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.
 Isabella Clara Eugenia, Daughter
of Philip II., Archduchess of
Austria, Governess of the
Netherlands.—Died 1633.

To face page 112.

Lace forms a part of female education in Belgium. Charles V.

commanded it to be taught in the schools and convents. Examples of
the manufactures of his period may be seen in the cap said to be
worn by him under his crown, and in the contemporary portrait of
his sister Mary, Queen of Hungary. This cap, long preserved in the
treasury of the bishop-princes of Basle, has now passed into the
Musée de Cluny (Fig. 51). It is of fine linen; the imperial arms are
embroidered in relief, alternate with designs in lacis of exquisite
workmanship.[325]

Fig. 53.

Mary, Queen ofHungary,

Governess of the Low Countries.
+1558.—(From her portrait,
Musée de Versailles.)

Queen Mary's cuffs (Fig. 53) are of the geometric pattern of the age,
and we may presume, of Flanders make, as she was Governess of
the Low Countries from 1530 till her death. The grand-daughter of
Charles V., the Infanta Isabella, who brought the Low Countries as
her dower,[326] appears in her portraits (Fig. 52) most resplendent in
lace, and her ruff rivals in size those of our Queen Elizabeth, or
Reine Margot.
But to return to our subject. Of the lace schools there were nearly
900 in 1875, either in the convents or founded by private charity. At
the age of five small girls commence their apprenticeship; by ten
they earn their maintenance; and it is a pretty sight, an "école
dentellière," the children seated before their pillows, twisting their
bobbins with wonderful dexterity. (Fig. 54.)

Fig. 54.

A Belgian Lace School.

In a tract of the seventeenth century entitled, England's

Improvement by Sea and Land, to outdo the Dutch without Fighting,
[327] we have an amusing account of one of these establishments.
"Joining to this spinning school is one for maids weaving bone lace,
and in all towns there are schools according to the bigness and
multitude of the children. I will show you how they are governed.
First, there is a large room, and in the middle thereof a little box like
a pulpit. Second, there are benches built about the room as they are
in our playhouses. And in the box in the middle of the room the
grand mistress, with a long white wand in her hand. If she observes
any of them idle, she reaches them a tap, and if that will not do, she
rings a bell, which, by a little cord, is attached to the box. She points
out the offender, and she is taken into another room and chastised.
And I believe this way of ordering the young women in Germany
(Flanders) is one great cause that the German women have so little
twit-twat,[328] and I am sure it will be as well were it so in England.
There the children emulate the father—here they beggar him. Child,"
he winds up, "I charge you tell this to thy wyfe in bed, and it may be
that she, understanding the benefit it will be to her and her children,
will turn Dutchwoman and endeavour to save moneys."
Notwithstanding this good advice, in 1768 England received from
Flanders lace-work £250,000 to her disadvantage, as compared to
her exports.

Fig. 55.

Old Flemish Bobbin Lace.

To face page 114.

Fig. 56.

Old Flemish (Trolle Kant).

 The piece of lace from which this
woodcut is taken has five or six
different designs all joined together;
probably patterns sent round for
orders.

The old Flemish laces are of great beauty, some of varied grounds.
Fig. 56 represents a description of lace called in the country "Trolle
kant," a name which has been transferred to our own lace counties,
where lace of a peculiar make is styled Trolly, with a heavy
cordonnet which is called gimp or Trolly. Kant in Flemish is "lace."

At one period much lace was smuggled into France from Belgium by
means of dogs trained for the purpose. A dog was caressed and
petted at home, fed on the fat of the land, then after a season sent
across the frontier, where he was tied up, half-starved and ill-
treated. The skin of a bigger dog was then fitted to his body, and the
intervening space filled with lace. The dog was then allowed to
escape and make his way home, where he was kindly welcomed
with his contraband charge. These journeys were repeated till the
French Custom House, getting scent, by degrees put an end to the
traffic. Between 1820 and 1836 40,278 dogs were destroyed, a
reward of three francs being given for each.[329]

According to some authorities the earliest lace made in Flanders was

of the kind known as Pillow Guipure. The pattern is made as of tape,
in flowing Renaissance style, sometimes connected by brides, and
sometimes altogether without brides, when the points of the pattern
touch each other. In the specimens of this type of lace in the Victoria
and Albert Museum there is apparently little in the laces by which
the country of their origin may be identified. Sometimes they have
been considered French, sometimes Flemish, and sometimes Italian.
[See the specimens of tape-lace in the Catalogue of the lace in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, p. 49, by A. S. Cole.] (Plate XXXVIII.)
 BRUSSELS (BRABANT).

"More subtile web Arachne cannot spin."—Spenser.

"From Lisle I came to Brussels, where most of the fine laces are made you
see worn in England."—Lord Chesterfield, 1741.

