FOOTNOTES:

“And soth to faine my chambre wasFul wel depainted——And all the wals with colours fineWere painted bothe texte and glose,And all the Romaunt of the Rose.”

And again:—

“But when I woke all was ypast,For ther nas lady ne creture,Save on the wals old portraitureOf horsemen, hawkis, and houndis,And hurt dere all ful of woundis.”

Often emblematical devices were painted, which gave the artist opportunity to display his fancy and exercise his wit. Dr. Cullum, in his History of Hawsted, gives an account of an old mansion, having a closet, the panels of which were painted with various sentences, emblems, and mottos. One of these, intended doubtless as a hint to female vanity, is a painter, who having begun to sketch out a female portrait, writes “Dic mihi qualis eris.”

But comfort, or at least a degree of comfort, had progressed hand in hand with decoration. Tapestry, that is to say needlework tapestry, which, like the Bayeux tapestry of Matilda, had been used solely for the decoration of altars, or the embellishment of other parts of sacred edifices on occasions of festival, or the performance of solemn rites, had been of much more general application amongst the luxurious inhabitants of the South, and was introduced into England as furniture hanging by Eleanor of Castile. In Chaucer’s time it was common. Among his pilgrims to Canterbury is a tapestry worker who is mentioned in the Prologue, in common with other “professors.”

“An haberdasher and a carpenter,A webbe, a dyer, and a tapiser.”

And, again:—

“I wol give him all that fallesTo his chambre and to his halles,I will do painte him with pure golde,Andtapitehem ful many a folde.”

These modes of decorating the walls and chambers with paintings, and with tapestry, were indeed contemporaneous; though the greater difficulty of obtaining the latter—for as it was not made at Arras until the fourteenth century, all that we here refer to is the painful product of the needle alone—many have made it less usual and common than the former. Pithy sentences, and metrical stanzas were often wrought in tapestry: in Wresil Castle and other mansions, some of the apartments were adorned in the Oriental manner with metrical descriptions called Proverbs. And Warton mentions an ancient suit of tapestry, containing Ariosto’s Orlando, and Angelica, where, at every group, the story was all along illustrated with short lines in Provençal or old French.

It could only be from its superior comfort that an article so tedious in manufacture as needlework tapestry could be preferred to the more quickly-produced decorations of the pencil; it was also rude in design; and the following description of some tapestry in an old Manor House in King John’s time, though taken from a work of fiction, probably presents a correct picture of the style of most of the pieces exhibited in the mansions of the middle ranks at that period.

“In a corner of the apartment stood a bed, the tapestry of which was enwrought with gaudy colours representing Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Adam was presenting our first mother with a large yellow apple, gathered from a tree that scarcely reached his knee. Beneath the tree was an angel milking, and although the winged milkman sat on a stool, yet his head overtopped both cow and tree,and nearly covered a horse, which seemed standing on the highest branches. To the left of Eve appeared a church; and a dark robed gentleman holding something in his hand which looked like a pincushion, but doubtless was intended for a book: he seemed pointing to the holy edifice, as if reminding them that they were not yet married. On the ground lay the rib, out of which Eve (who stood the head higher than Adam) had been formed; both of them were very respectably clothed in the ancient Saxon costume; even the angel wore breeches, which, being blue, contrasted well with his flaming red wings.”

No one who has read the real blunders of artists and existing anachronisms in pictures detailed in “Percy Anecdotes,” will think the above sketch at all too highly coloured; though doubtless the tapestry hangings introduced by Queen Eleanor which would be imitated and caricatured in ten thousand different forms, were in much superior style. The Moors had attained to the highest perfection in the decorative arts, and from them did the Spaniards borrow this fashion of hangings,[76]and “the coldness of our climate (says her accomplished biographer, Miss Agnes Strickland, speaking of Eleanor,) must have made it indispensable to the fair daughter of the South, chilled with the damp stone walls of English Gothic halls and chambers.” Of the chillnessof these walls we may form some idea, from a feeling description of a residence which was thought sufficient for a queen some centuries later. In the year 1586, Mary, the unhappy Queen of Scots, writes thus:—

“In regard to my lodging, my residence is a place inclosed with walls, situated on an eminence, and consequently exposed to all the winds and storms of heaven. Within this inclosure there is, like as at Vincennes, a very old hunting seat, built of wood and plaister, with chinks on all sides, with the uprights; the intervals between which are not properly filled up, and the plaister dilapidated in the various places. The house is about six yards distant from the walls, and so low that the terrace on the other side is as high as the house itself, so that neither the sun nor the fresh air can penetrate it at that side. The damp, however, is so great there, that every article of furniture is covered with mouldiness in the space of four days.—In a word, the rooms for the most part are fit rather for a dungeon for the lowest and most abject criminals, than for a residence of a person of my rank, or even of a much inferior condition. I have for my own accommodation only wretched little rooms, and so cold, that were it not for the protection of the curtains and tapestries which I have had put up, I could not endure it by day, and still less by night.”[77]

