Mary, Countess of Pembroke. + 1621. (From her portrait in Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors.)
When Queen Anne died, in 1619, we have an elaborate account of her funeral,[[934]] and of the sum paid to Dorothy Speckart for dressing a hearse effigy with a large veil, wired and edged with peak lace and lawn, curiously cut in flowers, etc. Laced linen, however, was already discarded in mourning attire, for we find in the charges for the king's mourning ruffs, an edging at 14d. the piece is alone recorded.[[935]]
Towards the end of James I.'s reign a singular custom came into fashion, brought in by the Puritan ladies, that of representing religious subjects, both in lace, cut-work, and embroidery, a fashion hitherto confined to church vestments. We find constant allusions to it in the dramatists of the day. Thus, in the City Match,[[936]] we read—
"She works religious petticoats, for flowers
She'll make church histories. Her needle doth
So sanctify my cushionets, besides
My smock sleeves have such holy embroideries,
And are so learned, that I fear in time
All my apparel will be quoted by