2^0 A. D. 10 66. 



Concerning the manufadures of this country, the meagre chronicles 

 of the times now under confideration afford Httle addition to what has 

 been already faid upon the introdudion of the art of making glafs in 

 Northumberland ; except in a department, which might be fuppofed 

 to belong to a flate of fociety vaflly more advanced in refinement than 

 the Englifh then were. We have undoubted proof that the Englifli 

 jewelers and workers in gold and filver were eminent in their profell- 

 ions, and that probably as early as the beginning of the feventh cen- 

 tury (fee above, p. 238) ; and certainly as early as the time of Alfred. 

 A piece of ornamental work in gold, with an infcription Ihowing that 

 it was made by the order of that great prince, is preferved in the Aili- 

 molean mufeum, and engravings of it have been repeatedly publifhed. 

 Though the drawing of the figure upon It proves that the arts of deflgn 

 were in a very low flate indeed, yet the nice fculpture of the goldfmith's 

 tools has been greatly admired. [See Hickefn 'thejaiir. Angl. Sax. V. i, 

 pp. 142, 173 — AJJerii Vit. JElfredi, pp. 43, 171, ed. 1722 — Philof. 

 tranfaB. n°. 247.] So great was the demand for highly-finifhcd trinkets 

 of gold and filver, that the mofl capital artifls of Germany reforted to 

 England ; and, moreover, the mofl pretious fpecimens of foreign work- 

 manfhip were imported by the merchants. The women of England 

 were fo famous for their tafle and fkill in embroidering with fdk of 

 various colours, and with threads oPgold and filver, that embroidery 

 was now called Euglijh work, as in antient times it was called Phrygian. 

 William the Conqueror fent to his patron, Pope Alexander II, the ban- 

 ner of King Harold, wliich contained the figure of an armed man in 

 pure gold, and along with it feveral other ornamental works, ' which 

 might be greatly admired even at Conflantinople.* The prefents fent 

 by the f\me conqueror to the church of Caen in Normandy, were ' fuch 

 ' as Grangers of the highefl rank, who had feen the treafures of many 

 * noble churches, might look upon with delight ; and even the natives 

 ' of Greece or Arabia, if they were to travel thither, would be equally 

 ' charmed with them.' What renders thefe praifes of the Englifh male 

 and female artifts the more valuable, is, that it is bellowed by foreign- 

 ers *. \GuL Pi£lav. ap. Du Chefne Script. Norm. pp. 206, 211. — Muratori 

 Antiq. V. ii, coll. 404, 405.] 



The imports of England in thofe ages comprehended filk, and other 

 expcnfive articles of drefs for the great, pretious flones, perfumes, and 

 other Oriental luxuries, purchafed in the ports of Italy, and probably 

 fometimes at Marfeille. To thefe may be added books, and alfo, what 

 will appear furpriling to a modern proteftant reader, dead carcafes, legs, 

 arms, fingers, toes, and old rags, fuppofed to have belonged to the can- 

 onized faints. 



* See alfo the account of Matildis, a woman very fl<ilfiil in the art of dying purple, and adorn- 

 ing the drcfTcs of the rich ,\vlth gold, gems, pidures, and flowers, by Ailrcd, a natire writer. 

 \Col. 409, ap. Tivyfden.'] 4 



