Chapter XX: Part 2: , 24 ff. Same decorated frontispiece and 22 plates of subjects in (5)

[260] _A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Lace in the Victoria
and Albert Museum_, by the late Mrs. Bury Palliser. Third edition,
revised and enlarged by A. S. Cole.

[261] _Edinburgh Advertiser_, 1764.

[262] There is no corroboration of Mrs. Palliser's statement above that
lace was ever made in Malta; if so, it would have been of the
Genoese geometrical kind, of which Lady Hamilton Chichester adapted
the designs and evolved what is now known as Maltese lace by the aid
of workers imported from Genoa. The Maltese cross has been
introduced into the designs as a distinguishing mark.

[263] "A lace of similar character (Maltese) has also been made
successfully in the missionary schools at Madras" (Mrs. Palliser).

[264] Lefébure, _Embroidery and Lace_.

[265] In the Philippine Islands the natives work Manilla grass into a sort
of drawn thread-work or tatting.

[266] 1756. _Point d'Espagne hats._--Connoisseur.

[267] Beckmann, in his _History of Inventions_, says that "It was a
fashion to give the name of Spanish to all kinds of novelties, such
as Spanish flies, Spanish wax, Spanish green, Spanish grass, Spanish
seed, and others."

[268] A. S. Cole. "Cantor Lectures on the Art of Lace-Making."

[269] _Livre Nouveau de Patrons_ and _Fleurs des Patrons_ give various
stitches to be executed "en fil d'or, d'argent, de soie, et
d'autres." Both printed at Lyons. The first has no date; the
second, 1549. _Le Pompe_, Venezia, 1559, has "diversi sorti di
mostre per poter far, d'oro, di sete, di filo," etc.

[270] "Not many years since, a family at Cadiz, of Jewish extraction,
still enjoyed the monopoly of manufacturing gold and silver
lace."--_Letter from Spain_, 1863. _Merletto Polichrome_, or
parti-coloured lace, was also invented and perfected by the Jews,
and was made in silk of various colours, representing fruit and
flowers. This industry has been revived in Venice, and carried to
great perfection.

[271] Senor J. F. Riano. _The Industrial Arts in Spain._--"Lace."

[272] "Spain has 8,932 convents, containing 94,000 nuns and
monks."--Townsend, J., _Journey Through Spain in the Years 1786 and
1787_.

[273] The aloe thread is now used in Florence for sewing the straw-plait.

[274] Barcelona, 1892, page 225, quoted by Signor J. F. Riano. Date of
book 1592.

[275] A. S. Cole, _Ancient Needle-point and Pillow-Lace_.

[276] This ordinance even extended to foreign courts. We read in the
Mercure _Galant_, 1679, of the Spanish ambassadress, "Elle etoit
vestue de drap noir avec de la dentelle de soye; elle n'avait ni
dentelle ni linge autour de sa gorge."

[277] _Mercure François._

[278] They have also provided--

"14 ruffs & 14 pairs of
cuffs laced, at 20s. £14

For lacing 8 hats for the
footmen with silver
parchment lace, at 3s. £1 4s."

_Extraordinary Expenses of his Highness to Spain_, 1623. P. R. O.

[279] Doctor Monçada, in 1660, and Osorio, in 1686, reckoned more than
three millions of Spaniards who, though well dressed, wore no
shirts.--_Townsend's Spain._

[280] Speaking of the apartment of Madame d'Aranda, Beckford writes: "Her
bed was of the richest blue velvet, trimmed with point lace."

[281] Our English translation of _Don Quixote_ has led some authors into
adducing a passage as an evidence that the art of making bone lace
was already known in Cervantes' day. "Sanchica," writes Theresa
Pança to her husband, the newly-appointed Governor of Baratava,
"makes bone lace, and gets eight maravedis a day, which she drops
into a tin box to help towards household stuff. But now that she is
a governor's daughter, you will give her a fortune, and she will not
have to work for it." In referring to the original Spanish we find
the words rendered bone lace are "puntas de randas," signifying
works of lacis or réseuil--"ouvrage de lacis ou réseuil."--Oudin.
_Trésor des Deux Langues Fr. et Esp._ (1660).

[282] As early as the Great Wardrobe Account of Queen Elizabeth, 1587, P.
R. O., we have a charge for bobbin lace of Spanish silk, "cum uñ
tag," for the mantle, 10s. 8d.

In a letter from Prestwick Eaton to Geo. Willingham, 1631, the
writer sends 1000 reals (£25), and in return desires him to send,
together with a mastiff dog, some black satin lace for a Spanish
suit.--_State Papers, Domestic_, Car. I., P. R. O.

[283] 1697. Marriage of Mademoiselle and the King of Spain. The Queen,
says the _Mercure_, wore "une mante de point d'Espagne d'or, neuf
aunes de long." 1698. Fête at Versailles on the marriage of the Duc
de Bourgogne. "La Duchesse de Bourgogne pourtoit un petit tablier de
point d'Espagne de mille pistoles."--_Galérie de l'ancienne Cour; ou
Mém. des Règnes de Louis XIV. et Louis XV._, 1788.

1722. Ball at the Tuileries. "Tous les seigneurs etaient en habits
de drap d'or ou d'argent garnis de points d'Espagne, avec des noeuds
d'épaule, et tout l'ajustement à proportion. Les moindres etaient de
velours, avec des points d'Espagne d'or et d'argent."--_Journal de
Barbier_, 1718-62.

1722. "J'ai vu en même temps le carosse que le roi fait faire pour
entrer dans Reims, il sera aussi d'une grande magnificence. Le
dedans est tout garni d'un velours à ramage de points d'Espagne
d'or."--_Ibid._

1731. Speaking of her wedding-dress, Wilhelmina of Bayreuth, the
witty sister of Frederick the Great, writes: "Ma robe étoit d'une
étoffe d'or fort riche, avec un point d'Espagne d'or, et ma queue
étoit de douze aunes de long."--_Mémoires._

1751. Fête at Versailles on the birth of the Duc de Bourgogne. The
coats of the "gens de cour, en étoffes d'or de grand prix ou en
velours de tout couleurs, brodés d'or, ou garnis de point d'Espagne
d'or."--_Journal de Barbier._

[284] _Fenix de Cataluña, compendio desus Antiguas Grandezas y Medio para
Renovarlas_, Barcelona, 1683, p. 75.

[285] In the reign of William and Mary, we find, in a lace-man's bill of
the Queen, a charge for forty-seven yards of rich, broad, scalloped,
embossed point de Spain; and her shoes are trimmed with gold and
silver lace.--B. M., Add. MSS.; No. 5751.

At the entry of Lord Stair into Paris, 1719, his servants' hats are
described as laced with Spanish point, their sleeves laced with
picked silver lace, and dented at the edge with lace.--_Edinburgh
Courant._

In 1740, the Countess of Pomfret, speaking of the Princess Mary's
wedding clothes, writes: "That for the wedding night is silver
tissue, faced at the bottom before with pink-coloured satin, trimmed
with silver point d'Espagne."--_Letters of the Countess of Hartford
to the Countess of Pomfret_, 1740.

[286] Marquis de la Gombardière, 1634, _Nouveau Réglement Général des
Finances_, etc.

