17 



now called Sacking : and three or four persons were admitted 

 by the description of Chaloners, makers of a kind of woollen 

 bed-cloth or coverlid called Chalun, or Chalone. ' Of weavers, 

 dyers, and fullers, not more than two or three were admitted. 

 But the reign of Edward III. furnishes a list of about 170 wea- 

 vers, 100 dyers, 50 fullers, and above 30 chaloners, with a 

 suitable accompaniment of schermen, woUepackers, tapetters, 

 cardmakers, and other trades allied to the woollen cloth 

 manufacture, not one of which is previously mentioned. It 

 is remarkable that during the early part of the reign, in the 

 register the dyer is called Tinctor, or Teinturer, and the weaver 

 Textor or Tistour, whilst the fuller has no other name than 

 FuUour ; but soon the weavers become Websters ; the dyers, 

 Litesters ; and the fullers. Walkers. These words — webster, 

 litester, and walker, are of Teutonic origin, and it seems quite 

 natural that the Netherlanders should have introduced their 

 technical terms to the citizens of York, whilst they were impart- 

 ing to them their skill in the manufacturing arts. The derivation 

 of some of our most common surnames may be traced to this 

 source : — the Websters, the Listers, the Walkers. Perhaps the 

 Chaloners may be surprised to find that their name has so 

 ignoble a paternity. 



A pleasing illustration of the meaning of the term Walker is 

 afforded by an incident mentioned in Lockhart's memoirs of 

 Sir Walter Scott. ^ In his diary of a voyage to the Hebrides 

 in 1814, Sir Walter records, that whilst he and his party were 

 at Kilmore in the Isle of Sky, " in a cottage at no great distance 

 we heard the women singing as they waulked the cloth by rub- 

 bing it with their hands and feet, and screaming all the while in 

 a sort of chorus. At a distance the sound was wild and sweet 



* Shalloon is a name still used for a certain description of woollen stuff, said 

 to have been originally manufactured at Chalons, a town in the department of the 

 Mame in France, where at this day a considerable trade is carried on in these and 

 other coarse stuffs. 



" And in his owen chambre hem made a bedde 

 With shetes and with chaions faire y-spredde." 



Chaucer. Reve's Tale. Prompt. Panr. 68. 

 « Vol. m. p. 230. 



D 



