LORRAINE.

2 It)

LORRAINE.

The lace manufacture of Lorraine passes for one of the oldestin France. It flourished in the seventeenth century. Mirecourt 8and the villages of its environs, extending to the Department ofthe Meurthe, was the great centre of this trade, which formed thesole occupation of the countrywomen. For some centuries thelace-workers employed only hempen thread, spun in the environsof Epinal, and specially at Chatel-sur-Moselle. 7 From this theyproduced a species of coarse guipure termed “ passament,” or, inthe patois of the province, “ peussemot.” 8

As early as the seventeenth century, they set aside this coarsearticle, and soon produced a finer and more delicate lace, withvarious patterns: they now made double ground and mignonette;and at Luneville (Dep. Meurthe), “ dentelles a l’instar de Flandre.”In 1715, an edict of Duke Leopold regulates the manufacture atMirecourt. 9 The lace was exported to Spain and the Indies. Itfound its way also to Holland, the Grerman States, and England,where Handle Holme mentions “points of Lorraine, withoutraisings.” 10

The Lorraine laces were mostly known in commerce as “ lesdentelles de Saint-Mihiel,” from the town of that name, one of thechief places of the fabric. These last named laces were muchesteemed on their first appearance. Previous to the union ofLorraine to France, in 1766, there were scarcely 800 lace-makersin Mirecourt. The number now amounts to nearly 25,0J0. U

but in both cases, the word seems notto indicate a stuff, but rather a locality,probably Toulouse. Francisque Michel.

In Skelton’s " Garland of Lawrell,” wefind, “A skein of tewly silk;” which hiscommentator, the Rev. A. Dyce, con-siders to be “ dyed of a red colour.”

" Dep. Vosges. 7 Neufch&teau.

" The trader who purchases the lace iscalled “ peussemotier.”

’ The Lorraine laces could only enterFrance by the bureau of Chaumont, norcould they leave the country without aformal permit delivered at Monthureux-le-Sec.

10 In a catalogue of the collection of

objects of religious art exhibited at theGeneral Assembly of the Catholics ofBelgium, at Mechlin. IVe find noticedtherein, “ Den telle pour rochet, point deNancy,” from the church of St. Charlesat Antwerp, together with various “ voilesde be'ne'diction,” laces for rochets andaltar-cloths, of “ point de Paris.”

11 The “Tableau statistique du Dep.des Vosges,” by Citoyen Desgoulles, AnX, says : “ Mirecourt is celebrated for itslace fabrics. There are twenty lacemerchants; but the workers are notattached to any particular house. Theybuy their own thread, make the lace,and bring it to (lie merchants of Mirecourt