The old Egyptian loom--and that of the Jews must have been like it--was, as we know from paintings, of the simplest shape, and seems to have been able to do little more diversified in design than straight lines in different colours; and at best nothing higher in execution than checker-work: beyond this, all was put in by hand with the needle. In Paris, at the Louvre, are several pieces of early Egyptian webs coloured, drawings of which have been published by Sir Gardner Wilkinson in his work ‘The Egyptians in the time of the Pharaohs.’ There are two pieces wrought up and down with needlework; the second piece of blue is figured all over in white embroidery with a pattern of netting, the meshes of which shut in irregular cubic shapes, and in the lines of the reticulation the mystic “fylfot” is seen. Sir J. G. Wilkinson says of them: “They are mostly cotton, and, though their date is uncertain, they suffice to show that the manufacture was Egyptian; and the many dresses painted on the monuments of the eighteenth dynasty show that the most varied patterns were used by the Egyptians more than 3000 years ago, as they were at a later period by the Babylonians, who became noted for their needlework.” It is clear from the book of Exodus that the Israelites from very early times, having learnt the art in Egypt, embroidered their garments; although the word “embroidery” which occurs so frequently in every English version probably sometimes means merely weaving in stripes, and not work with the needle. The embroidering also of the sails of vessels was not uncommon in the east; boats used in sacred festivals on the Nile were so decorated; and the prophet Ezekiel says to the people of Tyre, “Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail.” The reader will here also remember Shakspeare’s description of the barge of Cleopatra; The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne Burned on the water: Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that The winds were love-sick with them; she did lie In her pavilion, cloth of gold, of tissue, etc. Pliny says that the Phrygians invented embroidery, and that garments so ornamented were called Phrygionic. Of such a fashion were “the art-wrought vests of splendid purple tint” brought forth by Dido, and the cloak given by Andromache to Ascanius. Hence, an embroiderer was called in Latin “Phrygio,” and needlework “Phrygium” or “Phrygian” work. When the design, as often happened, was wrought in solid gold wire or golden thread, the embroidery so worked was named “auriphrygium.” From this term comes the old English word “orphrey.”