The barons and knights were sorely grieved. They "lamentably

complayned, and sayd, 'A, Sir Johan Chandos, the floure of all

chivalry, vnhappely was that glayue forged that thus hath {wounded}

you, and brought you in parell of dethe:' they wept piteously that

were about hym, and he herde and vnderstode them well, but he could

speke no worde."--"For his dethe, his frendes, and also some of his

enemyes, were right soroufull; the Englysshmen loued hym, bycause all

noblenesse was founde in hym; the frenchmen hated him, because they

doubted hym; yet I herde his dethe greatly complayned among right

noble and valyant knightes of France[72]."

Across this surcoat was worn the scarf, the indispensable appendage of

a knight when fully equipped: it was usually the gift of his

"ladye-love," and embroidered by her own fair hand.

And a knight would encounter fifty deaths sooner than part with this

cherished emblem. It is recorded of Garcia Perez de Vargas, a

noble-minded Spanish knight of the thirteenth century, that he and a

companion were once suddenly met by a party of seven Moors. His friend

fled: but not so Perez; he at once prepared himself for the combat,

and while keeping the Moors at bay, who hardly seemed inclined to

fight, he found that his scarf had fallen from his shoulder.

"He look'd around, and saw the Scarf, for still the Moors were near,

And they had pick'd it from the sward, and loop'd it on a spear.

'These Moors,' quoth Garci Perez, 'uncourteous Moors they be--

Now, by my soul, the scarf they stole, yet durst not question me!

"'Now, reach once more my helmet.' The Esquire said him, nay,

'For a silken string why should you fling, perchance, your life away?'

'I had it from my lady,' quoth Garci, 'long ago,

And never Moor that scarf, be sure, in proud Seville shall show.'

"But when the Moslems saw him, they stood in firm array:

He rode among their armed throng, he rode right furiously.

'Stand, stand, ye thieves and robbers, lay down my lady's pledge,'

He cried, and ever as he cried, they felt his faulchion's edge.

"That day when the lord of Vargas came to the camp alone,

The scarf, his lady's largess, around his breast was thrown:

Bare was his head, his sword was red, and from his pommel strung

Seven turbans green, sore hack'd I ween, before Garci Perez hung."

It casts a redeeming trait on this butchering sort or bravery to find

that when the hero returned to the camp he steadily refused to reveal

the name of the person who had so cravenly deserted him.

But the favours which ladies presented to a knight were various;

consisting of "jewels, ensigns of noblesse, scarfs, hoods, sleeves,

mantles, bracelets, knots of ribbon; in a word, some detached part of

their dress." These he always placed conspicuously on his person, and

defended, as he would have done his life. Sometimes a lock of his fair

one's hair inspired the hero:

"Than did he her heere unfolde,

And on his helme it set on hye,

With rede thredes of ryche golde,

Whiche he had of his lady.

Full richely his shelde was wrought,

With asure stones and beten golde,

But on his lady was his thought,

The yelowe heere what he dyd beholde."[73]

It is recorded in "Perceforest," that at the end of one tournament

"the ladies were so stripped of their head attire, that the greatest

part of them were quite bareheaded, and appeared with their hair

spread over their shoulders yellower than the finest gold; their robes

also were without sleeves; for all had been given to adorn the

knights; hoods, cloaks, kerchiefs, stomachers, and mantuas. But when

they beheld themselves in this woful plight, they were greatly

abashed, till, perceiving every one was in the same condition, they

joined in laughing at this adventure, and that they should have

engaged with such vehemence in stripping themselves of their clothes

from off their backs, as never to have perceived the loss of them."

A sleeve (more easily detached than we should fancy those of the

present day) was a very usual token.

Elayne, the faire mayden of Astolat gave Syr Launcelot "a reed sleeve

of scarlet wel embroudred with grete perlys," which he wore for a

token on his helmet; and in real life it is recorded that in a

serious, but not desperate battle, at the court of Burgundy, in 1445,

one of the knights received from his lady a sleeve of delicate dove

colour, elegantly embroidered; and he fastened this favour on his left

arm.

Chevalier Bayard being declared victor at the tournament of Carignan,

in Piedmont, he refused, from extreme delicacy, to receive the reward

assigned him, saying, "The honour he had gained was solely owing to

the sleeve, which a lady had given him, adorned with a ruby worth a

hundred ducats." The sleeve was brought back to the lady in the

presence of her husband; who knowing the admirable character of the

chevalier, conceived no jealousy on the occasion: "The ruby," said the

lady, "shall be given to the knight who was the next in feats of arms

to the chevalier; but since he does me so much honour as to ascribe

his victory to my sleeve, for the love of him I will keep it all my

life."

Another important adjunct to the equipment of a knight was the pennon;

an ensign or streamer formed of silk, linen, or stuff, and fixed to

the top of the lance. If the expedition of the soldier had for its

object the Holy Land, the sacred emblem of the cross was embroidered

on the pennon, otherwise it usually bore the owner's crest, or, like

the surcoat, an emblematic allusion to some circumstance in the

owner's life. Thus, Chaucer, in the "Knighte's Tale," describes that

of Duke Theseus:

"And by his banner borne is his _penon_

Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete

The Minotaure which that he slew in Crete."

The account of the taking of Hotspur's pennon, and his attempt at its

recapture, is abridged by Mr. Mills[74] from Froissart. It is

interesting, as displaying the temper of the times about these

comparatively trifling matters, and being the record of history, may

tend to justify our quotations of a similar nature from romance.

"In the reign of Richard the Second, the Scots commanded by James,

Earl of Douglas, taking advantage of the troubles between the King and

his Parliament, poured upon the south. When they were sated with

plunder and destruction they rested at Newcastle, near the English

force which the Earl of Northumberland and other border chieftains had

hastily levied.

"The Earl's two sons were young and lusty knights, and ever foremost

at the barriers to skirmish. Many proper feats of arms were done and

achieved. The fighting was hand to hand. The noblest encounter was

that which occurred between the Earl Douglas and Sir Henry Percy,

surnamed Hotspur. The Scot won the pennon of his foeman; and in the

triumph of his victory he proclaimed that he would carry it to

Scotland, and set it on high on his castle of Dalkeith, that it might

be seen afar off.

"Percy indignantly replied, that Douglas should not pass the border

without being met in a manner which would give him no cause for

boasting.

"With equal spirit the Earl Douglas invited him that night to his

lodging to seek for his pennon.

"The Scots then retired and kept careful watch, lest the taunts of

their leader should urge the Englishmen to make an attack. Percy's

spirit burnt to efface his reproach, but he was counselled into

calmness.

"The Scots then dislodged, seemingly resolved to return with all haste

to their own country. But Otterbourn arrested their steps. The castle

resisted the assault; and the capture of it would have been of such

little value to them that most of the Scotch knights wished that the

enterprise should be abandoned.

"Douglas commanded, however, that the assault should be persevered

in, and he was entirely influenced by his chivalric feelings. He

contended that the very difficulty of the enterprise was the reason of

undertaking it; and he wished not to be too far from Sir Henry Percy,

lest that gallant knight should not be able to do his devoir in

redeeming his pledge of winning the pennon of his arms again.

"Hotspur longed to follow Douglas and redeem his badge of honour; but

the sage knights of the country, and such as were well expert in arms,

spoke against his opinion, and said to him, 'Sir, there fortuneth in

war oftentimes many losses. If the Earl Douglas has won your pennon,

he bought it dear, for he came to the gate to seek it, and was well

beaten: another day you shall win as much of him and more. Sir, we say

this because we know well that all the power of Scotland is abroad in

the fields; and if we issue forth and are not strong enough to fight

with them (and perchance they have made this skirmish with us to draw

us out of the town), they may soon enclose us, and do with us what

they will. It is better to loose a pennon than two or three hundred

knights and squires, and put all the country to adventure.'"

By such words as these, Hotspur and his brother were refrained, but

the coveted moment came.

"The hostile banners waved in the night breeze, and the bright moon,

which had been more wont to look upon the loves than the wars of

chivalry, lighted up the Scottish camp. A battle ensued of as valiant

a character as any recorded in the pages of history; for there was

neither knight nor squire but what did his devoir and fought hand to

hand."

The Scots remained masters of the field: but the Douglas was slain,

and this loss could not be recompensed even by the capture of the

Percy.

Little did the "gentle Kate" anticipate this catastrophe when her

fairy fingers with proud and loving alacrity embroidered on the

flowing pennon the inspiring watchword of her chivalric husband and

his noble family--ESPERANCE.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] Historical Memoirs of Queens of England.--H. Lawrance.

[41] Emare.

[42] _Bete_--inlayed, embroidered.

[43] Amadis of Gaul, bk. i. ch. xv.

[44] Ibid. bk. iv. ch. iii.

[45] Orl. Fur.: transl. by Rose.

[46] _Samyte_--rich silk.

[47] _Pelored_--furred.

[48] Lybeaus Disconus.

[49] _Schyre_--clear.

[50] _Hende_--kind, obliging.

[51] _Alner_--pouch, bag or purse.

[52] Launfal.

[53] Amadis of Gaul, bk. i. ch. xxx.

[54] _Hende_--kind, civil, obliging.

[55] Saracen king.

[56] _Asowr_--azure.

[57] _Hewke_--herald's coat.

[58] _Steven_--voice, sound

[59] _Kantle_--a corner.

[60] Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 4.

[61] Faerie Queene. Book vi.

[62] The Kyng of Tars.

[63] Orl. Fur.

[64] Partenopex of Blois.

[65] Amadis of Gaul.

[66] Ibid.

[67] _Rath_--speedily.

[68] _Sethin_--afterward.

[69] _Perry_--jewels.

[70] _Bayne_--ready.

[71] Orl. Fur., canto 23.

[72] Froissart, by Lord Berners, vol. i. p. 270.

[73] The Fair Lady of Faguell.

[74] Hist. Chivalry.

CHAPTER XI.

TAPESTRY.

The term _tapestry_ or _tapistry_ (from _tapisser_, to line, from the

Latin word _tapes_, a cover of a wall or bed), is now appropriated

solely to woven hangings of wool and silk; but it has been applied to

all sorts of hangings, whether wrought entirely with the needle (as

originally indeed all were) or in the loom, whether composed of

canvass and wool, or of painted cloth, leather, or even paper. This

wide application of the term seems to be justified by the derivation

quoted above, but its present use is much more limited.

In the thirteenth century the decorative arts had attained a high

perfection in England. The palace of Westminster received, under the

fostering patronage of Henry III., a series of decorations, the

remains of which, though long hidden, have recently excited the wonder

and admiration of the curious.[75] "Near this monastery (says an

ancient Itinerary) stands the most famous royal palace of England; in

which is that celebrated chamber, on whose walls all the warlike

histories of the whole Bible are painted with inexpressible skill, and

explained by a regular and complete series of texts, beautifully

written in French over each battle, to the no small admiration of the

beholder, and the increase of royal magnificence."

