The indefatigable, patient, invincible, inquisitive, sometimes tedious,
but almost always amusing German traveller, Herr Kohl, has recently been
pursuing his earnest investigations in Belgium. His book on the
Netherlands[2] has just been issued, and we shall translate, with
abridgments, one of its most instructive and agreeable chapters;—that
relating to Lace-making.
Footnote 2:
Reisen in den Niederlanden. Travels in the Netherlands.
The practical acquaintance of our female readers with that elegant
ornament, lace, is chiefly confined to wearing it, and their researches
into its quality and price. A few minutes’ attention to Mr. Kohl will
enlighten them on other subjects connected with, what is to them a most
interesting topic, for lace is associated with recollections of mediæval
history, and with the palmy days of the Flemish school of painting. More
than one of the celebrated masters of that school have selected, from
among his laborious countrywomen, the lace-makers (or, as they are
called in Flanders, _Speldewerksters_), pleasing subjects for the
exercise of his pencil. The plump, fair-haired Flemish girl, bending
earnestly over her lace-work, whilst her fingers nimbly ply the
intricately winding bobbins, figure in many of those highly esteemed
representations of homely life and manners, which have found their way
from the Netherlands into all the principal picture-galleries of Europe.
Our German friend makes it his practice, whether he is treating of the
geology of the earth, or of the manufacture of Swedish bodkins, to begin
at the very beginning. He therefore commences the history of
lace-making, which, he says, is, like embroidery, an art of very ancient
origin, lost, like a multitude of other origins, “in the darkness of
by-gone ages.” It may, with truth, be said that it is the national
occupation of the women of the Low Countries, and one to which they have
steadily adhered from very remote times. During the long civil and
foreign wars waged by the people of the Netherlands, while subject to
Spanish dominion, other branches of Belgic industry either dwindled to
decay, or were transplanted to foreign countries; but lace-making
remained faithful to the land which had fostered and brought it to
perfection, though it received tempting offers from abroad, and had to
struggle with many difficulties at home. This Mr. Kohl explains by the
fact, that lace-making is a branch of industry chiefly confined to
female hands, and, as women are less disposed to travel than men, all
arts and handicrafts exclusively pursued by women, have a local and
enduring character.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming supply of imitations which modern
ingenuity has created, _real Brussels lace_ has maintained its value,
like the precious metals and the precious stones. In the patterns of the
best bone lace, the changeful influence of fashion is less marked than
in most other branches of industry; indeed, she has adhered with
wonderful pertinacity to the quaint old patterns of former times. These
are copied and reproduced with that scrupulous uniformity which
characterises the figures in the Persian and Indian shawls. Frequent
experiments have been tried to improve these old patterns, by the
introduction of slight and tasteful modifications, but these innovations
have not succeeded, and a very skilful and experienced lace-worker
assured Mr. Kohl, that the antiquated designs, with all their formality,
are preferred to those in which the most elegant changes have been
effected.
Each of the lace-making towns of Belgium excels in the production of one
particular description of lace: in other words, each has what is
technically called its own _point_. The French word _point_, in the
ordinary language of needlework, signifies simply _stitch_; but in the
terminology of lace-making, the word is sometimes used to designate the
pattern of the lace, and sometimes the ground of the lace itself. Hence
the terms _point de Bruxelles_, _point de Malines_, _point de
Valenciennes_, &c. In England we distinguish by the name of Point, a
peculiarly rich and curiously wrought lace formerly very fashionable,
but now scarcely ever worn except in Court costume. In this sort of lace
the pattern is, we believe, worked with the needle, after the ground has
been made with the bobbins. In each town there prevail certain modes of
working, and certain patterns which have been transmitted from mother to
daughter successively, for several generations. Many of the lace-workers
live and die in the same houses in which they were born; and most of
them understand and practise only the stitches which their mothers and
grandmothers worked before them. The consequence has been, that certain
_points_ have become unchangeably fixed in particular towns or
districts. Fashion has assigned to each its particular place and
purpose; for example:—the _point de Malines_ (Mechlin lace) is used
chiefly for trimming nightdresses, pillow-cases, coverlets, &c.; the
_point de Valenciennes_ (Valenciennes lace) is employed for ordinary
wear or negligé; but the more rich and costly _point de Bruxelles_
(Brussels lace) is reserved for bridal and ball-dresses, and for the
robes of queens and courtly ladies.
As the different sorts of lace, from the narrowest and plainest to the
broadest and richest, are innumerable; so the division of labour among
the lace-workers is infinite. In the towns of Belgium there are as many
different kinds of lace-workers, as there are varieties of spiders in
Nature. It is not, therefore, surprising that in the several departments
of this branch of industry there are as many technical terms and phrases
as would make up a small dictionary. In their origin, these expressions
were all Flemish; but French being the language now spoken in Belgium,
they have been translated into French, and the designations applied to
some of the principal classifications of the workwomen. Those who make
only the ground, are called _Drocheleuses_. The design or pattern, which
adorns this ground, is distinguished by the general term “the Flowers;”
though it would be difficult to guess what flowers are intended to be
portrayed by the fantastic arabesque of these lace-patterns. In Brussels
the ornaments or flowers are made separately, and afterwards worked into
the lace-ground: in other places the ground and the patterns are worked
conjointly. The _Platteuses_ are those who work the flowers separately;
and the _Faiseuses de point à l’aiguille_ work the figures and the
ground together. The _Striquese_ is the worker who attaches the flowers
to the ground. The _Faneuse_ works her figures by piercing holes or
cutting out pieces of the ground.