At what period the manufacture of Brussels lace commenced we are

ignorant; but, judging from the earlier patterns, it may be placed at
the beginning of the sixteenth century. The ancient churches of
Brabant possess, it is said, many precious specimens, the gifts of
munificent princes who have at all periods shown a predilection for
Brussels lace, and in every way promoted its manufacture. In usage
it is termed Point d'Angleterre, an error explained to us by history.

Plate XXXVII.

Brussels. Point d'Angleterre à Brides.

Crown of a Cap.—Last half of seventeenth
century.

The property of Mr. Arthur Blackborne.

Plate XXXVIII.
 Flemish. Tape Lace, Bobbin-made.—
Seventeenth century.

Photos by A. Dryden.

To face page 116.

In 1662 the English Parliament, alarmed at the sums of money

expended on foreign point, and desirous to protect the English bone-
lace manufacture, passed an Act prohibiting the importation of all
foreign lace. The English lace-merchants, at a loss how to supply the
Brussels point required at the court of Charles II., invited Flemish
lace-makers to settle in England and there establish the
manufacture. The scheme, however, was unsuccessful. England did
not produce the necessary flax, and the lace made was of an inferior
quality. The merchants therefore adopted a more simple expedient.
Possessed of large capital, they bought up the choicest laces of the
Brussels market, and then smuggling them over to England, sold
them under the name of point d'Angleterre, or "English Point."[330]

This fact is, curiously enough, corroborated in a second

memorandum given by the Venetian ambassador to the English
Court in 1695, already mentioned by an informant in London, who
states that Venetian point is no longer in fashion, but "that called
English point, which, you know, is not made here, but in Flanders,
and only bears the name of English to distinguish it from the
others." "Questo chiamato punto d'Inghilterra, si sappia che non si
fa qui, ma in Fiandra, et porta solamente questo nome d'Inghilterra
per distintione dagli altri."

The account of the seizure made by the Marquis de Nesmond of a

vessel laden with Flanders lace, bound for England, in 1678[331] will
afford some idea of the extent to which this smuggling was carried
on. The cargo comprised 744,953 ells of lace, without enumerating
handkerchiefs, collars, fichus, aprons, petticoats, fans, gloves, etc.,
all of the same material. From this period "point de Bruxelles"
became more and more unknown, and was at last effaced by "point
d'Angleterre,"[332] a name it still retains.[333]

On consulting, however, the English Royal Inventories of the time,

we find no mention of "English point." In France, on the other hand,
the fashion books of the day[334] commend to the notice of the
reader, "Corsets chamarrés de point d'Angleterre," with vests,
gloves, and cravats trimmed with the same material. Among the
effects of Madame de Simiane, dated 1681, were many articles of
English point;[335] and Monseigneur the Archbishop of Bourges, who
died some few years later, had two cambric toilettes trimmed with
the same.[336]

The finest Brussels lace can only be made in the city itself. Antwerp,
Ghent, and other localities have in vain tried to compete with the
capital. The little town of Binche, long of lace-making celebrity, has
been the most successful. Binche, however, now only makes pillow
flowers (point plat), and those of an inferior quality.

When, in 1756, Mrs. Calderwood visited the Béguinage at Brussels,

she wrote to a friend describing the lace-making. "A part of their
work is grounding lace; the manufacture is very curious. One person
works the flowers. They are all sold separate, and you will see a very
pretty sprig, for which the worker only gets twelve sous. The
masters who have all these people employed give them the thread
to make them; this they do according to a pattern, and give them
out to be grounded; after this they give them to a third hand, who
'hearts' all the flowers with the open work. That is what makes this
lace so much dearer than the Mechlin, which is wrought all at once."
[337]

The thread used in Brussels lace is of extraordinary fineness. It is

made of flax grown in Brabant, at Hal and Rebecq-Rognon.[338] The
finest quality is spun in dark underground rooms, for contact with
the dry air causes the thread to break, so fine is it as almost to
escape the sight. The feel of the thread as it passes through the
fingers is the surest guide. The thread-spinner closely examines
every inch drawn from her distaff, and when any inequality occurs
stops her wheel to repair the mischief. Every artificial help is given to
the eye. A background of dark paper is placed to throw out the
thread, and the room so arranged as to admit one single ray of light
upon the work. The life of a Flemish thread-spinner is unhealthy, and
her work requires the greatest skill; her wages are therefore
proportionably high.

Fig. 57.

Brussels Needle-point.
 To face page 118.

