Note 610 — Chapter XI

In the Calendar of the State Papers Office (Domestic, Charles I., vol. clxix. p. 12), Mrs. H. Senior sues the Earl of Thomond for £200 per annum, her pay for teaching his daughter needlework. Mrs. Hutchinson, in her Memoir, says she had eight tutors when she was seven years old, and one of them taught her needlework. This shows how highly this accomplishment was still considered in the days of Charles I. and the Commonwealth. Later, Evelyn speaks of the “new bed of Charles II.’s queen, the embroidery of which cost £3000” (Evelyn’s Memoirs, January 24, 1687). Evelyn says of his own daughter Susanna, who married William Draper: “She had a peculiar talent in designe, as painting in oil and miniature, and an extraordinary genius for whatever hands can do with a needle.” See Evelyn’s “Memoirs,” April 27, 1693; also see Mrs. Palliser’s “History of Lace,” pp. 7, 8.