Fig. 34.
Unfinished Drawn-Work.
Though the riches of our Lady of Loreto fill a volume in themselves,[[215]] and her image was fresh clad every day of the year, the account of her jewels and plate so overpower any mention of her laces, which were doubtless in accordance with the rest of the wardrobe, that there is nothing to tell on the subject.
The laces of the Vatican and the holy Conclave, mostly presents from crowned heads, are magnificent beyond all description. They are, however, constantly in the market, sold at the death of a Cardinal by his heirs, and often repurchased by some newly-elected prelate, each of whom on attaining a high ecclesiastical dignity is compelled to furnish himself with several sets.
A lady[[216]] describing the ceremony of washing the feet by the Pope, writes, in 1771, "One of his cardinals brought him an apron[[217]] of old point with a broad border of Mechlin lace, and tied it with a white ribbon round his holiness's waist." In this guise protected, he performed the ceremony.
Clement IX. was in the habit of making presents of Italian lace, at that period still prized in France, to Monsieur de Sorbière, with whom he had lived on terms of intimacy previous to his elevation. "He sends ruffles," cries the irritated Gaul, who looked for something more tangible, "to a man who never has a shirt."[[218]]
NAPLES.
When Davies, Barber Surgeon of London,[[219]] visited Naples in 1597, he writes, "Among the traffic of this city is lace of all sorts and garters."
Fynes Moryson, his contemporary, declares "the Italians care not for foreign apparel, they have ruffles of Flanders linen wrought with Italian cut-work so much in use with us. They wear no lace in gold and silver, but black"; while Lassels says, all they care for is to keep a coach; their point de Venise and gold lace are all turned into horses and liveries.[[220]]