Binche was, as early as 1686, the subject of a royal edict, leading one to infer that the laces it produced were of some importance. In the said edict, the roads of Verviers, Gueuse, and Le Catelet, to those persons coming from Binche, are pronounced "faux passages."[[381]] Savary esteems the products of this little village. The same laces, he adds, are made in all the monastères of the province, that are partly maintained by the gains. The lace is good, equal to that of Brabant and Flanders. The characteristic peculiarities of Binche are, that there is either no cordonnet at all outlining the pattern, or that the cordonnet is scarcely a thicker thread than that which makes the toilé.[[382]] The design itself is very indefinite, and is practically the same as the early Valenciennes laces. Varieties of the fond de neige ground were used instead of the regular réseau ground. Dentelle de Binche appears to have been much in vogue in the last century. It is mentioned in the inventory of the Duchesse de Modène,[[383]] daughter of the Regent, 1761; and in that of Mademoiselle de Charollais, 1758, who has a "couvrepied, mantelet, garniture de robe, jupon," etc., all of the same lace. In the Misérables of Victor Hugo, the old grandfather routs out from a cupboard "une ancienne garniture de guipure de Binche" for Cosette's wedding-dress.[[384]] The Binche application flowers have already been noticed.
The lace industry of Binche will soon be only a memory. But before 1830 it "was a hive of lace-makers, and the bees of this hive earned so much money by making lace that their husbands could go and take a walk without a care for the morrow," as it is curiously phrased in an account of Binche and its lace. (Plate XLIII.)
We have now named the great localities for lace-making throughout the Low Countries. Some few yet remain unmentioned.
The needle-point of Liège should be mentioned among the Flanders laces. At the Cathedral of Liège there is still to be seen a flounce of an alb unequalled for the richness and variety of its design and its perfection. Liège in her days of ecclesiastical grandeur carried on the lace trade like the rest.[[385]] We read, in 1620, of "English Jesuitesses at Liège, who seem to care as much for politics as for lace-making."[[386]]
An early pattern-book, that of Jean de Glen, a transcript of Vinciolo, was published in that city in 1597. It bears the mark of his printing-press—three acorns with the motto, "Cuique sua præmia," and is dedicated to Madame Loyse de Perez. He concludes a complimentary dedication to the lady with the lines:—
"Madame, dont l'esprit modestement subtil,
Vigoureux, se délecte en toutes choses belles,
Prenez de bonne part ces nouvelles modelles
Que vous offre la main de ce maistre gentil."
He states that he has travelled and brought back from Italy some patterns, without alluding to Vinciolo. At the end, in a chapter of good advice to young ladies, after exhorting them to "salutairement passer la journée, tant pour l'âme que pour le corps," he winds up that he is aware that other exercises, such as stretching the hands and feet, "se frotter un peu les points des bras," and combing the hair, are good for the health; that to wash the hands occasionally in cold water is both "civil et honnête," etc.