The tapestries, whether wrought or woven, did not remain on the walls as do the hangings of modern days: it was the primitive office of the grooms of the chamber to hang up the tapestry which in a royal progress was sent forward with the purveyor andgrooms of the chamber. And if these functionaries had not, to use a proverbial expression, “heads on their shoulders,” ridiculous or perplexing blunders were not unlikely to arise. Of the latter we have an instance recorded by the Duc de Sully.

“The King (Henry IV.) had not yet quitted Monceaux, when the Cardinal of Florence, who had so great a hand in the treaty of the Vervins, passed through Paris, as he came back from Picardy, and to return from thence to Rome, after he had taken leave of his Majesty. The king sent me to Paris to receive him, commanding me to pay him all imaginable honours. He had need of a person near the Pope, so powerful as this Cardinal, who afterwards obtained the Pontificate himself: I therefore omitted nothing that could answer His Majesty’s intentions; and the legate, having an inclination to see St. Germain-en-Laye, I sent orders to Momier, the keeper of the castle, to hang the halls and chambers with the finest tapestry of the Crown. Momier executed my orders with great punctuality, but with so little judgment, that for the legate’s chamber he chose a suit of hangings made by the Queen of Navarre; very rich, indeed, but which represented nothing but emblems and mottos against the Pope and the Roman Court, as satirical as they were ingenious. The prelate endeavoured to prevail upon me to accept a place in the coach that was to carry him to St. Germain, which I refused, being desirous of getting there before him, that I might see whether everything was in order; with which I was very well pleased. I saw the blunder of the keeper, and reformed it immediately. The legatewould not have failed to look upon such a mistake as a formed design to insult him, and to have represented it as such to the Pope. Reflecting afterwards, that no difference in religion could authorise such sarcasms, I caused all those mottos to be effaced.”[78]

In the sixteenth century[79]a sort of hanging was introduced, which, partaking of the nature both of tapestry and painting on the walls, was a formidable rival to the former. Shakspeare frequently alludes to these “painted cloths.” For instance, when Falstaff persuades Hostess Quickly, not only to withdraw her arrest, but also to make him a further loan: she says—

“By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my plate and thetapestryof my dining chambers!”

Falstaff answers—

“Glasses, glasses is the only drinking, and for thy walls a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the Prodigal, or a German Hunting in water-work, is worth a thousand of these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pounds if thou canst. If it were not for thy humours, there is not a better wench in England! Go wash thy face and draw thy action.”

In another passage of the play he says that his troops are “as ragged as Lazarus in thepainted cloth.”

There are now at Hampton Court eight large pieces or hangings of this description; being “The Triumphs of Julius Cæsar,” in water-colours, oncloth, and in good preservation. They are by Andrea Mantegna, and were valued at 1000l.at the time, when, by some strange circumstance, the Cartoons of Raphael were estimated only at 300l.

Tapestry was common in the East at a very remote era, when the most grotesque compositions and fantastic combinations were usually displayed on it. Some authors suppose that the Greeks took their ideas of griffins, centaurs, &c., from these Tapestries, which, together with the art of making them, they derived from the East, and at first they closely imitated both the beauties and deformities of their patterns. At length their refined taste improved upon these originals; and the old grotesque combinations were confined to the borders of the hanging, the centre of which displayed a more regular and systematic representation.

It has been supposed by some writers that the invention of Tapestry, passed from the East into Europe; but Guicciardini ascribes it to the Netherlanders; and assuredly the Bayeux Tapestry, the work of the Conqueror’s Queen, shows that this art must have acquired much perfection in Europe before the time of the Crusades, which is the time assigned by many for its introduction there. Probably Guicciardini refers to woven Tapestry, which was not practised until the article itself had become, from custom, a thing of necessity. Unintermitting and arduous had been the stitchery practised in the creation of these coveted luxuries long, very long before the loom was taught to give relief to the busy finger.

The first manufactories of Tapestry of any notewere those of Flanders, established there long before they were attempted in France or England. The chief of these were at Brussels, Antwerp, Oudenarde, Lisle, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes. At Brussels and Antwerp they succeeded well both in the design and the execution of human figures and animals, and also in landscapes. At Oudenarde the landscape was more imitated, and they did not succeed so well in the figure. The other manufactories, always excepting those of Arras, were inferior to these.

