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Portrait of a Lady, painted by Ravesteyn (1580—1665). Taken from a photograph by Hanfstaengl.
The ruff is trimmed with the elaborate Guipure Point Qotico of the period.

A -HISTORY OF

HAND-MADE LACE

DEALING WITH THE ORIGIN OF LACE, THE GROWTH OF THE

GREAT LACE CENTRES, THE MODE OF MANUFACTURE, THE

METHODS OF DISTINGUISHING AND THE CARE

OF VARIOUS KINDS OF LACE.

MRS. F. NEVILL JACKSON,

WITH SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION BY

ERNESTO JESURUM.

ILLUSTRATED

WITH 19 PLATES, AND OVER 2OO ENGRAVINGS OF LACE AND THE FASHION
OF WEARING IT AS SHOWN IN CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS.

LONDON: L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, STRAND, W.C.

NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-157, FIFTH AVENUE.

I QOO.

"THERE is STILL SOME DISTINCTION BETWEEN MACHINE-MADE AND HAND-MADE
LACE. I WILL SUPPOSE THAT DISTINCTION so FAR DONE AWAY WITH THAT, A
PATTERN ONCE INVENTED, YOU CAN SPIN LACE AS FAST AS THEY NOW DO THREAD.
EVERYBODY THEN MIGHT WEAR NOT ONLY LACE COLLARS, BUT LACE GOWNS.
DO YOU THINK THAT, WHEN EVERYBODY COULD WEAR THEM, EVERYBODY
WOULD BE PROUD OF WEARING THEM ? A SPIDER MAY PERHAPS BE RATIONALLY
PROUD OF HIS OWN COBWEB, EVEN THOUGH ALL THE FIELDS IN THE MORNING ARE
COVERED WITH THE LIKE, FOR HE MADE IT HIMSELF ; BUT SUPPOSE A MACHINE SPUN

IT FOR HIM ? SUPPOSE ALL THE GOSSAMER WERE NOTTINGHAM MADE .' IF YOU THINK

OF IT, YOU WILL FIND THE WHOLE VALUE OF LACE AS A POSSESSION DEPENDS ON
THE FACT OF ITS HAVING A BEAUTY WHICH HAS BEEN THE REWARD OF INDUSTRY
AND ATTENTION. THAT THE THING IS ITSELF A PRICE — A THING EVERYBODY CANNOT
HAVE. THAT IT PROVES, BY THE LOOK OF IT, THE ABILITY OF THE MAKER ; THAT IT
PROVES, BY THE RARITY OF IT, THE DIGNITY OF ITS WEARER — EITHER THAT SHE HAS
BEEN SO INDUSTRIOUS AS TO SAVE MONEY, WHICH CAN BUY, SAY, A PIECE OF
JEWELLERY, OF GOLD TISSUE, OR OF FINE LACE — OR ELSE THAT SHE IS A NOBLE
PERSON, TO WHOM HER NEIGHBOURS CONCEDE AS AN HONOUR THE PRIVILEGE OF
WEARING FINER DRESS THAN THEY. IF THEY ALL CHOOSE TO HAVE LACE TOO — IF
IT CEASES TO BE A PRICE, IT BECOMES, DOES IT NOT, ONLY A COBWEB 1 THE REAL
GOOD OF A PIECE OF LACE, THEN, YOU WILL FIND, IS THAT 11 SHOULD SHOW FIRST,
THAT THE DESIGNER OF IT HAD A PRETTY FANCY ; NEXT, THAT THE MAKER OF IT
HAD FINE FINGERS ; LASTLY, THAT THE WEARER OF IT HAS WORTHINESS OR DIGNITY
ENOUGH TO OBTAIN WHAT IT IS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN, AND COMMON SENSE ENOUGH
NOT TO WEAR IT ON ALL OCCASIONS. "

RUSKIN.

DEDICATED

BY SPECIAL PERMISSION
TO

her Royal highness Princess Christian,

WHOSE FELLOW-FEELING WITH WOMEN WORKERS

HAS ALWAYS SHOWN ITSELF
IN HER KINDLY INTEREST AND TENDER SYMPATHY

WITH WOMEN'S WORK,
WHETHER OF BRAIN OR HAND.

228424

PREFACE.

THE special object in writing this History of Hand-made Lace has been to
sift and condense all available information in order to classify antique
and modern lace specimens with regard to their origin, period, and mode
of manufacture, as well as to trace the History of the rise and growth of the
great lace centres.

For a complete list of Works on Lace-making we must refer to our chapter
on the Literature of Lace ; we are specially indebted to Mrs. Bury Palliser's
"History of Lace"; "The Lace Catalogue" of South Kensington Museum,
revised by Alan S. Cole ; Lady Layard's translation of " The Technical History
of Venetian and Burano Laces " ; and Felkin's " Machine- wrought Lace."

Our i hanks are due to Signer Giuseppe Aldo Randegger for the "Ballade
a Toile," written expressly for this work. In order to preserve to posterity the
almost extinct song of the lace-makers, which had its origin in the ateliers of
the sixteenth century, he visited Venice, where a few of the old workers still
retain the once universal custom of singing appropriate songs as they ply the
needle or twist the bobbins, and, after listening to the harmonies, he set the
graceful words of Signer Eugenie Randegger to music. We wish to express our
thanks to Signer Ernesto Jesurum for much valuable information regarding the
hand-made laces of the present day, and for placing at our disposal a large
number of specimens of antique lace, which rendered our systematic pictorial
classification possible ; also to the Council of the South Kensington Museum, and
to Mr. A. F. Kendrick personally, together with Mr. Alfred Whitman, of the
Print Department at the British Museum, for their courtesy and assistance.

EMILY JACKSON.
July, 1900.

LIST OF PLATES.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY, PAINTED BY RAVESTEYN (1580-1665) ... ... Frontispiece

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, IN RUFF TRIMMED WITH THE MOST

ELABORATE THREAD GUIPURE OF THE PERIOD ... ... facing page 12

BOBBIN-MADE BRUSSELS LACE FLOUNCE; LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ... 23
POINT DE FRANCE, SHOWING THE VENETIAN INFLUENCE; SEVENTEENTH

CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32

PORTRAIT OF MADEMOISELLE DE BEAUJOLAS, BY NATTIER (1685-1766) ... 37
PORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA, TAKEN AT THE TIME OF HER MAJESTY'S

JUBILEE, 1887... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 46

IRISH NEEDLE-POINT LACE HEAD-DRESS WITH LAPPETS ; NINETEENTH

CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 54

PORTRAIT OF POPE CLEMENT XIII. REZZONICUS (1693-1769), SHOWING

POINT DE BURANO LACE WORN ON DRESS — ... ... ... ... 56

FAN-LEAF OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE MADE FOR H.R.H. PRINCESS MAUD OF

WALES ON THE OCCASION OF HER MARRIAGE IN 1896 63

FAN-LEAF OF WHITE NEEDLE-POINT LACE (POINT D'ALENCON) ; NINETEENTH

CENTURY; BELONGING TO THE EMPRESS EUGENIE ... ... ... 66

PORTRAIT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE (1755-1793) ... ... ... ... ... 76

LACE-TRIMMED CHRISTENING SUITS IN USE UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 82

LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE (POINT 'o'ALEN9ON) ; EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 108
LAPPET OF BELGIAN BOBBIN LACE; EIGHTEENTH CENTURY... ... ... 118

WEDDING VEIL OF BOBBIN MADE BRUSSELS (BELGIAN) LACE; EIGHTEENTH

CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 128

x LIST OF PLATES.

PANEL FOR LINEN CHAIR-BACK OF CUT LINEN AND EMBROIDERY. IRISH ;

NINETEENTH CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... facing page 140

PORTRAIT OF MME. G. DEN DUBBELDE, BY B. VAN DER HELST ... ... 155

(i) LAPPET OF MECHLIN BOBBIN LACE ; EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. (2) LAPPET
(ONE OF A PAIR) OF VALENCIENNES BOBBIN LACE; EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 181

LINEN COLLAR, WITH BORDER AND BROAD ENDS OF NEEDLE-POINT
VENETIAN LACE (GROS POINT DE VENISE, PUNTO TAGLIATO A
FOLIAMI) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2O4

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE EVOLUTION OF LACE ... ... ... ... ... ... !

II. ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL LACE ... ... ... I2

III. ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ... 23

IV. ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ... 37
V. ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ... 46

VI. ECCLESIASTICAL LACE ... ... ... ... ... c6

VII. LACE FANS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 63

VIII. PEASANT LACES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 69

IX. THE TRANSPORT OF LACE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 76

X. THE CARE OF LACE ... ... ... ... ... g2

XI. THE LITERATURE OF LACE ... ... ... ... 04

A DICTIONARY OF LACE ... ... ... ... ... 1Oy

GLOSSARY RELATING TO HAND-MADE LACE ... ... ... ... 207

INDEX ... ... ... ... ... ... .... 22i

A HISTORY

HAND,
MADE
LACE.

'• L'Industria," from a painting by Paul Veronese, in the Doge's Palace, Venice. Taken from
a Photograph by Anderson, Rome.

high value can

The work

cares need not

the work itself

CHAPTER I.

THE EVOLUTION OF LACE.

all the industries there is perhaps none so valuable as that of
lace-making, for the cost of tools and working materials is so
trifling that the profit is derived almost entirely from the manual
labour expended upon it, and the scope for artistic feeling and
individuality in the taste of the worker is so great that a very
be obtained by the humblest operator.

is not beyond the strength of the most delicate woman ; family
be neglected, for the lace-maker can work at home ; and lastly,
necessitates perfect hygienic conditions and personal cleanliness.

2 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

On the charm of lace, as beauty's aid, it is hardly necessary to dwell : all
acknowledge the graceful and softening effect of filmy ruffles and delicate webs
of flax thread. Never does an old lady look so charming as when she drapes her
head and shoulders with old lace, and never are the charms of youth and beauty
so apparent as when enhanced with lace.

Specimen of Ancient Network, the forerunner of the Lace Ground of the
present day. From a Roman Cemetery in Middle Egypt.

It is the one costly wear which never vulgarises ; jewels worn without judgment
can be rendered offensive to good taste in their too apparent glitter, but lace in its
comparatively quiet richness never obtrudes itself and is recognised in its true worth
and beauty only by those whose superior taste has trained them to see its value. The

Cor<

EVOLUTION OF LACE. 3

distinction between the two costliest adornments which
have ever been produced is a subtle one, and the wearer
of artistic hand-made lace is marked as a woman of taste
which raises her above the ordinary level, in refinement
of judgment, all the world over.

Lace has been defined as the name generally applied
to ornamented open-work of threads of flax, cotton, silk,
gold or silver, and occasionally of hair or aloe fibre.
Such threads may be either looped, plaited or twisted
together in one of three ways : —

(i). With a needle, when the work is distinctively

known as Needle Point Lace.

(2). With bobbins, when the work is known as
Bobbin Lace, though sometimes inaccu-
rately described as Pillow Lace. Needle-
point, Bobbin, and Knotted Laces, such as
Macrame, are all supported in the hands
of the worker on a pillow, so that the term
Pillow Lace conveys no distinctive mean-
ing and should never be used except as a
general term.

(3). By machinery, when imitations of both Needle-
point and Bobbin Lace patterns are pro-
duced.

The difficulty of tracing the history of lace is vastly
increased by the fragility of the specimens. In public
and private collections of pictures, sculpture, or pottery,
a continuity of the story is possible by means of the
examples left intact by the ravages of time ; but with
lace the delicate gold, silver, and flax threads are so
perishable that only very few examples remain to show
what special mode was employed in the handicraft at
this or that period. Pictorial art is a rich source of infor-
mation when that point is arrived at in the history of
lace when portraits show the variety and style of wear-
ing the fabric. Sculpture also lends its aid in the same
way.

Some authors have stated that lace originated in the Where were
far East ; but if this be the case it is strange that in those the earliest
lands where the trades and customs are so conservative
that one may see made to-day what was made centuries
ago, from the same designs and by identical methods, lace
should be conspicuous by its absence. There is little

x !™ made of native industry of lace-making in China, perhaps the most

Twisted Threads, from . J , ..

an Ancient Tomb at conservative or all countries, and only the scantiest trace

ThebCS' of a Past lace industry- Lace now made by the Celestial

B 2

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Homer
mentions
nets of gold.

The lozenge
pattern
is the most
ancient.

has been taught in modern mission schools, and is an imita-
tion of the Maltese varieties ; in Japan it is the same. In
Persia no lace is made, though open work in drawn thread
work is occasionally to be met with. At Tinnevelli and
Travancore, in India, lace is made at the mission schools,
but there is no special native industry.

Why, if the Orientals originated lace, should they cease
to make it when Europe began ? And why, moreover, should
so few traces of the old industry remain where centuries roll
by without affecting other trades ? The arguments for the
theory of the origin of lace in the far East are, we think,
inadequate. It is in the West, in those countries contigu-
ous to Europe, in Asia Minor, that the earliest forms of iace
work were made.

The references in ancient manuscripts to lace or net-
work are frequently confounded with embroidery, possibly
because the two kinds of needlework were so often used
together, and translators from the primitive languages,
Chaldaic, Hebrew, and Arabic, did not differentiate between
the two distinct varieties of needlework : embroidery, and
network or lace.

In the paintings on ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, we
see figures weaving garments of fine network, such as are
described in Isaiah : " They that work in fine flax and they
that weave networks " (xix. 9). The robes of state of
royal personages in such pictures appear to be of network
darned round the hem in gold, silver, and coloured silks.

Examples of elaborate netting have been found in
Egyptian and Graeco- Roman tombs, and mummy wrappings
are ornamented with drawn work, cut work, and other open
ornamentation.

Homer mentions veils of net woven of gold. Such
expressions cannot possibly be considered as referring to
embroidery. Reference to them seems to establish two
points : — First, that network of fine linen interwoven or
embroidered with gold, whether for the ornamenting of wear-
ing apparel or the enrichment of hangings (just as we find
darned network used for curtains in the present day) were
made use of from Biblical times ; secondly, that lace derived
its origin from netting, and not, as many imagine, from
embroidery.

On the opening of a Scandinavian barrow near Ware-
ham, in Dorsetshire, a small piece of gold lace was brought
to light. It was of course much decayed. Its old lozenge
design, however, could be distinguished. This pattern,
which is the most ancient and universal, has also been found

i A

k i

A Tape or Braid of
Twisted Threads,
from a Tomb at
Akhmen, Panopo-
lis, Upper Egypt.

EVOLUTION OF LACE.

Saracenic Drawn Linen Work, the earliest form of
Open Work Ornamentation. From a Tomb in
Egypt, tenth or eleventh century •&£!» f\ D>

depicted on pottery as trimming
the coats of the ancient Danes.
The borders of the coat are
edged with a network pattern of
the same design ; possibly the
knowledge of the handicraft of
gold lace making had been
brought to Scandinavia by some
captive women torn from their
Southern homes by the Vikings,
for it was by such means that
nations so far removed from the
centres of civilization were often
taught.

A fine example of antique gold lace was discovered in the coffin of St. The distinc-

Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral. The Saint had been buried in his cope and *ion b<*™en
..... ....... lace ana

maniple, which were very beautifully embroidered ; on one side or the maniple embroidery.

the gold lace was stitched and showed quite separate from the material which it
ornamented, but on which it had not been originally worked as embroidery.

The Circassian and Armenian women have from the earliest times adorned the
fronts and necks of their underlinen, the skirts of their dresses, and the veils which
are worn on the head, with a net interwoven with threads of gold, silver, or of
silk.

The Arabs also excelled in such work, and the Commerce which was formerly
carried on between Italy and Arabia is a matter of history ; we are therefore justified
in conjecturing that the Italian word ricamo, which signifies embroidery, is no
other than the old Arabic word rabnna, and that the other Italian word trine, or
lace, represents the Arabic word targe the evident deduction being that the Arabs
distinguished between the two species of needlework, embroidery and lace, and gave
to each its distinctive appellation.

In documents of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the word " fimboice "

is used in writing of
fringe and lace, and
the addition of" in
gold," '• in silver,"
or " in network" is
frequently met with ;
if it had been in-
tended to speak of
embroidery proper
it is obvious that,
at least sometimes,
mention of the
material, or the

Drawn Linen Work with Arabic inscription, from a Tomb colour of the mate-

in Upper Egypt. rial, on which the

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE

Cut linen
•was an
early form of
lace work.

embroidery was worked
would have been made, as
embroidery in gold, on
linen, on purple, silk, or
some other variety.

Anglo-Saxon gentle-
women were extremely
clever in embroidery and
its kindred ornamentations,
and many accounts are
extant of richly embroi-
dered tunics and sarks
worked by the nuns, whose
lives of seclusion gave
them ample opportunity for
the execution of intricate
needlework.

In tracing the evolu-
tion of lace, mention must
be made of other early
forms besides that of darned
network and veils. The
most important of these
was the cut work, which
was extensively used in the
sixteenth century, and is
known to have existed at
a much earlier period.
The commonest use made
of this form of needlework
was for the ornamentation
of shirts and smocks.

"These shirtes," writes
Philip Stubbs in 1583, in
the ' Anatomic of Abuses,'
" are wrought throughout
with needlework of silke,
and such like, and curiously
stitched with open seame,
and many other knacks
besides, more than I can
describe, in so much, I
have heard of shirtes that
have cost some ten shil-
lynges, some twenty, some

EVOLUTION OF LACE.

Band of Galloon in coloured silk and gold thread, forerunner of the Gold Lace of the
present day. From an ancient Tomb at Akhmen, Panopolis, Upper Egypt.

forty, some five pounds, some twenty nobles, and (which is horrible to heare)
some ten pound apece."

At first cut-work was used only for ecclesiastical purposes ; and until the
dissolution of the monasteries, the art of making it was looked upon as a secret
belonging to the Church. The Church dignitaries did not consider it derogatory to
design patterns, the great St. Dunstan himself executing several.

The transition from lace of gold, silver and silken threads to that of flax was
very simple.

In the works of Dante and others we read that the early simplicity of dress
had given way to extravagance and luxury, and many rich people impoverished
themselves by purchasing scarves, sashes, mantles, coverlets, cushions of gold
brocade embroidered with pearls and other gems, and veils and trimmings of
lace made with spun gold, of immoderate richness. In the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries gold thread was subject to heavy duties and severe Sumptuary
regulations, so much so, that about the year 1460 the lace-workers, finding the
demand for their work so much diminished that the production of gold and silver
lace was no longer profitable at home, many of them emigrated, taking their
industry to other countries ; others continued their work in Italy, substituting

ftax threads for the costly gold
and silver.

It is beyond doubt that
the designs of the laces made
with spun gold were towards
the end of the sixteenth
century reproduced in linen
thread, and it is no wonder
that when the increased
facility in working with flax
was discovered, and beautiful
and ingenious stitches were
introduced, the lighter and
cheaper material eventually
remained master of the field.

The Sumptuary laws have
in every lace-making country
had such an important influ-

Example of Saracenic Drawn Linen, the earliest form Mnce on the evolution and

of Open Work Ornamentation. From a Tomb in . ,

Egypt, tenth or eleventh century *^./{ .£> development of lace, that it

The transi-
tion from
gold and
silver lace to
that of flax
thread.

Sumptuary
laws have
hindered the
lace-making
industry.

HISTORY OF HAND- MADE LACE.

Portion of a Linen Garment, ornamented with Drawn Work,
over-sewn and embroidered with Kufic inscriptions. Sara-
cenic, ninth or tenth century B*C. f\ '<__j

is impossible to sketch the history of lace without first taking a cursory glance at
some of the edicts' which in all ages have retarded, hampered, and occasionally
threatened to altogether extinguish the lace-making industry.

In France the first Sumptuary law is dated 608. It was made by Charles the
Great for the regulation of high-priced cloth used for the dress of the period.
Unlike many of his predecessors, the King himself showed an example of extreme
sirpplicjty while endeavouring to restrain luxury in others.

Louis le Debonnaire, Philip Augustus, and Louis VIII., also tried to restrain
by edict the luxury which increased with the development of the industries. Philip

Christian Coptic example of Drawn Linen, the flax warps forming' a lace-like ground for
needlework stitches. Sixth century. ^

ErOLL'TlON or LACE.

Augustus made himself ridiculous by the exactness of his orders. He not only
legislated with regard to dress but also to attendants, and even the number of
the dishes to be served at table.

" No burgess," says this unconscious humourist, "must have a carriage, nor
be dressed in green nor grey, nor must he wear ermine. No burgess must wear
gold nor precious stones, neither gold nor silver crowns. No lady, if not a lady of
the Manor, must have more than two dresses a year. It is forbidden to a burgess
to spend more than six francs a yard on any material, and no more than eight francs
per yard must be spent by ladies of superior rank. The penalty for infringing
these laws being forfeiture of the forbidden article for a year, from Easter to Easter."

Sumptuary laws varied curiously according to the monarch by whom they
were issued. Louis
XI. would not allow
those without titles to
have the luxury of
adorning their tables
with pieces of gold
plate, and goldsmiths
had to ask his per-
mission before exe-
cuting any order
except for the use of
the Church. Charles
VIII. would allow silk
dresses, but no gold or
silver cloth.

Francis J., Henri

II., Charles II., and Henri I IL^ each forbade articles of luxury except for him-
self, the members of his family, and his courtiers.

Rene Benoit, one of the confessors of Henri IV., used all his influence to stop
luxury in the dress of his contemporaries, and the effect was disastrous on the
Guipure and thread- work industry of the time.

During the reign of Charles IX. protest was made against the usurpation by
common people " of the nobility's privilege of riding on horseback," and rich
dressing was again allowed. Whatever the law of the period, the result was gene-
rally the same : a return to the old abuses immediately on the removal of the edict,
so that arrested development was the effect on the lace and kindred handicrafts ;
and whereas one would expect a story of continuous prosperity in so beautiful a
craft as lace-making, which appeals to everyone on account of the small initial
outlay, the simplicity of the tools required, and the scope for high artistic skill,
we are continually finding arrested development and check.

Even Venice, the home of lace, was not exempt from legislation which Even Vene-
hampered the evolution of lace. makingwas

As early as 1299 the Great Council forbade any trimming which cost more than hampered by
five lire an ell. A few years later ladies were forbidden the use of jewellery beyond a Ie8islation-

Saracenic example of Drawn and Embroidered Linen. From
a Tomb in Egypt, tenth or eleventh century ft^fr ^ •r\

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

In the
century the
Pope per-
mitted lace to
be worn.

prescribed limit, and the wearing of any coif in gold or silver. Children under
twelve were forbidden to wear gold, silver, or pearls, but from twelve to twenty
they were permitted girdles worth not more than twenty-five ducats,

Another decree in 1348 seems strange enough : morning dresses of dark green
or black were forbidden.

In 1437, after another vexatious edict, the ladies took the matter into their own
hands, and appealed to the Pope, who gave his permission for the wearing of the
gauds.

These laws of the Venetian Senate were not made to be disregarded, as were
many of those in England and France.

The Avogadori del Comune having seen on Carnival Sunday the wife of Zorzi
di Bertucci dressed in white silk contrary to the law, " did decree that the honour-
able lady and the dressmaker should be condemned according to the edict of 1470."
Again, during the festivity for the crowning of Andrea Gritti, the niece of the Doge,
the wife of one of the Pisani having presented herself at the Palace dressed in a
fashion forbidden by the decree of the Doge, she u>as sent back.

In 1476 a serious blow was aimed at the lace trade, for a law was made for-
bidding the use of " silver and embroidery on any fabric and the Punto in Aria
of linen threads made with a needle, or gold and silver threads."

Then in 1504 a law was made to check too frequent changes in fashion-
"Among so many expenses, superfluous and useless, the women in this city

German Example of Drawn Linen Work, executed in the fourteenth century, when this early
form of Open Ornamentation was soon to be superseded by the later forms of Lace-work.

or LACE. n

show a vain-glorious pomp which is most ruinous for the nobles and burgesses: that
of changing so often the shape of dresses."

In France, where the Sumptuary laws were carried out in a much more
half-hearted manner, the futility of legislation is constantly seen. During
the reign of Louis XIV., the lace-wearing period par excellence, there had
never been so many edicts against the use of personal luxuries ; nearly a dozen
ordinances, especially against lace-wearing, were published. The incongruity of
the proclamations of the King against lace-trimmed garments, when at the same
time he was fostering, subsidising, and encouraging Royal lace manufactures,
simply shows that a Royal whim was more powerful in those days than logic.
Discontent of the masses was eventually to effect what Royal edicts could not •
achieve, and even while still more lace than ever before was made and was used
by every class, when, on account of the universal use of costly lace, it was impos-
sible to know the burgher from the noblemen, the Churchman from the cavalier,
the seeds of decay were sown, and a spirit of reaction and of economy grew which
was to culminate in the citoyen period and the French Revolution.

Modest designs, less florid and costly workmanship, were demanded by the Simplicity
Court of Marie Antoinette, and the art of lace-making at its best died amongst the *nd th*
muslin folds in which the beautiful Queen clothed herself as a concession to the Revolution
spirit of an age which demanded simplicity. were fatal to

Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., in establishing the home lace factories,
foresaw the increase to the exchequer which the huge sums hitherto spent on foreign
laces woufd entail, if French lace could be made to equal the Venetian fabric. The
edicts checking the importation of foreign laces still further assisted his scheme.
The result showed that the brilliant financier was right ; his mot that " Fashion
should be to France what the mines of Peru were to Spain " has come true to the
letter, and the great Napoleon saw no better way of improving the finances of the
country than by endeavouring to reinstate the dying lace factories. Lace may be
thought by some to be only a simple, graceful, womanish fabric, unlikely to affect •

the finances of a great nation ; but it has d^ngjiinch-fQ^ France. She holds to-day
a different position from that which she held in the days of Le Grand Monarque,
but, thanks to Louis' clever minister, she still retains her position as the wardrobe /of
the world.

It will be useful to remember that, roughly speaking, lace, using the term as we
now understand it, was first made and worn in the sixteenth century; that its The finest

development was rapid, the splendid skill and delicacy of artistic design which Iace. was

, ..... , r , • , i- • , i c made in the

characterised all the work of the Renaissance period tending to raise it to that lotty I7th century.

pinnacle of beauty which it reached in the seventeenth century ; that in the very
climax of its perfection it began to decline, and by the end of the eighteenth
century the art of lace-making was dead. It is no exaggeration to affirm
that the sharp blade of the guillotine which severed the head of the beautiful Marie
Antoinette, also severed the thread which wove the masterpieces of lace, only a
few of which remain to us in the present day to show how incomparably beautiful
was the Renaissance lace, for such productions ceased abruptly at the end of the
eighteenth century.

'.3l^fc^>:

t u- a -^ .._iu.S lUSiU .•:••=•

Darned Netting or Lacis.

CHAPTER II.

ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL
LACE.

Picture Of the Times. /„ the Middle Ages laws and customs
in Europe were beginning to assume local peculiarities, the Church being
a bond of unity between all nations — the Crusades, c. 1096 to 1273, tended
towards this. After the Holy Wars came the struggle between France and
England, the rise of the Spanish monarchies, the destruction of Imperial
authority in Germany, the splendour and fall of the Italian republics, and
the fall" of Constantinople in 1453, which drove the Greeks into the centre
and. west of Europe, and contributed to the causes of the Reformation.

In the fourteenth century Chaucer and Cower, the poets, lived. From
the former we leant much of the domestic and industrial life in
England. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio wrote their n'orld-famous
works in Italy, and tell us incidentally of the fashions and modes of
the period ; Riensi lived ; Cimabue and Giotto painted. Playing-cards
were invented, and paper was first made from linen.

In the fifteenth century, in England, few foreign luxuries found tlieir
way into the coutitry, even for the use of the nobles. It was in this century
that printing and the art of engraving ivere invented, and by 1600
productions ~of Raphael were transferred to the newly invented paper,
while Michael Angela was assisting in the development of Art in Europe.
The Tudors reigned in England ; America ivas discovered by Columbus ;
and Joan of Arc lived.

in the sixteenth century the suppression of the monasteries took place
in England : this had an immense influence on the lace-making and kindred
industries which had hitherto been exclusively carried on in the consents

Beaumont, Fletcher, and Ben Jonson. A seemingly unimportant inven-
tion was made,— that of the pin,— but in the history of lace its utility is
abundantly shown. In Italy -the sixteenth century is famous as the
Medician era, the most brilliant in Literature and Art ; Ariosto, Tasso,

'•• '"'"...: "" where Albert Diirer, the father of the German school of painting and

engraving, also flourished at this time. The great Spanish artist, Velas-
quez, to whom we are indebted for so many detail portraits showing the
lace of the period, and the mode ofivearing ft, belongs to this century.

T is a significant fact that the two widely-separated countries of Europe where
pictorial art flourished and attained a high perfection— North Italy and
Flanders _ were precisely the countries where lace-making and lace-wearing
achieved the highest standard in mediaeval times. This is perhaps hardly to

Dnnrn hf Jsjjc Olu-fr Jjrrmn

Queen Elizabeth, in ruff trimmed with the most elaborate Thread Guipure of the period ;
from an Engraving by George Vertue (1684-1756). The linen cuffs are turned over
and edged with the same.

MEDIEVAL LACE.

Reticella, sixteenth century.

be wondered at, as we know that from the very beginning of the sturdy
Flemish school of painters, a close connection was kept up with the great art
centres of Italy. Venetian art and handiwork inspired the equally thriving,

industrious, and artistic inhabitants of the
Low Country, and at the end of the
sixteenth century pattern books for laces
and needle-point were issued simultaneously
in the two places, and were identical in
general character.

The history of hand-made lace, in the sense of the term in which we now use
it, begins with the sixteenth century. Before that time there are no traces that we
know of in the costume pictures of the period, and though this or that fantastic
tale may be believed with regard to its earlier origin, and certain forms of lace work
may be studied with profit as bearing on the evolution of lace, it is impossible to
commence an authentic history at an earlier date.

The first detailed portraits in which lace is painted are those belonging to the
early Florentine school ; this points to the fact that not only was lace first made
in Italy, but also first worn there. One of the
earliest French portraits with lace in it is that of
Henri II., painted at Versailles.

From that time the subjects of so many por-
traits have been adorned with lace, that the study
of its variations in design, workmanship and
mode of wearing is comparatively easy ; help is
constantly received also from contemporary litera-
ture, inventories and wardrobe accounts, and the
Sumptuary laws of the different countries give con-
siderable insight into the matter.

Documents still exist which prove that lace
properly so called was made in Italy before 1500;
one belonging to the Cathedral of Ferrara is
especially interesting, as it fixes the price to be
paid for the mending and ironing of the lace
trimmings on the priests' vestments.

Double evidence of the existence of lace, and,
moreover, of special makes and designs, is afforded
in the records of the Sforza family. In 1493, on
the 1 2th of September, the division took place
of the property of the sisters Angela and Heppolita
Sforza, Viconti of Milan ; the old castle belonging
to the family is still to be seen in the Province of
Venice.

Amongst the vast amount of valuable jewels
and other personal property in the inventory are chronicled borders, veils,
embroidery of fine network (Ricamo a reticella), points (Punti), pieces of fine network

The history
of hand'
made lace
begins in the
i6th century.

Sleeve trimmed with the Cutwork
of the fifteenth century. From
" Lucretia," by Bassano ;
painted about 1462. Photo-
graph by Anderson, Rome.

Inventory
belonging to
the Sforza
family first
mentions
varying
kinds of
Lace.

H HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE. %

(Lavoro a groppi), bone lace (Lavoro ad ossa), and twelve spindle points (Punti dei

dodisi fusi). All these names are to be found in books of lace designs of the period.

No wonder that several different countries, notably France, Spain, and

Flanders, claim the honour of introducing so beautiful a fabric as lace to the world,

, Beatrix d'Este-Sforza, Duchess of Milan, 1490. From

the picture by Leonardo da Vinci, in the Ambrosian
Library at Milan. From her inventory of household
effects we first learn the names and varieties of laces
known in the fifteenth century. Photograph by
Anderson, Home.

and it is in the history of lace in the Middle Ages that the arguments used in this
controversy must be touched upon. We have shown that many peoples have
executed networks and twisted threads of gold, silver, and silk ; but in its more
modern guise, Italy has certainly led the world with regard to needle-point lace. It

MEDL-EVAL LACE.

is astonishing that notwithstanding the inventory of the Sisters Sforza and other
documents, besides the Italian pattern books of the fifteenth century, one writer
asserts that it was under Francis I. in 1544 that "Women and the dignitaries
of the Church began to adorn their garments
and vestments with a kind of lace which was
so coarsely worked that it showed the art
was in its infancy."

Again, several have attributed the inven-
tion of lace to Barbara Uttmann ; perhaps
the words on her tomb in the churchyard of
Annaberg gave rise to the idea : " Here lies
Barbara Uttmann, died i4th January, 1575,
whose invention of lace in the year 1561 made
her the benefactress of the Hartz Mountains."

Charles of Savoy, painted in 1582, in the
Lace-edged Ruff of the period.

Catherine de' Medicis, by JeanClouet (1541).
It was this Queen who brought with her
from Italy the fashion of wearing the
high collar still named after her.

It is probable that Frau Uttmann intro-
duced bobbin. Jace into Germany, hav-
ing learned the art from a native of
Brabant, a Protestant, whom the cruel-
ties of the Duke- of Alva had made an
exile. That she "invented" lace is a
misleading assertion. Barbara was born
in 1514 at Utterlein, where her father
had work in connection with the mines

of the Saxon Hartz Mountains. She married Christopher Uttmann, a rich mining
overseer. The mountain girls in the neighbourhood of her home had long made a
kind of network for the miners to wear .

over their hair. Barbara taught them
to improve this rough tricot, and they suc-
ceeded in producing a kind of plain lace
ground. Aid was procured from Flan-
ders, and a regular workshop set up at
Annaberg under the direction of Barbara
Uttmann, who invented various simple
patterns. The industry spread with great rapidity, and at one time no fewer

Needle-point Guipure Lace (Point Gotico).

HISTORY. OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The oldest
lace pattern
book known
is now in
the library of
the Arsenal
in Venice.

than 30,000 persons were employed in it. At the age of sixty-one Barbara
Uttmann died, leaving sixty-five children and grandchildren, thus realising a
prophecy that St. Anne would so bless the one good Chatelaine of St. Annaberg
that her descendants would equal in number the bobbins of the first lace she
had made.

Flanders bases her claim to priority in making bobbin lace on a series of six
woodcuts executed in 1580 by Martin de Vos, De Brugn, and Van Londerseel,
which represent occupations during the various periods of life ; amongst these a
young woman is shown seated with a lace cushion on her lap, whence it is
argued that lace was already
common in Flanders at that
time.

In Venice, as early as
1557, a book was published
giving patterns for bobbin laces.
In the course of some inter-
esting remarks entitled " Le
Pompe," the author explains
that this lace "is a work not
only beautiful, but useful and
needful." This volume is now
to be seen in the library of
the Arsenal in Venice, and is
the oldest known lace pattern
book. It is likely, however,
that it was not the first brought
out, as no instructions are
given in it as to how the lace
is made, nor is there any de-
scription of the materials and
implements required ; this
makes it probable that the
author, whose name is un-
known, was not the inventor of
pillow lace, and that the handi-

Christian IV., King of Denmark, 1577 — 1648 ; by
Peeter Isaakoz. This portrait shows how impor-
tant a feature was lace in the rich dress of the
period.

craft was already well known
in Venice. Evidence, there-
fore, appears to favour the
theory that to Italy belongs
the honour of introducing bobbin as well as needle-point lace.

In England the humble endeavours of the peasants in mediaeval times were
not assisted by schools of design, nor were the peasant lace-makers of Germany,
Sweden, Russia, and Spain encouraged to produce fabrics of artistic pattern.
When Barbara Uttmann instructed the country folk of the Hartz Mountains in the
sixteenth century, a sort of purling and network was the kind produced ; and German
laces have never acquired artistic reputation.

MEDIEVAL LACE.

In 1246 Po )e Innocent IV. ordered vestments to be sent to Rome for his use,
despatching an official letter to an English abbot to procure the opus Anglicanum or
nuns' work. I, ace is still called nuns' work in outlying districts in England and the
Continent.

But it was not only in convents that the art of lace-making was taught. The
great ladies — heads of households — prided themselves on the number of young girls
who came to their castles or suzerain manors, and, taking up a temporary residence,
were taught lace-making, embroidery, weaving, and matters in connection with the

still-room. During the hours
while the needles were plied,
singing was encouraged, and

certain ballades a toiks were

Special songs
•were sung
by the lace

composed especially for the makers as
use of the workers. Such they worked,
ballads are still used in Italy
(one specially composed for this
book is given in the chapter on
" The Literature of Lace").

Many interesting historical
scenes have taken place in the
working rooms of royal ladies.
Wolsey found Queen Catherine
at work amongst her women
when he went to her at Bride-
well to speak of her divorce.
The unfortunate Mary Queen
of Scots.found solace in plying
the needle during her lonely
hours of captivity, and in many
of her letters demands are
made for silk and gold thread.
She had learnt the art from
her governess, Lady Fleming,
and had been perfected by
Catherine de' Medicis, who
was a famous needlewoman.

M. de Barante, the his-
torian of the Duke of Burgundy,
writes that Charles the Bold

in 1476 lost his laces at one of the battles in which he was engaged. It is probable
that these laces were of the gold or silver gimp variety, as fragments of such
kinds are among his relics. Jacob Van Eyck, the Flemish poet, sang the praises of
lace-making in the long-winded Latin verse of the day; they end with this somewhat
involved period : — " Go, ye men, inflamed with the desire of the Golden Fleece,
endure so many dangers by land, so many at sea, whilst the woman, remaining in
her Brabantine home, prepares Phrygian fleeces by peaceful assiduity." It was the

Elizabeth of Bourbon, painted about 1620, in the
Lace-edged Ruff of the period.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Refugees
from Flan-
ders taught
bobbin lace-
making to
the whole of
Northern
Europe.

The kinds of
lace made in
mediaeval
times.

Cut-work.

Punto
Applicato.

lace manufacture alone which saved Flanders from utter ruin when the country was
deserted by so many handicraftsmen, who fled from the awful religious persecution.
Owing to the exodus at this time, every country of Northern Europe learned the
art of bobbin lace-making from Flanders.

The manufacture of that most beautiful of laces, Brussels, commenced in
mediaeval times, judging from the patterns of the earliest known fragments, which
are to be found in the churches of Brabant ; these pieces formed gifts of munificent
noblemen, who did much to promote the industry of their country by their
patronage. Linen embroideries, darned netting, knotted and plaited laces were
made in the convents all over Europe at this period, and were chiefly used for
Church purposes. Sometimes the convent rules were considerably relaxed for the
benefit of the lace-workers, and mediaeval human nature seems to have been very
much like that existing at the present day, as an old journal of the kloster at the
convent of Wadstena, Sweden, shows. Mrs. Bury Palliser thus relates the
incident :

"The rules of the convent forbade the nuns to touch either gold or silver,
save in their netting and embroidery.

" One of the nuns writes to her lover without the walls — ' I wish I could
send you a netted cap that I myself have made, but when Sister Karin
Andersdotter saw that I had mingled gold and silver thread in it she said,
" You must surely have some beloved."

" ' " I do not think so," I answered, "here in the kloster you may easily see
if any of the brethren has such a cap, and I dare not send it by anyone to a
sweetheart outside the walls."

" ' " You intend it for Axel Nelson," answered Sister Karin.

" ' " It is not for you to talk," I replied, " I have seen you net a long hood
and talk and prattle yourself with Brother Bertol." '

It was not until the sixteenth century that lace-making became a lay industry.
In Italy and Spain, where the influence of the Church was paramount, point and
bobbin lace work remained confined to the religious orders until long after.
Gradually the nuns taught the art to their lay pupils, but it spread but slowly.

The kinds of lace work made in mediaeval times were linen embroidery and
reticella, darned netting on knotted net, darned netting on twisted net, drawn work,
macrame plaited laces, cut work and embroidery. (For full description of each
see " Dictionary of Lace.")

Cut- work comprised a wide variety of decoration. The linen edges were
sometimes worked in close embroidery, the threads occasionally drawn and
afterwards worked with the needle in various forms ; or the ends of the cloth were,
perhaps, unravelled as if for a fringe and then plaited in a geometric pattern. The
grave clothes of St. Cuthbert were ornamented in this manner. " There has
been," says one who witnessed his disinterment, " put over him a sheet ; this sheet
had a fringe of linen thread of a finger's length upon its sides."

Cut-work is sometimes made with fine lawn, called quintain, which is fastened
to a background of interlacing threads, the lawn being cut away when the pattern
has been stitched on. This variety is occasionally called Punto Applicato.

MEDIEVAL LACE.

Another form of this work was made without the opaque lawn, and was simply
a network darned upon with counted stitches, Point Conte. This work is also
called Lads.

Lace, or passements, the general term for the gimps and braids, together with
the laces, like those with which in modern times we unite two parts of a dress, were
made of silk, worsted, or thread. They also serve as links in the chain of

evidence which brings us to the hand-
made laces of to-day.

Cut-work sometimes signified what
we now call applique work, mean-
ing rather the cutting-out of
pieces of velvet, silk, or cloth,
and sewing them down to the
garment with braid, than the
open linen work, which the
modern meaning of the
work describes. Chaucer
speaks of the priests wear-
ing gowns of scarlet and
green cut-work.

In the middle of the
sixteenth century Point
Coupe became widely
known. Geometrical pat-
terns were the most used ;
the linen on which the
work was done was of
splendidly tough make,
which rendered possible the
survival of specimens to the
present day. Darned netting
dates back as early as linen
embroidery ; it was very exten-
sively used in the Middle Ages,
especially in Russia and Sicily,
where it is still popular. The
earlier patterns are of the old
lozenge type, and also include
fleuv de Us and other armorial

designs, monsters, and foliage. Many of the old pattern books give designs for
darned netting ; in fact, this kind appears almost exclusively in those earlier
published. In the Exeter Cathedral inventory it is stated that there were, in
1327, three pieces of darned netting for use at the altar.

Drawn-work was as well known in the Middle Ages as were cut-work and
darned netting ; altar cloths and winding-sheets were chiefly ornamented with

c 2

Point Conte
or Lacis.

Passements,
gimps, and
braids.

Darned
netting.

Cavaliera Fiammingo, in Collar of Guipure Point
Gotico ; painted by Francesco Pourbus in the
sixteenth century. This picture is now in the
Academic at Venice. Photograph by Naya,
Venice.

Drawn-
work.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Knotted
lace.

Bobbin lace.

it; groups of animals, strange monsters, armorial shields, heraldic devices, and
weird-looking trees served as designs, such patterns being more suitable for the
scope of the work than the intricate geometric patterns used in darned netting.
This was the favourite lace of the ladies of the powerful house of Medici, both in
Italy and in France, and it was natural that the kind which was admired by the
reigning house should be popular with the nobles. The ruffs and manchettes, the
aprons and collars of the period were all trimmed with the finest reticella and
drawn-work, which formed an important item in the trousseau of a noble lady
of the Middle Ages.

The bridal or carnival laces, as they were called, were not only worn at the
wedding, but also at the succession of festivities always given in honour of the
event ; they were subsequently kept for wearing at carnivals and other stately
ceremonials when the relaxation of the Sumptuary laws permitted their display.
The patterns were usually formed by the armorial devices of the contracting
families being combined. Since mediaeval times reticella, or drawn-work, has
not been much used for personal adornment. It is now considered more
suitable for Church and household use.

Though knotted borders and fringes occur on garments of Eastern nations in
remote times, the more intricate knotted lace dates from the fifteenth century. It
is spoken of in the first record of Italian laces, as we have already mentioned,
in the Sforza inventory, and patterns are given in books in use in the first
half of the sixteenth century. In the mediaeval method of working it, horizontal
threads were fixed on heavy pillows, and to them vertical threads were attached ;
the knotting was done much in the same way as on the macrame cushion of the
present day.

The making of the knotted lace, Lavoro a groppi, was chiefly confined to Italy.
None of it is found in either France or the Netherlands, the two other lace
centres of the Middle Ages. It was used on the linen scarves, or cloths, worn
as head-coverings by the peasants, the patterns being occasionally most intricate.
In the seventeenth century, however, the long fringed ends were again allowed
to flow free without elaborate knotting. Lavoro a groppi never achieved the
popularity of the other mediaeval laces.

When once the pillow was introduced for facilitating the making of knotted
lace, or macrame, the plaiting of loose threads did not take long to grow in
popularity. The work was easier than the knotting, less straining to the fingers,
more suitable for light and graceful patterns than could be achieved in cut-work,
drawn-work, or knotting. The success of plaited laces was assured, and the
introduction of bobbins, whether owing to the accidental discovery of a love-sick
maiden, according to the story well-known in the City of the Lagoons, or to some
other source, soon came about. The legend is pretty and worthy of mention as a
graceful story only.

A young fisherman of the Adriatic was betrothed to a girl, who made for him
a new net as a gift. The first time it was cast the only catch was a piece of
petrified wrack grass or white coralline weed. Soon afterwards the fisherman was
pressed into the service of the Venetian Navy, and the girl was left with the now
useless net in her charge. While she wept bitterly she wound the delicate coralline

MEDIEVAL LACE.

strands in and out of the net, then twisted the threads and small weights attached,
and made an imitation of the spirals of the grass, throwing and twisting the lead
just as the bobbins are thrown. The effect was so beautiful and easily obtained
that the girl, who was accustomed to making the coarse guipure of the period,
followed up her discovery, in course of time evolving serviceable tools, not unlike
the cushion and bobbins of the present day.

Mary Queen of Scots, in Coif edged with purling, the narrow edging of
twisted threads ; the Ruff is trimmed with Guipure Lace.

The Le Puy factory appears to be the most ancient of the French lace centres
dating back to the sixteenth century ; it was in connection with this factory that the
Jesuit father, Saint Fra^ois Regis, who is considered the patron saint of the
lace-makers, earned his canonisation. Sumptuary edicts were published by the
Seneschal of Le Puy which threatened to annihilate the lace trade, a heavy fine
being imposed on any who wore lace upon their clothes. The reasons for the
edicts have an element of humour in them : the general custom of wearing lace

Le Puy in
France dates
its connec-
tion with the
lace trade
from the i6th
century.

22 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

among all classes was undesirable, it was said, as it caused the distinction between
high and low to disappear. Father Regis not only consoled the sufferers in
their poverty, brought on by the edict, but also went to Toulouse and obtained
a revocation of it.

Pattern books of the sixteenth century give instructions for plaiting gold and
silver threads ; Lucca, Genoa, Florence, Venice, and Milan were all celebrated
for their gold and silver plaiting; and Point d'Espagne was known and worked
in coloured silks as well as metal covered threads. It was in Genoa and the
neighbourhood that the lace-workers first ceased to follow the fashion in using
only geometrical patterns for plaited lace work, and produced in silk and flax the
scalloped borders. This Point de Genes Frise became famous. A history of the
manufacture of this lace at Albissola, a village near Genoa, was written, and a full
account is given of the famous sixteenth century plaited laces of silk in black, white
and varied colours.

Point de Genes Frises was worn as the handsomest lace procurable until the
seventeenth century, when the reign of Mediaeval lace was over, and the elaborate
needle-point and bobbin laces of the Renaissance period swept the older and
simpler methods into oblivion.

Early specimen of Gold and Silver Thread Lace.

Specimens of rich Venetian Point
lag-hato Foliami and Rose
Point.

CHAPTER III.

ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Picture Of the Times. // fs important to remem-
ber that the seventeenth century was a period of great colonial
activity, so that fresh markets were opened for the lace ami other
industries. The East India Company ivas founded, Jamaica was
conquered, Boston founded, as well as Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and Carolina, the French West India Company flourished, and
the Dutch settled at the Cape of Good Hope.

The act which has had more influence than any other on the
History of Lace, look place in France in this century. This was the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which was instrumental in
scattering the lace-makers and lace merchants all over Protestant
Europe. It took place in 1685, when Louis XIV. was on the throne.
Richelieu and Mazarin were the great French Ministers of the
century ; while in England, Cromwell's was the master mind ; and
the austerity in dress of the Roundheads for a lime depressed the
lace trade, which flourished again at the Restoration of Charles
II. The devastating influence of the Plague and the Fire of London
affected all industries. In Holland, the Treaty of Nimeguen in
1678 changed the nationality of many important lace centres.
iVilliam III. of Holland eventually became King of England. In
Russia, the brilliant Court of the Romanoff dynasty held sway,
and the personal symplicity of Peter the Great ivas in vivid contrast
to the barbaric splendour of the surroundings of Catherine I.
Literature and Science in Europe were represented during the
century in France by Balzac. Corneille, Racine, Fe'nelon, Moliere,
La Fontaine, Bossuet, and Boileau, and the Acade'mie Francaise
was founded. England was represented by Algernon Sidney. Milton,
Locke, Waller, Otivay, Dryden, and Harvey. The Royal Society
was founded. In Italy, Sarpi, Marini, Tassoni, and Galileo ivere
celebrated. In Spain Cervantes wrote his immortal "Don Quixote."
The artists of the century include such names as IVatteau, Fra-
'onard '.Charles Lebrun, Abraham Basse, Guido, Albani, Salvator
?osa, Domenichino, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt and the two
Teniers.

THE history of lace in the seventeenth century is the history of the fabric at the
most elaborate and beautiful stage of its development. To Italian influence
at the end of the sixteenth century was due the fashion then obtaining
throughout Europe of wearing the ruffs decorated in a lavish manner with the

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Venice fur-
nished most
of the

luxuries and
led the
fashions.

Francois, Prince of Savoy -Carignan, by Van Dyck. 1631.
He wears the rich lace collar and cuffs of the period.

geometric lace of the period. Lace of gold and silver thread trimmed the mantles,
cloaks, and all other garments; the raised points of Venice were well known,
for, despite the commencement of the decline in the prosperity of Venice, that

city maintained for a short time longer her
high position as the creator of all models
of fashion and luxury. The Venetian silks
and costly laces were unrivalled, and when
factories were to be established in other parts
of Europe, it was from Italy that skilled work-
men were enticed.

Catherine de' Medicis, on her arrival from
Italy, encouraged enormous expenditure on
dress, at the court in Paris, believing that the
brilliant fetes would divert the minds of the
people from the unsatisfactory political state.
Sumptuary edicts were issued in vain, no
fewer than ten being proclaimed during the
last half of the sixteenth century; but at the
same time the King wore on his dress enormous quantities of gold lace, at the
meeting of the States of Blois.

Rare specimen of Bobbin-made Lace of
unusual width and degraded ornament
resembling the Peasant Lace of Crete.
In each scallop a man with uplifted
arms holds a flagon, and on either side
are deer.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Madame Verbiest, by Gpnzales Coques. 1664. One of the first
pictorial representations of straight-edged lace which by this
time rivalled the early scalloped edges in popular favour.

In 1594, 1600, 1601, and 1606, Henri IV., his successor, made other
Sumptuary laws and abided by them himself, wearing " a doublet of tafifety
without either trimming or lace " ; and Sully, his minister, prohibited under pain

of corporal punishment any dealings with
foreign lace merchants. " It is necessary,"
he said, " to rid ourselves of our neighbour's
goods which deluge the country."

As long as Marie de' Medicis lived, the
upstanding collar worn at the back of the
dress, which still bears the name of the
Medicis collar, was used with its edgings
of fine lace. The ruin of the nobles on
account of their extravagance in dress
becoming imminent, in 1613 the Queen
published tne " Reglement pour les super-

Italian-made Bobbin Lace, 6J inches wide,
about 1650, showing the change from
the Vandyked to the straight edge
which took pla'ce at that period.

The Medicis
collar, •which
is still so
popular,
was intro-
duced in the
tyth century.

fluites des habits," in which the wearing of lace and embroidery was forbidden.

26 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

In a curious collection of costumes of the period made by M. de Bonnard
(Bibliotheque Nationale), the enormously extravagant use of lace may be seen.

In one portrait the corsage, which is decollete, is trimmed with Point
d'Angleterre, the brocaded train with rich braid ; in front, a petticoat, made
entirely of Point de France, is displayed. The shoulders are covered with a cape
with double flounce of Point d'Angleterre, and on the head is worn a hat of fine
Valenciennes guipure, wired and drawn.

It was at this time that many of the old pattern books were printed, no fewer
than six at Lyons, and many editions of Vinciola's works in Paris from 1587 to
1623 ; full details of these are given in the chapter on the " Literature of Lace."

Point de Venise in relief was first produced to supply the demand for some
novelty at this time ; the old type suggested to the workers the creation of the new,
and so popular was the raised point from the first moment of its introduction, that
• for many years it dethroned all other kinds of lace in the taste of the public. Seguin
says, " If perfection can exist on earth, it has been attained by the makers of lace,
and this specially applies to the Venetian lace of this period." Its distinctive style
lies in the ornaments of flowers or leaves, which have a richly raised outline.
This outline is filled with jours or stitches of the most beautiful and intricate kind.
The different sections of the design are united by a groundwork of brides decorated
with pearls or loops. The effect is that of carved ivory, though the lace has a soft
and velvety richness which the coldness of ivory can never imitate ; these reliefs
wrought in flax thread are amongst the most beautiful objects in the world.

For a long time Venice only produced this lace, but Colbert introduced it into

France when he obtained Italian workers for the French factories; and in the

middle of the seventeenth century it was as much made in France as were the

. bobbin and other pillow laces during the reign of Louis XV. Venice point

made in France, was, by Royal ordinance, called Point de France.

Lace-making was stimulated, fresh designs appeared constantly, and the beauti-
ful points of Italy and Flanders began to make their appearance at all the Courts of
Europe ; besides being used in the decoration of the altars of the Church, and in
the trimming of the priests' vestments.

The falling ' Immediately after the introduction of Point de Venise, the ruff or fraise became
collar re- demode, as unsuitable for displaying its charms, and was replaced by the deep
rutt. scalloped collar, made entirely of lace or with rich point lace border. This change

in the fashion produced an interesting modification in the French guipure, another
of the laces of the period. The fabric had hitherto been fine and light, so that it
would stand out" well as a trimming for the ruffs when mounted on cambric or
lawn : now it became heavier, as more suitable for the falling collar; the edges were
enriched with a kind of point d'esprit, made with three projecting wheat-shaped
lobes, which gave weight and helped to keep the collar in place. Later, when
guipure was less made, these lobes were imitated, and the colour was dyed a pale
yellow to falsely indicate age, so that purchasers might believe that the lace had
been made during the falling collar period. At this time the guipure designs were
extremely characteristic, being much more ornamented than at any other. The
ornaments were tied to one another, and opened in a vase or fan-shaped pattern which
was most effective, more especially from the great beauty and delicacy of the work.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Sleeves were trimmed with revers of lace, lace hung down from the tops
of the men's boots, and garters worn like a bandage or scarf round the knee
were edged with point lace ; on dress and court shoes a large rosette of lace
adorned the instep ; gloves, caps, aprons, capes in double and treble tiers were
worn by the ladies, and Italian laces adorned even the christening suits.

In one of M. de Bonnard's pictures we see that even the servants wore lace-
trimmed garments ; the attendants of the young Due d'Anjou are covered with
costly points, and the cradle, bed, and sheets are decorated with the same beautiful
fabric. The household table linen of this time was richly trimmed with lace.

It was in the seventeenth century that in French Flanders, in Valenciennes,

and the surrounding district, the
laces with straight border were
first made. This was an im-
portant innovation, for hitherto
elaborate escalops only had been
known. It must be remembered
that the Valenciennes of this
period was different from that
we are accustomed to see in the
modern production : the net had
a much larger mesh and the
thread used was infinitely finer.
Though Italian laces of the
seventeenth century were per-
fectly imitated in France, the
laces of Belgium and England
of the same period were not
made except in the countries in
which they had originated. This
is accounted for by the special
stitch, called the crossing or
crochetage, being a trade secret,
and jealously guarded.

When the marriage of Louis
XIII. to Anne of Austria took
place, the collars of the Medicis
changed in character, being worn

farther from the head and sloping more outwards, and Spanish lace became the
favourite.

Edicts were constantly being issued, the most celebrated of the many in the
seventeenth century being that called the Code Michaud, which entered into the
most minute regulations of the toilet which a grandmotherly legislation could devise;
but there was little result beyond laughter, and a budget of clever skits and
caricatures; and when Louis XIII. died, his effigy was exposed to public view
dressed in a shirt of fine holland, with rich lace collar and manches, or outside
cuff trimmings, of Italian point.

Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. of England, from
a painting by Van Dyck (from Seidlitz's "Historical
Portraits "). The great artist's appreciation of.the
rich and beautiful effect of lace is very apparent.

Every gar-
ment was
trimmed
with lace,
even to the
boots and
garters of
the men.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Spanish lace

•was •worn

when

a Spanish

Princess

became

Queen of

France.

Colbert
founded the
Alenccn
factory.

The courtiers of the Regency under Anne of Austria were no less extravagant
in their taste for fine lace. The size of the boot tops was compared to the farthin-
gales of the women, and the space between outstanding leather and the limb was
filled with ruffles of costly lace. Mazarin, in 1652, while engaged in the siege of a
town, was purchasing laces from Flanders, Venice, and Genoa. These were
intended as patterns for the factories of Point de France, which were already
contemplated. In 1660 fresh Sumptuary orders were passed, prohibiting the use of
all foreign laces, Genoa Points and Point Coupes ; even French laces were not
allowed of more than one inch in
width, and lace collars and cuffs
were to be worn only for one
year after the issue of the edict ;
after that time they were to be
of linen trimmed with lace not
exceeding one inch in width.

From the time of the mar-
riage of Louis XIV. with the
Infanta, Spanish laces, out of
compliment to the Spanish prin-
cess, increased in popularity and
were considered most recherche
when worn over rich gowns of
silver or gold brocade.

Then followed more edicts
prohibiting the use of foreign
laces, before Colbert adopted the
scheme for securing for France
the large sums disbursed by the
lace-wearers. Selecting some of
the best workers of Italy and
Flanders, he established a lace
factory at Lonray, at Alen9on,
appointing a manager who knew
the Venetian method of lace-
making ; and under her thirty
forewomen, who had been brought
from Venice. The work executed
delighted the King and his courtiers, who declared the Alen9on specimens to be
superior to those of Venice. A large sum of money was given to Madame Gilbert,
the manager, and the lace received the name of Point de France. In 1665 the
manufacture of it was founded on a princely scale, and a grant of 36,000 francs was
made, together with an exclusive privilege for ten years. The decree, dated
August, 1665, ordained "that there shall be established at Guesney, Arras,
Rheims, Sedan, Chateau- Thierry, Loudun, Alen9on, Aurillac, etc., manufactures
of all kind of works with thread, either with needle or upon pillow, like those made
in Venice, Genoa, Ragusa, and they will be called Points de France."

Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, showing the lace
head-dress called the Fontange, after the favourite
of the French king, who initiated the fashion.
Point de France, showing the Venetian influence,
is the kind of lace used.

SE YEN TEEN TH CEN T UR Y.

Other factories were set up at Argentan and the Chateau de Madrid. At the
latter the best work was executed, for the most famous artists designed the graceful
patterns ; it was this factory that was patronised by the Royal household.

Not only were foreign laces forbidden, but a special decree forbade " the
production, sale, or use of any kind of thread point laces made with the needle,
whether old or modern, except those made in the Royal manufactories." French
characteristics began to show themselves at the different factories, and the laces

which had begun by being copies
of the Venice Point, and had
been called collectively Point de
France, were soon distinguished
by their different characteristics
as Aleneon, Argentan, etc.

It was during the reign of
Louis XIV. that the Edict of
Nantes was revoked, and this
had such a disastrous effect on
the French lace industry and
assisted to such a vast extent in
spreading the knowledge of lace-
making in all the capitals of
Europe where there was religious
toleration, that it may be con-
sidered the act of legislation
which has had the most im-
portant influence of any on the
history of lace. Through it
France lost 500,000 of her best
citizens, and it is said that when
Louis XV. asked Frederick the
Great what he could do for
him to show his gratitude, the
German sovereign asked for " A
second revocation of the Edict
of Nantes," doubtless remem-
bering that before the influx of
French emigrants, Berlin had
only 15,000 inhabitants, and that
its silk, lace and other industries were practically non-existent.

When Louis XIV. became so zealous for the welfare of the Roman Catholic
Church, under the influence of Madame de Maintenon and his confessor, the Jesuit
father La Chaise, all the chief manufactures were in the hands of the Protestants.
It is difficult to account for this fact except that it was then a dogma in the Roman
Catholic Church that profit on a loan was usury and undesirable. The Huguenots
held no such opinion, so that mortgages, borrowed capital and other means for
extending trade were freely used by them with excellent result. The persecutions,

Jean Baptiste Colbert, Minister of Louis XIV. , who
established the great lace factories at Aleneon
and elsewhere, with a view to keeping in France
the fortunes spent by the courtiers on Venetian
and Flemish laces. He wears a falling collar of
Point de France.

