Linnet

“ The shutters were closed, and the afternoon sun shot yellow shafts against floors and walls. There was a perfume of lavender, of rose leaves.
"Somewhere in one of these closets there is a roll of linen." She opened one after another, looking into each. "No; it is not here. Then it must be in there. Yes; here it is. This linen was spun and woven from flax grown on your great-great-grandfather's land. Look at it! It is beautifully made. Each generation of the family has inherited part and left the rest for generations yet to come. Half of it is yours, half is Dent's. ”

“ A drapery of white muslin and rose- coloured silk divides this from a bedroom, also fitted up with all manner of elegances. French beds with blue silk coverlids and clear mosquito curtains, and fine lace. A drapery divides this on one side from the gallery; and this room opens into others which run all round the house. The floors are marble or stucco—the roofs beams of pale blue wood placed transversely, and the whole has an air of agreeable coolness. Everything is handsome without being gaudy, and admirably adapted for the climate. ”

“ I saw the white dress, the splendid hair, the rosary, and the gold locket quite plainly. She turned her lovely face to me and smiled a sweet, pathetic smile; gently raised her hand, and floated away towards the picture gallery. Now for the end. Next day my kind hostess took me through the old gallery. I saw pictures of all ages, sorts, and sizes; but imagine my amazement when I saw 'The White Lady'—the same white dress, the lovely sweet face and splendid eyes, the rosary, and a locket, which I now saw had on it the arms of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley. 'Who on earth is that?' I asked. ”

“ If, on the other hand, we view our rugs with the light of a better wisdom and happier experience, we will see the richest and softest of colours, the most harmonious shadings and blendings, medallions brilliant as jewels, or geometrical designs beautiful as the rose windows of a cathedral ”

“ In the great fresco, each individual of the multitude that fills a public place, or defiles in open procession under the noonday light, is not only a masterpiece of fashion, but a model of neatness; linen, delicate as woven gossamer, falls into folds as finely exact as an engraver's point could draw; velvet shoes tread without speck or spot upon the well-scoured pavement of a public street; men-at-arms grasp weapons and hold bridles with hands as carefully tended as any idle fine gentleman's, and there is neither fleck nor breath of dimness on the mirror-like steel of their armour ”

“ We hear of ruffs that contained eighteen or nineteen yards of linen. The fashionable depth was one-fourth of a yard. Sometimes they were as much as one-third of a yard deep. Imagine the head of a man or woman, like the hub of a cartwheel, firmly gripped in the midst of a mass of starched linen extending a foot on all sides! So cumbersome were these articles of dress that it became necessary to underprop them with a framework of wire to keep them from tumbling down of their own weight, and to prevent them from dragging their wearer's head down with them. ”

“ The costume of the Anglo-Saxon ladies consisted of a sherte, or camise, of linen next the skin, a kirtle, which resembled the modern petticoat, and a gunna, or gown, with sleeves. Out of doors a mantle covered the upper portion of the body, and with the coverchief, or head rail, formed a characteristic feature of the dress of the day. Cloth, silk, and linen were the favourite materials for clothing, and red, blue, yellow, and green the fashionable colours. ”

“ The white stairs, the deep crimson of the carpet, and the light blue of the dress made an effective combination of colour to set off the delicate carnation of that face, which, after the first glance given to the whole person, drew irresistibly your gaze to itself by an indefinable quality of charm beyond all analysis and made you think of remote races, of strange generations, of the faces of women sculptured on immemorial monuments and of those lying unsung in their tombs. ”

“ Over the whole is thrown the most gorgeous coloring, the play of reflected lights, the magnificence of almost shifting, yet ever harmonious hues and luxuriance of ornament;—like the golden flood from the stained window, pouring its radiance over the irregular but magical combinations of the Gothic aisle. ”

“ All of the lighter shades of green, blue, yellow, and rose are as permanent, and as easily cleaned, as the dull grays and drabs and mud-colours which are often used upon bedroom walls—especially those upper ones which are above the zone of ornament, apparently under the impression that there is virtue in their very ugliness. ”

