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PUBLIC LIBRARY
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n DDDI
POINT AND PILLOW LACE
FIRST EDITION . . November 1899
SECOND EDITION . .
June . 1905
REPRINTED .... September 1913
'ft ft MMX A
C'J
POINT AND PILLOW
LACE
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS KINDS
ANCIENT AND MODERN, AND HOW
TO RECOGNISE THEM

BY MARY SHARP

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
 PREFACE
THE object of thisbook is to supply to owners
little

and lovers of Lace some clear information easily

by means of which they can ascertain the
referred to,
true name and nature of any particular specimen.
The valuable works of which a list is given on
page xiii, as the authorities consulted, are some of
them, especially the late Mrs. Palliser's History of
Lace, almost exhaustive as to the historical records
on the subject, and they also contain a great deal of

interesting information concerning the various lace

manufactures. Yet the writer has found, in common
she believes with others, that a diligent search

through many volumes and much inquiry of experts

has been necessary before some particular piece of
Lace could be identified, even if in the end that
identification did not appear doubtful.
In the present volume it is hoped that the simple
statements distinguishing the features of each variety
will enable the reader to recognise them readily,

especially as each description is accompanied by an

vi PREFACE
on as large a scale as the size of the
illustration,
the Lace may
page will allow, so that the texture of
be the more easily seen.
That description alone, however good, without il-

lustrations is very insufficient will readily be allowed

by anyone who attempts the task of explaining in
words the nature and peculiarities of any kind of
"
Lace. Dr. Johnson gives as a definition of net,"

"a texture woven with intersticial vacuities/' and of

" "
network," anything reticulated or decussated, at
equal distances, with interstices between the inter-
sections." Where the great lexicographer failed to
make his meaning more intelligible to simple folk,

lesser mortals may well be glacl to eke out their

otherwise insufficient explanations by the help of
the photographer.
One difficulty attendant on the study of Lace must
be mentioned. It is that at various times the same

kinds of Lace were made in .different localities, each

imitating the other. Thus Brussels and AlenQon

copied Venice, and Italy in turn adopted the "reseau"
ground in imitation of Flanders nor is the reason
;

far to seek. The laws of supply and demand were in

force three hundred years ago as now, and though we

are apt to think of the countries of Europe, before
the days of railways and steamboats, as isolated, yet
 PREFACE vii

a very cursory study of history is

enough to prove
that it was far otherwise. The number of travellers
was no doubt much less than at present, but the
richer classes were socially in constant communication
with each other everywhere, as is indeed evidenced

by the prevalence of the same fashions in dress

throughout Europe at any given time. No sooner
did the ladies of Paris in the time of Henry the
Fourth adopt the high ruff, than English ladies has-
tened to do the same ; and as soon as the Pillow
laces of Genoa were admired and found suitable to
the falling collars of the succeeding reigns, the lace-
workers of Flanders were quick in learning to .

reproduce the style, in this case so exactly, that but

little difference can now be detected between their
work and that of the Italians. Lace also was largely
made in convents and lace- making was taught in
convent schools ;
and the fact that nuns were of all

nationalitieshelps to account for the cosmopolitan

character of the Art.
It will not be attempted here to decide from what

localityany particular Lace may have come, but

merely to state on good authority to what style it
belongs, and to assist the reader, by a careful de-
scription of its details, to judge for himself or herself

of its character. Of all the decorative works of Art

viii PREFACE
Lace is by most perishable indeed, it may
far the ;

be said that the more beautiful the Lace, the more

delicate and more easily destroyed it is.
Much has disappeared long ago, and in the hands
of ignorant owners the little that has lasted till now
is in
danger of being finally lost. If, therefore, what

is here written should attract the notice of some who

have taken but small care of their frail possessions,
and have, without scruple, given them over to the
tender mercies of the dressmaker who cuts, or the
washerwoman who tears, and if they should be in-
duced henceforth to pay more heed to these irre-

placeable treasures, the writer will feel that she has

not written in vain on a subject which has long been
one of great interest to herself.
She cannot send this little book into the world with-
out expressing her thanks to Mr. Alan Cole, of the
Science and Art Department, South Kensington, for
the help and advice that he has been good enough to

give her on a subject on which he is so well-known an

authority ;
also to the kind friends to whom she is

indebted for the loan of many beautiful specimens of

lace here represented. Without such assistance and
encouragement her pleasant task might never have
been accomplished at all.

UFTON COURT, July. 1899.

 CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE . . . . v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . xi

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED . . . . xiii

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS , . xv

CHAPTER I.

OF LACE IN GENERAL . i

How to discriminate between Point and Pillow lace Antiquity of

Lace Chief centres of lace-making :
Venice, Flanders and Alen9on.

CHAPTER II.

OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE . . ... 14

and periods Drawn work Darned - netting Cut - work
-
Styles
Reticella, or Greek Lace The uses to which such linen Lace was put

CHAPTER III.

OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE (continued) . .

31
Punto in Aria Ruffs Pattern books Falling collars Extravagance
in the use of Lace Three periods Raised Point
Venetian Points
Flat Point Grounded Venetian Point Old Burano PointRevival
Spanish Lace.

CHAPTER IV.

OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE .

Knotted Lace (Macrame) Origin of Pillow lace Pillow Guipure

. ... 64

Mixed Guipure Genoese Lace Collar Laces Plaited Lace Punto

di Genoa Punto di Milano Country Laces Maltese Lace.
b
x CONTENTS

CHAPTER V.

OF FRENCH LACE . . . ... PAGB

91
Establishment of lace-making at Alengon by Colbert La Revolte des
Passemens Earliest Lace made at Alengon (Point de France) Three
styles of Alengon Lace: Point d'Argentan Old Valenciennes, Fausse
and Vraie Point de Paris Lille Chantilly- Blonde.

CHAPTER VI.

OF FLEMISH LACE . . . , . 121

Earliest style Pillow Guipure Invention of Roseau Brussels Lace

Method of work Peculiarities Styles Point d'Angleterre Point

plat applique Duchesse Brussels Needle-point Point applique

Point de Gaze Mechlin, early and later styles Binche Ypres
Antwerp Trolle Kant.

CHAPTER VII.

OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACES . . . 161

Cut-work Honiton Styles Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire-

Irish Laces : Limerick Carrickmacross Machine-made lace.

A SUMMARY . . . . ... 191

INDEX . . . , .
'

. .
195
 XI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A. Portrait of the Princess Eleonora of Mantua, Pitti Palace,

Florence, by Porbus il Giovane , .

Frontispiece

I.

II.
Details of Needle-point lace

,, of Pillow lace .
.

.
.

.
...
...
PAGE
3

7
III. Mediaeval Drawn-work . . . .
17
IV. Darned netting
V.
VI.
Cut-work
Reticella
.
(lent

and Punto
by Mrs. Lathbury)

in
.

Aria .
.
.

.
...
.

...
. . 21

25
29
B. Queen Elizabeth, from the Painting in the National Portrait Gallery
To face p. 32
C. Sir Joseph Williamson, P.R.S., from the Portrait by Sir Peter Lely
To fare p. 36
VII. Raised Venetian Point (South Kensington Museum) .
39
VIII. Rose Point Venetian (South Kensington Museum) .
43
IX. Flat Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Tonge) , . .
47
X. Coraline Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Norman Pearson) . .
51
XL Grounded Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Tonge) .
54
Old Burano Point
XII.
XIII. Macrarne
XIV. Pillow Guipure
.
.

.
.

.
.

. ...
...
57
65
. . .
69
XV. Mixed Guipure . . .
73
D. Les Vierges Folles, from an Engraving by Abraham Bosse To face /. 74
XVI. Genoese Collar Lace . . .
77
XVII. Genoese Tape Guipure . .
79
XVIII. Milanese Pillow Lace (lent by Mrs. Lovett Cameron)
XIX. Italian Peasant Lace
XX. Maltese Lace
.

.
.

.
.

.
...
...
. .
83
85
So
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
E. Joannes Baptista Colbert . . .To face p. 92
XXI. A Lappet, Point d' Ale-neon . .
93
XXII. Point d'Alencon, (r)
Mrs. Lovett Cameron
lent by Miss Mowbray
. . ...
; (2) lent by
99
XXIII. Point d'Argentan (lent by the Dowager Lady Hunter)
XXIV. Old Valenciennes (two specimens) .

XXV. A Lappet, Old Valenciennes (lent by the Dowager Lady Hunter)

... . .
103
107
109
XXVI. Lille and Point de Paris . . . . . in
XXVII. Chantilly (lent by Lady Pearson) . . . .
115
XXVIII. Blonde (lent by Mrs. Turner) . . , .
119
XXIX. Flemish Guipure, (i) lent by Lady Maxwell Lyte ;

XXX.
XXXI.
Point d'Angleterre.
(2) lent
.
by Mrs. Willink

Point d'Angleterre a brides (lent by the

. ...
.

Dowager Lady Hunter;

*
.123
130
133
XXXII. Brussels Pillow lace : Point Plat applique and Duchesse .
.137
XXXIII. Brussels Needle-point : Old and Modern . .
-142
XXXIV. Brussels Needle-point : Point de Gaze . . . .
145
XXXV. Early Mechlin Pillow lace . .
149 . . .

XXXVI. Later Mechlin (two specimens ; No. 2 lent by Mrs. Lathbury) 153
XXXVII. Binche (lent by Mrs. Henry Reeve) and old Flemish .155 .

XXXVIII. Antwerp Pot lace (lent by Mrs. Lathbury) . .

.159
Heading of page, Limerick lace (lent by Miss Stroud) . . 161
XXXIX. Old English Sampler (South Kensington Museum) ,
.163
XL. Honiton (two specimens No. I lent by Mrs. Crutwell)
;
.
.169
XLI. Buckinghamshire (two specimens ; ( i) lent by Mrs. Savill Young ;

by Mrs. Lathbury)
(2) lent . . . .
174
XLI I. Old Lace Chest belonging to Mrs. Forrest . .
.178
XLIII. Carrickmacross Lace . . .
185
Tailpiece Old English bobbins belonging to Mrs. Baker
: and
a Lace token belonging to Mrs. Forrest . .
.190
 Xlil

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

Alan Cole, Ancient Needle-point and Pillow Lace*

Brazza, A Gitide to Old and New Lace in Italy.

Catalogue of South Kensington Museum.

Madame Despierres, Histoire du Point d^Ale

Doumert, La Dentelle.

Felkin, Machine-wrought Lace.

Lefebure, Embroidery and Lace.
Mrs. Palliser, History of Lace.

Seguin, La Dentelle.
Mrs. Treadwin, Antique Point and Honiton*

The " Queen" Lace Book.

Urban! Gheltof, Trattato Storico.
 XV

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED

Point /<Z6?. From the French "point, a stitch properly applied
53

only to Lace made with needle stitches, or Needle-point lace. This

term has been often much misapplied. Neither "Point d'Angleterre,"
nor "Punto di Milano," nor "Honiton Point" are Point laces at all in
the proper sense of the words they are Pillow lace.
;

Pillow lace, or Bone lace, or Dentelle au fuseau, or Merletti a

Piombini, Lace made on the pillow with bobbins hence the English,
is ;

French and Italian names, the bobbins being sometimes made of bone
or lead as well as of wood.
ToiU. The substance of the pattern as contrasted with the ground-
work.
Roseau. The network ground in which the pattern is sometimes set.

Brides. The slender stalks or ties connecting different parts of the

pattern together when not on a net ground.
Picots. The knots or thorns which often decorate "brides" and also
the edges of the pattern.
A jours. The open ornamental work introduced in enclosed spaces.
Cordonnet. The thick thread or cord with which the pattern is

often outlined.

Applique denotes when the pattern, either Needlework or Pillow, is

made separately and afterwards sewn on to a net ground.

Gitipure. The cord gimp sometimes overcast with stitches;

or
frequently used for outlining heavy Laces. "Guiper" is an old verb,
meaning to roll round a cord. The term "Guipure" has often been
wrongly applied to various kinds of Lace. It is here used to denote
only Lace of which the pattern consists of a cord or tape connected
by "brides."
 POINT AND PILLOW LACE

CHAPTER I.

OF LACE IN GENERAL.
THE English word Lace is taken from the French
"
Lacis," a term however, which, when properly used,
"
denotes only the Italian work Punto a maglia," or
Darned netting.
There are two distinct kinds of Hand -made lace;
first, Lace made with th needle, that is, Needle-point
lace*, under which heading above-mentioned
the
Darned netting may be included, and secondly,
Lace made on a pillow with bobbins, that is, Pillow

Jace
Machine-made lace will be treated of in a separate
section later on, and is not now therefore taken into
account.
In order to distinguish between Needle-point and
Pillow lace, and to decide to which of the two
classes any particular specimen belongs, both the
B
2 OF LACE IN GENERAL
"toite"* or solid part of the patterri and also the
" "
of brides or of network, should
grounding, whether
be closely examined.
are always
In Needle-point lace the solid parts
made of rows of looped, or so-called 'button -hole
stitches, sometimes quite closely worked, as in the
Illustration L, sometimes
specimen, given in Fig. i,
looser or with small' open spaces left in patterns; still
the stitch used is always the same.
The "brides" in Needle-point consist of one or
two threads fastened across from one part of the
pattern to another and
then closely whipped or
button-holed 'over; they are usually more or less
decorated with "picots," made much in the same
" Illustra-
manner as the bride" Itself/ (See Fig. 5,

tion L)
But Needle-point is also sometimes grounded with
"reseau" or network, and still this when examined
will be found to be made with the same stitch. The
meshes of the, network are merely loose looped
stitches; sometimes the needle* is twisted a second
time in each stitch to keep the mesh open, as in

Fig. 2, Illustration I. ;'

sometimes the work is

strengthened with a second thread,

which is
whipped
i

* For an explanation of all technical terms used throughout this

book see Glossary, p. xv.
 ILLUSTRATION I.

DETAILS OF ISTEEIDLE-^OIMT LACE,

MAGNIFIED.

I. Toile of Needle- point. 2. l^eseau of Brussels Point.

3. Tveseau. of Al en 9011 Point. Reseau of Point.
Unfinished specimen of Cut-work or Reticella.Argentan
_
4.
r
.

5.
3
 DETAILS OF NEEDLE AND PILLOW LACE 5

over all along the row at the base of the meshes, as

in Fig. 3, Illustration I.

Thus it will be seen that though other stitches

were employed in the earlier linen lace-work, such
as Drawn-work, Cut-work and Reticella
(see Fig. 5,
Illustration I.),yet for true Needle-point lace, with
all beautiful varieties of
design and ornament,
its

one stitch alone sufficed,

namely, what we have called
the looped or button-hole stitch, in Italian " Pun to
a festone,"
Pillow lace, when carefully examined, will be
found to be constructed in a fundamentally different
manner. The "toite" will in every case be seen to
be composed of threads crossing each other more or
less at right angles, and in and out like the texture
of cambric or other woven cloth. This is shown in

Fig. i, Illustration II.

"
The brides," when made on the pillow, consist
of twisted or plaited threads, and the
"picots" of
simple loops ;
it should, however, be remarked that
"brides" worked with the needle are often added
to Pillow-made lace, which is then called " Mixed
lace," and in that case they will be seen to be made
of button-hole stitch as above described.
The "rdseau" work of Pillow lace is much more
varied than that of Needle-point; the specimens
6 OF LACE IN GENERAL
given by no means exhaust all the
in Illustration II.

varieties, though the peculiar "reseaux" of the best-

known Laces are there given. They will be described
in connection with each kind later on. It is sufficient

here to say that in all Pillow lace the network is made

by twisting and plaiting the threads, sometimes in
twos and sometimes in fours, as the case may be.
Thus,., roughly speaking, the broad difference between

Poiat and Pillow lace is that the first is worked

throughout with looped stitches, and the second is

madd'With twisted or plaited threads, which last is in

fact weaving, though the work is done with the hands

and bobbins and not with the loom. Theoretically the

difference-; as here stated is very simple, yet it must
be allowed that practically in the case of very fine
Lace it is not always at first sight easy of detection,
and for a beginner at all events it
may be often
difficult to
recognise the
above-described details

except with the aid of a magnifying glass when ;

once these are seen, however, it should be easy for

anyone to make the distinction between Pillow and

Needle-point lace, and also,, following the further

descriptipns given later on, to identify any special

specimen. What has been said above does not
apply to Darned netting, which", being ,

usually
coarse, does not require special description here.
 ILLUSTRATION II.

DETAILS OF PILLOW-LACE,
MAGNIFIED.

[pp^l
||y&S8ft
lrA*3*x$

S^W/P* w.^Mr^i
iSftSB&S&l

j . Toile of Pillow-lace. 2. Open Toile of Brussels Pillow-lace.

3. Reseau of Brussels Pillow-lace. 4. Reseau of Mechlin.
5. Reseau, called " Cinq[Trous." 6. Reseau of Lille.
7. Reseau of Valenciennes. 8. Reseau, called '*Font Chant" or
" Point de Paris."
 ANTIQUITY OF LACE 9

Having been able, with some confidence, to identify

any particular specimen, whether it is Point or Pillow
lace, or Venetian, French or Flemish in style, the
further question is often asked, " How old do you
"
think that piece of Lace is ?
There are several indications that will help to
answer that inquiry. We know of certain styles of
Lace that they were invented at a certain time, and
that they were worn during certain periods, and in
this connection contemporary portrait art is of great
service and interest.
generally found
Moreover, it is

to be the case that the style of design at each centre

of the lace-making art went through a definite and

very easily traced course of development The Lace

made at Alenon or Mechlin during the seventeenth
century, for instance, was very noticeably different in
the style of the patterns from what was produced

century, and was the same else-

in the eighteenth it

where. / In fact the same laws seem to have

governed Art in every direction, and as Architecture
passed through various styles which can be recog-
nised and apportioned to different periods, so also
in its degree did the Art of lace-making.
In the illustrations given further on the carefully
selected representative collection of the various

styles will, it is hoped, be found useful in assisting

c
io OF LACE IN GENERAL
the student to classify any Lace that may come under
notice.

