Mrs. Christie, an English authority on Embroidery, admirably sums up the evolution of designs when she writes "Examination of old Embroideries gathered from all parts of the world shows that each individual specimen, every flower and bud, is a development of some existing form, and is not an original creation, invented, as some appear to think all designs are, upon the spur of the moment." In the creation of a design it is a case of assimilation of the fittest and the elimination of the unsuitable from existing examples, thus the interlacing stems of the work of the 14th century became grafted on to the version of the Tree of Life idea in the Oriental designs that came to England in the 16th, through the intercourse opened up by the formation of the East India Company, at the end of Elizabeth's reign. To deem, as do some writers, the bold, rather ponderous crewel work of the 17th century, sole outcome of the importation of the Palampores of Musulipatan, is to ignore all the tendencies manifested in the embroideries of previous centuries; in the same way, to repudiate the emblematical significance of special features markedly introduced into old designs, is to betray a complete lack of knowledge of the mind and manners of the people of superstitious days. Knowledge was not rapidly acquired, and even as late as the 17th century was largely disseminated through the country by allegorical narratives, while emblematical lore reflected the history of the immediate moment. There was in the poetry and in the embroidery of Elizabeth's day, a sportive quality which was not likely to be checked under the Stuarts, _doubles entendres_ were not confined to jests! and the political and religious differences of opinion, rampant throughout the period, found expression in the most fantastic ways. The Stump Embroidery, in vogue at the same time as the crewel hangings specially treated in this volume, was full of symbolism, and naturally the same inspiration directed the worker in crewels. Curiously enough, both these very different types of needlework, crystalised into individuality concurrently, yet one is usually designated Jacobean, the other referred to as Stuart. In this connection it is well also to remember, that the Stuart era extended, historically, from 1603 to 1714, _viz._, from the reign of James I (Jacobus) to that of Queen Anne, daughter of James II.