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sarsenett, embroydered all over \v th twiste of yellow silke, w th theescutcheons of Sir Thomas Kytson’s and my ladye’s arms.”

Ilentzner reports, that at Hampton Court many of the counterpanesand coverlids of the beds were lined with ermine ; and Lady Bergavennybequeathed to Sir James Ormond a “ pane of monyvere,” or mynevere,explained to be small pieces of furs. “ Spanish happers,” (rugs ofSpanish wool), also occur in the inventories.

Archdeacon Nares defines counterpoint, now changed to counterpane,to be “ a covering for a bed, formed in regular divisions. The changeof the last syllable into fane, probably arose from the idea of panes,or square openings, applied also to dress.” That these coverlets werefrequently so paned, and had for their formation the reversion,* (to usean old term), of the sumptuous dresses which then distinguished thegentleman from the churl, is confirmed by a passage in Cymbeline, whereImogen says

“ Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion ;

And, for I am richer than to hang on the walls,

I must be ript.”

Which passage Mr. Steevens thus illustrates: “ clothes were notformerly, as at present, made of slight materials, were not kept in

* Coverlets are also described as being “ palyed” with black velvet and white satin, furs,and other equally expensive materials. May it not be inferred that the homely adage of “ cuttingthe garment,” &c., was observed; and that when the stuff was new, and of sufficient length, itwas put together in stripes; but that when old vestments were so appropriated, the piecesbeing small, the idea of placing them in counterpoints or counterpanes suggested itself?Whatever its origin, this, like other fashions, descended even to the cottager, in whose humblehabitation counterpoints or panes are yet to be seen in the patch-work quilts, nothing behindtheir more splendid prototypes in the variety of forms, (we say nothing of the taste), intowhich they are wrought, inferior as they necessarily must be in the quality.