See preceding note.
"The bourgoin is formed of white, stiffly-starched muslin, covering a paste-board shape, and rises to a great height above the head, frequently diminishing in size towards the top, where it finishes in a circular form. Two long lappets hang from either side towards the back, composed often of the finest lace. The bourgoins throughout Normandy are not alike."—Mrs. Stothard's Tour in Normandy.
This must have included Honfleur and other surrounding localities.
By a paper on the lace trade (Mém. concernant le Commerce des Dentelles, 1704. Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 14,294), we find that the making of "dentelles de bas prix," employed at Rouen, Dieppe, Le Havre, and throughout the Pays de Caux, the Bailliage of Caen, at Lyons, Le Puy, and other parts of France, one quarter of the population of all classes and ages from six to seventy years. These laces were all made of Haarlem thread. See Holland.
"The lace-makers of Havre," writes Peuchet, "work both in black and white points, from 5 sous to 30 francs the ell. They are all employed by a certain number of dealers, who purchase the produce of their pillows. Much is transported to foreign countries, even to the East Indies, the Southern Seas, and the islands of America."
Dictionnaire Géographique. T. Corneille. 1707.