510 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»'d S. Viri. Dec. 24. '59. 



tention of the public tlirougli the advertising 

 columns of our newspapers, periodicals, &c. The 

 origin of the term seems worthy of a Note ; espe- 

 cially as many, I doubt not, have like myself sup- 

 posed it to be without more signification than the 

 names of other perfumers' nostrums : as, for in- 

 stance, Guards^ Bouquet, Jockey Club, and the 

 like. It is also the more necessary since an ex- 

 planation, which I believe to be without founda- 

 tion, is circulated by one of the vendors of the 

 perfume, under semblance of a quotation from 

 "N. & Q."* 



Frangipani is the name of a very ancient and 

 illustrious family of Rome, one member of which, 

 Mutio Frangipani, served in France in the Papal 

 army during the'reign of Charles IX. The grand- 

 son of this nobleman was the Marquis Frangipani, 

 Marechal des Armees of Louis XIII. ; and he it 

 was who invented a method of perfuming gloves, 

 which, when so perfumed, bore the name of "Fran- 

 gipani gloves." "f Menage, in his Origini della 

 Lingua Italiana, published at Geneva in 1685, 

 thus notices the Marquis and his invention : — 



" Da uno di que' Signori Frangipani, (1' abbiam vecluto 

 qui in Parigi) furono chiamati certi guanti porfumati, 

 Guanti di Frangipani." 



From the following passage in Le Laboureur's 

 Memoires de Castelnaut, it appears that the bro- 

 ther of the Marquis Frangipani had a share in the 

 invention : — 



" Ce dernier Marquis Frangipani, et son frfere mort 

 auparavant luy, invent^rent la composition du parfum 

 et des odeurs qui retiennent encore le nom de Frangipane." 



What the composition of the'perfume was that 

 gained for the Marquis so much reputation, I 

 have not been able to discover. Menage, who, 

 it will be observed, was a contemporary, and had 

 met the Marquis in Paris, alludes merely to per- 

 fumed gloves, and I am inclined to think that this 

 was the only form in which the invention at first 

 appeared. Le Laboureur speaks of his inventing 

 " la composition du parfum et des odeurs," which 

 perhaps may be understood to refer to some 

 essence, powder, or pommade. This much, how- 

 ever, is certain, that various compositions, as pom- 

 made, essence, and powder, distinguished by the 

 name of Frangipani or Frangipane, were sold by 

 perfumers down to the early part of the present 

 century, when they gradually fell into disuse. 

 During the last few years, however, the name has 

 again found its way into the list of perfumes, and 

 Frangipani is now more sold than it probably. 

 ever was before. The formulce for the various 

 compounds, as "Pommade k la Frangipane," 



[* Who informs us that the paragraph originally ap- 

 peared, as a quotation from " N. & Q.," in a country 

 paper." — Ed. "N. & Q."] 



t Vide Bayle, Dictionnaire Historique et Critique', 

 Moreri, Grand Dictionnaire, ed. 1740, tome iv. p. 183. 



X Ed. Bruxelles, 1731, tome ii. p. 651. 



" Esprit de Frangipane," &c., are so utterly dis- 

 crepant, and have such slender pretensions to re- 

 present the original, that it is needless to quote 

 them, and I shall only refer the reader who wishes 

 for them to the works named below.* 



The subject of perfumed gloves, which I may 

 remai-k have long since disappeared from use, in- 

 troduces us to some curious particulars regarding 

 the trades of glover and perfumer. Savary, in his 

 Dictionnaire Vniversel de Commerce (Geneve et 

 Paris, 1750), tells us that the glovers of Paris 

 constitute a considerable community, having sta- 

 tutes and laws dating back so far as 1190. These 

 statutes, after receiving various confirmations from 

 the kings of France, were renewed, confirmed, and 

 added to by Louis XIV. under Letters Patent 

 in March, 1656. The glovers are therein styled 

 "Marchands Maitres Gantiers-Parfumeurs." In 

 their capacity of glovers they had the right of 

 making and selling gloves and mittens of all sorts 

 of materials, as well as the skins used in making 

 gloves ; while as perfumers they enjoyed tlie 

 privilege of perfuming gloves, and of selling all 

 manner of perfumes. Perfumed skins were im- 

 ported from Spain and.Italy, and were used for 

 making gloves, purses, pouches, &c. ; they were 

 very expensive and "fort a la mode," but their 

 powerful odour led to their disuse. With regard 

 to gloves, Savary remarks : — 



" II s'en tiroit autrefois quantity de parfum^s d'Espagne 

 et de Rome ; mais leur forte odeur de muse, d'ambre et 

 de civette, qu'on ne pouvoit soutenir sans incomraodite, 

 a fait que la mode et I'usage s'en sont presque perdus : 

 les plus estim^s de ces Gans etoient les Gans de Franchi- 

 pane et ceux de Neroli."t 



Many receipts are extant for the perfuming of 

 gloves, and though some of them are curious, 

 they are too lengthy for me to quote more than 

 the titles. Here, in the Secreti de la Signora Isa- 

 bella Cortese, ne" quali si contengono Cose Mi- 

 nerali, Medicinali, Arteficiose ed Alchimiche, e 

 molte de T Arte Profumatoria, appa7-tenenti a 

 ogni gran Signora (Venet., 1574, 12mo.), we find 

 directions for " Concia di guanti perfettissima, 

 con niusco ed ambracan," and again " Concia di 

 guanti senza musco perfetta." I have also before 

 me, from an old French work published at Lyons 

 in 1657 J, the precise directions for " Civette tres- 

 exquise pour parfumer gands et en oindre les 

 mains." In these compositions musk, ambergris, 

 and civet, were the chief perfumes ; and as they 

 were applied inside the gloves, combined with 

 some sort of oil or grease, their use at the present 

 day would be thought intolerable. The gloves of 

 Frangipani were also prepared with grease, as I 



* Celnart, Nouveau Manuel , complet du Parfumeur, 

 Paris, 1854, ISmo. ; Piesse, Art of Ferfuimry, Loudon, 

 1856, 8vo. 



t Tom. ii. p. 619. 



t Les Secrets du Seigneur Alexis Piemontois. 