The grand era of general manufactories in France must be fixed in the reign of Henry the IV. Amongst others he especially devoted his attention to the manufacture of Tapestry, and that of the Gobelins, since so celebrated, was begun, though futilely, in his reign. His celebrated minister, Sully, was entangled in these matters somewhat more than he himself approved.

1605. “I laid, by his order, the foundations of the new edifices for his Tapestry weavers, in the horse-market. His Majesty sent for Comans and La Planche, from other countries, and gave them the care and superintendence of these manufactures: the new directors were not long before they made complaints, and disliked their situation, either because they did not find profits equal to their hopes and expectations, or, that having advanced considerable sums themselves, they saw no great probability of getting them in again. The king got rid of their importunity by referring them to me.”[80]

1607. “It was a difficult matter to agree upon a price with these celebrated Flemish tapestry workers, whichwe had brought into France at so great an expense. At length it was resolved in the presence of Sillery and me, that a 100,000l.should be given them for their establishment. Henry was very solicitous about the payment of this sum; ‘Having,’ said he, ‘a great desire to keep them, and not to lose the advances we have made.’ He would have been better pleased if these people could have been paid out of some other funds than those which he had reserved for himself: however, there was a necessity for satisfying them at any price whatever. His Majesty made use of his authority to oblige De Vienne to sign an acquittal to the undertakers for linen cloth in imitation of Dutch Holland. This prince ordered a complete set of furniture to be made for him, which he sent for me to examine separately, to know if they had not imposed upon him.These things were not at all in my taste, and I was but a very indifferent judge of them: the price seemed to me to be excessive, as well as the quantity. Henry was of another opinion: after examining the work, and reading my paper, he wrote to me that there was not too much, and that they had not exceeded his orders; and that he had never seen so beautiful a piece of work before, and that the workman must be paid his demands immediately.”[81]

The manufactory languished however, even if it did not become entirely extinct. But it was revived in the reign of Louis XIV., and has since dispersed productions of unequalled delicacy over the civilised world.

It was called “Gobelins,” because the house in the suburbs of Paris, where the manufacture is carried on, was built by brothers whose names were Giles and John Gobelins, both excellent dyers, and who brought to Paris in the reign of Francis I. the secret of dying a beautiful scarlet colour, still known by their name.

In the year 1667 this place, till then called “Gobelines’ Folly,” changed its name into that of “Hotel Royal des Gobelins,” in consequence of an edict of Louis XIV. M. Colbert having re-established, and with new magnificence enriched and completed the king’s palaces, particularly the Louvre and the Tuilleries, began to think of making furniture suitable to the grandeur of those buildings; with this view he called together all the ablest workmen in the divers arts and manufactures throughout the kingdom; particularly painters, tapestry makers from Flanders, sculptors, goldsmiths, ebonists, &c., and by liberal encouragement and splendid pensions called others from foreign nations.

The king purchased the Gobelins for them to work in, and laws and articles were drawn up, amongst which is one that no other tapestry work shall be imported from any other country.

Nor did there need; for the Gobelins has ever since remained the first manufactory of this kind in the world. The quantity of the finest and noblest works that have been produced by it, and the number of the best workmen bred up therein are incredible; and the present flourishing condition of the arts and manufactures of France is, in great measure, owing thereto.

Tapestry work in particular is their glory. During the superintendence of M. Colbert, and his successor M. de Louvois, the making of tapestry is said to have been practised to the highest degree of perfection.

The celebrated painter, Le Brun, was appointed chief director, and from his designs were woven magnificent hangings of Alexander’s Battles—The Four Seasons—the Four Elements—and a series of the principal actions of the life of Louis XIV. M. de Louvois, during his administration, caused tapestries to be made after the most beautiful originals in the king’s cabinet, after Raphael and Julio Romano, and other celebrated Italian painters. Not the least interesting part of the process was that performed by therentrayeurs, or fine-drawers, who so unite the breadths of the tapestry into one picture that no seam is discernible, but the whole appears like one design. The French have had other considerable manufactories at Auvergne, Felletin and Beauvais, but all sank beneath the superiority of the Gobelins, which indeed at one time outvied the renown of that far-famed town, whose productions gave a title to the whole species, viz., that of Arras.

