CHAPTER XXXIII

.

SCOTLAND.

"With the pearlin above her brow."--Old Scotch Song.

"Pearlin-lace as fine as spiders' webs."--_Heart of Midlothian._

From her constant intercourse with France, lace must have been early known in Scotland.

Of its use for ecclesiastical purposes, at a period when it was still unknown to the laity, we have evidence in the mutilated effigy of a crosiered ecclesiastic which once stood in a niche of the now ruined abbey church of Arbroath. The lace which adorns the robes of this figure is very elaborately and sharply chiselled, and when first discovered, still preserved some remains of the gold leaf with which it had been ornamented.

In the Inventories of King James V. we find constant mention of "pasment" of gold and silver,[1172] as well as an entry of--"Ane gown of fresit clayth of gold, with pasment of perle of gold smyth wark lynit with cramasy sating."[1173] And we have other proofs,[1174] in addition to the testimony of Sir Walter Scott, as given in the Monastery,[1175] that pasments of gold and silver as well as "purle," were already in daily use during King James's reign.

{419}Indeed, as early as 1575 the General Assembly of Scotland found necessary, as did the bishops in Denmark, to express its mind as to the style of dress befitting the clergy, and prohibit "all begares (gardes) of velvet on gown, hose, or coat, all superfluous cut-out work, all sewing on of pasments and laces."

A parchment, too, found in the cabinet of the Countess of Mar,[1176] entitled "The Passement Bond," signed by the Duke of Lennox and other nobles, by which they engaged themselves to leave off wearing "passement," as a matter of expense and superfluity, shows that luxury in dress had early found its way into Scotland.

Notwithstanding these entries, it was not until the arrival of Mary Stuart in her northern dominions that lace in all its varieties appears. The inventory of the Queen's effects in 1567, printed by the Bannatyne Club, gives entries of passements, guimpeure d'or, and guimpeure d'argent,[1177] with which her "robes de satin blanc et jaune" were "bordées" and "chamarées." Each style of embroidery and lace is designated by its special name. There is the "natte d'argent faite par entrelatz, passement d'or et d'argent fait à jour, chamarré de bisette,"[1178] etc.

The word dentelle, as told elsewhere,[1179] occurs but once.

We have also alluded to the will made by the Queen previous to the birth of James VI., and her bequest of her "ouvrages maschés."[1180] A relic of this expression is yet found in the word "mawsch," or "masch," as the pinking of silk and muslin is termed in Scotland, an advertisement of which {420}accomplishment "done here" was seen a few years ago in the shop-windows of the old town of Edinburgh.

In the Palace of Holyrood is still exhibited a small basket lined with blue silk, and trimmed with a bone lace of rudely-spun flax, run on with a ribbon of the same colour, recorded to be an offering sent by Queen Elizabeth to her cousin previous to the birth of her godchild. Antiquaries assert the story to be a fable. Whether the lace be of the time or not, as a work of art it is of no credit to any country.

How Queen Mary, in her youth, was instructed in the arts of point coupé and lacis, according to the works of Vinciolo, has been already related.[1181] Of her talents as a needlewoman there is ample proof in the numerous beds, screens, etc., treasured as relics in the houses of the nobles where she was held captive. She knitted head-dresses of gold "réseille," with cuffs and collars[1182] en suite,[1183] to say nothing of nightcaps, and sent them as presents to Elizabeth,[1184] all of which, we are told, the Queen received most graciously. Mary, in her early portraits as Dauphine of France, wears no thread lace. Much fine gold embroidered with passament enriches her dresses; her sleeves are of gold rézeuil. In those of a later date, like that taken when in Lochleven Castle, her veil is bordered with a narrow bone lace--as yet a rarity--may be one of the same noted in the Inventory of 1578, as "Fyve litell vaills of wovin rasour (réseau) of threde, ane meekle twa of thame, passmentit with perle and black silk."[1185]

When the Queen of Scots ascended the scaffold "she wore {421}on her head," writes Burleigh's reporter, "a dressing of lawn edged with bone lace," and "a vest of lawn fastened to her caul," edged with the same material. This lace-edged veil was long preserved as a relic in the exiled Stuart family, until Cardinal York bequeathed it to Sir John Cox Hippisley. Miss Pigott[1186] describes it of "transparent zephyr gauze, with a light check or plaid pattern interwoven with gold; the form as that of a long scarf."[1187] Sir John, when exhibiting the veil at Baden, had the indiscretion to throw it over the Queen of Bavaria's head. The Queen shuddered at the omen, threw off the veil, and retired precipitately from the apartment, evidently in great alarm.