Yet the must be confessed, is somewhat

matter, it

complicated by the fact that some styles of Lace

continued to be produced during long periods of
time, even after later fashions were developed.
Cut-work in particular was made with very little,

if any, change in the style of design during two

or even three centuries and in the case of the

;

simpler kinds of Pillow lace, jthe parchment patterns

on which it was made were often treasured and
handed down from one generation of lace -workers
to another ,one family, from mother
; to daughter,
confining themselves to working a few patterns only,
which they naturally continued to make as long as
there was "a demand for them. This is the case at
the present day with the manufacture of modern
Valenciennes at Ypres and in the neighbourhood.
But with these exceptions a study of the construction
and style of design of any particular piece of Lace
should afford a fair indication of the date of its

production.
No indication has been left us to show that what
we now call Lace was known at all in Greek and
Roman times, and it is rather curious that the fable
of Arachne turned into a spider because she rivalled
 EARLIEST RECORDS u
Athene in the delicacy of her needlecraft should
have been invented, when no such work as could be
spider's web
said to approach to the fineness of a
was practised till so many centuries later.
Lace, as we now understand it, belongs, like music,
essentially to modern times ; and taking into account
itsextreme fragility, it may be said that probably no
Lace now existing is older than three hundred years,
and that but little of such fine or open Lace as can be
used for articles of dress is more than two hundred
years old.
The earliest supposed record existing of its practice
is in a picture by Quintin Matsys in the church of
St. Peter Louvain (date 1495), in which a girl is

represented working at a lace-pillow, though it is not

possible to identify the kind of Lace upon which she
is
engaged.^ Until the middle of the sixteenth century,
that is before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in

England at all events, Lace as applied to dress does

not appear at all in the portraits of the day. The
ladies of Henry the Eighth's court, painted by

Holbein, wore plain linen head-dresses and un-

trimmed frills at the neck and wrists.

It is
interesting in our National Portrait Gallery
to be able to see almost the exact time of the
introduction of this beautiful Art Queen Mary
12 OF LACE IN GENERAL
Tudor, as there
represented, though handsomely
dressed, wears linen cuffs embroidered but bare of
Lace, not yet then in use, but in the picture next to
her in date, already a little lace edging appears
round the ruff, and in the portraits of Elizabeth
and her courtiers ruffs and Lace together have grown
rampant.
And if we cannot attribute a very early date for

the invention of the Art of lace-making, neither was

it in its perfection of long duration it suffered much;

from the rage for simplicity born of the doctrines of

J. J. Rousseau in the eighteenth century, and was

practically extinguished by the troubles of the French

Revolution and by the classical fashions in dress
which succeeded them under the Empire.
In France the manufacture of rich Needle lace
has to some extent recovered itself. Within the
last fifteen or twenty years also great efforts have
been made to revive the Art in Venice, and schools
have been established in the island of Burano in the

neighbourhood. In
Belgium neither needle nor
pillow lace-making were ever, even in war time,
altogether discontinued, but the character of the
Lace has been essentially altered. Owing also to
the increased cost of labour, such modern Lace
naturally commands very high prices, and nowadays
 CENTRES OF LACE-MAKING 13

when the genius of the inventor has so marvellously

perfected the achievements of steam machinery in

lace-making, and when such Lace can be bought at

astonishingly low prices, it is

scarcely to be expected
that any real or considerable revival of the Art should
take place. All the more, since the exquisite work
of former ages is thus practically irreplaceable, must
we value such of it as has been preserved to us,
with the interest of antiquarians, as well as on ac-
count of its intrinsic beauty.
The chief centres of Needle lace -making were
Venice, Brussels and Alencon. Of Spanish-point,
so called, some may have been made in Spain, most
however that goes by that name was certainly
Venetian. The Greek Lace, which is a Cut-work of
geometrical design, though it has often been bought
in the Ionian Islands, was also probably Italian. ,

Pillow Jaces of some some time or

sort were, at

another, made all over Europe, but nowhere else did

they attain such beauty as in Flanders, where,

to

according to some, the Art was invented.

Of Italian laces there are both Needle-point and
Pillow. The former take the precedence in date and also
in point of beauty; the latter came chiefly from Genoa
and the districts in North Italy, as also the varieties
of knotted and plaited Laces to be described later on.
 Reticella.

CHAPTER II.

OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE.

IN point of design Italian Lace may be classed under
four styles the Mediaeval, the Geometrical, the
:

Renaissance, and the Rococo. Such as belongs to

the two first was for the most part worked out of
linen and often combined with embroidery. The
material spun with the old-world distaff, as still to be
seen in the country districts in Italy, and woven
under no great pressure of haste on hand-looms in the
convent or the cottage, w as far superior to anything
r

that can be now procured in purity and strength.

It was unmixed with cotton, that cheaper substance
which so detracts from the durability and quality of
our modern linen manufactures. The specimens of
14
 STYLES OF ITALIAN LACE 15

church and household linen preserved to the present

day bear sufficient testimony to the good workman-
ship of the weaver and the excellence of his materials.
The Lace included under the above-mentioned
two earlier styles, namely, the Mediaeval and the
Geometrical, are Drawn-work, Cut-work, Reticella or
so-called Greek Lace, and Lacis or Darned netting.
They were produced chiefly during the sixteenth
century.
The third or Renaissance style expressed itself in

flowing patterns of scroll work, and in a conventional

treatment of flowers and other objects. The Lace
was worked entirely without a linen foundation. Of
this description are all the most beautiful achieve-
ments of the Art in Italy during the seventeenth

century, namely, the splendid Venetian and so-called

Spanish-points.
Lastly came the Rococo style, when boldness and
beauty of design were sacrificed to complexity of detail,
and when natural objects, and especially flowers, were
represented with small regard to symmetry or unity
of composition, but often also with marvellous skill.

and fidelity. The Lace produced during the early

part of the eighteenth century in this style, in spite
of an overflowing redundancy of ornament, must still

challenge admiration by the beauty and ingenuity of

16 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
the -execution; but these merits rapidly disappeared,
and the Rococo Lace of a later period became coarse
and inferior in workmanship, while the patterns
dwindled to and disconnected ornaments, sparsely
stiff

set in a "r^seau" ground.

After this general account of the styles, as they
succeeded each other, the laces themselves may be
separately described.

PUNTO TIRATO.
(Eng. Drawn-work.)

This Lace is one of the earliest in point of date,

and may be said to be the origin out of which all

future lace- work grew. It is made entirely out of a

loose linen material, the threads of which are not cut

or pulled out, but merely drawn apart from each other
and closely sewn over, either with silk or linen thread,
thus having the appearance of a network of small

square meshes, which forms the ground of the pattern

left in the plain linen. The design thus grounded
was of
necessity angular,
;
but occasionally this
angularity is corrected by means of a silk or linen
thread embroidered like a "cordonnet" along the out-
line on the surface of the work. The whole is

usually in the form of bands, four or five inches

wide, edged with a border of the linen embroidered.
D 17
 DARNED NETTING 19

The subjects of the

designs are often extremely
quaint horses, dogs, birds, besides mythical animals,
were most ambitiously attempted, as is shown in

Illustration III. The frequency with which repre-

sentations especially of horses occur reminds one
that they are to this day the favourite subject of
popular Art in Venice, where the real animal can never
be seen, and suggests a Venetian origin to these
designs. But work of the kind was also extensively
produced in Spain, and here the designs chosen were
usually Oriental in character, heavy scrolls and ara-

besques suggesting the influence of Moorish taste.

In the Greek islands also this work seems to have
been made, and case with strictly classical
in this

patterns, survivals, no doubt, of early Byzantine tra-

ditions. Much the same effect was accomplished by
means of another kind of early Needle- work lace
named
PUNTO RICAMATO A MAGLIA QUADRA.
(Fr. Lacis, Eng. Darned netting.).

But in this work the ground, supplied by a

is

netting of either silk or linen thread, made with

knots in the usual way or sometimes with threads
only twisted The pattern is worked on the netting
with a stitch like darning, and also as a variety with
20 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
an in-and-out stitch likeweaving. It appears to

have been much in use for church work for sacred

emblems, as the lamb and the pelican are often met

with, as well as dragons and terrible imaginary
beasts of all sorts. (See Illustration IV.) The work
remained long in favour, and in later times really
beautiful scroll-like patterns in the Renaissance style
were so executed. In the South Kensington Museum
Collection there are several very gracefully designed
borders to silk table-covers in this work, made both
of white and coloured threads and of silk of various
shades. It is, indeed, surprising to see what an
extremely good effect is thus
produced by very
simple means, and it is to be
regretted that when
this work was revived a little while ago under the
"
rather inappropriate name of Guipure d'Art," such
very poor patterns should have been preferred to
those of the beautiful Italian work of the kind in
existence. This work has a special interest, because
it introduced into the Art of lace-making the principle
of the looped stitch, which is the common foundation
of all netting and also of all Needle-point lace- work.
 ILLUSTRATION IV

Darned netting, or Punto ricamato a maglia quadra.

21
 EMBROIDERED NEEDLE-LACE 23

PUNTO TAGLIATO
(Fr. Point-coupe, Eng. Cut-work)

is an advance on Drawn- work. It is made by cutting

squares or rectangular spaces out of the linen and

filling them with needle stitches worked on trans-

verse threads. In this work the
patterns are
geometrical, but they are varied by the rich em-
broidery generally worked on such plain spaces of
the linen as were left. The peculiar character of
this embroidery should be noticed, as shown in
Illustration V. the threads composing it are always
;

laid parallel to either the woof or warp of the

linen foundation, they are never, as in modern satin
stitch, worked diagonally, nor is
any padding ever
used underneath the embroidery to raise it.
The construction of this kind of Needle lace will

be easily seen in the unfinished specimen given in

Illustration I., Fig. 5. It will be found to consist of

three different stitches, a looped button-hole stitch,

a close-sewn rope stitch covering one or two. threads,
and an in-and-out stitch over two or four threads,
" 1

called in Italian Punto di Genoa/ These stitches

are used in Lace worked out of linen, such as Cut-

wonk and Reticella, and should be carefully noticed
and understood if the beautiful work so called is to be
24 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

properly appreciated. Cut-work, as well as Reticella,

is often misnamed Greek Lace.

RETICELLA, OR GREEK LACE.

This Lace differs from Cut-work in that though it
v

also is worked out of a linen foundation, the linen

has almost entirely disappeared a narrow, double
;

hemstitched edge at the top and bottom of the band

of Lace is all that is discoverable. The threads left
as the framework of the pattern, dividing it into

square spaces, are covered closely with stitches, and

the rest of the material is
altogether cut away. Into
these squares are introduced diagonal lines and circles
and half circles forming very beautiful and intricate
combinations, and enriched with patterns in solid
'

needlework edged with "picots." This Lace is

"
frequently called Greek Lace," principally owing
to the fact ,that during the English occupation of
the Ionian Islands a great deal of it was found there
and bought by English visitors. There seems little
~

doubt that it was "both made and largely used in

Corfu and the neighbouring islands, but it is never-
theless undoubtedly Italian and not Greek in its style

and origin. Itmust be remembered that during the

time of its
production these Greek islands were in
the possession of the Venetian Republic, colonised
 ILLUSTRATION V.

UK*'

Cut-work, or Punto tagliata.

E
 GOLD AND SILVER LACE 27

by Venetians and in constant communication with

the mother city it is not therefore
;
surprising that
this Italian Lace should have been imported, imitated

and have become naturalised there. At any rate

there is no distinctive character either of pattern or
execution by which the Lace, even though bought in
the Ionian Islands, can be distinguished from Italian
Reticella.

The Needlework laces of different kinds described

in this chapter, use during the fifteenth
though in

and the early part of the sixteenth century, were not

employed for decoration of dress. It is true that of
Lace so used mention is found in records dating as far

back as the coronation of Richard the Third, but such

Lace seems to have been of silk or of gold or silver,
and would be what we should now call braid. It may
be remarked that the word Lace has survived to the
present day in this sense, the gold and silver braid
now used for uniforms being still so called.
Cut-work and other linen Laces were used to
decorate church and household linen of every kind.

During the long leisure of convent life skilful hands

were continually providing for the
employed in

adornment of church furniture with needlework both

of silk and linen thread, and almost universally in
well-to-do households the ladies of the family took
28 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

pride in seeing that their household linen was orna-

mented in the same manner. Tablecloths, sheets,

pillow-cases and towels made usually of home-spun

lin^n were worked with borders of this kind, a
practice which, as is well known, has continued,
especially on the Continent, till within the present

century. All this, however, now

belongs to the
past ;
the Lace has been bought up by the ubiquitous
modern tourist after having been cut off in strips,

for sale, from the linen out of which it was made,

and but little of it now remains in its original con-

purpose for which it was worked.

dition to explain the

Yet the linen-made Laces of Reticella and Cut-work

are singularly well suited for the decoration of
table and especially of church linen, and it is
surpris-

ing thatamong many modern sorts

all the of fancy-
work these have not found more frequent imitators.

The -stitches are, as has been said, very simple, and

the work not too fine for ordinarily good eyesight.
is

The Lace when completed is so good and rich in

effect, and so strong for wear, that it can but be
wished that fashion some day inspire
will industrious
and neat-fingered English needlewomen to emulate
the beautiful performances of Italian ladies of tne
sixteenth century.
 ILLUSTRATION VI.

Reticella with Punto in Aria border.

29
 Punto in Aria.

CHAPTER III.

OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE.

(Contimted.)

A TIME came when the restraints imposed on design

by the linen foundation were found to be irksome,
and it occurred to some innovator to dispense with
it
altogether and to construct the pattern on threads
fastened on parchment in any form that fancy might
dictate. This was the beginning of " Punto in Aria,"
literally "stitches in the air"; that is, without any
foundation of linen ;
and it was by development of
subsequent beautiful Needle-
this principle that all the

points of Italy were made.

At first geometrical forms, which had been of
necessity in Cut-work, were still adhered to, though
31
32 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
a greater variety of ornament was found possible.
Then a pointed edge was worked on threads laid
down in the required shape, and the spaces were filled

in with patterns of solid or open-work loop stitch-

"
ing executed in an excellent manner, and brides

picotees" were added to connect and strengthen

the parts.
A specimen is shown in Illustration VI. of two
" "
squares of Reticella with Punto in Aria Vandykes
attached. The Reticella will be seen to be bordered

by a narrow double line of hemstitch, showing that

'

it is worked out of a piece of linen but the ;

vandyke independent of such foundation.

is The
open Medicis ruff and the cuffs worn by the little
Princess of Mantua, as seen in the frontispiece,
are of the same kind, namely, a band of Reticella
" "
edged with the Punto in Aria Vandykes, The
date of the picture is about 1600.
" "
This introduction of Punto in Aria marks a
very considerable development in the uses to which
Lace was applied. No sooner did this new style
of Lace appear, as we may judge from the portraits of
the day, than it seems have the world
to taken
'

of fashion by storm. Plain linen collars and head-

dresses were relegated to widows and waiting-maids,
and Reticella, hitherto only found serviceable for
 QUEEN ELIZABETH,
(From the Painting in the National Portrait Gallery.)
To face page 32
 ELIZABETHAN RUFFS 33

coarse table-linen, was, in combination with the new

edging, and worked in fine lawn, lavished upon cuffs
and aprons and the ruffs that grew to the preposterous
dimensions with which we are familiar in the pictures
of Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers. These were
worn both round and also of the open shape shown
in the frontispiece; both
shapes seem to have been
in fashion
together, judging by the well-known
picture by Marc Gerrardo representing the state
progress of the Queen on her way to pay a visit
to Lord Hunsdon, and in which she is surrounded

by the and gentlemen of her court, the former

ladies

wearing some one shaped ruff and some another.

This picture was engraved by Vertue, and is of
great interest as a record of the costumes of the
time.
Of Queen Elizabeth's ruffs much mention is made
in the lists of new year's gifts that she was in the
habit of receiving from her courtiers. Besides gold
and jewellery from the gentlemen, and embroideries,
silks, and gifts of all sorts from the ladies, these
"
latter presented her yearly with ruffes with rabatines

of lawne cut- work" and sets of cuffs, both made and

unmade; sometimes the "lawne cut-work" was set
with seed pearls, and sometimes edged with gold, or
silver, or Bone, that is, Pillow lace. For the ruffs >
F
34 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
one cannot but wonder at the skill of the starcher

who, even with the aid of a wire frame, could stiffen

so large a surface of such delicate materials so as to
make them retain the required shape even for a few
hours of a damp English day. But it is on this

account that we have now to depend almost entirely

on "the pictorial art for our information about them.
Starch- and constant wear have been too much for

the fifie "lawne cut- work/* and lace-trimmed ruffs

have, with scarcely any exception, long since perished

with their wearers.
It is at this point that the large collection of

pattern books which have been preserved

to us from
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are of great
interest. They became possible after the art of
printing became popular, and they range
in point

of date from the Livre nouveau, published in Cologne

in 1527, to the Mtthode ^t,r faire une infinite de

desseins par le Rev. Pere Sebastien Truchet, published

in Paris in 1722.

A list of these books, preserved iii various

European libraries, is to be found in the Appendix

to Mrs. Palliser s History of Lace. A few original

copies are in the National Aft Library, South
Kensington, and a considerable number of such as
were of Venetian origin have been recently re-
 PATTERN BOOKS 35

produced in modern facsimile editions by that

energetic publisher, Signor Oncagnia, of Venice.