Walpole gives an intimation of the introduction of tapestry weaving into England, so early as the reign of Edward III., “De inquirendo de mysterâ Tapiciorum, London;” but usually William Sheldon, Esq., is considered the introducer of it, and he allowed an artist, named Robert Hicks, the use of his manor-house at Burcheston, in Warwickshire; and in his will, dated 1570, he calls Hicks “the only auter and beginner of tapistry and arras withinthis realm.” At his house were four maps of Oxford, Worcester, Warwick, and Gloucestershires, executed in tapestry on a large scale, fragments of which are or were among the curiosities of Strawberry-hill. We meet with little further notice of this establishment.

This beautiful art was, however, revived in the reign of James I., and carried to great perfection under the patronage of himself and his martyr son. It received its death blow in common with other equally beautiful and more important pursuits during the triumph of the Commonwealth. James gave £2000 to assist Sir Francis Crane in the establishment of the manufactory at Mortlake, in Surry, which was commenced in the year 1619. Towards the end of this reign, Francis Cleyn, or Klein, a native of Rostock, in the duchy of Mecklenburg, was employed in forming designs for this institution, which had already attained great perfection. Charles allowed him £100 a year, as appears from Rymer’s Fœdera: “Know ye that we do give and grant unto Francis Cleyne a certain annuitie of one hundred pounds, by the year, during his natural life.” He enjoyed this salary till the civil war, and was in such favour with the king, and in such reputation, that on a small painting of him he is described as “Il famosissimo pittore Francesco Cleyn, miracolo del secolo, e molto stimato del re Carlo della gran Britania, 1646.”

The Tapestry Manufacture at Mortlake was indeed a hobby, both of King James and Prince Charles, and of consequence was patronised by the Court. During Charles the First’s romantic expedition toSpain, when Prince of Wales, with the Duke of Buckingham, James writes—“I have settled with Sir Francis Crane for my Steenie’s business, and I am this day to speak with Fotherby, and by my next, Steenie shall have an account both of his business, and of Kit’s preferment and supply in means; but Sir Francis Crane desires to know if my Baby will have him to hasten the making of that suit of Tapestry that he commanded him.”[82]

The most superb hangings were wrought here after the designs of distinguished painters; and Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Whitehall, St. James’s, Nonsuch, Greenwich, and other royal seats, and many noble mansions were enriched and adorned by its productions. In the first year of his reign, Charles was indebted £6000 to the establishment for three suits of gold tapestry; Five of the Cartoons were wrought here, and sent to Hampton Court, where they still remain. A suit of hangings, representing the Five Senses, executed here, was in the palace at Oatlands, and was sold in 1649 for £270. Rubens sketched eight pieces in Charles the First’s reign for tapestry, to be woven here, of the history of Achilles, intended for one of the royal palaces. At Lord Ilchester’s, at Redlinch, in Somersetshire, was a suit of hangings representing the twelve months in compartments; and there are several other sets of the same design. Williams, Archbishop of York, and Lord Keeper, paid Sir Francis Crane £2500 for the Four Seasons. At Knowl, in Kent, was a piece of the same tapestry wrought in silk, containing the portraits of Vandyck, and St. Francis himself. AtLord Shrewsbury’s (Hoythorp, Oxfordshire) are, or were, four pieces of tapestry from designs by Vanderborght, representing the four quarters of the world, expressed by assemblages of the nations in various habits and employments, excepting Europe, which is in masquerade, wrought in chiaroscuro. And at Houghton (Lord Oxford’s seat) were beautiful hangings containing whole lengths of King James, King Charles, their Queens, and the King of Denmark, with heads of the Royal Children in the borders. These are all mentioned incidentally as the production of the Mortlake establishment.

After the death of Sir Francis Crane, his brother Sir Richard sold the premises to Charles I. During the civil wars, this work was seized as the property of the Crown; and though, after the Restoration, Charles II. endeavoured to revive the manufacture, and sent Verrio to sketch the designs, his intention was not carried into effect. The work, though languishing, was not altogether extinct; for in Mr. Evelyn’s very scarce tract intituled “Mundus Muliebris,” printed in 1690, some of this manufacture is amongst the articles to be furnished by a gallant to his mistress.

One of the first acts of the Protectorate after the death of the king, was to dispose of the pictures, statues, tapestry hangings, and other splendid ornaments of the royal palaces. Cardinal Mazarine enriched himself with much of this royal plunder; and some of the splendid tapestry was purchased by the Archduke Leopold. This however found its way again to England, being repurchased at Brussels for£3000 by Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III.