The revoca-
tion of the
Edict of
Nantes
spread the
knowledge of
lace ' making
throughout
Europe.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

imprisoning, forfeiture of estates and other penalties soon drove all these worthy
citizens, together with their riches and industrial capacity, into other countries,
where their religious views were tolerated.

Tours lost her ribbon factories, the number of looms falling from 8,000 to 200,
In Lyons the weavers were reduced from 18,000 to 4,000, and nearly the whole of
her trade in gold and silver laces, which was valued at four million francs yearly,
was transferred to Genoa. Fifty thousand workmen took refuge in England,
Flanders, Germany, and Switzerland, bringing with them their trade secrets and
establishing factories, from which France would henceforth be compelled to buy
her supplies instead of being in the
position to supply the world. From
Alen9on the skilled workmen took
their trade with them to the North.
London received the silk weavers
from Lyons at Spitalfields.

The lace industry of France
suffered terribly, and after leading
the world during the brilliant Colbert
period in the manufacture of the
finest needle-point laces, produced
only the cheaper and more easily
made varieties, the best kinds being
imported from Venice and Flanders.

The driving into exile of her
most skilful workers was not the
only reason for the decline of the
Alen9on factories. At this time the
original Point de Veni?e designs
were neglected, and lace was no
longer made raised in relief, with
the result that richness in effect was
lost, and the pure outlines and
delicate arabesques shrank and

, . ,. , ., , r- 1 r Andre le Notre, Chevalier of the order of St.

dwindled until the final Stage of Michael, Councillor of the King (Louis XIV.),

rWaHpnrp thp HnttpH <;tv1p wa<; Controller General of His Majesty's Gardens,

C6» t Style> WaS Arts and Manufactories of France. He wears

reached. sleeve ruffles and cravat of richest Point de

,-, -M j. , j j France, which at that period was identical

Colbert was distressed and with Venetian Point,

uneasy at the falling away of the •

foreign markets from purchasing at the lace factories he had established with so

much care. He wrote to M. de St. Andre, then French Ambassador in Venice,

charging him to give exact information of the laces made in Venice and Burano— " If

they are made in as large quantities as in former times, and where they are exported."

France no, It is interesting thus to see that the Points of Venice appropriated by France,

longer made as Point de France, and imitated by other countries, their fame being clouded by

Point de " unskilful copies, were once more made exclusively in Venice, their original home.

Venise. It is doubtless most desirable that one nation should imitate what is beautifully

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 31

created by another, stamping on the original invention some special character-
istics, but at any rate in the case of Point de Venise, Fate seems to have decided
that the original trade should return to the city which gave birth to the type.

After rivalling Venice and Genoa in all industrial arts in the Middle Ages,
Belgium had suffered through the persecution of her skilled workpeople by the
Spanish Government. In 1620, however, the new activity in the commerce of lace

Henry, Prince of Wales, son of King James I., in elaborate collar
trimmed with Punto in Aria of very beautiful design.

revived the old industry, which spread from Valenciennes, then a town of Flanders,
to Antwerp, Lille, and Bruges.

At the commencement of the Belgian lace industry the Gothic and Venetian
styles had been copied ; later on the Genoa Guipures were adopted ; and finally the
Belgian Point de Gaze was invented, and from it the celebrated Point de Bruxelles
and no less important Applique.

The impetus to point lace-making in the seventeenth century benefited the
bobbin lace industry indirectly, for those who could not afford to wear needle-point
must needs be in the fashion in lace-wearing, and an increased demand for the

32 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

cheaper pillow laces sprang up. The paintings of this period, the portraits by
Rubens, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt, the figures and interiors by Watteau and
Fragonard, the engravings of Abraham Bosse, all show us the rich profusion
of lace worn by both men and women on every occasion, whether a christening,
a wedding, a funeral, or one of the fetes of that brilliant period.

A new Nor were the courtiers the only wearers of Point de France. In 1690 a

fashion in passpojg; was demanded to allow the passing through of laces for the use of the

introduced officers of the army, and one of the most popular fashions of the day originated on

on a the battlefield. It was at the battle of Steinkirk, in 1692, that the officers

suddenly ordered into action, having no time to arrange their lace cravats in the

elaborate method in vogue at the time, knotted them hastily and drew them

through a button-hole. The fashion originated by the victorious officers became

the rage for both men and women in France and England for half-a-century.

With the century died the fashion of wearing the high head-dress of wired
A popular /lace, called La Fontange. This head-dress, which was at first low and graceful, was
head-dress r originated by the royal favourite whose name it bears. Her hair having become
result of an disarranged while out hunting, she bound up the flowing locks with her lace hand-
accident, kerchief. Louis XIV. was so charmed with the coiffure that he desired she should
appear in it at the Court ball in the evening ; after that, every lady who desired to
court royal favour appeared with a head-dress a la Fontange, until the mode became
exaggerated ; wire was used to support the lace, sermons were preached about
the exaggeration of its height, and Madame la Mode tired of her dainty whim.

In England, during the early part of the seventeenth century, the ruff, some-
times with double tier, delighted the Court gallants and aroused the wrath of the
preachers, who waxed eloquent against the vanity of " the popinjays and plaister faced
Jezebels." Like the ruffs worn in France and Italy at the same period, they were
edged with elaborate geometric point, and Ben Jonson says, in the time of James I.,
that " men thought nothing of turning four or five hundred acres of their best land
into two or three trunks of apparel." It was about 1600 that the fashion for saffron-
tinted lace appeared in England, and the Dean of Westminster ordered " that no
man or woman wearing yellow ruffs be admitted to the Church." Either this
order discouraged their appearance, or the fact that Mrs. Turner, the inventor of
yellow starch, was hanged at Tyburn in 1615 for the Overbury murder, and
thus rendered that especial tint distasteful ; at any rate the fashion disappeared.

The French mode of wearing Flanders and Venice points held sway in England,
and Lord Bacon wrote, " Our English dames are much given to the wearing of
costly laces, and if brought from Italy, or France, or Flanders, they are in much
esteem." In 1621 there was a movement set on foot to establish an office "to repress
pride by levying taxes on all articles of luxury," and in 1623 a complaint of the decay
of the bone lace trade caused distress in Great Marlow.

Queen Anne of Denmark was most patriotic in her taste, and purchased
"Great bone lace and Little bone lace" at Winchester and Basing; the lace for
the layette of the Princess Sophia cost ^"614 55. 8d.

Cut-work was still a favourite in England for the trimming of the falling
collars which came in when ruffs went out of fashion, and Medicis collars were
worn as at the Court of France. At the death of Queen Anne, wife of James I.

Bobbin - made Brussels Lace Flounce, 26 inches wide, late seventeenth century. Given by
M. de Maintenon to Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon, consecrated Archbishop of

C. i MI hi. i i in 1605.

Seventeenth -century Point de France, showing tht Venetian influence. The
figures are characteristic of this period.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 33

in 1619, a large veil was used to drape the hearse, with "peak lace wired, and lawn Lace used
curiously cut in flowers." at a Royal

Though Charles I. is occasionally represented in a ruff during the early years '
of his reign, the fashion practically died with King James I., being superseded by the
fall of lace-trimmed linen ; but extravagance was shown even in the less elaborate
neck wear, and in 1633 the bills for the King's lace and linen amounted to ^"15,000
for the year. As there was little of this money paid for foreign lace, it may be
inferred that the making of English laces had become an important industry.
Much bone lace and point lace was made in England, besides that of the more
costly gold and silver thread.

Henrietta Maria gave lace as a present to her sister-in-law, Anne of Austria,
and the Countess of Leicester ordered lace to be sent to her in France, "fine bone
lace of English make " ; this would be the beautiful Point d'Angleterre, which is
erroneously supposed to have originated in Belgium, and to have been chiefly made
there. The fact that shoe rosettes were worn in England at this time with the
same extravagance as at the French court inspired the epigram —

"Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold,
And spangled garters worth a copyhold."

The fall of Charles I. and the rule of the Puritans had less disastrous effect on
the lace trade than one would expect. It is true that less cheap bone lace was
required for the middle classes, and the bravery and junketings of the lower classes
were sternly repressed, but the ladies of the noble and aristocratic families had
little liking for the simple Roundhead dress. Silver lace ornamented the buff coats
of the men ; falling collars of Flanders lace and English point laces half-hid the
armour worn beneath. Nor did the foreign ambassadors of the Puritan govern-
ment think it necessary to appear in less ornate garments or less costly stuffs.
Even the members of Cromwell's own family used costly lace to a considerable Cromwell's
extent, and on the death of the Protector his body was more richly draped with family used
velvet, ermine, and Flanders lace than had any monarch's been before in England.
It is likely that the simplicity so much talked of at this period was more a party
cry and a concession to the spirit of reaction, than a practical rule carried out to
the letter.

At the Restoration the wearing of lace resumed the old place in the affections
of the people, from which it had never really been ousted; and while fresh
proclamations were issued by Charles II. against the entry of foreign lace, he himself
continued to buy Flanders lace, and, as Pepys tells in his delightfully gossiping
diary, other people did likewise. " My wife and I to my Lord's lodging, where she
and I stayed, walking in Whitehall gardens, and in the Privy garden saw the finest
smocks and linen petticoats of Lady Castlemaine's, laced with rich lace at the
bottom, that ever I saw, and it did me good to look at them."

The change of fashion in men's hairdressing brought about the extinction of
the falling lace collar, for the flowing wig and long cuds* hid the back and shoulder
portions of the lace. This accounts for the introduction of the lace cravat of this Lace cravats
period. Aprons, pinners and handkerchiefs of lace .vere immensely popular with succeeded
the ladies. With the end of the century the fashion of the head-dress a la Fontange, collars.

34 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

called a commode in England, was at its height, and never had such sums been
spent on lace in England as were disbursed during the reign of William and
Mary. The industry throve in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Devonshire and all
the other lace-making districts in England. Defoe, a few years later, wrote that
•' Thro' the whole south part of Bedfordshire the people are taken up with the
manufacture of bone lace, in which they are wonderfully exercised and improved

George Digby, Earl of Bristol (1612-1677). The deep turn-down collar
characteristic of the Stewart period was soon to be replaced by
lace cravats, when, the hair being worn longer and more over
the shoulders, elaborate ornament was needed only in front.

within these few years past." Devonshire was kept busy with the demand for her
Point d'Angleterre laces, and at Honiton the three celebrated lace-makers of the
seventeenth century flourished, namely : James Rodge, Mrs. Minifie, the daughter
of the Vicar of Buckrell, near Honiton, and Humphrey of Honiton, whose records
of bequests to the townspeople are preserved on a board at the west end of the
parish church at the present day.

In the seventeenth century we know that the lace industry of England
flourished, and some traces may be found of small centres having existed before

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

that time, but English portraits are searched in vain for traces of characteristic
native-made laces earlier than about 1603, nor is there any mention of the existence
of either a bobbin or a needle-point factory.

It is probable that, during the reign of Elizabeth, the close intercourse between
the Courts of France and England gave ample opportunity for the exchange of ideas
and models in what was then a favourite pastime, and a proof of the knowledge in
England of some of the well-known lace patterns is shown in the book published in

"The Foolish Virgins," by Abraham Bosse. The flat lace collars are characteristic of the
period. This is one of the first pictures in which lace-trimmed handkerchiefs appear.

1605 by Mr. Mignerak, an Englishman, which contains a collection of well-known
Point Coupe and bobbin lace patterns. This proves also that there were at any
rate some people in England who were interested in the English lace industry.

It is likely that until the second half of the seventeenth century England
produced only sufficient lace for her own consumption, for it is not until that time
that the characteristic Point d'Angleterre appears in wardrobe lists, periodical f>he lovely
literature, and portraits on the Continent ; but after 1650 the superiority and Point
originality of the English lace is proved by the large export abroad. This, how-
ever, is due to England alone having adapted to the bobbin lace the use of the style
created in needle-point by the Venetian artists, and we agree with M. Seguin that
the deeply-rooted idea that Point d'Angleterre originated in Belgium is erroneous

As early as 1612 a letter, dated January 2nd, is addressed to M. de Morangis,
Prefect of Alenson, in which it is said : " As the young ladies are now clever in

D 2

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Point

d'Angleterre
originated in
England, as
its name
denotes.

making the Point de France, the manufacturers could easily introduce in their
factories the work of Flanders and Point d'Angleterre ; and if it is necessary to have
some skilled workwomen from other countries, we could authorise them to be called."
The Point d'Angleterre undoubtedly means, in this case, the work done in England.
The English Point d'Angleterre was exported in large quantities to France, and was
never confounded at that time with lace made in Flanders. Colbert, for whose
information the letter was written, would be the last to confuse the two makes of lace.

In 1675, Savory,
in " Le Parfait Nego-
ciant," declares that
" there is a large im-
portation from Eng-
land of laces of silk
and linen thread."

Why should Bel-

gium invent a type of
, , ,, .. ,-, . ,

lace and call it Point

d'Angleterre ? This
especial kind of lace
existed long before the
excessive demand for it
in the time of Charles
II. necessitated Bel-
gian lace being smug-
gled into England
under that name. It
is probable, however,
that the fact that in
the latter part of the
seventeenth century
the demand did exceed
the English supply,
has given rise to the
belief that Belgian so-
called Point d'Angle-
terre was the model
for the English-made
Point d'Angleterre,
instead of the reverse being the case. And this History of Lace will not have
been written in vain if we make it clear that England was the first to make
the beautiful lace called Point d'Angleterre. The industry still exists in
Devonshire, where Honiton point absolutely represents the Point 'd Angleterre
of the seventeenth century ; the only difference being in the poverty of the present
designs. If artistic direction were given to the designing management, there is no
reason why Point d'Angleterre should not again attain to its old beauty,

George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695). He wears the
folded cravat of Flemish lace, which replaced the deep
lace collar when flowing wigs came in — hiding the lace
trimming at the back.

Portrait of Mademoiselle de Beaujolas. From the picture by Nattier (1685—1766), at the
Musee at Versailles. Taken from a photograph by Neurdein. The lace apron and
dress trimming: are of Point d'Argentan.

Busts of Louis XVI. of France (in Point d'Alen^on Lace cravat) and his wife Marie Antoinette,
daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria (in Point d'Alen^on corsage drapery).

CHAPTER IV.

ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

OI the limes. The eighteenth century icas a time of great naval activity for
England. Nelson and Howe flourished. The A merican War took place in 1783. Fox and Pitt guided the
policy of the Kingdom, and the South Sea Bubble taking place in the first half of the century, gave rise
to reckless expenditure. In France the war of Spanish Succession drained the resources of_ the. country
early in the century. The Seven Years' War took place and the Jesuits were expelled. The splendour
and extravagance of the Court of Louis XVI. suffered total eclipse at the Revolution, which had f^S
disastrous results on the lace-making industry ; in fact, at this time, it received a bloiv from which ij /"
has never recovered, notwithstanding Napoleon's efforts to revive the art. Literature and Science were
represented in Great Britain by Pope, Thomson, Cowper, Burns, Grey, Steele, Addison, Congreve,
Defoe, Sterne, Goldsmith, Johnson, Newton, Wesley, Franklin, and Blackstone. In France, by Voltaire,
Rousseau, Diderot, Le Sage, Montesquieu, Buffon, La Voisier, and La Grange. In Italy, by Goldoni,
Alfieri, Muratori, Morga'gne, Cassini. Galvani, and Volta. In Germany, by Zimmermann, Goethe,
Schiller, Kant, and Hoffmann. This was the century when the great German musicians flourished,
Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Weber. In Art, Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Gains-
borough showed the grace of English women draped in muslin, rather than lace. Greuze and Vernet
painted French portraits, and in Italy Lutti and Battoni upheld the traditions of the Italian School.

AT the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century,
every kind . of fine lace was used in France — Point d'Angleterre,
originally made in England but imitated in Flanders and also in
France, being as popular as Argentan and Alen9on ; Mechlin being
prized for its lightness ; and blonde lace having recently appeared from Spain.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

ChantiJly
lace was
first made
with flax
thread.

It was at this time that the making of silk laces increased considerably. Black
silk guipure had been worn, more or less under protest, out of compliment to
Louis XIV. 's Spanish consort, for the graceful taste of the Parisian did not find
pleasure in black silk lace. In the middle of the eighteenth century the Chantilly
industry was begun, at first with thread, afterwards with silk laces. This trade
did not really flourish, however, until blonde laces became the rage in Paris.

During the time of the third Napoleon
blonde lace was the favourite wear of
the Empress Eugenie, who delighted in
its transparent brilliance, and did not see
the lack of artistic design.

The equipage de bain formed one of
the most important items in the toilette
accessories of the woman of fashion. In
the eighteenth century the finest Point de
France was used not only for the trim-
ming of the loose dressing, gown of
madame, but also for a broad flounce
which was set on round the bath ; the
towels and stout linen for stepping out
upon were all trimmed with costly point.
In Madame Dubarry's accounts, Point
d'Argentan and Point .eUAngleterre ap-
pear for such trimming.

The bed trimmings were also of the
most costly nature. It must be re-
membered that at this time the reveille,
or uprising, was a favourite time for the
reception of friends, and the counterpane,
lace-trimmed pillow cases, sheets and
curtains were utilised as a means of
displaying costly points — a coverlet made
of Point de Venise in one piece, worth
many hundreds of crowns, being no un-
common sight. The bed garnitures of the
Queen of France were renewed every
year, Madame de Luignes receiving the
old ones as her perquisite. Henry

Swinburne, writing from Paris in 1786, says that the expense of a bride's
trousseau is equal to a handsome portion in England. " Five thousand
pounds' worth of lace, linen, etc., is a common thing among them."

In one of the pictures of M. de Bonnard at the Bibliotheque Nationale, a
dressing-room is shown furnished with a sumptuous display of laces. The
toilet table has a cover trimmed with a flounce of needle-point ; a Venetian
mirror has a pair of guipure lace curtains draped on either side of it. The

Mantilla worn by a lady of Madrid. This
head - covering is still much used in
Spain, though it is no longer the uni-
versal headwear of every class as it
was in the eighteenth century.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 39

dressing-gown of the lady is all of guipure, trimmed at the sides, where it
opens over a petticoat ; rich Point de France edges the sleeves and at the
bottom of the gown is a wide flounce of Point de France. At the back of
the washing-stand a deep flounce of the same lace is draped, forming a back-
ground for the carafes and basins.

George Washington, President of the United States (1732 —
1799). He wears the lace cravat and sleeve ruffles of the
period.

The eighteenth century was the age of ruffles and jabots ; fortunes were Fortunes

spent on them, and many are the jokes in the literature of the day at the ™"fUlfa£

expense of those who had lace ruffles but no shirts. The lace was always and jabots,
separate and was stitched on. It is said that the falling ruffles of lace

40 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

worn over the hands by every man of fashion were first used by card sharpers
and the throwers of dice, who wished to manipulate the games, and found
the full lace flounce a convenient veil.

Jabots and falls of lace for the wrist were the usual present from the
betrothed to her fiance, and the sums spent on single specimens in point or
Valenciennes would surprise those who speak of the extravagance of the present
day. The number required by the dandies of the period appears enormous;
the Archbishop of Cambrai possessed forty-eight pairs of ruffles of Mechlin,
Point de France, and Valenciennes ; this latter lace was usually worn at
night. The year before he died, Louis XVI. had fifty-nine pairs of new lace
ruffles, twenty-eight of point, twenty-one of Valenciennes, and ten of Point
d'Angleterre.

Fine lace The fashion in lace-wearing was not confined to the nobility : the lacqueys

frills formed in the eighteenth century had rich lace ruffles as part of their livery, both in
the men- England and all over the Continent. Queen Anne had her servants regularly
servants' inspected that it might be seen if their ruffles were clean and their periwigs
livery. dressed; and in a contemporary journal it is stated that "roast beef is banished

downstairs because the powdered footmen will not touch it for fear of daubing
their lace ruffles." At the beginning of the century, the English Parliament passed
an Act for preventing the importation of foreign bone lace, needle-point, and cut-
work, imposing a duty of 2os. per yard. The Government of Flanders retaliated
by prohibiting the importation of English woollen goods ; this caused such distress
amongst the wool carders, dyers, and weavers that the prohibition of foreign lace
was removed, and more of it was worn than ever, the lace bill of Queen Mary of
England amounting to nearly ^"2,000, and that of her royal spouse to ^"2,459, in
the same year.

At this time the English laces were becoming more elaborate and costly.
Defoe writes of Blandford point costing £30 per yard. This lace was much used
for trimming the steinkirks, which form of cravat, originating in France, was
extremely popular in England for many years. The lace-making area of this
country was very much wider in extent in the eighteenth century than it is
now; it extended throughout Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire,
Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Hampshire,
Dorset, Devon, and as far as Launceston in Cornwall. Point lace was worked
at this time by the upper classes all over England : they learnt the art in
France, where so many girls amongst the upper middle classes were educated
in the eighteenth century. This lace was generally worked by the wearer for
her own use and was never an article of commercial value. In 1775 an institution
was founded by Queen Charlotte in London " for employing the female infants
of the poor in the blonde and black silk lace making and thread laces." This
appears to have been successful for a time, having been bolstered up by the
purchase by subscribers in London of the produce of the school.

Queen Anne was scarcely patriotic in her tastes, wearing Flanders point at
her coronation. The laces of Brussels and Mechlin were always her favourites,
over one thousand pounds being paid in one year for the furnishing of these

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 41

laces alone. She, however, did not desire the importation of lace made in the
dominions of the French king, and in 1711 forbade the entry of gold and silver
lace on account of the extravagance to which its wear gave rise, even the
corsets of the ladies at this time being trimmed with the forbidden fabric.
Spanish point in gold or silver was preferred for state occasions for dress and
mantle trimming, thread lace being always used for "heads" and lappets.

Joseph Marie Terray. From a picture by Eoslin.
The magnificent lace alb worn by this prelate is
of Point de Flandre.

Before the South Sea Bubble burst, two companies had been brought out with
enormous capital for importing lace from Holland, and when the china craze of the
eighteenth century was at the height of its popularity, many a Flanders "head"
and flounce was exchanged for a punch bowl or nodding mandarin.

When George I. came to the throne lace continued to be worn as much as ever ;
the ruffles were longer and the cravats of exaggerated length. " Weeping ruffles "
are responsible for the passing of many a clandestine note between lovers and

Enormous
capital was
supplied
for importing
lace at the
time of the
South Sea
Bubble.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Spanish
mantillas
were finest
in the i8th
century.

Jacobites, and the discussion of the prices of foreign lace and criticism of ruffles
seems to have taken the place of the modern substitute — the weather — in the
conversation of intimates.

The extent to which the men and women ran up lace bills was enormous. The
distress of lace sellers at this time, which should have been so prosperous for
them, was very great, and constant bankruptcies of " lace men " are recorded. In
the Connoisseur, a. journal of the period, the reckless extravagance of the women
is commented upon, and a little incident described. " The lady played till all her
ready money was gone ; staked her cap and lost it, afterwards her handkerchief.
He then staked both cap and handkerchief against her tucker, which to his pique
she gained."

With regard to the laces of Italy at this period, the Venetian Point was still
being made in considerable quantities ; its style had never been lovelier, for though
the workmanship was lighter, it was not less ornate. The demand for thinner
laces had altered the designs of Point de Venise, which was approaching the seme
method, small sprigs taking the place of arabesques.

Argentan lace was made at Burano, and at the latter place the characteristic
Burano Point was at its finest ; it is to this period that some of the most beautiful
specimens of this graceful and lovely needle-point lace belong. Its tint is always
a deep coffee colour on account of the human contact ; for so laborious is its making
that a long time must be spent by the worker in achieving the rows of finest
stitching, and accomplishing the effective net ground by hand.

The making of bobbin lace was already a thriving industry in Pelestrina,
another of the group of islands of which Venice is one, and at Chioggia also
considerable quantities of lace were being made in the eighteenth century. This
lace is made with bobbins', and resembles Mechlin lace to a certain extent ; the
execution, however, is coarser, with the result that Chioggia lace is much
stronger than the Belgian variety. The Italian designs are infinitely more artistic.

The eighteenth century was the best period for lace made especially in the
form of mantillas. Neither before nor since has the national Spanish head-dress
been so universally worn as at that time ; peasant women, the upper and lower
middle classes, the aristocracy and royalty all used lace for their head-covering
on every occasion, the quality of the fabric varying with the rank and means of
the wearer, though sometimes mantillas of extremely rich lace were possessed by
those whose poverty with regard to the necessities of life showed the contrast
in a striking manner. Black lace was the most generally worn, but white
mantillas were sometimes de vigueur, and are still for special court ceremonies.

The three deep flounces of black lace stitched on the coloured skirt gave
ample opportunity for the fabrication of handsome Point d'Espagne, this being
also a part of the Spanish national dress much more worn in the eighteenth
century than at the present day ; in fact, the dress now worn in a few remote
villages is a survival of what was then the rule, both with men and with
women, even the three-cornered hat, which was then in vogue with all classes,
being still occasionally to be seen. The sleeves of the women's dresses were
trimmed with Point d'Espagne.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

In Belgium, Point de Gaze and Application both of needle-point and bobbin-
made sprigs, were much made. A new development of this latter variety of lace
was just beginning ; this was the Duchesse lace, in which handsome bobbin-made
sprigs are made separately, being joined afterwards by means of bobbin-made
brides or bars. The Italian lace which most resembles Point Duchesse is the
Mosaic lace of the present day, but smaller sections and sprigs serve to build up

the pattern, which is sometimes
enriched with medallions of
needle-point.

There was much etiquette
with regard to the wearing of
lace in the reign of George II. ;
it was so general at court that
even young girls before mar-
riage wore lace caps and ruffles.
There were winter and sum-
mer laces : Argentan and
Alen^on were amongst the
former ; Mechlin, Lille and
Blonde the favourites for sum-
mer wear. With regard to
mourning, black and white
laces were worn for slight
mourning, but none was per-
missible when deep mourning
was worn. Brussels lace was
almost invariably the kind
worn at court and on state
occasions. Fine escaloped
Brussels laced "heads" with
lappets, hooked up with dia-
diamond buttons, were the
mode, the sleeve ruffles to
match, of double and treble
rows, and it was remarked
that " the Popish nun lace-
makers abroad are maintained
by the Protestant lace-wearers
of England." Patriotism was
shown in a marked degree in
1736, when at the marriage of
Frederick, Prince of Wales,
all the lace worn was of

Harlequin's Dress, richly trimmed with gold English manufacture except

lace and galloon ; eighteenth century. t , r fu F)uke of Marl-
Taken from a photograph of the original

dress in the Correo Museum, Venice. borough, who wore Point

There were

winter

and summer

laces.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The lace

apron

disappears.

d'Espagne. Soon after, the Anti-Gallican Society was founded to correct the
taste for foreign manufactures and to distribute prizes for bone point lace and
other English-made fabrics. This society did excellent work in fostering the
artistic beauty of English lace, and its prizes were frequently competed for by
gentlewomen, who could carry out designs and stitches of a quality and
fineness equal to the convent-made lace abroad, as their living did not
entirely depend on the quick execution of their work.

With the end of the eighteenth century in England the lace apron, popular since
the time of Queen Elizabeth, finally disappeared, together with the mob cap pinned
under the chin ; and though costly point was still worn, blonde lace had made its

Border of Bobbin-made Trolly Lace, 2 inches wide. Late eighteenth century.

appearance, and with its novel, light effect, charmed the ladies who were ever on the
look-out " for what new whim adorns the ruffle."

All the efforts of George III. to protect English manufactures did but encourage
the smugglers ; notwithstanding royal edicts ladies would have foreign laces, and if
others could not smuggle them, they themselves were always ready to run some
risk and invent some ingenious plan for evading the Customs House officers, who
were not only busy at the seaports at this time, but frequently raided the tailors'
and milliners' shops in London, their finds being publicly burnt.

But with the terrible years of 1792 and 1793 all this was to cease. The great
lace-wearers of France, the nobility and aristocracy, by the end of the century had
either been sent to the scaffold or were miserable refugees in foreign countries,
eking out a living by giving lessons in languages and dancing, or by selling
their costly laces, if they had been so fortunate as to bring them i- *' '^
hurried flight.

Efforts were made after the Revolution (but without much success) to re
the lace industry of Argentan, that beautiful lace resembling Alen9on, but 0

from it, with its characteristic bride picotee ground, the six-sided buttonhole bar
fringed with a row of delicate pearls or picots round each side. Pe— ' Jon to
establish a factory at Argentan was refused to Madame Malbiche de Luislannay ;
possibly it was thought that the three existing factories were sufficient to supply the
small demand.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

With Marie Antoinette fell the lace trade of France, and for a decade the manu-
facture, except of a few cheap peasant laces, ceased to exist. When in the igth
century the gradual recovery from the disastrous effects of the Revolution began to
be felt at least a dozen of once thriving centres were hopelessly moribund through
the death and dispersion of the workers.

Old Chantilly Lace (reduced), from one of the order-books of
the time of Louia XVI.

Napoleon
tried to
revive the
lace industry
in France.

Machine-made Net. Kun and Embroidered in Flax Thread.
Belgian, early nineteenth century.

CHAPTER V.

ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF LACE IN THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY.

Picture Of the Times. The Legislative Union of Ireland with Great Britain
in 1801 secured commercial privileges for the former country on the Continent, Early in the
century the peace of Luneville was signed, by which the French became masters of all Europe
West of the Rhine and South of the Adige. Trafalgar was fought, but the allies could not ivilhstand
Napoleon's generalship, and Auslerlitz proved disastrous for Austria. The Peninsular W ar look place
and every industry suffered front lack of encouragement, for all the nations of Europe seemed involved
in devastation and bloodshed ; and though England preserved her commerce in consequence of her
superior navy, the National Debt ivas augmented to the enormous sum of eight hundred and sixty
millions. Great strides were made in machinery and agriculture and the im<cntion of the bobbin net in
1 809 had disvtsfrovs effects on the hand-made lace industry. In 1837 Ihejacquard system ivasajbttvdto
the bobbin net machine. English machines ivere smuggled over to the Continent, un9 Cai^JaTIt^ *

ilk

President in 1801 ; Louisiana was purchased in 1803; Florida was acquired, and in 1898 America
declared war ivith Spain on account of the latter power's misgovernment at Manilla. For France the
Peace of Amiens was signed in 1802, and after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, his exile and death took
place. In 1870, the disastrous Franco-Prussian war paralysed her commerce and lost her the fair
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. In 1871 a Republic was again the form of government, and there
is now no brilliant French Court 16* encourage the lace and other industries. Italy's unrest culminated
in the declaration of the constitution of Italy ; Rome was made the capital. The most brilliant Italian
names of the century are those of Garibaldi, Pius IX., Cavour, Denina, and in art Monti and Canova.
Art in England was upheld by such men as Sir Thomas Laivrence, Turner. Wilkie, Chantrey,
Lord Leighton, Millais and a host of other celebrated men. In France by David, Bouguereau, Millet,
Rosa Bonheur, &c., cSv. Madame de Stael delighted ivith her writings. In England Literature and
Science boasted such men as Shelley, Scott, Byron, Southey, Lord Tennyson, Jenner, Herschel and
many others.

AFTER the French revolution, when the Etats Generaux prescribed
the respective costumes of the three estates, a lace cravat was decreed
for the noblesse. When Napoleon had time to turn his attention
to such matters, he did all he could to revive the lace industry in
France, with a view to enriching the workers and encouraging the
luxury and brilliance of his court ; more especially he directed his
energy in favour of the Alen9on industry, which was almost extinct, and, on his
marriage with Marie Louise, ordered lace bed furniture including curtains, valances,
coverlet and pillow-cases of the finest Alen$on a bride, the Napoleonic cypher,

Portrait of Queen Victoria, in Florence veil and corsage trimming: of Applique'
Lace. Prom a photograph by Alex. Bassano taken at the time of Her
Majesty's Jubilee, 1887.

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 47

the bee, appearing in the pattern. The layette of his little son was also rich
in Point d'Alen9on, which, with Brussels and Chantilly, was the favourite lace of
Napoleon. He made the wearing of lace at his court obligatory, and delighted
in the taste and industry of the people who could produce such fairy-like fabric.

As a consequence, a brilliant flicker of prosperity in the lace trade marked X
the beginning of the nineteenth century in France, but the heavily made old
points were neglected, and the graceful Renaissance designs, rose points of Venice
Spain and Milan, in double and triple relief, looking like carved ivory in richness,
were no longer worn.

The dotted style of pattern with a modest border, drawn muslin, embroidered
Indian work, and Blonde laces with their thin grounds were the favourites, and
entirely supplanted for personal wear the old needle-point fabrics. Madame
Recamier, like all dainty dressers, was a great wearer and buyer of lace, and her
bed curtains of finest Brussels lace bordered with garlands of honeysuckle and
lined with pale satin, her counterpane of the same, and pillows of embroidered
cambric edged with Valenciennes, were extremely delicate.

Embroidered muslin was worn to an enormous extent, and shared with lace
the popular favour. Lists of trousseaux and inventories of the period constantly
mention Indian muslin dresses, which were even worn at court, and doubtless
appealed to the popular taste for affected simplicity as a reaction after the
extravagance and luxury of the pre-revolution days.

All the elegantes of the Incroyable period wore muslin embroidered fichus Bobbin net
and scarves, and the lace trade, which had revived to a certain extent, received was*irst
another blow when bobbin net was first made in France, in 1818. At this date K.
the history of "old lace" ceases: the usually accepted definition of the term
includes all laces up to the invention of machine-made net, the lace made
after that being " modern." For nearly a quarter of a century the lace trade
was much depressed, for Fashion delighted in the lightness of the net and tulles,
now made by machinery, which had succeeded bobbin net. The prices of both
pillow and needle-point laces were lowered, and had it not been for the opening
up of North America as an outlet for the sale of lace a very severe crisis would
have taken place.

The introduction of machine-made thread net, which had so disastrous an
effect on the thread lace trade, gave a great impetus to the silk lace varieties.
Never before had the Blonde, Chantilly and Bayeux laces been so popular ;
the brilliancy and beauty of the silk ground were at once recognised as distinctive
features which rendered impossible any confusion of the silk mesh with machine-
made net, and,. the silk lace trade enjoyed a popularity that was soon to cease
when silk hetlace by machinery was produced.

The tendency since that time has always been towards cheapness in order in 1833
to compete with machine-made goods. About 1833 cotton thread was first cotton thread
substituted for flax, with disastrous results to the artistic merit of the lace, but instead of
it afforded increased facility for the makers, who found the cotton cheaper, flax, with
more elastic, easier to work and less liable to break. results.0"5

After the first novelty of the bobbin net and tulL craze had worn off, a slight
reaction in favour of old lace set in both in England and on the Continent ; and

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

After

Waterloo a
lace factory
at Brussels
was turned
into a private
hospital.

at Almack's, the Assembly Rooms at Bath and Tunbridge Wells, the chaperons
would gossip of their lappets of Alen9on or Brussels. Numerous were the anecdotes
as to how this treasure or that had turned up, having escaped the doom of
the rag-bag, which, alas ! was the fate of so much old lace during the muslin
and net period.

The Duchess of Gloucester was one of the few whose affections never swerved
from her love of the old rich points towards blondes and muslins, and her
collection was one of the finest in Europe. Lady Blessington, too, loved costly
lace, and, at her death, left
several huge chests full of it.
Gradually lace began to be
worn again, but it was as it
were ignorantly put on, worn
simply because it was again
the fashion to wear lace, and
lace must therefore be worn ;
the knowledge of its history,
worth, and beauty was lacking,
and for a time the mocking of
the connoisseurs was justified.
It was the Count of Syracuse
who said, "The English ladies
buy a scrap of lace as a
souvenir of every town they
pass through, till they reach
Naples, then sew it on their
dresses and make one grande
toilette."

Then the Parisian dress-
makers came to the rescue ;
Madame Camille, a celebrated
costumier, saw the possibilities
of the situation, and was the
first to bring old lace into
fashion again. Laces were
cleaned, cut and adapted to
modern fashion, and within the
last fifty years the taste for
good lace has again become almost general, both in England and in France.

An interesting incident, connected with Brussels lace, took place after the
battle of Waterloo. Monsieur Trovaux, a manufacturer at Brussels, turned his
factory into a hospital for English soldiers, providing nurses, beds, linen and all
other necessaries for the wounded men. This humanity checked for the time
his lucrative business, but the good man was not a loser in the end, as he
received a decoration and his shop was afterwards always crowded with English

Napoleon I. (1769—1821), by Stefano Totanelli. -From
Seidlitz' Historical Portraits. He wears a cravat
of Venetian Point.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

ladies, who would buy nowhere else the lace they desired to purchase in
Brussels.

In touching upon the conditions of the lace industries during the latter
half of the nineteenth century it will be convenient to classify them according to
their place of origin.

In Italy new lace industries have grown up in the present century.
Embroidered net both black and white has been well received ; much of this
work is done in the prisons. Handsome scarves and veils are made as well as lace
flounces and godets ; the design is effected by darning with coarse, loosely- woven
silk thread upon a machine-made silk or cotton net. Bold patterns are used and
the effect is easily obtained and meets the demand for a showy and inexpensive
lace-like fabric.

The " lace " a la Reine Margherite is very different, though, like the prison
laces of black and white, it is simply embroidered net ; it is on very fine machine-

Point d'Alencon. The ground powdered with bees, the Napoleonic cypher.
This lace was made for the Empress Marie Louise about 1810. Depth
14in. from the edge to the central point.

made foundation and the embroidery rather aims at light radiating and star-like
patterns than at thick masses of work. This lace is much used for ruffles, jabots,
handkerchief edgings and other useful purposes.

In Como and in the villages round the lake, much lace is made by the cottagers
at the present day. It is the bobbin variety, a kind of guipure, and is usually sold
under the general title of Italian lace; it resembles the torchon kinds, the most
usual form of peasant-made lace all over Europe. The laces usually identified with
Venice and Burano, Chioggia and Pelestrina are also made in the district of Como.

In France little lace is now made except in the Le Puy district, the
earliest established of all the French lace centres, which has the largest proportion
of the trade of the nineteenth century in Europe. 1 he production is principally

5o HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

heavy bobbin-made lace, which is used chiefly for furniture, curtains, etc. Other
kinds, notably black laces, are still made, but their artistic value is not great,
and the Chantilly, torchon, and Valenciennes of other countries are equal in
quality and exceed in quantity that now made in France.

The lace workwomen of Le Puy are scattered all along the Haute Loire
and in the Puy de Dome, which form the province. They number about 100,000

Louise Adelaide of Orleans. From the picture by Decrenze at the Musee
at Versailles. Photographed by Mendein. Mechlin lace trims the
muslin fichu, this was much used at the time (early 19th century)
its lightness making it specially suitable.

and are employed upon the production of blondes and guipures, in linen, silk, anc
wool threads. The lace now made is finer and better than the old laces of the same
district. In 1875 the average wage of the workwomen was fifty centimes a day
Skilful workers and those who were quick in learning any novelty which was a
the moment in demand could gain as much as three francs a day.
The galloons called entoilages are no longer made in the district.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

At Argentan, where such famous laces were made in the seventeenth century,
there is now no important factory. At Arras, where laces were made which
rivalled those of Lille, there are only a few hundred workers, the number having
dwindled since the 30,000 lace-makers of the eighteenth century were busy with
their bobbins.

In Spain needle laces are no longer made ; the old industry in imitation of

Point de Venise has entirely
died out. Bobbin laces only
are executed and the designs
are usually in execrable taste.
In Portugal the lace of
the nineteenth century rivals
that of Spain in poverty of
design, and is inferior to it
in execution. The largest
quantity is made at Peniche,
in Estremadura.

In Madeira there are
now comparatively few lace-
workers, the industry of the
island being chiefly directed
-towards embroidery.

The laces of Germany
are not important. Saxony
has never produced any
original lace, but her trade
in the last century was
considerable ; the lace is
inferior now, and is largely
exported to America, possi-
bly for the use of the many
Germans who have settled
there, and who perhaps still
retain a taste for German
producti : otherwise it is
impossible to explain a
preference which seems un-
justifiable.

In Austria the old lace
factories at Laybach and Illering ceased to exist with the eighteenth century.

In Switzerland a good deal of lace is still made, but the designs shown at the
Paris Exhibition in 1851 were greatly wanting in originality; these came from
Locle Connet and Chaux de Fonds and were chiefly of the blonde and torchon
varieties.

Swedish lace finds purchasers only in its native country ; this is also the
case with the Rttssian fabrics, which are most original in design and workmanship,

Bridal Dress of 1830. The veil is of Belgian bobbin sprigs
mounted on machine-made net ; the flounces are of old
Brussels.

K 2

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Machine-
made net had
a depressing
influence on
the Honiton
lace
industry.

and it is much to be regretted that steps are not taken to encourage the industry on
a large scale. In all probability very valuable results would be obtained in a
country where the native lace is so fine and of such a distinct type (though
somewhat barbaric) and where an important home industry would be valuable in
ameliorating the condition of the peasant population.

Irish lace, fostered and encouraged to a certain extent in the eighteenth
century, was recognised as an article of commerce in the nineteenth. The
manufacture of Limerick lace was established in 1829; this so-called lace work is
strictly embroidery or network ; the tambour stitch is sometimes worked upon
Nottingham net. Crochet and other Irish laces are all imitations of the older
foreign fabrics.

One of the few new kinds of
hand-made lace invented during the
nineteenth century is the Poly-
chromo lace made at Venice. This
is a very beautiful fabric made with
bobbins of many coloured silks ;
sometimes as many as 300 to 400
are employed upon one seven-inch
flounce, the delicate shading of the
colours being obtained by the
enormous number of tints used.
The designs are taken from old
Venetian and Raphaelesque point,
and the lace is used either for
furniture or for personal wear.

Another lace originated in the
nineteenth century is that called
Petit Motif. It is a bobbin lace of
most attractive design, the quality
and pattern being always the same.
To France must be conceded the
honour of its creation ; it is now
made in Venice and in Flanders.

A new departure in Honiton lace-making was first introduced in Devonshire
in 1874, though it had been known in Belgium before that time. The characteristic
of this variety, which is called Devonia lace, consists in the raised petals,
butterfly wings, or other forms which occur in the design ; these are worked
separately and stand out in relief.

Early in the nineteenth century royal favour was sought for the lace-workers
in Devonshire, who had been much distressed by the introduction of machine-made
net, and Queen Adelaide gave an order for a complete dress to be made of Honiton
sprigs ; these were mounted on machine-made ground, so that both industries were
benefited, for it was realized that the struggle between manual labour and invention
could only have one result, and it would be useless to attempt to bolster up a dying
industry such as that of the hand-made net. The design for the royal order was

Jenny Lind, from an engraving by William Holl,
showing early Victorian tippet of black Chan-
tilly lace.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

to be copied from nature, for during
the depression in the Honiton trade
the patterns used had gradually
degenerated. The skirt of this his-
torical dress was encircled by a wreath
of flowers whose initial letters formed
the name of the Queen : Amaranth,
Daphne, Eglantine, Lilac, Auricula,
Ivy, Dahlia, Eglantine.

Queen Adelaide was always ready
to lend her aid in mending the for-
tunes of the industrial classes. In
1826 the reduction of the duty on
French tulle caused so much distress
in Nottingham in consequence of the
ladies wearing the cheaper foreign
make, that Her Majesty appeared at
one of her balls in a dress of English
silk net, and requested her ladies to
wear only English tulle at Court.

Thirty years ago it was stated
that 8,000 people were employed in
making -joniton lace ; this number

Lady Elizabeth Craven, from the " Court
Alburn,"^ 1857, showing sleeve trimming1 of
Applique lace, characteristic of the middle
of the nineteenth century.

The Countess of Malmesbury, from the "Court
Album, ' ' 1856. Her collar is of Devonshire guipure.

has since greatly lessened.. Only the
thin common sorts are made ; few
designs- are executed which demand
close labour, and the so-called Honi-
ton lace of the present day can no
longer be considered* a fine lace. Only
old women who learnt the art in their
youth work at it, so that it is quickly
dying out. Sprigs and borders, which
are worked separately, are collected
from the cottag*e makers by agents,
and are paid for at a rate which
wojrks out in some cases at three
farthings or one penny an hour, in
consequence of which children and
young girls are no longer taught, or
if they learn give up a trade at
which they can earn but four or five
shillings a week for more lucrative
employment such as dressmaking or
millinery, at which they can at least
earn a shilling a day. There are,
happily, a few isolated exceptions
to this depressing state oi affairs.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Why is not
hand-made
lace made an
enormous
industry in
England?

With artistic
direction
English lace
need no
longer hold a
fifth-rate
place.

Mrs. Fowler, of Honiton, still has a small lace school where only the finest work is
done and the old stitches and vrai reseau are taught ; Miss Herbert, of Exeter,
also encourages the old traditions ; and Miss Audrey Trevelyan has introduced
with some success graceful Italian and French designs at Beer and Seaton.

The English application lace of to-day is, as a rule, less successful than that
of Brussels, for the machine-made net ground upon which the hand-made flowers
are applied is thicker, inferiority and less delicacy in the appearance of the lace
being the results ; nevertheless the work is excellently done and has the great
advantage of coming from the workers' hands perfectly white in colour.

It is strange that in our country, where the classes are so much interested
in the welfare and well-being of the masses, and where protest is continually being
made against the growing tendency of women to leave their homes and seek work
outside the home circle, the industry of lace-making has never been taken up by
some wealthy enthusiast who could place the industry upon a solid artistic and
business basis, without which industrial enterprise can never flourish.

In those efforts which have hitherto been made, one or other essential founda-
tion has apparently been lacking ; and though it is charming to watch the efforts of
ladies to encourage dainty work, or to see industry in any form, it is also depressing
to think that want of the old methods, want of artistic direction in the designing and
management, or want of business co-operation with the great lace merchants of the
world (who after all hold the balance of success in their hands, because they are the
great medium for disposing of the product to the general public, and to a large
extent for creating a taste in the public for- the fabric), has hitherto prevented
real success and permanence in the efforts to restore the old industry in
Great Britain.

The English point lace of the seventeenth century was one of the most
beautiful and artistic products which the world has ever seen : the Point
d'Angleterre in those days was imitated in Belgium, so great was the demand for
the costly fabric. It was constantly sent to Paris even when the Alengon fabrics
were in the height of their popularity, and enormous fortunes were made by lace
merchants. Departure from the old designs caused the decline of the industry,
which is clearly seen in the degraded artistic methods of the present industry in
Devonshire. Given a sound commercial basis and capable direction, there would
soon be a revival of the beautiful old methods now that renewed interest is takeri
in fine laces.

Not even the stitches would have to be learnt by the workers, for they already
know them : it would only be necessary to furnish such designs as would double
the value of the product. The labour and material now expended upon the
production of lace worth only ten shillings per yard, would, if graceful and saleable
designs were worked, produce a fabric worth fifteen shillings or a guinea a yard.
In fact, to restore the artistic direction would be to restore the great lace industry
of England, and raise it from the fifth-rate position which it now holds to the
splendid position attained by the lovely Point d'Angleterre of the seventeenth
century. The Honiton lace of to-day is but the exquisite Point d'Angleterre of the
Restoration period in a debased condition.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Briefly, the advantages of the lace industry for England are these :

1. Women need not leave their homes in order to do the work.

2. In a properly organised lace school the girls are well cared for and protected
while learning the industry.

3. Perfect hygienic conditions and personal cleanliness are essential for the
lace- maker.

4. There is plenty of scope for individual effort and distinction, a stimulating
consideration, which puts the lace- worker on a superior footing to the woman who
merely works a machine.

5. The work is so light that the most delicate woman or girl can undertake it.

6. Mastery of the technical details is so easy that in lace-making countries,
such as Belgium and Italy, children of seven or eight years commence to learn the
" stitches."

7. Every woman newly employed in lace-making is one taken from the great
army of women who, in earning their living, encroach upon those trades and
professions which have hitherto been looked upon as the monopoly of men.

Miss Emily Yelverton, from the " Court Album,"
1854. The bell-shaped lace sleeves of the
period and bodice trimming are of Rose
point lace.

CHAPTER VI.

Gold, silver,
and flax
thread laces
of fabulous
value.

ECCLESIASTICAL LACE.

N writing of lace used for Church , purposes there is no separate
history to relate. It is simply the story of the finest specimens of
every make of lace which the skill of the artist could design and
the patient work of the lace-maker could execute, enriched beyond
the richest lace for personal adornment by modes and stitches
put in gratuitously, as it were, because of the love and devotion
in the heart of the worker. It is for this reason, because Church
lace was generally made at convents where time was no object,
and where only the beauty of the fabric was studied and enrich-
ment devised because nothing could be too beautiful for the service
of God, that ecclesiastical lace is so fine.

Amongst the treasures in the cathedrals abroad, there are laces
of gold and silver, flax thread laces, too, of fabulous value ; the
dresses of the Saints and Madonnas were profusely decorated with
the richest and most costly of whatever was the fashion of the
day. It is unfortunate that though the Inventory of the treasures
of N6tre Dame de Loreto fills a thick volume, and the figure of
the Saint was freshly clothed every day, so magnificent are the
plate, jewels, and brocades, that no mention is made of the laces, which are
probably on the same gorgeous scale.

At Notre Dame at Paris at the present day three specimens of lace of the
seventeenth century are amongst the most costly and beautiful of all the tresors kept
in the strong room of the sacristy. Each one shows the special kind of lace in its
most ornate and lovely form. An alb of priceless Argentan is in Renaissance design ;
the fillings are so fine and intricate that it is impossible, without a microscope, to
appreciate their beauty, while the ground is of brides ornees in the famous six-sided
honeycomb boucle with infinite number of pearls forming a rich ground for the
pattern. The deep flounce of Point d'Angleterre which trims the second alb is
also of the finest workmanship, the old flax thread still of admirable colour;
and the remarkable preservation of the Flemish lace which decorates, or rather
forms, the third alb shows with what care such costly vestments were always
treated. Such garments were worn only by the celebrant of High Mass on some
great festival.

FONT

CKEATVS <L»6.LJyjisj7sa.

Portrait of Pope Clement Mil. Rezzonicus (1693-1769). The identical Point
de Burano lace he wears is now in the possession of Queen Margherita
of Italy, who lent it for reproduction to the Burano lace factory to
assist the recent efforts to revive the lace industry on the island.
Dentelle Rezzonicus is now a variety of lace well known to connoisseurs.

ECCLESIASTICAL LACE. 57

Amongst the stores of gold-embroidered chasubles, gem-studded crosses, mitres
and cups, where masses of diamonds sparkle on historic reliquaries, and pearls,
emeralds, and rubies enrich even the cups and platters used in the service of
the Church, the exquisite grace and delicacy of the lace appear all the more
pronounced, and this miracle of patient industry, built up from the simplest
material, a little thread, rivals in startling beauty objects which are made with
the costliest and most precious materials the world can produce.

The lace of the Vatican is constantly mentioned in describing the ceremonials The vest'
of the Church, and it may not be out of place to refer to the chief vestments used mentschiefly
in the Church of Rome at the present day, and in England before the Reformation ; wjth iace>
these are the cassock, the amice, the alb, the girdle, the maniple, the stole, the •
chasuble, the dalmatic, the tunic, the veil, the cope and the surplice. Of these, the
dalmatic, the surplice and the alb, are the vestments chiefly ornamented with lace.
The dalmatic is a long robe open on each side, resembling a chasuble, but with wide
sleeves. Its origin is extremely ancient. St. Isidore declares its name to be
derived from Dalmatia, where it was first used. It is ornamented with two strips

Border of Bobbin-made Lace, from the yoke of a dressed Ecclesiastical statuette. The design consists
of symbolical figures placed upon a net ground or "reseau." Flemish, eighteenth century.

like the Roman dresses of the same period ; these strips, originally of purple or
scarlet, are now usually of rich lace or gold embroidery.

At the Cathedral at Burano, the lace sets for the use of the Church are mag-
nificent, the old Burano point frontals especially being of extraordinary beauty ; the
solidity of this lace renders it possible that antique specimens should be in a perfect
state of preservation, for the firm and frequent knotting of the flax threads makes it
in some rare instances almost as stiff as cardboard. We have seen pieces which
resembled thin card in stiffness, though it will be remembered that Burano point,
both ancient and modern, has the arabesque design upon a mesh net ground, the
tint being generally of a rich coffee colour.

Vine leaves and wheat ears are the most usual themes for the designers to work
from, and very beautiful are some of the variations of these natural objects.

Some of the most interesting and beautiful lace ever made at Burano was The lace
executed for Pope Clement XIII. Rezzonico ; this was in the form of a chasuble Re22°0Pnico.
and flounce. It is now in the possession of Queen Margherita of Italy, who
graciously lent it to the Royal School at Burano for the purpose of copying,

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Bridal lace
for the
Church.

knowing that the old design and stitches would be faithfully carried out, for the
old spirit of artistic execution and beauty of feeling in the work still survives at
Burano, where work equal to any done in the hey-day of fine lace work of the
seventeenth century is going on at the present day.

Comparatively little lace is now made in convents ; more perhaps in Belgium
than elsewhere, but little in comparison with the amount which was once executed.
Aprons which are worn by Roman Catholic bishops when performing
ceremonies, have always been made of the costliest lace. In the eighteenth
century, in a description of the washing of feet by the Pope, such an apron, of old
point lace with a broad border of Mechlin, is mentioned. Unfortunately the laces
of the Holy Conclave are often sold at the death of a cardinal by his heirs ; some-
times the newly elected cardinal purchases most of the stock, as the high
ecclesiastical dignitaries of the Church
of Rome are obliged to possess com-
plete sets of great value.

The lace of the Rohan family,
hereditary Princes, Archbishops of
Strasburg, which has never been dis-
persed, but has been steadily acquired
through successive generations, is of
fabulous value ; on some of the albs
the arms and device of the family,
worked in medallions, are introduced
in the design.

Guipure lace was much used for
the adornment of the altar hangings,
the richness o£ the gold and silver
thread being most effective. In the
seventeenth century, in the inventory
of the Oratoire in Paris, the veils for
the Host are mentioned, one of white
taffetas, trimmed with Guipure,
another of white brocaded satin with
lace Guipure.

Lace is frequently bequeathed to
the Church or given during the life-
time of some fair devoue. In the
eighteenth century, when Barbara, sister of the King of Portugal, was married,
the bride of seventeen solemnly offered to the Virgin at the Church of Madre de
Dios the jewels and dress of splendid point lace in which she had just been married.
In modern days the Empress of the French presented to his Holiness the Pope
for conversion into a rochet, the most costly dress which has ever been executed
at Alencon. This dress was exhibited in 1859, and was bought by the Emperor
for 200,000 francs. The ground was of the vrai reseau, or needle-point mesh, now
so seldom seen.

Square or "Pale" for Covering the Paten, of
Needle-point Lace " a reseau " ; with a Thread
instead of the usual Buttonhole-stitched
"Cordonnet." In the centre is the Sacred
Monogram surrounded by rays of glory and
by the instruments of the Passion, the dice,
the coat, the crown of thorns, the cock, the
ladder, hammer, and pincers, &c. Point
d'Alencon, French, eighteenth century. 5i
inches by 5i inches.

ECCLESIASTICAL LACE.

One of the finest specimens of lace made at Valenciennes was the trimming
of an alb made in the seventeenth century and presented to the Convent of the
Visitation on its foundation in 1603. This lace was more than three-quarters of a
yard wide, the thread extremely fine, and the value of the work can be estimated
when we understand that it used to take a worker ten months, working fifteen
hours a day, to finish a pair of men's ruffles. Valenciennes lace is made altogether
on the pillow, with bobbins ; one kind of thread is used for both pattern and ground.
The city-made lace known as Vrai Valenciennes is most highly prized, Batarde
or Fausse Valenciennes being the name for the fabric made outside the town.
Not only the finest web of Valenciennes, but also the coarse, but artistic,

fabric called Fil de Carnasiere, or Italian
knotted lace, was used for the service
of the Church in the early days of lace-
making. Punto a Groppo was in
vogue both in Spain and in Italy,
the strongholds of the Roman
Catholic Church, for ecclesiastical
linen and Church vestments,
from medieval times up to the
end of the seventeenth century,
and was sometimes made with
the loose ends hanging as in the
modern knotted lace or macrame;
sometimes with ends knotted into
a scalloped design and cut off.
In the painting by Paul Veronese,
of Simon the Canaanite, now in
the Louvre, this lace adorns the
table cloth.

In writing of lace made for the use The seif,
of the Church, it must not be forgotten sacrificing
that many a splendid piece has been worked
by ladies who desired to show their devotion
in some way more self-sacrificing than by pay-
ing others to do the work of their offering, or

who could not afford to make a rich present and must devote time and labour
if they wished their gift to be a valuable one. Though the work of the nuns is
very beautiful and shows much devotion and disregard of trouble where increased
richness of effect is possible, yet some of the work of ladies' hands presented to
the Church equals it ; in some instances it has been the patient work of half
a lifetime, and one imagines the thoughts of piety and devotion that were worked
in with stitches visible still as miracles of patience.

In " Church Embroidery : Ancient and Modern," we are told that in the
churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, in 1486, mention is made
of "a frontill for the schelffe, standing on the altar, of blue sarsanet with
brydds of golde."

Pontiff in Alb richly trimmed
with Point d'Argentan.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

In Jewish
ceremonials
a lace^
trimmed
cloth or talith
is used.

—

The Norman English Church perpetuated the Anglo-Saxon use of movable
altar frontals, a practice which was continued up to the time of the Reformation,
at which epoch every parochial church was furnished with complete sets of frontals
and hangings for the altars.

With the destruction of the stone altars at the Reformation and their
replacement by the "decent table" provided at the cost of the parish, standing
on a frame as commanded by Elizabeth in 1565, most of the beautiful lace and
embroidered apparels disappeared from the church— alas ! frequently to be cut
up as coverings for the chairs and beds of the professors of the new faith.

The bands placed vertically
on an altar cloth, a reredos, an
ecclesiastical vestment or hang-
ings are all called orphreys ; these
are generally of the richest needle-
work, sometimes of gold lace or
cloth of gold, embroidery, flax
thread lace, velvet, silk or satin
trimmed with gold lace. Such
bands vary in width, but are
always an important feature in
the decoration of the frontal band
or clavi that adorns the priest's
alb. The same decoration used to
border the robes of knights was
also called an orphrey. The name
is supposed to be derived from
Auripkrygium, the Roman name for
work in gold and silver thread.

Some of the finest lace ever
executed has been made for use
in the Jewish Church. The talith,
a cloth used in some of the Hebrew
ceremonials, is often richly orna-
mented with lace; two long borders
are of lace about eight inches wide,
four square pieces ornament the
centre, and there is a border of lace
round the long scarf-like cloth. We

have seen Point Neige, the most delicate needle-point in double and triple relief,
worked in ecru silk thread for the ornamentation of a talith.

Hollie or Holy Point was originally made entirely for Church use, and the
name was used in the Middle Ages for any sort of Church lace work, whether
drawn or cut work, darned netting or needle-point lace, when the pattern was
formed of some subject from Scripture history or contained sacred emblems. Italy,
Spain, Flanders, and England all produced Hollie Points, the favourite figures for

Pope Clement XIV. in an Alb trimmed with fine
Needle-point Lace. Eighteenth century.

ECCLESIASTICAL LACE.

Choristers in Lace-trimmed Surplices such as
are worn at the Vatican.

illustration being Adam and Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, the Holy Dove and
Annunciation Lily, with occasionally accompanying figures. After the Refor-
mation, when the hoards of
laces belonging to the Church j
were scattered, Hollie points

were frequently used for lay R~&

purposes and religious sub-
jects were specially worked
for personal adornment by the
Puritans ; the name Hollie
Point is now used for a kind
of darned net-work or crochet.
This has frequently been em-
ployed to ornament christen-
ing suits, which were once
much used, the child wearing
for the ceremony in church a
special cap ; mittens of lace
were also provided for the
christening suit, together with
bearing cloth richly trimmed
with Hollie Point, and occa-
sionally dress or shirt trimming. It was the custom for the sponsors to give

a set of christening laces
consisting of richly-trimmed
front, mittens, cap and cuft
edgings. It has been sug-
gested that this presentation
of ornamented linen at the
baptism is a relic of the pre-
sentation of white clothes to
the neophytes when received
into the Christian Church.

In a painting by Wat-
teau, at Versailles, the
Grand Dauphin is repre-
sented with his father, Louis
XIV. ; the child is covered
with a mantle or bearing
cloth edged with a deep
flounce of the richest Point
de France. It was the cus-
tom for the Papal Nuncio to
present to the new-born Dauphin Holy linen, a kind of layette which had been
blessed by the Pope. This was quite distinct from a christening suit, for the

Pope Pius VII., from a picture by Giuseppe Bazzoli.
The sleeve trimming of the alb is of fine Point
d'Angleterre.

