The linen required for service at the Holy Table includes a ‘Fair Linen Cloth,’ a Corporal, Chalice-veil and Pall, or a pair of Corporals; Purificators, and a Credence Cloth.

The first-named should be made to fit the top of the altar exactly as to width, but may hang down at each end to within a foot or so of the floor, including the fringe.

The hem along the sides should be one inch wide and that at the ends about three inches wide. If any embroidery is worked on the part which lies flat on the top, it should not be done in high relief, and may consist of five crosses, one in the centre and one at each corner about an inch from the edges of the altar, worked in chain or close herring-bone, or very slightly padded satin-stitch.

The two ends which hang down may be enriched by any amount of embroidery, and any of the stitches described in the last chapter may be used.

Many of the clergy prefer their altar-linen worked entirely in white; linen-thread, silk, or cotton may be employed; where colour is not objected to, red, blue, green and yellow, either singly or in combination, may produce very beautiful results.

Illustration I., p. 80, taken from an altar-band at South Kensington, is worked with the names of saints, alternately red and blue, the foliage green, fruit red and yellow, flowers red, white and blue. The stitch used throughout is close herring-bone or braid-stitch, with the exception of the quaint little birds, which are done in cross-stitch.

For less elaborate work one of the cross-stitch borders F and F, f, p. 77, and worked in red silk or in gold colour, would look well, and all the rest of the altar-linen could be done to match, or with a narrower border.

For white work Illustration II. is very satisfactory. The outline of the leaves may be done in chain-stitch, the veins and grapes in satin-stitch, the quatrefoil in feather-stitch; the sacred monogram may be either solid satin-stitch, divided down the middle of each down-stroke by a voided line, or outlined with chain-stitch and filled with the buttonhole filling or with satin-stitch dots, or again, with close feather-stitch like the quatrefoil. The stems of the vine may be filled in the same manner, and the leaves with a series of back-stitches, like the illustration given for Chalice-veil.

A neatly sewn hem is better for altar-linen than hem-stitching or drawn thread; the latter especially being somewhat flimsy, and destroying to a certain extent the wearing properties of the fabric, is decidedly unsuitable for this purpose, except perhaps one kind, of which I give an illustration here (Illustration III., p. 81).

In this some of the strands of either warp or weft are withdrawn as in ordinary drawn-thread work, but instead of being merely tied together by means of the needle and thread, or the spaces between filled up with stitches, the absent strands are replaced, and one might say more than made good by the darning which builds up the pattern.

This darning might be done all in white-linen thread, or colour may be introduced as in this example, which is of blue and white alternate medallions, and the fringe is spaced with blue to correspond.

The threads withdrawn should be counted if the linen is fairly coarse, but if very fine, measurement will suffice for accuracy and is not so trying for the eyes; indeed, after a little practice, neither should be necessary in the case of the strands taken up by the needle in the course of the work. In my example—which is done on a heavy homespun linen—twenty-four threads go to the half-inch, both in warp and weft, and I would recommend that this pattern should be practised on nothing finer until it is thoroughly learnt, as it is somewhat intricate. The narrow border above and below the principal pattern is simple enough.

To work it, begin by drawing three-eighths of an inch deep, then threading a needle with blue linen, silk or cotton, take up five threads (or their equivalent one-eighth of an inch), and knot the blue over them with a single knot, just to keep it in place to start with; lay the end along with the strands of the linen, and work over it by taking an equal number of strands on the needle in the opposite direction to the first lot. This must be done backwards and forwards till nearly half the bar is firmly and evenly covered with blue. Then take up five and leave five, darning (over twenty altogether) backwards and forwards about four times to make the cross-bar. The first bar is to be continued up to the end, then the other stroke of the H-form is to be worked the same as the first, only, instead of doing the cross-bar, the needle is just run through the former stitches (in with the warp-strands). They are worked alternately two blue and two white, and I strongly recommend blue or green to be used with the white for practice, for the sake of the worker’s eyes, as all white work is undeniably bad to do very much of.

To fasten off the thread it is simply run through the stitches already done and cut off close.

To work the larger part of the pattern, threads are drawn to the depth of one inch (see A, on Illustration IV., which is very much enlarged to show the method of work). This will be for a row of half medallions. A very fine needle and No. 100 or 120 cotton is used to collect the strands into a series of upright bars (B), by twisting the fine cotton over each group of four (or an eighth part of the threads which each medallion takes to do). It should be twisted round and round fairly tightly, from one end to the other, and a few stitches into the linen will help to keep them apart at each end. When this is done, another inch may be drawn, leaving a few threads of the linen intact between the two halves of the medallion, D.

The dotted lines at E show how the bars are pulled apart on the one hand and drawn together on the other by the darning forming the pattern, the bars thus connecting the whole of the medallions throughout the work. F shows one of the latter being worked from the centre. It is begun by darning eight bars regularly backwards and forwards about four times. Then the two middle bars are left and one side is darned over only three bars, to finish the first ‘step,’ and to leave the little window-like opening, H, then over two bars only to finish the ‘window,’ and begin the second step. At J it goes right across six bars once, when returning to the centre it goes down the two that were left till it arrives near F again, and the other side is begun in steps like the first. At J it goes right across six again and keeps on till the second step is finished, which is where the needle has got to in the sketch. The second step is about half the depth of the first. The third is the same depth as the second, but is darned over four bars. This leaves two to be finished last, and these two are darned over till the undrawn strip of linen is reached and the half medallion is finished. The other half is exactly the same, only reversed. The thread should be worked fairly tight throughout.

