all, as on other nights.

It was apparently some account of the "Harmonies of the Four Evangelists"
which first attracted King Charles' attention to the family living at
Gidding, and about the year 1631, being not far off with his Court, he
sent a gentleman to ask for the loan of the book. This was conceded with
some hesitation, and the King, having once got it into his hands, would
not part with it again, until he had obtained a promise that another
similar volume should be made for him. The work was promptly executed,
and may now be seen in the British Museum.

The careful study of the Harmonies or Concordances is most interesting,
and even in these modern times one at least is used daily as a means of
instruction for the children of the family where the book has an honoured
home, in much the same manner as the children at Little Gidding used it
two hundred and fifty years ago.

No more need be said about the Harmonies here, as a full account of the
manner of their construction and the history and resting-place of all the
specimens that can be heard of at the present time will be related in
another chapter.

But in close connection with the making of the Concordances must be
mentioned the art of bookbinding, and embroidered covers for books, as
well as embroidery for other purposes.

The Concordances are all bound in velvet or leather, and are nearly all
stamped with designs in gold, on much the same plan. The stamps chiefly
used are _fleurs-de-lis_, acorns, sprigs of oak, etc., and the amount of
ornamentation appears to depend upon the rank of the person for whom the
book was intended, and also partly upon the date when the book was made,
the earlier copies being much less elaborate than the later volumes.

It is also evident that books printed in the ordinary way were bound, or
re-bound, at Gidding. One of the most remarkable of which there is any
authentic account is a large folio Bible, printed by Barker, of London,
in the year 1639. It now belongs to the Marquis of Bute, and, as a rule,
is in his library at Cardiff; but he is most kind in allowing it to be
exhibited, and it has recently been shown at Bath, and before that at
Glasgow. The binding is of blue silk, elaborately decorated with designs
in gilt and silver thread, and in the centre are the royal arms and
initials C. R., which prove clearly enough for whom the work was
originally done. A competent authority, one of the great professional
con