FLANDERS. 87 tlie threads woven by the strange power of the hand, threads which the dropping spider would in vain attempt to imitate, and Fig. 45. I Lace-making. After Martin de Vos. which Pallas would confess she had never known; ” and a deal more in the same style. 5 It goes on : “ For the maiden, seated at her work, plies her fingers rapidly, and flashes the smooth balls and thou sand threads into the circle. Often she astens with her hand the innumerable needles, to bring out the various figures of the pattern ; often, again, she unfastens them ; and in this her amusement makes as much profit as the man earns by the sweat of his brow; and no maiden ever complains even at the length of the day. The issue is a fine web, open to the air