In 1663 “two well-intended statutes” were made: one for the encouragement of the linen andtapestry manufacturesof England, and discouragement of the importation of foreign tapestry:—and the other—start not, fair reader—the other “for regulating the packing of herrings.”[83]

FOOTNOTES:[75]See Smith’s History of the Ancient Palace of Westminster.[76]But not from them would be derived the art of painting with the needle the representation of the human figure. Hence, perhaps, the awkward and ungainly aspect of these, in comparison with the arabesque patterns. From a fear of its exciting a tendency to idolatry Mohammed prohibited his followers from delineating the form of men or animals in their pictorial embellishments of whatever sort.[77]Von Raumer’s Contributions, 297.[78]Sully’s Memoirs. We have, in a subsequent chapter, a more full account of this Tapestry.[79]Gent’s Mag., 1830.[80]Sully’s Memoirs, vol. ii.[81]Sully’s Memoirs, vol. iii.[82]Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. i. No. 26.[83]“The rich tapestry and arras hangings which belonged to St. James’s Palace, Hampton Court, Whitehall, and other Royal Seats, were purchased for Cromwell: these were inventoried at a sum not exceeding £30,000. One piece of eight parts at Hampton Court was appraised at £8,260: this related to the History of Abraham. Another of ten parts, representing the History of Julius Cæsar, was appraised at £5019.”

[75]See Smith’s History of the Ancient Palace of Westminster.

[76]But not from them would be derived the art of painting with the needle the representation of the human figure. Hence, perhaps, the awkward and ungainly aspect of these, in comparison with the arabesque patterns. From a fear of its exciting a tendency to idolatry Mohammed prohibited his followers from delineating the form of men or animals in their pictorial embellishments of whatever sort.

[77]Von Raumer’s Contributions, 297.

[78]Sully’s Memoirs. We have, in a subsequent chapter, a more full account of this Tapestry.

[79]Gent’s Mag., 1830.

[80]Sully’s Memoirs, vol. ii.

[81]Sully’s Memoirs, vol. iii.

[82]Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. i. No. 26.

[83]“The rich tapestry and arras hangings which belonged to St. James’s Palace, Hampton Court, Whitehall, and other Royal Seats, were purchased for Cromwell: these were inventoried at a sum not exceeding £30,000. One piece of eight parts at Hampton Court was appraised at £8,260: this related to the History of Abraham. Another of ten parts, representing the History of Julius Cæsar, was appraised at £5019.”

“And storied loves of knights and courtly dames,Pageants and triumphs, tournaments and games.”Rose’s Partenopex.

It has been a favourite practice of all antiquity to work with the needle representations of those subjects in which the imagination and the feelings were most interested. The labours of Penelope, of Helen, and Andromache, are proverbial, and this mode of giving permanency to the actions of illustrious individuals was not confined to the classical nations. The ancient islanders used to work—until the progress of art enabled them to weave the histories of their giants and champions in Tapestry; and the same thing is recorded of the old Persians; and this furniture is still in high request among many Oriental nations, especially in Japan and China. The royal palace of Jeddo has profusion of the finest Tapestry; this indeed is gorgeous, being wrought with silk, and adorned with pearls, gold, and silver.

It was considered a right regal offering from one prince to another. Henry III., King of Castile, sent a present to Timour at Samarcand, of Tapestrywhich was considered to surpass even the works of Asiatic artists in beauty: and when the religious and military orders of some of the princes of France and Burgundy had plunged them into a kind of crusade against the Turkish Sultan Bajazet, and they became his prisoners in the battle of Nicopolis, the King of France sent presents to the Sultan, to induce him to ransom them; amongst which Tapestry representing the battles of Alexander the Great was the most conspicuous.

Tapestry was not used in the halls of princes alone, but cut a very conspicuous figure on all occasions of festivity and rejoicing. It was customary at these times to hang ornamental needlework of all sorts from the windows or balconies of the houses of those streets through which a pageant or festal procession was to pass; and as the houses were then built with the upper stories far overhanging the lower ones, these draperies frequently hung in rich folds to the ground, and must have had, when a street was thus in its whole length appareled and partly roofed by the floating streamers and banners above—somewhat the appearance of a suite of magnificent saloons.

“Then the high street gay signs of triumph wore,Covered with shewy cloths of different dye,Which deck the walls, while Sylvan leaves in store,And scented herbs upon the pavement lie.Adorned in every window, every door,With carpeting and finest drapery;But more with ladies fair, and richly drestIn costly jewels and in gorgeous vest.”

When the Black Prince entered London with King John of France, as his prisoner, the outsides of thehouses were covered with hangings, consisting of battles in tapestry-work.

And in tournaments the lists were always decorated “with the splendid richness of feudal power. Besides the gorgeous array of heraldic insignia near the Champions’ tents, the galleries, which were made to contain the proud and joyous spectators, were covered with tapestry, representing chivalry both in its warlike and its amorous guise: on one side the knight with his bright faulchion smiting away hosts of foes, and on the other side kneeling at the feet of beauty.”

