Part 10

It was customary to wear jewels either in front of the hat or upon the brim when turned up. Often a single pearl was depended over the edge of the brim. Such a pearl may be seen in William Rogers's portrait of Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex (Elizabeth's Essex), the hat, in this instance, having a broad brim.

To return to our diagrams. No. 6, a further narrowing of the top of the crown, represents the quaint extinguisher hats which have been worn at various periods, and which are still worn by the Welsh peasantry.

"There came up a Lass from a country town, intending to live in the City, In a steeple-crown Hat and a Paragon Gown, who thought herself wondrous pretty; Her Petticoat serge, her Stockings were green, her Smock cut out of a sheet, Sir; And under it all, was seldom yet seen so fair a young maid for the street, Sir!"

_Roxburghe Ballads, 1685._

By lowering the crown and widening the brim we arrive at the sombrero, No. 7.

The slouch hat turned up on one side, of the Stuart period, was the precursor, historically and decoratively, of the three-cornered hat of the period of the House of Orange. It was afterwards turned up on two sides, and in this stage decorated with feathers, and finally turned up at the back, thus forming the three-cornered hat, which lasted for a century, the feathers disappearing, and the edges trimmed with lace. Such turning up of the brim was called "cocking" the hat.

The different modes of cocking the hat were almost innumerable--in fact, according to the fancy of the wearer; there was the "Monmouth cock," after the unfortunate Duke of that name; the "Ramillie cock," which came in at the Battle of Ramillies in 1706; the military cock and the mercantile cock; and upon the accession of George III. (1760) "a hat worn upon an average six inches and three-fifths broad in the brim, and cocked between Quaker and Kevenhuller."

"When Anna ruled, and Kevenhuller fought, The hat its title from the Hero caught."

_Art of Dressing the Hair, 1770._

From a chapter on hats in the _London Chronicle_ for 1762 we learn that--"Some wear their hats with the corner that should come over their foreheads high in the air; these 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 eyebrows, expose a blank forehead, which looks like a sandy road in a surveyor's plan.... A gold button and loop to a plain hat distinguishes a person to be a little lunatic; a gold band round it shows 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."

With the advent of the French Revolution in 1789 the three-cornered cocked hat disappears, and in 1803 we find a noticeable change in costume. "The French anticipated this invasion by sending over the most unsightly fashions that have ever appeared. The most distinguishing features were the coverings of the head, which consisted, in the one sex of an enormous military cap, and in the other of a bonnet, probably of straw, of a very ungraceful form. They are represented in the accompanying cut, taken from a caricature entitled 'Two of the Wigginses--Tops and Bottoms of 1803,' published on the 2nd of July in that year" (Thomas Wright, "Works of Gillray").

In 1765 a large hood appeared called calash, made of a framework of whalebone hoops, resembling the hood of a carriage (_calèche_), and pulled over the head by means of a string. It is said to have been introduced into England by the Duchess of Bedford.

What shall we say to the page of Parisian head-dresses from _Bell's Fashionable Magazine_ for April, 1812, three years before the Battle of Waterloo?

Goldsmith, in a short essay "on the ladies' passion for levelling all distinction of dress," says: "Foreigners observe that there are no ladies in the world more beautiful or more ill-dressed than those of England. Our countrywomen have been compared to those pictures where the face is the work of a Raphael, but the draperies thrown out by some empty pretender, destitute of taste, and entirely unacquainted with design."

He adds, by way of compensation to the ladies, "If I were a poet I might observe, on this occasion, that so much beauty, set off with all the advantages of dress, would be too powerful an antagonist for the opposite sex; and therefore it was wisely ordered that our ladies should want taste, lest their admirers should entirely want reason."

It has always been, however, and is still, a stock saying with foreigners that English women are ill-dressed, but the saying has little point in it, since the majority of English fashions still come from abroad. On the comparatively rare occasions when English women rely upon their own invention, taste, and judgment, they appear better dressed than the women of any European country. English women under these circumstances, therefore, if the above statement as to their personality be true, must necessarily be the most charming creatures in the world.

Amongst modern head-dresses the Spanish mantilla undoubtedly stands out in pleasant relief from the general rule of the commonplace which obtains at present. It is an entirely becoming head-dress, and reasonable, as is also the habit of Spanish women of carrying fans, which are usually attached to the waist, and serve also the purpose of sunshades, being held up to the head on the sunny side of the street. The action is a most graceful one, and the convenience is obvious.

The panama hat is certainly the most satisfactory male headgear, both as regards appearance, health, durability, and comfort.

