TAPESTRY. It has been supposed that the use of tapestry was introduced into the various nations of Europe from the Levant, by the princes and nobles who commanded in the different crusades un dertaken to recover the Holy Land from the Saracens ; but this supposition seems in a great measure to rest on the fact, that the workmen employed in this pursuit in France were called Sarrassinois. We do not find, upon referring to the travels of Bertrandon de la Brocquiere to Palestine, in 1432, any thing to support the asser tion, neither do our modern tourists men tion tapestry as used by the present inha bitants of that country. Lempriere de scribes the apartments of the Harem at Morocco to have been hung with rich damasks ; but as the same rooms had European mirrors on the walls, it does not appear quite clear that the hangings were not introduced by the same means.
There is not a doubt that the Greeks used tapestry, as Homer frequently men tions the labours of the loom in a manner that proves the production of it could have been employed in no other way. Those countries which are Subject to long, and cold winters, made it necessary that the rich and powerful should adopt some method to check its disagreeable effects on domestic comfort; and besides, the feu dal system universally prevailing, their residences were calculated for military purposes only : and every consideration of internal convenience was sacrificed to the means of defence from their jealous and envious neighbours of the same rank in the state ; hence they constructed their mansions with walls as solid and im penetrable as those of a fortified city, in which the windows were little better than loop-holes for missive weapons external ly, whence they were widened inwards to make the most of the little light and air they were capable of admitting.
Cold and dreary as all their apartments were, every possible contrivance was made to temper the damp chill of the walls ; for this purpose vast fire places were constructed, occupying almost one side of the square, and hangings were suspended to exclude from view the rough surface of the massy stones, and to confine the humidity in them from im mediately attaching to the family. That
which may have been used in Greece, in Palestine, and throughout Asia, for the double purposes of ornament, and For the convenience of easy removal during the warmth prevailing in those countries, where tapestry or hangings make the most pleasant partitions or separations of apartments, became necessary in the greatest part of Europe through a direct ly opposite cause.
Whatever was the nature of the origi nal hangings in our quarter of the globe, and wherever they were introduced from, it is very certain that the French have had the honour of giving them their present denomination, which is derived from ta pisser, to line, and that from the Latin tapes. It is very probable that the ta pestry of ancient times in England, and on the Continent, was equally rude and barbarous with the paintings of the same period, and perhaps more so; and in the present state of the country it is difficult to ascertain when it improved, or when attempts were made to introduce figures in the weaving of it. When the feudal system ceased, our castles and castellated mansions were gradually deserted, and their possessors, mixing more with the general population, began to admire the comforts of society, and to adopt some of the customs of those they had hitherto despised ; hence occurred a new mode of building, which, though it in some degree resembled that of their ancestors, was attended with infinite improvement. It is in the residences thus produced that we are now to look for the tapestry once so necessary, but in the latter instance pre served through a laudable family pride, and as objects of curiosity. At Hard wicke Hall in Derbyshire, one of the seats of the Duke of Devonshire, built by a Countess of Shrewsbury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, some very interesting tapestry and hangings of a bed are shown, which were worked by Mary, Queen of France and Scotland, during her long confinement at that place, previously to her execution. As may be anticipated, from her mode of faith, and the circum stances of her situation, the colours and subjects are of a sombre and melancholy cast, but sufficiently well done to excite approbation.