The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-20
who FIRST USED STARCH
Queen Bess Owed a Great
Deal of Her Stiffness
to a DutChWom-
ans Discovery.
A REIGN OF RUFFS AND CUFFS
How Mrs. Dinghen van den Plasse
Made Her %Fortune-A Teacher
in Starching.

1--WE know of one Princess in English
history who forswore all relations with
her laundress until Calais should be
retaken. At this the modern lady,
with her vast treasures of white in
dainty array of bureau drawers. is
Mortified when she reads. Yet in an
age when a prince was mighty indeed
who owned as many shirts as the
fingers on one hand, or handkerchiefs
as numerous al his toes, when the
laundry was not among the recog-
nized place of business, and the chief
soapmaker, born of Mother Earth,
Earth, was always named fuller, the
Queens vow loses much of its signii-
canoe. How large the lingerie of the
Queen that sorrowed over the loss of
Calais may have been we do not know,
but a laborer's wife of today would
probably despise it.
1t was Elizabeth who introduced
fashions that established the laundry
on a permanent basis and created
starchfactories. Sine not only enlarged
the ruff, multiplied under-garments,
increased the lady's inventory and the
brides trousseau, but it was she who
began the fashion of the farthingale
or crinoline. This wheel shaped ar
rangeinent pulled out the dress like a
balloon, and right royal was the
rustic of the stiffened skirts as the
Queen and her ladies moved about.
So great was the demand for starcn
with which TO stiffen properly the
rufs. collars, cuffs and crinoline, that
it seriously affected the price OF
wheat. Complaints were loud and
long that bread was being taken out
of the mouths of the people. The
potato was then unknown, or too
much of a novelty. Its virtues and
potencies of supply to the laundress
and the alleged sugar maker were
then unsupported.
WHERE IT WAS DISCOVERED.
To whom were the English and
their doughty Queen Bess indebted
for this wonderful addition to the re-
sources of civilization and of personal
~neatness? 1t was not their own inven-
ton, but the gift of the Low Countries.
1t came in with carriages, which also
were imported, to the amazement of
the common folk.
The virgin Queen Bess had set on
the throne six years when, as old Full
Ter tells US, "Guilliam Boonen, a
Dutchman, became the Queens coach
man, and was the first that brought
the use Of coaches into England 1t
is added elsewhere that after a while
great ladies with as great jealousy of
the Queens ~displeasure) made. them
coaches, and rid in them up anddown
the countries, to the great admiration
of all beholders.n The wife of this
Guilliam was the first who starched
the Queens ruffs, which were then
substituted for those made of fine
Holland"
Nevertheless, imperious Elizabeth
was not long able to queen it over
maids and ladies in the matter of
stiffness. Soon she had to content
for, as Stow, in his annals, tells us.
the gentlewomen not only matchedthe
Queens cambria. but even made them
ruffs of lawn. ''Some very few of the
best and most curious wives of that
time. observing the neatness and deli
cacy of the Dutch for whiteness and
iO WC0A1AAS VI IlLClt, B1dO6 GlSlu CALL
brio rufus and sent them to Mrs.
they made them rufus of lawn.
most strange and wonderful. And
thereupon rose a general scott, or by
word, that shortly they would make
ruff's of a spiders web; and then they
began to send their daughters and
a Fncf II in m - NJ, n.--l--
to learn how to starch"
MRS. DINGHEN OF STARCH FAME.
Would the reader know who Mrs.
English ladies so fine and British
house-maids SO neat? We bless the
memory of Mrs. Dinghen every time
we are daintily served in an English
home. The daughter of a knight of
Flanders, and driven out by Spanish
oppression, she with her husband
ably penniless, she so turned her hand
that the pounds soon flowed in.
While Mrs. Boonen starched for the
Queen, Mrs. Dinghen van den Plasse.
as her full name was, taught starch
ing to the ladies. Her price was five
pounds for teaching how to starch.
but twenty pounds for showing how
to seeth starch" in little time she
got an estate, being greatly en-
%conraged by gentlewomen and
ladies'
. She was ''the first who taught
starching in those days of impurity,n
adds the historian, with pathos and
appreciation of the previous facts.
Blessings on Mrs. Dinghen van den
PIassel-W William Elliot G4T65s IN Ho7-
per'S Bazaar.
Hobbies of Royal Folk.
Those folks who possess a Lassion
for hobbies-and their name must be
legion, will, no doubt, be interested to
know that this particular character
istic is also frequently exhibited by
the blue-blooded one of the earth.
Kings and queens often possess hob
bies which they cheris. as fondly as
do ordinary folk.
Queen Victoria is very fond of gar
dening, and all her children have been
taught to dig and plant flowers and
vegetables in season. She is also pas