1561, confirmed by James II., April 12th, 1686,
which is still a London guild. It received the lions of England as a
special favour. The arms are thus blazoned: "Palee of six argent and
azure on a fess gules, between three lions of England pass. gardant
or. Three broches in saltire between as many trundles (i.e. quills of
gold thread), or. Crest: on a wreath a heart; the holy dove displayed
argent, radiated or. Supporters: two lions or (guttee de sang). Motto:
'Omnia Desuper.' Hall, 20, Gutter Lane." There were branches,
incorporated and bearing the arms, at Bristol and Chester, in 1780.
(See Appendix.)

[Illustration: Fig. 28.
Arms of Embroiderers' Guild.]

In the reign of James I. it was the fashion to do portraits in
needlework, stitched flat or raised. Some are artistic in design and
execution, but they are mostly ridiculously bad.

The East India Company was founded in 1560, under Elizabeth, and
obtained the monopoly of the Anglo-Indian trade, under Cromwell, in
1634. This would have been the moment for encouraging a fresh
importation of Oriental taste into our degenerate art. Cromwell's own
service of plate was scratched over ("graffito") with a childish and
weak semi-Indian, semi-Chinese design; and we must accept this as
typical of the artistic Oriental knowledge of that day. Grafted on the
style of James I., it shows, however, that Indian ideas were creeping
in and sought for, if not understood in high places, under the
auspices of the East India Company. Needlework alone was excluded from
all benefit. From that date, for 150 years, Indian manufactures
were imported, _with the exception of embroidery_, which was
contraband by the ancient statutes. This accounts for our faint and
ignorant imitations of Indian work, and the extreme rarity of the true
specimens to be met with in England, unless of a later period.

[Illustration: Cushion cover Temp. Queen Elizabeth
XVI. Century]

But our Aryan instincts have always led our English tastes towards
conventional naturalism. Although we have lost the rules and
traditions which converted natural objects into patterns, we are
continually, in our style, leaning and groping in their direction, and
twining flowers, those of the field by preference, into
semi-conventional garlands and posies.

In the seventeenth century, when James I. was king, protection had
done its worst. The style of work called "embroidery on the stamp" was
then the fashion. This sor