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128 carpets of the finest wool, with tho carpet pattern on both sides ; and there were handsomely embroidered rugs, very beautifully elaborated with figures. Besides this,&quot; he adds, &quot; thin Persian cloths covered all the centre space where the guests walked, having most accurate representations of animals embroidered on them&quot; (Athenseus, v. 26). The Babylonians, who were very skilful in weaving cloths of divers colours (Pliny, viii. 48), delineated upon their carpets entire groups of human figures, together with such fabulous animals as the dragon, the sphynx, and the griffin. These were numbered among the luxuries of Elagabalus. On the tomb of Cyrus was spread a purple Babylonian carpet, and another covered the bed whereon his body was placed (Arrian, vi. 29). These carpets were exported in considerable quantities to Greece and Rome, where they were highly esteemed. The pre-eminence of the ancient Babylonian carpet weavers does not appear ever to have been lost by their successors, and at the present time the carpets of Persia are as much prized and as eagerly sought by European nations as they were when ancient Babylon was in its glory. Oriental carpets were first introduced into Spain by the Moors ; and at a later date the Venetians imported them into Italy, and supplied Western Europe with this luxurious manufacture. We have frequent mention of them during the Middle Ages, and their costliness and magnificence are celebrated in the illuminated pages of fabliaux and romances. They were spread in the presence-chambers of royalty, before the high altars of chapels and cathedrals, in the bowers of &quot; ladyes faire,&quot; and on the summer grass. Many articles of furniture were also covered with them bods, couches, tables, and regal faldistories ; but here it becomes difficult to distinguish between carpet and tapestry, both being used promiscuously. Tapestry of Baldekine or Baldachine (from Baldak, an ancient name of Baghdad) was a carpet inwrought with gold and silver threads. Such carpets were carried on poles, and uplifted as a canopy over the host, and over great personages in proces sion. The troubadours had carpets of gold embroidery which they laid upon the grass beneath them. Hearth rugs and throne carpets, gorgeously emblazoned with heraldic centre pieces, were the handiwork of high-born dames during the romance period. To some of them were attached fringes, but these were more usually composed of the fag ends of the warp, like those of Persia, India, and Turkey. A black velvet carpet, &quot; fringed with silver and gold, and lined with taffeta,&quot; is enumerated in the inventory of Archbishop Parker s household furniture in 1577. Rushes were strewn on the floor of Queen Mary s presence- chamber, and that of Elizabeth had the additional covering of a Turkey carpet. Long prior to this, however, Eastern carpets had been introduced. In the reign of Edward VI. we read that before communion tables were placed—

Carpets full gay, That wrought were in the Orient.&quot; Chequered matting appears to have been very generally used about the 15th century. In Lydgate s metrical life of St Edmund (MS. Harl., No. 2278), is a representation of the room wherein that saint was born, the floor is covered with chequered matting, and a fringed hearth-rug of Gothic design is before the fire-place. Carpets composed entirely of leather strips interlaced together may be seen in our antiquarian museums. In the reign of Henry IV. the carpet manufacture appears to have been introduced from Persia into France, Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., established the manu factory at Beauvais in 1664, which is now in the hands of the French Government, and produces very artistic speci mens. A variety of these, &quot; in Turkish, Peruvian, and Chinese styles,&quot; was exhibited at London in 1851. The national manufactory of Gobelins, which likewise sent its beautiful carpets and tapestry to the Great Exhibition, was established shortly after that of Beauvais. It was purchased in 1677 by Colbert from the Gobelin family, whose progenitors, two centuries earlier (Gilles and Jehan Gobelin), brought their art, as was supposed, from Flanders. An attempt was made, in the time of Henry VIII., by William Sheldon, to start this manufacture in England ; and under the patronage of James I. it was more successfully established, with the superintendence of Sir Francis Crane, at Mortlake in Surrey, where both carpets and tapestry were produced. Toward this object the sum of 2676 sterling was contributed by its royal patron, and French weavers were brought over to assist. But it does not appear that anything considerable was effected, until after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, when artizans of every trade fled to England, and among them tapestry and carpet weavers, who settled in various parts. About the year 1750, Mr Moore was awarded a premium by the Society of Arts for the best imitation Turkey carpets; and Parisot conducted an establishment for their manufac ture at Paddington, under the patronage of the duke of Cumberland. Subsequently carpets were wrought on the same principle at Axminster, in Devonshire, whence the name ; and afterwards at Wilton, where the manufacture is still continued. The Board of Trustees for the Encourage ment of Arts and Manufactures in Scotland offered prizes for the best Persian and Turkey carpets, which were carried off by Gregory, Thomsons, & Co. of Kilmarnock, and Whytock & Co. of Edinburgh. About ninety years pre viously they had bsen made in the vicinity of Holy rood Palace. Carpets, as manufactured at the present day, range themselves under two classes. The first and ancient class being such as are made by knotting into the warp, tuft after tuft, the materials of the pattern ; and the second con sisting of those in which the pattern is woven up in the loom. To the first class belong Oriental carpets generally, as well as such as are woven at many places throughout Europe under the name of Turkish carpets. Persia is now, as it has been from the most remote times, the recognized source of what is most truly artistic, durable, and valuable in this manufacture ; and after the products of that country, those of various parts of India and Turkey are most esteemed.

Persian Carpets.—The carpet weaving of Persia is similar in its process to the tapestry manufacture of Gobelins, Beauvais, or Aubusson. The tapestry, as is well known, consists of tufts of wool (French moquettes) or other fibre sewed on the strings of the warp, by means of small shuttle needles. The Persian carpet is formed by knotting into the warp tuft after tuft of woollen yarn, over each row of which a woof shot is passed, the fingers being here employed instead of the shuttle-needles, as the fabric is of a coarser description. In both methods the principle is the same. Both are formed in looms of very simple construction, the warp threads are arranged in parallel order, whether upright or horizontal, and the fabric and pattern are produced by coloured threads, hand-wrought upon the warp. In Persia there are entire tribes and families whose only occupation is that of carpet weaving. These dispose of their productions at the bazaars to native merchants, who remove them to Smyrna or Constantinople, where they meet with European purchasers. The finest carpets both as to design and texture come from Kerman, Feraghan, and Kurdistan. The Kerman products resemble in appearance the finest velvet pile carpets, but with the nap cut much shorter. The carpets of Feraghan are in external appearance somewhat like Brussels carpets, while those of Kurdistan have their pattern on both sides and are woven