Report to the Right honourable the master of the rolls upon the documents in the archives and public libraries of Venice / by Thomas Duffus Hardy.
- Thomas Duffus Hardy
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report to the Right honourable the master of the rolls upon the documents in the archives and public libraries of Venice / by Thomas Duffus Hardy. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![45. Among the many documents connected with English manu- factures I found several relating to our silk manufacture, which I think will interest your Honour. One letter, from a private collection, contained several patterns* of ribbons which were ori- ginally sent from St. Quentin, in France, to Alvise Contarini. ambassador in Rome, by the Venetian secretary Giulio Cesare Albcrti on the 12th of May 1635. They were then the fashionable colours, and enable us to compare the ribbons of England with those of France. They also prove that half a century before the establishment of French refugees in Spitalfields (1685), English ribbons competed successfully with those of France. These pat- terns were sent to the ambassador at Rome in a private letter from the secretary, who mentions them thus:— Enclosed your Excel- lency will receive some patterns of ribbons [cordelle] which I have with me, having brought them in my trunk by accident; some of them are much esteemed on account of their colours, and are the fashion of the day. Should your Excellency wish for any of another sort you will be pleased to give me notice, or I will not fail to obtain them from Paris, and even from London.'' The papers containing the patterns are inscrihed :— May 1635. I. Fashionable colours, and which are in use at the present day, and, from what I believe, manufactured in Touraine, although said to come from London.f (Four patterns, coloured ribbons (silk); two one inch and one-eighth wide, two half inch wide, query galloon.) May 1635. II. Ordinary English colours, purchased in London lately. (Five patterns—three, one inch and one-eighth wide; one, one inch; one, half inch wide; query galloon. Colours-- one plain yellow, and four variegated.) At the commencement of the year 1670, the Inquisitors of State bear testimony to the excellence of English ribbons and other manufactures in a letter addressed by them to the Republic's ambassador in London :— It would be profitable to encourage the emigration to Venice of some expert manufacturers of stockings, ribbons (cordellami), and other articles made in England, and which are much valued here; giving assurance that all similar artisans will be received and protected by the public authorities, and may, perhaps, hope notably to benefit their own interests. Your Excellency's prudence comprehends the nature of this business, which is of no slight importance; so, beino- convinced * These patterns having been presented to me by the owner of the collection, in -which they were found, were sent by the Master of the Rolls to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a request that he would take such steps to bring them under public notice, as he might think expedient. They were thereupon presented by him to the Salford Peel Park Museum. t A proof that the London ribbons were generally preferred to those of France.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21021284_0043.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