These can be seen and studied in the library of
the British Museum, so that this interesting
subject
is now brought within easy reach of the
English
student.
The of these books refer to embroidery in
earliest

gold and silver and silks, as well as in thread. In

1 548, one published in Venice by Mathio Pagan, //
specchio di pensieri delle belle e virtndiose donne

("the mirror of the thoughts of beautiful and

virtuous ladies"), gives patterns of "punti tagliati,"

"punti gropposi e punti in Stuora" Cut- work,

Knotted- work, and Embroidered netting. Ten years
later, in 1558, the same author brought out La gloria
etrkonore di punti tagliati e pitnti in aere (" the glory
and the honour of Cut-work and Open-work"). And
this allusion to in Aria" is very interesting as
"punto
fixing the date of the introduction of so important
an innovation in lace-making.
The early style of these patterns is narrow and
wiry,_ corresponding closely to the
edgings of the
frills shown in contemporary pictures but soon;

the designs become" and wider, and being

richer!

worked than that formerly used for

in finer thread

the old linen lace- work, and combined with bands of

36 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
produce a very handsome as well
Reticella, as light

and open effect.

In James the Firsts reign some concession was
made to comfort,, and the same fluted and starched
ruff was allowed to fall towards the shoulders instead
of standing out round the head; then suddenly the full
frill
gave way to the "Col rabattu," the large falling
collar with the lace border of Charles the First's time
so familiar to us in Vandykes portraits of that

monarch.
But to return to "Punto in Aria" and its develop-
ments. The various Laces which owe their invention
to this origin are known to us as Point Jace. The
great distinction between
them and the Lace we have
hitherto considered is that Point lace is worked with-
out any linen foundation and with button-hole stitch
alone (''Punto a festone"). In the preceding Laces

(Illustration I. f Fig, 5), sewing over, rope stitch, and

"
the in-and-out stitch called Punto di Genoa" are also
discarded
used, but in the later Point lace these are
and the Lace is made entirely with button-hole stitch,
close or open. All the varied, effects we so much
admire are produced by this alone* *

Lace so worked had its origin and chief centre in

Venice, and it is to be remarked that like our own
it was
English manufactures, brought to perfection
SIR JOSEPH WILLIAMSON, P.R.S.

(From the Portrait by Sir Peter Lely.)

To face page 36
 VENETIAN POINT 37

not by any State encouragement such as government

schools or protective duties, but rather in
spite of
sumptuary laws, and by the enterprise and artistic
instincts of private citizens. It culminated in the
splendid Lace known in French and English by many
but "
names, called in Italian
collectively Punto
"
tagliato a foliami," or simply Punto di Venezia."
This Lace had an astonishing success in Italy and
also in Spain and France. In the latter country

especiallyenormous quantities of it were lavished on

the dress both of men and women. Owing, as it is
said, to thelong curls of the young King Louis the
Fourteenth, falling collars had gone out of fashion,
ponderous wigs were worn by the courtiers in
imitation of the King's natural locks, and, to suit

the new style of coiffure, cambric neckties with

falling ends of the richest Venetian Point lace
were adopted. And
not only so was this Lace used,
but the gentlemen's sleeve cuffs, the ends of their
waist scarves, the canons or frills half a yard in
width which finished breeches of the day,
the, short

the rosettes of their shoes, and even the tops of

their leather boots, were most inappropriately
high
decorated in the same manner.
" "
The ladies wore the beautiful Punto di Venezia
on their caps, their sleeves, and their aprons, besides
38 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

using it, as we
see in contemporary pictures, to trim
their dinner table-covers and pillow-cases, and even as
coverlets for their beds, where, it must be remembered,
they used to hold receptions of their friends, male
and female. For church purposes it was also largely
used. There is a superb altar frontal at the South
Kensington Museum made entirely of Venetian Point,
and in a case close by it a cardinal's alb of pleated
linen, trimmed with a flounce half a yard in width of
"
the finest Punto tagliato a foliami," or Rose Point.
In England we. have the evidence of the actual
Lace worn by Charles, the Second himself and it is
preserved on his. funeral effigy in Westminster
still

Abbey to prove to^us that the finest Venetian Point

was also in fashion here. The .Lace
very beautiful, is

now mouldering, away into dust and ashes together

with a truly strange collection, mementoes of bygone
rank and. splendour.
Venetian Point is variously called Raised Venetian
*

Point or Gros Point de Venise, also Rose Point,

.

Carnival Lace, Cardinal's, and sometimes even Pope's

.

Point, Point Plat de Venise, Point d'Espagne or

;

Guipure, and all these names have been used some-

what indiscriminately.. For the two last, Guipure
1

denotes Lace madfe with . >

braid, or tape, or gimp,
and is not in any way applicable to fine Needle-
.J

39
 VENETIAN POINT 41

point. Point d'Espagne is clearly a misnomer for

work which, though it
may have been occasion-

ally produced Spain under Italian influence, was

in

Certainly of Venetian origin. On this more will be

said under the head of Spanish Lace. For the rest,
as it is certain that different stages of development
and decline can be observed in the history of
Venetian Lace, and having explained that the names
usually employed are not always clearly separable,
it has been
thought best here to make use only of
such names as will serve to mark the distinction
between three separate stages in point of date and
"
style of the Lace known as a whole as Pun to
"
tagliato a foliami or Venetian Point
We would class them thus 1
:

1. Venetian Raised Point (Fr. Gros Point de

Venise), under which head we include the variety
called Rose Point.
2. Venetian Flat Point (Fr. Point Plat de Venise),
with its later variety which, from its appearance, we
would call Coraline Point.

3. Grounded Venetian Point (Fr. Point de Venise

a rdseau), and in this class we include " Punto di
Burano," so called from the island, near Venice, where
it was made the last and 'final stage of the Art at the
;

close of the eighteenth century.

42 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

RAISED POINT, OR GROS POINT DE VENISE

The principal distinctions of Raised Venetian Point
are : the boldness and continuity^ the designs,
First,
which sometimes extend throughout a whole piece of
"
Lace; Secondly, the cordon net," which is very promi-
nent thickened in parts by the addition of
It is

sheaves of thread closely overcast with button-hole

and often edged with rows of " picots."
stitches,
The Lace is held together by " brides," but only so
"
far as necessary for strength, the
is bride "-work

forming no essential part of the general design. The

splendid specimen reproduced in Illustration VII. is
in the South Kensington Museum, and forms part
of the unrivalled collection of Lace bequeathed to the
nation by the late Mrs. Bolckow. Such Lace has been

fitly called the crowning triumph of the work of the

needle. The freedom- and beauty of the design are

as remarkable as the exquisite delicacy and variety
of the details and the perfect skill of their execution.
An Italian poet is said to have described such work
as "scolpito in relievo" (sculptured in relief). The
words remind one that Venetian Lace in its prime
was produced when manual skill had reached its
highest point and went hand in hand with the
heaven-born instinct of beauty ; when, in fact, the
43
 ROSE POINT 45

spirit of the Renaissance had infused and vigour

life

into every form of Art throughout Italy, and when

the workers in gold and enamel, in wood and iron,
and even in silk and linen thread, were artists as well
as the sculptor and the painter. Such periods are
short-lived.

ROSE POINT.
The distinctions to be drawn between this and
the preceding Lace are not very marked the style ;

is modified, not changed. The designs are com-

posed" on a smaller scale, enriching ornament is
-

more abundant/ and the groundwork of " brides"

becomes a more important element in the whole
effect These are now further decorated not only
with "picots" but also with numerous little whirls
and rosettes, and hence perhaps the name of Rose
Point. The specimen shown in Illustration VI I L
is also, like the preceding, taken from the Bolckow
bequest in the South Kensington Museum, and is a
singularly rich example. Here the raised "cordonnet"
is edged not only with one but with two and three
rows of loops and "picots," till the effect produced is
almost that of snowflakes, on which account such Lace
"
is sometimes called Point de neige." Rose Point is

later in style than the "Gros Point de Venise."

46 ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

FLAT VENETIAN POINT.

The name of this Lace denotes the difference of

its character. The raised work is here altogether

absent, the designs, though often very graceful and

well composed, as is the case with the specimen
shown in Illustration IX. 5
are more attenuated than
"
in Raised Point, while the brides," as in Rose
Point, are an important feature in the general effect
The manner in which the work was executed was
the same in all three. The piece of parchment on
which the pattern was drawn out was tacked upon
some thick, soft cloth, then a coarse thread or cord
was sewn down along the outline through both the
parchment and the cloth together. The scroll-work
or flowers of the pattern were then filled in with
button-hole stitches, as shown in Fig. i, Illustra-
"
tion I., either close or open, and finally the "brides
were added to hold the parts of the pattern together,
and when the work was completed a sharp knife was
passed between the parchment and cloth to cut the
stitches which held down the outline cord and so to

free the finished Lace without any risk of injuring it

A later style ,of Flat Venetian Point is one that we

venture to name on account of its
strong resemblance
 o
55 PL,
O

C/D I
D

47
 VENETIAN POINT 49
to the delicate fretwork of fine coral growths, and
also because of the story that is told of its origin,

CORALINE POINT.
It is said that a young a lace -worker in
girl,
Venice, received as a parting gift from her sailor lover
when he left her to wait for his return, a branch of
coraline, and she, looking at it and thinking of him
while at her work, considered how she could imitate
itwith her needle. She tried, and the result was so
charming that she speedily found imitators, and the
Lace became one of the most favourite In use.
This Lace is often specially called "Venetian Point,"
and rightly so, for whereas the " Point Plat" and the
"Gros Point" have been copied both in Spain and
France, this Lace, whose origin is a gift from the
sea, has never been produced elsewhere than on
the shores of the Adriatic. But beautiful and
wonderful as it is, it must be considered as a decline
from the earlier styles. Very little connected pattern-
is to be traced in it at all, and what there is is often

shapeless and angular. There is little or no raised

work the ground of " brides picotees," though well
;

distributed, is without method in its arrangement and

the shape of the meshes. It has, in fact, the effect

of a tangle a work of nature rather than of Art,

H
SO OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
charming for its delicate workmanship, and for the
very reason of its confusion. But the finest Art has
never been considered to be the mere imitation of
the free growth of natural plants or animals, its

object is rather to generalise and idealise nature, and

to express and suggest, through the representation of
things familiar to us, the higher spirit of symmetry
and harmony, and that sense of ideal beauty which
is the peculiar gift of artistic genius.
The third and last stage of Venetian Lace is the

GROUNDED POINT.
(Fr. Point de Venise k reseau.)

about the middle of the seventeenth century

Till

there was an almost insatiable demand for Venetian

Lace at the .French Court, and the supply seems to
have been abundant ;
but when the manufactures
of Alengon and the" neighbourhood were started,
encouraged by the King, and protected by pro-
hibitive duties against the importation of Italian

Lace, the profits of the Venetian lace-makers fell off

considerably. It was then that, in the hope of

retaining their foreign customers, they learnt a

lesson from their supplanters, and in imitation of
the manufactures of Alengon they adopted the
 ILLUSTRATION X.

Venetian Point (Coraline), or Punto di Venezia,

51
 ILLUSTRATION XL

'

'^*
' V
-X \ I ^
V /'A-/
'- '

-^ "
- /> <w y43r*A
v

^
,

^r-.'tf 4- ,V'^ -^

Grounded Venetian Point.

54
 GROUNDED VENETIAN POINT 55

"rseau" ground. The style of the "reseau" is

much the same as the French, though the mesh
is rounder and does not fall into lines across the
Lace as with Alengon and Burano. It is composed,
however, of double twisted threads throughout, as
Fig. 3, Illustration I. This Lace differs further from
Alen9on in that the pattern not outlined with any
is
"
cordonnet." Venetian Grounded Point is a very
beautiful piece of work, exquisitely fine, delicate and
graceful (see Illustration XL), point of style
yet in
it falls under the strictures passed on the Rococo

period, inasmuch as it often suffers from a redundancy

of ill-arranged decoration.
The variety and abundance of the ornamental "a
"
jours are especially to be noticed. These are far too
numerous to be described, but a zigzag ornament
may be specified as very
characteristic. The pattern
usually includes the representation of lilies and other

natural flowers, and the edge of the Lace is

generally
in the form of a shallow scollop, arranged so as to
form part of the design.
This Lace was produced during the latter half of
the eighteenth century-; then came the end, when
the storm of the French Revolution burst upon
Europe and overwhelmed the Venetian Republic- in
its course. Rich patrons had then to think of saving
 56 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
their and what they could of their property,
lives

and no longer bought Lace, and the poorer classes

learnt by experience that to kill the goose who lays
the golden eggs is not the way to prosperity.

Yet the manufacture survived for a little while

longer in the island of Burano, near Venice, and as

late as the beginning of the nineteenth century a

needle-made Lace, insignificant in pattern and coarse

in execution, was still made there by native workers.
Mrs. Palliser, her History of Lace, published in
in

1
864, 'gives an illustration of a specimen of Burano
Lace which she says had been bought of" an old
woman, the maker, one Ceccia la Scarpariola, ,the
last survivor of the lace-making industry, arid 'she
"
adds, Venice Point is now no more."
This same Ceccia or Cencia was still older when
in an unusually severe winter reduced the
1872
inhabitants of Burano ,to great straits of poverty.
The population was at the time entirely dependent
on fishery for the means of existence, and when
the canals and lagoons were for weeks covered with
ice, wholesale starvation, seemed imminent. Their
/distress came to the knowledge of a M. aulo
Fambri, who made an -

appeal -to the charitable

throughout Italy for help. The King and Queen

and the Pope gave the example, and a considerable
57
 REVIVAL OF BURANO LACE 59

sum was raised, part of which was immediately

spent in alleviating the distress, and with what
remained, as a more permanent source of help and
comfort to these poor people, a school was started
in which it was hoped that the lost Art of lace-

making, so profitable in the past, might be revived

for their benefit. Cencia Scarpariola was then
seventy years of age, and was the only living
person who remembered or could show how the
work \vas done, and she, from old age and infirmity,
was incapable of teaching. However, nothing
daunted, some Venetian ladies, headed by the
Countess Adriana Marcello, who eventually assumed
the whole management of the affair, succeeded in

finding an intelligent worker who could learn only

by seeing the old woman at her needle, and she in

turn taught Keeping at first to the old

others.

Burano style, and afterwards copying from patterns

and designs which were most kindly lent by Her
Majesty the Queen of Italy and others, the school
has at length been able to produce Lace of various
kinds, but little inferior to the best of the Venetian

triumphs of former days.

In Needle-point lace the Burano girls now repro-
duce Raised Venetian Point, Point d'Argentan, and
d'Alengon, and old Brussels, as well as the peculiar
6o OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
Burano Lace of their native island. Thus a beautiful

Art has been successfully saved from oblivion, and

as the lace-makers are able to earn what to those

simple folk is very good wages, the means of

subsistence of the population is very considerably

increased, and comfort and good morals are the

satisfactory results.
In an account of Venetian lace -making, written

by Urbani Gheltof, published in Venice, and trans-

lated into English by Lady Layard, a very detailed

description, accompanied by diagrams,
is
given of the
mode of execution of Burano Point.
From this it appears that it is usually worked on
a pillow, not however, of course, with bobbins as
for pillow-lace. The object of the pillow or bolster
is merely to raise the work to a suitable height on
the lap of the lace-maker and to diminish the
necessitv <f
of much O
handling. On the middle of
the upper side of the pillow there rests a small
w ooden cylinder across which the parchment pattern
r

is an open space under it for the

stretched, leaving
convenience of the worker; thus the strip of Lace
is kept smooth and flat In working the "r6seau"

ground a thread is fixed straight across the whole

width of the Lace as a foundation for each row of
meshes, being passed through and fastened to any
 MODERN BURANO LACE 61

sprig or part of the pattern which may intervene,

and on this thread the looped meshes are worked.
The result is the formation of a
remarkably square-
shaped mesh, and by this, and also by the streaky
and cloudy appearance of the " reseau," Burano
Point may be
recognised; the latter effect is
owing
to unevenness in the quality of the thread. Burano
also differs from Alencon in that its
k
'cordonnet" is

not overcast or covered with button-hole stitch, but

is only stitched down round the outline. In the
matter of design the patterns are generally, as in the
illustration, small and the "reseau" ground
floral,

being sprinkled with leaflets or blossoms but Alencon ;

patterns of a late period were also often copied, so

that the quality of the "reseau," and especially the

heavy thread "cordonnet," should be chiefly relied

upon rather than the pattern as marking the differ-

ence between the two kinds of Lace.

For the benefit of visitors to Venice it may be
added that the Burano Lace schools, under the
patronage of the Queen of Italy, are in the Palazzo

Municipale, opposite the church in the principal

Piazza in the island, and that they will well repay a
visit.
Lace-making can be better understood by being
seen than by even the most careful of descriptions.
62 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE

OF SPANISH LACES.
These are included in the present chapter on
account of the frequent misuse of the terms
"
Point d'Espagne" applied to
'Spanish Point" and
Italian Laces. As in the case of the Brussels Lace
"
known as Point d'Angleterre," names may be in
common use and yet not always safe guides. With
seems difficult to be sure
regard to Spanish Lace
it

of the facts of the case.

great quantities of Lace that we
It is certain that

should describe as Raised Venetian Point were used

Court and also
in Spain both for the dress of the
especially for the adornment of the church vestments,

altars, and images of During the French in-

saints.

vasion, when churches and monasteries were freely

pillaged, these treasures

were scattered over the world,
and on this account, if for no other reason, were sold
"
in the Spanish Lace." But it is also prob-
market as
ably true that Lace of the kind was made in the
con-
vents of Spain, where nuns from Italy would naturally
teach and introduce an Art so much in request. To
judge, however, by style where the actual nationality
of the work seems doubtful, it is clear that there is

no sufficient difference to mark "Point d'Espagne"

as a really distinct Lace from Venetian Point.
 SPANISH LACE 63

The Lace known for certain to be of Spanish

production is a coarse pillow Guipure both of white
thread and also of gold and silver. This is a loose
"
fabric made of three cordonnets," the centre one

being the coarsest, held together with finer threads

"
running in and out across them, and with brides"
and keep the pattern in shape.
to connect
Black and white Blonde has during this century

been also much made in Catalonia for that graceful

national head-dress, the mantilla, but it is not at all

equal in quality to similar Lace made in the north of

France, of which more will be said further on. In
factSpaniards, though they have always been very
good customers for the Lace of other countries, do
not appear at any time to have been great Lace

producers.
 Genoese Plaited Lace. -

CHAPTER IV.

OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE.

BEFORE entering into details concerning Lace that will

fall under the above description/some mention must

be made of a decorative work of very ancient origin,

namely :

PUNTO A'GROPPO, OR KNOTTED LACE.

(Now known as Macram^.)

This must be considered as a very early form of

Pillow lace, being made with interlaced threads on a

pillow, though by knotting and not by plaiting as

in the modern Pillow lace. It no doubt grew out
of the knotted fringes that we see represented in

Byzantine mosaics, or it
may claim a still earlier origin,
in the same fringes as represented in ancient Assyrian
sculpture. During the sixteenth century much of this-
work was produced in Genoa, but the effect was
necessarily stiff and heavy and was not found suitable
for other than church and household purposes.
 ILLUSTRATION XIII.

Macrame, or Punto a Groppo.

K
 ORIGIN OF PILLOW LACE 67

The specimen shown in Illustration XIII. was

bought in Italy some
years ago, but the work
fifty
since then has been introduced into this country,
and so many books of patterns and directions have
been published that any detailed description of it
seems unnecessary here. The name " Macram6," by
which it has been known to us, is as modern as its
revival ;
it comes from an Arabic word signifying an
ornamental trimming.
It is interesting to notice that as we have seen
that the looped stitch of netting was the first
starting-

point of the needlework button-hole stitch, with which

all Point laces are made, so we may consider these

knotted fringes as the beginning from which all the

future Pillow lace work was developed.
Great rivalry exists between Italy and Belgium as

to which of the two may claim the merit of the

invention of While Belgium, as we
Pillow lace.
have seen, can refer to the picture by Quintin
Matsys of the girl with the Lace pillow as a proof
that the Art existed in the north as early as the
end of the fifteenth century, Italy can show on her
part the pattern -book" for Pillow lace-making pre-
served in the Museum of the Arsenal at Venice,
entitled, Le Pompe, and dated 1557, and if this later

date should be quoted as antagonistic to her coiuen-

68 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
tion, it may be fairly allowed that an Art must have
been already some time in existence before it could
have created a literature.
M. Seguin, favouring the Italian view, is of opinion

that the Art spread from Italy through France to

Belgium byiftaaas of travelling pedlars who, journey-

ing sfowly. across Europe and stopping~every
where on
their road to sell their wares, ^anied the knowledge
of Lace-making into the Flemish provinces, where the

population was already familiar with, and skilful in, the

manufacture of linen. However that may be, it is

certain that Pillow laces of the Italian sort, known

to us as
PILLOW GUIPURE,
seem have been among the earliest made both in
to
Flanders and in Italy, and that in style of design

they have a. distinctly Italian character. It is this

Lace about which the authorities at South Kensington

decide to be doubtful. One must conclude that they
have good authority for believing that what would
certainly from its appearance pass for Italian Lace
has actually often been made in Flanders. They have
"
therefore labelled the cases containing it as Flemish
or Italian." If a distinctive difference may be
suggested between Lace of the same style of pattern
made in the two countries, it would appear perhaps
 PILLOW GUIPURE 71

to be in the quality of the thread. As has been said,

the inhabitants of the Flemish provinces have always
been noted for their superior skill in spinning and
weaving linen, and whether from lack of such skill
or from a difference in national taste, there is no
doubt that Italian Lace generally of all kinds is

heavier and stouter in character than that produced

in the north of Europe. Illustrations XIV. and

XXIX. should be compared.

Pillow Guipure may be described as composed of
a tape, made on the pillow so as to follow the curves
" "
of the pattern and connected by brides also made
on the pillow, that is, made of twisted or plaited

threads, not as in Needle lace covered with button-

hole stitches. The " brides" are sometimes orna-
mented with "picots," and the open spaces are filled

in with "a jours," also pillow-worked.

This Lace, though flat, is, from its excellent designs
of a bold Renaissance character and its good work-
manship, often very handsome in appearance.

A variety on this is the mixed Needle and Pillow

lace, called
MEZZO PUNTO.
(Fr. Point de Canaille.)

" "
In this the "a jours" and brides picot^es are
worked in needle stitches and complete in Point the
72 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE

pattern traced .out with

:
Pillow -made tape. Some-
times this, mixed Guipure is grounded with a coarse
" but
7

needle-made "reseau" .instead., of brides/

" too often made
whether so or with brides," it is

not with tape worked to the pattern on the pillow,

as is the wholly Pillow Guipure, but with a woven

tape made separately and then tacked on to the

first

the result is that

pattern as. outlined on parchment ;

clumsy puckers and folds spoil the turns and curves

of the design, a defect, as we all know, which has
been faithfully copied in the modern- revival of the
Lace. .Whether owing to this or to the mixture of

methods, .or to faults of design, the Mezzo Punto

never has the simple, free effect of the Pillow

Guipure, and is very' far from attaining to .the

richness of. Needle Point. ,

It has been though with what 'amount of

said,

truth .we do not know, that, this Lace originated in

Naples, and was meant to supply the poorer folk with

a cheap imitation of the -.rich Point laces worn by
the Court., There seems no'., doubt that both mixed
Lace and Pillow Guipure were intended to copy the
Venetian Points, and from being easier to work, and
less costly to purchase,- they gained favour very
rapidly.
X

.2*
"3

73
 COLLAR LACE 75

GENOESE LACE.
(//. Punto di Genoa.)

As Venice was the great centre for Needle-point,

so was Genoa for Pillow lace -making in
Italy, and

during the greater part of the seventeenth century

a constant supply was produced in that town and
its
neighbourhood of the handsome vandyked and
scolloped bordgr_Lace, called from the use to which
ifwas put, Collar lace. In the pictures of Rubens
and Vandyke "we see it
frequently represented as
trimming the broad falling linen collars both of men
and of elderly ladies. The younger ladies also made
great use of it as trimming for the shoulders of their
ddcolleU dresses, and also for sleeves, aprons, etc.
It can be distinguished from Flemish Lace, also em-

ployed in the same way, by its greater boldness of

design.

COLLAR LACE.
Collar Lace is of two kinds, both of which are

represented in Illustration
XVI. That of which
No. 2 is a specimen resembles in principle the Pillow
Guipure already described.
A scroll-like pattern, as
0f~tape, is turned
and twisted into forms of con-
76 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
siderable elegance which at the same time compose
the deep scollop of the required shape. This Lace is
round and not pointed in its outline. The whole is
"
brides."
strengthened and connected by short

PLAITED LACE.
(Fr> Point de Genes frisd. //. Merletto a piombini.)

generally pointed or vandyked

No. i is in shape,

and is worked in a somewhat unusual manner the ;

Lace is made entirely with plaits of four threads each,

following the design, and with little oval enlargements

resembling ears of wheat, which are sometimes
arranged as beads on a thread and sometimes com-
posed into trefoils or quatrefoils, or spokes radiating
from a common centre.

GENOESE TAPE GUIPURE.

Besides the border Lace chiefly used for trimming
collars which" has been already described, a Lace

sometimes known as Tape Guipure is also attributed

to Genoa. A
specimen is shown in Illustration XVII.
which will sufficiently explain the name. A con-
voluted -tape, but made to its shape on the' pillow
with no unseemly puckers or folds, seems to wind
-

for ever through the design. Great ingenuity is

 U

'3

77
ILLUSTRATION XVII,

Genoese Tape Guipure.

79
 PUNTO DI MILANO 81

shown in the even and well-balanced distribution of

the pattern, if pattern it can be called, where so
little order or intention can be traced. With the
enrichment of numerous "picots," and also some-
times of ornamental " a jours
"
filling in the looped

spaces, this Lace has often a very good though

perhaps monotonous effect. It has been much used

for church vestments, and was frequently of con-

siderable width.

PUNTO DI MILANO.
(Eng. Milanese Pillow lace.)

It is needless to say that neither this Lace nor

"Punto di Genoa" are rightly called "Punti" or

Needle - point lace ; they are both made on the

pillow. The name "- Punto di Milano" is, however,

so commonly known in connection with it, that it

would be pedantic not to recognise it, though with a

protest. It was like the preceding Laces, of Genoese

origin, but has survived till recent times in Cantu,

near Milan. It is by far the most beautiful, as well
as the best known of Italian Pillow laces. It much
resembles the Genoese Tape Guipure, but with far
less of monotony, and much more of graceful design
in the style of its patterns. In some fine specimens,
such as that represented in Illustration XVI 1 1., coats
M
82 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
probably when the
'

of arms are often introduced,

by; order of some prelate

of Lace was made or
piec
personage of noble family ;
but as a "rule easy-flowing
This is the
scroll-work fills
up the composition.
only Italian Pillow lace which is grounded with

"r&seau," a fact that marks it as relatively late in

point of date.
It is somewhat singular that this "r^seau" should

very much resemble that of Valenciennes, having a

diamond-shaped mesh formed with a plait of four
threads (See Fig. 7, Illustration II.), though the
two kinds of Lace are in other respects of totally
"
different construction. In Punto di Milano," ks will

be easily seen by referring to the illustration, the

pattern is made first on the pillow by itself, and the

"reseau" ground is worked in -round it afterwards,
1

sloping in all* directions so as to fit into the spaces;

while Valenciennes is worked all in one piece on
"
the pillow, pattern and reseau'* together.
The difference here noticed forms a very marked
.

distinction between two kinds o Pillow lace, one

of which seems to have originated in the Pillow
-Guipures that we" have be&n considering, which in
" "
.the case of Punto di Milano were afterwards, so
,tospeak, fitted with a "r6seau" ground; 'the other
kind is represented in Italy by the various peasant
ILLUSTRATION XVIII.

Milanese Pillow Lace.

 ILLUSTRATION XIX.

Italian Peasant Lace (three specimens).

85
 PEASANT LACE 87

Laces, of which three specimens are given in

Illustration XIX. These are worked all in one

piece, with one set of threads, forming as it were
the woof and warp of the material. This can be
almost verified by a close examination of the facsimile

print (notice No. though of course more certainly

2),
with the actual Lace. No. i is worked in the same
manner as the plaited Genoese Collar lace, that is,

with plaited threads in sets of four. The designs of

these peasant Laces are often very good, though the
thread with which they are made is coarse, and their

general effect thick. They were chiefly used for

household purposes.
Some thirty or forty years ago, before the time
when railroads had become universal in Italy, and
when the traveller was fain to rumble along during
a three or four days' journey in vetturino between
Rome and Florence or Naples, the rough country
inns at which he stopped for the night no doubt
left much to be desired in the way of good food,

cleanliness, and comfort ;

but if he could take it as
a consolation, the silk hangings of his bed, his sheets
and pillow-case, his towels and tablecloth, were nearly
-sure to be adorned with this strong and probably
home-- made country Lace, He soon found, more-
over, that after the indispensable bargaining enjoyed
88 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
he could, for a very reasonable
by both parties alike,
consideration, make the Lace his own. So the dirt
and discomfort are forgotten, and the recollection of

the amusing incident, together with the Lace, remains.

It is now no longer made, nor is any more of it to

be bought

MALTESE LACE.
A notice of this Lace is added to this chapter be-

cause of its very strong resemblance to, and probable

development from, the Genoese manufacture. Mrs
Bury Palliser, in her History of .Lace, gives a sketch
of a representation of Lace copied from a Cardinal's
monument in the church of St. John in Valetta,
from which would seem that the wavy character
it

of the designs of recent Maltese Lace may possibly

be of ancient origin. But there seems no doubt
that a great improvement took place both in its

designs and execution in consequence of the efforts

of Lady Hamilton Chichester, who, in 1833, brought
lace-workers over from Genoa to teach their craft
in the island. The Lace is made in white thread
and in black and white silk ;
in the white silk

specimen shown in Illustration XX. the little wheat-

ear ornament so characteristic of Genoa is clearly
seen*
 ILLUSTRATION XX

Maltese Lace (Black and White Silk).

 i**^^

Modern Valenciennes.

CHAPTER V,

OF FRENCH LACES.
POINT D'ALENCON.
IT is said that Needle-point lace was made at Alen9on
as early as 1650 or thereabouts, but though mention

has been found of it

by name at that time, it did not

attain any great perfection or celebrity till the

to

manufacture was taken up and encouraged by Colbert,

the well-known minister under Louis the Fourteenth.
True to the principles that have governed French

policy in commercial matters to this day, great

jealousy and annoyance had long been felt by

the
various ministers of the crown at the large sums of
91
92 OF FRENCH LACES
money yearly spent upon the importation of Venetian
and other Italian Laces, then thought an indispensable
part of the dress of the Court. Repeated sumptuary
laws were passed to check the trade, but fashion is

stronger than laws, and as, judging by their portraits,

the royal family themselves were among the chief

culprits, these naturally had

but little effect. To one
issued in 1660 we owe an amusing satire called

"La Revoke des Passemens," passement (Gimp or

Guipure) being the old French word including- Lace

and embroideries. The various Laces enumerated,
"
Poincts de Genes, de Raguse, de Venise, d'Angle-
"
terre et de Flandres," down to the humble Gueuse,"
the equivalent of the modern Torchon, are supposed
to assemble and to make indignant lamentation over
their exclusion from Court. The poem is dedicated
to Mademoiselle de la Trousse, and it is
supposed to
have been written by someone belonging to the
circle of Madame de Sevignd. The wit is perhaps
a little laboured. The gist of it is as follows :

One of the Laces addressing the rest with some

warmth, says :

" Dites moi

je vous en prie
Poincts, dentelles ou broderies
Qu'aurons nous done fait a la court
Pour qii'on nous chasse haut et court," etc.
JOANNES BAPTISTA COLBERT.
 ILLUSTRATION XXI.

A Lappet, Point d'Alen^on.

93
 ILLUSTRATION XXI.

A Lappet, Point d'Aler^on.

93
 "LA REVOLTE DES PASSEMENS" 95
"
To which "une Grande Dentelle d Angleterre
j

replies :

"
Get infortune sans seconde
Me fait bien renoncer au monde.

Pour ne plus tourner a tout vent

Comme d'entrer dans un Couvent"

But the Laces of Flanders will not patiently submit

tobe so extinguished, and many angry verses ensue.
"
At last a " Dentelle noire in despair hires itself out
to a game merchant for nets to catch snipe and the
rest :

"
Chacun dissimulant sa rage
Doucement pliait son bagage."
* * * *

when "une pauvre malheureuse la Gueuse" (it

was
the Lace of the common people) declares that she at
least will not give in, and that if they will follow
her lead she will certainly replace them in their

former position.
" La
dessus le Poinct d'Alengon

Ayant bien appris la legon

Fit une fort belle harangue,"

and the was that they all repaired

result to the Fair

of St. Germains prepared to do battle for their rights.

However, the King brought down his big guns and

96 OF FRENCH LACES
the brave Laces forthwith took to their heels. They
were condemned at a court-martial, some to be made
into tinder for the sole use of the King's mousquetaires,
and others to be sent to the galleys or burned alive ;

but Cupid, "le petit dieu plein de finesse/' makes

intercession and they are forgiven and received again
into royal favour.
The poem is also giving us the
interesting as

names of the Laces most in repute at the time.

"
Point de Raguse" is not easy to identify. Ragusa
is a town on the Dalmatian coast, and being near
to the Venetian dominions, though not at the time
included in them, the Lace was probably of much the
same kind as that produced in Venice itself if so, its ;

fame is at present extinguished by that of its more

powerful neighbour.
The edict against Lace must have made a great
impression on society, for Abraham Bosse, whose
contemporary engravings are a mine of information
concerning the dress and manners of the day, gives
us an amusing record of the crisis. He depicts
the despair of the lady of fashion now attired'

Puritan- wise in plain hemmed linen cuffs, collar and

cap, as she mournfully packs away all her rich lace-
trimmed costumes, and bewails her sad fate in heart-

broken verses.
 POINT DE FRANCE 97

The failure of past edicts was, however, the im-

mediate cause of a great success. In order to
exclude foreign manufactures Colbert hit upon the
better plan of encouraging those of his own country.
He induced Venetian lace-workers to settle near his
daughter-in-law's castle of Lonray at Alenon, and
selected a competent directrice in one Catherine
de Marcq, and finally in 1665 a flourishing Lace
factory was established, and Lace was produced in
exact imitation of Venetian Point, which rivalled if
it did not surpass the Italian original.
"
It was called by Royal Decree Point de France."
The name lasted in connection with Alengon Lace
till about 1790. It is impossible now to distinguish
the earliest Lace so called and produced in Alen9on
from the finest Venetian Point. The designs are
in the same style, and the workmanship is extremely

beautiful but by degrees, as greater freedom was very

;

wisely allowed to the workers, a new and separate

style developed itself. The patterns became smaller

and more delicate, was employed than
finer thread
" "
that made use of in
Italy, became closer
brides
and more regular in arrangement, and finally the
needlework "reseau" ground was invented in imi-
tation of the Pillow laces of the neighbouring
Flemish Provinces, and we see attained in per-
o
98 OF FRENCH LACES
fection the style of Lace now known as Point

d'Alengon.
" "
The Needle-point reseau was worked at Alengon
about the year 1717, but combined with it the

patterns still a strong Renaissance char-

retained
acter. Running scroll-like bands filled in with fanci-
ful "a jours" are a special characteristic of this period;

they wave from side to side of the piece of Lace,

form part of the edge and enclose spaces which are
decorated with flower forms conventionally treated.
Illustration XXII.)
(See Fig. 2,

A variety of this style is to be met with which

has -sometimes been distinguished as a separate Lace
"
under the name of Argentella." Its peculiarity

is a large and very ornamental honeycomb filling,

" "
made use of alternately with the ordinary reseau
as a groundwork for the design, with a very beautiful
effect.Mrs. Bury Palliser mentions that some of it
was sent to her from Genoa, but most authorities
seem agreed that it is undoubtedly Point d' Alengon.
Towards the beginning of Louis the Sixteenth's
reign Alengon patterns were much modified, the flower
representations became more and more naturalistic
(see the- beautiful representation of roses in Fig. I
of the illustration), and the groundwork was sprinkled
with spots or leaves. Finally under the Empire
 ILLUSTRATION XXII.

