San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-11-10
THE ANTIQUITY OF CARPETS.
Nero Used Tn EN-, and He Paid 500
900 for a Second Hand One.

1t dates back in all probability, to
patriorchal epoch, and followed natu-
rally the invention of woven fabrics
| that were first employed as clothing
simply by winding them about the
person. These fabrics were used as
beds by wandering tribes, aud to sit
| upon in their tents, and so, by u pro.
cess of TRANSFORMED easily under.
stood and with some notifications of
form aud texture. to cover the ground
as aids TO neatness. In time mats
made of PUSHES or of long grass were
in part substituted for the WOODEN or
linen draperieS as cheaper and q
more efficient protection from the
humidity of the soil. Thus far had
humanity doubtless progressed be-
fore the building of great cities, aud
ere carpets made with great skill
and in complicated patterns became
luxury in the houses OF the rich aud
the palaces of kiDgs-that is to say
long before the beginning of anthem
tic history
Carpets were probably first used IN
india, or at least in those parts Of
Asia, thai are considered as the cradle
of the race, but they are first heard of
IN MesOpotamia and in Persia, where
they were made with q magniticence
AMI an elebOratenrss of desigu hard iy
excelled at the present day. The car
pets OF Sardis, Babylon. Persis and
tyre were famous in remote Biblical
epO'hs From the far east these ar
icles of royal splend0r passed into
Egypt and into Greece, where, on
account of their great cost, there use
could not be general. The Carthani
ans used them when the Il ImaUs,
their Traditional enemies, slept on
the bare earth and led . life that
vas of Spartan VIrFue, but hard and
repusive from modern standpoint.
It does mt appear that they were
ever manufactured in Italy in tn ;
line Of the Romans, aud they could
not consequently be used except nv
The emperors and few Of the wesi
thier mobiles, who employed them for
tee )raing banquet halls, covering
the couches on which they reclined
| at meals, or to spread over the throne
and dias at imperial audiences. Their
| Use to cover floors was exceptional, or
1t least par 5ial, since the tesselated
paVem5nts of Roman houses were
works OF art which it wOul" have
been in doubtful taste to conceal,
even by al oriental carpet into which
was woven the whole story of The
| sius and Ariadne. AS to their cost,
it is said that the Emperor Nero paid
for second hand carpet that had
prev ously belong ed to MetelIus a
sum that.misht bereasonabl, esumaI-
u al slU 800 ID ne currency OF the
United States. It was TO be- used at
his banquet, whose magnitiCencs was
| only equaled by their deOauchery.
After the tall of the empire carpets
continued IN use as usual in Persia,
Syria and CyZantium, whose wealth
! AID luxury were III singular contrast
with the baroness and poverty or
| Western Europe, where this form OF
| ornament end comfort was unknown
| tud uulmaglned. French writer's
| say that tapas tries began to be
| manufactured at Reims, Arras and
| st Quentin as early as the ninth CEN
| Jury, but they must have been OF poor
| quality, while their use was limited
| 10 haDgi on the walls of castles
! and churches. In the eleventh CEN
| fury manufactures were established
| ~ POitieTs, Troy es and Be uNas in
| France, and in some of the cities OF
| Flanders, The products of the Ia ter
loon acquiring great reputation.
| The tap' stTies of ArTas were famous
nr hundred of yenrs, and were used
| III England in Snakes pears's uime, as
| We know by the famous sctns in
! Hamlet, where the melancholy Dane
| 6ills POiOnius behind the haugings IF
| his mothers chamber. The MOprs
| brought capet5 into Spain in he
eighth century, aud in the thirteenth
EIenOre of CASTLE brought sp9Gmeus
| with her when she came to England.
! Their use however, was not promptly
| vulgarized among the English, only
Il Jew of the rich being able 10 afford
| them, and they were sill only en-
played for ornamenting the walls OF
churches and castles since the were
far too pr tty to be trOden on. Eng
llsh antq arians assert that the
manufacture of carpers was introduce
ed INFO the island in the time of Hen
~ Will, but it did not evidently
make rapid progress, az we are infOr-
med that Queen Mary had her palace
floors strewn with PUSHES after the
fashion of the time, while Queen
Elizabeth had but one carpet to her
name, though she died pOssesse OF 5000
silk dresses. This solitary carpet the
maiden Queen naturally had spread
on the floor of her presence cham Der
as cOmpOrting more appropriately
with the richness of her silk attire,
aud as clearly precautiOu against
the rushes sOiIed with the mud OF
London streets carelessly brought in
by the boots of her cOurtiers.
1t Is curious to remark the long
time it TOOK to bring the carpet into
general use. Here WAS the richest
and greatest Queen OF her time pos