Even as early as King Henry III.[[138]] we have a notice "to purchase robes at the fair of St. Ives, for the use of Richard our brother"; and in the dramas of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we find constant allusion to these provincial markets:—[[139]]
"Seven
Pedlars' shops, nay all Sturbridge fair,[[140]] will
Scarce furnish her."[[141]]
The custom of carrying lace from house to house still exists in Belgium, where at Spa and other places, colporteurs,[[142]] with packs similar to those borne by our pedlars, bring round to the visitors laces of great value, which they sell at cheaper rates than those exposed in the shops.[[143]]
Many travellers, too, through the counties of Buckingham and Bedford, or the more southern regions of Devon, will still call to mind the inevitable lace box handed round for purchase by the waiter at the conclusion of the inn dinner; as well as the girls who, awaiting the arrival of each travelling carriage or postchaise, climbed up to the windows of the vehicle, rarely allowing the occupants to go their way until they had purchased some article of the wares so pertinaciously offered to their inspection.
In Paris, the lace trade was the exclusive privilege of the passementiers.[[144]]
Plate X.
Italian. Point de Venise à la rose. Modern reproduction at Burano of seventeenth century lace. Width, 17 in.