ng the
American War there was little money to spend on luxuries; and, besides,
about this time the fashion of wearing much lace came to an end. In 1816
the introduction of 'machine net' supplanted the _vrai reseau_, the
groundwork of the lace made by hand, and this took away work from very
many people, besides lowering prices, so that the workers became
discouraged, and the quality as well as the quantity of the lace
suffered much in consequence. Queen Adelaide tried to stimulate the
dwindling trade by ordering a lace dress, every flower in which was to
be copied from Nature. The initials of the flowers chosen spelt her
name:

Amaranth,
Daphne,
Eglantine,
Lilac,
Auricula,
Ivy,
Dahlia,
Eglantine.

Queen Victoria's wedding-dress was made at Beer, and of later years
there has been a revival of lace-making, especially in the neighbourhood
of Honiton and of Beer; and considerable quantities are made by village
women living at home.

But lace is not the only thing that comes from Honiton. Cider is made
there, and in the reign of George II making it must have been a very
profitable occupation. Defoe notes: 'They tell us they send twenty
thousand hogsheads of cider hence every year to London, and (which is
still worse) that it is most of it bought there by the merchants to mix
with their wines--which, if true, is not much to the reputation of the
London vintners. But that by-the-bye.' As cider-making was then in such
a prosperous condition, it is easy to understand the tremendous outcry
that arose a few years later, when Lord Bute imposed the enormous tax of
ten shillings per hogshead, to be paid by the first buyer. The storm
provoked was so violent, the opposition of country gentlemen of all
shades of politics so unanimous, that the Prime Minister modified the
tax to one of four shillings on each hogshead, to be paid by the grower,
who was thereby rendered liable to the domiciliary visits of excisemen.
This alteration was vehemently protested against, and Pitt championed
the opposition on the grounds that it was an Englishman's pride that
every man's house was his castle, and denounced as intolerable a Bill
that allowed excisemen to invade the house of any gentleman who 'owned a
few fruit-trees and made a little cider.' The City of London sent
petitions to the Commons, the Lords, and the Throne; and the counties of
Devon and Hereford, the cities of Exeter and Worcester, urged their
respective Members