oduced
to order at Lyons, Genoa, Florence, and in Spain. The
Florentine is distinguished by the little loops of gold
thread which pervade it.

[549] In the English ritual gold was permitted wherever
white was enjoined. This shows a true appreciation of
the effect of the metal, separating and isolating all
colours, and being of none.

[550] The purple is not one of the five mystic colours
named; it is included in blue, and therefore the most
ritualistic critic need not object to it.

[551] Under the Carlovingians, priestly garments were
often enriched with splendid fringes, trimmed with
bells. A Bishop of Elne, who died in 915, left to his
church a stole embroidered with gold and garnished with
bells. So rich were the fringes at that epoch, that King
Robert, praying one day in the church, became aware that
while he was lost in meditation a thief had ripped off
part of the fringes of his mantle. He interrupted his
proceedings by saying, "My friend, suppose you content
yourself with what you have taken, and leave the rest
for some other member of your guild." See "Histoire du
Tissu Ancien," Union Central des Arts Decoratifs. For a
fringe with bells, see the beautiful example in Bock's
"Liturgische Gewaender" (plates xli. xlii. xliii. vol.
ii. p. 297), already quoted.

[552] Resembling the fringe of St. Cuthbert's corporax,
with its silver bells.

[553] This valuable collection of textiles is so ancient
and therefore so frail, that it seems a pity to send
portions of it continually travelling about the country
for loan exhibitions. Change of climate--cold, heat, and
damp--carelessness in packing and unpacking--above all,
the reckless exposure to floods of sunshine even when
they are protected from dust by glass,--all these
endanger the preservation of what can never be replaced,
and has only survived till now because of the quiet and
darkness in which it has lain for centuries.

[554] George Herbert, "The Churchyard Porch," v. 15.

CHAPTER XI.

ENGLISH EMBROIDERY.

Through the preceding chapters I have tried to moderate my predominant
interest in our national school of needlework, seeking to place it in
its just position alongside of the coeval Continental schools.
However, the more I have seen of specimens at home and abroad, the
more I have become