“ Returning, I circled the city and passed the weavers’ dwellings, where I was greatly interested in the looms these clever people had invented. They wove the finest linen I have ever seen, and a material much worn by the women which seemed to me softer and more exquisitely finished than the best of our silks. ”

“ Napkin of linen embroidered in white thread; ground, plain white linen; design, a conventional rectangular floriation, filled in with other floriations, and in the middle an eight-petaled flower, and in the square intervening spaces outside a fleur-de-lis shooting out of each corner, all in white broad thread. German, late 14th century. 23 inches by 131⁄4 inches.
Like many other examples of the kind, the present one can show its elaborate and beautifully-executed design only by being held up to the light, when it comes forth in perfection. ”

“ An ample supply of choice bed linen and towels, all handsomely marked, is no less a subject of pride with housekeepers than dainty table damask, and people of wealth in these days spend lavishly upon hemstitched linen or silk sheets, elegant towels, and elaborately embroidered letterings. ”

“ Time has softened and deepened its ruddy hue to a mellow, rich tone, contrasting pleasantly with the white copings and facings of its windows, and suggesting agreeably something of the smooth brown cloth and neat white linen of a well-to-do city gentleman of the last century. ”

“ In the 14th century, the English craftsman attained a thorough mastery over his materials, and consequently the type of ornament followed English contemporary architecture more closely.
To sum up, stained glass changed through the different periods from the rich coloured mosaic of the Normans—the equally rich coloured medallions and grisaille glass of the early Gothic—the decorated Gothic, with glass in lighter colours, and a prevalence of yellow stain, culminating in the later Gothic period, when largeness of mass, lightness, and silvery colour, were the characteristics. ”

“ We often hear especially of the abundance and beauty of the linen. Much of all this is drawn within the sphere of art. We note with admiration the thousand ways in which art ennobles luxury, not only adorning the massive sideboard or the light brackets with noble vases and clothing the walls with the moving splendour of tapestry, and covering the toilet-table with numberless graceful trifles, but absorbing whole branches of mechanical work—especially carpentering—into its province. ”

“ White linen thread is often the material employed for linen altar cloths, coverlets, etc., and some extremely choice examples of such work are to be seen in our museums, some worked roughly with a large linen thread and big stitches, some with patient minuteness. ”

“ The bell was ringing, the big doors wide open, sending out a glow of warmth and colour, and the carpet of white untrodden country snow was quite intact, except a little pathway made by the feet of the men who had brought up the harmonium. The red carpet and bright chrysanthemums made a fine effect of colour, and the little "niche" (it could hardly be called a chapel) of the Virgin was quite charming, all dressed with greens and white flowers, our tall Italian candles making a grand show. ”

“ All the way there was nothing but rich tapestry, carpets, scarlet, cloth, masquers clad in velvet, pageants with cloth of gold, and the streets filled with men and women dressed in rich furs and silks, such as only great barons could afford. ”

“ But a fair number of peasants in the streets, and peasant women in rather ordinary costume: tight-bodiced, volume-skirted dresses of hand-woven linen or thickish cotton. The prettiest is of dark-blue-and-red, stripes-and-lines, intermingled, so made that the dark-blue gathers round the waist into one colour, the myriad pleats hiding all the rosy red. ”

“ The upper cape of the cloak is thrown over the left shoulder in such a manner as to expose the lining; and as you walk along the streets, you are lost in admiration of a dress so graceful, and think regretfully of the orthodox great-coat worn in London, when a little colour would be so pleasant to the eye. ”

“ The three princesses, having drawn up their supply of flour, put it into their storehouse, and went back to their dwelling.
Their palace was most beautiful, all silver without, and all gold within. All the windows were of crystal; the chairs and tables were made of diamonds, and the floors of looking-glass. ”