[287] "Eighty children and grandchildren attended his funeral in defiance
of the Edict of 19th Sept., 1664, and were heavily fined."--_La
France Protestante_, par M. M. Haag. Paris, 1846-59.

[288] Garderobe de S. A. S. Mgr. le Duc de Penthièvre. Arch. Nat. K. K.
390-1.

[289] Lord Verulam on the treaty of commerce with the Emperor Maximilian.

[290] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1745.

[291] Peyron, 1789.

[292] Madrid, 1775.

[293] _Itinéraire de l'Espagne_, Comte Alph. de Laborde, t. v.

[294] Peuchet (_Dictionnaire Universel de la Géographie Commerçante_, An.
vii. = 1799), speaking of Barcelona, says their laces are "façon de
France," but inferior in beauty and quality. The fabrication is
considerable, employing 2,000 women in the towns and villages east
of Barcelona. They are sold in Castile, Andalusia, and principally
in the Indies.

[295] Madrid, 1788. Vol. ii, p. 149.

[296] _Ibid._ Vol. xvii., p. 294.

[297] "The manufacture of silk lace or blonde in Almagro occupies from
12,000 to 13,000 people" (Mrs. Palliser, 1869). Modern torchon laces
are still made at Almagro to a very large extent (1901).

[298] Madrid, 1788.

[299] Madrid, 1797.

[300] Senor Juan F. Riano, _The Industrial Arts in Spain_, "Lace" (London,
1879).

[301] _Theory of Commerce_, from the Spanish of Don. Ger. de Ustariz
(Lond., 1751).

[302] When the holidays of the Roman Catholic church are deducted, the
work-days of the people amount only to 260 in the course of the
year--fifty less than in a Protestant country.

[303] Ford, _Handbook of Spain_.

[304] 1869.

[305] "Now there are only two kinds of lace made in Spain; 'encaje de
blonda,' mantillas, scarves, lace-ties, etc., in white and black;
these are manufactured in Barcelona, on long pillows stuffed with
long straw quite hard, covered with yellow or light blue linen. The
lace is worked on a cardboard pattern, and with 'fuseaux' like the
French torchon lace, the only difference being that the pillow is
long and narrow and without the revolving cylinder in the centre, so
that when making a long piece, or lace by the yard, the pins have to
be taken out when you get to the bottom of the pillow, and the work
removed to the top and continued. The mantillas, etc., are worked by
pieces; that is to say, the border, flowers, and large designs, and
are afterwards joined by the veil stitch.

"The second is 'encaje de Almagro'--little children of six and seven
years old are taught to make it."--_Letter from Spain_, 1901.

[306] "On met de la dentelle brodée de couleur de points d'Espagne aux
jupes"--_Mercure Galant._

[307] _Recherches sur le Commerce, la Fabrication et l'Usage des Etoffes
de Soie, etc., pendant le Moyen Age._ Paris, 1839.

[308] Taglienti, Venice, 1530.

[309] Paris, 1546.

[310] Pelegrin de Florence, Paris, 1530.

[311] _Magazin de Londres_, 1749.

[312] Mademoiselle Dumont, foundress of the point de France fabric, in the
Rue St. Denis, quitted Paris after some years and retired to
Portugal: whether she there introduced her art is more than the
author can affirm.

[313] It was probably a variety of point de Venise. A few years ago a
specimen of point plat was exhibited in London with a Portuguese
inscription and designs of figures in costumes of _circ._ 1600.

See Plate IX.

[314] The bobbins from Peniche, one of the few places in Portugal where
pillow-lace is still made, are remarkably pretty. They are of ivory,
agreeably mellowed by time and constant handling, and their slender
tapering shafts and bulbous ends are decorated simply but tastefully
with soft-tinted staining. In size they are small, measuring from
three and a quarter to three and a half inches long, and these
proportions are extremely good. Another variety of Peniche bobbin is
made of dark brown, boldly-grained wood. The lace-makers work on a
long cylindrical cushion--the _almofada_--fastened to a high,
basket-work stand, light enough to be easily moved from place to
place.--R. E. Head, "Some Notes on Lace-Bobbins," _The Reliquary_,
July, 1900.

[315] _The Queen_, August, 1872.

"The places in Portugal where the lace industry is chiefly exercised
are Peniche, Vianna do Castello, Setubal, a village in Algarve
called Faro, and at the present time Lisbon, where, under the help
and patronage of H. M. the Queen, a lace dépot has been instituted,
in which I have worked for ten years, seeking to raise the
Portuguese lace industry to an art. The designs being entirely my
own original ones, I am trying to give them a character in unison
with the general idea of the architecture throughout the country. I
obtained gold medals for my work at the Exhibitions of 1894 at
Antwerp and 1900 at Paris, besides others at Lisbon."--Letter from
Dona Maria Bordallo Pinheiro, head of the Lace Industry Department
at Lisbon, 1901.

[316] "There are now seven families employed in the fabrication of Maltese
lace, which is made almost entirely by men; the women occupy
themselves in the open-work embroidery of muslin" (1869).

[317] Those in the collegiate church of St. Peter's, at Louvain, and in
the church of St. Gomar, at Lierre (Antwerp Prov.).--Aubry.

[318] Baron Reiffenberg, in _Mémoires de l'Académie de Bruxelles_. 1820.

[319] Engraved by Collaert. Bib. Nat. Grav.

[320] _Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent, formation de la ville,
événements memorables, territoire, topographie, institutions,
monuments, oeuvres d'art_, page 330, by Edward van Even, published
1895.

[321] M. de Barante.

[322] It goes on: "For the maiden, seated at her work, plies her fingers
rapidly, and flashes the smooth balls and thousand threads into the
circle. Often she fastens with her hand the innumerable needles, to
bring out the various figures of the pattern; often, again, she
unfastens them; and in this her amusement makes as much profit as
the man earns by the sweat of his brow; and no maiden ever complains
at even of the length of the day. The issue is a fine web, open to
the air with many an aperture, which feeds the pride of the whole
globe; which encircles with its fine border cloaks and tuckers, and
shows grandly round the throats and hands of kings; and, what is
more surprising, this web is of the lightness of a feather, which in
its price is too heavy for our purses. 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."--_Jacobi Eyckii
Antwerpiensis Urbium Belgicarum Centuria._ Antw. 1651. 1 vol., 4to.
Bib. Royale, Brussels.

[323] Alençon excepted.

[324] It is said to destroy the eyesight. "I was told by a gentleman well
acquainted with Flanders," says McPherson, "that they were
generally almost blind before thirty years of age."--_History of
Commerce_, 1785.

[325] Together with the cap is preserved a parchment with this
inscription: "Gorro que perteneccio à Carlos Quinto, emperad. Guarda
lo, hijo mio, es memoria de Juhan de Garnica." ("Cap which belonged
to the Emperor Charles V. Keep it, my son, in remembrance of John de
Garnica"). J. de Garnica was treasurer to Philip II.

Séguin, however, is of opinion that this cap belonged to one of
Charles V.'s successors:--

"Ce bonnet ... a dû appartenir très certainement à un de ses
successeurs (of Charles V.), à cause que ce bonnet se trouve coupé
et encadré par un petit entre-deux de guipure au fuseau, façon point
de Gênes, qui ne pouvait pas avoir été fait du temps de Charles
Quint."--Séguin, _La Dentelle_.

[326] Married, 1599, Albert, Archduke of Austria.

