Part 1 (1/2)
The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed.
by Elizabeth Stone.
PREFACE.
If there be one mechanical art of more universal application than all others, and therefore of more universal interest, it is that which is practised with the NEEDLE. From the stateliest denizen of the proudest palace, to the humblest dweller in the poorest cottage, all more or less ply the busy needle; from the crying infant of a span long and an hour's life, to the silent tenant of ”the narrow house,” all need its practical services.
Yet have the NEEDLE and its beautiful and useful creations. .h.i.therto remained without their due meed of praise and record, either in sober prose or sounding rhyme,--while their glittering ant.i.thesis, the scathing and destroying sword, has been the theme of admiring and exulting record, without limit and without end!
The progress of real civilization is rapidly putting an end to this false _prestige_ in favour of the ”Destructive” weapon, and as rapidly raising the ”Conservative” one in public estimation; and the time seems at length arrived when that triumph of female ingenuity and industry, ”THE ART OF NEEDLEWORK” may be treated as a fitting subject of historical and social record--fitting at least for a female hand.
The chief aim of this volume is that of affording a comprehensive record of the most noticeable facts, and an entertaining and instructive gathering together of the most curious and pleasing a.s.sociations, connected with ”THE ART OF NEEDLEWORK,” from the earliest ages to the present day; avoiding entirely the dry technicalities of the art, yet furnis.h.i.+ng an acceptable accessory to every work-table--a fitting tenant of every boudoir.
The Auth.o.r.ess thinks thus much necessary in explanation of the objects of a work on what may be called a maiden topic, and she trusts that that leniency in criticism which is usually accorded to the adventurer on an unexplored track will not be withheld from her.
CHAPTER I.
”Le donne son venute in eccellenza Di ciascun'arte, ove hanno posto cura; E qualunque all'istorie abbia avvertenza, Ne sente ancor la fama non oscura.
E forse ascosi han lor debiti onori L'invidia, o il non saper degli scrittori.”
Ariosto.
In all ages woman may lament the ungallant silence of the historian.
His pen is the record of sterner actions than are usually the vocation of the gentler s.e.x, and it is only when fair individuals have been by extraneous circ.u.mstances thrown out, as it were, on the canvas of human affairs--when they have been forced into a publicity little consistent with their natural sphere--that they have become his theme.
Consequently those domestic virtues which are woman's greatest pride, those retiring characteristics which are her most becoming ornament, those gentle occupations which are her best employment, find no record on pages whose chief aim and end is the blazoning of manly heroism, of royal disputations, or of trumpet-stirring records. And if this is the case even with historians of enlightened times, who have the gallantry to allow woman to be a component part of creation, we can hardly wonder that in darker days she should be utterly and entirely overlooked.
Mohammed a.s.serted that women had no souls; and moreover, that, setting aside the ”diviner part,” there had only existed _four_ of whom the mundane qualifications ent.i.tled them to any degree of approbation.
Before him, Aristotle had a.s.serted that Nature only formed women when and because she found that the imperfection of matter did not permit her to carry on the world without them.
This complimentary doctrine has not wanted supporters. ”Des hommes tres sages ont ecrit que la Nature, dont l'intention et le dessein est toujours de tendre a la perfection, ne produirait s'il etait possible, jamais que des hommes, et que quand il nait une femme c'est un monstre dans l'ordre de ses productions, ne express.e.m.e.nt contre sa volonte: ils ajoutent, que, comme on voit naitre un homme aveugle, boiteux, ou avec quelqu'autre defaut nature; et comme on voit a certains arbres des fruits qui ne mrissent jamais; ainsi l'on peut dire que la femme est un animal produit par accident et par le hasard.”[1]
Without touching upon this extreme a.s.sertion that woman is but ”un monstre,” an animal produced by chance, we may observe briefly, that women have ever, with some few exceptions,[2] been considered as a degraded and humiliated race, until the promulgation of the Christian religion elevated them in society: and that this distinction still exists is evident from the difference at this moment exhibited between the countries professing Mohammedanism and those professing Christianity.
Still, though in our happy country it is now pretty generally allowed that women are ”des creatures humaines,” it is no new remark that they are comparatively lightly thought of by the ”n.o.bler” gender. This is absolutely the case even in those countries where civilization and refinement have elevated the s.e.x to a higher grade in society than they ever before reached. Women are courted, flattered, caressed, extolled; but still the difference is there, and the ”lords of the creation” take care that it shall be understood. Their own pursuits--public, are the theme of the historian--private, of the biographer; nay, the every-day circ.u.mstances of life--their dinners--their speeches--their toasts--and their _post coenam_ eloquence, are noted down for immortality: whilst a woman with as much sense, with more eloquence, with lofty principles, enthusiastic feelings, and pure conduct--with sterling virtue to command respect, and the self-denying conduct of a martyr--steals noiselessly through her appointed path in life; and if she excite a pa.s.sing comment during her pilgrimage, is quickly lost in oblivion when that pilgrimage hath reached its appointed goal.
And this is but as it should be. Woe to that nation whose women, as a habit, as a custom, as a matter of course, seek to intrude on the attributes of the other s.e.x, and in a vain, a foolish, and surely a most unsuccessful pursuit of publicity, or power, or fame, forget the distinguis.h.i.+ng, the high, the n.o.ble, the lofty, the pure and _unearthly_ vocation of their s.e.x. Every earthly charity, every unearthly virtue, are the legitimate object of woman's pursuit. It is hers to soothe pain, to alleviate suffering, to soften discord, to solace the time-worn spirit on earth, to train the youthful one for heaven. Such is woman's magnificent vocation; and in the peaceful discharge of such duties as these she may be content to steal noiselessly on to her appointed bourne, ”the world forgetting, by the world forgot.”
But these splendid results are not the effect of great exertions--of sudden, and uncertain, and enthusiastic efforts. They are the effect of a course, of a system of minor actions and of occupations, _individually_ insignificant in their appearance, and noiseless in their approach. They are like ”the gentle dew from heaven” in their silent unnoted progress, and, like that, are known only by their blessed results.
They involve a routine of minor duties which often appear, at first view, little if at all connected with such mighty ends. But such an inference would lead to a false conclusion. It is entirely of insignificant details that the sum of human life is made up; and any one of those details, how insignificant soever _apparently_ in itself, as a link in the chain of human life is of _definite_ relative value.
The preparing of a spoonful of gruel may seem a very insignificant matter; yet who that stands by the sick-bed of one near and dear to him, and sees the fevered palate relieved, the exhausted frame refreshed by it, but will bless the hand that made it? It is not the independent intrinsic worth of each isolated action of woman which stamps its value--it is their bearing and effect on the ma.s.s. It is the daily and hourly acc.u.mulation of minute particles which form the vast amount.