path: root/42682-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42682 ***

  THE HERITAGE OF DRESS




  [Illustration: VERY EARLY MAN IN JAVA. (_Chapter II._)

  _PLATE I._]




  THE HERITAGE
  OF DRESS

  BEING NOTES ON THE HISTORY
  AND EVOLUTION OF CLOTHES

  BY
  WILFRED MARK WEBB

  FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON
  CURATOR OF ETON COLLEGE MUSEUM

  WITH ELEVEN PLATES
  AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE FIGURES IN THE TEXT

  LONDON
  E. GRANT RICHARDS
  1907




  TO MY WIFE
  HILDA E. WEBB




PREFACE


It would be difficult to find a subject of more universal interest than
that of dress, and hosts of books have been written which deal with the
attire that has been adopted at different times and by various nations
or social classes. The ornamental and artistic sides of the question
have also received much consideration, but the volumes that have
appeared serve chiefly as works of reference. The present book aims at
being of more immediate interest and usefulness; it starts with things
as they are, and is really a popular contribution to the natural history
of man.

On all sides the advantages of observation and the need for the
nature-study method in education are being rightly urged, but there is
a tendency to narrow the purview. Anything in our environment is worthy
of notice, and though attention is well directed towards that which is
least artificial, we should not leave man and his works altogether on
one side. There is material for observation, research, and deduction,
even in a bowler hat and a cut-away coat.

One of the pleasantest features in connection with the making of this
book has been the kind and ready help which I have received from all
sides. Here and there throughout the text the names of friends and
correspondents who have given their assistance have been mentioned. To
these I offer my hearty thanks, as well as to the following, who with
suggestions, information, or with material for illustrations, have
contributed in no small way to the interest of the book: Messrs. Fownes
Brothers & Company, Mr. Allan A. Hooke, Mr. W. S. Ward, Mr. Karl, of
Messrs. Nathan & Company, Messrs. Tress & Company, Messrs. Lincoln &
Bennett, Mr. M. D. Hill, the Rev. A. W. Upcott, Head Master of Christ's
Hospital, Miss Clark, Miss Hodgson, the Rev. R. Ashington Bullen, Mr.
Henry Miller, of the Church Association, Mr. Ravenscroft, of Messrs. Ede
Sons & Ravenscroft, Mr. Paley Baildon, Mr. George Hertslet, of the Lord
Chamberlain's Office, Messrs. Wilkinson & Company, Mr. C. M. Mühlberg,
Mr. W. S. Parker, of Messrs. Debenhams, Ltd., Capt. H. Trench, Major
J. W. Mallet, of the _Army and Navy Gazette_, Mr. Basil White, of
Messrs. Hawkes & Company, Mr. W. H. Jesson, Messrs. Souter & Company,
Mr. William Lawrence, Mr. Heather Bigg, Dr. J. Cantlie, and the Rt. Hon.
Viscountess Harberton.

A glance at the bibliography, which is given on pages 363-7, will show
the principal books and papers to which reference has been made.

In connection with the illustrations, special thanks must be given to
Monsieur Maurice Sand, the Editor of the _Review of the University of
Brussels_, for his kind permission to reproduce a number of the figures
used to illustrate a translation of Sir George Darwin's article. These
are Figures 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, 31, 33, 46, 48, 62,
63, and 82. Acknowledgments are due to Mr. St. John Hope for Figures
86-8, to Messrs. A. & C. Black for Figures 123 and 124 and 132 and 133,
and to Messrs. Prewett & Co. for Figures 111 and 112.

For the original of Plate II, I am indebted to the kindness of Captain
R. Ford, of Plate III to Mr. Henry Stevens; Plate IV has been taken from
a brass rubbing in Rugby School Museum, through the kind offices of Mr.
J. M. Hardwich. I have to thank Mr. R. Bamber for the original of Plate
VIII, which was obtained through his instrumentality. Figure B of Plate
IX was kindly contributed by the Rev. A. W. Upcott, Head Master of
Christ's Hospital, and Figures B and C on Plate X were copied from
Moseley's "Voyage of the 'Challenger,'" by the kind permission of Mr.
John Murray, while Figure D is due to the courtesy of General Robley.
Plate XI is reprinted from _The Reliquary_, by the kind permission of
Messrs. Bemrose and Sons, and the source of other illustrations is
acknowledged beneath them, while the classic collection of pictures
which were brought together by the late Mr. F. W. Fairholt to illustrate
his "Costume in England" has proved, as will be seen, of the utmost
service.

In conclusion, I have much pleasure in calling attention to the time and
care which Mr. W. J. Webb has expended upon the figures, which are a
feature of the book; and I must mention the willing help which I have
been afforded in a number of details by Miss Amy Astbury and Mr. Bernard
Weaver.

  WILFRED MARK WEBB.

  ODSTOCK, HANWELL,
  _November, 1907_.




CONTENTS


  I
  THE THRALL OF DRESS                                             PAGE
  The principles of evolution applied to clothes                     1

  II
  THE ORIGIN OF DRESS                                                6

  III
  DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN COAT
  The ancestral shawl--Problematical buttons                        15

  IV
  BUTTONS AS CHRONICLES
  Episodes in the later history of the coat and cuffs               25

  V
  COLLARS AND BANDS
  Nicks in coat lapels--The why and wherefore of the white shirt
    front                                                           41

  VI
  VESTIGES IN THE HAT
  How hats were evolved--Why plumes are on the left side--The
    growth of the busby--Helmets and cocked hats                    49

  VII
  SHOES AND STOCKINGS
  Early foot-gear--The origin of the clock--A modern imitation of
    tattooing--Gaily coloured garters                               62

  VIII
  PETTICOATS AND TROUSERS
  The belted plaid and kilt--Early skirts--The antiquity of
    trousers--Trouser stripes                                       72

  IX
  COATS OF ARMS
  Signet rings--Armorial bearings--Escutcheons--Crests--Badges      83

  X
  GLOVES AND MITTENS
  Origin of the baby's glove--Fourchettes--The "points" on the
    backs of gloves                                                 94

  XI
  TAGS, PINS, AND BALDRICS
  Laces--The evolution and vagaries of the safety-pin--Primitive
    methods of carrying burdens as illustrated by muff-chains,
    baldrics, and yokes                                            100

  XII
  ORNAMENTS
  Primitive necklaces--Finger rings--The origin of the hair
    comb--Buttons--Studs--Flowers--Feathers--Amulets               111

  XIII
  HAIR DRESSING
  Head shaving--Wigs that are still worn--Roman curls and fringes  126

  XIV
  SPECIAL DRESSES
  Fashions kept up by ceremonies--Survivals in special
    costume--Flowing garments                                      135

  XV
  SERVANTS' DRESS
  The prototypes of liveries--Reminiscences of George II and
    George III--Origin of the page-boy's buttons--The jockey
    cap--Aprons                                                    139

  XVI
  COCKADES
  The cockade a degenerated chaperon--The varieties of the
    cockade--Cockade wearers                                       152

  XVII
  CHILDREN'S DRESS
  Survivals in children's dress--Special school costumes--The
    blue-coat boy--Public school boys--Adoption of special dress
    at girls' schools                                              162

  XVIII
  WEDDING GARMENTS
  The veil--Bridesmaids and bribery--Old shoes--Orange blossom     175

  XIX
  MOURNING
  Colours associated with mourning--Widows' weeds--Perennial
    mourning                                                       181

  XX
  COSTUME CONNECTED WITH RELIGION
  The surplice and "the cloth"--The civil origin of
    vestments--Fine vestments--Processional vestments, so
    called--Nuns' dress--The choker                                184

  XXI
  SUNDAY CLOTHES
  The significance of Sunday clothes--The wearing of hats in
    church by ladies                                               205

  XXII
  ACADEMICAL DRESS
  Gowns and hanging sleeves--The forerunner of the hood--The
    origin of the doctor's hat--The evolution of the mortar-board  208

  XXIII
  LEGAL DRESS
  Vestiges of the coif--Hoods and gowns--Signs of mourning         215

  XXIV
  STATE AND COURT ATTIRE
  Coronation dress--Parliamentary robes--Mistakes in Court
    dress--Vestiges of the wig and of the chaperon--Court cards    221

  XXV
  SURVIVALS IN MILITARY UNIFORMS
  Armour--Prickers for flint locks--Forage cords--Reminiscences
    of gallantry--Regimental badges--Courtship colours             233

  XXVI
  NAVAL UNIFORM
  Supposed survivals--Petticoats and wide breeches                 251

  XXVII
  THE COSTUME OF PUPPETS
  Punch and Judy--Fashion dolls--Dolls in swaddling clothes--The
    Egyptian "shabbies"                                            253

  XXVIII
  THE CLOWN AND PAINTING THE BODY
  The clown's dress--Savage painting and survivals of
    it--Tattooing--Patches and false complexions--Masks            269

  XXIX
  STAGE COSTUMES
  The harlequin, pantaloon, columbine, and acrobat                 282

  XXX
  NIGHTDRESS
  Bands on nightgowns--Nightcaps--Night attire worn in the
    streets                                                        287

  XXXI
  THE DRESS OF ANIMALS
  Natural representatives of clothes--Horse trappings--Amulets on
    harness--Dogs' disguises--Fashions in the form of animals      291

  XXXII
  COLOUR
  Importance of colour--Instinctive love of bright
    hues--Desirability of coloured clothes and gay scenes--Colour
    and complexion                                                 305

  XXXIII
  PATTERNS
  Ancient designs--Checks and tartans--Parti-coloured
    clothes--Evolution of ornamentation                            311

  XXXIV
  IMPRESSIONS TO BE GAINED FROM DRESS
  Clues from clothes--Individuality not disguised by them--Modern
    dress of other countries--Significance of clothes              315

  XXXV
  THE EFFECT OF CLOTHES UPON THE INDIVIDUAL
  The origin of stays--Tight lacing no new thing--Its
    effects--Mr. Heather Bigg on the need for support--The ideal
    foot--Skull deformities--Padding                               322

  XXXVI
  FURTHER EFFECTS OF CLOTHES ON THE INDIVIDUAL
  Mental effects of different clothes--Preferences of girls for
    certain articles of dress--Movements that depend upon the
    presence or absence of clothes                                 339

  XXXVII
  THE RISE AND FALL OF FASHIONS
  Reason why fashions are followed--Gay clothes seen when periods
    of depression are over--Condemnation of fashions by the
    clergy--Quakers--Sumptuary laws--The killing of fashions       343

  XXXVIII
  DRESS REFORM
  Clothes to be avoided--Need for warmer garments--"Rational"
    dress for women                                                354

  CONCLUSION                                                       362

  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                     363

  INDEX                                                            369




LIST OF PLATES


  PLATE                                                    FACING PAGE
     I. Very early man in Java. Illustrating the remarks in Chapter
          II, pages 6 and 7                             _Frontispiece_

    II. A woman and a witch-doctor of Central Africa, showing the
          part that ornaments may play even when clothing is of
          the scantiest. (From a photograph by Captain Ford)         9

   III. The silk vest worn by Charles I on the scaffold.
          Illustrating the sleeved tunic opening for a short
          distance down the front. (From a photograph by Mr.
          Henry Stevens)                                            18

    IV. Reproduction of a brass to John Brandon and his two wives
          in the Church of St. Mary, King's Lynn. Date, 1364. On
          the male figure, continuous rows of buttons run from
          the wrist to the elbow of the under-vest. The women
          wear the wimple and gorget or throat cloth                38

     V. A Siamese Princess wearing trousers                         81

    VI. Two Padaung women, showing the numerous metal collars
          which they wear round their necks                        114

   VII. Methods of hairdressing, illustrated by Romano-Egyptian
          portrait models in the Myers Collection, Eton College
          Museum. (From photographs by Wilfred Mark Webb)          129

  VIII. A barge girl, showing the costume worn on the canals.
          (From a photograph by Wakefield Brentford)               150

    IX. Fig. A. The cap worn by the scholars of Christ's Hospital
          until the middle of the nineteenth century.

        Fig. B. A scholar of Christ's Hospital. (By the courtesy
          of the Rev. A. W. Upcott, M.A., Head Master of Christ's
          Hospital)                                                167

     X. Fig. A. The head of a clown, showing the painted face, the
          ruff, and the Elizabethan method of doing the hair.

        Fig. B. The face of a Japanese actor (after Moseley, by
          the courtesy of Mr. John Murray).

        Fig. C. The painted face of a paper figure which is burned
          at Chinese funerals (after Moseley, by the courtesy of
          Mr. John Murray).

        Fig. D. The tattooed head of a Moorish chief. (By the
          courtesy of General Robley)                              270

    XI. Wooden stay busks. These incidentally show survivals of
          primitive ornament. From _The Reliquary_, by kind
          permission of Messrs. Bemrose & Sons, Ltd.               326




LIST OF FIGURES


  FIG.                                                            PAGE

    1. Drawing of a woman engraved by a cave man                     9

    2. Sketch showing the development of the tunic. In this stage
         it has no arms                                             17

    3. Diagram showing the way in which a sleeved tunic is derived
         from the shawl                                             18

    4. A smock frock                                                19

    5. Jacket of a woman, made in one piece. Bronze stage of
         culture (after Worsaae)                                    19

    6. Man's dress showing buttons on the right side                20

    7. Woman's dress showing buttons on the left side               21

    8. Diagram showing how a man does up a button. First stage      23

    9. Diagram showing how a man does up a button. Second stage     23

   10. Diagram showing how a woman does up a button. First stage    23

   11. Diagram showing how a woman does up a button. Second stage   23

   12. The buttons on the back of a policeman's great-coat          26

   13. The buttons that close the slit up the back of an ulster     27

   14. A back view of a seventeenth-century coat showing the
         buttons and buttonholes                                    28

   15. The tab and buttons on the back of a soldier's great-coat
         which make a temporary waist                               29

   16. The buttons and tab on a tramway driver's coat               31

   17. An eighteenth-century coat with side buttons and tab         31

   18. Side tabs and buttons at the back (after Racinet)            31

   19. A coat worn at the end of the seventeenth century (after H.
         Bonnart)                                                   32

   20. A modern coat with side pockets                              32

   21. A footman's coat, modern, with vestigial pocket flaps        33

   22. Coat skirts buttoned back (after Hogarth)                    33

   23. A coat with the skirts buttoned back and showing the lining  34

   24. A dress coat with skirts cut away                            34

   25. A modern coat cuff with buttons                              35

   26. Turned-back cuff, end of seventeenth century (after
         Bonnart)                                                   35

   27. A coat sleeve (after Hogarth) with horizontal row of
         buttons                                                    36

   28. Sleeve of a coat of the seventeenth century, reputed to
         have been worn by Charles I                                36

   29. The turned-back cuff of an overcoat, modern                  37

   30. A sleeve with vertical buttons and a turned-back cuff as
         well (from a uniform, after Hogarth)                       37

   31. The uniform of a coastguard officer of 1775 (after Racinet)  39

   32. The nicks in the coat and waistcoat                          41

   33. A stage when the nick was useful (Lucien Bonaparte, after
         Paul Lacroix)                                              42

