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340 HISTORY OF LACE. it, and some men when grown up follow no other employment; others, when out of work, find it a good resource, and can earn as much as Ihe generality of day labourers. The lace made in Hanslape is from sixpence to two guineas a yard in value. It is calculated that from 8000/. to 9000/. net profit is annually brought into the parish by the lace manufacture.” The bone lace of Stoney Stratford 12 and Aylesbury are both quoted by Defoe, and the produce of the latter city is mentioned with praise. He writes: “ Many of the poor here are employed in making lace for edgings, not much inferior to those from Flanders; but it is some pleasure to us to observe that the English are not the only nation in the world which admires foreign manufactures above its own, since the French, who give fashions to most nations, buy and sell the finest laces at Paris under the name of ‘ dentelles d’Angleterre,’ or English laces.” 13 But Newport Pagnel, whether from its more central position, or being of greater commercial importance, is the town wbich receives most praise from all contemporary authors. “ This town,” says the “ Magna Britannia,” in 1720, “ is a sort of staple for bone lace, of which more is thought to be made here than any town in England; that commodity is brought to as great perfection almost as in Flanders.” “ Newport Pagnel,” writes Defoe, “ carries on a great trade in bone lace, and this same manufacture employs all the neighbouring villages;” while Don Manuel Gonzales, in 1730, speaks of its lace as little inferior to that of Flanders, 14 which asseition he may probably have copied from previous writers. At one of the earliest meetings of the Anti-Gallican Society, 1752, Admiral Vernon in the chair, the first prize to the maker of the best piece of English bone lace was awarded to Air. William Marriott, of Newport Pagnel, Bucks. The principal lace dealers in London were invited to give their opinion, and they allowed it to be the best ever made in England. Emboldened by this success, we read how, in 1761, Earl Temple, lord-lieutenant of Bucks, having been requested by liichard Lowndes, Esq., one of 12 Describing the “ lace anil edgings ” of the tradesman’s wife, she has “ from Stoney Stratford the first, and Great Marlow the last.”—The Compli te English Tradesman, Dan. Defoe, 1726. 13 Edition 17G2. 14 “The Voyage to Great Britain of Don Manuel Gonzales, late Merchant of* the City of Lisbon.” “Some say Defoe wrote this book himself: it is evidently from the pen of an Englishman.”— Lowndes’ Bibliographer's Manual, Bohn’s edition.