nd in Henry's meeting with Francis I. the English and French
armies vied with each other as to which should present a greater
magnificence. The name "the Field of the Cloth of Gold" remains as a
guarantee of its splendour.

Under the more austere and religious rule of Queen Mary we might suppose
that ecclesiastical embroidery would have somewhat regained a foothold.
But the landmarks had been entirely swept away, and we have little to
record of the reign, except that Mary herself was a clever needlewoman
and worked much of her heartache, at the neglect of her Spanish husband,
into her needlework. Her jealousy of her sister Elizabeth caused the
latter to spend her life away from the pomps and ceremonies of the
Court, and she has left many records of her handiwork, some well
authenticated, as, for example, the two exquisite book-covers in the
British Museum. Queen Elizabeth cannot, however, be said to have been in
any way a patroness of the art of needlecraft. Her talent seems rather
to have been devoted to affairs of State--and her wardrobe! On her
death, at seventy years of age, she left over one thousand dresses, most
of which must have been a cruel weight, so overburdened were they with
stiff bullion and trimmed with large pearls and jewels. Her dresses were
literally diapered with gold and silver "gimps" inset with heavier
stones, but little real embroidery is shown.

Mary Queen of Scots, on the contrary, was a born needlewoman. During her
married life in France she learned the gentle arts of embroidery and
lace-making, accomplishments which, as in many humbler women's lives,
have served their owners in good stead in times of loneliness and
trouble. The Duke of Devonshire possesses specimens of Queen Mary's
skill, worked during the long, dreary days of her imprisonment at
Fotheringay. It is said that Queen Elizabeth was not above helping
herself to the wardrobe and laces that the unfortunate Queen of Scotland
brought with her from France.

Much embroidery must have been worked for the adornment of the house
after the Reformation, but beyond an occasional old inventory nothing is
left to show it. After the Reformation greater luxury in living
obtained, and instead of the clean or rush-strewn floors some kind of
floor-covering was used. Furniture became much more ornamental, and the
use of hangings for domestic purposes was common. Not a thread of these
hand-worked hangings remain, but we have the immense and immedia