[273] “Récit de Robert Clari.” He was one of the companions of Ville d’Hardouin, and a witness to the coronation of Baldwin II. See Auberville’s “Histoire des Tissus,” p. 21.
[274] Satin is called by Marco Polo “zettani,” and he says it came from Syria. The French called it “zatony;” the Spaniards named it “aceytuni,” which is probably derived from “zaituniah,” the product of Zaiton. Yates (p. 246) gives the derivations of the words satin and silk; the one imported to us through Greece and Italy, the other from Eastern Asia, through Slavonia and Northern Europe.
[275] Ibid. In the Wigalois, a story is told of a cavern in Asia full of everlasting flames, where costly fellat was made by the Salamanders, which was fireproof and indestructible.
[276] “Man of Lawe’s Tale: Canterbury Pilgrims.”
[277] “Ohitos terciopelos” (three-piled-velvet eyes) is a pretty Spanish phrase, describing the soft, dark, shadowy eyes of the Spanish girls.
[278] The Italian word velluto means “shaggy.”
[279] Bock, i. pp. 99-101.
[280] Buckram was sometimes a silken plush, but generally was woven with cotton. This was also Asiatic, and named by travellers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. I have already mentioned it as a textile in the chapter on [cotton]. When woven of silk it belongs to the class of velvets.
[281] Elsewhere I have spoken of the embroideries of the early Christian times found in the Fayoum, in Egypt. These afford notable examples of the ancient method in putting in patches on a worn or frayed garment. They invariably embroidered them, and so added a grace to the old and honoured vestment, and justified the classical appellation, “Healer of clothes” for a darner. The comparatively modern additions of the restorer, are in ancient as in later specimens, often a puzzle to the archæologist.
[282] The specimens in the South Kensington Museum, where Dr. Rock gives their approximate dates, are most useful to the student of this subject.