[327] By Andrew Yarranton, Gent. London, 1677. A proposal to erect schools
for teaching and improving the linen manufacture as they do "in
Flanders and Holland, where little girls from six years old upwards
learn to employ their fingers." Hadrianus Junius, a most learned
writer, in his description of the Netherlands, highly extols the
fine needlework and linen called cambric of the Belgian nuns, which
in whiteness rivals the snow, in texture satin, and in price the
sea-silk--Byssus, or beard of the Pinna.

[328] An old term, still used in Scotland, for gossip, chatter.

[329] These dogs were of large size, and able to carry from 22 to 26 lbs.
They also conveyed tobacco. The Swiss dogs smuggle watches.

[330] Black lace was also imported at this period from the Low Countries.
Among the articles advertised as lost, in the _Newsman_ of May 26th,
1664, is, "A black lute-string gown with a black Flanders lace."

[331] Mercure Galant. 1678.

[332] "Le corsage et les manches étaient bordés d'une blanche et légère
dentelle, sortie à coup sûr des meilleures manufactures
d'Angleterre."

[333] We have, however, one entry in the Wardrobe Accounts of the Duc de
Penthièvre: "1738. Onze aunes d'Angleterre de Flandre."

[334] _Mercure Galant._ 1678.

[335] "Deux paires de manchettes et une cravatte de point
d'Angleterre."--_Inventaire d'Anne d'Escoubleau, Baronne de Sourdis,
veuve de François de Simiane._ Arch. Nat. M. M. 802.

[336] _Inv. après le decès de Mgr. Mich. Philippine de la Vrillière,
Patriarche, Archevêque de Bourges_, 1694. Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr.
11,426.

"Une toilette et sa touaille avec un peignoir de point
d'Angleterre."--_Inv. de decès de Mademoiselle de Charollais._ 1758.
Arch. Nat.

[337] _Mrs. Calderwood's Journey through Holland and Belgium_, 1756.
Printed by the Maitland Club.

[338] Flax is also cultivated solely for lace and cambric thread at St.
Nicholas, Tournay, and Courtrai. The process of steeping
(_rouissage_) principally takes place at Courtrai, the clearness of
the waters of the Lys rendering them peculiarly fitted for the
purpose. Savary states that fine thread was first spun at Mechlin.

[339] It is often sold at £240 per lb., and in the Report of the French
Exhibition of 1859 it is mentioned as high as £500 (25,000fr. the
kilogramme). No wonder that so much thread is made by machinery, and
that Scotch cotton thread is so generally used, except for the
choicest laces. But machine-made thread has never attained the
fineness of that made by hand. Of those in the Exhibition of 1862,
the finest Lille was 800 leas (a technical term for a reel of 300
yards), the Brussels 600, the Manchester 700; whereas in Westphalia
and Belgium hand-spun threads as fine as 800 to 1000 are spun for
costly laces. The writer has seen specimens, in the Museum at Lille,
equal to 1200 of machinery; but this industry is so poorly
remunerated, that the number of skilful hand-spinners is fast
diminishing.

[340] _Dictionnaire du Citoyen._ 1761.

[341] _Comptes de Madame du Barry._ Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 8157 and 8.

[342] "Trois aubes de batiste garnies de grande dentelle de gros point
d'Angleterre."--_Inv. des Meubles, etc., de Louis, Duc d'Orléans,
decedé 4 fev. 1752._ (Son of the Regent.) Arch. Nat. X. 10,075.

"Deux aubes de point d'Angleterre servant à Messieurs les curez.

"Une autre aube à dentelle de gros point servant aussy à M. le
curé."--_Inventaire et Description de l'Argenterie, Vermeil Doré,
Ornemens, Linge, etc., appartenant à l'Oeuvre et Fabrique de
l'église Saint-Merry à Paris._ 1714. Arch. Nat. L.L. 859.

[343] "Une coëffure à une pièce d'Angleterre bride et réseau."--_Comptes
de Madame du Barry._

"1 aune et quart d'Angleterre mêlé."--_Ibid._

[344] Mrs. Delany writes ("Corr.," vol. 2): The laces "I have pitched on
for you are charming; it is grounded Brussels."

"Deux tours de gorge à raiseau, un tour de camisolle à
bride."--1720. _Inv. de la Duchesse de Bourbon._ Arch. Nat. X.
10,062-4.

"Six peignoirs de toille fine garnis par en haut d'une vielle
dentelle d'Angleterre à raiseau."--_Inv. de decès de Monsieur
Philippe petit fils de France, Duc d'Orléans, Regent du Royaume,
decedé 2 décembre, 1723._ Arch. Nat. X. 10,067.

The "fond écaillé" often occurs.

"Une coëffure à une pièce de point à l'écaille;

"Une paire de manchettes de cour de point à raizeau, et deux devants
de corps de point à brides à écailles."--1761. _Inv. de la Duchesse
de Modène._ Arch. Nat. X. 10,082.

"Deux barbes, rayon, et fond d'Angleterre superfin fond
écaillé."--_Comptes de Madame du Barry._ See her _Angleterre_, Chap.
XI. note 26.

[345] To which machinery has added a third, the tulle or Brussels net.

[346] The needleground is three times as expensive as the pillow, because
the needle is passed four times into each mesh, whereas in the
pillow it is not passed at all.

[347] "Trois oreillers, l'un de toille blanche picquée garnis autour de
chacun d'un point plat."--_Inv. de la Duchesse de Modène._

[348] _Tableau de Paris_, par S. Mercier. Amsterdam, 1782.

[349] "Fashion." J. Warton.

[350] Brussels lace-makers divide the plat into three parts, the "mat,"
the close part answering to the French _toilé_ (Chapter III.); _gaze
au fuseau_, in which small interstices appear, French _grillé_, and
the _jours_, or open work.

[351] The veil presented by the city of Brussels to the Empress Josephine
was sold in 1816 by Eugene Beauharnais to Lady Jane Hamilton. It is
described to have been of such ample dimensions that, when placed on
Lady Jane's head--who was upwards of six feet high--it trained on
the ground. The texture of the réseau was exquisitely fine. In each
corner was the imperial crown and cypher, encircled with wreaths of
flowers. This _chef d'oeuvre_ passed into the possession of Lady
Jane's daughter, the Duchesse de Coigny.

[352] To afford an idea of the intrinsic value of Brussels lace, we give
an estimate of the expense of a fine flounce (_volant_), of _vrai
réseau mélangé_ (point and plat), 12 metres long by 35 centimetres
wide (13¼ yards by 14 inches)--

Fr.
Cost of the plat 1,885.75
Needle-point 5,000
Open-work, _jours_ (_fonnage_) 390
Appliqué (_stricage_) 800
Ground (_réseau_) 2,782
Footing (_engrêlure_) 1.27
---------
Total 10,859.02
---------
= £434 7 6

Equals £36 3s. 9d. the metre, and the selling price would be about
£50 16s., which would make the flounces amount to £609 12s.

[353] "Une paire de manchettes de dentelle de Malines brodée."

"Quatre bonnets de nuit garnis de Malines brodée."--_Inv. de decès
de Mademoiselle de Charollais._ 1758.

[354] _Inv. de la Duchesse de Bourbon._ 1720.

"1704. Deux fichus garnis de dentelle de Malines à bride ou rézeau.

