232
HISTORY OF LACE.
master, Louis XIV., whom he, in not too respectful terms, calls“ le roi trop credule,” signed the Act of Revocation (1685),Europe was at once inundated with the most skilful workmen ofFrance. Hamburg alone of the Hanse Towns received thewanderers. Liibeck and Bremen, in defiance of the remonstrancesof the Protestant princes, allowed no strangers to settle withintheir precincts. The emigrants soon established considerablemanufactories of gold and silver lace, and also that now extinctfabric known under the name of “ Hamburg point,” 20 probablya kind of drawn-work, like the Dresden point.
Miss Knight, in her “ Autobiography,” notes: “ At Hamburg,just before we embarked, Nelson purchased a magnificent lacetrimming for Lady Nelson, and a black lace cloak for anotherlady, who, he said, had been very attentive to his wife duringhis absence.”
On the very year of the Revocation, Frederick "William-,Elector of Brandenburg, anxious to attract the fugitive workmento his dominions, issued from Potsdam an edict 21 in their favour.Crowds of French Protestants responded to the call, and beforemany years had passed, Berlin alone boasted 450 lace manu-factories. 22 Previous to this emigration she had none. These“ mangeurs d’haricots,” as the Prussians styled the emigrants,soon amassed large fortunes, and exported their laces to Polandand to Russia. The tables were turned. France, who formerlyexported lace in large quantities to Germany, now received itfrom the hands of her exiled workmen, and in 1723 and 1734, wefind “ Arrets du Conseil d’fitat,” relative to the importation ofGerman laces. 23 Louis XV. having asked Frederick the Greatwhat he could do most agreeable to him, replied, “ A secondEdict of Nantes.”
The Landgrave of Hesse also received the refugees, publish-ing an edict in their favour. 24 Two establishments of fine pointwere set up at Hanover. 25 Leipzig, Anspach, 26 Elberfeld, allprofited by the migration. “ On compte,” writes Peuchet, “ aLeipsig cinq fabriques de dentelles et de galon d’or et d’argent.”
10 Weisse
21 Date 1 29 Oct. 1685.
22 Anderson.
21 Arcli. Nat Col. Rondoneau.
21 “Commissions and Privileges granted
by Charles I., Landgrave of Hesse, to theFrench Protestants, dated Cassel, 12 Dec.1685.”
22 Peuchet.
2 “ Anderson.