Up to the present time we have had mention only of {348}"Flanders lace" in
general. In the reign of Queen Anne the points of "Macklin" and Brussels
are first noted down in the Royal Wardrobe Accounts. In 1710 her Majesty
pays for 26 yards of fine edged Brussels lace £151.[1032] "Mais, l'appétit
vient en mangeant." The bill of Margareta Jolly, for the year 1712, for the
furnishing of Mechlin and Brussels lace alone, amounts to the somewhat
extravagant sum of £1,418 14_s_. Taking the average price of the "Lace
chanter on Ludgate Hill," articles of daily use were costly enough. "One
Brussels head is valued at £40; a grounded Brussels head, £30; one looped
Brussels, £30." These objects, high as the price may seem, lasted a woman's
life. People in the last century did not care for variety, they contented
themselves with a few good articles; hence among the objects given in 1719,
as necessary to a lady of fashion, we merely find:--
£ s. d.
A French point or Flanders head and ruffles 80 0 0
A ditto handkerchief 10 0 0
A black French laced hood 5 5 0
When the Princess Mary, daughter of George II., married, she had but four
fine laced Brussels heads, two loopt and two grounded, two extremely fine
point ones, with ruffles and lappets, six French caps and ruffles.[1033]
Two point lace cravats were considered as a full supply for any gentleman.
Even young extravagant Lord Bedford, who, at eighteen years of age, found
he could not spend less than £6,000 a year at Rome, when on the grand tour,
only charges his mother, Rachel Lady Russell, with that number.[1034]
The high commode,[1035] with its lace rising tier upon tier, which made the
wits about town declare the ladies "carried Bow steeple upon their heads,"
of a sudden collapsed in Queen Anne's reign. It had shot up to a most
extravagant height, "insomuch that the female part of our species were
{349}much taller than the men. We appeared," says the _Spectator_,[1036]
"as grasshoppers before them."[1037]
In 1711 Anne forbade the entry of gold and silver lace,[1038] of which the
consumption had become most preposterous,[1039] under pain of forfeiture
and the fine of £100. Ladies wore even cherry-coloured stays trimmed with
the forbidden fabric.[1040] The point of Spain had the preference over
thread lace for state garments, heads and ruffles excepted; and as late as
1763, when the Dowager Lady Effingham was robbed of her coronation robes,
among the wonderful finery detailed there is no mention of thread lace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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