"Thei bare the gold out of this land
And sowkethe the thrifte out of our hande
As the waspe sowkethe the honey of the be."
It was these cheating Venetians who first brought over their points into England.
In Venice itself, extravagance in lace was restrained in 1542, by a sumptuary law, forbidding the metal laces embroidered in silk to be wider than due dita (i.e., about two inches). This interference is highly Venetian, and was intended to protect the nobles and citizens from injuring themselves and setting a bad example.
At the coronation of Richard III., "fringes of Venice," and "mantil laces of white silk and Venys gold" appear, and twenty years later Elizabeth of York disburses sundry sums for "gold of Venice" and "other necessaries."[[156]] The queen's accounts are less explicit than those of her royal predecessor; and though a lace is ordered for the king's mantle of the Garter, for which she paid sixteen shillings, the article may have been of home manufacture.
From this time downwards appear occasional mention of partlets,[[157]] knit caul fashion, of Venice gold, and of white thread,[[158]] of billament lace of Venice, in silver and black silk.[[159]] It is not, however, till the reign of Elizabeth[[160]] that Italian cut-works and Venice lace came into general use. These points found their way into France about the same period, though we hear little of them.
Plate XII
Italian. Point de Venise à Réseau.—The upper ones are of yellow silk; a chalice veil, with dove and olive branch, and possibly an altar border. Probably late seventeenth century. The lower is thread, early eighteenth century. Width, 2 in. In private collections.