With the succession of a French line of sovereigns to the throne of Spain, a taste for French embroideries passed into the Peninsula, and these, in course of time, were imitated by the Spanish craftsmen.[41] "We find," says Riaño, "that Madrid was the principal centre of this industry, and that French designs were universally copied, as was the case in the whole of Europe. The splendid curtains and embroidered hangings for apartments which exist at the royal palaces of Madrid, the Escorial, and Aranjuez, are admirable specimens." [41] The use of embroidery was, however, greatly curbed by sumptuary pragmatics, issued early in this century (see Vol. I., pp. 287, 289). A similar pragmatic had appeared in 1622; but it is clear from the passages I have quoted, that little or no attention was paid to it. I may mention here the embroidery, often of a rich and highly ornate character, which is, or used to be, applied to the regional costumes of Spain. Plate ix. is reproduced from a rare print in my possession, showing the gala dress, as it existed in the year 1777, of the _charra_ of Salamanca, with full, white sleeves ornamented in black embroidery with animals and other devices. A similar costume is still worn in that neighbourhood. Plate xviii., also copied from a print in my collection, dating from about the year 1810, shows the costume worn by the women of the well-to-do middle class of the island of Majorca. "Le jupon ou _guardapies_," says the manuscript description prefixed to this series of plates, "en mousseline, complete le costume de cette insulaire: il est orné au bas de riches broderies, mais assez court pour laisser voir un joli petit pied chaussé d'un bas de coton ou de soie et d'un élégant soulier de satin." TAPESTRY There is a dim tradition, derived from or supported by a Latin poet ("Tunc operosa suis _Hispana tapetia_ villis") that carpets or tapestries of some kind were made in the Spanish Peninsula in the time of the Romans. Undoubtedly this craft was practised by the Spanish-Moors, particularly in the regions of Valencia, Alicante, Cuenca, and Granada. This statement is confirmed by two laconic notices which occur in the _Description of Africa and Spain_ of Edrisi, a Mohammedan geographer of the twelfth century. Of the town of Chinchilla, in Alicante province, he wrote,--"woollen carpets are made here, such as could not be manufactured anywhere else, owing to the qualities of the air and water"; and of Cuenca, "excellent woollen carpets are manufactured at this town."