tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post7501763102613618321..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Making Clothing for the Army Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-72772982214048698242018-05-22T14:30:03.728-05:002018-05-22T14:30:03.728-05:00Evidently it was a stereotype of the time. In Henr...Evidently it was a stereotype of the time. In <i>Henry IV, Part I</i>, Lady Percy says, “I will not sing,” and Hotspur replies, “’Tis the next way to turn tailor…” <br /><br />A 1793 edition annotates that line like this: “<i>Tailors</i> seem to have been as remarkable for singing, as <i>weavers</i>, of whose musical turn Shakspeare has more than once made mention. Beaumont and Fletcher, in <i>The Knight of the Burning Pestle</i>, speak of this quality in the former: ‘Never trust a tailor that does not sing at his work; his mind is on nothing but filching.’ . . . That <i>tailors</i> were remarkable for <i>singing</i> in our author’s time, he has himself informed us elsewhere. ‘Do you make an alehouse of my lady’s house, (says Malvolio in <i>Twelfth Night</i>,) that ye squeak out your <i>coziers’ catches</i>, without any mitigation or remorse of voice?’”<br /><br />It looks like weavers and tailors sang in that period, particularly when in groups, because their work consisted of lots of repetitive motions, not requiring complete mental concentration. J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-51307317402468886652018-05-22T14:03:31.737-05:002018-05-22T14:03:31.737-05:00I wonder why tailors sang, as indeed they must? M...I wonder why tailors sang, as indeed they must? Maybe whenever enough workers are together for long enough, they develop work songs? Bill Harshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02094598931693185805noreply@blogger.com