Part 21
The author of "Historical Remarks on Dress," published in 1761 by Jefferies, asserts, that party-coloured Coats were first worn in England in the time of Henry I.; Chaplets, or wreaths of artificial flowers, in the time of Edward III.; Hoods and short Coats without sleeves, called Tabarts, in the time of Henry IV.; Hats in the time of Henry VII.; Ruffs in the reign of Edward VI.; and wrought Caps or Bonnets in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Judge Finch introduced the Band in the time of James I. French Hoods, Bibs, and Gorgets, were discontinued by the Queen of Charles I. The Commode or Tower was introduced in 1687; Shoes of the then fashion in 1633; Breeches, instead of Trunk Hose, in 1654. And Perukes were first worn after the Restoration.
"THE HISTORY OF THE FASHIONS[338:A].
"_The French Night-cap._
"Our fine women have, by covering their cheeks with this fashion, put their faces into eclipse. Each lady, when dressed in this mode, can only peep under the lace border. Perhaps they are intended, like blinds to a horse's head-harness, to teach ladies to look forward.--A good hint, however.
"It has been whispered, indeed, that this mode is an introduction to Popery; it is to bring in the veil by and by, and a sort of trial, to see how our English Toasts will take it.
"Some ill-natured persons, indeed, go so far as to say, that every woman who wears these visage-covers, has done something she should be a little ashamed of, and therefore do not care to shew much of her face.
"_The Ranelagh Mob; or the Hood from Low Life._
"This is a piece of gauze, minionett, catgut, or Leicester web, &c. &c. which is clouted about the head, then crossed under the chin, and brought back to fasten behind, the two ends hanging down like a pair of pigeons tails.
"This fashion was copied from the silk-handkerchiefs which Market-women tie over their ears, roll about their throats, and then pin up to the nape of their necks.
"They were first worn in the Inner-square of Covent-garden market, among the green-stalls; it was from thence introduced into the outward-square or Piazzas among the stalls there.
"Mrs. Jane Douglass (of procuring memory) who was a very great market-woman in her way, was the first who made a Scotch lawn double neck handkerchief into the Mob above-mentioned.
"Her female boarders would do as the mistress did, to be sure; and, after a little cut and contrivance, away they whisked in them to Ranelagh.
"The ladies of fashion there, who sometimes dress almost like ladies of the town, immediately took the hint. The fashion flew abroad upon the wings of whim; and, as Schioppius observes, instantly spread itself over the face of the land.
"_The Mary Queen of Scots Cap_,
"Edged down the face with French beads, was very becoming to some complexions; but as the Cap was made of black gauze, and saved washing, it has too much good housewifery in it, ever to be immense taste.
"_The Fly Cap._
"This is fixed upon the forehead, forming the figure of an over-grown butterfly, resting upon its head, with outstretched wings; it is much worn at present, not that it either adds to the colour or outlines of the face; but as these Caps are edged with garnets, topazes, or brilliants, they are very sparkling; and a side-box appearance is not now altogether the consultation of elegance, but ornament.
"Therefore those ladies who make the most show, are looked upon to be the finest women.
"It is become a very interesting dispute, among the connoisseurs in general, whether the present Turban-roll, which is now wore round the Mecklenburgh Caps, was taken from the Ægyptian Fillet, the Persian Tiara, or Wreath round the eldest Faustina's temples?
"By way of Postscript we may add, that the ladies, as to their Shoe-heels, go just as they did, no fixed measure, some as broad as a tea-cup's brim, some as narrow as the china circle the cup stands upon.
"Bell-hoops, Blond-laces, Pompoons, Neck-laces as usual. Modesty-bits--out of fashion; and Hats are trimmed as every person pleases."
"THE HISTORY OF MALE FASHIONS.
"_First Chapter. Of Hats; after Hippocrates._
"Hats are now worn, upon an average, six inches and three fifths broad in the brim, and cocked between Quaker and Kevenhuller. Some have their Hats open before, like a church-spout, or the tin scale they weigh flower in: some wear them rather sharper, like the nose of a greyhound; and we can distinguish by the taste of the Hat, the mode of the wearer's mind. There is the military cock, and the mercantile cock; and while the beaux of St. James's wear their Hats under their arms, the beaux of Moorfields-mall wear their's diagonally over their left or right eye.
"Sailors wear the sides of their Hats uniformly, tacked down to the crown; and look as if they carried a triangular apple-pasty upon their heads.
"I hope no person will think us disaffected; but when we meet any of the new-raised infantry wearing the buttons of their Hats bluff before, and the trefoil white worsted shaking as they step, we cannot help thinking of French figure-dancers.
"With the Quakers, it is a point of their faith not to wear a button, or loop tight up; their Hats spread over their heads like a pent-house, and darken the outward man, to signify they have the inward light.