"Cuttit out werk," collars of "hollie crisp," quaiffs of woven thread,[1188] cornettes of layn (linen) sewit with cuttit out werk of gold, wovin collars of threde, follow in quick succession. The cuttit out werk is mostly wrought in gold, silver, cramoisi, or black silk.[1189] The Queen's "towell claiths" are adorned in similar manner.[1190]

The Chartley Inventory of 1568[1191] is rich in works of point coupé and rézeuil, in which are portrayed with the needle figures of birds, fishes, beasts, and flowers, "couppés chascune en son carré." The Queen exercised much ingenuity in her labours, varying the pattern according to her taste. In the list are noted fifty-two specimens of flowers designed after nature, "tirés au naturel;" 124 birds; as well as sixteen sorts of four-footed beasts, "entre lesquelles y ha un lyon assailant un sanglier;" with fifty-two fishes, all of {422}divers sorts--giving good proofs of the poor prisoner's industry. As to the designs after nature, with all respect to the memory of Queen Mary, the lions, cocks, and fishes of the sixteenth century which have come under our notice, require a student of mediæval needlework rather than a naturalist, to pronounce upon their identity.

James VI. of Scotland, reared in a hotbed of Calvinism, had not the means, even if he had the inclination, to indulge in much luxury in dress. Certain necessary entries of braid pasmentis of gold, gold clinquant, braid pasmentis, cramoisi, for the ornamenting of clokkis, coittis, breikis, and roobes of the King, with "Twa unce and ane half pasmentis of gold and silver to werk the headis of the fokkis," made up the amount of expense sanctioned for the royal wedding;[1192] while 34 ells braid pasmentis of gold to trim a robe for "his Majesties darrest bedfellow the Quene for her coronation,"[1193] gives but a poor idea of the luxury of the Scottish court.

Various enactments[1194] were passed during the reign of James VI. against "unnecessary sumptuousness in men's apparel," by which no one except noblemen, lords of session, prelates, etc., were allowed to wear silver or gold lace. Provosts were permitted to wear silk, but no lace pearlin or pasmenterie, only a "watling silk lace" on the seams.[1195] No one but the above same privileged persons were to have pearlin on their ruffles, sarkis, napkins, and sokkis, and that pearlin to be made in the kingdom of Scotland. This Act, dated 1621, is the first mention we have found of Scottish-made lace.

James VI. having granted to one James Bannatyne of Leith a patent for the "importing of foraine pearlin" into the country, in consequence of the great complaint of the embroiderers in 1639, this patent is rescinded, and the King forbids the entry of all "foraine pearlin."

The word lace does not exist in the Scotch language. "Pearlin" is the term used in old documents, defined in the {423}dictionaries to be "a species of lace made with thread." In the old Scotch songs it frequently occurs:--[1196]

"Then, round the ring she dealt them ane by ane, Clean in her pearlin keck, and gown alane." --_Ross Helonora._

Again--

"We maun hae pearlins and mabbies and cocks, And some other things that ladies call smocks."

As the latter articles may appear more familiar to the world in general than "kecks," and "mabbies," and "cocks," we may as well explain a "pearlin keck" to signify a linen cap with a lace border; a "mabbie," a mob; a "cock," or cock-up, no more eccentric head-dress than the lofty fontanges or commode of the eighteenth century.

Again, in _Rob Roy_ we have the term "pearlin:" when Bailie Nicol Jarvie piteously pleads to his kinswoman, Helen Macgregor, he says--

"I hae been serviceable to Rob before now, forbye a set of pearlins I sent yoursell when you were gaun to be married."

The recollection of these delicate attentions, however, has little effect on the Highland chieftainess, who threatens to have him chopped up, if ill befalls her lord, into as many square pieces as compose the Macgregor tartan, or throw him neck and heels into the Highland loch.

Montrose, we read, sent his lace ruffles to be starched and dressed before they were sewn on the embroidered sark he had made only to wear at his execution. "Pearlin" was provided for him which cost £10 an ell.

The close-fitting velvet cap, enriched with lace, appears in the seventeenth century to have been adopted by the lawyers of the Scotch courts. An example may be seen in the portrait of Sir Thomas Hope, Lord Advocate of Scotland, who died in 1646, which hangs in the Hall of the Advocates of Edinburgh. Another (Fig. 160) appears in the engraving of Sir Alexander Gibson, Bart., Lord Durie, one of the Lords of Session, who died two years previously.