The spinning of the fine thread used for lace-making in the Netherlands,
is an operation demanding so high a degree of minute care and vigilant
attention, that it is impossible it can ever be taken from human hands
by machinery. None but Belgian fingers are skilled in this art. The very
finest sort of this thread is made in Brussels, in damp underground
cellars; for it is so extremely delicate, that it is liable to break by
contact with the dry air above ground; and it is obtained in good
condition only, when made and kept in a humid subterraneous atmosphere.
There are numbers of old Belgian thread-makers who, like spiders, have
passed the best part of their lives spinning in cellars. This sort of
occupation naturally has an injurious effect on the health, and
therefore, to induce people to follow it, they are highly paid.
To form an accurate idea of this operation, it is necessary to see a
Brabant Threadspinner at her work. She carefully examines every thread,
watching it closely as she draws it off the distaff; and that she may
see it the more distinctly, a piece of dark blue paper is used as a
background for the flax. Whenever the spinner notices the least
unevenness, she stops the evolution of her wheel, breaks off the faulty
piece of flax, and then resumes her spinning. This fine flax being as
costly as gold, the pieces thus broken off are carefully laid aside to
be used in other ways. All this could never be done by machinery. It is
different in the spinning of cotton, silk, or wool, in which the
original threads are almost all of uniform thickness. The invention of
the English Flax-spinning Machine, therefore, can never supersede the
work of the Belgian Fine Thread Spinners, any more than the Bobbin-Net
Machine can rival the fingers of the Brussels lace-makers, or render
their delicate work superfluous.
The prices current of the Brabant spinners usually include a list of
various sorts of thread suited to lace-making, varying from 60 francs to
1800 francs per pound. Instances have occurred, in which as much as
10,000 francs have been paid for a pound of this fine yarn. So high a
price has never been attained by the best spun silk; though a pound of
silk, in its raw condition, is incomparably more valuable than a pound
of flax. In like manner, a pound of iron may, by dint of human labour
and ingenuity, be rendered more valuable than a pound of gold.
Lace-making, in regard to the health of the operatives, has one great
advantage. It is a business which is carried on without the necessity of
assembling great numbers of workpeople in one place, or of taking women
from their homes, and thereby breaking the bonds of family union. It is,
moreover, an occupation which affords those employed in it a great
degree of freedom. The spinning-wheel and lace-pillows are easily
carried from place to place, and the work may be done with equal
convenience in the house, in the garden, or at the street-door. In every
Belgian town in which lace-making is the staple business, the eye of the
traveller is continually greeted with pictures of happy industry,
attended by all its train of concomitant virtues. The costliness of the
material employed in the work, viz., the fine flax thread, fosters the
observance of order and economy, which, as well as habits of
cleanliness, are firmly engrafted among the people. Much manual
dexterity, quickness of eye, and judgment, are demanded in lace-making;
and the work is a stimulater of ingenuity and taste; so that, unlike
other occupations merely manual, it tends to rouse rather than to dull
the mind. It is, moreover, unaccompanied by any unpleasant and harassing
noise; for the humming of the spinning-wheel, and the regular tapping of
the little bobbins, are sounds not in themselves disagreeable, or
sufficiently loud to disturb conversation, or to interrupt the social
song.
In Belgium, female industry presents itself under aspects alike
interesting to the painter, the poet, and the philanthropist. Here and
there may be seen a happy-looking girl, seated at an open window,
turning her spinning-wheel or working at her lace-pillow, whilst at
intervals she indulges in the relaxation of a curious gaze at the
passers-by in the street. Another young _Speldewerkster_, more
sentimentally disposed, will retire into the garden, seating herself in
an umbrageous arbour, or under a spreading tree, her eyes intent on her
work, but her thoughts apparently divided between it and some object
nearer to her heart. At a doorway sits a young mother, surrounded by two
or three children playing round the little table or wooden settle on
which her lace-pillow rests. Whilst the mother’s busy fingers are thus
profitably employed, her eyes keep watch over the movements of her
little ones, and she can at the same time spare an attentive thought for
some one of her humble household duties.
Dressmakers, milliners, and other females employed in the various
occupations which minister to the exigencies of fashion, are confined to
close rooms, surrounded by masses of silk, muslin, &c. They are debarred
the healthful practice of working in the open air, and can scarcely
venture even to sit at an open window, because a drop of rain or a puff
of wind may be fatal to their work and its materials. The lace-maker, on
the contrary, whose work requires only her thread and her fingers, is
not disturbed by a refreshing breeze or a light shower; and even when
the weather is not particularly fine, she prefers sitting at her
street-door or in her garden, where she enjoys a brighter light than
within doors.
In most of the principal towns of the Netherlands there is one
particular locality which is the focus of lace-making industry; and
there, in fine weather, the streets are animated by the presence of the
busy workwomen. In each of these districts there is usually one wide
open street which the _Speldewerksters_ prefer to all others, and in
which they assemble, and form themselves into the most picturesque
groups imaginable. It is curious to observe them, pouring out of narrow
lanes and alleys, carrying with them their chairs and lace-pillows, to
take their places in the wide open street, where they can enjoy more of
bright light and fresh air than in their own places of abode.
“I could not help contrasting,” says Kohl, “the pleasing aspect of these
streets with the close and noisy workrooms in woollen and cotton
manufactories. There the workpeople are all separated and classified
according to age and sex, and marshalled like soldiers. There domestic
and family ties are rudely broken. There chance or exigency separates
the young factory girl from her favourite companions, and dooms her to
association with strangers. There social conversation and the merry song
are drowned in that stunning din of machinery, which in the end
paralyses even the power of thought.”
Our German friend is a little hard upon factory life. Though not so
picturesque, it does not, if candidly viewed, offer so very unfavourable
a contrast to that passed by the Belgian Lace Workers.