I. Later Point d'Aler^on. 2. Early Point d'Aler^on.

99
 POINT D'ALEN^ON 101

the last stage was reached, the pattern dwindled and

became little more than an outline of "cordonnet," and
the "r^seau" "sem6 de larmes" betokened the
extinction of this beautiful Art.
The peculiarity by which Point d'Alengon can
always be recognised is its "cordonnet," which is
firmer and clearer than that of any other Lace, owing,
it is said, to the fact that it is worked over horsehair ;

it is also firmly andclosely covered with button-hole

stitching throughout. The Alenqon "r^seau" is
shown in Fig. 3, Illustration I. It is made with a
double-twisted thread throughout, the looped stitches

being twisted on to horizontal threads previously fixed

across Lace, giving an effect of
the width of the
lines or rows to the network.

Point d'Alengon is Lace of a very fine order, both

from the beauty of the designs during the time of
its prime, and also from the wonderful delicacy of
its workmanship, which last can scarcely be appre-
ciated except with the help of a magnifying glass.
The specimen shown in Illustration XXI. is part of
a lappet, the length of which is divided into sections

by a very beautiful framework filled in with delicate "a

jours"; each section contains

a little group represent-

ing one of La Fontaine's fables a truly marvellous;

triumph of needlework.
102 OF FRENCH LACES

POINT D'ARGENTAN.

Argentan is a town in the immediate neighbour-

hood of Alen9on, and the Lace was made there
under the same direction. Its marked peculiarity is
that the "r^seau" ground is not made of single
threads only, but that the sides of each mesh are
worked over with button-hole stitch. (See Fig. 4,
Illustration I.)
The work is so fine that it can

scarcely be detected with the naked eye, but the

effect can easily be recognised as the hexagonal
'

mesh is
larger, and has a stiffer appearance, than
is the case with any other Needle-made lace.

VALENCIENNES PILLOW LACE.

This most beautiful of French Pillow laces is

now no longer made in France itself, its manufacture

having been transferred to Ypres, in Belgium.

It belongs to that class of Pillow lace which is

made one piece on the pillow, the same threads

in

forming both "toi!6" and "reseau" alike.

The peculiarity of all Valenciennes Lace is the
absence of any "cordonnet" also the closeness and
;

evenness of the texture of the "toi!6" which re-

sembles the finest cambric ;
but notwithstanding that
X
X
z.
o

H
CO
p

103
 VALENCIENNES LACE 105

these characteristics may always be recognised, there

is a very great difference between the earlier and
the later styles of the Lace. In the preceding pages
ithas been explained that the earliest Pillow lace
was not made with the "r6seau" ground; on the
contrary, this was one of the latest developments of
"
the lace-making Art. Even when bride" work had
been 'abandoned there occurred a transition state
before the simple net-like character of the "reseau"
was perfected, and accordingly we find the earliest
Valenciennes Lace grounded with, so to speak, a
fancy mesh, thicker and closer in effect than the
open "reseau" of later date. The difference will
be seen between the two specimens shown in
Illustration XXIV., and there also will be seen a

difference in the style of design strongly corroborative

of the above statement ;
for the specimen given of
the thick-grounded Lace is in excellent Renaissance

style, whereas the later Lace has degenerated into

naturalistic floral representation. It would appear
that the early Valenciennes Lace was
produced,
generally, inthe neighbouring district, but that it
was in the town itself that the pure "r6seau" was
invented, and forthwith the town workers, proud
of their invention, proceeded to appropriate to
their Lace the name of "Vraie Valenciennes/'
p
io6 OF FRENCH LACES
pretending that this Lace could not be made elsewhere;
and they moreover stigmatised the older style still
"
produced in the country villages as Fausse Valen-
ciennes." The palm of merit would not be now
altogether awarded in their sense ;
notice the beautiful

specimen shown in Illustration XXV, Here a

Renaissance framework encloses a naturalistically
treated carnation flower. The carnation has ever
been a favourite with embroiderers and lace-workers,
and in this instance is most beautifully represented.
The "r6seau" of the "Vraie Valenciennes" is

made of four threads plaited throughout (see Fig. 7,

Illustration II.),
hence its great durability and the
name given "
to it by its admirers, Les 6ternelle&
Valenciennes."

POINT DE PARIS.
It is sometimes contended that there is no special
Lace properly called by this name, but that it is

merely the designation of a particular kind of

"reseau," also described as the Fond Chant
"reseau." (See Fig. 8, Illustration II.) Still there is

*no doubt that a manufacture of some sort of simple

Lace was carried on extensively during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, in the Isle de
France and in Paris itself, until annihilated by the
X
X
z

107
 ILLUSTRATION XXV.

*KSu .*&
'"ftH- 3 >V/& >*

'
*
AV

* ; <:- i

'V flf^K >

A Lappet, Early Valenciennes,

109
III
 LILLE 113

Revolution, and that its characteristic was this same

"reseau." As shown in the specimen Illustration
XX VI. the style of pattern is extremely simple,
and consists usually of small leafy sprays, united to
form a straight edge with "picots."
The industry is believed to have been first founded
by Huguenots, and encouraged by Henry IV. and
Sully, but no Lace of great artistic pretension was
ever produced.

LILLE.

Lille has been a French town since the treaty of

Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668 its productions should there-
;

fore be properly included among French Laces,

though character they are

in more nearly akin to
those of Flanders.
In appearance there is indeed a strong resemblance
to Mechlin the special difference between the two is
;

"
in the character of the reseau." That of Lille Lace
isknown as "Fond simple" or "Fond clair." It is
made of two threads only, and these simply crossed,
not plaited, at their junction (see Fig. 6, Illustra-
tion II.) by this peculiarity Lille Lace can be always
;

recognised. The pattern is outlined with a "cor-

donnet" of flat untwisted coarse thread The edge
of the Lace is usually quite straight, not scolloped or
Q
ii4 OF FRENCH LACES

wavy, and oval openings are left in the pattern near

the edge and filled with ornamental "a jours." The
"r6seau" is often sprinkled with small square dots.

CHANTILLY,

Though the silk Lace of France is mostly known

under this name, yet its manufacture was extensively
carried on at Caen, Bayeux, and Le Puy, as well as
at Chantilly.

It is made both in black and white silk, and its

distinguishing peculiarity the use of the six-pointed

is
"
star "reseau," the Point de Paris" already men-
"
tioned, also known by the name of Fond Chant,"
an abbreviation of Chantilly. (See Fig. 8, Illustra-
tion II.) It is generally used in conjunction with
" "
the Fond simple of Lille. The pattern of
" "
Chantilly Lace is outlined with a cordonnet of a
flat untwisted silk strand.

BLONDE,
also made in the same districts, has a "rdseau" of
the Lille type made of fine twisted silk, while the
"toite" is worked entirely with. a, broad flat strand,

producing very attractive glistening effect The

a*
"
name " Blonde originated from the use of 6cm.
instead of bl'eached silk, hence ''blonde" or flaxen.
>
X
X
%
o
p
<
tf
H
en
JD
J
d
 BLONDE 117

The manufacture of silk Lace at Chantilly and in

the neighbourhood was established in the seventeenth

century by the Duchesse de Longueville, and owing

to her patronage and also probably to the vicinity of
Paris it becamea time very popular.
for At the
Revolution the demand for it, of course, at once
ceased, and not only so, but being looked upon as
royal protdggs the unfortunate lace -makers were
involved in the ruin of their patrons, and most
of them perished by the guillotine. During the
Empire, however, Chantilly and also Blonde came
again into fashion, and since that time the demand
for black silk Blonde for Spanish mantillas alone, has
kept up the prosperity of the trade, which, however,
is by no means confined to any one town, but
flourishes throughout the province of Calvados.

OF OTHER FRENCH PILLOW LACES.

Normandy, during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, was a very important district for Pillow

lace-making in France, Valenciennes at the time

forming part of Flanders.

picturesque head-dresses of the peasant women
The
no doubt encouraged the manufacture. In 1692, in
Dieppe alone, four thousand women were employed
n8 OF FRENCH LACES
in lace-making, and at Havre, Honfleur, Bolbec, Eu,
and Encamps the trade was also in a very flourish-
ing condition. The Lace produced was of a simple
character, much resembling the modern Valenciennes
'

edgings ;
it is often mentioned in inventories and
letters of the day as being used by the upper classes,
especially as trimmings for under-linen. But the
Revolution passed over this district as elsewhere like
a destroying blight, and the lace-making trade was
for a time utterly extinguished. In 1826 some nuns
attempted to revive the manufacture, and a Lace
school was started at Dieppe with some success.
The kind of Lace is, however, unfortunately of all

others -the easiest to imitate by machinery indeed, ;

only workers themselves, it has been said, can detect

the very slight difference that exists between ordinary-
Valenciennes edging, as made on the pillow, and the
best that is produced by the loom. Under these
circumstances, as purchasers will naturally always
gravitate to the cheapest market, it is no wonder
ifhand-work, of necessity more laborious, and conse-
quently more costly, cannot be made remunerative.
ILLUSTRATION XXVIII.

Blonde.

119
 Mechlin.

CHAPTER VI.

OF FLEMISH LACES.
REVERSING what we have seen to be the case with
Italian Lace, the earliest Flemish Lace was un-

doubtedly made on the pillow, though as to whether

the Art originated in Flanders or was imported
from Venice, there is
great difference of opinion.
The arguments on both sides have been stated on
page 67. But some further light seems to be thrown
on the subject, when the character of the early
Flemish Lace is observed. According to the opinion
of most writers, borne out by the chronological

arrangement of the catalogue of the South Ken-

sington Museum, the earliest Lace made in Flanders
was of the kind known as Pillow Guipure. The
pattern is made as of tape in a flowing Renaissance
122 OF FLEMISH LACES

style, sometimes connected by " brides," sometimes

altogether without "brides," when the points of
the pattern touch each other.
There are many specimens of this Lace in the
Museum so nearly like Italian Lace of the same
kind, that the description there given of them is
"
Flemish or Italian." Two specimens are here
shown in Illustration XXIX. of this Lace, and in
these specimens at any rate a distinction can be
observed which seems to mark them as Flemish.
The thread used is much finer, and at the same
time the work is looser and less firm than that seen
inacknowledged Italian Pillow lace. However that
may be, no one accustomed to Italian design can look
at them without feeling sure that the inspiration of
such Lace was certainly that of the Italian Renaissance,
even though produced in Flanders, and if so, then
the natural conclusion will be that such Pillow lace
was in its origin Italian.

Thus much has been said, in order that the student

may not be perplexed when finding Lace of undoubted
Italian, character attributed with good evidence to

Belgium.
In Flanders, as elsewhere, Pillow lace "& brides"
was antecedent to that made with the "rdseau"
ground. In specimen Fig. i one can almost see
 ILLUSTRATION XXIX.

[Flemish Pillow Lace (two specimens).

123
 ORIGIN OF "RESEAU" GROUND 125

how the one was developed out of the other. The

pattern was too loose to admit of large open spaces,
and as it was easier held together ties than
by many
by few, these interlaced, and fell into regular
arrange-
ment, foreshadowing the mesh of the future "
reseau."
The exact time at which this was fully developed
seems uncertain. Portraiture in England, at least
in this case, is of little or no assistance, to
owing
the vicious taste of the
day which induced Sir Peter
Lely and others to represent their sitters as draped
in loose floating masses of blue or white satin,
arranged in
supposed a classical but
impossible
manner, and fastened on the thigh or the shoulder
with an equally impossible jewel But fortunately
Art in Holland was less imaginative; and in a portrait
of Fraulein Verbiest, by Gonzales Coques, we see
Lace with a " reseau" ground very clearly depicted.*
Coques died in 1684; the invention therefore must
have been anterior to that date.
Mr. Alan Cole, whose short introduction to the
catalogue of Lace in the South Kensington Museum
is an
admirably clear exposition of the subject, is
pf opinion that "the origin ofr6seau' grounds may
be considered to lie first in the use of the net
'
ground
for
*
Lacis or Darned netting, the
'
Punto a maglia
* Also in No, 162 Wallace Collection, a family group by the same
artist.
126 OF FLEMISH LACES

quadra/ for which Vinciolo made many designs"

to in a preceding chapter
(the pattern books alluded ;

"
see p. 35). He
was in the of the
employment
French Court towards the end of the sixteenth

century, and at this time the early form of Pillow

lacewas being produced, and as it proceeded and
became more and more developed, the making of
meshes in small series of twos and threes also
developed" (see Fig. i, Illustration XXIX.) "and
expanded into larger spaces filled with 'reseau.' It
seems likely that this development was stimulated
by the contemporary production of the Darned
net-work, which the lace-workers would be ambitious
of reproducing on the pillow."
"
The earliest " reseau grounded Lace made in

Flanders had a 'large irregular mesh, and was called

"
Fond de brides."

BRUSSELS PILLOW LACE.

This has, all along, retained a trace of its origin
from Pillow Guipure, in that like its Genoese original,
and unlike other Flemish Laces> it is not made in
one piece on the pillow, but the pattern is first made
" "
by itself, and the reseau ground is worked in round
it afterwards. The peculiarity is easily recognised ;
 BRUSSELS PILLOW-LACE 127

for inconsequence of the way in which it is worked,

the long threads that form the "toild" of Brussels
Lace of all dates always follow the curves of the
pattern, whereas with other Flemish Laces in which
pattern and "reseau" are made
together in one piece
on the pillow, however varied the forms may be,
these threads are found to run parallel to the edge
of the whole length of the Lace, and to pass across
" "
through the pattern into the r&eau ground. (See
diagram.)

Brussels. Mechlin.

Here we have the first peculiarity by which

Brussels Pillow lace can be recognised. Secondly,
to be noticed that the "reseau" of Brussels Lace,
it is

as seen through a magnifying glass, has a hexagonal

mesh, of which two sides are made of four threads

plaited four times, and four sides of two threads
128 OF FLEMISH LACES
twisted twice. (See Fig. 3, Illustration II.) Thirdly,
Brussels Pillow lace has two sorts of "toi!6"; one,
the usual woven texture as of a piece of cambric ;

the other a more open arrangement of the threads,

having very much the appearance of the Fond

Chant "r^seau." (See Fig. 2, Illustration II.) This
is used with great effect to represent shading in the

production of flower forms, especially in modern Lace.

Fourthly, the pattern of Brussels Lace is not out-
lined with a " cordonnet," but a little line of open-
work stitches forms the edge instead. (See diagram.)
Brussels Pillow lace is also distinguished by the
beauty of its
designs, more freedom being possible in

consequence of the manner in which it was worked.

The extreme fineness of the thread in old Brussels
Pillow lace is also to be noticed. was spun, we
It

are told, in dark, damp cellars, where only one ray

of light was arranged to fall on the thread, which
was otherwise almost invisible also because in a
;

drier air it would have been too brittle. But such

hand-spun thread is now too costly for use, and
machine-made thread is always substituted
Although the characteristics enumerated above may
always be recognised, yet the Brussels Pillow lace
of to-day bears but slight resemblance to the manu-
factures of the seventeenth century. It has gone
 ILLUSTRATION XXX.

Old Brussels Pillow Lace ce

Point d'Angleterre."

130
 POINT D'ANGLETERRE 131

through many styles in pattern and make, which may

be classed as follows :

POINT D'ANGLETERRE.
On the first the perfectly formed
invention of
"r^seau" ground, about the middle of the seventeenth
century, this was worked on the pillow in the follow-
ing manner : threads were hooked on to the little

open edge of the "toild" of the pattern, and with

these the "r^seau" was worked in round the pattern
" "
to fill
up the ground. Roseau made in this

manner is called the "vrai reseau," and Brussels Lace

"
thus worked is
properly styled Point d'Angleterre."
The specimen shown in Illustration XXX. of this
early style has a characteristic peculiarity, namely,
the raised rib of plaited threads marking the veins
of the leaves and outlining the salient parts.

compare this specimen with the

It is interesting to

early Valenciennes lappet shown in Illustration XXV.;

though the method of& execution is radically different
the design is almost identical, showing the interchange
of patterns which took place between various contem-

porary Lace manufactories. It is a lesson that one

cannot altogether trust to the style of the pattern in

judging of the local character of Lace.
" "
Point d'Angleterre was also often made with
1
32 OF FLEMISH LACES

open spaces left either round the pattern or in

diagonal bars, and these were filled in with pillow-

"
made "brides picot<es." This Lace is called Point
d'Angleterre a brides." A very beautiful example is

given in Illustration XXXI., which is further interest-

ing on account of the fine Needle-point fillings that
have been superadded. When such is the case the
" "
Lace is called mixed Lace.
Many explanations have been given for the use
"
of the name Point d'Angleterre," for a Lace that
is neither Point nor made in England. M. Seguin
favours the theory that the Lace was of English
and that it was
origin, only subsequently produced
in Brussels ;
but there seems to be but little ground
for that view. The opinion more usually held is that

when, about the year importation into

1660, its

England, as well as into France, was forbidden by

prohibitive duties, the Lace merchants nevertheless
found means to smuggle it across by sea to English
ports and then sold it here, and exported it into
France as "Point d'Angleterre." To this day all
Brussels Lace is indiscriminately so called in France.
The ladies of Louis the Fifteenth's Court, in the days
when hoops and powder were in fashion, particularly

affected this Lace. In England the protective duties

were removed in 1699, and here too, during thq
 ILLUSTRATION XXXI.

