{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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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