The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1902-01-15
ANCIENT UMBRELLAS
THEY FIGURED IN CHURCHES IN THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN DAYS.

when FIRST ADOPTED by the Public,
They Seem to Have Been Utilized
Solely as sun Protectors-once an
Attribute of Dignity.
In the early Christian churches a
large umbrella usually hung over the
priest and it is said that from this
custom it became one of the attributes
Of cardinals appointed from basilican
churches. For years the doges of
Venice carried umbrellas Of state, and
in 1888 Pope Alexander III. declared
that these should be surmounted by
golden statuettes of the annunciation.
Michael Morosini was the first Vene-
tian layman to carry an umbrella,
which consisted of small, fiat square
Of green stuff, over which was a cop
per spiral. Soon after the umbrella
was adopted by fashionable Venetian
danes. According to Coryat's "Crudi-
ties" QG1D, the italian umbrella was
small canopy and was made OF leath-
err extended by a series of wooden
hoops. He says umbrellas were used
by horsemen, who, resting the handles
en- the thigh as they rode, bore them
so that they should minister shadow
unto them for shelter against the
scorchlng SUM-"
In the Harleian manuscripts, now In
the British museum, there Is In manu-
script No. SOB crude illustration
showing the figure of yoeman hold
Ing an umbrella over his lord, which
leads me to infer that umbrellas were
known in England even In the early
Anglo Saxon period.
Beck, as quoted In the Diapers Die
tionary, asserts that at the time that
Stephen usurped the crown of England
Twelfth century, umbrellas were IN
common use among the English. The
first mention of the umbrella In Eng
fish literature is In Florio's World of
Wonders" Q59S), where It Is described
as kind of round fan or shadowing
that they use to ride with In summer
In Italy; n little shade"
In 1856 an umbrella was exhibited in
the Museum Tradescantianum; or,
Collection of Rarities Preserved at
South Lambeth, Near London, by John
Tradescant," which was known rs
"one of the wonders of the ark"
In the church of Cartmell, in Lanca-
shire, England, there was preserved
until few years ago an umbrella said
to be over 800 years old, which was
used chiefly to protect the host.
References to the umbrella are to be
found also In Blount's "Glossographia"
QG7D and Phillips New Worlde of
Words" QG7S). In the first the refer
ence reads: Umbrella, fashion of
round and broad fans, wherewith the
Indians (and from them our great ones)
preserve themselves from the heat of
the sun, and hence any little shadow,
fan or other thing wherewith the wom-
en guard their faces from the sun"
The second runs: "Umbrello, Il screen
against the suns heat, used chiefly by
the Spanlards. among whom It is known
by the name quitasole."
The imaginative Dean Swift in the
Tale of a Tub" 1890 depicts Jack, an
ever resourceful type, making use of a
parchment copy of his fathers Will as
q nightcap when he went to bed and as
an umbrella in rainy weather. Did
the worthy Hanway take his cue from
this or from Kersey, according to whom
the umbrella was a "broad fan or
screen commonly used by women to
shelter them from raln?' The last ref
erence, made in 1909, is the first men-
ton of 1t rs a protector from the rain.
Later Bailey, who In his dictionary
(173D called 1t parasol, defined 1t as
"a sort OF small canopy to keep off the
rain"
Small light umbrellas came into
fashion among the ladies of the French
court in 1875, and these were carried
by attendants. Rlchelet tells us that
they We're made of oilcloth or leather
and had ribs of whalebone. A century
later they found favor with the men,
who carried red umbrellas, with edges
fringed with gold lace.
The precise date when Jonas Han
way, who died In 1856, introduced the
umbrella into England is not recorded
in any Of the encyclopedias have at
hand, but they all state that he was
popularity known as its introducer
With the Dutch, as with the Indian
grandees, the umbrella was first an at
tribute of dignity, and well 1t might
be, for the prices paid for them at The
Hague In 1850 ranged from SIS to $120
each. The Dutch colonists who settled
at the Cape Of Good Hope were not |
slow to insist on preserving the dignity |
of the umbrella, for Ryk van Tulbagh,
governor of Cape Colony in 1852, en-
acted that "No one less In rank than
Junior merchant or those among the
citizens of equal rank, and the wives
and daughters only OF those who are or
have been members of any council
shall venture to use umbrellas, and
those who are less In rank than mer-
chants shall not enter the castle In fine
weather with an open UMBRELLA
Frank III. Vizetelly in New York
Times.