San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-10-11
SPECTACLES AND EYEGLASSES.
Some of the Extravagant Uses to
which They Have Been Put.

1IOm AMERICAN NOleS anu QueIIitS.
When Alessandro de Spina, OF Flor
ence, invented spectacles, he could
never have anticipated that they
would be used as marks of social posi-
ton and intellectual superiority by
some of the most civilized nations of
the earth. Yet strange as it may ap-
pear, they have been put to this eX-
travagant use.
In Spain during the seven
tenth century, the wearing of
spectacles by by both sexes was
q mark of social eminence. Although
they were not necessary, many kept
them on while eating or attending
public functions, such as theatres,
concerts and bull fights, so that the
wearers might command respect from
those of the lower orders with whom
they might be compelled to come in
contact. A story is told of young
monk who, having accomplished some
difficult task, was promised by the
prior any favor which it was in his
power to grant. He gravely replied
that he had long yearned to be per-
mitted to wear spectacles. This request
evidently gratified his superior, who,
with an air of satisfied pride, said to
the young monk, "Hermano, ponga
las ojalas" ("Brother, put on specta-
cles."O The concession filed the re-
cipient with such joy that he forth
with fell on his knees, and, kissing
the hand of the prior, earnestly eX-
pressed his gratitude for so great an
honor. There is another story which
shows how highly the right to wear
these ornaments were esteemed. 1t
is said that when the viceroy of Ma
nles, the marquis d'Astorgas, was
having his bust sculptured in Marble,
he was most careful to have his best
thought it could not be good like
ness if these necessary appendages OF
nobility were omitted.
In this country, the size of the spec
tacles was also matter of important
consideration, just as carriages and
men-servants are nowadays. AS o
mans fortune increased, so did the
size of his spectacles. And the
Countess d'Aulnoy assures US that as
men rose in political and social rank,
the spectecles, too rose higher and
higher on their noses. She also states
from personal observation that some
of those worn by the grandees were
as large as her head, and that for this
reason these great personages obtain
ed the sobriquet of ocales. These
glasses were for the most part made in
Venice until the Venetians, out of re-
venge, played trick on the Span
iards. The Marquis de Cueva, with
two other mobiles, had undertaken to
set the arsenal of Venice on fire by
means of burning glasses, and thus
render up the city to the king of
Spain. To be revenged for this at
tempt on their city, the Venetians
caused large number of these huge
spectacles or ocales to be made of
burning glass, and had them set in
frames of an explosive material, so that
when the SUMS rays beat upon them
they would heat to explosion, and
and thus blind their wearers. 1t Is
said that the explosion actually oc-
Cured, but with no more disastrous
consequence than the burning of the
eyebrows, eyelashes and hair of the
wearers, circumstance which made
the Spaniards very irate with the
Venetians, causing them to withdraw
their custom for ocales from them for
ever.
1t would seem that the English
caught this quaint and ridiculous
custom from Spain, but, not to appear
slavishly initiative, they adopted the
eyeglass, that vain decoration of a
mans face which Coleridge described
as "a piece of glass stuck in fop's
eye to show that he was a coxcomb. ~
How many men wear this curious Or
nament for affectatlon, it were useless
to speculate; but it is known that III
the greatest majority of cases 1t is
worn to give the wearer a supercil-
ious air, which he, in his inordinate
vanity, mistake for diguified one,
and without which he would be un.
noticeable among the thousands OF
commonplace beings with whom we
daily come in contact. For a time
this single piece of glass was much
in vogue, but it has by degrees given
place to the more refined and less
dangerous to the eye-sight, ornament
the pince neZ. This is the eye-geaI
which is most affected by actors, OF
men who wish to attract attention t.
their puny individuality.
In Germany the habit of wearips
spectacles first began in affectation
consequent, 1t may reasonably b,
presumed, on the intercourse which
existed between that country anC
Spain under Charles V. By degrees
this affectation, following the theor,
of natural evolution, became a neces
sity, and now it is almost an obliga
tory badge of scholarship among al
those who aspire to the distinction Q
being considered savant in Ger
many. Mark Twain wittily observe
that if he had the monopoly of tn