Round the walls of St. Stephen's chapel effigies of the Apostles were

painted in oil; (which was thus used with perfectness and skill two

centuries before its presumed discovery by John ab Eyck in 1410,) on

the western side was a grand composition of the day of Judgment: St.

Edward's or the "Painted Chamber," derived the latter name from the

quality and profuseness of its embellishments, and the walls of the

whole palace were decorated with portraits or ideal representations,

and historical subjects. Nor was this the earliest period in which

connected passages of history were painted on the wainscot of

apartments, for the following order, still extant, refers to the

_renovation_ of what must previously--and at some considerable

interval of time probably, have been done.

"Anno, 1233, 17 Hen. 3. Mandatum est Vicecomiti South'ton quod Cameram

regis lambruscatam de castro Winton depingi faciat eisdem historiis

quibus fuerat pri'us depicta."

About 1312, Langton, Bishop of Litchfield, commanded the coronation,

marriages, wars, and funeral of his patron King Edward I., to be

painted in the great hall of his episcopal palace, which he had newly

built.

Chaucer frequently refers to this custom of painting the walls with

historical or fanciful designs.

"And soth to faine my chambre was

Ful wel depainted----

And all the wals with colours fine

Were painted bothe texte and glose,

And all the Romaunt of the Rose."

And again:--

"But when I woke all was ypast,

For ther nas lady ne creture,

Save on the wals old portraiture

Of horsemen, hawkis, and houndis,

And hurt dere all ful of woundis."

Often emblematical devices were painted, which gave the artist

opportunity to display his fancy and exercise his wit. Dr. Cullum, in

his History of Hawsted, gives an account of an old mansion, having a

closet, the panels of which were painted with various sentences,

emblems, and mottos. One of these, intended doubtless as a hint to

female vanity, is a painter, who having begun to sketch out a female

portrait, writes "Dic mihi qualis eris."

But comfort, or at least a degree of comfort, had progressed hand in

hand with decoration. Tapestry, that is to say needlework tapestry,

which, like the Bayeux tapestry of Matilda, had been used solely for

the decoration of altars, or the embellishment of other parts of

sacred edifices on occasions of festival, or the performance of solemn

rites, had been of much more general application amongst the luxurious

inhabitants of the South, and was introduced into England as furniture

hanging by Eleanor of Castile. In Chaucer's time it was common. Among

his pilgrims to Canterbury is a tapestry worker who is mentioned in

the Prologue, in common with other "professors."

"An haberdasher and a carpenter,

A webbe, a dyer, and a tapiser."

And, again:--

"I wol give him all that falles

To his chambre and to his halles,

I will do painte him with pure golde,

And _tapite_ hem ful many a folde."

These modes of decorating the walls and chambers with paintings, and

with tapestry, were indeed contemporaneous; though the greater

difficulty of obtaining the latter--for as it was not made at Arras

until the fourteenth century, all that we here refer to is the painful

product of the needle alone--many have made it less usual and common

than the former. Pithy sentences, and metrical stanzas were often

wrought in tapestry: in Wresil Castle and other mansions, some of the

apartments were adorned in the Oriental manner with metrical

descriptions called Proverbs. And Warton mentions an ancient suit of

tapestry, containing Ariosto's Orlando, and Angelica, where, at every

group, the story was all along illustrated with short lines in

Provencal or old French.

It could only be from its superior comfort that an article so tedious

in manufacture as needlework tapestry could be preferred to the more

quickly-produced decorations of the pencil; it was also rude in

design; and the following description of some tapestry in an old Manor

House in King John's time, though taken from a work of fiction,

probably presents a correct picture of the style of most of the pieces

exhibited in the mansions of the middle ranks at that period.

"In a corner of the apartment stood a bed, the tapestry of which was

enwrought with gaudy colours representing Adam and Eve in the garden

of Eden. Adam was presenting our first mother with a large yellow

apple, gathered from a tree that scarcely reached his knee. Beneath

the tree was an angel milking, and although the winged milkman sat on

a stool, yet his head overtopped both cow and tree, and nearly

covered a horse, which seemed standing on the highest branches. To the

left of Eve appeared a church; and a dark robed gentleman holding

something in his hand which looked like a pincushion, but doubtless

was intended for a book: he seemed pointing to the holy edifice, as if

reminding them that they were not yet married. On the ground lay the

rib, out of which Eve (who stood the head higher than Adam) had been

formed; both of them were very respectably clothed in the ancient

Saxon costume; even the angel wore breeches, which, being blue,

contrasted well with his flaming red wings."

No one who has read the real blunders of artists and existing

anachronisms in pictures detailed in "Percy Anecdotes," will think the

above sketch at all too highly coloured; though doubtless the tapestry

hangings introduced by Queen Eleanor which would be imitated and

caricatured in ten thousand different forms, were in much superior

style. The Moors had attained to the highest perfection in the

decorative arts, and from them did the Spaniards borrow this fashion

of hangings,[76] and "the coldness of our climate (says her

accomplished biographer, Miss Agnes Strickland, speaking of Eleanor,)

must have made it indispensable to the fair daughter of the South,

chilled with the damp stone walls of English Gothic halls and

chambers." Of the chillness of these walls we may form some idea,

from a feeling description of a residence which was thought sufficient

for a queen some centuries later. In the year 1586, Mary, the unhappy

Queen of Scots, writes thus:--

"In regard to my lodging, my residence is a place inclosed with walls,

situated on an eminence, and consequently exposed to all the winds and

storms of heaven. Within this inclosure there is, like as at

Vincennes, a very old hunting seat, built of wood and plaister, with

chinks on all sides, with the uprights; the intervals between which

are not properly filled up, and the plaister dilapidated in the

various places. The house is about six yards distant from the walls,

and so low that the terrace on the other side is as high as the house

itself, so that neither the sun nor the fresh air can penetrate it at

that side. The damp, however, is so great there, that every article of

furniture is covered with mouldiness in the space of four days.--In a

word, the rooms for the most part are fit rather for a dungeon for the

lowest and most abject criminals, than for a residence of a person of

my rank, or even of a much inferior condition. I have for my own

accommodation only wretched little rooms, and so cold, that were it

not for the protection of the curtains and tapestries which I have had

put up, I could not endure it by day, and still less by night."[77]

The tapestries, whether wrought or woven, did not remain on the walls

as do the hangings of modern days: it was the primitive office of the

grooms of the chamber to hang up the tapestry which in a royal

progress was sent forward with the purveyor and grooms of the

chamber. And if these functionaries had not, to use a proverbial

expression, "heads on their shoulders," ridiculous or perplexing

blunders were not unlikely to arise. Of the latter we have an instance

recorded by the Duc de Sully.

"The King (Henry IV.) had not yet quitted Monceaux, when the Cardinal

of Florence, who had so great a hand in the treaty of the Vervins,

passed through Paris, as he came back from Picardy, and to return from

thence to Rome, after he had taken leave of his Majesty. The king sent

me to Paris to receive him, commanding me to pay him all imaginable

honours. He had need of a person near the Pope, so powerful as this

Cardinal, who afterwards obtained the Pontificate himself: I therefore

omitted nothing that could answer His Majesty's intentions; and the

legate, having an inclination to see St. Germain-en-Laye, I sent

orders to Momier, the keeper of the castle, to hang the halls and

chambers with the finest tapestry of the Crown. Momier executed my

orders with great punctuality, but with so little judgment, that for

the legate's chamber he chose a suit of hangings made by the Queen of

Navarre; very rich, indeed, but which represented nothing but emblems

and mottos against the Pope and the Roman Court, as satirical as they

were ingenious. The prelate endeavoured to prevail upon me to accept a

place in the coach that was to carry him to St. Germain, which I

refused, being desirous of getting there before him, that I might see

whether everything was in order; with which I was very well pleased. I

saw the blunder of the keeper, and reformed it immediately. The

legate would not have failed to look upon such a mistake as a formed

design to insult him, and to have represented it as such to the Pope.

Reflecting afterwards, that no difference in religion could authorise

such sarcasms, I caused all those mottos to be effaced."[78]

In the sixteenth century[79] a sort of hanging was introduced, which,

partaking of the nature both of tapestry and painting on the walls,

was a formidable rival to the former. Shakspeare frequently alludes to

these "painted cloths." For instance, when Falstaff persuades Hostess

Quickly, not only to withdraw her arrest, but also to make him a

further loan: she says--

"By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my

plate and the _tapestry_ of my dining chambers!"

Falstaff answers--

"Glasses, glasses is the only drinking, and for thy walls a pretty

slight drollery, or the story of the Prodigal, or a German Hunting in

water-work, is worth a thousand of these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it

be ten pounds if thou canst. If it were not for thy humours, there is

not a better wench in England! Go wash thy face and draw thy action."

In another passage of the play he says that his troops are "as ragged

as Lazarus in the _painted cloth_."

There are now at Hampton Court eight large pieces or hangings of this

description; being "The Triumphs of Julius Caesar," in water-colours,

on cloth, and in good preservation. They are by Andrea Mantegna, and

were valued at 1000_l._ at the time, when, by some strange

circumstance, the Cartoons of Raphael were estimated only at 300_l._

Tapestry was common in the East at a very remote era, when the most

grotesque compositions and fantastic combinations were usually

displayed on it. Some authors suppose that the Greeks took their ideas

of griffins, centaurs, &c., from these Tapestries, which, together

with the art of making them, they derived from the East, and at first

they closely imitated both the beauties and deformities of their

patterns. At length their refined taste improved upon these originals;

and the old grotesque combinations were confined to the borders of the

hanging, the centre of which displayed a more regular and systematic

representation.

It has been supposed by some writers that the invention of Tapestry,

passed from the East into Europe; but Guicciardini ascribes it to the

Netherlanders; and assuredly the Bayeux Tapestry, the work of the

Conqueror's Queen, shows that this art must have acquired much

perfection in Europe before the time of the Crusades, which is the

time assigned by many for its introduction there. Probably

Guicciardini refers to woven Tapestry, which was not practised until

the article itself had become, from custom, a thing of necessity.

Unintermitting and arduous had been the stitchery practised in the

creation of these coveted luxuries long, very long before the loom was

taught to give relief to the busy finger.

The first manufactories of Tapestry of any note were those of

Flanders, established there long before they were attempted in France

or England. The chief of these were at Brussels, Antwerp, Oudenarde,

Lisle, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes. At Brussels and Antwerp they

succeeded well both in the design and the execution of human figures

and animals, and also in landscapes. At Oudenarde the landscape was

more imitated, and they did not succeed so well in the figure. The

other manufactories, always excepting those of Arras, were inferior to

these.

The grand era of general manufactories in France must be fixed in the

reign of Henry the IV. Amongst others he especially devoted his

attention to the manufacture of Tapestry, and that of the Gobelins,

since so celebrated, was begun, though futilely, in his reign. His

celebrated minister, Sully, was entangled in these matters somewhat

more than he himself approved.

