dignity of the
personage for whom it is destined; but I supplicate you
to hide its defects under the wings of your good
charity, and to accept my little present in remembrance
of me.'"--"Henri IV.," by Miss Freer, p. 311.

[606] In the year 1683 the Marchese Luca Casimiero degl'
Albizzi visited England, and his travels were recorded
in manuscript by Dr. A. Forzoni. At Windsor he observed
over a chimney-piece a finely wrought piece of
embroidery--"un educazione di fanciulli"--by the hands
of Mary Queen of Scots.--Loftie's "History of Old
London;" also article on "Royal Picture Galleries," by
George Scharf, p. 361 (1867).

[607] "The Company of the Embroiderers can make appear
by their worthy and famous pieces of art that they have
been of ancient use and eminence, as is to be seen in
divers places at this day; but in the matter of their
incorporation, it hath relation to the fourth year of
Queen Elizabeth."--Stow's "Survey of London and
Westminster," part ii. p. 216; also see Edmonson's
"Heraldry," vol. i. (1780). "The Keepers, Wardens, and
Company of the Broiderie of London.... 2 keepers and 40
assistants, and the livery consists of 115 members. They
have a small but convenient hall in Gutter
Lane."--Maitland's "History of London," book iii. p.
602.

[608] The fashion of this work began much earlier, for
we find in the inventory of "St. James's House, nigh
Westminster," 1549: "42 Item. A table wherein is a man
holding a sword in his one hand and a sceptre in his
other hand of needlework, partly garnished with seed
pearl" (p. 307).

[609] The merit or blame of this rounded padded work (a
caricature of the raised embroidery of the opus
Anglicanum) is often erroneously awarded to the "nuns of
Little Gidding." The earliest specimens we know of this
"embroidery on the stamp" are German. At Coire in the
Grisons, at Zurich (see chapter on ecclesiastical art),
and in the National Museum at Munich are some very
beautiful examples. The Italians also executed elaborate
little pictures in this manner; but I cannot praise it
however refined in execution or beautiful the design. I
have seen no English specimens that are not beneath
criticism; they are only funny.

[610] In the Calendar of the State Papers Office
(Domestic, Charles I., vol. clx