History of Lace

by Mrs. Bury Palliser

The Dutch lace most in use was thick, strong and serviceable (Fig. 113). That which has come under our notice resembles the fine close Valenciennes, having a pattern often of flowers or fruit strictly copied from nature. "The ladies wear," remarks Mrs. Calderwood, "very good lace mobs." The shirt worn by William the Silent when he fell by the assassin is still preserved at The Hague; it is trimmed with a lace of thick linen stitches, drawn and worked over in a style familiar to those acquainted with the earlier Dutch pictures.

SAXONY.

"Here unregarded lies the rich brocade,

There Dresden lace in scatter'd heaps is laid;

Here the gilt china vase bestrews the floor,

While chidden Betty weeps without the door."

—"Eclogue on the death of Shock, a pet lapdog."

Ladies' Magazine. 1750.

"His olive-tann'd complexion graces

With little dabs of Dresden laces;