1605. "I laid, by his order, the foundations of the new edifices for

his Tapestry weavers, in the horse-market. His Majesty sent for Comans

and La Planche, from other countries, and gave them the care and

superintendence of these manufactures: the new directors were not long

before they made complaints, and disliked their situation, either

because they did not find profits equal to their hopes and

expectations, or, that having advanced considerable sums themselves,

they saw no great probability of getting them in again. The king got

rid of their importunity by referring them to me."[80]

1607. "It was a difficult matter to agree upon a price with these

celebrated Flemish tapestry workers, which we had brought into France

at so great an expense. At length it was resolved in the presence of

Sillery and me, that a 100,000_l._ should be given them for their

establishment. Henry was very solicitous about the payment of this

sum; 'Having,' said he, 'a great desire to keep them, and not to lose

the advances we have made.' He would have been better pleased if these

people could have been paid out of some other funds than those which

he had reserved for himself: however, there was a necessity for

satisfying them at any price whatever. His Majesty made use of his

authority to oblige De Vienne to sign an acquittal to the undertakers

for linen cloth in imitation of Dutch Holland. This prince ordered a

complete set of furniture to be made for him, which he sent for me to

examine separately, to know if they had not imposed upon him. _These

things were not at all in my taste_, and I was but a very indifferent

judge of them: the price seemed to me to be excessive, as well as the

quantity. Henry was of another opinion: after examining the work, and

reading my paper, he wrote to me that there was not too much, and that

they had not exceeded his orders; and that he had never seen so

beautiful a piece of work before, and that the workman must be paid

his demands immediately."[81]

The manufactory languished however, even if it did not become entirely

extinct. But it was revived in the reign of Louis XIV., and has since

dispersed productions of unequalled delicacy over the civilised world.

It was called "Gobelins," because the house in the suburbs of Paris,

where the manufacture is carried on, was built by brothers whose names

were Giles and John Gobelins, both excellent dyers, and who brought to

Paris in the reign of Francis I. the secret of dying a beautiful

scarlet colour, still known by their name.

In the year 1667 this place, till then called "Gobelines' Folly,"

changed its name into that of "Hotel Royal des Gobelins," in

consequence of an edict of Louis XIV. M. Colbert having

re-established, and with new magnificence enriched and completed the

king's palaces, particularly the Louvre and the Tuilleries, began to

think of making furniture suitable to the grandeur of those buildings;

with this view he called together all the ablest workmen in the divers

arts and manufactures throughout the kingdom; particularly painters,

tapestry makers from Flanders, sculptors, goldsmiths, ebonists, &c.,

and by liberal encouragement and splendid pensions called others from

foreign nations.

The king purchased the Gobelins for them to work in, and laws and

articles were drawn up, amongst which is one that no other tapestry

work shall be imported from any other country.

Nor did there need; for the Gobelins has ever since remained the first

manufactory of this kind in the world. The quantity of the finest and

noblest works that have been produced by it, and the number of the

best workmen bred up therein are incredible; and the present

flourishing condition of the arts and manufactures of France is, in

great measure, owing thereto.

Tapestry work in particular is their glory. During the

superintendence of M. Colbert, and his successor M. de Louvois, the

making of tapestry is said to have been practised to the highest

degree of perfection.

The celebrated painter, Le Brun, was appointed chief director, and

from his designs were woven magnificent hangings of Alexander's

Battles--The Four Seasons--the Four Elements--and a series of the

principal actions of the life of Louis XIV. M. de Louvois, during his

administration, caused tapestries to be made after the most beautiful

originals in the king's cabinet, after Raphael and Julio Romano, and

other celebrated Italian painters. Not the least interesting part of

the process was that performed by the _rentrayeurs_, or fine-drawers,

who so unite the breadths of the tapestry into one picture that no

seam is discernible, but the whole appears like one design. The French

have had other considerable manufactories at Auvergne, Felletin and

Beauvais, but all sank beneath the superiority of the Gobelins, which

indeed at one time outvied the renown of that far-famed town, whose

productions gave a title to the whole species, viz., that of Arras.

Walpole gives an intimation of the introduction of tapestry weaving

into England, so early as the reign of Edward III., "De inquirendo de

mystera Tapiciorum, London;" but usually William Sheldon, Esq., is

considered the introducer of it, and he allowed an artist, named

Robert Hicks, the use of his manor-house at Burcheston, in

Warwickshire; and in his will, dated 1570, he calls Hicks "the only

auter and beginner of tapistry and arras within this realm." At his

house were four maps of Oxford, Worcester, Warwick, and

Gloucestershires, executed in tapestry on a large scale, fragments of

which are or were among the curiosities of Strawberry-hill. We meet

with little further notice of this establishment.

This beautiful art was, however, revived in the reign of James I., and

carried to great perfection under the patronage of himself and his

martyr son. It received its death blow in common with other equally

beautiful and more important pursuits during the triumph of the

Commonwealth. James gave L2000 to assist Sir Francis Crane in the

establishment of the manufactory at Mortlake, in Surry, which was

commenced in the year 1619. Towards the end of this reign, Francis

Cleyn, or Klein, a native of Rostock, in the duchy of Mecklenburg, was

employed in forming designs for this institution, which had already

attained great perfection. Charles allowed him L100 a year, as appears

from Rymer's Foedera: "Know ye that we do give and grant unto

Francis Cleyne a certain annuitie of one hundred pounds, by the year,

during his natural life." He enjoyed this salary till the civil war,

and was in such favour with the king, and in such reputation, that on

a small painting of him he is described as "Il famosissimo pittore

Francesco Cleyn, miracolo del secolo, e molto stimato del re Carlo

della gran Britania, 1646."

The Tapestry Manufacture at Mortlake was indeed a hobby, both of King

James and Prince Charles, and of consequence was patronised by the

Court. During Charles the First's romantic expedition to Spain, when

Prince of Wales, with the Duke of Buckingham, James writes--"I have

settled with Sir Francis Crane for my Steenie's business, and I am

this day to speak with Fotherby, and by my next, Steenie shall have an

account both of his business, and of Kit's preferment and supply in

means; but Sir Francis Crane desires to know if my Baby will have him

to hasten the making of that suit of Tapestry that he commanded

him."[82]

The most superb hangings were wrought here after the designs of

distinguished painters; and Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Whitehall,

St. James's, Nonsuch, Greenwich, and other royal seats, and many noble

mansions were enriched and adorned by its productions. In the first

year of his reign, Charles was indebted L6000 to the establishment for

three suits of gold tapestry; Five of the Cartoons were wrought here,

and sent to Hampton Court, where they still remain. A suit of

hangings, representing the Five Senses, executed here, was in the

palace at Oatlands, and was sold in 1649 for L270. Rubens sketched

eight pieces in Charles the First's reign for tapestry, to be woven

here, of the history of Achilles, intended for one of the royal

palaces. At Lord Ilchester's, at Redlinch, in Somersetshire, was a

suit of hangings representing the twelve months in compartments; and

there are several other sets of the same design. Williams, Archbishop

of York, and Lord Keeper, paid Sir Francis Crane L2500 for the Four

Seasons. At Knowl, in Kent, was a piece of the same tapestry wrought

in silk, containing the portraits of Vandyck, and St. Francis himself.

At Lord Shrewsbury's (Hoythorp, Oxfordshire) are, or were, four

pieces of tapestry from designs by Vanderborght, representing the four

quarters of the world, expressed by assemblages of the nations in

various habits and employments, excepting Europe, which is in

masquerade, wrought in chiaroscuro. And at Houghton (Lord Oxford's

seat) were beautiful hangings containing whole lengths of King James,

King Charles, their Queens, and the King of Denmark, with heads of the

Royal Children in the borders. These are all mentioned incidentally as

the production of the Mortlake establishment.

After the death of Sir Francis Crane, his brother Sir Richard sold the

premises to Charles I. During the civil wars, this work was seized as

the property of the Crown; and though, after the Restoration, Charles

II. endeavoured to revive the manufacture, and sent Verrio to sketch

the designs, his intention was not carried into effect. The work,

though languishing, was not altogether extinct; for in Mr. Evelyn's

very scarce tract intituled "Mundus Muliebris," printed in 1690, some

of this manufacture is amongst the articles to be furnished by a

gallant to his mistress.

One of the first acts of the Protectorate after the death of the king,

was to dispose of the pictures, statues, tapestry hangings, and other

splendid ornaments of the royal palaces. Cardinal Mazarine enriched

himself with much of this royal plunder; and some of the splendid

tapestry was purchased by the Archduke Leopold. This however found its

way again to England, being repurchased at Brussels for L3000 by

Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III.

In 1663 "two well-intended statutes" were made: one for the

encouragement of the linen and _tapestry manufactures_ of England, and

discouragement of the importation of foreign tapestry:--and the

other--start not, fair reader--the other "for regulating the packing

of herrings."[83]

FOOTNOTES:

[75] See Smith's History of the Ancient Palace of Westminster.

[76] But not from them would be derived the art of painting with the

needle the representation of the human figure. Hence, perhaps, the

awkward and ungainly aspect of these, in comparison with the arabesque

patterns. From a fear of its exciting a tendency to idolatry Mohammed

prohibited his followers from delineating the form of men or animals

in their pictorial embellishments of whatever sort.

[77] Von Raumer's Contributions, 297.

[78] Sully's Memoirs. We have, in a subsequent chapter, a more full

account of this Tapestry.

[79] Gent's Mag., 1830.

[80] Sully's Memoirs, vol. ii.

[81] Sully's Memoirs, vol. iii.

[82] Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. i. No. 26.

[83] "The rich tapestry and arras hangings which belonged to St.

James's Palace, Hampton Court, Whitehall, and other Royal Seats, were

purchased for Cromwell: these were inventoried at a sum not exceeding

L30,000. One piece of eight parts at Hampton Court was appraised at

L8,260: this related to the History of Abraham. Another of ten parts,

representing the History of Julius Caesar, was appraised at L5019."

CHAPTER XII.

ROMANCES WORKED IN TAPESTRY.

"And storied loves of knights and courtly dames,

Pageants and triumphs, tournaments and games."

Rose's Partenopex.

It has been a favourite practice of all antiquity to work with the

needle representations of those subjects in which the imagination and

the feelings were most interested. The labours of Penelope, of Helen,

and Andromache, are proverbial, and this mode of giving permanency to

the actions of illustrious individuals was not confined to the

classical nations. The ancient islanders used to work--until the

progress of art enabled them to weave the histories of their giants

and champions in Tapestry; and the same thing is recorded of the old

Persians; and this furniture is still in high request among many

Oriental nations, especially in Japan and China. The royal palace of

Jeddo has profusion of the finest Tapestry; this indeed is gorgeous,

being wrought with silk, and adorned with pearls, gold, and silver.

It was considered a right regal offering from one prince to another.

Henry III., King of Castile, sent a present to Timour at Samarcand, of

Tapestry which was considered to surpass even the works of Asiatic

artists in beauty: and when the religious and military orders of some

of the princes of France and Burgundy had plunged them into a kind of

crusade against the Turkish Sultan Bajazet, and they became his

prisoners in the battle of Nicopolis, the King of France sent presents

to the Sultan, to induce him to ransom them; amongst which Tapestry

representing the battles of Alexander the Great was the most

conspicuous.