The hem at the bottom should be finished off with a fringe. If colours are used in the work they should appear again in the fringe, but if it is all white a good knotted one of fine white linen thread should be sewn on by its upper edge (see Illustration II.), taking care not to stretch it at all, but rather to ease it on. It should hang quite free, not on the stuff, as it is in the case of frontals, &c.

I may here remark that it is a mistake to suppose that there is any difficulty in washing fringes. If they are not too deep in the ‘fall,’ and are well made of good linen thread, they only need to be well shaken two or three times when wet and while drying, to make them hang perfectly straight and well.

Good thread lace[11] may be used instead of fringe. Lace is also sometimes tacked along the front to hang over the super-frontal, but as it requires to be taken off every time the cloth is washed it is not practicable unless some careful lady is responsible for its welfare, or unless some such lace as Irish crochet be used, which will stand washing.

I believe the coloured embroidery described above used to be tacked on to the ends of the fair linen in this way like apparels, and removed for the more frequent washing of the cloth itself; in some modern churches where there are plenty of persons able and willing to attend to these things they are still used, and quite appropriately; but for a small village or very poor town church it seems more suitable to have good strong linen, simple embroideries (either in one colour or white), and a stout linen fringe to match.

Cut-linen too may be used either for an open-work border or instead of lace or fringe for the edge. If evenly and firmly worked, either in buttonhole or over-sewing, it will last as long as the linen itself.

In olden times the CORPORAL or corporax-cloth was often made large enough to cover the surface of the altar, to fold over the chalice, or a ‘Pair of Corporals’ were used. It seems to be more general now to have one corporal about twenty-four inches square, and one smaller and thinner—a ‘Chalice-veil,’ used in conjunction with a stiffened square of linen called the pall; which together take the place of the second corporal.

The corporal may be worked with five crosses like the altar cloth, only smaller, or with one, just above the hem, in the centre of one of the sides; or it may have a border embroidered all round it. There are some in the Victoria and Albert Museum done in cross-stitch very similar to the designs I have suggested for Fair Linen Cloths, and one, it may be noted, with the border worked exactly the same on both sides (inside and out), so that when turned over in actual use there would be no ‘wrong side’ to show.

The more delicate ‘Chalice-veil’ may be embroidered all over, so long as the decoration does not interfere with the softness of the linen, which is its chief beauty. If it is intended to be folded when in use it should not be so soft, and the design might take up just one-ninth of the surface—one-third of the width by one-third of the length, so that when folded in three each way the ornamentation may fill the central square.

If it is to hang over as a veil the same rule applies to it as to the silk chalice-veil, namely, that as one-third of it will hang down all round when in use, the design must take account of these conditions. The corners or the sides may be the centre of decoration, which should in this case grow upward, or a border may run all round. It is frequently edged with lace of the finest and richest description.

The PALL, which is used with the soft fine chalice-veil, is a stiff square of linen from 4 to 6 inches in size, according to the chalice it is to cover. It may be embroidered all over, or with a cross, or the sacred monogram, or a symbol of the Passion in the centre. Some stiffen it with a square of cardboard covered with linen, others with a double fold of the material used for the interlining of linen collars. The upper square, which is embroidered, is often made separately; it is in this case hemmed (sometimes edged with a narrow thread lace), and a tiny strap is buttonholed across each corner to keep it in place. Otherwise it is over-sewn finely all round in the same manner as are the boards of a burse. In every case the stiffening is covered on both sides with fine white linen neatly sewn.

The origin of the PURIFICATOR is very obscure, while the use of and the necessity for it are quite obvious.

Purificators and lavabo towels now supply the place of the original maniple, &c., and in consequence are not subject to much ornamentation, the cross on the purificator being intended more to indicate its sacred use than as a decoration. There seems to be no reason why the lavabo towel should not have a neat border worked just above the hem or fringe.

Purificators should be made of the softest of linen, plain or diapered, about 12 inches square, or 9 × 12. The edges may be fringed by drawing out threads all round to the depth of about half an inch, or they may be neatly sewn with a very narrow plain hem. A small cross in the centre or at one of the corners is all that is necessary in the way of embroidery.

The CREDENCE CLOTH should be made to fit the table. It may hang down a little on each side like the altar cloth, and have a border somewhat similar only narrower, and either a fringe or lace to match in style.

In some churches the old custom is retained of hanging a ‘HOUSELING-CLOTH’[12] over the altar-rails. These rails were first required in England about the beginning of the seventeenth century, according to Canon 7 of 1640, to preserve the communion-table from Puritan profanations.

Previously to this the Houseling-cloth (a long white silken or linen towel) was held before the communicants as they knelt at the altar. It is a reverent and seemly custom, intended to prevent the fall of any particle of the Blessed Sacrament during the communion of the people.

The decoration of it may be treated in the same style as that of the altar- and credence-cloths.

Humeral veils, offertory veils, and sudaries of various kinds have been in more or less constant use to preserve the books, sacred vessels, vestments, &c., from contact with the bare hands of the assistants at the altar. It is to this reverent care and scrupulous cleanliness that we owe the conservation of so many of the precious relics of the past that have come down to our own time, which with rough and careless handling would have perished long ago. A small neat cushion of velvet or some other soft textile, about 9 by 3 inches in size, after the old fashion, would be much better for the altar-book to rest upon than the hard wooden or brass desks we so often see nowadays. Wherever these latter are used a soft cloth of some kind should at least prevent their contact with valuable books, especially if the covers are embroidered.