The "bowler" can scarcely be said to be a thing of beauty. It has, however, been rendered historic by the Right Honourable John Burns, who has established a precedent by appearing at Buckingham Palace in this form of head-covering for the purpose of receiving his seals of office.

To return once again, and finally, to the chimney-pot. Milan has just recently inaugurated her third International Exposition of Industries, Commerce, and Art:--

"An amusing sidelight of the Exhibition is the unprecedented stimulus to the sale of stovepipe hats occasioned by a rigid regulation excluding every other kind from the inaugural function. Such a rigid enforcement is quite unknown in Rome itself, where there are said to be Cabinet Ministers, Senators, and Deputies who are innocent of ever having donned one. The story is told that several provincial Deputies who were invited to Milan were so fearful of mishap that they bought tall hats _for their wives as well as themselves_" (_Vide_ daily paper).

FOOTNOTES:

[21] It would appear to be a corruption of "mad as an atter (adder)". The word "adder" is _atter_ in Saxon, _natter_ in German. Its origin, however, is apparently somewhat obscure.

[22] The above story was told to the knight by a lady of his acquaintance who was an eye-witness of the event. We give here Caxton's version:--"For her clothyng and araye was different and no thyng lyke to theyr, and therefore she had wel her part beholdyng and lokyng. Thenne said the good ladyes to her, 'My frende, telle ye us, yf it please yow, how ye name that aray that ye have on your heed?' She answerde and saide, 'The galhows aray.' 'God bless us,' said the good lady, 'the name of hit is not faire.'... 'As ferre as I me remembre of it,' continued the knight's informant, 'hit was highe culewed with longe pynnes of sylver uppon her hede, after the makynge and maner of a gybet or galhows, right straunge and merveylous to se.'"

IX

THE DRESSING OF THE HAIR, MOUSTACHIOS, AND BEARD

"_Truewit._ A wise lady will keep guard always upon the place, that she may do things securely. I once followed a rude fellow into a chamber, where the poor madam, for haste, and troubled, snatched at her peruke to cover her baldness, and put it on the wrong way.

"_Clerimont._ O prodigy!

"_Truewit._ And the unconscionable knave held her in compliment an hour with that reversed face, when I still looked when she should talk from the other side.

"_Clerimont._ Why, thou shouldst have relieved her.

"_Truewit._ No, faith, I let her alone, as we'll let this argument, if you please, and pass to another."

BEN JONSON, _The Silent Woman_, Act I. sc. 1.

IX

THE DRESSING OF THE HAIR, MOUSTACHIOS, AND BEARD

There was nothing new, even in the days of Solomon; wigs, curling irons, hair powder, and turned-up moustachios being no exception to the rule.

We have abundant evidence, both from the concurring testimony of authors and from the actual works which have come down to us, that heated irons were employed from a very early period for the purpose of curling the hair and beard. Both with the Assyrians, and the Greeks of the earlier period, the hair and beard were plaited in a series of symmetrical curls and ringlets, displaying the utmost degree of formality in their arrangement.

The hair and beard of Belshazzar when he "made a great feast to a thousand of his lords," and received an intimation of an unpleasant character, conveyed to him in an unusual manner, were certainly curled in such wise, and probably dyed and powdered, as was the custom, the powder, however, being gold instead of flour, as in more recent days. As a matter of fact, gold was employed in various ways as an enrichment to the hair. The Kings of Egypt had their beards interwoven with gold thread.

Herodotus assures us that the skulls of the Egyptians were much harder than those of the Persians, owing to the national custom of shaving the heads of their children at a very early age. He adds, "In other countries the priests of the gods wear long hair; in Egypt they have it shaved. With other men it is customary in mourning for the nearest relations to have their heads shorn; the Egyptians, on occasions of death, let the hair grow both on the head and face, though till then they used to shave."

The ceremonies and customs relating to the beard are innumerable. The management of the beard formed a considerable part of the religion of the Tartars, who waged a long and bloody war with the Persians, declaring them infidels, though in other respects of the same faith as themselves, because they refused to cast their whiskers after the mode or rite of the Tartars.

It has been recorded that the Greeks wore their beards until the time of Alexander, who, fearful lest the length of their beards should prove a handle to their enemies, commanded the Macedonians to be shaven, and the first who shaved at Athens ever after bore the addition of χοροης (shaven) on medals. Notwithstanding this statement, however, Philip, the father of Alexander, as well as Amyras and Archelous, his predecessors, are represented without beards.