62 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

shirts, handkerchiefs, and other necessaries, all trimmed elaborately with lace, were
in half-dozens. This custom is of very early origin.

'In all parts of Italy, and in Venice especially, a lace-trimmed cushion is used
for the child to lie upon when brought to be baptised, and on other occasions of
ceremony. When the parents are wealthy the costliest points are used for this
purpose, and children of the present day may be seen lying in a bower of finest
lace cambric with dainty ribbon bows.

Costly lace Another use which lace has been put to from remote ages is in the dressing

for the cloth- of the dead. The first forms of lace work, before the evolution of actual lace,
dead were freety usgd by the ancients for winding-sheets and cere cloths. We allude

to cut-work combined with embroidery.

Besides the mummy wrappings of the ancient Egyptians, many of which are
ornamented with drawn thread work and other early forms of lace, other countries
have ussd the lace as a decoration for grave clothes. In the Ionian Islands
quantities of funeral lace have been found amongst the tombs ; not many years
ago the natives used to rifle these places of interment and take the booty for sale
to the towns. So profitable was the trade that a coarse lace was made, steeped in
coffee and blackened, that it might look as if it had once adorned the dead body
of a long buried Ionian.

At Monreale, near Palermo, the mummies in some of the catacombs of the
Capucini Convent are tricked out with lace. They are a gruesome spectacle, for
there are between five and six thousand of them hanging by their necks.

In the whole of the North of Europe lace-trimmed habits were used for
clothing the dead, and in Denmark there is a tomb which contains a body clothed
in priceless Point d'Angleterre and Mechlin lace. Mummies in Danish churches
are frequently decked out with costly laces of the period in which they lived.

In Spain it was the right of the nobility to be clad in the dress they wore in
life rather than the habit of some religious order, and much lace was consequently
used when the fashion for wearing cravats and ruffles prevailed.

When, to encourage the woollen manufactures, an Act was passed that the
dead should be buried in woollen shifts, a woman in London at once applied to
the King, in 1678, for the sole privilege of making woollen laces for the decent
burial of the dead. Amy Potter was this ingenious inventor, who desired to
profit by the lugubrious occasion. Her advertisement appears in the London
Gazette for August i2th, 1678: —

" Whereas decent and fashionable laces, shifts, and dressings for the dead,
made of woollen, have been presented to His Majesty by Amy Potter, widow
(the first that put the making of such things in practice), and His Majesty well
liking the same hath, upon her humble petition, been graciously pleased to give
her leave to insert this advertisement, that it may be known she now wholly
applies herself in making both lace and plain of all sorts, at reasonable prices,
and lives in Crane Court, in the Old Change, near St. Paul's Churchyard."

The effigies of monarchs and celebrated persons displayed for public view
have always been decked with lace ; it will be remembered that the wax- works
preserved at Westminster Abbey are so decorated.

FANS.

HE earliest known fan-leat entirely of lace Earliest fans,
was made in Flanders in the early half of
the seventeenth century, for the Duke of
Brabant. Before that time lace-trimmed
fans only were used, the leaf itself being
of silk taffeta or parchment upon which the lace was
gummed or sewn ; these are frequently to be seen
in contemporary pictures.
In the history of fans pictorial representation has to be much relied upon, for
from their frequent use — and they formerly had much harder wear, if old records
are to be believed, than they have at the present day — fans of earlier date than the
eighteenth century are rarely to be met with. Doubtless old broken sticks,
ragged fan leaves, and faded tassels which would now have been veritable treasures
were swept away as rubbish, as each successive fashion demanded a new mode.

As in the art of lace-making, so with regard to the invention of the fan, several
different countries claim to be the first. India, China and Japan all have legends
which claim to have reference to the poetic or accidental discovery of the use and
charm of this important weapon in female coquetry.

The fan, together with a parasol and fly-flap, is frequently mentioned in ancient The fan
Sanscrit poems, and was one of the Royal attributes of the gods and demi-gods of gfed *s a
the Hindoo heaven. Others seem to have been the fore-runners of the graceful attribute.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Screen-
shaped fans
edged with
Point
d'Espagne
were used in
the i6th
and iyth
centuries.

A special
kind of fan
used only by
married

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, in lace -trimmed coif,
ruff, and cuffs. She holds in her hand a fan —
the only present a subject was in those days
permitted to give to the Sovereign.

folding lace leaves of a later date. Pheasant feathers were used in China for Royal
fans as early as two thousand years before Christ.

Feathers compose the fan with which that famous fashion leader, Queen
Elizabeth, is represented in one of her portraits ; this is, as far as we know, the
earliest English representation of a fan in English portraiture. The Chinese
folding fan, said to have been suggested by the folded wings of a bat, was not
introduced into Europe until the end of the sixteenth century, and the ladies of
Milan, Florence, Venice, and Padua, which were then the fashion leading cities
of the world, all wore feather fans, such as is shown in Elizabeth's portrait, with
or without a tiny mirror in the centre.

In Italy, Carpaccio painted many fans in detail in the sixteenth century, and
from his pictures we find that the famous Point d'Espagne gold and silver lace
was much used as edging to the screen-shaped fans of the period. The fan
itself was usually of silk brocade, stretched upon a frame, the lace enrichment,
in the form of a straight-edged insertion resembling that we now call galloon, being
used in strips and bands across the brocade as well as at the edges.

It is this type of lace-trimmed fan which is shown in the well-known painting
of " Titian's Daughter-in-law," in the Dresden gallery. It is a curious fact,
reminding one that there was much etiquette at this time in fan-wearing and
fan-using, and that such a lace-trimmed fan was worn only by married women. The

LACE FANS.

only known specimen still in
existence is in a private collection
in France. The lace on this rare
curio is the Venetian Point of
the sixteenth century ; it forms
an edging to a cut open-work
piece of parchment stretched
upon a frame and supported by
a thick stick which forms the
handle.

In the time of Henry VIII.
in England, long-handled fans
for out-door use were employed
by both men and women. " The
gentlemen had prodigious fans,
and they had handles at least
half a yard long ; with these
their daughters were often-times
corrected." Fans were used by
the judges on circuit, possibly
to stir the hot, close air of the
court. More than one engraving
by Abraham Bosse shows a fan

Portrait of a Lady, with lace-trimmed folding
fan. She wears the lace-trimmed tabs of the
bodice and corsage trimming1 of lace charac-
teristic of the period. By W. Hollar, 1639.

Portrait of a Woman, by Kembrandt,
1640.

wielded by a man. This famous depictor
of the manners and modes of the seven-
teenth century shows us many folding fans
trimmed with lace. Narrow bands of
insertion occur at the upper edge of the
mount and occasionally at intervals across
the lower part.

The parchment lace, as it was called Parchment
in England when silk, gold or silver ^fan-
thread was twisted over the thin strips of trimming,
cartisane or card board which formed the
main lines of the design, greatly enhanced
the value of the sixteenth and seventeenth
century fans ; and the prices sometimes
paid for them appear somewhat extrava-
gant, considering the difference in value of
money in those days ; the sticks of such
fans, however, were not infrequently
studded with precious stones. 1,200
crowns was given for a fan presented by

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Fan-leaf of Needle-point Lace, made at the Presentation Convent, Youghal, Co. Cork.
Nineteenth century.

Queen Elizabeth to Queen Louise of Lorraine; one of Queen Elizabeth's fans was
valued at ^"400. It was this Queen who decreed that a fan was the only present
which a subject could give to the sovereign, and we believe that the old law still
holds good. In reading the general history of each fine variety of lace, a knowledge
is gained of fan-lace history, for it has no separate story with regard to its
construction.

The designs in lace fans have always varied according to the prevailing fashion
of the day since the seventeenth century, when lace was first used for the purpose
of making whole lace fans. Renaissance arabesques and richness of workmanship
distinguished the early eighteenth century specimens, and the firm yet delicate
laces such as Rosaline Point and Burano laces of the period were especially
suitable for the purpose, which demanded lightness combined with strength.

When medallions appeared in furniture, wall decoration, and the designs for
brocades, they were adopted by lace fan designers with enthusiasm. To Boucher
and Watteau many painted fans have been attributed, perhaps more specimens
than ever left the masters' studios ; be this as it may, painted fans are seldom
signed. The graceful medallion mode was specially successful when applied to lace
designing, and it is still largely used in the Duchesse lace, which frequently shows
medallions of exquisitely fine work ; delicate sprays of needle-point are worked on to
the vrai reseau or fine needle-point net ground, such medallions showing up with
excellent effect amongst the bobbin-made sprays of the main fabric.

English Point d'Angleterre also shows frequent examples of the medallion
period in the designs, open work fillings being frequently used to lighten large
closely sewn surfaces. This style is well seen in the fan belonging to the Empress
Eugenie.

LACE FANS.

Lace of Fan-leaf Italian design, made at Seaton, South Devon, under the direction of
Miss Audrey Trevelyan. Late nineteenth century.

Lace has occasionally been used in conjunction with painting in fan-decoration ;
a gauze medallion being laid into a frame-work of lace, and the plain fabric painted
with a cupid, a garland of flowers, or some other graceful design after the Boucher
method.

Applique laces of various descriptions have been much used for fan-leaves. A
transient fancy demanded white or cream modes on black machine-made net or
chiffon ; the effect was certainly light and graceful, but lovers of the fine hand-
made lace would doubtless prefer so dainty a toy as a fan to be entirely composed
of hand work. The graceful effect of the old brides ornees, characteristic of the
now extinct Argentan factory, are none too delicate for the groundwork of a fan,
nor is the laborous hand-made net of Burano over-fine for the leaf which is to waft
soft zephyrs to Beauty's" cheek.

Modern hand-made lace leaves are frequently mounted on antique sticks with
excellent effect, for the evolution of the artistic fan stick had reached a point in
the reign of Louis XV. which has never since been equalled. Wood, ivory, gold,
silver, tortoiseshell and lacquer were used, besides precious stones, pearls and hand-
carved metals ; no time or expense was spared in their enrichment. The fragile
leaf of the period, which was generally of carefully prepared vellum called chicken
skin (a somewhat misleading name, as it is not the skin of chicken), has generally
perished long before the more substantial sticks, so that with a fine modern lace
fan leaf the antique supports are, as it were, given a new lease of life.

Enormous quantities of fans were made in the eighteenth century, for the
beauties of that period were never without a fan indoors or out, winter or summer ;

F 2

A lace frame
with gauze
medallions.

Antique
sticks used
with modern
lace leaves.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

and the present restricted use of the fan in England to the gentler sex, and,
generally speaking, to the social hours in the evening, is of comparatively recent
date. In countries such as Japan, the fan is not an article of luxury but one of
daily domestic use ; not only does the peasant woman fan herself as she goes about
her household tasks, but the peasant labourer carries his fan in one hand while he
wields his hoe with the other, and the shopkeeper fans himself as he serves his
customers. But with such fans of general utility we have nothing to do, for lace
fans have always been articles of luxury. There are no peasant laces used for such
a purpose : only the finest and best of hand-made lace is usually selected as suitable
for the fan-leaf.

Lace Fan-Leaf in white net ground and black silk pattern, worked at the School of Art, Cork.

Nineteenth century.

PEASANT LACES.

study of the peasant laces ot
Europe forms a most interesting
contradiction to the old saying that
" Fashion wears out more than
women do," for in the lace caps,
fichus and aprons of the agri-
cultural classes there is evidence of the most
intense conservatism, which in many cases
enables us to see exactly what was worn by
women and girls of the same district hundreds
of years ago.

Lace has, since the sixteenth century, formed

an essential part of the costume of the Normandy peasants ; the bourgoin the most
elaborate of the peasant caps, being frequently handed down from generation to
generation. It is formed of a stiff buckram shape covered with starched
muslin, which is frequently embroidered ; this part of the head-dress is a relic
of the ancient horns or cornettes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ;
at the apex of the erection is pleated muslin or cambric, edged with rich [lace;
long lappets of the same flow behind, far below the waist of the wearer. The
lace used was at one time the bone or bobbin lace made in the district. Later,
as the designs and methods improved, so the lace ornamenting the caps of
the peasants became richer, for a woman prided herself on the fineness of her
lappets, and time was not thought to be ill-spent in fabricating the many yards

Peasant
women pride
themselves
on the fine-
ness of their
lace lappets.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The native
village of the
wearer is
shown by the
shape of her
cap.

which would show the skill and worldly prosperity of the family, in which the
lace would be an heirloom for many generations. The peasant lace of
Normandy was finest in the eighteenth century, when from Arras to St. Malo
more than thirty centres of manufacture were established, and the peasant
women of the whole district were engaged in the industry.

Dentelle de la Vierge is the pattern most used by the peasants in the trimming
of their caps. It is made with rather an elaborate ground on the pillow, with
bobbins ; it has a double ground, while a simple seme pattern takes the place of
a more intricate design. The edge is straight, and the width usually varies from
2| to 7 inches.

The laces of Havre were declared by Corneille in 1707 to be " tres recherche,"
and in an inventory of the household effects of Colbert, Points du Havre appear
as trimmings on his bed-linen. In Normandy there are almost as many different
shaped caps and different modes of wearing the
peasant laces as there are villages ; for though
their elaboration is gradually modified (and within
the last half-century the changes have been more
than in the two . centuries before), yet still the

shapes of the caps are most quaint and effec-
tive, and . each villager is proud to show the

district of her birth by the shape of her cap.

The fan-like, lace-trimmed halo of the Boulogne

fisher-girl is familiar to many, and the peasant

of Walmegnier wears similar headgear. The

Bretagne caps are, as a rule, profusely trimmed with

lace, while in some of the districts are still to

be seen the frilled skirts turned over the heads

and shoulders of the wearer, like those worn at

Chioggia. The effect is quaint and not altogether

graceful, though there is something fascinating

about the full flounce, or sometimes fringed edge

of the skirt, as it droops over the face. "As can be

imagined, this custom gives ample opportunity for the

wearing of pretty petticoats, and the coquettish peasant-girls are not slow to avail

themselves of the occasion for the display of pink, blue or crimson under-skirts.
The peasant woman of the He de France wears a lace-trimmed fichu besides

the flat close-fitting cap with enormous cambric lappets looped up at the ears.

Huge, too, are the lace and cambric ear-pieces to the caps of the peasant-girls

of Wallen (Val d'Hereno), Switzerland. A flat, saucer-like straw hat is worn on

the top of the head, so that it is only underneath the hat, close to the sides of

the head, that there is any chance of displaying elaboration in the cap. The

rest of the dress of the Wallen peasant consists of a short, coloured skirt, and a

zouave jacket with sleeves. This opens to show a white muslin chemisette

which is occasionally embroidered in white ; there is also a large and full white

apron reaching nearly to the bottom of the dress.

Cap of a Domestic Servant at
Caen, in the eighteenth
century.

PEASANT LACES. 71

The dress of the men at the same place reminds one of the ordinary garments
of the well-to-do citizen of the eighteenth century, with the three-cornered felt
hat, long waistcoat embroidered in coloured silks, and full-skirted coat.

Most of the caps in Southern France, together with those of Germany and
Austria, are formed of printed cotton, velvet, or silk kerchief; while embroidery of
an elaborate description of brightest coloured silks takes the place of the dainty
muslin lace and embroidered cambric with which we chiefly have to do.

In Germany the hair is displayed to great advantage, and long plaits, fre-
quently reaching far below the waist, form a very pretty feature in the peasant's
costume. These plaits are sometimes tied at the ends with bright multi-coloured
ribbons, the most garish and brilliant tints being mingled so that the flowers in
the pattern of the ribbon should appear.

Rouen Children in Lace-trimmed Caps.

In Switzerland also the young unmarried women wear their hair plaited, The
but not coiled round the head in most districts. At the Apen-zell (St. Gallon) the Jf *i"8Sr "*
costume is most elaborate ; the short skirt of printed cotton in bright colours is indicates the
very full ; the apron of different patterns, but also coloured, is tied on with bright
ribbons; the stockings are of black or dark brown; the shoes, without heels,
resembling the Italian pianellas, are white, with white heels. The chemisette
is of white, with elbow sleeves, and the cap black wired net, or lace, which stands
out from the head like a halo. The dark bodice is laced across the chemisette with
coloured ribbons.

Kerchiefs are the head-coverings of the Bulgarian peasant, who twists the
simple bright-tinted square most deftly, so that it becomes a well-fitting and
becoming cap. The rest of the Bulgarian dress consists of a very narrow striped
skirt, the effect of the horizontal lines of colour in the material still further

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

In Holland
the lace caps
are -worn
over metal
plates.

Lace -trimmed Cap of the
Peasants in the neigh-
bourhood of Coutances,
France.

emphasising its want of width. A zouave in scarlet
or black, with loose elbow sleeves, opens over a white
chemisette.

In Portugal the peasants also use kerchiefs on
their heads, wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat
over for shade. Their skirts are very wide, but not
accordian pleated ; the feet often bare. Sometimes
white muslin or lace takes the place of the head-
kerchief.

In Spain the skirts are also short, and often
flounced with two or three deep volants of rich,
black lace. The lace head-covering, or mantilla, is
a distinctive feature of the costume, and, though in
the eighteenth century it was almost universally worn
by high and low, it was sometimes replaced by a
kerchief on the head in the case of the very poor.
The kerchief flourishes in Denmark, Sweden, and
Jutland, where it is sometimes tied in the most pictur-
esque—we had almost said grotesque — manner; while

the severe handicap for even the prettiest face in the unbecoming old beaver
" topper " of Ringkjobing and Wales makes us wonder at the eccentricities of
personal adornment.

Perhaps the daintiest and most effective of the peasant lace headgear is that
of the Dutch woman, not only on account of the fine lace used, but also because of
the unique method of showing it off. Surely the inventor of the curious ear-plates
of metal, or rather metallic skull caps, had a fine sense of what is quaint and
effective, besides a subtle knowledge of the joy in showing one's family wealth in
lace and bullion at the same time. Certainly no more picturesque sight is to be
seen than a dozen nodding lace-covered " oorijzers " on the heads of the women as
they sail lazily down one of the waterways of Holland on their way to the
Haarlem, Utrecht, or Delft markets.

The great drawback to this delightful headgear is the ignoring of the fact that
women are usually supplied with hair ; no room is there for such head-covering
beneath the metal " oorijzer," and doubtless the close-fitting cap is extremely bad
for the growth of the hair, for a tiny knob no bigger than a walnut is usually seen
at the back beneath the folds of lace.

The other variety of Dutch cap with which
most of us are familiar, from the portraits of
the young Queen of Holland, who selected this
type when photographed in the national costume,
is that which has large gold or silver bosses

on either side of the face, to secure the dainty

IO/^Q «-^ ^-V,^ u~~j riii r -11 r ^1 MI A.ve Maria Lace. A simple

lace to the head, a little frill ot the pillow- bobbin lace much made by

made fabric depending from the close-fitting cao the Peasants near Dieppe,

j r „• ,, , • i , • and used for edging their

and tailing over the hair behind. cambric and lawn cap-strings.

PEASANT LACES. 73

The subject of peasant jewellery is in itself a large and interesting one,
which would fill many pages, but one or two fine examples may be mentioned
here, for it is impossible to entirely ignore so important an adjunct, which
frequently adorns the lace cap, tippet, or apron.

The enormous-headed pin, frequently enriched with secondary gems, such as
the Dresden garnets, are seen in wear at Unterwalden. The hair is usually
frizzed in front, no cap is worn, and the pin is stuck through the hair, which is
dressed low, so that the jewelled ornament shows near the nape of the neck. The
sleeves are of white muslin, caught at the elbows with more jewelled filigree work,
and silver filigree chains and buttons ornament the front of the bodice. A skirt
in parallel bars is worn with an apron with horizontal stripes, and black silk lace
mittens, reaching from elbow to wrist only, complete this most elaborate gala
costume.

The embroidered net fichu worn by the peasant of Ariege is a very dainty
affair ; the whole dress is most elaborate, but with its red cloth skirt, black silk apron,
black bodice, and kerchief of white, with red cross-stitch embroidery, over which
is worn the embroidered net, the whole finished off with a tiny, red cloth cap, does
not include elaborate lace trimming, though one of the most effective surviving.

Very small, too, is the cap worn by the peasants at Berne ; it is of black velvet,
and is merely the foundation for a dainty bunch of artificial flowers ; elaborate
ribbon strings simulate the fastening-on of this tiny headgear, but in reality hang
down behind. A short-waisted bodice with long, tightly-fitting sleeve, is worn with
this cap, and an embroidered vest is laced across with coloured ribbons. The skirt
is very full and short, the folds being accordian-pleated ; the apron also has
many folds. White stockings are worn and black silk garters richly fringed ;
embroidered ribbons tie the ends of the long plaits of hair which hang down
behind.

At Basle also is worn an accordian-pleated skirt in bright colours with which
the full black apron contrasts well ; a white kerchief is folded across the breast, and
there are white elbow sleeves. A tiny cap is worn, varying in shape according to
whether the wearer is married or unmarried ; on this depends also the wearing of
the hair in plaits hanging down or closely coiled about the head.

Black lace is much used on the dress worn by the peasants around Lucerne ; a Black lace is

black flower ornaments the flowered cap, which is small and round ; a coloured worn b/ ™e
i • u peasants at

kerchief is worn round the neck, a shot silk cr bright-coloured bodice with Lucerne.

embroidered ribbons suspending jewel ornaments. A jewelled girdle is sometimes
worn hanging over the accordian-pleated apron, and the petticoats are very short,
showing red stockings and black high-heeled shoes.

At Como and in the districts of Northern Italy many jewelled pins are worn,
stuck into a velvet knob so that they radiate round the head like a halo ; the rest of
the dress consists of a short, brightly coloured skirt, generally of crimson or green ;
a black or blue apron, lace kerchief, and heelless shoes with red tips, together with
white or red stockings.

The graceful dress worn by the peasant women in and near Rome is perhaps
better known than any other, through its frequent representation by artists ; the

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

folded cloth of white linen, sometimes handsomely fringed or decorated with lace, is
a most distinctive feature. Large gold earrings are worn, and a white chemisette
with full elbow sleeves is seen under a short sleeveless corslet which is often
embroidered with coloured galoon and laced across with coloured ribbon. A long
narrow apron of thick material is usually worn with a short, full, coloured skirt.
White stockings with pianellas usually complete the toilette of the picturesque
Roman girl.

In other parts of Italy the kerchief is worn on the head with graceful effect.

In Russia the head-gear of the peasant is most distinctive, being made of a
high, stiff, funnel-shaped crown of black or coloured material, which is sometimes
fur-trimmed. A long coat or pelisse is the outer covering of both men and women

Lace-trimmed Caps worn by the Peasants in the
Environs of Eouen.

Elaborate
lace-trimmed
caps are
worn in
Dalmatia.

in Russia ; and though peasant jewels are worn, and silver coins and charms are
seen on the bodices, the necessary wrapping-up and thickness of the materials
prevent the picturesque effect which is so strongly marked in the dresses of
the peasant inhabitants of less rigorous climates.

The hat worn by the Bourgognes is much trimmed with the bobbin lace made in
the district ; it is of velvet, lace surmounting the crown and being laid flat on
the brim ; lace lappets depend on either side, and a lace-trimmed cambric cap
is worn beneath this elaborate structure.

The Dalmatian cap is also lace-trimmed, though not actually fashioned of lace ;
it is of red cloth, in the shape of a small turban ; there is no embroidery on the
cloth, but elaborate trimmings of ribbon and lace are used.

PEASANT LACES. 75

The Silesians huge headgear somewhat resembles that worn by the peasants Stiffened lace
of Dalecarlia, in that the lace is used as a protection against the sun. Over a white *?r"Js f sun'
cap a close-fitting velvet one is worn, and upon this is fixed the stiffened lace Silesia,
which forms a kind of sun-shade or awning.

Little lace of any importance has ever been made in Sweden, except that
which is executed by the peasants for their own use. The thread used is coarse,
and the work is done on a pillow with unusually large-sized bobbins. The
patterns are those in vogue two centuries ago, and are of the stiff geometrical type.
Lace is only worn by married women on the caps and fichus, and is so starched
that it stands erect, or can be bent slightly as a protection from the sun. This
lace is seldom washed, the starching process only being repeated when more
stiffening is required ; the rich coffee tint is considered a great beauty as showing
the great age and the durability of the fabric, which latter quality is, in fact,
extraordinary.

Besides the lace made by the Dalecarlian women for personal adornment, there
is much plaiting of threads done for the ornamentation of their household linen.
This resembles the old Genoese Macrame, and the modern fabric of that type ; some-
times the ends of the threads are left hanging loose to form a kind of fringe ; some-
times they are knotted up and cut off, so that the resemblance to ordinary lace is
closer.

Holesom, or cut- work, was much made in Sweden in the cottages of the peasants,
but though large quantities were executed, little ever came into the market, as the
peasants preferred to have their own handsome stock of house linen rather than the
money such labour would fetch.

In Germany much handsome pillow-made lace, cut-work, and drawn thread The house'
work is also used by the peasants in ornamenting their household linen. The old hold linen
Flemish grounds are the favourites for the laces on account of their solidity ; such German
lace-trimmed linen would be held as heirlooms through successive generations. Since peasants
the fine ground of Lille and Mechlin came in, the lace has been much less durable, and witjj jace<
the peasants have, therefore, practically discontinued making it for their own use.

In Greece, little lace is worn on the caps of the peasants, but both gold and
silver gimp lace is made for ornamenting the bodices ; this is of twisted threads of
cotton covered with the metal, and is usually worn sewn down the seams of the coats
and bodices of the men and women. Sometimes this lace is of bright-coloured silk,
instead of the gold and silver, and is equally effective.

Bisette lace was a favourite one with the peasants in the neighbourhood of
Paris, especially during the seventeenth century ; it was made of coarse and loosely-
twisted thread, usually unbleached, and of narrow width ; yards of it were employed
in the trimming of the elaborate caps. This thread-made Bisette is quite distinct
from the gold and silver lace of the same name, which was sometimes further
ornamented with thin plates of metal.

CHAPTER IX.

THE TRANSPORT OF LACE.

ORMERLY the lace trade was entirely in the hands of
pedlars, who carried their wares in packs to the principal
towns in Europe, and to the large country houses, where
experience had taught them there was a likelihood of ready
sale. This lasted until the middle of the seventeenth

Lace sold by itf . century. Laces were sold by pedlars in England in the time of

Pedlars. Henry VIII. In a play written in 1544, by one John Heywood,

the contents of a pedlar's box are enumerated: "Laces knotted,
laces round and flat for women's heads, sleeve laces." In *' Fool
of Quality," written in 1766, "silk, linen, laces" are found in the
box of a murdered pedlar. The custom of carrying lace round from
T--MU house to house still survives in the cheap machine-made varieties
found in the baskets of pedlars of the present day, and in the boot-
laces, stay-laces, braids, and tapes which are also carried; this
branch of the lace trade having more intimate connection with
needle-point and pillow laces in remote times than it has at present,
when the tendency towards specializing is shown in every trade. In the counties
of Buckingham and Bedford, and in some parts of Devonshire, the lace box is.
often carried from house to house still, and at the country inns and hotels it
often makes its appearance at the end of a meal ; the waiter carrying round
the wares, or allowing the women, who frequently make as well as sell the lace,
admittance to the room.

This custom is also permitted in some parts of Belgium. At Spa the system of
colporteurs, which dates back to remote times in Greek history, still survives, and
early travellers in the country make frequent mention of lace purchasing in
their diaries. King Christian IX. of Denmark made many purchases of lace while

Portrait of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from the picture by Mme. Vigee
Lebrun at the Musee at Versailles. Photograph by Neurdein. Blonde
lace trims the corsage and skirt.

THE TRANSPORT OF LACE. 77

travelling in Schleswig, entries such as the following constantly appearing in his
journal from 1609 to 1625 : " Paid to a female lace- worker 28 rixdollars, to a
lace-seller for lace for the use of the children." In a letter to his chamberlain he
specially mentions a recent purchase, and orders in an autograph letter that out of
a piece of Tonder lace four collars of the same size and after the manner of Prince
Ulrik's Spanish, must be cut ; and they must contrive also to get two pairs of
manchettes out of the same. Alas ! that dressmakers' troubles had already begun
at this early date.

In 1647 there was a great lace-making epoch in Jutland, and the fabric was made "Lace post-
by men and women of the upper as well as the lower classes. The lace was entirely JPen"in
sold by "lace postmen," as they were called, who carried their wares throughout
Scandinavia and parts of Germany ; this service, as its name implies, was
carried on with considerable method and regularity, and was not the casual
porterage of independent itinerants, but a business organised by the body of lace-
makers it served.

The great lace dealer, Mr. Jens Wulff, Knight of the Danebrog, who did
much for the lace industry of Denmark, is thus spoken of in his son's book : " He
began the lace trade at the end of the last century, and first went on foot with his
wares to Mecklenburg, Prussia and Hanover ; from thence the lace was consigned
to all parts of the world. Soon he could afford to buy a horse, and in his old
age he calculated he had travelled on horseback more than 75,000 English miles,
or thrice round the earth."

In the reign of Elizabeth, in England, lace began to find its way into general
shops and stores all over the country, for its purchase was no longer confined to the
court and high nobility to whom it was brought by lace merchants. In the shop
list of John Johnston, merchant of Darlington, for instance, mention is made of
"loom" lace, black silk lace, and "statute" lace, together with such articles as
pepper, books, and sugar candy. Amongst the articles for sale at John Forbeck's
shop at Durham there are " velvet lace, coloured silk chagne lace, petticoat
lace, Venys gold," and — " terpentine."

At the mercers' shops in large towns lace was to be purchased, but as the Lace bartered
itinerant sellers in neighbourhoods where lace-making was carried on were always to a* fairs.
be found content with a smaller profit on their wares, many continued to buy from
them long after lace was to be had elsewhere. Lace was sold at fairs — this was
especially the case when the fabric was the result of work done by the cottagers in
their own homes. At the fairs and on market days much selling and bartering
of lace was done.

Frequently special orders were given to the lace-makers who carried out the
designs required by their patrons. A lady who desired lace would go to a
cottage and arrange with the worker for the execution of her order ; this
ideal, but necessarily restricted, method was adopted all over England wherever
practicable.

In Italy, as a rule, at the present day, the agents of the large firms go to a Agents

central point in a lace district at certain times of the year and collect the lace collect the

, i <• i • L iace ln •Italy.

produce of the peasants, it being always understood that the fabric must reach a

78 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

certain standard of excellence, or it will be rejected. All lace imperfectly made or
soiled is rejected by firms whose reputation is an important matter to them.
But the inferior laces are, of course, not wasted ; other merchants buy such
goods, send them, as a rule, to spas and watering places where people congregate
who have more money than discrimination, and a ready sale is found for them.
The barter for such goods is generally cotton or linen material for working, orders
for polenta and other food stuffs, rather than coin. This system, which gives rise
to much cheating, is still flourishing in some remote villages in Devonshire, "truck,"
or payment in kind, being given to the workers instead of money.

Sometimes the thread is given out by foremen to the workers in a certain
district, and an account must be made of the amount received ; thus, if one pound
of flax thread be received, half a pound of lace must be handed over, as about half
is allowed for waste.

The history of smuggling in connection with lace is a large subject, for the
unlawful passing and "running" of lace has always had an intimate connection
with the history of lace in any country in which it has been made ; innumerable are
the stories of how stringent laws for the protection of the home lace industry have
been cleverly evaded.

Perhaps the most systematic smuggling, and that of the most ingenious order,
was carried on between France and Belgium in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, when France was using much Belgian lace. Dogs were trained to serve the
smugglers' purpose. In France the animal was fed well, petted, caressed, and
made extremely happy ; then after a time he was taken across the frontier into
Belgium, where he was starved and otherwise ill-treated. After a short time of
wretchedness, the skin of a larger dog was fitted to his body, the intervening
space filled with lace and sewn up, and the dog allowed to escape. He naturally
made direct for the old home across the frontier in France where he had been so
kindly treated, and was soon relieved of his contraband. The enormous extent
of this traffic will be judged by the fact that between 1820 and 1836 many hundreds
of such smuggler dogs were destroyed, a reward of three francs for each being
given by the French Custom House when they at last got wind of this ingenious
device for evading the duties.

In the eighteenth century many people lost their lives in the risky trade of
lace smuggling. Though foreign laces were prohibited in England the Court ladies
persisted in wearing them, and if they could not succeed in smuggling them
themselves, they got others to do so. After 1751 extraordinary severity and
surveillance seem to have been resorted to in order to put a stop to the unlawful
importation of lace; a writer ot this period remarks that "not a female within
ten miles of a sea-port that was in possession of a Mechlin lace cap or pinner,
but her title to it was examined." Lord Chesterfield writes to his son in 1751,
" Bring only two or three of your lace shirts, and the rest plain ones." It was
no uncommon thing for the milliners' and tailors' shops to be raided by the
Revenue officers ; and on such an occasion whatever articles of foreign
manufacture were found were confiscated.

George III. ordered all the dress materials worn on the occasion of the

THE TRANSPORT OF LACE.

marriage of his sister, the Princess Augusta, to the Duke of Brunswick, to be of
English make. The guests and attendants took not the slightest notice of the
King's wishes, but gave their orders freely for prohibited stuffs, which they knew
would be forthcoming if the prices paid were high enough. Three days before the
wedding the Customs officers visited the court milliners of the day and carried
off all the foreign cloths, gold, silver and lace. In the same year, a seizure of
contraband French lace, weighing 100 lb., "was burnt at Mr. Coxe's, conformably Contraband

to the Act of Parliament." Women were arrested with Lace ™as

• • r burnt,

pies containing valuable foreign laces ; a Turk's

turban containing stuffing worth /"go in lace was
seized. The journals of 1764 are full of accounts of
seizures by the Customs for contraband transport of
lace.

High and low took to smuggling. A gentleman
of the Spanish Embassy had thirty-six dozen shirts,
with fine Dresden ruffles and jabots, together with
much lace for ladies' wear, taken from him. A body Lace was

to be conveyed from the Low Countries for interment snj"8:gled in

11 r i cotiins,

in England was found to have disappeared with

the exception of the head, hands, and feet ; the body
had been replaced by Flanders lace of immense value.
So common was the trick of smuggling in coffins that
when forty years later the body of the Duke of
Devonshire was brought over for burial, the officers
not only opened and searched the coffin, but poked the
body with sticks to see that it was not a bundle of
lace. It is said that the High Sheriff of Westminster
successfully " ran " £6,000 worth of French lace in
the coffin of Bishop Atterbury, who was arraigned
for Jacobite intrigue when Bishop of Rochester, and
who died in exile in Paris in 1731.

The spies of the Custom House were everywhere.
Mrs. Bury Palliser relates that at a dinner party in

Brussels early in this century a lady, the wife of a Member of Parliament for one
of the Cinque Ports, told the gentleman sitting next to her that she dreaded the
seizure by the Revenue Officers of a very beautiful Brussels veil in her
possession. The gentleman at once offered to take charge of it for her " as he
was a bachelor, and no one would suspect him." The lady accepted the offer
aloud, for she saw one of the waiters listening to the conversation ; she at once
guessed he was a spy, and sewing the veil in her husband's waistcoat, succeeded
in getting it safely to London. Her partner at dinner, crossing two days later, was
subjected to the most rigorous search.

All this proves that the people who desire to wear lace will have it whatever
the laws, and however active may be the spies and Revenue Officers ; free trade
principles alone can put a stop to smuggling.

One of the Fashion Puppets,
3 feet in height, such as
were dressed in Paris and
sent to all the capitals of
Europe to display the
modes of the day. From
the Correo Museum, Venice.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Fashion
puppets
dressed in
lace.

Special per'
mission was
given for
the entry of
fashion dolls
to our ports
in war time.

In writing about the transport of lace, mention must be made of puppets or
dolls which were dressed with lace in order to show the fashions of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. The word puppet is derived from poupee, a baby or
doll. The figure used instead of the modern fashion magazine was usually below
life size, made like the puppets or fantoccini used in the plays. In 1721, Le Sage
wrote a play for puppets. The well-known puppet show scene in " Don Quixote "
will be remembered. The marionettes were constructed of wood and pasteboard,
with faces of composition, sometimes of wax. In the puppet for dancing purposes
each figure was suspended with threads to a bar held in the hand of a hidden
performer, who posed and gave action to the figures with the other hand.

In the eighteenth century, Flockton's show presented no fewer than five
thousand figures at work at various trades. At country fairs puppets were used
for depicting historical scenes, such as " The Crossing of the Alps by Napoleon " ;
these dolls were sometimes moved by clockwork.

A few years ago, an elaborate model was made of a staircase in the Doge's
Palace in Venice ; every detail of architecture and decoration was accurately
carried out, the whole being made to scale. On the staircase were no fewer
than one hundred figures represented in the correct costume of the time, which
included the most elaborate laces, all of the real kinds used at the period. The
scene represented was the execution of the Doge Marino Falieri. The executioner
was there, the officers in accurately-made uniforms, even the spectators in the
costly lace and brocade dresses of the time.

The puppets used for the display of fashions in lace were of the same make and
description. The custom of dressing up lay figures in the modes of the moment
commenced in Paris, where, in the reign of Louis XIV., one called La Grande
Pandore was exhibited in the court dress of the period, or in some fashion
conformable with grande tenue. This dress was changed with each change
of fashion, just as the life-size puppets in the shop windows of the present
day show off the latest creations from Paris and elsewhere. A second doll, smaller
in size, called La Petite Pandore, was exhibited at the Hotel Rambouillet clothed
in morning deshabille, this word meaning the less ornate garments fashionable
for morning and home wear, and by no means indicating the careless and
slovenly character of loose dress which the word deshabille has in modern times
come to mean.

When a fresh fashion came in, the last poupee was sent off to Vienna,
Italy, England and other countries where people were as desirous as now of
knowing the latest Paris fashions. So important was the matter considered in
England, that when British ports were closed in war time, special permission
was given for the entry of the " Grands Courriers de la Mode." These dolls
were dressed with the finest laces France and Italy could produce. As late as
1764, it is said "there has been disembarked at Dover a great number of
dolls, life-size, dressed in the Paris fashions in order that the ladies of quality can
regulate their taste on the models."

The custom dates back much earlier than the reign of Louis XIV. M. Ladouise

THE TRANSPORT OF LACE. Si

of Paris, in 1391, makes entries for expenses connected with sending a fashion
doll to the Queen of England. In 1496, one is sent to the Queen of Spain ; in 1571,
a third is sent to the Duchess of Bavaria. In Miss Frier's " Henri IV." we are told
the King writes in 1600, before his marriage to Maria de' Medicis : "Frontenac
tells me that you desire patterns of our fashion in dress. I send you therefore some
model dolls."

It was the custom to expose such puppets for public view at fairs; in Venice, at
the annual fair held in the Piazza, of St. Mark on Ascension Day, a doll was always
shown whose dress and laces served as a model for the fashions of the year.
This was kept later in a shop on the Ponte dei Bareteri, which is to be seen at
the present day; it was called La Poupa di Franza, and was placed in the window so
that all might model their garments on the fashions shown by the puppet of the
moment.

In his picture of Paris, Mercier mentions the puppet of the Rue Saint Honore.
" It is from Paris that the most important inventions in fashion give the law to the
universe. The famous doll, that precious puppet, shows the latest modes. One
passes from Paris to London every month and goes from there to expand grace to
all the Empire. It goes North and South, it penetrates to Constantinople and to
St. Petersburg, and the pleat which has been made by a French hand is repeated
by every nation who is a humble observer of the taste of the Rue St. Honore."

Bobbin Lace, 5J inches wide, showing transition
stage of the Scallops between Pointed and
Straight which began to take place in the
seventeenth century.

Keep your
lace dry and
warm.

CHAPTER X.

THE CARE OF LACE.

INE needle-point and bobbin lace should be kept
in a warm, dry atmosphere. Much old lace has
been damaged by being locked away in cold,
damp sacristies in the cathedrals and churches,
where hoards of ecclesiastical lace accumulated
in the days when the finest specimens of Spanish
point, laboriously-made Valenciennes, Mechlin,
Brussels, and Italian laces were all made for
Church use. A species of mould attacks lace,
especially black lace, if
kept without air ; this
mould is, in reality, a living
parasite, which grows, feeding
on damp, as the mould in a
damp preserve closet or apple-
room will form and grow. If laces are not used they
should be taken out of their drawer, shaken, and
frequently exposed to air.

Moth does not attack lace made with flax thread,
but should be guarded against if specimens of Trina
di Lana or Shetland point are to be stored. There
is no need for blue, white, pink, or mauve paper, as
long as the receptacle in which the lace is kept is
dust-proof, and air is frequently allowed access to
preserve the colour and kill parasitic growths.

ADAPTING LACE.

More good lace has been ruined by dressmakers
than by all the other destructive agencies put together.

Madame la Mode has no veneration, and will cause Plastron made of Floral

. . r Forms cut from a ragged

the finest Alenson or Burano point to be cut if it suits Floonce and joined with

her whim that a certain form shall be made in lace for new Needle-made Bars.

An unusually Complete Specimen of the Lace-trimmed Christening Suits in use until the
close of the eighteenth century, consisting of cap, frock trimming in two pieces, c
and mittens. The lace is Belgian bobbin-made ft re"seau.

THE CARE OF LACE.

Border of Needle-point Lace (made of three pieces, one narrower and two wider, stitched
together). The patterns of the fragments are of the same period, Louis XV., and
show how narrow laces can be effectively joined. Width 7 inches.

lace a new
lease of life.

which the piece was not originally intended. Here should step in the ingenuity
required for adapting lace without destroying the fabric. Is the piece too long ?
The superfluous part can be placed between the material and the lining. Is it
too wide ? The same plan can be resorted to. Corners can be mitred by means
of lace stitches, so that no join is visible ; revers made with the surplus width at
the lower end hidden, instead of cut.

Adaptation is not necessarily destruction ; sometimes it gives new life to a worn- Give ragged
out and unusually ragged lace. The
Devonshire lace -makers recognise
this as a regular branch of their
industry ; many a beautiful veil,
shawl, and flounce is concocted from
old fragments sent to them in a
seemingly hopeless condition. They
begin by carefully cutting out of the
torn pieces the designs of the old
work. These are spread upon a
paper pattern of the shape required.
The modes and fancy stitches are
restored, any flower which is re-
quired is supplied, and the whole is joined together on the pillow. We recently
saw a handsome black Honiton flounce being so treated with perfect success ;
black Honiton is extremely rare, and is now never made.

G 2

Two Dessert D'Oyleys made from fragments of
lace cut from ragged borders.

84 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Old point lace can be given a new lease of life if the ground has given way ; and
this is always the first part to wear on account of the weight of the solid arabesques
and leaves. These should be detached from the ragged ground, placed on a pattern
of the desired form, then connected with fresh bars worked as nearly like the old
bars as possible.

Many laces which are too narrow to use effectively can be joined so that the
widening is almost imperceptible.

Do not put Fragments of coarse lace can be used in various ways, and merely require neat

your torn stitching and ingenuity in arrangement to make them into graceful articles of utility
rag-bag. instead of useless rags.

Table-Centre or Tray-Mat, made from fragments
of lace. The ground is of white linen.

TO RESTORE LACE.

Before mending lace it should be ascertained exactly of what make it is, more
especially with regard to the ground, as this is usually the part which first shows
signs of wear. If the needle-point or pillow lace design is mounted on machine-
made net the lace is easily repaired, and the fabric does not deteriorate in value in
the process ; but if the lace has a needle-made ground or one made with bobbins, a
large proportion of the value of the lace is lost if the design is remounted on
machine-made ground. The needle-made grounds should be repaired to the last ;
of these are old Brussels, Burano, Point Gaze, Alen?on, Argentan, Mechlin, old
Devonshire, Flemish, and Lille. Sometimes lace is made on the pillow with
bobbins, and filled in with a needle-made ground, or between bobbin sprigs
medallions of needle-made point are let in, as in Duchesse ; in such a case the
needle-made net ground must be mended and not cut away.

THE CARE OF LACE.

To Mend Cut Work.

The holes should be darned, the button-holing or over-sewing of the pattern Special
being afterwards done according to the pattern on the darned foundation. If the ^eca
hole is large it is sometimes worth while to sacrifice a few inches in the length of mending
the piece in order to patch ; this is, of course, an extreme measure, but it is better
to have a shorter length intact than the longer unusable, on account of holes.

To Mend Darned Netting.

Cut out the broken meshes and net new ones in their place, unpick the darned
design beyond the junction of the new and old mesh, and darn the pattern in again.

To Mend Needle=made Laces with Bar Grounds.

Restore the ragged parts of the pattern by cutting out the fillings in the
centre, and working in new fillings that match the old in design. Button-hole
round the cordonnet, cut out the ragged bar ground where necessary, and work new
bars in. Simple bars are made by passing two or three strands across the space, and
covering them closely with button-hole stitch.

To Mend Needle=made Lace with Machine Net Ground.

Clean the lace, unpick the pattern from the old torn ground, mend the design,
putting in the fancy stitches where they are incomplete ; tack the design on blue
paper right side downwards.
Lay a new piece of net that
matches the old as nearly as
possible over the sprays and
tack it to the edge of the
paper ; then with a fine needle
and lace thread sew it round
each spray, taking up minute
portions of the edge and not
the centre of the work. Sew
round the design on the right
side, after untacking from the
paper, a pearl edge of tiny loops.
Lay the lace with design upper-
most on a board covered with
flannel and rub each leaf, spot
or flower, and along each spray,

with the end of an ivory crochet hook to make the raised work stand up
in relief. Bobbin lace applique is mended with machine-made net in just the
same way.

Bobbin Lace before Mending.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The

cleansing
process.

To Mend Needle=made Laces with Needle=made Net Grounds.

Mend the fillings by imitating the stitches in the design ; do not cut away any of
the ground, but join the fine lace thread at a corner of the hole, as the mesh will not
otherwise pull into shape ; fasten the thread, if possible, into the fit de trace or
outline of the design. Insert the needle at about the distance of one-sixteenth of an
inch, bring it out as for button-hole, but twist the thread once round it, so as to make
a twisted strand ; work to the end of the space, and at the end of the row fasten
the thread to the lace with a strong stitch, and sew over and over the threads back
to the commencement, putting two twists into each loop.

To Mend Bobbin Laces with Bobbin Grounds.

These f are the most difficult of all laces to restore, as they must be
repaired on the pillow. The bobbins are passed into the meshes beyond the rent,
and the new work will then resemble the old. In mending bobbin lace great care
should be taken to exactly match the old thread, as much damage can be done to
delicate fabric by using too strong a thread, which tears away the old pattern.

When mending tape guipure it is often advisable to darn the pattern before
restoring the bobbin bars.

To Clean White and Tinted Lace.

Place the lace to be cleaned on a smooth board covered with linen, pin it with
small fine pins on to the linen which has previously been firmly nailed down to the
board, then dab the lace with warm water by means of a sponge ; the fabric must
on no account be rubbed, only
dabbed. Dissolve half an ounce
of the best primrose soap in two
pints of water and dab the lace
again with the sponge soaked
in soapy water until it is
perfectly clean. Rinse the soap
away by dabbing with warm
clear water and leave the lace
to dry after most of the moisture
has been removed by means of
a dry sponge. Old laces should
never be ironed or stiffened.

If the lace is so thick that
dabbing with a sponge will not
remove the dirt, it may be
placed in an enamelled iron
saucepan in cold water in which Bobbin Lace after Mending,

best Primrose soap has been

dissolved in proportion of two ounces of soap to two pints of water. Bring it to
boiling point, then remove the lace, rinse in clear water and pin down to a linen-
covered board.

THE CARE OF LACE. 87

To Colour Lace.

The right colour for old lace is that of pure unbleached thread. Saffron-tinted
lace, butter-coloured laces and other outrages on good taste need not be
mentioned in connection with needle-point and bobbin lace ; they are occasionally
demanded by fashion, but there are always machine-made varieties to supply the
demand.

It is not in good taste to affect lace " Isabeau," a colour much worn recently ;
this is a greyish coffee colour, or in plain English the colour of dirt, the name
of the queen who showed her devotion to her lord by vowing to change no body
linen until his return from the wars, having been given to it.

To renew the unbleached effect of white lace it can be delicately tinted with tea
by laying it in water in which tea has been infused.

To Clean Black Lace.

Pin down upon a linen-covered board, as described lor cleaning white lace,
then dab with vinegar instead of soap and water, leaving it to dry on the board.
If the lace is mouldy, which defect black lace is very subject to, place it in a warm
room near a fire, brush with a fine brush and dab with spirits of wine until all sign
of the mould is removed. Leave to dry pinned on the board, and do not on any
account iron or stiffen.

There is no method of dry cleaning lace which is not damaging to the fabric ; It is impos-

when effectual dry cleaning is done acids are used, and it is inevitable that the lace sible to clean

lace effec-

should be rotted by such a process. tually by any

dry process
•without

How to Sew on Lace without Injuring.

Needle-point and bobbin lace should always be provided with a footing or
engrelure, that is a narrow band or straight-edged insertion which is usually of
coarser quality than the lace border or flounce, and by which the lace is sewn on
to the material it is intended to decorate. This prevents tearing or undue dragging
of the main fabric. The footing can be easily renewed when worn out ; it should
be oversewn not too closely to the lace. If cuffs, applique collars or other laces
are worn, which require sewing down at the points and round the design, the
stitches should be put in with a very fine needle and placed at least half-an-inch
apart ; the cotton should be of the colour of the lace, not of the material on to
which it is sewn.

SOME HINTS ON JUDGING LACE.

In judging lace there are three most important points to decide : —

1. Whether the specimen is needle-point, bobbin, or machine-made lace.

2. The approximate date of its manufacture.

3. The country of its origin.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The net
ground in
hand'made
lace is less
even than
that of the
machine-
made fabric.

Is it Machine made Lace?

i. The question as to machine-made lace may be dismissed in a few words —
the threads in the manufactured article have a twisted and compressed look which
is never seen in hand or pillow laces. Buttonhole stitches, which are to be found
in such infinite variety in needle-point, are never seen in machine laces ; up to the
present time, however ingenious may be the reproduction of lace, no mechanism
has yet been invented which can achieve the button-hole stitch in its simplest
form.

If there are raised ornaments in machine-made lace the padding is worked over
and over straight : in hand-made covering the stitches always slope.

If a thread in machine-made lace is unravelled it comes out easily : in needle-
point, on the contrary, frequent knots impede the unravelling of the thread, and in
bobbin-lace the unplaiting is a tedious process. The mesh ground in machine net
is perfectly round and even : in needle-point lace it is either square or hexagon.

The plait of bobbin lace cannot be done by machine except by the Dentelliere
which was invented by a Frenchman in 1881. The expense of producing lace by
this machine is, however, as great as that of making bobbin lace by hand.

Needle-point Ground.
Much enlarged.

Bobbin-made rfeeau
— sometimes called
Lille fond claire —
the best of all
Grounds. Much
enlarged.

Needle-point Toile.
Much enlarged.

Bobbin-made Plait.
Much enlarged-

Bobbin-made Ground
Valenciennes. Much
enlarged.

Is it Needle-point or Bobbin Lace?

In judging whether the specimen is needle-point or bobbin lace, the gimp or
toile should decide the question. When looked at through a strong magnifying
glass the needle-point gimp will be seen to be made up of looped threads ; in the
case of pillow lace the gimp is plaited.

The net-work ground of the lace specimen to be judged supplies another test.
In the needle-made reseaux the threads are looped up to form the mesh : in the
pillow-made reseaux there is a continuous flow or plaiting of the threads. If a small
section is unpicked the thread in needle-point is found to be a single one : in
bobbin-made ground several threads are used, as in order to make progress they
must be twisted or plaited.

THE CARE OF LACE. 89

When was it Made?

2. In deciding the age of a specimen of lace, the most conclusive test is made Hand-made
by unravelling a single flower or ornament until about twenty inches of the thread th.rea<* ,was
is obtained ; if there is no join in this length nor for a few inches beyond, we may lengths of
be sure that the lace was made after the beginning of the last century, when 20 inches,
machine-made thread was first used. Before that date all the thread used in making

lace had to be joined at least every twenty inches, because the worker could stretch
no further from her distaff, and had to break off and join again.

The designs varied considerably in character, according to the date of the lace,
and the carrying out of a similar design will be a sure help in guiding the decision
as to the date of a specimen. Thus, before the sixteenth century the petals and
other forms, which should have been rounded, were all angular. In the seventeenth
century the raised picots, or fleuvs volants, were diamond-shaped.

The brides ovnees alone are enough to date a piece of lace. The earliest form
of bar in the fifteenth century had a knot, or dot, only as ornament ; in the sixteenth
century, a double or single loop; in the seventeenth century, a star.

The position of the flower, with regard to the edge, also indicates the century
of its make.

The earliest bar-joining was V-shaped, in perfect simplicity. Afterwards a
looped bar appeared across the V, intersecting it. Later the barettes were no
longer symmetrical, but were closer and uneven, like the bars in crackle china.
This crackle position of the bar was introduced at the end of the seventeenth
century.

The edging of lace also gives indications of its age. Sharp angles in the
scallops indicate the Middle Ages ; in the sixteenth century a rounded scallop
came in ; in the seventeenth century, a scallop with dots ; in the eighteenth
century, a large scallop alternately with a small one, dots being in the centre of
each.

Engrelures or footings also vary, but this indication is not a safe one to Engrelures
trust to entirely, without other evidence, for the engrelure is frequently renewed or footin2s.
as it receives hard wear, so the original one is seldom found on a piece of antique
lace. All old engrelures are hand-made. The oldest are simply a series of crossed
bars. The same rules with regard to knots and picots influence these bars as
those of the bars in the lace fabric itself. Old laces always have flax thread
engrelures. Modern laces, even those of hand- made workmanship, generally
have cotton thread engrelures, except the laces made in Venice, which have flax
thread engrelures only. So that the Rosaline and Burano lace made to-day
will, in twenty years' time, be identical with the Rosaline and Burano points made ^ j~-*-k
in the seventeenth century.

Where was it Made?

3. Other considerations with regard to the age of a specimen piece are
involved in the question as to the country of its origin, which is, perhaps, the
most difficult question of all to decide. For the lace workers frequently migrated
to other countries, taking with them their patterns and methods, and began to

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

practise their handicraft in their adopted country. In such cases, however, there
was always some small divergence which crept into the original method. For
instance, the workers of Alen9on were originally taught lace-making by Venetians,
brought into the country by Colbert in order to keep in France the enormous sums
spent by the courtiers on Italian laces. At first the early Alencon lace made at
Lonray can hardly be distinguished from Venetian point ; but after a time a new
kind of ground was made, fresh stitches were invented, and a century and a half
after the Venetian lace workers had taught their handicraft to the French workers
Alencon lace had a character of its own, and no longer resembled Venice point.
Alencon and Argentan were made until fifty years ago with a cordonnet padded
with horsehair. In Venice this material was never employed : cotton or flax
threads always formed the Italian padding.

Small Collection of Old Lace, arranged in plush trays, fitted into a specimen
table. On each label are written particulars of the date and variety
of lace.

Mediaeval
designs
in the
i6th
century.

Up to the middle of the sixteenth century lace patterns were in the mediaeval
style — that is, symbolical groups, figures, monsters, sacred animals, and trees were
introduced into the design, which was carried out in hard, square lines with no
flowing rounded forms even in flowers or leaves. The same form was repeated many
times : thus a tree, a fountain, candelabra, or what not, will be constantly seen
with the small motifs between. This is accounted for by the fact that one worker
made one section. The straight joining, which was the only one known at that
time, necessitated the repetition of the straight line of the tree or fountain. After
the sixteenth century a new way of joining was found, so that not only straight
forms but round ones could be used for the joins.

Until the middle of the seventeenth century the geometrical style of pattern
was used, squares, triangles, lozenges and wheels formed the design.

THE CARE OF LACE.

At the end
of the
eighteenth
century the
beauty of
lace began
to decline.

From the middle of the seventeenth century till early in the eighteenth, the
Renaissance patterns were used, with flowing lines, wreaths, garlands, flowers, and
scroll work in compact patterns or connected with bride and buttonhole grounds.
It was at this time that point and bobbin laces were the most used, the most
elaborate, and the most beautiful.

From 1720 till the end of the eighteenth century the Rococo style was used,

and stiff patterns and crowded
and ungraceful bouquets
formed the motif. Lace
patterns and workmanship
began to decline in beauty at
this period.

At the end of the eigh-
teenth century the Dotted
style came in ; the design
seemed to melt away, the
bouquets became sprigs or
mere dots ; rosettes, tears or
insects powdered over the
surface, replaced a continuous
design ; and drawn muslin
and blonde laces began to
supplant the rich old needle-
points.

HOW TO ARRANGE A SMALL
LACE COLLECTION.

It is extremely important How to

. , . , store lace,

to store lace in a careful and

methodical manner, for the
fabric in some cases is so
delicate that the undue drag-
ging and crushing which
crumpled folds entail, are most
damaging.

Few people buy lace only
from the collector's point of
view. Pleasure in its beauty,
interest in its history, or the
skill shown in its workmanship

may influence the choice ; but its use as a personal adornment generally has some-
thing to do with its purchase. In arranging a collection, therefore, it is important
to provide for the necessity of constant change in the exhibits ; there must be no
gluing down to coloured paper or silk to show the design as has been recommended by
some collectors, for this precludes the possibility of using the lace for its legitimate
purpose, besides taking away half the grace of the fabric by nullifying its flexibility.

Lace Cabinet suitable for a few specimens. On the lower
shelf are stored lengths in use or awaiting cleaning or repairs.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The ideal lace cabinet is one of the Chippendale design, of French make, Empire
or Louis period ; of white moulded wood or whatever other style suits the taste of
the owner, or the period of the room, whether it be the drawing-room, the boudoir,
or the dressing-room of madame, in which it is to stand. The illustrations we give
appeared in an article on this subject in the Queen. They suggest, but do not
altogether fulfil all the require-
ments of the lace cabinet. It
matters not what style provided
the cabinet be provided with
a cupboard with glass doors,
and glazed sides if possible,
and a few dust-proof drawers.
The cupboard should be lined
with velvet or satin ; the best
colour for displaying lace is
violet of not too deep a shade,
yet with no tendency to red in
it. Fancy, or the exigencies
of harmony with the other
decoration in the room, may
render another colour desirable;
silver-grey satin has a beautiful
effect under lace when it is
perfectly clean, but the tint
Isabeau on grey satin is not
pretty, nor, indeed, on any
other colour. Red of a rich
cardinal colour is effective, but
yellow is undesirable, as the
colour of pure unbleached flax,
which is the natural colour of
old lace, does not harmonise
well with that of the buttercup.

Whatever the background,
the lace should be pinned upon
it with sharp, fine steel pins-
Put in as few pins as possible,
and allow the lace to hang in

Old Casket, with modern lock and fresh rose satin lining,
used for storing choice specimens of Needle-point
and Bobbin Laces.

its own graceful folds if it be
of the Alen9on point Gaze and
embroidered net variety. If old

guipure knotted laces and other thick kinds are to be displayed, they should be laid
out flat, and the escalops firmly pinned against the wall of the cabinet. Arrange the
background with as much variety as possible. Perhaps an insertion of guipure may
outline the top, a fine Brussels or Argentan lappet hang on one side, while a Burano
fan is set sideways, open two-thirds of its whole extent. If a Limerick scarf, a

THE CARE OF LACE.

Label suitable for Specimen
of Lace in small collection.

Such drawers should be

Brussels berthe or Venice collar be in the possession of the collector, such a
specimen should drape the entire background, and fan and lappets be displayed
upon a shelf.

It is a great convenience when the shelves are movable so as to form trays ;
they can then be slipped out of the cupboard to allow of the examination of
any particular specimen without disarranging the whole.

Small pieces of flounce or edging should be laid across in straight rows, such Sp
" majesty of ordered lines " being, however, occasionally broken by a handkerchief, °*
folded jabot, or half-open fan. Close to each specimen
should be a plain white card, on which are written
clearly:— (i) The kind of lace. (2) The date of its
manufacture ; as shown in the illustration.

The drawers for the storing of lace will be found
most useful for those pieces which are not suitable
in size or rarity for display, or which are in course
of washing, mending, or making up. But we should
advise all lace-lovers to insist that all the lace not
actually in wear should be put in the lace cabinet.

lined with cream or white soft satin, pasted or tacked against the wood, and,
further, should have widths of the protecting material tacked to the upper edge of
the sides to be drawn over and tied, like the sides of a portfolio, before the drawer
is shut.

