Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

are also largely used in a manufactured state as a dye-stuff, called "pastel, or imitation woad," of which they form the principal ingredient, for the purpose of rendering the colour permanent in woollen cloths.

NEWCASTLE SALMON.

Previous to the year 1787, all salmon sent to London from Berwick were boiled and put into kits; but since that time they have been sent in boxes, stratified with ice, by which mode they are preserved for a considerable period. At a still previous time, the fish were carried by land to Newcastle, and there cured and shipped for London, where they are to this day called Newcastle Salmon.

STILTON CHEESE.

The late Duke of Northumberland and suite, passing through Stilton on their way to the north, stopped at the Crown to take luncheon and change horses. On his grace (at that period earl Percy) inquiring of the landlord if he had any good cheese, one of the description now in vogue was placed on the table, which his lordship was so much pleased with, that he purchased half a dozen of the same, which the landlord had by him. The praise which his lordship bestowed on the cheese to all his friends and acquaintance, brought numerous applications to the landlord for similar ones, and consequently brought the cheese into great vogue, insomuch that at last he found his cheese trade as productive as his inn. Although the cheese is denominated by the name of Stilton, which is merely from the circumstance previously named, yet it is made in the vicinity of Melton Mowbray, and other parts of Leicestershire,

NATIVE OYSTERS.

Oysters were looked upon by the Romans as a "dainty dish;" and the poet Antonius has celebrated them in his verses. After the death of this poet, however, oysters were no more thought of; and it was not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that they were again brought into notice. Oysters are conceitedly said to be in season in every month of the year that has an R in its name, beginning with September, and ending with April; but the season in many places extends from August to May. Almost every city has its favourite oyster bank. In London the Colchester and Milton oysters are held in most esteem. Edinburgh has her "Whiskered Pandores," and latterly, "Aberdour oysters;" and Dublin, the "Carlingford" and "Powldoodies of Burran." For the convenience of obtaining a ready supply of oysters, they are often transported from their original beds, and laid down on proper places of the coasts, but these exiles are seldom found in such perfection as those which are called natives-that is, such as have never been rudely torn from their native homes, and sent on voyages of profit.

RED HERRINGS.

Tu a curious old pamphlet, entitled Lenten Stuffe, the author says, "the discovery of red herrings was owing to accident, by a fisherman having hung some in his cabin, where, what with his firing and smoaking, or smoaky firing, in that his narrow lobby (house), his herrings, which were as white as whalebone when he hung them up, now looked as red as a boiled lobster."

In the year 1745, when the Scots rebellion threatened most formidably, Herring, then archbishop of York, resolved, in case of extremity, to take arms himself, and oppose the rebels. His avowing his intention, gave occasion to orator Henley to nickname him a Red-Herring!

BREAD AND BUTTER.

Bread and butter, &c., superseded Kychen grosse, or dripping, for breakfast, between the reigns of Edward IV. and Elizabeth, -Bread and cheese is mentioned as a common viand by Diogenes Laertius.

LUXURIES, ARTICLES OF DRESS, TRADES, PROFESSIONS AND
COMPANIES, PUBLIC-HOUSE SIGNS, &c.

SHOES AND BOOTS.

To whom the honour of the invention belongs, has never yet been satisfactorily ascertained by the Crispins of ancient or of modern times. That the Jews had them in use, appears from many passages of their history. "Over Edom," said the royal Psalmist," will I cast out my shoe." Pliny, the Roman historian, attributes the invention to M. Tychius, resident somewhere in Bœotia; but he does not specify either time or place with sufficient certainty. It is beyond all doubt that they were introduced into Greece at a very early period. Apollo was always represented as wearing sandals, and was thence sometimes called Sandilarius. That the Greeks wore boots long before the days of Homer, has been proved from several passages in the Iliad. In the very first book, Chryses, in his pathetic appeal to King Agamemnon and his army to restore his daughter, addresses them thus

"Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-booted Greeks."

Among the Romans, a good shoemaker was held in very high estimation; and the profession was held by them to be inalienable, as the profession of a priest is among ourselves.

"While boots and shoes are worn, their names shall be
Proclaim'd by fame to all posterity."

RIGHTS AND LEFTS.

Rights and lefts are only "an old, old, very old" fashion revived. The shoes of Bernard, king of Italy, found in his tomb, were right and left; the soles were of wood, the upper part red leather, laced with thongs, and they fitted so closely, that the order of the toes. terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered. It is remarkable that, as in the present age, both shoes and slippers were worn shaped after the right and left foot. Shakspeare describes his smith as

[ocr errors]

Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet."

