GEORGE 1.

315

witli a piece of Flanders lace 2 —an offering not to l.e resisted.Lace appeared at baptisms , 3 at marriages, as well as at burials, ofwhich more hereafter—even at the Old Hailey, where one BlissMargaret Caroline Rudd, a beauty of the day, tried for forgery,ipiite moved her jurors to tears, and nigh gained her acquittal bythe taste of her elegantly laced stomacher, the lace robings ofher dress, and single lace flounce, her long pendulous ruffles,hanging from the elbow, heard, fluttering in her agitation, by thecourt; but, in spite of these allurements, Margaret Caroline Ruddwas hanged.

Every woman, writes Swift , 4 is

“ tn choosing lace a critic nice,

Knows to a groat the lowest price.”

Together, they

“ Of caps and ruffles hold the grave debate,

As of their lives they would decide the fate.”

Again, he says :—

“ And when you are among yourselves, how naturally, afterthe first compliments, do you entertain yourselves with the priceand choice of lace, apply your hands to each other’s lappets andruffles, as if the whole business of your life and the public concerndepended on the cut of your petticoats. ” 5

Even wise Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, who wrote epistles aboutthe ancients, and, instead of going to a ball, sat at home and read

2 In “ The Recruiting Officer” (1781),Lucy the muid says: “ Indeed, Madam,tho last bribe I had from the Captainwas only a small piece of Flanders lacefor a cap.” Melinda answers: “Ay,Flanders laco is a constant present fromofficers. . . . They every year bring overa cargo of lace, to cheat the king of hisduty and his subjects of their honesty.”Again, Silvio, in tho bill of costs he sendsin to the widow Zelinda, at the termina-tion of his unsuccessful suit, makes acharge for “apiece of Flanders lace” toMrs. Abigail, her woman. Addison, in“Guardian,” No. 17, 1713.

3 “ In tho next reign, George III. and

Queen Charlotte often condescended tobecome sponsors to the children of thearistocracy. To one child their presenco

Was fatal. In 1778 they ‘ stood ’ to tho

infant daughter of the last Duke andDuchess of Chandos. Cornwallis, Arch-bishop of Canterbury, officiated. Thebuby, overwhelmed by whole mountainsof lace, lay in a dead faint. Her motherwas so tender on the point of etiquettethat she would not let the little incidenttrouble a ceremony at which a king andqueen were about to endow her childwith the names of Georgiana Charlotte.As Cornwallis gave back the infant toher nurse, he remarked that it was thoquietest baby he had ever held. Poorvictim of ceremony 1 It was not quitedead, but dying; in a few unconscioushours it calmly slept away .”—A Gossipon Royal Christenings, Cornhill Maga-zine, April 1SG4.

4 “Furniture of a Woman’s Mind.”

5 “ Dean Swift to a Young Lady.”