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194 HISTORY OF LACE. themselves to black. In order to preserve purity of colour, the lacemakers work during the summer months in the open air, in winter in lofts over their cow-houses : warmed by the heat of the animals, they dispense with lire and its accompanying smoke. 16 Generally, it was only made in summer, and the black reserved for winter work. Peuchet speaks of white lace being made in Caen from the lowest price to 25 livres the ell. 17 The silk blonde trade did not suffer from the crisis of 1821 to 1832; when the thread-lace makers were reduced to the brink of ruin by the introduction of bobbin net, the demand for blonde, on the con- trary, had a rapid increase, and Caen exported great quantities, by smuggling, to England. The blonde-makers earning twenty- five per cent, more than the thread-lace makers, the province was in full prosperity. The competition with the machine-made blondes of Calais and Nottingham has caused the manufacture of the white blondes to be abandoned, and the Caen lace-makers now confine themselves to making black lace. Caen also produces gold and silver blondes, mixed sometimes with pearls. In 1847 the laces of Caen alone employed more than 5U,000 persons, or one-eighth of the whole population of Calvados. Bayeux formerly made only light thread laces—mignonettes, and what Peuchet calls 18 “ point de Marli.” “ On ne voit dans ces dentelles,” he writes, “ que du reseau de diverses especes, du fond et une canetille a gros fil, qu’on conduit autour de ces fonds.” Marli, styled in the Dictionary of Napoleon Landais a “ tissu a jour en fil et en soie fabrique sur le metier a faire de la gaze,” was in fact the predecessor of tulle. It was invented about 1705, 19 and for twenty years had great success. In the “ Tableau de Paris,” 1782, we read that marli employed a great number of workpeople, “ et l’on a vu des soldats valides et invalides faire le marli, le promener, l’offrir, et le vendre eux-memes. Des soldats faire le 18 The handkerchief of “ Paris net,” mentioned by Goldsmith. 19 In the Dep. du Nord, by Jean-Ph. Briatte. ‘‘ Its fall was owing to the bad faith of imitators, who substituted a single thread of bad quality for the double twisted thread of the country.” — Dieudonnd, Statistique du Dgp. du Nord. In the “ Mercure Galant ” for June 1680, we find the ladies wear “ cornettes h la jardiniere ‘ de Marly.’ ” 16 Letter from Edgar McCullocli, Esq., Guernsey. 17 Blondes appear also to have been made at Le Mans :— “ Cette manufacture qui e'toit autrefois entretenue a l’hopital du Mans, lui rapportoit un benefice de 4000 b 5000 fr. Elle est bien tombe'e par la dispersion des anciennes sceurs hospitalieres.”—Stat. du Ddp. de la Sartlie, par le Gitoyen L.-M. Auvray. An X.