Imitation Point de Venise Combined with Point Gaze.
Passement.—A term applied to the oldest class of pillow laces, at a time when they were of comparatively simple construction, being little more than open braids and gimps. This designation was in use until the middle of the seventeenth century. The word is now applied to a decorative edging or trimming, especially a gimp or braid. It is an old French word, and in the country of its origin included in its meaning both lace and embroideries. It has an interesting literary association, having figured, under the slightly altered form of "passemens," in a satirical poem published at Paris in 1661. The poem, which is entitled "La Révolte des Passemens," is dedicated to Mademoiselle de la Trousse, a cousin of Madame de Sévigné, and was probably composed by one of her literary friends. It is a protest against a sumptuary law passed in the previous year to check the lavish expenditure on laces imported from Venice and Italy, and is interesting as an account of the best laces of that day, among which are "Pointes de Gènes, de Raguse, de Venise, d'Angleterre et de Flanders," as well as the "Gueuse" of humbler pretensions. The various laces are supposed to revolt against the law excluding them from France, and especially from their place in the exalted society of the court. Mesdames les Broderies—
"Le Poincts, Dentelles, Passemens,
Qui par une vaine despence,
Ruinoient aujourd'hui la France"—
call an indignation meeting. One of them hotly demands what punishment shall be meted out to the court for such treatment—
"Dites moi je vous prie,