Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-08-04
|rHE EARLY DAYS OF STOCKINGS.
Some Historical Facts About Hosiery.

cations of knitted underwear, but stock
ings were worn long before the art oil
knitting was used as an aid IN the manti-
facture of textiles. The ancient Greek
and Roman ladies wore no stockings OF
any kind. sandals and buskins being the
only covering worn on the feet. There
were no manufactured stockings in the
days of Queen Clotilde and of Bertha,
the first christian Queen OF England.
A strip of cloth or wooien stun was
wrapped around the feet and up to the
knees and held in place by strings OF
straps laced like our shoe-Strings. Such
stockings were often worn by actors OF
a generation ago when personatlng
Macbeth.
Originally the covering for the lower
half of the body was all made i'll one
piece, thereafter divided III two ut the
knee. but still of the same coarse mate
rial. and called ''trunk hose" The first
manufactured stockings were clumsy III
fabrication and of the coarseSt material.
luxury had its influence upon stock
iugs. however, rs upon other articles OF
clothing. and the richest cloths We're
subsequently used in their manufacture,
and often they were ornamented with
cav embroidery. Henry the III. of
England, upon the marriage of hls Sis
ter Isabella TO the Emperor Frederick
ii, presented her with pair OF cloth
stockings embroidered in gold. Pearls
were sometimes fastened upon them,
aud as much taste and art were expend-
ed upon their ornamentation rs ladies
amply to the same articles nowadays.
Cloth stocking went out of fashion
after awhile, and knitted stockings
gradually came into use. The art of
knitting is the youngest of all the I'M
portant textile manufactures, and, COM
pared with the others, IFS origin Is quite
modern. No certain allusion TO the art
occurs before the beginning OF the NJ
teenth Century. In an act OF Parlm-
ment of Henry VII, 14SS, knitted
wooden cappes'' are mentioned.
1t is supposed that the art was
first practiced in Scotland, and thence
carried into England, and that caps
were made by knitting some years be-
fore the more difficult feat of stocking
making was attempted. In an act OF
Edward VI, 1858, '-knitted hose, knit
ted petticoats, knitted gloves and knit
ted sleeves are enumerated, and the
trade of hosier is among Others, inclu-
ded in an act dated 1868.
king Henry VIII" says the Chron-
icler Stowe, ''you shall understand, did
only wear cloth hose, or hose cut out of
ell-broad taffetta, unless by great chance
there came pair of silk stockings from
Spain"
king Edward W. had a pair of
Spanish silk stockings sent him as a
great present"
The first silk stockings made in Eng
land were knitted by Queen Elizabeth's
silk-wOman, Mistress Montague, who
presented her Majesty with a pair of
black silk ones, which she liked so well
that she kept the donor knitting silk
stockings as long as she lived. Before
the end of her reign stockings were
made of silk, jarnSey, worsted, creWei,
or the finest warn and thread that could
be had. and Stubs remarks that the
ladies were mot ashamed to wear hose
of all kinCs of changeable colours, as
green. red, white, ruSSet, tawney and
else what not, cunningly knit and curl
ously indented in every point with
quirks, clocks, open seams, and every
thing else accordingly.
The fashion thus introduced by royal
ty was soon adopted by the under ranks.
The first peer who INDUCED in silk
stockings was that William Herbert,
called the ''preud Earl OF Pembroke" ="
Prouder than ever, We can fancy him IN
the DAYS of trunk hose, long-waisted
doublets and huge Tuffs, appearing at
court in his new and fashionable knit
hose and perhaps dancing a measure
with the ''virgin Queen" her head COW
cred with feathers, her feet glittering in
gold and silver embroidered slippers,
wearing her black silk stockings rs she
coquettishly raised her brocaded skirt
and shook her feet in the dance.
In 1889 William Lee, Master of Arts
and fellow of st. Johns College. Cam
bridge. invented a stocking frame. Lee
was born at Woodborough, in Noting
hamshire. and is said to have been heir
to good estate. Tradition attributes
the origin of his invention to pique he
had taken against a tOwnswoman with
whom he was III love and who 1t seems
neglected his passion. She earned her
livelihood by knitting stockings, and,
with the ungenerouS object of deprecia-
ting her employment, he constructed
this frame, first working at it himself,
then teaching his brother and other re-
lations. lie practiced his new invention
some time at Calyerton, a village about
five miles from Nottingham, and either
he or his brother is said to have worked
for Queen Elizabeth. The other stock
ing manufacturers used every art to
| bring his invention into disrepute, and
il seems they effected their purpose for
that time, as he subsequently removed
from Calverton and settled at Rouen, i'll
France, where lie met with great pa
tronage. The murder of Henry ", OF
France. however, and the internal trOu-
bles that followed that event frustrated
his success, and he died at Paris of a
broken heart. Stowe says that Lee not
| only manufactured stockings on his
! frame, but ''waISteoatS and divers other
things
King James |, it is said, not only
wore silk stockings, but was SO fond of
them that he lowered his kingly dignity
so far as to ask one of his courtiers TO
lend him a pair.
That was royalty going a-begging
with a vengeance when We read IL
! letter still eXtant of how the King asked
| for the loan of the ''scarlet hose with
the gold clocks'' on one occasion when
he desired to give the French Ambassa-
dor an extraordinary idea OF magnili-
| cence."
1t was fancy with sq,ae lovers of the
Olden time TO have stockings made from
their ladies' hair, they desiring, sup
pose, to have their feet as well sa their
hearts to be entangled in the meshes of
! their mistreSSeS' treSSeS.
1t may not be out of the way in clo-
! sing to state that the term ''blue stock
ings" was applied TO the habitues of
Mrs. Elizabeth Montague's evening Var
ties, who flourished about 1T60. Those
parties were made up of actors, wits,
authors, divines, painters and beautiful
! and gifted women. johnson, Garrick,
, Reynolds, Horace Walpole, Hannah
More and Mrs. Burney were often
among the guests. BY the side of the