d by Pierre Vallet, "brodeur" to Henry IV. In the XVIIIth
century the company numbered 250 past-masters.

To this craft the present volume forms, I believe, an admirable
introduction and text-book, not only on the side of workmanship, but
also on that difficult subject, "design"--difficult, that is, from its
having been so much discussed in books, yet entirely simple when
approached, as here, as a necessary part of workmanship. It is fortunate
that we have not as yet learned to bother our cooks as to which part of
their work is designing and which is merely mechanical. Of course the
highest things of design, as well as of workmanship, come only after
long practice and to the specially gifted, but none the less every human
creature must in some sort be a designer, and it has caused immense harm
to raise a cloud of what Morris called "sham technical twaddle" between
the worker and what should be the spontaneous inspiration of his work.
What such combination has produced in past times, may perhaps best be
understood by some reading in old church inventories of the simply
infinite store of magnificent embroidered vestments which once adorned
our churches. In an inventory of Westminster Abbey I find mentioned
such patterns as roses and birds, fleur-de-luces and lybardes, angels on
branches of gold, roses and ships, eagles and angels of gold, castles
and lions, white harts, swans, dogs, and antelopes.

W. R. LETHABY.

_September 1906._

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

In the following pages the practical sides of Embroidery and Tapestry
Weaving are discussed, their historical development being only
incidentally touched upon.

The drawings illustrating design and the practical application of
stitches have been taken almost without exception from actual Embroidery
or Tapestry; the exceptions, where it has been impossible to consult
originals, from photographic representations obtained from various
sources, among which the collection of M. Louis de Farcy should be
mentioned.

I have to thank Miss May Morris and Mrs. W. R. Lethaby for permission to
reproduce pieces of their work, and Miss Killick, Colonel J. E.
Butler-Bowdon, the Viscount Falkland, and the Reverend F. J. Brown of
Steeple Aston for permission to reproduce work in their possession. Also
I must thank the authorities of the Victoria and Albert Museum for help
in various ways, and Mr. J. H. Taylor, M.A. Oxf. and Cam., for his
kindness in reading the proofs.

GRAC