History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 205

England, and it was feared that the industry which they had established there would
flourish, to the consequent hurt of the trade which had hitherto been carried on
between England and Dinant in copper goods. In the 18th century men were brought
from Holland to establish the brass manufacture at Bristol. There is great probability
that the rise of Birmingham as an industrial centre was due to the immigration of
religious refugees from the Low Countries. It is surely significant that its brass
manufacture, along with glass-making and engraving, and the making of needles and
cutlery should be arts for which we are by common tradition indebted to these
refugees.
Godfrey Box of Liége is credited with the introduction of wire-drawing in 1590. Wiremaking was started at Esher in Surrey by Mommer and Demetrius, and a Dutchman
opened a wire-mill at Richmond in 1662.
Cutlery had long been made at Sheffield, but the improvement in the manufacture of
knives in the 16th century was in all probability due to the settlement of Flemish
cutlers under the patronage of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Flemings are said to have
begun the manufacture of steel at Shotley Bridge near Newcastle. The making of
Spanish needles was introduced into England by a German in 1566.
Three terms for the polishing of metals were introduced into Middle English.
Scour (a. 1366, Chaucer, Rom. Rose), to cleanse or polish by hard rubbing with some
detergent substance; the word is used figuratively in the Cursor Mundi, 13..; probably
ad. M.Du. schūren (Du. schuren, LG. schüren, whence M.Sw. and Sw. skura, Da.
skure); Du. has also a vb. schuieren, to brush, probably a dial. variant; the Low Dutch
word is probably ad. F. escurer, but direct adoption from F. for the Eng. word is
unlikely, as the Eng. form would have been scure.
Shore (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), to scour or cleanse by rubbing; this is apparently a variant
of the above; if the source of scour be M.Du. schūren or MLG. schûren, the variation
in the initial of shore may be due to dialectal difference in the pronunciation of the Low
Dutch word; for the pronunciation of the vowel compare the form score of scour.
Slipe (1390, Gower), to make smooth, polish, whet, sharpen; ad. M.Du. slīpen (Du.
slijpen) or MLG. slîpen (LG. slîpen), to whet.
There are a few words of the goldsmith's and jeweller's craft.
Two of them are names for the products of the gold-beater.
Rattle-gold (1508, Acc. Ld. H. Treas. Scotl.), gold leaf or tinsel; ad. e.mod.Du.
ratelgoud (Kilian), from ratelen, to rattle; cf. Du. klatergoud.
Clinquant (1591), glittering with gold or silver, tinselled; (1691), as sb., imitation of
gold leaf, Dutch gold; ad. F. clinquant, clinking, tinkling, present pple. of clinquer, ad.
Du. klinken, to clink, ring, found in the 15th century in F. as or clinquant, gold in thin
plates, gold leaf.
A name for a jeweller's tool is Spit-sticker (1837), a jeweller's graver or sculper with a
convex face; ad. Flem. spitsteker.

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