measuring
in the sampler (C) six threads of the canvas, so that after each stitch
the needle may be brought out just three threads lower than where it was
put in. By working in zigzag instead of diagonal lines, a familiar
pattern is produced, more often described as "Florentine;" but the
stitch is in any case the same.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH D.]

The stitch at D (sometimes called Moorish stitch) is begun by working a
row of short vertical stitches, slightly apart, and completed by
diagonal stitches joining them.

Unless the silk employed is full and soft, this may not completely cover
the canvas, in which case the diagonal stitches must further be crossed
as shown on Illustration 89.

If the linen is loosely woven and the thread is tightly drawn in the
working, the mesh is pulled apart, giving the effect of an open lattice
of the kind shown at B, on Illustration 10, in which the threads of the
linen are not drawn out but drawn together.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH E.]

The way of working the stitch at E is described on page 51, under the
name of "fish-bone." Worked on canvas it has somewhat the effect of
plaiting, and goes by the name of "plait-stitch." It is worked in
horizontal rows alternately from left to right and from right to left.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH F.]

The stitch at F is a sort of couching (see page 124). Diagonal lines of
thread are first laid from edge to edge of the ground space, and these
are sewn down by short overcasting stitches in the cross direction.

Admirable canvas stitch work has been done upon linen in silk of one
colour--red, green, or blue--and it was a common practice to
work the background leaving the pattern in the bare stuff. It
prevailed in countries lying far apart, though probably not without
inter-communication. In fact, the influence of Oriental work upon
European has been so great that even experts hesitate sometimes to say
whether a particular piece of work is Turkish or Italian. In Italian
work, at least, it was usual to get over the angularity of silhouette
inherent in canvas stitches by working an outline separately. When that
is thin, the effect is proportionately feeble. The broader outline
(shown at A, Illustration 10) justifies itself, and in the case of a
stitch which falls into horizontal lines, it appears to be necessary.
This is plait stitch, known also by the name of Spanish stitch--not that
it is in any way peculiar to Spain. It is allied to herring-bo