“ Often the figures are fantastically developed out of the leaves and floral branches. The favourite decorative motives are antique columns, pediments, broken pediments, terms, garlands, 93pagan deities, classical heroes, caryatides, grotesque figures, initial letters smothered in branches of foliage, cartouches, pilasters and arabesques. Gothic perforations are also used, although they are more geometrical than during the preceding period. (See Plate X.) The favourite linen-fold pattern dies very hard. Strips of leather called “cuirs,” variously folded and plaited, enjoy a great vogue. ”

“ The hangings seemed to shed forth the rich and beautiful colours of the Renaissance textile fabrics; and the silks, brocades, and embroideries of this immense but sumptuous room, the silken carpet with Persian design, might have been discovered by the great decorator marvellously preserved instead of almost as marvellously made in his looms. ”

“ At the further end of the room, far away, and standing by a great carved chimney place wherein smouldered the remains of a fire, stood a group of nobles in gorgeous dress of velvet and silks, and with glittering golden chains hung about their necks. ”

“ There is more in this sculpture, however, than its simple portraiture and noble drapery. The old man lies on a piece of embroidered carpet; and, protected by the higher relief, many of the finer lines of this are almost uninjured; in particular, its exquisitely-wrought fringe and tassels are nearly perfect. ”

“ All this is savage enough, but it illustrates in its own crude way that delight in strong colour which transforms the human life of the East into such a vivid foreground to the faint landscape. In the dress there is artistic instinct as well as barbaric splendour, and in the carpets, the mosaics, and the glass there is brilliant and matchless artistry. ”

“ It is curious to add that some of the tiles which have been found tell a silent tale, which they were never intended to carry, of the dress or hand or foot of the maker, which have become accidentally impressed upon their surface while in a soft state, and are afterwards rendered imperishable by firing in the kiln. One example of this kind of accidental ornamentation (Fig. 207) , which exhibits the impress of a man’s feet, or, rather, shoes thickly studded with nails,—like the “hob-nailed” boots of our own day,—will suffice as an illustration. ”

“ On every festival, good fare abounded from the palace to the cottage; and the poorest wore strong broad-cloth and homespun linen, compared with which the flimsy fabrics of these times are mere worthless gossamers and cobwebs, whether strength or value be looked at. ”

“ I am always touched, when handling the homespun linens of olden times, with a sense that the vitality and strength of those enduring women, through the many tedious and exhausting processes which they had bestowed, were woven into the warp and woof with the flax, and gave to the old webs of linen their permanence and their beautiful texture. ”

“ Women in magnificently ornamented veils, the breast nude, the head crowned with huge cones and crescents, and dressed in gaudy robes covered with the figures of unicorns, lions and savages, place themselves on seats representing small sculptured and gilded cathedrals. The life of the court and of princes seems a carnival. ”

“ A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau. ”

“ If she is fond of handwork, there may be hand-embroidered linens for the bed-spreads, hand-embroidered linen scarfs and hand-embroidered centerpieces of linen. One bride we know included a twenty-yard bolster of uncut linen in her trousseau in addition to the items mentioned above. If one can afford it, it is best to start out with a generous supply of linens, as somehow the older they grow, the longer we have them, the more precious they become. ”

“ As one looks down from the balcony through a storm of sugarplums the eye revels in a perfect feast of colour. Even the russet-brown of every old woman's dress glows in the sunshine into a strange beauty. Every little touch of red or blue in the girls' head-dresses shines out in the intense light. ”

“ The elegance of the bed depended upon its upholstery. The richest beds were draped with tapestry, silk, damask brocade and velvet, beautifully trimmed with gold and silver braid or lace, narrow silk fringe, or fringe of gold or silver threads, or decorative cords and tassels. Serge, cloth, East Indian goods, linen and cotton materials were also employed. ”

“ The curtains were pink, the mantelpiece clock and candlesticks white marble and gold, the carpet and portieres of rich Oriental design, and the chandelier and candelabra to light the divan of silver gilt. ”