Still the greater number of travellers[[185]] make a provision of points in their passage through Venice, and are usually cheated, writes a traveller about this period.[[186]] He recommends his friend, Mr. Claude Somebody, a French dealer, who probably paid him in ruffles for the advertisement.
Fig. 26.
Point de Venise à Brides Picotées.—Early 18th century.
To Face page 54.
Our porte-bouquets and lace-trimmed nosegays are nothing new. On the occasion of the annual visit of the Doge to the Convent delle Vergini, the lady abbess with the novices received him in the parlour, and presented him with a nosegay of flowers placed in a handle of gold, and trimmed round with the finest lace that Venice could produce.[[187]]
Fig. 27.
Venice Point.
Fynes Moryson[[188]] is the earliest known traveller who alludes to the products of Venice. "Venetian ladies in general," he says, "wear a standing collar and ruffs close up to the chin; the unmarried tie their hair with gold and silver lace." Evidently the collars styled "bavari," for which Vecellio[[189]] gives patterns "all' usanza Veneziana," were not yet in general vogue.[[190]] The Medici collars were supported by fine metal bars called "verghetti," which were so much in demand that the inhabitants of a whole quarter of Venice were engaged in their production, and the name which it still bears was given to it in consequence.