University of Virginia Library

1640. The Praise of the Needle.

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 wollen fleeces yeare by yeare:
So long as Silk-wormes, with exhausted spoile,
Of their owne 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 Pigmey, 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.
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 Kirchiefes, 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,
Then this? which daily doth it selfe 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 worke 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 IT 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,
Mens 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, Posies 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 every where 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 ABC.
Thus skilfull, or unskillfull, each may take,
This booke, and of it, each good use may make,
All sorts 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 bounds 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 derogate (in any case)
Or doe esteeme of other teachings base,
For Tent-worke, Raisd-worke, Laid-worke, Frost-worke, Networke,
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 every where in practise now:
And in this Booke, there are of these some store,
With many others, neuer seene before.
Here Practise and Invention may be free,
And as a Squirrell 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 may make 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.

Here follow certaine Sonnets in the Honorable memory of Queenes and great Ladies, who haue bin famous for their rare Inventions and practise with the Needle.

1

[King David by an apt similitude]

King David by an apt similitude,
Doth shew with Maiesty, the Church her worth;
And to a faire Kings daughter doth allude,
Where to her Spouse, he bravely brings her forth,
In Garments wrought of Needle-worke and Gold,
Resplendent and most glorious to the eye:
Whose out-side much more glory did infold,
The presence of th'eternall Majesty.
Thus may you see Records of holy Writ
Set downe (what death or Time can nere deface.)
By these comparisons, comparing fit,
The noble worth of Needle-workes high grace.
Then learne faire Damsels, learne your times to spend
In this, which such high praisings doth commend.

2
Katharine first married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and afterward to Henry the 8. King of England.

I read that in the seventh King Henries Raigne,
Faire Katharine, Daughter to the Castile King,
Came into England with a pompous traine
Of Spanish Ladies which shee thence did bring.
She to the eight King Henry married was,
And afterwards divorc'd, where vertuously
(Although a Queene) yet she her dayes did passe,
In working with the Needle curiously,
As in the Towre, and places more beside,
Her excellent memorialls may be seene:
Whereby the Needles prayse is dignifide
By her faire Ladies, and her selfe, a Queene.
Thus for her paines, here her reward is iust,
Her workes proclaime her prayse, though she be dust.

3
Mary, Queene of England, and wife to Philip King of Spaine.

Her Daughter Mary here the Scepter swaid,
And though shee were a Queene of mighty power,
Her memory will never be decaid,
Which by her workes are likewise in the Tower,
In Windsor Castle, and in Hampton Court,
In that most pompous roome call'd Paradise:
Who euer pleaseth thither to resort,
May see some workes of hers, of wondrous price.
Her greatnesse held it no dis-reputation,
To take the Needle in her Koyall hand:
Which was a good example to our Nation,
To banish idlenesse from out her Land:
And thus this Queene, in wisedome thought it fit,
The Needles worke pleas'd her, and she grac'd it.

4
Elizabeth Queene of England, and Daughter to King Henry the eight.

When this great Queene, whose memory shall not
By any terme of time be over-cast;
For when the world, and all therein shall rot
Yet shall her glorious fame for ever last.
When she a maid, had many troubles past,
From Iayle to Iayle, by Maries angry spleene:
And Woodstocke, and the Tower in Prison fast,
And after all was Englands Peerelesse Queene.
Yet howsoeuer sorrow came or went,
She made the Needle her companion still,
And in that exercise her time she spent,
As many living yet doe know her skill.
Thus shee was still, a Captive, or else crownd,
A Needle-woman Royall, and renownd.

5
The Right Honourable, Vertuous, and learned Lady Mary, late Countesse of Pembrooke.

A Patterne, and a Patronesse she was,
Of vertuous industry and studious learning:
And shee her earthly Pilgrimage did passe,
In Acts which were high honour most concerning.
Braue Wilton house in Wiltshire well can show,
Her admirable workes in Arras fram'd:
Where men, and beasts, seeme like, trees seeme to grow,
And Art (surpass'd by Nature) seemes asham'd,
Thus this renowned Honourable Dame,
Her happy time most happily did spend;
Whose worth recorded in the mouth of fame,
(Vntill the world shall end) shall never end
She wrought so well in Needle-worke, that shee,
Nor yet her workes, shall ere forgoten be.

6
The Right Honourable and religious Lady Elizabeth Dormer, Wife to the late Right Honourable, the Lord Robert Dormer deceased.

This Noble Lady imitates time past,
Directs time present, teacheth time to come,
And longer then her life, her laud shall last,
Workes shewes her worth, though all the world were dumb.
And though her Reverend selfe, with many dayes,
Of honourable age is loaden deepe,
Yet with her Needle (to her worthy prayse)
Shee's working often ere the Sunne doth peepe.
And, many times, when Phœbus in the West
Declined is, and Luna shewes her head:
This antient honour'd Lady rests from Rest,
And workes when idle sloath goes soone to bed,
Thus shee the Needle makes her recreation,
Whose well-spent paines are others imitation.

To all degrees of both sexes, that love or liue by the laudable imployment of the Needle.

If any aske to whom these lines are writ,
I answer, unto them that doe inquire:
For since the worlds Creation none was yet,
Whose wants did not the Needles helpe desire.
And therefore not to him, or her, or thee,
Or them, or they, I doe not write at all:
Nor to particulars of he or shee,
But generally, to all in generall.
Then let not Pride looke scuruily a-scewe,
Without the Needle, Pride would naked goe:
Nor yet let scorne, cry pish, and tush, and mew,
Scorne is forgetfull much in doing so,
Nor yet let any one presume to prate,
And call these lines poore trifles, by me pend:
Let not opinion be prejudicate,
But mend it ere they dare to discommend,
So fare thou well, my well-deseruing booke,
(I meane, the works deserts, and not my lines)
I much presume that all that one it looke,
Will like and laud the workemans good designes,
Fooles play the Fooles, but tis through want of wit,
Whilst I to wisedomes censure doe submit.