THE UMBRELLA IN ENGLAND.
As a canopy of state, Umbrellas were generally used in the south of
Europe; they are found in the ceremonies of the Byzantine Church;
they were borne over the Host in procession, and formed part of the
Pontifical regalia.
A mediæval gem represents a bishop, attended by a cross-bearer, and
a servant who carries behind him an Umbrella.
In the Basilican churches of Rome is suspended a large Umbrella, and
the cardinal who took his title from the church has the privilege of
having an Umbrella carried over his head on solemn processions. It is
not, altogether impossible that the cardinal's hat may be derived
from this Umbrella. The origin of this custom of hanging an Umbrella
in the Basilican churches is plain enough. The judge sitting in the
basilica would have it as part of his insignia of office. On the
judgment hall being turned into a church, the Umbrella remained, and
in fact occupied the place of the canopy over thrones and the like in
our own country. Beatiano, an Italian herald, says that "a vermilion
Umbrella in a field argent symbolises dominion."
References crop up now and then throughout the middle age records,
to Umbrellas; but the extreme paucity of such allusions goes to show
that they were not in common use. In an old romance, "The Blonde of
Oxford," a jester makes fun of a nobleman for being out in the rain
without his cloak. "Were I a rich man," says he, "I would bear my
house about with me." By this very valiant joke he meant, as he
afterwards explained, that the nobleman should wear a cloak, not that
he ought not to forget his Umbrella So it is clear, we find, that our
forefathers depended on their cloaks, not on their Umbrellas, for
protection against storms.
Careful research has enabled us to light on a solitary instance of
an ancient English Umbrella, for Wright, in his "Domestic Manners of
the English," gives a drawing from the Harleian MS., No. 603, which
represents an Anglo-Saxon gentleman walking out attended by his
servant, the servant carrying an Umbrella with a handle that slopes
backwards, so as to bring the Umbrella over the head of the person in
front. It probably, therefore, could not be shut up, but otherwise it
looks like an ordinary Umbrella, and the ribs are represented
distinctly.
Whether this earliest Jonas Hanway (the reputed first importer of
the Umbrella, of whom more hereafter) was peculiarly sybaritic in his
notions, or whether, like the mammoth of Siberia, he is the one
remaining instance of a former "umbrelliferous" race, must, at least
for the present, remain undecided. The general use of the Parasol in
France and England was adopted, probably from China, about the middle
of the seventeenth century. At that period, pictorial representations
of it are frequently found, some of which exhibit the peculiar broad
and deep canopy belonging to the large Parasol of the Chinese
Government officials, borne by native attendants.
John Evelyn, in his Diary for the 22nd June, 1664, mentions a
collection of rarities shown him by one Thompson, a Catholic priest,
sent by the Jesuits of Japan and China to France. Among the
curiosities were "fans like those our ladies use, but much larger,
and with long handles, strangely carved and filled with Chinese
characters," which is evidently a description of the Parasol.
In the title-page of Evelyn's "Kalendarium Hortense," also published
in the same year, we find a black page represented, bearing a closed
Umbrella or Sunshade. It is again evident that the Parasol was more
an article of curiosity than use at this period, from the fact that
it is mentioned as such in the catalogue of the "_Museum
Tradescantium_, or Collection of Rarities, preserved at South
Lambeth, by London, by John Tradescant."
In Coryat's "Crudities," a very rare and highly interesting work,
published in 1611, about a century and a half prior to the general
introduction of the Umbrella into England, we find the following
curious passage:--
After talking of fans he goes on to say, "And many of them doe carry
other fine things of a far greater price, that will cost at the least
a duckat, which they commonly call in the Italian tongue umbrellas,
that is, things which minister shadow veto them for shelter against
the scorching heate of the sunne. These are made of leather,
something answerable to the forme of a little cannopy, & hooped in
the inside with divers little wooden hoopes that extend the umbrella
in a pretty large cornpasse. They are used especially by horsemen,
who carry them in their hands when they ride, fastening the end of
the handle upon one of their thighs, and they impart so large a
shadow unto them, that it keepeth the heate of the sunne from the
upper parts of their bodies."
Reference to the same custom, of riders in Italy using umbrellas, is
made in Florio's "Worlde of Wordes" (1598), where we find "Ombrella,
a fan, a canopie, also a festoon or cloth of State for a prince, also
a kind of round fan or shadowing that they use to ride with in sommer
in Italy, a little shade."
In Cotgrave's "Dictionary of the French and English Tongues," the
French Ombrelle is translated, "An umbrello; a (fashion of) round and
broad fanne, wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones)
preserve themselves from the heat of a scorching sunne; and hence any
little shadow, fanne, or thing, wherewith women hide their faces fro
the sunne."