Tapestry was not used in the halls of princes alone, but cut a very

conspicuous figure on all occasions of festivity and rejoicing. It was

customary at these times to hang ornamental needlework of all sorts

from the windows or balconies of the houses of those streets through

which a pageant or festal procession was to pass; and as the houses

were then built with the upper stories far overhanging the lower ones,

these draperies frequently hung in rich folds to the ground, and must

have had, when a street was thus in its whole length appareled and

partly roofed by the floating streamers and banners above--somewhat

the appearance of a suite of magnificent saloons.

"Then the high street gay signs of triumph wore,

Covered with shewy cloths of different dye,

Which deck the walls, while Sylvan leaves in store,

And scented herbs upon the pavement lie.

Adorned in every window, every door,

With carpeting and finest drapery;

But more with ladies fair, and richly drest

In costly jewels and in gorgeous vest."

When the Black Prince entered London with King John of France, as his

prisoner, the outsides of the houses were covered with hangings,

consisting of battles in tapestry-work.

And in tournaments the lists were always decorated "with the splendid

richness of feudal power. Besides the gorgeous array of heraldic

insignia near the Champions' tents, the galleries, which were made to

contain the proud and joyous spectators, were covered with tapestry,

representing chivalry both in its warlike and its amorous guise: on

one side the knight with his bright faulchion smiting away hosts of

foes, and on the other side kneeling at the feet of beauty."

But the subjects of the tapestry in which our ancestors so much

delighted were not confined to _bona fide_ battles, and the

matter-of-fact occurrences of every-day life. Oh no! The Lives of the

Saints were frequently pourtrayed with all the legendary

accompaniments which credulity and blind faith could invest them with.

The "holy and solitary" St. Cuthbert would be seen taming the

sea-monsters by his word of power: St. Dunstan would be in the very

act of seizing the "handle" of his Infernal Majesty's face with the

red-hot pincers; and St. Anthony in the "howling wilderness," would be

reigning omnipotent over a whole legion of sprites. Here was food for

the imagination and taste of our notable great-grandmother! Yet let us

do them justice. If some of their religious pieces were imbued even to

a ridiculous result, with the superstitions of the time, there were

others, numberless others, scripture pieces, as chaste and beautiful

in design, as elaborate in execution. The loom and needle united

indeed brought these pieces to the highest perfection, but many a

meek and saintly Madonna, many a lofty and energetic St. Paul, many a

subdued and touching Magdalene were produced by the unaided industry

of the pious needlewoman. Nay, the whole Bible was copied in

needlework; and in a poem of the fifteenth century, by Henry Bradshaw,

containing the Life of St. Werburgh, a daughter of the King of the

Mercians, there is an account "rather historical than legendary,"[84]

of many circumstances of the domestic life of the time. Amongst other

descriptions is that of the tapestry displayed in the Abbey of Ely, on

the occasion of St. Werburgh taking the veil there. This Tapestry

belonged to king Wulfer, and was brought to Ely Monastery for the

occasion. We subjoin some of the stanzas:--

"It were full tedyous, to make descrypcyon

Of the great tryumphes, and solempne royalte,

Belongynge to the feest, the honour and provysyon,

By playne declaracyon, upon every partye;

But the sothe to say, withouten ambyguyte,

All herbes and flowres, fragraunt, fayre, and swete,

Were strawed in halles, and layd under theyr fete.

"Clothes of golde and arras[85] were hanged in the hall

Depaynted with pyctures, and hystoryes manyfolde,

Well wroughte and craftely, with precious stones all

Glysteryng as Phebus, and the beten golde,

Lyke an erthly paradyse, pleasaunt to beholde:

As for the said moynes,[86] was not them amonge,

But prayenge in her cell, as done all novice yonge.

"The story of Adam, there was goodly wrought,

And of his wyfe Eve, bytwene them the serpent,

How they were deceyved, and to theyr peynes brought;

There was Cayn and Abell, offerynge theyr present,

The sacryfyce of Abell, accepte full evydent:

Tuball and Tubalcain were purtrayed in that place,

The inventours of musyke and crafte by great grace.

"Noe and his shyppe was made there curyously

Sendynge forthe a raven, whiche never came again;

And how the dove returned, with a braunche hastely,

A token of comforte and peace, to man certayne:

Abraham there was, standing upon the mount playne

To offer in sacrifice Isaac his dere sone,

And how the shepe for hym was offered in oblacyon.

"The twelve sones of Jacob there were in purtrayture,

And how into Egypt yonge Josephe was solde,

There was imprisoned, by a false conjectour,

After in all Egypte, was ruler (as is tolde).

There was in pycture Moyses wyse and bolde,

Our Lorde apperynge in bushe flammynge as fyre,

And nothing thereof brent, lefe, tree, nor spyre.[87]

"The ten plages of Egypt were well embost,

The chyldren of Israel passyng the reed see,

Kynge Pharoo drowned, with all his proude hoost,

And how the two table, at the Mounte Synaye

Were gyven to Moyses, and how soon to idolatry

The people were prone, and punysshed were therefore,

How Datan and Abyron, for pryde were full youre."[88]

Then _Duke_ Joshua leading the Israelites: the division of the

promised land; Kyng Saull and David, and "prudent Solomon;" Roboas

succeeding;

"The good Kynge Esechyas and his generacyon,

And so to the Machabus, and dyvers other nacyon."

All these

"Theyr noble actes, and tryumphes marcyall,

Freshly were browdred in these clothes royall."

* * * * *

"But over the hye desse, in the pryncypall place,

Where the sayd thre kynges sate crowned all,

The best hallynge[89] hanged, as reason was,

Whereon were wrought the nine orders angelicall

Dyvyded in thre ierarchyses, not cessynge to call

_Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus_, blessed be the Trynite,

Dominius Deus Sabaoth, three persons in one deyte."

Then followed in order our Blessed Lady, the twelve Apostles, "eche

one in his figure," the four Evangelists "wrought most curyously," all

the disciples

"Prechynge and techynge, unto every nacyon,

The faythtes[90] of holy chyrche, for their salvacyon."

"Martyrs then followed, right manifolde;" Confessors "fressely

embrodred in ryche tyshewe and fyne." Saintly virgins "were

brothered[91] the clothes of gold within," and the long array was

closed on the other side of the hall by

"Noble auncyent storyes, and how the stronge Sampson

Subdued his enemyes by his myghty power;

Of Hector of Troye, slayne by fals treason;

Of noble Arthur, kynge of this regyon;

With many other mo, which it is to longe

Playnly to expresse this tyme you amonge."

But the powers of the chief proportion of needlewomen, and of many of

the subsequent tapestry looms were devoted to giving permanence to

those fables which, as exhibited in the Romances of Chivalry, formed

the very life and delight of our ancestors in

"------that happy season

Ere bright Fancy bent to reason;

When the spirit of our stories,

Filled the mind with unseen glories;

Told of creatures of the air,

Spirits, fairies, goblins rare,

Guarding man with tenderest care."

These fables, says Warton, were not only perpetually repeated at the

festivals of our ancestors, but were the constant objects of their

eyes. The very walls of their apartments were clothed with romantic

history.

We have mentioned the history of Alexander in Tapestry as forming an

important part of the peace offering of the king of France to Bajazet,

and probably there were few princes who did not possess a suit of

tapestry on this subject; a most important one in romance, and

consequently a desired one for the loom.

There seems an innate propensity in the writers of the Romance of

Chivalry to exaggerate, almost to distortion, the achievements of

those whose heroic bearing needed no pomp of diction, or wild flow of

imagination to illustrate it. Thus Charlemagne, one of the best and

greatest of men, appears in romance like one whose thirst for

slaughter it requires myriads of "Paynims" to quench.

Arthur, on the contrary, a very (if history tell truth) a very "so-so"

sort of a man, having not one tithe of the intellect or the

magnanimity of him to whom we have just referred--Arthur is invested

in romance with a halo of interest and of beauty which is perfectly

fascinating; and it seems almost impossible to divest oneself of these

impressions and to look upon him only in the unattractive light in

which history represents him.

A person not initiated in romance would suppose that the real actions

of Alexander--the subjugator of Greece, the conqueror of Persia, the

captor of the great Darius, but the generous protector of his

family--might sufficiently immortalize him. By no means. He cuts a

considerable figure in many romances; but in one, appropriated more

exclusively to his exploits, he "surpasses himself." The world was

conquered:--from north to south, and from east to west his sovereignty

was acknowledged; so he forthwith flew up into the air to bring the

aerial potentates to his feet. But this experiment not answering, he

descended to the depths of the waters with much better success; for

immediately all their inhabitants, from the whale to the herring, the

cannibal shark, the voracious pike, the majestic sturgeon, the lordly

salmon, the rich turbot, and the delicate trout, with all their kith,

kin, relations, and allies, the lobster, the crab, and the muscle,

"The sounds and seas with all their finny drove"

crowd round him to do him homage: the oyster lays her pearl at his

feet, and the coral boughs meekly wave in token of subjection.

Doubtless in addition to the legitimate "battles" these exploits, if

not fully displayed, were intimated by symbols in the Tapestry.

The Tale of Troy was a very favourite subject for Tapestry, and was

found in many noble mansions, especially in France. It has indeed been

conjectured, and on sufficient grounds, that the whole Iliad had been

wrought in a consecutive series of hangings. Though during the early

part of the middle ages Homer himself was lost, still the "Tale of

Troy divine" was kept alive in two Latin works, which in 1260 formed

the basis of a prose romance by a Sicilian.

The great original himself however, had become the companion not only

of the studious and learned, but also of the fair and fashionable,

while yet the Flemish looms were in the zenith of their popularity.

This subject formed part of the decoration of Holyrood House, on the

occasion of the marriage of Henry the Seventh's daughter to James,

King of Scotland in 1503. We are told in an ancient record, that the

"hanginge of the queene's gret chammer represented the ystory of Troye

toune, that the king's grett chammer had one table, wer was satt, hys

chamerlayne, the grett sqyer, and many others, well served; the which

chammer was haunged about with the story of Hercules, together with

other ystorys." And at the same solemnity, "in the hall wher the

qwene's company wer satt in lyke as in the other, an wich was haunged

of the history of Hercules."