"Some wear their Hats (with the corner that should come over their foreheads in a direct line) pointed into the air; those are the Gawkies.
"Others do not above half cover their heads, which is indeed owing to the shallowness of their crowns; but between beaver and eye-brows expose a piece of blank forehead, which looks like a sandy road in a surveyor's plan. Indeed, people should hide as much of the face under their Hats as possible; for very few there are but what have done something for which they ought to be out of countenance.
"I remember at a droll society established in Dublin, called 'The Court of Nassau,' a gentleman was indicted for wearing his Hat in the Court: the Attorney-general moved, in favour of the defendant, that the indictment was falsely laid; for in it was expressed, the gentleman had his Hat upon his head; and the Attorney proved his client not to have a head. Now if, in London, no persons were to wear Hats but such as have heads, what would become of the hatters? Yet this we may safely avow, that a man may shew by his Hat whether he has a head; or at least by the decorating it, whether his head is properly furnished. A gold button and loop to a plain Hat distinguishes a person to be a little lunatic; a gold band round it shews the owner to be very dangerously infected; and, if a tassel is added, the patient is incurable.
"A man with a Hat larger than common, represents the fable of the Mountain in labour; and the Hats edged round with a gold binding, belong to brothers of the Turf.
"_Second Chapter. Upon Wigs._
"Elaborately have both antients and moderns expressed themselves concerning the brain, the pineal gland, ideas, and cogitations, by which the head, or the animal spirits of the head, properly trammeled, might pace in good order.
"But the only persons who can properly be of benefit to heads, are periwig-makers, and Doctor Monro, Physician to Moorfields Hospital.
"Wigs are as essential to every person's head, as lace is to their clothes; and although understanding may be deficient in the wearer as well as money, yet people dressed out look pretty; and very fine gentlemen thus embellished represent those pots upon Apothecaries' shelves which are much ornament, but always stand empty.
"Behold a Barber's block unadorned: can we conceive any higher idea of it, than that of a bruiser just preparing to set to? Indeed, with a foliage round the temples, it might serve in an Auction-room for the bust of a Cæsar; and, provided it was properly worm-eaten, would be bid for accordingly. But of that hereafter: our business now is to shew the consequence of Wigs.
"_Imprimis._
"The 'Prentice Minor-bob, or Hair-cap; this is always short in the neck, to show the stone Stock-buckle, and nicely stroaked from the face, to discover seven-eighths of the ears; and every Smart we meet so headed seems, like Tristram Shandy, to have been skaiting against the wind; and his hair, by the sharpness of the motion, shorn from his face.
"Next the Citizen's Sunday Buckle, or Bob-major; this is a first-rate, bearing several tiers of curls, disposed in upper, middle, and lower order.
"Then the Apothecary's Bush, in which the Hat seems sinking like a stone into a snow heap.
"The Physical and Chirurgical Ties carry much consequence in their foretops; and the depending knots fall fore and aft the shoulders, with _secundum artem_ dignity.
"The Scratch, or the Blood's Skull-covering, is combed over the forehead, untoupeed, to imitate a head of hair, because those gentlemen love to have every thing natural about them.
"The Jehu's Jemmy, or White and all white, in little curls, like a fine fleece on a lamb's back, we should say something upon, were it not for fear of offending some gentlemen of great riches, who love to look like coachmen.
"_Third Chapter. Frocks, Coats, Surtouts, and Walking-sticks._
"Every gentleman now, by the length of his skirts, seems Dutch-waisted, or like a Bridewell-boy, with a garment down to mid-leg; and they are so much splashed sometimes behind, that I have, when following in a dirty day one of those very fashionable frock-wearers, been tempted to call out--'Pray, dear Sir, pin up your petticoats.'
"Then their cuffs cover entirely their wrists, and only the edge of the ruffles are to be seen; as if they lived in the slovenly days of Lycurgus, when every one was ashamed to show clean linen.
"The Mode-makers of the age have taken an antipathy to the leg; for by their high-topped Shoes, and long trowser-like Breeches, with a broad knee-band, like a compress for the Rotula, a leg in high taste is not longer than a Common Councilman's tobacco-stopper.
"Fine scarlet shag Frocks were becoming, while no persons appeared in them but real gentlemen; but since tumblers, strolling-players, and French figure-dancers, dress themselves in such martial outsides, it is to be presumed, every one else will quit this very lasting habiliment, unless he has a mind to pass for one of those exotics above-mentioned.
"Blue Manchester velvets, with gold cords, or rich button-holes, are generally the uniform of bum-bailiffs, slight-of-hand men, and money-droppers. But plain suits of those cottons, of grave colours, are the dress of shop-riders, and country traders.
