176

HISTORY OF LACE.

went over to another manufacturer, and was replaced by the Sieur.Tames, who, in his turn, was succeeded by his daughter, and shetook as her partner one Sieur De La Leu. Other manufactorieswere set up in competition with Guyard’s; among others that ofMadame Wyriot, whose factor, Du Ponchel, was in open warfarewith the rival house.

The marriage of the dauphin, in 1744, was a signal for openhostilities. Du Ponchel asserted that Mademoiselle James enticedaway his workwomen, and claimed protection, on the ground thathe worked for the king and the court. But, on the other side,“It is I,” writes De La Leu to the intendant, on behalf ofMademoiselle James, “that supply the ‘Chambre du Boi’ forthis year, by order of the Duke de Richelieu. I too have thehonour of furnishing the ‘ Garderobe du Roi,’ by order of thegrand master, the Duke de La Rochefoucault. Besides which,I furnish the King and Queen of Spain, and at this presentmoment am supplying lace for the marriage of the dauphin.” 4Du Ponchel rejoins “ that he had to execute two ‘ toilettes etleurs suites, nombre de Bourgognes 5 et leurs suites,’ for thequeen, and also a cravat, all to be worn on the same occasion.”Du Ponchel appears to have had the better interest with thepontroller-general; for the quarrel ended in a prohibition to theother manufacturers to molest the women working for Du Ponchel,though the Maison Guyard asked for reciprocity, and maintainedthat their opponents had suborned and carried off more than ahundred of their hands. 6

The number of lace-makers in the town of Argentan and itsenvirons at this period amounted to nearly 1200. In a list of 111who worked for the Maison Guyard, appear the names of many ofthe good bourgeois families of the county of Alenqon, and evensome of noble birth, leading one to infer that making point lacewas an occupation not disdained by ladies of poor but noblehouses.

De La Leu, who, by virtue of an ordinance, had set up a

* Letter of the 19th of September1744.

5 “Burgoigno, the first part of thedress for the head next the hair.”—Mundut Muliebris, 1G90. “Burgoigin,the part of Ihe head-dress that covers upthe head.”— Ladies’ Dictionary, 1694. InFarquhar’s comedy of “ Sir Harry Wild-

air,” 1700, Parley, when asked what hehad been about, answers, “ Sir, I wascoming to Mademoiselle Furbelow, theFrench milliner, for a new Burgundy formy lady’s head.”

* The offenders, manufacturers andworkwomen, incurred considerable fines.