d" would have here improved the sense,
even though it is a peacock that is described.

"Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,
As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather'd gold."

He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of
Cleopatra's palace: "Part shines with feathered gold;
part sheds a blaze of scarlet."--Yates, p. 373.

[336] Sir G. Birdwood, with all his enthusiasm for
Indian art and its forms, yet cannot resist a touch of
humour when he describes a state umbrella, of which the
handle and ribs are pure gold, tipped with rubies and
diamonds, the silken covering bordered with thirty-two
fringed loops of pearls, and "also appropriately
decorated with the feathers of the peacock, heron,
parrot, and goose."--Birdwood, "Indian Arts," ii. p.
182.

[337] "History of the Kingdom of Congo," c. viii. p. 55,
by Filippo Pigafetta (translated by Mrs. M. Hutchinson).

[338] In the Tyrol certain embroideries are called
"Federstickerei."

[339] For the feather hangings at Moritzburg, see
Appendix 2.

[340] "Arte Plumaria," by M. Ferdinand Denis. Paris,
1875.

[341] The Plumarii mentioned by Pliny were craftsmen in
the art of _acu pingere_, or painting with the needle.
Though Seneca speaks of the "opus plumarium" as if it
were absolutely feather-work, yet it may have been at
that time undergoing its transition into embroidery,
suggested by feathers, and imitating them in gold,
silver, wool, or thread. When Lucan describes the
extraordinary change introduced into Roman habits and
luxury by Cleopatra's splendours, his use of the words,
"pars auro plumata nitet," probably means their
imitation or mixture with gold embroidery, and would,
therefore, come under the head of "opus Phrygium."

[342] It is said that the work, named "Plumarium," was
made by the needle; and the Greeks, from the variety of
the threads, called it "Polymitum." "Plumarium dicitur
opus acu factum quod Graeci a licionum varietate
multiplici polymitarium appellant."--Robert Stephan.
"Thesaurus Linguae Latinae," s.v. Plumarius.

[343] Bluemner, i. p. 209. "The Plumarii were a class of
persons mentioned by Vitruvius, and found likewise in
inscriptions. It cannot be decided with certainty what
was their occupation; their name would lead us