Lives of Illustrious Shoemakers Part 14

"The chestnuts with their milky cones,"

will probably never have heard of this

"Village Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood."

Bennett died an old man in 1756, having had his wish, at least, to leave the world no worse than he found it. a.s.suredly many who have more fame have done less to merit it.

[99] Born 1676; died 1756. Bennett is placed out of his chronological order because it seems most fitting that he should follow the benevolent Castell.

MILITARY AND NAVAL HEROES.

"THE SOUTERS OP SELKIRK."

The old Border song, sung at public dinners "when Selkirk folks began to be merry"--

"Up wi' the souters of Selkirk, And down wi' the Earl of Home; And up wi' a' the braw lads That sew the single shoon.

"Fye upon yellow and yellow, And fye upon yellow and green, And up wi' the true blue and scarlet, And up wi' the single-soled sheen.

"Up wi' the souters o' Selkirk, For they are baith trusty and leal; And up wi' the men o' the Forest,[100]

And down wi' the Merse[101] to the deil,"

has made the "Souters of Selkirk" famous throughout Scotland. The origin of the song seems to be lost. Whether it has reference, as the common tradition in Selkirk goes, to the part which a gallant band of Selkirk men played at the battle of Flodden Field, 1513, "when the flower of the Scottish n.o.bility fell around their sovereign, James IV.," which Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Plummer a.s.sert,[102] or to "a bet between the Philiphaugh and Home families" on a match of football "between the souters (or shoemakers) of Selkirk against the men of Home," as Mr.

Robertson in his "Essay on Scottish Song" declares, it is not easy to determine. At any rate, whether the song points to the historical event or not, the event itself is beyond dispute. Selkirk did "certainly send a brave band of eighty or a hundred men to Flodden Field to support the cause of James. No doubt a large proportion of these men were veritable _souters_, for the chief trade of the town in the sixteenth century was the making of "a sort of brogues with a single thin sole." This local manufacture seems to have given a name to the inhabitants of the burgh, who were called _souters_, pretty much as natives of Sheffield might be called _blades_, or Birmingham folk _b.u.t.tons_. The people of Selkirk are not ashamed of the designation, but rather glory in perpetuating the name and the tradition on which it rests. "A singular custom," we are told, is observed at conferring the freedom of the burgh. Four or five bristles, such as are used by shoemakers, are attached to the seal of the burgess ticket. These the new-made burgess must dip in his wine and pa.s.s through his mouth, in token of respect for the Souters of Selkirk.

This ceremony is on no account dispensed with.[103]

[100] Selkirkshire, otherwise called Ettrick Forest.

[101] Berwickshire, otherwise, called the Merse.

[102] See "Border Minstrelsy."

[103] Scott's "Border Minstrelsy," foot-note.

WATT TINLINN.

That the souters of that time knew how to fight and win renown by their valor and skill may be gathered from the story which the author of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" tells us anent the reference to Watt of Liddelside in the fourth canto of the "Lay":

"Now loud the heedful gateward cried, 'Prepare ye all for blows and blood!

Watt Tinlinn from the Liddelside Comes wading through the flood.

Full oft the Tynedale s.n.a.t.c.hers knock At his lone gate and prove the lock; It was but last St. Barnabright They sieged him a whole summer night, But fled at morning; well they knew In vain he never tw.a.n.ged the yew.'"

This Watt was a shoemaker and a soldier, and if he had no large field for the display of his skill and valor in the Border skirmishes of his time, he nevertheless deserves a place among his more ill.u.s.trious brethren of the craft, if only for the sake of the following note respecting him. "This person was in my younger days," says Sir Walter Scott,[104] "the theme of many a fireside tale. He was a retainer of the Buccleuch family, and held for his Border service a small tower on the frontiers of Liddesdale. Watt was by profession a sutor, but by inclination and practice an archer and warrior. Upon one occasion, the captain of Bewcastle, military governor of that wild district of c.u.mberland, is said to have made an incursion into Scotland, in which he was defeated and forced to fly. Watt Tinlinn pursued him closely through a dangerous mora.s.s; the captain, however, gained the firm ground, and seeing Tinlinn dismounted and floundering in the bog, used these words of insult, "Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots; the heels risp and the seams rive."[105] "If I cannot sew," retorted Tinlinn, discharging a shaft which nailed the captain's thigh to his saddle--"if I cannot sew I can yerk."[106]

[104] Note IV. to Canto IV., "Lay of the Last Minstrel."

[105] Risp and rive, creak and tear.