In Fynes Moryson's "Itinerary" (1617) we find a similar allusion to
the habit of carrying Umbrellas in hot countries "to auoide the
beames of the sunne." Their employment, says the author, is
dangerous, "because they gather the heate into a pyramidall point,
and thence cast it down perpendicularly upon the head, except they
know how to carry them for auoyding that danger." This is certainly a
fact not generally known to those who use Parasols too recklessly.
"Poesis Rediviva," by John Collop, M.D. (1656), mentions Umbrellas.
Michael Drayton, writing about 1620, speaks of a pair of doves, which
are to watch over the person addressed in his verses:--
"Of doves I have a dainty pair,
Which, when you please to take the air,
About your head shall gently hover,
Your clear brow from the sun to cover;
And with their nimble wings shall fan you,
That neither cold nor heat shall tan you;
And, like umbrellas, with their feathers
Shall shield you in all sorts of weathers."
Beaumont and Fletcher have an allusion to the umbrella (1640);--
"Now are you glad, now is your mind at ease,
Now you have got a shadow, an umbrella,
To keep the 'scorching world's opinion
From your fair credit."
--_Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_, Act iii, sc. I.
Ben Jonson, too, once mentions it (date 1616), speaking of a mishap
which befel a lady at the Spanish Court:--
"And there she lay, flat spread as an umbrella."
--_The Devil is an Ass_, Act iv., SC. I.
Of the fact that Umbrellas' were known and used in Italy long prior
to their introduction into France, we find a confirmation in old
Montaigne, who observes, _lib_. iii. _cap_. ix. :--"Les
Ombrelles, de quoy depuis les anciens Remains l'Italie se sert,
chargent plus le bras, qu'ils ne deschargent la teste."
Kersey's Dictionary (1708) describes an Umbrella as a "screen
commonly used by women to keep off rain."
The absence of almost all allusion to the Umbrella by the wits of
the seventeenth century, while the muff, fan, &c., receive so large a
share of attention, is a further proof that it was far from being
recognised as an article of convenient luxury at that day. The
clumsy shape, probably, prevented its being generally used. In one of
Dryden's plays we find the line:--
"I can carry your umbrella and fan, your Ladyship."
Gay, addressing a gentleman, in his "Trivia, or the Art of Walking
the Streets of London" (1712), says:--
"Be thou for every season justly dress'd,
Nor brave the piercing frost with open breast:
And when the bursting clouds a deluge pour.
Let thy surtout defend the gaping shower."
And again:--
"That garment best the winter's rage defends
Whose shapeless form in ample plaits depends;
By various names in various countries known,
Yet held in all the true surtout alone.
Be thine of kersey tine, though small the cost,
Then brave, unwet, the rain, unchilled, the frost."
These passages lead us to the belief that the Umbrella was not used
by gentlemen for a long time after its merits had been recognised by
the fair sex.
The following lines from the same author have often been quoted:--
"Good housewives all the winter's rage despise
Defended by the riding-hood's disguise:
Or underneath the umbrella's oily shed
Safe through the wet on clinking pattens tread.
Let Persian dames th' umbrellas rich display,
To guard their beauties from the sunny ray,
Or sweating slaves support the shady load,
When Eastern monarchs show their state abroad,
Britain in winter only knows its aid
To guard from chilly showers the walking maid."
--_Trivia_, B. 1.
Dean Swift, also, in the _Tatler_, No. 228, in describing a
City shower, thus alludes to the common use of the Umbrella by
women:--
"Now in contiguous drops the floods come down,
Threatening with deluge the devoted town:
To shops in crowds the draggled females fly,
Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy:
The Templar spruce, while every spout's abroach,
Stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a coach:
The tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides,
While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides."
About this time the custom obtained of keeping an Umbrella in the
halls of great houses, to be used in passing from the door to the
carriage. At coffee-houses, too, the same was done.
That the use of the Umbrella was considered far too effeminate for
man, is seen from the following advertisement from the _Female
Tatler_ for December 12th, 1709:--"The young gentleman borrowing
the Umbrella belonging to Wills' Coffee-house, in Cornhill, of the
mistress, is hereby advertised, that to be dry from head to foot on
the like occasion, he shall be welcome to the maid's pattens."
Defoe's description of Robinson Crusoe's Umbrella is, of course,
familiar to all our readers. He makes his hero say that he had seen
Umbrellas used in Brazil, where they were found very useful in the
great heats that were there, and that he constructed his own
instrument in imitation of them, "I covered it with skins," he adds,
"the hair outwards, so that it cast off the rain like a pent-house,
and kept off the sun so effectually, that I could walk out in the
hottest of the weather with greater advantage than I could before in
the coolest." We may also add, that from this description the
original heavy Umbrellas obtained the name of "Robinson," which they
retained for many years, both here and in France.
