IN order to understand the importance of certain industries, reference must be made to eastern habits still showing some analogy with the customs of our forefathers. In Japan, where the nobles travel in state, surrounded by their officers, followed by their household and large quantities of baggage, the coffers, chests, covers of the standards, become so many objects of splendour intended to ensure marks of public respect on the way, and to show the grandeur and wealth of the prince whose arms they bear. What takes place at the present time in that country was practised by the kings and lords at the period of the middle ages. The leather trunks or bahuts, the cases of the costly jeweller and goldsmith's work, became so many objects calculated to attract consideration and show the rank of the owner. In the interior the sumptuous coffer, enhanced by anticipation the value and price of its contents, while the sculptured or repousse subjects showed whether it was intended for religious or secular use. We accordingly find the names of leather workers diminishing in number in the public documents as we approach modern times.

Subjoined are those we find recorded :-

1520. Nicolas de France, jewel-case of cuir bouilli.

1387. Jacquet, coffers, cases.

1387. Perrin Bernart, sheath-maker in Paris.

1388. Pierre de Foil, trunk-maker.

1390. Guillanme Tireverge, cases, bottles.

1420. Gilles, trunk-maker of Lille.

1432. George de Vigne, sheath-maker.

1432. Gilles de Willies, trunk-maker.

1445. Gilles Bonnier, trunk-maker

Others united the general leather trade with certain specialities, as, for instance, Jehan of Troyes (1388) saddler and mounter of chairs, and Jehan Gamier (1496), occupied chiefly with saddlery. We have met with seats of the sixteenth century still with their leather mountings showing armorial bearings and designs.

We shall say nothing of the cordwainers, whose history will be one day written. Here it will suffice to make a passing allusion to the names of Jehan de Saumur (1389), and Jehan Marchant (1454), of whom the former decorated the "poulaines," while the latter cut out the so-called "camus" shoes.

In the old records are specified the various ways in which leather was worked. Foremost among them is cuir bouilli, which is found at first hatched in the style of embossed work, that is, cut with the knife, and raised in a relief. Then followed the punched cuir bouilli, that is, worked with the stamp or ornamental die, used in a cold state, " au petit fer." According to M. de Laborde, the first process dates from the ninth, the second from the fourteenth century. From this to the regular stamped or hammered leather of the bookbinders the transition was easy. When we come to the sixteenth century we find luxury giving rise to new industries. Not satisfied with stamping or embossing leather, the practice of gilding it was introduced, and in 1557 Jehan Foucault, or Fourcault, and Jehan Louvet covered with their sumptuous decorations the hangings intended for the royal palaces. But for this branch of the art the reader is referred to our chapter on hangings, where it is spoken of.

In our list will be noticed the name of Guillaumc Tireverge, leather bottle maker. From the fourteenth century to a somewhat recent period, this industry continued to flourish, as on long journeys and excursions wine could be conveyed only in receptacles not liable to be broken by rough usage. Hence nothing is more wonderful than some of these flasks covered with delicate arabesques and at times divided into large compartments of variously coloured leathers, giving rise to a style of ornamentation richer still than that required for objects in plain leather.

It may well be imagined that the leather caskets taxed the ingenuity of the artists to the utmost. Intended to be constantly under the eyes of the ladies, and to hold articles of the toilet, fine jewellery and precious stones, and being moreover often presented by the lover to his betrothed, they gave scope not only for the most fanciful combinations, but also for the emblems and imagery inspired by love. Recent exhibitions have shown how extremely interesting are these little relics, familiar records of the history both of the arts and manners of by-gone generations.

At the time when engraving and gilding were being substituted for reliefs, leather still continued to occupy a prominent position as an article of taste, and we all remember the magnificent cabinet made for the marriage of Philip II., King of Spain, exhibited by M. Spitzer, and the blue ground of which brought into striking relief the portraits of the two betrothed standing in the midst of superb arabesques During the seventeenth century nothing is more common than morocco boxes, embossed with ornaments and stamped with the arms of kings and nobles. The sheath-maker's trade is almost confounded with a special branch, which need not detain us here. We refer to book-binding, which, from the time of its introduction, acquired such importance that its richness rivalled the goldsmith's work, while also becoming the type of other industries, as already stated by us when speaking of the Oiron faiences mostly embellished with the same designs as the books of the Henry II. epoch.

Let us not forget that worked leather entered largely into the pomp and circumstance of war. Without going back to the leather at one time employed to cover armour, we find it fashioned into powder cases and flasks, from the very commencement of the use of fire arms. Most commonly in the form of a purse, and divided into repousse compartments, such flasks were decked with ornaments and emblems: water gods floating on the stream, cavaliers in antique costume, emerging amidst the richest foliage. Only it is somewhat surprising to find an object intended to contain the modern thunders constantly reproducing images typical of ancient warfare, as if the inventors themselves felt ashamed of the substitution of brute force for the personal valour of the warrior.