labour, but also because nothing can replace in
human estimation the fabrics produced by a man's, and still less by a
woman's handicraft. However the hand may have been restrained by the
necessity of faithfully following, on green parchment, the designs
imagined and traced by another person, there is always, even in
copying an outline, an individuality, an imperceptible deviation to
the right or to the left, above or below the tracing, which impresses
on the design the accent of strength or weakness, of indecision or
determination."[369] I would add, of intelligence or stupidity; of
knowledge or ignorance.

This is not the first time, and will certainly not be the last, that I
shall have sought to impress on the needlewoman the fact that her
individuality cannot fail to be strongly marked in her work; and I
would urge her to carry out the suggestions that her experience and
her taste afford her, while seeking to render faithfully the original
motive of the designer. In lace-making, as in all art, the interest
and the life, as it were, is imparted to each specimen by the
attention and thought bestowed upon it.

Mrs. Palliser shows us, by her beautiful illustrations, how much
variety may be given to designs for lace-making, which have changed
with each period of contemporary art, and are markedly distinctive of
their nationalities.

Mr. A. Cole's lectures on lace, his volume of photographs, and M.
Seguin's valuable work, are full of information.

M. Urbani de Gheltof's "Technical History of Venetian Laces,"
translated into English by Lady Layard, is a beautiful little book and
a worthy imitation of the ancient lace-books of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.[370]

The subject has been so thoroughly discussed by adepts in connection
with its revival as a local industry in its original cradle, that I
will confine myself to a few observations on its history and its place
in decorative art.

Fringes, Knotting, Netting, Knitting, Crochet, Tatting, and
Lace-making, are all parts of the same branch of ornamental
needlework. They are all "trimmings," in the sense of being decorative
edges to more solid materials. They are not available as coverings for
warmth or decency; but they serve to give the grace of mystery to the
object they drape or veil. They soften the outlines and the colours
beneath them, while they permit them to peep through their meshes.
They are hardly to be included in what is called high art, hav