LACE.

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Even as early as King Henry III . 37 we have a notice “topurchase robes at the fair of St. Ives, for the use of Richardour brotherand in the dramas of the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies, we find constant allusion to these provincial markets:

“ Seven

Pedlars’ shops, nay all Sturbridgc fair,®' willScarce furnish her.” 40

The custom of carrying lace from house to house still exists inBelgium, where, at Spa and other places, colporteurs , 41 with packssimilar to those borne by our pedlars, bring round to the visitorslaces of great value, which they sell at cheaper rates than thoseexposed in the shops . 42

Many travellers, too, through the counties of Buckingham andBedford, or the more southern regions of Devon, will still call tomind the inevitable lace box handed round for purchase by thewaiter at the conclusion of the inn dinner; as well as the girlswho, awaiting the arrival of each travelling carriage or postchaise,climbed up to the windows of the vehicle, rarely allowing theoccupants to go their way until they had purchased some articleof the wares so pertinaciously offered to their inspection.

37 10 Hen. IIL, Devon’s “Issues ofthe Exchequer.”

38 “ No lace-woman,” says Ben Jon-son, “that brings French masks andoutworks.” That lace was sold by pedlarsin the time of Henry VIII., we find froma play, “ The Four i”s,” written in 1544,by John Heywood. Among the contentsof a pedlar’s box are given “lassesknotted,” “laces round and flat forwomen’s heads,” “ sieve laces,” &c.

On opening the box of the murderedpedlar (“ Fool of Quality,” 1766), “ theyfound therein silk, linen, laces,” &c.

38 Defoe describes Sturbridge fair asthe greatest of all Europe. “ Nor,” sayshe, “ are the fairs of Leipsig in Saxony,the Mart at Frunkfort-on-the Maine, orthe fair of Nureniburg or Augsburg, anyway comparable to this fair of Stur-bridge.”

In 1423, the citizens of London andthe suburbs being accused of sendingworks of “ embroidery of gold, or silver,of Cipre, or of gold of Luk, togedre withSpanish Eaton of insuflisant stuff to thefayres of Sturcsbrugg, Ely, Oxenford,and Salisbury in fact, of palming offinferior goods for country uss—“ all suchare forfeited.”— Rot. Farl. 2 Hen. \T.Nu. 49.

40 “Lingua, or the Combat of theTongue,” a Comedy, 1607.

41 This system of colporteurs dates fromthe early Greeks. They are termedboth in Greek and Hebrew, “ voya-genrs.”

42 “ She came to the house under thepretence of offering some lace, holland,and fine tea, remarkably cheap .”—FemaleS^tectalor, 1757.

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