se,
however. She resumed her needle often during the years of her wedded
life, and after William had accomplished his conquest of England, she
worked upon a long linen web, with immense labor, a series of designs
illustrating the various events and incidents of his campaign, and the
work has been preserved to the present day.

At least there is such a web now existing in the ancient town of Bayeux,
in Normandy, which has been there from a period beyond the memory of
men, and which tradition says was worked by Matilda. It would seem,
however, that if she did it at all, she must have done it "as Solomon
built the temple--with a great deal of help;" for this famous piece of
embroidery, which has been celebrated among all the historians and
scholars of the world for several hundred years by the name of the
_Bayeux Tapestry_, is over four hundred feet long, and nearly two feet
wide. The wet is of linen, while the embroidery is of woolen. It was all
obviously executed with the needle, and was worked with infinite labor
and care. The woolen thread which was used was of various colors, suited
to represent the different objects in the design, though these colors
are, of course, now much tarnished and faded.

The designs themselves are very simple and even rude, evincing very
little knowledge of the principles of modern art. The specimens on the
following page, of engravings made from them, will give some idea of the
childish style of delineation which characterizes all Matilda's designs.
Childish, however, as such a style of drawing would be considered now,
it seems to have been, in Matilda's days, very much praised and admired.

[Illustration: PLOWING. From the Bayeux tapestry.]

[Illustration: SOWING. From the Bayeux tapestry.]

We often have occasion to observe, in watching the course of human
affairs, the frailty and transitoriness of things apparently most
durable and strong. In the case of this embroidery, on the contrary, we
are struck with the durability and permanence of what would seem to be
most frail and fleeting. William's conquest of England took place in
1066. This piece of tapestry, therefore, if Matilda really worked it,
is about eight hundred years old. And when we consider how delicate,
slender, and frail is the fibre of a linen thread, and that the various
elements of decay, always busy in the work of corrupting and destroying
the works of man, have proved themselves powerful enough to waste away
and cru