In 1672, when lace--"point lace made of {424}thread"--came under the ban of the Covenanters, with a penalty of "500 merks toties quoties," the wearing such vanities on liveries is strictly forbidden; servants, however, are allowed to wear out their masters' and mistresses' old clothes.

In 1674, his Majesty, understanding that the manufacture of "pearlin and whyt lace made of thread (whereby many people gain their livelihood) was thereby much prejudiced and impaired, declares that from henceforth it shall be free to all and every person within this kingdom to wear 'whyt lace,' as well as the privileged persons above mentioned." Finding these exclusions of little or no avail, in January, 1685, the Act remits the wearing of lace, both native and foreign, to all folks living.

[Illustration: Fig. 160.

SIR ALEXANDER GIBSON, BART. (Lord Durie, Lord of Session. + 1644.)]

The dead now came under the scrutiny of the Scotch Parliament, who order all lace or poynt, gold or silver, to be disused at interments, under the penalty of 300 pounds Scots.[1197]

From the united effects of poverty, Covenanters and {425}legislation, after the departure of the court for England, luxury, small though it was, declined in Edinburgh.

It was not till 1680, when James II., as Duke of York, accompanied by Mary of Modena and his "duteous" daughter Anne, visited the Scotch capital, that anything like gaiety or dress can be said to have surprised the strait-laced population.

Dryden, sneering at the barbarism of the Scotch capital, writes, in the prologue to a play delivered at Oxford, referring to a portion of the troop that accompanied the court to Scotland--

"Laced linen there would be a dangerous thing; It might perhaps a new rebellion bring-- The Scot who wore it would be chosen king."

The Highlander, however, when in full dress, did not disdain to adopt the falling band and ruffles of guipure or Flanders lace.

The advertisements and inventories of the first years of the eighteenth century give us little reason to imagine any change had been effected in the homely habits of the people.

At the marriage of a daughter of Thomas Smythe, of Methuen, in 1701, to Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, the bride had a head-suit and ruffles of cut-work which cost nearly six pounds ten shillings.[1198] Few and scanty advertisements of roups of "white thread lace" appear in the journals of the day.[1199]

And in such a state matters continued till the Jacobites, {426}going and coming from St. Germains, introduced French fashions and luxuries as yet unheard of in the then aristocratic Canongate.

It sounds strange to a traveller, as he wanders among these now deserted closes of Edinburgh, to read of the gay doings and of the grand people who, in the last century, dwelt within these poor-looking abodes. A difficult matter it must have been to the Jacobite beauties, whose hoop (from 1725-8) measured nine yards in circumference, to mount the narrow winding staircases of their dwellings; and this very difficulty gave rise to a luxury of underclothing almost unknown in England or elsewhere. Every lady wore a petticoat trimmed with the richest point lace. Nor was it only the jupe that was lace-trimmed. Besides

"Twa lappets at her head, that flaunted gallantlie,"

ladies extended the luxury to finely-laced garters.

In 1720 the bubble Company "for the trading in Flanders laces" appears advertised in the Scotch papers in large and attractive letters. We strongly doubt, however, it having gained any shareholders among the prudent population of Edinburgh.

The prohibition of lace made in the dominions of the French king[1200] was a boon to the Jacobites, and many a lady, and gentleman too, became wondrous loyal to the exiled family, bribed by a packet from St. Germains. In the first year of George II., says the _Gazette_,[1201] a parcel of rich lace was secretly brought to the Duke of Devonshire, by a mistake in the similarity of the title. On being opened, hidden among the folds, was found a miniature portrait of the Pretender, set round with large diamonds. The packet was addressed to a noble lord high in office, one of the most zealous converts to loyalty.[1202]

{427}Smuggling was universal in Scotland in the reigns of George I. and George II., for the people, unaccustomed to imposts, and regarding them as an unjust aggression upon their ancient liberties, made no scruple to elude the customs whenever it was possible so to do.

It was smuggling that originated the Porteous riots of 1736; and in his description of the excited mob, Sir Walter Scott makes Miss Grizel Dalmahoy exclaim--"They have ta'en awa' our Parliament. They hae oppressed our trade. Our gentles will hardly allow that a Scots needle can sew ruffles on a sark or lace on an owerlay."[1203]

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