   34. The "toothpick" on a dress coat                              43

   35. Modern bands                                                 45

   36. A blue-coat boy's bands                                      45

   37. A chorister of Jesus College, Cambridge, showing the collar
         worn until recently. (From a photograph, by the courtesy
         of Mr. H. Austin Wheaton)                                  45

   38. A stage in the reduction of bands (portrait of Jan Steen
         from the _Illustrated Magazine of Art_)                    46

   39. Full-sized bands (portrait of John Pym from the
         _Illustrated Magazine of Art_)                             46

   40. A modern bandbox, now used for hats                          47

   41. Bands that survive at the present day                        47

   42. The turban of a Jewish priest (after Kitto) compared with
         the dome of the Mosque of Omar                             50

   43. A Siamese head-dress and a Pra Pang or votive spire (after
         P. A. Thompson)                                            51

   44. A Gothic spire (St. Stephens, Caen) compared with the
         hennin (the latter after Fairholt)                         51

   45. Band with streamers fastening on the head-dress of an
         Egyptian woman. From a figure of the Sixth Dynasty,
         3500 B.C.                                                  52

   46. A lady's head-dress confined with a fillet, fourteenth
         century (after Viollet le Duc)                             52

   47. A sailor hat with band and streamers                         53

   48. A twelfth-century head-dress with streamers, from a MS.
         (after Viollet le Duc)                                     53

   49. A modern Scotch cap with streamers                           54

   50. A mitre of the See of Durham showing the strings (after
         Millington)                                                54

   51. Small vestigial bow of ribbon in a modern hat                55

   52. A hat with the remains of lacing                             55

   53. A hunting hat with complete lacing inside                    56

   54. A disc of leather                                            57

   55. The disc perforated and the lace inserted                    57

   56. The lace tightened to form a crown                           57

   57. The ends of the lace tied as a bow inside                    57

   58. A bow fastened to the lining of a lady's hat                 58

   59. Plumes on the left side                                      58

   60. The red Hungarian cap, which was the forerunner of the
         busby                                                      59

   61. A busby (of the Hon. Artillery Company) in which the cap is
         a vestige only                                             59

   62. A fireman's helmet (of the ancient Greek type)               60

   63. Buttons so arranged that the broad brim of a hat can be
         fastened to the crown, thus forming a temporary "cock"
         (Hudibras, after Hogarth)                                  60

   64. A modern boot decorated with perforations made in the
         leather                                                    63

   65. An ornamented Roman shoe, of two thicknesses                 63

   66. A Roman shoe of open-work leather                            63

   67. A hide shoe of pre-Roman type from Ireland (after Fairholt)  64

   68. The original top boot with the upper part temporarily
         turned down                                                65

   69. The modern top boot in which the upper part can no longer
         be turned up                                               66

   70. Puttees                                                      66

   71. Leg bandages of a royal personage at the end of the tenth
         century (after Fairholt)                                   67

   72. A stocking with clocks                                       68

   73. An embroidered stocking showing the further evolution of
         the clock (date 1900)                                      69

   74. An open-work stocking of 1905                                69

   75. A shawl used as a kilt by a chieftain of Denmark in the
         bronze stage of culture (after Worsaae)                    73

   76. A simple dress in the form of a petticoat from an Egyptian
         figure of the Sixth Dynasty (3500 B.C.), from the Myers
         collection in Eton College Museum                          74

   77. A Korean servant (after Hough)                               75

   78. A short kilt                                                 76

   79. A barbarian soldier wearing characteristic trousers (from a
         diptych of St. Paul, after Marriott)                       78

   80. A Saxon military man wearing wide trousers (from the
         Harleian MS., No. 603, after Fairholt)                     79

   81. A peasant woman of Champéry wearing trousers                 80

   82. A German Hussar of 1808                                      81

   83. The crest on a modern signet ring                            85

   84. Sir Geoffrey Loutterell and the ladies of his family,
         showing the extent to which armorial bearings were worn
         in the middle of the fourteenth century. From a psalter,
         made for Sir Geoffrey (after Fairholt)                     85

   85. The crest and surcoat of Henry, first Duke of Lancaster,
         A.D. 1347. From the brass to Sir Hugh Hasting at Elsyng,
         Norfolk (after Charles Boutell)                            86

   86. The helmet and crest of the Black Prince. From "Vetusta
         Monumenta" (after St. John Hope)                           88

   87. The shield of the Black Prince. From "Vetusta Monumenta"
         (after St. John Hope)                                      89

   88. The surcoat or jupon of the Black Prince. From "Vetusta
         Monumenta" (after St. John Hope)                           89

   89. The postilion of a Lord Mayor of London, wearing a crest
         upon his cap, and a coat of arms upon his sleeve (copied
         by permission from a plate published by the John
         Williamson Co., Ltd.)                                      92

   90. A baby's glove without separate fingers                      95

   91. The back of a woollen glove showing the three vestiges
         known as "points"                                          96

   92. A modern kid glove showing the fourchettes or pieces
         between the fingers, which form three pointed V's          97

   93. Queen Elizabeth's coronation glove, showing the stitching
         carried down on to the back. (From a photograph by the
         courtesy of Messrs. Fownes Brothers and Co.)               97

   94. The glove of Anne, Queen Consort of James I, showing the
         embroidery on the fingers, which is the ancestor of the
         modern "points." (From a photograph, by the courtesy of
         Messrs. Fownes Brothers and Co.)                           99

   95. A silk lace with simple metal tags                          101

   96. Ornamental metal tags on a velvet neck ribbon               101

   97. A simple safety-pin                                         102

   98. An Etruscan brooch or fibula, resembling a safety-pin. (In
         the collection of Major W. J. Myers in Eton College
         Museum)                                                   103

   99. The safety-pin in the waistband                             103

  100. The safety-pin grown larger and used for fastening on a
         hat                                                       104

  101. A muff-chain                                                105

  102. A hawker, illustrating the primitive way of carrying a
         burden                                                    107

  103. A courier-bag supported by a baldric                        107

  104. An ornamental baldric of the early fifteenth century.
         (Royal MS. 15, D. 5, after Fairholt)                      108

  105. A lady's dress, showing the part which is called a yoke,
         and recalls a primitive method of carrying burdens        109

  106. A loom comb found in the Glastonbury lake dwellings (after
         Boyd Dawkins)                                             118

  107. A modern comb for the hair                                  118

  108. Two studs of bronze, seen from above and from the side,
         later Bronze Age (after Worsaae)                          119

  109. The "flash" of five black ribbons on the collar of the
         Welsh Fusiliers. A survival from the days of the pigtail  134

  110. The modern groom, showing the belt to which ladies clung
         when riding on a pillion                                  140

  111. A footman in plush breeches and with powdered hair. His
         "pouter" coat dates from the reign of George III. By the
         courtesy of Messrs. F. T. Prewett and Co.                 141

  112. A sheriff's coachman with the full-skirted coat of the
         time of George II. By the courtesy of Messrs. Prewett and
         Co.                                                       142

  113. The wig-bag (a survival of the bag-wig) now seen on the
         back of the collar of the Lord Mayor's coachman           143

  114. A modern page-boy's livery                                  145

  115. The Dutch skeleton dress, fashionable for boys in 1826      145

  116. The cockade known as the "large treble," representing a
         survival of the chaperon                                  152

  117. A "treble cockade" covered with black cloth for mourning.
         The concentric circles would appear to represent the
         twisted liripipe of the chaperon                          154

  118. Treble cockade used by Chelsea pensioners                   155

  119. The Regent cockade                                          155

  120. Royal cockade for state occasions                           155

  121. Ordinary Royal cockade                                      155

  122.{Two stages in the evolution of the chaperon. Combined
      {  hood and cape                                             156
      {
  123.{Enlargement of the peak of the hood to form the liripipe.
      {  (After Calthrop, by kind permission of Messrs. A. and
      {  C. Black)                                                 156

  124.{Further development of the chaperon. Cape and liripipe
      {  made into a head-dress that can be altered at will        157
      {
  125.{A chaperon ready made up, in order to save trouble.
      {  (After Calthrop, by kind permission of Messrs. A. and
      {  C. Black)                                                 157

  126. Dress worn by the girls at Coombe Hill School, Westerham.
         It is a modification of the Dervish Djibah                172

  127. Dress worn by the girls at the Croft School, Betley, when
         at work                                                   173

  128. St. Gregory the Great with his father Gordianus, who was a
         senator, on his right, and his mother Sylvia on his left.
         This shows the similarity between ecclesiastical and
         civil costume in early times. From an authentic picture
         (after Marriott)                                          188

  129. A priest in the vestments now worn at the celebration of
         the Eucharist                                             194

  130. The coat of arms of Thomas à Becket, showing an
         archbishop's pall                                         198

  131. The head-dress of a nun showing the veil and breast-cloth
         derived from the wimple, the cap which represents the
         chin-cloth, together with the frontal and the hood        203

  132. The head-dress of a lady of the time of Henry II. The
         wimple is shown covering the chin and head-bands (after
         Calthrop)                                                 203

  133. The chin-band and forehead strap after the wimple has been
         removed (after Calthrop)                                  203

  134. Hanging sleeve of the fifteenth century                     209

  135. The hanging sleeve of a Chancellor of Oxford University     211

  136. A college cap or trencher                                   214

  137. Cranmer's hat, illustrating a stage in the evolution of a
         mortar-board (after Fairholt)                             214

  138. The hat of a bishop of the Stuart Period showing a stage
         at which the stiffening now seen in the mortar-board was
         becoming necessary (after Fairholt)                       214

  139. The wig of a modern judge                                   216

  140. The vestige of the coif from the wig of a serjeant-at-law   217

  141. A barrister's gown showing the vestigial hood and its
         streamer. The buttons and braid which once temporarily
         looped up the sleeves now fix it permanently              219

  142. A Yeoman of the Guard of the present reign                  224

  143. The wig-bag or "flash" from a Court suit, showing the
         rosette held away and displaying the black silk bag. At
         the lower corners of the latter loops are seen, which are
         probably the remains of those through which a ribbon was
         passed, which went round the neck and fastened on the
         breast by a brooch                                        229

  144. The hood from the mantle of a Knight of the Garter,
         showing the survival of the chaperon and its liripipe     230

  145. Relic of chain mail on the shoulder of an Imperial Yeoman   233

  146. Chain mail illustrated by the brass of Sir Richard de
         Trumpington, A.D. 1289                                    234

  147. A reversion in military equipment. One of Cromwell's
         Ironsides (1679), from a print. A Cavalryman sketched at
         Aldershot in 1901. Copied, by permission, from the _Daily
         Mail_                                                     237

  148. The prickers on the shoulder-belt of a Hussar, which
         survive from the time of flint-lock muskets               239

  149. The Oscan Pulicinella of 1731, without a long nose. The
         dress is very similar to that figured in 1630 (after
         Riccoboni)                                                256

  150. The Calabrian Giangurgolo of 1731, with the long nose. The
         dress is very similar to that figured in 1630 (after
         Riccoboni)                                                257

  151. An ancient bronze statuette with the face and features of
         Punch (after Ficorroni)                                   258

  152. A fourteenth-century puppet-show (from the MS. of the
         "Roman d'Alexandre")                                      259

  153. Punch, from the Punch and Judy Show, showing the ruff and
         other details of Elizabethan costume                      263

  154. Judy, from the Punch and Judy Show, with ruff, mob cap,
         and apron                                                 263

  155. The Beadle, from the Punch and Judy Show                    264

  156. The Doctor, from the Punch and Judy Show, with wig and
         white tie                                                 264

  157. A clown, showing a survival of an Elizabethan costume       270

  158. The dress of a modern harlequin                             284

  159. A pantaloon, showing an Elizabethan costume of which
         Venetian breeches form part                               285

  160. The bands that survive on a lady's nightdress               289

  161. A woman's nightcap, still worn in Wiltshire                 289

  162. A man's nightcap, from Oxfordshire                          290

  163. An English horse amulet in the form of a crescent. The
         flat places near the tips of the horns are evidence that
         the form is derived from two boars' tusks                 294

  164. An English horse amulet showing both the heart and the sun  296

  165. The cowry-shell ornaments on the head of an officer's
         charger of the 10th Hussars. The pendant recalls that on
         mules in Palestine                                        298

  166. Cowry shells on an Eastern mule, hanging like the pendant
         of the 10th Hussars                                       299

  167. Cowry shells on the head-stall of a camel from Palestine    299

  168. A Merveilleuse (after A. Robida)                            345

  169. A modern family, consisting of the average-sized mother,
         the taller daughter, and the puny boy (from a drawing by
         Miss Audrey Watson in "Physical Efficiency," by Dr.
         Cantlie, by kind permission of Messrs. Putnam's Sons)     357




I

THE THRALL OF DRESS

THE PRINCIPLES OF EVOLUTION APPLIED TO CLOTHES

_The numbers in the text refer to a bibliography at the end of the book_


Unluckily, perhaps, we are born naked and helpless, but no sooner do we
come into the world than we are provided with body-guards in the shape
of clothes. In consequence, our social position is made manifest. Our
vanity is flattered at the same time that our modesty is assured. On the
other hand, however, our skin may be chafed, our hair worn away, and,
should our equipment strictly follow the dictates of the Goddess
Fashion, our bodies may even be deformed and our lives shortened.
Moreover, there are other penalties to be paid; we are kept warm in
summer as well as in winter, the purchase of our attire may entail
the spending of much money, while the mere donning and doffing of our
clothes gives rise to a prodigious waste of time.

Even tramps have at intervals to replace the rags which cover them, and
while, for all practical purposes, every one else takes off his clothes
when going to bed and puts them on again when getting up, many of those
who are at work in the daytime "dress for dinner" in the evening.
Moreover, Society may demand a further expenditure of time on the part
of its members, and the rule may be laid down that the higher the
standing of a civilized individual, the more often does he change his
garments. In fact, more than one monarch, from the way in which he
appears in different uniforms at various functions which follow one
another in quick succession, has been likened to the now familiar
"lightning change artist" of the music-hall stage.

It is thus quite clear that all of us are more or less under the thrall
of dress. Those, therefore, who find the position irksome, will gain
solace from the interesting investigations which can be made into the
origin and development of costume. Others, again, whose clothes already
find favour in their eyes, will enjoy looking at them from a different
point of view.

As a matter of fact, our artificial coverings have become so much a part
of our life that one may perhaps be allowed to apply the methods of the
naturalist to their consideration, and deal with them as if they were
part and parcel of the creature which wears them.

Darwin established beyond a doubt[1] that the plants and animals of
to-day are the direct descendants of older and often very different
forms, and it is the task and delight of the naturalist to trace their
genealogies. Most useful suggestions may be obtained from the small
vestiges that remain in the bodies of present-day creatures, of
structures which in early times were important and useful organs.

For instance, if the skin be lifted from the head of a "slow worm" we
find a third eye, which tells us that once its ancestors, like the giant
Cyclops, were able to look out from the middle of their faces.

Again, to take a case which applies to ourselves, and has a melancholy
interest for us, one might mention the vermiform appendix. This is a
remnant of a great sac which once was useful when our ancestors were
vegetarians; now it is worse than useless, for it is very liable to
become irritated and give rise to what is known as appendicitis.

