VALENCIENNES.--A solid and durable pillow lace having the same kind of thread throughout for both ground and pattern. Both the pattern and ground are wrought together by the same hand, and as this demands much skill in the manipulation of a great many threads and bobbins, the price of Valenciennes is very high. The mesh of the ground is usually square or diamond shaped, very open and of great regularity. It is a flat lace, worked in one piece, and no different kind of thread is introduced to outline the pattern or to be wrought into any part of the fabric. This affords a ready means of distinguishing the hand-made variety of this lace. The Valenciennes now made is not so beautiful in design and construction as the fabric of an earlier date, especially in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It is usually of narrower width and is easier to learn how to make. Valenciennes was first made at the town of that name, which, {73} though originally Flemish, was transferred to France by treaty; and the manufacture at this town was carried on under conditions which assured the superiority of the lace produced there. The difference between the Valenciennes product and that of other towns could be detected by the softer "feel" in the former case, because the moist climate of Valenciennes gave a smoother action to the bobbins when used in manufacture; and it is interesting to note that the lace was made in underground rooms. These peculiarities earned for lace made in that town the name of Vraie Valenciennes, and it brought a higher price than the Valenciennes of the surrounding villages. The thread was spun from the finest flax. To buy a yard of a flounce or a pair of broad ruffles was a serious matter for the purchaser unless he was wealthy. The labor cost was high even in those days of low wages; from 300 to 1,200 bobbins were required in a piece of fine work. The history of the changes in Valenciennes patterns is, to some extent, a history of deterioration in elegance of design. The first patterns were exquisitely beautiful, the designs often being wrought in grounds that were varied in several ways even in one piece. The designs afterward became simpler, and octagon and hexagon meshes came to take the place of the close grounds of earlier manufacture. Since 1780 the lighter and less expensive laces of Lille, Brussels and Arras have partly ousted the more beautiful, costly and durable product of Valenciennes, while changes in modern dress have stopped the demand for some articles which were formerly among the fashionable mainstays of the industry; for example, men's ruffles.