It is the fineness of the thread which renders the real Brussels

ground (vrai réseau, called in Flanders, "droschel") so costly.[339]
The difficulty of procuring this fine thread at any cost prevented the
art being established in other countries. We all know how, during the
last fifty years of the bygone century, a mania existed in the United
Kingdom for improving all sorts of manufactures. The Anti-Gallican
Society gave prizes in London; Dublin and Edinburgh vied with their
sister capital in patriotism. Every man would establish something to
keep our native gold from crossing the water. Foreign travellers had
their eyes open, and Lord Garden, a Scotch Lord of Session, who
visited Brussels in 1787, thus writes to a countryman on the subject:
"This day I bought you ruffles and some beautiful Brussels lace, the
most light and costly of all manufactures. I had entertained, as I
now suspect, a vain ambition to attempt the introduction of it into
my humble parish in Scotland, but on inquiry I was discouraged. The
thread is of so exquisite a fineness they cannot make it in this
country. It is brought from Cambrai and Valenciennes in French
Flanders, and five or six different artists are employed to form the
nice part of this fabric, so that it is a complicated art which cannot
be transplanted without a passion as strong as mine for
manufactures, and a purse much stronger. At Brussels, from one
pound of flax alone they can manufacture to the value of £700
sterling."

There were two kinds of ground used in Brussels lace, the bride and
the réseau. The bride was first employed, but, even a century back,
[340] had been discontinued, and was then only made to order. Nine
ells of "Angleterre à bride" appear in the bills of Madame du Barry.
[341] The lace so made was generally of most exquisite

workmanship, as many magnificent specimens of "bas d'aube,"[342]

now converted into flounces, attest. Sometimes bride and réseau
were mixed.[343] In the inventories the description of ground is
always minutely specified.[344] (See Plates XXXVII., XLVII., XLVIII.,
XLIX., LI.)

Fig. 58.

Brussels Needle-point.

To face page 120.

Fig. 58a.
 Brussels. Point à L'aiguille.—Formerly
belonged to H.M. Queen Charlotte.
To face page 120.

The réseau was made in two ways,[345] by hand (à l'aiguille), and on

the pillow (au fuseau). The needleground is worked from one flower
to another, as in Fig. 44. The pillow is made in small strips of an inch
in width, and from seven to forty-five inches long, joined together by
a stitch long known to the lace-makers of Brussels and Bayeux only,
[346] called "point de raccroc"—in English, "fine joining"—and
consisting of a fresh stitch formed with a needle between the two
pieces to be united. It requires the greatest nicety to join the
segments of shawls and other large pieces. Since machine-made net
has come into use the "vrai réseau" is rarely made, save for royal
trousseaux (Figs. 57 and 58).

There are two kinds of flowers: those made with the needle are
called "point à l'aiguille"; those on the pillow, "point plat."[347] The
best flowers are made in Brussels itself, where they have attained a
perfection in the relief (point brodé) unequalled by those made in
the surrounding villages and in Hainault. The last have one great
fault. Coming soiled from the hands of the lace-makers, they have a
reddish-yellow cast. In order to obviate this evil the workwoman,
previous to sewing the flowers on the ground, places them in a
packet of white lead and beats them with the hand, an operation
injurious to the health of the lace-cleaner. It also causes the lace to
turn black when laid in trunks or wardrobes in contact with flannel or
other woollen tissues bleached with sulphur, which discolours the
white lead. Bottles containing scent, the sea air, or a heated room,
will produce the same disagreeable change, and the colour is with
difficulty restored. This custom of powdering yellow lace is of old
date. We read in 1782[348]: "On tolère en même temps les dentelles
jaunes et fort sales, poudrez-les à blanc pour cacher leur vetusté,
dut la fraude paroître, n'importe, vous avez des dentelles vous êtes
bien dispensé de la propreté mais non du luxe." Mrs. Delany writes
in 1734: "Your head and ruffles are being made up, but Brussels
always look yellow;" and she was right, for flax thread soon returns
to its natural "crêmée" hue. Yet,

"How curled her hair, how clean

her Brussels lace!"

exclaims the poet.[349] Later, the taste for discoloured lace became
general. The "Isabelle" or cream-coloured tint was found to be more
becoming than a dazzling white, and our coquettish grandmothers,
who prided themselves upon the colour of their point, when not
satisfied with the richness of its hue, had their lace dipped in coffee.

In the old laces the plat flowers were worked in together with the
ground. (Fig. 59.) Application lace was unknown to our ancestors.
[350] The making of Brussels lace is so complicated that each
process is, as before mentioned, assigned to a different hand, who
works only at her special department. The first, termed—

1. Drocheleuse (Flemish, drocheles), makes the vrai réseau.

2. Dentelière (kantwerkes), the footing.

3. Pointeuse (needlewerkes), the point à l'aiguille flowers.

4. Platteuse (platwerkes), makes the plat flowers.

5. Fonneuse (grondwerkes), is charged with the open work (jours) in

the plat.

