Many are the specimens in this collection furnishing proofs of the ancient weavers’ dexterity in their management of the loom, but especially of the artists’ taste in setting out so many of their intricate and beautiful designs. What to some will be happily curious is that we have this very day before our eyes pieces, in all likelihood, from the self-same web which furnished the material, centuries ago, for vestments and ornaments used of old in the cathedrals of England. Let any one turn to p. 122, and, after looking at number 7036, compare that silk with this item in the inventory of St. Paul’s, London, A.D. 1225: “Item, Baudekynus rubeus cum Sampsone constringente ora leonum,” &c.[267] See also number 8589, and number 8235. An identification between very many samples, brought together here, of ancient textiles in silk, and the descriptions of such stuffs afforded us in those valuable records--our old church inventories--might be carried on, if necessary, to a very lengthened extent. [267] Dugdale’s St. Paul’s, p. 328. _Dorneck_ was the name given to an inferior kind of damask wrought of silk, wool, linen thread and gold, in Flanders. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, mostly at Tournay, which city, in Flemish, was often called Dorneck--a word variously spelt as Darnec, Darnak, Darnick, and sometimes even Darness. The gild of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Boston had a care cloth of silke dornex and church furniture.[268] The “care cloth” was a sort of canopy held over the bride and bridegroom as they knelt for the nuptial blessing, according to the Salisbury rite, at the marriage mass. At Exeter it was used in chasubles for orphreys.[269] A specimen of Dornex may be seen, No. 7058, p. 129. See also York Fabric Rolls, pp. 291, 297, 298, 300, 305. [268] Peacock, p. 204. [269] Oliver, pp. 359, 365. _Buckram_, a cotton textile, has a history and a reputation somewhat varied.