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CHAPTER XXII.

Conclusion.

THE PRAISE OF THE NEEDLE.

"Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar,

Once swan of Thames, though now he sings no more."
POPE'S Dunciad.

[graphic]

N the course of this volume, we have frequently quoted from a poem, written by John Taylor, the water-poet, and prefixed to a work, entitled "The Needle's Excellency, of which the twelfth edition was published in 1640. This work being extremely rare, we are tempted to reprint this poem verbatim from the original edition.

A copy of this book was in the collection of the late Francis Douce, Esq. which he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. It is an oblong quarto. The title runs thus:-"The Needle's Excellency A New Booke wherein are diuers Admirable Workes wrought with the needle. Newly invented and cut in Copper for the pleasure and profit of the Industrious. Printed for James Boler, and are to be sold at the Signe of the Marigold in Paules Church yard. The 12th Edition enlarged with diuers new workes as needleworkes

THE PRAISE OF THE NEEDLE.

"To all dispersed sorts of ARTS and TRADES,
J writ the needles prayse (that never fades)
So long as children shall be got or borne,
So long as garments shall be made or worne,
So long as Hemp or Flax or Sheep shall bear
Their linnen woollen fleeces yeare by yeare:
So long as Silk-wormes, with exhausted spoile,
Of their own Entrailes for mans gaine shall toyle:
Yea till the world be quite dissolu'd and past;
So long at least, the Needles use shall last:
And though from earth his being did begin,
Yet through the fire he did his honour win:
And vnto those that doe his service lacke,
Hee's true as steele and mettle to the backe.
He hath I per se cye, small single sight,
Yet like a Pigmy, Polipheme in fight:
As a stout Captaine, bravely he leades on,
(Not fearing colours) till the worke be done,
Through thicke and thinne he is most sharpely set,
With speed through stitch, he will the conquest get.
And as a souldier Frenchefyde with heat,

Maim'd from the warres is forc'd to make retreat;
So when a Needles point is broke, and gone,

No point Mounsieur, he's maim'd, his worke is done.
And more the Needles honour to advance,

It is a Taylors Iavelin, or his Launce;

purles & others neuer before printed. 1640." On the title page is an engraving of three ladies in a flower garden, under the names of Wisdome, Industrie, and Follie. "The praise of the Needle," as given above, is prefixed to the work, then "Here follow certaine Sonnets in the Honorable memory of Queenes and great Ladies, who have bin famous for their rare Inventions and practise with the Needle." There are six sonnets to Queen Elizabeth, the Countess of Pembroke, and others;-some of which we have quoted in the preceding chap

ter.

The seventh is addressed "To all degrees of both sexes, that love or liue by the laudable imployment of the needle." Another copy of this book is preserved in the Library of the British Museum. It appears to have gone through twelve impressions; and its scarcity is accounted for by the supposition, that such books were generally cut to pieces, and used by women to work upon or transfer to their samplers.

And for my Countries quiet, I should like,
That women-kinde should vse no other Pike.
It will increase their peace, enlarge their store,
To use their tongues lesse, and their Needles more,
The Needles sharpenesse, profit yeelds, and pleasure,
But sharpenesse of the tongue, bites out of measure.
A Needle (though it be but small and slender)
Yet it is both a maker and a mender:

A graue Reformer of old Rents decayd,

Stops holes and seames and desperate cuts displayd,
And thus without the Needle we may see
We should without our Bibs and Biggins bee;

No shirts or Smockes, our nakednesse to hide,

No garments gay, to make us magnifide:

No shadowes, Shapparoones, Caules, Bands, Ruffs, Kuffs, No Kerchiefes, Quoyfes, Chin-clouts, or Marry-Muffes, No cros-cloaths, Aprons, Hand-kerchiefes, or Falls,

No Table-cloathes, for Parlours or for Halls,

No Sheetes, no Towels, Napkins, Pillow-beares,
Nor any Garment man or woman weares.
Thus is a Needle prov'd an instrument

Of profit, pleasure, and of ornament.

Which mighty Queenes haue grac'd in hand to take,
And high borne Ladies such esteeme did make,
That as their Daughters Daughters up did grow,
The Needles Art, they to their children show.
And as 'twas then an exercise of praise,
So what deserves more honour in these dayes,
Than this? which daily doth itselfe expresse,
A mortall enemy to idlenesse.