The tragic and fearful story of Coucy's heart gave rise to an old

metrical English Romance, called the 'Knight of Courtesy and the Lady

of Faguel.' It was entirely represented in tapestry. The incident, a

true one, on which it was founded, occurred about 1180; and was

thus:--

"Some hundred and odd years since, there was in France one Captain

Coucy, a gallant gentleman of an ancient extraction, and keeper of

Coucy Castle, which is yet standing, and in good repair. He fell in

love with a young gentlewoman, and courted her for his wife. There was

a reciprocal love between them; but her parents understanding of it,

by way of prevention, they shuffled up a forced match 'twixt her and

one Monsieur Faiell who was a great heir: Captain Coucy hereupon

quitted France in discontent, and went to the wars in Hungary against

the Turk; where he received a mortal wound, not far from Bada. Being

carried to his lodging, he languished for some days; but a little

before his death he spoke to an ancient servant of his, that he had

many proofs of his fidelity and truth; but now he had a great business

to intrust him with, which he conjured him by all means to do, which

was, That after his death, he should get his body to be opened and

then to take his heart out of his breast, and put in an earthen pot,

to be baked to powder; and then to put the powder in a handsome box,

with that bracelet of hair he had worn long about on his left wrist,

which was a lock of Mademoiselle Faiell's hair, and put it among the

powder, together with a little note he had written with his own blood

to her; and after he had given him the rites of burial, to make all

the speed he could to France, and deliver the box to Mademoiselle

Faiell. The old servant did as his master had commanded him, and so

went to France; and coming one day to Monsieur Faiell's house, he

suddenly met with him, who examined him because he knew he was Captain

Coucy's servant, and finding him timorous and faltering in his

speech, he searched him, and found the said box in his pocket with the

note, which expressed what was therein. He dismissed the bearer with

menaces, that he should come no more near his house: Monsieur Faiell

going in, sent for his cook, and delivered him the powder, charging

him to make a little well-relished dish of it, without losing a jot of

it, for it was a very costly thing; and commanded him to bring it in

himself, after the last course at supper. The cook bringing in the

dish accordingly, Monsieur Faiell commanded all to void the room, and

began a serious discourse with his wife: However since he had married

her, he observed she was always melancholy, and he feared she was

inclining to a consumption; therefore he had provided for her a very

precious cordial, which he was well assured would cure her. Thereupon

he made her eat up the whole dish; and afterwards much importuning him

to know what it was, he told her at last, she had eaten Coucy's heart,

and so drew the box out of his pocket, and showed her the note and

bracelet. In a sudden exultation of joy, she with a far-fetched sigh

said, '_This is precious indeed_,' and so licked the dish, saying,

'_It is so precious, that 'tis pity to put ever any meat upon 't_.' So

she went to bed, and in the morning she was found stone dead."[92]

But a more national, a more inspiriting, and a more agreeable theme

for the alert finger or the busy loom is found in the life and

adventures of that prince of combatants, that hero of all heroes, Guy

Earl of Warwick. Help me, shades of renowned slaughterers, whilst I

record his achievements! Bear witness to his deed, ye grisly phantoms,

ye bloody ghosts of infidel Paynims, whom his Christian sword mowed

down, even as corn falls beneath the the reaper's sickle, till the

redoubtable champion strode breast deep in bodies over fifteen acres

covered with slaughtered foes![93] And all this from Christian zeal!

"In faith of Christ a Christian true

The wicked laws of infidels,

He sought by power to subdue.

"So passed he the seas of Greece,

To help the Emperour to his right,

Against the mighty Soldan's host

Of puissant Persians for to fight:

Where he did slay of Sarazens

And heathen Pagans many a man,

And slew the Soldan's cousin dear,

Who had to name, Doughty Colbron.

"Ezkeldered that famous knight,

To death likewise he did pursue,

And Almain, king of Tyre also,

Most terrible too in fight to view:

He went into the Soldan's host,

Being thither on ambassage sent,

And brought away his head with him,

He having slain him in his tent."

Or passing by his

"Feats of arms

In strange and sundry heathen lands,"

note his beneficent progress at home--

"In Windsor forest he did slay

A boar of passing might and strength;

The like in England never was,

For hugeness both in breadth and length.

Some of his bones in Warwick yet,

Within the castle there do lye;

One of his shield bones to this day

Hangs in the city of Coventry.

"On Dunsmore heath he also slew

A monstrous wild and cruel beast,

Call'd the dun cow of Dunsmore heath,

Which many people had opprest;

Some of her bones in Warwick yet

Still for a monument doth lie,

Which unto every looker's view,

As wondrous strange they may espy.

"And the dragon in the land,

He also did in flight destroy,

Which did both men and beasts oppress,

And all the country sore annoy:"

Or look we at him all doughty as he was, as the pilgrim of love, as

subdued by the influence of the tender passion, a suppliant to the

gentle Phillis, and ready to compass the earth to fulfil her wishes,

and to prove his devotion:

"Was ever knight for lady's sake

So tost in love, as I, Sir Guy;

For Phillis fair, that Lady bright,

As ever man beheld with eye;

She gave me leave myself to try

The valiant knight with shield and spear,

Ere that her love she would grant me,

Who made me venture far and near."

Or, afterwards view him as--

"All clad in grey in Pilgrim sort,

His voyage from her he did take,

Unto that blessed, holy land,

For Jesus Christ, his Saviour's sake."

Lastly, recal we the time when the fierce and ruthless Danes were

ravaging our land, and there was scarce a town or castle as far as

Winchester, which they had not plundered or burnt, and a proposal was

made, and per force acceded to by the English king to decide the

struggle by single combat. But the odds were great: Colbrand the

Danish champion, was a giant, and ere he came to a combat he provided

himself with a cart-load of Danish axes, great clubs with knobs of

iron, squared barrs of steel lances and iron hooks wherewith to pull

his adversary to him.

On the other hand the English--and sleepless and unhappy, the king

Athelstan pondered the circumstance as he lay on his couch, on St.

John Baptist's night--had no champion forthcoming, even though the

county of Hants had been promised as a reward to the victor. Roland,

the most valiant knight of a thousand, was dead; Heraud, the pride of

the nation, was abroad; and the great and valiant Guy, Earl of

Warwick, was gone on a pilgrimage. The monarch was perplexed and

sorrowful; but an angel appeared to him and comforted him.

In conformity with the injunctions of this gracious messenger, the

king, attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of

Chichester, placed himself at the north gate of the city (Winchester)

at the hour of prime. Divers poor people and pilgrims entered thereat,

and among the rest appeared a man of noble visage and stalwart frame,

but wan withal, pale with abstinence, and macerated by reason of

journeying barefoot. His beard was venerably long and he rested on a

staff; he wore a pilgrim's garb, and on his bare and venerable head

was strung a chaplet of white roses. Bending low, he passed the gate,

but the king warned by the vision, hastened to him, and entreated him

"by his love for Jesus Christ, by the devotion of his pilgrimage, and

for the preservation of all England, to do battle with the giant." The

Palmer thus conjured, underwent the combat, and was victorious.

After a solemn procession to the Cathedral, and thanksgiving therein,

when he offered his weapon to God and the patron of the Church, before

the High Altar, the pilgrim withdrew, having revealed himself to none

but the king, and that under a solemn pledge of secrecy. He bent his

course towards Warwick, and unknown in his disguise, took alms at the

hands of his own lady--for, reader, this meek and holy pilgrim, was

none other than the wholesale slayer, whose deeds we have been

contemplating--and then retired to a solitary place hard by--

"Where with his hand he hew'd a house,

Out of a craggy rock of stone;

And lived like a palmer poor,

Within that cave himself alone."

Nor was this at all an unusual conclusion to a life of butchery; all

the heroes of romance turned hermits; and as they all, at least all of

Arthur's Round Table, were gifted with a very striking development of

the organ of combativeness, their profound piety at the end of their

career might not improbably give rise to a very common adage of these

days regarding sinners and saints.

But here was a theme for Tapestry-workers! a real original, genuine

English romance; for though the only pieces now extant be, or may be,

translated from the French, still there are many concurring

circumstances to prove that the original, often quoted by Chaucer, was

an ancient metrical English one. That it is difficult to find who Sir

Guy was, or in fact, to prove that there ever was a Sir Guy at all, is

nothing to the purpose; leave we that to antiquarians, and their musty

folios. Guy of Warwick was well known from west to east, even as far

as Jerusalem, where, in Henry the Fourth's time, Lord Beauchamp was

kindly received by those in high stations, because he was descended

from

"A shadowy ancestor, so renowned as Guy."

One tapestry on this attractive subject which was in Warwick Castle,

before the year 1398, was so distinguished and valued a piece of

furniture, that a special grant was made of it by King Richard II.

conveying "that suit of arras hangings in Warwick Castle, which

contained the story of Guy Earl of Warwick," together with the Castle

of Warwick and other possessions, to Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent. And

in the restoration of forfeited property to this lord after his

imprisonment, these hangings are particularly specified in the patent

of King Henry IV., dated 1399.

And the Castle wherein the tapestry was hung was worthy of the heroes

it had sheltered. The first building on the site was supposed to be

coeval with our Saviour, and was called Caer-leon; almost overthrown

by the Picts and Scots, it lay in ruins till Caractacus built himself

a manor-house, and founded a church to the honour of St. John the

Baptist. Here was afterwards a Roman fort, and here again was a

Pictish devastation. A cousin of King Arthur rebuilt it, and then

lived in it--Arthgal, first Earl of Warwick, a Knight of the Round

Table; this British title was equivalent to _Ursus_ in Latin, whence

Arthgal took the Bear for his ensign: and a successor of his, a worthy

progenitor of our valiant Sir Guy, slew a mighty giant in a duel; and

because this giant's delicate weapon was a tree pulled up by the

roots, the boughs being snagged from it, the Earls of Warwick,

successors of the victor, bore a ragged staff of silver in a sable

shield for their cognisance.

We are told that,--

"When Arthur first in court began,

And was approved king,

By force of arms great victoryes wanne,

And conquest home did bring.

Then into England straight he came

With fifty good and able

Knights, that resorted unto him,

And were of his round table."

Of these the most renowned were Syr Perceval, Syr Tristan, Syr

Launcelot du Lac, Syr Ywain, Syr Gawain, Syr Galaas, Syr Meliadus of

Leonnoys, Sir Ysaie, Syr Gyron, &c. &c., and their various and

wondrous achievements were woven into a series of tales which are

known as the "Romances of the Round Table." Of course the main subject

of each tale is interrupted by ten thousand varied episodes, in which

very often the original object seems entirely lost sight of. Then the

construction of many of these Romances, or rather their want of

construction, is marvellous; their genealogies are interminable, and

their geography miraculous.

One of the most marvellous and scarce of these Romances, and one, the

principal passages of which were frequently wrought into Tapestry, was

the "Roman du Saint Greal," which is founded upon an incident, to say

the least very peculiar, but which was perhaps once considered true as

Holy Writ. St. Joseph of Arimathoea, a very important personage in

many romances, having obtained the hanap, or cup from which our

Saviour administered the wine to his disciples, caught in the same cup

the blood which flowed from his wounds when on the Cross. After he had

first achieved various adventures, and undergone an imprisonment of

forty-two years, St. Joseph arrives in England with the sacred cup, by

means of which numerous miracles are performed; he prepares the Round

Table, and Arthur and his Knights all go in quest of the hanap, which

by some, to us unaccountable, circumstance, had fallen into the hands

of a sinner. All make the most solemn vow to devote their lives to its

recovery; and this they must indeed have done, and not short lives

either, if all recorded of them be true. None, however, but two, ever

_see_ the sacred symbol; though oftentimes a soft ray of light would

stream across the lonesome wild, or the dark pathless forest, or

unearthly strains would float on the air, or odours as of Paradise

would entrance the senses, while the wandering and woeworn knight

would feel all fatigue, all sense of personal inconvenience, of pain,

of sickness, or of sorrow, vanish on the instant; and then would he

renew his vows, and betake himself to prayer; for though all unworthy

to see the Holy Grayle, he would feel that it had been borne on

viewless pinions through the air for his individual consolation and

hope. And Syr Galahad and Syr Perceval, the two chaste and favoured

knights who, "after the dedely flesshe had beheld the spiritual

things," the holy St. Grael--never returned to converse with the

world. The first departed to God, and "flights of angels sang him to

his rest;" the other took religious clothing and retired to a

hermitage, where, after living "a full holy life for a yere and two

moneths, he passed out of this world."