6. Jointeuse, or attacheuse (lashwerkes), unites the different

sections of the ground together.

7. Striqueuse, or appliqueuse (strikes), is charged with the sewing

(application) of the flowers upon the ground.

The pattern is designed by the head of the fabric, who, having cut
the parchment into pieces, hands it out ready pricked. The worker
has no reflections to make, no combinations to study. The whole
responsibility rests with the master, who selects the ground, chooses
the thread, and alone knows the effect to be produced by the whole.

The pattern of Brussels lace has always followed the fashion of the
day. The most ancient is in the Gothic style (Gothique pur), its
architectural ornaments resembling a pattern cut out in paper. This
style was replaced by the flowing lines which prevailed till the end of
the last century. (Fig. 60.)

In its turn succeeded the genre fleuri of the First Empire, an

assemblage of flowers, sprigs, columns, wreaths, and petits semés,
such as spots, crosses, stars, etc. In flowers, the palm and pyramidal
forms predominated. Under the Restoration the flowery style
remained in fashion, but the palms and pyramids became more rare.
Since 1830 great changes have taken place in the patterns, which
every year become more elegant and more artistic.
 Fig. 59.

Old Brussels. (Point d'Angleterre. Bobbin-made,

circ. 1750.)

To face page 122.

The lace industry of Brussels is now divided into two branches, the
making of detached sprigs, either point or pillow, for application
upon the net ground, and the modern point à l'aiguille gazée, also
called point de Venise, a needlework lace in which the flowers are
made simultaneously with the ground, by means of the same thread,
as in the old Brussels. It is made in small pieces, the joining
concealed by small sprigs or leaves, after the manner of the old
point, the same lace-worker executing the whole strip from
beginning to end. Point gaze is now brought to the highest
perfection, and the specimens in the Paris Exhibition of 1867 were
remarkable for the precision of the work, the variety and richness of
the "jours," and the clearness of the ground.

Brussels point à l'aiguille, point de gaze, is the most filmy and

delicate of all point lace. Its forms are not accentuated by a raised
outline of button-hole stitching, as in point d'Alençon and point
d'Argentan, but are simply outlined by a thread. The execution is
more open and slight than in early lace, and part of the toilé is made
is close, part in open stitch, to give an appearance of shading. The
style of the designs is naturalistic. (Plate LII.)
"Point Duchesse" is a bobbin lace of fine quality, in which the sprigs
resemble Honiton lace united by "brides." Duchesse is a modern
name. The work less resembles the old Brussels laces than the
"Guipure de Flandre," made at Bruges in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, which was much used for cravats, being
exceedingly rich and soft in effect. Bobbin lace is sometimes named
point Plat; the word point in this case signifies the fine quality of the
lace, and has nothing to do with the needle-point. Point Plat
appliqué is the name given to Belgian bobbin-made sprigs which are
afterwards applied to machine-made net. Bobbin lace is not now
made in Brussels itself.

Brussels was a favoured lace at the court of the First Empire.[351]

When Napoleon and the Empress Marie Louise made their first public
entry into the Belgian capital, they gave large orders for albs of the
richest point, destined as a present for the Pope. The city, on its
part, offered to the Empress a collection of its finest lace, on vrai
réseau, of marvellous beauty; also a curtain of Brussels point,
emblematic of the birth of the King of Rome, with Cupids supporting
the drapery of the cradle. After the battle of Waterloo, Monsieur
Troyaux, a manufacturer at Brussels, stopped his lace fabric, and,
having turned it into a hospital for forty English soldiers, furnished
them with linen, as well as other necessaries, and the attendance of
trained nurses. His humane conduct did not go unrewarded; he
received a decoration from his sovereign, while his shop was daily
crowded with English ladies, who then, and for years after, made a
point of purchasing their laces at his establishment when passing
through Brussels. Monsieur Troyaux made a large fortune and retired
from business.[352]

MECHLIN.

"And if disputes of empire rise between

Mechlin, the Queen of Lace, and Colberteen,
 'Tis doubt, 'tis darkness! till suspended Fate
Assumes her nod to close the grand debate."
—Young, Love of Fame.

"Now to another scene give place;

Enter the Folks with silk and lace,
Fresh matter for a world of chat
Right Indian this, right Macklin that."
—Swift, Journal of a Modern Lady.

"Mechlin, the finest lace of all!"

—Anderson, Origin of
Commerce.

"Rose: Pray, what may this lace be worth a yard?

"Balance: Right Mechlin, by this light!"
—Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer.

Fig. 60.

Old Brussels. (Point d'Angleterre. Formerly

belonging to Queen Charlotte.)

To face page 124.

