o bear testimony to their former
magnificence, and to decide the date of their creation at the close
of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century. The subjects
are taken from Homer's "Iliad," and "il est probable (says M. Jubinal)
que ce poeme se trouvait originairement reproduit en laine presque
tout entier, malgre sa longueur, car ce n'etait pas le travail qui
effrayait nos aieux."

Valenciennes was celebrated for the peculiar fineness and gloss of its
tapestry. By the indefatigable industry of certain antiquarians, some
pieces in good preservation representing a tournament, have lately
been taken from a garret, dismantled of their triple panoply of dust,
cleaned and hung up; after being traced from their original abode in
the state apartments of a prince through various gradations, to the
damp walls of a registry office, where, from their apparent fragility
alone, they escaped being cut into floor mats.

Those of the CHATEAU D'HAROUE, and of the COLLECTION DUSOMMERARD, are
also named here; but there is little to say about them, as the
subjects are more imaginary than historical. They are of the sixteenth
century, representing scenes of the chase, and are enlivened with
birds in every position, some of them being, in proportion to other
figures, certainly _larger_ than life, and "twice as natural."

TAPISSERIES DE LA CHAISE DIEU.--"L'Abbaye de la Chaise Dieu fut fondee
en 1046 par Robert qu'Alexandre 2de canonisa plus tard en 1070; et
dont l'origine se rattachait a la famille des comtes de Poitou.

"Robert fut destine de bonne heure aux fonctions du sacerdoce." He
went on pilgrimage to the tombs of some of the Apostles, and it was on
his return thence that he was first struck with the idea of founding a
coenobitical establishment.

"Reuni a un soldat nomme Etienne, a un solitaire nomme Delmas, et a un
chanoine nomme Arbert, il se retira dans la solitude, et s'emparant du
desert au profit de la religion, il planta la croix du Sauveur dans
les lieux jusqu'a-la couverts de forets et de bruyeres incultes, et
rassembla quelques disciples pour vivre aupres de lui sous la regle
qu'un ange lui avait, disait il, apportee du ciel.

"Bientot la reputation des cenobites s'etendit; Robert fut reconnu
comme leur chef. De toutes parts on accourut les visiter. Des
donations leur furent faites, et sur les ruines d'une ancienne eglise
une nouvelle basilique s'eleva.

"Telle est a peu pres l'histoire primitive de l'ab