Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton; Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton [Hrsg.]: The art of needle-work from the earliest ages: including some notices of the ancient historical tapestries (London: Henry Colburn Publishers, 1841)

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NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.

courtiers he added, “ Were all our prelates like
Hugh of Lincoln, both king and barons must submit
to their righteous rebukes.”
Furs were much used now as coverings for beds ;
and they were considered a necessary part of dress
for a very considerable period.
In Sir John Cullum’s Hawsted, mention is made
that in 1281 Cecilia, widow of William Talmache,
died, and, amongst other bequests, left “to Thomas
Battesford, for black coats for poor people, xxxs. in
part.” “ To John Camp, of Bury St. Edmunds,
furrier, for furs for the black coats, viij.y. xj<7.” On
which the reverend and learned author remarks,
“ We should now indeed think that a black coat
bestowed on a poor person wanted not the addition
of fur : such, however, was the fashion of the time ;
and a sumptuary law of Edward III. allows handi-
craft and yeomen to wear no manner of furre, nor of
bugg,* but only lambe, coney, catte, and foxe.”
The distinction in rank was expressly shown by
the kind of fur displayed on the dress, and these
distinctions were regulated by law and rigidly en-
forced. By a statute passed in 1455, for regulating
the dress of the Scottish lords of parliament, the
gowns of the earls are appointed to be furred with
ermine, while those of the other lords are to be lined
with “ criestay, gray, griece, or purray.”
The more precious furs, as ermine and sable, were
reserved exclusively for the principal nobility of
both sexes. Persons of an inferior rank wore the
vair or gns (probably the Hungarian squirrel); the

* Bugg—buge, lamb’s furr.—Dr. Jamieson.