gette de Montenay. MS. a
Lislebourg. [Edinburgh] 1624.

Charles I., when he was Prince of Wales, often used the
book-stamps that had been cut for his brother Henry, and he also
particularly liked the triple plume of ostrich feathers. It occurs, as
has been shown, on one of Prince Henry's velvet-bound books, and it
forms the central design on the satin binding of an exquisite manuscript
written by Esther Inglis, a celebrated calligraphist, who lived in the
seventeenth century. It is a copy of the _Emblemes Chrestiens_, by
Georgette de Montenay, dedicated to Prince Charles, covered in red satin
embroidered with gold and silver threads, cords, and guimp, with a few
pearls, measuring 11-1/4 by 7-3/4 inches. In the centre is the triple
ostrich plume within a coronet, enclosed in an oval wreath of laurel
tied with a tasselled knot. A rectangular border closely filled with
arabesques runs parallel to the edges of the boards, and there is a
fleuron at each of the inner corners. In all cases the design is
outlined in gold cord, and the thick parts of the design are worked in
silver guimp. There are several spangles, and on the rim of the coronet
are three pearls.

_New Testament._ London, 1625.

One of the most curious embroidered satin bindings still left is now in
the Bodleian Library, and a slightly absurd tradition about it says that
the figure of David, which certainly is something like Charles
I., is clothed in a piece of a waistcoat that belonged to that king.

[Illustration: 38--New Testament. London, 1625.]

It is a New Testament, printed in London in 1625, and covered in white
satin, with a different design embroidered on each side. It measures
4-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches. On the upper board is David with a harp. He wears
a long red cloak lined with ermine, with a white collar, an
under-garment of pale brown, and high boots with spur-straps and red
tops. On his head is a royal crown of gold with red cap, and he is
playing upon a golden harp. The face of this figure resembles that of
Charles I. The red cloak is worked in needlepoint lace, and is
in deep folds in high relief. These folds are actually modelled in waxed
paper, the needlework being stretched over them, and probably fixed on
by a gentle heat. The other parts of the dress are worked in the same
way, but without the waxed paper, and the edges of the garments are in
some places marked with what might be called a metal fringe, made in a
small recurring pattern