" Point
d'Angleterre a brides."

133
 POINT D'ANGLETERRE 135

reigns of George the First and George the Second,

in spite of great efforts made encourage native
to

lace-making, ruffles, lappets, and flounces were most

admired when made of Brussels Lace, Such Lace
at this tune was made in pieces of considerable size,
and in this case the "r^seau" was worked in narrow

strips from an inch and a half to two inches wide,

and afterwards joined together to the required width
with the needle, but so skilfully as almost to elude
detection.
Brussels Lace, "a vrai rseau," continued to be
produced until the catastrophe of the French Revolu-
tion, which had its effect upon this as upon all other

centres of the Lace industry ;

but here, it was not
the only cause of the decline of the Art. The inven-
tion of machine-made net had been' perfected in

Nottingham about the year 1810, and from that

time forward the Brussels lace-workers adopted the

plan of appliqu6ing their Pillow-made patterns on

comparatively inexpensive material, and the "vrai
this

rseau" worked on the pillow is now never made

except by special order for Royalty or for exhibition
purposes.
Lace so appliqu^d can be distinguished from that
made with the "vrai reseau" by the fact that the
net ground, though sometimes cut away, is often
136 OF FLEMISH LACES
seen pass behind the lace pattern, and also by the
to,

character of the network machine-made net is com--

;

posed of diamond-shaped meshes, and is made with

two threads only, very tightly twisted and crossed, not
plaited, at their junction, and is quite unlike the
Brussels pillow "r^seau" shown in Fig. 3, Illustration II.
Brussels Pillow Lace appliqu^ed on machine-made
"
.n'et is known as Point plat appliqu6." The term
"Plat" used to distinguish it from Needle-point
is

Brussels, also sometimes appliqu^. The innovation

described above was very fatal to the character of
Brussels Lace. The designs, grew more and more
attenuated and detached as the temptation was felt
t

to spread the pattern more sparsely over the net

ground. Owing to the naturalistic taste of the day

composed conventional ornament of
also, the" finely
an earlier date was abandoned in favour of repre-
sentations of natural flowers. A still later but better

style of Brussels Lace is the

POINT DUCHESSE.
In this the pattern is grounded entirely with Pillow-
made " brides," and the " r^seau " is altogether absent
The designs are necessarily more continuous than in
the preceding Lace, and they are often very good.
 ILLUSTRATION XXXII.

MODERN BRUSSELS.
I. Point Duchesse. 2. Point Plat Applique.

137
 BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT 139
The name of this Lace is of
comparatively recent
date, but the style itself existed earlier, under the
"
designation of Guipure fagon Angleterre."

BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT LACE.

Brussels is the only Flemish centre for the manu-
facture of Needle-point lace.
In Flanders lace-making started from the invention
or adoption of Pillow lace, and it seems evident
that was only in consequence of a spirit of
it

emulation, and of the example set by the French

lace-workers of Alengon, that needle lace-making was
started at Brussels, about the year 1720. A
proof
of its late adoption is, that Brussels Needle-point
was never made with "brides" only, as we have
seen was the case with the early Needle-points of
Venice, and also with the work first produced in
France.
It is
interesting here to note how the influence
of neighbouring countries and districts acted and
reacted on each other. The Needle-point "reseau"
of Alengon was practically a copy, with the needle,
of the pillow ground of Flanders, and now in
turn Flemish workers borrowed, or more probably
stole, from France the secrets of Needle lace,
 i
4o OF FLEMISH LACES

including the invention originally copied from them-

selves.

The earliest Brussels Point very nearly resembles

that of AlenQon. The work is generally, however,
" "
not quite so close and firm, and the toile is looser

and flatter. The "cordonnet," instead of being entirely

covered with button-hole stitches, as is the case
with Alengon Lace, is left in an unfinished state as
a strand of threads. There is also a difference in
" "
the reseau in Brussels Lace it is made with
;

a looped stitch, whereas in the Alengon

simple
"r6seau" the loops are whipped over at their base
with an additional thread. (See Figs. 2, 3, Illustra-
tion L) This peculiarity has been continued to the
" " " "
present day, the reseau of modern Point de Gaze

being so worked.
Thestyle of the designs of Brussels Point is
rarely of so fine a Renaissance type as in the best
French Lace. The patterns are usually such as
were also worked at the time on
the pillow but ;

where patterns as well as inventions were so

frequently interchanged, it is impossible to draw

any certain distinction from such differences. The
" "
uncovered cordonnet and the simply looped
"rdseau" are the safest indications.
.
The earliest Brussels Needle-point was grounded
 ILLUSTRATION XXXIII.

i. Old Brussels Needle-point. 2. Modern Brussels Needle-point

Applique.

142
 POINT APPLIQUE 143

with a needle "reseau," but examples of such Lace

are not very common. The Brussels lace-makers
were justly celebrated for their beautiful Pillow-made
"rdseau," and being more familiar with its practice
they seem to have preferred to use it. Thus we
find much of their best Needle lace grounded with
"
the "vrai reseau worked on the pillow, in the
"
same way as with the "Point d' Angleterre ;
this is

the case with the specimen shown in Fig. i, Illustra-

tionXXXIII.
At the beginning of this century Brussels Needle
lace underwent the same process of decline, and
from the same causes that we have seen to have
affected the Pillow lace ;
it
degenerated into

POINT APPLIQUE,
that is, the Needle lace pattern instead of being

grounded with the "vrai r6seau," was appliqu&i

on to machine-made net; and as the demand for a
lessexpensive style of work grew greater at the
same time that labour became dearer, the patterns
became more and more slender and were more thinly
scattered over the ground. In Illustration XXXIII.
two specimens are shown. Fig. i represents a piece
of early Brussels Point grounded with the Pillow-
144 OF FLEMISH LACES
made "vrai rdseau," and Fig. 2 a late piece of
" If for 'no other reason, this later
Point Appliqud"

style is to be depreciated on .account of the quality

of the net, which' always partly, often entirely, made
is

of cotton; if shrinks the "first time it is washed,

causing the curves of the needle- worked pattern to

become crumpled and shapeless, and if, in order
to avoid this misfortune, the Lace is sent to Brussels
to be cleaned, . it is, we understand, only possible to
do so by dipping it in white lead, with the certain
result that the whole will in time turn the colour

of rust.

POINT DE GAZE.
It a pleasure to record that of late years an
is

honest return has been' made by the Brussels lace-

workers to early Needle-point traditions. The beauti-
ful modern' Lace known as "Point de Gaze" is made

entirely with the needle, and grounded with its

is

own "r<6seau." Partly to suit modern taste in design,

and partly perhaps from economy of work when
"

labour is so dear," the execution is much more

open
and slight; than in the early Lace, but this .very slight-
ness is
skilfully mad use of to produce an extremely

elegant effect; part of the "toi!6" is made in close

and part in open stitch, giving an appearance of

 ILLUSTRATION XXXIV.

Modern Brussels Needle-point " Point de Gaze. J

u . I4S
 POINT DE GAZE 147

shading, and the open parts are very prettily en-

riched with dotting. If to those who delight in

the soft richness of the work of former times the

" "
execution of the Point de Gaze seems somewhat
thin and loose, and the style of the patterns rather
too naturalistic, it must be allowed that
many, the to

result produced is a certain lightness and delicacy

to which the old Brussels Point did not attain and ;

one must be glad that when an almost unlimited

demand for every direction flood--
cheaper goods is in

ing the market and pressing down the price at which

Lace can be sold, the Brussels craftsmen should have
taken up again their old Art and have been able to

produce so beautiful a fabric.

OF FLEMISH LACE.
The best known Flemish Laces, other than

Brussels, are: Mechlin, Binche, Ypres, and Ant-

werp.
All these belong to that class of Pillow lace which
is made in one piece on the pillow, the same threads

passing across the whole width of the Lace and form-

ing both the ground and the pattern. (See diagram,
p. 127.)
i
48 OF FLEMISH LACES

MECHLIN (Fr. MALINES).

All Flemish Lace was {

at one time classed under
this name, but the earliest that can be distinctively
" "
so called was made with a r^seau ground about
the year 1720. The special characteristics of Mechlin
Lace are :
first, the "cordonnet" of a flat silky thread
which always outlines the pattern ; and, secondly, the
It is made of two
hexagonal mesh of the "r<6seau."
threads twisted twice on four sides, and four threads

plaited .three times on the two other sides ;

thus the
is shorter, and the mesh consequently smaller
plait
than that of Brussels Lace. (See Illustration II., Figs.
3, 4.) This Lace is sometimes grounded with an
ornamental "r^seau," instead of one in the usual hexa-
" "
gonal shape, called Fond de neige or " QEil de
perdrix," and also occasionally with the six-pointed
" Fond Chant," but these varieties are not common.
In the earliest Mechlin Lace the style of designs

very much resembles that of Brussels, though rather

heavier and less graceful it is needless to
;
repeat,
however, that though the patterns may be alike, the

totally different method of construction always marks

the difference between the two. (See p.
127.)
The quatrefoil flower pattern seen in Illustration
ILLUSTRATION XXXV.

Early Mechlin.

149
 MECHLIN 151

XXXV., as a filling to the spaces of the conventional

scroll-work, is very characteristic of this period.

Illustration XXXVI. shows another imitation of
Brussels designs. In this specimen of " Malines a
brides" the peculiarities of " Point d'Angleterre " are

very closely followed, even to the open spaces filled

in with " bride "-like " a jours."
But Mechlin, when at the height of its popu-
larity, had evolved a style of its own. The pattern,
more or less floral, always formed the edge of the
" "
Lace, and the reseau ground was sprinkled with
small flowers or spots. The rose and the carnation,
two very favourite flowers with lace-makers, were
represented with singular fidelity. The Lace of this

period is perhaps one of the prettiest in existence.

It is so light and soft, the pattern and the "r&eau"are

so well balanced, and the designs so graceful, that

it well deserves its title Queen of Laces.
of the The
fine Indian muslins which became the fashion at the
court of Marie Antoinette could support no heavier

ornament, and accordingly we see it abundantly intro-

duced in the portraits of the day,

In England it has been always a favourite, and

few are the collections of old family Lace in which
some beautiful specimens are not to be found
But this Lace, like all others, had its day of decline
152 OF FLEMISH LACES
in taste as well as in popularity. The French
Revolution was a blow severely felt, and when the
lace trade revived under the Empire, perhaps the
lost or forgotten, or were
old patterns had been
found too expensive for sale, and so a thinner and
more meagre style of design -was adopted But the .

revival was not long-lived, and now the manufacture

is altogether discontinued.

BINCHE. ,

Lace of a very fine and delicate description is

attributed to this town.

Its characteristics are, that there is either no
"cordonnet" at outlining the pattern, or that the
all

"cordonnet" is scarcely a thicker thread than that

which makes the "toild" The -ground can scarcely
be called a "r&seau," for there are no meshes, but
instead, a spiders-web-like material, closely sprinkled
"
with small round spots or discs. It is called a Fond
de neige," and in truth really resembles snowflakes.
A fanciful author has described it as a Dutch garden
of flowers covered with snow.
This is one of the earliest of Flemish Laces, as
is-shown by the absence of any regular "r6seau,"
The kind of work has 'now been quite given up, and
Mrs. Palliser says that the lace-makers of Binche
 ILLUSTRATION XXXVI.

i.
Early Mechlin "a brides." 2. Later Mechlin.

X 153
155
 TROELE KANT 157

in her time employed themselves in making the

sprigs for Brussels Point plat appliqud
On the same illustration shown a specimen of
is

so-called Trolle Kant ; Kant being the Flemish word

for Lace, and Trolle, to judge from the use of the
corresponding word "Trolly" in Buckinghamshire,
"
signifying the coarse outlining cordonnet." The
specimen is
interesting as being a rough representa-
tion of the general style of early Flemish designs.

YPRES.

As
has been said on page 102, the manufacture of
Valenciennes Lace, which has entirely disappeared
from the place of its birth, has been continued at
Ypres and in the neighbourhood. The Lace is made
in exactly the same manner as was formerly the
"Vraie Valenciennes," but it is inferior in workman-
ship, and in variety and beauty of design. Its

character is too well known

to require description ;
it need only be said here that like the old Valen-

ciennes, the pattern is not outlined with any "cor-

donnet," and that the "r&eau" is made with a plait
of four threads, and forms a diamond-shaped mesh.
i S8
OF FLEMISH LACES

ANTWERP.
The best known Lace made at Antwerp is the
" Pot
so-called Potten Kant/' or lace, from the

representation of a pot or vase of flowers with

which always decorated
it is Some have considered
this pattern to be a survival from an earlier design,

including the figure of the Virgin and the Annuncia-

tion, though it does not seem certain that any such

larger composition has ever been seen. The pot

varies very much in size and details. The accom-
panying illustration shows a very handsome one,
with some exceedingly well-represented carnation
flowers ; but, large or small, no Antwerp woman's cap
was in former days considered properly trimmed
without this ornament. The Lace is usually grounded
"
with a coarse Fond Chant."
In various places in Flanders, besides those above

mentioned, many kinds of Lace, more or less coarse,

have been made, but without any such special dis-
tinction as to require separate notice they can be ;

usually recognised as Flemish by a resemblance to

the characteristics already described, as those of the
more important manufactures.
X
X
X
cu

C/3

159
 Limerick Lace.

CHAPTER VII. <

OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE.

LINEN Cut-work was made England very ex-
in

tensively during the sixteenth century. It was a

favourite accomplishment of the ladies of Queen

Elizabeth's time, and it supplied, moreover, a profit-
able occupation for a large class of professional
workwomen. There was an enormous demand for

Lace of the finer sort for ruffs, and the thicker

linen Lace was largely used to trim sheets and
table linen, etc. We represented on the cradle
see it

monument to the infant daughter of James the First

Y 161
1 63 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
in Westminster Abbey, and also on the dress <of
her elder sister, whose recumbent figure in effigy
lies hard by. An actual relic of the kind, possessing

a peculiar interest, is to be found to this day m\ a

in Warwickshire,
cottage in the village of Shottery,
which is still by descendants of the family
occupied
of Anne Hathaway,
Shakespeare's wife. On an old
oak bedstead in an upstairs room there is
displayed
the best linen sheet which, as tradition says, was
for family occasions, such as births,
kept special
weddings, funerals, etc. It has a
christenings,
narrow strip, about an inch and a half wide, of

Cut-work made in the linen, and joining two

breadths together where there would otherwise be
a seam. The pattern is of a very simple zigzag
character. The bolster cover, now
kept in a frame,
.has a rather wider band'of a more ambitious design,
but of the same style of work. There seems every
reason to believe that this relic is authentic, and as
it
might very well date from Elizabethan times, it
is possible that our great poet himself may have seen
or even used this bed furniture in the house of his
wife's parents.

Besides articles for use,- domestic or otherwise, a

considerable number of samplers have come down
to us. They were worked at schools or kept as
X
X
o
X
w
U
H

163
 HONITON LACE 165

collections of patterns of embroidery by industrious

housewives. Illustration XXXIX. represents part of
one in the collection of the South Kensington
Museum, with two patterns of Cut-work, rather

clumsy and heavy in style, but, as will be seen,

worked in the usual Italian manner. (See Illus. I.,
Fig. 5.) Bands of embroidery patterns of various
kinds other than Cut-work fill
up a strip of linen of
about a yard and a half long. It is
signed and
dated "Elizabeth Mackett 1696." But beyond Cut-
work, no great amount of Needle lace seems ever
to have been made in England. Bone lace (that

is, Pillow lace) is constantly alluded to in Queen

Elizabeth's wardrobe accounts, and though a good
deal no doubt came from Flanders and Genoa,
there is evidence to show that by the beginning
of the seventeenth century the native lace-making
trade was in a flourishing condition in
many parts
of England.
Its chief centres have always been in Devonshire

(especially Honiton), Bedfordshire, and Buckingham-

shire.

HONITON LACE.
It has been mentioned in connection with the
"
name "Point d' Angleterre that the theory is some-
i66 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
times entertained that this Lace originated in England,
and was only afterwards transferred to Brussels. The
probability, however,
seems to be that, on the
contrary, the Art came to England from Flanders,
as some have supposed in consequence of an
immigration of Protestants during a time of perse-
cution. However that may be, Mrs. Tread win
mentions in her valuable book on Antique Point
and Honiton, that Pillow lace of some sort was
made in this district some time before the year
1617. It was probably not at all like that now
produced in Devonshire, but rather a sort of open
woven braid with a simple diamond-shaped lozenge
pattern of a kind still sometimes to
be met with.
"
Our present use of the word Lace in bootlaces,"

etc., may be a clue to what was called Lace in

early English times namely, a plaited braid, more or
less ornamental.

During the troubles of the Civil War and the

Commonwealth ornament in dress was naturally
in abeyance, but on the return of the Court in 1660
Lace also resumed its place in society. It was,
however, speedily confronted with difficulties of a
fiscal nature, when, in order to increase the revenue

and also perhaps to protect native trade, prohibitive

duties were put upon its importation from abroad.
 HONITON LACE -

167

.We have seen in a previous chapter how these were

evaded it was doubtless, however, at this time, and
;

in consequence of these duties, that Flemish lace-

workers must have been induced to come over to

England to teach their art in Devonshire. The
absolute identity in the method of working Honiton
and Brussels Lace can scarcely otherwise be accounted
for.

Early Devonshire Lace appears, however, some-

times to have had one peculiarity distinguishing it
both from Brussels and from the later Honiton.
" "
It is the use of an outlining cordonnet or trolly or

gimp, from which it was locally known as Trolly

lace.