"Une cravatte avec les manchettes de point de Malines à bride.

"Deux autres cravattes de dentelle de Malines à rézeau et trois
paires de manchettes de pareille dentelle."--_Inv. de Franç.
Phelypeaux Loisel._ Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 11,459.

[355] _Inv. de decès de Madame Anne, Palatine de Bavière, Princesse de
Condé._ 1723. Arch. de Nat. X. 10,065.

[356] In the accounts of Madame du Barry, we have "Malines bâtarde à
bordure."

[357] _Inv. après le decès de Mgr. le Maréchal de la Motte._ Bib. Nat.
MSS. F. Fr. 11,426. "Quatre paires de manchettes garnyes de
passement tant de Venise, Gennes, et de Malines."

[358] _Voyage en Flandre._ 1681.

[359] B. M. Add. MSS. No. 5751.

[360] Gr. Ward. Acc. P. R. O.

[361] _Ibid._

[362] "On chamarre les jupes en quiles de dentelles plissées."--_Mercure
Galant._ 1678.

"Un volant dentelle d'Angleterre plissée."--_Extraordinaire du
Mercure. Quartier d'Esté._ 1678.

[363] "1741. Une coiffure de nuit de Malines à raizeau campanée de deux
pièces.

"Une paire de manches de Malines brodée a raizeau campanée, un tour
de gorge, et une garniture de corset."--_Inv. de Mademoiselle de
Clermont._

"1761. Une paire de manches de Malines bridés non campanée, tour de
gorge, et garniture de corset."--_Inv. de la Duchesse de Modène._

[364] "1720. Une garniture de teste à trois pièces de dentelle de Malines
à bride.

"Deux peignoirs de toile d'Hollande garnis de dentelle, l'une
d'Angleterre à bride et l'autre de Maline à raiseau."--_Inv. de la
Duchesse de Bourbon._ "1750. Une dormeuse de Malines."--_Inv. de
Mademoiselle de Charollais._

"1770. 5½ grande hauteur de Malines pour une paire de manchettes,
264 francs.

"1 au. jabot pour le tour de gorge, 16.

"5 au. ¼ Malines pour garnir 3 chemises au nègre à 12 fr." (The
wretch Zamor who denounced her.)--_Comptes de Madame du Barry._

"1788. 6 tayes d'oreiller garnies de Malines."--_Etat de ce qui a
été fourni pour le renouvellement de Mgr. le Dauphin._ Arch. Nat. K.
505, No. 20.

"1792. 2 tayes d'oreillier garnis de maline."--_Notes du linge du
çi-devant Roi. Ibid._ No. 8.

"1792. 24 fichus de batiste garnis de Maline.

"2 taye d'orilier garnis de Maline."--_Renouvellement de M. le Duc.
de Normandie. Ibid._

[365] An Arrêt, dated 14 Aug., 1688, requires that "toutes les dentelles
de fil d'Anvers, Bruxelles, Malines et autres lieux de la Flandre
Espagnolle," shall enter only by Rousselars and Condé, and pay a
duty of 40 livres per lb.--Arch. Nat. _Coll. Rondonneau._

[366] In the list of foreign Protestants resident in England, 1618 to
1688, we find in London, Aldersgate Ward, Jacob Johnson, born at
Antwerp, lace-maker, and Antony du Veal, lace-weaver, born in Turny
(Tournay).

[367] This portrait has been engraved by Verbruggen, who gives it as that
of Catherine of Aragon.

[368] _Mercure Galant_, 1696.

[369] The flower-pot was a symbol of the Annunciation. In the early
representations of the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin
Mary, lilies are placed either in his hand, or set as an accessory
in a vase. As Romanism declined, the angel disappeared, and the lily
pot became a vase of flowers; subsequently the Virgin was omitted,
and there remained only the vase of flowers.

[370] See APPENDIX.

[371] _Tableau Statistique du Dép. des Deux-Nèthes_, par le Citoyen
Herbouville. An X. = 1802.

[372] Their names are given: Veuves Mesele, Papegay, and Turck.

[373] Ypres Valenciennes was exhibited at £80 (the metre). The lace-maker,
working twelve hours a day, could scarcely produce one-third of an
inch a week. It would take her twelve years to complete a length of
six or seven metres, her daily earnings averaging two to three
francs. Ypres makes the widest Valenciennes of any manufacture
except Courtrai, whence was exhibited a half shawl (pointe) of
Valenciennes.

[374] M. Duhayon Brunfaut, of Ypres.

[375] _Treille_ is the general term for the ground (_réseau_) throughout
Belgium and the Dép. du Nord.

[376] France alone buys of Belgium more Valenciennes than all the other
countries united; upwards of 12 millions of francs
(£480,000).--Aubry.

[377] At Ghent two turns and a half, and at Courtrai three and a half.
Each town has its own peculiar stitch.

[378] _L'Industrie Dentellière Belge_, par B. v. d. Dussen, Bruxelles,
1860.

[379] 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.

[380] _Answer to Sir John Sinclair_, by Mr. H. Schoulthem, concerning the
manufactures of Ghent. 1815.

[381] Arch. de Nat., Coll. Rondonneau.

[382] _Point and Pillow Lace_, A. M. S. London, 1899.

[383] "Une paire de manchettes de cour de dentelle de Binche;

"Trois paires de manchettes à trois rangs de dentelle de Binche;

"Deux fichus de mousseline bordées de dentelle de Binche;

"Deux devants de corps de dentelle de Binche."--Arch. de Nat. X.,
10,082.

[384] "M. Victor Hugo told the Author he had, in his younger days, seen
Binch guipure of great beauty."--Mrs. Palliser, 1869.

[385] Letter of Sir Henry Wotton to Lord Zouch.--State Papers, Domestic,
Jas. I., P. R. O.

[386] In the _Bulletin de l'Institut Archéologique_, Liègois XVIII., 1885,
is a copy of a contract dated January 23rd, 1634, whereby a
lace-maker of Liège, Barbe Bonneville, undertakes for 25 florins,
current money, to teach a young girl lace-making.

Again, in the copy of a Namur Act of November, 1701, a merchant of
Namur orders from a Liègois "3 pieces of needle-made lace called
Venice point," to sell at the rate of 5½ florins, 4½ florins, and
one écu respectively.

[387] Arch. de Nat., Coll. Rondonneau.

[388] "Caïeteresses," from _caïets_, bobbins.

[389] _Exposition de Liège_, par Chanoine Dubois, 1881.

[390] _Statistique du dép. de la Meuse-Inf._, par le Citoyen Cavenne. An.
X.

[391] Liège in the seventeenth century numbered 1600 workers, and produced
black and white laces which it exported to England, Germany and
France. The rich clergy of the country also bought a large quantity.
At the time of the Exhibition held there in 1881 the fabric had so
declined that it was impossible to find a single piece of lace that
had been made in the town.

[392] _Fil tiré_, drawn and embroidered muslin-work so fine as to be
classed with lace, was made in Dinant in the religious communities
of the city and the "pays" of Dinant before the French Revolution.
At Marche lace with flowers worked directly on the réseau is made,
and the lace of Yorck is also imitated--a lace characterised by
additions worked on to the lace, giving relief to the
flowers.--_Exposition de Liège_, par Chanoine Dubois, 1881. The list
of Belgian laces also includes "Les points de Brabant, plus mats, et
plus remplis que les points de Flandres; les differentes dentelles
de fantaisie, non classées, puis les grosses dentelles de Couvin, en
soie noire, qui servaient jadis à garnir les pelisses des femmes de
l'Entre Sambre-et-Meuse."--_La Dentelle de Belgique_, par Mme.
Daimeries, 1893.

