ed with
great pearls," which he bound upon his helmet. It is recorded that, in a
tournament at the court of Burgundy in 1445, one of the knights received
from his lady a sleeve of delicate dove-color, which he fastened on his
left arm. These sleeves were made of a different material from the
dress, and generally of a richer fabric elaborately ornamented; so they
were considered valuable enough to form a separate legacy in wills of
those centuries. Maddalena Doni, in her portrait, painted by Raphael,
which hangs in the Pitti Palace at Florence, wears a pair of these rich,
heavy sleeves, fastened slightly at the shoulder, and worn over a
shorter sleeve belonging to her dress. Thus we see how it was that a
lady could disengage her sleeve at the right moment, and give it to the
fortunate knight.

The art of adorning linen was practised from the earliest times. Threads
were drawn and fashioned with the needle, or the ends of the cloth
unravelled and plaited into geometrical patterns. St. Cuthbert's curious
grave-clothes, as described by an eyewitness to his disinterment in the
twelfth century, were ornamented with cut-work, which was used
principally for ecclesiastical purposes, and was looked upon in England
till the dissolution of the monasteries as a church secret. The
open-work embroidery, which went under the general name of cut-work, is
the origin of lace.

The history of lace by Mrs. Bury Palliser, recently published in London,
is worthy of the exquisite fabric of which it treats. The author has
woven valuable facts, historical associations, and curious anecdotes
into the web of her narrative, with an industry and skill rivalling the
work of her mediaeval sisters. The illustrations of this beautiful volume
are taken from rare specimens of ancient and modern lace, so perfectly
executed as quite to deceive the eye, and almost the touch.

Italy and Flanders dispute the invention of point or needle-made lace.
The Italians probably derived the art of needle-work from the Greeks who
took refuge in Italy during the troubles of the Lower Empire. Its origin
was undoubtedly Byzantine, as the places which were in constant
intercourse with the Greek Empire were the cities where point-lace was
earliest made. The traditions of the Low Countries also ascribe it to an
Eastern origin, assigning the introduction of lace-making to the
Crusaders on their return from the Holy Land. A modern writer, Francis
North, asserts that the Itali