46

HISTORY OF LACE.

Fynes Moryson 32 is the earliest known traveller wlio alhulesto the lace products of Venice. “Venetian ladies in general,” hesays, “ wear a standing collar and ruffs close up to the chin; theunmarried tie their hair with gold and silver lace.” 33

Evidently the collars styled “havari,” for which Vecellio 34gives patterns “ all’ usanza veneziana,” were not yet in generalvogue. 35

Fifty years later, Evelyn speaks of the veils of glitteringtaffetas, worn by the Venetian ladies, to the corners of which hangbroad hut curious tassels of point laces.

The Venetians, unlike the Spaniards, thought much of theirfine linen, and the decorations pertaining to it. “La camiciapreme assai piii del giubbone,” 36 ran the proverb. Young nobleswere not allowed to wear lace on their garments until they puton the robe, which they usually did at the age of five-and-twenty,on being admitted to the council. 37 •

Towards 1770 the Venice ladies, despising the sumptuary edictsof 1637 and 1653, began to forsake the fabrics of their nativeislands; for on the marriage of the doge’s son, in that year,although the altar was decorated with the richest Venice point,the bride and her ladies wore their sleeves covered up to theshoulders with falls of the finest Brussels lace, and a tucker of thesame material. 38

During the carnival, however, the people, both male andfemale, w ore a camail, or hood of black lace, covering the chin upto the mouth, called a “ bauta.” 39 It was one of these old black

33 “ An Itinerary, containing Ilia TenYeeres Travel through Germany, Boli-merland, Switzerland, Netberland, Den-mark, Poland, Italy, Turkey, France,England, Scotland, and Ireland.” Lond.1617.

33 Venice noted “ for needlework lncos,called points .”—Travels thro ’ Italy andFrance, by J. Say, 1738.

F. M. Misson, “Nouveau Voyaged'ltalie,” 4me edition. La Haye, 1702.

3 ‘ 1501.

33 See, in Appendix, designs for bavariby Lucrezia.

36 “ La chemise avant le pourpoint.”

31 The entry of the Venetian ambas-sador, Mooenigo, is described in the“Mereure Galant,” 1709 :

“ II avoit un rabat de point de Venisc.

. . . Sa robo de damns noir nvec desgrandes manches qui pendoient parderriere. Cette robe etoit garnio dodentelle noir.”

38 “ Letters from Italy.” So, in a playof Goldoni, who wrote in the middle ofthe last century, the lady has a Brussels(Angleterre) head-dress.

“Don Flaminio. Jli par bellissimacotesto pizzo. Barbara. —E un punto

d’Inghilterra che ha qualche merito.”_

Gli Amort di Zelinda e Lindoro.

In Goldoni’s plays all the ladies makelace on the pillow (merletti a mazzetta);so the art of making the needle Vene-tian point was probably at an end.

30 “La plus belle dentelle noire faitl’espece de camail qui, sous un chapeaunoir emplume, couvre leurs epnules et