falls upon modern effort, not limited to Europe now, but
nesting also in the New World which is especially our own.

Tapestry, according to the interpretation of the word used in this
book, is a pictured cloth, woven by an artist or a talented craftsman,
in which the design is an integral part of the fabric, and not an
embroidery stitched on a basic tissue. With this flat statement the
review of tapestries from antiquity until our time may be read without
fear of mistaking the term.

THE LOOM

The looms on which tapestries are made are such as have been known as
long as the history of man is known, but we have come to call them
high-warp and low-warp, or as the French have it, _haute lisse_ and
_basse lisse_. In the celebrated periods of weaving the high loom has
been the one in use, and to it is accredited a power almost
mysterious; yet the work of the two styles of loom are not
distinguishable by the weave alone, and it is true that the low-warp
looms were used in France when the manufacture of tapestries was
permanently established by the Crown about 1600. So difficult is it to
determine the work of the two looms that weavers themselves could not
distinguish without the aid of a red thread which they at one time
wove in the border. Yet because the years of the highest perfection in
tapestries have been when the high loom was in vogue, some peculiar
power is supposed to reside within it. That the high movements of the
fine arts have been contemporary with perfection in tapestries, seems
not to be taken into consideration.

NECESSARY FRENCH TERMS

French terms belong so much to the art of tapestry weaving that it is
hard to find their English equivalent. Tapestries of _verdure_ and of
_personnages_ describe the two general classes, the former being any
charming mass of greenery, from the Gothic _millefleurs_, and curling
leaves with animals beneath, to the lovely landscapes of sophisticated
park and garden which made Beauvais famous in the Eighteenth Century.
_Tapisseries des personnages_ have, as the name implies, the human
figure as the prominent part of the design. The shuttle or bobbin of
the high loom is called a _broche_, and that of the low loom a
_flute_. Weavers throughout Europe, whether in the Low Countries or in
France, were called _tapissiers_, and this term was so liberal as to
need explaining.

WORKERS' FUNCTIONS

The tapestry factory was under the guidance of a director; under him
were