has
refused, three thousand guineas.

The style of modern embroidery, now so fashionable, from the Berlin
patterns, dates from the commencement of the present century. About
the year 1804-5, a print-seller in Berlin, named Philipson, published
the first coloured design, on checked paper, for needlework. In 1810,
Madame Wittich, who, being a very accomplished embroideress, perceived
the great extension of which this branch of trade was capable, induced
her husband, a book and print-seller of Berlin, to engage in it with
spirit. From that period the trade has gone on rapidly increasing,
though within the last six years the progression has been infinitely
more rapid than it had previously been, owing to the number of new
publishers who have engaged in the trade. By leading houses up to the
commencement of the year 1840, there have been no less than fourteen
thousand copper-plate designs published.

In the scale of consumption, and, consequently, by a fair inference in
the quantity of needlework done, Germany stands first; then Russia,
England, France, America, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, &c., the three
first names on the list being by far the largest consumers. It is
difficult to state with precision the number of persons employed to
_colour_ these plates, but a principal manufacturer estimates them as
upwards of twelve hundred, chiefly women.

At first these patterns were chiefly copied in silk, then in beads,
and lastly in dyed wools; the latter more especially, since the
Germans have themselves succeeded in producing those beautiful
"Zephyr" yarns known in this country as the "Berlin wools." These
yarns, however, are only dyed in Berlin, being manufactured at Gotha.
It is not many years since the Germans drew all their fine woollen
yarns from this country: now they are the _exporters_, and probably
will so remain, whatever be the _quality_ of the wool produced in
England, until the art of _dyeing_ be as well understood and as
scientifically practised.

Of the fourteen thousand Berlin patterns which have been published,
scarcely one-half are moderately good; and all the best which they
have produced latterly are copied from English and French prints.
Contemplating the improvement that will probably ere long take place
in these patterns, needlework may be said to be yet in its infancy.

The improvement, however, must not be confined to the Berlin
designers: the taste of the consumer, the public taste must also
advanc