All these hints on the arrangement of a collection are equally suitable for
large and small accumulations ; for if only a few scraps are to be shown, a velvet-
lined specimen table with tiny drawer can be used with perhaps some bon-
bonnieres and patch boxes, which will gain in effect from their proximity to the
lace ; or if large quantities of lace are to be displayed, larger cabinets, a variety
of specimen cases and tables need only to be added. In the latter case, however,
care should be taken to classify the laces according to their date and place of
origin ; for example, there must be the Flemish cabinet, where Point de Flandres,
Brussels, and Mechlin are shown ; the Louis cabinet, where Point de France,
Alengon, Argentan, and Valenciennes are displayed ; and the English table, where
Devonshire, Irish, and Buckinghamshire pieces are to be seen. The tasteful
arranger will doubtless make the idea complete by providing for her Flemish laces
a carved receptacle of Flanders oak, for her French laces a commode or Louis
cabinet, and for her English laces one of Sheraton design. The Italian lace
collection would be best shown in a many-leaved cabinet on a pedestal of carved
work; the leaves when closed showing the form of one of the carved and gilded
lamps which are so characteristic of the City of the Lagoons.

ecimens
ot lace
should be
labelled.

CHAPTER XI.

THE LITERATURE OF LACE.

In 1527
the first
dated pattern
book
appeared.

ENERALLY speaking, the Literature of the
Art of Lace-making may be said to com-
mence with the pattern books designed for
the use of the lace-makers. St. Dunstan
designed patterns to be executed by the nuns,
and sometimes, it would appear, by the monks
also ; the monks of the monastry of Wolstrope,
in Lincolnshire, are commended for their skill
in needlework, and in the frontispiece of some
of the early pattern books of the sixteenth
century men are represented working at
frames, and we are told these books were
written " for the profit of men, as well as of
women."

Several books inherited from monasteries contain no letterpress except what
is required to explain the working of the patterns ; the monks would hardly have

collected the
volumes e x -
cept for the
purpose of
using them.

The earliest
dated pattern-
book was pub-
lished in Co-
logne, in 1527,
and is a small
octavo volume
with forty-two
plates ; the
title is in
Gothic letters
beneath wood-
Design for Reticella, from a Pattern Book by Vinciola. Sixteenth century. cuts represent-
ing women at
work. On the back of the leaf is a large escutcheon, the three crowns of Cologne

THE LITERATURE OF LACE.

in chief ; supporters, a lion and a griffin; below, " O. Ecelix Colonia, 1527.'' The
patterns consist of mediaeval and Arabesque borders and alphabets, some on white,
others on black grounds, some with counted stitches.

Occasionally there is a dedication in verse, as in an undated book published at

Lyons. In this the patterns are mediaeval, and it is stated that the book is for the
profit of tant hommes que femmes.

In another undated Lyons book of this period there is an elaborate patti
representing St. Margaret holding the cross to a dragon.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Special
ballads
written for
the use of
lace'itiakers.

In a book published in Paris in 1584 is a ballade of twenty-eight lines. This is
one of the songs sung by the lace-makers while at their toil. These ballads, or
chansons a toile, still survive amongst the Venetian workers, and are doubtless used
to discourage gossip, which hinders work, besides bringing minor evils consequent
on the over-activity of unguarded tongues.

19! > t *"* ^^»WM = m \Wt

^5HHI*nS

Si^iNs

'^m^iff^^^iy^^i

In the silk-spinning factories in Italy at the present day the women are not
allowed to talk, but may sing, and the sweet rhythmic chant which rises and falls,
led always by the acknowledged leader, is very beautiful to hear.

THE LITERATURE OF LACE.

The eminent Italian pianist, Signer Giuseppe Aldo Randegger, has kindly
composed expressly for this book the " Nenia " which is given on pp. 100 and
101 ; the words, by Eugenie Randegger, and the music are quite characteristic
of the old tradition in connection with the love story of the Venetian maid,
who, while waiting for her absent fisher lover, ornamented his net by twisting
the cords into a rude form of lace work.

The volume amongst the sixteenth century lace books which was most popular
with the ladies of the French Court, for whose use it was designed, is that of the
Venetian, Vinciolo, to whom Catherine de' Medicis granted in 1585 the exclusive
privilege of making the collarettes godronnees (of fluted pattern) which she
herself introduced. The book went through many editions, and is entitled Les
singuliers et nouveaux pourtraicts . . . et ouvrages de Lingerie. Two figures representing
ladies in the costumes of the period, with working frames, are shown on the title
page. The work is in two volumes ; the first devoted to Point Coupe, showing
beautiful geometric patterns in white on a black ground ; the second to Lacis,
the subjects being in squares, with counted stitches like the modern Berlin wool
embroidery patterns.

The reason why these early pattern books are so scarce is that the tracing, or
pricking, of the patterns with the metal style destroyed the paper on which they
were printed. They are much sought after by collectors of early specimens of
wood block printing.

The pattern books being costly and difficult to procure, gave rise to the Lace designs
production of " Sam cloths," or samplers, when several different designs in Lacis, g^£ Cloths
or cut-work, would be copied by a child on to the more durable canvas. or samplers.

Signer Ongania, of Venice, has published a limited number of facsimiles of
pattern books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. M. Alvin (Brussels,
1863) issued a brochure upon the patterns, and the same year the Marquis Girolamo
d'Adda contributed two bibliographical essays upon the same subject to the Gazette
des Beaux Arts (vol. xv., p. 342, and vol. xvii., p. 421).

In 1661 was written the celebrated Revote des Passemens, which is so often
quoted in order to fix the date of various laces, as every lace of any importance at
this period is mentioned in the poem, and its special value and beauty are declared
in the speech it makes.

The theme of the work represents the laces as fearing, after the enactment In the
against luxury of dress was passed in the seventeenth century, lest they would
become extinct if no longer used as an article of dress. They determine to revolt, lace was
assemble in battle array, and make courageous speeches, but when opposed all run
away. There is then a council of war, when Une grande Cravate exclaims : — satire.

// nous fattt venger cet affront,
Revoltons, nous noble essemble.

A muster roll is called over, when Dentelles de Moresse, Escadrons de Niege,
Dentelles de Havre, Points d'Espagne, and many others march forth in warlike
array, but at the first approach of artillery all surrender, and are condemned.
The points to be made into tinder for the use of the King's Mousquetaires,

98 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

the laces to be converted into paper, Gueuses Passemens and silk lace to
be made into cordage and sent to the galleys, the gold and silver laces, as
authors of the " Sedition " (the Sumptuary laws, which provoked the revolt) to be
" burned alive." Finally, through the intercession of Love, the laces are again
restored to Court favour. This trifle, invented for the amusement of the courtiers,
has been a boon to lace collectors in determining the dates and relative values of
lace in the seventeenth century.
Bibliography Information may be found by students of the subject in the following books: —

ADDA (Marquis Girolamo d') :

Le Lit de Castellazzo. (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1863, Vol. XIV. 97.)

Essai Bibliographique sur les anciens modules de Lingerie, de Dentelles et de Tapisseries. Gazette des
Beaux Arts, 1863, Vol. XV. 342, 1864, Vol. XVII. 421.

ALVIN (L.) :

Les anciens Patrons de Broderies, de Dentelle et de Guipure. 4to. Bruxelles, 1883.

AUBREY (Felix):

Rapport sur leb Dentelles, les Blondes, les Tulles et les Broderies, fait & la Commission Francaise du Jury
International de 1'Exposition Universelle de Londres. 8vo. Paris, 1854.

Dentelles, tulles, broderies, et passementeries. Reports, Paris Exhibition 1867, IV. p. 233. 8vo.
Paris, 1868.

BELIN (Antoine) :

Sensuyent lis patrons de Messire Antoine Belin, etc. Small 4to. 28 designs on 14 leaves of lace patterns,
16th cent. Lyons, n.d. (1525 ?)

BOCK (Franz) :

Beschreibender Katalog einer Sammlung von Spitzen und Kanten, darstellend den geschichthchen
Entwickelunsrsgang der gesammten Spitzen-Industrie vom XVI. bisxzum XIX. Jahrhundert. 31 pp. 8vo.
Aachen, n.d. (Catalogue of Lace purchased by the New Museum at Dresden).

BONE LACE :

Some considerations, humbly offered to the Honourable House of Commons, concerning the Proposed Repeal
of an Act lately passed to render the Laws prohibiting the importation of Foreign Bone Lace, etc., more
effectual. 4pp. small folio.

CLEROET(Ch. Ernest):

Tracings by, tilled in as facsimiles, of the following lace and other pattern books :

La fleur de la Science de Pourtraicture, et patrons de Broderie, etc. Small fol. 60 pp. of designs. Paris,
F. Pelegrin, 1530.

Splendora del virtuoso giovane. Sm. obi. 4to. 42 pp. of designs. Venise. Francesco Calepino, 1563.

Triompho di Lavori, etc. Sm. obi. 4to. 9 designs. Padoue, Fra Hieronimo da Civiclad da Vridi. 1555.

Patrons pour Brodeurs, Lingeres, Massons, Verriers, et autres gens d'esprit. Sm. obi. 4to. 6 tracings.
Paris, Vve. Jean Rudle. n.d.

Patrons de divers manieres, etc. Sm. obi. 4to. 11 tracings. Lyons, Pierre de Ste. Lucie, 1590.

La vera perfezione del Designo, etc. Sm. obi. 4to. 23 tracings. Venice, Francesco Senese, 1591

COCHER1S (Hippolyte) :

Recueil de documents graphiques pour servir & 1'Histoire des Arts Industrials. Patrons de Broderie et de
Lingerie du XVIe sifecle. Reproduits par le proc^d^ Lefman et Lourdel et public's d'apres les Editions conservees
a la Bibliotheque Mazarine. Small 4to. Paris, 1872. 2nd edition. Small 4to. Paris, 1873.

COLE (Alan Summerly) :

Ancient Needlepoint and Pillow Lace. With notes on the history of lace making, and descriptions of 30
examples. Under the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education. 20 photographs.
Fol. London, 1875.

Lace. Article in the " Magazine of Art," London, 1879. pp. 249-251.

Cantor Lectures on the art of Lace Making, delivered before the Society of Arts, April and May, 1881. 8vo.
London, 1881.

DUBLIN:

Museum of Science and Art. Catalogue of Lace Collection compiled by Alan S. Cole. 1878.

FELKIN (William):

History of Machine-wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufactures. Royal 8vo. London, 1867.

FERTIAULT i Frangois de) :

Histoire de la Dentelle. Par. M. de . . . woodcuts. 12mo. Paris, 1843.

FISCHER (Hugo):

Technologische Studien im Sachsischen Erzgebirge. Mit einem vorwort von Dr. E. Hartig. 17 plates. 8vo
Leipzig, 1878.

FRANCO (Qiacomo) :

Nvova Inventione de diuerse mostre cosi di punto in acre, etc. Sm. obi. 4to. 6 pp. of designs ana
title. Venice, 1596.

Facsimile reproduction of the above complete. Sm. obi. 4to. 24 pp. lace designs. Venice, 1596. Edited by
F. Ongania, Venice, 1876.

100

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

NENIA.

Words by E. RANDEGGER.

Music by G. ALDO RANDEGGER.

Lento.

So - pra la re - te vo - la la mano Vo - la le ma - glie ad al - lac - ciar, Ed il pen

I I ^n^M^M^^B ^••^••^••H ^ ^

Lento.

-—jr -* , &^ — -J-

* 9 • 9- • * 9 ***-

\—^=f.

rail.

:rf=*=^1 r i * • r-frr

rail.

3 i • r1^

^ a tempo. '

-K.» _J — — > **

=3=3[=3=

- sie - TO vo - la lon-tano, vo - la lon-tano, lon-tano, Ion - tan su'l mar! E cu-ciai

s~* **

-9*-

7^1-^1

rall.

rail.

m^t

J»t*L

col canto.

--&

•=r =T -2=*-

/ ™//.

o^r. un poco.

,=^— - ^

co - ra, E cu-ciancora! e - gli e lag - giii, e -gli e lag - giu ! ti par-lail ma - re, ti par-lail

JU1T»Ur-r

/3P,

ma - re, Loa-scol - ti tu, Lo a - scol - ti tu? "Non lo ve - drai, non lo ve -

Fed.-

THE LITERATURE OF LACE

101

rail.

tempo.

aj}r. unpoco.

- - drai, Piu mai, piu mai !

Vien so-pra 1'a - le del tern -po - ral, Dal lar-go vien vo-ce fa -

YI//. col canto.

: tempo.

I rt^V. *« poco.

I I

rail, mo I to.

a tempo.

rail.

J3 a tempo.

- tale, II ven-to & for - te, Par- la di mor - te ! A la ri - den - te spiag-gia del - 11 - do La ve - la

col canto.

.
f

a tempo.

rail.

a tempo.

\ J -f

g±23=*ir

-* — 1»-

espressione.

bian - ca non vol - ge - ra lor-na a cu - ci - re, il ma- re e in - fi - do il ma-re e in - fi - do eil-ma - ri -

g£teEi=|=g=gE3=^ j J. j-^

col canto.

bJ. * -«

rt^V. unpoco. con espressione.

=F >-

rail.

iu lento.

tnolto adagio.

^ >

nar non tor - ne - ra E il ma - ri - na - ro non -tor - ne - r

mai piu.

THE LITERATURE OF LACE. 103

FRENCH (Gilbert J.):

The Tippets of the Canons Ecclesiastical. Illustrated with woodcuts. 8vo. London, 1850.

QOUBAUD (Madame) :

Madame Goubaud's Book of Guipure d'Art. 98 illustrations. Sm. 4to. London, 1869.

Madame Goubaud's Pillow Lace Patterns, and instructions in Honiton Lace-making, Numerous illustrations
am. 4to. London, 1871.

HAILSTONE (S. H. Lilla) :

Catalogue of a Collection of Lace and Needlework, with a list of books on the same subject both formed by
anil in the possession of, Mrs. Hailstone, of Horton Hall. Illustrated by photographs. Sm 4to London
Privately printed, 1868.

Designs for Lacemaking. 40 coloured plates. 4to. London, 1870.

HAWKINS (Daisy Waterhou.se) :

Old Point Lace, and how to copy and imitate it. 17 illustrations by the author. 8vo. London, 1870.

JESURUM (Michel Angelo) :

Cenni Storici e Statistic! still' Industria dei Merletti. 8vo Venice, 1873.

LACE:

Statistics of the Bobbin Net Trade, etc. Fol. Nottingham, 1833-36.

Lacemaking as a Fine Art. From the " Edinburgh Review," January, 1872. 8vo.

The Queen Lace Book : a historical and descriptive pamphlet of the hand-made antique laces of all countries
Part I.— Mediaeval Lacework and Point Lace. 30 illustrations of lace specimens, and 7 diagrams of lace
stitches. 4to. London, 1874.

Traits de la Dentelle Irlandaise et des jours il 1' Aiguille (Point d'Alengon). Ouvrage illustr^ de 149 gravures
Deuxieme Edition, revue et augmented. Post 8vo. Paris, 1876.

LACE MANUFACTURE:

Fabrication de la Dentelle clans le De"partement du Rh&ne, et les de"partements limitrophes. Industrie
spe'ciale de la Maison Dognin et cie. 4to. Lyon, 1862.

LACE PATTERNS :

Gioiello corona per le npbili, e virtvose Donne, libro qvarto. Nel quale si dimostra altri nuoui bellissimi
dissegni di tutte le sorte di Mostre di Punti in Aria, Punti tagliati, <fe Punti a Reticello ; cosi per Freggi, come
per Merli <fc Rosette, che con 1'Aco si vs ano hog gi di per tutta Europa. Et molte delle quali Mostre possouo
• seruire anchora per Opere k Mazzette. Nuouamente posto in luce con molte bellissime inuentioni non mai pui
vsate, nfe vedute. Con Privilegio. In Venetia, Appresso Cesare Vecellio, in Frezzaria nelle Case dei Preti,
1593. (Facsimile Eliotipica della stampa originale esistente nella R. Biblioteca Marciana in Venezia.) Obi.
4to. Venezia, 1876.

Corona delle nobile et virtvose. 2nd edition of the facsimile edition by F. Ongania. Oblong 4to. Venezia,
1879.

Serena Opera Nova di Recami, nella qvale si ritrova varie & diuerse sorte di punti in stuora, & punti a filo,
& medesimamente di punto scritto & a fogliami, & punto in stuora a scachetti, & alcuni grpppi incordonati,
& rosete, done ogni virtuosa giouene potrk facilissimamente fare ogni sorte di bellisimo lauoriero. Opera non
men vtile che necessaria. Oblong 4to. Venezia, Domenico de' Franceschi, 1564. 27 patterns. Facsimile,
edited by F. Ongania, Venezia, 1879. This forms Part X. of the " Raccolta di Opera antiche su'i disegni dei
Merletti di Venezia."

LACE AND OTHER PATTERNS:

Verschiedene Modell zum Stricken und Nahen, verlegt und zu finden bey Marx Abraham Rupprecht, Johann
Christoph. Haffner, seel. Erben Kunstverbeger, in Augsburg. 14 plates. Sm. obi. fol. Augsburg, n.d.

Venetian, 16th century. 12 leaves of woodcut designs from a Venetian lace book of the end of the 16th
century. Sm. obi. 4to. n.d.

Sensuyuent les Patrons de Messire Antoine Belin, Reclus de sainct Marcial de Lyon. Item plusieurs aultres
patrons normeaulx, pui ont inuentez par frere Jehan Mayol, Carrae de Lyon. 22 patterns and title page. 4to.

yon, n.d.

Wilhelm Hoffmann's Spitzen-Musterbuch. Nach der im Besitze des k. k. Oesterr. Museums beflndlichen
original-aus gabe vom Jahre 1607 herausgegeben vom k. k. Oesterreichischen Museum f iir Kunst und Industrie.
Mit cinem borwort, Titelblatt und Musterbliittern. 18 photo-lithogr. plates, and frontispiece. Obi. fol.
Wien, 1876.

LACE AND CROCHET:

French Patterns for Crochet and Lace Borders, with instruction, for workers. 4to. n.p., n.d.

LADY'S ALBUM OF FANCY WORK:

4to. London, 1850.

LONDON EXHIBITION, 1851 :

Reports of the Juries. Class XIX., pp. 460-476. Tapestry, lace, embroidery, etc. 8vo. London, 1852.

LONDON EXHIBITION, 1862:

Reports of the Juries. Class XXIV. Tapestry, lace, and embroidery. 8vo. London, 1863.

MACRAME LACE:

A knotted Trimming, etc. By the Silkworm (the Silkworm series). 8vo. London, n.d. (1875).

MERLI (Antonio) :

Origine ed uso delle Trine a pilo di refe. 100 examples on 6 lithograph plates. 4to. Geneva, 1864.

Zierl'ich-webende Minerva, Oder neu-erfundenes Kunst-und Bild-Buch der Weber-und Zeichner-Arbeit, etc.
12 pp. text ; 49 pi. ; uncut, sin. 4to, mounted in folio. Nurnberg (Johann Christ. Weigel). n.d.

pa
Ly

104 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

MODELBUCH :

New Modelbuch von allerhandt Art, nehens und Stiekens, etc. 153 woodcut patterns. Fcp. 4to. Frankfurt
a/m. Niclas Bassee. 1571.

New Model Bitch. Darinnen allerley Gattung schbner Modeln der Newen aussgeschitnen Arbeit . . . zu
neyen, etc. (Woodcuts, Venetian designs, reprint of the third book of Vecellio's "Corona.") Obi. 8vo.
St. Gallen, 1593. See Vecellio (Cesare).

New Modelbueh darinnen allerley aussgeschnittene Arbeit . . . erst newlich erf unden. Sm. 4to. Woodcut
patterns for lace. Mumpelgarten (Montoe'liard). Jacob Foillet, 1598.

Facsimile reproduction. Gantz new Modelbuch kiinstlicher und lustiger Visirung und Muster, etc. Obi. fol.
18 pp. of lace designs. Frankfurt a/m., 1607. Edit, by F. Ongania. Venice, 1878.

NEH UND STRICKBUCH (Neues) :

Fur das scheme Geschlecht, etc. 27 plates of designs for Samplers and other needlework. Obi. sin. fol.
Nurnberg and Leipzig, 1874.

NOTTINGHAM:

Patterns of Nottingham Lace, referred to in the report of the Nottingham School of Design, March, 1850.
73 patterns in a folio cover.

Catalogue of Special Loan Exhibition of Lace at the Midland Counties Fine Art Museum, 1878. By Alan S.
Cole.

NUREMBERG (German Museum) :

Katalog der im germanischen Museum beflndlichen Gewebe und Stickereien, etc. 20 plates. Imp 8vo. Nurn-
berg, 1869.
ORNAMENTO DELLE BELLE ET VIRTUOSE DONNE, etc. :

32 leaves, with woodcut designs on both sides. Venetian, 16th century. Sm. 4to., n.p., n.d.

OSTAUS (Giovanni):

La Vera Perfettione del disegnodi varie sorti di Recami, et di cucire de punti a fogliami, punti tagliati, punti a
flli e rimessi, punti in cruciati, etc. Obi. 8vo. Venetia, 1567.

t'actimile reproduction. La Vera Perfettione del disegno di varie sorti di Recami, etc. xxx.. in Venetia
appresso Gio Ostaus, 1567. Obi. 4to. 5 pp., title, etc., and 35 pp. of designs. Edited byF. Ongania. Venice, 1878.

PAGANI (Matio):

L'honesto Essempio del uertuoso desiderio . . . circa lo imparare i punti tagliati a fogliami. Woodcut
designs for lace. 32 pp. Post 8vo. Venice, 1550.

PAGANINO (Ales.sandro):

Libro primo. De rechaini p elquale sfe impara in diuersa modi lordine e il inodo de recamare, cosa no mai piu

fatta ne stata mostrata, el qual modo sei insegna al lettore voltando la carta. Opera noua. Facsimile of the
original edition of 1527, edited by F. Ongania. 8vo. Venezia, 1878. This forms Part IX. of " Raccolta di Opere
an tic-lu! sui disegni dei Merletti di Venezia."

PALLISER (Mrs. F. Bury):

History of Lace. 8vo. London, 1865. 2nd edition, 8vo., London, 1869. 3rd edition, 8vo, London, 1875.

Lace. From the Quarterly Review. July, 1868.

Notes on the History of Lace, to which is added a catalogue of specimens of lace, selected from the
Museum at South Kensington, contributed as a loan to the Midland Counties Museum of Science and Art,
Nottingham. 14 illustrations. 8vo. London, 1872.

PARIS EXHIBITION (1867):

Report by M. F. Aubry. (Jury Reports, IV., p. 223.) See also Aubry (F.)
Report by Mrs. Palliser. Vol. 3., p. 109. See also Palliser (Mrs. F. B.)

RECHAMI (De):

Per elquale se impara in diversi modi, 1'ordine el il modo de recamare, etc. Libro. Secondo. ..terzo. ..quarto.
(Reprint.) Plates of embroidery patterns. 8vo. n.p., n.d.

RIEGO DE LA BRANCHARDIERE (Mile.):

The Netting Book for Guipure d'Art, etc. Obi. 16mo. London, 1868.

ROMANA (Lucretia):

Facsimile Reprint. Ornamento, Nobile, per ogni gentil Matrona, etc. Folio. 14 pp. lace designs. Venice, 1620.
Edit, by F. Ongania, Venice, 1876.

SAINTE-CROIX (Dr. Le Roy de):

Parement d'Autel ancien en Dentelle et Broderie, appartenant k Mrs. Hailstone. 8vo. Wakefield and Paris,

1874.

SCOTT (E.):

Flowers in Point Lace. Obi. 4to. London, n.d. (1873).

SEQUIN (Joseph):

La Dentelle ; histoire, description, fabrication, bibliographic, orn«5e de cinquante Planches phototypo-
graphiques facsimile de Dentelles de toutes les e"poques. Passements aux Fuseaux-Points coupe's k rAiguille-
Points de Venise, de Genes, de France, Guipures, Valenciennes, Malines, Points d'Alengon, de Sedan, de
Bruxelles, d'Angleterre, Blondes, Chantilly, etc., et de nombreuses Gravures d'apres les meilleurs Maitres des
XVIe et XVIIe Siecles. Fol. Paris, 1875.

SIBMACHER or SIEBMACHER (Hans and Johann) :

H. Sibraacher's Stick undhpitzen-Musterbuch. Nach der Ausgabe vom Jabre, 1597. (Schon Neues Modelbuch
von allerley lustigne Modeln naczunehen Ziiwurcken vfi Zustiehe) in facsimilirten Copien heraus gegeben voin
k. k. Oesterreichischen Museum. 35 plates. Obi. 8vo. Wien, 1866.

Neu Modelbuch. With 58 plates. Obi. 8vo. Nurnberg, 1604.

J. Sibmacher's Neues Stick und Spitzen-Musterbuch in 60 Blattern. Nach der Ausgabe vom Jahre 1604
herausgegeben von Dr. J. G. Georgens. Obi. 8vo. Berlin, 1874. (Reprint.)

Facsimile reproduction. Stick-und Spitzen Musterbuch (Reprod. of ed. 1597). 35 plates. Obi. 8vo. Wien, 1866.

Thirty-seven plates from Hans Sibmacher's " Newes Modelbuch." Obi. 8vo. Nurnberg, 1604.

Twenty plates from Hans Sibmacher's "Schon Neues Modelbuch von allerley lustigen Modeln natzunehen
zu wurcken vn zu sticke." Obi. 8vo. Nurnberg, 1597.

Nineteen plates from Hans Sibmacher's " Modelbuch." Obi. 8vo. Nurnberg, 1601.

THE LITERATURE OF LACE. 105

STASSOF (W.):

L'Ornement National Busse. Ime. Livraison, Broderies, Tissus, Dentelles. Coloured illustrations. Text in
Russian and French. Fol. St. Petersburg, 1872.

TOUCHE (V.):

The Handbook of Point Lace. 4th ed. Pub. by Wm. Barnard. Obi. 4to. London, 1871.

TREADWIN (Mrs.):

Antique Point and Honiton Lace. Containing plain and explicit instructions for making, transferring, and
cleaning laces of every description. With about 100 illustrations, outlines, and pickings of the principal Antique
point stitches and Honiton sprigs. Sm. 4to. London, n.d.

URBAN I (G. M., de Qheltof):

I Merletti a Venezia. Sm. 4to. Venezia, 1876.

VAVASSORE (Q!o. Andrea):

Opera Nova Universal intitulata corona di racammi, etc. Woodcut designs for lace, 16th cent. 36 pp. Sm.
4to. Venice, n.d.
Facsimile reprint of the above. Sin. 4to. Edit, by F. Ongania. Venice, 1878.

VECELLIO (Cesare):

Corona delle Nobili et Virtuose Donne. 22 pp. of lace designs from the 1st and 2nd books of the original
edition. Obi. 8vo. Venice, 1600.

Corona delle Nobili et Virtuose Donne. Libro terzo. Obi. 8vo. (Reprint of Venetian 16th century patterns
for lace.) 27 pp. Venice, 1620.

Facsimile reprint. Gioiella della Corona per le nobile, e Virtuose Donne. Libro quarto. 30 pp. of lace
designs. Venice, 1593. Edit, by F. Ongania. Venice, 1876.

Facsimile reprint. Corona delle nobili et Virtuose Donne, etc. 3 books, 78 pp. of lace designs. Obi. 4to.
Venice, 1600. Edit, by F. Ongania. Venice, 1876.

V1NCIOLO (Federico di):

Les singuliers et nouveaux pourtraicts pour touttes sortes d'ouvrages de Lingerie, etc. 4to.

Paris, 1587. Other editions Paris, 1595, and Basle, 1599.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

Alencon Point.

This, the most elaborate needle-point lace which has ever been produced in
France, was first made in about 1 66^ Royal edicts, forbidding the wearing of
Spanish and Italian lacesj-having'lSeen ineffectual in inducing the nobles of Louis
XIV. 's extravagant court to wear the inferior laces
produced by France, the king's ministers determined
to improve the TFrench laces, and thus keep in the
country the enormous sums spent on Italian and
Flemish ruffles.

The Venetian instructors who were appointed
found intelligent pupils in the French lace-makers,
who had been accustomed to make twisted and
plaited thread laces; and to imitate the old Point
Coupe of Italy, and when their prejudice was over-
come, they became expert makers of the new fabric.
It was difficult, however, to teach the lace-makers
of Alen9on to exactly imitate the Venetian stitches ;
although until 1678 Alen9on point strongly resembled
Spanish and Venetian points, and is called Point de
France, the designs and stitches being the same, and
the ground in each case consisting of brides or
connecting bars, either plain or ornamented : after
that date a change is apparent in the lace made at
Alen9on, and it acquires characteristics of its own,
and has its distinctive title.

Point d'Alen9on was called a "winter" lace,
on account of its being of a thick and firm make.
This firmness is due to the cordonnet, and to this we
owe the excellent preservation in which the lace is
usually found, being far superior in this particular to
Brussels point. The cordonnet in Alen9on lace
made in France is padded with horsehair ; occa-
sionally specimens are found which have had the
padding withdrawn, doubtless because of its tendency
to shrink and draw up when washed. In Alen9on
lace, or Argentella, as it is called when made in Italy,
the cordonnet is flat.

(3 CD

clos

io8

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

It was during the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. that Alen9on was at
the height of its glory. The most extravagant prices were paid for the lace ; not
only were articles of clothing trimmed with it, but the beautiful fabric was used
as bed furniture, valances, trimmings for bath covers, and bed spreads. Altars in
the churches were hung with it, surplices of the priests trimmed with it, and the
king gave away to his court favourites cravats, ruffles, and complete robes. Before
the Revolution in 1794, and before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when
France lost many of her most skilled workers, the annual value of the manufacture
was estimated to be 12,000,000 livres. Work-people earned at this time 3 sous and
upwards per day.

During the Revolution the Alen9on lace factory became almost extinct, and
many of the workers were killed on account of their connection with the hated
aristocracy, as caterers to the luxury of the age. Others fled from the country,

Alenijon Point Lace ; eighteenth century. Each mesh of the reseau or net ground is made

with the needle-point.

so that it was with difficulty that sufficient workers could be found to carry out the
lavish orders of Napoleon I., for the emperor saw prosperity to France in the
revival of the lace industry. One of his gifts to Marie Louise was bed furniture
of rich lace ; tester, coverlet, pillow cases and edgings for sheets were all made
of the finest Alencons, the Royal arms on elaborate escutcheons being worked on
a ground of Vrai or needle-point reseau, powdered over with bees, the Napoleonic
cypher.

The Alenson lace factory fell with the empire. Many of the old workers died,
and no young ones were trained to take their places. The Duchesse d'Angouleme
tried to revive the industry, but her own handsome orders and those of her
personal friends alone could not coax it back to prosperity. In 1830 there were
only two or three hundred lace-workers employed.

Lappet of Needle-point Lace (Point d'Alencon), 4i inches wide. This specimen
is especially rich in elaborate fillings. Eighteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

log

Ten years later the old women were gathered together and another effort
was made. At the Exhibition of 1851 a few specimens were shown, and in
1856 large orders were given for the layette of the Prince Imperial. The coverlet
of his little bed was of Alen9on lace. The christening robe, mantle and head dress,
and the three baskets were all trimmed with the beautiful point. Twelve dozen

embroidered frocks were profusely trimmed with the lace, as were also the nurses'
aprons.

In 1859 the most costly work ever executed at Alenson was exhibited. This
was a dress valued at 200,000 francs, which was purchased by the Emperor
Napoleon III. for the Empress.

It is helpful in judging Alencon point to know something of the dates of certain
patterns, none of which are as fine as those used for Argentan point.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Like the designs of laces made at other factories, Aler^on patterns will be
found to correspond with the style of decoration in the houses and furniture of each
successive period. For some time after the death of Colbert, the designs were
chiefly flowing and undulating, showing that Venetian influence was not yet entirely
shaken off. It is at this period that small figures and heads are sometimes intro-
duced into the pattern. The eighteenth century patterns show garlands, while
escutcheons or lozenges of finer ground appear just as the painted medallions of
Boucher were inserted in the panels of the salons of the time.

Then, when in iurniture the ornate legs of tables and chairs gave place to
stiffer and more upright designs, the lace patterns became more rigid and angular.
In Louis XVI. 's reign the reseau or ground was sewn over with spots, tears,
sprigs or insects, and a narrow pattern used as border. The semes or powderings
continued during the Empire period, and they are still occasionally used in con-
junction with designs from real flowers now in vogue. At present the finest modern
Alencon Point is made at Bayeux, and at the Royal lace factory at Burano, near
Venice. It was of Alencon lace that the beautiful wedding veil of Princess Helene
of France, who in 1895 married the Due d'Aosta, was made. On the groundwork,
which was the Vrai reseau or net made with the needle-point, was a floral design.
Medallions in the centre enclosed the armorial bearings of the bridegroom
surmounted by the Cross of Savoy, the Fleur de Lys, and the arms of France.
This veil was of an unusually large size, being no less than fourteen feet long.

Modern Alencon lace ranks as fifth in value compared with other laces. It
was so placed by the Commissioners at the Great Exhibition in 1851, Brussels,
Mechlin, Valenciennes, and Lille taking rank above it.

Aloe Lace.

The peasants of Albissola, in Italy, have from remote times been accustomed
to make a coarse kind of lace from the fibres of the aloe. Tatting is done in
aloe thread at Manilla, in the Philippine
Islands. The lace work so produced is not
much in demand, as it becomes mucilaginous
in washing. Although it is usually executed
in tatting, the threads are sometimes twisted
and plaited. Such work is also done by the
natives of Paraguay, South America.
Alost Lace.

A bobbin-made lace of the Valenciennes
type, under which heading it is described.
Antwerp Lace.

A bobbin lace resembling Mechlin, but
with bolder design. The industry was
founded at Antwerp in the seventeenth
century, and the work executed there is
sometimes known as Flanders lace. It
was made in order to supply the increased
demand for Mechlin lace. Antwerp lace was of two kinds :

Aloe Lace work, 7J inches wide, made by the
natives of Paraguay, South America ;
nineteenth century ; known as ' ' Toile
d'Araigner."

one with a design

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

worked upon a ground, the other with the sections of the design merely attached
to each other by means of brides or bars. The plait thread characteristic of
Mechlin pillow lace was used to outline the design, which gives it an effect like em-
broidery. Lille lace is now
made in the neighbourhood, >
though some of the peasants ^~
still work at the old pot ,§
pattern, which is a relic of
the elaborate design repre-
senting the Annunciation —
the Angel, the Virgin Mary,
and the lilies are shown in
seventeenth century speci-
mens, but all these items
have gradually been omitted
until the pot which held the
lilies alone remains. Much
of this lace was at one time
exported to Spain, but now
little of the Potten Kant
leaves the country. Brussels
lace is also made at
Antwerp.

Applique Laces.

Many kinds of laces in
different parts of the world,
such as Brussels and
Honiton, in Devonshire, are
made by applying the bobbin
or needle-point sprigs to a
machine-made net ground ;
or by applying lawn on net,
muslin, or cambric. Such
work was a most popular
pastime during the last
century, and the home
needlework thus produced
was largely used, where the
more expensive laces would
have taken its place had not
the heavy duties rendered
their wear impossible for the
masses. The embroidery
was worked partly to imitate
lace, and partly to imitate
the popular Indian muslin

Needle-point Lace (Point d'Argentan), 6| inches wide; the latter end of Louis XIV. 's reign

(early eighteenth century).

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

- < | .

ct-'fD

-0-5

8 =5

embroidery. (Descriptions of the different kinds of applique laces are given under
their various headings.)

Argentan Lace.

The needle-point lace made at Argentan is the only needle-point lace with
a net ground besides Alencon which has ever been made in France. It is probable
that factories at both places were established
in the reign of Louis XIV. by Colbert, but
its name does not appear in the ordinance.

Like that made at Alencon, the Argentan
lace was at first called Point de France,
and though lace-makers near Ligneres-la-
Doucelle and in other villages worked for
both establishments, there are many distinct
characteristics in the two fabrics. The
Argentan excelled in the brides, or bars. A
speciality of Argentan is the bride picotee, a
remnant probably of the Venetian teaching,
for Italian workers were brought over to
show the French lace-women the art of
needle-point lace-making. This fact accounts
for the Venetian character of the early
designs and stitches. The bride picotee
consists of a six-sided button-hole bar,
fringed with a little row of three or four
pearls on each side. This bar is also called
bride epingle'e, because pins were pricked on
the pattern to show where the loops or
boucles were to be made — hence another
name, bride bouclee. The art of making the
bride bouclee was for a long time lost. An
effort was made about 1830 to revive it, and
an old worker was found who had made it
in her girlhood. A distinctive feature in
Argentsn point is that the pattern is
always larger and bolder than that worked
in Point d'Alen9on. The toile is flatter and
more compact. The workmanship of
Alencon is more minute and less effective,
the reseau ground is finer. It is well to
know the points of difference, as the two
fabrics are often confounded. Both flou-
rished during the reign of Louis XIV.

In 1708 the manufacture of Argentan
had fallen into decay, when Sieur Guyard,
a merchant of Paris, applied to the Council
of the King for permission to re-establish the

p.*

CD l-l

n4 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

manufacture, and to employ six hundred workwomen. He desired to place the
Royal Arms over his door, and asked that his engraver and draughtsman,
Montulay, should be exempt from all taxes except capitation. His request was
granted. Guyard's descendants continued the work, but the famous draughtsman,
Montulay, went over to a rival firm, with whom there was much quarrelling,
both on this account and also because of the impartiality of the Dauphin,
the King, Richelieu, and foreign royalties, in placing their orders with either
firm. The number of lace-makers in Argentan and its environs at that time
amounted to 1,200. Many names of gentlewomen of noble houses appear on the
lists of the workers, indicating that the making of point lace was carried on by
both rich and poor.

It was during the reigns of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. that Point d' Argentan
was at its best. It became almost extinct at the time of the Revolution, through
dispersion of the workers and failure in demand for the fabric. Since that time
little attempt has been made to revive it. Embroidery is now made by the town
workers, and the hand-spinning of hemp by the cottagers of the once-famous
lace-making district now takes the place of the old industry.

Argentella Point.

This needle-point lace was made in Italy, chiefly at Burano, some time after
the early Venetian raised and flat points had begun to wane in popularity, and was
the result of an effort on the part of the Italians to conform to the fashion for light
fine lace, when the taste for the heavy raised points had declined. It resembles
Argentan and Alen9on lace, but has no raised outline cord like that seen in the
French fabrics, the lines of button-hole stitch which surround the fillings being as
flat as the stitches themselves. The designs are chiefly powderings or semes, of
circles, ovals, or small sprays upon a net-patterned ground. By some, this Burano
Point is considered superior to Brussels lace, as the designs are more delicate and
the thread is whiter.

Arras Lace.

The bobbin lace made at Arras, in France, is identical with that produced at
Lille, but inferior in quality. Until the treaties of Aix la Chapelle in 1668, and
Nimeguen in 1678, both these lace-making centres belonged to the Netherlands, so
that it is not surprising that the character of the laces resembles that produced in
other parts of Flanders.

It is believed that the Emperor Charles V. first introduced the manufacture oi
lace into Arras. Primarily it was of the coarse thread variety, which was much
used in England. Later, finer threads were introduced. Between 1804 and 1812
the lace trade of Arras was in a most flourishing condition, but since that time the
industry has declined, and in 1851 there were only 8,000 lace-workers within a
radius of eight miles round the city, while their earnings did not exceed 65 centimes
a day.

The lace of Arras is perfectly white, firm to the touch, and very strong ;
mignonette is the name of the favourite design. Very little variety is found in the
patterns, and for this reason it is less in demand than the lace made at Lille, which
it much resembles ; as a rule the edges are straight and the patterns stiff. The

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 115

lace-makers achieve their work with extraordinary rapidity through long working
at the same pattern. The number employed in the industry, which in the last
century reached 30,000, is now reduced to a few hundreds.

Many years ago gold lace was also made at Arras ; in the account of the
coronation of George I., a charge for 354 yards of Arras lace appears amongst the
expenses.

Asbestos Lace.

The non-combustible mineral asbestos has been woven into a lace-like fabric.
This curiosity was at one time kept in the Cabinet of Natural History at the Jardin
des Plantes, in Paris.

A solution of asbestos is sometimes used for rendering lace non-inflammable.
Lace draperies and flounces used on the stage near naked lights are frequently
steeped in such a solution.

Austrian Bobbin Lace.

There is a comparatively modern variety made in Austria, in Bohemia. It
resembles old Italian bobbin lace; the school where it is made is under government

Austro-Hungarian Bobbin Lace, 6J inches wide ; nineteenth century.

patronage. The industry was commenced as a means of relieving the distress in
the Tyrol in 1850, and continues to flourish.

At Laybach, in Austria, there was at one time a bobbin lace factory which
produced lace much esteemed in the eighteenth century ; this factory no longer
exists. Point Gaze and a few less important laces are made in Bohemia still, but
little of artistic merit. Hungarian lace is made at the present day, some of it being
of good and artistic design.

Auvergne Laces.

The origin of the making of lace in the province of Auvergne is assigned to
the fourteenth century, and nearly all the point lace of Aurillac passed through for

I 2

n6 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

exportation to Spain. At the end of the seventeenth century the products of Aurillac
and other fine laces of Auvergne, sold on the Place at Marseilles, were valued at
350,000 livres per annum. It seems that the Point d'Aurillac of that period was a
gold and silver lace. The fabrication ended with the demand for less costly
ornaments at the time of the Revolution.

The laces of Murat (Upper Auvergne) were points much valued on account of
their beauty, and were chiefly made at La Chaise Dieu, Alenches, and Versailles.
At Tulle a speciality was made in galloons, which were tied together with a net
similar to the twisted ground of Torchon lace. These galloons were called
entoilages, and were used as insertions with the finest laces. The industry died with
the French Revolution.

At Le Puy the lace industry still flourishes, and an account of it will be found
under that heading.

Ave Maria Lace.

Bobbin lace of a simple Valenciennes variety. The ground is plaited. It is
chiefly made at Dieppe by the peasants, who have given it its special name.

Bath Brussels Lace.

A broad lace made at Honiton, under which heading it is further mentioned.

Bayeux Lace.

In the department of Calvados, Bayeux and Caen are celebrated as centres of
the lace-making industry. Before 1745, the lace-workers made a white thread lace
of Venetian design, the needle-point flowers being surrounded by a thick heavy
cordonnet. Light thread laces were occasionally made.

In 1740 a merchant, M. Clement, opened an establishment in Bayeux,
and from that time the lace-making trade there has flourished exceedingly, until
at the present time it is one of the first in France. The lace of Bayeux closely
resembles that of Chantilly and is frequently sold as such. Many of the so-called
Chantilly lace shawls in the Exhibition of 1862 were made at Bayeux ; the designs
are the same ; the mode of working is identical ; the most experienced lace judges
are sometimes unable to detect the difference. Silk laces were first made at Bayeux,
Caen and Chantilly in 1745; the silk was of ecru colour, brought from Nankin ;
white silk from Cevennes was afterwards used. One thickness of silk is used for the
ground and another for the pattern ; the manufacture of hand-made white blonde
lace has languished since the invention of machines for lace-making at Nottingham
and Calais. When large pieces of lace, such as veils, scarves, and deep flounces
for skirts are made, the beautiful raccroc stitch is used and the pieces are joined
imperceptibly, so that a shawl which would at one time have taken two women a
year to make, can now be completed by fifteen women in six weeks. Alen9on lace
is now made at Bayeux. (Further information will be found under Black Silk
Lace and Chantilly.)

Bedfordshire Lace.

This is a bobbin variety differing but little from Lille lace. Its manufacture
flourished during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Queen Catherine of
Aragon introduced the making of lace into the county during her two years'

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

117

residence at her jointure manor of Ampthill, and encouraged by example and
subsidies the industry of the workers.

Much Bedfordshire pillow lace is still disposed of by itinerant lace-sellers.
Baby lace was made m Bedfordshire when babies' tiny frilled caps were worn,
quantities being used for sewing to the edges of cambric frills. This is sometimes
called English Lille, on account of the resemblance to the Lille patterns and to
those of Mechlin. The industry in this
county, however, as in Devonshire, is, unfor-
tunately, dying out, especially with regard to
the working of the finer patterns. The work is
carried out chiefly in the cottages, and geo-
metric or Maltese designs are worked, frequently
in cotton thread or flax with cotton admixture.
Beggars' Lace.

A term of contempt once given to the

narrow braid laces of gueuse, bisette, compane

and mignonette patterns. In the reign of

Louis XIV., many edicts were published to

prevent the courtiers from squandering their

wealth on foreign laces, and to encourage the

home manufactures by compelling the nobles

to wear the coarse kind of Torchon made in

France at the time ; but the fastidious French-
men would have none of the " Beggars' Lace,"

which was never worn except by the lower

classes who could only afford a cheap and easily

executed lace. Cheap laces are no longer called

Beggars' Lace.

Belgian Laces.

The only original lace of Belgium is the old Flanders Point. All other kinds
are reproductions of the laces of the other countries of Europe. The Italian
laces are made, the application, and fine French and English varieties. During
the Austrian occupation of Italy, when the lace industry declined considerably
in the Peninsula, the trade in Belgium was extremely prosperous. Again when
Point d'Angleterre was required for England and Fiance, in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, Belgium supplied large quantities. The imitative faculty
is extraordinary. "Made in Belgium" is to the lace trade what "Made in
Germany " is to the trade of the nineteenth century in fancy goods ; that is to say,
whenever a new type or pattern in hand-made lace appears in Italy, France, or
elsewhere, that same lace, at a rather cheaper price, will a month afterwards
appear from Belgium.

Flanders has disputed with Italy the honour of introducing to the world so
lovely a fabric as lace, but we think there are conclusive proofs ot the priority of

\T •

Venice in making needle-point lace, as we have briefly shown in our opening
chapters. As to bobbin lace, the arguments used in favour of the invention in

Bobbin "Baby Laces," 1| inches wide,
made in Bedfordshire "and adjacent
counties ; nineteenth century.

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Flanders are based upon a picture in a side chapel in the Church of St. Peter's, at
Louvain. Quentin Matsys has depicted a girl working at a pillow. This picture
was painted in 1495, and the occupation was evidently chosen as one common in
the country at the time. But on close examination it will be found that it is
embroidery and not lace which is being made.

Every northern country in modern Europe learnt the art of bobbin lace-making
from the Netherlands, chiefly through the refugees who brought their knowledge
of the handicraft with them when they fled from the horrors of the religious
persecutions of the sixteenth century.

So keenly alive were the Belgians to the profit accruing from the national
handicraft of lace-making, that in 1698 an Act was passed in Brussels making it a
criminal offence to
suborn the workpeople,
as so many of the most
skilful were emigra-
ting, led away by the
high wages offered in
France and other coun-
tries. Well organised
ecoles dentellieres, or
lace schools, still exist
in Belgium, and chil-
dren's education in
lace-making com-
mences at five years
of age. This being so,
it is little wonder that
lace is a source of
national wealth.
Large quantities are
made in the ateliers
and lace schools in the
towns, some also by
the villagers in their
own homes throughout Belgian Tape Lace, lOi inches wide ; seventeenth century. The r£seau
the country. ~or ground is needle-P°int-

As early as the sixteenth century, the Emperor Charles V. ordered that
lace-making should be taught in the schools and convents, and we have seen an
interesting proof in the Musee Cluny in Paris that he patronised the lace-makers
in a practical manner by wearing cut-work and embroidery. The form it takes is
that of a cap worn by the Emperor underneath his crown. It is made of evenly
woven linen and designs of very fine lacis or cut-work alternating with the imperial
arms embroidered in relief.

Large quantities of black lace are manufactured in Belgium at the present day,
this industry especially flourishing in and around Grammont. The lace-making
industry of Mechlin has declined considerably on account of this lace being an

ira^c^MTt". .>A x«^W% 3«,i*C^\

fe^« ^•^^p'swt^S . MSw^

Lappet of eighteenth-century Belgian Bobbin Lace, 4* inches wide. The gimp or toile'
of the close parts of the design is as fine as cambric ; the cordonnet is raised.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. n9

easy one to imitate by machinery. Louvain and Antwerp were the towns which
once gave their names to laces made in the neighbourhood.

Special descriptions of Belgian laces will be found under the headings
Antwerp, Binche, Brussels, Flanders, Mechlin, Trolle Kant, Valenciennes, etc.
Binche Lace.

Binche Lace, or Guipure de Binche, made at a town in Hainault. The variety
now executed is of the Brussels bobbin make. Flat sprigs wrought with the
bobbins are afterwards appliqued on to machine-made net. The making of lace at
this town began early in the seventeenth century, and the fabric produced was at
one time a rival to the now more famous Brussels ; it was then, and until the end
of the eighteenth century, called Guipure de Binche. The plait ground was never
made : spider and rosette grounds were used together with the mesh patterns. It
resembled old Valenciennes more than any other kind of lace. This is accounted
for by the fact that Valenciennes, when lace was first made there, formed part of
the ancient province of Hainault, and was only transferred to France by treaty
and conquest at the end of the seventeenth century. It is almost impossible to
distinguish Binche Lace from that made at the French centre.

Bisette Lace.

A bobbin lace made during the seventeenth century in the villages in the
neighbourhood of Paris. It was coarse and narrow as a rule, though there were
three grades, of varying widths and quality. The peasant women who made it used
it principally for ornamenting their own caps. Gold and silver thread laces were
also called Bisette. These were sometimes further ornamented with thin plates of
the metal.

Black Silk Laces.

It would be extremely difficult to determine when the black silk lace industry
was commenced. In the reign of Louis XV. in France the fabric was worn ; as
early as the occasion of the marriage of Louis XIV. with the Infanta Marie
Therese it is mentioned. At this time it was used over coloured brocade, and also
as a trimming for the decolletage. Black silk guipure has never been very
popular, though at the time when in the early Victorian Era Indian shawls were
much worn in winter, black silk lace shawls replaced the warm material in summer,
and the arrangement of the folds was considered a severe test of elegance. The
shawl was worn folded, the two points nearly reaching the edge of the skirt at the
back, and the front being fastened across with a shawl brooch or ornamental pin
specially made for the purpose.

Black silk lace is now made at Bayeux, at Chantilly, in Malta, and in
Catalonia. Embroidered net lace work is extensively made in the prisons in Italy,
machine-made black net being darned with silk in bold effective patterns. A coarse
loosely-woven silk thread is used for the purpose.

Blandford Lace.

Defoe wrote of Blandford in Dorsetshire : " This city is chiefly famous for
making the finest bone lace in England ; they showed us some, so exquisitely fine,
as I think I never saw better in Flanders, France, or Italy; and which, they said,
they rated above ^"30 sterling a yard." This was in 1731. Soon after the whole

I2O

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

town, with the exception of twenty-six houses, was consumed by fire, and the
lace trade greatly declined, being replaced by that of button making,' in which it
is now chiefly engaged.

Black Lace of Caen and Bayeux (much reduced) ; nineteenth century.

Blonde de Caen.

A silk bobbin-made lace. It was about 1745 that the blonde laces, which
have rendered Caen famous, first appeared ; both black and white flax thread
laces had formerly been made in the neighbourhood.

At first the blondes were of a creamy colour, hence the name nankins or
blondes, the silk being imported from Nankin. Later improvements in the
preparation of the silk made white blondes possible, and their lightness and
brilliancy account for their popularity.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

121

When, early in the nineteenth century, the thread lace-makers were reduced
to ruin by the introduction of machine-made net, the silk blonde workers enjoyed
increased prosperity. It was about
1840 that the lace-makers of Caen
began the manufacture of black silk

laces of the same pattern as the white ^

and cream laces ; so delicate are the g

tints of these latter that it is said that S*

the women work in the open air during &

the summer to preserve the purity of 1

colour, and in winter they sit in the |

lofts over the cow houses. These lofts »

being warmed by the breath of the ~

animals, no fire is required with its W
inevitable smoke.

The old blonde laces had a ground *

of coarse mesh ; the later ones are g

finer, the designs in better proportion. |-

It was at Chantilly that the double g

ground or Paris point was first used. ^

It is strange that none of the authors g-

of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 8-

turies mention the town of Chantilly, g.
which was the most important blonde

lace-making centre outside Paris. V

Blonde de Fil. g

This is described under Mignonette f
Lace. 1

Blonde Net Lace. "«,

Bobbin lace with a fine network £

ground and heavy pattern. Blonde •§,

lace has a silk reseau resembling that ^

for which the thread laces of Lille are §

celebrated, and the toile is worked with ~

a broad, flat strand, which glistens §

effectively ; to this brightness blonde ®

laces owe their popularity, for there is t?

usually little artistic merit in their g

design. Such laces are made at Caen, g
Chantilly, Barcelona, and Catalonia,
and they are more fully described under
Blonde de Caen and Chantilly.

Bobbin Lace.

The correct name for lace made on a stuffed cushion by twisting and plaiting
threads wound on bobbins. By this term the fabric was known during the seventeenth

122

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

and eighteenth centuries to distinguish it from other hand-made laces which, though
frequently supported on a pillow, were executed without bobbins. During the
early part of the nineteenth century, when there was little accurate knowledge of
lace, the custom of calling bobbin lace " pillow lace " grew, but none who have seen
the workers of lace in the great modern schools of Europe and know that needle-
point and knotted laces, as well as bobbin lace, are supported in the hands of the
worker on a pillow, can accept the term pillow lace as a distinctive title for one kind
only. The French dentelle au fuseau alludes to the bobbins, the Italian term
a Piombini signifies iron-weighted bobbins, and Merletti a Ftiselli bobbin lace,

Cuff.— Band of Linen embroidered in Satin Stitch and edged with a broad and with a narrow length of
silk Bobbin-made Lace with a wavy tape-like pattern. Probably Maltese ; seventeenth century.

correctly so called by Lady Layard in her " Technical History of Italian Lace."
It is time that England returned to her old accuracy in describing this kind of
lace.

The fact that lace has been made upon the pillow with bobbins can usually
be detected by the plaiting and twisting of the threads. The forerunners of the
bobbins used by pillow lace makers were little implements which are to be seen
in a picture in a Harleian MS. of the time of Henry VI. and Edward IV., in
which directions are given for the making of " Lace Bascon, Lace Indented,
Lace Bordered, and Open Lace, &c." The MS. describes how threads in
combinations of twos, threes, fours, fives, tens, and fifteens are to be twisted and

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

123

plaited together ; instead of the pillow bobbins and pins with which pillow lace is
now made, the hands were used, each finger serving as a peg. Occasionally the
hands of three or four assistants were required to " furnish sufficient pegs for a broad
border." In the middle of the seventeenth century, the best period for bobbin as
for all other laces, it was made as follows, and the methods have changed but
little : — A pattern was first drawn upon a piece of paper or parchment, then pricked
with holes. Great skill was required for this process, as a pricker must determine
where the principal pins should be stuck for guiding the threads. The pricked
pattern was then placed upon the cushion. (This " pillow" varies in shape and size
in different countries, or with the taste of the individual worker, some using a
circular pad backed with a flat board, in order that it may be placed upon a table
and easily moved as the worker may wish, while others use a well-stuffed bolster,

Bobbin Lace, 2i inches wide, made in Mechlin, Belgium ; late eighteenth century. The
sprigs are made separately from the reseau, into which they are afterwards worked.

short and flattened at both ends.) On the upper part of the pattern were fastened
the ends of the threads unwound from the bobbins, which thus hung across the
pillow. These bobbins were thrown and twisted with regulated precision, in order
to form the fabric of the ground and pattern.

Bobbin lace is constantly made according to the patterns of needle-point laces;
in the seventeenth century especially, the points of Venice were extensively
reproduced. The bobbin lace of Buckinghamshire has been celebrated in England
ever since the eighteenth century. The most used " edging " bore the name of
" trolly," fronx " Trolle Kant," or sampler lace, sent round by the bobbin lace-
makers of Mechlin, to show the special variety of patterns upon which the workers
were engaged at the time. Mechlin has always had a very high reputation for

I24

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

good bobbin lace, since the days when lace-making patterns and peculiarities
came to be identified with certain localities. In the seventeenth century Mechlin
was called the "Queen of Lace." The chief characteristics of the lace made in
this town (which are explained more fully under Mechlin Lace) are the plaiting
of the meshes and the outlining of the patterns with a thread. In Brussels
bobbin lace the meshes of the groundwork are hexagonal, four of the sides being
of double twisted threads, and two of four threads plaited four times. This fact

Italian Bobbin-made Tape Lace, 4J inches wide ; seventeenth century. This specimen

was purchased in Milan.

is an infallible guide in the judging of Brussels bobbin lace. On the other hand,
the Mechlin mesh, though hexagonal in shape, has four sides of double twisted
threads and two sides of four threads plaited three times.

The soft quality of fine bobbin -made lace is a guide in distinguishing
between bobbin-made and needle-point lace, the latter having a much harder
and crisper appearance, however fine the threads with which it is worked. In
Brussels bobbin lace a bone instrument was used to give concave shapes to

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

I25

certain parts of the design, such as petals and leaves, which were much
improved by the realistic effect thus obtained. The edges of such flowers
were sometimes emphasized by a slighly raised plaited work, which gave the
effect of a cordonnet.

The first mention of a bobbin lace is in the year 1596, in the Nuova
Inventione, published by Giacomo
Franco, which gives two patterns
of lace made with bobbins for o
household linen.

Both Vinciolo and Parrasoli,
in the early part of the seventeenth
century, give examples of Merletti
a Piombini (lead bobbin laces). *,
(Full descriptions of special bobbin §'
laces will be found under their
several headings.) g

Bone Lace.

The name first given to bobbin-
made laces on account of the bones
of fishes and splinters of the bones
of animals being used instead of
pins, and the bobbins being fre-
quently of carved bone.

Bone point is sometimes spoken
of; this signifies the finest quality
of bobbin lace, for though it might
be expected that point should mean
needle-point, it does not always do
so — the word point being used by
lace experts to describe a fine
quality of lace, whether of needle-
point or bobbin lace.

Brazil Lace.

§T

A bobbin lace of coarse texture
and feeble design, used only amongst
the natives. It resembles the bobbin
laces of Europe in a slight degree,
the patterns being in the style of the
Valenciennes and Torchons, but is
far inferior in wear, as Brazilian
lace is made with cotton thread.

Maceio, in the province of Alagoas, was the chief centre of the lace trade in the
middle of the nineteenth century.

126

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Bridal Lace.

This is frequently mentioned in
records of Elizabethan times, and seems
to have been made of blue thread, being
worn by the guests at a wedding rather
than by the bride herself. Bridal lace
was made at Coventry until the Puritans
discountenanced the wearing of such
gauds.

Broderie de Malines.

The name sometimes given to old
Mechlin Lace, under which heading it
is described.

Broderie de Nancy.

One of the names given to Drawn-
work, to which heading the reader is
referred.

Bruges Laces.

Guipure de Bruges, or Point

Duchesse, is a bobbin lace of fine quality ;

the sprigs resemble those of Honiton lace,

and are united by brides or bars ornees.

A large quantity of Valenciennes lace

is also made at Bruges, but the quality

is not as good as that produced elsewhere, for in forming the ground, the bobbins

are only twisted twice, while
those, for example, at Ypres and
Alost are twisted four and five
times. The oftener the bobbins
are twisted the clearer the effect
of the mesh ground.

Bruges pillow lace has the
reputation of washing thick.

The lace-making at Bruges
is now mostly in the hands of
religious communities. Duchesse
is the most popular type. The
Guipure of Honiton resembles it
and the Venetian Mosaic, but the
English lace is not worked with
such fine thread, nor are the
Devonshire leaves and sprays of
such good and bold design, weak

TT*' design being the chief defect of

Duchesse Spray of Bobbin Lace, such as is made at Bruges . .. TT -^ i

at the present day. the modern Honiton lace.

Bobbin-made Cotton Lace from Maceio, in the
province of Alagoas, Brazil ; made in 1850.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

127

The lace resembling Duchesse made in Venice in the present day is called
Mosaic lace, on account of small sprigs being used to build up the pattern as the
pieces of stone and glass are used in Mosaic work.

Brussels Lace.

The needle-point lace of
Brussels is known as Point a
1'Aiguille and Point Gaze. The
bobbin lace is sometimes named
Point Plat or Flat Point— the
word point in this case signifies
the fine quality of the lace, and
has nothing to do with the needle
point. Point Plat Applique is the
name given to Belgian bobbin -
made sprigs which are after-
wards applied to machine-made
net. The term Point d'Angle-
terre, as applied to a Belgian
lace, recalls an interesting page
in the history of Brussels lace.
In 1662, the English parliament
was so alarmed at the effect on
English trade of the large quantity
of lace imported into England,
that English laces were protected
by Act of Parliament, and a law
was passed forbidding the impor-
tation of foreign laces. The
English lace merchants were
determined not to be deprived of
their lucrative trade, however,
for large quantities of lace were
required in order to supply the
extravagant court of Charles II.,
so it came about that Belgian
lace was first called Point d' Angle-
terre, for under no other name
would its sale in England be legal.
The merchants combined, bought
up all the finest lace in the
Brussels market, and, smuggling
it over to England, sold it under
the name of English point ; and
so the mistaken idea arose that
all Point d'Angleterre was made

128

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

in Belgium, and that it originated in that country : the chief portion of the finest
Point d'Angleterre was made in England.

