Umbrellas and their History | Page 9

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