8

HISTORY OR LACE.

represented working at frames, and these books are stated to havebeen written “for the profit of men, as well as of women.” 34

Many were composed by ecclesiastics; 35 and in the library ofSt.-Genevieve at Paris are several works of this class, 36 inheritedfrom the monastery of that name. As these hooks contain littleor no letterpress, they could scarcely have been collected by themonks, unless with a view to using them.

At the dissolution of the monasteries, the great Roman Catholicladies came to the rescue. Of the widow of the ill-fated Earl ofArundel, it is recorded : “ II er gentlewomen and chambermaidsshe ever busied in works ordained for the service of the church.She permitted none to be idle at any time.” 37

Instructresses in the art of embroidery were now at a pre-mium. The old nuns had died out, and there were none to replacethem.

Mrs. Hutchinson, in her “ Memoirs,” enumerates, among theeight tutors she had at seven years of age, one for needlework;while Hannah Senior, about the same period, entered the serviceof the Earl of Tliomond, to teach his daughters the use of theirneedle, with the salary of 200/. a year. The money, however,was never paid; so she petitions the Privy Council for leave tosue him. 38

When, in 1614, the King of Siam applied to King James foran English wife, a gentleman of “ honourable parentage ” offershis daughter, whom he describes of excellent parts for “music,her needle, and good discourse.” 39 And these are the sole accom-plishments he mentions. The bishops, however, shocked at theproceeding, interfered, and put an end to the projected alliance.

No ecclesiastical objection, however, was made to the epitaphof Catherine Sloper. She sleeps in the cloisters of WestminsterAbbey, 1620:

“ Exquisite at her needle.”

34 “ Livre de Lingerie,” Dom. de Sera,1581. “Donne, rlonzelle, con gli huo-raini.”— Taglienti, 15M0. Patterns which“ les Seigneurs, Dames et Damoisellesont eu pour agreables.”— VincioJo, 1587.

35 Jehan Mnyol, carme de Lyon;Fra Hicronimo, dell’ Ordino dei Servi;Pere Dominique, religieux carme, andothers.

36 One in the Bibliothique Nationale

is from the “ Monasterio St. Germani hPratis.”

37 He died 1595. “Lives of the Earland Countess of Arundel,” from theoriginal MS. by the Duke of Norfolk.London, 1857.

38 P. R. O. Calendar of State Papers,Domestic, Charles I. vol. clxix. 12.

39 P. It. 0. Calendar of State Papers,Colonial, No. 789.