According to Pliny, the Romans did not begin to shave until the year of Rome 454, when P. Titinius brought over a stock of barbers from Sicily. Pliny adds that Scipio Africanus was the first to introduce the fashion of shaving daily. It became the custom to have visits of ceremony at the cutting of the beard for the first time. The first fourteen Roman Emperors shaved until the time of the Emperor Adrian, who discontinued the practice and wore a beard, for the purpose, however, of hiding the scars on his face.

From Gregory of Tours we learn that in the Royal family of France it was for a long time the peculiar privilege of Kings and Princes of the blood to wear long hair, artfully dressed and curled; everybody else was polled, as a sign of inferiority and obedience. To cut off the hair of a son of France under the first race of Kings was to exclude him from the right of succession to the crown, and to reduce him to the condition of a subject.

French historians, however, tell us that Charlemagne wore his hair short, his son much shorter, and Charles the Bald, as his surname indicates, none at all.

Good Luitprand furiously declaimed against the Emperor Phocyas for wearing long hair, after the manner of all the other Emperors of the East, with the exception of Theophilus, who, being bald, enjoined all his subjects to shave their heads, like the fox of Æsop, who, having survived the experience of a trap by the sacrifice of his tail, harangued the other foxes on the inconvenience of tails in general, and endeavoured to persuade them to cut off theirs also.

In the Church, too, in spite of the beard of Aaron, "that went down to the skirts of his garments," the Nazarite law, and the reputed long hair of the founder of Christianity, the priesthood habitually condemned long hair as being inconsistent with the sacred character of the priest's office. Pope Anictus is supposed to have been the first to forbid the clergy to wear long hair. "The Holy Prelate, Wulstan, reproved the wicked of all ranks with great boldness but he rebuked those with the greatest severity who were proud of their long hair."[23] The Nazarite vow is an act of sacrifice in accordance with the terms of the law laid down in Num. vi. 1-21: "All the days of the vow of his separation shall no razor come upon his head"; "He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of his hair grow."

The Nazarite has been regarded as a conqueror who subdued his temptations, and who wore his long hair as a crown, the hair being worn _rough_ as a protest against foppery. Another view, however, is that it was kept elaborately dressed, a proof of the existence of the custom being seen in the seven locks of Samson:--

"And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the _seven locks of his head_; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him" (Judg. xvi. 19).

Let us listen to the story in the quaint, silvery music of Chaucer:--

"This Sampson neyther siser dronk ne wyn Ne on his heed com rasour noon ne schere By precept of the messager divyn For alle his strengthes in his heres were.

. . . . .

Unto his lemman Dalida he tolde That in his heres al his strengthe lay And falsly to his foomen sche him solde And slepying in hir barm upon a day Sche made to clippe or schere his heres away And made his foomen al his craft espien And whan thay fond him in this array Thay bound him fast and put out bothe his yen.

"But er his heer clipped was or i-schave Ther was no bond with which men might him bynde But now is he in prisoun in a cave Ther as thay made him at the querne grynde O noble Sampson strengest of al man kynde O whilom jugge in glory and in richesse Now maystow wepe with thine eyyen blynde Sith thou fro wele art falle to wrecchednesse."

_Monk's Tale._

While the hair was the pride, the glory, and the strength of Samson, it was the bane of Absalom, for by the abundance of his hair he met his death. "In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he polled his head (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy, therefore he polled it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight."[24] Had he polled it at more frequent intervals he might have made good his succession to the crown, and Solomon never have been king, for Absalom had "stolen the hearts of the people of Israel."

As in a mighty river we may trace back its course to the little rill or rivulet which trickles from the mountain side, so we may often trace the origin of great events to very small beginnings. How might the face of both French and English history have been changed but for Peter Lombard's dislike of a beard! Louis VII. imagined it a matter of conscience to give an example of submission to the command of the bishops on the subject of long hair, and to atone for his many cruelties by being shaved in public. He reckoned, however, without his--wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, a jocose madcap, who rallied him upon his short hair and shaven chin. "I thought I had married a prince, but find I have wedded nothing but a monk." The breach occasioned by a bare face was widened, and the marriage dissolved. Six weeks afterwards Eleanor was again a wife--Henry, Duke of Normandy, who afterwards reigned as Henry II. of England, being the husband, who obtained with her fair Aquitaine with its three provinces. Hence arose those wars which ravaged France for near three centuries, in which upwards of three millions of Frenchmen perished on the fields of Cressy, Agincourt, and Poitiers, and on many a lesser field.

Henry I. issued an edict for the suppression of long hair, and as a natural consequence long hair immediately became the rage. This edict, however, was the result of a visit to Normandy, and the preaching of a prelate named Serlo, whose eloquence was such that the monarch and his courtiers were moved to tears. The astute priest, perceiving the impression he had created, immediately whipped a pair of scissors from his sleeve and cropped the whole congregation!

