THE UMBRELLA

Evening Star, Issue 12163, 6 April 1904, Page 7

THE UMBRELLA

The umbrella was the emblem of kingship in Egypt and Assyria in days when we of Britain would have found one efficient for dwelling-place and habiliment combined. ; When the umbrella was introduced into i England in the eighteenth century, its j “ wearers,” as they were called, were the ; subject of ridicule. “ Frenchmen ! why don’t you get i coach?” was the cry that asVaikd,the owner of one as he passed through the streets. One gentleman was compelled to ; separate from his sister because of the abuse | to which both were submitted on account i of his umbrella. But this was not the first j introduction of the umbrella into this j country, although to the ignorant mind it appeared to be so. The British Museum ! preserves an Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the I tenth century showing a long over whose j head an umbrella, is borne by an attendant, : in the same way as its prototype was borne over Eastern kings a couple of thousand and more years earlier. All who are familiar with eighteenth century writings, are aware that one umbrella served for a household. “ At this time (1778) there were no umbrellas wom.hr London, except in noblemen’s and gentlemen’s Louses, where there was a large one hung in the hall to hold over a lady or a gentleman, if it rained, between the door and their carriage.” The resurrection of the umbrella was a Continental movement ; dull-deaded

Englishmen of the period resented it as a new and foppish device, and publicly advertised “ the young gentleman belonging to the Custom House, who, in fear of rain, borrowed the umbrella from Wilks’s Coffee House, shall, the next time, be welcome to the maid’s pattens.” Well, we have long got past that notv, and the difficulty is to prevent cause for such a notice as appeared in a Pall Mall Club last year;—“ Will the nobleman who purloined ’s umbrella kindly return it to the hall porter V “Why do you suggest a nobleman?” the author of

1 the note was asked. “Well, this dub is only for the nobility and gentry, and I know that no gentleman would steal one’s ; brolly,” was the reply. Emerson had a different opinion. “Where,” he asked his daughter one day, “where is your—your—what’s its name—yoor —that which your friends steal from yon—your umbrella?”