In the "Memoir of Ambrose Barnes," published for the Surtees
Society, under date 1718, appears an entry, "Umbrella for the
Church's use, 25s." A similar entry is also found in the
churchwarden's accounts for the parochial chapelry of Burnley,
Surrey, for A.D. 1760, "Paid for Umbrella 2_l_. 10_s_.
6_d_." Both these Umbrellas were in all likelihood intended for
the use of clergymen at funerals in the churchyard, as was that
alluded to in Hone's _Year-Book_ (1826) which was kept for the
same purpose in a country church. This last had "an awning of green
oiled canvas, such as common Umbrellas were made of, forty years ago."
Bailey's _Encyclopædia_ (1736) has "Umbrello, a sort of wooden
frame, covered with cloth, put over a window to keep out the sun;
also a screen carried over the head to defend from sun or rain." Also
"Parasol, a little umbrella to keep off sun."
There is at Woburn Abbey a picture, painted about 1730, of the
Duchess of Bedford, with a black servant behind her, who holds an
Umbrella over her, and a sketch of the same period attached to a song
called "The Generous Repulse," shows a lady seated on a flowery bank
holding a Parasol with a long handle over her head, while she gently
checks the ardour of her swain, and consoles him by the following
touching strain:--
"Thy vain pursuit, fond youth, give o'er,
What more, alas! can Flavia do?
Thy worth I own, thy fate deplore,
All are not happy that are true."
* * * * *
"But if revenge can ease thy pain,
I'll soothe the ills I cannot cure,
Tell thee I drag a hopeless chain,
And all that I inflict endure!"
Rather cold consolation, but an unexceptionable and moral sentiment.
The idea, therefore, that the Duchess of Rutland devised Parasols in
1826 for the first time is obviously incorrect, whatever her grace
may have done towards rendering them fashionable. Captain Cook, in
one of his voyages, saw some of the natives of the South Pacific
Islands, with Umbrellas made of palm-leaves.
We have thus seen that the use both of the Umbrella and Parasol was
not unknown in England during the earlier half of the eighteenth
century. That it was not very common, is evident from the fact that
General (then Lieut.-Colonel) Wolfe, writing from Paris in 1752,
speaks of the people there using Umbrellas for the sun and rain, and
wonders that a similar practice does not obtain in England.
Just about the same time they do seem to have come into general use,
and that pretty rapidly, as people found their value, and got over
the shyness natural to a first introduction. Jonas Hanway, the
founder of the Magdalen Hospital, has the credit of being the first
man who had the courage to carry one habitually in London, since it
is recorded in the life of that venerable philanthropist, the friend
of chimney-sweeps and sworn foe to tea, that he was the first man who
ventured to dare public reproach and ridicule by carrying an
Umbrella. He probably felt the benefit of one during his travels in
Persia, where they were in constant use as a protection against the
sun, and it is also said that he was in ill health when he first made
use of it. It was more than likely, however, that Jonas Hanway's
neatness in dress and delicate complexion led him, on his return from
abroad, to appreciate a luxury hitherto only confined to the ladies.
Mr. Pugh, who wrote his life, gives the following description of his
personal appearance, which may be regarded as a gem in its way:--
"In his dress, as far as was consistent with his ideas of health and
ease, he accommodated himself to the prevailing fashion. As it was
frequently necessary for him to appear in polite circles on
unexpected occasions, he usually wore dress clothes with a large
French bag. His hat, ornamented with a gold button, was of a size and
fashion to be worn as well under the arm as on the head. When it
rained, a small _parapluie_ defended his face and wig."
As Hanway died in 1786, and he is said to have carried an Umbrella
for thirty years, the date of its first use by him may be set down at
about 1750. For some time Umbrellas were objects of derision,
especially from the hackney coachmen, who saw in their use an
invasion on the vested rights of the fraternity; just as hackney
coaches had once been looked upon by the watermen, who thought people
should travel by river, not by road. John Macdonald, perhaps the only
footman (always excepting the great Mr. James Yellowplush) who ever
wrote a memoir of himself, relates that in 1770, he used to be
greeted with the shout, "Frenchman, Frenchman! why don't you call a
coach?" whenever he went out with his "fine silk umbrella, newly
brought from Spain." Records of the Umbrella's first appearance in
other English works have also been preserved. In Glasgow (according to
the narrative in Cleland's "Statistical Account of Glasgow ") "the
late Mr. John Jamieson, surgeon, returning from Paris, brought an
Umbrella with him, which was the first seen in this city. The doctor,
who was a man of great humour, took pleasure in relating to me how he
was stared at with his Umbrella." In Edinburgh Dr. Spens is said to
have been the first to carry one. In Bristol a red Leghorn Umbrella
appeared about 1780, according to a writer in _Notes and
Queries_, and created there no small sensation. The trade between
Bristol and Leghorn may account for this. Some five-and-thirty years
ago it is said that an old lady was living in Taunton who recollected
when there were only two Umbrellas in the town, one of which belonged
to the clergyman. When he went to church, he used to hang the
Umbrella up in the porch, to the edification and delight of his
parishioners.
