side of the tapestry (the side on which
he works) and repeats the process just described on the strings
stretched up and down before him, like harp strings; the work is
commenced at the lower part, and worked upwards, so that, when
this strictly "hand weaving" is accomplished, it may be crowded
down into place by means of a kind of ivory comb, so adjusted that
the teeth fit between the warp threads. In tapestry weaving, the
warp could be of any inferior but strong thread, for, by the nature
of the work, only the woof was visible, the warp being quite hidden
and incorporated into the texture under the close lying stitches
which met and dove-tailed over it.

The worker on a low loom does not see the right side of the work
at all, unless he lifts the loom, which is a difficult undertaking.
On a high loom, it is only necessary for the worker to go around
to the front in order to see exactly what he is doing. The design
is put below the work, however, in a low loom, and the work is
thus practically traced as the tapestry proceeds.

On account of the limitations of the human arm in reaching, the
low warp tapestry requires more seams than does that made on the
"haute lisse" loom, the pieces being individually smaller. One
whole division of the workmen in tapestry establishments used to be
known as the "fine drawers," whose whole duty was to join the
different pieces together, and also to repair worn tapestries,
inserting new stitches for restorations. Tapestry repairing was
a necessary craft; at Rheims some tapestries were restored by
Jacquemire de Bergeres; these hangings had been "much damaged by
dogs, rats, mice, and other beasts." It is not stated where they
had been hung!

High warp looms have been known in Europe certainly since the ninth
century. There is an order extant, from the Bishop of Auxerre,
who died in 840, for some "carpets for his church." In 890 the
monks of Saumur were manufacturing tapestries. Beautiful textiles
had been used to ornament the Church of St. Denis as early as 630,
but there is no proof that these were actually tapestries. There
is a legend that in 732 a tapestry establishment existed in the
district between Tours and Poitiers. At Beauvais, too, the weavers
of arras were settled at the time of the Norman ravages.

King Dagobert was a mediaeval patron of arts in France. He had the
walls of St. Denis (which he built) hung with rich tapestries set
with pearls and wrought with gold. At the