The development of this Lace has followed much

the same course as did those of Flanders. As with
"
Brussels Point d'Angleterre," the pattern part of
Honiton having been made first on the pillow by
" "
itself, the reseau in early times was worked in
round it, also on the pillow ;
but later, after the
invention of machine - made net, the principle of

"applique" work was also adopted in England, and

thischeaper and inferior material was substituted for
the hand-made ground.
The difference between Honiton and Brussels
Pillow lace is one of quality rather than of kind.
i68 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE

English designs have been as a rule less artistic

than those in use in Brussels.

'

Even in *the best specimens produced during the

early part of this century garlands and bouquets of
natural flowers have been put together without much
idea or knowledge of composition. The execution,
also, was in general less finished and delicate than

in good Brussels Lace. But these remarks apply

rather to the past; of late years schools of Design
and the emulation excited by International Exhibi-
tions have much improved the character of English

Lace on both points. The difference between the

two specimens shown in Illustration XL. will be at
once noticed. No. i represents Lace made in the

early half of this century. The flower sprigs are

" "
rather thick and heavy in shape and are appliqu^d
on to machine-made net. No. 2 shows a recent
production. The pattern is bold and continuous as
and the ground is a very good needle-
well as graceful,

worked "reseau" it is a-mixed Lace, in fact. Much

of the best Honiton now made is in this style. A
" "
Duchesse lace, very similar to that made in
,

Brussels (see Illustration XXXII.), is also now

worked in Devonshire.
 ILLUSTRATION XL.

I, Honiton Applique. 2. HoDiton Applique with needle "reseau" ground.

Z .
169
 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 171

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND BEDFORDSHIRE LACE.

There is a tradition that while Catherine of Aragon,
the forsaken Queen of Henry the Eighth, was living
at Ampthill Park, in Bedfordshire, about 1532,
waiting with what patience she might for the decision
of the Pope respecting her divorce, she beguiled
her sadness by exercising her own skill in needle-
work and required the ladies of her household to
do the same. Not only so, but she interested her-
making to the village women
-
self in teaching lace
of the district, and this was the origin of the Bed-
fordshire lace industry. To confirm the truth of the

story, it is said that till well within the present cen-

tury the name-day of the kind but most unhappy lady,

St. Catherine's Day, the 25th November, was annually

kept as a treat-day for young lace-makers, and chil-

dren expected a feast of cakes and sweets, and called
"
the day Kattern's Day." St. Catherine is also the

patron saint of girls and unmarried women. But

'the Lace then taught by the Spanish princess to the

Bedfordshire women was certainly not anything like

the present Pillow lace more probably it was Cut-
;

work or Reticella made out of linen, an Art which

we know to have been practised in Italy and Spain
172 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
at the time, and which there is the early evidence of
old English samplers to prove was also, though with
less taste, made in England
Some thirty years after Queen Catherine's death
another impetus was given to the lace industry by
the arrival in the neighbourhood of certain Flemish
lace -
workers, who had fled from the persecutions
of the Duke of Alva, and settled in the south
midland counties. These introduced a kind of
"
Pillow lace known by the name of Bone lace."

The earliest mention of Lace under this name is in

1554, when it is said to have trimmed the dress worn
by Sir Thomas Wyatt at his execution; in the
accounts of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe the name
is of constant recurrence.
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in

1685, another immigration of foreign lace-makers took

place, this time from the French provinces bordering
on Flanders, and it is doubtless to these last that the
distinctly Flemish character of the old Bedfordshire
and Buckinghamshire Lace is to be attributed.
Again, in 1794 it is recorded in the Annual
Register that "a number
of engenuous french emi-

grants have found employment in the manufacture

"
of Lace in these counties. Thus it would seem as
though one foreign settlement attracted another.
 "a
0}

,fi
W

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J
X
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o

JS
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174
 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 175

The Lace of the two counties may be classed to-

gether as being practically the same. They belong
to that class of Lace which is worked in -one piece

on the pillow (see pp. 126 and 127), and in their

general character and style of design they strongly
resemble the Lace manufactured at Lille. The
" "
reseau ground is
exactly the same as that' of Lille
Lace, that is, it is
composed of two threads twisted
and simply crossed, not plaited, at their junction.
The mesh varies a little in shape, from a four-sided
diamond shape to a hexagon, according as the threads
at crossing are drawn tighter or left loose and long-
Like the pattern of Buckinghamshire Lace is
Lille,

outlined with a coarse silky thread, called locally the

"Trolly," from the Flemish word "Trolle."

The style of designs, also, of the English Lace has
been clearly influenced by Lille models. There are
often the same oval-shaped openings filled with
"
various fancy jours." In No. 2, Illustration XLL,
a specimen is shown which goes by the name of
"
Spider lace/' on account "of the open-work filling.-
"
No. i' represents what is called Baby lace," a
variety with a finer "reseau" and smaller pattern^
made on purpose for trimming baby-linen; -and here
again, by the small square dots on the ground,- one
is reminded of a frequent peculiarity in Lille Lace.
176 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
From the time of the first Flemish settlement
tillalmost the middle of the present century, the
lace industry gave constant occupation to many
hundreds of women and children in the district.

Its chief centres were at Great Marlow, Obey,

Stratford, Newport Pagnel, and High
Stony
Wycombe; but these towns were probably only
where the Lace was collected from the workers, to
be sold by middle-men, the work itself being carried
on in most of the country villages. It was still then
called Bone lace; the origin of the term is not

easy to ascertain. Several explanations have been

3

given that the little bones of sheeps trotters

were
at first used as bobbins; that till the brass pins
used -making for fixing the work in its
in lace

place became cheap enough to be general,

fishbones
were substituted ;
also that the patterns were

pricked out on thin plates of bone instead of on

the parchment in later use. The fact that the
" "
Lace has also been called Parchment lace gives
a colour to this last theory.
Old bobbins are often found made of bone instead
of wood. They are sometimes
very curiously
decorated, indeed they seem to have been often used
as love-tokens between the young people of the day.

They are to be seen stained with red or other colours.

 OLD BOBBINS 177

and ingeniously turned in ribs or stripes; rings of metal

are fastened to them at intervals, or brass wire is wound
round them, and "gingles" or bunches of coloured
beads are hung from the end strung on a loop of wire,
these last being also -of use in- increasing the tension
of the thread by adding to the weight of the bobbin ;

and, lastly, mottoes of various kinds are, so to speak,

tattooed on them, the letters being outlined by
pricked holes filled Sometimes it
with colour. is

the name of the giver, as "DEAR JOSEPH," which is

"
so inscribed sometimes the girl's name, as " SARAH
; ;

and sometimes a three-lined motto, as

"LOVE ME OR
LEAVE ME A
LONE FOR EVER."

Not only the bobbins, but the pillow also was the sub-

ject of much pride and pleasure, and even the pins

were objects of ornamentation. Children gathered
the little prickly seeds of the hedgerow Bed-straw

(Galiuni) and threaded them on the pins, which, when

dry,, formed little brown heads
as hard, and much the
same colour made of walnut wood.
as if

An illustration of some ornamented bobbins and

also of a Lace token will be found at the end of
this chapter. The latter were used by employers of
2 A
i;8 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
labour as payment, to their work-people at the end
of the last century, when the country seems to have
suffered from a scarcity of mint-coined money. They
were issued country bank-notes are now, and
as
were redeemable at a fixed rate when presented to
the central office.

ILLUSTRATION XLIL

An Old Lace Chest.

The old oak chest shown above is another relic

of the prosperous days of lace-making in Buckingham-

shire. The upper part was intended to hold the
lace pillow, while the drawers below were to take
the, bobbins and patfferns.
It was shortly after the beginning of this century,
however, that Machine lace was invented and became
generally known, and thenceforward the hand-made
 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 179

Lace trade had but a precarious existence. In order

tokeep the favour of the purchasing public, continual
changes have been made in the style of the Lace
u "
produced. Silk Lace called Blonde because being
made with raw silk it was "fair," not white in colour
was one of the earliest new introductions ;
to that
succeeded Maltese and the so-called "Cluny," named
after no place of its manufacture, but from the

Museum of Antiquities in the Hotel Cluny in Paris,

and because the Lace was supposed to have a
mediaeval appearance. It is a plaited Lace, somewhat

resembling the Genoese and Maltese Laces, and is

made both in black silk and in white cotton. And
here, alas is the secret of the inferiority, and much
!

of the want of success of this modern English Lace ;

it almost always made of cotton, and not linen

is

thread, the probable reason being that the material

is more within the means of the cottage workers.

After Cluny came coloured worsted Lace and Torchon

lace, and this is now the kind mostly produced.

Besides, however, the competition of steam machinery,

and the consequent lowering of prices, another enemy
has lately come into the field ^against the Bucking-
hamshire lace-workers, in the shape of the Board
of Education. Children in former times began to
learn to use their bobbins at five years old, and
i8o OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
at twelve were able to support themselves entirely
by their work, and it is said, with some show of

reason, that unless the Art

so acquired by the
is

workers when very young, there is but small likeli-

hood that sufficient skill will ever be attained to
-

make remunerative at the low prices for which

it

alone Lace can be sold. But the inspector insists

that the children shall be sent to school, and such
short time as is allowed for school instruction in work
is not spent in teaching lace-making. So it comes
to pass that the young girls of this generation have

not learnt the work properly, and do not care to

practise it and the Lace that is made now, and

;

for which a market is anxiously sought, is made

by the old women of a former generation between
sixty and seventy years old and more. And when
in a few years time they must have passed away,
it is to be feared that the Art of
lace-making, in this
district at any rate, will have disappeared also with

them.
Great efforts have been and are being made,
still

however, to save this national Art from extinction.

Exhibitions are organised, and prizes offered for
work by such gentry of the
1

the best district as

are kindly disposed towards their poorer neigh-
bours, and whatever may be the results of these
 IRISH LACES 181

efforts, much sympathy must be felt for their object.

For, apart from the fact that one must regret to see
the disappearance of any of our old English handi-

crafts, this one, as we have seen, has in former

times been a source of great interest and pride, as

well as of income, to the poor cottage women, who
otherwise have so few interests and pleasures outside
the weary round of their household and family duties.
No one who has known anything of the monotonous
life of the English peasantry could do otherwise
than regret that such an additional object of interest
should be lost to them.

IRISH LACES.

Attempts have been made at various times, both

during this century and the last, to assist the
peasantry of Ireland by instruction in lace-making,
and considerable success has often been the result.
As early as 1743 the Royal Dublin Society granted
prizes to be awarded by Lacly Arabella Denny to
those who excelled in the work ;
but at her death,

thirty years afterwards, the undertaking came to an

end. The experiment was again repeated with more
permanent results in 1820, and again in 1847, at the
time of the famine. It was then that crochet-work,
182 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
was introduced; verygood patterns of old Lace were
procured, and the Irish girls soon showed great skill
in copying them. The work was vitiated by the
use of cotton instead of linen thread, a mistake
so generally made in recent Lace revivals. Cotton
may look fairly well when first worked, but it does
not keep its firmness and colour as does pure
flax, and when washed becomes loose and woolly
in appearance.
Following crochet came a better style of work,
"
encouraged and stimulated by the Ladies' Industrial

Society," namely, Needle-point copies of old Venetian

Lace. These were sometimes executed with a fair

amount of skill, though, for economical reasons

doubtless, the copies fell far short of the originals
in the fineness and closeness of the stitches where ;

ten stitches were put into the old work, five or

even less were made to answer the purpose in

the new.

However, the Exhibition of Irish Lace at the

Mansion House in 1883 did much to make it known
to the purchasing public. It also
encouraged those
who supervised and taught the work in Ireland to
raise their standard of excellence in the matter of

workmanship and design, and to extend the sphere

of their labours.
 LIMERICK LACE 183

But it is not intended here to give any detailed

account of Lace made in convents and schools,

avowedly reproductions of old Italian originals, ex-

cellent though they often are. There are, however, two

sorts of work, now carried on in Ireland, to which

attention may be drawn
possessing some indi-
as

viduality, namely, the net embroideries of Limerick

and the applique and cut cambric work of Carrick-
macross. They should both be more correctly de-
scribed embroidery than as Lace in the usual
as
sense of the word but as they have the appearance
;

of Lace, and are often very excellent both in effect

and design, they would seem deserving of some
notice. That known by the name of Limerick Lace
was first made in Nottingham at the time of the
invention of machine-net. The manufacture was trans-

ferred to Ireland in the year 1829 by Mr. Charles

Walker, who, while studying for Holy Orders, married
the daughter of a lace manufacturer, and either moved

by philanthropy or as a speculation, took over to

Ireland twenty-four girls to teach the work, and
settled them at Limerick. It is in reality of
French origin, being the same as the "Broderies
cle Luneville" which have been produced in France
since 1800.
It is worked in two ways, either by embroidering
184 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
the pattern with a darning stitch on the net, as
shown in the little heading to this chapter, or with
tambour stitch spaces left in the pattern are filled
;

" "
in with ornamental a jours also worked on the
net. ,

Carrickmacross is either applique-id on net or cut

" "
out with a ground of brides ;
. either way it is

worked on muslin. The pattern is traced with close

sewing, and the muslin isthen cut away outside the
outline. (See Illustration XLIII.)

MACHINE-MADE LACE.
In enumerating the various kinds of Lace made
in Great Britain, it would not be fair to omit all
mention of the productions of the Nottingham looms.
It is true that as imitation Lace they are considered

to rank very low in the scale of Art; but in point of

execution and as marvellous triumphs of mechanical

ingenuity, they surely invite admiration. If we

wonder at the work of the skilful hands of
the Venice and Brussels lace-makers, it
may, from
certain points view, be a matter of even greater
.of

wonder that human, intelligence should have com-

pelled steam and machinery to do so nearly the
same. So nearly, yet not quite.
 F V* *?TTUtf>T T
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PS
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2B 185
 MACHINE-MADE LACE 187

The lace-making machine was evolved in Notting-

ham out of the stocking-loom and it will be readily ;

understood that the difficulty was not so much to

" "
make the toi!6 for the pattern
the stocking stitch
was at first used as an equivalent for that as to
modify the machinery so as to divide the threads
and produce the open net -work. The first idea
of this invention is attributed to a common factory
hand, Hammond Lindley, who, one day about the
year 1760, looking at the Pillow lace on his wife's
cap, conceived a plan by which he could copy it on
his loom. Improvements worked out by different
inventors succeeded each other, till at last, in 1810, a
"
fairlygood net was produced. It was called Point
net," and in connection with it a considerable

industry sprang up in Nottinghamshire and the

surrounding district. Thousands of women were em-
ployed embroidering on this net, both by darning
in

and tambour work. It is the work referred to already

in the section on Irish Lace, as now known by the
name of Limerick Lace. In the beginning of this cen-

tury this Art seems to have been practised not only in

Nottinghamshire but other parts of England,

in many
for the writer has lately seen a net scarf so embroidered,
the work of an old lady upwards of eighty, still alive,
who says that she made it when a child in the village
i88 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
school at Woolhampton in Berkshire, where the work
education of the
was taught as part of the school
day.
But to return to Nottingham. By the time of our
but also very
gracious Queen's accession, not only net,
good imitations of Flemish Lace had been achieved,
and the extremely effective machine Lace of all

kinds since produced is well known.

If it should now be asked by what signs such

imitations can be detected, the answer to this inquiry

must be, to a certain extent, a negative one. Machine
lace is NOT made with looped stitches like Needle-
point lace, nor do we find in it the effect of plaited
threads as in Pillow lace, and where neither of these
be discovered, the piece
easily recognised features can
of Lace under examination may fairly be presumed to
be imitation. As positive indications it
may be ob-
served that the "toi!6" of Machine lace is often found
to be ribbed, like the ribbed texture of a knitted
stocking ;
also that whereas old Needle and Pillow
lace is always worked with linen thread, Machine lace
is very generally made of cotton.
It would be hopeless to attempt to describe the
various substitutes for the hand-made lace-stitches
which the machine-lace maker has invented ;
they
are legion, for what he cannot achieve in one way
 MACHINE-MADE LACE 189

he does in another. Nevertheless, needle-lace imi-

tations were generally till
lately very easy of
detection. But where man intends to succeed diffi-
cultiesseldom prove insuperable. Invention this
time has come from Switzerland, and in connection
with the well-known Swiss industry of embroidery
on cambric and muslin. One
Jose Heilmann, a
native of St. Gall, pondering on the work of his
wife's needle, thought to himself that if spinning,

weaving, and printing were done by machinery, then

why not embroidery? He made his wife teach him
to embroider, and in six months' time he had invented
a machine that worked with six needles at once. His
first thought was to take it to England ;
but there,

though his invention had many admirers, it did not

find a purchaser. It was in 1838, at a time when
England was so far in advance of the Continental
nations of Europe in machinery, that the great heads
of the manufacturing firms thought they could afford
to despise foreign ideas.
Heilmann returned home, and a 'Swiss shopkeeper,
Mange, bought his machine. It was rapidly perfected,
and by 1868 hundreds of machines were turning out
most excellent work.
This has recently been applied to the imitation of
Venetian Point lace, with the result that a nearer
i
go OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE

approach than ever before has been made to the.

" "
reproduction both of the needle-worked toild and
"
also of the bride" work.
Yet, when so much is conceded, there re-

mains the indubitable fact that the productions

of machinery can never possess the charm of the
real hand-made work Musicians tell us that the

performance of a piano-organ, even the most per-

.

fected of its kind, is flat and uninteresting as

compared with the music produced by a fairly good

performer. Even so with Lace made by machinery ;

the most perfect must by reason of its very perfec-

tion lack the impression of life which the very faults
and irregularities of human handiwork can alone
produce. We are so made that
the imperfect even,

pleases us more than the perfect, if it tells us that

human beings have expended time and zeal in their
efforts after perfection.

Old English Bobbins and a Lace Token.