So long as a quarter of a century ago Sir George Darwin pointed out[2]
that the great theory of evolution established by his father could be
applied with much advantage to the study of dress, and it will be seen
as we proceed that not the least fascinating part of the subject are
vestiges similar to those which we have just described, and which have
often survived solely for ornamental reasons.

Many of these are so familiar, that in running the eye in the ordinary
way over a man's usual costume, attention would not be drawn to them.
There is the band round the outside of his hat and the little bow
inside; the nick in the collar of his coat and the more or less useless
buttons on his sleeves and back; while we must not forget the curious
ornamentation on the toes of his boots, nor the crest on his signet
ring.

When, however, an indication is given of the times and peoples to which
these trivialities can be made to carry us back, interest is aroused to
a remarkable degree. It can also be well maintained, for other clothes
present similar quaint survivals for investigation, while the evolution
of many individual garments is worth following, and special costumes
have been handed down to the present day, practically unchanged.

Fortunately, the student of dress is in a much better position than
the naturalist proper. The evidence available when the history of an
organism in past ages is being unravelled, is very scanty in many cases.
Sometimes the fossil remains recovered from the earth are very perfect
and follow one another in unbroken succession, but they usually consist
merely of the hard parts of the creatures. The individual development of
an organism is also a help, but when the changes which have taken untold
ages to perfect, are repeated, as in the case of the chicken in the egg,
within the space of a few short weeks, it is not surprising that much is
left out and obscured.

Man has existed in a civilized condition for a comparatively short time,
and there remain all kinds of records and illustrations, not to mention
actual clothes themselves, which can be consulted or examined.
Moreover, primitive men in almost every stage of culture are, or were
till quite lately, to be found somewhere in the world, and much can be
gleaned from them as to the origin and uses of costume.

There is a point that may be borne in mind when seeking for curiosities
of clothing, and it is that the more special or ceremonial the occasion,
the more ancient or more primitive the costume which is worn. In this
connection also it may be mentioned that the dress of the master of one
generation may survive as that of the servant in another.




II

THE ORIGIN OF DRESS

    Both he and his people were black as sloes
      For the region they lived in was torrid,
    And their principal clothes were a ring through the nose
      And a patch of red paint on the forehead.
                      THOMAS HOOD THE YOUNGER.


In seeking the origin of dress we necessarily assume that once upon
a time our primitive ancestors did not wear any clothes at all. Even
nowadays, in our own country, at sports, in the ball-room, and on the
stage, the garments worn, or some of them, may be reduced to the minimum
that the rules of Society appear to demand. There are, moreover, two
reasons why very early man did not trouble to dress: first of all, he
was covered with hair like the majority of mammals; and, secondly, it is
more than probable that his home was within the tropics. (See Plate I.,
Frontispiece.) The two ideas are quite compatible, for all the great
apes--chimpanzee, orang-utan, and gorilla--which are the nearest
relatives of man, have been found in the warmer regions of the world,
and are well supplied with hair.

It has long been thought that the cradle of mankind is to be looked for
in the south of Asia, and it is a striking fact that of recent years the
bones of the earliest known creature that can with certainty be called
a man (_Pithecanthropus erectus_) were discovered in Java.[3] At the
same time it appears that _Pithecanthropus_, although it walked erect,
approximated more closely to the apes than does any more recent human
being, and in making a restoration of the type in question, one would
feel bound to endow it with a coat of hair. This has since been lost,
and, according to Darwin, owing to æsthetic reasons, the members of one
sex having chosen as mates those of the other who were the least hairy.

Man also has found his way into most parts of the globe, but he has not
always acted with regard to dress in the same way in similar climates.
The problem, therefore, which we have set ourselves to solve, proves to
be less simple than it appeared at the outset, for great use may be made
of clothes in one cold country and not in another, while they may be
unknown in certain parts of the tropics, and adopted elsewhere within
their radius.

Very often when it is sought to explain a matter, it is found that this
can be done in two or three different ways, and it is quite possible
that all of them may be correct. This fact may with advantage be borne
in mind when seeking for the reasons which lead to the adoption of
dress, for the first time, by any particular race.

Perhaps it will help us if we pause for a moment to consider why clothes
are worn at the present day. There is no doubt but that in the case of
many garments their ornamental character, real or supposed, is the first
consideration. Others are chosen chiefly for protection and warmth,
while, as already indicated, the rest suffice to satisfy the claims of
modesty. Although the three reasons are now intimately combined, it is
practically certain that any one of them is sufficient to have led to
the adoption of clothes in the first place, and as if these were not
enough there may be other contributing, if not actual causes.

We may now consider these matters in detail. It would seem from the
study of modern peoples, who are still in a very simple state of
civilization, as well as from one of the earliest drawings scratched
by the cave-men who were contemporary with the mammoth in France, that
ornaments are the most primitive part of dress. (See Figure 1 and Plate
II.)

[Illustration: A WOMAN AND A WITCH DOCTOR OF CENTRAL AFRICA, SHEWING THE
PART THAT ORNAMENTS MAY PLAY EVEN WHEN CLOTHING IS OF THE SCANTIEST.

(_From a photograph by Captain Ford._)

  _PLATE II._]

Generally speaking, the more simple the race, the greater is its love of
ornament. The cave-man's sketch shows a woman who is devoid of clothing,
but who wears bracelets, while it is said that in the original a
necklace can be traced, though owing to an injury to the fragment of
bone on which the drawing was made, the head of the figure has been
lost.

On the West Coast of Africa, where clothes are not a necessity owing
to the heat, bracelets are worn in such numbers by the native belles as
to cover a large part of the forearm, while anklets rise in succession
nearly to the knee. (See Plate II.) Again, in New Guinea the women of
some tribes who do not indulge in a single scrap of clothing, still wear
ornaments on their heads and round their necks.

[Illustration: FIGURE 1.--Drawing of a woman engraved by a cave-man.

(Modified from Wilson.)]

There is, however, something to be advanced on behalf of savages that
cannot be said for white people who bedizen themselves with jewellery,
or bedeck themselves with the feathers of rare and beautiful birds.
Uncivilized people have no pockets nor safes in which to keep their
valuables, and it comes about that these take a form which permits them
to be worn on the person, so that many of the objects which take the
place of ornaments--such as teeth, shells, and beads--serve as the
currencies of their owners. Even now there are individuals of whom it is
said that they "put all their money on their backs," but, unfortunately
for them, it depreciates sadly in value, and cannot be turned to account
at a moment's notice. Furthermore, one naked warrior is very much like
another, and chiefs, in order that they may easily be identified, have
come to wear certain ornaments just as at the other extreme with regard
to covering, knights in full armour carried crests on their helmets and
other devices on their surcoats and shields.

Clothes proper are of later origin, and, as we have already mentioned,
would only be adopted for protective purposes after man had lost the
greater part of his hairy covering.

It is probable that this had happened before the earliest settlers
arrived in this country, although the cave-men made their drawings of
themselves in the nude, and it is contended that the marks on their
bodies are similar to those in the drawings of animals and are not mere
attempts at shading, but indicate the presence of hair.

In the first place, man was a hunter pure and simple, and his clothes
were made from the hairy skins of his quarry. At the present time the
Eskimos are clothed in this way, and there is little doubt but that they
are the descendants of the cave-men, who made the striking drawings to
which we have already alluded. Their implements, stature, and so forth,
all point this way, and the fact that their clothes are merely adopted
as a protection against the weather, is shown by the fact that they
remove them altogether when in their huts.

We have already said that it does not always follow that even when
the climate is cold, complete dress is brought into use. When H.M.S.
_Beagle_ visited South America, some of the Tierra del Fuegians
wore only an otter skin or some small scrap about as large as a
pocket-handkerchief. It was laced across the breast by strings, and
was shifted from side to side according to the direction of the wind.
Others, both men and women, wore nothing. One of the latter, who was
suckling a recently born child, came alongside the vessel in a canoe,
and stayed there, out of pure curiosity, while the sleet fell and thawed
on her naked bosom and on the bare body of her baby.[4]

Some races can make very passable clothes by hammering the fibres from
the bark of trees into a kind of cloth, while when men took to husbandry
and cultivated plants that produce fibres, they learned also to spin and
weave materials from which to make their garments. The use of furs has
always survived to a greater or less extent, but it is interesting to
note that motoring has caused a return to primitive dress as regards
external garments, for in order to withstand the air which is met when
the car is in rapid movement, fur clothes and leather suits have been
introduced, the latter of course being not quite so old in type as the
former. It must not be forgotten at this point that climate is not the
only enemy that man has had to face, and that armour was a development
of dress, intended to preserve him from the onslaughts of his own
species.

We have now noticed two ways in which clothes must have been brought
into use, namely, as adornments and for protection. We have still to
consider the third of the obvious reasons. Modesty is a habit, or one
might perhaps call it equally well a fashion, which is so widespread
that some have characterized it as being an instinct, and have stated
quite wrongly that it is universal. The most curious point with regard
to the matter is that very different ideas of modesty prevail in various
regions of the world, one part of the body being covered by some people
and another by others. Besides, it by no means follows that a naked race
is less chaste than one which is clothed.

Although at the present day races exist where only the men cover
themselves, it is very likely that clothes worthy of the name were first
worn by women, for keen observers have pointed out that men dependent on
their skill and speed in the chase would hardly encumber themselves with
clothes, though having comely wives they might deem it advisable for
them to be protected from the public gaze. This idea is still carried
out in Eastern countries, where women cover even the greater part of
their faces, and are usually secluded in a harem. As bearing out,
however, what we have just said with regard to modesty, it may be
mentioned that the peasant women in Egypt are perfectly happy so long
as their faces and the backs of their heads are covered, and it is
considered even more shameful to expose the latter than the former. The
objection made not long ago to the appearance of English women in church
without hats may be remembered in this connection.

Painting may often replace clothing, and members of races accustomed to
decorate their bodies in this way, are much ashamed if they are seen
unpainted. Tattooing also does away to a great extent with bareness, and
it is obvious that unclothed black men and women never present such a
naked appearance as do lighter-coloured races. In fact, a white man
who bathed with a number of coloured people likened himself and his
companions to an artificial, blanched, and sickly plant among its
healthy dark green fellows.

Doubtless the hair of original man was coloured so as to match his
surroundings, and it seems likely that the tint of his skin was reddish.
We have now no need for protective colouration (except in war time), and
as we do not live in the tropics, we should gain no advantage from being
black; therefore pigment is but little developed in our skins, and it
has been suggested that clothes sometimes have been adopted by white
races for æsthetic reasons apart from their development from ordinary
ornaments.

It seems possible, too, that man, upon realizing that he differed from
other animals in having no natural covering, set about to provide
himself with one.

There is, however, another contributing cause which may have led to the
adoption of dress, and this depends on the action of women themselves.
They may put on clothes for reasons of coquetry just as on occasion they
may modify or discard them. For instance, fashion at a moment's notice
may obscure one part of the body that hitherto was obvious, and at the
same time emphasize the natural outlines of others which before were
hidden. Again, the bare necks and arms displayed in our ball-rooms
afford another case in point.




III

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN COAT

THE ANCESTRAL SHAWL--PROBLEMATICAL BUTTONS


Now that we have considered the origin of dress as a whole, we may turn
with advantage to the evolution of individual garments. People are very
often pleased to allude to what are called the vagaries of fashion, but
it is curious to notice how little real change is made in costume at the
present time. The really useful characters are always retained, and our
modern clothes can be reduced to a very few types. A skirt is a skirt
whether it falls naturally, is held out all round with a hoop, or
crinoline, or is only supported behind by what at one time was known as
an "improver." And in the same way it may be said that trousers remain
trousers whether they have bell bottoms or are peg tops.

Even types which we recognize as being quite distinct, are often so
closely related as to cause surprise when their family history is made
known. Although it constantly alters as regards details, which from a
constructional point of view are quite unimportant, woman's dress does
not seem to have varied to any very great extent. Consequently, there
are not quite so many curious features to be seen as in the ordinary
clothes or uniforms of men. On the other hand, however, we may with
greater reason hope to find that some primitive characters have survived
until the present day.

No article of clothing could well be simpler than the shawl, and though
there is an art in its arrangement, the only point in its structure that
would appear to invite attention is the presence of a fringe on only two
sides. This seems to be a small matter, but it takes us straight back
to the time when men had ceased to be hunters merely, and having become
agriculturists had learned, as we have already indicated, to weave
fibres with the help of simple looms. From the cloth thus made clothes
were constructed, though skins continued to be used as outer mantles.
When the stuff was taken from these early looms, the threads of the warp
were left hanging from two opposite edges, and the fringe that we have
now on our shawls is a direct survival of this accidental occurrence.

There seems not the slightest doubt but that we can trace the coat from
the shawl. A simple improvement in the latter is to join two edges of
the shawl together and make a tunic. Such a tubular garment was used in
Greece, and, with some slight modifications, is worn by Egyptian women
to-day. It came up to the armpits, was gathered up on to each shoulder
and fastened with two brooches. (Figure 2.)

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Sketch showing the development of the tunic. In
this stage it has no arms.]

The next stage in development would be a sleeved tunic, and how easily
this could be derived from a shawl can be seen by putting a narrow one
over the shoulders and lifting up the arms as shown in Figure 3. The
material has only to be sewn together under the arms, and if necessary
cut into shape.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Diagram showing the way in which a sleeved tunic
is derived from the shawl.]

If the front be not sewn up, we get the coat as we know it; if the edges
be joined along half their length or more, then we have a sleeved tunic,
a shirt, or vest (see Plate III). The smock-frock (see Figure 4) and
gown are more voluminous, while the jersey is short again, and has only
a small opening at the neck. An interesting garment is found among the
costumes of the Bronze Age chieftains of Denmark and their wives,
which have been preserved in the oak coffins of these people, owing to
the action of tannin from the wood which has preserved the woven
material.[5] The article in question belonged to one of the women,
and though the front edges are joined for a short distance, it is
practically a jacket. The sleeves are made all in one piece, and the
garment is very nearly as highly evolved as the Cardigan jacket, which
it very much resembles. (See Figure 5.)

[Illustration: THE SILK VEST WORN BY CHARLES I ON THE SCAFFOLD.
ILLUSTRATING THE SLEEVED TUNIC OPENING FOR A SHORT DISTANCE DOWN THE
FRONT.

(_From a photograph by Mr. Henry Stevens._)

  _PLATE III._]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A smock frock.]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Jacket of a woman, made in one piece. Bronze
stage of culture (after Worsaae).]

It is by this time clear, that several important garments are the
descendants of the shawl, which is still used by men in the British
Isles under the title of the plaid, or maud.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Man's dress showing buttons on the right side.]

Though differing, of course, in detail, the upper garments of men and
women agree in general construction. One of the points alluded to is
worthy of mention, namely, that the buttons on a man's coat are on
the right side and the buttonholes on his left, while in the case of
women's attire the exact opposite is found--at least, so far as one can
ascertain--in European countries. In the East, the little knobs which
are passed through loops and take the place of buttons, may in the
women's dress be on the right side, and in other Asiatic costumes the
same thing holds good. In connection with this peculiarity, it may be
pointed out that men and women have different ways of doing up buttons.
The man takes hold of the button with his right hand, puts his left
thumb into the buttonhole and pushes the button against it. Then he
pulls the stuff over with his right forefinger and pushes the button
through with his right thumb while he guides it with his left.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Woman's dress showing buttons on the left side.]

