Our thanks are due to Signor Giuseppe Aldo Randegger for the Ballade a Toile, written expressly for this work. In order to preserve to posterity the almost extinct song of the lace-makers, which had its origin in the ateliers of the sixteenth century, he visited Venice, Where a few of the old workers still retain the once universal custom of singing appropriate songs as they ply the needle or twist the bobbins, and, after listening to the harmonies, he set the graceful words of Signor Eugenie Randegger to music. We Wish to express our thanks to Signor Ernesto Jesurum for much valuable information regarding the hand-made laces of the present day, and for placing at our disposal a large number of specimens of antique lace, which rendered our systematic pictorial classification possible; also to the Council of the South Kensington Museum, and to Mr. A. F. Kendrick personally, together with Mr. Alfred Whitman, of the Print Department at the British Museum, for their courtesy and assistance.