But wide as is the range of the Romances of the "Round Table," they

form but a portion of those which solaced our ancestors. Charlemagne

and his Paladins were, so to speak, the solar system round which

another circle revolved; Alexander furnished the radiating star for

another, derived chiefly perhaps from the East, where numbers of

fictitious tales were prevalent about him; and many Romances were

likewise woven around the mangled remains of classic heroes.

"The mightiest chiefs of British song

Scorn'd not such legends to prolong;

They gleam through Spenser's elfic dream,

And mix in Milton's heavenly theme;

And Dryden in immortal strain,

Had raised the 'Table Round' again."

The Stories of the Tapestry in the Royal Palaces of Henry VIII. are

preserved in the British Museum.[94]

These are some of them re-copied from Warton:--

In the tapestry of the Tower of London, the original and most ancient

seat of our monarchs, there are recited, Godfrey of Bulloign; the

Three Kings of Cologne; the Emperor Constantine; St. George; King of

Erkenwald; the History of Hercules; Fame and Honour; the Triumph of

Divinity; Esther and Ahasueras; Jupiter and Juno; St. George; the

Eight Kings; the Ten Kings of France; the Birth of our Lord; Duke

Joshua; the Riche History of King David; the Seven Deadly Sins; the

Riche History of the Passion; the Stem of Jesse; Our Lady and Son;

King Solomon; the Woman of Canony; Meleager; and the Dance of

Maccabee.

At Durham Place were the Citie of Ladies (a French allegorical

Romance); the Tapestrie of Thebes and of Troy; the City of Peace; the

Prodigal Son; Esther, and other pieces of Scripture.

At Windsor Castle the Siege of Jerusalem; Ahasueras; Charlemagne; the

Siege of Troy; and Hawking and Hunting.

At Nottingham Castle, Amys and Amelion.

At Woodstock Manor, the tapestrie of Charlemagne.

At the More, a palace in Hertfordshire, King Arthur, Hercules,

Astyages, and Cyrus.

At Richmond, the arras of Sir Bevis, and Virtue and Vice fighting.

Among the rest we have also Hannibal, Holofernes, Romulus and Remus,

AEneas, and Susannah.

Many of these subjects were repeated at Westminster, Greenwich,

Oatlands, Bedington in Surrey, and other royal seats, some of which

are now unknown as such.

FOOTNOTES:

[84] Warton.

[85] Arras, a very common anachronism. After the production of the

arras tapestries, arras became the common name for all tapestries:

even for those which were wrought before the looms of Arras were in

existence.

[86] Moynes--nun. Lady Werburg

[87] _Spyre_--twig, branch.

[88] _Youre_--burnt.

[89] _Hallynge_--Tapestry.

[90] _Faythtes_--feats, facts.

[91] _Brothered_--embroidered.

[92] Epistolae Ho-Elianae.

[93] "Fifteen acres were covered with the bodies of slaughtered

Saracens; and so furious were the strokes of Sir Guy, that the pile of

dead men, wherever his sword had reached, rose as high as his

breast."--Ellis, vol. ii.

[94] Harl. MSS. 1419.

CHAPTER XIII.

NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.--PART I.

"What neede these velvets, silkes, or lawne,

Embrodery, feathers, fringe and lace."

Bp. Hall.

"Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use,

Save their own painted skins, our Sires had none.

As yet black breeches were not."

Cowper.

Manifold indeed were the varieties in mode and material before that

_beau ideal_ of all that is graceful and becoming--the "black

breeches"--were invented. For though in many parts of the globe

costume is uniform, and the vest and the turban of a thousand years

ago are of much the same make as now, this is not the case in the more

polished parts of Europe, where that "turncoat whirligig maniac,

yclept Fashion," is the pole-star and beacon of the multitude of men,

from him who has the "last new cut from Stultz," to him who is

magnificent and happy in the "reg'lar bang-up-go" from the eastern

parts of the metropolis.

It would seem that England is peculiarly celebrated for her devotion

at Fashion's shrine; for we are told that "an Englishman, endevoring

sometime to write of our attire, made sundrie platformes for his

purpose, supposing by some of them to find out one stedfast ground

whereon to build the summe of his discourse. But in the end (like an

orator long without exercise) when he saw what a difficult peece of

worke he had taken in hand, he gave over his travell, and onely drue

the picture of a naked man, unto whome he gave a paire of sheares in

the one hand, and a piece of cloth in the other, to the end he should

shape his apparell after such fashion as himselfe liked, sith he could

find no kind of garment that could please him anie while together, and

this he called an Englishman. Certes this writer shewed himself herein

not to be altogether void of iudgement, sith the phantasticall follie

of our nation, even from the courtier to the carter, is such, that no

forme of apparell liketh vs longer than the first garment is in the

wearing, if it continue so long and be not laid aside, to receive some

other trinket newlie devised.

"And as these fashions are diverse, so likewise it is a world to see

the costlinesse and the curiositie; the excesse and the vanitie; the

pompe and the brauerie; the change and the varietie; and, finallie,

the ficklenesse and the follie that is in all degrees; insomuch that

nothing is more constant in England than inconstancie of attire.

"In women, also, it in most to be lamented, that they doo now far

exceed the lightnesse of our men (who nevertheless are transformed

from the cap even to the verie shoo) and such staring attire as in

time past was supposed meet for none but light housewives onlie, is

now become a habit for chast and sober matrons.

"Thus _it is now come to passe, that women are become men, and men

transformed into monsters_."

This ever-revolving wheel is still turning; and so all-important now

is THE MODE that one half of the world is fully occupied in providing

for the personal embellishment of the other half and themselves; and

could we contemplate the possibility of a return to the primitive

simplicity of our ancient "sires," we must look in the same picture on

one half of the world as useless--as a drug on the face of creation.

Why, what a desert would it be were all dyers, fullers, cleaners,

spinners, weavers, printers, mercers and milliners, haberdashers and

modistes, silk-men and manufacturers, cotton-lords and fustian-men,

tailors and habit makers, mantuamakers and corset professors,

exploded? We pass over pin and needle makers, comb and brush

manufacturers, jewellers, &c. The ladies would have nothing to live

for; (for on grave authority it has been said, that "woman is an

animal that delights in the toilette;") the gentlemen nothing to

solace them. "The toilette" is the very zest of life with both; and if

ladies are more successful in the results of their devoirs to it, it

is because "nous sommes faites pour embellir le monde," and not

because gentlemen practice its duties with less zeal, devotion, or

assiduity--as many a valet can testify when contemplating his modish

patron's daily heap of "failures." Indeed to put out of view the more

obvious, weighty, and important cares attached to the due selection

and arrangement of coats, waistcoats, and indispensables, the science

of "Cravatiana" alone is one which makes heavy claims on the time,

talents, and energies of the thorough-going gentleman of fashion. He

should be thoroughly versed in all its varieties--The Royal George:

The Plain Bow: The Military: The Ball Room: The Corsican: The

Hibernian Tie: The Eastern Tie: The Hunting Tie: The Yankee Tie: (the

"alone original" one)--The Osbaldiston Tie: The Mail Coach Tie: The

Indian Tie, &c. &c. &c.

Though of these and their numberless offshoots, the Yankee Tie lays

most claim to originality, the Ball Room one is considered the most

exquisite, and requires the greatest practice. It is thus described by

a "talented" professor:--

"The cloth, of virgin white, well starched and folded to the proper

depth, should be made to sit easy and graceful on the neck, neither

too tight nor loose; but with a gentle pressure, curving inwards from

the further extension of the chin, down the throat to the centre dent

in the middle of the neck. This should be the point for a slight dent,

extending from under each ear, between which, more immediately under

the chin, there should be another slight horizontal dent just above

the former one. It has no tie; the ends, crossing each other in broad

folds in front, are secured to the braces, or behind the back, by

means of a piece of white tape. A brilliant broach or pin is generally

made use of to secure more effectually the crossing, as well as to

give an additional effect to the neckcloth."

What a world of wit and invention--what a fund of fancy and

taste--what a mine of zeal and ability would be lost to the world, "if

those troublesome disguises which we wear" were reduced to their old

simplicity of form and material! Industry and talent would be at

discount, for want of materials whereon to display themselves; and

money would be such a drug, that politicians would declaim on the

miseries of being _without_ a national debt. Commerce, in many of its

most important branches, would be exploded; the "manufacturing

districts" would be annihilated; the "agricultural interest" would,

consequently and necessarily, be at a "very low ebb;" and the "New

World," the magnificent and imperial empress (that is to be) of the

whole earth, might sink again to the embraces of those minute and

wonderful artificers from whom, I suppose, she at first proceeded--the

coral insects; for who would want cotton! No, no. Selfish preferences,

individual wishes, must merge in the general good of the human race;

and however "their own painted skins" might suffice our "sires,"

clothing, "sumptuous," as well as "for use," must decorate ourselves.

To whom, then, are the fullers, the dyers, the cleaners--to whom are

the spinners and weavers, and printers and mercers, and milliners and

haberdashers, and modistes, and silk-men and manufacturers, cotton

lords and fustian men, mantuamakers and corset professors, indebted

for that nameless grace, that exquisite finish and appropriateness,

which gives to all their productions their charm and their

utility?--To the NEEDLEWOMAN, assuredly. For though the raw materials

have been grown at Sea Island and shipped at New York,--have been

consigned to the Liverpool broker and sold to the Manchester merchant,

and turned over to the manufacturer, and spun and woven, and bleached

and printed, and placed in the custody of the warehouseman, or on the

shelf of the shopkeeper--of what good would it be that we had a

fifty-yard length of calico to shade our oppressed limbs on a

"dog-day," if we had not the means also to render that material

agreeably available? Yet not content with merely rendering it

available, this beneficent fairy, the needlewoman, casts, "as if by

the spell of enchantment, that ineffable grace over beauty which the

choice and arrangement of dress is calculated to bestow." For the love

of becoming ornament--we quote no less an authority than the historian

of the 'State of Europe in the Middle Ages,'--"is not, perhaps, to be

regarded in the light of vanity; it is rather an instinct which woman

has received from Nature to give effect to those charms which are her

defence." And if it be necessary to woman with her charms, is it not

tenfold necessary to those who--Heaven help them!--have few charms

whereof to boast? For, as Harrison says, "it is now come to passe that

men are transformed into monsters."

