is named. He
himself testifies: "I am an artist or workman with a strong inclination
to exercise what capacities I may have--a determination to do nothing
shabby if I can help it." Decorative art in many branches is the richer
to-day for the influence of Mr. Morris, but it is his rug-making that
now claims attention. Mr. Bernhard Quaritch informs me in a letter dated
August 31, 1899, that Mr. Morris learned the art of making rugs from a
volume of the work entitled "Descriptions des Arts et Metiers." Mr.
Morris had his own loom, and not only wove rugs, but dyed the wool for
them himself, and instructed pupils, to whom his inspiration was a
power. Long and laboriously he worked to achieve the best results, using
vegetable dyes only, and he was finally successful. No dyer of the
Orient could have been more pleased than was he when his efforts
resulted in soft, glowing tints.

In design Mr. Morris excelled. He educated the popular taste by bringing
forth the beauties of the simpler forms of the floral and vegetable
world; he delighted especially in displaying the acanthus in varied
conventional forms. Every rug he designed bears witness to his
enthusiasm for harmony. Too aesthetic, some critics declare him to have
been; but no one can deny the importance of his creations, for England
needed to be awakened to a knowledge of her own inability to appreciate
artistic decoration of the home, especially by means of the productions
of the loom. It was this very fact, and his inability to procure
artistic furniture such as would satisfy his aesthetic taste, that
started Mr. Morris to create those fabrics which he desired.

FRENCH RUGS

The art of rug-weaving was first introduced into the West by the Moors
when they conquered Spain. With the advance of civilization it proceeded
to the land of the Gauls, where during the reign of Henry the Fourth it
was brought from Persia. An inventor named Dupont was placed in charge
of a workroom by the King, in the _Palais du Louvre_ about the year
1605. In the year 1621 an apprentice of Dupont's, named Lourdes, was
instructed to establish the industry of weaving in a district near
Paris, where was the _Hospice de la Savonnerie_, an institution for poor
children. The factory was called _La Savonnerie_ because the building
had been previously used for the manufacture of soap. Since 1825 _La
Savonnerie_ has been consolidated with the Gobelins manufactory. In
1664, Colbert, minister to Louis th