But the subjects of the tapestry in which our ancestors so much delighted were not confined tobonâ fidebattles, and the matter-of-fact occurrences of every-day life. Oh no! The Lives of the Saints were frequently pourtrayed with all the legendary accompaniments which credulity and blind faith could invest them with. The “holy and solitary” St. Cuthbert would be seen taming the sea-monsters by his word of power: St. Dunstan would be in the very act of seizing the “handle” of his Infernal Majesty’s face with the red-hot pincers; and St. Anthony in the “howling wilderness,” would be reigning omnipotent over a whole legion of sprites. Here was food for the imagination and taste of our notable great-grandmother! Yet let us do them justice. If some of their religious pieces were imbued even to a ridiculous result, with the superstitions of the time, there were others, numberless others, scripture pieces, as chaste and beautiful in design, as elaborate in execution. The loom and needle united indeed brought these pieces to the highest perfection, but many ameek and saintly Madonna, many a lofty and energetic St. Paul, many a subdued and touching Magdalene were produced by the unaided industry of the pious needlewoman. Nay, the whole Bible was copied in needlework; and in a poem of the fifteenth century, by Henry Bradshaw, containing the Life of St. Werburgh, a daughter of the King of the Mercians, there is an account “rather historical than legendary,”[84]of many circumstances of the domestic life of the time. Amongst other descriptions is that of the tapestry displayed in the Abbey of Ely, on the occasion of St. Werburgh taking the veil there. This Tapestry belonged to king Wulfer, and was brought to Ely Monastery for the occasion. We subjoin some of the stanzas:—

“It were full tedyous, to make descrypcyonOf the great tryumphes, and solempne royalte,Belongynge to the feest, the honour and provysyon,By playne declaracyon, upon every partye;But the sothe to say, withouten ambyguyte,All herbes and flowres, fragraunt, fayre, and swete,Were strawed in halles, and layd under theyr fete.“Clothes of golde and arras[85]were hanged in the hallDepaynted with pyctures, and hystoryes manyfolde,Well wroughte and craftely, with precious stones allGlysteryng as Phebus, and the beten golde,Lyke an erthly paradyse, pleasaunt to beholde:As for the said moynes,[86]was not them amonge,But prayenge in her cell, as done all novice yonge.“The story of Adam, there was goodly wrought,And of his wyfe Eve, bytwene them the serpent,How they were deceyved, and to theyr peynes brought;There was Cayn and Abell, offerynge theyr present,The sacryfyce of Abell, accepte full evydent:Tuball and Tubalcain were purtrayed in that place,The inventours of musyke and crafte by great grace.“Noe and his shyppe was made there curyouslySendynge forthe a raven, whiche never came again;And how the dove returned, with a braunche hastely,A token of comforte and peace, to man certayne:Abraham there was, standing upon the mount playneTo offer in sacrifice Isaac his dere sone,And how the shepe for hym was offered in oblacyon.“The twelve sones of Jacob there were in purtrayture,And how into Egypt yonge Josephe was solde,There was imprisoned, by a false conjectour,After in all Egypte, was ruler (as is tolde).There was in pycture Moyses wyse and bolde,Our Lorde apperynge in bushe flammynge as fyre,And nothing thereof brent, lefe, tree, nor spyre.[87]“The ten plages of Egypt were well embost,The chyldren of Israel passyng the reed see,Kynge Pharoo drowned, with all his proude hoost,And how the two table, at the Mounte SynayeWere gyven to Moyses, and how soon to idolatryThe people were prone, and punysshed were therefore,How Datan and Abyron, for pryde were full youre.”[88]

“Clothes of golde and arras[85]were hanged in the hallDepaynted with pyctures, and hystoryes manyfolde,Well wroughte and craftely, with precious stones allGlysteryng as Phebus, and the beten golde,Lyke an erthly paradyse, pleasaunt to beholde:As for the said moynes,[86]was not them amonge,But prayenge in her cell, as done all novice yonge.

“The story of Adam, there was goodly wrought,And of his wyfe Eve, bytwene them the serpent,How they were deceyved, and to theyr peynes brought;There was Cayn and Abell, offerynge theyr present,The sacryfyce of Abell, accepte full evydent:Tuball and Tubalcain were purtrayed in that place,The inventours of musyke and crafte by great grace.

“Noe and his shyppe was made there curyouslySendynge forthe a raven, whiche never came again;And how the dove returned, with a braunche hastely,A token of comforte and peace, to man certayne:Abraham there was, standing upon the mount playneTo offer in sacrifice Isaac his dere sone,And how the shepe for hym was offered in oblacyon.

