ans learned embroidery from the Saracens,
as Spaniards learned the same art from the Moors, and, in proof of his
theory, states that the word _embroider_ is derived from the Arabic, and
does not belong to any European language. In the opinion of some
authorities, the English word _lace_ comes from the Latin word _licina_,
signifying the hem or fringe of a garment; others suppose it derived
from the word _laces_, which appears in Anglo-Norman statutes, meaning
braids which were used to unite different parts of the dress. In England
the earliest lace was called _passament_, from the fact that the threads
were passed over each other in its formation; and it is not until the
reign of Richard III. that the word _lace_ appears in royal accounts.
The French term _dentelle_ is also of modern date, and was not used
until fashion caused _passament_ to be made with a toothed edge, when
the designation _passament dentele_ appears.

But whatever the origin of the name, lace-making and embroidery have
employed many fingers, and worn out many eyes, and even created
revolutions. In England, until the time of Henry VIII., shirts,
handkerchiefs, sheets, and pillow-cases were embroidered in silks of
different colors, until the fashion gave way to cut-work and lace. Italy
produced lace fabrics early in the fifteenth century; and the Florentine
poet, Firenzuola, who flourished about 1520, composed an elegy upon a
collar of raised point lace made by the hand of his mistress. Portraits
of Venetian ladies dated as early as 1500 reveal white lace trimmings;
but at that period lace was, professedly, only made by nuns for the
service of the Church, and the term _nuns' work_ has been the
designation of lace in many places to a very modern date. Venice was
famed for point, Genoa for pillow laces. English Parliamentary records
have statutes on the subject of Venice laces; at the coronation of
Richard III., fringes of Venice and mantle laces of gold and white silk
appear.

"To know the age and pedigrees
Of points of Flanders and Venise,"

depends much upon the ancient pattern-books yet in existence. Parchment
patterns, drawn and pricked for pillow lace, bearing the date of 1577,
were lately found covering old law-books, in Albisola, a town near
Savona, which was a place celebrated for its laces, as we infer from the
fact that it was long the custom of the daughters of the nobles to
select these laces for their wedding shawls and veils. The