[85] The dance Sarrabanda, the saraband of our old writers, is, of course, nothing else but “Tyrian bounding.”
[86] “In doors they wear mules, or shoes very low, the rest of the leg being naked; out of doors, and particularly in Andalusia, they wear drawers, long and very neatly folded, to exhibit a fine leg, for their garments only come down to half the leg. They are very particular about their feet, and they have shoes of thin Morocco, very soft, embroidered in silk of different colours. They have for bracelets large manacles of gold and silver, so weighty that those of gold are worth a hundred ducats. They have similar ones above the ankle, which are round, and thicker than the wrist.”—Marmol’s Africa, vol. ii. p. 192.
[87] The alpargata is not strictly the sandal, for the sole is of untanned leather, or a thick texture of hemp. The sandal proper has been seen on Jews from the Atlas: it is still in use in Arabia and Ethiopia.
[88] An artiste thus advertises in the Times:—“The Fan.—The most graceful mode of using this elegant companion, so indispensable to the distinguished, will be imparted by a lady who is well skilled in an exercise so charming and fascinating in the brilliant society of the continent, particularly of the Court of Spain. A fortnight’s practice would remove that impression of inaptitude and want of grace, hitherto so apparent in its use in the most fashionable circles in this country. The lady will be at home from 12 to 4 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of each week, commencing the 10th of January. The lessons are for the select few, at five guineas the course. For cards of address apply to Mde. Ramazzoti, French Room, Soho Bazaar.”
[89] “Furthermore, I ordain and command that no Jewesses of our kingdoms shall wear mantillas with lace or trimmings.”—Ord. John II., Cifuentes, July, 1412.
[90] The Magasin des Demoiselles, (October, 1847,) which ought on such a subject to be a good authority, says that coarse lace was first used by the priests and women in the time of Francis I., soon after two varieties appeared called Visette, and Gueuse: next appeared, from the manufacturers of Brussels, &c., Mignonette, La Compour, and lastly La Guypure, sometimes embellished with silk and gold and silver thread. The original patterns of the guypure resemble those of the lace which at present is known by that name. These, strongly meshed, run and entwine, capriciously imitating the forms of the architecture of the “rénaissance,” which evidently suggested it. The guypures in narrow strips are called “tête de more.”
[91] At Jerusalem the fringes Tzetzes were sometimes so long that carpets were carried about to bear them on.
[92] Nicod, Monnet, Henri, Etienne, dictionaries of the eighteenth century, do not contain the word Dentelle. In the Encyclopedie Méthodique is mentioned a work published in 1587, being a translation and a third edition of Frederick de Vinciolo Venilæri, of which the title is “Le Réseau premier et la point coupé et locis de plusieurs beaux et dìfferens pour traicts de reseaux de point de côté avec le nombre de mailles, chose non encore vue ni inventée.” The engravings seem to represent two kinds of lace, figures forming a toilé without field, i. e. guypure; the other figures on a square thick-set ground or net work as in Valenciennes appliquées.
Of the same period, a set of engravings representing the avocations of men (by Dubruyn and A. V. Londerseel) shows a girl at work on lace with the cushion now in common use on her knee. Colbert protected it in 1629.
[93] “They (the Moors) have Festival days instituted of old by the Christians, whereupon they use certain ceremonies which themselves understand not.... When their children’s teeth begin to grow, they make another feast called, according to the Latins, Dentilia.”—Leo Africanus, Book iii. Description of Fez.