64

HISTORY OF LACE.

schools and convents along the lliviera, derived from the “ punt,a groppo,” and carried to great perfection at the Albergo de’ l’overiat Genoa. It is almost the first employment of the fingers whichthe poor children of either sex learn. This art is principally appliedto the ornamenting of towels, termed “ macrame,’’ 92 a long fringe ofthread being left at each end, for the purpose of being knottedtogether in geometrical designs (Fig. 33). Macrame at theAlbergo de’ I’overi w r ere formerly made with a plain plaited fringe,till, in 1843, the Baroness A. d’Asti brought one from Rome,richly ornamented, which she left as a pattern. Marie Picchetti,a young girl, had the patience to unpick the fringe and discoverthe way it was made. A variety of designs are now executed, themore experienced inventing fresh patterns as they work. Someare applied to church purposes. Costly specimens of elaborateworkmanship were in the Paris Exhibition of 18G7. These richlytrimmed macrame form an item in the wedding trousseau of aGenoese lady, while the commoner sorts find a ready sale in thecountry, and are also exported to South America and California. 93The making of macrame has of late years become a favouriteemployment.

82 A word of Arabic derivation, usedfor denoting fringe for trimming, whetherof cotton, thread, or silk.

83 This custom of ornamenting theends of the threads of linen for householdns well as for ecclesiastical purposes wasfrom tho earliest times common, and isstill occasionally met with both in theNorth and South of Europe. “At Ba-yonne, they make tho finest of linen,some of which is made open like net-work, and the thread is finer than hair.”—

Ingenious and diverting Letters of aLady's Travels into Spain, London, 1679.

There is a painting of the Last Supperat Hampton Court Palace, by SebastianRicci, in which the tablecloth is edgedwith outwork; and in tho great picturein the IiOuvre, by Paul Veronese, of thesupper at tho house of Simon tho Ca-nnanite, the ends of the tablecloth arelikewise fringed and braided like themacrame.