f light was allowed to enter. The thread
was so fine, it is said, that it was imperceptible to the naked eye and
was manipulated by touch only. The cost of this thread was L240 a pound,
and one pound could be made into lace worth L720! Real Flanders lace
thread even now, spun with the help of machinery, costs L70, and is
nothing like so durable as the old threads. When we consider that lace
to be known as "Old Lace" must be two hundred or three hundred years
old, we can understand the strength of this fairy thread, which was like
a spider's web in filminess and yet durable enough to last centuries of
wear, and remain as a lasting memorial of its beauty.

BRUSSELS

The early Flemish laces cannot be traced to any particular town, but
Brussels early obtained a reputation for the production of the soft,
elegant laces which are variously known as "Real old Brussels," "Point
d'Angleterre," "Point d'Aiguille," and "Point de Gaze." Almost every
woman, although knowing little about lace as an art, knows and easily
recognises "Brussels." It has ever been the most popular lace, partly
because its price has never been actually prohibitive, although always
costly. Choice pieces of Old Brussels, with real ground, rank among the
laces of France and Venice as pieces of price, but the later period,
especially the kind known as Brussels applique, is within everybody's
reach, even if only as a border for a best handkerchief.

[Illustration: "OLD BRUSSELS" (HAND-MADE GROUND).

(_Author's Collection._)]

[Illustration: BRUSSELS LAPPET, MADE IN IMITATION OF ALENCON AND
ARGENTAN.]

Lace made at Brussels at all periods has one characteristic that places
it at once and makes identification easy at a glance. The threads of the
toile--that is, the pattern--follows the _curves_, instead of, as in
other Flanders laces, being straight _up_ and _down_ and _across_, each
thread being exactly at right angles to the other; Brussels lace also
has a distinctive edge to its pattern. It has no Cordonnet, but a
little set of looped stitches worked along the edge of the design,
afterwards whipped over to keep the edge in place. This is most clearly
seen in every specimen, and, in conjunction with the curved toile, at
once settles the vexed question of the origin of Point d'Angleterre.

The mesh or ground is, again, quite different to other laces. It has
three varieties of ground--

1. One, mostly used in Point d'Angleterre, being of fine "brides" w