356

HISTORY OF LACE.

entries of the church registers still preserved at Iloniton, 3 namesall handed down to their descendants in the present generation, 4 andin these families the fabric has continued for along lapse of years.

That the trade was already flourishing in the days of our firstJames, the oft cited brass inscription, let into a raised tombstonenear the wall of old Honiton church, fully testifies :—

“ Here lieth y c Body of James Rodge, of Honiton, in y e Countyof Devonshire, Bone lace seller, who hath given unto the poor ofIloniton P’ishe the benyfite of 1007 for ever, who deceased y 1127 July, a.d. 1617, setatis sure 50. Remember the Poore.”

If any credit may be attached to the folk-lore of the lace-makingtrade, this James Rodge 5 was a valet, who, escaping from Brussels,first brought over the secret of the finer stitches as used in theFlanders laces of that period, Having made his fortune at Honiton,he, in gratitude, bequeathed a sum of money to the poor of hisadopted city.

Westcote, too, who wrote about the year 1620, when noticing“ Honitoun,” says :—“ Here is made abundance of bone lace, apretty toy now greatly in request .” 6 He does not speak of it as anew manufacture ; the trade had already taken root and flourished,for, including the above-mentioned Rodge, the three earliest bone-lace-makers of the seventeenth century on record all at theirdecease bequeathed sums of money for the benefit of their indigenttownspeople, viz. Mrs. Minifie, 7 * * * before mentioned, who died in 1617,and Thomas Humphrey of Honiton, laceman, who willed, in the year1658, 207 towards the purchase of certain tenements, a notice ofwhich benefaction is recorded on a painted board above the galleryin the old parish church.

3 Hurd, Genest, Riiymunds, Brook,Couch, Gerard, Murck, Stocker, May-nard, Trump, Groot, &c.

4 Up to a recent date, the Honitonlace-makers were mostly of Flemishorigin. Mrs. Stocker, ob. 1 1 69; Mr. J.

Stocker, + 1783, and four daughters;Mrs. Mary Stocker, + 179-; Mr. Gerard

+ 1799, and daughter; Mrs. Lydia May-nard (of Anti-Galliian celebrity), +

1786; Mrs. Ann Brock, + 1815; Mrs.

Elizabeth Humphrey, + 1790, whose

family had been in the lace manufacture

one hundred and fifty years and more.

The above list has been furnished to the

author by Mrs. Frank Aberdein, whosograndfather was for many years in thetrade. Mrs. Treadwin, of Exeter, foundan old lace-worker using a lnce “ Turn ”for winding sticks, having the date 1678rudely carved on the foot, showing howthe trade was continued in the samelamilies from generation to generation.

3 Rodge, or Ridge, with all due defer-ence to Devonshire tradition, does notsound like a name of Flemish extraction.

6 -l View of Devon,” T. Westcote.

7 Her bequest is called “Minifio’sGift.”