[106] To twitch the thread as shoemakers do in securing the st.i.tches.

COLONEL HEWSON, THE "CERDON" OF "HUDIBRAS."

In the turbulent days of the Stuarts and the Commonwealth, when the lofty were laid low and the lowly were set in high places, it can hardly be matter of surprise that the shoemaker should have had his share of the favors of fortune. The circ.u.mstances of the time had led to the adoption of the rational rule of granting promotion by merit. In an army commanded by Cromwell it is not likely that any other rule would be adopted. His two chief requirements were military capacity and moral character. With men of this cla.s.s he made up his invincible _Ironsides_.

One of his colonels was John Hewson. "This man," Grainger says,[107]

"once wore a leather ap.r.o.n, and from a mender of old shoes became a reformer of government and religion. He was, allowing for his education, a very extraordinary person. His behavior in the army soon raised him to the rank of a colonel; and Cromwell had so great an opinion of him as to intrust him with the government of the city of Dublin, whence he was called to be a member of Barebones'[108] parliament. He was a frequent speaker in that and the other parliament of which he was a member, and was at length thought a fit person to be a lord of the upper house. He was one of the committee of safety, and was, with several of his brethren, very intent upon a new model of the republic at the eve of the Restoration." Rugge, in his "Diurnal," 5th December, 1659, says that Hewson "was a very stout man, and a very good commander;" and adds, "But in regard of his former employment, they (the city apprentices) threw at him old shoes and slippers, and turnip-tops and brickbats, stones and tiles." He was the object of no end of lampooning on the part of the Royalists. Pepys, in his "Diary," 25th January, 1659-60, has an interesting memorandum in regard to the notoriety of the cobbler-colonel: "Coming home, heard that in Cheapside there had been but a little before a gibbet set up, and a picture of Huson (Hewson) hung upon it, in the middle of the street."[109] One of these squibs bore the t.i.tle, "Colonel Hewson's Confession; or, a Parley with Pluto,"

and referred to his removal of the gates of Temple Bar. Lord Braybrooke informs us that Hewson "had but one eye, which did not escape the notice of his enemies." Nor did the burly cobbler-colonel escape the notice of Dr. Butler, who makes him a conspicuous figure in the first part of "Hudibras"[110] under the nickname of _Cerdon_:

"The upright Cerdon next advanc'd, Of all his race the valiant'st: Cerdon the Great, renowned in song, Like Herc'les, for repair of wrong.

He rais'd the low, and fortify'd The weak against the strongest side: Ill has he read that never hit On him in Muses deathless writ.

He had a weapon keen and fierce, That through a bull-hide shield would pierce, And out it in a thousand pieces, Though tougher than the Knight of Greece his, With whom his black-thumb'd ancestor Was comrade in the ten years' war.

Fast friend he was to reformation, Until 'twas worn quite out of fashion; Next rectifier of every law, And would make three to cure one flaw.

Learned he was, and could take note, Transcribe, collect, translate, and quote."[111]

[107] "Biographical History of England," vol. iii.

[108] The author of "Crispin Anecdotes," p. 127, says, "Praise-G.o.d Barebones was a shoemaker, but from all the writer can learn he was a leather-seller; and Bloomfield is reported as saying that Secretary Craggs was a chip of leather. On what authority it is hard to say. His father, the postmaster-general, is more likely to have been in such a position; but _his_ trade was that of a country barber."--Grainger, n.o.ble's continuation, vol. iii.

[109] Pepys' Diary, note, January 25th, 1659-60.

[110] Part I. Canto II., 409-430, etc.

[111] Part I. Canto II., 409-430, etc.

Later on,[112] Hudibras describes the scene at the bear-gardens when Hewson and the Puritan party endeavor to put a stop to the savage sport of bear-baiting. The mob turn on the Puritans, but as for the fat colonel--

"Quarter he scorns, he is so stout, And therefore cannot long hold out."

[112] Part I. Canto III, 118, 119.

One of the squibs alluded to above was ent.i.tled "A Hymn to the Gentle Craft; or, Hewson's Lamentation."[113] The reader will observe that Hewson's _one eye_ "does not escape the notice of his enemies." This piece was sung as a ballad in the streets:

"Listen awhile to what I shall say, Of a blind cobbler that's gone astray Out of the Parliament's highway.

Good people, pity the blind!

"His name you wot well is Sir John Howson, Whom I intend to set my muse on, As great a warrior as Sir Miles Lewson.

Good people, pity the blind!