were  worse  than  ever,  and  the  cost  of  clothes  had
been  increased  instead  of  decreased  by  the  ingenuity
of  tailors,  who  had  taken  to  the  plan  of  cutting-  out
the  most  elaborate  patterns  of  coloured  cloth  with
fine  scissors  and  sewing  them  on  to  the  cloth  gar-
ments, almost  covering  the  latter  with  delicate  lace-
like snippet  work  of  applied  cloth.  In  face  of  this
abuse  the  Cortes  prayed  the  Emperor  to  forbid  the
use  of  any  and  every  sort  of  trimming,  lace,  or
adornment  on  the  garments,  both  of  men  and  women,
which  might  give  an  excuse  for  the  wicked  tailors
to  charge  extravagant  prices.  Charles  V.  thought
this  too  sweeping,  but  in  1552  he  issued  a  "prag-
matic "  prohibiting  the  applied  snippet  work,  and
also  the  use  or  manufacture  of  gold  and  silver  lace
and  ornaments,  the  wearing  and  making  of  velvets,
silks,  and  satins  being  also  rigidly  limited.  Spain,
flooded  with  the  precious  metals  from  the  Indies,
richer  perhaps  in  actual  bullion  than  ever  a  country
was  before  or  since,  with  home-grown  silk  in  abun-
dance, and  the  most  deft  and  tasteful  weavers  in  the
civilised  world,  was  therefore  obliged  to  import  its
manufactured  gold  and  fine  stuffs  from  abroad,
whilst  its  own  humbler  citizens  languished  amidst
the  wealth  they  were  not  allowed  to  earn.  No
decrees  could  prevent  rich  people  from  squandering
their  money  on  dress,  least  of  all  when  the  Emperor
and  his  Court  were  in  a  constant  blaze  of  magnifi-
cence.
