Those it will be remembered are the product of the needle, and are therefore very different from that which adorns the walls of the House of LOrds from the loom, and are nearly coeval with the per formances of the royal captive ; the latter have long been celebrated as the only representations we possess of the de struction of the Spanish Armada, but their age and the fading of their colours have greatly lessened their interest. Ex clusive of those, there are specimens of ancient tapestry at the Charter House, placed there by the Duke of Norfolk in the reign of Elizabeth, and at St. James's Palace, which is the best in every par ticular of all that has been mentioned.
It will be perceived, that in each of these instances the dates nearly corre spond, whence it may be safely conclud ed, that very little use was made of tapes try after the reign of James I. in England. Next to the English, the Flemings were most expert at weaving of rich hangings ; the French, who subsequently exceeded all other nations in this art, did not apply themselves to it till the reign of their Henry IV. when an establishment was made in the year 1607 in the Fauxbourg St. Michael at Paris ; after the assassina tion of that monarch, the manufactory was neglected, nor was it revived till the reign of Louis XIV. under the auspices of Colbert, who caused a receptacle for this work to be constructed, where two brothers named Giles and John Gobelins, had long before been celebrated as ex cellent dyers, whence the name, which an edict issued by Louis, confirmed under the title of Hotel Royal des Gobelins. As it was the intention of the luxurious monarch just mentioned to excel all his contemporary sovereigns of Europe in the splendour of his palaces and establish ments, the manufactory of the Gobelins was placed by him under a complete sys tem of government, and it flourished,with some fluctuations of neglect and en couragement, as a royal institution, till the late revolution, during which dread ful period it was consigned, to all ap pearance, to irretrievable ruin ; • but the subsequent consulship of Bonaparte, and his further elevation to the throne of France, has in a great degree recovered it, though the change in public opinion in the manner of decorating walls will prevent it from obtaining its pristine en couragement.
The reader will forgive our enlarging on this subject, as the Gobelins is the only manufactory of tapestry remaining in Europe worthy of particular notice, znid where paintings are imitated with all the strength and beauty of colouring of the pictures from which they are copied. M. Le Maistre, who visited Paris in 1802, mentions two pieces made about that time, one representkg the assassination of Admiral Coligni7and the other the heroic conduct of the President Mole, of uncommon excellence. Ninety persons were then employed, and appeared to work with the utmost ease,though six years apprenticeship and much attention and care are required to attain superior skill. Previously to the change in the govern ment of France, the workmen were in a great degree state prisoners, but such is the jealousy of rivalship, that they are still under the special care or surveillance of the police ; and the pieces manufac tured were destined principally to orna ment the favourite residence of St. Cloud,
and some other public buildings. To this information we shall subjoin the still more recent account of Mr. Pinkerton in 1805. "In the ancient method," says that gentleman, " the workmen were obliged to stoop, which was fbund detri mental to their health, and the pictures were destroyed, being cut in pieces in the width of the loom ; the figures were also reversed. Neilson, an intelligent foreman, contrived to save the pictures, in tracing them with oil-paper. Nor were the figures reversed as before, and the picture itself was placed behind the workman, that he might accurately ex press the shades and tone of colour. Still the result could not be judged of, till each division was perfected in the loom. Vaucanson superadded an easy and in genious mechanism, to examine with pleasure the progress of the work ; but the manufacture continued to be guided by a servile routine." The last director introduced three im provements, which cannot very well be explained, but the result has been of great advantage in the manner of weav ing; and as more judgment has been evinced in the selection of pictures for copying, the style of colouring partakes more of the taste of each master than when it was the custom to make all the tints vivid and gaudy; besides, as they have ceased to use silk, the tapestry is much less subject to fade. "Yet," adds Mr. Pinkerton, "the colours are suffi ciently bright and various to represent, with exquisite truth, all the fine tints of beautiful flowers. It is however to be regretted that these splendid tapestries become so expensive, from the length of time required in the workmanship, that even the rich tremble and the sale fo: the government, which presents them. to distinguished foreigners, affords the chief if not sole consumption. The sum an nually allowed, to support the manufac ture in its greatest activity, is estimat ed at one hundred and fifty thousand francs." As it is not in our power to obtain the precise improvements made in the man ner of weaving tapestry, we are com pelled to describe the mode by that now remaining in England was made, and which is undoubtedly the basis of the present method in use at the Gobelins. The loom employed for this purpose stands perpendicularly, and is composed of fbur principal pieces, two of which are long planks, and the others rollers or beams of considerable diameter ; the planks are placed upright, and the beams cross them at either extremity of -the loom, the lower at about twelve inches. from the floor; each have trunnions which suspend them on the and they are turned with bars. The rollers are grooved lengthways, in which are fasten ed long cylinders of wood with hooks ; the use of these is to fasten the ends of the warp to, the latter of twisted woollen thread encircles the upper roller, and it is worked as fast as wove on the lower.