[393] Italian fashions appeared early in France. Isabeau de Bavière,
wearer of the oriental _hennin_, and Valentine de Milan, first
introduced the rich tissues of Italy. Louis XI. sent for workmen
from Milan, Venice, and Pistoja, to whom he granted various
privileges, which Charles VIII. confirmed.

Lace, according to Séguin, first appears in a portrait of Henri II.
at Versailles, a portrait painted in the latter years of his reign.

"Les deux portraits de Francois I^{er} qui sont au Louvre n'en
laissent pas soupçonner l'usage de son temps. Aucun des autres
portraits historiques qui y sont, non plus que ceux des galeries de
Versailles de la même époque, n'en attestent l'existence, et le
premier où on la découvre est un portrait de Henri II à Versailles,
qui a dû être peint vers les dernières années de son règne. Le col,
brodé d'entrelacs de couleur, est bordé d'une petite dentelle bien
simple et bien modeste. Nous possédons des portraits authentiques
antérieurs au milieu du XVI^e siècle, des specimens incontestés des
costumes qui ont précédé cette époque, aucun de ces nombreux témoins
n'atteste son existence.

"Il faut reconnaître que l'origine de la dentelle n'est pas
antérieure au milieu du XVI^e siècle."--Séguin, _La Dentelle_.
Paris, 1875.

[394] In Ulpian Fulwell's _Interlude_, 1568, Nichol Newfangle says--

"I learn to make gowns with long sleeves and wings,
I learn to make ruffs like calves' chitterlings."

[395] The Queen was accused by her enemies of having, by the aid of Maître
René, "empoisonneur en titre," terminated the life of Queen Jeanne
de Navarre, in 1571, by a perfumed ruff (not gloves--_Description de
la Vie de Catherine de Médicis_); and her favourite son, the Duke
d'Alençon, was said, cir. 1575, to have tried to suborn a valet to
take away the life of his brother Henry by scratching him in the
back of his neck with a poisoned pin when fastening his fraise.

[396] _Satyre Menippée._ Paris, 1593.

[397] _Chronologie Novenaire_, Vict. P. Cayet.

[398] "S'ils se tournoient, chacun se reculoit, crainte de gater leurs
fraizes."--_Satyre Menippée._

"Le col ne se tourne à leur aise
Dans le long reply de leur fraise."
--_Vertus et Propriétés des Mignons_, 1576.

[399] "Ces beaux mignons portoient ... leur fraizes de chemise de toute
d'atour empesez et longues d'un demi-pied, de façon qu'à voir leurs
testes dessus leurs fraizes, il sembloit que ce fut le chef de Saint
Jean dans un plat."--_Journal de Henri III._, Pierre de l'Estoille.

[400] _Perroniana._ Cologne, 1691.

[401] "Goudronnées en tuyaux d'orgue, fraisées en choux crépus, et grandes
comme des meules de moulin."--_Blaise de Viginière._

"La fraize veaudelisée à six étages."--_La Mode qui Court._ Paris,
n.d.

[402] "Appelez par les Espagnols 'lechuguillas' ou petites laitues, à
cause du rapport de ces gaudrons repliées avec les fraisures de la
laitue."--_Histoire de la Ville de Paris_, D. Mich. Félibien.

[403] "1575. Le roy alloit tous les jours faire ses aumônes et ses prières
en grande devotion, laissant ses chemises à grands goderons, dont il
estoit auparavant si curieux, pour en prendre à collet renversé a
l'Italienne."--_Journal de Henri III._, Pierre de l'Estoille.

[404] No less than ten were sent forth by the Valois kings, from 1549 to
1583.

[405] These were dated 1594, 1600, 1601, and 1606.

[406] Copper used instead of gold thread for embroidery or lace. The term
was equally applied to false silver thread.

"1582. Dix escus pour dix aulnes de gaze blanche rayée d'argent
clinquant pour faire ung voille à la Boullonnoise."--_Comptes de la
Reine de Navarre._ Arch. Nat. K. K. 170.

[407] Regnier, Math., _Ses Satyres._ 1642.

[408] The observation was not new. A Remonstrance to Catherine de Médicis,
1586, complains that "leurs moulins, leurs terres, leurs prez, leurs
bois et leurs revenuz, se coulent en broderies, pourfilures,
passemens, franges, tortis, canetilles, recameurs, chenettes,
picqueurs, arrièrepoins, etc., qu'on invente de jour à
autre."--_Discours sur l'extrême cherté, etc., presenté à la Mère du
Roi, par un sien fidelle Serviteur (Du Haillan)._ Bordeaux, 1586.

[409] "1579. Pour avoir remonsté trois fraises à poinct couppé, 15 sols.

"Pour avoir monté cinq fraizes à poinct couppé sur linomple, les
avoir ourllés et couzeus à la petite cordellière et au poinct noué à
raison de 30 sols pour chacune.

"Pour la façon de sept rabatz ourllés à double arrièrepoinct et
couzu le passement au dessus.

"1580. Pour avoir faict d'ung mouchoir ouvré deux rabatz, 20 sols.

"Pour deux pieces de poinct couppé pour servir à ladicte dame, VI
livres.

"Pour dix huict aulnes de passement blanc pour mestre à des fraizes
à trois escus l'aulne."

1582. The account for this year contains entries for "passement
faict à lesguille," "grand passement," "passement faict au mestier,"
etc.--_Comptes de la Reine de Navarre._ Arch. Nat.

[410] "Vingt trois chemizes de toile fine à ouvrage de fil d'or et soye de
plusieurs coulleurs, aux manchettes coulet et coutures.

"Ung chemize à ouvrage de soye noire.

"Quatre chemizes les trois à ouvrage d'or et d'argent et soye
bleu."--_Inv. des meubles qui ont estés portés à Paris._ 1602. Arch.
Nat.

[411] "1577. A Jehan Dupré, linger, demeurant à Paris, la somme de
soixante douze livres tournois à luy or donnée pour son payement de
quatre layz d'ouvraige à poinct couppé pour faire une garniture de
chemise pour servir à mon dict segneur, à raison de 18 liv.
chacune."--_Comptes de la Reine de Navarre._ Arch. Nat. K. K. 162,
fol. 655.

[412] "This shirt," he adds, "is well attested. It became the perquisite
of the king's first valet de chambre. At the extinction of his
descendants, it was exposed to sale."--_Memoirs._

A rival shirt turned up (c. 1860) at Madame Tussaud's with "the real
blood" still visible. Monsieur Curtius, uncle of Madame Tussaud,
purchased it at an auction of effects once the property of Cardinal
Mazarin. Charles X. offered 200 guineas for it.

[413] "Item, cinq mouchoirs d'ouvrages d'or, d'argent et soye, prisez
ensemble cent escuz.

"Item, deux tauayelles aussi ouvrage d'or, d'argent et soye, prisées
cent escuz.

"Item, trois tauayelles blanches de rezeuil, prisées ensemble trente
escuz.

