But we hasten to enter upon the history of Brussels, that important centre towards which all the admiration given to what was called "Flemish tapestries," should converge. What we may be able to say on the subject here, will be but little compared to the complete work now in course of preparation by M. Pinchard, archiviste of the city of Brussels, the publication of which is so impatiently expected. But it will at any rate be a provisional element of research for amateurs.

The first tapestries that can with certainty be attributed to this celebrated manufactory are those of the period of Louis XII. and the beginning of the Renaissance, which display marvellous style and noble composition. The borders are perfectly characteristic; they are composed, not of a wreath of flowers, but of branches laid one over the other, the vine, the mulberry, groups of iris, pomegranate, etc, on a dark blue ground, heightened with gold. At the Exhibition of costume, the priceless hangings belonging to Sir Richard Wallace were to be seen; some were unintelligible, others were explained by inscriptions in Gothic characters, especially giving the name of the personages, so that the subjects were recognisable as taken from the French fabliaux, and especially the Romance of the Rose. There, "Amours" receives a message from "Bouche d'or," in the presence of "Paix" and "Concorde"; in a gallery are seated "Doulx parler," "Prudece,"and "Doulx regart." The accessory personages are "Malebouche, Faulx semblant, Dangier, Vilain coraige, and Haine couverte," who forges evil tongues. We meet with some of these personages again in the attack on the chateau d'Amour.

Nothing is more remarkable than the grace of the figures, the amplitude of the draperies, and the supreme elegance of the groups, evidently composed by painters of the first rank whose names we would gladly learn. In the same style, and of no less talented workmanship, were three pieces of a tapestry representing the Temple and Triumph of Chastity, the Triumph of Death, and the Triumph of Good Fame, also exhibited at the History of Costume by MM. Flandin and Leclanche: a badly written date, of which nothing could be distinguished but 1507, added to the interest of the series. Towards this period, that is, at the time when the arts were in their efflorescence, Flanders became the centre for orders from all parts of Europe. Felibien asserts that it was "Bernard van Orley (living towards 1490) who caused those tapestries to be executed which the popes, emperors, and kings ordered to be made in Flanders from Italian designs." Thus much is certain, that the cartoons of Raffaelle, part of which are preserved at South Kensington, were executed at Brussels, and compose the inestimable series of eleven pieces of tapestry which still exist at the Vatican. The eleventh, which was supposed to have been lost, the "Coronation of the Virgin," was discovered in 1869 by M. Paliard, and the description he gives of it contains one valuable detail: the borders, he says, "are ornamented with flowers, fruits, birds, mermaids, and genii, of small dimensions, with their colouring, on a gold groundwork; they each have the same breadth of thirty centimetres, like the vertical and upper horizontal borders of the 'Conversion of St. Paul,' and of the 'Miraculous Draught,' for these three subjects, placed side by side, filled up the farther end of the Sistine chapel, the 'Miraculous Draught' on the left, the Coronation in the centre over the altar, and the Conversion of Saint Paul, on the right." With the sixteenth century, therefore, we see the commencement of that system of bordering which was destined to outlive even the century, and almost replace the cut branches of the end of the fifteenth. Were there some particular borders exceptionally prescribed for the cartoons? We should be tempted to believe so, and every one may have remarked that the votive tapestry dedicated by the widow of the prince of Tour et Taxis, (inventor of the Postal system), had one of those frames with candelabra, tablets and fillets, in the style of the compositions of the Modenese school. This beautiful piece of tapestry, which represents a procession, and the consecration of a statue of the Holy Virgin, bore the following legend, on a sort of blue tablet: "Egregius Franciscus de Taxis pie meorie postaru mgr hic fieri fecit, anno 1518".

Of the first days of the manufactory, a few names only have barely reached us; the following are mentioned:

1466. Jehan de Rave, author of the history of Hannibal 1497. Pierre Denghien, - Jehan Dupont, - Frank de Houwene. 1499. Jean Van Brugge.

In the sixteenth century, the names are not more numerous; we find Pierre Van Alst in 1514, then in 1548, Guillaume de Pannemakere, commissioned by Charles the. Fifth to execute from the cartoons of the painter Jehan Vermay, the famous tapestry of the conquest of the kingdom of Thunes, (Tunis), a favourite subject of the period which we find in goldsmith's work, and even in Italian maiolica. The choice of the materials destined for this work, sufficiently indicates the importance which the Emperor attached to its success; the warp was to be of the "best and most exquisite thread brought from Lyon, and the woof of fine gold and silver thread, and of fine Granada silk".

At this time, the authorities were occupied about regulations for the trade, and the punishment of the frauds which had been introduced into it, especially concerning the counterfeiting of marks. We are ignorant of the period when these marks had been invented, but it must have been under the government of the Dukes of Burgundy. In fact, the most ancient signs we meet with are two sorts of B, placed face to face, and separated by a red symbol; and which are no other than the two "foisils," and the flame which their striking has elicited from the stone, that is to say, the device of Burgundy; by degrees, the ignorance of the weavers changes these signs, the B becomes clearer and better formed, and at last, that one which had been turned in a contrary direction, resumes its natural position; the flame undergoes still greater changes, according to the caprice of the artisan : here it is an escutcheon of gules, there a pomegranate, in another instance a heart, or even a heart with the point upwards.