THE FIRST FILM,

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 18 December 1928, Page 28

THE FIRST FILM,

! Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of King Alfred, and wife of William th« j Conqueror, was really the first Queen of I England, for the wives of Anglo-Saxon t kings woro not allowed to share in roy!alty. But her great fame rests ohiofly on the , wonderful "reel." called tho Bayeux Tap- ! estry, she caused to be made of the con- ] quest ( of England fay her husband. It i consists of a very long piece of canvas, J only nineteen inches wide but sixty-seven ! yards, In length, worked all over in crossJ stitch with figures of hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, ships, trees, animals, . birds, and so on. These are arranged in a series of pictures, similar to a film, starting at the left-hand side with Harold hawking at Bosham, in Sussex, and continuing with many other scenes which tell us all the story. English girls were already famed all over Europs for their beautiful needlework, and no doubt they helped Queen Matilda, at tho Norman Court in her great work. They would be eager to do so, for at this timo girls as ofton won 1 princes* for htta&fcnds by their needles, $< "fairy ;lands by which they transform] j the whole room into a spirit isle of | dreams," as by their beauty. I The Bayeux Tapestry of the Conquest j is still preserved in Bayeux Cathodral. It is not only a lovely work of art but also ( an important historical document. Pro-. | | fessors of history sometimes shaka their I I heads over it and question whether Wil- j { Mam's Ship, tho Mora, was exactly as j • shown tbcro; they say that tho flguro- ( J head of a Boy. blowing a horn and hold- | I ing a pennon in his left hand, should I I bo on the bow of the ship Instead of the j J stßrn. But as tho Mora was a present | from Matilda to her husband sho pro!)- ] I ably know a lot about it. . i