--"Here I saw the new fabriq of French tapisstry; for designe, tendernesse of worke, and incomparable imitationn of the best paintings beyond anything I ever beheld. Some pieces had Versailles, St. Germain's, and other palaces of the French King, with huntings, figures, and landskips, exotiq fowls, and all to the life rarely don." The golden age of Louis XIV. saw also the golden age of tapestry, for it was during his reign that the proud and royal factory at Aubusson was at its highest estate. The tapestries sent out from this factory were not mere imitations as close as possible of painted pictures. The limitations of the process were ever considered, and the number of gradations in every tint was limited so that the dangers of unequal fading reached their lowest point. The beautiful borders which surrounded the central picture were designed and executed with the same care that was bestowed on the centre, and formed a part of the whole that could ill be spared. [Illustration: BEAUVAIS, LOUIS XVI.] [Illustration: GOBELIN, LOUIS XIV.] [Illustration: AUBUSSON, LOUIS XIV.] [Illustration: Figure 74. TAPESTRY FURNITURE.] The tapestries worked late in the seventeenth century and early in the eighteenth, before the spirit of commercialism had been suffered to encroach on what up to that time had been carefully fostered art work, were all examples of great beauty and merit. In 1694, Louis having lost interest in the manufactory, and Colbert and Le Brun being dead, the works at the Gobelins' factories declined, and they became financially embarrassed. Still the great name was in high esteem, and its more than national reputation was retained. The splendid works which had been sent out from the loom, "The Triumph of Alexander," "The History of the King," "The Elements," and "The Seasons," were no longer in demand. Fontaine's fables and "The Adventures of Don Quixote" took the place of the more dignified designs, and at last sets of chair-backs and sofa covers were woven where previously historic subjects of heroic size had been demanded. Every year there were "_Chancelleries_" made,--series of hangings adorned with the royal arms, which the king gave to his chancellors.