“The twelve sones of Jacob there were in purtrayture,And how into Egypt yonge Josephe was solde,There was imprisoned, by a false conjectour,After in all Egypte, was ruler (as is tolde).There was in pycture Moyses wyse and bolde,Our Lorde apperynge in bushe flammynge as fyre,And nothing thereof brent, lefe, tree, nor spyre.[87]

“The ten plages of Egypt were well embost,The chyldren of Israel passyng the reed see,Kynge Pharoo drowned, with all his proude hoost,And how the two table, at the Mounte SynayeWere gyven to Moyses, and how soon to idolatryThe people were prone, and punysshed were therefore,How Datan and Abyron, for pryde were full youre.”[88]

ThenDukeJoshua leading the Israelites: the division of the promised land; Kyng Saull and David, and “prudent Solomon;” Roboas succeeding;

“The good Kynge Esechyas and his generacyon,And so to the Machabus, and dyvers other nacyon.”

All these

“Theyr noble actes, and tryumphes marcyall,Freshly were browdred in these clothes royall.”———“But over the hye desse, in the pryncypall place,Where the sayd thre kynges sate crowned all,The best hallynge[89]hanged, as reason was,Whereon were wrought the nine orders angelicallDyvyded in thre ierarchyses, not cessynge to callSanctus, sanctus, sanctus, blessed be the Trynite,Dominius Deus Sabaoth, three persons in one deyte.”

Then followed in order our Blessed Lady, the twelve Apostles, “eche one in his figure,” the four Evangelists “wrought most curyously,” all the disciples

“Prechynge and techynge, unto every nacyon,The faythtes[90]of holy chyrche, for their salvacyon.”

“Martyrs then followed, right manifolde;” Confessors “fressely embrodred in ryche tyshewe and fyne.” Saintly virgins “were brothered[91]the clothes of gold within,” and the long array was closed on the other side of the hall by

“Noble auncyent storyes, and how the stronge SampsonSubdued his enemyes by his myghty power;Of Hector of Troye, slayne by fals treason;Of noble Arthur, kynge of this regyon;With many other mo, which it is to longePlaynly to expresse this tyme you amonge.”

But the powers of the chief proportion of needlewomen, and of many of the subsequent tapestry looms were devoted to giving permanence to those fableswhich, as exhibited in the Romances of Chivalry, formed the very life and delight of our ancestors in

“———that happy seasonEre bright Fancy bent to reason;When the spirit of our stories,Filled the mind with unseen glories;Told of creatures of the air,Spirits, fairies, goblins rare,Guarding man with tenderest care.”

These fables, says Warton, were not only perpetually repeated at the festivals of our ancestors, but were the constant objects of their eyes. The very walls of their apartments were clothed with romantic history.

We have mentioned the history of Alexander in Tapestry as forming an important part of the peace offering of the king of France to Bajazet, and probably there were few princes who did not possess a suit of tapestry on this subject; a most important one in romance, and consequently a desired one for the loom.

There seems an innate propensity in the writers of the Romance of Chivalry to exaggerate, almost to distortion, the achievements of those whose heroic bearing needed no pomp of diction, or wild flow of imagination to illustrate it. Thus Charlemagne, one of the best and greatest of men, appears in romance like one whose thirst for slaughter it requires myriads of “Paynims” to quench.

Arthur, on the contrary, a very (if history tell truth) a very “so-so” sort of a man, having not one tithe of the intellect or the magnanimity of him to whom we have just referred—Arthur is invested inromance with a halo of interest and of beauty which is perfectly fascinating; and it seems almost impossible to divest oneself of these impressions and to look upon him only in the unattractive light in which history represents him.

A person not initiated in romance would suppose that the real actions of Alexander—the subjugator of Greece, the conqueror of Persia, the captor of the great Darius, but the generous protector of his family—might sufficiently immortalize him. By no means. He cuts a considerable figure in many romances; but in one, appropriated more exclusively to his exploits, he “surpasses himself.” The world was conquered:—from north to south, and from east to west his sovereignty was acknowledged; so he forthwith flew up into the air to bring the aerial potentates to his feet. But this experiment not answering, he descended to the depths of the waters with much better success; for immediately all their inhabitants, from the whale to the herring, the cannibal shark, the voracious pike, the majestic sturgeon, the lordly salmon, the rich turbot, and the delicate trout, with all their kith, kin, relations, and allies, the lobster, the crab, and the muscle,

“The sounds and seas with all their finny drove”

crowd round him to do him homage: the oyster lays her pearl at his feet, and the coral boughs meekly wave in token of subjection. Doubtless in addition to the legitimate “battles” these exploits, if not fully displayed, were intimated by symbols in the Tapestry.