"Better be out of the world than out of the fashion," is a proverb

which, from the universal assent which has in all ages been given to

it, has now the force of an axiom. It was this self evident

proposition which emboldened the beau of the fourteenth century, in

spite of the prohibitions of popes and senators,--in spite of the more

touching personal inconvenience, and even risk and danger, attendant

thereupon--to persist in wearing shoes of so preposterous a length,

that the toes were obliged to be fastened with chains to the girdle

ere the happy votary of fashion could walk across his own parlour!

Happy was the favourite of Croesus, who could display chain upon

chain of massy gold wreathed and intertwined from the waistband to

the shoe, until he seemed almost weighed down by the burthen of his

own wealth. Wrought silver did excellently well for those who could

not produce gold; and for those who possessed not either precious

metal, and who yet felt they "might as well be out of the world as out

of the fashion," latteen chains, silken cords, aye, and cords of even

less costly description, were pressed into service to tie up the

_crackowes_, or piked shoes. For in that day, as in this, "the squire

endeavours to outshine the knight, the knight the baron, the baron the

earl, the earl the king, in dress." To complete the outrageous

absurdity of these shoes, the upper parts of them were cut in

imitation of a church-window, to which fashion Chaucer refers when

describing the dress of Absalom, the Parish Clerk. He--

"Had Paul 'is windowes corven on his shose."

Despite the decrees of councils, the bulls of the Pope, and the

declamations of the Clergy, this ridiculous fashion was in vogue near

three centuries.

And the party-coloured hose, which were worn about the same time, were

a fitting accompaniment for the crackowes. We feel some difficulty in

realising the idea that gentlemen, only some half century ago, really

dressed in the gay and showy habiliments which are now indicative only

of a footman; but it is more difficult to believe, what was

nevertheless the fact, that the most absurd costume in which the

"fool" by profession can now be decked on the stage, can hardly

compete in absurdity with the _outre_ costume of a beau or a belle of

the fourteenth century. The shoes we have referred to: the garments,

male or female, were divided in the middle down the whole length of

the person, and one half of the body was clothed in one colour, the

other half in the most opposite one that could be selected. The men's

garments fitted close to the shape; and while one leg and thigh

rejoiced in flaming yellow or sky-blue, the other blushed in deep

crimson. John of Gaunt is portrayed in a habit, one half white, the

other a dark blue; and Mr. Strutt has an engraving of a group

assembled on a memorable occasion, where one of the figures has a boot

on one leg and a shoe on the other. The Dauphiness of Auvergne, wife

to Louis the Good, Duke of Bourbon, born 1360, is painted in a garb of

which one half all the way down is blue, powdered with gold

fleurs-de-lys, and the other half to the waist is gold, with a blue

fish or dolphin (a cognizance, doubtless) on it, and from the waist to

the feet is crimson, with white "fishy" ornaments; one sleeve is blue

and gold, the other crimson and gold.

In addition to these absurd garments, the women dressed their heads so

high that they were obliged to wear a sort of curved horn on each

side, in order to support the enormous superstructure of feathers and

furbelows. And these are what are meant by the "horned head-dresses"

so often referred to in old authors. It is said that, when Isabel of

Bavaria kept her court at Vincennes, A.D. 1416, it was necessary to

make all the doors of the palace both higher and wider, to admit the

head-dresses of the queen and her ladies, which were all of this

horned kind.

This high bonnet had been worn, under various modifications, ever

since the fashion was brought from the East in the time of the

Crusades. Some were of a sugar-loaf form, three feet in height; and

some cylindrical, but still very high. The French modistes of that day

called this formidable head-gear _bonnet a la Syrienne_. But our

author says, if female vanity be violently restrained in one point, it

is sure to break out in another; and Romish anathemas having abolished

curls from shading fair brows, so much the more attention was paid to

head-gear, that the bonnets and caps increased every year most awfully

in height and size, and were made in the form of crescents, pyramids,

and horns of such tremendous dimensions, that the old chronicler

Juvenal des Ursins makes this pathetic lamentation in his History of

Charles VI.:--

"Et avoient les dames et damoyselles de chacun coste, deux grandes

oreilles si larges, que quand elles vouloient passer par l'huis d'une

chambre il fallait qu'elles se tournassent de coste et baisassent, ou

elles n'eussent pu passer:" that is, "on every side old ladies and

young ladies were seen with such high and monstrous ears (or horns),

that when they wanted to enter a room they were obliged perforce to

stoop and crouch sideways, or they could not pass." At last a regular

attack was made on the high head-gear of the fifteenth century by a

popular monk, in his sermons at Notre Dame, in which he so

pathetically lamented the sinfulness and enormities of such a fashion,

that the ladies, to show their contrition, made _auto da fes_ of their

Syrian bonnets in the public squares and market-places; and as the

Church fulminated against them all over Europe, the example of Paris

was universally followed.

Many attempts had previously been made by zealous preachers to effect

this alteration. In the previous century a Carmelite in the province

of Bretagne preached against this fashion, without the power to

annihilate it: all that the ladies did was to change the particular

shape of the huge coiffures after every sermon. "No sooner," says the

chronicler, "had he departed from one district, than the dames and

damoyselles, who, like frightened snails, had drawn in their horns,

shot them out again longer than ever; for nowhere were the _hennins_

(so called, abbreviated from _gehinnin_, incommodious,) larger, more

pompous or proud, than in the cities through which the Carmelite had

passed.

"All the world was totally reversed and disordered by these fashions,

and above all things by the strange accoutrements on the heads of the

ladies. It was a portentous time, for some carried huge towers on

their foreheads an ell high; others still higher caps, with sharp

points, like staples, from the top of which streamed long crapes,

fringed with gold, like banners. Alas, alas! ladies, dames, and

demoiselles were of importance in those days! When do we hear, in the

present times, of Church and State interfering to regulate the

patterns of their bonnets?"[95]

It is no wonder that fashions so very extreme and absurd should call

forth animadversion from various quarters. Thus wrote Petrarch in

1366:--

"Who can see with patience the monstrous, fantastical inventions which

the people of our times have invented to deform, rather than adorn,

their persons? Who can behold without indignation their long pointed

shoes; their caps with feathers; their hair twisted and hanging down

like tails; the foreheads of young men, as well as women, formed into

a kind of furrows with ivory-headed pins; their bellies so cruelly

squeezed with cords, that they suffer as much pain from vanity as the

martyrs suffered for religion? Our ancestors would not have believed,

and I know not if posterity will believe, that it was possible for the

wit of this vain generation of ours to invent so many base, barbarous,

horrid, ridiculous fashions (besides those already mentioned) to

disfigure and disgrace itself, as we have the mortification to see

every day."

And thus Chaucer, a few years later:--

"Alass! may not a man see as in our daies the sinnefull costlew array

of clothing, and namely in too much superfluite, or else in too

disordinate scantinese: as to the first, not only the cost of

embraudering, the disguysed indenting, or barring, ounding, playting,

wynding, or bending, and semblable waste of clothe in vanitie." The

common people also "were besotted in excesse of apparell, in wide

surcoats reaching to their loines, some in a garment reaching to their

heels, close before and strowting out on the sides, so that on the

back they make men seem women, and this they called by a ridiculous

name, _gowne_," &c. &c.

Before this time the legislature had interfered, though with little

success: they passed laws at Westminster, which were said to be made

"to prevent that destruction and poverty with which the whole kingdom

was threatened, by the outrageous, excessive expenses of many persons

in their apparel, above their ranks and fortunes."

Sumptuary edicts, however, are of little avail, if not supported in

"influential quarters." King Richard II. affected the utmost splendour

of attire, and he had one coat alone which was valued at 30,000 marks:

it was richly embroidered and inwrought with gold and precious stones.

It is not in human nature, at least in human nature of the "more

honourable" gender, to be outdone, even by a king. Gorgeous and

glittering was the raiment adopted by the satellites of the court,

and, heedless of "that destruction and poverty with which the whole

kingdom was threatened," they revelled in magnificence. Of one alone,

Sir John Arundel, it is recorded, that he had at one time fifty-two

suits of cloth of gold tissue. At this time, says the old Chronicle,

"Cut werke was great bothe in court and tounes,

Bothe in mens hoddes, and also in their gounes,

Brouder and furres, and gold smith werke ay newe,

In many a wyse, eche day they did renewe."

Unaccountable as it may seem, this rage of expense and show in apparel

reached even the (then) poverty-stricken sister country Scotland; and

in 1457 laws were enacted to suppress it.

It is told of William Rufus, that one morning while putting on his new

boots he asked his chamberlain what they cost; and when he replied

"three shillings," indignantly and in a rage he cried out, "you--how

long has the king worn boots of so paltry a price? Go, and bring me a

pair worth a mark of silver." He went, and bringing him a much

cheaper pair, told him falsely that they cost as much as he had

ordered: "Ay," said the king, "these are suitable to royal majesty."

This is merely a specimen of the monarch's shallow-headed

extravagance; but the costume of his time and that immediately

preceding it was infinitely superior in grace and dignity to that of

the fantastical period we have been describing. The English at this

period were admired by all other nations, and especially _by the

French_, from whom in subsequent periods _we_ have copied so

servilely, for the richness and elegance of their attire. With a tunic

simply confined at the waist, over this, when occasion required, a

full and flowing mantle, with a veil confined to the back of the head

with a golden circlet, her dark hair simply braided over her beautiful

and intelligent brow and waving on her fair throat, the wife of the

Conqueror looked every inch a queen, and what was more, she looked a

modest, a dignified, and a beautiful woman.

The male attire was of the same flowing and majestic description: and

the "brutal" Anglo-Saxons and the "barbarous" Normans had more

delicacy than to display every division of limb or muscle which nature

formed, and more taste than to invent divisions where, Heaven knows,

nature never meant them to be. The simple _coiffure_ required little

care and attendance, but if a fastening did happen to give way, the

Anglo-Norman lady could raise her hand to fasten it if she chose. The

arm was not pinioned by the fiat of a _modiste_.

And the material of a dress of those days was as rich as the mode was

elegant. Silk indeed was not common; the first that was seen in the

country was in 780, when Charlemagne sent Offa, King of Mercia, a belt

and two vests of that beautiful material; but from the particular

record made of silk mantles worn by two ladies at a ball at Kenilworth

in 1286, we may fairly infer that till this period silk was not often

used but as

"------a robe pontifical,

Ne'er seen but wonder'd at."

Occasionally indeed it was used, but only by persons of the highest

rank and wealth. But the woollens were of beautiful texture, and

Britain was early famous in the art of producing the richest dyes. The

Welsh are still remarkable for extracting beautiful tints from the

commonest plants, such most probably as were used by the Britons

anciently; and it is worthy of note that the South Sea cloths,

manufactured from the inner bark of trees, have the same stripes and

chequers, and indeed the identical patterns of the Welsh, and, as

supposed, of the ancient Britons. Linen was fine and beautiful; and if

it had not been so, the rich and varied embroidery with which it was

decorated would have set off a coarser material.