"Item, une paire de manches de point coupé et enrichies d'argent,
prisez vingt escuz.

"Item, deux mouchoirs blancz de point coupé, prisez ensemble vingt
escuz.

"Toutes lesquelles tauayelles et mouchoirs cy dessus trouvez dans un
coffre de bahu que la dicte defunte dame faisoit ordinairement
porter avec elle a la court sont demeurez entre les mains du S^r de
Beringhen, suivant le commandement qu'il en avoit de sa majesté pour
les representer à icelle, ce qu'il a promis de faire."--_Inventaire
apres le decès de Gabrielle d'Estrées._ 1599. Arch. Nat. K. K. 157,
fol. 17.

[414] "Item, un lit d'yvoire à filletz noirs de Padoue, garny de son estuy
de cuir rouge."--_Ibid._

[415] "Item, une autre tenture de cabinet de carré de rezeau brodurée et
montans recouvert de feuillages de fil avec des carrez de thoile
plaine, prisé et estimé la somme de cent escus Soleil.

"Item, dix sept carrez de thoile de Hollande en broderie d'or et
d'argent fait a deux endroictz, prisez et estimez à 85 escus.

"Item, un autre pavilion tout de rezeil avec le chapiteau de fleurs
et feuillages....

"Item, un autre en neuf fait par carrez de point coupé."--_Ibid._
fols. 46 and 47.

[416] "Manchettes et collets enrichys de point couppé."--_Inventaire apres
le decès de Messire Philippe Herault, Comte de Cheverny, Chancelier
de France._ 1599. Bib. Nat. MSS. F. 11,424.

[417] In 1598. Vulson de la Colombière, _Vray Théatre d'Honneur et de
Chevalerie_. 1647.

[418] _Satyrique de la Court._ 1613.

[419] _Histoire de la Mère et du Fils_, from 1616 to 19. Amsterdam, 1729.

[420] _Livre nouveau dict Patrons de Lingerie, etc._

_Patrons de diverses Manières, etc._ (Title in rhyme.)

_S'ensuyvent les Patrons de Mesire Antoine Belin._

_Ce Livre est plaisant et utile._ (Title in rhyme.)

[421] _La Fleur des Patrons de Lingerie._

[422] _Tresor des Patrons._ J. Ostans.

[423] _Le Livre de Moresques_ (1546), _Livre de Lingerie_, Dom. de Sera
(1584), and _Patrons pour Brodeurs_ (no date), were also printed at
Paris.

The last book on this kind of work printed at Paris is styled,
_Méthode pour faire des Desseins avec des Carreaux, etc._, by Père
Dominique Donat, religieux carme. 1722.

[424] A point de Venise alb, of rose point, said to be of this period, is
in the Musée de Cluny.

[425] "Quelques autres de frangez Bordent leur riche cuir, qui vient des
lieux estranges."--_Le Gan_, de Jean Godard, Parisien. 1588.

[426] "1619. Deux paires de rozes à soulliers garnies de dentelle
d'or."--_Inv. de Madame Soeur du Roi._ (Henrietta Maria.) Arch. Nat.

[427] _Satyrique de la Court._

[428] The inventory of the unfortunate Maréchal de Marillac, beheaded
1632, has "broderye et poinctz d'Espagnes d'or, argent et soye;
rabats et collets de point couppé; taffetas nacarat garnye de
dantelle d'argent; pour-poinct passementé de dantelle de canetille
de Flandre," etc.--Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 11,426.

[429] 1620, Feb. 8th. "Déclaration portant deffenses de porter des
clinquants, passements, broderies," etc.--Arch. Nat. G. G. G.

1623, March 20th. "Déclaration qui defend l'usage des étoffes d'or,"
etc.--_Recueil des anciennes Lois Françaises._ T. 16, 107.

1625, Sept. 30th. Déclaration prohibits the wearing of "collets,
fraizes, manchettes, et autres linges des passements, Point coupez
et Dentelles, comme aussi des Broderies et Decoupures sur quentin ou
autre toile."--Bib. Nat. L. i. 8.

[430] _Consolation des Dames sur la Reformation des passemens._ 1620.

[431] Again, 1633, Nov. 18th. Déclaration restricts the prohibition;
permits "passements manufacturés dans le royaume qui n'excederont 9
ll. l'aune."--Arch. Nat. G. G. G.

1634, May 30th. "Lettres patentes pour la reformation du luxe des
habits," prohibits "dentelles, passements et broderies" on boots,
carriages, etc. (British Museum).

1636, April 3rd. "Déclaration contre le Luxe." Again prohibits both
foreign and home-made points coupés, etc., under pain of banishment
for five years, confiscation, and a fine of 6000 francs.--De la
Mare, _Traité de la Police_.

1639, Nov. 24th. Fresh prohibition, points de Gênes specially
mentioned. Not to wear on the collar, cuffs, or boots, "autres
choses que de la toile simple sans aucune façon."--Arch. Nat. G. G.
G.

[432] _Le Courtisan Reformé, suivant l'Edit. de l'année 1633_; and again,
_Le Jardin de la Noblesse Françoise dans lequel ce peut cueillir
leur manière de Vettement_. 1629.

[433] April, 1636.

[434] 1631. _Trésorerie de la Reine Marie de Médicis._--Arch. Nat. K. K.
191.

[435] Vulson de la Colombière, _Pompes qu'on pratique aux obséques des
Rois de France_.

[436] _Mémoires de Guy Joly_, from 1648 to 1665.

[437] About this period a special Act had confirmed the Statutes of the
Maîtres Passementiers of Paris. By Article 21, they are privileged
to make every sort of passement or lace, "sur l'oreiller, aux
fuzeaux, aux épingles, et à la main," on condition the material,
gold, silver, thread, or silk, be "de toutes fines ou de toutes
fausses." The sale of thread and lace was allowed to the Lingères,
but by an Arrêt of the Parliament of Paris, 1665, no one could be a
marchande lingère unless she had made profession of the "religion
catholique, apostolique, et romaine," a condition worthy of the
times. "Il n'y fut," writes Gilles de Felice, in his _Histoire des
Protestants de France_, "pas jusqu'à la corporation des lingères qui
ne s'en allât remontrer au conseil que leur communauté, ayant été
instituée par saint Louis, no pouvait admettre d'hérétiques, et
cette réclamation fut gravement confirmée par un arrêt du 21 août,
1665."

[438] Dated November 19th, 1653. The letter is given in full by the
Marquis de Laborde in _Le Palais Mazarin_. Paris, 1845.

[439] _Inv. fait apres la mort du Cardinal Mazarin_, 1661.--Bibl. Nat.
MSS. Suite de Mortmart, 37.

[440] It is to be found at the Archives National, or in the Library of the
Cour de Cassation. In the Archives National is a small collection of
ordinances relative to lace collected by M. Rondonneau, extending
from 1666 to 1773. It is very difficult to get at all the
ordinances. Many are printed in De la Mare (_Traité de la Police_);
but the most complete work is the _Recueil général des anciennes
Lois françaises, depuis l'an 420 jusqu'à la Révolution de 1789_, par
MM. Isambert, Ducrusy, et Taillandier. Paris, 1829. The ordinances
bear two dates, that of their issue and of their registry.

[441] This "canon," originally called "bas de bottes," was a circle of
linen or other stuff fastened below the knee, widening at the bottom
so as to fill the enlargement of the boot, and when trimmed with
lace, having the appearance of a ruffle.

