DERBYSHIRE TAPESTRY. 91 



No examples of this early period we believe remain in Derby- 

 shire. The two oldest pieces are at Haddon and Hardwick, the 

 former consisting of a piece of " verdures " {c. 1470) hanging 

 under the window-ledge in the drawing-room, and the other a 

 most sumptuous series, suspended on the window side of the 

 Long Gallery at Hardwick, bearing the date 1478. By the kind- 

 ness of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, we have been 

 favoured with illustrations of these superb hangings, certainly 

 unsurpassed in this county, and perhaps in England. J"or sim- 

 plicity, unity, and intense beauty, we have not yet seen anything 

 comparable. The photographs have been executed by Mr. Keene, 

 and the collotype reproductions by the publishers. 



In the Rolls of Parliament, Vol. IV., 229, may be found the 

 inventories of the treasures of Henry V., with some very interesting 

 particulars of the vast amount of tapestry among that deceased 

 king's treasures. There are at least eighty pieces, some of which 

 are appraised. Amongst them we have some which would hardly 

 at that time obtain spontaneous production in France, for instance 

 the story of Bevis of Hampton ; Carpets of tapestry worked with 

 the arms of England ; another piece of Arras of gold of the 

 History of the Kings (of Britain), which commence " Sanctus 

 Lucius," 15 yards by 5 yards ; another of the same suit beginning 

 " Sanctus Edwardus " {the Confessor), 14 yards by 5^ yards ; a 

 piece of Arras of gold of St. George, with the arms of the Earl of 

 Gloucester, 10 yards by 4 yards, at 10s. the yard. 



" In 1392, the Earl of Arundel disposed by will of his blue hang- 

 ings, with red flowers, recently made in London " (Miintz : " History 

 of Tapestry," 162). The same author writes (p. 237), "Towards 

 the end of the reign of Henry VIII., William Sheldon placed his 

 manor of Burcheston, Warwickshire, at the disposal of the tapestry 

 weaver, Robert Hicks, and commanded him to execute on a large 

 scale, maps of the counties of Oxford, Worcester, Warwick, 

 and Gloucester."* In his will, dated 1570, Sheldon calls Hicks 

 '* the only auter and beginner of tapestry and arras within this 



* Three of these are preserved in the York Museum. 