The use of Sewing is exceeding old,

As in the sacred Text it is enrold:

Our Parents first in Paradise began,

Who hath descended since from man to man:

The mothers taught their Daughters, Sires their Sons,

Thus in a line successively it runs

For generall profit, and for recreation,

From generation unto generation.

With work like Cherubims Embroidered rare,

The Covers of the Tabernacle were.

And by the Almighti's great command, we see,

That Aarons Garments broydered worke should be;

And further, God did bid his Vestments should
Be made most gay, and glorious to behold.
Thus plainly, and most truly is declar'd
The needles worke hath still bin in regard,
For it doth ART, so like to NATVRE frame,
As if I were her Sister, or the SAME.

Flowers, Plants, and Fishes, Beasts, Birds, Flyes, and Bees,
Hils, Dales, Plaines, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees;
There's nothing neere at hand, or farthest sought,
But with the Needle may be shap'd and wrought

In clothes of Arras I have often seene,

Men's figurd counterfeits so like haue beene,
That if the parties selfe had beene in place,
Yet ART would vye with NATVRE for the grace.
Moreover, Poisies rare, and Anagrams,
Signifique searching sentences from names,
True History, or various pleasant fiction,
In sundry colours mixt, with Arts commixion,
All in Dimension, Ovals, Squares, and Rounds,
Arts life included within Natures bounds:
So that Art seemeth meerely naturall,

In forming shapes so Geometricall;

And though our Country everywhere is fild
With Ladies, and with Gentlewomen, skild
In this rare Art, yet here they may discerne
Some things to teach them if they list to learne.
And as this booke some cunning workes doth teach,
(Too hard for meane capacities to reach)

So for weake learners, other workes here be,

As plaine and easie as are A B C.

Thus skilfull, or unskillfull, each may take
This booke, and of it each good use may make,
All sortes of workes, almost that can be nam'd,
Here are directions how they may be fram'd:
And for this kingdomes good are hither come,
From the remotest parts of Christendome,
Collected with much paines and industry,
From scorching Spaine and freezing Muscovie,
From fertill France, and pleasant Italy,
From Poland, Sweden, Denmarke, Germany,
And some of these rare Patternes haue beene fet
Beyond the bonds of faithlesse Mahomet:

From spacious China, and those Kingdomes East,

And from Great Mexico, the Indies West.

Thus are these workes, farre fetcht, and dearely bought,

And consequently good for Ladies thought.

Nor doe I degrodate (in any case)

Or doe esteeme of other teachings base,

For Tent-worke, Raisd-worke, Laid-worke, Frost-worke, Net-worke,
Most curious Purles, or rare Italian Cutworke,

Fine Ferne-stitch, Finny-stitch, New-stitch, and Chain-stitch,
Braue Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queen-stitch,
The Spanish-stitch, Rosemary-stitch, and Mowse-stitch,

The smarting Whip-stitch, Back-stitch, & the Crosse-stitch,
All these are good, and these we must allow,
And these are everywhere in practise now.
And in this Book, there are of these some store,

With many others, neur seene before..
Here Practise and Invention may be free,
And as a Squirrel skips from tree to tree,

So maids may (from their Mistresse, or their Mother)
Learne to leaue one worke, and to learne an other,
For here they make may choyce of which is which,
And skip from worke to worke, from stitch to stitch,
Vntil, in time, delightfull practice shall

(With profit) make them perfect in them all.

Thus hoping that these workes may haue this guide,
To serue for ornament, and not for pride:

To cherish vertue, banish idlenesse,

For these ends, may this booke haue good successe."

Taylor was a very remarkable man; and among other of his eccentricities, he undertook to perform a journey from London to the Highlands, with a horse and servant, without a penny in his pocket, and engaging not to receive any alms. The account of this journey, which he wrote partly in prose and partly in verse, is a very remarkable picture of the manners of that period. He was welcomed by the hospitality of his countrymen throughout this journey, and he appears not only to have suffered very few privations, but to have fared sumptuously for many weeks.

Winstanley, in his "Lives of the Poets" says, "He was born

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