenuity, and industry +of the needlewoman in almost every corner of the +hearth from the burning equator to the freezing Pole. +This we must now pass.</p> + +<p>Finally,—feeling as we do that though ornamental +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>403]</a></span> +needlework may be a charming occupation for those +ladies whose happy lot relieves them from the necessity +of “darning hose” and “mending nightcaps,” +yet that a proficiency in plain sewing is the +very life and being of the comfort and respectability +of the poor man’s wife,—we cannot close this book +without one earnest remark on the systems of teaching +needlework now in use in the Central, National, +and other schools for the instruction of the poor. +There, now, the art is reduced to regular rule, +taught by regular system; and there are books of +instruction in cutting, in shaping, in measuring,—one +for the (late) Model School in Dublin, and +another, somewhat similar, for that in the Sanctuary, +Westminster, which would be a most valuable acquisition +to the work table of many a needle-loving +and industrious lady of the most respectable middle +classes of society.</p> + +<p>Any of our readers who have been accustomed, +as we have, to see the domestic hearths and homes +of those who, brought up from infancy in factories, +have married young, borne large families, and perhaps +descended to the grave without ever having +learned how to make a petticoat for themselves, or +even a cap for their children,—any who know the +reality of this picture, and have seen the misery +consequent on it, will join us cordially in expressing +the earnest and heartfelt hope that the extension +of mental tuition amongst the lower classes may not +supersede, in the smallest iota, that instruction and +<small>PRACTICE</small> in sewing which next, the very next, to the +knowledge of their catechism, is of vital importance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>404]</a></span> +to the future well-doing of girls in the lower stations +of life.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>And now my task is finished; and to you, my +kind readers, who have had the courtesy to accompany +me thus far, I would fain offer a few words of +thanks, of farewell, and, if need be, of apology.</p> + +<p>This is, I believe, the first history of needlework +ever published. I have met with no other; I have +heard of no other; and I have experienced no +trifling difficulties in obtaining material for this. +I have spared no labour, no exertions, no research. +I have toiled through many hundreds of volumes for +the chance of finding even a line adaptable to my +purpose: sometimes I have met with this trifling +success, oftener not.</p> + +<p>I do not mention these circumstances with any +view to exaggerate my own exertions, but merely to +convince those ladies, who having read the book, +may feel dissatisfied with the amount of information +contained therein, that really no superabundance of +material exists. The subject has in all ages been +deemed too trifling to obtain more than a passing +notice from the historical pen. To myself, my exertions +have brought their own “exceeding rich +reward;” for if perchance they were at times productive +of fatigue, they yet have winged the flight +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>405]</a></span> +of many lonely hours which might otherwise have +induced weariness or even despondency in their +lagging transit.</p> + +<p>To you, my countrywomen, I offer the book, not +as what it <em>might</em> be, but as the best which, under +all circumstances, I could now produce. The triumphant +general is oftentimes deeply indebted for +success to the humble but industrious pioneer; and +those who may hereafter pursue this subject with +loftier aims, with more abundant leisure and greater +facilities of research, may not disdain to tread the +path which I have indicated. I offer to you my +book in the hope that it will cause amusement to +some, gratification perhaps of a higher order to +others, and offence—as I trust and believe—to +none.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> +Some account of London.—1793.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> +It cannot be too generally known that within late years schools +have been attached to the factories, where, for a fixed and certain +proportion of their time, girls are instructed in sewing and reading.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="center padtop padbase">THE END.</p> + +<p class="center fsmlfont">London: Printed by <span class="smcap">W. Clowes</span> and <span class="smcap">Sons</span>, Stamford Street.</p> + + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>Archaic and variable spelling is preserved as printed. Minor punctuation errors +have been repaired.</p> + +<p>Hyphenation and use of accents have been made consistent in the main text where +there was a prevalence of one form over another. However, inconsistencies are +preserved as printed where material originates from different authors.</p> + +<p>The title page contains the word 'needle-work.' The author's text, and a repeat +of the title, uses 'needlework'. This has been preserved as printed.</p> + +<p>The following items were found:</p> + +<div class="amends"> +<p>Page <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>—the page number for the chapter titled "The Needle" was omitted +from the table of contents. Reference to the text shows it to be page 252, and +this has been added in the appropriate place.</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_93">93</a>--there is some obscured text at the end of the page. Given the context and the +amount of space, it seems reasonable to assume that the missing words are 'he is' and +these have been added in this etext.</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, third footnote—mentions the word Alner, but doesn't define it. +"An Illustrated Dictionary of Words Used in Art and Archaeology" by J. W. +Mollett defines it as: "Aulmonière. The Norman name for the pouch, bag, or +purse appended to the girdle of noble persons, and derived from the same root +as 'alms' and 'almoner'. It was more or less ornamented and hung from long laces +of silk or gold; it was sometimes called Alner." The transcriber has added 'pouch, +bag or purse' as a definition.</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_129">129</a>—There is an obscured word in the line, "With steven f-ll- stoute". +Comparison with other sources of the same verse show the word to be fulle, +which has been used in this etext.</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_175">175</a>—the footnote marker in the text was missing. The transcriber has +checked the referenced text, and inserted a marker in what appears to be the +correct place.</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_257">257</a>—the speaker of the line "Her neele" was obscured. It appears +that the speaker should be Tib, and this has been inserted.