mbroidery, of designs which show their antiquity; and from
Spain we get "Spanish work" in black, on white linen, which is nearly
allied to the stitches of white work.

[Illustration: Pl. 39.
Embroidery imitated in marble on the tomb of a knight, in the Church
of the Ara Coeli, Rome.]

Lord Arundel of Wardour possesses a linen cover for a tabernacle (or
else it is a processional cloak) which is of the purest
Hispano-Moorish design, and unrivalled in beauty. It is
embroidered in Spanish stitches in white thread, on the finest linen,
and is intersected with fine lace insertion (pl. 40). It is said to
have been found in the time of Elizabeth with some other articles in a
dry well; among them a little satin shoe, of which the shape proves
its date to be of the end of Henry VIII.'s reign. Russian embroidery,
consisting of geometrical patterns in red, blue, and black thread, is
of this class.

[Illustration: Pl. 40.
Processional Cloak, time of Henry VIII., belonging to Lord Arundel
of Wardour.]

In England alone, the peasantry do no white work for home use, and we
must suppose it has never been a domestic occupation. Indeed, the love
of the needle is by no means an English national tendency, in the
lower classes. Nothing but the plainest work is taught in our schools.
Anything approaching to decorative art, with us, has been the
accomplishment of educated women, and not the employment of leisure
moments in the houses of the poor.

Semper, in "Der Stil,"[324] gives rules for white embroidery, and the
reasons from which he deduces them are good. He says, that allowing it
as a maxim that each textile has its own uses and its own beauties, we
should place nothing on linen which would militate against its
inherent qualities and merits; and that, as the great beauty of flax
is its smoothness and purity, all projections and roughnesses should
be avoided which would catch dust or throw a shadow. Carrying out this
idea, it would appear that satin, and not lace stitches are therefore,
the most suitable for this kind of decoration. The accepted rule for
selecting the stitch for each piece of work is this: on stout grounds
the thread should be round and rich, whereas delicate materials carry
best the most refined and shining thread work; and in embroidering the
smooth surface of linen fabrics, the flattest stitches are the most
appropriate.

_Part 3._

OPUS PHRYGIUM (_or gold work_).

Gold embroi