Mechlin is the prettiest of laces, fine, transparent, and effective. It is

made in one piece, on the pillow, with various fancy stitches
introduced. Its distinguishing feature is the cordonnet or flat silky
thread which outlines the pattern, and gives to this lace the
character of embroidery (hence it is sometimes called Broderie de
Malines[353]); and secondly, the hexagonal mesh of the réseau.
"This is made of two threads twisted twice on four sides, and four
threads plaited three times on the two other sides. Thus the plait is
shorter and the mesh consequently smaller than that of Brussels
lace." Mechlin was sometimes grounded with an ornamental réseau
called Fond de neige, or Œil de perdrix, and also with the six-pointed
Fond Chant; but these varieties are not common. The earliest
Mechlin has the points d'esprit, and is very rare. It was made at
Mechlin, Antwerp, Lierre and Turnhout, but the manufacture has
long been on the decline. In 1834 there were but eight houses
where it was fabricated, but at a later date it appears to have
partially revived. There was a fine collection of Mechlin lace in the
Paris Exhibition of 1867 from Turnhout (Prov. Antwerp), and some
other localities. Very little is now manufactured. It is difficult to trace
the real point de Malines. Previous to 1665, as elsewhere stated, all
Flanders laces, with some exceptions, were known to the French
commercial world as "Malines." According to Savary, the laces of
Ypres, Bruges, Dunkirk and Courtrai passed at Paris under that name
—hence we have in the inventories of the time, "Malines à bride,"
[354] as well as "Malines à rézeau."[355]

The statute of Charles II. having placed a bar to the introduction of

Flanders lace into England, Mechlin neither appears in the
advertisements nor inventories of the time.

We find mention of this fabric in France as early as Anne of Austria,

who is described in the memoirs of Marion de l'Orme as wearing a
veil "en frizette de Malines."[356] Again, the Maréchal de la Motte,
who died in 1657, has, noted in his inventory,[357] a pair of Mechlin
ruffles.

Regnard, who visited Flanders in 1681, writes from this city: "The
common people here, as throughout all Flanders, occupy themselves
in making the white lace known as Malines, and the Béguinage, the
most considerable in the country, is supported by the work of the
Béguines, in which they excel greatly."[358]

When, in 1699, the English prohibition was removed, Mechlin lace

became the grand fashion, and continued so during the succeeding
century. Queen Mary anticipated the repeal by some years, for, in
1694, she purchased two yards of knotted fringe for her Mechlin
ruffles,[359] which leads us to hope she had brought the lace with
her from Holland; though, as early as 1699, we have advertised in
the London Gazette, August 17th to 21st: "Lost from Barker's coach
a deal box containing," among other articles, "a waistcoat and
Holland shirt, both laced with Mecklin lace." Queen Anne purchased
it largely; at least, she paid in 1713[360] £247 6s. 9d. for eighty-
three yards, either to one Margaret Jolly or one Francis Dobson,
"Millenario Regali"—the Royal Milliner, as he styles himself. George I.
indulges in a "Macklin" cravat.[361]

"It is impossible," says Savary about this time, "to imagine how
much Mechlin lace is annually purchased by France and Holland, and
in England it has always held the highest favour."

Of the beau of 1727 it is said:

"Right Macklin must twist round

his bosom and wrists."

Plate XXXIX.
 Mechlin.—Four specimens of
seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Arranged by age, the
oldest at the top. The upper one is
the end of a lappet, the property of
Mr. Arthur Blackborne. Width about
3½ in. Widths of smaller pieces, 1¾
in., lower 2½ in.

Photos by A. Dryden.
To face page 126.

While Captain Figgins of the 67th, a dandy of the first water, is

described, like the naval puppy of Smollett in Roderick Random, "his
hair powdered with maréchal, a cambric shirt, his Malines lace dyed
with coffee-grounds." Towards 1755 the fashion seems to have been
on the decline in England. "All the town," writes Mr. Calderwood, "is
full of convents; Mechlin lace is all made there; I saw a great deal,
and very pretty and cheap. They talk of giving up the trade, as the
English, upon whom they depended, have taken to the wearing of
French blondes. The lace merchants employ the workers and all the
town with lace. Though they gain but twopence halfpenny daily, it is
a good worker who will finish a Flemish yard (28 inches) in a
fortnight."

Fig. 61.

Mechlin.—(Period Louis
XVI.)

Mechlin is essentially a summer lace, not becoming in itself, but

charming when worn over colour. It found great favour at the court
of the Regent, as the inventories of the period attest. Much of this
lace, judging from these accounts, was made in the style of the
modern insertion, with an edging on both sides, "campané," and,
being light in texture, was well adapted for the gathered trimmings,
later termed[362] "quilles," now better known as "plissés à la vieille."
[363] Mechlin can never have been used as a "dentelle de grande
toilette"; it served for coiffures de nuit, garnitures de corset, ruffles
and cravats.[364]

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, describing an admirer, writes:

 "With eager beat his Mechlin
cravat moves—
He loves, I whisper to myself, he
loves!"