Furs of all sorts were in great request, and a mantle of regal hue,

lined throughout with vair or sable, and decorated with bands of gold

lace and flowers of the richest embroidery, interspersed with pearls,

clasped on the shoulder with the most precious gems, and looped, if

requisite, with golden tassels, was a garment at which a nobleman,

even of these days, need not look askance.

Robert Bloet, second bishop of Lincoln, made a present to Henry I. of

a cloak of exquisitely fine cloth, lined with black sables with white

spots, which cost a sum equivalent to L1500 of our money. The robes of

females of rank were always bordered with a belt of rich needlework;

their embroidered girdles were inlaid, or rather inwrought, with gold,

pearls, and precious stones, and from them was usually suspended a

large purse or pouch, on which the skill of the most accomplished

needlewomen was usually expended.

This rich and becoming mode of dress was gradually innovated upon

until caprice reigned paramount over the national wardrobe. For

"fashion is essentially caprice; and fashion in dress the caprice of

milliners and tailors, with whom _recherche_ and exaggeration supply

the place of education and principle." That this modern definition

applied as accurately to former times as these, an instance may

suffice to show. Richard I. had a cloak made, at enormous cost, with

precious and shining metals inlaid _in imitation of the heavenly

bodies_; and Henry V. wore, on a very memorable occasion, when Prince

of Wales, a mantle or gown of rich blue satin, full of small

eyelet-holes, as thickly as they could be put, and a needle hanging by

a silk thread _from every hole_.

The following incident, quoted from Miss Strickland's Life of

Berengaria, will show the esteem in which a rich, and especially a

furred garment was held. Richard I. quarrelled with the virtuous St.

Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, on the old ground of exacting a simoniacal

tribute on the installation of the prelate into his see. Willing to

evade the direct charge of selling the see, King Richard intimated

that a present of a fur mantle worth a thousand marks might be a

composition. St. Hugh said he was no judge of such gauds, and

therefore sent the king a thousand marks, declaring, if he would

devour the revenue devoted to the poor, he must have his wilful way.

But as soon as Richard had pocketed the money he sent for the fur

mantle. St. Hugh set out for Normandy to remonstrate with the king on

this double extortion. His friends anticipated that he would be

killed; but St. Hugh said, "I fear him not," and boldly entered the

chapel where Richard was at mass, when the following scene took

place:--

"Give me the embrace of peace, my son," said St. Hugh.

"That you have not deserved," replied the king.

"Indeed I have," said St. Hugh, "for I have made a long journey on

purpose to see my son."

So saying, he took hold of the king's sleeve and drew him on one side.

Richard smiled and embraced the old man. They withdrew to the recess

behind the altar and sate down.

"In what state is your conscience?" asked the bishop.

"Very easy," said the king.

"How can that be, my son," said the bishop, "when you live apart from

your virtuous queen, and are faithless to her; when you devour the

provision of the poor, and load your people with heavy exactions? Are

those light transgressions, my son?"

The king owned his faults, and promised amendment; and when he related

this conversation to his courtiers he added, "Were all our prelates

like Hugh of Lincoln, both king and barons must submit to their

righteous rebukes."

Furs were much used now as coverings for beds; and they were

considered a _necessary_ part of dress for a very considerable period.

In Sir John Cullum's Hawsted, mention is made that in 1281 Cecilia,

widow of William Talmache, died, and, amongst other bequests, left "to

Thomas Battesford, for black coats for poor people, xxx_s._ in part."

"To John Camp, of Bury St. Edmunds, furrier, for furs for the black

coats, viij_s._ xj_d._" On which the reverend and learned author

remarks, "We should now indeed think that a black coat bestowed on a

poor person wanted not the addition of fur: such, however, was the

fashion of the time; and a sumptuary law of Edward III. allows

handicraft and yeomen to wear no manner of furre, nor of bugg,[96] but

only lambe, coney, catte, and foxe."

The distinction in rank was expressly shown by the kind of fur

displayed on the dress, and these distinctions were regulated by law

and rigidly enforced. By a statute passed in 1455, for regulating the

dress of the Scottish lords of parliament, the gowns of the earls are

appointed to be furred with ermine, while those of the other lords are

to be lined with "criestay, gray, griece, or purray."

The more precious furs, as ermine and sable, were reserved exclusively

for the principal nobility of both sexes. Persons of an inferior rank

wore the _vair_ or _gris_ (probably the Hungarian squirrel); the

citizens and burgesses, the common squirrel and lamb skins; and the

peasants, cat and badger skins. The mantles of our kings and peers,

and the furred robes of the several classes of our municipal officers,

are the remains of this once universal fashion.

Furs often formed an important part of the ransom of a prisoner of

rank:--

"Sir," quoth Count Bongars, "war's disastrous hour

Hath cast my lot within my foeman's power.

Name ransome as you list; gold, silver bright,

Palfreys, or dogs, or falcons train'd to flight;

Or choose you _sumptuous furs, of vair or gray_;

I plight my faith the destin'd price to pay."[97]

Certain German nobles who had slain a bishop were enjoined, amongst

other acts of penance, "ut varium, griseum, ermelinum, et pannos

coloratos, non portent."

The skin of the wild cat was much used by the clergy. Bishop Wolfstan

preferred lambskin; saying in excuse, "Crede mihi, nunquam audivi, in

ecclesia, cantari _catus_ Dei, sed _agnus_ Dei; ideo calefieri agno

volo."

The monk of Chaucer had

"------his sleeves purfiled, at the hond,

With gris, and that the finest of the lond."

It is not till about the year 1204 that there is any specific

enumeration of the royal apparel for festival occasions. The proper

officers are appointed to bring for the king on this occasion "a

golden crown, a red satin mantle adorned with sapphires and pearls, a

robe of the same, a tunic of white damask; and slippers of red satin

edged with goldsmith's work; a balbrick set with gems; two girdles

enamelled and set with garnets and sapphires; white gloves, one with a

sapphire and one with an amethist; various clasps adorned with

emeralds, turquois, pearls, and topaz; and sceptres set with

twenty-eight diamonds."[98]

So much for the king:--And for the queen--oh! ye enlightened

legislators of the earth, ye omnipotent and magisterial lords of

creation, look on that picture--and on this.

"For our lady the queen's use, sixty ells of fine linen cloth, forty

ells of dark green cloth, a skin of minever, a _small brass pan_, and

_eight towels_."

But John, who in addition to his other amiable propensities was the

greatest and most extravagant fop in Europe, was as parsimonious

towards others as selfish and extravagant people usually are. Whilst

even at the ceremony of her coronation he only afforded his Queen

"three cloaks of fine linen, one of scarlet cloth, and one grey

pelisse, costing together 12_l._ 5_s._ 4_d._;" he himself launched

into all sorts of expenditure. He ordered the minutest articles for

himself and the queen; but the wardrobe accounts of the sovereigns of

the middle ages prove that they kept a royal warehouse of mercery,

haberdashery, and linen, from whence their officers measured out

velvets, brocades, sarcenets, tissue, gauzes, and trimmings, of all

sorts. A queen, says Miss Strickland, had not the satisfaction of

ordering her own gown when she obtained leave to have a new one; the

warlike hand of her royal lord signed the order for the delivery of

the materials from his stores, noting down with minute precision the

exact quantity to a quarter of a yard of the cloth, velvet, or

brocade, of which the garment was composed.

"Blessed be the memory of King Edward III. and Philippa of Hainault

his queen, who first invented clothes," was, we are told, the grateful

adjuration of a monkish historian, who referred probably not to the

first assumption of apparel, but to the charter which was granted

first by that monarch to the "cutters and linen armourers,"

subsequently known as the merchant-tailors, who at that period were

usually the makers of all garments, silk, linen, or woollen. Female

fingers had sufficient occupation in the finer parts of the work; in

the "silke broiderie" with which every garment of fashion was

embellished; in the tapestry; in the spinning of wool and flax, every

thread of which was drawn by female hands, and in the weaving of which

a great portion was also executed by them.

In the forty-fourth year of this king, "as the book of Worcester

reporteth, they began to use cappes of divers coloures, especially

red, with costly lynings; and in the year 1372, the forty-seventh of

the above prince, they first began to wanton it in a new round curtall

weede, which they call a cloake, and in Latin _armilausa_, as only

covering the shoulders, and this notwithstanding the king had

endeavoured to restrain all these inordinances and expenses in

clothing; as appears by the law by Parliament established in the

thirty-sixth year of his reign. All ornaments of gold or silver,

either on the daggers, girdles, necklaces, rings, or other ornaments

for the body, were forbid to all that could not spend ten pounds

a-year; and farther, that no furre or pretious and costly apparel,

should be worne by any but men possessed of 100_l._ a year."

Besides the rigid enactments of the law, and the anathemas of divines,

other and gentler means were from time to time resorted to as warnings

from that sin of dress which seems inherent in our nature, or as

inducements to a more becoming one. We quote a specimen of both:--

"There was a lady whiche had her lodgynge by the chirche. And she was

alweye accustomed for to be longe to araye her, and to make her freshe

and gay, insomuch that it annoyed and greued moche the parson of the

chirche, and the parysshens. And it happed on a Sonday that she was so

longe, that she sent to the preeste that he shod tarye for her, lyke

as she had been accustomed. And it was thenne ferforthe on the day.

And it annoyed the peple. And there were somme that said, How is hit?

shall not this lady this day be pynned ne wel besene in a Myrroure?

And somme said softely, God sende to her an evyll syght in her

myrroure that causeth us this day and so oftymes to muse and to abyde

for her. And thene as it plesyd God for an ensample, as she loked in

the myrroure she sawe therein the Fende, whiche shewed hymselfe to her

so fowle and horryble, that the lady wente oute of her wytte, and was

al demonyak a long tyme. And after God sente to her helthe. And after

she was not so longe in arayeng but thanked God that had so suffered

her to be chastysed."[99]

The 'Garment of Gude Ladyis' is a lecture of a most beguiling kind,

and an exquisite picture.

"Wald my gud lady lufe me best,

And wirk after my will,

I suld ane garment gudliest

Gar mak hir body till.

"Of he honour suld be her hud,

Upoun hir heid to weir,

Garneist with governance so gud,

Na demyng[100] suld hir deir.[101]

"Hir kirtill suld be of clene constance,

Lasit with lesum lufe,

The mailyeis[102] of continwance

For nevir to remufe.

"Her gown suld be of gudliness,

Weill ribband with renowne,

Purfillit[103] with plesour in ilk place,

Furrit with fyne fassoun.[104]

"Her belt suld be of benignitie,

About hir middill meit;

Hir mantill of humilitie,

To tholl[105] bayth wind and weit.

"Hir hat suld be of fair having[106],

And her tepat of trewth,

Hir patelet[107] of gude pansing,

Hir hals-ribbane of rewth.