About the time of Richard II. the white hart seems to have been a favourite element in ornamental needlework here in England, for Lincoln cathedral had “a red velvet cope set with white harts lying, colours (with collars?) full of these letters S S ... the harts having crowns upon their necks with chains, silver and gilt,” &c.[436] So thoroughly national at the time was this emblem that we believe every piece of silken textile to be found here or elsewhere had its design sketched in this country and sent to Palermo to be woven there in stuffs for the use of the English court. When his order had been done, the weaver having his loom geared at our king’s expense, threw off a certain quantity of the same pattern for home use or his trade with Germany; and hence we see such a beautiful variation figured on the apparels upon the old alb, No. 8710, p. 268 of the catalogue. The eagle shown all in gold, with a crown not on but above its head, may refer to one of Richard’s ancestors, the King of the Romans, who never reigned as such. The hart, collared and lodged in its park, is Richard’s own emblem. That dog, collared and courant, has a story of its own in Richard’s eventful life. Dogs when petted and great favourites, were always arrayed in ornamented collars; hence we must not be surprised to find put down among the things of value kept in the Treasury of the Exchequer:--“ii grehondes colers of silk enbrouded with lettres of gold and garnyssed with silver and overgilt.”[437] Telling of Richard’s capture in Flint castle by the Earl of Derby, soon afterwards Henry IV., Froissart says:--“King Richard had a greyhound called Math, beautiful beyond measure who would not notice nor follow any one but the king. Whenever the king rode abroad the greyhound was loosed by the person who had him in charge, and ran instantly to caress him, by placing his two fore feet on his shoulders. It fell out that as the king and the Duke of Lancaster were conversing in the court of the castle, their horses being ready for them to mount, the greyhound was untied, but instead of running as usual to the king, he left him, and leaped to the Duke of Lancaster’s shoulders, paying him every court, and caressing him as he was formerly used to caress the king. The duke asked the king, ‘What does this mean?’ ‘Cousin,’ replied the king, ‘it means a great deal for you, and very little for me. This greyhound fondles and pays his court to you this day as King of England.’”[438] That such a pet as Math once so given to fawn upon his royal master should, with other emblematic animals, have been figured in the pattern on a textile meant for its master’s wear, or that of his court, seems very likely: and thus the piece before us possesses a more than ordinary interest. [436] Mon. Anglic. t. viii. p. 1281, ed. Caley. [437] Antient Kalendars and Inventories, ed. Palgrave, t. ii. p. 252. [438] Froissart’s Chronicles, by Johnes, t. ii. chap. cxiii. p. 692.