Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/203

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LAC–LAC
191

men, recently made at Calais with a Leavers machine, is produced at a cost of Is. 2d. a yard, whilst the value of the original hand-made pillow lace is at least , 5s. a yard. Fig. 32 is taken from a piece of fine needle-made lace (point de Venise a re"seau). The flat and even appearance in the close portions (the toile) of the pattern, the slight thread (cordonnet) outlining the pattern, and the delicate fillings-in or modes of tracery work may be noted for comparison FIG. 33. Machine-made Imitation of Venetian Point Lace, a- reseau. with corresponding details in the machine-made imitation (fig. 33). In this the close portions are ribbed, the cor- donnet is stouter and stands in relief, and the tracery modes are simpler in composition. Literature. The literature of the art of lace making is consider able. The series of 16th and 17th century lace pattern-books, of which the more important are perhaps those by F. Vindolo (Paris, 1587), Cesare Vecellio (Venice, 1592), and Isabetta Catanea Parasole (Venice, 1600), not to mention several kindred works of earlier and later date published in Germany and the Netherlands, supplies a large field for exploration. Recently Signer Ongania of Venice has published a limited number of facsimiles of the majority of such works. M. Alviii of Brussels issued a brochure in 1863 upon these patterns, and in the same year the Marquis Girolamo d Adda contributed two bibliographical essays upon the same subject to the Gazette dcs Beaux Arts (vol. xv. p. 342 sq., and vol. xvii. p. 421 sq.). In 1864 Cavaliere A. Merli wrote a pamphlet (with illustra tions) entitled Origine cd uso dcllc Trine a filo di rcfc ; Mons F. de Fertiault compiled a brief and rather fanciful Histoire de la Dcntcllc in 1843, in which he reproduced statements to be found in Diderot s Encyclopedic, subsequently quoted by Roland de la Platiere. The first Report oftlw Department of Practical Art, 1853, contains a "Report on Cotton Print Works and Lace Making" by Octavius Hudson, and in the first Report of the Department of Science and Art are some Observations on Lace," with magnified representations of details showing stitches and plaits used in various laces. Mr Hudson delivered two lectures "On Lace made by Hand" in 1853. Reports upon the International Exhibitions of 1851 (London) and 1867 (Paris), by M. Aubry, Mrs Palliser, and others, contain informa tion concerning lace making. But the most important work first issued upon the history of lace making is that by the late Mrs Bury Palliser (History of Lace, 1869; latest edition, 1875). In this work the history is treated rather from an antiquarian than a technical point of view ; and wardrobe accounts, inventories, state papers, fashionable journals, diaries, plays, poems, have been laid under contribution with surprising diligence. TJie Queen Lace Book, an historical and descriptive account of the hand-made laces of all countries, published in London in 1874, relies for much of its data upon Mrs Palliser s book, and contains some illustrations of ex cellent specimens of work. In 1875 the Arundel Society brought out a folio volume of permanently printed photographs taken from some of the finest specimens of ancient lace which were collected for the International Exhibition of 1874. These were accompanied by a brief history of lace, written from the technical aspect of the art, by Mr Alan S. Cole. At the same time appeared a bulky imperial 4to volume by M. Seguin, entitled La Dentclle, which is illustrated with woodcuts and fifty photo-typographical plates. M. Seguin divides his work into four sections. The first of these is devoted to a sketch of the origin of lacis ; the second deals with pillow laces bibliography of lace, and a review of sumptuary edicts the third relates to needle-made lace ; and the fourth contains an account of places where lace has been and is made, remarks upon commerce in lace, and upon the industry of lace makers This method of treating the subject entails the repetition of numerous tacts and observations. Without suliicient conclusive evidence M begum accords to France the palm for having excelled in producing the richer sorts of laces, which both before and since the publication of his otherwise valuable work have been identified as bein" Italian in origin. Descriptive catalogues are issued of the lace collections at South Kensington Museum, at the Science and Art Museum Dublin, and at the Industrial Museum, Nuremberg. In 1881 a series of four Cantor Lectures on the art of lace making were delivered before the Society of Arts by Mr Alan S. Cole, and have since been extracted from the journal of the society, and published in a pamphlet form, with illustrations. The latestVork on the sub- Machine-wrouaht Hosiery and Lace Manufacture (London, IS67), by Felkin, has already been referred to. There is also a technological essay upon lace made by machinery, with diagrams of lace stitches and patterns (Tcchnoloyischc Studien im Sdchsi&chen Erzgebirge, Lcipsic, 1878), by Hugo Fischer. (A. S. C.) LACED.EMOX. See LACONIA and SPARTA. LACEPEDE, BERNARD GERMAIN ETIENXE DE LA VILLE, COMTE DE (1756-1825), French naturalist, was born at Agen in Guyenne, December 26, 1756. His educa tion was carefully conducted by his father, and the early perusal of Buffon s Natural History awakened an interest in that branch of study, which for the remainder of his life absorbed his chief attention. His leisure he devoted to music, in which, besides becoming a good performer on the piano and organ, he acquired considerable mastery of composition, two of his operas, which, however, were never published, meeting with the high approval of Gluck ; and j in 1781-85 he also brought out in two volumes his Poetique de fa Musique. Meantime he wrote two treatises, Essai sur VEledridte (1781) and Physique generale et parlictdiere (1782-84), which gained him the friendship of Buffon, who in 1785 appointed him sub-demonstrator in the Jardin du Hoi, and proposed to him to become the continuator of his Histoire Naturelle. This continuation was published under the titles Histoire des Quadrupcdes ovipares et des Serpents (2 vols., 1788-89) and Histoire Xaturelle des Reptilts (1789). After the Revolution Lacdpede became a member of the legislative assembly, but during the Reign of Terror he deemed it advisable to leave Paris, his life having become endangered by his disapproval of the massacres. When the Jardin du Roi was reorganized as the Jardin des Plantes Lacdpede was appointed to the chair set apart to the history of reptiles and fishes, which he conducted with such success that in 1796 he was chosen a member of the Institute. Two years afterwards he published the first volume of Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, the 5th volume appearing in 1803; and in 1804 appeared Histoire des Cetaces. From this period till his death the part he took in politics prevented him from making any further contribution of importance to science. In 1799 he became a senator, in 1801 president of the senate, in 1803 grand chancellor of the legion of honour, in 1804 minister of state, and at the Restoration in 1819 he was created a peer of France. He died at Epinay, October 6, 1825. Dur ing the latter period of his life he wrote Histoire generate physique et civile de VEurope, which was published posthu mously in 18 vols., 1826. A collected edition of his works on natural history was published in the same year, and has been frequently reprinted. See ICHTHYOLOGY, vol xii. p. 633.


LA CHALOTAIS, Louis René de Caradeuc de (1701–1785), representative of the French provincial parliaments in their struggles with Louis XV., was born at Rennes in Brittany, March 6, 1701. He entered with