[1243] Exodus, chap. xxxix. ver. 3.--Braun, De Vestitu Sacerdotum
Hebræorum, p. 173.
[1244] Homer, Odyss. lib. viii. 273, 278.--Ovid. Metamorph. lib. iv.
174.
[1245] Lib. xxxiv. cap. 8.
[1246] Lib. xxxiii. cap. 4.--Aldrovandus relates, in his Museum
Metallicum, that the grave of the wife of the emperor Honorius was
discovered at Rome about the year 1544, and that thirty-six pounds of
gold were procured from the mouldered dress which contained the body.
[1247] Cicero de Nat. Deor. iii. 34, 83.--Valer. Max. i. 1. exter. § 3.
[1248] Lamprid. Vita Heliogab. cap. 23.
[1249] Plin. lib. viii. cap. 48. That the cloth of Attalus was
embroidered with the needle is proved by a passage of Silius
Italicus, lib. xiv. 661. We find by Martial, lib. xiii. ep. 28, that
the Babylonian cloth was also ornamented with embroidery; and the
same author, lib. xiv. ep. 50, extols the weaving of Alexandria, as
being not inferior to the Babylonian embroidery with the needle. In
opposition to which might be quoted a passage of Tertullian De Habitu
Mulierum, where he makes use of the word _insuere_ to the Phrygian
work, and of _intexere_ to the Babylonian. By these expressions it
would appear that he wished to define accurately the difference of
the Phrygian and Babylonian cloth, and to show that the former was
embroidered and the latter wove. But Tertullian often plays with words.
_Intexere_ is the same as _insuere_. In Pliny, book xxxv. ch. 9, a name
embroidered with gold threads is called “aureis litteris in palleis
intextum nomen.”
[1250] Lamprid. Vita Alexand. Severi, c. 40.
[1251] Odyss. lib. v. 230; x. 23, 24.
[1252] Vita Aureliani, cap. 46.
[1253] A doubt however arises respecting this proof. It is possible
that the author here speaks of gilt silver; for, as the ancients were
not acquainted with the art of separating these metals, their gold was
entirely lost when they melted the silver. I remember no passage in
ancient authors where mention is made of weaving or embroidering with
threads of silver gilt.
[1254] Salmas. ad Vopisc. p. 394; et ad Tertull. de Pallio, p. 208.
Such cloth at those periods was called συρματινὸν, συρματηρὸν, drap
d’argent.
[1255] Antiquitat. Ital. Medii Ævi, ii. p. 374.
[1256] Pyrotechnia, lib. ix.
[1257] La Piazza Universale, Ven. 1610, 4to.
[1258] Von Murr, in Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, v. p. 78. To this
author we are indebted for much important information respecting the
present subject.
[1259] Bjornstahls Briefe, i. p. 269.
[1260] See a description of it in Sprengel’s Handwerken und Künsten,
iii. p. 64; or in the tenth volume of the plates belonging to the
Encyclopédie, under the article Tireur et fileur d’or.
[1261] Bericht von Gold- und Silber-dratziehen; von Lejisugo. Lubeck,
1744, 8vo, p. 199.
[1262] Winkelmann, von den Herculan. Entdeckungen.
[1263] Ibid. p. 38.
[1264] Second Bulletin des Fouilles d’une Ville Romaine, par Grignon.
Paris, 1775, 8vo, p. 111.
[1265] Von Murr, Beschreibung von Nürnberg, 1778, 8vo, p. 229.
[1266] Some explain the following words in the twelve tables of
the Roman laws, “Cui auro dentes vincti sunt,” as alluding to this
circumstance. Funccius however does not admit of this explanation,
because he does not believe it possible to bind a tooth in that manner.
It has, nevertheless, been sufficiently confirmed both by ancient and
modern physicians. Celsus, de Medicina, lib. vii. cap. 12.
[1267] A description of this excellent machine may be found in
Sprengel’s Handwerken, iv. p. 208; Cancrinus Beschreibung der
vorzüglichsten Bergwerke, Frankf. 1767, 4to, p. 128; in the tenth
volume of the plates to the Encyclopédie under the article Tireur
et fileur d’or; and other works. Von Murr quotes a very ingenious
description of it by the well-known poet Eobanus Hessus, who died in
1540.
[1268] This account may be found vol. i. p. 197 of the Urbis Norimbergæ
Descriptio, Hagenoæ, 1518, fol. cap. 5.
[1269] Nachricht von Nürnbergischen Künstlern, p. 281.
[1270] In the Journal des Freyherrn von Bibra.
[1271] Journal von und für Teutschland, 1788, achtes Stück, p. 102.
[1272] Piece-workers were such masters as were obliged to work
privately by the piece; because, according to the imperial patent,
no one except Held or those whom he permitted durst carry on this
business. For this permission it was necessary to pay a certain sum of
money.
[1273] The family at this period consisted of Frederick Held and his
three sons Bartholomew, Frederick, and Paul.
[1274] Von Breslau, Documentirte Geschichte, ii. 2, p. 409.
[1275] Chronica Cygnæa, durch Tob. Schmidten, Zwickau, 1656, ii. p. 254.
[1276] Anderson’s Hist. Commerce, iv. p. 101.
[1277] Husbandry and Trade improved, by J. Houghton, 1727, 8vo, ii. p.
188.
[1278] Dictionnaire de Commerce, par Savary, ii. p. 599.--Dictionnaire
des Origines, par D’Origny, ii. p. 285.
[1279] Dictionnaire Etymologique, i. p. 593. The author quotes the
following passage from a French bible printed at Paris in 1544: “Ne
ayes pas merveilles, si tu lis en aucuns lieux à la fois, que ces
choses estoient d’airain, et à la fois arcal; car airain et arcal est un
mesme metal.”
[1280] Bulletin des Fouilles d’une Ville Romaine, i. p. 22.
[1281] Menage, Dictionnaire Etymologique, i. p. 593.
[1282] Jungii Disquisit. de Reliquiis, &c. Hanov. 1783, 4to.
[1283] History of Sumatra. London, 1783, 4to, p. 145.
[1284] Kindersley Briefe von der Insel Teneriffa und Ostindien.
Leipzig, 1777, 8vo. The jesuit Thomans praises the negroes of
Monomotapa on the same account. See his Reise und Lebensbeschreibung.
Augsburg, 1788, 8vo.
[1285] Von Stetten, Kunstgeschichte, i. p. 489, and ii. p. 287.
[1286] Bericht von Dratziehen, p. 192.