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NEEDLEWORK. these young ladies are termed “ chambrieres,” in our English, simply, ‘ the maidens.” Great ladies prided themselves upon the number of their attendants, and passed their mornings at work, their labours beguiled by singing the “chansons a toile,” as the ballads, written for these occasions, were termed. 22 In the ward robe accounts of our kings appear constant entries of working materials purchased for the royal ladies. 23 1 Hiring the Wars of the Hoses, when a duke of the blood royal is related to have begged alms in the streets of the rich Flemish towns, ladies of rank, more fortunate in their education, gained, like the French emigrants of modern days, their subsistence by the products of their needle. 24 Without wishing to detract from the industry of medkeval ladies it must be owned that the swampy state of the country, the. absence of all roads, save those traversed by pack-horses unng the fine season, and the deficiency of all suitable outdoor theirT b,1 f. tllilt ° f 1 ! aWking ’ cause d them to while away exekTf 8 , "“ y th8y couU °”‘ » f for women ls but of modern date. Not fifty years from Madrid, in 1G79, “for good families to put their daughters to ladies, by whom they are employed to embroider in gold and silver, or various colours, or in silk, about the shift, neck, and Lunds.” ll l j°r fist es cliambre son pero, Une estole et i amict pere De soie et d’or molt soutilment, Si i fait ententevement Mainte croisette et mainte estoile Et dist eeste chanchon a toile.” Human de la Violette. “ One day, seated in her father’s room she was skilfully working a stole and amict in silk and gold, and she was msi ring i n it, with great care, many a 1 le cross and many a little star, sing- ln f 3 a 'l "bile this chanson a toile.” In one of Edward I. we find a cliar-e f eight shillings for silk bought for the mbrmdery work of Margaret, the king’s 20ot ’r and aU0th6r 4 Uber <1 thrcad > a Spindle, &e.— e.'ti E,lw " ri n| , tiie ..uni ot ■ W expended in the purchase of gold thread, silk, &c., for his second daughter, Joanna. — Liber Garderobse, 12-16 Edw. Ill,, Public Record Office. Elizabeth of York worked much at her needle. In the account of her household, preserved in the Public Record Office, every page of which is signed by Queen Elizabeth herself, we find— To Evan Petrcson, joiner, for the stuff and making of 4 working stools for the Queen, price of the stool 16 pence, 5s. 4 d. To Thomas Fissch, for an elne of linen cloth for a samplar for the Queen, 8d.” In the Inventory, 4 Edward VI., 1552 (Harl. MSS. No. 1-119), are entries of— “ Item, xii. samplais” (p. 419). “ Item, one samplar of Normandie canvas wrought with green and black silk ” (p. 524). “ A book of parchment containing diverses patterncs” (p. 474), probably purchases for his sisters. 24 See, for instance, the interesting account of the Countess of Oxford, given by Miss Strickland, in her “ Life of Queen Elizabeth of York.”