 A SUMMARY
As a summary of what has been written In the fore-

going chapters, the following few simple statements

may be found useful :

Lace worked out of linen, though originating in

1.

Italy, was also worked with no great variation of

style in Spain, France, and England, and in the

Greek islands the designs are usually geometrical.
;

(See p. 24,)

"
2. The words Point lace," properly used, signify
Needle lace only, and are misused when applied to
any Pillow lace whatever. (See p. xv.)

3. The earliest Point lace was made with " brides."

It was chiefly made in Venice. Some was produced
at Alengon a short time during the latter half of
for

the seventeenth century in imitation of Venetian

Point, and some may have been made in Spain.

4. Point lace with "brides" was not made in

Flanders. (See p. 139.)

191
192 A SUMMARY
5. Point lace with a "r&eau" ground was in-

vented and chiefly made at Alen9on. The style was

adopted, both in Brussels and Venice, towards the
close of the eighteenth century. Brussels Needle lace
is most frequently grounded with a Pillow "reseau."
(See pp. 98, H3-)

6. The most marked distinction between Point and

Pillow lace is that in the former the solid parts are
seen to be made
of looped button-hole stitches, while
that of the latter resembles woven cambric or cloth
in texture. (See p. 6.)

7. Pillow lace divides itself into two classes, accord-

ing to the method of its construction.

(1) When worked by itself on the

the pattern is

pillow and the "r^seau" ground is worked in after-

wards to fit round it. (See p. 82.) To this class
"
belong Punto di Milano," Brussels Pillow lace, and
Honiton Lace.

(2) When the Lace is made

one piece on the all in

pillow, the same threads forming both "toild" and

"reseau" alike. (See p. 127.) To this class belong
the Italian peasant Laces, all French Pillow lace,
all Flemish Pillow
except lace, Brussels, and all

English Lace except Honiton.

 A SUMMARY 193
"
8. Pillow lace made with " brides is earlier in
"
point of date than that made with a "reseau ground.
(See p. 122.)

9. Various Pillow laces are to be distinguished

from each other chiefly by the construction of their
"r<seau." (See p. 7.)

10. Machine-made Lace was invented towards the

end of the last century, and was not perfected till the
beginning of this century. (See p. 187.) Any Lace,
therefore, known to be older than 1800 must be either
Point or Pillow lace.

THE END

2 C
 INDEX
|
Binche, 147, 152.
Adriatic, 49. Birds, 19.
Aix-la-Chapelle, 113. Blonde, 63, 114, 117, 179.
A jours, xv, 71, 8 1, 98, 114, Board of Education, 179.
175-
Bobbins, xv, i, 6, 60, 176,. 177, 178,
Alb, Cardinal's, 38. 179-
Alengon, 9, 13, 50, 55, 61, 97, 102, Bolbec, 1 1 8.
139, 140, 191, 192.
Bolckow, Mrs , 42.
Point de, 91.
Bolster, 60, 162.
Altar frontal, 38.
Bone, xv, 176.
Alva, Duke of, 172.
lace, xv, 33, 165, 172, 176.
Ampthill Park, 171. Border lace, 75 76.
Anglcterre, 92.
Bosse, Abraham, 96.
Annual Register, 172.
Braid, 27, 38.
Antwerp, 147, 158.
Breeches, 37.
Annunciation, 158. "
Brides," xv, 2, 5, 42, 45, 46, 63, 7 r,
Applique*, xv, 136, 167. 72, 76,97, 122, 136,139,184, 191,
Aprons, 33, 37. 193-
"
Arachne, 10. Brides picote'es," 32, 49, 71, 132.
"
Argentan, 102. Bride "-work, 42, 105, 190.
Argcntella, 98. Broderies de Luneville, 183.
Athene, 11. Brussels, 12, 13, 148, 166, 167, 168,
184, 192.
B Lace, 59, 62, 126-147, H^,
Baby lace, 175. 168.

Bayeux, 114. Needle lace, 192.

Bedfordshire, 165, 171, 172. Point, 139, 140.
Bed-straw, 177, Pillow lace, 126, 127, 128, 192.
Belgium, 12, 67, 68, 102, 122. Point, 140, 143, 147.
Berkshire, 188.
I

plat applique*, 157

195
 INDEX
Buckinghamshire, 157, 165, 171, Coqu<5s, Gonzalcs, 125
172, 175, 178, 179. Coral, 49.
Burano, 12,41, 55) 56, 59, 61. Coralinc Point, 49.
Point, 61. Cord, xv.
Button-hole stitch, 2, 5, 23, 36, 42, Cordonnet, xv, 16, 42, 45, 6r,
61, 67, 101, 102, 140, 192. 63, 101, 102, 114, 140, 148,
Byzantine, 19. 167.

mosaics, 64. Corfu, 24,

Cotton, 14, 179, 182.

Coverlets, 38.
Caen, 114. Crochet work, 181.
Calvados, 117. Cuffs, 33, 37-
Canons, 37. Cut-work, 5, 10, 13, 15, 23, 24,
Cantu, 81. 27, 31,
28, 34, 35, 161, 162,
Caps, 37. 165, 171.
Cardinal's Alb, 38.
Point, 38. D
Carnation, 106, 151, 158. Dalmatian coast, 96.
Carnival lace, 38.
Darned netting, I, 6, 15, 19, 125,
Carrickmacross, 183, 184. 126.

Catalonia, 63. Darning stitch, 184.

Catherine of Aragon, 171. iSr.
Denny, Lady Arabella,
,Queen, 172. Dentelle au fuseau, xv.
Ceccia la Scarpariola, 56, 59. d' Angle tcrre, 95.
Chantilly, 114, 117. noire, 95.
Charles the First, 36.
Devonshire, 166, 167, 168.
the Second, 38.
Dieppe, 117, 118,
Chichester, Lady Hamilton, 88.
Distaff, 14.
Church furniture, 27. Dogs, 19.
- linen, 28.
Drawn- work, 5, 15, 16, 23.
Cluny, 179- Dublin, Royal Society, 181.
Col rabattu, 36. Duchesse lace, 168.
Colbert, 91, 97. Point, 136.
Cole, Mr. Alan, 125.
Collar lace, 75.
E
Collars, 32. Ecru, 114.
Cologne, 34. Elizabeth, Queen, n, 12, 33, 161,
Commonwealth, The, 166. 165, 172.
 INDEX 197

Elizabeth Mackett, 165.

Embroidered netting, 35.
Genoa, 13, 64, 75, 7$, 88, 98, 165
Embroideries, 33, 92. Genoese collar lace, 87.
Embroidery, 14, 23, 165, 189.
Lace, 75, 179.
Empire, The, 12, 98, 117,
tape guipure, 76, 81.
152.
Geometrical, 14, 15, 23, 31.
England, 132, 151, 165, 166,
167, 172, 187, 189, 191. George the First, 135.
English Lace, 161-181, 192. George the Second, 135.

Eu, 1 1 8. Gerrardo, Marc, 33.

Exhibition of Irish Lace, 182. Gheltof, Urbani, 60.

International, 168. Gimp, xv, 38, 92.

Gold, 27, 33, 35.
Great Marlow, 176.
Greek Islands, 19, 24, 191.
Lace, 13, 15,24.
Fambri, M. Paulo, 56.
Gros point, 49.
Fdcamps, 118.
de Venise, 38, 41, 42, 45-
Fishbones, 176.
Gueuse, 92, 95.
Flanders, 13, 68, 95, 113, 117, 121,
1 Guiper, xv.
122, 139, 158, 165, 66, 167, 172,
191. Guipure, xv, 38, 63, 72, 92.
Flandrcs, 92. cl'Art, 20.

Flaxen, 114. fagon d'Angleterre, 139.

Flemish Lace, 75, 121-160, 188.
pillow lace, 192.
H
%

Provinces, 68, 71, 97.

Florence, 87.
Hand-looms, 14.

Fond made lace, i, 178.

chant, 114, 148, 158.
clair, 113.
spun thread, 128.
de brides, 126. Hathaway, Anne, 162.
-de Havre, 118.
neige, 148, 152.-
Head-dresses, 32.
simple, 113, 114-
France, 37, 49, 63, 68, 102, 117, 132,
Heilmann, Jose', 189.

139, 183, 191- Hemstitch, 24, 32.

-*-, Isle de, 1 06. Henry the Fourth, 113.
French lace, 91-119. -the Eighth, n, 171.
French pillow lace, 192. High Wycombe, 176,
Frontal, altar, 38. Holbein, n.
198 INDEX
Holland, 125. !
L
Honeycomb a jours, 98. Lace chest, 1 78.

Honfleur, 118. makers, 60, 117, 143, 151, 152,

Honiton, 165, 167, 168, 192. 172.

Lace, 165, 192. making, 12, 13,61,105,135, 139,

pillow, 178.
point, xv.
Horse-hair, 101. tokens, 177, 190.

Horses, 19.
workers, 135, 167, 172.

Huguenots, 113. Lacis, i, 15, 19, 125.

Ladies' Industrial Society, 182.
Hunsdon, Lord, 33.
La Fontaine, 101.
Lamb, 20.
I
Larmes, Semd de, 101.

Industrial Society, Ladies', 182. Lawne cut-work, 33.

Ionian Islands, 13, 24, 27. Lead, xv.
Ireland, 181, 183. Leather boots, 37.
Irish Lace, 161, 181-184, 187. Lely, Sir Peter, 125.
Exhibition of, 182. Le Puy, 114.
Isle de France, 106. Lille, 113, 114, 175.
Italian Lace, 13, 14-88, 121, Limerick, 183.
122.
Lace, 183, 187.
Needle lace, 14-63. Lindley, Hammond, 187.
Peasant lace, 82, 87, 192. Linen, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 23, 24, 27,
Pillow lace, 64-88, 122. 31, 3 2 35> 3S,45'7i 5 161, '62,171,

Italy, 15, 37, 45, 67, 68,75, 171, 179, 191.

191. Longueville, Duchcssc de, 117.
Italy, North, 13. Lonray, 97.
Louis the Fourteenth, 37, 91.
j the Fifteenth, 32. 1

the First, 36, 161. the Sixteenth, 98.

James
Lou vain, n.

K M
Kattern's day, 171. Machine lace, i, 178, 184-190, 793.
King (of Italy), 56. -made net, 135, 136, 143 167,
Knotted lace, 64. 1 68.

work, 35. Mackett, Elizabeth, 165.

Knots, xv. Macram<5, 64, 67,
 INDEX 199

Malincs, 148. Needle Point, 31, 75, 91, 98, 132,

a brides, 151. 136, 144, 182.
Maltese Lace, 88, 179. Needlework, xv. t

Mange, 189. Network, 6, 16, 187.

Mansion House, 182. Newport Pagnel, 176.

Mantillas, 117. Normandy, 117.

Mantua, Princess of, 32. Nottingham, 135, 183, 184, 187, iSS,

Marcello, Countess Adriana, 59. Nottinghamshire, 187

Marie Antoinette, 151.
Marq, Catherine de, 97.
Mary Tudor, Queen, n.
Matsys, Quintin, 11, 67.
GEil de Perdrix, 148.

Mechlin, 9, 113, 147, 148, 151, 175. Olney, 176.

Mediaeval, 14, 15. Oncagnia, Signer, 35.
Medicis ruff, 32. Oriental, 19.
Merletto a maglia, 19.
Merletti a Piombini, xv.
Mezzo punto, 71, 72. Pagan, Matthio, 35.
Palliser, Mrs., 34, 56, 88, 98, 152.
Milan, 81.
Milanese pillow lace, 81. Parchment, 46, 72.

Mixed lace, 71, 132. lace, 176.

Moorish taste, 19.

patterns, 10, 60.

Museum, Hotel Cluny, 179.

Paris, 34, 106, 117.

of the Arsenal, Venice, 67. Passemens, La Revoke des, 92.

Pattern books, 34.
British, 35.
South Kensington, Peasant lace, 82, 87.
20, 34, 38, 42,
45, 121, 125, 165. Pelican, 20.
Mythical animals, 19. Picots, xv, 2, 5, 24, 42, 45, 71, Si,
"3-
Pillow, 5, 60, 127, 135. H7, i?5i 1 77,
N 178.

cases, 28, 38.

Nantes, Edict of, 172.
Guipure, 68, 71, 72, 75, 82, 121,
Naples, 72, 87. 126.
National Portrait Gallery, u.
lace, xv, i, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 33, 64,
Needle lace, 12, 13, 19, 23, 27, 71, 67, 68, 71,75,81,82,97, 102, 105,
102, 143 165, 191. 122, 126, 128, 139, 143, 147, 165,
Point lace, i, 2, 5, 6, 13, 20, 28, 166, 167, 171, 172, 187, 188, 191,
59, 72. 192, 193.
200 INDEX
Pillow lace making, 117. Punto di Burano, 41.
Plaited lace, 76. di Genoa, 23, 36, 75, 76,
81.
Point, xv.
di Milano, xv, 81, 82, 192.
appliqud, 143, 144-
-
di Venezia, 37.
coupe*, 23.
c
in Aria, 31, 32, 35, 36.
d'Alengon, 6r, 91, 95,
101. tagliato, 23.

d'Angleterre, xv, 62, 131, 132, foliami, 37, 38, 41.

'43> I5i) i65 167. tirato, 1 6.

a brides, 132
d'Argentan, 59, 102. Q
de Canaille, 71. 188.
Queen, The,
d'Espagne, 38, 62.
(of Italy), 56, 59, 61.
de France, 97.
de Gaze, 140, 144, 147.
de Gnes, 92. R
frise, 76.
Ragusa, 92, 96.
de Neige, 45.
Raised Venetian Point, 38, 41,
de Paris, 106, 114.
42.
de Raguse, 92, 96.
Renaissance, 14, 15, 20, 45, 71, 105,
de Venise, 38, 92. 106, 121, 122, 140.
a rseau, 41, 50. Rdscau, xv, 2, 5, 6, 16, 55, 60, 6r,
duchesse, 136. 72,82,97,98, ior, 102, 105, 106,
113, 114, 122, 125, 126, 128, 131,
lace, xv, 6, 9,36,37,72, 191, 192,
135, 136, i39 MO, 143, 144, 148,
193.
151, 152, 1157, 167, 168, 175, 192,
net, 187.
193-
plat, 41, 49-
, vrai, 131, 135, 143, 144-
applique', 136.
Reticella, 5, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28, 32,
de Venise, 41. 36, 171-
Pompe, Le, 67. Revolution, The French, 12, 55, 1
13,
Pope, The, 56, 171. 117, 1 18, 135. r
52.

Pope's Point, 38. Richard the Third, 27.

Pot Lace, 158. Rococo, 14, 15, irt, 55.
Potten Kant, 158. Rome, 87.
Protestants, 166. Rope stitch, 23.
Punto a festone, 5, 36. Rose, 151.
a groppp, 64. Rose point, 38, 41, 45, 46.
a magiia, i, 19, 125. Roses, 98.
 INDEX 201

Rosettes, 37, 45. Stocking loom, 187.

Rousseau, J. J., 12. Stony Stratford, 176.

Rubens, 75. St. Peter Lou vain, n.

Ruff, Mcdicis, 32. Sully, 113.
Ruffs, 12, 33, 34, 1 6 r. Switzerland, 189.

Table-cloths, 28, 87.

Samplers, 162, 172
covers, 38.
Satin stitch, 23.
linen, 33, 161.
School Inspector, 180.
Tambour stitch, 184.
Seed pearls, 33.
Tape, xv, 38, 71, 72, 75-
Sequin, M., 68, 132.
guipure, 76, 81.
Sevigne, Madame de, 92.
Ties, xv.
Shakespeare's wife, 162.
Toile', xv, 2, 5, 102, 127, 128, 131,
Sheeps' trotters, 176. 140, 144, 152, 189, 190, 192.
Sheets, 28, 87, 162.
Torchon, 92, 179.
Shoes, 37. Towels, 28, 87.
Shottery, 162. Treadwin, Mrs., 166.
Silk, 1
6, 19, 20, 27, 35, 45.
Trolle, 175.
, black, 88, 179. Kant, 157.
1
lace, 79. Trolly, 157, 167, 175-
, white, 88. lace, 167.
Silver, 27, 33, 35. Trousse, Mdlle. de la, 92.
Sleeves, 37. Truchet, Rev. Pere, 34.
South Kensington, 68.

Spain, 19, 37, 41, 49> *7i>

Spaniards, 63. V
Spanish lace, 62. Valenciennes, 10, 82, 102, 105, 117.
mantillas, 63, 1
17. 118, 131, 157.

Point, 13, 15,4^63. , Fausse, 106.

les eternelles, 106.
Spider lace, 175. ,

Stalks, xv. , vraie, 105, 106, 157.

St. Catherine's day, 171. Vandyke, 36, 75.
St. Gall, 189. Vandykes, 32.
St. Germains, 95. Venetian dominions, 96.
St. John in Valetta, 88. lace, 41, 42, 5, 92, 182.
2 D
2O2 INDEX
Venetian point, 15, 37, 38, 41, 49, W
62, 72, 97, 189, 191. Waist scarves, 37.
Point, flat, 41, 46. Walker, Mr. Charles, 1X3.
grounded, 41, 50, 55. Warvv ickshi re, 1 62 .

raised, 41, 42, 59, 62. Weaving, 6, 20.

Republic, 24, 55. Westminster Abbey, 38, 162.
Venice, 12, 13, 19, 35, 36, 41, 49* 56, Wheat, Ears of, 76, 88.
61, 67, 75; 92, 96, 121, 139, i
9 r, White lead, 144.
192. Wood, xv.
Verbiest, Fraulein, 125. Wool ham pton, 188.
Vertue, 33. Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 1 72.

Vetturino, 87.
Vinciolo, 126.
Virgin, The, 158. Ypres, 10, 102, 147, 157.
 PRINTED BY
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