The thread used in making Brussels lace is of exquisite fineness ; the flax for
its manufacture is grown in Brabant ; it is cultivated for lace-making at St.
Nicholas, Tournay, and Courtrai. The steeping or rouissage is done in the Lys,
the river close to Courtrai, which gives better results than any other water.

Every aid which can be devised is rendered to the spinner. A background of
dark paper is placed where it will best show up the thread as it is drawn from the
distaff, and the room is so arranged that a single ray of light is thrown upon the

Specimen of Brussels Lace which once belonged to Queen Charlotte.

work. Even with this assistance the spinners rely upon the "feel" of the thread
as it passes through their fingers, rather than upon the sight of what is so fine as to
almost escape their eyes.

The wages of a clever Brussels thread-spinner are extremely high, which seems
just, when we know that from one pound of flax lace can be manufactured to the
value of ^"700 ; the hand-spun thread, however, costs as much as ^240 per pound.
It is now little used. Thread spun by machine in England from Belgian flax
is much used in Belgium ; this is occasionally depreciated in value by cotton
admixture, and the fineness has never equalled that made by hand.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 129

The earliest Point a 1'Aiguille patterns resembled those of ancient Point de
Venise. Lace appears to have been first made in Brussels in the fifteenth century,
and a few rare specimens are still preserved in the old churches of Brabant. The
designs were taken from the early Genoese Guipures in Gothic style. The designs
of Brussels laces have always followed the fashions, which, indeed, affected lace in
every part of Europe. The most ancient style was Gothic or Geometric. Then
came the stately and flowing Renaissance lines which were used until the simplicity
in all fabrics at the time of the Revolution demanded less ornate designs. The first
Empire fashion demanded semes or powderings of spots, insects, or tears, together
with small floral borders and wreaths. Since 1830 the patterns have become more
floral, the flowers themselves following the lines of nature closely and being less
conventional. Many sprays display flowers made of needle and bobbin lace
mingled together. These are frequently mounted on machine-made net.

The Brussels flowers are of two kinds, needle-point and those made with
bobbins ; both these are made separately from the grounds. In old Brussels lace
the ground was worked with bobbins round the flowers. Later the flowers were
sewn into the ground. This method obtains in the present day. Sometimes the
flowers are sewn on to the ground. The modes connecting Brussels lace designs
are most elaborate, as are the fillings or intricate stitches. Relief is given to the
outlines of the flowers and fibres of leaves by a raised plaited cordonnet in the
bobbin laces ; in the needle-point lace the cordonnet is not covered with button-
holing.

The present-day method is to make the lace in separate pieces ; one worker
makes the flowers, another " hearts " them, that is, adds the intricate centres and
the open work, or jours. This method, though it ensures perfection in the working
of each separate stitch, does not encourage individual artistic effort, for it is the
master alone who selects the ground, chooses the thread, and knows the effect the
whole will produce. He it is who chooses the design, pricks it into the parchment,
and cuts this up into pieces, handing each piece ready pricked with a section of the
pattern to the special worker whose business it is to put in the stitches of which
she is the best exponent. Sometimes, however, in the smaller lace factories, single
workers undertake the whole process.

Machine-made net has been used for the application of Brussels flowers
land sprigs since the invention of machinery for making net; but no ground yet
(invented is superior to the needle ground. This is worked in strips not more than
an inch wide, which are joined to the required size by a stitch known to the lace-
|makers of Brussels, Alen9on, and Venice only. This is the assemblage, or point de
raccroc, or fine joining which cannot be distinguished from the net itself.

The vrai reseau is now seldom made ; it is stronger, but three times more
expensive than the bobbin ground. It differs from the Alencon ground in being a
(simple looped stitch instead of being whipped a second time as in the French
/ariety.

In the bobbin-made Brussels ground, two sides of each hexagonal mesh are
formed by four threads plaited, and the other four sides by threads twisted together.

A magnificent collection of the needle-point ground lace was presented
Josephine on her first public entry into Brussels with Napoleon.

13°

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The Brabancon or Brussels lace has one great defect — that of discolouration.
In order to conceal the brownish tint of the needle-point sprays as they come from
the hands of the workers, the workwomen place the flowers in white lead powder,
and beat them with their hand to whiten the flax. This operation is extremely
dangerous to the worker, who frequently contracts lead poisoning from inhaling the
injurious powder, and also makes the lace turn black when exposed to sea air or to
heated rooms. This black tone can never be removed.

Lime is occasionally used to whiten discoloured lace, but this means absolute
destruction of the fabric by burning when water is applied.

Buckinghamshire Lace.

The bobbin lace of Buckinghamshire is celebrated for its fine, clear grounds,
which rival those of Lille, the twisted plaits used for such grounds being generally
of the same model, though occasionally made according to the Valenciennes

Border of Bobbin-made Buckinghamshire Trolly Lace, 2J inches wide ; late eighteenth century.

method. All Buckinghamshire lace is worked in one piece on the pillow, reseau
and toile being formed by means of the bobbin.

Queen Catherine of Aragon did much in introducing and encouraging the lace-
making industry in Buckinghamshire, as she did that of the neighbouring counties of
Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. It flourished exceedingly, until in 1623 a
petition was addressed to the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire from Great Marlow,
showing the distress of the cottagers from "the bone lace-making being much
decayed." In 1626 Sir Henry Borlase founded and endowed the Free School of
Great Marlow, for twenty-four boys to read, write, and cast accounts, and for
twenty-four girls "to knit, spin, and make bone lace," and, in consequence, the
trade of that place flourished again, even French authors speaking of the town
with its "manufactures de dentelles au ftiseau" which, however, they say are "inferieutt
a cells de Flandres."

In the seventeenth century lace-making flourished in Buckinghamshire. Later,
a petition from the poet Cowper to Lord Dartmouth in favour of the lace-makers

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

declared that « hundreds in this little town (Olney) are upon, the point of starving,
and that the most unremitting" industry is barely sufficient to keep them from it."
Probably some change in fashion had caused this distress.

There were lace schools at Hanslope, and children taught there could maintain
themselves, without further assistance, at eleven or twelve years of age. It is
interesting to note that boys were taught the handicraft as well as the girls, and
many men when grown
up followed no other
employment, which
seemstousan economic
mistake, as there are
so many trades suitable
for men, so few for
women as home
workers. The lace
made at Hanslope in
the eighteenth century
was valued at from six-
pence to two guineas a
yard, and the lace trade
was most important,
800 out of a population
of 1275 being engaged
in it.

Newport Pagnell,
from its central
position, was of great
commercial import-
ance with regard to the
bone lace manufacture.
In the Magna Britannia,
1720, it is spoken of as
"a sort of staple for bone

Bobbin-Made Buckinghamshire Laces ; nineteenth century.

lace, of which more is
thought to be made here
than in any town in
England. That commodity is brought to as great perfection almost as in Flanders."
In 1752 the first prize, for the maker of the best piece of bone lace in England,
was awarded to Mr. William Harriot, of Newport Pagnell, Bucks. In 1761, we
are told by Mrs. Bury Palliser, Earl Temple, Lord Lieutenant of Buckingham-
shire, presented, on behalf of the lace-makers, a pair of lace ruffles to the King.
His Majesty asked many questions respecting this branch of the trade, and was
graciously pleased to say that the inclination of his own heart naturally led him to
set a high value on every endeavour to improve English manufactures, and
whatever had such recommendation would be preferred by him to works of possibly
higher perfection made in any other country.

K 2

132

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The manufacture of lace in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire was consider-
ably improved by the influx of French emigrants who took refuge in England at
the end of the eighteenth century. In the neighbourhoods of Burnham and
Desborough especially the trade was much extended.

In Sheahan's " History of Bucks," published in 1862, the following places are
mentioned as being engaged in the trade: — Bierton (where both black and white
lace was made), Cuddington, Haddenham, Great Hampden, Wendover, Gawcott
(where black lace was chiefly produced), Beachampton, Marsh Gibbon, Claydon,
Oving (celebrated for its black and white laces), Bletchley, Lavendon, Great
Sandford, Loughton, Milton Keynes, Moulsoe, Newton Blossomville, Olney,
Winslow, and other villages.

The narrow edgings so much used when tiny frilled caps were worn by

babies, were made in
Buckinghamshire, and
known in the trade as
Baby lace. The dis-
continuance of this
fashion, together with
the introduction of
machine-made lace,
has caused the making
of Buckinghamshire
lace to decline con-
siderably. The in-
dustry has, however,
revived to a small
extent within the last
few years, and some
fine specimens were
shown at the Health
Exhibition, in London,

in 1884. The name trolly is used in connection with the thick thread, or cordonnet,
with which the outline of the pattern is accentuated — this is known as " a trolly " by
the workers. Large quantities of lace for the Queen's trousseau were made in
Buckinghamshire, shawls, sunshades, and trimming for underlinen having been
executed in the neighbourhood of Paulerspury and elsewhere. It was in this
district also, we are informed by Miss Burrowes, that the Princess May gave a
large order for Buckinghamshire baby lace to trim the little garments prepared for
Prince Edward of York.

Bullion Lace.

A lace made of gold and silver threads. The earliest laces were made of gold
threads. A specimen was discovered on the opening of a Scandinavian barrow
near Wareham in Dorsetshire. Bullion lace is still much used in the East for
ornamenting robes of state, and in Italy and France for elaborate priests' vestments
and saints' robes. In the time of Queen Anne, Bullion lace was lavishly used for

Border of Gold and Silver Gimp ; eighteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

133

Eurano Needle-Point Lace. 7i inches wide. The fine net
ground is made entirely with the needle. Nineteenth
century.

decorating the livery of menservants ; and in its braid form still serves this purpose,
and that of ornamenting the uniforms of officers in the army and navy. Officers'
epaulettes are of Bullion lace or braid, really of gold wire ; the thick kind is called
Bullion; the thinner frisnre ; the flat kind or braid is termed clinquant ; and all kinds
are classed under the name
cannetille.

Bunt Lace.

This is described under
the heading Scotch Lace.

Burano Lace.

In the Island of Burano
a considerable quantity of
Venetian point lace was
manufactured during the
eighteenth century. The
ground was the reseau, not
the bride variety, so that, in
this particular, the lace resem-
bled Alengon and Brussels.
The thread used was ex-
tremely fine and delicate. Until 1845 the art of lace-making lingered on in the
nunneries, but little was made elsewhere. During recent years a revival has taken
place, and the Burano lace of the present day is in no way inferior to the old fabric,
while laces identical with the finest Venetian, Rose Point, Point de Gaze, Alencon,
and Argentan are produced, which rival in beauty such laces made in the best
years of their native manufacture.

In 1874 M. Seguin wrote, "There still £xist Some women who make needle-
point lace at Burano, a small island not far from Venice, where in past times the
most famous laces were produced."

The revival of the Burano lace industry, which took place at the same time as

that of Venice, Pelestrina,
and Chioggia, is one of the
most interesting pages of
modern lace history, and
should inspire those who are
desirous of helping the in-
dustrial classes of their own
country to commercial pros-
perity. In 1872 the hard
winter reduced the fishing

Point Gaze, or Point Bruxelles, made at the Royal Lace School
at Burano ; late nineteenth century.

population of Burano to semi-
starvation. Relief was given temporarily and a fund was created, headed by Queen
Margherita of Italy and the Pope, for resuscitating the lace industry. One old
woman, Cencia Scarpariola, had worked at the old Burano point and could
remember the stitches, but could not teach them. Madame Anna Bellorio d'Este,

i34 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

the present mistress of the Burano school, watched the worker, practised herself,
then taught eight pupils. Ladies interested in the work came forward with the
necessary funds ; and the excellence of the lace produced assured constant orders.
The artist Signor Paulo Fambri, together with the Princesse Giovanelli and
Comtesse Marcello, were on the board of direction, and during the first year prizes
were gained for the excellence of the work. At the present moment 600 workers
are constantly employed either at the Royal Lace School, which has its head-
quarters in the Municipal Buildings, or at their own homes, after receiving not less
than two years' instruction at the school. There is a school of design in connection
with the factory, and excellent results have been obtained from the slight artistic
training which is necessary for the worker in the higher branches. The prosperity
of the island has increased enormously, the marriage rate has doubled in twenty
years, and many a young worker is able to save out of her earnings the ^"30 or
^"40 which will purchase a little cottage to serve as her dot.

Only the choicest and most beautiful kinds of lace are made at Burano at
the present day ; they include Point de Venise, Tagliato a fogliami, Point de
Venise a la rose, Point d'Argentan, Point d'Alencon, Point de Bruxelles, and
Point d'Angleterre.

Campane Lace.

A bobbin-made edging, used to sew at the edge of cambric muslin or stuffs,
also for widening other laces, and occasionally to replace picot or pearl. In 1690
it is described as " a king of narrow pricked lace." The word " pricked " refers
to the pricking of the pattern upon the pillow. Campane laces were also made of
gold and coloured silks, and had a scalloped edge. These were used for trimming
mantles and scarves. In the wardrobe accounts of George I. an entry appears of
gold Campane buttons. Campane lace is now unknown to commerce.

Cannetille.

Another name for Bullion Lace, under which heading it is described.

Carnival Lace.

A reticella lace made in Italy, Spain, and France during the sixteenth
century; its distinguishing feature was the pattern, which was formed of the
cyphers, crests, and armorial bearings of the families for whom it was made ; in
this particular only does it differ from other reticella lace.

Large quantities of it were used in the making of the trousseaux of brides of
noble houses; and the garments which were trimmed with it were worn only at the
wedding and upon great ceremonies and state occasions afterwards, such as carnivals.
It is sometimes called BridkHace.

Carrickmacroff Lace.

Like all Irish lace, this is a copy of the lace of other countries. There are two
kinds now made in Co. Monaghan, the Applique and Guipure. Applique is
worked upon machine-made net ; the Guipure, which is really more of an
embroidery than a lace, is made with finest Mull muslin or lawn, upon which the
design is traced ; a thread is then run round the outlines of the design or overcast

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 135

very closely, the centres of the flowers are cut away, button-holed, and filled with
open stitches and wheels. The various detached parts of the pattern are united
with bars ornamented with pearls or picots ; the material is then cut away close to
the overcast. This lace when washed is apt to fray away from the overcast, so
should be handled with great care.

Caterpillar Lace.

Caterpillar lace was once made at Munich by means of large hairy caterpillars.
A man had the ingenious idea of making the insects unconscious lace-makers.
He made a paste of the food of the caterpillars, which was thinly spread on a flat
stone. A lace design was then traced upon the paste with oil, and the insects
were placed at the bottom of the stone, which was put in an upright position.
As they ate their way from the bottom to the top, they avoided all parts touched
with the oil, and spun a strong web as they went, which served^ to connect the
uneaten parts together. The lightness of the lace thus formed was extraordinary.
The corresponding quantity made in finest flax thread weighed hundreds of times
heavier than the web of the catterpillar.

Caul Lace.

The ancient name for Netting.

Ceylon Pillow Lace.

This is made by the native women. That it resembles the lace of Malta is
accounted for by the fact that the knowledge of its manufacture was probably
imported by early settlers who had acquired the art of making Maltese lace from
the Venetians who then owned the island. It is of no commercial value.

Chantilly Lace.

A bobbin lace made of black silk and linen thread. Flax thread lace was
first made at Chantilly in 1740. Previous to this there had been a lace establish-
ment formed at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Catherine de Rohan,
Duchesse de Longueville : she had a lace school at her chateau at Etripagny, where
the double or Chantilly ground was first made. The workers originally came from
Dieppe and Havre, and the town of Chantilly rapidly became the centre of a
district of lace-makers ; the principal villages employed in the industry were Saint
Maximien, Viarmes, Meric, Luzarches, and Dammartin.

Narrow laces were first made ; these were afterwards replaced by guipures,
white thread and black silk laces. The last-named were the black silk blonde laces
which made Chantilly so famous. The black laces were at first not approved at
Versailles, but both Marie Antoinette and the Princess de Lamballe afterwards
patronised the Chantilly lace factory, as is proved by an old order book belonging
to a lace firm. Madame Dubarry was a large purchaser, and seems to have
delighted in the patterns. The workers at Chantilly incurred the displeasure of
the mob at the time of the French Revolution, and many of the unfortunate lace-
makers perished with their aristocratic patrons on the scaffold ; the royal industry,
in fact, practically ceased to exist, and it is not until 1805, when white blonde
became the rage in Paris, that we again hear of Chantilly laces. The taste for

i36

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

black lace eventually revived, and vast quantities were made for export to Spain
and the American colonies.

The fineness of the reseau ground, the close workmanship of the flowers,
together with the cordonnet of flat untwisted silk, are characteristics of the lace
much admired by connoisseurs, who are able to detect the subtle difference between
the fabrics
made at Cal-
vados and
those of Chan-
tilly.

(Further
details are
given under
Blonde de
Caen and

Blonde
Lace.)

Net

Chenille
Lace.

A needle-
point lace
made in
France during
the eighteenth
century. The
ground was a
silk honey-
comb reseau.
The patterns
were chiefly
geometrical,
and were out-
lined with fine
white chenille ;

Scarf of Chantilly Lace ; nineteenth century.

the fillings were thick coarse thread stitches.

Chioggia Lace.

Bobbin lace, resembling the old Flemish laces, but coarser in quality, is no^
much made at the Island of Chioggia, near Venice. The revival in this industry
took place under the direction of Fambri in 1872, at the same time as the revival
in needle-point lace-making at Burano was initiated.

Church Lace.

An Italian needle-point lace made in the seventeenth century for the
borderings of altar-cloths and priests' vestments. The ground was coarse, and the
pattern in button-hole stitch was worked upon it. Elaborate pictures were made,
figure subjects illustrating incidents in the Bible and Church history being

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 137

wrought in the button-hole stitching. The rarest and most beautiful laces of all
kinds have also been used for Church purposes since lace was first made. Further
details are given in the chapter on " Ecclesiastical Lace."

Cinq Trous.

A lace made at Le Puy and in other parts of France ; the ground is five-sided
mesh. Le Puy Lace is described under its own heading.

Clinquant.

The flat kind of Bullion Lace, to which heading the reader is referred.

Cluny Guipure Lace.

This is one of the earliest forms of lace known ; its origin is lost in antiquity ;
it was known as Opus Filatorium in early times, and as Opus Araneum or Spider
Work in the Middle Ages. Many patterns of these laces are to be found in the
pattern books of Vinciola of the sixteenth century. Cluny Guipure is distinguished
from the ordinary darned netting or Point Conte, by raised stitches, wheels, circles,
and triangles ; sometimes a shiny glazed thread was introduced to emphasize the
pattern, as the thread used in other parts of the lace was unglazed.

What is known as modern Cluny lace is a coarse, thick, strong bobbin variety,
usually of old design, frequently geometric in character. It is made in France at the
present day, and in Italy, especially in the neighbourhood of Como. The modern
Cluny lace takes its name from an ancient dwelling-house in Paris, which is now the
Musee Cluny, antique art treasures being stored in the mansion and courtyard ;
possibly it was thought desirable to give this modern type of lace a title suggestive
of mediaeval times. (Further particulars will be found under Guipure.)

Colbertan Lace.

A network lace, made in France in the seventeenth century, and named after
Colbert, the King's minister, who did so much towards establishing lace- making in
France, in order to add to the revenues of the kingdom. It is strange that,
although Colbert laid such stress on the perfection of the lace to be made at the
new factories, and spared neither pains nor money to attain beauty and delicacy in
the Points de France, even sending for famous Venetian workers to instruct the
French lace-makers, yet the lace named after him should have been a common and
gaudy fabric with network of open square mesh, used only for ordinary household
purposes.

Coralline Point.

One of the varieties of flat Venetian points ; its make has never been achieved
by other countries than Italy, where it originated. Its characteristic consists in
the branching coral-like lines which meander through the design, giving a close but
somewhat confused effect.

Corfu Lace.

A coarse Greek lace, made by the natives of the island, but of little value or
artistic beauty.
Courtrai Lace.

A bobbin lace resembling Valenciennes, but produced in greater widths than
that made in France or in other parts of Belgium. In the last century the laces of

138 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Courtrai were in high favour, being known as fausse Valenciennes, as were all those

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of the same pattern and make which were not actually produced at Valenciennes.
Since the decay of lace-making in its native city, the terms fausse and vrai, with

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

139

regard to Valenciennes lace, have died out, though often mentioned by those who
do not see the absurdity of the distinction. The story was set on foot in 1804 by
M. Dieudonne, who states : " This beautiful lace is so characteristic of the place,
that it is a fact that if a piece of Valenciennes lace is begun in the town and
finished outside the walls, the commencement will be the more perfectly executed
part, even though the same work-woman twist the bobbins with the same thread."

D'Oyley of Crochet-Work in Cotton Thread, made under the superintendence of the Carmelite
Convent, New Boss, co. Wexford ; nineteenth century.

M. Dieudonne evidently believed in magic, and it is extraordinary how many
people have seriously repeated his canard.

Crete Lace.

Lace of the loose thread torchon variety is made in Candia or Crete. The
designs are generally geometrical, and the ground is formed of coloured silks or
dyed flax. The distinguishing feature of this lace, which is of ancient origin, is the

1 4o HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

embroidery in coloured filoselle in chain stitch upon the outline of the lace ; the
effect is extremely gaudy.

Creva Drawn Lace.

Made in Brazil by the negroes. It is evidently a rough copy of the Italian
drawn-work, and has no artistic merit.

Crochet.

This art was known in Europe in the sixteenth century, and is so connected
with lace that it deserves mention. The word is derived from the French crochet or
croc, and the old Danish krooke, a hook. Crochet was done chiefly in the nunneries,
and was indifferently classed as nuns' work with lace and embroidery, until the end
of the seventeenth century. Under the name of Irish Point, it has attained great
perfection in Ireland, chiefly at Monaghan, where the art was known much earlier
than in England. In Scotland it attracted little attention until about 1838, when
it became fashionable as a fancy work for the leisured classes. Numerous cottons
have been manufactured and patterns printed. The finer and more intricate
designs are called Irish Point. Point de Tricot, Raised Rose Crochet, and Honiton
Crochet are made for commercial purposes by the peasantry of Ireland.

Curragh Lace.

Another name for Irish Point.

Cut-work.

Cut-work, or Italian Punto Tagliato, was made by cutting spaces out of closely-
woven linen, and after buttonholing round the sides to prevent fraying, partly filling
in the space with ornamental stitches. Elaborate embroidery in white linen thread
is usually found upon the plain linen in ancient specimens of this work. Gradually
more of the linen was cut away, and more elaborate designs were filled in, until
mere threads were left ; these were buttonholed over, and Reticella or Greek lace
was evolved.

Another method of making cut-work, which obtained later, was by means of a
light wooden frame, on which threads were fastened from side to side, crossing and
interlacing. Under this reticulation of threads was fastened, usually with gum, a
piece of fine cloth or lawn, called " quintain " (from the town in Brittany where the
best quality was made). Then the net-work was sewn to the lawn background
with a firm edge of buttonhole stitching, which followed the line of the pattern
desired. The superfluous parts of the lawn were cut away afterwards, so that the
design remained in lawn, accentuated with the buttonhole edging, which gave a
slightly raised effect. This variety was sometimes erroneously called "Punto a
Reticella."

Cut-work and embroidery executed in the convents in Italy is called Greek
lace, and it is likely that the art first came from the Ionian Isles and Greece, which
were closely connected with the Venetian Republic. The work once transplanted
into Venice, where all the arts were pursued with such practical earnestness, it
quickly grew in beauty and variety of pattern. Complex stitches were introduced,
alterations and delicate improvements were made on the original modes, until in
the sixteenth century the linen threads of foundation linen were altogether dispensed

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

141

with, and any pattern was drawn and worked on parchment ; thus Punto in Aria
could develop into the graceful and beautiful " Point de Venise," for lace-making
was no longer hampered by the necessity for square and rectangular designs only
because of the linen threads being stretched only at right angles.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Punto Tagliato, or cut-work, was much
used. In 1558, Matteo Pagan published the " Glory and Honour of Cut Laces and
Open Laces," and a Venetian, F. Vinciolo, printed in Paris, in 1587, designs for
" Point Coupe." Cut-work declined in popularity when other laces of more
elaborate workmanship were made. At the end of the seventeenth century,

142

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

however, Lady Layard states that in the inventory of the linen garments which
form a part of the dowry of Cecelia de Mula, cloths with broad borders of cut
lace are mentioned.

When used for altar cloths, bed curtains, or other large surfaces, cut-work
was arranged with alternate squares of plain linen. The armorial shield of the
family was a favourite device. Initial letters, fleurs-de-lis, and lozenges were
frequently pressed into the service for ornamentation. Many samplers, or "sam
cloths," are still extant, which show us patterns for cut-work. The pattern books
being costly and easily destroyed, for the pattern had to be traced on to the cloth

Collar of White Silk Cyprus Bobbin Lace ; latter half of the nineteenth century. Exhibited in the
Cyprus Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886.

with a style, children were taught to copy the patterns on to their samplers.
These were preserved carefully, and they have frequently been found upon the walls
of farmhouses and cottages, where lived the yeoman ancestors long ago.

Cyprus Lace.

A lace resembling cut-work, of very ancient origin. It was much used and
highly thought of in the Middle Ages, and was brought to England and
France. An ancient variety was made of gold and silver threads. Its manu-
facture is now extinct. The peasants, however, now make a coarse thread
lace, and some fine specimens have recently been made of silk. These were
exhibited in the Cyprus Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, held in
London in 1886.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

Dalecarlian Lace.

A bobbin lace, made by the peasants for their own use in Dalecarlia, Sweden.
In examining this fabric we are able to see the identical patterns of lace used by
the rest of Europe two centuries ago, and if we watched its manufacture we should
also see the method of bobbin lace-making of two hundred years ago, for these
peasants have never changed in any way
their mode of making nor their patterns
— an extraordinary example of conserva- §:
tism, worthy of China itself. The firmness %
and solidity of this lace is extraordinary. g
It is made to absorb a large quantity of
starch, and is then used standing outward y
from the face, as a shelter from the sun. 5.
Its coffee tint is greatly admired. The ^
fabric is seldom washed — only re-starched %%
when more stiffness is necessary. The 3. 3
lace- workers are few and much scattered a;1-*
over large districts. As there is no centre £§
of the industry, and no management of I g
the methods and patterns, the work is ~ §"•
gradually dying out. {§•£-

Danish Lace. g-g

tf p
Cut- work was well-known in Denmark « |_

long before pillow-lace making was intro- 3- a.
duced from Brabant ; it is still used by 3 g
the peasants for ornamenting their best ^3'
household and table linen, namely, that &^
used on the occasions of births, deaths,
and marriages. Lace-making has not t^
been much practised in Denmark, but in g.^
North Schleswig, or South Jutland as it rg,
is called, a manufacture was established b
in the sixteenth century. It was in 1647
that a merchant named Stienbeck engaged ^
twelve persons from Westphalia to improve jl
the trade ; these lace-makers settled in
Tender and taught both men and women
the handicraft. This was the origin of &
the famous Tender lace ; that made at
other placesjn the district was also well-
known ; the lace was both black and white. In 1712 the work was improved by
the settlement of a number of Brabant bobbin-lace makers. The patterns of the
early Tender laces are Flemish in character; the Dutch flowers and trollies appear ;
in later specimens the Brabant influence is traceable in the finer grounds and the
open stitches. Mechlin grounds follow with the run patterns.

i44 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The Schleswig laces are frequently of excellent quality, and are kept as
heirlooms through successive generations. When the fine needle laces came in
there was less solidity, and the lace-makers became less skilful. The best work-
women were those who devoted their lives to making one special pattern. One
widow is recorded to have lived to the age of eighty, and to have brought up seven
children on the produce of a narrow edging sold at sixpence a yard. Each pattern
had its local name, such as cock-eye, spider, lyre, chimney pot, feather. Tender
lace embraces many varieties. In 1830 cotton thread was introduced into it, and
the quality at once deteriorated. The lace schools were given up, and the trade fell
into the hands of hawkers who could not afford to buy the fine points. The Tender
lace trade is now at a very low ebb.

A species of Tender lace work is made by drawing the threads of fine muslin,
like the Broderie de Nancy or drawn work. In this lace work, both the needle-
point and bobbin laces are imitated, the muslin being drawn out, re-united, and
divided so as to follow all the intricacies of a flower or arabesque design. Some-
times a thin cordonnet outlines the pattern.

Darned Netting.

Darned Netting, Darned Lace, or Spider Work, is one of the earliest forms of
lace work ; it has a netted ground. During the Middle Ages it was called Opus
Araneum, Ouvrages Masches, Punto Ricamato a Maglia, Lacis, and Point Conte —
this last when the ground was darned with a counted pattern.

Darned Netting was most popular all over Italy in the sixteenth century.
Siena was specially famous for it, and it is sometimes called Siena Point. The
plain netted ground was made as are garden or fishing nets of the present day, and
the pattern darned upon this rezel or ground. The groundwork of netting was
sometimes in square meshes, and, according to an old pattern book, was made by
commencing with " a single thread, and increasing a stitch on each side until the
required size was obtained." If a strip of long pattern was to be made, the netting
was continued to its prescribed length, and then finished off by reducing a stitch
on each side. It was, in fact, identical with modern netting.

This plain net-ground, without further ornament, was much used for bed
furniture, window curtains, and valances, unornamented. It was called Reseau,
Rezel, and Rezeuil; decorated with a pattern — Lacis, or Darned Netting. It is
now worked with fine linen thread when used for personal adornment, and with
coarse threads for furniture. Formerly, coloured silk threads and those of gold and
silver were used; these are still much employed in the Russian varieties. Network
is darned upon with counted stitches like tapestry ; it is then called Point Conte,
or filet brode a reprises by modern French workers in England, and in Italy the
modern variety is called guipure d'art. The net is stretched upon a large frame,
and the worker darns the pattern upon the stretched net ; sometimes half-a-dozen
girls are to be seen in the Venetian lace factories at work upon a large curtain or
bed-spread.

Dentelle.

The French term for lace. Laces were known as dentelles in France at the
end of the sixteenth century ; before that time they were called passements.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

Dentelle a la Reine.

A needle-point lace made in
Amsterdam, chiefly by French
refugees, after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, 1685. The lace had
been made by them in France, so that
Dentelle a la Reine is not peculiar
to Amsterdam, but achieved a marked
popularity during the short time that
it was made in Holland.

Dentelle a la Vierge.

A bobbin lace made in the neigh-
bourhood of Dieppe by the peasants ;
Darned Netting (Italian), 26 inches wide. k faas a douWe Normandy ground and

Dentelle au Fuseau. a simple pattern.

The French term for bobbin lace.
Dentelle de Fil.

A name by which simple thread laces, such as torchon, are sometimes called.

146

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Dentelle Irlandaise.

This will be found described under the heading Modern Point Lace.

Dentelle Redin.

Lace having a net ground.

Dentelle Renaissance.

Particulars of this lace are
given under Modern Point Lace.

Devonia Lace.

A special kind of Honiton
Lace, which is described under
that heading.

Devonshire Lace.

The introduction of the lace-
making industry into Devonshire
is attributed to the Flemings who
took refuge in England during the
persecutions of the Duke of Alva.
It is more probable, however,
that the narrow silk and coarse
thread laces were already made
by the cottagers in Devonshire
as they were in all parts of Eng-
land, and that the Flemings
improved upon these early
methods by introducing their own
fine threads and beautiful jours
and fillings. That the bone lace
trade was considerable is proved
by the inscription, to be seen at
the west end of Honiton Parish
Church: — "Here lieth ye body
of James Rodge, of Honiton, in
ye County of Devonshire : Bone
lace seller, who hath given unto ye poor of Honiton Parish the benyfite of £100
for ever " — a considerable sum in the seventeenth century. In the Lady Chapel
of Exeter Cathedral the monument of Bishop Stafford shows a network collar
with good design. This tomb is late fourteenth century work. In the same
cathedral the recumbent effigy of Lady Doddridge shows cuffs and tucker of lace
in geometric design. These tombs are in splendid preservation even now.

So excellent was the make of English lace in 1660 that a royal ordinance of
France set forth that a mark should be affixed to thread lace imported from
England as well as to that from Flanders.

The lace trade was carried on in most of the Devonshire villages, and the
lace-makers were pillaged by the dragoons in the suppression of Monmouth's

Dentelle a la Vierge (local name for Double-ground
Lace) made by the peasants in the neighbourhood
of Dieppe ; nineteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

147

rebellion in 1680. In Defoe's time the lace manufacture extended from Exmouth
to Torbay.

By the end of the eighteenth century the Devonshire workers could rival the
beauty of Flemish lace, and it is a mistake to believe that all Point d'Angleterre
was made in Belgium. Trolly lace
was made in Devonshire until, some
fifty years ago, fashion ceased to de-
mand this special kind. Lappets and
scarves as well as baby lace were
made. Devonshire Trolly lace was
made with English thread of a coarser
quality than that of Flanders. Men
and women both worked at Devonshire
Trolly lace, and every boy, sixty years
ago, attended the lace schools until he
was old enough to work in the fields,
etc. When outdoor labour was scarce,
or the fishermen were unable to go to
sea, they returned to their lace-work
to add to their weekly wage.

Another Devonshire lace was the
so-called Greek lace, which resembled
simple Torchon. It was introduced
from Malta into the small village of
Woodbury by the wife of William IV.
The little colony of workers copied the
coarse geometric designs with great
facility.

Black lace was made in Devon-
shire until twenty years ago, the
designs being those of the Honiton
lace, and the working identical. Some-
times the Honiton sprigs are mounted
on black silk machine-made net ;
sometimes they are united by brides
or bars, as in the Honiton Guipure.
The making of black silk lace in
Devonshire has now completely died
out, though many of the old workers
still remember to have seen the work
done. It was with the greatest diffi-
culty that we were able to obtain a
few specimens of this now extinct
industry at Colyton and Sidmouth.

Axminster, once the great head-
quarters of the Devonshire trade, has

148

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

now no workers, nor can a yard of Devon-made lace be purchased in the town. In
Colyton, Beer, Seaton, Colyford, Shute, Sidmouth, and other villages and towns
a few old lace -makers are busy at the sprigs, collars and ties, which were fashion-
able in the early Victorian period. They draw from the stock of "prickings"

possessed by their
mothers and grand-
mothers, often distorted
beyond recognition by
frequent working. Little
attempt is made to supply
any demand of modern
fashion, and new and
artistic designs are
looked upon with dis-
trust. This being the
case, it is little wonder
that the payment is poor,
and children and young
girls do not learn the
stitches, as they are able
to earn twice as much
money at dressmaking,
millinery, and other
trades. The conse-
quence is that there are
fewer workers each year,
as the old women die and
young ones do not take
their place. If artistic
direction of the workers

could be obtained, together with co-operation with some well-established lace
merchants who would dispose of the lace, a revival of the lace industry of Devon-
shire might take place ; but though Mrs. Fowler, of Honiton, does much to
encourage the fine grades of work, Mrs. Tread win, of Exeter, can show good
specimens from her employees, and Miss Trevelyan has done much by giving out
fine Italian patterns and privately encouraging the workers, yet a larger and
wider effort, combined with systematic trade co-operation, is needed to put the
industry on a sound commercial basis.

Dieppe Lace.

This is sometimes called Dieppe Point, when the quality is fine. It is a
bobbin lace resembling Valenciennes, but less complicated in its make, requiring
fewer bobbins ; and, while only a length of eight inches of Valenciennes can be
worked without detaching the lace from the pillow, Dieppe Lace can be rolled.

From the beginning of the sixteenth century lace-making has been the
principal occupation of the women of Normandy, the wonderful caps with long

Honiton Lace Sprig made on the pillow with bobbins ; nineteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

149

lappets richly trimmed being the pride of the well-to-do peasant families. In
1692, the Governor of Havre found the lace trade employed 20,000 women in the
department. Haarlem thread was used, both black and white laces were made,
and the price varied from five sous to thirty francs per ell. The most thriving
centres of the Normandy lace trade were Havre, Honfleur, Eu, Fecamp,
Dieppe, Pont 1'Eveque, and Pays de Caux. Guipure or darned net-work and
Valenciennes were also produced.

In the inventory of
Colbert's household
effects " Point du Havre"
is mentioned as trimming
his pillow cases. In the
eighteenth century the
laces of Dieppe and
Havre rivalled those of
Argentan and Caen, we
are informed by an eight-
eenth century chronicler.
Later, we read, they
yielded only in precision
of design and fineness of
make to those of Mechlin.
At the time of the Revo-
lution disastrous effects
were felt by the Nor-
mandy lace-makers and
traders.

Within the last half-
century the industry has
still further diminished,
though much lace is still
exported to Spain and
America. In 1826, a

lace school was established at Dieppe, under the direction of two sisters from a
convent at Rouen. This school, which was under Royal patronage, is most suc-
cessful ; Valenciennes of every width is made, the Belgian variety with the square-
meshed grounds being a speciality. The thread used is pure flax unmixed with
cotton. The design most popular is that named Poussin (chicken) ; other patterns
are Ave Maria and Vierge, and there are many other names given locally by the
peasants.

Dorsetshire Lace.

Wiltshire and Dorsetshire bone or bobbin lace was at one time celebrated for
its beauty. In the time of Charles II., one Mary Hurde, of Marlborough, tells, in
her " Memoirs,'' how she was apprenticed to a maker of bone lace for eight years ;
and after that time was over she apprenticed herself for five years more. This

Drawn-work, showing how the threads are drawn away and the
thick sections buttonholed ; eighteenth century.

150

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

was the period when quantities of bobbin lace were required and lace-making in
every country in Europe was at the height of its beauty and prosperity. Since
then it has declined, and there is now little made in the county.

Drawn -work.

Drawn-work, or Punto Tirato, is one of the most ancient forms of open work
and plays an important part
in the evolution of lace. It
was known all over Europe
as Hamburg Point, Indian
work (when executed in

muslin), Opus Tiratum, Punto W&UJf&K ^ ^ .*

Tirato, Broderie de Nancy, M^^^li^ = t ^

Dresden Point, Fil Tire, ^
Drawn - work, and Tender j
Lace. The fabric was chiefly t
made at the convents, and was \
largely used for ecclesiastical
purposes and for ornamenting ?
grave-clothes, together with j
cut-work and embroidery.

The material in old drawn- \
work is usually loosely woven
linen. The threads were
retained in the parts where the ;
pattern was thick, and where
it was open they were drawn \
aside and caught together or <
drawn away.

The taste for drawn-work \
of the geometrical style has
recently revived. The woof
or warp threads are drawn
away from coarse evenly- \
woven linen and the support- ~
ing threads, which remain to \
form the pattern, are button-
holed or overcast with fancy !
stitches.

Broderie de Nancy, I
Dresden Point, and Hamburg
Point were usually worked in
coloured silk. They were
frequently enriched with
embroidery and coloured
stitches.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 151

Dunkirk Lace.

Previous to 1685 nearly all Flanders laces were known as " Malines " ; the
laces of Ypres, Bruges, and Dunkirk passed under that name. At Paris, Anne of
Austria is mentioned as wearing a veil " en frezette de Maline." French blondes
were made at Dunkirk later, when the payment of the lace-makers is thus spoken
of: "Though they gain but twopence half-penny daily, it is a good worker who will

Border of English Bobbin-made Tape Lace, 4J inches wide, with Needle-point
Fillings ; eighteenth century.

finish a Flemish ell, twenty-eight inches, in a fortnight." Mechlin Lace is fully
described under its heading.

Dutch Lace.

Holland has always been celebrated for her flax thread, with which the finest
Brussels and other laces have been made, rather than for the excellence of the lace
made in the country. Lace schools have been established from time to time,

1 52 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

one in 1685, when the Regency Point was made. Another, where Point
d'Espagne was made, was protected by the government, but it did not flourish,
notwithstanding that the importation of foreign laces was prohibited in the
eighteenth century. Dutch lace is coarse, as a rule, and more suitable for the
ornamentation of household linen than for personal wear.

English Laces.

The laces made in England in the fifteenth century, besides cut-work and
drawn-work, which are rather lace-like embroideries than lace, consisted of narrow
plaited and twisted thread borders. Such laces were used to unite two pieces of a
garment, an example of which we see in the boot laces of the present day and in
the narrow bands for hats. Loosely-twisted and plaited threads — " purlings," as

Border of Bobbin Lace, called Buckinghamshire " Trolly " Lace, 2 inches wide ; early
nineteenth century. The design resembles that of some of the Mechlin laces made
early in the eighteenth century ; the reseau is, however, composed of six-pointed
star meshes.

they were called — for ornamenting the edges of linen, cambric, silken and woollen
fabrics, were also made at this early period.

The Protestant refugees who fled to England in 1563 and 1571, brought with
them and taught to English artisans the art of making "matches of hewne stalks
and parchment lace." Queen Elizabeth, the daintiest of dressers, had parchment
lace " of watchett and syllver at seven and eightpence the ounce."

In the seventeenth century the Venetian fashion in linen needlework reached
England, and the artistic use of linen threads became known ; such knowledge
being assisted in many places in England from time to time by Flemish or other
foreign lace-makers who were driven out of their own country, as well as by the
importation of foreign laces.

Bone lace came into vogue, the mevletti a piombini of Italy, where the bobbins
were weighted with iron, and the passements au fuseaux of France. In the seven-
teenth century all Europe felt the influence of Colbert's efforts in France to
encourage the art of lace-making. Bobbin lace-making was much more widely
practised in England than needle-point lace-making, which, being a more costly
industry, required the powerful incentive of State aid to assist it— an assistance
which in France and other countries was accorded to it.

Owing to the patronage of Catherine of Aragon English lace began to be of
some value, and by Elizabeth's time it was frequently mentioned by the court

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

gossips of the age. It
continued to improve,
and Acts of Parliament
were passed to protect
the trade from foreign
competition. Much of the
Point d'Angleterre attri-
buted to Flanders was
made in England, which
country has hitherto
received but scant credit
for her point lace from
Mrs. Bury Palliser and
other historians of lace.
Although no kind,
with the exception of
Honiton (in Devonshire),
has been specially identi-
fied with one locality,
consequent on the varied
settlements of foreign
workers, yet Bedford-
shire, Buckinghamshire
and Northamptonshire
are usually considered
the centres for the pro-
duction of English Lille,
Valenciennes, and plaited
laces, Brussels, Maltese,
guipures, and black laces.
In Middlesex black and
white blonde laces were
produced, and Dorset-
shire was, until the eight-
eenth century, famous
for the laces of Bland-
ford and Lyme Regis.
A century ago the laces
made in Devonshire and
Cornwall were of con-
siderable variety, but at
present Honiton applica-
tion and bobbin lace are
chiefly made. Descrip-
tions of the laces will be
found under their various
headings.

Lappet of Bobbin-made Point d'Ang-leterre, style of Louis XV. ;
eighteenth century.

i54 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

English Lille.

This name was given to bobbin lace made in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire,
and Buckinghamshire, during the eighteenth century, on account of the close
copying of the Lille pattern by the English workers. It is described under the
headings Lille and Arras Laces.

English Point.

English Point, or Point d'Angleterre, which is extremely beautiful, equal in
design and execution to many of the French and Venetian points, has not received
the attention with regard to its English origin which it deserves. The fact that
large quantities were smuggled into England from Belgium in the seventeenth
century, when enormous supplies were demanded by fashion, has given rise to the
belief that all Point d'Angleterre was made in Belgium, which was by no means the
case. Rodge, of Devonshire, obtained the Flemish secret of making the fine
fillings and jours which give the finishing touch in rendering Point d'Angleterre
one of the most perfect types of lace which have ever been invented. In this lace
the reseau is always worked with the bobbins after the toile, or pattern, has been
executed, the threads being attached to the open edge of the toile and worked in
round the pattern. There are frequently to be seen raised ribs on the leaves and
in other parts of the design, such raised effect being brought about by twisting
and plaiting of the bobbins, and never by using thicker thread. Great diversity
of ground characterises this most beautiful of laces. The mesh reseau frequently
varies in size in single specimens, and brides, also bobbin-made, appear more
especially to accentuate the design, in which case the specimen is called Point
d'Angleterre a Brides. Occasionally fine needle-point fillings are added.

It is quite time English people realised that one of the finest results of the
lace industry which the world has ever seen, was an original English product, and
that it only owed an occasional improvement in fine stitching to foreign influence.
Even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when lace was at its best, Point
d'Angleterre held its own for beauty with the finest laces of Italy, and was worn by
the elegantes of Paris as one of the most beautiful laces obtainable. It is much to
be regretted that the debased designs of Devonshire, so deplored a quarter of a
century ago, cannot be improved, and an industry revived which has lain dormant
for so many years.

The needle-point lace worked to a small extent by the leisured classes in
England at the present day, is usually made of braid of varying sizes and widths
arranged in a pattern, the design being filled in with stitches copied from those
used in antique foreign needle-points.

Filet Brode a Reprises.

The French name for modern Darned Netting, under which heading it is
described.

Filet de Canasier.

The French name for Macrame.

Fil Tire.

The French term for Drawn-work.

Portrait of Mme. Q. den Dubbelde, by B. van der Heist. From a photograph by Hanfstaengl.
The white lace is Point de Flandre ; the black, Chantilly.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

155

Fino d'Erbe Spada.

Lace made from the fibre of the aloe.

It is described under Aloe Lace.

Flemish Bobbin-made Silk Lace, 5 inches
wide. Seventeenth century.

Fisherman's Lace.

A bobbin lace, described under the heading Point Pecheur.

Flanders Lace.

Flanders asserts priority over Italy in the invention of both needle-point and
bobbin lace. Certainly it was a country
where both varieties of the fabric early
became articles of commerce, and the indus-
try throve for more than two centuries on
account of the encouragement and liberty
accorded to the workers. In the Church
of St. Peter's, at Louvain, there is a
fifteenth-century portrait in which the
figure is adorned with lace ; and Baron Ruffenberg, in his memoirs, asserts
that lace caps were worn as early as the fourteenth century. A Flemish poet sings
the praises of lace-making in 1651 — " Threads which the dropping spider in vain
attempts to imitate." In the seventeenth century, when Colbert established the
manufactory of the points of France, Flanders was alarmed at the number of lace-
makers who had emigrated, and passed an Act, dated December, 1698, threatening

with punishment any who should entice her
work-people away. Certainly it was the
lace industry that saved the country from
ruin after the disastrous wars of the six-
teenth century.

The Flanders lace-workers taught the
art of bobbin lace-making to every country
of Northern Europe. The varieties of
Flanders lace are manifold ; many of them
are still wrought at the present day. The
most celebrated are old Flemish, the only
original lace of Flanders, known as Trolle
Kant, after which English Trolly lace has
been named ; Brussels ; Point de Flandre, or
Point d'Anglcterre ; Point Gaze, first made
in the fifteenth century, and now as beauti-
fully worked as ever ; Mechlin, or Point
de Malines, made at Antwerp, Lierre, and

Turnhout ; Lille, made in French Flanders ; Valenciennes, made at Ypres, Alost,
Courtrai, and Bruges. Black blonde lace is made at Grammont. Descriptions
of these laces are given under their various headings.
Flat Points.

A term used for laces made without any raised work in relief, to distinguish
them from the raised points.

Florentine Lace.

Lace was made at Florence at a very early date, the poet Feregnola mentioning

Flemish Needle-point Lace Collar, 8i
inches wide. The design is outlined
with raised buttonhole stitching.
Seventeenth century.

i56

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

it in 1546. Henry VIII. of England granted to two Florentines the privilege
of importing, for three years, all "manner of fringys and passements wrought
with gold and silver or other wire." Florentine lace has no marked pecularity,
and is merged in the other Italian laces, which are described under their respective
headings.

French Laces.

It was at Le Puy that the first French lace was made, and at the present day
the province has a large and flourishing lace trade, no
fewer than 100,000 workwomen being scattered along the
Haute Loire, the Loire, and Puy de Dome. To Italy, in
the sixteenth century, France owes the fashion of lace-
wearing. Under the Medici influence the fashion of
wearing costly laces of gold, silver, and thread achieved
its greatest popularity ; cut-work or point coupe was also
much worn. Henri II. of France invented the ruff
to hide a scar on his neck, and the fashion spread for
these lace-trimmed ornaments; the making of lacis or
darned netting was the favourite employment of the
court ladies.

When Marie de' Medicis, Richelieu and Louis XIII.
passed away, the courtiers of the Regency under Anne of
Austria vied with each other in extravagance. Colbert,
coming into power, saw in the taste for lace a possible
source of revenue to the country. He set up factories at
L'Onray and other places ; subsidised the industry ; got
the best workers over from Florence to teach the French
lace-workers the Venetian method and stitches ; and
succeeded in preparing for the king and the court such
Points de France as reconciled the gallants of the royal
circle to the new rule that no other lace should appear at
court except that made in France. Then the lovely
Alen9on fabric was evolved; and Argentan, another
town in the department of the Orne, also became cele-
brated as a lace-making centre. Establishments were also
founded at Sedan, Loudan, Chateau-Thierry, Rheims,
Arras, and elsewhere. Valenciennes became celebrated
for its bobbin laces ; Lille and Normandy bobbin laces were also of commercial
value. At the present day Alen£on lace is made chiefly at Burano.

Argentan lace became almost extinct at the time of the Revolution, when all
the lace industry suffered. Black and white silk blonde laces, extensively made
and exported during the eighteenth century, are still worked at Bayeux, Caen, and
Chantilly. At Mirecourt the Lille lace is still made ; while near Paris, Point de
Paris, a guipure lace, and Point d'Espagne are made. In Normandy Valenciennes
lace is still a flourishing industry, while Dieppe and Havre are known for their

Chain Pattern of Point d' Alen-
<;on, 2^ inches wide, with
various grounds and fill-
ings ; eighteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

'57

French Bobbin-made Lace (Valenciennes), \\ inches wide ; late seventeenth century.

Petit s Poussins, Ave Maria, and Dentelle a la Vierge. Full descriptions of these
laces are given under their various headings.

Frisure.

This will be found described under Bullion Lace.

Frivolite.

The French term for Tatting.

Genoa Laces.

Genoa was the first to imitate the ancient gold laces of Cyprus ; this was at
the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century. Venice and
Milan followed the example of Genoa, and these three Italian towns produced
silver and gold laces made of drawn wire. Milan was the last to give up this art ;
but by the end of the seventeenth century even at this city the manufacture was
extinct. Genoa lace is mentioned in the great wardrobe accounts of Queen
Elizabeth ; it appears then to have been made entirely of silk. Point de Genes is
enumerated amongst the effects of Mane de' Medicis seventy years later; but it
was not until the end of the seventeenth century that the points of Genoa were in
general use throughout Europe. The Sumptuary laws of the Genoese Republic
forbade the wearing of gold and silver lace without the city walls, but home-made
point was allowed. In 1770, the peasant women still wore aprons edged with point
lace. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the industry was almost extinct,
but that of Macrame or knotted lace-making had revived. The seventeenth
century was the most flourishing time for the lace trade at Genoa : then both
needle-point and bobbin laces made in the town were highly esteemed all over
Europe, and were a most important article of trade. It was, however, the bobbin
work a piombini which was the most valuable ; handkerchiefs, collarettes, aprons
and fichus were more worn than lace by the yard, such piece laces were the
Genoese speciality par excellence. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Genoa was the centre of the bobbin lace industry, as Venice was that of the needle-
point varieties.

The chief lace industry was situated at Santa Margherita and Rapolla. Many
votive offerings of lace are mentioned in the archives of the Churches of Santa
Margherita.

When blonde lace became fashionable, an imitation of Chantilly in black lace
was made with the bobbins ; later, about 1840, guipures for France were made —
these are now the chief products of Genoa for exportation.

i58

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The Genoa lace made at Albissola, near Savona, was black or white, silk or
thread ; much of this was exported to Spam. Enormous cushions were used in its
making, as many as four women sitting at one pillow and manipulating sixty dozen
bobbins. This is work frequently undertaken by poor gentlewomen. Some fine
laces made at Albissola were bought by lace merchants of Milan for use at the
coronation of Napoleon ; since then, however, the lace trade at Albissola has
declined, and it is now extinct. Another kind of lace made at one time in the

Genoese Plaited Lace, 3 inches wide ; sixteenth century.

district was the Aloe lace, Fino d'Erbe Spada ; one of the threads of the plant was
twisted into a lace- work of the natural cream colour, and some of it was dyed black
before working. This lace, like the Aloe lace of Barcelona, will not bear washing,
as it becomes mucilaginous.

At the Albergo de Poveri, at Genoa, an ingenious work called Macram6
lace is made. This handicraft is also taught in many of the schools on the
Riviera, and carried to great perfection at Chiavari. It consists in the skilful
knotting together of long threads into intricate designs. It was generally
used to ornament towels when originally long fringes of the huckaback were

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

159

left at the ends all ready for knotting into geometrical designs. This work
is frequently used for Church purposes, and Macrame always forms an
important part in the trousseau of a Genoese lady. A great deal of this
work is exported.

At the present day a kind of guipure is worked at Genoa, the lace-making
industry employing about two thousand women. This lace is exported chiefly
to South America, especially to La Plata. It is also made in the villages near
Como.

German Laces.

In the middle of the sixteenth century Barbara Uttmann, a burgher's daughter
of Nuremberg, improved upon the coarse networks of the Saxony Hartz Mountains,
and introduced into Germany the making
of pillow lace — an art she had learnt from
a Brabant Protestant, expatriated by the
cruelties of the Duke of Alva. In 1561
she set up her own factory at Annaberg,
and the industry soon spread from the
Bavarian frontier into the surrounding
country, until, at her death, in 1575, 30,000
persons were employed. On her tomb in
the churchyard of Annaberg is inscribed —
" Here lies Barbara Uttmann, died i4th
January, 1575, whose invention of lace in
the year 1561 made her the benefactress
of the Hartz Mountains." These words
give an erroneous impression. Frau Utt-
mann introduced pillow lace into Germany :
she did not invent lace. Much Treillis
d'Allemagne was sold in the Paris shops in
the seventeenth century. French refugees
spread over Germany, settled in Dresden,
and still further improved the lace-making
methods.

At one time Saxony point was made
in imitation of old Brussels, and this is
extremely costly. Maltese pillow lace is
also made in Dresden. In Northern
Germany the manufacture of lace was
much stimulated by the Act of Revocation
of Louis XIV., which alienated so many
of the most skilful workers in France.
Hamburg received the refugees with open Modern Saxony Bobbin-made Lace.

arms, and benefited by her hospitality to

such an extent that gold and silver lace was for long known as Hamburg Point.
Other laces were extensively made, and continue to be so. Miss Knight, in

i6o

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

her autobiography, says : — " At Hamburg, just before we embarked, Nelson
purchased a magnificent lace trimming for Lady Nelson, and a black lace cloak

for another lady, who, he said, had been
very attentive to his wife during his
absence."

Settlements of lace-workers carried on
their craft at Potsdam, where Frederick
William, Elector of Brandenburg, wisely
anxious to attract them, had issued an
edict in their favour. In Berlin also
factories were opened, though none had
been there previously, and France was soon
buying from Germany the lace made by the
hands of her own exiled workmen.

Hanover, Leipsic, Anspach, Elberfeld,
and the Erzgebirge district, both on the
Saxon and on the Bohemian side, also pro-
fited by the industry brought by the refu-
gees. All these fabrics were, as it were,
offshoots of the Alenson trade. In his
pictures of German life in the fifteenth,
sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, Gustaf
Freytag says, " Dandyism began in Ger-
many in 1626, when the women first wore
silver, which appeared very remarkable,
and at last, indeed, white lace." The new
fashion soon caught on, and soon the lace
equipages de bain were as rich as those of
Versailles, and the love of dress had taken
such a hold on even the student class that
Bishop Douglas, in 1748, says that Leipsic
students think it more honourable to beg
with a sword by their side than to gain a
livelihood. " I have often," he says, " given
a few groschen to one finely powdered and
dressed with sword and lace ruffles."

Of the laces of Southern Germany little
is known, but in 1600 specimens of Nurem-
berg lace were made by a certain Jungfrau
Pickleman. These pieces are of a Venetian
character, and are evidently worked from
the pattern books of Vecellio. Several
pattern books were published in Germany.
That printed at Augsburg by John Schwartzenberg in 1534 is the most important.
That printed at Cologne in 1527 is the earliest dated pattern book known. A small
quantity of Valenciennes and other pillow lace is made now in Germany. Torchon

o So

Si 2

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

161

is made in Saxony, the special make being so strong that it is sometimes called
" Eternelle."

Ghent Lace.

The lace schools of Ghent are celebrated, and a very large number of the
female population is actively employed in lace-making. Savary, in the eighteenth
century, describes the bobbin-made Valenciennes such as were called fausses
Valenciennes, on account of their not being made in France, as being "less tightly
made, a little less durable, and a little less expensive " than the French-made
Valenciennes. The lace was largely exported to Holland and England, to Spain
and her colonies. The West Indian colonists delighted in Flemish lace and fringes.
It will be remembered that Robinson Crusoe, when at Lisbon, sends " some
Flanders lace of a good value as a present to the wife and daughter of his partner
in the Brazils."

Narrow widths of lace are, as a rule, executed at Ghent. The ground is
quickly made, as fewer twists are given to the bobbins than in Valenciennes
ground made elsewhere.

Gold Lace.

The twisting of gold and silver thread of metal wire into patterns was the
earliest form of lace-making. Gold thread work was known to the Romans.
Gold lace has been found dating from pre-historic times. Egyptian mummy cases
have enclosed fragments of it ; Nero the emperor wore a net or head-covering of
gold threads. In Anglo-Saxon times gold thread was not only used in the elaborate
embroidery of the age, but also for weaving ecclesiastical and other vestments. In
the fifteenth century occurs the first mention of the celebrated gold thread from
Cyprus ; then comes the " fringe of gold of Venys" ; and later the gold and silver
threads of Genoa and Lucca are written of. Early Italian
and Flemish paintings of the fifteenth century show open-
work borders of gold threads, twisted and plaited together, o
Sumptuary laws were constantly made in the countries £
where the wearing of gold and silver thread laces were §
fashionable ; so that in its manufacture and import is largely «>
involved the early history of the civilised world. It was -jf
greatly owing to such laces that the beautiful thread laces ^
of the present day were evolved, for, gold and silver thread g
lace-making becoming an unprofitable industry on account
of edicts forbidding the wearing of the precious metals, £•
the lace-makers worked out their patterns in flax thread ; |
and when they found how much easier of manipulation ~
was the substituted material, more intricate designs were ^
attempted, graceful stitches invented, and so the flax thread I"
lace was gradually evolved, and has grown in delicacy and E?
loveliness. §

The variety of pattern worked in the stiff metal thread 2
was never considerable, the geometric designs being the ^
most complicated that were attempted. The zenith of

1 62

HISTORY OF H'AND-MADE LACE.

success for gold and silver thread lace, or Point d'Espagne, was attained in
the latter half of the seventeenth century. Though called Spanish lace, there
was far more of it made at Aurillac and Lyons than in Spain. The Jews expelled
from Spain in the fourteenth century had brought their handicraft with them,
and continued the work chiefly in France. Paris was also noted for its gold and
silver laces. Later on gold threads were largely manufactured at Madrid, but
this was chiefly in connection with the manufacture of tapestry.

In Sweden gold lace was made in the fifteenth century, and in Russia it was
the first kind attempted.

The gold and silver lace of the present day would be more correctly called
braid or galoon ; it is made by machinery, and is used for uniforms, theatrical
purposes, and liveries. It is usually made of a silken warp thread, or silk and
cotton combined, the weft being of silk covered with gold or silver-gilt.

Grammont Lace.

A bobbin lace once made in the town of Grammont. It is coarse and cheap,
and is little known beyond the neighbourhood where it was made. Recently
black silk lace resembling Chantilly blonde has been made at Grammont in large
quantities. The ground is coarser and the patterns are not so well defined as in
the Chantilly
lace, nor is the
silk so true a
black. However,
large pieces are
made for dress
skirts, flounces,
and shawls, and
exported to
America.

Greek Point.

This is one
of the earliest
forms of needle-
made lace ; it is
also called
Roman Lace,
Reticella, and
sometimes Vene-
tian Guipure. It
is now made in
Italy of a finer
kind than the
fabric of the
same name in

the Ionian Isles.