Fig. 62.

Mechlin.—(Formerly
belonging to H. M.
Queen Charlotte.)

It was the favourite lace of Queen Charlotte (Fig. 62) and of the
Princess Amelia. Napoleon I. was also a great admirer of this fabric,
and when he first saw the light Gothic tracery of the cathedral spire
of Antwerp, he exclaimed, "C'est comme de la dentelle de Malines."

Plate XL.
 Mechlin.—Three specimens of last half of eighteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Photos by A. Dryden from Mrs. Ellis'

Museum. Collection.
Width, 5 in. Width, 4 ½ in. Width, 4 in.

To face page 123.

ANTWERP.

"At Antwerp, bought some ruffles of our agreeable landlady, and set out at 2
o'clock for Brussels."—Tour, by G. L., 1767.

Before finishing our account of the laces of Brabant, we must touch

upon the produce of Antwerp, which, though little differing from that
of the adjoining towns, seems at one time to have been known in
the commercial world.[365] In the year 1560 we have no mention of
lace among the fabrics of Antwerp, at that period already flourishing,
unless it be classed under the head of "mercery, fine and rare."[366]
The cap, however, of an Antwerp lady[367] of that period is
decorated with the fine lace of geometric pattern. (Fig. 63.) As early
as 1698 the Flying Postman advertises as follows: "Yesterday, was
dropped between the Mitre Tavern and the corner of Princes-street,
five yards and better of Antwerp lace, pinner breadth. One guinea
reward."
According to Savary, much lace without ground, "dentelle sans
fond," a guipure of large flowers united by "brides," was fabricated
in all the towns of Brabant for especial exportation to the Spanish
Indies, where the "Gothic" taste continued in favour up to a very late
period. These envoys were expedited first to Cadiz, and there
disposed of. In 1696, we find in a seizure made by Monsieur de la
Bellière, on the high seas, "2181 pieces de dentelles grossières à
l'Espagnole assorties."[368] (Plate XLI.)

Since the cessation of this Spanish market, Antwerp lace would have
disappeared from the scene had it not been for the attachment
evinced by the old people for one pattern, which has been worn on
their caps from generation to generation, generally known by the
name of "pot lace" (potten kant). It is made in the Béguinages of
three qualities, mostly "fond double." The pattern has always a vase
(Fig. 64), varied according to fancy.[369] Antwerp now makes
Brussels lace.

Fig. 63.

A Lady of Antwerp.—
(Ob. 1598. After
Crispin de Passe.)

One of the earliest pattern-books, that printed by Vorsterman[370]—

the title in English—was published at Antwerp, but it only contains
patterns for Spanish stitch and other embroidery—no lace. There is
no date affixed to the title-page, which is ornamented with six
woodcuts representing women, and one a man, working at frames.
This work is most rare; the only copy known may be found in the
Library of the Arsenal at Paris.

Fig. 64.

Antwerp Pot Lace (Potten Kant).

To face page 130.

Turnhout, which with Antwerp and Mechlin form the three divisions
of the modern province of Antwerp, seems to have largely
manufactured lace up to the present century; as we find in 1803,
out of forty lace thread and lace fabrics in the province, there were
thirteen at Antwerp, twelve at Turnhout, and nine at Malines.[371]
Turnhout now produces Mechlin.

FLANDERS (WEST).

The most important branch of the pillow-lace trade in Belgium is the

manufacture of Valenciennes, which, having expired in its native city,
has now spread over East and West Flanders. The art was originally
imported into Flanders from French Hainault in the seventeenth
century. As early as 1656, Ypres began to make Valenciennes lace.
When, in 1684, a census was made by order of Louis XIV., there
were only three forewomen[372] and sixty-three lace-makers. In
1850, there were from 20,000 to 22,000 in Ypres and its environs
alone.

The productions of Ypres are of the finest quality and most elaborate
in their workmanship. On a piece not two inches wide, from 200 to
300 bobbins are employed, and for the larger widths as many as 800
or more are used on the same pillow. In the exhibition of 1867, one
exhibited with the lace in progress had 1,200 bobbins,[373] while in
the International Exhibition of 1874 there were no less than 8,000
bobbins on a Courtrai pillow used for making a parasol cover. The
ground is in large clear squares, which admirably throws up the even
tissue of the patterns. In these there was little variety until 1833,
when a manufacturer[374] adopted a clear wire ground with bold
flowing designs, instead of the thick treille[375] and scanty flowers of
the old laces. (Fig. 65.) The change was accepted by fashion, and
the Valenciennes lace of Ypres has now attained a high degree of
perfection. Courtrai has made great advances towards rivalling Ypres
in its productions.

