[Illustration: "OLD BRUSSELS" (HAND-MADE GROUND).
[Illustration: BRUSSELS LAPPET, MADE IN IMITATION OF ALENÇON AND ARGENTAN.]
Lace made at Brussels at all periods has one characteristic that places it at once and makes identification easy at a glance. The threads of the toilé--that is, the pattern--follows the _curves_, instead of, as in other Flanders laces, being straight _up_ and _down_ and _across_, each thread being exactly at right angles to the other; Brussels lace also has a distinctive edge to its pattern. It has no Cordonnet, but a little set of looped stitches worked along the edge of the design, afterwards whipped over to keep the edge in place. This is most clearly seen in every specimen, and, in conjunction with the curved toilé, at once settles the vexed question of the origin of Point d'Angleterre.
The mesh or ground is, again, quite different to other laces. It has three varieties of ground--
1. One, mostly used in Point d'Angleterre, being of fine "brides" with four or five picots, but this ground is also seen in Venetian and French laces.
2. A hand-made ground made of looped buttonhole stitches, which is the finest and most gossamer-like of all; and
3. A woven ground made on the pillow with plaited thread, very like Mechlin, but under the magnifying glass having two longer sides to its hexagonal mesh, and therefore being more open and clear.
The hand, or rather needlepoint, ground was three times more expensive than the woven, as it was stronger and more lasting. The special value of the "vrai reseau" in our own day is that it can be imperceptibly repaired, the broken stitches replaced, whereas in the woven ground the point of junction must show.
The needle-made net is so fine that one piece in my possession, though measuring 3/4 yard by 8 inches can easily, in its widest part, be gathered and passed through a finger ring. At the present day this net is not made, and even the fine woven ground is not used except for Royal wedding orders or for exhibition purposes. A magnificent piece belonging to Messrs. Haywards, of New Bond Street (which cannot be photographed, unfortunately, as it is between two sheets of glass, and might fall to pieces if taken out), was made for George IV., and not delivered, owing no doubt to the usual depleted state of that monarch's exchequer. Messrs. Haywards (whose courtesy is as boundless as their reputation) are always pleased to show this and their other splendid specimen collections to those interested in old lace.