Part 21 (1/2)

”His garment-- With thornes together pind and patched was.”

Faerie Queene.

_Hodge._ ”Tush, tush, her neele, her neele, her neele, man; neither flesh nor fish, A lytle thing with an hole in the ende, as bright as any syller, Small, long, sharp at the point, and straight as any piller.”

_Diccon._ ”I know not what it is thou menest, thou bringst me more in doubt.”

_Hodge._ ”Knowest not what Tom tailor's man sits broching thro' a clout?

A neele, a neele, a neele, my gammer's neele is gone.”

Gammer Gurton's Needle.

It is said in the old chronicles that previous to the arrival of Anne of Bohemia, Queen of Richard the Second, the English ladies fastened their robes with skewers; but as it is known that pins were in use among the early British, since in the barrows that have been opened numbers of ”neat and efficient” ivory pins were found to have been used in arranging the grave-clothes, it is probable that this remark is unfounded.

The pins of a later date than the above were made of boxwood, bone, ivory, and some few of silver. They were larger than those of the present day, which seem to have been unknown in England till about the middle of the fifteenth century. In 1543, however, the manufacture of bra.s.s pins had become sufficiently important to claim the attention of the legislature, an Act having been pa.s.sed that year by which it was enacted, ”That no person shall put to sale any pins, but only such as shall be double headed and have the head soldered fast to the shank, the pins well smoothed, and the shank well sharpened.”

Gloucesters.h.i.+re is noted for the number of its pin manufactories. They were first introduced in that county, in 1626, by John Tilsby; and it is said that at this time they employ 1,500 hands, and send up to the metropolis upwards of 20,000 of pins annually.

Our motto says, however, that his garment

”With thornes together pind and _patched_ was;”

and a French writer says, that before the invention of steel needles people were obliged to make use of thorns, fish bones, &c., but that since ”l'etabliss.e.m.e.nt des societes, ce pet.i.t outil est devenu d'un usage indispensable dans une infinite d'arts et d'occasions.”

He proceeds:--”De toutes les manieres d'attacher l'un a l'autre deux corps flexibles, celle qui se pratique avec l'aiguille est une des plus universellement repandues: aussi distingue-t-on un grand nombre d'aiguilles differentes. On a les aiguilles a coudre, ou de tailleur; les aiguilles de chirurgie, d'artillerie, de bonnetier, ou faiseur de bas au metier, d'horloger, de cirier, de drapier, de gainier, de perruquier, de coiffeuse, de faiseur de coiffe a perruques, de piqueur d'etuis, tabatieres, et autres semblables ouvrages; de sellier, d'ouvrier en soie, de brodeur, de tap.i.s.sier, de chandelier, d'emballeur; a matelas, a empointer, a tricoter, a enfiler, a presser, a brocher, a relier, a natter, a boussole ou aimantee, &c. &c.”

Needles are said to have been first made in England by a native of India, in 1545, but the art was lost at his death; it was, however, recovered by Christopher Greening, in 1560, who was settled with his three children, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas, by Mr. Damar, ancestor of the present Lord Milton, at Long Crendon, in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present period.[115]

Thus our readers will remark, that until far on in the sixteenth century, there was not a needle to be had but of foreign manufacture; and bearing this circ.u.mstance in mind, they will be able to enter more fully into the feelings of those who set such inestimable value on a needle. And, indeed, _if_ all we are told of them be true, needles could not be too highly esteemed. For instance, we were told of an old woman who had used one needle so long and so constantly for mending stockings, that at last the needle was able to do them of itself. At length, and while the needle was in the full perfection of its powers, the old woman died. A neighbour, whose numerous ”olive branches” caused her to have a full share of matronly employment, hastened to possess herself of this domestic treasure, and gathered round her the weekly acc.u.mulation of sewing, not doubting but that with her new ally, the wonder-working needle, the unwieldy work-basket would be cleared, ”in no time,” of its overflowing contents. But even the all-powerful needle was of no avail without thread, and she forthwith proceeded to invest it with a long one. But thread it she could not; it resisted her most strenuous endeavours. In vain she turned and re-turned the needle, the eye was plain enough to be seen; in vain she cut and screwed the thread, she burnt it in the candle, she nipped it with the scissars, she rolled it with her lips, she twizled it between her finger and thumb: the pointed end was fine as fine could be, but enter the eye of the needle it would not. At length, determined not to relinquish her project whilst any hope remained of its accomplishment, she borrowed a magnifying gla.s.s to examine the ”little weapon” more accurately. And there, ”large as life and twice as natural,” a pearly gem, a translucent drop, a crystal _tear_ stood right in the gap, and filled to overflowing the eye of the needle. It was weeping for the death of its old mistress; it refused consolation; it was never threaded again.

We give this incident on the testimony of a gallant naval officer; an unquestionable authority, though we are fully aware that some of our readers may be ungenerously sceptical, and perhaps even rude enough to attempt some vile pun about the brave sailor's ”drawing a long yarn.”

If, however, Gammer Gurton's needle resembled the one we have just referred to, and that, too, at a time when a needle, even not supernaturally endowed, was not to be had of English manufacture, and therefore could only be purchased probably at a high price, we cannot wonder at the aggrieved feelings of her domestic circle when the catastrophe occurred which is depicted as follows:--The parties interested were the Dame Gammer Gurton herself; Hodge, her farming man; Tib, her maid; c.o.c.ke, her boy; and Gib, her cat. The play from which our quotation is taken is not without some pretensions to wit, though of the coa.r.s.est kind: it is supposed to have been first performed at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1566; and Warton observes on it, that while Latimer's sermons were in vogue at court, Gammer Gurton's needle might well be tolerated at the university.

Act I. Scene 3. Hodge and Tib.

_Hodge._ ”I am agast, by the ma.s.se, I wot not what to do; I had need blesse me well before I go them to: Perchance, some felon spirit may haunt our house indeed, And then I were but a noddy to venter where's no need.”

_Tib._ ”I'm worse than mad, by the ma.s.se, to be at this stay.

I'm chid, I'm blam'd, and beaten all th' hours on the day.

Lamed and hunger starved, p.r.i.c.ked up all in jagges, Having no patch to hide my backe, save a few rotten ragges.”

_Hodge._ ”I say, Tib, if thou be Tib, as I trow sure thou be, What devil make ado is this between our dame and thee?”

_Tib._ ”Truly, Hodge, thou had a good turn thou wart not here this while; It had been better for some of us to have been hence a mile: My Gammer is so out of course, and frantike all at once, That c.o.c.ke, our boy, and I poor wench, have felt it on our bones.”

_Hodge._ ”What is the matter, say on, Tib, whereat she taketh so on?”

_Tib._ ”She is undone, she saith (alas) her life and joy is gone: If she hear not of some comfort, she is she saith but dead, Shall never come within her lips, on inch of meat ne bread.

And heavy, heavy is her grief, as, Hodge, we all shall feel.”