[442] _Dictionnaire des Précieuses._ 1660. Molière likewise ridicules
them:--

"Et de ces grands canons, où, comme des entraves,
On met tous les matins les deux jambes esclaves."
--_L'École des Maris._

And again, in _L'École des Femmes_:

"Ils ont de grands canons, force rubans et plumes."

[443] _Les Délices de la France_, par M. Savinière d'Alquié. 1670.

[444] The fashion of wearing black lace was introduced into England in the
reign of Charles II. "Anon the house grew full, and the candles lit,
and it was a glorious sight to see our Mistress Stewart in black and
white lace, and her head and shoulders dressed with
diamonds."--Pepys's _Diary._

"The French have increased among us many considerable trades, such
as black and white lace."--_England's Great Happiness_, etc.
Dialogue between Content and Complaint. 1677.

"Item, un autre habit de grosse moire garny de dantelle d'Angleterre
noire."--1691. _Inv. de Madame de Simiane._ Arch. Nat., M. M. 802.

[445] "Of this custom, a relic may still be found at the Court of Turin,
where ladies wear lappets of black lace. Not many years since, the
wife of a Russian minister, persisting to appear in a suit of
Brussels point, was courteously requested by the Grand Chamberlain
to retire" (1869).

[446] _Chroniques de l'Oeil-de-Boeuf._

[447] Madame de Motteville is not complimentary to the ladies of the
Spanish Court: "Elles avoient peu de linge," she writes, "et leurs
dentelles nous parurent laides."--_Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire
d'Anne d'Autriche._

[448] Madame de Sévigné mentions these dresses: "Avez-vous ouï parler des
transparens?... de robes noires transparentes ou des belles
dentelles d'Angleterre."--_Lettres._

[449] 1690. _Chroniques de l'Oeil-de-Boeuf._

[450] 1661, May 27; 1662, Jan. 1; 1664, May 31, Sept. 18, and Dec. 12.

[451] "On fabriquait précédemment ces espèces de dentelles guipures, dont
on ornait les aubes des prêtres, les rochets des évêques et les
jupons des femmes de qualité."--_Roland de la Platière._ The
articles on lace by Roland and Savary have been copied by all
succeeding writers on the subject.

[452] Mgr. de Bonzy, Dec. 20, 1664. _Correspondance administrative sous
Colbert_, vol. 3.

[453] Lefébure.

[454] "Il y a très longtemps que le point coupé se faict icy, qui a son
débit selon le temps; mais qu'une femme nommée La Perrière (sic),
fort habile à ces ouvrages, trouva il y a quelques années le moyen
d'imiter les points de Venise, en sorte qu'elle y vint à telle
perfection que ceux qu'elle faisoit ne devaient rien aux estrangers.
Pour faire ces ouvrages il luy falloit enseigner plusieurs petites
filles auxquelles elle montroit à faire ce point ... à présent je
vous puis asseurer qu'il y a plus de 8,000 personnes qui y
travaillent dans Alençon, dans Seèz, dans Argentan, Falaise....

"Monseigneur, c'est une manne, et une vraie bénédiction du ciel qui
s'est espandue sur tout ce pays, dans lequel les petitz enfants
mesmes de sept ans trouvent moyen de gaigner leur vie. Les
vieillards y travaillent et les petites bergerettes des champs y
travaillent mêmes."--_Letter from Favier-Duboulay, intendant
d'Alençon since 1644._ Correspondance administrative sous le règne
de Louis XIV (quoted by Madame Despierres), vol. 3.

[455] In 1842 M. Joseph Odolant Desnos, grandson of this author, writes,
"Ce fut une dame Gilberte, qui avait fait son apprentissage à
Venise, et était native d'Alençon. Dès qu'elle fut à ses ordres, ce
ministre (Colbert) la logea dans le magnifique château de Lonrai,
qu'il possédait près d'Alençon."--_Annuaire de l'Orne._

[456] _Mémoires historiques sur la ville d'Alençon_, M. Odolant Desnos.
Alençon, 1787.

[457] "Le château de Lonrai ne passa dans la maison de Colbert que par le
mariage de Catherine Thérèse de Matignon, Marquise de Lonrai, avec
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, fils ainé du grand Colbert, le 6e septembre
1678" (_i.e._, fourteen years after the establishment of points de
France at Alençon) --Madame Despierres, _Histoire de point
d'Alençon_.

[458] Madame Despierres, after an exhaustive study of the mass of
documentary evidence on this point, gives as her opinion that--

"(1) La première personne qui à Alençon imita le point de Venise, et
par conséquent créa le point d'Alençon, fut Mme La Perrière, vers
1650, et non Mme Gilbert.

"(2) La préposée-directrice des manufactures de point de France des
différentes villes du royaume qui a établi les bureaux à Alençon,
fut Catherine de Marcq, et non pas une dame Gilbert.

"(3) Les préposées mises à la tête de l'établissement d'Alençon
étaient Mme Raffy et Marie Fillesae, dont les noms ne répondent pas
à celui d'une dame Gilbert."--_Madame Despierres, Histoire de point
d'Alençon._

[459] Mrs. Palliser sought in vain for this ordinance in the Library of
the Cour de Cassation, where it is stated to be, by the authors of
the "Recueil général des anciennes Lois françaises, depuis l'an 420
jusqu'à la Révolution de 1789"; but fortunately it is recited in a
subsequent act, dated Oct. 12, 1666 (Arch. Nat., Coll. Rondonneau),
by which it appears that the declaration ordered the establishment
in "les villes de Quesnoy, Arras, Reims, Sedan, Château-Thierry,
Loudun, Alençon, Aurillac, et autres du royaume, de la manufacture
de toutes sortes d'ouvrages de fil, tant à l'éguille qu'au coussin,
en la manière des points qui se font à Venise, Gennes, Raguse, et
autres pays estrangers, qui seroient appellés points de France," by
which it would appear the term point de France did not exclusively
belong to the productions of Alençon. After the company was
dissolved in 1675 the name of point de France was applied to point
d'Alençon alone. In a subsequent arrêt it is set forth that the
entrepreneurs have caused to be brought in great numbers the best
workers from Venice and other foreign cities, and have distributed
them over Le Quesnoy and the above-mentioned towns, and that now are
made in France "des ouvrages de fil si exquis, qu'ils esgallent,
mesme surpassent en beauté les estrangers."--_Bibl. de la Cour de
Cassation._

What became of these manufactures at Le Quesnoy and Château-Thierry,
of which not a tradition remains?

[460] Talon, "secrétaire du cabinet," was one of the first members. We
find by an arrêt, Feb. 15, 1667, that this patent had already been
infringed. On the petition of Jean Pluymers, Paul, and Catherine de
Marcq, "entrepreneurs" of the fabric of points de France, his
Majesty confirms to them the sole privilege of making and selling
the said points.--Arch. Nat., Coll. Rondonneau. Nov. 17 of the same
year appears a fresh prohibition of wearing or selling the
passements, lace, and other works in thread of Venice, Genoa, and
other foreign countries (British Museum), and March 17, 1668,
"Itératives" prohibitions to wear these, either new or "commencé
d'user," as injurious to a manufacture of point which gives
subsistence to a number of persons in the kingdom.--_Ibid._ Again,
Aug. 19, 1669, a fresh arrêt in consequence of complaints that the
workers are suborned and work concealed in Paris, etc.--Arch Nat.,
Coll. Rondonneau.

