Thanks to the people who have responded to my original question, I then had something more substantial to work with. I did not find much through Google except for this interesting snippet:
"[After Doily or Doyly, 18th-century London] Robert D'Oilly, Baron of Hook Norton. Incidentally, this Robert was given his Barony on condition that he gave the king three shillings' worth of linen table-cloths per year. Since lace making was one of the specialties of the region, and because Robert wanted to show off, these table-cloths were beautifully embroidered by the D'Oilly ladies, and were reserved by the king's household for great occasions. They were known as "D'Oilly's linen". But, by the nineteenth century, these "doilies" had shrunk to fussy plate-sized circles of lace." Jeanette Fischer, Western Cape, South Africa. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