The patriarchal beard and long hair of Edward III., as exhibited in his effigy at Westminster, is in strict conformity with the general character of this serious minded monarch, strongly contrasting with the character of his successor, Richard of Bordeaux, who was the greatest fop of the day.

During the century which followed the reign of Edward III. beards were worn of every imaginable cut. There was the fantail beard, with its wadded nightcap for protection during sleep, of the stiffening which was applied. There was, as later, the cathedral beard, the spade beard, the stiletto beard, and there was an extraordinary curled tuft which resembled a corkscrew. There was apparently as much variety of colour as of form--

"I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your orange tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow" ("A Midsummer Night's Dream," Act I. sc. 2).

Our Royal "Bluebeard" registered a solemn vow before the French Ambassador that he would never touch razor till he had visited "his good brother" upon the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the "good brother" making a similar vow. With characteristic "English perfidy" Henry broke his vow, while the Frenchman remained true; it was therefore found necessary for Sir Thomas Boleyn to apologise for his master's bad faith by saying that "the Queen of England felt an insuperable antipathy to a bushy chin."

Henry, indeed, not only shaved his own chin and wore his hair short, but commanded all his subjects to do the same. He granted the barbers a new charter, incorporated them with the surgeons, and became a member of their company.

It was found that the "science and connyng of Physyke and Surgerie" was practised by unskilful persons, "common artificers, as Smythes, wevers, and women,"[25] who "boldely and custumably take upon theim grete curis, and thyngys of great difficultie, in which they partely use socery and whichcrafte" to the grievous hurt of the Kyng's liege people. It was therefore enacted that none should practise as a physician and surgeon in London except by examination, duly approved by the Bishop of London or Dean of St. Paul's(!). As it seemed needful to provide skilful surgeons for the "helth of mans body whan infirmities and seckness shal happen," and as there are many surgeons in London who give instructions to students, who exercise of the said science "to the greate relief, comforte, and soccour of muche people, and to the sure savegard of their bodily helth, their lymmes and lyves," and as two companies of surgeons exist in London, one "the Barbours of London, and thother company the Surgeons of London," which company of barbours were first incorporated "undre the greate Seale of the late King of famous memory, Edwarde the iiijth, dated at Westminster the xxiiijth day of February in the first yere of his reigne," these two companies ought therefore to be united into one body, with a common seal, power to hold lands, and all the rights of both the old companies.

It was further found that surgeons were in the habit of taking diseased persons into their houses, where they "doo use and exercise barbery, as wasshing and shaving, and other feates therunto belonging," very perilous to the King's people. Now, "after the feast of the Nativitie of our Lorde God next coming," no barber in London shall practise surgery, "letting of bludde, or any other thing belonging to surgery, _drawing of teth onelye except_." And no surgeon shall "occupye or exercise the feate or crafte of barbarye or shaving," either by himself or by any other for him, to his or their use.

It was also provided that any person may keep a barber or a surgeon as his servant, who may practise in his master's house.

It would appear that the observance of the Lord's day was more strictly enforced in the seventeenth century than it is at present--

"Att the Councell Chamber on Ouze bridge at York ye xxth of June, A.D. 1676," it was declared and enacted that whereas barber surgeons have been shaving and cutting hair on the Lord's day, We order, that if "any brother of the said company tonse, barbe, or trim any person on the Lord's day, in any Inn," or other place, public or private, of which the Lord Mayor shall judge, he shall be fined ten shillings, and the searchers of the said company for the time being are to make diligent search in all public and private houses as aforesaid, for discovery of such offenders.

1745 was the fatal year of the separation of the barbers from their more dignified colleagues. Their wings were clipped, their privileges curtailed, the barber's pole and basin, however, still remaining, in silent, eloquent testimony of their former glory and greatness.[26]

In the reign of Good Queen Bess the campaign against long hair is continued. Philip Stubbes extols barbers to the skies: "There are no finer fellowes under the Sunne, nor experter in their noble science of barbing than they be." Barbers are necessary. "I cannot but marvell at the beastlinesse of some ruffians (for they are no sober Christians) that will have their hair grow over their faces like monsters, and savage people; rather like mad men than otherwise, hanging downe over their shoulders, as womens haire doth; which indeed is an ornament to them, being given them as a sign of subjection." In man it is a "shame and reproch, as the Apostle proveth."

During the reign of the Stuarts long hair was the vogue--with "love-locks" and "heart breakers."

"A long love-lock on his left shoulder plight, Like to a woman's hair, well showed a woman's sprite."