The woman, on the other hand, puts her right thumb through the
buttonhole, takes hold of the button with the fingers of the same hand,
and finally, if the other hand is at liberty, brings it up to finish the
process. (See Figures 6 to 11.)

To explain the difference in the position of the buttons is not by any
means easy. In the correspondence which has arisen out of lectures which
the writer has given on the evolution of dress, it has, in the first
place, been suggested that the arrangement of his clothing permitted a
man to thrust his right and fighting arm into his jacket in order to
keep it warm. This explanation, of course, does not account for the
variation in the case of women.

Dr. Lyman, of Baltimore, has submitted the theory that a man wearing
a loose cloak, toga, or plaid, would grasp it with the left hand and
thrust the left side over the right so as to leave the right-hand free
in order to hold a weapon or implement. A woman would grasp her attire
with her right hand, and push it over the left side and leave her left
arm unencumbered, wherewith to carry a child. It would, however, seem
more natural for the right side to be pulled over the left, but it is
unlikely that a man would fight in a loose cloak, and the toga was only
worn in times of peace. Moreover, the jacket, as we have seen, was
developed from the cloak through the tunic. A tunic was worn under the
toga, and as the only loose edge of the latter lies in the same way as
the buttonhole side of a man's coat, it is feasible that the edges of
the tunic beneath would for convenience be made to lap the same way.

  [Illustration: FIG. 8.--First stage.       FIG. 9.--Second stage.

  Diagrams showing how a man does up a button.]

  [Illustration: FIG. 10.--First stage.      FIG. 11.--Second stage.

  Diagrams showing how a woman does up a button.]

To turn to women's dress, it is customary, as Dr. Lyman says, to carry
children on the left arm, and they are allowed to suck the left breast
to a greater extent than the other. The left side of a bodice could, if
the right lapped over it, be pulled back without exposing so much of the
person as if the reverse held good, and in the case of tightly-fitting
clothing, if the buttons have to be done up with the right hand alone,
the task is made easier. Another interesting little point of difference
between the clothes of the two sexes is, that while the buttons on a
man's wristbands are on the thumb side, those of a woman are on that
which corresponds with the little finger. This arrangement is no doubt
correlated with that previously discussed, but the reason for it is not
obvious.




IV

BUTTONS AS CHRONICLES

EPISODES IN THE LATER HISTORY OF THE COAT AND CUFFS


We have gained some insight into the development of garments as a whole,
and no doubt it is now obvious that the little details of construction
will prove by no means the least attractive part of our subject. It
has become customary to refer to a button as typifying something of
specially small account, though very often much may depend in practice
upon one of these despised articles.

We have already shown that the mere position of a few buttons that are
still useful, may raise most curious points, and in the present chapter
we shall proceed to investigate some episodes in the later history of
the coat which have left their mark upon it, to a great extent in the
shape of useless buttons. This topic will be dealt with in some detail,
so that it may serve as a guide to those of our readers who may be
induced to undertake the fascinating study of survivals in dress.
Afterwards, the general survey of modern clothes will be continued, and
here and there lines of research will be indicated, while some problems
will be left for our readers to solve. In the second part of the book,
it is intended to deal with a certain number of costumes which have been
handed down to us as they are.

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--The buttons on the back of a policeman's great
coat.]

At the present time there are usually to be seen two buttons on the
back of civilians' coats, except in the case of lounge suits and dinner
jackets, and there may be four or more on the great coats of policemen
(see Figure 12) and on the tunics of some soldiers. The first question
which we will endeavour to answer is, Why are they there? The two upper
buttons in the case of uniforms are now used to support a belt, and
at first sight it looks as if they were originally intended for this
purpose. Their adoption in other cases might then be put down as a
survival from a time when civilians carried swords. Unfortunately for
this theory, it can be shown that the sword-belt was not necessarily
worn outside the coat (see Figures 18 and 19).

We must therefore look round for further evidence, and we find that
those coats which bear the pair of buttons, have a slit up the middle
which gives rise to the skirts or tails. This arrangement carries us
back to the time when there were no railways and few conveyances; when
men commonly travelled on horseback and their whole attire was adapted
to this end, so that they were ready for the saddle at a moment's
notice. The division in the coat which we are considering, allowed one
tail to fall conveniently on each side of the horse after its rider had
mounted it.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--The buttons that close the slit up the back of
an ulster.]

In long overcoats of to-day we find only a short slit, left for
convenience in walking (see Figure 13); but it has a special interest
for us, as in connection with it there are two or three buttons and
buttonholes, usually hidden, which allow of the opening being closed
up.

Here, then, we have buttons on the back of the coat still serving a
useful purpose, and it is not at all difficult to trace the series of
fastenings back to a much longer one, which in the seventeenth century
was quite obvious. (See Figure 14.)

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--A back view of a seventeenth-century coat
showing the buttons and buttonholes.]

Each button and buttonhole was placed in the middle of similar pieces
of lace or embroidery, so that the sides of the coat were made to look
symmetrical. The object in view was the keeping of the skirts of the
coat together when the wearer was not on horseback. At the present day
the buttons have been duplicated and are on both sides of the coat, and
they are still sewn to ornamental pieces in the uniform of the Grenadier
Guards. The presence of the lower buttons on uniforms and coats is
therefore explained. It might be assumed that the topmost button had
also been doubled and raised above the slit, and that in this way we
have obtained the two ornaments on the back of our coats.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--The tab and buttons on the back of a soldier's
great coat which make a temporary waist.]

Before accepting such a solution of the problem, however, it may be well
to see if the buttons may not have had another origin; and on looking
for some clue we find that two folds take their rise from the point
where the buttons are situated. These may be expected to throw some
light upon the question. The folds are now permanent, but on a
voluminous coat, such as still used by horse soldiers, they can be
produced temporarily (see Figure 15) by setting the two buttons further
apart and running a tab from one to the other. Sir George Darwin has
attempted to carry the history of these two buttons still further
back.[6] He has expressed the opinion that each is one of a pair that
originally kept in place a small tab at the side of the coat, and so
helped to produce a waist when required. (See Figures 17 and 18.)

In some drawings of coats (see Figure 18) the side tabs and their
corresponding buttons are shown in addition to those on the back of the
coat.

There is, however, evidence to show that the buttons were originally
on the sides of the coat, for they are so wide apart as to be to all
intents and purposes in that position, on the uniform overcoats of the
London Electric Tramway drivers. (See Figure 16.)

They may well represent the topmost buttons of the lateral series, still
found on the overcoat of the members of the Corps of Commissionaires. In
this case there are three buttons on each side, of which the middle one
is used for fastening the side-pocket.

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--The buttons and tab on a tramway driver's
coat.]

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--An eighteenth-century coat with side buttons
and tab.]

[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Side tabs and buttons at the back (after
Racinet).]

It is worth while to consider side-pockets, which in their turn are
remnants of lateral openings which were made in coats at the end of
the seventeenth and the beginning of the following centuries. The
sword-handle conveniently protruded through the left-hand slit, which,
like its fellow, ran from the waist to the lower margin of the coat
or stopped half-way. (See Figures 18 and 19.) In the latter case, the
arrangement very much resembles the vertical pocket which has become
common again of recent years. (See Figure 20.)

[Illustration: FIG. 19.--A coat worn at the end of the
seventeenth-century (after H. Bonnart).]

[Illustration: FIG. 20.--A modern coat with side pockets.]

Occasionally a tab, such as that to which reference has been made,
kept the parts of the coat together; but often there were buttons and
buttonholes, at least at the upper end of the openings. These survive
in several cases, such as in the overcoat of the commissionaire, while
the pocket is sometimes represented by a mere flap (see Figure 21)
ornamented with buttons as on the livery of certain footmen.

[Illustration: FIG. 21.--A footman's coat, modern, with vestigial pocket
flaps.]

[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Coat skirts buttoned back (after Hogarth).]

To sum up the matter, the topmost pair of buttons has come from the
fastenings of the side slit and the lower ones from those of the back
slit. Buttons on the skirt behind have in the meantime had a very
intimate connection with the evolution of the "swallow-tail" coat
(see Figure 24). They were used to fasten the corners of the ordinary
riding-coat together, so that the linings should not be injured by the
sweat of the horses. (See Figure 22.)

Mr. Deane Butcher tells me that he can remember this buttoning back
being done in the case of his uncle, when the latter rode to market or
to church; but in this case it was the two uppermost buttons which
were again brought into use. At dances the coats were also subjected
to similar treatment, and what at first was a temporary condition
afterwards became a permanent one. It is obvious that the turned-back
lining would often be of a different colour from the outside of the
coat, and facings on old uniforms, and in that of the present dress of
a lord-lieutenant (see Figure 23) are derived from the practice of
fastening the corners of the coat together. In the "swallow-tail" the
outer corners have been cut right away. (See Figure 24.)

[Illustration: FIG. 23.--A coat with the skirts buttoned back and
showing the lining.]

[Illustration: FIG. 24.--A dress coat with skirts cut away.]

The buttons, in the interesting cases which we have described, have
been allowed to remain as part and parcel of our costume on account of
their decorative character, and in a great measure the same is true of
those on coat cuffs (see Figure 25). In many cases there are proper
buttonholes, and it is possible to undo the sleeve buttons; but
occasionally the arrangement has degenerated and the buttonholes are
imitations or only the buttons remain.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.--A modern coat cuff with buttons.]

[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Turned-back cuff, end of seventeenth century
(after Bonnart).]

To find an explanation of this feature we shall have to go back again to
the seventeenth century, when so much was expended upon coats that it
became advisable to turn back the cuffs out of harm's way. To hold them
in position, series of buttons and buttonholes were devised, and just
as the turning back of the skirts was at first temporary and afterwards
came to be done once for all when the coat was made, so the turned-back
cuff grew into a permanent institution. In Figure 26 the buttons are one
above the other as in modern dress, but in the next two Figures (27 and
28) they are horizontal.

[Illustration: FIG. 27.--A coat sleeve (after Hogarth) with a horizontal
row of buttons.]

[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Sleeve of a coat of the seventeenth century,
reputed to have been worn by Charles I.]

A survival of this arrangement can still be seen in the coat sleeves of
the higher clergy. In ordinary dress, the turned-back edge of the cuff
may now only be represented by a band of braid or a row of stitches; but
in soldiers' uniforms, an ornamented cuff persists which represents
in reality the lining of the sleeve. Again, the turned-back cuff is
actually present in the clothes of costermongers, and has been revived
on overcoats to a considerable extent during the last few years. (See
Figure 29.)

As a rule, too, the vertical pocket already described accompanies the
turned-back cuff, as it did some centuries ago. (See Figure 20.)

[Illustration: FIG. 29.--The turned-back cuff on an overcoat, modern.]

[Illustration: FIG. 30.--A sleeve with vertical buttons and a
turned-back cuff as well (from a uniform, after Hogarth).]

It must not be forgotten that buttons have long been used on narrow
sleeves. They are undone when the hand is to be pushed through the
cuff, and afterwards fastened for the sake of warmth or to give a neat
appearance. It is therefore possible that the ring of buttons is more
properly a survival of the time when cuffs were turned back to preserve
them, and that the vertical row is really of earlier origin. A uniform
represented by Hogarth (Figure 30) shows both the row of buttons and the
turned-back cuff, which seems to be quite independent of them.

In this instance we may have the degenerated turned-back cuff and one
revived, shown together. Such a case, we need scarcely point out, could
hardly occur in the case of an animal structure, for if by a "throw
back" or "reversion to type" we get a vestigial character once more
fully reproduced, we cannot expect the original structure and the
vestige to be shown at the same time.

The adoption of buttons more or less for ornament has long been
practised. John Brandon, who died in the year 1364, is shown on his
brass (in the church of St. Mary, King's Lynn) with no less than forty
buttons on the sleeves of his undervest, which has embroidered cuffs
and is buttoned to the elbow (see Plate IV). We shall, however, have
something more to say with regard to buttons from this and other points
of view as we proceed.

[Illustration: REPRODUCTION OF A BRASS TO JOHN BRANDON AND HIS TWO
WIVES, IN THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, KING'S LYNN. DATE 1364. ON THE MALE
FIGURE A CONTINUOUS ROW OF BUTTONS RUNS FROM THE WRIST TO THE ELBOW OF
THE UNDER VEST. THE WOMEN WEAR THE WIMPLE AND THE GORGET OR THROAT
CLOTH.

  _PLATE IV._]

An interesting case of superfluous buttons on the front of clothes is to
be seen in the case of the short jackets of the postilions, belonging to
His Majesty the King. There is a useful row down the middle which closes
the garment, and two ornamental rows which start from each shoulder and
curve downwards towards the middle row. These are probably vestiges of
buttons that were once of use, and to seek an explanation it might be
well to study some uniforms of the past. We shall find that in the
eighteenth century it was customary to button back the revers of the
uniform coat, as in the case of the French coast-guard officer of 1775.
(See Figure 31.)

Fashion afterwards decreed that the coats should be fastened again with
hooks, but the two rows of buttons remained.

[Illustration: FIG. 31.--The uniform of a coast-guard officer of 1775
(after Racinet).]

In the coat of the postilion there is no trace of the revers which
showed the lining, and were consequently of a different colour from
the rest of the coat. We find, however, in the peculiar uniform of
the Lancers that there are the two side rows of buttons, to which is
fastened a red front. This appears to represent the two revers combined.
In the present year, 1907, a number of ladies' dresses are to be seen in
which the revers trimmed with a different material from the dress are
buttoned back against the latter.

In some ceremonial dresses and uniforms there are cross stripes on the
breast (see Figure 61) which, it has been pointed out, represent series
of buttonholes which have become hypertrophied, and are now exaggerated
beyond recognition. The braid on the cuff of the London Scottish
Volunteers seems also to represent buttonholes.

Such features as turned-back cuffs occur in women's clothes, and, as
we have seen, the arrangement of buttons may be copied from masculine
attire. In other cases buttons seem to appear which have, it would seem,
no hereditary right to their position; but it may be well, before
dismissing them, to see whether they have not a pedigree. We might cite
the case of the buttons that are sewn on to the frocks a little below
the knee. They are often at the head of a plait, and it would be worth
while to look into their history.




V

COLLARS AND BANDS

NICKS IN COAT LAPELS--THE WHY AND WHEREFORE OF THE WHITE SHIRT FRONT


Let us carry on our work of dissecting the clothes of a modern man, and
as we once more survey our subject, we may glance a little higher than
heretofore, until our eyes rest upon the collar of his coat. This
structure passes into the lapels, and at the point of junction there is
a curious nick which is repeated in the waistcoat if this be similarly
provided with lapels. (See Figure 32.)

[Illustration: FIG. 32.--The nicks in the coat and waistcoat.]

[Illustration: FIG. 33.--A stage when the nick was useful (Lucien
Bonaparte, after Paul Lacroix).]

