m, just
as Shakespeare, at the same epoch, set violets blue and daisies pied,
cowslip, rosemary "for remembrance," and other familiar dainties, in
the grim foundation stones of his tragedies.

A comparison of the different hangings available to the amateur, or of
the pictured examples given in this book, will reveal more than can be
well set down with the pen. The use of flowers in the set of _The
Baillee des Roses_ is exceptional, in that here the flowers form a
harmonious decorative scheme and are at the same time an important
part of the story which is pictured.

In other earliest examples they playfully peep within the limits of
the hanging. Important use is, however, made of them in that
altogether entrancing set of _The Lady and the Unicorn_, where they
indicate the beauties of a fascinating park in which the delicate lady
and her attendant led a wondrous life guarded by two beasts as
fabulous as faithful, and the whole region of leaves and petals but
serving as a paradise for delectable white rabbits and piquant
monkeys. Could any modern indicate by sophistry of brush or brain so
intoxicating a fairyland, so gracious a field of dear delights?

COSTUMES

A minute study of all the details of costume and accessories is one of
the measuring sticks with which we count the years of a tapestry's
life. This applies more particularly to the work prior to the
Renaissance, to the time when all characters were dressed in the mode
of the day--another evidence of that ingenuousness that delights us
who have passed the period where it is possible.

As we have noted before, a costume cannot be used before its time, so,
as much as anything can, the study of its details prevents us from
going too far back with its date. When one has reached the point of
identifying a Gothic tapestry to where the exact decade is questioned,
the century having been ascertained, a careful study of costumes
outside the region of tapestries is necessary. This leads one into a
department all by itself and means delightful hours in libraries
poring over illustrated books on costume. It means to learn in what
manner our gods and heroes of fact and fancy habited themselves, how
Berengaria wore her head-dress and Jehane de Bourgogne her brocades,
and how the eternally various sleeve differed in its fashioning for
both men and women.

Head-dresses were of such size and variety that they form a study in
themselves, and dates have been fixed by these