Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/114

 *tivals. They are of silk interwoven with gold, and ''adorned with pearls''.

II. Portions of garments of the same description with those of St. Regnobert were discovered A. D. 1827 on opening the tomb of St. Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham. They are preserved in the library of that church, and accurately described by the Rev. James Raine, the librarian, in a quarto volume.

III. The scull-cap of St. Simon, said to have been made in the tenth century, and now preserved in the Cathedral of Treves. Its border is interwoven with gold.

In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confidence be looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk from the seventh to the twelfth century.

IV. In the Cathedral at Hereford is a charter of one of the Popes with the bull (the leaden seal), attached to it by silken threads. Silk was early used for this purpose in the South of Europe. The Danish kings began to use silk to append the waxen seals to their charters about the year 1000.

V. Silk, in the form of velvet, may be seen on some of the ancient armor in the Tower of London.

VI. The binding of ancient manuscripts affords specimens of silk. A French translation of Ludolphus Saxo's Life of Christ in four folio volumes, among Dr. William Hunter's MSS. at Glasgow, still has its original binding covered with red velvet, which is probably as old as the fourteenth century. A curious source of information on the art of book-binding at that period is the Inventory, or Catalogue of the library collected by that ardent lover of books, Charles V. of France. As this catalogue particularly describes the bindings of about 1200 volumes, many of which were very elaborate and splendid, it enables us to judge of the use made of all the most valuable stuffs and materials which could be employed for this purpose, and under the head of silk we find the following: "soie,"