trials of needlework
amongst her ladies. In the days of her disgrace and solitude,
Catherine turned to her embroidery for solace and occupation. She came
forth to meet the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio with a skein of red
silk round her neck.[603] Taylor, the water poet, says,--

"Virtuously,
Although a queen, her days did pass
In working with her needle curiously."

At Silbergh Castle, in Westmoreland, was a counterpane and toilet
embroidered by Queen Catherine.

Anne of Cleves brought with her the taste for Flemish and German
Renaissance designs; and all the cushion stitches were in vogue. The
Renaissance borders for dress were mostly worked in gold on coloured
silk on the linen collars and cuffs. Holbein's and other contemporary
portraits illustrate this peculiarity of the costumes of the time. The
women's head-dresses also carried much fine, beautifully designed, and
delicate work.

In the reign of Henry VIII. fine hangings were worked and woven in
England; the royal inventories give us an idea to what extent.
Cardinal Wolsey's walls were covered with splendid embroideries,
besides the suites of tapestries still adorning the hall at Hampton
Court. One room was hung with embroidered cloth of gold.

Mary Tudor, as I have said, was Spanish in all her tastes, and we
have lists of her "smocks" all worked in Spanish stitches, black and
gold, or black silk only.[604] This taste, following the political
tendencies of the time, entirely disappeared under Elizabeth. It
survives, however, in peasant dress in the Low Countries.

Queen Elizabeth spent much of her time in needlework. She herself had
received the education of a man, as well as her cousin, Lady Jane
Grey; and doubtless many women were taught at that time Greek and
Latin, and to study philosophy, mathematics, and the science of music,
as a training for serious life. Elizabeth studied and embroidered too;
at any rate, she stood godmother to many pieces of embroidery, which
are to be seen still in the houses she visited or occupied.

While at Ashridge, and afterwards as a prisoner at Hatfield, she so
employed herself; and among the specimens of work of the sixteenth
century exhibited at South Kensington in 1873, were her shoes and cap,
worked in purl, a semainiere in the same stitch, also cushion-covers
in divers cushion stitches, and a portmonnaie in exquisitely fine
satin-stitch; all of which articles, and many more, were left b