tually exchanged presents; the Persian lady presented my sister with 
a veil of purple silk-net, embroidered with silver, such as the 
Moguls wear either to cover the face, or to throw back as an orna- 
ment: similar to that which Helen gave to Telemachus — 
“ The beauteous queen, advancing, then display’d 
“ A shining veil, and thus endearing said, 
“ Accept, dear youth, this monument of love, 
“ Long since, in better days, by Helen wove ; 
“ Safe in thy mother’s care the vesture lay, 
“ To deck thy bride, and grace thy nuptial day.” 
Odyssey. 
The art of embroidery is of great antiquity, as we learn from 
sacred and profane history: the dress of the princes and nobles in 
Homer's time resembled the jama, girdle, and kincob drawers, 
flowered with gold and silver, now worn by the Moguls; thus 
Homer describes Ulysses, in his royal attire: 
“ In ample mode, 
“ A robe of military purple flow’d 
“ O’er all his frame; illustrious on his breast, 
“ The double clasping gold the king confest : 
“In the rich woof a hound mosaic drawn, 
“ Bore on full stretch, and seiz’d a dappled fawn : 
“ Fine as a filmy web beneath it shone 
“ A vest, that dazzled like a cloudless sun : 
“ A sabre, when the warrior press’d to part, 
“ He gave, enamell’d with Vulcanian art: 
“ A mantle purple-ting’d, and radiant vest, 
“ Affection grateful to an honour’d guest.” 
The note on the above passage in Pope’s Homer illustrates the 
art of ancient embroidery, by remarking, that it was of divers co- 