Fig. 65.

Valenciennes Lace of
Ypres.
Not a hundred years since, when the laces of Valenciennes
prospered, those of Belgium were designated as "fausses
Valenciennes." Belgium has now the monopoly to a commercial
value of more than £800,000.[376] The other principal centres of the
manufacture are Bruges, Courtrai, and Menin in West, Ghent and
Alost in East, Flanders. When Peuchet wrote in the eighteenth
century, he cites "les dentelles à l'instar de Valenciennes" of Courtrai
as being in favour, and generally sought after both in England and
France, while those of Bruges are merely alluded to as "passing for
Mechlin." From this it may be inferred the tide had not then flowed
so far north. The Valenciennes of Bruges, from its round ground, has
never enjoyed a high reputation.

Plate XLI.

Flemish. Flat Spanish Bobbin Lace.—Made in

Flanders. Seventeenth century.

From a photo the property of A. Dryden.

To face page 132.

In forming the ground, the bobbins are only twisted twice, while in
those of Ypres and Alost, the operation is performed four and five
times.[377] The oftener the bobbins are twisted the clearer and more
esteemed is the Valenciennes. The "guipure de Flandres" made at
Bruges in "point plat" is now in high repute, and has proved from its
low price a formidable rival to Honiton, which it resembles, but the
workmanship is coarser and inferior than in the best Honiton. It is of
a brilliant white, and composed of bobbin-made flowers united by
barettes or brides à picot. In the L'Industrie Dentellière Belge
(1860), it is stated that West Flanders has now 180 fabrics and 400
lace schools. Of these, 157 are the property of religious
communities, and number upwards of 30,000 apprentices.[378]

FLANDERS (EAST).

No traveller has passed through the city of Ghent for the last
hundred years without describing the Béguinage and its lace school.
"The women," writes the author of the Grand Tour, 1756, "number
nigh 5,000, go where they please, and employ their time in weaving
lace."

Savary cites the "fausses Valenciennes," which he declares to equal

the real in beauty. "They are," continues he, "moins serrées, un peu
moins solides, et un peu moins chères."

The best account, however, we have of the Ghent manufactures is

contained in a letter addressed to Sir John Sinclair by Mr. Hey
Schoulthem in 1815. "The making of lace," he writes, "at the time
the French entered the Low Countries, employed a considerable
number of people of both sexes, and great activity prevailed in
Ghent. The lace was chiefly for daily use; it was sold in Holland,
France and England. A large quantity of 'sorted' laces of a peculiar
quality were exported to Spain and the colonies. It is to be feared
that, after an interruption of twenty years, this lucrative branch of
commerce will be at an end: the changes of fashion have even
reached the West Indian colonists, whose favourite ornaments once
consisted of Flemish laces[379] and fringes. These laces were mostly
manufactured in the charitable institutions for poor girls, and by old
women whose eyes did not permit them to execute a finer work. As
for the young girls, the quality of these Spanish laces, and the
facility of their execution, permitted the least skilful to work them
with success, and proved a means of rendering them afterwards
excellent workwomen. At present, the best market for our laces is in
France; a few also are sent to England." He continues to state that,
since the interruption of the commerce with Spain, to which Ghent
formerly belonged, the art has been replaced by a trade in cotton;
but that cotton-weaving spoils the hand of the lace-makers, and, if
continued, would end by annihilating the lace manufacture.[380]

Grammont and Enghien formerly manufactured a cheap white thread

lace, now replaced by the making of laces of black silk. This industry
was introduced towards 1840 by M. Lepage, and black silk and
cotton-thread lace is now made at Grammont, Enghien, and
Oudenarde in the southern part of Eastern Flanders. The lace of
Grammont is remarkable for its regularity, the good quality of its silk,
and its low price, but its grounds are coarse, and the patterns want
relief and solidity, and the bobbins are more often twisted in making
the ground, which deprives it of its elasticity. Grammont makes no
small pieces, but shawls, dresses, etc., principally for the American
market.

The "industrie dentellière" of East Flanders is now most flourishing.

In 1869 it boasted 200 fabrics directed by the laity, and 450 schools
under the superintendence of the nuns. Even in the poor-houses
(hospices) every woman capable of using a bobbin passes her day in
lace-making.

HAINAULT.
The laces of Mons and those once known as "les figures de Chimay"
both in the early part of the eighteenth century enjoyed a
considerable reputation. Mrs. Palliser, on visiting Chimay in 1874,
could find no traces of the manufacture beyond an aged lace-maker,
an inmate of the hospice, who made black lace—"point de Paris"—
and who said that until lately Brussels lace had also been made at
Chimay.

