lieved to have been originally an Egyptian word for
such fabrics.

[381] For instance, the embroidered hangings of the
eighth century at Gerona, in Spain, have been more than
once quoted as proofs of tapestries having been
manufactured there at that period.

[382] The "slay" means the "strike." The word had the
same meaning originally: to slay a man was to strike
him.

[383] See De Champeaux, South Kensington Museum Art
Handbook, 1878.

[384] "Bibliotheque des Merveilles" (sur les
Tapisseries), publie sous la direction de M. Edouard
Charton, a Paris, 1876.

[385] Martial, xiv. 150.

[386] Minerva accepts the challenge of the Maeonian
Arachne, who will not yield to her in the praises of
being first in weaving wool. The girls desert the
vineyards round the little town of Hypaepa, to look at
her admirable workmanship. She boasts that hers is finer
than that of Pallas, and, desiring a vain victory,
rushes upon her own destruction. "... They stretch out
two webs on the loom, with a fine warp. The web is tied
to the beam; the slay separates the warp; the woof is
inserted in the middle with sharp shuttles, while the
fingers hurry along, and being drawn with the warp, the
teeth (notched in the moving slay) strike it. Both
hasten on their labour, and girding up their garments to
their bosoms, they move their skilful arms, their
eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There are being woven
both the purples, which are subjected to the Tyrian
brazen (dyeing) vessel with fine shades of minute
difference; as in the rainbow with its mighty rays
reflected by the shower, where, though a thousand
colours are shining, yet the very transition eludes the
eyes that look upon it; to such a degree is that which
is adjacent the same, and yet the extremes are
different. The pliant gold is mingled with the threads,
and ancient subjects are represented on the webs." Then
follows the list of the subjects. The web of Pallas had
a large central design, and a smaller one on each
corner, surrounded with a border of olive leaves.
Arachne's contained nineteen pictures, of two or more
figures each, and was surrounded by a border of flowers,
interwoven with the twining ivy. Ovid's "Metamorphoses,"
book vi.

Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am