T*, , , Reticella or Greek Point Lace, recently copied from a piece found in a

The designs of convent at Milan.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 163

the earliest Greek laces were all geometrical, the oldest being usually simple
outlines worked over cords or threads left after others had been drawn or cut.
Next in date came the patterns which had the outlines further ornamented with
half-circles, triangles, or wheels; later, open-work with thick stitches was produced.
In old Greek Point coloured silk threads were used, and occasionally gold and
silver threads. The modern Greek Points are made with flax thread only. The
principle places of manufacture were the Ionian Isles, Zante, Corfu, Venice,
Naples, Rome, Florence, and Milan. Imitations of the lace were also made
in Spain, France, England, and Germany, the designs being copied from Vinciola's
collection of lace patterns, published in 1587.

Grounded Venetian Point.

A name sometimes given to Burano Point, which has a hand-made needle-point
net ground or reseau. It was first made when the Alencon lace had set up a
demand for a light and transparent lace.

Queuse Lace.

A pillow lace resembling Torchon, which was manufactured in France before
the time of Colbert, and also during the seventeenth century. It was known as
Beggar's Lace on account of its coarse quality.

Guipure.

The old Guipure of the Middle Ages was very different from the " Guipure
d'Art " of the present day. The word Guipure is now indiscriminately applied
to all large-patterned laces with coarse grounds, which require no "brides"
or bars, and no delicate groundings ; but formerly it was the name for a kind of
gold and silver thread lace.

Guipure was also the name given to a sort of passement or gimp made with
" cartisane " and twisted silk. The word is derived from guipe, a thick cord
round which silk is rolled. Carlisane is a little strip of thin parchment or vellum,
which was covered with silk, gold, or silver thread.

The work of Guipure lace-making was done either with bobbins or with a
needle, the stiff lines which formed the pattern being held together by stitches
worked with a needle or by the plaiting of the bobbins. From its costliness,
being made only in gold, silver, or coloured silk, Guipure was only worn by the
rich, or on the livery of the King's servants. In the reign of Henri III., the
headgear of his pages was covered with Guipures and passements, the colours
borne in the armorial bearings being used. Large quantities of narrow Guipures
were made in the environs of Paris during the first half of the eighteenth century.
Lately the vellum, or cartisane padding, has been replaced with cotton thread
called Cannetille, as it was found that the card stiffening was not sufficiently
durable : it shrivelled up with heat, was reduced to pulp by damp, and would not
wash.

The word Guipure is not found in inventories and records of English lace :
Parchment Lace and Dentelle a Cartisan are, however, frequently met with. It
is difficult to decide when the word Guipure was first transferred to thread
passements and lace made with tape, rather than with rolled cord outline, but there

M 2

Border of French Gimp or Guipure, 6 inches wide, with pattern in red, white,
and blue silk gimps ; seventeenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

165

are plenty of examples of Louis XIV. design to show that thread Guipures were
of very old date. The finest were produced in Flanders and Italy, and were
usually distinguished by bold and flowing patterns. The groundwork was a
coarse reseau, or mesh, called " round ground," from the shape of the interstices.
Some of the patterns were united by brides ; this is especially noticeable with

Border of tape Lace a Brides, 13| inches wide. Both bars and fillings are of needle-point.

Eighteenth century.

the Tape Guipures, the outlines of the design being formed by a bobbin, or
hand-made tape. The filling was frequently put in with the needle.

In 1620, Guipure, together with rose or raised needle-point lace, and Genoa
point, were in great demand, so that all the lace factories began to supply them
in a greater or lesser degree, with the exception only of Belgium. That country
did not follow the general fashion in tape lace-making, but created a new and

166 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

special type which has always remained the characteristic lace of Flanders with
its close workmanship and exquisite fineness of thread.

The Guipure of the seventeenth century was extremely ornamental, the parts
of the design in tape being united, and the openings filled with ornamental
stitches. On the commencement of the fashion of the falling collar, the make
of Guipure became heavier on account of the desirability that the fabric should
hang from the neck rather than stand out as the edging of the ruff, which had
hitherto required lightness and delicacy rather than weight. The additional
weight was given by means of a kind of Point d'Esprit, of grain-shaped
enrichment.

When the word Guipure is used for modern Honiton Maltese lace, and its
Buckingham imitations, or for the coarse raised points of Venice, it is misapplied.
Lace called Guipure d'Art, Filet Erode, and Filet Guipure, is the modern survival
of the Opus Filatorium, or Darned Netting (under which last heading it is
described).

The modern tape Guipures were first made in Italy, Genoa leading the
industry ; the designs are simple, and have been brought to great perfection in
France and Venice. The black modern guipure is very popular, as being specially
adaptable to the exigencies of modern fashion. This lace in black silk is now the
chief manufacture of Le Puy, in France.

Guipure d'Art.

This is described under Darned Netting.

Guipures de Flandre.

The name given to.old Flemish laces made with bobbins, to distinguish them
from old needle-point Flanders lace.
Hainault Lace.

Brussels lace was made in Hainault during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, also a Valenciennes lace at Binche, a town of Hainault. These are
described under their various headings.
Hamburg Point.

A point lace made at Hamburg by the French Protestant refugees after the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes. It is described under German Lace.
Holesom.

A local name for Swedish Lace.
Hollie or Holy Lace.

A needle-point lace worked in the Middle Ages, the subject of the pattern
being taken from Holy Writ. ^^^^^^^^^^BHMnanH^^MIMHB^^H
The name " Hollie'' is a corrup-
tion of Holy Point, and is some-
times used to denote any Church
laces, whether formed of drawn
or cut work, darned netting (the
true Hollie Lace) or needle-point,
provided the subject is a

Hollie or Holy Point, formerly made for Church use only, but
c ne. gince tlie Reformation used for lay purposes ; eighteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

167

bobbins, and then applying them

The wearing of Hollie Point was not thought of till after the Reformation,
when the Puritans used, for lay purposes, many things that had belonged hitherto
exclusively to the Church. The bearing cloth or mantle, used to cover a child
when carried lo its christening, together with its christening cap and shirt, with
bib and mittens, which formed the christening suit, were frequently of Hollie Point.
Such subjects as the " Tree of Knowledge," " The Holy Dove," or " The Flower
Pot and Lily of the Annunciation," were the favourites. (In the chapter on
"Ecclesiastical Lace" and under Church Lace further details are given.)

Honiton Application.

This lace is formed by making the sprays with
on to a net ground, made either with the needle,
with bobbins, or by machinery. It is the hand-
made ground which makes the lace so valuable,
in consequence of the length of time required in
its making, and the fineness, and consequent
dearness, of the Antwerp thread used, It was of
this kind that our Queen's lace wedding veil and
dress were made. The order was executed by
Miss Jane Bidney, who placed the different
sprays in the hands of workers in and around
the little village of Beer, in South Devon. The
lace cost £1,000. The patterns were immedi-
ately destroyed when the lace was complete, but
fragments of some of the sprigs are treasured
in cottages here and there in the neighbour-
hood. In examining such specimens the work
is seen to be of great beauty.

Honiton Application is chiefly made now by
working the sprays on the pillow, and applying
them on to a machine-made net. (Further
details are given under Honiton Lace.)

Honiton Bobbin-made Lace Daisy.
The centre stitch, called Dia-
mond Plaitings, is made after
the other parts of the spray
have been worked. The leaves
are in cloth stitch and half
stitch with pearl edge ; the
stem is in stem stitch with plain
pearl edge. Nineteenth century.

Honiton Crochet.

This is referred to under Crochet and Irish Point Crochet.

Honiton Lace.

Honiton has been the centre of the lace trade since the days of Queen
Elizabeth, when coarse bobbin or bone laces were made — plaited laces of silk, gold
or silver threads, like the Italian and Greek Reticellas. The lace-makers were
reinforced by the Flemings who took refuge in Devonshire from religious persecu-
tion during the sixteenth century, and traces are still to be found of Flemish names
amongst the lace-making families, such as Stocker, Gerard, Murch, Kettel, Groot,
Speller, and Trump.

In the seventeenth century the Honiton workers tried to imitate Brussels lace,
which was then popular, but the effort was not altogether successful, as the thread
used was inferior.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

169

A great fire at Honiton in 1756 caused much distress'amongst the lace-makers.
Just before this calamity, in the " Complete System of Geography," by Emanuel
Bowen, it is said of Honiton : — " The people are chiefly employed in the manufactory

of lace, the broadest sort that is made in England, of which great quantities are sent
to London." At this time Devonshire lace is sometimes called Bath Brussels lace.
It is owing to its sprigs that Honiton has become famous. They were, and
still are, made separately — first worked with bobbins, and afterwards sewn, or
appliqued, on to the ground. The making of the plain pillow ground was an
important branch of the industry, but has now almost died out. In the last

1 70 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

century the hand-made net was very expensive, and was made of the finest
thread from Antwerp: in 1790 this cost ^"70 per pound, sometimes more. At
that time the mode of payment was decidedly primitive : the lace ground was
spread out on the counter, and the cottage worker covered it with shillings
from the till of the shopman. As many coins as she could place on her work
she took away with her as wages for her labour. ' It is no wonder that a
Honiton lace veil, before the invention of machine-made net, often cost a hundred
guineas. Heathcoat's invention of a machine for making net dealt a crushing
blow to the pillow-made net workers. The result is easily guessed. After
suffering great depression for twenty years, the art of hand-made net became
nearly extinct, and when an order for a marriage veil of hand-made net was given,
it was with the greatest difficulty that workers could be found to make it. The net
alone for such a veil would cost ^"30. There was a curious wave of careless design-
ing and inartistic method during the time of this depression, and ugly patterns show
" turkey tails," " frying pans," and hearts. Not a leaf, nor a flower, was copied
from nature. At last a petition was sent to Queen Adelaide on behalf of the
distressed lace- workers, and she ordered a dress to be made of Honiton sprigs, on
machine-made net, so that both industries should feel the benefit of her patronage.
The wedding dress of Queen Victoria, also made in Devonshire, is described
under Honiton Application ; those of the Princess Royal, Princess Alice, and the
Princess of Wales were all of Honiton bobbin-made sprigs, mounted on machine-
made net ; the patterns were of the national flowers, the Prince of Wales' feathers
being used on that of the Danish Princess.

Honiton lace sprigs are now used for the modern Honiton Guipure. The
sprigs are made on the pillow with bobbins, sewn on to the blue paper, and then
united by cut-work or purlings, or else joined with the needle by such stitches as
reseau, cut-work, or buttonhole stitch ; the purling is made by the yard. The
Honiton lace trade is now improving slightly, owing to the revival of interest in all
hand-made laces. Frequent industrial exhibitions, prizes to skilful and artistic
workers, together with a return to nature for inspiration in pattern-designing, have
raised the standard with partial success ; but the isolated efforts of a few individuals
are not sufficient to bring about a steady and persistent revival in the great and
important industry of Honiton lace-making. While the demands of fashion are
ignored, and inferior designs worked, the " trade," which is such an important
factor in the success of any lace revival, will not trouble to give orders ; and

though the stitches in themselves may be beauti-
ful, the lace is frequently but an example of
misdirected talent and industry, on account of
the ugly, heavy patterns, clumsy arabesques, and
weak imitations of natural flowers, which form
the chief designs of the present day.

A speciality of Honiton lace, unknown in
England until 1874, is that called Devonia lace.
Its characteristic is the raising in relief of the

Devonia Bobbin-made Lace Flower inner petals of the flowers, butterflies' wings, or

with petals in relief ; latter half of ..ir ••ii- ±u ,oi

the nineteenth century. other ornamental forms, imitating the natural

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 171

objects from which they are copied, and standing out from the ground. This
variety was known in Belgium and worked there for several years before the
Honiton workers commenced the new method. (Further details are given under
Devonshire Lace.)

Huguenot Lace.

An imitation lace- work made at the commencement of the present reign, but
now obsolete. Rosette-shaped flowers of Mull muslin were mounted on net ; buds
and leaves were also formed of the muslin combined with lace stitches.

Indian Lace.

It is strange that in India, a country remarkable for the skill and patience
shown in the native embroideries, there should be little trace of the art of lace-
making. A simple open mesh gauze, embroidered with gold or silver, is all that
can be found resembling lace amongst the gorgeous collections of Indian textiles and
needlework, with the exception of a kind of knot-work made with a continuous
series of thick buttonholes, every three stitches of which are drawn together with a
loop. The whole forms a massive fabric very far removed from the lightness and
grace of Western lace work. In comparatively recent times lace has been made
at some of the European mission schools, of which the best known are those of
Travancore and Tinnevelli. The natives show considerable aptitude in learning
the handicraft.

Indian Point Lace or Indian Work.

Names given to Drawn-work, under which title the fabric is described.

Irish Laces.

All the laces produced in Ireland are copies of those worked in other countries:
none of them are original, and it is only within the last fifty years that lace-making
has become an industry of the people. It is now made at Youghal, New Ross,
Killarney, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Waterford, Monaghan, and other places in Ireland.
When the Irish Rebellion was at an end, a friendly exchange of fashions set in
between England and Ireland, and the lace-trimmed ruff and fall of Flanders Point
appeared in due course in the island. At the beginning of the eighteenth century a
desire began to show itself to patronise the productions of the country. Swift com-
posed a prologue to a play to be acted for the benefit of the Irish weavers, in which
he says: "We'll dress in manufactures made at home." In 1743 the value of
the bone lace made by the children in the workhouses of the city of Dublin amounted
to ^"164 143. io|d. " In consequence of this success the Society ordain that
^"34 2S. 6d. be given to the Lady Arabella Denny to distribute among the children
for their encouragement in making bone lace." In 1703 only 2,333 yards, worth
only £116, or about one shilling per yard, passed through the Irish custom house.
Ireland received her needle-points from France or Flanders. A Mrs. Rachel Arm-
strong, of Co. Kilkenny, was awarded a prize of £11 73. 6d. for having caused a
considerable quantity of bone lace to be made by girls whom she instructed and
employed in the work ; and Lady Arabella Denny, the good genius of Irish lace, in
1765 had the freedom of the city of Dublin conferred upon her for her good work.
But with all this fostering it was not until the time of the great famine (1846 to

1 72

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

1848) that any real attempt to make lace a general production commenced. Then
schools were opened in various parts of the country by the exertions of patriotic
ladies, and, assisted by Government, reproduction of Brussels Applique was com-
menced at the Curragh Schools. Limerick Lace, Irish Point, Belfast, and fine
crochet reproductions of old points are the best-known laces of Ireland; and other
laces have been made, such as Irish Guipure or Carrickmacross, Point Jesuit,
Spanish, Venetian and Rose Point, Pearl Tatting, Knotted and Lifted Guipure,
Black and White Maltese, silver, black,
and white blondes, and wire-ground
Valenciennes.

Irish Point.

This lace is also called Curragh lace.
It is made at Youghal, New Ross, Ken-
mare, Killarney, Kinsale, and Waterford.
It was Lady de Vere who taught the
mistress of the school to make applica-
tion sprigs in the Brussels method, and
lent her own Brussels lace as patterns.
The lace was so good that success at
once attended her efforts. Sometimes
these sprays are joined with corded bars,
which attach them to machine-made net,
the foundation being cut away from
beneath the sprig. (Further details are
given under Irish Laces.)

Irish Point Crochet.

This is worked in imitation of Spanish
and Venetian guipure patterns. It is also
known as Honiton Crochet.

Isle of Man Lace.

Much lace of all kinds was conveyed
into England under the name of Isle of
Man Lace, which was smuggled over
from the Continent when the importation
of foreign laces to this country was for-
bidden. During the eighteenth century
a pillow-made edging like a coarse Valen-
ciennes was made on the island, but
the industry never flourished, and it is
now extinct.

Isle of Wight Lace.

This is of two kinds: (i) Bobbin
lace, resembling that made in Wiltshire ;
the manufacture is now extinct. (2) The

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 173

second kind is not a lace at all in the true sense of the term, as it is machine-
made net, upon which a design is run in a coarse flax thread, the pattern being
outlined, and fine needle-point stitches afterwards used to fill in the design.
Her Majesty the Queen at one time wore Isle of Wight lace for her cap-strings.

Italian Laces.

The laces of Italy have always been, and still are, unrivalled in beauty.
Exquisite needle-point laces were produced as early as the fifteenth century, and
the art was universally practised in the convents in the sixteenth century. Although
lace was at first almost exclusively made for Church purposes, the splendour of the
Romish ritual encouraging the
art to a great extent, yet the
rich dress of the sixteenth cen-
tury demanded its manufacture
for personal adornment also.

The earliest forms of lace
made in Italy, as in the rest of
Europe, were twisted threads of
gold, silver, and silk, cut-work,
darned netting, and drawn-work,

besides the knotted laces of

Italian Bobbin Lace, 5t inches wide ; sixteenth century.
Genoa, which were a most

important article of trade. The Venetian points are the most beautiful and
elaborate laces that have ever been made. The art of producing such work
has not been lost, and a revival is taking place in the taste for fine needle-point
and pillow lace which is enabling the lace-makers of Italy to show that the
capacity for exquisitely artistic work has merely lain dormant, but is not extinct.
The beautiful Point de Venise was created at the end of the sixteenth century,
in order to supply a demand for some novelty when lace-wearing was on the
increase, and was sa popular that enormous quantities were exported to France
and other countries until the latter half of the seventeenth century.

The laces of Milan also were celebrated, and, with those of Ragusa, were worn
at all the Courts of Europe. The decay of the Italian lace industry was due to the
clever imitative powers of the French people, who, after being taught the Venetian
method by instructors imported from Italy by Colbert, in the reign of Louis XIV.,
became so apt at learning the art of needle-point lace-making, that they no longer
needed the large supply formerly drawn from Venice ; they were, in fact, able to
supply not only themselves but other European nations with the French Point de
Venise, called Point de France, and many other varieties which they evolved from
the original types.

Descriptions of the Italian laces are given under their various headings.
Jesuit Lace.

An Irish reproduction of Spanish and Venetian lace designs executed in
crochet. They are described under Irish Laces.
Knotted Lace.

A variety of the Ragusa and Reticella Guipures, known in Italy as Punto a

174

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Groppo. The word groppo signifies a knot or tie which is a characteristic of this
lace, it being formed of threads knotted together like the fringes of Genoese
Macrame.

The old Ragusa Guipure was chiefly executed in gold and silver threads. It
is the kind of lace most
resembling the Egyptian
bordering to garments,
and was first produced
at Genoa for ecclesias-
tical purposes. Such
lace is made upon a
wooden support or
pillow with twine, cut
into short lengths and
made into patterns by
being tied into knots at
well-arranged distances,
with the fingers, and
without the aid of
bobbins or needle.
Sometimes, when the
pattern is finished, the
threads are allowed to
hang down to form a
fringe ; in other cases
the ends are worked up and cut off so that there is no fringe edging.

Knotted lace is now made in Calabria, and near to Rome, the countrywomen
using it for trimming their underdresses and ornamenting the linen cloth used as a
head-covering by the Roman peasants.
Lace.

The name now applied to ornamental open-work formed of threads of flax,
cotton, silk, gold, silver, hair, or aloe fibre. Such threads are either looped, plaited,
or twisted by means of a needle, by small wooden implements called bobbins, or by
machinery, when imitations of both needle-point and bobbin laces are produced.
The name was formerly given to narrow plaited or twisted bands for uniting two
portions of a garment or for ornamenting hats and caps. The boot-laces of the
present day are a survival of this form.

Lacis.

One of the names for Darned Netting, under which heading it is described.

Lagetta.

The inner bark of the Lagetta lintearia, or lace bark tree of Jamaica, is
separated by the natives, thin layers of it having the appearance of a mesh ground,
and bearing some resemblance to white lace. In the time of Charles II., the
governor of Jamaica presented to His Majesty a cravat and ruffles of Lagetta.
At the Exhibition of 1851, a dress of this fibre was presented to the Queen.

Italian Knotted Lace, 5 inches wide, in thread of unbleached flax ;
sixteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

Lavoro a Groppi.

Fine net-work,
with knotted
pattern.

Lavoro a Maglia.

Lacis, or net-
work ground
darned.

Le Puy Laces.

Le Puy is
famous as being
the oldest lace
centre in France.
For more than two
centuries the
women of Auvergne
have devoted them-
selves to lace-
making of whatever
special kind was
known and fashion-
able at the time.
In the seventeenth
century the indus-
try received a
severe blow from
the S^u m'p t u a r y

edicts issued by the Parliament of Toulouse, which forbade the inhabitants, under
penalty of a heavy fine, to wear upon their clothes any lace, either of gold or
silver, fine or coarse. The extinction of the industry of the whole province was
averted by means of the energy of a Jesuit Father, who was afterwards canonised
for his good work, and has since been considered the patron saint of the lace-
makers, the edicts being revoked through his exertions. In the eighteenth
century, the workers were much distressed by severe export duties, and the
manufacture of the recently introduced, and then fashionable, blondes was
advised as a help to the industry, for the coarse laces of Le Puy, which had
been used in enormous quantities in England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and
Germany, were no longer popular.

Le Puy lace is now most popular. Black and white thread and silk
guipures are chiefly made, and blondes of every kind, much variety in design
being shown to keep pace with the modern variation in taste.

It must be remembered that Le Puy is a lace centre. Many varieties pro-
duced in the Haute Loire district are known as Le Puy laces.
Lie"ge Lace.

A bobbin lace made at the town in Hainault, from the beginning of the

Specimen of the Inner Bark of the Lace Bark Tree, Lngetta lintearia
(Jamaica), 5 inches wide.

176

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

seventeenth century until the end of the eighteenth. In 1802 the French
Commissioners classed this lace as of little importance. The fabric resem-
bled the manufacture of Binche (under which heading further particulars will
be found) and was much used for Church purposes. A pattern book of lace
designs was published at Liege by Jean de Glen, as early as 1597. It is
sometimes known as Dentelle de Liege, and was made both in fine and in
coarse threads.

Lille Lace.

This bobbin lace was made as early as the sixteenth century, the period when
lace-making became an important industry in the Netherlands, of which country
Lille was at one time a part. In 1582, the work of the Lille lace-makers is
specially described. It is
identical with Arras lace,
both having special grounds
called fond simple, made by
twisting two threads round
each other on four sides,
and the remaining two sides
of the hexagon by the simple
crossing of the threads over
each other.

The old Lille laces have
a very fine and clear ground,
and the pattern is delicate:
these characteristics have
always made them favou-
rites for summer wear.
Straight stiff edges are found
in the old Lille laces, the
designs of which are marked
with a thick thread. These
straight edges are, however,
no longer made, the Mechlin
patterns having been
adopted, together with the
seme, or powdering of dots,
both round and square.

The making of black
lace at Lille has been dis-
continued. When Lille was
transferred to France, in 1668, many of the lace-makers retired to Ghent, but
sufficient remained to continue the industry. Lille laces have always been
favourites in England, the black especially. At the end of the eighteenth
century it was computed that one-third of the production was smuggled into
England.

Old Lille Lace (eighteenth century) made on the pillow
with bobbins. It is especially admired for its clear
ground.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

177

Limerick Lace.

This is now recovering its prestige, which was lost in the sixties through
the emigration to America of many of the best lace-makers, The manufacture
was commenced in 1829, when Charles Walker, a man who had been educated

Cut Cambric and Needle-work, called "Lace," made at Limerick, 10 inches wide;

nineteenth century.

178 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

for the Church, married the daughter of a lace manufacturer in London, and went
over to Ireland, taking with him twenty-four girls as teachers. They began the
industry in Limerick. He employed travellers all over the United Kingdom, and
many people of note gave great encouragement to the manufacture. The fabric,
which is rather embroidery than lace, in the strict sense of the term, is of three
varieties: Tambour, which is made by working upon machine-made net a design
in chain stitch; Run, in which lines of a pattern are run with a coarser thread upon
the net ; and Applique, in which cambric or net is laid over net, the design being
formed by overcasting the pattern, and the background being then cut away so
that the foundation shows through and thickens the design.

Limoges Lace.

A guipure made at Limoges. Guipure Lace is described under that heading.

Luneville Lace.

This bobbin-made lace, well-known in the seventeenth century, was, together
with Mirecourt and other laces, made in Lorraine. Its manufacture formed almost
the sole occupation of the female population ; it was made with hempen thread,
which was spun at Chalet-sur-Moselle. At this stage of its development the lace
— a coarse guipure — was called a passement. In the latter half of the seventeenth
century this coarse fabric was laid aside and a more delicate lace produced — a
kind of Mignonette with double ground. Lorraine laces are sometimes known as
the Saint Michel laces, from the town of that name, where much of it is made.
A pattern called Point de Flandre is still a favourite, and laces similar to those of
Lille and Arras are also produced. Application flowers like those of Brussels and
Honiton are made, and the Lorraine lace has great advantage over the former
kind in that the sprigs come clean and white from the hands of the workers, and
no bleaching with lead is required. Luneville and other laces made in Lorraine
are largely exported to America, England, and the East Indies at the present
time. There were factories where lace of the same kind was made at Dijon,
Auxerre, Lyons, St. Etienne, He de France, Rheims, and Sedan ; others in the
neighbourhood of Paris, such as St. Denis, Montmorency, Villier-le-Bel, and
Groslait.
Lyme Regis Lace.

The point and pillow laces of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, were at one time
as celebrated as those of Honiton and Blandford. The fabrics of this watering-
place, which was most fashionable in the eighteenth century, were bought by
the ladies and gallants who frequented the Spa. Broad Street, the principal
thoroughfare, was inhabited by lace-makers, and the gossips entertained their
patrons with stories of the valiant deeds of Lyme men in Monmouth's time, and
by talk and raffles accelerated the sale of their points. When Queen Charlotte
first entered England she wore " a head and lappets of Dorset lace," and later, a
splendid lace dress was made for her at Lyme, which gave great satisfaction at
Court. So quick was the decline of the industry, however, that when a worker
was invited from Lyme Regis to assist in carrying out the order for the marriage
lace of Queen Victoria, not one was to be found in the town. (Further description
will be found under Dorsetshire Lace.)

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

179

Macrame Lace.

This pillow lace is made in many of the convents of the Riviera, and is taught
by the nuns to the cottagers, the children of either sex beginning their training in

this handicraft very young.
It is a survival of the Knotted
Point lace, which was much
used in Spain and Italy during
the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries, for the
ornamentation of Church vest-
ments, and other ecclesiastical
purposes, and is still worn by
the peasants in the neighbour-
hood of Rome. The name
Macrame is of Arabic origin ;
in the great picture of the
supper in the house of Simon
the Canaanite, by Paul
Veronese, the ends of the table-
cloth are ornamented with
Macrame lace. House linen
richly ornamented with
Macrame forms an important
item in the trousseau of a
Genoese lady. It was not
until 1843 that the Macrame
made on the Riviera was
executed in any but the
simplest designs ; then a piece
of old Macrame or knotted lace
was brought by Baroness
d'Asti to the Albergo de Poveri
from Rome. Marie Picchetti,
one of the workers, carefully
unpicked and examined the complicated knots, and managed to discover the art
of producing the intricate effects. Since then many fresh patterns have been
designed, and the results are excellent. (Under Genoa Lace other particulars will
be found.)

Madagascar Lace.

A twisted thread lace made by the natives of the island from which it takes its
name. It possesses no artistic value.

Madeira Laces.

Bobbin laces, imitating Maltese, Torchon, and Mechlin, are made in Madeira,
but there is no native lace belonging to this place ; the manufactory has existed
for about sixty years.

N 2

Fringed border of Knotted White Thread, Punto a
Groppo, or Macrame work, of Genoa, 8f inches wide ;
nineteenth century.

i8o

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Madras Lace.

Bobbin lace, imitating the designs and methods of Maltese black and white
silk guipure, is
made in Madras.
The school for
making the
fabric is of
recent founda-
tion.

Maltese Lace.

A bobbin-
made lace, which
has been made
in Malta ever
since the com-
mencement of
the sixteenth
century. The
character of the
design, which
was at that time

like the Mechlin or Valenciennes without the fine ground, has since altered,
and the lace now resembles Greek guipures. It is now made both in thread
and in black and white silk, known as Barcelona silk, such as is used in
Spain and France for the Chantilly blonde laces. Occasionally some raised
stitches are worked, but usually the patterns are simple and geometric in
character, Maltese lace is also manufactured in Auvergne, Le Puy, Ireland,
Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire. In Ceylon the natives work a kind of
Maltese, and in Madras also this make is worked.

Manillese Lace.

This work is executed in the Philippine Isles with Manilla grass; it is a kind
of drawn thread work, combined with
embroidery, and does not resemble
lace to a great extent. Sometimes
the fibre is tatted or twisted in
loops.

Maltese Lace, a bobbin-made fabric, usually executed in black, white,
or ecru silk ; nineteenth century.

Lace-like border, 2| inches wide, from Manilla,
Philippine Islands ; nineteenth century.

Mantilla Lace.

The national head-dress of the
women is the principal form of lace
manufactured in Spain. There are
three kinds, (i) White, which is the
colour de rigueur for the Spanish lady on state occasions, such as birthdays, bull-
fights, and Easter festivals. (2) The second is the black blonde lace mantilla.
(3) The third mantilla, or head-dress for ordinary wear, is frequently made of
silk and trimmed with black velvet and lace. The silk for these mantillas is

(1) Lappet of eighteenth-century Mechlin Bobbin Lace, 4k inches wide. The main ground of
the compartments is of small meshes ; here and there the intervening groups of ornament
are lightened by the insertion of fancy open bars.

(2) Lappet (one of a pair) of Valenciennes Bobbin Lace, 3J inches wide. French, eighteenth
century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

181

specially woven near Barcelona for the purpose, and it is used for the blonde
laces throughout the country. A Spanish woman's mantilla is held sacred by
law, and cannot be seized for debt.

Margherita Lace.

A lace-like fabric made by embroidering on machine-made net ; it is an
invention of the nineteenth century, named after the present Queen of Italy, and
is made in Venice in large quantities at the present day.

Mechlin Lace.

Before 1665, nearly all lace made in Flanders was called Malines. The pillow
laces of Ypres, Bruges, Dunkirk, and Courtrai were so named in Paris. In 1681,
a visitor to Flanders notes that " The common people here, as throughout all
Flanders, occupy themselves in making the white lace known as Malines."
Mechlin lace
became fash-
ionable in
England at
the end of the
seventeenth
century, and
Queen Anne
purchased it
largely, pay-
in?, in 1713,
^247 6s. gd.
for eighty-
three yaids.
It was the
favourite lace
of Queen
Charlotte;
and Napoleon,
when he first
saw the ex-
quisite tracery
of the Cathe-
dral spire of
Antwerp, ex-
claimed,

" C'est comme de la dentelle de Malines." This lace was much used at the
India muslin period, at the end of the eighteenth century, to edge that fabric,
its lightness making it specially useful for the purpose. Early examples of a
lace made at Mechlin are found with brides lighting the closer ground near
the pattern.

The old Mechlin laces are sometimes called Broderie de Malines. The
lace is extremely costly, being made with the finest Antwerp thread. It is made

Border of Mechlin Bobbin-made Lace, 3J inches wide ; end of the
eighteenth century.

1 82 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

in one piece upon the pillow with bobbins, the ground being formed with the
pattern ; much skill is required in its manufacture. A shiny plait or cordonnet
usually surrounds the sprigs and dots which form the designs on the reseau
ground. There are two kinds of Mechlin grounds used by the lace-workers :
circular and hexagonal shaped mesh. (Under Flanders Lace further particulars
will be found.)
Mediaeval Guipure.

A name given to Knotted Laces and Macrame (which are described under
their headings).

Menin Lace.

Bobbin lace of the Valenciennes lace type, made at Menin. (It is described
under Valenciennes Lace.)

Mermaid's Lace.

A name sometimes given to Venetian points on account of the legend of the
invention of bobbin lace by a fisher girl, whose lover caught a piece of white
coralline in his net, the graceful stuff being imitated by the girl as she twisted the
ends and weights of the net as bobbins are twisted.

Mignonette Lace.

A pattern of light, fine bobbin lace ; also called Blonde de Fil and Point de
Tulle. It was one of the early forms of lace, and was much used before the middle
of the sixteenth century, when Colbert established the Points de France. The
thread was bleached and spun at Antwerp, and was similar to that used for Lille
lace. Mignonette was a narrow lace, never exceeding two or three inches. It was
made in Paris, Lorraine, Auvergne, Normandy, Arras, and Switzerland. Much of
it was exported. It was the favourite trimming for head-dresses, on account of its
lightness and delicacy. Mignonette pattern is still largely made.

Milan Point.

This point lace was justly celebrated in the seventeenth century. Lace was,
however, known and made in Milan at a much earlier date. The earliest record of
Italian lace known belongs to Milan, being the document setting forth the division
of personal property between the sisters Angela and Heppolita Sforza Visconli in

1493-

Henry VIII. of England is mentioned as wearing an edging of lace of purple
silk and gold worked at Milan. In a wardrobe account of the wife of James I.
(1606) is noted — " One suit, with cannons there unto, of silver lace, shadowed with
silk Milan lace." Lace now made at Milan is of the Torchon variety, but repro-
ductions of the fine old Points de Milan are produced in Venice at the present day.

Mirecourt Lace.

This bobbin-made lace resembles that of Lille, but during the last thirty years
has far surpassed the latter in make. Lace has been made in the neighbourhood
of Mirecourt since the seventeenth century, and the town has formed the head-
quarters of the district. About seventy years ago flowers and sprigs imitating
the Brussels patterns were attempted with great success at Mirecourt ; these

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

183

sprigs are mounted upon a machine-made ground, as in the modern Honiton
applique.

Mixed Lace.

The name sometimes applied to lace partly made with the needle and partly
with bobbins, such as the Honiton sprays, or to needle-point or bobbin sprigs
mounted on machine-made net.

Modern Point Lace.

In the middle of the nineteenth century a desire to imitate the Renaissance
laces of Spain, Venice, and Genoa, began to show itself, and the designs were
faithfully copied and worked
with the needle in the old
stitches. This revival of the
old work has been carried to
the highest perfection amongst
the upper-middle classes in
France, and is known there
as Dentelle Renaissance and
Dentelle Irlandaise, but being
made by the leisured classes
for their own use, has never
been known as an article of
commerce. Modern needle-
point lace has been made with
great commercial and artistic
success at the royal lace
factory in the Island of
Burano, near Venice, since 1872. All the finest needle-point laces are now
made there, such as Alencon, Burano Point, Brussels Point, Rose Point de Venise,
and Point d'Angleterre.

Moorish Lace.

A lace work made in Morocco, and used as an edging to household linen and
women's dresses in the harems. It is of little artistic or commercial value.

A coarse-patterned lace was made by the Moors in the sixteenth century.
They had evidently learned the art of lace-making in a perfunctory manner from
the Spaniards or the Maltese, as the patterns show : these are of the geometrical
type. This lace is no longer manufactured, but may sometimes be acquired in
the native towns. It is one of the laces mentioned in the " Revolte des Passamus,"
a poem written in 1661.

Needle-point.

A name given to all kinds of lace worked with a needle, as distinct from
bobbin-worked lace or "point lace," which last term refers to the fine quality,
and may indicate either Needle-point or bobbin-made.

Normandy Laces.

The bobbin lace of Normandy forms an essential part in the costume of the

Reproduction of Gros Point de Venise, made with. needle-
point bars and fillings, with machine-made tape and
cordonnet over-sewn ; nineteenth century.

184

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

peasants, whose caps, having rich lappets of lace, are handed down from
generation to generation; those of the present day vary little from the kind
worn in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Lace-making has always been the
principal occupation of the wives and daughters of the Normandy fishermen. The
lace trade made rapid strides in the eighteenth century. From Arras to St. Malo
there were no fewer than thirty centres of industry ; these chiefly imitated the
pillow laces of Mechlin. Black thread laces were also made, besides the gold and
silver guipures used for ecclesiastical purposes. Petit Poussin, Ave Maria, Point
du Dieppe, Point du Havre, and Dentelle a la Vierge are the best-known patterns.
The laces made at Caen and Bayeux are quite distinctive, being like the silk
blondes, in black, white, and ecru, made at Chantilly and in Spain.

Northamptonshire Laces.

The bobbin laces made in Northamptonshire are all reproductions of the kinds
made abroad and known as Brussels, Lille, and Valenciennes. The earliest
English lace of any artistic value, made in the county, was from old Flemish

designs in the seventeenth century ; later
the fine Brussels ground was worked, and
specimens are found which have the design
run or sewn in with the needle on to the
bobbin-made ground. It was in 1778 that
the " point " ground, as it is locally called,
was introduced. The term is misleading, as
it was not point ground in the literal sense
of the term (namely, made with the needle-
point), but refers to its superior effect. It
is as fine and clear as the celebrated Lille
ground, and was much used for the baby
laces, when the tiny lace-trimmed infants'
caps were in fashion. The patterns were
taken from those of Lille and Mechlin, hence
the laces of Buckinghamshire and Bedford-
shire are often called " English Lille." The
outbreak of the war with France gave a
great impulse to the lace trade of North-
ampton, as it closed our ports to the French
laces. From that time a sort of fausse Valen-
ciennes, called locally "French ground," has
been made. Valenciennes as fine as any made in Hainault was also made until
the cessation of the war. The lace is still manufactured at Tiffield and in
other lace- making districts in the county.

Nuns' Work.

In mediaeval times much needlework of every kind was made by the inmates
of convents, who imparted the knowledge to their high-born lay-pupils, these ladies
again teaching the art to their maids and attendants. Crochet, knitting, netting,

Northamptonshire Lace, made about
1800. The clearness of the ground
could not be surpassed by the Lille
workers. Much of this ground was
made on the pillow with bobbins, by
men.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 185

cut-work, drawn-work, bobbin and hand-made laces, were all at one time known
as Nuns' work.

Old Lace.

A term indifferently used, either for needle-point or bobbin laces, before the
introduction of machine-made net grounds in 1768.

Open Lace.

A name sometimes applied to Darned Netting.

Opus Anglicanum.

Needlework and embroidery executed by the English nuns, the beauty of
whose work was already of European fame in 1246. The twisted gold and silver
threads, cut-work, and lacis, were included under this general term. (Descriptions
are given under the various headings.)

Opus Araneum.

Spider Work. The ancient name for Cluny Guipure Lace and Darned Netting
(under which headings it is described.)

Opus Consutum.

The ancient name for Applique.

Opus Filatorium.

The ancient name for Netting and Darned Netting.

Opus Scissum.

The ancient name for Cut-work.

Opus Tiratum.

The ancient name for Drawn-work.

Orsa Lace.

A bobbin lace made of unbleached thread by the peasants in Sweden. It
is described under Dalecarlian Lace.

Ouvrages Masches.

A mediaeval name for Darned Netting.

Oyah Lace.

This lace, sometimes called Point de Turque, is a fancy work executed by
the ladies of the Turkish harems, in coloured silks, which are formed into coarse
lace with a crochet hook.

Pelestrina Lace.

The lace made on the island of Pelestrina, which is about five miles from
Venice, is executed with bobbins. The vine leaf and other effective patterns are
chiefly worked, the lace being used for trimming furniture and blinds, and in large
pieces for curtains and counterpanes. The revival in the lace industry on this
island took place under the direction of Fambri and Jesurum, in 1872, at the same
time as the revival of the needle-point laces of Burano.

Peniche Lace.

This bobbin lace is described under Portuguese Laces.

1 86 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Persian Drawn -work.

Borders on both linen and muslin are extensively made of drawn-work in
Persia. Complicated designs are executed such as are never attempted in the
European variety. Coloured silks are used for buttonholing the raw edges of the
material.

Petit Motif.

A bobbin lace of extremely graceful pattern. It was introduced by a French
lace-maker of the nineteenth century, and is now made, not only in France, but
also in Italy and Belgium. It is always the same in quality and design, though
varying in width, and belongs to the tape lace type.

Petit Poussin.

A design mentioned under the heading of Normandy Laces.

Pillow Lace.

A term which is frequently inaccurately used to describe bobbin lace. Needle-
point and knotted laces are also made on a pillow, so that the term Pillow Lace
gives no correct description of the lace made on a stuffed cushion by twisting
and plaiting threads wound on bobbins. This should always be called bobbin lace.
One of the first steps towards clearing away the mists which surround the art of
lace-making will have been taken, when it is clearly understood that lace of all
kinds is supported in the hands of the worker on a pillow, whether a needle,
bobbins, or simple knotting with the fingers, unaided by any instrument, be the
mode of construction.

Plaited Lace.

The laces made of gold, silver, or silk threads in mediaeval times, which were
superseded by the knotted laces and reticellas in the sixteenth century, were
plaited. A special kind was called Point d'Espagne, on account of large quantities
being worked in Spain. England, Germany, and France also made plaited laces,
but those of Genoa and Spain were never rivalled by other countries. They were
at first simple in design, like the reticellas, but afterwards became most elaborate ;
they were made upon the pillow with bobbins, and were used to trim the ruffs and
falling collars in the seventeenth century. The plaited laces of the present day are
those of Malta, Auvergne, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. Yak and Cluny
laces are also plaited ; they are made in both black and white.

Point a Carreaux.

One of the French names for bobbin lace.

Point a 1' Aiguille.

A term at one time used for Brussels Lace.

Point Conte.

The French name for Darned Netting. A kind of lace work made by darning
counted stitches upon a net-work ground.

Point Coupe. '

The French name for Cut-work.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 187

Point d'Angleterre.

This is described under English Point.

Point de Champ.

A term applied to any lace made with a net ground.

Point de France.

The name bestowed by Louis XIV. on the fabric which was first made in his
reign at the Chateau de L'Onray, near Alen9on, when Colbert, «his minister,
determined to improve the lace-making of France so as to raise the revenues
of the kingdom. For this purpose Italian lace-workers were brought over to teach
the Frenchwomen, so that the early Points de France strongly resemble the
Venetian Points of the period. Louis XIV. desired that no other lace should be
worn at Court, and lace factories were started in many parts of the kingdom to
supply the enormous demand. Colbert's plan that " Fashion was to be to France
what the mines of Peru were to Spain," was crowned with success. The Point de
France supplanted that of Flanders and Venice, but its price made it of use only
to the affluent, so that when the wearing of lace became general, those who could
not afford the costly needle-point, replaced it by the more reasonable bobbin lace.
This explains the enormous increase in the production of bobbin lace at that time.
Ruffles, cravats, dresses, valances for the bed and the bath, coverlets and curtains
were all of the beautiful fabric ; and other capitals of the world soon followed the
example in luxury set by Paris. At an audience given by the Dauphin to the
Siamese ambassadors at the leve (literally in those days " the getting-up"), the bed
was entirely covered with the richest Point de France. When the ambassadors
visited Louis at Versailles, they were each presented with cravats and ruffles of the
finest point. Gradually fresh characteristics crept into the Point de France
designs, which had been at first wholly Venetian, and the old name died out,
being replaced by distinctive appellations, such as Alencon, Argentan, etc.
Alen9on lace was called Point de France until Madame Gilbert, the manager,
practically invented a new lace, an account of which will be found under Alen£on
Lace.

Point de Medicis.

The name given in France to the Italian Raised Points when they were first
made popular by Catherine de' Medicis on her arrival.

Point de Paris.

A narrow bobbin lace, much worn in the seventeenth century. It was made in
Normandy and near Paris. It was sometimes known as Point Double.

Point de Tulle.

The name by which Mignonette Lace is sometimes called.

Point de Turque.

A French name for Oyah Lace.

Point Double.

A narrow bobbin lace, described under Point de Paris.

1 88 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Point du Havre.

A description of this will be found under Dieppe Lace.

Point Gaze.

A variety of Brussels Lace.

Point Qotico.

This is described under Punto Gotico.

Point Lace.

This term indicates the fine quality of the lace. Needle-point lace has the

Cuff of Needle-point Lace of very minute design and execution, usually known as Point Neige ;

eighteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OP" LACE.

189

technical peculiarity that a single needle and thread are alone used in its manufac-
ture, but the word "point" is used by connoisseurs and experts for both needle and
bobbin kinds to designate laces of superior design and workmanship ; thus it is
that Point de Valenciennes, Point de Malines, and other bobbin laces are so
described when they are specially good and fine.

In needle-point lace, the pattern is first traced upon a piece of parchment ; the
parchment is then stitched to a bit of stout linen ; a skeleton pattern is made by
\vorking the leading lines of the design on to the foundation by means of threads,
and these threads are fastened here and there to the parchment by stitching. The
skeleton pattern is worked over with a compact covering in button-hole stitch, and
between these outlines are inserted "ties," or "links," or complete "fillings" of
elaborate stitches. When this is finished, a sharp instrument is passed between
the parchment and the linen, and the lace released from its two foundations.
Spain, tradition says, learned the art
of point lace-making from Italy, and
communicated it to Flanders, who, in
return for the art of needle-point lace,
taught the Spaniards how to make
bobbin lace.

The richest and most compli-
cated of all point lace is the Rose,
or Raised Venice point (" Gros Point
de Venise"), which differs from the
ordinary needle-point lace in that its
outlines are in relief by means of
threads of padding placed inside
and worked over, the work being sup-
ported on a cushion in the hands of
the lace-maker. Sometimes there is
double and triple relief, and infinite
varieties of stitches are introduced
into the flowers, or geometrical
designs, each outline being surrounded by a "pearl" or "loop," occasionally
made more beautiful and complicated by half-a-dozen other loops or scallops,
as in Point Neige. Silk was frequently used for such laces, sometimes in the
natural cream colour, sometimes in more brilliant hues.

Then came the point laces with grounds formed by the ties or brides being
arranged in a honeycomb fashion. The six-sided mesh soon followed. These
meshes became thinner until the buttonholing was discontinued, which gave the
lightness and delicacy so much admired. Thus Venetian Point a Reseau was
evolved, and the French lace-makers of Alen9on and Argentan soon copied and
improved upon the new method — so much so, in fact, that it was long thought that
the French laces only had the light grounds of hexagonally arranged brides, until
Venetian point of an earlier date was found to be similarly arranged. The art of
making point lace has always been best carried out in Italy. Its beauty was

Point Lace Flower in relief, ornamented with
fleurs volants ; nineteenth century.

igo HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

greatest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both in workmanship and in
artistic design.

In the eighteenth century fashion demanded lighter and finer laces than could be
made with the needle, so that bobbin laces were preferred. Lately, however, point
lace has again been made for trade purposes. Thirty years ago the work was done
by ladies for their own amusement, and it is still executed to a very small extent
by them, but the modern wholesome desire for out-door life and exercise is not
compatible with such fireside occupations needing much application. The old
designs and stitches are now revived in all their loveliness at Venice, but the
exquisitely-fine Antwerp threads once used cannot now be procured.

Point Pecheur.

Point Pecheur, or Fisherman's Lace, is a bobbin lace resembling Maltese lace,
but less monotonous in design and less regular. It is now made chiefly in Italy, in
Genoa, Savona, at Como, and in other lace-making districts. It is made in both
black and cream thread.

Point Tire.

The French name for Drawn-work.

Point Tresse.

In the expenses of Queen Elizabeth, lace made of human hair, or Point Tresse,
is frequently mentioned. In the inventory of Marie Stuart " Une quaree fait a
Point Tresse " is mentioned. The Dalecarlian peasant girls were expert workers
in human hair. This work fetched a high price on account of its rarity, and
was generally done by old people in their own silvery white hair. Louis XVI. wore
a cravat of silvery white human hair at his coronation. It is probable that the
manufacture of lace made of human hair dates back to the time when the hair of
the vanquished was made into ornamental plaits and fringes to adorn the mantles
of the conquering barbarians. In the time of Charles I. it was the custom to form
pictures or rough portraits with the real hair of the person represented. In some
parts of India hair obtained from the tails of elephants is plaited or woven into
rough net-work border.

The only kind of work done in England with human hair is the now almost
extinct art of elaborate plaited or knotted locks let into brooches and pendants.
The true Point Tresse is no longer made.

Polychrome.

This is the only original kind of lace invented during the nineteenth century,
Petit Motif, Devonia, Margherita, and such nineteenth century laces, being merely
fresh patterns of old types. The Polychromo lace is made with bobbins, the finest
silk threads being used instead ot flax. The silks are of different colours, as many
as thirty varying shades of one colour sometimes being used, and perhaps 400
bobbins on a border a few inches in width. The effect is very beautiful, and the
lace, which is used both for costly furniture trimming and for personal adornment,
is made from old Venetian and Raphaelesque designs.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

191

Pope's Point.

A name sometimes given to Venetian Point Lace (which is described under
Venetian Laces).

Portuguese Laces.

The old Portuguese Point lace resembles flat Venetian Point. There was
little commercial lace-making in Portugal before the eighteenth century ; it formed

B o

•s-

£5'
g.*

i92 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

the work and amusement of a few women who executed orders in their own
houses. Stringent Sumptuary laws were enacted in 1749, which discouraged the
wearing of lace. After the earthquake at Lisbon, in 1755, the Marquis de Pombal
founded a lace manufactory. Early in the present century a coarse white bobbin
lace was made in Lisbon and its environs. Bobbin lace of the Torchon variety
was also made at Madeira, but the industry died out until about twenty years ago,
when a school was set up and lace-making re-commenced. Much of the lace of
Madeira is made entirely by men. The patterns are mostly Maltese or Greek in
character, the women being employed on the well-known Madeira embroidery.

Lace is now extensively made at Peniche, a little peninsula north of Lisbon,
where the wives of the fishermen are expert in the art. The fabric made is in
very broad widths without joins, and these necessitate wide pillows which are
cylindrical in form. The women sit with the pillows across their knees, supported
at each side by low stools. Both black and white laces are made. Some of the
designs are like the Maltese, geometrical ; others have large flower patterns with
mesh grounds, like the Spanish lace patterns. The designs are usually greatly
wanting in artistic feeling.

Rotten Kant.

This is described under Antwerp Lace.

Punto a Qroppo.

The Italian name for Knotted Lace.

Punto a Piombini.

The Italian term for lace made on the pillow by means of bobbins weighted
with iron.

Punto a Rilievo.

The Italian name tor Venice Raised Point Lace.

Punto di Burano.

The Italian name for Burano Point (which is described under that heading).

Punto Qotico.

A pattern of needle-point lace made in Rome during the sixteenth century.
It is one of the earliest designs of lace made at the time when all designs were
geometrical. Those of Punto Gotico follow the lines of the simplest forms of
Gothic architecture.

Punto in Aria.

The name given to a variety of delicate laces produced in the seventeenth
century, literally " sketches in the air," to distinguish them from the cut-work
embroidery and darned netting which had hitherto been the well-known forms
of lace. Constant diversity of pattern gave rise to many special names.
Venetian Point, Rose Point, Point Neige, Gros Point de Venise, Point Plat de
Venise, are all Puntos in Aria, whose characteristic is the exuberant richness of
the Italian design. Such lace is the most splendid product of the great Venetian
Lace School.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

Punto Serrato.

The Italian name for close stitch, buttonhole stitch, or Point Non6.

Punto Tagliato.

The Italian name for Cut-work.

Punto Tirato.

The Italian name for Drawn-work.

Purls or Purling.

A primitive kind of lace formed of loops and twisted threads sewn upon the
edge of thick material such as linen, silk or satin.

Puy Laces.

These are described under Le Puy Laces.

Ragusa Lace.

Needle-point lace was made at Ragusa as early as, or earlier than, at Venice
itself. It resembled Venice Point in every particular, and was frequently sold as
Point de Venise, being extremely costly — " Faite pour ruiner les fortunes." The manu-
facture of reticella practically ceased when the fashion set in for light net-ground
laces, and for cheaper pillow laces. Gimp lace is still made at Ragusa in either
gold, silver, or silk threads. These threads are sewn together until they form a
braid, the outer threads being twisted into loops to make an ornamental edging.
The braid thus made is then sewn down in designs and these are connected
with corded bars. Some of the patterns used now date back as far as the sixteenth
century, when the gimp laces of Ragusa were already well known.

Rattwik Lace.

Bobbin lace made by the Swedish peasants, the design being usually of the old
lozenge pattern. (It is described under Dalecarlian Lace.)

Regency Point Lace.

This lace, made in
Bedfordshire, was in
great demand during
the Regency early
in the nineteenth
century. The edge is
thick ; the ground, a
complicated reseau, or
hand-made mesh.
The Regency Point is
seldom made now, the
more quickly-executed
plaited ground bobbin
laces having entirely
superseded it.
(Further details will

be found under Bed- Regency Point Lace, made in Bedfordshire ; early nineteenth

fordshire Lace.) century.

1 94 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Reticella.

This needle-point lace is considered the earliest of all laces, for cut-work and
drawn- work, which preceded it, are not veritable laces, but rather lace-like work.
Reticellas, or Greek Point laces, were made chiefly from 1480 to 1620, the
designs being always of the stiff geometrical type. Large quantities were used
for the decoration of ecclesiastical vestments and cere cloths ; shrouds also were
made of, or decorated with, it. The earliest Reticellas were formed by stiff lines
buttonholed over, picots or pearls being set at intervals along them. The simplest
geometrical outlines were used for these early specimens. Greater variety was

shown later : the patterns were more
solid, and the bars more ornate. The
designs, though always formal, were
often arranged with excellent artistic
effect. Circles and triangles in needle-
point work were added, and wheels
introduced as seen in the illustration.

Needle-point Guipure (Point Gotico) ; Towards the middle of the seventeenth

seventeenth century. 0 . . .

century Reticella lost its geometrical

character, and adapted itself, as far as the limitations of the work would allow,
to the style of design in vogue during the Renaissance period. The Ionian
Islands were recognised as the home of Reticella Lace. In Germany, France,
Spain, Flanders, and England it was made only to a very limited extent,
although it was largely worn in these countries, and the portraits of this period
afford excellent opportunities for studying the various makes of fine Reticella.

The Greek Lace, or Reticella, of the present day is generally considered a
furniture lace, on account of the coarse but effective workmanship of the modern
patterns. (They are described under Greek Point.)

Rezel, Rezeuil.

A plain net ground, referred to under Darned Netting.

Rhodes Lace.

The islands in the Grecian Sea— Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes— have produced
lace work of whatever kind was made at successive periods in other countries :
Cut-work, reticella, guipure, gold network in mediaeval times, and silk laces and
gimps at later times. At present two specialities are made at Rhodes, a white
silk guipure, worked with a tambour needle, and a coloured silk lace sometimes
called Ribbon lace. Floral or geometrical designs are used, and embroidery in
silver thread is added to enrich the pattern in outline.

Ricamo a Reticella.

The Italian term for embroidery or darning on fine net- work.
Ripon Lace.

A coarse bobbin lace was made at Ripon, in Yorkshire, at the end of the
eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. The manufacture is now
extinct.

Roman Lace.

Another name for Greek Point.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 195

Rond Point.

A term sometimes applied to laces which are made with a needle net-
ground.

Russian Lace.

Cut-work, darned netting, and drawn-work were all produced in Russia to a
small extent ; these were the only needle-point lace varieties made until the
present century, when a school was founded in Moscow under the patronage
of the Czarina. Old Venice point has there been reproduced, and it is sold
under the name of Point de Moscow; every stitch is faithfully copied, and fine
thread of English make is used.

Peter the Great founded a silk lace manufacture at Novgorod. In the reign of
Catherine II. there were twelve makers of gold lace at St. Petersburg; the designs
of the old Russian laces show the Oriental character of the nation, and the quaint-
ness of execution betrays inspiration from the East rather than the West.

Eussian Needle-point Lace, "a Brides Picotees," 3§ inches wide ; nineteenth century. Given by Her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Coburg to the South Kensington Museum.

The threads in the old drawn and cut works are covered over with coloured silks
of deep red, orange, and bright yellows, dull blues and greens, like the Persian,
Turkish, and Algerian embroideries. A strange characteristic of some of the lace
work is that coloured strips of brocade are let into the open spaces, and
embroidery of animals with parti-coloured limbs is to be found. In the darned
netting the mesh is sometimes of silk, sometimes of linen thread, occasionally of
fine gold or silver wire darned with silk.

Much attention has been drawn to modern Russian lace since 1874, when the
Duchess of Edinburgh, now the Duchess of Coburg, presented to the South
Kensington Museum a collection of Russian laces. Amongst these are many
braid and tape laces, mostly from Torjok ; frequently a single thread of coloured
silk runs in the centre of the loose pillow-made braid, following all the turns.

o 2

196 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Belev, Vologda, Riazan, and Mzensk are also lace-making districts in Russia.
Their productions, like all Russian laces, are rather coarse, but there is an element
of originality in their work and design, which makes one regret that the lace
industry has never been taken up very seriously in Russia, for the production
being so unlike that of other countries, it is likely that if it were developed some
fabric of striking originality would enrich the lace stores of the world.

Saxony Lace.

This is described under German Laces.

Scotch Lace.

Lace-making was set on foot in Scotland by one of the lovely Misses
Gunning who, in the eighteenth century, astonished London with their beauty.
Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, having seen lace-makers at work on the Continent,
introduced the art on her husband's estate. Women were brought over from
France and taught the Scotch peasants " Bunt Lace," as it was called. In
1752 the Edinburgh Amusement says "The Duchess of Hamilton has ordered a home
to be set up in Hamilton for the reception of twelve poor girls and a mistress.
The girls are to be taken in at the age of seven, clothed, fed, taught to spin, make
lace, etc., and dismissed at fourteen." Two years later we read : " Her Grace's
small orphan family have, by spinning, gained a sum of money, and lately presented
the Duke and Duchess with a double piece of Holland and some suits of exceed-
ingly fine lace ruffles of their own manufacture, which their Graces did them the
honour to wear on the Duke's birthday, July i4th, and which vied with anything
worn on the occasion, though there was a splendid company present." Lace-
making was introduced into the schools for the upper-middle classes, and adver-
tisements appeared frequently, informing the public of the advantages to be
gained by the useful arts imparted to their offspring in these establishments.
One of these recounts how thirty-one accomplishments are to be acquired, such
as " waxwork, boning fowls without cutting the back, true point or tape lace,
as well as washing Flanders lace and point." Foreign laces were prohibited ;
English laces being, of course, not included in this prohibition.

With the records of 1778, all mention of lace-making in Scotland ceased. No
lace is made at Hamilton now, net-work for veils and scarfs having taken its place.
Perhaps this is not to be regretted, for the Hamilton lace never had any artistic
value ; it was made of coarse thread, a weary iteration of the old lozenge pattern
of pre-historic origin being the Scotch idea of beauty and suitability for design in
lace. It was never used for dress purposes, and was spoken of in disparagement
by connoisseurs as " only Hamilton."

Seaming Lace or Spacing Lace.

This is not a special make of lace. The term is applied to any kind used for
the purpose of insertion where there is a seam in the linen or silk with which it
is used. The term frequently appears in wardrobe accounts of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.

Sherborne Lace.

In 1780, when blonde lace was fashionable, blondes of both black and white
were made in large quantities for export at Sherborne, in Dorset ; but since the

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

197

eighteenth century the lace trade of Sherborne has died out, giving place to the
button trade.

Shetland Lace.

This lace is known as Trina di Lana in Italy, where it is much more used
than in England. It is a bobbin lace made of the finest Shetland wool
instead of the flax or silken thread with which most lace is made. Babies'
shawls, coverlets, scarves, etc., are made in black or white wool ; the designs are

Shetland Point Lace, called in Italy, where it is much used, Trina di Lana. It
is made of fine black or white Shetland wool instead of the flax thread
generally used for lace-making. Nineteenth century.

selected from simple flax point designs, and the same stitches are used as in flax
thread lace. A cordonnet or cord of chain stitch is filled in with a thick point
lace stitch ; sometimes detached sprigs are cleverly made, and are afterwards
joined with bars in the true point method.

Silk Blonde Laces.

These are made in Spain. Barcelona produces fine black or white blondes,
the characteristic of such lace being the thick heavy designs upon the light net
grounds. In the middle of the present century the trade in this lace gave
employment to about thirty thousand women and children, who carried out the
orders in their own homes.

These silk laces do not equal those made at Bayeux and Chantilly : the
ground is not so firm, nor is the pattern so regular — probably because there is no
central factory to give out the designs and supervise the work of the peasantry.
Early in the century Barcelona made white thread laces with floral designs which
show their Flemish origin.

Silk blonde lace is now also made in Venice, and by machinery in Lyons.

198

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Spacing Lace.

Another name for Seaming Lace.

Spanish Guipure.

A name given indifferently to Spanish lace, Honiton, Irish, or Crochet Point.

Spanish Laces.

