A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



TAPESTRY 



Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth kept a 

 staff of tapestry workers or arras-makers, of 

 which the chief members were usually of 

 foreign birth. 1 Amongst the adherents of the 

 Dutch Church in 1550 were Hendryck 

 Moreels, ' tapitsier,' and Roelandt de Mets, 

 living in St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the first 

 of these is probably the ' Henrhicus Moreels 2 

 tapestarius in opere Reginae ' of a return of 

 1561. Another of the queen's workers at 

 this time was John Celot, and the names of 

 several other tapestry -makers are to be found in 

 later returns of the reign of Elizabeth, living 

 for the most part within the limits of the 

 City of London. 



A small tapestry manufactory was set up at 

 Fulham by some Walloon refugees at the end 

 of the iyth century. The parish register of 

 burials 3 records the name of ' William King, 

 Clarke at the Manufactori ' in 1699, and that 

 of ' Richard fflower, a weaver, from the Manu- 

 factori ' in 1 700. 



Early in the next century another attempt 

 was made to introduce the manufacture of 

 tapestry into Middlesex. James Christopher 

 Le Blon, a Fleming by birth and a mezzotint 

 engraver by profession, some time subsequently 

 to 1732 'set up a project for copy ing cartoons 

 in tapestry, and made some very fine drawings 

 for that purpose. Houses were built and 

 looms erected in the Mulberry-ground at 

 Chelsea (see p. 1 34 ante), but either the ex- 

 pense was precipitated too fast or contribu- 

 tions did not arrive fast enough ', and the 

 enterprise proved a failure. 4 Le Blon is said 

 to have died in a hospital at Paris in 1 740. 



A more noted manufactory for weaving 

 carpets and tapestries was started by Peter 

 Parisot, a Frenchman domiciled in England, 

 in 1753- Parisot's undertaking is described 

 by himself in a scarce little book entitled An 

 account of the new manufacture of Tapestry 

 after the manner of that at the Gobelins ; and of 

 Carpets after the manner of that at Chaillot 

 &c. now undertaken at Fulham, by Mr. Peter 

 Parisot, 1753. 



Parisot had engaged some workmen from 

 Chaillot whom at first he employed at Padding- 

 ton, but afterwards removed to Fulham, where 



1 W. Page, Denizationi and NaturaRzations (Hu- 

 guenot Soc.), p. 1. 



' Kirk, Returns of Aliens (Huguenot Soc.), i, 205 

 et scq. and 274. 



*C. J. Feret, Fulham Old and New (1900), 85. 



' Walpole, Cat. of Engravers (1794), "7 8 



this manufacture had already been established. 

 Here he procured spacious accommodation 

 for his business and for instructing young 

 persons of both sexes in the arts of drawing, 

 weaving, dyeing, and other branches of the 

 work. In his book Parisot speaks of the 

 patronage of the Duke of Cumberland, who 

 gave him great financial help ; other members 

 of the Royal family, including the Princess 

 Dowager of Wales, also supported the work.' 

 His goods however were too expensive, and the 

 manufacture soon declined. George Bubb 

 Dodington the diarist, who lived at Fulham, 

 records a visit he paid to this factory on 

 8th March 1753 : 'We went to see the 

 manufacture of tapestry from France, now set 

 up at Fulham by the Duke. The work both 

 of the gobelins and of chaillot, called savonnerie, 

 is very fine, but very dear.' 6 



According to Giuseppe Baretti, Parisot was 

 a renegade priest, once a noted Capuchin, 

 whose real name was Pere Norbert, and his 

 failure was due to his own shortcomings as a 

 spendthrift. 7 Within three years of its estab- 

 lishment the Fulham manufactory, which 

 was chiefly devoted to the production of velvet 

 pile carpets, had to close its doors. Parisot 

 left Fulham for Exeter in 1753, and on 

 12 January 1756 his whole stock was sold off. 

 The highest price reached at the sale was 

 ^64 is., given for 'a magnificent large carpet 

 1 8 ft. by 13 ft. of a most elegant and beau- 

 tiful design '. A catalogue of the collection 

 consisting of four small pages (the only known 

 copy) is in the British Museum. 



The various items mentioned in this 

 catalogue 8 show clearly the nature of Parisot's 

 business. Amongst the fire-screens after the 

 manner of the Gobelins one bore a represen- 

 tation of a ' landscape with two doves billing,' 

 another a ' Chinese pheasant with a green 

 parrot and a butterfly,' and others, such fables as 

 'the Monkey and the Cat', 'the Fox and 

 the Crane' and 'the Bear and the Bees.' 

 Amongst the stock also were chairs similarly 

 adorned ; one ' large seat for a chair, depicting 

 in the background a range of hills at a distant 

 view, and a fountain in the middle ; the 

 border of which is ornamented with flowers. ' 

 Cotton-work after the manner of the manu- 



'Lysons, Environs of Land. (1795), ii, 400 ; Gent. 

 Mag. 1754, p. 385- 



s Dodington, Diary (4th ed. 1 809), 1 99. 



7 Feret, op. cit. 87-8. 



8 Brit. Mus. pressmark, - 7po |' < *- >* 



138 



