Number 4 is a specimen of old Maltese lace now no longer made. Number 1 in Plate 86 is of reticello pattern and a very successful imitation of the needle-point linen lace. Number 2 is a fine example of the same style worked into points or pizzi, and is probably Venetian. Numbers 3, 4 and 5, are examples of Genoese plaited lace. Number 5 is especially notable as recalling the Eastern tradition. Plate 87 shows two specimens of Genoese lace. No. 2 is what is sometimes called collar lace, and sometimes Vandyke lace, from the very general use of it in portraits by that great painter. No. 1 is Genoese fringed lace. In both the starlike groups of little "grains of corn," as they are called, are characteristic of Genoese lace, as they are now considered to be of Maltese. But the Genoese patterns were only introduced into Malta and Gozo about sixty or seventy years ago. One can but be glad of the success of an industry so profitable to the industrious peasantry of those islands, but it is impossible not to regret the total disappearance of the old style of lace-making. The old patterns are not in demand for the modern market, which is chiefly French, and the lace is principally made with silk imported from France. I find that it is often supposed that no specimens exist of ancient Maltese lace. It is, however, well known there that lace was made in Malta and Gozo at all events as early as about 1640. The early flounce (Plate 80) was bought in Valetta more than fifty years ago, and inquiries made convince me that it was made, as my Maltese informant expressed it, "before the time of Lascaris." The Maltese often use the expression "time of Lascaris" or of "Carafa," "Manoel," etc., to date anything. These were the names of different Grand Masters before the islanders invited English occupation in 1800. There is no doubt that the disturbance caused by the French occupation affected lace-making so that it fell into abeyance, but before that time great quantities of these simple, strong and useful laces were made, principally, of course for church use. The narrower edgings (Plate 98) were used for the fine white lawn head-dresses worn with the beautiful national gala dresses, now only preserved by the great Maltese families as relics of the past. Number 1, Plate 88, is a very curious early pattern called gotico in Italy. Numbers 2 and 3 are Sicilian peasant laces. Number 4, Tuscan peasant lace called piedi di gallini (fowls' feet). Number 5 is a Tuscan peasant lace called zeccatello. Plate 89 illustrates six peasant laces from Russia, Madeira, Portugal, Ceylon, and Le Puy, made before 1850.