Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

EшЪroideгies

193

twisted and hanging down like tails, thejr bellies so crнelly squeezed with coгds that they suffer as much pain from vanity as the martyrs suffered for religion ! " And yet who shall say whether а "dress-reform" Laura would have charmed any more surely the еуе of the poet? Chaucer, in England, also deplores the fashioнs of his day, alluding to the "sinful costly аrгау of clothiвg, namcly, in too much supeгfluity ог else indiso1·dinate scantiness ! " Changing fashions have always becn tlie despair of writeгs who havc tried to lay do,vn rнles for resthetic effect in dress. "An Englishшan," says Har1·ison, "endeavouring sоше time to write of онr attire .. .,vhen he sa,v wliat а difficult piece of ,voгk he had taken in hand, he gave over his travail, and oncly drue а picture of а naked шаn нnto ,vhom he gave а pair of shears in the onc hand and а picce of cloth in the othe1·, to the end that he shoнld shape his аррагсl aftei· such fasl1ion as l1imself liked, sith he could find no gaгment that could please lii_ш any while together: авd this he called a.n Englishman." Edward the Confessor wоге State robes which had been beautifully embroidered with gold Ьу his accoш­ plished wifе, Edgitha. In the Royal Rolls of Edward III., in 1335, we find allusion to two vests of green velvet embroidered respectively with sea siгens and coats of arms. The tunics wo1·n over armoш offered great op­ portunities to the needleworke1·. They ,vеге richly eшbroidered, usually in heraldic style. vVhen Symon,