SPAIN.

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The early pattern boohs contain designs to bis worked in goldand silver, 2 a manufacture said to have been chiefly carried on bythe Jews, 3 as indeed it is in many parts ot Europe at the piesenttime; an idea which strengthens on finding that two years afterthe expulsion of that persecuted tribe from the country, in 1492,the most Catholic kings found it necessary to pass a law pio-hibiting the importation of gold lace from Lucca and Florence,except such as was necessary for ecclesiastical purposes.

We find no mention of lace in the ordinances of Toledo andSevilla of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, nor in those ofGranada of the sixteenth and seventeenth, nor in the laws ofFerdinand and Isabella; 4 although there is preserved in thecathedral of Granada a lace alb said to have been presented tothe church by these sovereigns. The late Cardinal Wisemanstated to the author that he had himself officiated in this vest-ment, which was valued at 10,000 crowns.

Our English translation of Don Quixote has led some authorsinto adducing a passage as an evidence that the art of makingbone lace was already known in Spain in Cervantes’ day.“ Sanchiea,” writes Theresa l’anfa to her husband, the newlyappointed Governor of Parataria, “ makes bone lace, and gets eightmaravedis a day, which she drops into a tin box to help towardshousehold stuff. Put now that she is a governor’s daughter, youwill give her a fortune, and she will not have to work for it.”

In referring to the original Spanish, we find the words rendered“bone lace” are “ puntas de randas,” signifying works of laeisor reseuil. 5

We may safely say that the fine church lace of Spain was butlittle known to the commercial world of Europe until the dissolu-tion of the Spanish monasteries 6 in 1830, when the most splendid

- “ Livro Nouveau de Patrons,” and“ Fleurs des Patrons,” give variousstitches to he executed “ en fil d’or,d’nrgent, de soio, ct d’autres.” ltothprinted at Lyons. The first has no date;the second, 1549. “ Lc Pnmpo,” Vene-zia, 1559, lias diversi sorti di mostreper poter far, d’ oro, di sete, di filo,” &c.

’ Not many years since, a family atC adiz, of Jewish extraction, still enjoyedthe monopoly of manufacturing goldand silver hiee. —Letter from Smtiu,1SG3.

* “ Ancient Needle Point and PillowLace,” published under the sanction ofthe Science and Art Department of theCommittee of Council on Education,edited by Mr. Alan Cole.

5 “ Ouvragc de laeis ou reseuil.”—Chitlin, Trtfeor dee Deux iMmjues Fr. etEep. 1(500.

* Spain has 8932 convents, containing94,000 nuns and monks.— J. Townsend,Journey through Spain in the Years 1780and 1787.