The Irish standard., 1886-09-25
THE CITY OF LACES.
A Glance at the Industry of tho Old
Town Of Nottingham.

A Glance at the Industry of tho OLE
Town Of Nottingham.
Should you sail out of the bay O
New York for Liverpool, you woule
find dozen or so pert, shrewd mer
of leisure. Of good breeding and appar
ent fortune, among your companions
or. fellow-voyagers, going directly te
Nottingham, Motifs, Eng, to buy laces
Every great New York house IN this
line sends out special purchaser an.
nua1l!. remember crossing over with
a man who was making his twenty.
sixth voyage. The voyage was made
notable and was subject of comment
because this time he was going over
free OF cost, it being the custom Of the
ships company to carry free and as
often as he may please any one who
makes so many as twenty-five voyages
on that line.
Aud these lace buyers get large sal
aries From some sufficient reason
| they must not only be shrewd and well
informed men, but they are supposed
| to be gentlemen. Some of the great
houses keep resident purchasers in
Nottingham. The trade is something
colossal. For here you buy not only
all kinds of English lace, but you buy
French lace, Spanish lace and Vene-
tian lace, and there is no deception
about the sale of it there at all. The
Government of England would not al
low that. But these goods are made
in imitation of Venetian, Spanish or
French laces and are so sold. The
fraud, if fraud it is, occurs on this side.
Nothing in the history of all the in
dustries Of the earth is more curious or
notable than the foundation of this
tremendous business here in what was
once the home of Robin Hood, and
where his games were celebrated for
centuries after his death; and, indeed,
till suppressed, because of their increas-
ing violence, by the Governments. This
great industry here began in this way.
There is, or was originally, long,
high bank of very soft sandstone on
the north bank of the river Trent,
pointing to the sun. In the soft sand
stone the early Britons dug caves.
They dug them deep and wide, and
wonderful in construction. It is said
that even now the city of caves under
the ground is almost as large as the
broad and populous city on top of the
ground. In case of invasion or con-
quest, these cave dwellers would re-
treat underground and defy pursuit.
It is the boast of the people OF Noting
ham that their ancestors were never
really conquered by any one. 1t is
said that William the Conqueror even
diverted the Trent and threw it against
the mouths of these caves, trying to
drown them out like rats But they
remained in their caves all the time
secure. And whether the story is true
or not the Trent still flows in an
old and artificial channel, when
its waters are high, close along
the base of the great sandstone
mountain, which to this day is pierced |
with holes that are said to be endless.
1t is even claimed that you may make
your way all the distance of four miles
to Newstead Abbey underground. And |
this you can readily understand, is why
Robin Hood and his '.merrie good
men, were enabled to die in their beds.
or, rather, in their caves. instead of on
the gallows.
The weaving of laces came about
here in this way: The half or wholly
savage women sitting at the mouths
Of the caves and holding their threads
against the sun with the darkness be-
hind them, could see the fine threads
better, and so could do finer and bet
ter work than any other women in
Western Europe. And then their inn
munity from conquest and consequent
in their peculiar in
lustry fastened it here and kept it we'll
forward.
The crusaders-brave old savages,
you see their crude effigies In stone
ylng cross-legged in any one Of the
orty or fifty little churches you dis
,over scattered over the valley of the
Trent as you stand on the summit of
he sandstone hills here-these men
# the sword brought back more
igns of a higher civilization. than
flowing and reaping implements;
hey brought back, among other
hings, Venetian lace, French and
panish. And it was then that these
7eayers at the mouths of caves began
D make Venetian lace and Spanish
ace, and so on, for the ladies, and gen.
emen, too, at court. So, you see,
his industry here has solid founda-
on. There are lace-makers In Not
ngham who claim that their ancestors
thousand years ago were lace
lakers there on the sandstone banks
{ the Trent.
Of course, every thing now is done
? machinery here. AS you approach
lis city on hill you see thousands of q
fly chimneys. A cloud of smoke and Il
cam, not heavy and offensive, like !
birmingham or Manchester, however, a
angs perpetually over this very e
ealthy and most prosperous city Of a
ce-makers. AS you get out of the
II, you see lowering about the station, 9
passing about here and there, many T
Id many black-eyed girl, making it $
perilous stopping place for a Cali i.
rnian with heart in him. They are q
ce-makers and their numbers reach s
nearly q hundred thousand. They 0
9 beautiful to degree. They have y
lrk and wondrous1y brilliant eyes. 7
hey are children of the ancient and s
black Britons, who waded j.
to the sea to receive the invading G.
>mans on their rlances.-Joaqe1;1s Mil- u
= IN ~ r. I16cnen1ezat u