"In his dress, as far as was consistent with his ideas of health and
ease, he accommodated himself to the prevailing fashion. As it was
frequently necessary for him to appear in polite circles on
unexpected occasions, he usually wore dress clothes with a large
French bag. His hat, ornamented with a gold button, was of a size and
fashion to be worn as well under the arm as on the head. When it
rained, a small _parapluie_ defended his face and wig."
As Hanway died in 1786, and he is said to have carried an Umbrella
for thirty years, the date of its first use by him may be set down at
about 1750. For some time Umbrellas were objects of derision,
especially from the hackney coachmen, who saw in their use an
invasion on the vested rights of the fraternity; just as hackney
coaches had once been looked upon by the watermen, who thought people
should travel by river, not by road. John Macdonald, perhaps the only
footman (always excepting the great Mr. James Yellowplush) who ever
wrote a memoir of himself, relates that in 1770, he used to be
greeted with the shout, "Frenchman, Frenchman! why don't you call a
coach?" whenever he went out with his "fine silk umbrella, newly
brought from Spain." Records of the Umbrella's first appearance in
other English works have also been preserved. In Glasgow (according to
the narrative in Cleland's "Statistical Account of Glasgow ") "the
late Mr. John Jamieson, surgeon, returning from Paris, brought an
Umbrella with him, which was the first seen in this city. The doctor,
who was a man of great humour, took pleasure in relating to me how he
was stared at with his Umbrella." In Edinburgh Dr. Spens is said to
have been the first to carry one. In Bristol a red Leghorn Umbrella
appeared about 1780, according to a writer in _Notes and
Queries_, and created there no small sensation. The trade between
Bristol and Leghorn may account for this. Some five-and-thirty years
ago it is said that an old lady was living in Taunton who recollected
when there were only two Umbrellas in the town, one of which belonged
to the clergyman. When he went to church, he used to hang the
Umbrella up in the porch, to the edification and delight of his
parishioners.
Horace Walpole tells how Dr. Shebbeare (who was prosecuted for
seditious writings in 1758) "stood in the pillory, having a footman
holding an umbrella to keep off the rain." For permitting this
indulgence to a malefactor, Beardman, the under-sheriff, was punished.
It is difficult to conceive how the Umbrella could come into general
use, owing to the state in which the streets of London were up to a
comparatively recent period. The same amusing author to whom we owe
the description of Jonas Hanway, gives the following account of them
at the time his work was published:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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