[106] Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, and a History of the Cathedral, by Oliver, pp. 297, 298.
[107] Ibid. 313.
[108] Ellis’s Metrical Romances, i. 360.
In his “Romaunt of the Rose,” Chaucer describes the dress of Mirthe thus:—
Full yong he was, and merry of thought
And in samette, with birdes wrought,
And with gold beaten full fetously,
His bodie was clad full richely.[109]
Many of the beautifully figured damasks in this collection are what anciently were known as “samits;” and if they really be not “six-thread,” according to the Greek etymology of their name, it is because, that at a very early period the stuffs so called ceased to be woven of such a thickness.
Those strong silks of the present day with the thick thread called “organzine” for the woof, and a slightly thinner thread known by the technical name of “tram” for the warp, may be taken to represent the ancient “examits.”