aterial often used for handkerchiefs, takes its name from Cambrai in
France, the place where it was first made. The word _cambric_,
however, came into English from _Kamerijk_, the Dutch name for
Cambrai. So the other fine material known as _lawn_ got its name from
Laon, another French town. Another fine material of this kind,
_muslin_, takes its name from Mussolo, a town in Mesopotamia, from
which this kind of material first came.

Another commoner kind of stuff is _fustian_, made of cotton, but
thick, with a short nap, and generally dyed a dark colour. The word
_fustian_ has also come to be used figuratively to describe a showy
manner of speaking or writing, or anything which tries to appear
better than it is. The word comes from Fustat, a suburb of Cairo.

A more substantial material, _tweed_, which is largely made in
Scotland, really takes its name from people pronouncing _twill_ badly;
but the form _tweed_ spread more quickly because people associated the
material with the country beyond the river Tweed.

Another kind of stuff which we generally associate with Scotland is
_tartan_, because this woollen stuff, with its crossed stripes of
different colours, is chiefly used for Scottish plaids and kilts,
especially of the Highland regiments. But the word _tartan_ does not
seem to be a Scottish word, and probably comes from _Tartar_, which
was formerly used to describe almost any Eastern people. Perhaps the
fact that Eastern peoples love bright colours caused this name to be
given to these bright materials, though there is nothing at all
Eastern in the designs of the Scottish tartans. Another material with
an Eastern name is _sarcenet_, or _sarsenet_, a soft, silky stuff now
chiefly used for linings.

Often in tales of olden times we read of people hiding behind the
"arras." This was a wall covering of tapestry, often hung sufficiently
far from the wall to leave room for a person to pass. The word _arras_
comes from Arras, a town in France, which was famous for its beautiful
tapestries.

We know the word _tabby_ chiefly as the name of a kind of striped cat,
but this use of the word came from the Old French word _tabis_, and
described a material with marks which the markings on a "tabby" cat
resemble. The French word came from the Arab word _utabi_, which
perhaps came from the name of a suburb of the famous city of Baghdad.

_Worsted_, the name of a certain kind of knitting-wool, comes from the
name of the town of