Horace Walpole tells how Dr. Shebbeare (who was prosecuted for
seditious writings in 1758) "stood in the pillory, having a footman
holding an umbrella to keep off the rain." For permitting this
indulgence to a malefactor, Beardman, the under-sheriff, was punished.
It is difficult to conceive how the Umbrella could come into general
use, owing to the state in which the streets of London were up to a
comparatively recent period. The same amusing author to whom we owe
the description of Jonas Hanway, gives the following account of them
at the time his work was published:--
"It is not easy to convey to a person who has not seen the streets
of London before they were uniformly paved, a tolerable idea of their
inconvenience and uncleanliness; the signs extending on both sides of
the way into the streets, at unequal distances from the houses, that
they might not intercept each other, greatly obstructed the view;
and, what is of more consequence in a crowded city, prevented the
free circulation of the air. The footpaths were universally
incommoded--even when they were so narrow as only to admit one person
passing at a time--by a row of posts set on edge next the carriage-way.
He whose urgent business would not permit of his keeping pace
with the gentleman of leisure before him, turned out between the two
posts before the door of some large house into the carriage-way. When
he perceived danger moving toward him, he wished to return within the
protection of the row of posts; but there was commonly a rail
continued from the top of one post to that of another, sometimes for
several houses together, in which case he was obliged to run back to
the first inlet, or climb over, or creep under the railing, in
attempting which, he might be fortunate if he escaped with no other
injury than what proceeded from dirt; if, intimidated by the danger
he escaped, he afterwards kept within the boundary of the posts and
railing, he was obliged to put aside the travellers before him, whose
haste was less urgent than his, and, these resisting, made his
journey truly a warfare.
"The French are reproached, even to a proverb, for the neglect of the
convenience of foot-passengers in their metropolis, by not providing
a separate path for them; but, great as is the exposure to dirt in Paris,
for want of a footpath, which their many _porte-cochères_
seem likely for ever to prevent, in the more important article of
danger, the City of London was, at this period, at least on a par.
How comfortless must be the sensations of an unfortunate female,
stopped in the street on a windy day under a large old sign loaded with
lead and iron in full swing over, her head? and perhaps a torrent of
rain and dirty water falling near from a projecting spout, ornamented
with the mouth and teeth of a dragon. These dangers and distresses
are now at an end; and we may think of them as a sailor does of a
storm, which has subsided, but the advantages derived from the
present uniformity and cleanliness can be known only in their
full extent by comparing them with the former inconveniences."
When to this description is added the fact that the hoop petticoat
and another article of dress monopolised the whalebone, it will be
seen how much had to be got over before an Umbrella could be carried
out by the citizens of London, as a walking-staff, with satisfactory
assurance of protection in case of a shower. The earliest English
Umbrellas, we must also remember, were made of oiled silk, very
clumsy and difficult to open when wet; the stick and furniture were
heavy and inconvenient, and the article very expensive.
At the end of the century allusions to the Umbrella are not
infrequent. Cowper, in his "Task" (1780), twice mentions it, but
seems to mean a Parasol:--
"We bear our shades about us; self-deprived
Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread,
And range an Indian waste without a tree."
--B. i.
And again:--
"Expect her soon, with footboy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her awkward load,
Her train and her umbrella all her care."
--B. iv,
The Rev. G. C. Renouard, writing in 1850 to Notes and Queries, says:--
"In the hall of my father's house, at Stamford, in Lincolnshire,
there was, when I was a child, the wreck of a large green silk
umbrella, apparently of Chinese manufacture, brought by my father
from Scotland, somewhere between 1770 and 1780, and, as I have often
heard, the first umbrella seen at Stamford. I well remember, also, an
amusing description given by the late Mr. Warry, so many years consul
at Smyrna, of the astonishment and envy of his mother's neighbours,
at Sawbridgeworth, in Hants, where his father had a country house,
when he ran home and came back with an umbrella, which he had just
brought from Leghorn, to shelter them from a pelting shower which
detained them in the church porch, after the service, on one summer
Sunday. From Mr. Warry's age at the time he mentioned this, and other
circumstances in his history, I conjecture that it occurred not later
than 1775 or 1776. As Sawbridgeworth is so near London, it is evident
that even then umbrellas were at that time almost unknown."
Since this date, however, the Umbrella has come into general use,
and in consequence numerous improvements have been effected in it.
The transition to the present portable form is due, partly to the
substitution of silk and gingham for the heavy and troublesome oiled
silk, which admitted of the ribs and frames being made much lighter,
and also to the many ingenious mechanical improvements in the
framework, chiefly by French and English manufacturers, many of which
were patented, and to which we purpose presently to allude.