_Umbrellas_ (Vol. ii., pp. 491. 523., &c.).--I have talked with an old lady
who remembered the first umbrella used in Oxford, and with another who
described the surprise elicited by the first in Birmingham. An aunt of
mine, born 1754, could not remember when the house was without one, though
in her youth they were little used. May not the word umbrella have been
applied to various sorts of _impluvia_? Swift, in his "Description of a
City Shower," says:--
"Now in contiguous drops the flood comes down,
Threatening with deluge this devoted town.
To shops in crowds the dangled 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 tuck'd-up sempstress walks with hasty strides,
While _streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides_."
_Tatler_, No. 238. Oct. 17. 1710.
This might be applied to an oiled cape, but I think the passage quoted by
MR. CORNEY (Vol. ii., p. 523.) signifies something carried over the head.
By the way, the "Description of a City Shower" contains one of the latest
examples of _ache_ as a dissyllable:--
"A coming shower your shooting corns presage,
Old _aches_ throb, your hollow tooth will rage."