SWEDEN.

245

There exists an old journal of the XI os ter, called “ Diarium Vad-stenamse,” in which are, however, no allusions to the art; hut theletters of a VVadstena nun to her lover, extra muros, publishedfrom an old collection 1S of documents, somewhat helps us in ourresearches.

“ I wish,” she writes to her admirer, “ I could send you anetted cap that I myself have made, but when Sister KarinAndersdotter saw that I had mingled gold and silver thread in it,she said, ‘ You must surely have some beloved.’ ‘ Do not thinkso,’ I answered. ‘ Here in the Ivloster, you may easily see if any ofthe brethren has such a cap, and I dare not send it by any one toa sweetheart outside the walls.’ ‘ You intend it for Axel Nilson,’answered Sister Karin. ‘ It is not for you to talk,’ I replied. ‘ Ihave seen you net a long hood, and talk and prattle yourself witliBrother Bertol.’ ”

From netted caps of thread, worked in with gold and silver,the transition to lace is easy, and history tells that in the middleages the Wadstena nuns “ knit their laces of gold and silk.” Wemay therefore suppose the art to have flourished in the conventsat an early date.

At the suppression of the monasteries, under Charles IX., afew of the nuns, too infirm to sail with their sisters for Poland,remained in Sweden. People took compassion on the outcasts,and gave them two rooms to dwell in, where they continued theiroccupation of making lace, and were able, for a season, to keepthe secret of their art. After a time, however, lace-making becamegeneral throughout the town and neighbourhood, and was knownto the laity previous to the dissolution of Y adstena—a favouredconvent which survived the rest of the other monasteries of Sweden.

“ Send up,” writes Gustaf Yasa, in a familiar letter 16 to hisqueen, Margaret, “ the lace passement made for me by Anne, thesmith’s daughter, at Upsala; I want it: don’t neglect this.” 17

In an inventory of Eriksholm Castle, drawn up in 1548, areendless entries of “sheets seamed with outwork, half worn-out

13 “ Wadstena Past and Present ”(Piirr och Nu).

16 The letter is dated 20th March1544.

17 In the detailed account of the trous-seau furnished to his daughter, there isno mention of lace; hut the author of“ One Year in Sweden ” has seen the

body of his little granddaughter, tlwPrincess Isabella, daughter of John 111.,as it lies in the vault of Strengmis, (liechild’s dress and shoes literally coveredwith gold and silver lace of a Gothicpattern, fresh and untarnished as thoughmade yesterday.