History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 193

and Devon in 1650, and in 1626 a school for teaching the art had been established at
Great Marlow. There were many attempts in the 17th century to improve the art of
dyeing in England; in 1643 a dyehouse was started at Bow by a Dutchman, Kepler,
whose scarlet dye soon had a high reputation; in 1667 it was further improved by
Bauer, a man of Flemish origin, and thenceforward there was no real necessity to
export undyed cloth. There was still room for improvement in West Country weaving,
and Paul Methuen and Willem Brewer brought over Dutch families to Dutch Barton,
near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.
In Scotland at this period James VI was desirous of encouraging the cloth trade, and
in 1587 an Act was passed in favour of three Flemish weavers who sought leave to
set up their looms. A sum of money was granted for the furtherance of the scheme,
and the settlers were to be exempted from taxation and town dues; naturalization was
to be granted them and permission to establish a church. In 1588 other Flemings
seem to have come over, and in 1600 liberty was granted for the settlement of a
hundred clothworkers. In the following summer Bischof, a refugee, agreed to come
from Norwich to work in Edinburgh, and twelve weavers were received from Leyden at
Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Ayr. Attention has been called to the fact that many
names at Muthill and Perth are of Flemish origin, and also that many manorial flour
mills were utilized for fulling at this period.
9. 3.
The following terms used in the spinning, weaving, and preparation of woollen cloth
appear in Middle English.
Rock (c. 1310, Northern Poem), a distaff; in the 14th and 15th centuries rokke; the
word corresponds to M.Du. rocke (Du. rok) and MLG. rocken, but it is not clear
whether the word is native English or a later adoption from Low Dutch.
Clack (1429), to remove the dirty parts, esp. the tarry mark or ‘buist’ from a fleece of
wool; O.E.D. states that it was originally a Flemish word of the wool trade; Kilian has
klacken, ‘detergere lutum’, used in Flanders for kladden, afkladden, and also a sb.
klacke, ‘macula luti’; according to Mnl. Wdb. the sb. clacke, ‘klad, vlek’, was not known
in M.Du.
Nap (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), originally the rough layer of projecting threads on the surface
of a woollen or other textile fabric; in the 15th and 16th centuries noppe; ad. M.Du. or
MLG. noppe, related to the vb. noppen, to nap; there is no evidence for the OE.
hnoppa given by Somner.
Nopster (c. 1481, Caxton), a woman who puts a nap on cloth; ad. M.Du. nopster, from
the vb. noppen. The vb. itself is later, Nap (c. 1483, Caxton, 1483, Cath. Angl.), to trim
cloth by shearing the nap; in the 15th and 16th centuries noppe; ad. M.Du. or MLG.
noppen. Nappy (1499, Pr. Parv.), having a nap, downy, shaggy; ad. M.Du. noppigh
(Du. noppig) or MLG. noppich, from noppe, nap.
Selvage, Selvedge (c. 1460), the edge of a piece of woven material finished in such a
manner as to prevent the ravelling out of the wool; apparently from self and edge, after
the equivalent e.mod.Du. selfegghe (Kilian), now zelfegge, LG. sulfegge; compare the
Du. synonyms cited by Kilian, selfkant, now zelfkant, selfende, now zelfende.

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