ut true
needlework."

In the "Liber Eliensis," in the Muniment room at Ely, is an account
of a gift to the church by Queen Emma, the wife of King Knut, who
"on a certain day came to Ely in a boat, accompanied by his wife
the Queen Emma, and the chief nobles of his kingdom." This royal
present was "a purple cloth worked with gold and set with jewels
for St. Awdry's shrine," and the Monk Thomas assures us that "none
other could be found in the kingdom of the English of such richness
and beauty of workmanship."

The various stitches in English work had their several names, the
opus plumarium, or straight overlapping stitches, resembling the
feathers of a bird; the opus pluvarium, or cross stitch, and many
others. A great deal of work was accomplished by means of applique
in satin and silk, and sometimes the ground was painted, as has
already been described in Italian work. In the year 1246 Matthew
Paris writes: "About this time the Lord Pope, Innocent IV., having
observed that the ecclesiastical ornaments of some Englishmen,
such as choristers' copes and mitres, were embroidered in gold
thread, after a very desirable fashion, asked where these works
were made, and received in answer, 'England.' Then," said the Pope,
"England is surely a garden of delight for us; it is truly a never
failing Spring, and there where many things abound much may be
extorted." This far sighted Pope, with his semi-commercial views,
availed himself of his discovery.

In the days of Anastatius, ecclesiastical garments were spoken of
by name according to the motive of their designs: for instance,
the "peacock garment," the "elephant chasuble," and the "lion cope."
Fuller tells of the use of a pall as an ecclesiastical vestment,
remarking tersely: "It is made up of lamb's wool and superstition."

Mediaeval embroiderers in England got into certain habits of work, so
that there are some designs which are almost as hall-marks to English
work; the Cherubim over the wheel is especially characteristic, as
is also the vase of lilies, and various heraldic devices which are
less frequently found in the embroidered work of European peoples.

The Syon Cope is perhaps the most conspicuous example of the mediaeval
embroiderer's art. It was made by nuns about the end of the thirteenth
century, in a convent near Coventry. It is solid stitchery on a
canvas ground, "wrought about with divers colours" on green. The
design is laid out in a series of interlacing