Frame for enamels; ground, purple velvet; pattern, scrolls in raised gold embroidery. French, late 17th century. 8 inches by 7 inches. The velvet is put on pasteboard. In the centre, left uncovered, a larger enamel must have been let in; upon the four small circular and unembroidered spaces of the velvet, lesser enamels, or precious stones, were sewed. 2865. Frame for enamels; ground, crimson velvet; pattern, scrolls in raised gold embroidery. French, late 17th century. 8 inches by 7 inches. Though differing in its colour, this is evidently the fellow to the one just mentioned. 4015. Mitre; crimson and gold velvet. Florentine, 15th century. 1 foot 10½ inches by 11 inches. This liturgical curiosity is of that low graceful shape which we find in most mitres before the 16th century; in all probability this one was made not for real episcopal use, but to be employed in the service of the so-called boy-bishop who used, for centuries, to be chosen every year from among the boys who served in the cathedral, or the great churches of towns, at Christmas-tide, as well in England as all over Christendom; (see “Church of our Fathers,” t. iv. p. 215). As the rubrical colour for episcopal mitres is white, or of cloth of gold, a crimson mitre is of great rarity. The one before us is made of those rich stuffs for which Florence was so famous, as may be instanced in the gorgeous vestments given to Westminster Abbey by our Henry VII. The mitre itself is of crimson velvet, freckled with gold threads, raised in a rich pile upon a golden ground, with green fringed lappets; but the “titulus,” or upright stripe before and behind, along with the “corona,” or circular band, are all of a kind of lace or woven texture of raised velvet, green, white, and crimson, after a pretty design, upon a golden ground. The mitre is lined throughout with light-blue silk. 4016. Bed-quilt; ground, cherry-coloured satin; pattern, birds amid flowers and foliage, in the centre a double-headed eagle, displayed. East Indian (?), early 17th century. 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 10 inches. The satin is poor, and its colour faded; but the embroidery, with which it is plentifully overspread, is of a rich, though not tasty, kind. Birds of extraordinary, and, no doubt, fanciful plumage are everywhere flitting about it, among flowers as unusual as themselves; but the glowing tones of the many-coloured silks in which they are wrought must strike every one’s eye. From the double-headed eagle, done in gold, with wings blue, yellow, and green, displayed, it would appear that this quilt was wrought for some (perhaps imperial) house in Europe. 4018. State-cap, of crimson velvet turned up with white satin, which is faced with crimson velvet, and all embroidered in gold and silver threads. German (?), late 17th century. 14½ inches by 10 inches.