The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-06-28
TAlL0RS,
Origin of the Adage Concerning
Them.
[American Notes and Queries

problem when calls as loudly ana as NS4lhly ioI
answer as the question of the identity of the
Iron Mask or of the villain who struck Billy
Patterson
There will never, indeed, be wanting an
sWers TO this problem so long as there exists
any Of that now prepondeTating class who rush
in where angels would naturally hold back.
But the truly wise man, careful of the ground
upon which he treads may examine these eX-
plantations as curious food for speculaton,-he
can accept none of them as satisfactory.
Let Us pass IN review a few of the more gen.
orally known. A very familiar explanation,
which is presented In multiplied form, is based
upon the phrase " 20 make a man Of him" In
the sense of rehabilitating man by some sub
stantial service Thus il is said that in 1742,
an orphan boy applied for aims at fashionable
tailor's shop London. Nine of the journey
men tailors clubbed together, each contributing
a shilling, and with this capital the boy started
a fruit stand. In time he became rich, and
when he set up his carriage he painted on the
panel i" Nine tailors made me man." This
story eTTs in being dated. As far back as 1852
another variation had appeared in a curious
book called Democritus in London, with the
Mad Franks and COmical Concets of Motley
and Robin Goodfellow," (and it will be seen
that even at that time the saw was confessedly
an old one):
There is proverb which has been Of old,
Aud many men have likewise been so told,
To the dscredit of the taylors trade:
Nine tutors goe 10 make up u man, they said;
But for their credit I'll unriddle it Z ye:
A draper once fell into poyertie,
Nine taylors joyn'd their purses together thent
To set him up, and make him a man agen.
The same determination to twist the adage
into a complimentary sense Teappears in Rhen-
ish Prussia. One bitter Winter day, so it IS
said, nine taIlors were working IN a warm and
comfortable room, when a hungry, halfclad
tramp knocked at the door and applied for
aims. The kindly tailors not only shared their
meal with him, but sent him away rejoicing
with a few groschen in his pockets and he ex-
claimed gratefully, " You have made man OF
me.
All this class of explanation must be reject
| ed, because they seem TO have been made after
the event by some person. possibly a tailor him
/ self, who wished TO glorify the trade Now 1t
is fact that the tailor has ever been butt for
/ the foolish railery of the mob and we shall see
/ that IN folklore aud popular literature his nc
/ bier qualities have never received their due
need of recognition. What then shall we say
\ to the following account, which appeared IN the
! British Apollo in I705? 1t happened Otis no
! great matter in what year. that eight tailors,
having finished considerable pieces of work at
the house of certain person of quality (whOse
names authors have thought fit to cOnceal),
| and received all the money due for the same,
| a virago servant-maid of the house, observing
| them TO be but slender-built animals and in
J
board appearing but so many pieces of men,
! resolved to encounter and pillage them on the
| road. The better TO compass her design, she
/ procured very terrible great black pudding,
| which, having waylaid them, she presented at
| the breast Of the foremost. They, mistablng
this prop of life for an instrument of death, at
/ least blunderbuss, readily yielded up their
money but she, not contented with that
| severely disciplined them with cudgel she
| carried IN the other hand, all Of which they
bore with philosophical resignation. Thus,
l eight not being able TO deal with one woman,
| by consequence could not make a man, on
which account a ninth is added" What shall
1 we say to this story, quotha? Merely that it
1 is so evidently the work OF a professional hu-
morist, that it may be dismissed without even
the tribute Of smile.
There is only one explanation that bears any
piausibiity on its face, and this is not to the
discredit Of the trade. toll of bell is called
a teller" in rural England, from the verb - to
tell" or count" Orchard III, it viii be re-
membered. SAYS tell the clock there" j. e.,
count the hours.") Now, in some places. after
the funeral knell5 certain number Of distinct
beIl-strokes are made, 10 denote whether the de-
ceased was man, woman, or child, the number
usually being nine for a man, six for a woman,
aud three for child. Nine tellers mark a
man" became readily perverted into " Nine
tailOrs make a man."
edged. But how account for the fact that the
proyerb IS not indigenous 10 England, but is
1 found in various forms among other European
nations2 We have seen that it is familiar
phrase in Prussia. IN Brittany, we are informed
by Count de la Flllam2rque, the peasants have
a saying, "qu u laut neuf tailleurs pour fairC
IN homme" precisely our formula, again. In
Hanover, however, it requires II tailors tC
make man; and in other parts Of Germany
the number is increased to -. In Siiesia, l.
! buttonmakers (Knopfmacher) are said to con
stitute man.
Still the jest remains, a perpetual libel upor
an honorable and useful vocation, and tht
! modes Of applying il by wits, retailers Of wit
and Inventors OF jokes, seem well nigh end
less. Where are the other eight?" asked
duglist, who had accepted challenge from
tailor. In the days Of the London train bands
a tailor, rated to supply half a man to the band
asked how this could be done. By sending
four jOurneymcn and an apprentice" was TIA
( answer. IAN idea has gone abroad" says Car
{ lyle IN Sartor ResaTtus," and fixed itsel
: down into a widespread ing, rooted error, tha
D tailors are distinct species IN physiology, no
r men, but fractional parts of man. Doth i
: not stand on record, that the English Quee
= Elizabeth, receiving a deputation Of Is tailoFE
addressed them with Good morning, gent tie
f men both!" Did not the same virago boaa
+ that she had q cavalry regiment, whereo
regiment, namely, Of tail0rs or mares? Til
I story Of the cavalry regiment, by the way, wa
a thus told IN the Chester CoarqBt great man
: years ago, and Is was in this form and not j
. any authentic history that Carlyle prObabl
n met with il: 4" IN the region Of Queen Eliza
= beth the tailors petitiOued Her Majesty that
regiment might be raised, composed entirely
n their craft, 10 20 abroad into Flanders. Th
n Queen asscutcd. She ordered that las thel
never was known to be a regiment OF taiors b,
fore they should all be mounted on mares.
a short time the regiment was completes
equipped and drilled. reviewed by Elizabetl
and sent of to fight the Queens wars ia Flar
- ders. They rushed TO the front in battl
- fought Yaliantly, and were every one kille
p" Her Majesty was greatly affected when 81
! heard this news; but thanked God that she ha
= neither lost man nor horse"
- Carlyle, however, Indignantly refutes I'll
, SANDER, asserting that the tailor is not on
= :. a Man, bat something of Creator or Divint
=. inasmuch a. Man IS by him new-created into
I Nobleman, and clothed not only with wool b.
" with dignity and a Mystic Dominiou-is II
the fair fabric OF society itself, when all
royal mantles and pOntifieial states, whereof
from nackedness aud ACKNOWLEDGMENT, we a
organized into politics. iuto nations and
'Cl whole cooperating mankind, the creation
sh the tailor aouey" Swift had anticipated &
~ philosophy Of SArtor Resartus," in The Ts
~ Of Tub, where he speaks Of a certain sc
en- q. e., dandies and people Of fashion, til
woTshped a sort Of idol, who, as their doctri
L