"cut work."
This differed entirely from what modern embroiderers mean by cut
work, as has been explained.

The Dalmatic of Charlemagne is given by Louis Farcy to the twelfth
century. He calls it the Dalmatic of Leo III. But Lady Alford claims
for this work a greater antiquity. Certainly, as one studies its
details, one is convinced that it is not quite a Gothic work, nor
yet is it Byzantine; for the figures have all the grace of Greek
work prior to the age of Byzantine stiffness. It is embroidered
chiefly in gold, on a delicate bluish satin ground, and has not
been transferred, although it has been carefully restored. The
central ornament on the front is a circular composition, and the
arrangement of the figures both here and on the back suggests that
Sir Edward Burne Jones must have made a study of this magnificent
dalmatic, from which it would seem that much of his inspiration
might have been drawn. The composition is singularly restful and
rhythmical. The little black outlines to the white silk faces, and
to the glowing figures, give this work a peculiarly decorative
quality, not often seen in other embroideries of the period. It is
unique and one of the most valuable examples of its art in the world.
It is now in the Treasury of the Vatican. When Charlemagne sang the
Gospel at High Mass on the day of his Coronation, this was his
vestment. It must have been a strangely gorgeous sight when Cola di
Rienzi, according to Lord Lindsay, took this dalmatic, and placed it
over his armour, and, with his crown and truncheon, ascended to the
palace of the Popes!

A very curious Italian piece of the fourteenth century is an altar
frontal, on which the subjects introduced are strange. It displays
scenes from the life of St. Ubaldo, with some incidents also in
that of St. Julian Hospitaler. St. Ubaldo is seen forgiving a mason
who, having run a wall across his private grounds, had knocked
the saint down for remonstrating. Another scene shows the death
bed of the saint, and the conversion of a possessed man at the
foot of the bed: a lady is throwing her arms above her head in
astonishment while the evil spirit flies from its victim into the
air. Later, the saint is seen going to the grave in a cart drawn
by oxen.

[Illustration: DALMATIC OF CHARLEMAGNE]

The peacock was symbolical both of knightly vigilance and of Christian
watchfulness. An old Anglo-Norman, Osmont, writes: "The eye-speckled
feathers should warn a man that n