{52}6. Punto a gropo, or gropari.[176]--Groppo, or gruppo, signifies a knot, or tie, and in this lace the threads are knotted together, like the fringes of the Genoese macramè.[177] After this manner is made the trimming to the linen scarfs or cloths which the Roman peasants wear folded square over the head, and hanging down the back. (Fig. 22.) [Illustration: Fig. 22. PUNTO A GROPO (Knotted Point).] 7. Punto a maglia quadra.--Lacis; square netting,[178] the modano of the Tuscans. (Fig. 24.) [Illustration: Fig. 23. GROS POINT DE VENISE.--From the Collar of a Venetian Nobleman. Musée de Cluny, Paris. 16th century. N.B.--This drawing makes the work and design appear heavier than it is in reality. _To face page 52._] {53}This Tuscan sort was not generally embroidered; the pattern consists in knitting the meshes together in different shapes. It was much used for hangings of beds, and those curtains placed across the windows, called _stores_ by the French, and by the Italians, _stuora_.[179] 8. Burato.--The word means a stiff cloth or canvas (_toille clere_ of Taglienti, 1527), on which the pattern is embroidered, reducing it to a kind of rude lace. One of the pattern-books[180] is devoted exclusively to the teaching of this point. [Illustration: Fig. 24. PUNTO A MAGLIA (Lacis)] The needle-made laces fabricated at Burano will be noticed later. 9. Punto tirato--Drawn work.[181] Fig. 25 is a lace ground {54}made by drawing the threads of muslin (_fili tirati_).[182] The present specimen is simple in design, but some are very complicated and beautiful. The ordinance of Colbert must have inflicted a serious injury on the Venice lace trade, which, says Daru, "occupoit la population de la capitale." In _Britannia Languens_, a discourse upon trade, London, 1680,[183] it is said that the laces commonly called Points de Venise now come mostly from France, and amount to a vast sum yearly. Savary, speaking of the thread laces termed Venice point in the early part of the eighteenth century,[184] says, "The French no longer purchase these articles, having established themselves manufactures which rival those of the Adriatic." [Illustration: Fig. 25. PUNTO TIRATO (Drawn Lace).] Still the greater number of travellers[185] make a provision of points in their passage through Venice, and are usually cheated, writes a traveller about this period.[186] He recommends his friend, Mr. Claude Somebody, a French dealer, who probably paid him in ruffles for the advertisement. [Illustration: Fig. 26. POINT DE VENISE À BRIDES PICOTÉES.--Early 18th century. _To Face page 54._] {55}Our porte-bouquets and lace-trimmed nosegays are nothing new. On the occasion of the annual visit of the Doge to the Convent delle Vergini, the lady abbess with the novices received him in the parlour, and presented him with a nosegay of flowers placed in a handle of gold, and trimmed round with the finest lace that Venice could produce.[187] [Illustration: Fig. 27.