and precious stones, and even the hair of the fair embroideress herself, have, each in their turn, furnished her materials wherewith to exercise her ingenuity.* The needlework of the present day is indebted for its attraction more to the skill and talent displayed by the artist, than to any false beauty it may borrow from the materials employed; and, however much we may admire the adaptation of outré and bizarre objects in some of its branches, yet let us remember that the true intention of the art is to copy nature, not to distort her and that needlework executed with the rudest and most simple materials, may surpass that with the most costly. The materials used by a Linwood are within the reach of every one, but the skill shown in the employment of them is that of the artist alone. Since the time when Miss Linwood executed her " paintings," greater facilities have been given for the pursuit of needlework than she could possibly have possessed. The variety of colours, their beauty and brilliancy, both in silks and wools, owing to our improved knowledge of dyeing, the introduction of colouredpaper patterns, all contribute towards the perfection of an art, above every other, consecrated to female talent. Our object in the present treatise, however, is not to enter into a description of the different articles which have been used at various times for the purposes of needlework, nor the method of employing them; -those of the most appropriate kind will suffice for our purpose, -and ample details of these, their qualities and uses, and the occasions on which they may be most advantageously rendered Three German ladies, in Hanover, named Wylich, in 1782, invented a mode of embroidering with human hair. subservient, will be found in the following chapters, under their respective heads. In describing the principal materials employed in needlework at the present day, we must not overlook the equally essential requisites, the instruments wherewith we are to use them—an account of which will be found under the general head of “implements," where, we have endeavoured,-as far as lay in our power, -to guide the inexperienced, in selecting with judgment those best adapted for facilitating their labours. With the exception of canvas, it will not be necessary for us to describe the materials upon which the different works are to be executed. The mere mention of these in their respective places will be sufficient,-whether cloth, silk, or "satin smooth, Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile." CHAPTER IV. Wool. "Still shall o'er all prevail the shepherd's stores, For numerous uses known; none yield such warmth, Such beauteous hues receive, so long endure; So pliant to the loom, so various, none." "In the same fleece diversity of wool Grows intermingled, and excites the care Of curious skill to sort the sev'ral kinds." DYER. IBID. OOL, from the frequency of its employment in needlework, becomes the most important of those materials whereupon we have to treat. The readiness with which it takes and perma nently retains the most splendid colours that the art of the dyer is capable of imparting, renders it superior to every other: it is essential, therefore, that we enter fully into a description of its various qualities and uses. Wool is the soft filamentous substance which covers the skins of some animals, more particularly those of the sheep: the term -which is not very well defined, and is rather arbitrary than natural-has been applied alike to the soft hair of the beaver, the goats of Thibet and of Cachemir, and to that of the llama and ostrich, and even to fine vegetable fibres, such as cotton: "The trees of Ethiopia, white with soft wool."* Sheep's wool appears to be the product of cultivation on the wild mouflon (ovis aries)—to which genus all the varieties of the domestic sheep have been traced, and which is still found in a wild state upon the mountains of Sardinia, Corsica, Barbary, Greece, and Asia Minor,-the wool is a coarse hairy substance, mixed with soft down close to the skin. When the animal is placed in a temperate climate, under the fostering care of man, and protected from the inclemencies of the weather, the coarse fibres gradually disappear, while the soft wool round their roots becomes singularly developed. The domestic culture of the sheep, for the sake of its wool, has long occupied the attention of civilized nations, and has produced the highly-valued merinot species, from which our best wool is now procured. Sheep's wool of good quality is never found except in those countries that have been the seats of the arts, and where a considerable degree of luxury and refinement exist, or have once prevailed. The history of its cultivation and preparation, like most of the useful arts of ancient date, is involved in uncertainty. The Greeks attribute the invention of spinning and weaving wool to Minerva it is, however, supposed to be of Asiatic origin, and is * Virgil, Georg. ii. 1. 120. cotton, 1. iii. c. 47. Julius denominates it. Herodotus uses the term "tree wool" to denote The term merino, in the Spanish language, is derived from the corrupt Latin merinus or majorinus. At the period when the transhumantes, or travelling flocks in Spain, were established, they became the object of police, and were placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of mayors, with public walks and large districts allotted for their sustenance, and were termed merinos ovejas, or the sheep under the care of the merino or mayor. referred to by Moses, which proves it to have existed at least fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. The discovery of the wheel and spindle is also veiled in obscurity, but they were obviously used in the most remote ages. In the infancy of the art of weaving, and for many centuries after, the working of cloth was merely a domestic occupation, principally of women: the fleece was gathered from the sheep, washed, opened, spun, and wove under the same roof which witnessed the preparation and grinding of corn. † In proportion as society advanced, and a division of labour became convenient, an improved knowledge was acquired, not only of spinning and weaving, but in that of breeding and selecting those animals, whether sheep or goats, which gave the finest * Exodus, xxxv. 25, 26. The Egyptians, from a most remote era, were celebrated for their manufactures of linen and other cloths; and the produce of their looms was exported to, and eagerly purchased by, foreign nations. The fine linen, and embroidered work, the yarn and woollen stuffs of the upper and lower country, are frequently mentioned, and were highly esteemed. Solomon purchased many of these commodities, as well as chariots and horses, from Egypt and Chemmis, the city of Pan, according to Strabo (lib. xvii.) retained the credit it had acquired in making woollen stuffs, nearly till the period of the Roman conquest. In Egypt, woollen garments were chiefly used by the lower orders; sometimes also by the rich, and even by the priests, who were permitted to wear an upper robe in the form of a cloak of this material, but under-garments of wool were strictly forbidden them, upon a principle of cleanliness; and as they took so much pains to cleanse and shave the body, they considered it inconsistent to adopt clothes made of the hair of animals. Herodotus (1. ii. c. 81) says, that no one was allowed to be buried in a woollen garment; nor could any priest enter a temple without previously taking off this part of his dress. Vide Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. + In the primitive ages, the duties of women were very different from those of a later and more civilized period. Among pastoral tribes, they drew water, kept the sheep, and superintended the herds as well as flocks. As with the Arabs of the present day, they prepared both the furniture and the woollen stuffs, of which the tents themselves were made; and, like the Greek women, they were generally employed in weaving, spinning, and other sedentary occupations. |