From the earliest ages laces have been made in Spain, the first types, such
as cut-work, lacis or darned netting, and drawn-work, being all extensively

made by the
religious com-
munities in medi-
aeval times ; gold
and silver laces
were also made.
The famous Point
d'Espagne was at
the zenith of its
popularity to-
wards the end of
the seventeenth
century. Some
authorities con-
tend that its name
arose more from
the large quanti-
ties used by the
Spanish grandees
and supplied by
France and Italy,
than from the
manufacture
being of Spanish
origin. Certain it
is that the making
of gold and silver
Point d'Espagne
was much in the
hands of the Jews,
and after their ex-
pulsion from
Spain the con-
sumption of this
special kind
decreased con-
siderably, and the
home manufac-
ture in Spain

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

199

deteriorated, so much so that the Spanish Government found it necessary to
pass a law prohibiting the importation of gold laces from Lucca and Florence,
except such as were necessary for ecclesiastical purposes.

It is strange that nearly all the fine thread lace points of Spain were made for
the use of the Church alone, and it was not until the dissolution of the Spanish
religious houses in 1830 that its beauty and artistic value could be judged.
Then it was seen that the magnificent needle-point laces rivalled even the
Italian and Venetian Points. Not only were there heavy laces generally known
as Spanish Point, but pieces of the very finest description ; " so exquisite," says
Mrs. Bury Palliser, " that they were unmistakably the work of those whose time
was not money, and whose devotion to the Church and the images of their favourite
saints rendered this work a labour of love, when in plying their needles they called
to mind its destination."

Silk blonde lace made in Spain is described under its own heading.

Another variety of Spanish lace is black, gaily embroidered in coloured silk
and gold threads. This is now seldom seen.

Spider Work.

Embroidery or darning upon net.

So called in the Middle Ages.

Stephani Lace.

A kind of modern point
Princess Stephani of Austria.

lace imitating Venetian Point, and named after
It was shown at the Exhibition in Brussels in 1880.

Straw-plaited Lace.

The two varieties of straw-plaiting executed in Italy excel any that is made
elsewhere ; that of Leghorn and the various districts in Tuscany perhaps hold the
first place for the
manufacture of
hat sand bonnets.
A large amount
of skill is needed
in manipulating
the fibres, as the
hats and bonnets
at Leghorn are
made in one
piece, which
accounts for

.1 • j. Twisted Border of Coloured Straws, held together by white silk threads,

2| inches wide ; eighteenth century.

ary durability.

There is in the Tuscan fabric no twist forming a ridge which makes the unequal
surface of English straw work, but it is sewn together in successive rows as in
the English method.

The straw used is a specially fine kind of wheat straw, and the light buff colour
is an important characteristic.

The origin of straw-plaiting in England is of comparatively recent date, it

20O

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

having been introduced only about a century-and-a-half ago. It has reached a
high state of perfection in Bedfordshire, the chief seat of the manufacture. Women
and children are employed, and the work is chiefly carried on in the homes of the
workers. The straw " braids," as they are called, are made into long lengths, and
afterwards laid successively over the edges of the first plait and coiled round, the
whole being kept firm by stitching. Specially fine needles, called " straws," are
used for uniting the plaits or lace, in order to avoid splitting the fabric. Two
kinds of straws are used, called respectively Red Lanwas and White Chittein ;
these varieties are grown in the Midland and Southern counties.

Much straw-plaiting is done at Luton ; rye straw is imported from the
Orkney Islands, and from this excellent imitations of the Tuscan fabric are made.

Other countries noted for artistic straw-plaiting and delicate varieties which
form a rude kind of lace are Switzerland,
Japan, and the South of France.

In the cantons of Fribourg and
Appenzell, straw lace-making has been
brought to great perfection. Brazil also
produces a very delicate species of grass
utilised for the purpose of hat and bonnet
making, the article made being formed
of one piece, like those of Leghorn.

Suffolk Lace.

Bobbin-made lace of little artistic
pretension. The designs are of the
peasant Torchon variety, and are carried
out in threads of varying thickness,
coarser threads being frequently used
to outline the pattern.

Swedish Laces.

The art of lace-making was, accord-
ing to tradition, introduced into Sweden
by St. Bridget, who died in 1335. His-
tory tells that, in the Middle Ages, the
nuns at Wadstena " Knit their lace of
gold and silk." From knitting to lace
is an easy transition. At the suppres-
sion of the monasteries in the reign of
Charles IX., a few nuns too old and
infirm to sail with their sisters to Poland
remained in Sweden and continued their
occupation of lace-making, then a secret
art. The patterns of Swedish laces are
simple; narrow plaited kinds are the
most usual. Knotted thread lace was
made, also darned net and cut-work, Suffolk Bobbin century*06 ' nineteenth

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 201

which were called Holesom. This last is still much used by the Swedish
housewives for adorning their household linen. A common kind of twisted
thread lace resembling Torchon is now made in many parts of Sweden, chiefly
by the peasants for home consumption.

Swiss Lace.

In 1572, a merchant of Lyons, escaped from the Massacre of St. Bartholomew,
concealed himself in a bale of goods and reached Geneva in safety. One of his
descendants took the opportunity, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
flooded the city with refugee lace-makers, to gather two thousand of them into his
service and set up a factory ; the produce of this industry was smuggled back
into France, to the great profit of the lace-makers, and much to the annoyance of
Louis XIV.

Neufchatel has always been the centre of the trade for the coarse thread
lace made by the Swiss peasants ; a manufacture for fine qualities resembling
those of Flanders was also set up, and some fine work done. Pattern books for
narrow plaited laces of gold and silver thread and knotted laces, were published in
Switzerland. The Sumptuary laws were most severe in the country, and
considerably handicapped the lace industry, so that it gradually died out at
the end of the last century; though in 1840 a factory was established at
Geneva for making a kind of Brussels bobbin lace, which was considered good
when new, but it was found that the thread washed thick, and there is little
demand for it.

Tambour Lace.

This differs from Tambour work only in the material upon which it is done, net
being used as a ground for the chain-stitch outline of the design, instead of a solid
material. Before the invention of sewing machines, hand-made Tambour lace
was made in Ireland, where it is called Limerick lace. At Coggeshall and
Nottingham the making of Tambour lace has declined considerably since the
imitations appeared upon the market, for the modern sewing machine can trace
a design in chain-stitch upon net or muslin with great facility, so that Tambour
lace is now little esteemed.

Tape Lace.

This is a very early form of lace-making. The oldest examples of Italy, Spain
and Flanders show the hand-made tape formed into designs, and held in place
by means of brides or bars. Gradually very elaborate designs were made, and
lace stitches employed to enrich the tape pattern. In working nearly all the
seventeenth and eighteenth century coarse laces, tape was more or less
employed.

Tatting Lace.

This knotted lace, made by means of a small shuttle round which the cord or
thread is wound, and by means of which knots and loops are worked, has been
known and practised for over a century.

2O2

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

The French name for this work, Frivolite, refers to the fragile nature of the
work, which is lighter and more lace-like in effect than any other kind of knotted
lace. Picots and pearls are used as in point
and bobbin laces, and Ragusa points are
much imitated in Ireland, where the lace
is more popular than in other countries.
The name is derived from tattie, an Indian
matting of native manufacture which it
slightly resembles.

Tender Lace.

This is described under Danish Lace.

Torchon Lace.

A bobbin lace known in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries as Beggars' lace.
It resembles Saxony lace in design and style
of working. A loose thread is used, and
the ground is a coarse reseau. It is largely
used for common purposes, and is much in
demand both in England and on the Con-
tinent. It is made by the peasants in
almost every country in Europe.

Trina di Lana.

The Italian name for Shetland Lace,
under which heading it is fully described.

Trolle Kant.

An old bobbin lace, no longer made. It
was manufactured in Flanders in the

sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. The name of this lace has been
corrupted into Trolly, and given to coarse English bobbin laces which have a
thick cordonnet.

Trolly Lace.

A bobbin lace made in Normandy, Flanders, and England. The Trolly lace
industry has declined considerably since the introduction of the machine-made
lace. Its distinguishing features are the ground, which imitates the old Trolle
Kant ground of Flanders, and the thick thread cordonnet.

Valenciennes Lace.

The lace manufacture of the Department du Nord dates from the fifteenth
century, when it is said one Pierre Chauvin commenced the bobbin lace-making of
Valenciennes. This town was part of the ancient Flemish Hainault, and was
secured to France by conquest and treaty in 1668-1678.

When first the lace was in favour it had such serious rivals as the popular
Brussels Lille and Arras laces, but Louis XIV. encouraged the industry, and
gradually the utility and excellent wearing qualities of the lace became known.

Tatting Lace, 8$ inches wide, made in
Ireland ; late nineteenth century.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE.

203

Madame du Barry constantly mentions Vrai Valenciennes in her accounts ;
the Vrai Valenciennes being that lace made in the town itself. It was said that
connoisseurs could detect the city-made lace, which was remarkable for beauty of

Early Valenciennes Bobbin Lace, Renaissance design. Louis XIV. encouraged the
growth of the industry, which was at its best between 1720 and 1740.

ground, richness of design, and evenness of tissue; this evenness was caused
by the city lace-makers working in damp and underground cellars, which greatly
facilitated the even working of the bobbins. All lace not made in Valenciennes
itself was called Fausse Valenciennes; this name included the work done in
surrounding villages as well as that of other countries — it is but an exaggeration
to suggest that lace commenced in the town and finished by the same worker
outside the walls was inferior.

After the French Revolution, when so many lace-workers fled, Valenciennes
lace was much made in Belgium, the centres of the trade being Alost, Yrpes,
Bruges, Ghent, Menin, and Courtrai, and the work produced in each town has
a distinctive feature in the ground. That made in Ghent is square-meshed, the
bobbins being only twisted two and a half times. At Ypres the ground is also
square-meshed, but the bobbins are twisted four times. In Courtrai and Menin
the grounds are twisted three and a half times; this is the cheapest kind. In
Bruges the ground has a circular mesh, and the bobbins are twisted three times ;
this is the variety chiefly known in England.

The pillow-made Valenciennes lace of the present day is not nearly so elaborate
as the old production ; the dotted or seme style of design is usually worked. The
labour of the Vrai Valenciennes was so great that while Lille lace- makers could
produce six yards per day, not more than an inch and a half could be made by a
Valenciennes worker in a day of fourteen hours. The cost of this lace was in
consequence enormous ; a pair of man's ruffles would take a year to complete. A
piece of lace made throughout by the same person always commanded a higher

204

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

price if the fact could be certified. The number of bobbins required sometimes
reached four figures ; lace two inches wide required at least three hundred.

The earliest
Valenciennes
designs are very
beautiful, usually
conventionalised
flowers and scrolls
made in thick close
stitch with grounds
in minute circles,
sometimes sur-
rounded by other
circles. The late

Border of French Bobbin-made Lace a Reseau (Fauase

Valenciennes), 2i inches wide ; eighteenth century. eighteenth century

pattern s betray

their Flemish origin ; tulips, carnations, and anemones true to nature are seen.
There is no cordonnet or raised outline in Valenciennes lace.

Venetian Guipure.

A name sometimes given to Greek Point, under which heading it is described.

Venetian Laces.

There is little doubt that to Venice belongs the honour of introducing the
invention of needle-made laces into Europe, and it is likely that the Italians
learned the rudiments of the art from the Saracens who had settled in Sicily.
At the coronation of Richard III., in England, "fringe of Venice and mantle
laces of white silk and Venice gold " appear; and later Elizabeth of York pays
sundry sums of money for " gold of Venice, and other necessaries." From
that time onwards there are occasionally mentioned " partlets knit caul-fashion of
Venice gold." It was not till the reign of Queen Elizabeth that Italian cut-work
and Venice lace came into general use in England. In the fifteenth century both
point and bobbin laces were first made in Venice ; they were at their best during,
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and were worn at every court in Europe,
but their popularity declined from the middle of the seventeenth century, for, in
1654, Colbert prohibited their importation into France, in order that the lace
manufactures he had founded in Alen9on and other parts of France might be
protected. The French laces, though at first only imitations of the Venice points,
gradually developed into something lighter and finer, and usurped the place in the
taste of the public formerly held by the costly and heavy Italian points.

At this time, when Alengon and Argentan laces were the favourites, Argentella
point was made in Venice ; this lace resembles Alenson, except that the cordonnet
is flat instead of being padded and raised.

The fine needle-points made at Brussels also helped to oust the Italian laces,
till the making of the old Venetian points became almost extinct, and it is only
recently that the taste for this especial kind of lace has revived.

Linen Collar, with border and broad ends of Needle-point Venetian Lace (Qros
Point de Venise, Punto Tagliato a Foliami), the exquisite quality resembling
ivory carved in relief.

A DICTIONARY OF LACE. 205

It must be remembered that in mediaeval times it was Venice that set the
fashions for all the courts in Europe ; silks, satins, brocade laces, and all other
articles of luxury, were made in Italy, and it was not till a considerably later date
that Paris became the leader of the modes. Catherine de' Medicis took with her to
France the fashion of wearing costly points, and for many years needle-made laces
were called Points de Medicis in Paris.

In the sixteenth century, when Venice lace was at its best, it was the
decoration for dress on all occasions throughout Europe ; it was used for eccle-
siastical purposes to an enormous extent, both for the decoration of the altars,
the saints and Madonnas, and also on the priests' vestments. The following
were the kinds of laces made at that period : —

1. Punto a Reticello, or Greek lace.

2. Punto Tagliato. — Cut-work.

3. Punto in Aria. — Open lace or guipure, worked on a parchment pattern
without mesh net-work ground, the sections of the design connected by bridges
or bars.

4. Punto Tagliato a Fogliami. — Executed like Punto in Aria, but enriched by
the outlines being in relief by means of padding threads. Sometimes this most
complicated of all point laces is worked in double and triple relief, and exquisite
stitches in infinite variety are introduced into the flowers : this is the Rose
or Raised Venice Point, the Gros Point de Venise, the Punto a Rilievo so much
sought after, so highly prized. This lace is sometimes made in silk, such as
purple, yellow, or cream ; the designs are conventionalised scrolls and flowers.

5. Punto a Groppo. — Knotted lace, like the Genoese Macrame.

6. Punio a Maglia. — Lacis, or darned netting, much used for curtains and
bed furniture.

Though the Punto Tagliato a Fogliami is more celebrated than any other
lace made in Venice, it did not appear until all the arts of Venice were on the
decline, at the end of the seventeenth century. This lace is seen in perfection
in the portraits of the period ; the engravings of the Doge Francesco Morosini
show magnificent specimens, as also does the picture of the Dogaressa Quirini
Valier in the Civic Museum at Venice. This lace was amongst the principal
adornments on all full-dress occasions in Western Europe during the last half of
the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth centuries. It is now made
at the needle-point factory at Burano in all its old beauty, for from the finest
seventeenth century examples are sought inspiration in the designing, and the
method of achieving even the complicated double and triple relief has been
re-discovered. We give a longer description of this lace than of others as it
is considered by connoisseurs to be the chef d'auvre of the lace industry, and by
artists and cognoscenti to be one of the most beautiful productions of human skill.

Bobbin lace is made in Venice at the present day, as well as fine needle-
points of every kind, such bobbin varieties as Pelestrina and Chioggia, besides the
beautiful Polychromo lace, being made in large quantities. It is interesting to see
in the large and well-organised lace schools of Venice the busy workers in this most
artistic industry, for are they not the descendants of those who, two centuries

206 HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

ago, gave to the world the masterpieces in lace which still remain to show us the
beauty and delicacy of seventeenth century needlework ?

Venezuelan Lace.

The lace work made at Venezuela with drawn-thread work is very beautiful.
It is executed upon cambric or linen, the threads being drawn away and divided ;
but instead of being overcast, it is buttonholed with plain linen thread. Fine
purse silks of many colours are used, as in the Oriental embroideries.

Wiltshire Laces.

Quantities of bobbin-lace similar in design and workmanship to the Devon-
shire lace of the period were at one time made in Wiltshire, the end of the seven-
teenth century being the best period. The industry lingered on in Wiltshire in a
depressed condition till the beginning of the nineteenth century, some of the last
workers having lived, we believe, in the village of Charmouth.

Yak Lace.

A coarse bobbin lace, made in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, of wool
obtained from the yak. The designs are copied from silk Maltese guipure and
Greek laces, and are geometrical. The guipure bars are ornamented with purls ;
the thick parts of the pattern are worked in cloth stitch.

Youghal Lace.

This lace is also called Irish Point. The lace-making industry is carried on
in the convent schools of New Ross, Kenmore, Waterford, Kinsale, Killarney,
and Clonakilty, but that produced at Youghal is the best. Old Italian laces are
carefully copied, and some new stitches have been invented.

Ypres Laces.

These are mentioned under the headings Belgian, Mechlin, and Valenciennes
Laces.

Zante Lace.

This lace is identical with Greek Point. Its manufacture has long been
discontinued, though it is still possible to purchase the lace in the Ionian Isles.

A GLOSSARY RELATING TO HAND-MADE LACE.

AFICOT. — The French name of an instrument used in polishing the raised
portions of lace. Lobster claws were sometimes employed for this purpose.

BARBE. — A lace tie worn by men and women in Italy and France during the
early part of the nineteenth century.

BARS. — The connecting threads thrown across spaces in needle-point and
bobbin laces. They are also called Brides, Brides Claires, Coxcombs, Pearls or
Purls, Legs, and Ties.

BAUTA. — A hood of black lace, worn
by both men and women in Italy in the
eighteenth century, specially in Venice.
The lace covered the chin up to the
mouth.

BEAD EDGE. — A simple heading for Bead Edge or Beading,

pillow lace, also known as Beading.

BOBBINS. — The small elongated wooden or bone reels on which the thread is
wound for the purpose of lace-making. Occasionally bobbins in England are to be
found made of bone instead of wood. If of the latter material they are frequently
ornamented with tracery by means of pricking the surface of the wood, rubbing
coloured powder into the holes, and then polishing the whole surface with beeswax.
We have seen examples in use with posies and the name of a loving giver;
decorated sticks or bobbins being usually the gift of a love-sick swain.

BRANCHING FIBRES. — In Honiton and other
bobbin laces, where sprigs are formed separately
from the ground, the chief stems in the leaves are
marked with branching fibres.

BRIDES AND BRIDES CLAIRES. —The same as
Bars. The connecting threads thrown across spaces
in needle-point and bobbin laces.

BRIDES ORNEES. — Bars ornamented with picots,
loops, or pearls.

BUTTONHOLE STITCH. — One of the chief stitches
in needle-made lace ; also known as Close Stitch,
Point None, and Punto a Feston.

CARTISANE. — A strip of parchment or vellum
covered with silk, or gold or silver thread, used to
form a pattern.

Branching Fibres.

208

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

CASCADE. — A term applied to a trimming of lace, folded in zig-zag form.

CENTRE FIBRE. — A
name given to the raised
appearance in the centre
of bobbin-made leaves.

CHAMP. — A ground-
work,described under Fond.

CHANSONS A TOILE. —

Ballads composed expressly Brides

for, and sung by, the

maidens in a household while working at their lace or embroidery, or by the
peasants as they work in their cottage homes or factories.

CLOSE LEAF. — In Honiton lace, close
leaf sprigs are worked in cloth stitch.

CLOSE STITCH. — A name sometimes
given to Buttonhole Stitch, one of the chief
stitches in needle-point lace.

CLOSE TREFOIL. — A variety of Honiton
sprig. The leaf is worked in lace stitch,
the petals in cloth stitch.

CONTINUOUS INNER PEARL. — Used in
Honiton and other braid laces as an
ornament to the inner side of any leaf that is
not filled with stitches.

CORDONNET. — The outline to ornamental
forms or patterns in lace.

COURONNES. — Ornaments to the cordon-
net, or outlining cord used in needle-point
lace. These are frequently worked as

decoration to the cordonnet, which forms the edge of the lace, or round any
raised cordonnet in the body of the pattern. When in the latter position they
are known as Fleurs Volantes, and take the place of Spines and Thorns.

COXCOMBS. — A name sometimes given to Bars ; the
connecting threads thrown across spaces in needle-point
and bobbin laces.

CROSS BAR OPEN. — A stitch used in bobbin laces,
chiefly for ornamenting brides.

CROWNS. — The English word for Couronnes, the
ornaments to the cordonnet. Crowns are more fully dealt
with under Couronnes.

CUT-WORK. — A stitch made in Honiton guipure to
unite the pillow- made sprigs.

DENTELE. — The French term for a scalloped border.

DESIGN.— The pattern in lace work, as distinguished from the ground or footing.

D'OYLEY. — A small mat for table use or decoration.

Couronnes, or Flenra Volantes.

Centre Fibre.

GLOSSARY.

209

Close Leaf.

Continuous Inner Pearl.

DRESSED PILLOW. — A term used by bobbin-lace
makers to intimate that all the accessories necessary are
in their proper positions.

ECRU. — A French term for the colour of raw silk or
unbleached linen.

EDGE. — There are two edges to lace : the outer,
which in trimmings and flounces is either scalloped or
ornamented with picots ; and the engrelure or footing,
used to sew the lace on to the material it is to
decorate.

EDGINGS. — Narrow laces used to trim muslin or
cambric frills.

ELL. — An English ell measures 45 inches, having been fixed at that length
in 1101. A French ell is 54 inches; a Flemish ell,
27 inches; a Scotch ell, 37-2 inches.

EN COQUILLE. — A French term to denote a
shell-shaped lace trimming, which is laid on to a
garment after the manner of a succession of
scalloped shells.

EN EVENTAIL. — A French term denoting fan-
shaped lace trimming, which is pleated at the top
and hangs so that it flares or fans at the bottom
edge.

ENGRELURE. — The French name for Footing ; it is also called Heading.

EN TOIL AGE. — The
French term for a plain
mesh ground or galloon.

ENTREDEUX. — The
French term for insertion,
whether of embroidery or
lace.

FIL DE CREN. — A
thick and heavy outline
or cordonnet.

FIL DE TRACE. — The
name by which the out-
lines of needle-made laces
are distinguished.

FILLINGS. — A word
occasionally used for
Modes or Jours. Fancy
stitches employed to fill in

enclosed spaces in needle- Dressed Pillow,

point and bobbin laces.

FINGER. — A measure of length used by needlewomen ; it is 4! inches.

2IO

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Fil de Trace.

is composed of the filaments of the
fibrous portion of Linum usitatissimum, an annual,
native of Europe, and from it linen thread is spun.
That of Flanders is the best for lace-making.

FLEURS VOLANTES. — Ornaments worked round
a raised cordonnet in the design of needle-point
lace.

FLOTS. — A French term used to signify suc-
cessive loops of lace overlapping one another in
rows.

FLOUNCE. — A term used to signify a strip
more or less wide to be gathered or pleated on one
side and left loose on the other. In the fourteenth
century it was called a Founce ; in the reign of
William and Mary, a Furbelow, a corruption of Falbala, the Spanish for Flounce.

FOND. — Identical with Champ, Entoilage, and Treille. The ground-work of
needle-point or bobbin lace as distinct from the toile or pattern which it surrounds
and supports. Grounds are divided into Fonds Claires, Brides Claires, and
Brides Ornees. The Fonds Claires include the Reseau or net-patterned grounds.
Fond de Neige is also called CEil de Perdrix ; it is occasionally used in old
Mechlin lace.

FOND SIMPLE, sometimes called Point de Lille, is the finest, lightest, and most
transparent of all grounds. The sides of the meshes are not partly plaited as in
Brussels and Mechlin, nor wholly plaited as in Valenciennes and Chioggia ; but
four of the sides are formed by twisting two threads round each other, and the
remaining two sides by the simple crossing of the threads over each other. The
paragraph on Grounds affords further information.

FOOTING OR ENGRELURE. — A narrow lace sewn to the upper edge of a flounce
or border of lace, in order to attach it without injury to the garment upon
which it is to be worn. It is sometimes called Heading.

FRAISE OR RUFF. — An outstanding neck ornament, first used by Henri II. of
France, to conceal a scar on his neck.

GARNITURE. — A French term signifying any description
of decorative trimming, such as a garniture of lace.

GIMP. — (i) The pattern, resting upon the ground, or
held together by brides or bars. (2) An ornamental
trimming of twisted threads, which was formerly called
Guipure. (3) In Honiton the word denotes the coarse
glazed thread used to raise certain edges of the design. .

GINGLES. — A name given in Buckinghamshire to the
bunches of coloured beads hung on to the bobbins by means
of brass wire, in order to give extra weight and so increase
the tension of the threads.

GODERONNE, GouDRONNE. — A fluted edge, derived from

the fluted edge of the silversmiths and not from goudron Gimp (No, 3).

(pitch or starch), the stiffening of lace.

GLOSSARY.

211

Fond, showing mode of Working Needle-point Ground and
Outline Threads of Pattern.

GODET. — A flounce whose upper edge is shorter than the lower, this effect
being achieved by the shaping of the flounce itself, not by the frilling-up of the
material to make it.

GRAS POINT. — The French term for Cross-stitch.

GROPPO. — An Italian term for a knot or tie.

GROUNDS. — The grounds of laces are divided into two classes, one being called

P 2

212

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE,

Bobbin-made Ground
(much enlarged).

Hexagonal Reseau Net Ground
Bobbin-made.

the Bride, the other
the Reseau. The
Bride ground is
formed with plain
or ornamental bars
worked across the
open spaces left in
the design, in order
to connect the orna-
ments forming the
pattern. A Bride
ground may be
worked by the
needle or with the
bobbins. The Re-
seau ground is a
net made with the
needle or with the
bobbins, and con-
nects the ornaments
of the design in the
same way as does
the Bride ground.
There are many
varieties of the
same, such as Dame
Joan, Hexagonal or
Honeycomb, and
Star Grounds.

Several illustrations GROUNDS.

of grounds are given on page 88.

GRUPPO. — An Italian term for a knot or tie.

GUIPURE.— A lace-like trimming of twisted threads. The word is now used to
loosely describe many laces of coarse pattern. Guipure d'Art is the name given to
modern. Darned Netting.

HALF-WHEELS.— Ornamental bars used to connect the heavier portions of lace.

HEADING.— A term sometimes used instead of Footing or Engrelure.

HONEYCOMB. — A variety of Ground.

INCREASE WIDTHS.— A term used in bobbin lace- making, when it is necessary
to enlarge the pattern.

INNER PEARL.— Ornamental loops in Honiton lace, worked round an opening
in the centres of the lace patterns.

INSERTION.— Strips of lace or embroidered muslin or cambric, having the
edge.s on each side alike.

JABOT.— A French term originally signifying frilling or ruffles on a shirt ;
now used for any decorative neck frill on ladies' dresses.

Hexagonal Ground in course of
Making on the Pillow with
Bobbins (enlarged).

Mechlin Circular Ground, in course of
Making on the Pillow with Bobbins
(enlarged).

GLOSSARY.

213

JOURS. — A term used indifferently with Modes and Fillings for the fancy
stitches used to fill in enclosed spaces in needle-point and bobbin laces.

JUPE. — The skirt of a dress.
JUPON. — The skirt of a petticoat.

KERCHIEF. — A handkerchief. A
square of linen or cambric, sometimes
employed by women to cover the head.
Lace trimmings to handkerchiefs came
first into fashion in England in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth.

KNOT. — (i) In bobbin lace, a twist Half- Wheels,

or knot in the thread. (2) A complication

of threads in lace secured by interlacing the ends together. Knots are employed
in fringe-making and in coarse lace, such as macrame.

LACE TOKENS. — These were given to lacemakers in payment for their work,
and at the end of the last century were regarded as legitimate currency.

LACET POINT. — A stitch made in Honiton Guipure to unite the pillow-made
sprigs.

LAPEL. — A term signifying the lapped or turned-over corner of the breast of
a coat or bodice.

LAPPET, OR TAB. — The lace pendants of a woman's head-dress, worn in the
eighteenth century, and still a part of the Court dress of the day in England
and other European countries.

LAWN. — A delicately-woven linen, originally of French manufacture, intro-
duced into England in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.

LEAD WORKS OR LERD WORKS. — Terms
used to indicate Modes or Fillings. Fancy
stitches employed to fill in enclosed spaces in
needle-point and bobbin laces.

LEAVES DIVIDED. — This term denotes
leaves worked with different stitches in
Honiton Lace.

LEGS. — The same as Bars. The con-
necting threads thrown across spaces in
needle-point and bobbin laces.

LINE. — The flax prepared for spinning
before it has been sorted, according to the
various degrees of fineness.

LINGERIE. — A French term for cambric
and linen under-garments.

MANCHETTE. — A diminutive of the French word manche — a sleeve.

MANTEAU.— The French word for a cloak or loose external covering.

MANTLE. — An outer cloak slightly fitting to the figure.

MATH OR MAT.— The closely-plaited portions of flowers, or leaves, in bobbin-
made lace ; also the closely-worked portion of any lace.

Modes or Fillings.

2I4

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

Picots, (No. 2) on Bars.

MECHLIN GROUND. — Of this there are two kinds, the circular and hexagonal.
Both are used in Brussels bobbin lace as well as in Mechlin laces.

MESHES. — (i) In netting, this word denotes
a completed loop. (2) In bobbin and needle-point
lace it signifies the threads that form a net-
pattern ground.

MITTENS. — Gloves without fingers, having
an opening for the thumb.

MODE. — A French term signifying the fashion
in dress.

MODES OR JOURS. — Fillings: fancy stitches
employed to fill in enclosed spaces in the designs
of both bobbin and needle-point laces. They are
also called Lead Works and Lerd Works.

MULL MUSLIN. — A thin and soft variety of
muslin, not dressed with any kind of stiffening.

NAPERY. — House linen ; especially applied to
table linen.

NEEDLE. — A pointed instrument, sharp at one end, and perforated at the other
to receive the thread which it is designed to draw through any textile.

CEiL DE PERDRIX. — A variety of ground sometimes found in old Flemish
Point and Mechlin laces.

OPEN BRAID. — One of the stitches used in bobbin lace-making.

OPEN CROSS BAR. — WThen the bars
which connect the different parts of modern
needle-point lace cross each other they are
so-called.

OPEN DOTS. — Holes made in bobbin
lace in order to lighten any part of the
design.

OPEN FIBRE. — A kind of bar used in
Honiton lace-making to form open centres
to various parts of the pattern, such as the
open work in the centres of leaves.

OPEN WORK. — A word applied in-
differently to embroidery, lace-making,
knitting, netting, cut-work, and crochet, and
signifying the interstices between the
several portions of close work.

OPUS. — The ancient name for a work
of any kind.

ORPHREY. — The broad band or clavi
that adorns the priest's alb; it was used
also to border the robes of knights.

ORRIS.— A corruption of Arras. The term is used now to denote galloon for

Picots used to enrich Needle-point Lace.

GLOSSARY.

215

upholstering purposes. In the eighteenth century it was applied to laces woven
in gold and silver.

OUVRAGE. — French term for work.

PALL. — The covering of a coffin.

PARAMENT OR PAREMENT. — A cuff sewn upon the outside of a sleeve.

PARFILAGE OR RAVELLINGS. — Woik fashionable in the eighteenth century,
especially at the Court of Marie Antoinette. The object of the work was to
obtain from old and tarnished gold laces, braids, and sword knots the valuable
metal threads woven into them, to sell to the gold-beaters.

PARURE. — A French term denoting a set of collar and cuffs.

PASSEMENT. — Until the seventeenth century, laces, braids and gimps were
called Passements a 1'Aiguille ; bobbin laces, Passements au Fuseaux ; and laces
with indented edges, Passements a Dentelle.
At present the word denotes the pricked
pattern on parchment upon which both
needle-point and bobbin laces are worked.

PASSEMENTERIE. — The old name for
lace-workers ; the word is now used for all
kinds of fringes, ribbons, and gimp for dress
trimmings.

PEARLS OR PURLS. — The same as Bars.
The connecting threads thrown across
spaces in needle-point and bobbin laces.

PEARL EDGE OR PURL EDGE. — A narrow
thread edge of projecting loops, used to sew
upon lace as a finish to the edge.

PEARLIN OR PEARLING. — The name
used in Scotland in the seventeenth century
to denote lace.

PICOT. — (i) The French term for a prick,
as with a needle, used in lace-making. (2) A minute loop or ornament used in
needle-made or bobbin lace to add enrichment to an outline leaf, flower, or bar.

PIN. — An instrument used for the temporary attachment of one piece of
material to another. Sharpened bones were used in bobbin lace-making before
the sixteenth century, when the modern pin was invented ; hence the term Bone
Lace.

PIN WORK.— Also known as Couronnes, Crowns, Spines, Thorns, and Fleurs
Volantes. In needle-point lace, it is used to lighten the effect of straight edges.

Pizzo. — The Italian term for lace, especially used in Genoa.

PLAIN EDGE. — An edge in bobbin lace undecorated with loops or pearls.

PLIS. — The French term for folds.

PLY.— A term signifying a single untwisted thread.

POINT. — The French term for stitches of every description. When the
word is prefixed to lace, it means lace of fine quality, whether bobbin-made or
needle-point.

Pin Work in Needle-point Lace.

2l6

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

POINT DE CHANT. — A bobbin lace ground, also known as Point de Paris
ground. It has a hexagon and triangular mesh alternately. It is still used in
making black lace.

POINT DE LILLE. — This is described under Fond Simple.

POINT DE PARIS. — Another name for Point de Chant.

POINT DE RACCROC. — The French name for Raccroc Stitch, which is used by
lace-makers to join together reseau grounds.

POINT NONE. — Another name for But-
tonhole Stitch, one of the chief stitches in
needle-made lace.

POINT PLAT. — The French term for
Flat Point, the name given to lace executed
without a raised cordonnet or outline cord.

POKING STICK. — An iron tool which
was heated in the fire and helped to
arrange with accuracy the folds in a ruff.
Queen Elizabeth paid her blacksmith,
Thomas Labric, the sum of five shillings in
1592 for poking sticks.

PRICKED. — The term used in pillow
lace-making to denote the special marking
out of the pattern upon parchment.

PRICKER. — A short instrument used in
pattern to receive the pins.

PUNTO A FESTON. — The Italian term for Buttonhole Stitch, one of the chief
stitches in needle-made lace.

PURLS. — Another name for Bars. The connecting threads thrown across
spaces in needle-point and bobbin laces.

PURLINGS. — A stitch used in Honiton Guipure to unite the bobbin-made
sprigs.

QUILLINGS. — Plaits of lace, tulle, or
ribbon, sewn down so that the edge opens
in flute- like folds.

QUINTAIN. — A fine lawn used as a back-
ground in cut-work, so called from the
French town in which the finest quality was
made.

RACCROC STITCH. — Also known as Point

de Raccroc and Rucroc. A stitch used by lace-makers to join together reseau
grounds.

RAISED FLOWER. — In bobbin lace this flower is worked upon the cushion,
commencing with the centre petals. By the tension of some of the stitches
the raised effect, characteristic of Devonia lace, is gained.

RAISED WORK. — In bobbin lace this term denotes the raised edge worked
down one side of leaves and flowers. Honiton and Duchess each have occasionally
raised work, which heightens the effect of the lace considerably.

Plain Edge.

bobbin lace to prick

holes in the

Pricked Pattern.

GLOSSARY.

217

RAVELLINGS. — Another name for Parfilage.

RESEAU. — (i) Identical with Rezel and Rezeuil. A net-pattern mesh or
honeycomb ground, made either with the needle or with bobbins. (2) A stitch
made in Honiton Guipure to unite the bobbin-made sprigs.

RESEAU ROSACE. — The name given to the reseau ground in Argentan lace.

REZEL, REZEUIL. — Terms used indifferently with Reseau for the groundwork
of lace, whether worked with the needle or with bobbins.

ROBING. — A flounce-like trimming attached to
the front of a skirt.

ROUISSAGE. — The process of steeping the flax
preparatory to its being spun for lace-making.

ROUND PILLOW. — The kind generally used in
Devonshire for bobbin lace.

RUCHE. — A French term for a quilled or a goffered
strip of lace.

RUCROC. — A special variety of stitch used to join
together reseau grounds.

RUFF. — The same as Fraise (the fold or outstanding frill of longish hair
round the neck of a calf), from which the idea of the neck ruff was taken.

RUFFLES. — Frills worn round the wrist. In the time of the Tudors, they
were called Hand Ruffs.

RUNNERS. — The name by which the bobbins which work across a pattern
in bobbin lace are known.

SAM CLOTH. — An old term denoting a Sampler.

SAMPLERS. — These were in use during the sixteenth century, when, on
account of the scarcity and high price of pattern books, the earliest patterns

Raised Flower.

Round Pillow dressed with Pattern, Bobbins, Pin-cushion, and the Lace
in process of Making.

2l8

HISTORY OF HAND-MADE LACE.

of drawn-work, cut-work and Reticellas were copied upon Sam cloths by those
who could have access to, but were not rich enough to buy, books of lace
patterns. Later they were used not only as a means of perpetuating a pattern,

An Eighteenth Century Sampler.

but also to show the skill of the worker. Representations in coloured silks of
elaborate borders, lettering, animals, figures, insects and buildings are frequently
to be met with in a good state of preservation.

SCARF. — A long straight length of lace to wear round the throat, waist, or
shoulders, finished all round with a border.

SEME.— A French term for sewn or powdered designs of dots, tears or sprigs.

SETTING STICKS. — Tools of wood or bone, formerly used in starching and
fluting ruffs.

SMOCK — (i) A linen shirt worn by men or women, frequently ornamented
with embroidery or cut-work. (2) The old English term for shift, shirt, or
chemise.

SPINES. — Long straight points used to enrich raised cordonnets.

SPRIG. — A term used to denote a detached piece of lace which is afterwards
applique on to a net foundation, or joined with bars so as to form, with other
sprigs, a compact material.

STAR GROUND. — A variety of Ground, mentioned under that heading.

STARCH. — A fluid used for stiffening lace or cambric. It was first known in
England at the end of the fifteenth century, when the wife of a Dutchman brought

GLOSSARY.

219

the secret of its use from Holland and was patronised by Queen Elizabeth. Starch
was at first looked upon as having an uncanny power and was called " devil's
broth," but its utility in stiffening the enormous ruffs of the period was admitted.

STEM STITCH. — A stitch used in Honiton lace. There are three kinds of Stem
Stitch : Beginner's Stem, Buckle Stem, and Stem Stitch proper.

STRAND GROUND.— Used to connect Honiton sprays ; it is formed of irregular
bars.

STREAK STITCH. — In hand-made lace the veins of leaves are sometimes
indicated with an open line called Streak Stitch.

TAB.— Another name for Lappet, under which heading it is described.

THORNS. — Identical with Spines and
Pin-work. Long straight points used to
enrich cordonnets.

TIES. — The same as Bars. The con-
necting threads thrown across spaces in
needle-point and bobbin laces.

TOILE. — The name for the substance
of the patterns of lace as distinct from the
ground.

TREILLE. — (i) The name by which the reseau grounds of needle-point and
bobbin laces are distinguished from the pattern they surround. (2) The general
term for the ground or reseau of lace throughout Belgium.

WIRE GROUND.— Sometimes used in Brussels lace. It is made of silk, with its
net-patterned meshes partly raised and arched, and is worked separately from the
design, which is sewn on to it when completed.

Specimens of Needle-point Toile
(much enlarged).

INDEX.

Adapting lace, 82.

Adda, Marquis G. d', on old lace, 98.
Adelaide, Queen, Honiton lace for, 52, 170.
Advantages of the lace industry for England,

55-

Aficot, 207.

Age of lace, judging, 89.
Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of, 114.
Alagoas, Brazil, 125, 126.
Alb, the, 57, 214.

Argentan, portrait of Pontiff in, 59.

Point d'Angleterre, 61.

Point de Flandre, 41.

Trimmed with needle-point lace, 60.

Valenciennes, 59.
Albs at Notre Dame, Paris, 57.
Albissola, 157.

Aloe lace made at, 22, no.
Alenches, 116.
Alenpon lace, 90, 107.

Bayeux lace, 116.

Book on, 103.

Border of, 107.

Chain pattern, 156.

Corsage drapery, 37.

Cravat, 37.

Designs corresponded with style of the
period, no.

Extravagant prices for, 108, 109.

Factory founded by Colbert, 28, 108.

Imperial layette of, 109.

Judging, 109.

Modern, no.

Most costly dress ever made, 58.

Napoleon I.'s efforts, 46.

Napoleonic cypher on, 46, 49.

Paten-cover, 58.

Venetian instructors in, 107.

Winter lace, 43, 107.

Alice, Princess, wedding dress of, 170.

Aloe lace, lio.

Alost, 155.

Altar hangings, 58, 60.

Alva, persecutions of Duke of, 146, 159.

Alvin, L., on old lace, 98.

M., publications of, 97.
American market for German laces, 51.
Ampthill, 117.
Amsterdam, 145.
Anglo-Saxon embroidery, 6.

Gold thread, 161.

Nuns' work, 6.
Angouleme, Duchess of, 108.
Annaberg factory, 15, 159.
Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, 196.
Anne, Queen of England, 40, 132, 181.
Anne, Queen, wife of James I., 32.
Anne of Austria, 27, 28 151.
Annunciation, Antwerp lace design represent-
ing, in.
Anspach, 160.
Anti-Gallican Society, 44.
Antique laces, 2, 3.
Antwerp lace, no.

Brussels, in.

Lille, in.

P.^t pattern, in.

Thread, 181, 182.
Appenzell peasant laces, 71.

Straw-plaiting, 200.
Appliqu6 laces, in.

Limerick lace, 178.

Sleeve-trimming, nineteenth century, 53.
Apron, disappearance of lace, 44.
Aprons worn by Roman Catholic bishops, 58.
Arab network, 5.
Arabia's commerce with Italy, 5.
Arabic inscription in drawn linen work, 5.

Needlework, 4.

222

INDEX.

Argentan lace, 112, 113.

Alb at Notre Dame, Paris, 56.

Bride picotee a speciality of, 113.

Factory refused to Mme. Boislannay, 44.

Point de France, 113.

Pontiff in alb, 59.

Venetian influence on, 113.

Winter lace, 43.
Argentella point, 114.
Ariege peasant laces, 73.
Armenian women's dress, 5.
Armstrong, Mrs. Rachel, prize awarded to, 171.
Arranging collection, 90, 91.
Arras laces, 28, 51, 114, 156.

at George I.'s coronation, 115.

Mignonette, 182.
Asbestos lace, 115.
Asia Minor, origin of lace in, 4.
Atterbury, Bishop, lace smuggled in coffin

of, 79.

Aubrey, Felix, on old lace, 98.
Augusta, Princess, marriage of, 79.
Aurillac, 28, 115, 162.
Auriphrygium, 60.
Austrian bobbin lace, 115.

Laces, 51.

Austro-Hungarian lace, 115.
Auvergne laces, 115, 175, 180.

Mignonette, 182.

Plaited, 186.
Auxerre, 178.
Ave Maria design, 149, 184.

Lace, 72, 116.
Axminster, 147.

B
Baby lace, Bedfordshire, 117.

Buckinghamshire, 132.

Shetland, 197,
Baden peasant laces, 69.
Bag, ancient Egyptian, 6.
Bain, equipage de, in the eighteenth century,

38, 160.
Ballades for lace-makers, 17, 96, 100, 208.

By Randegger, too.
Baptism suits, 61.
Barante, M. de, 17.
Barbara, sister of the King of Portugal,

marriage of, 58.
Bar be, 207.

Barcelona aloe lace, 158.
Barcelona blonde net, 121.
Barcelona silk, 180.
Barcelona silk blonde laces, 197.
Bar-joining, 89.

Barry, Mme. du, 203.

Bars, 207.

Basing, 32.

Bassano, painting by, 13.

Bath Brussels lace, 169.

Bath equipage in the eighteenth century, 38, 160.

Bauta, 207.

Bavaria, 159.

Bayeux laces, 116.

Black silk, 120.

Nineteenth century, 47.

Peasant laces, 69.
Bazzoli, portrait of, 61.
Beachampton, 132.
Bead edge, 207.
Beading, 207.
Beads on bobbins, 210.
Bed furniture, nineteenth century, 46, 47. .
Bedfordshire lace, 116.

Baby lace, 117.

English Lille, 154.

Maltese, 180.

Pedlars in, 76.

Plaited, 186.

Regency point, 193.
Bedfordshire straw-plaiting, 200.
Bed-trimmings in the eighteenth century, 38.
Beer, 148, 167.
Bees on Alencon lace, 49.
Beggar's lace, 117, 163, 202.
Beginner's stem stitch, 219.
Belev, 196.

Belgian laces, 117. These are fully indexed
under their respective headings. .

Antwerp, no.

Bobbin sprigs on machine-made net, 51.

Brussels, 127.

Dogs used for smuggling, 78.

Eighteenth century, 43.

Emigration of workers prevented, 118.

English thread for, 128.

Flanders point, 117.

Machine-made net, run and embroidered
in flax thread, 46.

Mechlin, 181.

Petit motif, 186.

Point d'Angleterre (so-called), 36, 127

Schools for, 118.

Seventeenth century, 31.

Smuggling into France, 78.

Tape, 118.

Treille, 219.

Trolle kant, 155, 202.

Valenciennes, 202.

INDEX.

223

Belgium, pedlars in, 76.

Belin, Antoine, designs by, 98.

Bell-shaped sleeves in rose point, 55.

Benoit, Rene, 9.

Berlin, factories at, 160.

Bibliography of lace, 94, 98.

Bidney, Miss J., Queen Victoria's wedding veil

made by, 167.
Bier ton, 132.
Binche lace, 119.
Bisette lace, 75, 119.
Black lace, cleaning, 87.

Devonshire, 147.
Black silk laces, 119, 120.
Blandford lace, 119, 153.
Blandford point, cost of, 40.
Bleach, lime as a, 130.
Blessington, Lady, 48.
Bletchley, 132.
Blonde, a summer lace, 43.
Blonde de Caen, 120.
Blonde de fil, 182.
Blonde laces, net, 121.

Nineteenth century, 47,

Sher borne, 196.

Silk, 197.

Wheat or maize pattern, 121.
Bobbins, 207.

Beads on, 210.

Introduction of, 20.
Bobbin lace, Buckinghamshire, 125.

Change from vandyked to straight edge,

25-

Characteristics of, 124.

Cross bar open, 208.

Definition of, 121.

Dressed pillow for, 209.

Duchesse spray of, 120.

First mention of, 125.

Grounds, 212.

Italy the home of, 16.

Judging, 88.

Netherlands taught Northern Europe, 118.

Open braid, 214.

Open dots, 214.

Rare specimen of seventeenth century, 24.

Restoring, 84, 85, 86.

Trolly, 125.
Bobbin-made ground, 88.

Plait, 88.

Reseau, 88.
Bobbin net, first made in the nineteenth century,

47-
Trade, statistics of, 103.

Bock, Franz, catalogue by, 98.
Bodice trimming, seventeenth century, 65.
Bohemian bobbin lace, 115.
Boislannay, Mme. Malbiche de, 44.
Bone lace, 125, 215.

Importation of, 98.

Pins, 215.
Bone point, 125.
Bonnard, M. de, pictures of, 38.

Collection of costumes, 26, 27.
Books on lace, 94, 98.
Border made of fragments, 83.
Borlase, Sir Henry, founder of the Marlow lace

school, 130.
Bosse, Abraham, picture and engravings by,

35- 65.

Boucher, fans painted by, 66.
Boulogne fisher-girls, head -gear of, 70.
Bourgogne peasant laces, 74.
Bourgoin, 69.

Bowen, Samuel, on Honiton lace, 169.
Brabancon lace is indexed under Brussels lace.
Brabant flax for Brussels lace, 128.
Braid of twisted threads, ancient, 4.
Braids, straw, 200.
Branching fibres, 207.
Brazilian lace, 125, 126.
Brazilian straw-plaiting, 200.
Bridal dress of 1830, 51.
Bridal laces, 20, 126, 134.

For the Church, 58.
Bride boucl6e, 113.
Bride 6pinglee, 113.
Bride grounds, 212.

Bride picotee, a speciality of Argentan lace, 113.
Bride's trousseau (French) in the eighteenth

century, 38.
Brides, 207.
Brides claires, 207.
Brides orn6es, 89, 207, 208.
Bristol, Earl of, portrait of, 34.
Broderie de Malines (181) is indexed under

Mechlin lace.
Broderie de Nancy, 150.
Bruges laces, 126, 151, 155, 181, 203.
Brussels lace, 127.

Applique, in.

Assemblage of, 129.

Binche, 119.

Brabant flax for, 128.

Designers of, 129.

Designs followed the fashions, 129.

Discoloration of, 130.

Eighteenth century, 43.

224

INDEX.

Brussels lace— continued.

English thread for, 128.

Factory converted into a hospital, 48.

Flounces, 51.

Flowers, 129.

Machine-made net for, 129.

Piecemeal manufacture of, 129.

Point de raccroc, 129.

Relief in, 129.

Thread used for, 128.

Vrai reseau, 129.

Wages of thread-spinners, 128.

Wire ground, 219.
Bryony and poppy design, 168.
Buckinghamshire laces, 130.

Baby laces, 132.

Cowper, petition from, 130.

Decline of, owing to machinery, 132.

Edward (Prince) of York's layette, 132.

English Lille, 154.

French emigrants' influence on, 132.

Gingles, 210.

Guipure, 166.

Hanslope, 131.

Maltese, 180.

Marlow school, 130.

Newport Pagnell, 131.

Olney, 131.

Pedlars in, 76.

Places producing (in 1862), 132.

Plaited, 186.

Prize awarded to, for best piece of English
bone lace, 131.

Queen's (Victoria) trousseau, 132.

Ruffles presented to the King by Earl
Temple, 131.

Trolly, 125, 130, 134, 152.

Yak, 206.

Buckle stem stitch, 219.
Bulgarian peasant laces, 71.
Bullion lace, 132. See also Gold and Silver

lace.

Bunt lace, 196.
Burano lace, 57, 133.

Argentella point, 114.

Cathedral laces, 57.

D'Este, Mme., mistress of the school, 133.

Fans, 66.

Modern point, 183.

Point gaze, 133.

Point gotico, 133.

Point in the eighteenth century, 42.

Royal school, 134.

Scarpariola, Cencia, 133.

Burano lace — continued.

Seguin, M., on, 133.

Varieties of, 134.
Burning of contraband lace, 79.
Butterflies' wings in relief, 170.
Buttonhole stitch, 207.

Never seen in machine-made lace,

Cabinets for collections, 91, 92.
Caen laces, 116.

Black silk, 120

Blonde, 120.

Blonde net, 121.

Peasant laces, 70.
Calabria, 174.
Calvados, 116.

Cambrai, Archbishop of, ruffles owned by, 40.
Camille, Mme., old lace brought again into

fashion by, 48.
Campane lace, 134.
Candia lace, 139.
Cannetille, 132.
Caps, 69. See Peasant laces.

Mob, pinned under the chin, 44.
Capuchin mummies at Monreale, 62.
Card-sharpers, ruffles used by, 40.
Care of lace, 82.
Carnasiere, fil de, 59.
Carnival laces, 20, 134.
Carpaccio, fans painted by, 64.
Carrickmacross lace, 134, 172.
Cartisane, 207.
Cartisane padding, 163.
Cascade, 208.
Casket for storing lace, 92.
Castlemaine, Lady, 33.
Catalonia black silk laces, 119.

Blonde net, 121.
Caterpillar lace, 135.
Catherine de' Medicis, 17, 24, 97, 187, 205

Portrait of, 15.
Catherine de Rohan, 135.
Catherine of Aragon, 116, 130, 152.
Catherine, Queen, 17.
Catherine II. of Russia, 194.
Cauchoise peasant laces, 67.
Caul lace, 135.
Centre fibre, 208.

Cevennes silk for Bayeux lace, 116.
Ceylon lace, 180.

Pillow lace, 135.
Chaise, La, 29.
Chaldaic needlework, 4.

INDEX.

225

Chalet-sur-Moselle, hempen thread spun at,

178.

Champ, 208.
Chansons a toile, 96, 100, 208.

by Ranclegger, 100.
Chantilly lace, 135.

Bayeux lace similar to, 116.
Black silk, 119.
Blonde de Caen, 120.
Blonde net, 121.
First made with flax thread, 38.
Kinds of, 135.
Nineteenth century, 47.
Old, 45.

Places of manufacture, 135.
I Roseau, fineness of, 136.
Scarf of, 136.
Tippet, 52.

Charles I. of England, 33, 190.
Charles II. of England, 33, 36, 127, 149, 174.
Charles II. of France, sumptuary laws of, 9.
Charles V., Emperor, 118.
Charles V. of France, 114.
Charles VIII., sumptuary laws of, 9.
Charles IX. of Sweden, 200.

Sumptuary laws of, 9.
Charles of Savoy, portrait of, 15.
Charles the Bold, 17.
Charles the Great, Sumptuary law of, 8.
Charlotte, Queen, Brussels lace owned by, 128.
Dorset lace worn by, 178.
Institution founded by, 40.
Mechlin lace the favourite of, 181.
Charmouth, 206.
Chateau-Thierry, 28, 156.
Chaucer, cut-work mentioned by, 19.
Chauvin, Pierre, and Valenciennes lace, 202.
Chaux de fonds, 51.
Cheap laces formerly called " beggars' laces,"

117.

Chenille lace, 136.
Chesterfield, Lord, 78.
Chiavari, 158.
Chicken skin, 67.
China craze and the lace trade in the eighteenth

century, 41.

China, lace-making in, 3.
Chinese fans, 64.
Chioggia lace, 42, 136.

Peasant laces of, 70.
Choristers' surplices at the Vatican, 61.
Christening suits, 61.

Christian IV. of Denmark, portrait of, 16,
Christian IX. of Denmark, 76,

Church lace, 56, 136. See Ecclesiastical Lace.
Cingalese lace, 180.

Pillow lace, 135.
Cinq trous, 137.
Circassian women's dress, 5.
Classification of laces, 3.
Clavi, 214.
Claydon, 132.
Cleaning laces, 86, 87.
Clement XIII., 57.
Clement XIV., portrait of, 60.
Clement's (M.) factory at Bayeux, 116.
Clerget, Ch. Ernest, pattern-books, etc., by, 98.
Clinquant, 133.
Clonakilty, 171, 206.
Close leaf, 208, 209.
Close stitch, 208.
Close trefoil, 208.
Clouet, Jean, portrait by, 15.
Cluny lace, 137.

Guipure, 137, 138.

Plaited, 186.

Coburg's (Duchess of) present of Russian
laces to South Kensington Museum,

195-

Cocheris, Hippolyte, on old lace, 98.
Code Michaud, 27.
Coffins, smuggling in, 79.
Coggeshall, 201.
Coif edged with purling, 21.
Colbert, minister of Louis XIV., founder of
the Alen9on factory, n, 26, 28, 36, 70,
no, 113, 137, 152, 155, 156, 173, 182,
187, 204.

Inventory of his household, 149.

Portrait of, 29.

Cole, Alan S., works on lace by, 98, 104.
Collar, Devonshire guipure, 53.
Collar, falling, 166.

Extinction of, 33, 34.

Ruff replaced by, 26.

Succeeded by cravat, 33, 34.
Collar, flat, 35.
Collar, Medicis, 25, 27, 32.
Collar of Cyprus lace, 142.
Collar of Flemish needle-point, 155.
Collections, arranging, 90, 91.
Colonial and Indian Exhibition, Cyprus lace at,

142.

Colouring laces, 87.
Colyford, 148.
Colyton, 147, 148.
Commode head-dress, 34.
Commonwealth, the, 33, 126.

226

INDEX.

Como laces, 49, 137, 159, 190*.

Conclave, Holy, laces of, 58.

Continuous inner pearl, 208, 209.

Contraband lace, burning, 79.

Convents, lace made in, 58, 94, 150, 179, 198.

Mediaeval work in, 18.

Tuition in, 17.

Varieties of lace made in, 184.
Coptic drawn-linen work, 8.
Coques, Gonzales, portrait by, 25.
Coquille, en, 209.
Coralline point, 137.
Coralline weed and the introduction of bobbins,

20, 182.

Cord of twisted threads, ancient, 3.
Cordonnet, 208.
Corfu lace, 137, 163.
Cork, fan worked at, 68.
Corneille on Havre laces, 70.
Cornish laces, 153.
Cost of lace-making, i.
Cotton thread used instead of fiax, 47.
Couronnes, 208.

Courriers de la mode, grands, 80.
Courtrai fiax, 128.
Courtrai lace, 137, 155, 181, 203.
Coutances, lace-trimmed cap worn by peasants

of, 72.

Cowper, petition from, 130.
Coxcombs, 208.

Cravat, falling collar succeeded by, 33, 34.
Cravat, folded, 36.

Craven, Lady Elizabeth, portrait of, 53.
Crete lace, 139.
Creva drawn lace, 140.
Crochet, 139, 140.

French patterns for, 103.

Irish, 52.
Crochetage, 27.
Cromwell, 33.
Cross bar open, 208, 214.
Crossing or crochetage, 27.
Crowns, 208.
" Crusoe, Robinson," his present of Flanders

lace, 161.
Cuddington, 132.
Cuff of point neige, 188.
Curragh lace, 172.

Cushion, lace-trimmed, for infants, 62.
Customs duties, 40, 44, 53, 78, 127.
Cut cambric and needlework, 177.
Cuthbert's (St.) coffin in Durham Cathedral,

5,18.
Cut linen, an early form of lace work, 6.

Cut-work, 18, 140.

a secret of the Church, 7.

Cecelia de Mula's dowry, 142.

Greek lace, 140.

Honiton lace, 208.

Mending, 85.

Pagan, Matteo, on, 141.

Sleeve trimmed with, 13.
Cyprus lace, 142.

Daisy, Honiton, bobbin-made, 167.
Dalecarlian lace, 143.

Hair lace, 190.

Peasant laces, 75.

Point tresse, 190.
Dalmatian peasant lace, 74.
Dalmatic, the, 57.
Dame Joan ground, 212.
Dammartin, 135.

Danes, coat-trimmings of the ancient, 5.
Danish laces, 77, 143.

Drawn muslin, 144.

Funeral laces, 62.

Jutland, 143.

Local names for patterns of, 144.

Patterns of, 144.

Peasant laces, 72.

Schleswig, 143.

Stien beck's efforts for, 143.

Tender, 143.
Danish mummies, 62.
Dante on dress, 7.
D'Aosta, Due, no.
Darned lace, 144, 145.
Darned netting, 12, 19, 144, 145.

for furniture, 144.

Mending, 85.

Names of, 144.

Dartmouth, Lord, petition to, 130.
D'Aste, Baroness, 179.
Date of lace, judging, 89
Dauphin, layette presented to, by the Papal

Nuncio, 61.

Dead bodies replaced by smuggled lace, 79.
Dead, dressings for the, 62.
Decreuze, portrait by, 50.
Definition of the term lace, 3, 174.
Defoe on Bedfordshire lace, 34.

on Blandford lace, 40, 119.
De Glen, Jean, pattern-book by, 176.
Denny, Lady Arabella, a great patron of Irish

lace, 171.
Dentele, 208.

INDEX.

227

Dentelle, 144.
Dentelle a cartisan, 163.
Dentelle a la reine, 145.
Dentelle a la vierge, 145, 147, 184

Peasant laces of, 70.
Dentelle au fuseau, 145.
Dentelle de fil, 145.
Dentelle de Liege, 176.
Dentelle Irlandaise, 183.

Book on, 103.
Dentelle redin, 146.
Dentelle Renaissance, 183.
Designs, 208.

Most ancient, 4.

Old lace, 98-105.
D'Este, Mme. Anna Bellorio, mistress of the

Burano lace school, 133.
De Vere, Lady, and Irish point, 172.
Devonia lace, 52, 146.

Bobbin-made flower, 170.

Raised flower, 216.
Devonshire lace, 146.

Adapting, 83.

Applique, in.

Black, 147.

Decline of the industry, 148.

Fan made at Seaton, 67.

Greek, 147.

Guipure collar, 53.

Honiton, 167.

Honiton Application, 167.

Imitation of Flemish, 147.

Introduction of, 146.

Male and female workers, 147.

Nineteenth century, 52.

Pedlars in, 76.

Round pillow for, 217.

Trolly, 147.

Truck system of payment, 78.
Diamond plaitings, 167.
Dictionary of Lace, 107.
Dieppe lace, 148.

Ave Maria, 116.

Dentelle & la vierge, 145, 146.

Designs, 149.

Double-ground, 146.

Modern school, 149.

Peasant lace, 72.

Point, 148.

Dieudonne, M., on vrai and fausse Valen-
ciennes, 139.

Digby, George, Earl of Bristol, portrait of, 34.
Dijon, 178.
Divided leaves, 213.

Doddridge, Lady, effigy of, 146.

Doges' Palace, model of, 80.

Dogs used for smuggling, 78.

Dolls, fashion, 79, 80.

Dorsetshire, bullion lace found in, 132.

Dorsetshire barrow, gold lace in, 4.

Dorsetshire lace, 149.

Blandford, 119.

