is remarkable piece of antiquity, knew
nothing of it; the circumstance only of its being annually hung up
in their church led them to understand what we wanted, no person
then knowing that the object of our inquiries any ways related to
the Conqueror." This was in the nineteenth century.

Anglo-Saxon women spent much of their time in embroidering. Edith,
Queen of Edward the Confessor, was quite noted for her needlework,
which was sometimes used to decorate the state robes of the king.

Formerly there existed at Ely Cathedral a work very like the Bayeux
Tapestry, recording the deeds of the heroic Brihtnoth, the East
Saxon, who was slain in 991, fighting the Danish forces. His wife
rendered his history in needlework, and presented it to Ely.
Unhappily there are no remains of this interesting monument now
existing. The nearest thing to the Bayeux Tapestry in general
texture and style is perhaps a twelfth century work in the Cathedral
at Gerona, a little over four yards square, which is worked in
crewels on linen, and is ornamented with scenes of an Oriental and
primitive character, taken mainly from the story of Genesis. These
tapestries come under the head of needlework. The tapestries made
on looms proceed upon a different principle, and are woven instead
of embroidered.

Two kinds of looms were used under varying conditions in different
places; high warp looms, or _Haute Lisse_, and low warp looms,
known as _Basse Lisse_.

The general method of making tapestries on a high warp loom has been
much the same for many centuries. The warp is stretched vertically
in two sets, every other thread being first forward and then back in
the setting. M. Lacordaire, late Director of the Gobelins, writes
as follows: "The workman takes a spindle filled with worsted or
silk... he stops off the weft thread and fastens it to the warp,
to the left of the space to be occupied by the colour he has in
hand; then, by passing his left hand between the back and the front
threads, he separates those that are to be covered with colours;
with his right hand, having passed it through the same threads,
he reaches to the left side, for the spindle which he brings back
to the right; his left hand, then, seizing hold of the warp, brings
the back threads to the front, while the right hand thrusts the
spindle back to the point whence it started." When a new colour
is to be introduced, the artist takes a new shuttle. He fastens
his thread on the wrong