Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-02-16


PARASOLS AND UMBRELLAS.
The History OF the Useful Articles.
The sculptures Of Nineveh and the bas-
reliefs of Thebes and Memphis, says Il
reviewer of NJ. Uzannes book "L'Om-
brelle, remain to testify to the great an
tiquity of the parasol, aud Chinese an
nails carry its use back ~ date more
than twenty centuries before the Christian
era, ascribing its invention to the incom-
parable spouse of the famous carpenter,
Lou Pan, who compelled his coniugal
and professional admiration by showing
him the house which she had constructed
and which could be carried with him by
the owner, even upon Il iourncyof thou
sand leagues. Among the cancicnt Greeks
the umbrella was used at the festivals of
Bacchus and in the feast of Athena Sciras
II white parasol was borne by the priest
esscs of the goddess from the Acropolis
to the Phalerus.
Numerous pictorial representations tes-
tiiy to the important part played by the
parasol in the private life of tie noble
and wealthy Greek women. as well as ut
mails, and a passage i'll Aristophanes,
where one of the characters is described
MS opening and shutting his ears like an
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. may, therefore,
be regarded as having anticipated the
contentious journalists of Chicago and St.
Louis in one OF their favoritc similes-in-
dicates that the folding sunshade was
known as well rs the immovable variety.
|
borrowed the use Of the umbrella ut the
Feast of Tabernacles. as witness II coin
of the elder Agrippa which has furnished
Spanhemius with II text for learned dis
sertation. According to n passage in
Anacreon the use Of the sunshade by Il
man was reprehendcd us mark of ex-
treme effeminacy, even as III more modern
times the employment Of the fan by the
mig1OnS of the French court.
The hat-sunshade apparently came into
repeated illusions to it, and NJ. Uzannc
rcproduces an Etolian medal on which
Apollo is depicted with slung at his back
an umbrella-hat of decidedly Oriental
aspect and of most formidable size
Everywhere in the antique Eastern worlt
tho umbrella was adopted by sovereign'
MS symbol of omnipotcnce or widely-ex
tended power. In Egypt, unlike othel
countries, its use was not confined exclu
sively to royalty but was permitted tC
certain great dignitarles. On Persial
coins the sovereign is represented mount
ing his horse, one attendant Offering his
back as horse block and another un
furling over the riders head n capaciou,
parasol In India the seven-storied para
sol figures rs the most notable accessor,
of royal state, and it is engraved on the
royal seal,
In his fifth incarnation, Nishnu is showl
descending into hell with parasol in hi
, hand, and anon we find Braima and In
| dra depicted bearing respectively the fly
tiapper and the parasol. The Lord o
) the Parasol was u title Of the Malratt
princes Of Poona and Sattara, and i'll on
own time the King of the White Elcphan
l is not less proud OF his style of Lord o
, the Twenty-four Parasols, The Prime
of Wales, during his Indian journey aE
e peared on an elephant with Il golden um
brella, rs beiitted the future hdrSar-i
j., Uind, and His Royal Iiighncss brougl
$ back to England score of wonderfu
= umbrellas of all sizes, shapes and types
i which, if we mistake not, are to be see
: at South Kensington. Long before til
II Romans the Etrurians employed the SUI
It shade, and the people Of the Eternal Cit
: We're not slow, when once the individu,
i umbrella had been introduced to shelf,
G the spectator at the circus on days whe
: it was too windy to permit Of the use ,
il tho velarium' in making 1t serve them
IS their walks nj the baths.
II The two slaves who carried the fan an
G the parasol were dc riguc,r in the trai
II attendant upon the noble Roman matrc
1t whene'cr she took her walk abroad upC
It the Appian Way. The Romans umbrel
|, for protection against ram seems to hay
1t been Il simple piece Of leather. PHI
rs gives an elaborate account of the mate
1t rials employed in the manufacture
parasols, beginning with the palm-leav
A.. and osiers and gong on to silks and stui
ID and gold and silver, with ornaments
1T ivory anl precious stoucs. We even rel
as of umbrellas OF women's hair or at lea
,s OF an unbrella-cOiflure which would col
4 pare iavorably with the most elabora
y. triumphs of hairdressers in Africa mt til
lie time or in France and England duril
in the last century.
H. Juvenal records gift to friend of
Is umbrella and quantity of yellow amb
ne more by token, profound cOinihen
he tors bid the student reflect that the {
be jective ''green' in the context does l
ID refer to the umbrella. but to the sprir
We time. In more lLodern days the umbre
Iot was adopted in Italy as an accessory
ne elevated rank and by the church inits /
ior tivals. The Doge Of Venice had his
m nous umbrella so long ago as l17G
he wor derful structure of golden broca'
ms surmounted from the close Of the IL
ate teenth century by o golden statnetto
ere the Anuunoiation, and in the Basel
lie churches at Rome nm umbrella Of ST
'as was suspended from the roof and OF
set umbrellas We're carried over the heads
nd the titular cardinals. NJ Uzanne reco
my that the Gallo Romans possessed the l
vas brella-we know too, that it was usedby
nd Anglo-Saxon populations Of England,
d." drawing is preserved Of gentlen
DID, whose servant is shielding him from
ger weather or the sun by an umbrella wit
mt, long and sloping handle to be carried
lim hind the fortunate proprietor-but '
by rightly insists that it would be Difficult
,an demonstrate its logical existence dun