Note 135 — POETS OF THE COBBLER’S STALL.

One is ready to ask who but a shoemaker could have gone so heartily into the rollicking fun of the shoemaker’s room, or asked such a question as the following:—“Have you all your tools; a good rubbing pin, a good stopper, a good dresser, your four sorts of awls, and your two balls of wax, your paring knife, your hand and thumb leathers, and good St. Hugh’s bones to smooth your work?” It may be remarked here that St. Hugh is another patron saint of the craft. Hugh, son of the king of Powis, was in love with Winifred, daughter of Donvallo, king of Flintshire. Both were martyrs under Diocletian. St. Hugh’s bones were stolen by the shoemakers, and worked up into tools to avoid discovery. Hence the cobbler’s phrase, “St. Hugh’s bones.” See Deloney’s “Entertaining History.”