By John Taylor (1580-1653)

To all dispersed sorts of Arts and Trades,

I write the Needles praise (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 shal bear

Their linnen woollen fleeces yeare by yeare;

So long as Silk-worms, with exhausted spoyle

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 unto those that doe his service lacke,

Hee’s true as steele, and mettle to the backe.

He hath I per se eye, small single sight,

Yet like a Pigmey, Poliphems in fight:

As a stout Captaine, bravely he leads on,

(Not fearing cololours) till the worke be done.

Through thicke and thinne he is most sharply set,

With speed through stitch, he will the Conquest get.

And as a Souldier (Frenchfyde with heat)

Maim’d, from the warres is forc’d to make retreat:

So, when a Needles point is broke, and gone,

No point Monnsieur, he’s maim’d, his werke is done.

And more the Needles honour to advance,

It is a Taylors Javelin, or his Launce.

And for my Countries quiet, I should like,

That Women-kinde should use 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, bires out of measure.

A Needle (though it be but small and slender)

Yet is it both a maker and a mender;

A grave 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 Kerchiefes, Quayses, Chin-clouts, or Marry-Muffes,

No Crof-cloaths, Apron, Hand-kerchiefes, or Falls,

No Table-cloathes for Parlours or for Halls.

No Sheets, no Towels, Napkins, Pillow-beares,

Not any Garment man or woman weares.

Thus is a Needle prov’d an Instrument

Of profit, pleasure, and of ornament.

Which Mighty Queenes have 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 days,

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,

Which 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 th’Almighties great command, we see,

That Aarons garments broydered worke should be;

And further, God did bid his Vestments should

Be made bost gay, and glorious to behold.

Thus plainly, amd most truly is declar’d’

The needles worke hath still bin in regard,

For it doth A R T, so like to N A T U R E frame;

As if IT were HER Sister or the SAME.

Flowers, Plants, and Fishers, Beasts, Birds, Flyes, and Bees,

Hils, Dales, Plaines, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees;

There’s nothing neare at hand, or farthest fought,

But with the Needle may be shap’d and wrought,

In clothes of Arras I have often seene

Mens figur’d counterfeite so like have beene,

That if the parties selfe had beene in place,

Yet ART would vye with NATURE for the grace.

Moreover, Poesies 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 everywhere 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 workers doeth teach,

(Too hard for meane capacities to reach)

So for weake leaneres, other workes here be,

As plaine and easie as are A B C.

Thus skilfull, or unskilfull, 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 have beene set

Beyond the bounds of faithlesse Mabinet:

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, net-worke,

Most curious Purles, or rare Italian cut-worke,

Fine Ferne-stitch, Fisher stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queen-stitch,

The Spanish-stitch, Kesemary-stitch, and Mowse-stitch,

The smarting-Whip-stitch, Back-stitch, and the Cros-stitch.

All these are good, and these we must allow,

And these are every where in practice now:

And in this Booke, there are of these some store,

With many others, never seene before.

Here Practice 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 leave one worke, and to learne another.

For here they may make choice of which is which,

And skip from worke to worke, from stitch to stitch.

Untill, in time, delightfull practice shall

)With profit) make them perfect in them all,

Thus hoping that these workes may have this guide

To serve for ornament, and not for pride:

To cherish vertue, banish idleness,

For these ends, may this booke have good successe.

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

King David by an apt similitude

Doth show, with Majesty, the Church her worth;

And to a Kings faire daughter, doth alude,

Where to her Spouse, he bravely brings her forth,

In Garments wrought of Needle-worke and Gold,

Resplendent and most glorious to the eye;

Whole 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 sit,

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 Louies, which she thence did bring.

She to the eight King Henry married was,

And afterwards divorc’d, where vertueusly

(Although a Queene) yes she her dayes did passe,

In working with the Needle curiously,

As in the Towre, and places more beside,

Her excellent memorials may be seene:

Whereby the Needles prayse is dignifide

By her faire Ladies, and her selfe; a Queene.

Thus for her paines, huge her reward is just,

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 she were a Queene of mighty power,

Her memory will bnever be decaid,

Which by her workes are likewise in the Tower.

In Windsor Castle, and in Hampton Court,

In that most pompous roome calld Paradise:

Who-ever 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 Royall hand:

Which was a good example to our Nation,

To banish idlenesse fromm out her Land:

And thus this Queene, in wifesome thought it fit,

The Needles worke pleas’d her, and she grac’d it.

4

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

When this great Queene, whose memory shall not

By any terme of time be overcast;

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 Isyle to Isyle, by Maries angry spleene

And Woostocke, and the Tower in prison fast,

And after all, was Englands Peerelesse Queene

Yet howsoever 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 was she 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 leaning;

And she her earthly Pilgrimage did passe

In Acts?, which were high honour most concerning.

Brave 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 (surpassed by Nature) seemes asham’d.

Thus this renowned Honourable Dame,

Her happy time most happily did spend;

Whole worth recorded in the mouth of fame,

(Until the world shall end) shall never end

She wrought so well in Needle-worke, that she,

Nor yet her worke, shall ere forgotten 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 than 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 leaden deepe,

Yet with her Needle (to her worthy prayse)

Shee’s working often, ere the Sunne doth peepe.

And, many times, when Phaebus in the Weft

Declined is, and Lana shewes her head;

This antient honour’d Lady rests from Rest,

And workes when idle sloath goes soone to bed.

Thus thee the Needle makes her recreation,

Whole well-spent paines are others imitation.

To all degrees of back taxes, that love or live by the laudable imployment of the Needle.

If any take 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 she,

But generally, to all in generall.

Then let not Pride looke seurnily a-leewe,

Without the Needle, Pride would naked goe:

Nor yet let Scorne cry pith, and tuth, and anew,

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 deserving booke,

(I meane, the workes deserts, and not my lines)

I much presume that all that on it looke,

Will like and laud the workemens good designes.

Fooles play the Fooles, but ‘tis through want of wit,

Whilst I to wifedomes censure doe submit.

FINIS

John Taylor.

Nancy:  Thank you for finding a copy for me.  You're a gem.

All typing was done by myself, as accurately representing the original text.