The story of Adam, Noe, and his shyppe; the twelve sones of Jacob; the ten plages of Egypt, and—
Duke Josue was joyned after them in pycture,
Theyr noble actes and tryumphes marcyall
Fresshly were browdred in these clothes royall.
But over the hye desse in pryncypall place
Where the sayd thre Kynges sat crowned all
The best hallynge hanged as reason was,
Whereon were wrought the ix orders angelicall,
Dyvyded in thre ierarchyses, not cessynge to call,
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, blessed be the Trynite,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth, thre persons in one deyte.[1]
The tapestries here will afford much help to the artist if he have to paint a dining room with festive doings going on, any time during the latter portion of the mediæval period; but such "hallings" are by no means scarce. Not so, however, such pieces of room hangings as he may find here at No. 1370, p. 76; No. 1297, p. 296; No. 1465 p. 298. Their fellows are nowhere else to be met with.
At a certain period, gloves were a much more ornamented and decorative article of dress than now; and, when meant for ladies' wear, a somewhat lasting perfume was bestowed upon them. Among the new year's day presents to Tudor Queen Mary, some years before she came to the throne, was "a payr of gloves embrawret with gold."[2] A year afterwards, "x payr of Spanyneshe gloves from a Duches in Spayne," came to her;[3] and but a month before, Mrs. Whellers had sent to her highness "a pair of swete gloves." Shakespeare, true to manners of his days, after making the pretended pedler, Autolycus, thus chant the praises of his—
Laura, as white as driven snow;
Cyprus, black as e'er was crow;
Gloves, as sweet as damask roses;
puts this into Mopsa, the shepherdess', mouth, as she speaks to her swain:—"Come, you promised me a tawdry lace, and a pair of sweet gloves."[4] Here, in this collection, we may find a pair of such gloves, No. 4665, p. 105. What, though the fragrance that once, no doubt, hung about them, be all gone, yet their shape and embroideries will render them a valuable item to the artist for some painting.
Manufacturers and master-weavers of every kind of textile, as well as