"Walking-sticks are now almost reduced to an useful size.
"Is it not wonderful we should put forth so many paragraphs concerning female fantasticalness as we are prone to do, and never consider that our own heads are but mere Piece-brokers' shops, full of the remnants of fashion. Do not some of us strut about with walking-sticks as long as leaping-poles, as if we were pioneers to the troop of Hickerry-cutters; or else with a yard of varnished cane, scraped taper, and bound at one end with wax-thread, and the other tipt with a neat-turned ivory head, as big as a silver penny, which switch we hug under our arms so jemmy?--Could our forefathers be such fools? Like enough, faith; and as we are but twigs of the same trunks, we scorn to degenerate from our ancestors.
"Surtouts now have four laps on each side, which are called Dog's-ears; when these pieces are unbuttoned, they flap backwards and forwards, like so many supernumerary patches, just tacked on at one end; and the wearer seems to have been playing many bouts at back-sword, till his Coat is cut to pieces. When they are buttoned up, they appear like comb-cases, or pacquets for a penny-postman to sort his letters in. Very spruce smarts have no buttons nor holes upon the breast of these their Surtouts, save what are upon the ears; and their garments only wrap over their breasts, like a Morning Gown--a proof, that dress may be made too fashionable to be useful.
"How far several sorts of people dress above themselves, and 'wear the cost of Princes on unworthy shoulders,' is not in the compass of our plan to examine; but we must beg leave to observe, that propriety in dress is an indication to a fine understanding; and those persons are blessed with the nicest tastes who never sacrifice sense to show, or derogate from that great rule of right, the Golden Mean."
The Countess Dowager of Effingham was robbed of the Robes which she wore at the Coronation, and other dresses; and thus described them in an advertisement: "Coronation Robes with a silver tissue Petticoat, the gold trimmings to the Petticoat, and the tassels, &c. to the Robe taken off, and put into papers; a scarlet-flowered damask Mantua Petticoat, very richly embroidered with silver; an uncut red-flowered velvet Mantua Petticoat, trimmed with silver flounces of net with silver tassels; a very rich blue and silver Mantua Petticoat, with a figured ground; a Mantua Petticoat white and gold, with figured ground; a white satin Gown and Petticoat; a brown satin Sack richly brocaded with silver; a new satin Sack and Petticoat, white satin ground brocaded with yellow; a scarlet unwatered tabby Sack and Petticoat; a white tissue flowered Sack and Petticoat; a white and silver Sack; a red satin Fly Petticoat, with a broad silver orrice at the bottom; a quilted red silk Petticoat; and a blue and gold Turkey silk Sack and Petticoat."
A person whose name is not mentioned, influenced by the same cause as the Countess, described clothes as follows: "A brocaded lustring Sack with a ruby-coloured ground and white tobine stripes trimmed with _floss_; a _black_ satin Sack flowered with _red_ and _white flowers_ trimmed with _white_ floss; a pink and white striped tobine Sack and Petticoat trimmed with white floss; and a garnet-coloured lustring Night-gown, with a tobine stripe of green and white, trimmed with floss of the same colour, and lined with straw-coloured lustring."
Such were the gawdy fashions of our dames _circa_ 1763. Are we not improved in our taste, good reader?
The rational change adopted soon after of wearing the natural Hair instead of Wigs produced the following petition, which is worth recording, as it marks an æra in an essential turn of public opinion. A Wig is necessary to him whose hair falls from the head; but that young persons should shave off their own locks, and adopt those of others, seems so absurd, that we wonder at the folly of the practice.
"To the KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY.
