e as the crewel hangings
specially treated in this volume, was full of symbolism, and naturally
the same inspiration directed the worker in crewels. Curiously enough,
both these very different types of needlework, crystalised into
individuality concurrently, yet one is usually designated Jacobean, the
other referred to as Stuart. In this connection it is well also to
remember, that the Stuart era extended, historically, from 1603 to 1714,
_viz._, from the reign of James I (Jacobus) to that of Queen Anne,
daughter of James II.

Queen Anne is so often relegated, in the public mind, to an isolated
position, genealogically, and the pronounced developments in the changes
of taste that took place at the commencement of the of the 18th century,
left such a very definite impression, that she is rarely remembered as a
Stuart; it was in her reign, however, that the vogue for the old crewel
embroideries revived, and though differences of treatment crept in, the
designs, were, in the main, purely Jacobean, being copies or
adaptations of patterns popular in the middle of the 17th century. It is
these copies that exist mostly to-day, few, indeed, are those hangings
which pertain to the earlier date, but a study of those few, taken in
conjunction with the still fewer that remain of the 16th century, prove
the _gradual_ growth of the designs that have the tree motif which makes
them all kin.

Lady Brougham and Vaux had a most wonderful collection, from which
interesting comparisons could be made. One pair of bed hangings, of
coarse linen of the 16th century, show the trees with a meandering
growth entirely characteristic of those of heavier kind which appear in
later embroideries, these trees also are undoubtedly intended to
represent the Tree of Life, for round one is coiled a serpent, while
beneath the scanty but large leaved boughs, incidents in the story of
the expulsion from Paradise are to be descried, as also the procession
into the ark.

The work is without doubt early, for there is a primitive character in
the arrangement of the inconsequent groups of figures, Adam and Eve
stand nude either side the tree, couples in weird though contemporaneous
costume to the work are dotted over the surface quite at haphazard.

The similarity between the tree on these curtains and on one of the 18th
century once in the same collection is very striking. Added grace of
design has beautified the later work, but the same forms can be traced