Scarce fifty years since, an expiring relic of this art might be sometimes seen on the white smock-frock of the English labourer, which, independent of elaborate stitching, was enriched with an insertion of cut-work, running from the collar to the shoulder crossways, like that we see decorating the surplices of the sixteenth century. Drawn-thread embroidery is another cognate work. The material in old drawn-work is usually loosely-woven linen. Certain threads were drawn out from the linen ground, and others left, upon and between which needlework was made. Its employment in the East dates from very early times, and withdrawing threads from a fabric is perhaps referred to in Lucan's _Pharsalia_:--[76] "Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo, Quod Nilotis acus compressum pectine Serum Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo." "Her white breasts shine through the Sidonian fabric, which pressed down with the comb (or sley) of the Seres, the needle of the Nile workman has separated, and has loosened the warp by stretching out (or withdrawing) the weft." {26}CHAPTER III. LACE. "Je demandai de la dentelle: Voici le tulle de Bruxelles, La blonde, le point d'Alençon, Et la Maline, si légère; L'application d'Angleterre (Qui se fait à Paris, dit-on); Voici la guipure indigène, Et voici la Valenciennes, Le point d'esprit, et le point de Paris; Bref les dentelles Les plus nouvelles Que produisent tous les pays." _Le Palais des Dentelles_ (Rothomago). Lace[77] is defined as a plain or ornamental network, wrought of fine threads of gold, silver, silk, flax, or cotton, interwoven, to which may be added "poil de chèvre," and also the fibre of the aloe, employed by the peasants of Italy and Spain. The term _lacez_ rendered in the English translation of the Statutes[78] as "laces," implying braids, such as were used for uniting the different parts of the dress, appears long before lace, properly so called, came into use. The earlier laces, such as they were, were defined by the word "passament"[79]--a general term for gimps and braids, as well as for lace. Modern industry has separated these two classes of work, but their being formerly so confounded renders it difficult in historic researches to separate one from the other. The same confusion occurs in France, where the first lace was called _passement_, because it was applied to the same {27}use, to braid or lay flat over the coats and other garments. The lace trade was entirely in the hands of the "passementiers" of Paris, who were allowed to make all sorts of "passements de dentelle sur l'oreiller aux fuseaux, aux épingles, et à la main, d'or, d'argent, tant fin que faux, de soye, de fil blanc, et de couleur," etc. They therefore applied the same terms to their different products, whatever the material.