Blonde, 196.

Lyme Regis, 178.

Sherborne, 196.
Dots, open, 214.
Dotted style, 91.
Double-ground Dieppe lace, 146.
Douglas, Bishop, on the dandyism of Leipsic

students, 160.
D'Oyleys, 208.

Crochet, 139.

Made from fragments, 83.
Drawers for storing, 93.

Drawn linen, Saracenic, the earliest form of
open-work, 5, 7.

With Arabic inscription, 5.
Drawn-work, 19, 149, 150.

Ancient, 7-10.

Geometrical, 150.

Names of, 150.

Persian, 186.

Dresden Museum, catalogue of lace in, 98.
Dresden, settlement of French refugees in, 159.
Dresden point, 150.
Dressed pillows, 209, 217.
Dressing-room in the eighteenth century, 38.
Dry-cleaning damaging to lace, 87.
Dubarry, Mme., 38, 135.
Dublin, 171.

Dublin Museum, catalogue of lace in, 98.
Duchesse lace, Bruges, 126.

Raised work, 216.
Dunkirk lace, 151, 181.

Dunstan (St.), cut-work patterns designed by, 7.
Dutch flax, 151.
Dutch lare, 150, 151.

Dentelle a la reine, 145.

Peasant laces, 72.
Dutch oorijzers, 72.
Duties, Customs, 40, 44, 53, 78, 127.

Earliest forms of lace, i, 2, 3.
Ear-plates, metal, 72.
Ecclesiastical lace, 56.

Albs, 56.

Albs at Notre Dame, 56.

228

INDEX.

Ecclesiastical \a.ce— continued.

Alencon lace, 108.

Altar hangings, 58, 60.

Bridal lace for the Church, 58.

Burano Cathedral, 57.

Christening suits, 61.

Conclave, Holy, 58.

Cut-work, 7.

Dalmatics, 57.

Drawn- work, 150.

Fabulous value of old, 56.

Funeral laces, 62.

Genoese macramS, 159.

Gold lace, 161.

Holy or hollie point, 60, 166.

Italian, 173.

Jewish, 60.

Knotted lace, 174.

Liege, 176.

Macrame, 179.

Norman- English Church, 60.

Notre Dame, Paris, 54.

Orphreys, 60.

Paris Oratoire, 58.

Paten-cover, 58.

Reformation, effects of, 60, 61.

Rohan family, 58.

St. Mary-at-Hill, London, 59,

Self-sacrificing work of ladies, 59.

Spanish, 199.

Statuette, border of bobbin-made lace
from, 57.

Surplices, 57.

Talith, the, 60.

Tippets, 103.

Venetian, 205.

Vestments, 56, 136.
Ecru, 209.
Edges, varieties of, 209.

Bead, 207.

Plain, 215, 216.

Edging as an indication of age, 89.
Edgings, 209.

Patterns for (1591), 95.
Edward (Prince) of York's layette, 132.
Effigies of monarchs, &c., decked with lace, 62.
Egyptian antique laces, &c., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,

62.

Egyptian mummy wrappings, 62.
Egyptian sarcophagi, figures on, 4.
Eighteenth century, anecdotal history of lace in
the, 37.

Austrian laces, 51.

Bankruptcies of lacemen, 42.

Eighteenth century — continued.

Belgian laces, 43.

Designs, 91.

English laces, 40, 153.

Equipage de bain, 38.

Fans, 67.

Fortunes spent on ruffles and jabots, 39.

French laces, 37.

Gambling for lace stakes, 42.

Gold and silver lace, 41.

Italian laces, 42.

Lace bills, 42.

Mantillas, 42.

Mourning wear, 43.

Picture of the times, 37.

Point lace, 190.

Reveille, the, 38.

Servants' livery, 40.

Smuggling, 44, 78.

South Sea Bubble, 41.

Spanish laces, 41, 42.

Summer laces, 43.

Toilet table, 38.

Valenciennes laces, 204.

Venetian laces, 205.

Winter laces, 43.
Elberfeld, 160.

Elephant's-tail hair lace, 190.
Elizabeth (Queen), 35, 44, 60, 77, 126, 152, 167,
190, 198, 204, 213, 216, 219.

Fans presented to, 64, 66.

Portrait of, 64.

Wardrobe accounts of, 157.
Elizabeth of Bourbon, portrait of, 17.
Elizabeth of York, 204.
Ell of various nationalities, length of, 209.
Embroidered muslin, 47.
Embroidered net in the nineteenth century,

49.

Embroidery, ancient, confused with lace, 4, 5.
En coquille, 209.
En eventail, 209.
English application of to-day, 54.
English Church vestments, 57.
English ell, 209.
English fans, 65.

English laces, 152. These are fully indexed
under their respective headings.

Acts of Parliament protecting, 153.

Bobbin-made tape lace, 151.

Eighteenth century, 40.

Flemish influence, 152.

Greek, 163.

Nineteenth century, 47, 52.

INDEX.

229

English laces — continued.

Plaited, 186.

Plea for, 54.

Purlings, 152.

Reticella, 194.

Seventeenth century, 32.

Trolly, 202.

Varieties of, 153.

Venetian influence, 152.
English Lille, 154, 184.
English point, 54, 154.

Eighteenth century, 40.

Origin of, 35.

English straw-plaiting, 199.
English sumptuary laws, effects of, 32.
English thread for Belgian laces, 128.
Engrelures, 87, 209.

Judging lace by, 89.
Entoilages, 116, 209.
Entredeux, 209.
Epaulettes, officers', 133.
Equipage de bain in the eighteenth century,

38, 1 60.

Erzegebirge district, 160.
Etats Generaux, costumes prescribed by, 46.
Eternelle, 161.
Eu, 149.
Eugenie, Empress, 38.

Dress presented to the Pope by, 59.
Eventail, en, 209.
Evolution of lace, i.
Exeter, 148.
Exeter Cathedral inventory, 19.

Tombs in, 146.
Exmouth, 147
Eyck, Jacob van, praises of lace sung by, 17.

Fairs, lace bartered at, 77.
Falbala, 210.
Falling collar, 166.

Extinction of, 33.

Replaces the ruff, 26.

Succeeded by cravat, 33, 34.
Fambri and Pelestrina lace, 185.
Fambri, Signer Paulo, revival of Burano and
Chioggia lace industries, by, 134, 136.
Fans, 63.

Antique sticks used with modern leaves,
67.

Applique", 67.

Burano, 66, 67.

Chicken-skin, 67.

Chinese, 64.

Fans — continued.

Designs in, 66.

Earliest, 63.

English, 65.

English point, 66.

Gentlemen's, 65.

Irish needle-point, 66.

Irish, worked at Cork, 68.

Italian, 64.

Invention of, 63.

Japanese, 68.

Lace and painting combined, 67.

Long-handled, 65.

Married women's, 64.

Mirror in centre of, 64.

Painted, 64.

Parchment lace on, 65.

Presented to Queen Louise of Lorraine, 64.

Presented to the English sovereign,
64, 66.

Rosaline point, 66.

Royal attributes, 63.

Screen-shaped, 62.

Sticks studded with precious stones, 65.

Useful v. ornamental, 68.
Fashion puppets, 79, 80.
Fausse Valenciennes, 59, 203, 204.
Fecamp, 149.

Felkin, William, on lace manufactures, 98.
Feregnola, poet, 155.
Ferrara Cathedral, 13.
Fertiault, Francois de, on old lace, 98.
Fiammingo, Cavaliera, portrait of, 19.
Fibres, branching, 207.

Centre, 208.

Open, 214.
Fifteenth century, 12.

English laces, 152.

Picture of the times, 12.

Sumptuary laws, 7.

Valenciennes lace, 202.

Venetian laces, 204.
Fil de carnasiere, 59.
Fil de cren, 209.
Fil de trace, 209, 210.
Fil tir6, 150.
Filet brode, 166.
Filet brod6 & reprises, 144.
Filet guipure, 166.
Fillings, 209, 213.
Fimboice, meaning of, 5.
Finger, a measurement, 209.
Fino d'erbe Spada, 155.
Fire-proof lace, 115.

2 30

INDEX.

Fischer, Hugo, on old lace, 98.

Fish bones used instead of pins, 125.

Fisher girl, legend of, 182.

Fisherman's lace, 190.

Flanders' claim to the introduction of lace, 16,

117.

Flanders in mediaeval times, 12.
Flanders, Northern Europe taught lace-making

by, 18.
Flanders lace, 155.

Act preventing emigration of workers, 155.

Antwerp lace known as, no.

Bobbin-made, 155.

Guipure, 166.

Mechlin, 181.

Needle-point, 155.

CEil de perdrix, 214.

Point, alb of, 41.

Reticella, 194.

" Robinson Crusoe's " present, 161.

Tape lace, 201.

Trolle kant, 202.

Trolly, 202.

Varieties of, 155.
Flanders point, 41, 117.
Flat point (point plat), 127, 155, 216.
Flax, 210.

Flax, cotton thread used instead of, 47.
Flax thread, transition from gold and silver

lace to, 7.
Flemish ell, 209.

Flemish lace, &c., is indexed under Flanders.
Fleurs volantes, 208, 210.
Flockton's marionettes, 80.
Florentine lace, 155.

Greek lace, 163.
Florentine paintings, the earliest showing lace,

13-

Flots, 210.
Flounce, 210.
Flounces on the skirt in the eighteenth century,

Flowers, raised, 170, 189, 216, 217.
Flower pot and Lily of the Annunciation

pattern, 167.

Flowers in point lace, book on, 104.
Fond, 210, 211.
Fond de neige, 210.
Fond simple, 176, 210.
Fonds claires, 210.
Fontange head-dress, 28, 32, 33.
" Foolish Virgins," the, by Abraham Bosse, 35.
Footings, 87, 210.

Judging lace by, 89.

Founce, 210

Fourteenth century, picture of the times, 12.

Sumptuary laws, 7.
Fowler, Mrs , of Honiton, 54, 148.
Fragments, joining, 82.
Fragonard, paintings by, 32.
Praise, or ruff, 210.

Replaced by falling collar, 26.
France, He de, 178.

France, laces of, are indexed under French.
France, smuggling of lace into, 78.
Francis I., 15.

Sumptuary laws of, 9.
Franco, Giacomo, patterns by, 125.
Franco, Girolamo, designs by, 98.
Francois, Prince of Savoy-Carignan, portrait of,

24.

Francois Regis, patron saint of lace-makers, 21.
Frederick, Prince of Wales, marriage of, 43.
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg,

1 60.

French ell, 209.
French fashion dolls, 79, 80.
French, Gilbert}., on ecclesiastical tippets, 103.
French ground Northamptonshire laces, 184.
French laces, 156. These are fully indexed
under their respective headings.

Bobbin-made, 157.

Eighteenth century, 37.

Florentine influence, 156.

Gimp or guipure, 164.

Greek, 163.

Medicis points, 205.

Modern point, 183.

Net ground laces, 113.

Nineteenth century, 46, 49.

Origin of, 156.

Peasant laces, 69, 71, 72.

Petit motif, 185.

Plaited, 186.

Point de France, 187.

Reticella, 194,

Seventeenth century, 23.

Varieties of, 156.

Venetian influence, 204.
French Revolution, fatal to fine lace, n, 44.
French straw-plaiting, 200.
French sumptuary laws, effects of, 8, 11,21, 24,

28, 98, 107, 117, 175.

Freytag on German life in the sixteenth cen-
tury, 1 60.

Fribourg straw-plaiting, 200.
Frisure, 133.
Frivolit6, 202.

INDEX.

231

Funeral clothing, 62.
Funerals, lace used at, 33.
Furbelow, 210.

Galloon, ancient Egyptian band of, 7.
on harlequin's dress, 43.
Tulle, 116.
Gambling for lace stakes in the eighteenth

century, 42.
Garniture, 210.
Gawcott, 132.
Geneva, 201.
Genoa laces, 157.

Cushions used in making, 158.
Early, 157.
Export of, 159.
Fisherman's lace, 190.
Gold, 161.

Macram6, 157, 158, 179.
Plaited, 158.
Point pecheur, 190.
Seats of the Industry, 157, 158.
Varieties of, 157.
Genoese sumptuary laws, 157.
Gentlemen's fans, 65.
Geometrical patterns, 90.
George I., 41, 115, 134.
George II., 43.
George III., 44, 78.
German drawn-linen work, fourteenth century,

10.
German laces, 159.

American market for, 51.

Bobbin-made, 159, 160.

Early, 16.

Equipage de bain, 160.

" Eternelle," 161.

French influence, 159.

Greek, 163.

Introduction of, 159.

Nineteenth century, 51.

Northern, 159.

Pattern-books, 160.

Peasant laces, 71, 75.

Peasants' household linen adorned with

lace, 75.
Plaited,. 186.
Reticella, 194.
Southern, 160.
Uttmann, Barbara, 159.
Venetian influence, 160.

Germany, introduction of bobbin lace to, 15.
Lace postmen in, 77.

Ghent lace, 161, 203.
Gilbert, Mme., 187.

Gimp, definitions of, 210. See also Guipure.
Gold and silver, 132.
Ragusa, 193.
Gingles, 210.

Giovanelli, Princesse, 134.
Glen, Jean de, pattern-book by, 176.
Gloucester, Duchess of, 48.
Goderonn6, 210.
Godet, 211.

Gold and silver, transition from, to flax, 7.
Gold and silver thread lace, early specimen, 22.
Gold laces, 4-7, 132, 161. See also Silver

laces.

Ancient, 161.
a reseau, 161.
Cyprus, 142.
Eighteenth century, 41.
Geometric designs, 161.
Harlequin's dress, 43.
in Scandinavian barrow, 4.
Modern, 162.
Plaited, 186.
Point d'Espagne, 162.
Spanish Jews' influence on French, 162.
Gold nets mentioned by Homer, 4.
Goubaud, Mme., works by, 103.
Goudronne, 210.

Graeco-Roman tombs, netting in, 4.
Grammont lace, 118, 155, 162.
Gras point, 211.
Grave-clothes, 62.
Great Hampden, 132.
Great Marlow, petition from, 130.
Great Sandford, 132.
Greek Devonshire lace, 147.
Greek lace, ancient and modern, 163.
Cut-work, 140.
Designs, 163.
Imitations of, 163.
Peasant laces, 75.
Seats of the industry, 163.
Greek point, 162, 194.
Groppo, 2 IT.
Groslait, 178.
Gros point de Venise, 189.
Reproduction of, 183.
Grounds, 88, 211, 212.

Forerunner of the modern, 2.
Mechlin, 214.
Star, 218.
Strand, 219.
Wire, 219.

232

INDEX.

Grounded Venetian point, 163.

Gruppo, 212.

Guesney, 28.

Gueuse lace, 163.

Guipure, 163, 212. See also Gimp.

Ancient, 163.

Border of French, 164.

Costliness of, 163.

d'Art, 103, 104, 144, 163, 212.

de Binche, 119.

de Bruges, 126.

Definition of, 163.

de Flandre, 166.

Falling collar, 166.

French, 26.

Modern, 166.

Needle-point, 15.

Padding of, 163.

Tape, 163, 165, 166.

Thread, 163, 165.
Gunning, Misses, 196.
Guyard, Sieur, and Argentan lace, 113.

Haddenham, 132.

Hailstone, S. H. Lilla, catalogue of her

collection, 103.
Designs by, 103.

Sainte-Croix' book on her collection, 104.
Hainault, 119, 175, 202.
Hair (human) lace, 190.
Hair, single or married state indicated by

arrangement of, 71 .
Half- wheels, 212, 213.
Halifax, Marquis of, portrait of, 36.
Hamburg lace purchased for Lady Nelson,

160.

Hamburg point, 150.
Hamilton, Anne, Duchess of, 196.
Hamilton lace, 196.
Hampden, Great, 132.
Handkerchief, lace-trimmed, early picture

showing, 35.
Hand ruffs (ruffles), 217.
Hanover, 160.
Hanslope, 131.
Harems, work in, 185.
Harlequin's dress of the eighteenth century,

43-

Hartz Mountains, benefactress of, 15, 159.
Havre laces, 149, 184.
Peasant laces, 70.

Hawkins, Daisy W., on old point lace, 103.
Headgear, 69. See Peasant laces.

Heading, 212.

Health Exhibition (1884), Buckinghamshire

lace at, 132.
Heathcoat's invention of the net-making

machine, 170.
Hebrew needlework, 4.
Helene, Princess, of France, marriage of,

no.

Henri I., sumptuary laws of, 9.
Henri II., 156, 210.

Portrait of, 13.
Henri III., 163.

Sumptuary laws of, 9.
Henri IV., sumptuary laws of, 9, 25.
Henrietta Mari i, wife of Charles I., 33.

Portrait of, 27.
Henry VIII., 76, 156, 182.

Fans, 65.

Henry, son of James I., portrait of, 31.
Herbert, Miss, of Exeter, 54.
Hereno, Val d', peasant laces of, 70.
Hexagonal grounds, 212.
History of lace, difficulty of tracing, 3.
Holesom, 75, 201.
Holl, portrait by, 52.
Holland, flax thread of, 151.
Holland, Queen of, 72.
Hollar, portrait by, 65.
Hollie or holy point, 60, 166.

Christening clothes, 167.

Origin of word, 166.

Patterns, 167.
Holy Dove pattern, 167
Holy point, 60, 166.
Homer, nets of gold mentioned by, 4.
Honeycomb grounds, 189, 212.
Honfleur, 149.
Honiton application, 167.
Honiton crochet, 140, 172.
Honiton guipure, 166.

Cut-work, 208.

Lacet point, 213.

Purlings, 216.

Reseau, 217.
Honiton lace, 147, 148, 167.

Applique, in.

Bath Brussels, 169.

Bobbin-made, poppy and bryony design,
168.

Bobbin-made sprig, 148.

Book on, 105.

Branching fibres, 207.

Brussels, imitation, 167

Close leaf, 208, 209.

INDEX.

233

Honiton lace— continued.

Close trefoil, 208.

Continuous inner pearl, 208, 209

Cost of, 170.

Cost of Antwerp thread for (1790), 170.

Decay of the industry and efforts towards
its restoration, 170.

Devonia, 170.

Fire, distress caused by, 169.

Flemish influence, 167.

Gimp, 210.

Guipure, 170.

Inner pearl, 212.

Leaves divided, 213.

Machine-made net, effects of, on, 52.

Nineteenth century, 53.

Open fibre, 214.

Open fibre used in bobbin lace to form
leaves, 169.

Origin of, 167.

Primitive method of payment, 170.

Raised work, 170, 216.

Royal family's orders, 170.

Schools, 54.

Sprigs, making of, 169, 170.

Stem stitch, 219.

Strand ground, 219.
Hospital at a Brussels lace factory, 48.
Huguenot lace, 171.
Huguenots, the, 29.
Human hair lace, 190.
Humphrey of Honiton, 34.
Hungarian lace, 115.
Hurde, Mary, of Marlborough, memoirs of,

149.

Identifying lace, 87.
He de France, 178.

Peasant laces of, 70.
Illering, 51.
Increase widths, 212.
Incroyable period, 47.
Indian elephants'-tail hair lace, 190.
Indian lace, 4, 171.

Madras, 180.

Point lace, 171.
Indian shawls, 119.
Indian work (punto tirato), 150.
" Industria " (L')( by Paul Veronese, i.
Inner pearl, 212.

Continuous, 208, 209.
Innocent IV., vestments ordered by, 17.
Insertion, 212.

Ionian Islands, 162, 163, 194, 206.

Grave-clothes found in, 62.
Irish laces, 171.

Carrickmacross, 134.

Crochet, 140, 172.

Curragh, 172.

Fans, 65, 67.

Guipure, 172.

Honiton crochet, 140.

Limerick, 177.

Maltese, 180.

Nineteenth century, 52.

Point, 140, 172, 206.

Point de tricot, 140.

Raised rose tricot, 140.

Schools for, 172.

Seats of the industry, 171, 172.

Tambour, 201.

Tatting, 202.

Varieties of, 172.

Youghal, 206.
Irish point, 140, 172, 206.

Crochet, 172.

Isaakoz, Peeter, portrait by, 16.
Isabeau, lace, 87.

Isaiah, reference to " networks " in, 4.
Isidore, St., and the dalmatic, 57.
Isle of Man lace, 172.
Isle of Wight lace, 172.
Italian fans, 64.

Italian laces, 173. These are fully indexed
under their respective headings.

Bobbin-made border, 173.

Carnasiere, fil de, 59.

Collection of, 77.

Early, 173.

Eighteenth century, 42.

Knotted, 59, 174.

Margherita, 181.

Nineteenth century, 49.

Peasant laces, 73.

Petit motif, 186.

Poi.-t, 189.

Prison-made, 49, 119.

Songs sung by the workers, 96, 100.

Tape lace, 201.
Italy in mediaeval times, 12.
Italy's commerce with Arabia, 5.
Italy the home of needle-point and bobbin
laces, 14, 16.

Jabots, 212.

Eighteenth century, 39.
Jacobites, 42.

234

INDEX.

James I., 32, 182.

Japanese fans, 68.

Japanese lace, 4.

Japanese straw-plaiting, 200.

Jesuit lace, 172, 173.

Jesurum (Michel Angelo), book by, 103

Revival of Pelestrina lace by, 185.
Jewellery worn by peasants, 73, 74.
Jewish ceremonials, lace used in, 60.
Joan (Dame) grounds, 212.
Joining fragments, 82.
Jonson, Ben, 32.
Josephine, Empress, 129.
Jours, 213, 214.
Judging lace, 87.
Jupe, 213.
Jupon, 213.
Jutland, 143.

Lace postmen in, 77.

Peasant laces, 72.

Kenmare, 172.

Kenmore, 206.

Kerchief, 213.

Killarney, 171, 172, 206.

Kinsale, 171, 172, 206.

Kneller, portrait by, 28.

Knight, Miss, autobiography of, 159.

Knights' robes, 214.

Knots, 213.

Knotted lace, 20, 173.

Knotted white thread, Genoese, 179.

Kufic inscription in drawn work, 8.

Labelling laces in collections, 93.

Labric, T., Queen Elizabeth's blacksmith, 216.

Lace, definition of, 13, 74.

Lace bark tree, 174, 175.

Lace postmen, 77.

Lace tokens, 213.

Lacet point, 213.

La Chaise Dieu, 116.

Lacis, 12, 19, 144.

Lacquey's livery in the eighteenth century, 40.

Lady's Album of Fancy Work, 103.

Lagetta, 174, 175.

Lamballe, Princess de, 135.

Lapel, 213.

Lappet, 213.

Lavendon, 132.

Lavoro a groppi, 20, 175.

Lavoro a maglia, 175.

Lawn, 213.

Layard, Lady, on cut-work, 142.

Laybach, 51, 115.

Layette presented by the Papal Nuncio to the

Dauphin of France, 61.
Lead works, 213.
Leaves divided, 213.
Leghorn straw-plaiting, 199.
Legs, 213.
Leipsic, 160.

Leonardo da Vinci, portrait by, 114.
Le Puy laces, 49, 156, 175.

an ancient factory, 21 .

Jesuit Father's efforts on behalf of, 175.

Oldest in France, 175.
Lerd works, 213.
Le Sage's play for puppets, 80.
Leve, the, 187.
Liege lace, 175.
Lierre, 155.

Ligneres-la-Doucelle, 113.
Lille fond claire, 88.
Lille lace, 176.

Antwerp, in.

Black, 176.

Bobbin-made, 176.

English, 184.

Patterns of, 176.

Summer laces, 43.
Lime as a bleach, 130.
Limerick lace, 52, 177.

Applique, 178.

Origin of, 177.

Run, 178.

Tambour, 178.
Limoges lace, 178.
Lind, Jenny, portrait of, 52.
Line, definition of, 213.
Linen garment ornamented with drawn work,

with Kufic inscription, 8.
Lingerie, 213.
Linum usitatissimum, 210.
Lisbon lace, 192.
Literature of Lace, 94, 98.
Livery in the eighteenth century, 40.
Lobster claws for polishing, 207.
Locle Connet, 51 .
Loire, the, 156.
Loire, Haute, 156, 175.
London Exhibition Reports, 98, 103.
L'Onray, 28, 156, 187.
Lorraine lace, 178.

Mignonette, 182.

INDEX.

235

Loudun, 28, 156.
Lough ton, 132.

Louis VIII., sumptuary laws of, 8.
Louis XL, sumptuary laws of, 9.
Louis XIII., 27, 138, 156.
Louis XIV., ii, 28, 29, 80, 107, 112, 113, 117,
119, 159, 165, 173, 187, 120, 202.

and the Dauphin, portraits of, 61.

Sumptuary laws of, n.
Louis XV., 26, 108, 113, 119, 153.

Fans, 67.
Louis XVI., 45, no, 190.

Bust of, 37.

Ruffles owned by, 40. t
Louis le D6bonnaire, sumptuary laws of, 8.
Louise Adelaide of Orleans, portrait of, at

Versailles, 50.

Louise of Lorraine, fan presented to, 66.
Louvain, 119.

Picture by Quentin Matsys at, 118.

Portrait at, 155.

Lozenge pattern the most ancient, 4.
Lucca gold lace, 116.
Lucerne peasant laces, 73.
"Lucretia," by Bassano, 13.
Luignes, Mme. de, 38.
Luneville lace, 178.
Luton, straw-plaiting at, 200.
Luzarches, 135.
Lyme Regis lace, 178.

Decline of the industry, 178.
Lyons, 162, 178, 197.
Lys, River, rouissage in, 128.

Maceio lace, 125, 126.

Machine-made ground laces, mending, 85.

Lace, judging, 88.

Net, effect of, on Honiton laces, 52.

Net, run and embroidered with flax
thread, 46.

Thread net, introduction of, 47.
Macrame lace, 179.

Book on, 103.

Genoese, 157, 158.

Origin of name, 179.

Revival of, 179.
Madagascar lace, 179.
Madeira laces, 51, 179.
Madras lace, 180.
Madrid, 162.

Maintenon, Madame de, 29
Maize pattern blonde, 121.
Malines, 151.

Malines lace (181) is indexed under Mechlin

lace.

Malmesbury, Countess of, portrait of, 53
Maltese lace, 180.
Black silk, 119.
Imitations of, 180.
Plaited, 186.
Manchette, 213.
Manillese lace, 180.

Aloe, no.
Manteau, 213.
Mantilla lace, 180.

Mantilla, portrait of Spanish lady in, 38.
Mantillas in the eighteenth century, 42.

Sacredness of, 181.
Mantle, 213.
Manuscripts, ancient, their bearing on

lace, 4.

Manx lace, 172.
Marcello, Comtesse, 134
Margherita, Queen of Italy, 57, 133.
Margherita lace, 181.
Margherite, ' ' lace " a la Reine, 49.
Marie Antoinette, 135, 214.
Bust of, 37.
Fall of, 45.
Lace worn by, n.
Marie de' Medicis, 25, 156, 157.
Marie Louise, 108.

Lace made for, 46, 49.
Marie Stuart, inventory of, 190.
Marie Therese, 119.
Marionettes, 80.

Market days, lace bartered on, 77.
Marlborough, Wilts, 149.
Marlow, Great, petition from, 130.
Married or single state indicated by arrange-

•ment of hair, 71.
Married women's fans, 64.
Marriott, Wm., prize awarded to, 131.
Marsh Gibbon, 132.
Mary, Queen of Scots, 17.

Portrait of, 21.
Mary Ii., 34.

Lace bill of, 40.
Mat, 213.
Math, 213.

Matsys, Quentin, picture by, 118.
May, Princess, Bucks lace ordered by, 132.
Mazarin, laces purchased by, 28.
Mechlin lace, 181.

Circular ground, 212.
Cost of. 181.
Decline of, 118.

236

INDEX.

Mechlin lace — continued.

Early examples of, 181.

Meshes of, 182.

Napoleon's opinion of, 182.

CEil de Perdrix, 214.

"Queen of laces," 124.

Summer lace, 43.
Mediaeval guipure, 182.
Mediaeval lace, 12, 18.

Anecdotal history of, 12.

Designs, 90.

Picture of the times, 12.

Venice set the fashions, 205.
Medicis collar, 15, 25, 27, 32.

Favourite lace of the, 20.

Influence on French laces, 156.

Points, 187, 205.
Medicis, Catherine de', 17, 24, 97.

Portrait of, 15.
Medicis, Marie de', 25.
Mending lace, 84.
Menin lace, 182, 203.
Meric, 135.

Merletti a piombini, examples of, 125.
Merli (Antonio), patterns by, 103.
Mermaid's lace, 182.
Meshes, 214.
Michaud, Code, 27.

Middle Ages, fashions set by Venice in the,
204.

Kinds of lace made in, 18.

Picture of the times, 12.
Middlesex, 153.
Midland Counties Loan Exhibition, catalogue

of, 104.

Mignerak's book on lace, 35.
Mignonette lace, 182.
Milanese lace, 158.

Greek, 163.

Point, 182.

Milan, Sforza, Viconti of, 13.
Milton Keynes, 132.
Minerva, Zierlich-webende, 103.
Minifie, Mrs., of Honiton, 34.
Mirecourt lace, 156, 182.
Mittens, 214.
Mixed lace, 183.

Mob cap pinned under the chin, 44.
Modelbiicher, 104.
" Modern " and ." old " lace, definition of the

terms, 47.

Modern point lace, 183.
Modes, 213, 214.
Monaghan, 134, 140, 171.

Monasteries, work in, 94.

Suppression of English, 12.
Monmouth's Rebellion and Devonshire lace,

146.

Monreale, Capucini Convent at, 62.
Montmorency, 178.
Montulay, French draughtsman, 114.
Moorish lace, 183.

Morangis, M. de, Prefect of Alencon, 35.
Morocco lace, 183.
Morosini, Doge Francesco, 205.
Mosaic lace, 127.

Modern, 43.
Moscow, 195.
Mould attacking lace, 82.
Moulsoe, 132.

Mourning Avear in the eighteenth century, 43.
Mula's (Cecelia de) dowry, 142.
Mull muslin, 214.
Mummies, Capuchin, 62.
Mummy wrappings, 62.

Adorned with drawn-work, etc., 4.
Munich caterpillar lace, 135.
Murat, 116.
Music, lace-makers' (chansons a toile), 100,

208.

Muslin, embroidered, 47.
Muslin, Mull, 214.
Mzensk, 196.

Nancy, broderie de, 150.
Nankin silk for Bayeux lace, 116.

for Caen lace, 120.

Nantes, revocation of the Edict of, and its
effects, 23, 29, 108, 145, 152, 159, 201.
Napery, 214.
Naples, 163.
Napoleon I., 11, 108, 129, 158, 181.

Efforts of, on behalf of the lace industry,
46.

Portrait of, 48.
Napoleon III., 38.

Costly Alen9on purchased by, 109.
Napoleonic cypher, 46, 49.
Neapolitan Greek lace, 163.
Needle, 214.
Needle-point, definition of, 183, 189.

Ground, 88.

Guipure, 15.

Italy the home of, 14, 16.

Judging, 88.

Open cross bar, 214.

Point none, 216.

INDEX.

237

Needle-point — continued.

Punto a feston, 216.

Restoring, 84, 85, 86.

Toile, 88.

Needles for straw-plaiting, 200.
Neh und Strickbuch, Neu, 104.
Nelson, Lady, Hamburg lace purchased for,

1 60.

" Nenia," chanson a toile, by Randegger, 100.
Nero's head-covering of gold threads, 161.
Net, bobbin-made, first appearance of, 47.
Net ground, judging, 88.
Net, machine-made, introduction of, 47.
Net-making machine, Heathcoat's, 170.
Netting book, 104.
Network, ancient, the forerunner of the modern

lace ground, 2.
Neufchatel, 201.
Newport Pagnell, 131.
New Ross, 171, 172, 206.
Newton Blossomville, 132.
Nimeguen, treaty of, 23, 114.
Nineteenth century, anecdotal history of lace
in the, 46.

Bed furniture, 46, 47.

Devonia lace, 52.

Devonshire lace, 52.

English laces, 47, 52.

French laces, 47, 49.

German laces, 15.

Honiton laces, 52.

Irish laces, 52.

Italian laces, 49.

Low prices for lace in, 47.

Madeira laces, 51.

Only kind of lace invented during, 190.

Petit motif, 52.

Picture of the times, 46.

Point lace, 190.

Polychrome lace, 190.

Portuguese laces, 51.

Reaction in favour of old lace, 47.

Russian laces, 51.

Smuggling, 78.

Spanish laces, 51.

Swedish laces, 51.

Swiss laces, 51.

Venetian laces, 205.
Nord, Department du, 202.
Normandy laces, 149, 83.

Bobbin, 183.

Mignonette, 182.

Peasant, 69, 184,

Trolly, 202,

Northamptonshire laces, 184.

English Lille, 154.

Flemish influence, 184.

French ground, 184.

Point ground, introduction of, 184.

Valenciennes, 184.

Yak, 206.

Notre, Andre le, portrait of, 30.
Notre Dame (Paris) laces, 56.
Nottingham lace, patterns for, 104.

Tambour, 201.
Novgorod, 195.

Nuns' work, 58, 59, 94, 140, 150, 179, 184, 198,
200.

Anglo-Saxon, 6.

Ordered by Innocent IV., 17.

Varieties of, 184.
Nuremberg, 159, 160.
Nuremberg Museum, catalogue of, 104.

CEil de perdrix, 113, 210, 214.
Officers' epaulettes, 133.
- Old lace, definition of, 47, 185.

Reaction in favour of, 48.
Olney, 131, 132.
Ongania, F., reproductions and translations

by, 97, 98, 104, 105.
Oorijzers, 72.
Open braid, 214.
Open cross bar, 208, 214.
Open dots, 214.
Open fibre, 214.
Open lace, 185.
Open work, 214.
Opus, 214.
Opus anglicanum, 185.

Ordered by Innocent IV., 17.
Opus araneum, 137, 144, 185.
Opus filatorium, 137.
Opus tiratum, 150.
Oriental origin of lace, supposed, 3.
Origin ^ lace, 3.

Judging, 89.

Orkney Islands straw for plaiting, 200.
Ornamento delle belle et Virtuose Donne, &c.,

104

Orne, the, 156.
Orphreys, 60, 214.
Orris, 214.
Orsa lace, 185.

Ostaus, Giovanni, works by, 104,
Ouvrage, 215.

238

INDEX.

Ouvrages masches, 144.
Oving, 132.
Oyah lace, 185.

Packmen, lace sold by, 76.
Pagani, Matio, designs by, 104.

on cut-work, 141.

Paganino, Alessandro, work by, 104.
Pall, 215.

Palliser, Mrs. Bury, quoted, 18, 79, 131, 153,
199.

Works by, 104.

Pandore, la grande and la petite, 80.
Paraguayan aloe lace, no.
Parament, 214.
Parchment lace, 163.

Used as fan-trimming, 65.
Parement, 215.
Parfilage, 214.
Paris, 162, 163, 178, 181, 182.

Exhibition (1851), 109.

Exhibition reports, 98, 104.

Fashion puppets from, 79, 80.

Oratoire inventory, 58.

Peasant laces in the neighbourhood of, 75.

Point, 187.

Parrasoli, patterns by, 125.
Parure, 215.

Passemens, Revote de, 97.
Passementerie, 215.
Passements, 19, 144, 178, 215.

a dentelle, 215.

a 1'aiguille, 215.

au fuseaux, 215.
Paten, covering for, 58.
Patterns, judging by, 90.

Most ancient, 4.
Pattern books, 94, 98, 105.

Early, 13, 16, 22, 26, 94.

German, 160.

Scarcity of, 97.

Swiss, 201.

Paul Veronese, painting by, i .
Pays de Caux, 149.
Pearl, continuous inner, 208, 209.
Pearl edge, 215.
Pearl, inner, 212.
Pearl tatting, 172.
Pearlin or pearling, 215.
Pearls, 215.
Peasant laces, 69.

Ariege, 73.

Baden, 69.

Peasant laces— continued.

Bayeux, 69.

Bourgogne, 74.

Bourgoin, the, 69.

Bulgarian, 71.

Caen cap, 70.

Cauchoise, 69.

Chioggia, 70.

Dalecarlian, 75.

Dalmatian, 74.

Danish, 72.

Dieppe, 72.

Dutch, 72.

French, 69, 71, 72.

German, 71, 75.

Greek, 75.

Havre, 70.

He de France, 70.

Italian, 73.

Jutland, 72.

Lucerne, 73.

Normandy, 69, 184.

Paris and its environs, 75.

Portuguese, 72.

Roman district, 174.

Rouen caps, 74.

Russian, 74.

Silesian, 75.

Southern French, 71.

Spanish, 72.

Stiffened lace as a sunshade, 75.

Swedish, 72, 75.

Swiss, 70, 71, 201.

Utrecht, 69.

Women prided themselves on the fineness
of their lappets, 69.

Yvetot, 69.

Peasant jewellery, 73, 74.
Pedlars, lace sold by, 76.
Pelestrina lace, 42, 185.

Revival of, 185.
Peniche lace, 191, 192.
Pepys' Diary quoted, 33.
Period when lace was made, judging, 89.
Persian drawn-work, 186.
Peter the Great, 195.
Petit motif, 52, 186.
Petit poussin, 184.

Philip Augustus, sumptuary laws of, 8.
Philippine Islands lace, 180.

Aloe lace, no.

Picchetti, Marie, a macram£ worker, 179.
Picklemann, Jungfrau, 160.
Picots, 214, 215.

INDEX.

239

Pictures as an aid in tracing the history of

lace, 3.

Pies, smuggling in, 79.
Pillows, dressed, 209, 217.
Pillow lace, definition of, 3, 186.
Pillow, round, 217.
Pins, 215.

Pins, substitutes for, 125.
Pin work, 215.
Pius VII., portrait of, 61.
Pizzo, 215.
Plain edge, 215, 216.
Plaited lace, 186.
Cluny, 186.
Point d'Espagne, 186.
Yak, 186.

Plastron made of floral scraps, 82.
Plis, 295.
Ply, 215.

Point, definition of, 215.
Point a carreaux, 186.
Point a 1'aiguille, 127, 186.

Earliest, 129.
Point conte', 119, 44.
Point coup6, 19, 141.

Point d'AIencon, Point d'Argentan, &c., are
indexed under Alen9on, Argentan, &c.
Point d'Angleterre, 54, 127, 147, 153, 154.
a brides, 154.
Description of, 154.
First appearance of, 35.
Lappet of, 153.
Smuggling of, 154.
Point de champ, 187.
Point de chant, 216.
Point de France, 26, 113, 187. See French

laces.

Cost of, 187.
Evolution of, 187.
Falling collar of, 29.
Ruffles and cravat of, 30.
Venetian influence, 28.
Point de gaze, 43, 115, 127.
Austrian, 115.
Eighteenth century, 43.
Point de Genes, 157.
Point de genes frise, 22.
Point de Lille, 216.
Point de Medicis, 187, 205.
Point de Moscow, 195.
Point de Paris, 187, 216.
Point de raccroc, 129, 216.
Point d'Espagne, 198.
Early, 22.

Point de tricot, 140.
Point de Tulle, 182.
Point de Turque, 185.
Point de Venise, 26.

Gros, reproduction of, 183.
Point double, 187.
Point Duchesse, 43.
Point du Dieppe, 184.
Point du Havre, 149, 184.
Point gaze, 43. 115, 127.
Austrian, 115.
Eighteenth century, 43.
Point Gotico, 15.
Collar of, 19.
Point, gras, 211.
Point Jesuit, 172.
Point lace, definition of, 188.
Flower in relief, 189.
Honeycomb grounds, 189.
Italian, 189.
Modern, 183.
Patterns of, 189.
Relief in, 189.
Silk for, 189.
Six-sided mesh, 189.
Point, lacet, 213.
Point neige, 189.
Cuff of, 188.
Point none, 2i6.
Point pecheur, 190.
Point plat, 127, 216.

Applique, 127.
Point tresse, 190.
Decline of, 190.
Elephant's-tail hair, 190.
Poking stick, 216.
Polychrome, 52, 190.
Pombal, Marquis de, Portuguese factory

founded by, 192.
Pont 1'Eveque, 149.
Pope, appeal to, in 1437, 10.

in Argentan alb, portrait of, 59.
Pope's point, 191.
Poppy and bryony design, 168.
Portraits, earliest, showing lace, 13.
Portuguese laces, 191.

Nineteenth century, 51.
Peasant laces, 72.
Peniche, 192.
Varieties of, 192.
Portuguese sumptuary laws, 192.
Postmen, lace, 77.
Pot pattern, in.
Potsdam, 160.

240

INDEX.

Potten kant, in.

Potter, Amy, and burial clothes, 62.
Pottery, lozenge pattern on, 5.
Poupa di Franza, la, 81.
Poupees, 79, 80.

Pourbus, Francesco, portrait by, 19.
Poussin design, 149.
Pricked, 216.
Pricked lace, 134.
Pricker, 216.

Princess Royal, wedding dress of, 170.
Prison-made laces, 49, 119.
Profit on lace-making, i.
Protector, the, 33.
Publications on lace, 94, 98.
Punti del dodisi fusi, 14.
Punti di Burano, 133, 192.
Punto a feston, 216.
Punto a groppo, 173, 174, 179.
Punto applicato, 18.
Punto Gotico, 192.
Punto in aria, 31, 192.
Punto ricamato a maglia, 144.
Punto tagliato, 140.
a fogliami, 205.
Punto tirato, 150.
Puppets, fashion, 79, 80.
Puritans' rule, effects of, 33, 61, 126, 167.
Purl edge, 215.
Purlings, 152, 193, 216.
Purls, 193, 215, 216.
Puy de Dome, 156.
Puy laces (175) are indexed under Le Puy.

Queen (the) Lace Book, 103.
Quillings, 216.
Quintain, 140, 216.

Rabuna, 5.

Raccroc stitch, 129, 216.

Ragged lace, treatment of, 82.

Ragusa lace, 193.

Raised flowers, 216, 217.

Honiton, 170.

Raised point de Venise, 189.
Raised rose crochet, 140.
Raised work, 216.
Randegger, Signor G. A., ballade a toile by,

100.

Rapolla, Genoa, 157.
Rattwik lace, 193.
Ravellings, 215, 217,

Rechami, De, embroidery patterns by, 104.
Reformation, effects of, 60, 6r, 167.
Regency point lace, 152, 193.
"Reglement pour les superfluites des habits"

(1613), 25.
Relief, flowers, &c., in, 140, 170, 189, 216,

217.

Rembrandt, portraits by, 32, 65.
Renaissance lace, finest period of, n.
Renaissance patterns, 91.
Ressau, 144.

Definition of, 217.
Grounds, 212.

Net ground, hexagonal, 212.
Rosace, 113, 217.
Restoration, the, 33.
Restoring lace, 84.
Reticella, 13, 20, 162, 194.

Designs for, 94, 96, 194.

Reveille, the, in the eighteenth century, 38.
Revolution, French (1792-3), effects of, 44,
108, 114, 116, 129, 135, 149, 156, 203.
" Revote des Passemens," 97.
Rezel, 144, 217.
Rezeuil, 144, 218.

Rezzonico, Pope (Clement XIII ), 57.
Rheims, 28, 156, 178.
Rhodes lace, 194.
Riazan, 196.
Ricamo, 5.

a reticella, 194.

Richard III., laces worn at coronation of, 203.
Richelieu, 114, 156.
Riego de la Brancharcliere, Mile., Netting

Book by, 104.
Ringkjobing "topper," 72.
Ripon lace, 194.
Riviera, 179.
Robing, 217.
Rococo designs, 91.

Rodge, James, of Honiton, 34, 146, 154.
Rohan, Catherine de, 135.
Rohan family, Archbishops of Strasburg, 59.
Roman cemetery in Egypt, lace from, 2.
Roman Church, vestments of, 56. See

Ecclesiastical lace.
Roman gold-thread work, 161.
Roman-Greek lace, 163.
Roman-Greek tombs, netting in, 4.
Roman lace, 162.

Peasants', 174.

Romana, Lucretia, designs by, 104.
Rond point, 195.
Rosaline point for fans, 66.

INDEX.

241

Rose point, 23, 189.

Bell-shaped sleeves, 55.
Roslin, portrait by, 41.
Ross, New, 171, 172, 206.
Rouen children's lace-trimmed caps, 71.
Rouen peasants' lace-trimmed caps, 74.
Rouissage, 217.
Round pillow, 217.
Royal family, English, Honiton lace ordered

for, 170.

Royal robes, networks on ancient, 4.
Rubens, portraits by, 32.
Ruche, 217.
Rucroc, 129, 217.
Ruff, 217.

Invention of, 156.

Mediaeval, 15.

Poldng-stick for, 216.

Replaced by the falling collar, 26.

Seventeenth century, 23, 24.

Trimmed with guipure, 21.

Yellow, prohibited in church, 32.
Ruffenberg, Baron, memoirs of, 155.
Ruffles, 217.

Eighteenth century, 39.

Servants', 40.

Weeping, 41.
Ruffs, mediaeval, 17.
Run Limerick lace, 178.
Runners, 217.
Russian lace, 195.

a brides picotces, 195.

Book on, 105.

Braid laces, 195.

Coarseness of, 196.

Coloured strips in, 195.

Duchess of Coburg's present of, to
South Kensington Museum, 195.

Gold, 62.

Needle-point, 195.

Nineteenth century, 51.

Old, 195.

Originality of, 196.

Peasant dress, 74.

Seats of the industry, 195, 196.

Tape laces, 195.

St. Andre, M. de, 30.
St. Annaberg, 16.

St. Bartholomew, massacre of, 201.
St. Bridget, introduction of Swedish laces
attributed to, 200.

St. Cuthbert's coffin in Durham Cathedral, 5,

18.

St. Denis, 178.

St. Dunstan, patterns designed by, 7, 94.
St. Etienne, 178.

St. Francois Regis, the patron saint of lace-
makers, 21.

St. Gallen peasant laces, 71.
St. Maximien, 135.
St. Michel laces, 178.
St. Nicholas flax, 128.
St. Peter's, Louvain, portrait at, 155.
Sainte Croix, Dr. Le Roy de, on Mrs. Hail-
stone's lace, 104.
Sam cloths, 97, 217.
Samplers, 97, 217, 218.
Sandford, Great, 132.
Santa Margherita, Genoa, 157.
Saracenic drawn and embroidered linen, 9.

Drawn linen, the earliest open-work, 7.

Drawn linen work, 5.

Drawn-work with Kufic inscription, 8.

Introduction of Venetian lace, 203.
Sarcophagi, figures on, 4.
Satire mentioning every known lace in the

seventeenth century, 97.
Savary on Valenciennes lace, 161.
Savile, George, Marquis of Halifax, portrait

of, 36.
Savona, 190.

Saxony bobbin lace, modern, 159.
Scalloped borders, first produced at Genoa,

22.
Scallops replaced by straight border, 25, 27.

Shape of, at various periods, 89.

Transition between pointed and straight,

81.

Scandinavia, gold lace handicraft taken by
Vikings to, 5.

Lace postmen in, 77.
Scandinavian barrow, gold lace in, 4.
Scarf, 218.

Chan'illy lace, 136.
Scarpariola, Cencia, 133.
Schleswig, 143.

Schwartzenberg, John, pattern-book by, 160.
Scotch crochet, 140.
Scotch ell, 209.
Scotch lace, 196.

Bunt Lace, 196.

Coarseness of, 196.

Duchess of Hamilton's efforts on behalf
of, 196.

Shetland, 197.

242

INDEX.

Scott, E., on flowers in point lace, 104.

Scraps, joining, 82.

Scriptural references, 4.

Sculpture as an aid in tracing the history of

lace, 3.

Seaming lace, 196.
Seaton, 148.

Fan made at, 67.
Sedan, 28, 156, 178.
Seguin, Joseph, on old laces, 104.

on Burano laces, 133.

on point d'Angleterre.

on point de Venise, 26.
Seme, 218.
Servants' livery in the eighteenth century,

40.

Setting sticks, 218.

Seventeenth century , anecdotal history of lace
in the, 23.

Designs, 90, 91.

English laces, 32, 152.

Fans, 64.

Finest lace made in, n.

Picture of the times, 23.

Point lace, 190.

Profuse use of lace in, 27.

Satire mentioning every known lace, 97.

Venetian laces, 204.
Sewing on lace, without injuring, 87.
Sforza, Beatrix d'Este, portrait of, 14.
Sforza family records, 13, 15, 182.
Sharpers, ruffles used by, 40.
Shawls, Indian, 119.
Sheahan's History of Bucks, 132.
Shelves in cabinets, 19, 93.
Sherborne lace, 196.
Shetland lace, 197.
" Shirtes," fifteenth century, Philip Stubbs

on, 6.

Shute, 148. . -
Sibmacher or Siebmacher (Hans & Johann),

works by, 104.
Sidmouth, 147, 148.
Siena point, 144.
Silesian peasant laces, 75.
Silk blonde laces, 197.
Silk laces, black, 119, 120.

Polychromo, 190.
Silver laces, 132, 161. See also Gold laces.

Cyprus, 142.

Eighteenth century, 41.

Transition from, to flax, 7.
Silver and gold thread lace, early specimen
of, 22.

" Simon the Canaanite," by Paul Veronese,

59, 179

Single or married state indicated by arrange-
ment of hair, 71.

Six-sided mesh in point lace, 189.
Sixteenth century, anecdotal history of lace
in the, 13.

Cut linen, 6.

Designs, 90.

English laces, 152.

Fans, 64.

Pattern books, 94, 96.

Picture of the times, 12.

Point lace, 190.

Venetian laces in, 205.
Skull-caps, metal, 72.
Sleeves, rose point bell-shaped, 55.
Sleeve-trimming of applique, nineteenth cen-
tury, 53.
Smock, 218.
Smuggling, 78, 127, 154, 172, 176, 201.

Dogs used for, 78.

Eighteenth century, 44.
Soap for cleaning, 86.
Songs sung by lace-makers, 17, 96, 100, 208.

" Nenia," composed by Randegger, 100.
Sophia, Princess, 32.

South Kensington Museum, Duchess of Co-
burg's present of Russian laces to, 195.
South Sea Bubble, period of, 41.
Spacing lace, 196.
Spain and point lace-making, 189.
Spanish guipure, 198.

Spanish laces, 198. These are fully indexed
under their respective headings. .

Barcelona, 197.

Blonde, 197.

Duty on, 199.

Early, 198.

Ecclesiastical, 199.

Eighteenth century, 41, 42.

Exquisite quality of, 199.

Flemish influence, 197.

Funeral laces, 62.

Gold and silver, 162.

Greek, 163.

Jewish manufacturers, 198.

Mantilla laces, 38, 180.

Nineteenth century, 51.

Peasant laces, 72.

Point, eighteenth century, 41.

Point d'Kspagne, 198,

Reticella, 194.

Rose point, 198,

INDEX.

2*3

Spanish laces — continued.

Silk blonde, 197.

Tape lace, 201.

Thick cordonnet, 198.

Varieties of, 199.

Spanish mantilla, portrait showing, 38.
Spanish national dress in the eighteenth cen-
tury, 42.

Special designs, orders for, 77.
Spider work, 137, 144.
Spindle points, 14.
Spines, 218.
Sprig, 218.

Stafford, Bishop, monument of, 146.
Star grounds, 212, 218.
Starch, 218.

Stassof, W., on Russian laces, 105.
Steinkirk cravats, 32, 40.
Stem stitch, 219.
Stephani lace, 199.
Stephani, Princess, of Austria, 199.
Stienbeck's efforts on behalf of Danish lace,

143-

Stiffened lace as a sunshade, 75.
Stitch, buttonhole, 207.

Close, 208.

Raccroc or rucroc, 216.

Stem, 291.

Streak, 219.
Storing lace, 82, 91.
Straight-edged laces, early, 25, 27.
Strand ground, 219.
Strasburg, Archbishops of, 58.
Straw braids, 200.
Straw-plaited lace, 199.

Brazilian, 200.

English, 199.

French, 200.

Japanese, 200.

Leghorn, 199.

Swiss, 200.

Tuscan, 199.

"Straws" (needles), 200.
Streak stitch, 219.
Stubbs, Philip, on sixteenth century "shirtes,"

Suffolk lace, 200.
Sully, minister of Henri IV., 25.
Summer and winter laces, 43.
Sumptuary laws, effects of, 7, n, 21, 24, 28,
32, 98, 107, 117, 157, 161, 175, 192,
201.

First French, 8.

Venetian, 9, 10.

Sunshade, stiffened lace as a, 75.

Surplice, the, 57.

Surplices worn by choristers at the Vatican,

61.
Swedish laces, 200.

Dalecarlian lace, 143.

Gold, 162.

Holesom, 75, 201.

Household, 201.

Nineteenth century, 51.

Origin of, 200.

Patterns of, 200.

Peasant laces, 72, 75.

St. Bridget and the introduction of, 200.-

Twisted thread, 201.
Swift, play composed by, for the benefit of

Irish weavers, 171.

Swinburne, Henry, on French brides' trous-
seaux, 38.
Swiss laces, 201.

Mignonette, 182.

Nineteenth century, 51.

Pattern books, 201.

Peasant laces, 70, 71.
Swiss straw-plaiting, 200.
Swiss sumptuary laws, 201.
Syracuse, Count of, on English ladies and
lace, 48

Tab, 219.

Table, specimen, for lace, 90.

Table-centre made from fragments, 84.

Tagliato fogliami, 23.

Talith, the, 60.

Tambour lace, 201.

Limerick, 178.

Tape guipures, 163, 165, 166.
Tape lace, 201 .

a brides, border of, 165.

Belgian, 118.

Italian bobbin-made, 124.
Tape of twisted threads, ancient, 4.
Targe, 5.
Tatting lace, 201.

Specimen of, 202.
Tatting, pearl, 172.
Temple, Earl, ruffles presented to the king

by, 131-

Terray, Joseph Marie, portrait of, 41.
Theban lace, 3.
Thread, hand-made, 89.
Thirteenth century, picture .of the times, 12

Sumptuary laws in, 9

INDEX.

Thorns, 219.

Ties, 219.

Tiffield, 184.

Tinnevelli, 4, 171.

Tinted lace, cleaning, 86.

Tippet of black Chantilly, 52.

Tippets, ecclesiastical, 103.

Titian's daughter-in-law, portrait of, 64.

Toile, 219.

Toile d'araigner, no.

Tokens, lace, 213.

Tombs in Exeter Cathedral, 146.

Tombs, laces, etc., from ancient, 3-7, 9, 62.

Tender lace, 143, 150.

Torbay, 147.

Torchon lace, 202.

Torjok, 195.

Totanelli, portrait by, 48.

Touche, V., book by, 105.

Toulouse, sumptuary law of, 175.

Tournay flax, 128.

Tours ribbon factories, 30.

Transport of lace, 76.

Travancore, 4, 171.

Trays in cabinets, 93.

Tray-mat made from fragments, 84.

Treadwin, Mrs., of Exeter, 148.

on antique and Honiton point, 105.
Tree of Knowledge pattern, 167.
Trefoil, close, 208.
Treille, 219.

Treillis d'Allemagne, 159.

Trevelyan, Miss Audrey, introduction of de-
signs in Devonshire lace by, 54.
Trevelyan's (Mrs.) encouragement of the

Devonshire industry, 148.
Trina di lana, 197.
Trine, 5.

Trolle kant, 155, 202.
Trolly lace, 130, 202.

Bobbin-made, 44.

Bucks, 152.

Devonshire, 147.

Trousseaux, French, in the eighteenth
century, 38.

Carnival lace for, 134.
Trovaux' Brussels lace factory converted into

a hospital, 48.

Truck system of payment, 78.
Tulle galloons, 116.
Turbans, smuggling in, 79.
Turnhout, 155
Turque, point de, 185.
Tuscany straw-plaiting, 199.

Twisted threads, ancient lace of, 3.
Tyrol, Austrian, 115.

Unbleached effect, renewing, 87.

Unterwalden peasant jewellery, 73.

Urbani, G. M., de Gheltof, on Venetian

laces. 105.

Utilising scraps of lace, 82.
Utrecht peasant laces, 69.
Uttmann, Barbara, invention of lace wrongly

attributed to, 15, 159.

Valenciennes, straight border first made at, 27.
Valenciennes lace, 202.

Alb presented to the Convent of the
Visitation, 59.

Ave Maria, 116.

Bobbin-made border, 157.

Bobbin-made ground, 88.

Bobbins, number of, required for, 204.

Border of French, 204.

Cordonnet absent from, 204.

Cost of, 203.

Dotted style, 203.

Dudonne, M., on, 139.

Early, 203, 204.

Fausse, 59, 139, 203, 204.

Modern, 203.

Natural patterns, 203.

Night wear, 40.

Origin of, 202.

Sayary on, 161.

Seats of the industry, 203.

Seme style, 203.

Time occupied in making, 203.

Vrai, 59, 139, 203.
Valier, Dogaressa Quirini, 205.
Van Dyck, portraits by, 24, 27.
Vatican, lace of the, 57.

Surplices worn at the, 61.
Vavassore, Gio. Andrea, designs by, 105.
Vecellio, Cesare, works by, 95, 96, 105.
Venetian fisher-maid, story of, 182.
Venetian guipure, 162, 204. See Greek point.
Venetian laces, 204.

Book on, 105.

Chef d'oeuvre of the lace industry, 205.

Cut-work, 140.

Greek, 163.

Gros point de Venise, 189.

Grounded Venetian point, 163.

INDEX.

245

Venetian laces — continued.

Hampered by legislation, 9.

in Western Europe, 205.

Margherita, 181.

Mermaid's lace, 182.

Mosaic lace, 127.

Origin of, 204.

Point, 23, 42, 48.

Polychromo, 52.

Punto in aria, 192.

Reproduction of gros point de Venise, 183.

Rose point, 189.

Saracen introduction, 204.

Schools for, 205.

Silk blonde, 197.

Varieties of, 205.

Venetian pattern-book, earliest, 16.
Venetian point, cravat of, 48.

Eighteenth century, 42.

Specimens of, 23.
Venezuelan lace, 206.
Venice, fashion dolls at, 81.

Fashions set by, in the Middle Ages and
in the seventeenth century, 24, 205.

Gold, 204.

Invention of lace, 204.

Model of Doges' palace at, 80.

Verbiest, Mme., portrait of, 25.

Veronese, Paul, "Simon the Canaanite "

by. 59, 179.
Versailles, 116.
Vestments, 56, 136. See Ecclesiastical lace.

St. Cuthbert's, 5.
Viarmes, 135.
Victoria, Queen, and Isle of Wight lace, 173.

Lagetta dress presented to, 174.

Wedding veil of, 167.
Vierge design, 149.
Vikings, gold lace handicraft taken by, to

Scandinavia, 5.
Villier-le-Bel, 178.
Vinciolo, Federico di, designs and patterns

by. 94, 97, J05, 125, 137, 141, 163.
Vologda, 196.
Vrai and fausse Valenciennes, 59, 203.

Wadstena, nuns' work at, 18, 200.

Wales, Princess of, wedding dress worn by,

170.
Walker, Charles, and Limerick lace, 177.

Wallen peasant laces, 70.

Walmegnier, peasant head-gear of, 70.

Wareham, gold lace found near, 4.

War time, permission for entry of fashion

puppets during, 80.
Washington, George, portrait of, 39.
Waterford, 171, 172, 206.
Waterloo incident in connection with Brussels

lace, 48.
Watteau, fans painted by, 66.

Paintings by, 32, 61.
Waxworks in Westminster Abbey, 62.
Wedding dress of 1830, 51.
Wedding (bridal) lace, 38, 126.
Weeping ruffles, 41.
Welsh "topper," 72.
Wendover, 132.

Westminster Abbey, waxworks in, 62.
Wheat-pattern blonde, 121.
Wheels, half, 212, 213.
White lace, cleaning, 86.
Wight (Isle of) lace, 172.
Wilhelmina, Queen of Holland, 72.
William and Mary, 34.
William IV., 147.
Wiltshire laces, 206.
Winchester, 32.
Winslow, 132.
Winter laces, 43.
Alencon, 107.
Wire ground, 219.
Wolstrope, works of, 94.
Women, the lace industry as an employment

for, 55.

Woodbury, 147.

Woollen laces for the burial of the 'dead, 62.
Wulff, Mr. Jens, Knight of the Danebrog.

77-

Yak lace, 206.

Plaited, 186.

Yelverton, Miss Emily, portrait of, 55.
Youghal lace, 171, 172, 206.

Fan, 66.

Yorkshire lace, 194.
Ypres, 151, 155, 181, 203.
Yvetot peasant laces, 69.

Zante lace, 163, 206

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Full text of "A history of hand-made lace. Dealing with the origin of lace, the growth of the great lace centres, the mode of manufactures, the methods of distiuguishing and the care of various kinds of lace"

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