There is always a temptation to invent some interesting theory in order
to explain the origin of vestiges, and a penny paper, which hardly
boasts of scientific accuracy, not long ago informed its readers that
the slit in the coat lapel is the outcome of a "unique and beautiful
custom among the orthodox Jews," for in former days, when death visited
a Jew's household, he cut the lapel of his coat. It was undoubtedly a
custom of the Jews to rend their garments, but it does not, on the
face of it, seem likely that the practice would have influenced modern
costume. It would appear, however, that the slit in the lapel has a
much more prosaic origin, and owes its existence rather to a practical
requirement than to a sentimental observance. When the collar of a coat
is made to stand up, it is absolutely necessary that a piece should be
cut out of the cloth, or the lapel will not lie down. In the exaggerated
garment of which we give an illustration (see Figure 33) this need is
most manifest; but a moment's thought will show that the provision
must be made, even if the collar be small. A trifling experiment will
indicate that at the present day the cut is not usually made deep enough
to allow of the collar being turned up without disturbing the lapels.

[Illustration: FIG. 34.--The "toothpick" on a dress coat.]

Another remarkable variation is to be found in the collars of some dress
suits. A little point is left on the collar known to tailors as the
"toothpick," which runs across the nick into the lapel (see Figure 34).
This structure is probably a survival of some particular kind of collar.

It might be pointed out here that the facings and collar that are of
silk or velvet represent the lining of the coat which came into view
when the collar was turned down and the lapels turned back. The case
is quite similar to that of the cuffs on uniforms, and to be quite
consistent, the whole coat should be lined with what is usually used now
only as a kind of trimming.

It is but a short step from the features that we have been discussing,
to the linen collar and the shirt front. The cutting away of the outer
garment to bring the shirt into view is a relic of the time when only
those who were very well to do could afford to wear linen, and they
showed it, in order to indicate their social position, or at any rate
their financial resources. At the same time, the women cut their dresses
low so as to show their underlinen; and not content with this, they
further, at the end of the thirteenth century, slit their gowns from the
armpits to the hips. The openings thus made were laced across, so that
the linen garments beneath could easily be seen.

The white shirt has long survived, and in spite of its depreciated value
has up to quite recently posed as a badge of respectability. Now at last
there are signs that its sway is over, and that soon it will come to be
only a garment of ceremony.

The linen collar of to-day is quite a small affair compared with some of
its forerunners. An interesting relic is to be seen in the two little
linen flaps which we call bands (see Figure 35). These are still worn
by preachers in conjunction with the Geneva gown, by barristers, and
by Blue-coat boys (see Figure 36), and we can easily trace their
relationship to the collar. Until a few years ago the choristers at
Jesus College, Cambridge, wore a peculiar collar which ended in two
flaps much resembling bands, and the descent of this from the large
structures which were called falling bands is not difficult to trace.

[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Modern bands.]

[Illustration: FIG. 36.--A blue-coat boy's bands.]

[Illustration: FIG. 37.--A chorister of Jesus College, Cambridge,
showing the collar worn until recently.

(From a photograph by the courtesy of Mr. H. Austin Wheaton.)]

The portrait of Jan Steen, which we reproduce, shows bands which are
less stiff and formal, but of ampler proportions. (See Figure 38.)

Going a little further back, we find the collar that covered the
shoulders, such as Milton wore, and which is shown in our picture of
John Pym. (See Figure 39.)

[Illustration: FIG. 38.--A stage in the reduction of the bands (portrait
of Jan Steen from the _Illustrated Magazine of Art_).]

[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Full-sized bands (portrait of John Pym from the
_Illustrated Magazine of Art_).]

At this point we may pause to recall a simple article which is known
as a bandbox, but which has been diverted from its original purpose of
holding bands, and is now commonly used as a receptacle for hats. Though
not itself part of dress, the bandbox furnishes an interesting instance
of adaptation to circumstances. It was well suited to contain articles
of dress other than those for which it was primarily intended, and
hence it has survived in the struggle for existence. (See Figure 40.)

[Illustration: FIG. 40.--A modern bandbox, now used for hats.]

[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Bands that survive at the present day.]

We must not, however, jump to the conclusion that bands are now only
represented by vestiges, for they are still to be seen in their full
glory on very small boys (see Figure 41), and the writer recalls a lad
of fourteen or so who had reached the dignity of trousers who wore the
same kind of collar. As he also had a trencher, or in common parlance, a
"mortar-board," it is possible that he was not an isolated survival, but
belonged to some school which adopted a special costume.

As linen collars are one of the articles of dress in regard to which
the wearer is allowed in a great measure to follow his own taste, it
is not surprising that a great many forms have from time to time been
invented. Quite a number are still to be seen here and there, while the
development of the more fashionable shapes one from the other would, in
itself, form a chapter in the Evolution of Dress. The clerical collar
may be singled out, as it fastens behind like the bands, though the
reason for this is not at all obvious.

In recalling the great ruffs and expanded collars of Queen Elizabeth's
reign, one may be inclined to smile at the lengths to which a fad may be
carried, and the curious, not to say monstrous, structures that are its
culminations. These, like the huge creatures of bygone ages, die out,
but differ in this respect that they sometimes revive for a time. For
instance, only a few years have passed since the collars of ladies'
mantles stood up round the back of their heads; but as the collars
usually lacked the decoration and colour of the Elizabethan period, they
appeared as if they were intended merely to keep the draught from the
necks of their wearers, and they did not last for long.




VI

VESTIGES IN THE HAT

HOW HATS WERE EVOLVED--WHY PLUMES ARE ON THE LEFT SIDE--THE GROWTH OF
THE BUSBY--HELMETS AND COCKED HATS


Those who have written upon dress from an artistic point of view have
recognized that costume and architecture are affected by the same
influences. When we come to the hat, we find that its name is connected
with a building of a primitive character, namely, a hut. Mr. Allan
Poe Newcombe, an architect, some years ago pointed out the curious
resemblance which has existed, and is still to be found in many
countries, between headgear and habitations or other buildings.[7]
It may be that the cases which have been collected together are mere
coincidences, though it must be allowed that they are both numerous and
striking. It may be that the same taste, or lack of it, has given rise
to the similarity of style, or in the beginning, the designer of the hat
may have taken the hut as a model.

In the Hawaiian Islands, long before the inhabitants troubled about
clothes, they built themselves grass houses, and at the present time the
characteristic Hawaiian hat is remarkably like the hut. The turbans of
Eastern Church dignitaries are still of the same shape as those worn
by the high priests among the Jews, and are remarkably like the
characteristic dome which surmounts a mosque. (See Figure 42.)

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--The turban of a Jewish priest (after Kitto)
compared with the dome of the Mosque of Omar.]

Looking about in other countries we shall find further instances that
support Mr. Newcombe's contention; our illustration of a Siamese
head-dress and building is a case in point. (See Figure 43.)

Again going back into European history, we find that the high pointed
spires of Gothic churches were cotemporaneous with the high horn-like
head-dress known as the hennin (see Figure 44). It is claimed, moreover,
that like results will be found after a comparison of other styles of
architecture with the costume of the period in which they flourished.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--A Siamese head-dress and a Pra Pang or Votive
spire (after P.A. Thompson).]

[Illustration: FIG. 44.--A Gothic spire (St. Stephen's, Caen) compared
with the hennin (the latter after Fairholt).]

Leaving this suggestive line of research, and coming to hats as we have
them at the present day, we find that they offer several remarkable
vestiges for our consideration. First of all there is the hat-band
outside, which sometimes ends in two tails or streamers that hang from
the back of the hat (see Figure 47). From the bow usually present it
is evident that the hat-band was tied, and the streamers represent the
loose ends. As a matter of fact, primitively, a head-dress was made from
a piece of cloth, round which a fillet was tied so that it fitted the
head. In this connexion Figure 45 is most interesting. It represents
the back view of the head of the Egyptian woman of the Sixth Dynasty,
who is seen in Figure 76, and shows a head-dress which is confined with
a fillet that is tied at the back so as to make two tails.

[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Band with streamers fastening on the head-dress
of an Egyptian woman. From a figure of the Sixth Dynasty, B.C. 3500.]

[Illustration: FIG. 46.--A lady's head-dress confined with a fillet,
fourteenth century (after Viollet le Duc).]

The modern Arab fastens his kefiyeh with a twist of camel's hair without
streamers, and the lady of the fourteenth century, shown in Figure 46,
has also an ordinary band.

The child's sailor hat and the Scotch cap are among the modern head
coverings which retain the strings (Figure 49). A twelfth-century
head-dress shown in a manuscript (Figure 48) has a great similarity to
the Scotch cap, as the band forms a kind of binding to the article in
both cases, and there are streamers to both.

[Illustration: FIG. 47.--A sailor hat with band and streamers.]

[Illustration: FIG. 48.--A twelfth-century head-dress with streamers
from a MS. (after Viollet le Duc).]

The strings or streamers are to be found in many other head coverings,
including the mitres of bishops (see Figure 50). The particular mitre
illustrated is that of the See of Durham, which is distinguished from
others in being plumed.

[Illustration: FIG. 49.--A modern Scotch cap with streamers.]

[Illustration: FIG. 50.--A mitre of the See of Durham showing the
strings (after Millington).]

An interesting suggestion as to the origin of the slit in the top of the
mitre may be mentioned here. Head-dresses were used in very early times
which were in the form of a fish's head, and it has been thought that
the slit in the mitre, so distinctly shown in chess-men, represents the
fish's mouth.

On looking at the inside of a modern hat, a little bow of silk ribbon
will usually be found at the back where the two edges of the leather
lining meet. Here, again, is a vestige. (See Figure 51.)

[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Small vestigial bow of ribbon in a modern hat.]

In some hats the ribbon does not simply make the bow, but it is threaded
through a greater or less number of holes in the leather, though now
fulfilling no useful purpose. (See Figure 52.)

[Illustration: FIG. 52.--A hat with the remains of lacing.]

In a hunting hat, however (see Figure 53), the lacing is continuous
round the hat, and the lining can be made to fit the wearer. It helps to
form a buffer, should the huntsman unfortunately fall on his head, and
it is claimed that many lives have been saved by this small detail.

[Illustration: FIG. 53.--A hunting hat with complete lacing inside.]

It may be gathered from the description that in times when hats could
not easily be got to fit their wearers, the lacing inside would be most
useful, as it ensured that the size could be adjusted.

It is possible also that in the lacing we have a means by which a hat
was originally shaped, and that the lace is really a hat-band threaded
through the material of the head-dress instead of being tied round
outside. The first diagram on page 57 shows a flat piece of leather
cut into a circular form; the next shows it perforated and a lace put
through the openings; the third indicates how by tightening the string a
crown could be made to the hat.

[Illustration: FIG. 54.--A disc of leather.]

[Illustration: FIG. 55.--The disc perforated and the lace inserted.]

[Illustration: FIG. 56.--The lace tightened to form a crown.]

[Illustration: FIG. 57.--The ends of the lace tied as a bow inside.]

In time, when the crown was made in different ways, it would be easy to
transfer the lacing to the lining as seen already in the hunting hat
(Figure 53).

It is interesting to note that a small bow is also found inside ladies'
hats, and often used as a place on which to put the name of the maker.
(See Figure 58.)

[Illustration: FIG. 58.--A bow fastened to the lining of a lady's hat.]

[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Plumes on the left side.]

Sir George Darwin has shown why plumes are, and used to be, on the left
side of a hat only. In the days when the feathers were particularly long
there was also plenty of fighting, and it only needs the attention to
be drawn to the point, to make one realize that if the plume had been
on the right side, it might often have got in the way of a sword and
thereby caused the overthrow or even death of its wearer. At the present
day in the army (see Figure 59), the plumes will be found on the left
side as in the days of cavaliers.

Sir George Darwin[8] has traced the origin of the busby, and has
shown that the little red flap that hangs on the left side as a
useless appendage is really the original cap. Busbies were the special
attributes of the Hussars, who were originally Hungarian soldiers. It
is the peasant's cap of Hungary that is the forerunner of the military
head-dress which we are considering, and it consisted of a red cap of
cloth with a band of fur round the edge. As time went on, the fur on the
cap, which was adopted in the end by various regiments, became wider and
wider, and the original red cap got smaller and smaller until the form
of the modern busby was reached. In some cases even the flap already
mentioned has gone, though the fact that the top of the busby is made of
cloth instead of fur still points to its origin. (See Figures 60 and
61.)

[Illustration: FIG. 60.--The red Hungarian cap, which was the forerunner
of the busby.]

[Illustration: FIG. 61.--A busby (of the Honourable Artillery Company)
in which the cap is a vestige only.]

Though we are not discussing armour at the moment, we may say while
speaking of military head-dresses that metal helmets are still in use in
a few regiments. The helmet also of the fireman deserves attention, as
it is practically of the same type as that worn by the ancient Greeks.
(See Figure 62.)

[Illustration: FIG. 62.--A fireman's helmet (of the ancient Greek
type).]

[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Buttons so arranged that the broad brim of a
hat can be fastened to the crown, thus forming a temporary "cock"
(Hudibras after Hogarth).]

The cocked hat should also claim our attention, and it gives us
another instance of temporary alterations which have ultimately become
permanent. The picture of Hudibras shows an early stage in the history
of cocking. The strings which connect the brim of a bishop's tall hat
to the crown are evidently connected with this practice. In the modern
cocked hat more of the right side is turned up than of the left.
A little careful examination will render its development from the
broad-brimmed hat easily understood, while the representatives of the
hat-band and the details of the cocking will be soon discovered.

The cock of the hat formed a convenient spot in which to fix an
ornament, and the name cockade has come to be applied to such an
addition, borne on the hat, as a mark to distinguish the wearer.

The part which cockades have played in history is considerable, but as
they are now chiefly associated with the liveries of men-servants they
will be considered later on in the book. Before, however, we leave, for
the present, the subject of head coverings, we ought to mention that a
piece of woven material as primitively used without even a restraining
band, still survives in the shape of the small shawl which north-country
girls and women very generally wear over their heads. The head-dress of
the nun is another case in point, and recalls that in vogue in Tudor
times, while the sun-bonnet of the barge and market women, though more
highly developed, still consists to a considerable extent of simple
drapery.




VII

SHOES AND STOCKINGS

EARLY FOOT-GEAR--THE ORIGIN OF THE CLOCK--A MODERN IMITATION OF
TATTOOING--GAILY COLOURED GARTERS


Many persons still go barefoot, so that ancient as foot-gear may be, the
stage preceding its adoption is even now represented. Moreover, sandals,
which are very primitive, have been much in use of recent years, and
have especially been worn by children.

If we turn to ordinary boots and shoes we shall not find many obvious
points about them which lead up to their history. Still we shall see in
the case of a large number that in places where one piece of leather
laps over another, it is perforated with rows of holes which form a kind
of simple ornamentation. (See Figure 64.)

The perforations do not go through the boot or shoe, and in a Roman
example in the British Museum, which is much more highly decorated,
there are two thicknesses of leather, of which the outer one only is
pierced. (See Figure 65.)

In many cases, however, the Roman shoe was truly of open work. It
consisted of but one thickness of leather, and from this, large pieces
were cut out so as to make a kind of lattice. Several examples of
this kind of shoe are exhibited at the British Museum, and we give an
illustration of one of these, which is in a very fair state of
preservation. (See Figure 66.)

