the design, the cartoon. There we are in the department of the
artist, and must talk in whispers. Raphael belongs there, and
Leonardo; and Rubens, Teniers, Lebrun, Boucher and David, train us
through the past centuries into our own.

But the cartoon of to-day is not so sacred a matter, and we may speak
of it frankly--regretfully, too. Cartoons hang all over the walls of
the tapestry factory, so much property for the setting of future
scenes, and besides, they make a decoration which alone would lift the
tapestry factory into the regions of art and class it among ateliers,
instead of factories. The cartoons are painted, however, where the
artist will, in his own studio or in one provided for the purpose by
the director, as in the case of the Baumgarten works. They have the
look of special designs. They are not done in the manner of a painting
to be hung on a wall. Their brushwork is smooth and broad, dividing
lines well distinguished by marked contrasts in colour to make
possible their translation into the language of silk and wool.

After the cartoon is ready, comes the warp. That is set with the
closeness agreed upon. Naturally, the smaller the thread of the warp,
the closer is it set, the more threads to the inch, and thus comes
fine fabric. Coarser warp means fewer threads to the inch, quicker
work for the weaver and less value to the tapestry. From ten to twenty
threads to the inch carries the limits of coarseness and fineness. In
fine weaving, a weaver will accomplish but a square foot a week. Think
of that, you who wonder at the price of tapestries ordered for the new
drawing-room.

The warp comes to the factory all in big hanks of even thread.
Nowadays it is usually of cotton, although they contend at the
Gobelins that wool warp is preferable, for it gives the finished
fabric a lightness and flexibility that the heavier, stiffer cotton
destroys.

Setting the warp is a matter of patience and precision, and we will
leave the workman with it, to make it the whole length of the tapestry
to be woven, and to fasten the loops of thread around each _chaine_
and to fasten those in turn, alternating, to the bar by means of
which they may be shifted to make the in-and-out of the weaving.

Then after choosing the colours, the weaving begins. It is like
nothing so much as a piece of fancy-work. If it were not for the
cumbersome loom, I am sure ladies would emulate the king who wove for
amusement, and would make chair-p