The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed.: Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical TapestriesMenzies, Sutherland, active 1840-1883
History
The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed.: Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries
Menzies, Sutherland, active 1840-1883
Needlework; Tapestry
This ever-revolving wheel is still turning; and so all-important now
is THE MODE that one half of the world is fully occupied in providing
for the personal embellishment of the other half and themselves; and
could we contemplate the possibility of a return to the primitive
simplicity of our ancient "sires," we must look in the same picture on
one half of the world as useless--as a drug on the face of creation.
Why, what a desert would it be were all dyers, fullers, cleaners,
spinners, weavers, printers, mercers and milliners, haberdashers and
modistes, silk-men and manufacturers, cotton-lords and fustian-men,
tailors and habit makers, mantuamakers and corset professors,
exploded? We pass over pin and needle makers, comb and brush
manufacturers, jewellers, &c. The ladies would have nothing to live
for; (for on grave authority it has been said, that "woman is an
animal that delights in the toilette;") the gentlemen nothing to
solace them. "The toilette" is the very zest of life with both; and if
ladies are more successful in the results of their devoirs to it, it
is because "nous sommes faites pour embellir le monde," and not
because gentlemen practice its duties with less zeal, devotion, or
assiduity--as many a valet can testify when contemplating his modish
patron's daily heap of "failures." Indeed to put out of view the more
obvious, weighty, and important cares attached to the due selection
and arrangement of coats, waistcoats, and indispensables, the science
of "Cravatiana" alone is one which makes heavy claims on the time,
talents, and energies of the thorough-going gentleman of fashion. He
should be thoroughly versed in all its varieties--The Royal George:
The Plain Bow: The Military: The Ball Room: The Corsican: The
Hibernian Tie: The Eastern Tie: The Hunting Tie: The Yankee Tie: (the
"alone original" one)--The Osbaldiston Tie: The Mail Coach Tie: The
Indian Tie, &c. &c. &c.
Though of these and their numberless offshoots, the Yankee Tie lays
most claim to originality, the Ball Room one is considered the most
exquisite, and requires the greatest practice. It is thus described by
a "talented" professor:--
"The cloth, of virgin white, well starched and folded to the proper
depth, should be made to sit easy and graceful on the neck, neither
too tight nor loose; but with a gentle pressure, curving inwards from
the further extension of the chin, down the throat to the centre dent
in the middle of the neck. This should be the point for a slight dent,
extending from under each ear, between which, more immediately under
the chin, there should be another slight horizontal dent just above
the former one. It has no tie; the ends, crossing each other in broad
folds in front, are secured to the braces, or behind the back, by
means of a piece of white tape. A brilliant broach or pin is generally
made use of to secure more effectually the crossing, as well as to
give an additional effect to the neckcloth."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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