[Illustration: FIG. 64.--A modern boot decorated with perforations made
in the leather.]

[Illustration: FIG. 65.--An ornamented Roman shoe, of two thicknesses.]

[Illustration: FIG. 66.--A Roman shoe of open-work leather.]

It seems very probable that the ornamentation on our modern shoes is
a survival of the open work which was in favour with the Romans,
especially as even then the apertures did not always expose the foot. In
pre-Roman times in this country there were perforations in some of the
shoes which were useful rather than ornamental, and one type (of which a
specimen figured by Fairholt is preserved by the Royal Irish Academy)
has survived until recently, if it is not to be found to-day, in
Scotland and Ireland. This shoe was made of raw hide (see Figure 67),
and the holes, it is said, were intended to allow the water to pass
through when the wearer was crossing morasses. An examination of the
figure will, however, show that the holes are really slits, and it would
appear that however useful they may have proved in the way described,
they were originally made for quite a different reason.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.--A hide shoe of pre-Roman type from Ireland
(after Fairholt).]

The most primitive kind of shoe would doubtless be a piece of hide
placed under the foot and brought up over the toes and round the heel.
It would make a rather unprepossessing bundle, and there would be
awkward puckers where the hide was gathered up. If the superfluous
material at the toe were cut away, we should have a slit in every case
where there had previously been a fold. This state of affairs is exactly
what is to be seen in the Irish shoe, where the strips of leather that
are left are held in place by a thong. In an ingenious way, apparently
with the help of the same lace, the difficulty of securing a fit at the
heel has also been got over. The result is a very neat shoe indeed,
though in reality it is only the original flat piece of hide.

[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The original top boot with the upper part
temporarily turned down.]

One of the most perfect instances of vestiges, as Sir George Darwin
points out, is afforded by top boots. In their original form, still to
be seen in our streets on sewer men, the boots were made to come above
the knee, but fashion decreed that the top should be turned back (see
Figure 68), and so it came about that the inside became visible, as did
also the tags, with the help of which the boots were pulled on. When the
outside of the boots was blacked it would form a distinct contrast to
the inside, which remained brown, and in modern top boots the difference
in colour has been in many cases greatly accentuated. Indeed, the upper
parts are made of different leather, and as ordinary coat cuffs are now
incapable of being turned down, the tops of the boots are immovable and
cannot be turned up. It is curious, however, that the tags at the sides
are still represented and sewn to the boot so as to be quite useless,
while new tags placed inside the boot now do their duty. (See Figure
69.)

[Illustration: FIG. 69.--A modern top boot in which the upper part can
no longer be turned up.]

[Illustration: FIG. 70.--Puttees.]

Socks and stockings are, at the present time, the most usual coverings
for the lower parts of the legs, and there is at least one vestige which
remains in their structure that has an interest for us. Before we
consider this, however, we may look at another means of protecting the
lower extremities which tells of more primitive conditions. The leg
bandages so commonly worn by our regular soldiers and volunteers are the
case in point. (See Figure 70.) These appear to have been immediately
derived from the Indian Army, and their name--"puttees"--is evidence
of this; but such an arrangement is very widespread, and was that
generally adopted in this country in Anglo-Saxon times. Our illustration
is taken from an illuminated manuscript prepared for St. Aethelwold for
use at Winchester, which was completed between the years 963 and 964
A.D. Bandaged stockings are common on representations of Anglo-Saxons,
but according to Fairholt the example given shows them to greater
advantage than does any other known. The figure in question is dressed
in royal costume, and the bandages, which are of gold, are fastened just
below the knee with a knot from which hang tassels. (See Figure 71.)

[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Leg bandages of a royal personage at the end of
the tenth century (after Fairholt).]

It has been thought that leg bandages were originally derived from the
haybands which peasants wrap round their legs, and the writer has seen
it stated that ostlers in this country still perpetuate the Anglo-Saxon
fashion, though he has never met with an actual instance. The pfiferari
who some years ago used to play on bagpipes and other primitive
instruments in our streets, wore leg bandages or loose linen stockings,
and these were cross-gartered with bands which held in place a simple
sandal made of a piece of leather.

[Illustration: FIG. 72.--A stocking with clocks.]

The vestige in modern stockings to which allusion has been made is very
often present, and takes the form of the ornament which we know as a
"clock." The name signifies a gusset, and in modern socks and so on,
which are woven or knitted all in one piece, no such arrangement is
to be found. Stockings, however, like those at first worn by Queen
Elizabeth, and used at least by American settlers until the year 1675,
were made up from pieces of cloth. In these there would be seams down
the sides, and it is possible that where the ornamental lines meet in
Figure 72 there may have been a gusset. In any case, it is evident that
the intention of the clock was to hide the side seams.

Of recent years, when ladies have most sensibly adopted short skirts,
the clock has developed into a series of embroidered patterns which
cover the front of the foot and ankle. The parentage of these is quite
evident from the shape, which is shown in Figure 73.

[Illustration: FIG. 73.--An embroidered stocking showing the further
evolution of the clock (date 1900).]

[Illustration: FIG. 74.--An open-work stocking of 1905.]

This ornamentation has been carried still further, though it is not
produced in the same way. The patterns, instead of being embroidered,
are the result of perforations, or, in more technical language,
"open-work," and the background which shows up the design is no longer
the material of the stockings, but the skin of their fair wearers. (See
Figure 74.)

In many cases the stockings are dark in colour, and the effect of
tattooing is produced without the preliminary pain and inconvenience. We
have here an instance of the way in which the specially human instinct
of decorating the body persists, and at the same time a development of
the fashion for displaying, in the daytime under a thin veil of gauze or
lace, the necks and arms which since the time of our grandmothers have
only been allowed to appear uncovered in the evening.

Leather stockings were once worn, for example, by William Penn, and they
and the leggings of to-day may be a direct survival from the time when
our ancestors, though still wearing skins, had learnt to dress them.
Leggings, as such, are possibly connected more closely with the
protection of man against man than with that of man against the weather,
and in that case their history is bound up with that of armour. Gaiters,
under the name of spatter-dashes, were originally part of a soldier's
uniform. To-day, when worn by civilians in ordinary dress, they are
quite short, and go by the contracted name of "spats." Pedestrians still
wear the full-sized gaiters in conjunction with knickerbockers, and
white gaiters are a feature of Highland regiments.

Long Florentine hose, which practically took the place of trousers and
stockings together, are now represented by what are called "tights,"
and are to be seen in the dress of acrobats. We shall allude to these
again.

Garters when visible on men's legs become very ornamental, and one in
use now, merely as a decoration, gave its name to the celebrated Order
of Knighthood, among the insignia of which it is still to be found.
At the present day garters are hidden, and there is a tendency for
them to be replaced by more comfortable straps or "suspenders," but
those which ladies wear still retain their gaudy character. In this
connection an interesting ceremony may be mentioned, which is carried
in Haute-Vienne on the day of St. Eutropius. All the girls of the
neighbourhood troop to the church dedicated to the saint at St.
Junien-les-Gombes, and each damsel hangs her left garter on the cross
hard by, which becomes so smothered with garters of different colours
that when seen from a short distance it looks as if it were covered
with flowers.




VIII

PETTICOATS AND TROUSERS

THE BELTED PLAID AND KILT--EARLY SKIRTS--THE ANTIQUITY OF
TROUSERS--TROUSER STRIPES


We were at some pains to trace the evolution of the coat from the shawl,
and it is possible also to show that the petticoat, and through this
even trousers, have equal claims to the same ancestry.

The plaid as we saw it in Chapter III is only a shawl, and at one time
in Scotland it was used as a covering for practically the whole of the
person. It was ingeniously disposed, and part of it was fastened by a
belt round the waist so as to form a kind of kilt or petticoat. Hence
arose the name of belted plaid. It seems to have needed a considerable
amount of practice to put on this garment properly, and the method
customarily adopted by the wearer was to spread the plaid on the ground
and, after duly arranging it in its proper folds, to lie down upon it
and fix it with the belt. Some races seem to have recognized very much
earlier that it would be more convenient to separate the kilt from the
upper garment. In fact, if we examine the woven garments which the
Danish chieftain wore under his deer-skin cloak, at a time before the
use of iron had spread to Western Europe, we find that round his loins
he had a small shawl held in place by a girdle. (See Figure 75.)

[Illustration: FIG. 75.--A shawl used as a kilt by a chieftain of
Denmark in the bronze stage of culture (after Worsaae).]

The next stage in the evolution of the petticoat would be characterized
by the permanent joining of the edges of the cloth, so that a garment
would be formed which resembled the lower part of the tubular tunic
which played its part in the evolution of the shirt or coat. Such a
state of affairs is to be seen in the simple skirt of the Danish
chieftainess whose bodice we have already described. (See page 18.)
Here the petticoat was not shaped in any way at the top, but was
gathered in round the waist and fastened as in the case of the man with
a girdle.

[Illustration: FIG. 76.--A simple dress in the form of a petticoat from
an Egyptian figure of the Sixth Dynasty (3500 B.C.), from the Myers
collection in Eton College Museum.]

In a warm climate it would be easy to dispense with a covering for the
upper part of the body, and one of the simplest dresses imaginable was
adopted in ancient Egypt. This costume is to be seen on the figure of a
woman belonging to the Sixth Dynasty (3500 B.C.), which we have already
mentioned when tracing the development of the hat-band and ribbons. (See
Figure 45.) In this instance there is a simple tight-fitting skirt
reaching to the waist or a little above it, which is supported by two
straps passing between the bare breasts and over the otherwise naked
shoulders. (See Figure 76.)

[Illustration: FIG. 77.--A Korean servant (after Hough).]

It seems certain, as in the original carving the woman is shown with a
burden on her head and in the act of driving a calf before her, that she
is a representative of the peasant class. In the Korea at the present
day, women of the lower orders, although they adopt a jacket which
covers their arms and shoulders, wear so short an one that as there is
no garment beneath it leaves their breasts quite bare. (See Figure 77.)
Such an arrangement would obviously facilitate the nursing of children,
and this fact has been advanced as the reason for its adoption. Still
it may be merely a fashion such as some women, at the other end of the
social scale, once adopted in our non-tropical country. In the time of
James I of England, the noble ladies, while they wore an exaggerated
ruff round their necks, nevertheless had their dresses cut away from
just below it almost to their waists.

[Illustration: FIG. 78.--A short kilt.]

The short kilt now worn in Scotland represents the lower part of the
belted plaid, and is in fact a petticoat and specially interesting,
seeing that it is a survival of this type as a man's garment. Of the
origin of the sporran which is worn in front of the kilt, little seems
to be known, and though it recalls to mind the time when men were
clothed in skins, it forms a pouch as well as an ornament, and possibly
also may have been useful as a protection. (See Figure 78.)

Having once derived the petticoat, however, from the ancestral shawl, it
is a very simple matter to proceed and evolve a pair of trousers. As a
matter of fact, the Eastern women, when they fasten their petticoats
between their ankles for convenience in walking, demonstrate the first
stage in the production of bifurcated garments.

A single row of stitches will give rise to a kind of divided skirt,
while two seams and a single cut made between, and parallel, to them,
will produce a pair of trousers.

It would be strange if so simple a process, which under many conditions
results in such a great improvement, had not been put into practice
in very early times, and trousers, although they seem to typify the
ugliness of modern costume, are in reality surrounded by a halo
of antiquity. It is only right, however, to point out that these
tubular garments were in olden days not associated with the highest
civilization. The Romans, for instance, did not wear trousers, though
the nations whom they were pleased to call barbarians, did. Some of the
enemies of Rome are shown on Trajan's column wearing nether garments of
the kind most familiar to us, and our illustration is taken from the
representation of a barbarian soldier carved on an ivory diptych of St.
Paul. (See Figure 79.)

[Illustration: FIG. 79.--A barbarian soldier wearing characteristic
trousers (from a diptych of St. Paul, after Marriott).]

The kilt is sometimes called the garb of old Gaul, but one province of
the latter owes its name--Gallia Braccata--to the custom among its
inhabitants of wearing braccæ or breeches. In our own country trousers
were in vogue before the advent of the Roman conquerors, and though
for a time the dress of the invaders was adopted by those who followed
their fashions, we find that in the time of the Saxons and Normans the
barbarian style found favour once more.

In the picture of a Saxon fighting man (see Figure 80), we see that he
wears trousers that somewhat recall those of the modern sailor, and
there seem to have been many different styles even in those early days.

[Illustration: FIG. 80.--A Saxon military man wearing wide trousers
(from the Harleian MS., No. 603, after Fairholt).]

During the course of our history, long trousers went out of fashion
for a very considerable period, though knee-breeches of various kinds
flourished from time to time, until recently, when the original and less
elegant garment once more triumphed and became part of the everyday
dress of men. Boys still wear knickerbockers in one stage of their
development, intermediate between the doffing of the petticoat and the
donning of the trouser, and there is a tendency, that does not diminish,
for the shorter garments to be used by men of all ages when they are not
occupied with formal business.

[Illustration: FIG. 81.--A peasant woman of Champéry wearing trousers.]

Trousers are often wrongly thought to be a modern invention, and it is
easy to go away with the idea that they are exclusively the attributes
of men. This is far from being the case, and as in Scotland we find the
petticoat still in use by men, so in France and Switzerland (see Figure
81) we see the peasant woman wearing trousers of the ordinary type, to
say nothing of Oriental countries like Persia and Siam (see Plate V),
where trousers form part of the dress of women even of the highest rank.

[Illustration: A SIAMESE PRINCESS, SHEWING THE TROUSERS WORN BY WOMEN OF
HIGH RANK.

  _PLATE V._]

We must not forget the energetic crusade which is being carried on in
this country in favour of "rational dress" for women, on lines which are
more sensible than those laid down by Mrs. Bloomer, whose name has been
immortalized in connection with divided garments for women. It is not
intended, at the moment, to enter into a discussion of the advantages
that may be gained by banishing the skirt, as we shall consider clothes,
from the point of view of their effect upon the body, in a later
chapter. Suffice it to say that the ugly clothes worn a few years ago
by lady bicyclists who, while adopting divided garments, tried to
make them look like a skirt, did much to hinder the "rational dress"
movement.

[Illustration: FIG. 82.--A German Hussar of 1808.]

There is one vestige in connection with trousers that we may mention
before leaving this subject, and that is the stripes which are to be
seen on many official dresses, and which have been adopted by some men
in their evening dress of recent years. It seems that this takes us back
to a row of buttons which were once used along the whole length of the
breeches when these were too tight for the foot to be put through them,
and in consequence they had to be undone and done up again along the
side of the leg. (See Figure 82.)

There is little doubt but that the stripe represents a fold of cloth
that in some cases covered up these buttons. Just a few of such buttons
are still to be seen on riding breeches and those worn by liveried
servants.




IX

COATS OF ARMS

SIGNET RINGS--ARMORIAL BEARINGS--ESCUTCHEONS--CRESTS--BADGES


Before we deal with coverings for the hand, it will not be amiss to
consider something else which is worn on the fingers. Strictly speaking,
of course, rings should be reckoned as ornaments, but signet rings very
often bear upon them the crest or coat of arms of their wearer, and thus
we have still carried on the person at the present day, a small and
inconspicuous vestige of what were once most important articles of
costume. In fact, they had a significance as great if not greater than
any others, for when the face of their wearer was hidden by his helmet,
they told to those well versed in heraldry not only his name but his
lineage.