</p> +</div> + +<p>The following amendments have been made:</p> + +<div class="amends"> +<p>Page <a href="#Page_2">2</a>—certain amended to certains and meurissent amended to mûrissent—"... et +comme on voit à certains arbres des fruits qui ne mûrissent jamais; ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_27">27</a>—footsep amended to footstep—"Each accidental passer hushed his footstep +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_42">42</a>—le amended to la—"Suivant la différence des états, elles apprennent à +lire, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_42">42</a>—elle amended to elles—"... mais elles +insistent beaucoup plus sur la nécessité ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_83">83</a>—supurb amended to superb—"... seated on a superb throne, and crowned +with the papal tiara."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, footnote—lvo. amended to vol.—"Archæologia, vol. xix."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_119">119</a>—manngement amended to management—"... for on her wise and prudent +management depended not merely the comfort, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_134">134</a>—macheloires amended to machoires—"... car si tant ne fait que j’aye la +barbe & les dents machoires sans aucune tromperie ne mensonge, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_155">155</a>—sixteeenth amended to sixteenth—"In the sixteenth century[79] a sort +of hanging was introduced, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_175">175</a>—repeated 'to' deleted—"So she went to bed, and in the morning she +was found stone dead."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_175">175</a>—renowed amended to renowned—"Help me, shades of renowned slaughterers, +whilst I record his achievements!"</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_184">184</a>—Frence amended to French—"At Durham Place were the Citie of Ladies +(a French allegorical Romance); ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_199">199</a>—Britions amended to Britons—"... and, as supposed, of the ancient +Britons."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_200">200</a>—eylet-holes amended to eyelet-holes—"... full of small eyelet-holes, +as thickly as they could be put, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_207">207</a>—His amended to Hir—"Hir hat suld be of fair having ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_213">213</a>—meurs amended to mœurs—"... nous n’aurions que le mépris qu’on a pour +les gens sans mœurs, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_214">214</a>—magnificience amended to magnificence—"... lasting for thrift; and rich +for magnificence."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_216">216</a>—marshelling amended to marshalling—"... using more time in dressing than +Cæsar took in marshalling his army, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_229">229</a>—Permittez amended to Permettez—"Permettez que je vous fasse l’observation, +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_234">234</a>—bouyant amended to buoyant—"... so much was it elevated then by buoyant +good humour ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_242">242</a>—wtth amended to with—"... mingled with mule drivers, lacqueys, and +peasants, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_254">254</a>—chandellier amended to chandelier—"... de brodeur, de tapissier, de +chandelier, d’emballeur; ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_261">261</a>—finalment amended to finalmente—"... et finalmente far tutte quelle +gentillezze et lodevili opere, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_262">262</a>—repeated 'of' deleted—"It is dedicated to the Queen of France, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_264">264</a>—Damoiselles amended to Damoyselles—"Aux Dames et Damoyselles."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_266">266</a>—Baccus amended to Bacchus—"Ce Bacchus representant l’Autonne."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_267">267</a>—delli amended to delle—"Corona delle Nobili et virtuose Donne, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_267">267</a>—Mayzette amended to Mazzette—"E molto delle quali Mostre possono servire +ancora per opere a Mazzette."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_269">269</a>—logg amended to long—"So long as hemp of flax, or sheep shall bear ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, footnote—al amended to ad—"... e per far disegni ad altrui o dar +gl’indirizzo ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, footnote—della dita amended to delle dita—"... degli narici, della +bocca, delle dita corrispondono a’ primi moti d’ogni passione; ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, footnote—del amended to dal—"... e ciò ch’è più, essi variano in cento +modi senza uscir mai dal naturale, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, footnote—ridusce amended to ridusse—"... tutte comprese con la divinità +del suo ingegno, tutto ridusse più bello."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_276">276</a>—privat eapartments amended to private apartments—"These are preserved +in one of the private apartments of the Vatican palace."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_307">307</a>—Closely amended to closely—"... the Spanish Armada up the channel, +closely followed by the English, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_331">331</a>—morte amended to mort—"Prise dans la tente de Charles le Téméraire, +lors de la mort de ce prince, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_332">332</a>—intérressant amended to intéressant—"... plus intéressant pour les arts, +et plus digne d’être reproduit par la gravure."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_334">334</a>—destinée amended to destiné—"Robert fut destiné de bonne heure aux +fonctions du sacerdoce."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_335">335</a>—jusque-là converts amended to jusqu’à-là couverts—"... il planta la croix +du Sauveur dans les lieux jusqu’à-là couverts de forêts et de bruyères incultes, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_336">336</a>—émaillées amended to émaillés, and ruisselantes amended to ruisselants—"... +les colonnettes sont émaillés, ruisselants de milliers de +pierres fines et de perles, +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_363">363</a>—libaries amended to libraries—"... and the principal public libraries +in England."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_369">369</a>—illuminaitng amended to illuminating—"When the art of illuminating +still more failed, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_398">398</a>—scarely amended to scarcely—"... scarcely one-half are moderately +good; ..."</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Needle-work, from the +Earliest Ages, 3rd ed., by Elizabeth Stone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF NEEDLE-WORK *** + +***** This file should be named 31714-h.htm or 31714-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/1/31714/ + +Produced by Julia Miller, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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