early Christian times found in the Fayoum, in Egypt.
These afford notable examples of the ancient method in
putting in patches on a worn or frayed garment. They
invariably embroidered them, and so added a grace to the
old and honoured vestment, and justified the classical
appellation, "Healer of clothes" for a darner. The
comparatively modern additions of the restorer, are in
ancient as in later specimens, often a puzzle to the
archaeologist.

[282] The specimens in the South Kensington Museum,
where Dr. Rock gives their approximate dates, are most
useful to the student of this subject.

CHAPTER V.

COLOUR.

"My soul, what gracious glorious powers
To hue and radiance God has given!"

Cautley, "Emblems," p. 21.

It is my intention to confine myself to the discussion of colour, in
as far as it belongs to the dyes of textiles and the materials for
embroidery. I will adhere as closely as I can to this part of what is
a great and most interesting subject--one which the science of to-day
has opened out, and by the test of experiment, cleared of erroneous
theories; revealing to us all its beauty and fitness for the use and
delight of man.

As through all ages the eye has been gradually educated to appreciate
_harmony_ in colour, so _dissonance_--that is, what errs against
harmony--hurts us, without apparently a sufficient reason; and we have
to seek the causes of our sensations in the scientific works and
lectures of Professor Tyndall and others.

There is no doubt that the appreciation of colour has belonged in
different degrees to the eye of every animal, but especially to that
of man, ever since light first painted the flowers of the field. The
eye is created to see colour, as well as form. But we know that men,
being accustomed to acquiesce in the powers with which they find
themselves gifted by nature, enjoy and use them, long before they
begin to study, classify, and name them.

When we recollect that the circulation of the blood was not known
within the last three hundred years, and that Albert Duerer painted
the skeleton Death on the bridge of Lucerne, with one bone in the
upper and one in the lower arm, we shall be surprised to find that the
ancients had named the colours they saw, with some degree of
descriptive and scientific precision. The word "purple," for instance,
covered a multitude of tints, which