The Tale of Troy was a very favourite subject forTapestry, and was found in many noble mansions, especially in France. It has indeed been conjectured, and on sufficient grounds, that the whole Iliad had been wrought in a consecutive series of hangings. Though during the early part of the middle ages Homer himself was lost, still the “Tale of Troy divine” was kept alive in two Latin works, which in 1260 formed the basis of a prose romance by a Sicilian.

The great original himself however, had become the companion not only of the studious and learned, but also of the fair and fashionable, while yet the Flemish looms were in the zenith of their popularity. This subject formed part of the decoration of Holyrood House, on the occasion of the marriage of Henry the Seventh’s daughter to James, King of Scotland in 1503. We are told in an ancient record, that the “hanginge of the queene’s gret chammer represented the ystory of Troye toune, that the king’s grett chammer had one table, wer was satt, hys chamerlayne, the grett sqyer, and many others, well served; the which chammer was haunged about with the story of Hercules, together with other ystorys.” And at the same solemnity, “in the hall wher the qwene’s company wer satt in lyke as in the other, an wich was haunged of the history of Hercules.”

The tragic and fearful story of Coucy’s heart gave rise to an old metrical English Romance, called the ‘Knight of Courtesy and the Lady of Faguel.’ It was entirely represented in tapestry. The incident, a true one, on which it was founded, occurred about 1180; and was thus:—

“Some hundred and odd years since, there wasin France one Captain Coucy, a gallant gentleman of an ancient extraction, and keeper of Coucy Castle, which is yet standing, and in good repair. He fell in love with a young gentlewoman, and courted her for his wife. There was a reciprocal love between them; but her parents understanding of it, by way of prevention, they shuffled up a forced match ’twixt her and one Monsieur Faiell who was a great heir: Captain Coucy hereupon quitted France in discontent, and went to the wars in Hungary against the Turk; where he received a mortal wound, not far from Bada. Being carried to his lodging, he languished for some days; but a little before his death he spoke to an ancient servant of his, that he had many proofs of his fidelity and truth; but now he had a great business to intrust him with, which he conjured him by all means to do, which was, That after his death, he should get his body to be opened and then to take his heart out of his breast, and put in an earthen pot, to be baked to powder; and then to put the powder in a handsome box, with that bracelet of hair he had worn long about on his left wrist, which was a lock of Mademoiselle Faiell’s hair, and put it among the powder, together with a little note he had written with his own blood to her; and after he had given him the rites of burial, to make all the speed he could to France, and deliver the box to Mademoiselle Faiell. The old servant did as his master had commanded him, and so went to France; and coming one day to Monsieur Faiell’s house, he suddenly met with him, who examined him because he knew he was Captain Coucy’s servant, and finding him timorous and faltering in hisspeech, he searched him, and found the said box in his pocket with the note, which expressed what was therein. He dismissed the bearer with menaces, that he should come no more near his house: Monsieur Faiell going in, sent for his cook, and delivered him the powder, charging him to make a little well-relished dish of it, without losing a jot of it, for it was a very costly thing; and commanded him to bring it in himself, after the last course at supper. The cook bringing in the dish accordingly, Monsieur Faiell commanded all to void the room, and began a serious discourse with his wife: However since he had married her, he observed she was always melancholy, and he feared she was inclining to a consumption; therefore he had provided for her a very precious cordial, which he was well assured would cure her. Thereupon he made her eat up the whole dish; and afterwards much importuning him to know what it was, he told her at last, she had eaten Coucy’s heart, and so drew the box out of his pocket, and showed her the note and bracelet. In a sudden exultation of joy, she with a far-fetched sigh said, ‘This is precious indeed,’ and so licked the dish, saying, ‘It is so precious, that ’tis pity to put ever any meat upon ’t.’ So she went to bed, and in the morning she was found stone dead.”[92]

But a more national, a more inspiriting, and a more agreeable theme for the alert finger or the busy loom is found in the life and adventures of that prince of combatants, that hero of all heroes, Guy Earl of Warwick. Help me, shades of renownedslaughterers, whilst I record his achievements! Bear witness to his deed, ye grisly phantoms, ye bloody ghosts of infidel Paynims, whom his Christian sword mowed down, even as corn falls beneath the the reaper’s sickle, till the redoubtable champion strode breast deep in bodies over fifteen acres covered with slaughtered foes![93]And all this from Christian zeal!

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