which they have steadily adhered from very
remote times. During the long civil and
foreign wars waged by the people of the
Netherlands, while subject to Spanish
dominion, other branches of Belgic industry
either dwindled to decay, or were transplanted
to foreign countries; but lace-making remained
faithful to the land which had fostered and
brought it to perfection, though it received
tempting offers from abroad, and had to
struggle with many difficulties at home.
This Mr. Kohl explains by the fact, that
lace-making is a branch of industry chiefly
confined to female hands, and, as women are less
disposed to travel than men, all arts and
handicrafts exclusively pursued by women,
have a local and enduring character.

Notwithstanding the overwhelming supply
of imitations which modern ingenuity has
created, real Brussels lace has maintained its
value, like the precious metals and the
precious stones. In the patterns of the best
bone lace, the changeful influence of fashion is
less marked than in most other branches of
industry; indeed, she has adhered with
wonderful pertinacity to the quaint old patterns
of former times. These are copied and
reproduced with that scrupulous uniformity
which characterises the figures in the Persian
and Indian shawls. Frequent experiments
have been tried to improve these old patterns,
by the introduction of slight and tasteful
modifications, but these innovations have not
succeeded, and a very skilful and experienced
lace-worker assured Mr. Kohl, that the
antiquated designs, with all their formality,
are preferred to those in which the most
elegant changes have been effected.

Each of the lace-making towns of Belgium
excels in the production of one particular
description of lace: in other words, each has
what is technically called its own point.
The French word point, in the ordinary
language of needlework, signifies simply
stitch; but in the terminology of lace-making,
the word is sometimes used to designate
the pattern of the lace, and sometimes
the ground of the lace itself. Hence the
terms point de Bruxelles, point de Malines,
point de Valenciennes, &c. In England we
distinguish by the name of Point, a peculiarly
rich and curiously wrought lace formerly very
fashionable, but now scarcely ever worn
except in Court costume. In this sort of lace
the pattern is, we believe, worked with the
needle, after the ground has been made with
the bobbins. In each town there prevail
certain modes of working, and certain
patterns which have been transmitted from
mother to daughter successively, for several
generations. Many of the lace-workers live
and die in the same houses in which they were
born; and most of them understand and
practise only the stitches which their mothers
and grandmothers worked before them. The
consequence has been, that certain points
have become unchangeably fixed in particular
towns or districts. Fashion has assigned to
each its particular place and purpose; for
example:—the point de Malines (Mechlin
lace) is used chiefly for trimming night-
dresses, pillow-cases, coverlets, &c.; the point
de Valenciennes (Valenciennes lace) is
employed for ordinary wear or negligé; but the
more rich and costly point de Bruxelles
(Brussels lace) is reserved for bridal and
ball dresses, and for the robes of queens and
courtly ladies.

As the different sorts of lace, from the
narrowest and plainest to the broadest and
richest, are innumerable; so the division of
labour among the lace- workers is infinite. In
the towns of Belgium there are as many
different kinds of lace-workers, as there are
varieties of spiders in Nature. It is not,
therefore, surprising that in the several
departments of this branch of industry there
are as many technical terms and phrases as
would make up a small dictionary. In their
origin, these expressions were all Flemish;
but French being the language now spoken
in Belgium, they have been translated into
French, and the designations applied to some
of the principal classifications of the
work-women. Those who make only the ground,
are called Drocheleuses. The design or pattern,
which adorns this ground, is distinguished by
the general term " the Flowers; " though it
would be difficult to guess what flowers are
intended to be portrayed by the fantastic
arabesque of these lace-patterns. In Brussels
the ornaments or flowers are made separately,
and afterwards worked into the lace-ground:
in other places the ground and the patterns
are worked conjointly. The Platteuses are
those who work the flowers separately; and
the Faiseuses de point à l'aiguille work the
figures and the ground together. The
Striquese is the worker who attaches the flowers
to the ground. The Faneuse works her figures
by piercing holes or cutting out pieces of the
ground.

The spinning of the fine thread used for
lace-making in the Netherlands, is an operation
demanding so high a degree of minute
care and vigilant attention, that it is impossible
it can ever be taken from human hands by
machinery. None but Belgian fingers are
skilled in this art. The very finest sort of
this thread is made in Brussels, in damp
underground cellars; for it is so extremely
delicate, that it is liable to break by contact
with the dry air above ground; and it is
obtained in good condition only, when made
and kept in a humid subterraneous
atmosphere. There are numbers of old Belgian
thread-makers who, like spiders, have passed
the best part of their lives spinning in cellars.
This sort of occupation naturally has an
injurious effect on the health, and therefore, to
induce people to follow it, they are highly paid.

To form an accurate idea of this operation,
it is necessaiy to see a Brabant Thread-
spinner at her work. She carefully examines