Henshaw's _Horae Successivae_, printed in London in 1632, is bound in
white satin, and measures 4-1/2 by 2 inches. It is very delicately and
prettily worked in a floral design, the same on both sides, and is
remarkable for its simplicity--a flower with stalk and leaves in the
centre, one in each corner, and an insect in the spaces between them.
The centre flower is a carnation, round it are pansy, rose, cornflower,
and strawberry, while between them are a caterpillar, snail, butterfly,
and moth. All of these are delicately worked in feather-stitch in the
proper colours, and edged all round with fine gold cord; the stalks are
of the same cord used double. On the strawberries there is some fine
knotted work.
The back is divided into four panels, containing a cornflower, rose,
pansy, and strawberry, worked exactly in the same way as their
prototypes on the sides. There were several gold spangles on sides and
back, but many of them have been broken off, and on the front edges of
each board are the remains of pale green ties of silk.
[Illustration: 41--Psalms. London, 1633.]
_Psalms._ London, 1633.
A copy of the Psalms, printed in London in 1633, is bound in white
satin, embroidered in coloured silks worked in satin-stitch, and
measures 3 by 2 inches. On the upper board is a gentleman dressed in the
style of the period, with trunk hose of red and yellow, a short jacket
of the same colouring, and a long, reddish cape. He has a broad-brimmed
hat with coloured feathers, a large white collar, and a sword in his
right hand. Near him is a beetle, and in the sky a blue cloud, and he is
standing upon a grass mound. On the lower board is the figure of a lady
in a deep pink dress, with white collar and cap. She holds a tall red
lily in her right hand, and in the upper left-hand corner is a small
cloud under which the sun is just appearing, and in the lower corner is
a small flower. The lady is standing upon a small green mound. The
outlines of both figures, as well as the inner divisions between the
various garments, are marked with a gold or silver thread.
The back is divided into four panels, in which are a fly, a rose, a
larger fly, and a blue flower. The outlines and legs of both the insects
were marked originally with small pieces of peacocks' feathers, but the
upper fly has lost most of these; the lower one, however, more
ornamental, shows them clearly, and has the thorax still in excellent
preservation, glittering with little points of green and gold. There is
one broad ribbon of striped silk attached to the lower board.
This little book, which is in a wonderful state of preservation, has
been always kept in the beautiful embroidered bag which I have described
already on p. 16.
_Psalms._ London, 1635.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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