should be laid farther apart than in the sampler,
where the attempt to force the effect (for purposes of explanation) has
not proved very successful. An infinity of basket patterns, as these may
be called (basket _stitches_ they are not), may be devised by varying
the intervals at which the gold threads are sewn down, and the number of
cords they cross at a time.

[Illustration: 57. COUCHED SILVER.]

The central panel of the sampler (E) shows a combination of flat and
raised gold. The outline of the heart is corded; the centre of it is
raised by stitching, first with crewel wool and then with gold-coloured
floss across that (it is difficult to prevent _white_ stuffing from
showing through gold). This gives only a hint of what may be done in
the way of raised ornament upon a flat gold ground, and was done in
mediaeval work. A single cord may be sewn down to make a pattern in
relief, leafage, scrollwork, or what not, which, when the surface is all
worked over with gold, has very much the effect of gilt gesso. If, for
any reason, heavy work of this kind is to be done on silk or satin, that
must first be backed with strong linen.

In mediaeval and church work generally the double threads are usually
laid close together, forming, as in the diapers on sampler, a solid
surface of gold; and that was largely done in Oriental embroidery
too--in Chinese, for example, where, however, the threads, instead of
being couched in straight lines, follow the outlines of the design, and
are worked ring within ring until the space is filled, as in the
dragon's face, A, Illustration 58. There is here, as in the working of
his body, a certain economy of gold; a small amount of the ground is
allowed to show between the lines of double gold thread--not enough to
tell as ground, but enough to give a tint of the ground colour to the
metal. Further, in this more open couching the direction of the lines of
couching goes for more than in solid work. The pattern made by the gold
thread is here not only ornamental but suggestive of the scaly body of
the creature. It will be seen, too, how, in the working of the legs,
the relatively compact gold threads are kept well within the outline, by
which means anything like harshness of silhouette is avoided.

[Illustration: 58. COUCHED GOLD NOT QUITE SOLID.]

That this less solid manner was not confined to the far East is shown by
the Venetian valance, B, on the lower part of the page, which has very
much