And Scot, in his Discoverie of Witchcraft observes, "that he who receiveth a mischance, will consider whether he put not on his shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot.*

GLOVES.

Casaubon is of opinion, that Gloves were worn by the Chaldeans, because the word here mentioned is in the Talmud Lexicon explained, "the clothing of the hand." But it must be confessed, all this is mere conjecture; and the Chaldean Paraphrast may have taken an unallowable liberty with his version. Let us then be content to begin with Xenophon, who gives a clear and distinct account of gloves. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, he gives us a proof of their effeminacy; that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands against the cold with thick gloves. Homer, speaking of Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with "gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns." Varro, an ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Romans. In lib. 2, cap. 35, De re Rustica, he says, that olives gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with gloves.

Athenæus speaks of a celebrated glutton, who always came to table with gloves on his hands, that he might be able to handle and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company. Strutt thinks gloves were not used in England till the tenth century, and then only by persons of rank and the clergy, and that they were not used by ladies until the latter end of the thirteenth century.

NIGHTCAPS.

Before we proceed to Hats and Caps, we will say something about the origin of that most unseemly and ungraceful thing,—a Man's Nightcap. In former times, a hood was attached to the sleeping habiliment, somewhat similar to a monk's cowl, until

* Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his times.

Henry II. of France, whose forte was the study of personal convenience and ease, introduced the present nightcap. The middle and lower orders were forbidden to wear velvet or brocade ones, so that those classes had them originally made of woollen cloth.

PANTALOONS.

Pantaloons, and Port Canons, were some of the fantastic fashions wherein we aped the French-and is derived from Pantaleon or Pantaloon, in the pantomime.

MILITARY UNIFORMS.

Military Uniforms were first introduced by Louis XIV., and immediately after by the English.

LIVERIES.

Liveries originated in our British ancestors clothing their vassals in uniform, to distinguish families; as they painted arms and symbols on their clothes and arms for the same purpose.

SERGEANT'S COIF.

The Sergeant's Coif was originally an iron scull-cap, worn by knights under their helmets. Blackstone says it was introduced before 1253, "to hide the tonsor of such renegado clerks as chose to remain as advocates in the secular courts, notwithstanding their prohibition by canon."

FLANNEL SHIRTS.

Flannel was first used in Boston as a dress next the skin, by Lord Percy's regiment, which was encamped on the Common, in October 1774. There was hardly flannel enough then in the whole town for that one regiment. Some time after Lord Percy had begun with flannel shirting, Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) published a pamphlet in America, assuming to have discovered this practice. He might, perhaps, have suggested the use of it to Lord Percy. Flannel has not been in general use till within the last half century.

BEDS.

Beds, now such indispensable pieces of furniture, were to the Greeks and Romans articles of great luxury. When they exchanged the leaves and skins of beasts, on which their heroic ancestors reposed, for mattresses and feather-beds, the bedsteads were made sometimes of ivory, sometimes of ebony, sometimes of

cedar, and sometimes of silver. It would be difficult now-a-days, in the middle ranks of life, to find beds such as our ancestors slept on, not only with their wives and their children, but with their dogs and their friends; an invitation to such a couch was then considered the strongest proof of affection and confidence that could be given.

BLANKETS.

It has been said that in 1340, one Thomas Blanket, and some other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms in their own houses for weaving those woollen cloths, which have ever since been called Blankets; but this is doubtful, as the word Blanketum occurs in Du Cange, in the sense of an under-waistcoat of woollen, in which it appears that people slept without a shirt.

HATS AND CAPS.

The introduction of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen, and from that time they began to take place of the hoods or chaperons that had been used till then. When the cap was of velvet, they called it mortier-when of wool, simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights, were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the head-dress of the clergy and graduates, churchmen, and members of universities; students in law, physic, &c., as well as graduates, wear square caps in most universities. Doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps given them in assuming the doctorate. Pasquier says, that the giving the cap to students in the universities, was to denote that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their slaves, in the ceremony of making them free. The cap is also used as a mark of infamy in Italy. The Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap at Lucca, and by an orange one in France. Formerly those who had been bankrupts, were obliged ever after to wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any future commerce.

MIRRORS.

The first mirrors were made of metal. Cicero carries the origin of them up to Esculapius: Moses, too, makes mention of them. It was in the time of Pompey that the first mirrors were made of silver at Rome. Pliny mentions a brilliant stone, probably talc, thin slices of which being fixed upon bright metal, reflected objects with great perfection. The first mirrors of glass appeared in Europe at the latter end of the Crusades.

« НазадПродовжити »