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300 HISTORY OF LACE. bone lace, outworks, &c., setting forth, “ Whereas many poor children have attained great dexterity in the making thereof, the persons so employed have served most parts of the kingdom with bone lace, and for the carrying out of the same trade have caused much thread to be brought into the country, whereby the customs have been greatly advanced, until of late large quantities of bone lace, cutwork, &c., were brought into the kingdom and sold contrary to the former Statutes and the proclamation of November last; all such bone lace is to be forfeited, and a penalty of 100Z. paid by the offender.” 4 This same act only occasioned the more smuggling of lace from Flanders, for the lace made in England had never attained the beauty of Brussels, and indeed, w'herever fine lace is mentioned at this period, it is ahvays of foreign fabric. That Charles himself was of this opinion, there can be no doubt, for in the very same year he grants to one John Eaton a licence to import such quan tities of lace, “ made beyond the seas, as may be for the wear of the Queen, our dear Mother the Queen, our dear brother James, Duke of York,” and the rest of the royal family. The permission is softened down by the words, “And to the end the same may be patterns for the manufacture of these commodities here, notwith standing the late Statute forbidding their importation.” 5 Charles had evidently received his lessons in the school of Mazarin. As the galleries of the cardinal were filled with sculptures, paintings, and maiolica—rich produce of Italian art, as pattei ns for France, “ per mostra di fame in Francia ”—so the king’s “ pilea nocturna,” pillowberes, cravats, were trimmed with the points of Venice 6 and lace of Flanders, at the rate of fiOOZ. per annum, for the sake of improving the lace manufacture of England. The introduction of the flowing wig, with its long curls cover ing the shoulders, gave a final blow to the falling band; the ends floating and tied in front could alone be visible. In time they diminished in size, and the remains are still seen in the laced bands of the lawyer, when in Ml dress, and the homely bordered cambric 4 14 Car. II. c. 13. Statutes at large. The acts of Charles II. date from the death of his father; so the year of the Restoratian, 1660, is counted as the thirteenth of his reign. 5 1062. “ State Papers, Dom.” Charles II. vol. lv. No. 25. P. R. 0. 6 He pays 1491. to his laceman (Teneatari) for 3 cravats “ de poynt de Venez,” and 24s. per yard for 57 yards of narrow point, “ tenia! poynt augustse,” to trim his falling ruffles, “ manicis ca- dentibus,” &e.— G. W. A. Car. II. 24 & 25. Later (1676-7) we find charged for “ un par manicarum, le poynt, 14?.”