"The Petition of the Master Peruke-makers of the Cities of London and Westminster, on behalf of themselves and the whole of their distressed Brethren of the Trade in Great Britain,
"Most humbly sheweth,
"That your Petitioners feel the utmost reluctance to prefer complaints to your Majesty. But the great distresses which they already labour under, and the expectation and even certainty of the continual increase of them unless timely averted, compels them to cast themselves at your Majesty's feet, and humbly implore your gracious attention to their sufferings:
"That themselves, and the several manufacturers depending on them, such as hair-manufacturers, ribbon-weavers, cawl-makers, &c. do amount to such a number, that they fear they should not be credited if they were to give a modest estimate of it; for they conceive the thousands thus employed are little if at all inferior to what can be boasted by any one manufactory in your Majesty's dominions:
"That out of this number of your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, there is a multitude already actually reduced to the want of the common necessaries of life; and that the whole body must seek subsistence in some different employ, at the risque of perishing miserably by a failure in the attempt, unless some means can be speedily found to support their falling trade, fatally wounded by the present mode of fashion which so generally prevails, of men in almost all stations wearing their own hair:
"That this mode, pernicious enough in itself to their trade, is rendered excessively more so by swarms of French hair-dressers already in these Cities, and daily increasing, who by artifice more than merit, as your Petitioners humbly presume, and by that facility with which your Majesty's British subjects are too much inclined to prefer French skill and taste in every article of dress (by which the most considerable manufactories in these kingdoms, as well as those of your Petitioners, do greatly suffer), find means to get employment, to the privation of that pittance to your Majesty's natural subjects which the fashion itself would still leave in their power to obtain:
"That, by the present fashion, your Petitioners are compelled to a breach of the command of God and man, and a course of disobedience to your Majesty's proclamation, wisely intended for the benefit of all your Majesty's subjects; for the Lord's day, designed for their instruction and confirmation in the principles of virtue and piety, is to such of your Petitioners as can yet find employment, the day, of all others, on which they are most hurried and confused; and a refusal to comply with any order from their employers on that day amounts to a resolution of starving at once. This is a hardship of so peculiar a nature, that your Petitioners humbly conceive no considerable body of your Majesty's subjects labour under it in any manner proportionally as they do. May they be permitted to say, that they tremble for themselves and their children, lest by this unavoidable absence from the sacred duties of that day, and the misemployment of it entirely to worldly pursuits, they become as those that knew not God, while their fellow-subjects are happy in the inestimable privilege of attending and discharging their religious duties, and imbibing continually the precepts that teach to bear a conscience void of offence, to fear God, and honour the King?
"Pressed by the weight of these sufferings; feeling their trade failing under them; sensible of the impending ruin of the several manufactories dependent on them, beholding great and daily increasing numbers of their journeymen in a starving and despairing condition; beholding also the subjects of France feeding on the only fragments they might hope to subsist on; and urged by every consideration interesting to human nature; your Petitioners have at last ventured on an application to the only earthly power able to save them from the torrent which is bearing them down to destruction. Their hearts prompt them to believe, that to know and to relieve the distresses of your subjects, is the same thing with your Majesty; in which sentiment they are fully confirmed by many Royal Acts since the commencement of your reign, and by none more than that which rescued the poor from the scourge of the oppressors, by reducing the price of provisions. Your Petitioners feel this effect of Royal paternal care, and gratefully bless the protecting hand.
"Your Petitioners therefore, with submissive hope and dutiful resignation, leave to your Majesty's consideration the merits of their Petition; and whether your Majesty's gracious condescension, by example and countenance, is not the only means whereby unimagined numbers can possibly be saved from the deepest misery; humbly praying such commiseration and relief in their present deplorable situation as to your Majesty shall seem meet. And they shall ever pray, &c.
"The above Petition was presented to his Majesty on Monday last; to which he was most graciously pleased to return the following answer: 'That he held nothing dearer to his heart than the happiness of his people; and that they may be assured, he should at all times use his endeavours to promote their real welfare[353:A].'"
The Ladies Head-dress in 1765 is said to have exactly resembled that of Mary Queen of Scots as represented in her portraits.
Court Mournings were continued for a most unreasonable length of time previous to 1768, and became very prejudicial to the Manufacturer and Retailer; but remonstrances from the City of London procured the ensuing notice, which was inserted in the Gazette:
"His Majesty, in compassion to such manufacturers and people in trade as by the length of Court Mournings are, in this time of general scarcity and dearness of provisions, deprived in a great measure of the means of getting bread, hath been pleased to give directions for shortening all such mournings for the future: and the Lord Chamberlain's orders for Court Mournings will be issued hereafter conformably thereto.
HERTFORD."
The subject of Dress is now nearly exhausted; but I cannot part with the Follies of thirty years without permitting an observer to speak of one of them:
"Among the many enormous exuberances of modern dress, I believe there is one lately sprung up which you may not have noticed. You will perhaps be surprized when I tell you it is the _Cork-rump_. To explain this technical term, you are to know that the ladies have thought it conducive to elegance to make an addition to the hinder-part of their dress, by sewing several large pieces of cork under the straps of their stays, in order that, by the protuberance of this new additional rump, their waist may seem the smaller and the more delicate."
Some of the then and subsequent exuberances shall now be brought to recollection. And first, the Head--this we have seen covered with a _Cushion_, as it was termed, generally formed of horse-hair, and something like a porter's knot set upon the ends; over this the hair was combed strait, the sides curled, and the back turned up, and the whole powdered; diminutive Caps of gauze, adorned with ribands, and miniature Hats, generally of black silk trimmed, were _stuck_ on the tower of hair with long pins. The Waist was covered by a long-bodied Gown, drawn exceedingly close over stays laced still closer; the Hips sometimes supported a Bell Hoop; the Shoulders alternately small Cloaks and Cardinals, the former of muslin and silk, and the latter almost always of black silk richly laced.