The crest was worn on the helmet, and might or might not be one of the
devices or charges embroidered on the surcoat,--which was worn over the
armour--and emblazoned on the shield and elsewhere.

At the present day, except in the case of ceremonial dress such as the
tabards of heralds, the only survivals are the crest and shield. The
devices on the latter are now called a coat of arms, as in olden times
they were, as already indicated, merely a repetition of those actually
worn on the dress or coat armour.

Let us compare for a moment the first two figures which illustrate this
chapter. In the first (see Figure 83) we have a tiny device engraved on
a ring that is worn on the little finger of the left hand. In the second
(see Figure 84) we have Sir Geoffrey Loutterell mounted on his charger
in the act of receiving his helmet and shield from some of the ladies
belonging to his family. All of the figures and the horse are decorated
with armorial bearings. We wonder whether there could be a greater
contrast. The knight has what is really his surcoat on his back
displaying six martlets with a bend between them. The charges are
repeated on a small square shield on his shoulder called an ailette,
which was used apparently more as an ornament than as a protection,
though it is said that ailettes were originally intended as a defence
for the neck. Sir Geoffrey holds his helmet, on which, in the place of
the crest, we again see his armorial bearings. They appear again on the
pavon or small flag held by one of the ladies, and on the shield which
the other carries. We find the same devices repeated five times on the
trappings of his charger; and as if this were not enough, the ladies
also have the bearings on their dresses. In the case of Lady Loutterell,
who was the daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, there is shown also the
lion rampant borne by her father.

[Illustration: FIG. 83.--The crest on a modern signet ring.]

[Illustration: FIG. 84.--Sir Geoffrey Loutterell and the ladies of his
family, showing the extent to which armorial bearings were worn in the
middle of the fourteenth century. From a psalter, made for Sir Geoffrey
(after Fairholt).]

We give another illustration taken from the effigy of Henry, the first
Duke of Lancaster, on a brass at Elsyng, in Norfolk. (See Figure 85.)
On this figure the surcoat is very well shown, and on it are emblazoned
the three lions (or leopards) of the Royal Arms of England. It is
interesting, too, owing to the label which differences the arms and
shows that the wearer was not the king himself. The label takes the form
of three vertical bars joined by a horizontal one, and is like that
which may be seen to-day on the Prince of Wales's banner in St. George's
Chapel at Windsor. In this illustration, too (Figure 85), the crest is
very well shown.

[Illustration: FIG. 85.--The crest and surcoat of Henry, first Duke of
Lancaster, A.D. 1347. From the brass to Sir Hugh Hasting at Elsyng,
Norfolk (after Charles Boutell).]

Armorial bearings are still used to a considerable extent in
architecture, but otherwise they are chiefly confined to notepaper,
carriage panels, and harness. Occasionally hatchments, or more properly
achievements, are put upon the fronts of the houses of important people
on the death of a member of the family, and afterwards transferred to
the church in which the body is buried. The hatchment consists of the
arms of the deceased person, painted on a lozenge-shaped field, which is
surrounded by a black frame, and if it indicates the death of a husband,
the right half of the field is sable (black), the left, argent (silver).
If it is a wife that is dead, the colours on the field are reversed.
When a widower, widow, or unmarried person dies, the whole of the field
is made black.

In olden times the actual helmet, surcoat, and shield were carried at
the funeral, and in some instances these were deposited over the tomb of
the deceased. Examples survive to the present day, and one of the most
interesting cases is to be found in Canterbury Cathedral, where the
shield, helmet, and surcoat of Edward the Black Prince are still to
be seen. (See Figures 86, 87, and 88.) The Black Prince left most
careful instructions in his will with regard to his funeral, and the
accoutrements which we are able to figure through the kindness of the
Society of Antiquaries, were the "arms of war," as he called them, that
were to be carried at the ceremony. His "arms of peace" consisted of his
ostrich feather badge, of which we shall again speak. There are traces
on the crest and surcoat of a label to distinguish them, but this is
absent from the shield, though it occurs on the arms many times repeated
on the tomb, alternately with the feather badge already mentioned.

[Illustration: FIG. 86.--The helmet and crest of the Black Prince. From
"Vetusta Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]

[Illustration: FIG. 87.--The shield of the Black Prince. From "Vetusta
Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]

[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The surcoat or jupon of the Black Prince. From
"Vetusta Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]

With the exception of the signet rings and the ceremonial dress, which
were alluded to at the beginning of the chapter, there are now but
few cases where armorial bearings are worn on the person. School and
college arms are embroidered on the breast pockets of blazers and on the
fronts of caps, while perhaps the most common instances are the devices
which we see on the buttons of servants. Whole coats of arms may appear,
but usually it is the crest of the master, which has now taken the place
of the household badge which the retainers wore in olden times.

There is a difference generally between a crest and a badge, though in
some cases the badge was really a crest. This was so before armorial
bearings became hereditary, for the badge which the knight wore on his
helmet formed its crest. Afterwards the same device was handed down to
generation from generation. Individuals, possibly with a view of hiding
their identity, sometimes wore a special badge instead of their family
crest; but the badge as generally understood was, as has already been
indicated, worn by the retainers and was usually chosen by each head
of the family. The matter is further complicated, because badges were
sometimes hereditary and occasionally identical with the crest proper.

It is of course only the hereditary badges which have survived to the
present day, and in only one or two cases are they apparently still used
as such, though occasionally they survive for other purposes. The Prince
of Wales's feathers we have already mentioned. They were not adopted by
the Black Prince for the reasons usually given in history, as there is
nothing to show that the King of the Bohemians ever wore them, and long
before his time an ostrich feather was often used as a royal badge in
England.

On his carriage, the Marquis of Abergavenny wears his badges, a rose and
a portcullis, one on each side of his crest, and there are interesting
cases here and there of badges worn as part of a livery. The porters of
the Inner Temple wear the pascal lamb in silver. Watermen still have
badges on their arms, and not very long ago the private firemen of the
insurance companies wore badges bearing the sign of the company. When
speaking of signs, it is worthy of note that very many royal badges have
furnished signs for inns. We cannot go into details, but we may mention
the White Hart of Richard II, the Falcon and Fetterlock of Henry VII,
now degenerated into the hawk and buckle, and the Rose and Crown also
used by the Tudors.

Those who chance to see the dress of our convicts will hardly be
inclined to associate it in any way with that of royalty. Yet it is
true, nevertheless, that the broad arrow which marks--we can hardly say
adorns--the garments of the penitentiary, is in reality a royal badge.
The broad arrow can be traced to an ancient symbol consisting of three
converging rods or rays of light used by the Druids, and it was adopted
by Edward III as his badge. The symbol was also worn by the Black
Prince and other Princes of Wales. As early as the year 1386 the broad
arrow was used in the Royal household, and from the beginning of the
eighteenth century onwards it was adopted as a mark for distinguishing
Government stores.

[Illustration: FIG. 89.--The postilion of a Lord Mayor of London,
wearing a crest upon his cap, and a coat of arms upon his sleeve.
(Copied by permission from a plate published by the John Williamson Co.,
Ltd.)]

We may conclude our remarks upon this fascinating subject by alluding to
a case in which a crest is actually borne on the head. It will be seen
on looking at Figure 89, which represents the postilion of a Lord Mayor
of London, that he wears upon his jockey cap the actual crest of his
master, in the same way that in the days of chivalry the knights wore
their crests upon their helmets. On his sleeve also there is a full coat
of arms with helmet and crest, which takes the place of the badge, and
is similar to the instances which we have mentioned just above.




X

GLOVES AND MITTENS

ORIGIN OF THE BABY'S GLOVE--FOURCHETTES--THE "POINTS" ON THE BACKS OF
GLOVES


Gloves play a considerable part in our everyday life, and now exercise
a kind of mild tyranny over us. It is perhaps not to be wondered at,
seeing the importance which has been attached to these protectors of the
hand in the past.

Records show that in the earliest gloves there were no divisions between
the fingers, and only the thumbs had a separate covering. This is what
one might have expected to be the case, and if we look at the gloves
which tiny babies wear (see Figure 90), we shall find a similar state of
affairs, so that here we have a direct survival from very early times.

Such a case is on all fours with that of young animals which belong to
species that originally were spotted like the leopard, but which in
the course of their evolution have changed their spots, and are now,
like the lion, self-coloured. Among other animals which are spotted
when immature may be mentioned the wild boar and the tapir (see
Frontispiece). While these young ones are protected by their parents,
their primitive colouring is no detriment to them, but when they go out
into the world for themselves it would be disadvantageous under existing
conditions for them to retain their aboriginal markings. In a similar
way the baby wears the primitive glove, which its ancestors made shift
to use for purposes of warmth or protection, and the child continues to
do so until it is necessary or convenient for it to use its fingers to
help itself without removing its gloves.

[Illustration: FIG. 90.--A baby's glove without separate fingers.]

There is little doubt but that gloves are the products of a cold
climate, and it is interesting to note that in Iceland, where in order
that gloves may be put on quickly and easily they are made without
fingers; and what is more, so that no time shall be wasted in choosing
right or left-hand gloves, they are provided with two thumbs, one of
which is in use while the other remains idle.

Of vestiges, gloves offer a very curious instance. There are on the
backs of most of them, at the present day, three lines of raised
embroidery or fancy stitching, which run almost parallel with one
another, though they converge slightly as they approach the wrist. When
these are worked in black on the back of a white woollen glove, for
instance, they are very conspicuous, and to explain their origin may
well seem puzzling. (See Figure 91.)

[Illustration: FIG. 91.--The back of a woollen glove showing the three
vestiges known as "points."]

Inquiry into the history of these most persistent ornaments is apt to
produce a fine crop of speculations. One explanation that may be offered
is that the lines are vestiges that date from the time when gloves were
so ill-fitting that they had to be laced up the back with the help of a
string which was passed through eyelet holes. On hearing this one might
be tempted to ask why there should be three ornaments and not one.
Another guess which can be more easily shown to be wrong is that we are
dealing with the remains of ventilation holes. We say "more easily"
because an examination of the facts will show that openings through
which air was intended to enter were made in the palm of the glove.

[Illustration: FIG. 92.--A modern kid glove showing the fourchettes or
pieces between the fingers, which form three pointed V's.]

[Illustration: FIG. 93.--Queen Elizabeth's coronation glove showing
the stitching carried down on to the back. (From a photograph by the
courtesy of Messrs. Fownes Brothers and Co.)]

A third suggestion which may occur, is that the ornamentation is a
survival from the time when great men, particularly prelates, had
various devices and even jewels fixed to the back of their gloves. Once
more, however, we meet with the difficulty in the shape of the point
that there are always three of the marks.

In making a careful investigation into the true origin of the vestiges
we can, on the one side, endeavour to see whether there is anything in
the form of the hand which can have given rise to the number three,
that is so constant; and on the other, whether the glove-makers have any
particular name for the marks which may throw some light upon them. In
connection with the first line of research, it will be seen on spreading
out the fingers that there are, if we ignore the thumb which has its
insertion lower down in the hand, three "V"-shaped openings between
them, and we find on taking up our second clue that the ornaments are
called "points." Now there is a point at the bottom of a "V," and this
is well seen in looking at a glove where the pieces or fourchettes which
form the insides of the fingers meet (see Figure 92); but if this is
evident in a modern glove, it is very much more so in old gloves. (See
Figure 93.)

A result of this fact was that the stitching which made the fingers was
carried down for some distance on to the back of the glove, as seen in
Queen Elizabeth's coronation glove. (See Figure 93.)

This stitching was and is often somewhat elaborate, and in some cases a
line of embroidery covered it. This is well seen in the glove of Anne,
the Queen Consort of James I (see Figure 94); and here it is noticeable
that the two lines of embroidery at the points of the three "V's" run
parallel and touching each other, so that we get a beginning of the
three "points" as we know them. With improvements in the making of the
fourchettes, the stitching terminated more abruptly, and the embroidery
was allowed to remain on the back of the glove, where it is still to be
seen.

[Illustration: FIG. 94.--The glove of Anne, Queen Consort of James I,
showing the embroidery on the fingers, which is the ancestor of modern
"points." (From a photograph, by the courtesy of Messrs. Fownes Brothers
and Co.)]

Some mention should perhaps be made of mittens. When they are used for
the purpose of keeping the hands warm, they are usually on the principle
of a baby's glove, but with the end of the thumb and part of the bag for
the fingers cut off. Otherwise, when these articles are used merely to
cover part of the hands, or for ornament, they are more elaborate, and
divisions are introduced for some distance between the fingers. In the
construction of these, as in that of stockings and other garments, we
meet with the modern tendency towards transparency. Often also the
patterns are dependent upon the skin showing through, and we are once
more reminded of tattooing.




XI

TAGS, PINS, AND BALDRICS

  LACES--THE EVOLUTION AND VAGARIES OF THE SAFETY-PIN--PRIMITIVE
    METHODS OF CARRYING BURDENS AS ILLUSTRATED BY MUFF-CHAINS,
    BALDRICS, AND YOKES


During the course of their evolution many little appurtenances in
connection with dress go through a number of changes. Some of them,
which at first are useful, afterwards become ornamental. Others, which
have reached a stage in which they are both necessary and decorative,
may for a time be simplified and retain a practical importance only,
while at a later period they resume their ornamental character once
more.

We have at the present day various laces which are provided with simple
metal tags, and which are as primitive as they very well can be. (See
Figure 95.)

If we examine the dresses of both sexes in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, we shall find that ties were used to a great extent instead
of buttons, and they were provided with metal tags of an ornamental
character called aiglets, or, more properly, aiguillettes. In many
cases the chief object of the ribbons which they adorned was that of
embellishment, for as many as a dozen or more might be found round one
knee. Sometimes the tags were in the form of little figures, and in the
"Taming of the Shrew" it is said of Petruchio that if you gave him gold
enough any one "might marry him to a puppet or an aglet-baby."

[Illustration: FIG. 95.--A silk lace with simple metal tags.]

[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Ornamental metal tags on a velvet neck ribbon.]

Of recent years the velvet ribbons which ladies have worn round their
necks have been provided in like manner with little tags (see Figure
96), though the fashion does not seem to have developed again to any
very great extent.

The safety-pin is an object which may well occupy our attention for a
moment. As we knew it when we were children, it was merely a piece of
wire that had been pointed at one end and bent into the required shape.
(See Figure 97.)

[Illustration: FIG. 97.--A simple safety-pin.]

The point was protected in a very simple manner, and the safety-pins
used for fastening hooks to curtains are still constructed in the same
way. Occasionally gold safety-pins of a plain and even ornamental
character were made and used as brooches by ladies for fastening
lace, or by men for securing their ties in the place of the straight
scarf-pins. It would seem therefore that a brooch is a development of
the safety-pin rather than the reverse; but if we study the brooches
or fibulæ of the Romans, we shall find that the pin, instead of being
hinged, was often made in one piece with the rest of the structure.
A coil or two in the metal acted as a spring, as in the case of the
safety-pin, and prevented breakage. We may even find an Etruscan fibula
of such simple construction (see Figure 98) that it is to all intents
and purposes a safety-pin. All sorts of devices have been invented for
the better protection of the points in modern safety-pins, as well
as for rendering the opening and closing more easy; but this is the
development which has taken place along practical lines. Such pins are
for use only, and are not intended to be seen. When, on the other hand,
safety-pins are not hidden, they retain their more simple character
as regards their fastenings, though they themselves again become
decorative, and are ornamented in various ways. We have therefore a very
good illustration of the evolution of one thing along two different
lines, and of the survival of the fittest types in each case.

