In Morocco, according to a passage quoted by a writer in the
_Penny Magazine_ from the Travels of Ali Bey, the emperor alone
and his family are allowed to use it. "The retinue of the Sultan was
composed of a troop of from fifteen to twenty men on horseback. About
a hundred steps behind them came the Sultan, who was mounted on a
mule with an officer bearing his Umbrella, who rode by his side also
on a mule. The Umbrella is a distinguishing sign of the sovereign of
Morocco. Nobody but himself, his sons, or his brothers dare to make
use of it." In Turkey the Umbrella is common. A vestige of the
reverence once attached to it remains in the custom of compelling
everybody who passes the palace where the Sultan is residing to lower
his Umbrella as a mark of respect. And--at all events some years
back, before the Crimean war had introduced so many Europeans to
Constantinople--any one neglecting to pay the required reverence,
stood in considerable danger of a lively reminder from the sentry on
duty.
Before concluding this chapter, it may not be out of place to make a
few remarks as to the origin of the word Umbrella, as we have done
regarding the thing itself. The English name is borrowed from the
Italian _Ombrella_. The Latin term _Umbella_ is applied by
botanists to those blossoms which are clustered at the extremities of
several spokes, radiating from the common stem like the metallic
props of the Umbrella. The name, as is seen, does not give the
slightest idea of the use of the article designated, as is often the
case with words we practical folk employ; and we might well take a
lesson from our cousins German or French, who have invented distinct
names for the weapon used to ward off the rays of the sun, and that
employed against rain, namely,--Regenschirm, _parapluie;_
Sonnenschirm, _parasol._ These are better than our names, even
though both the French words labour under the disadvantage of being
hybrids, half Greek and half Latin.
Such, then, is the ancient history of the Umbrella, as far as our
research has enabled us to trace it, and, indeed, we are now not a
little surprised at the result of those labours which have enabled us
to discover so much.
CHAPTER III.
THE UMBRELLA IN ENGLAND.
As a canopy of state, Umbrellas were generally used in the south of
Europe; they are found in the ceremonies of the Byzantine Church;
they were borne over the Host in procession, and formed part of the
Pontifical regalia.
A mediæval gem represents a bishop, attended by a cross-bearer, and
a servant who carries behind him an Umbrella.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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