GEORGE III.

327

' Indeed, if we may judge by the intellectual conversation over-heard and accurately noted down by Miss Burney , 12 at MissMonckton’s (Lady Cork) party, court ruffles were inconvenient towear:—

“ ‘ You can’t think how I am encumbered with these nastyruffles,’ said Mrs. Hampden.

“ ‘ And I dined in them,’ says the other. ‘ Only think! ’

“ ‘ Ok! ’ answered Mrs. Hampden, ‘ it really puts me out ofsjiirits.’ ”

Both ladies were dressed for a party at Cumberland House, andill at ease in the costume prescribed by etiquette. If this con-versation was considered worth noting down, we may be excusedfor repeating it.

Our history of English lace is now drawing to a close; butbefore quitting the subject, we must, however, make some allusionto the custom prevalent here, as in all countries, of using lace as adecoration to grave-clothes. In the chapter devoted to Greece, wehave mentioned how much lace is still taken from the tombs ofthe Ionian Islands, washed, mended, or, more often, as a proof ofits authenticity, sold in a most disgusting state to the purchaser.The custom was prevalent at Malta, as the lines of the dramatisttestify:—

“ In her best habit, as the custom is,

You know, in Malta, with all ceremoniesShe’s buried in the family monument,

I’ the temple of St. John.” 13

At Palermo you may see the mummies thus adorned in thecelebrated catacombs of the Capuchin convent . 14

In Denmark , 15 Sweden, and the north of Europe , 16 the customwas general. The mass of lace in the tomb of the once fair AuroraKonigsmarck, at Quedlinburg, w T ould in itself be a fortune. Shesleeps clad in the richest point d’Angleterre, Malines, and guipure.

12 “ Recollections of Madame d'Ar-blay.”

'* Beaumont and Fletcher, “ TheKnight of Malta.”

11 In coffins with glaBS tops. Some oftin m date from 1701).

15 In the vault of the Schleswig-Hol-stein family, at Sonderburg.

'* In the church of Revel lies the Duedo Croy, a general of Charles XII., ar-rayed in full costume, with a rich flowing

tie of fine guipure; not that he was everinterred—his body had been seized byhis creditors for debt, and there it stillremains.

The author of “ Letters from a Lady inRussia ” (1775), describing the funeral ofa daughter of Prince Menzikoff, statesshe was dressed in a night-gown of silvertissue, on her head a fine laced mob, anda coronet; round her forehead, a ribbonembroidered with her name and age, &e.