Plate XLII.

Flemish. Guipure de Flandre, Bobbin-made.—

Seventeenth century. In the Musée
Cinquantenaire, Brussels.

To face page 134.

The first Binche lace has the character of Flanders lace, so it has
been supposed that the women who travelled from Ghent in the
train of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles le Téméraire,
created the taste for lace at Binche, and that the stay of the great
ladies, on their visits to the royal lady of the manor, made the
fortune of the lace-makers. Afterwards there was much traffic
between the lace-workers of Brussels and Binche, and there is a
great resemblance between the laces of the two towns. Sometimes
the latter is less light, richer, and more complex in effect, and the
design is closely sprinkled with open-work, the ground varied and
contrasted.
Binche was, as early as 1686, the subject of a royal edict, leading
one to infer that the laces it produced were of some importance. In
the said edict, the roads of Verviers, Gueuse, and Le Catelet, to
those persons coming from Binche, are pronounced "faux passages."
[381] Savary esteems the products of this little village. The same
laces, he adds, are made in all the monastères of the province, that
are partly maintained by the gains. The lace is good, equal to that of
Brabant and Flanders. The characteristic peculiarities of Binche are,
that there is either no cordonnet at all outlining the pattern, or that
the cordonnet is scarcely a thicker thread than that which makes the
toilé.[382] The design itself is very indefinite, and is practically the
same as the early Valenciennes laces. Varieties of the fond de neige
ground were used instead of the regular réseau ground. Dentelle de
Binche appears to have been much in vogue in the last century. It is
mentioned in the inventory of the Duchesse de Modène,[383]
daughter of the Regent, 1761; and in that of Mademoiselle de
Charollais, 1758, who has a "couvrepied, mantelet, garniture de
robe, jupon," etc., all of the same lace. In the Misérables of Victor
Hugo, the old grandfather routs out from a cupboard "une ancienne
garniture de guipure de Binche" for Cosette's wedding-dress.[384]
The Binche application flowers have already been noticed.

The lace industry of Binche will soon be only a memory. But before
1830 it "was a hive of lace-makers, and the bees of this hive earned
so much money by making lace that their husbands could go and
take a walk without a care for the morrow," as it is curiously phrased
in an account of Binche and its lace. (Plate XLIII.)

We have now named the great localities for lace-making throughout

the Low Countries. Some few yet remain unmentioned.
The needle-point of Liège should be mentioned among the Flanders
laces. At the Cathedral of Liège there is still to be seen a flounce of
an alb unequalled for the richness and variety of its design and its
perfection. Liège in her days of ecclesiastical grandeur carried on the
lace trade like the rest.[385] We read, in 1620, of "English
Jesuitesses at Liège, who seem to care as much for politics as for
lace-making."[386]

An early pattern-book, that of Jean de Glen, a transcript of Vinciolo,

was published in that city in 1597. It bears the mark of his printing-
press—three acorns with the motto, "Cuique sua præmia," and is
dedicated to Madame Loyse de Perez. He concludes a complimentary
dedication to the lady with the lines:—

"Madame, dont l'esprit

modestement subtil,
Vigoureux, se délecte en toutes
choses belles,
Prenez de bonne part ces
nouvelles modelles
Que vous offre la main de ce
maistre gentil."

He states that he has travelled and brought back from Italy some
patterns, without alluding to Vinciolo. At the end, in a chapter of
good advice to young ladies, after exhorting them to "salutairement
passer la journée, tant pour l'âme que pour le corps," he winds up
that he is aware that other exercises, such as stretching the hands
and feet, "se frotter un peu les points des bras," and combing the
hair, are good for the health; that to wash the hands occasionally in
cold water is both "civil et honnête," etc.

Plate XLIV. Plate XLIII.

 Marche.—End of Binche.—Width, 2⅛ in.
eighteenth century. In
the Musée
Cinquantenaire,
Brussels.

Belgian, Bobbin-made.

Plate XLV.

Drawn and Embroidered Muslin, resembling fine lace.—

Flemish work. End of eighteenth century. Width, 2½ in.,
not including the modern heading.

Photos by A. Dryden from private collections.

To face page 136.

"Dentelles de Liège, fines et grosses de toutes sortes," are

mentioned with those of Lorraine and Du Comté (Franche-Comté) in
the tariff fixed by a French edict of September 18th, 1664.[387] Mrs.
Calderwood, who visited Liège in 1756, admires the point-edging to
the surplices of the canons, which, she remarks, "have a very
genteel appearance." The manufacture had declined at Liège, in
1802, when it is classed by the French Commissioners among the
"fabriques moins considérables," and the lace-makers of the Rue