[461] Colbert said to Louis XIV.: "There will always be found fools enough
to purchase the manufactures of France, though France should be
prohibited from purchasing those of other countries." The King
agreed with the minister, whom he made chief director of the trade
and manufactures of the kingdom.

[462] A favourite saying of Colbert.

[463] The artists who furnished designs for all works undertaken for the
court of Louis XIV. must have supplied designs for the lace
manufactures: "In the accounts of the King's buildings is the entry
of a payment due to Bailly, the painter, for several days' work with
other painters in making designs for embroideries and points
d'Espagne" (Lefébure).

[464] The principal centres of lace-making were Aurillac, Sedan, Rheims,
Le Quesnoy, Alençon, Arras, and Loudun, and the name "Points de
France" was given without distinction to all laces made at these
towns; preference was given in choosing these centres to those towns
already engaged in lace-making. Alençon produced the most brilliant
results, for from the beginning of the seventeenth century the town
had been engaged in needle-point lace, and some of the lace-makers
earned high wages, and showed great aptitude for the art. In her
_Histoire du Point d'Alençon_, Madame Despierres has made some
interesting extracts from various marriage contracts and wills:--

"A notable instance is that of a family named Barbot, the mother
having amassed 500 livres. Her daughter, Marthe Barbot, married
Michel Mercier, sieur de la Perrière, and brought him a
wedding-portion of 300 livres, the earnings of her industry; while
her sister Suzanne Barbot's wedding-portion, upon her marriage with
Paul Ternouillet, amounted to 6,000 livres, earned in making
cut-works and works en _velin_ (needle-point lace done on a
parchment pattern), which command a high price" (Lefébure).

[465] The Venetian Senate, according to Charles Yriarte, regarded this
emigration of workers to France as a crime against the State, and
issued the following decree:--

"If any artist or handicraftsman practises his art in any foreign
land to the detriment of the Republic, orders to return will be sent
him; if he disobeys them, his nearest of kin will be put into
prison, in order that through his interest in their welfare his
obedience may be compelled. If he comes back, his past offence will
be condoned, and employment for him will be found in Venice; but if,
notwithstanding the imprisonment of his nearest of kin, he
obstinately decides to continue living abroad, an emissary will be
commissioned to kill him, and his next of kin will only be liberated
upon his death."

[466] To afford an idea of the importance of the lace trade in France at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and of the immense
consumption of lace in France, we give the following statistics:--In
1707, the collection of the duties of lace was under-farmed to one
Étienne Nicolas, for the annual sum of 201,000 livres. The duty then
was of 50 livres per lb. weight of lace, so that there entered
annually into France above 400,000 lbs. of lace, which, estimating
at the lowest 1,000 lbs. of lace to be worth 1,000 livres, would
represent 4 millions of that epoch. Taking into calculation that
fraud was extensively practised, that the points of Venice and
Genoa, being prohibited, could not appear in the receipts; and that,
on the other part, the under-farmer did not pay the farmer-general
the 201,000 livres without the certainty of profit to himself, we
must admit that the figure, though high, is far from representing
the value of the foreign laces which entered France at that period.
We think that 8 millions (£320,000) would be below the true
figure.--_Rapport sur les Dentelles fait à la Commission française
de l'Exposition Universelle de Londres_, 1851. Felix Aubry. The best
history of lace published.

[467] "Deux tours de chaire de point de France donnez depuis quelques
années par deux dames de la paroisse."--_Inv. de l'église de
Saint-Merry, à Paris._ Arch. Nat. L. L. 859.

[468] _Inv. de Madame Anne Palatine de Bavière, Princesse de
Condé._--_Ibid._ X. 10,065.

[469] _Inv. de l'église de Saint-Gervais, à Paris._--_Ibid._ L. L. 854.

[470] The saints, too, came in for their share of the booty.

"There was St. Winifred," writes a traveller of the day, "in a point
commode with a large scarf on and a loup in hand, as tho' she were
going to mass. St. Denis, with a laced hat and embroidered coat and
sash, like a captain of the guards."--_Six Weeks in France._ 1691.

[471] "Toille de Hollande, avec des grands points de France."--_Le
Cérémonial de la Nomination de Monseigneur le Dauphin._ 1668. Arch.
Nat. K. K. 1431.

[472] _Le Mercure Galant._ Juillet, 1688. This periodical, which we shall
have occasion so frequently to quote, was begun in 1672, and
continued to July, 1716. It comprises, with the _Extraordinaires_,
571 vols. in 12mo.

_Le Mercure de France_, from 1717 to 1792, consists of 777
vols.--Brunet. Manuel de Libraire.

[473] _Le Mercure Galant._

[474] It was the custom, at the birth of a Dauphin, for the papal nuncio
to go to the palace and present to the new-born child "les langes
benites," or consecrated layette, on behalf of his Holiness the
Pope. The shirts, handkerchiefs, and other linen, were by
half-dozens, and trimmed with the richest point. This custom dates
as early as the birth of Louis XIII. Mercier describes the ceremony
of carrying the layette to Versailles in the time of Louis XV.--_Vie
du Dauphin, père de Louis XVI._ Paris, 1858.

[475] In the Lancaster state bedroom, at Fonthill, was sold in 1823: "A
state bed quilt of Brussels point, for 100 guineas, and a Brussels
toilet cover for 30 guineas."--Fonthill. Sale Catalogue.

"1694. Une toilette de satin violet picquée garny d'un point
d'Espagne d'or à deux carreaux de mesme satin et aussi
piqué."--_Inv. de Mgr. de la Vrillière, Patriarche, Archevêque de
Bourges._ Bib. Nat.

"1743. Une toilette et son bonhomme garnie d'une vieille dentelle
d'Angleterre."--_Inv. de la Duchesse de Bourbon._

"1758. Une toilette avec sa touaille de point fort vieux
d'Alençon."--_Inv. de Mademoiselle de Charollois._

"1770. Une tres belle toilette de point d'Argentan, en son surtout
de 9,000 livres.

"Une tres belle toilette d'Angleterre, et son surtout de
9,000."--_Cptes. de Madame du Barry._

[476] "On voit toujours des jupes de point de France."--_Mercure Galant_,
1686.

"Corsets chamarrés de point de France."--_Ibid._

[477] Madame de Sévigné describes Mademoiselle de Blois as "belle comme un
ange," with "un tablier et une bavette de point de
France."--_Lettres._ Paris, 27 Jan., 1674.

[478] "Garnis de point de France formant une manière de rose
antique."--_Mercure Galant._ 1677.

[479] In the Extraordinaire du _Mercure_ for 1678, we have, in "habit
d'este," gloves of "point d'Angleterre."

[480] _Mercure Galant._ 1672.

[481] _Ibid._ 1686.

[482] _Mercure Galant._ Fév. 1685.

[483] _Ibid._ 1678.

[484] At the Mazarin Library there are four folio volumes of engravings,
after Bonnard and others, of the costumes of the time of Louis XIV.;
and at the Archives Nat. is a large series preserved in cartons
numbered M. 815 to 823, etc., labelled "Gravures de Modes."

[485] _La Fontange altière._--Boileau.