[Illustration: FIG. 98.--An Etruscan brooch or fibula, resembling a
safety-pin. (In the collection of Major W. J. Myers in Eton College
Museum.)]

The ornamental safety-pin in recent years has changed its habits, and it
is interesting to note its vagaries. A little while ago its sphere of
action was extended, and instead of figuring under the chins of ladies
it took up a position in the back of their waistbands (see Figure 99),
where it occupied itself with the duty of keeping blouse and skirt
together. Then, as if this situation were not important enough, the
safety-pin migrated to the head and usurped the place of the straight
hat-pin (see Figure 100), just as in the case of men it has sometimes
ousted the tie-pin proper.

[Illustration: FIG. 99.--The safety-pin in the waistband.]

During the process which we have described the safety-pin has become
stronger and larger, until in the last stage it has grown almost out of
recognition.

[Illustration: FIG. 100.--The safety-pin grown larger and used for
fastening on a hat.]

Straight pins have developed along the same two lines, and we have the
strictly useful pin and tie- or hat-pins, which are often quite as
important as fastenings, but which may also be highly ornamental. These
small articles have a special claim to our attention, as they have been
taken as being emblematical of clothes, or at least of female attire.
Even now the allowance which a lady is given for dress is called
"pin-money." Moreover, it is possible to illustrate by means of pins
the various phases of culture through which mankind has passed in the
process of civilization. We meet with pins of bone, in the stage of
stone, before metals were used. In the stage characterized by bronze we
have pins made of this alloy. Such pins occurred in Egypt before the
historic period, and they have been found in the Swiss lake dwellings as
well as in our own country.

[Illustration: FIG. 101.--A muff-chain.]

Although we now live in the iron, or perhaps more correctly steel, stage
of culture, the familiar pin of to-day is still usually made of brass;
but nevertheless we find steel pins of the ordinary form which are
plated with brass, and glass-headed steel pins are very common. In early
times also gold, silver, and precious stones were pressed into service
for making ornamental pins, and very handsome pins are represented on
effigies of the fourteenth century in Westminster Abbey. These, no
doubt, have for their descendants the scarf-pins of to-day.

[Illustration: FIG. 102.--A hawker, illustrating the primitive way of
carrying a burden.]

[Illustration: FIG. 103.--A courier-bag supported by a baldric.]

A muff-chain is a thing which is very often seen at the present day, and
this simple arrangement, coupled with the way in which it is worn (see
Figure 101), may lead us along a very interesting line of research,
which we may follow for a short time. If we look once again at the muff,
we shall see that it is supported by a chain which goes round the back
of the neck, allowing the muff to rest against the front of the body.
This is a primitive method of carrying a burden. Pedlars of old made use
of it, and it is still adopted by the hawker (see Figure 102), because,
if necessary, the hands can remain free, while a modification of the
same principle is seen when the strap takes the form of a baldric, and
passes over one shoulder and under the arm on the other side. In this
way travellers carry their courier-bags (see Figure 103), the school-boy
or girl supports his or her satchel, the fisherman his creel, and
the sportsman his field-glasses. To a baldric also was attached the
quiver of the archer, and sometimes such a band was merely worn as a
decoration. (See Figure 104.) In the illustration which we give, and
which is of the time of Henry V, the baldric is hung with bells like
those which were worn by horses. Possibly a survival of the ornamental
use of the baldric is to be seen in the ribbons of various orders and in
military sashes, though no doubt the bandoleer which carries the pouch
or cartridges of a modern soldier represents the useful baldric. It is
of interest to note that the red or blue cord worn over the cross-belts
of the Life Guards and Horse Guards is a survival of a cord by which the
horn containing powder for priming muskets used to be suspended. In this
connection we might also mention the leather sling of a rifle and the
strap by which the itinerant harpist, in common with the organ-grinder,
carries his instrument.

[Illustration: FIG. 104.--An ornamental baldric of the early fifteenth
century. (Royal MSS. 15 D. 5, after Fairholt.)]

The ordinary belt should not be overlooked, as from it many things, such
as weapons, may be suspended, not to mention pouches, which may carry
ammunition, flint and steel, and so on.

[Illustration: FIG. 105.--A lady's dress, showing the part which is
called a yoke, and recalls a primitive method of carrying burdens.]

Even more intimately connected with dress are pockets, and they may be
touched upon here, for they are intended for carrying small objects. We
have seen how the flaps of pockets which have become ornamental survive
after the pockets themselves have disappeared (see Figure 21), and it is
worthy of note that clothes in various countries lend themselves to the
transportation of commodities. It has been pointed out by Mr. Otis T.
Mason[9] that the Oriental, especially the Korean, has pockets in his
sleeves having the capacity of half a bushel; while the Turk and Arab
can stow an equal amount in the ample folds of their robes. The writer
also remembers hearing the account of a journey in Asia from a traveller
who, when riding in wide trousers fastened at the ankle, used to keep
all his clean linen in one trouser-leg and his dirty clothes in the
other.

We are reminded by the name given to the upper part of a lady's dress,
namely, the yoke (see Figure 105), of another means of carrying burdens,
which still survives in London, where a few milk-women even now carry
round their pails on a yoke. Their costume, which includes a small shawl
and an apron, can be compared with that of the barge-girl, though the
picturesque sun-bonnet of the latter is lacking.




XII

ORNAMENTS

  PRIMITIVE NECKLACES--FINGER-RINGS--THE ORIGIN OF THE HAIR
    COMB--BUTTONS--STUDS--FLOWERS--FEATHERS--AMULETS


We have touched upon one or two objects which may have a decorative
character, but we now come to a consideration of ornaments themselves.
Roughly speaking, they owe their survival to one of two reasons: either
the deep-rooted instinct which exists in even the lowest races for
adorning their person, or, secondly, the adoption of various objects
which have been worn as charms or amulets.

Dr. E. B. Tylor[10] has pointed out the tendency of higher civilization
to give up savage ornaments. Not the most primitive possibly, but
seemingly the most barbarous, are the ornaments which are fastened into
the body in special orifices which are pierced to receive them. It is
true that in this country we do not make holes in our lips for the
insertion of wooden plugs two or three inches across, and the only nose
ornaments which we see are on the faces of the Hindu ayahs who have come
over from India with their white nurselings; but still many among the
population pierce their ears for the reception of earrings. In the
higher social ranks ear-drops are now worn which do not require the ear
to be perforated for their reception; but among the lower orders--as,
for instance, those who live in canal-boats--the ears of men, women, and
children are still pierced.

Of ornaments which can be attached to the person without injuring it
there are more in use, but they are practically confined in civilized
countries to the neck, arms, and head. Of those which are fastened to
clothes we will not for the moment speak. Beads, which at the moment of
writing seem to be greatly in fashion, or their representatives, take us
back to the very earliest men of whose work we have any knowledge. In
the caves where the Stone Age men of the mammoth period lived there have
been found periwinkle shells, which were bored to form bracelets or
necklaces, just as nowadays native tribes and æsthetic ladies still make
use of the more ornamental and beautiful exotic shells. The prehistoric
Egyptians who, it has been calculated, flourished about 6000 B.C., had
necklaces of beads cut out from pieces of shell, and others made of many
different materials. Among the earliest remains in our own country beads
are found, and throughout the historic period everywhere they seem to
have held their sway.

We have already mentioned how easy it is for ornaments to be used as
currencies, owing to the facility with which they may be carried on the
person, and beads for many centuries have been used--as in Africa for
instance--in the place of money. There are on the west coast of that
continent still to be seen "aggries" similar to those which the Arab
traders brought with them from Egypt as early as the seventeenth
dynasty. At the present day beads of various kinds--for only particular
varieties will buy certain commodities--are made and exported to Africa
to be used in trading.

While speaking of Egyptian beads, it might be said that, as in other
matters of art, the Egyptians excelled in the making of beads.
Some--known as blue popo beads, which found their way to West
Africa--are worth more than their weight in gold at the present day, and
the most skilful of the Venetian beadmakers are unable to imitate them
sufficiently well to induce the natives to accept them.

Chains for the neck in our time do not assume very massive proportions,
except those which are used as symbols of office in the case of mayors
and by the members of various knightly orders. These take us back to the
time of Richard II, when such ornaments came into vogue.

Among savage races metal rings find much favour as ornaments, and they
illustrate the fact that the lady who wears the minimum of clothes will
put up with the height of inconvenience, not to say pain, just as her
over-dressed and more civilized white sister will do, in order to be in
the height of fashion. The Padaung women put metal collars round their
necks when they are young children till these number between twenty
and thirty, and the necks of the wearers are stretched out in the most
grotesque and uncomfortable fashion. (See Plate VI.) African belles will
wear great copper rings on their limbs, which get so hot in the sun that
an attendant has to carry water with which to occasionally cool them
down. The wearing of armlets and bracelets has never been confined to
women. Men among the Greeks did not wear them, but among the Romans they
did. Armlets were conferred on soldiers for heroic deeds, and even
now the rank of non-commissioned officers in the army is indicated by
stripes on their sleeves.

[Illustration: TWO PADAUNG WOMEN, SHOWING THE NUMEROUS METAL COLLARS
WHICH THEY WEAR ROUND THEIR NECKS.

  (_See page 114._)

  _PLATE VI._]

Dr. Tylor hints that ordinary finger-rings have originated from those
used as signets in Egypt and Babylon. In this case the modern signet
ring, which we have already discussed in connection with heraldic
devices, is a survival from the earliest times. Most rings are now
merely ornamental, though a few are symbolical--the episcopal ring of
the bishop, the engagement ring of the betrothed damsel, and the wedding
ring of the wife.

As early as the seventh century a ring was among the distinctive
insignia of a bishop, and one was found on the finger of Bishop Agilbert
of Paris (who lived at this time) when his coffin was opened. The ring
was of gold and, as is usual, had a jewel set in it, on which, in the
particular case mentioned, was a likeness of Christ and of St. Jerome.
The origin is no doubt to be found in the fact that in Roman times rings
were used as an insignia of rank.

The episcopal ring proper was only one of many other rings which a
bishop might wear as ornaments. It was borne on the third finger of the
right hand, above the second joint, and was usually kept in place with a
plain guard ring.

The Greeks and Romans used betrothal rings as pledges, but not wedding
rings. There is a good deal of interesting symbolism in connection with
rings, and it is said that the third finger of the left hand was chosen
because in old times it was thought that a vein came to that finger
direct from the heart. The practical point is that the finger in
question is not very much used, and on it the rings would not be so
liable to be worn out as on some of the others.

It is also supposed that the left hand was chosen as it was the less
important, and the wearing of a ring on this hand signified servitude.
An interesting form of early wedding rings was that called the gimmal
ring, which consisted of two links, each having a hand upon it, which
when brought together formed a single ring with the hands clasped
together. The ring was used at betrothal, and the man and woman each
kept a half until their wedding day. Perhaps the old custom of breaking
a coin upon engagement so that each of the contracting parties may have
half, is a relic of the same custom. In Ireland the peasantry still use
a ring, though a solid one, bearing clasped hands. We have possibly a
survival of the interesting posey rings in those which bear the word
Mizpah. This originally signified "a watch-tower," but it is now taken
as expressing the following sentiment: "God watch over thee and me when
we are apart." In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the couplet
or line was, as in the case mentioned, put on the outside of the ring,
while later, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the words were
engraved inside the ring. Occasionally we see a necktie held in place
with a ring, and this may well be connected with the custom of wearing
rings round the neck on a ribbon. It is recorded that the Duke of
Burgundy, who died in 1476, carried his signet ring in this way.

A custom is still sometimes followed which dates back to the sixteenth
century. It is that of choosing stones on account of the first letters
of their names and setting them in a ring in such an order that the
initials spell a word or words. For instance, the following--Ruby,
Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby, and Diamond, indicate REGARD; while a
lover's exhortation is produced by such a combination as Lapis-lazuli,
Opal, Verdi-antique, Emerald, Malachite, Emerald.

Many of the Egyptian rings are made of blue pottery or faïence, and some
of them show highly ornamental and pierced work. The lotus flowers and
other figures upon them point to their being symbolical. Others bear the
sacred eye in the place where the seal would be in a signet ring, and
were probably used as amulets; but of ornaments worn on account of their
supposed virtues we will speak in a moment.

An ornament for the head, with which we will deal, is the crown. Mr.
Elworthy, in a paper to the British Association at Ipswich in 1895,
derived the crown from horns of honour. He maintained that the symbols
found on the head of the god Serapis were the elements from which were
formed the composite head-dress called the crown, into which horns
entered to a very great extent. The panache in heraldry is derived from
the horn, and it may be recalled that the deer-skin cloaks worn by the
Bronze Age people over the woven dresses that have been described on
pages 18 and 73, bore the horns of the animal from which they were
taken.

Though the comb used as an ornament in the hair is also worn on
the head, it is on a very much lower plane than the crown, and has
presumably a very much less exalted origin. Professor Boyd Dawkins[11]
has expressed the opinion that the old loom comb (see Fig. 106), such as
one found in the prehistoric lake dwellings which have been excavated
at Glastonbury, is the ancestor of the comb worn as a head-dress at the
present day (see Fig. 107). Combs were used to push down the weft on
a hand loom, the warp being kept taut by means of weights. The long
hair-combs used by the natives of the West Carolines are also of very
much the same shape as the old loom combs.

[Illustration: FIG. 106.--A loom comb found in the Glastonbury lake
dwellings (after Boyd Dawkins).]

[Illustration: FIG. 107.--A modern comb for the hair.]

Already in the safety-pin and scarf-pin we have had instances of
fastenings which at times are ornamental. The button and its relative
the stud afford another case in point. A stud is in reality a button
which appears on both sides of the stuff through which it is put. It
is obvious that it is most convenient to use when the material to be
fastened is of a stiff texture. At present we use studs in our starched
linen, and they are also adopted for fastening parts of leather
accoutrements, as they evidently were in the times of the later bronze
folk. This will be seen from Figure 108. One of these is adorned with
the triskele, which is allied to the swastika, and no doubt gave rise to
the three-legged charge on the coat of arms of the Isle of Man and of
Sicily.

[Illustration: FIG. 108.--Two studs of bronze, seen from above and from
the side. Later Bronze Age (after Worsaae).]

Buttons have from time to time done a great deal in the way of
decorating clothes, in addition to the part which they have played as
fastenings. We saw in an earlier chapter how many of our buttons, which
are now only ornamental, were once of use, and any history of costume
which goes into details will show how largely, superfluous buttons have
figured as ornaments. The older Quakers, of course, refused to wear any
buttons that were not needful, and brought down upon them the criticisms
of Cobbett, who referred to other things which they lacked besides
buttons. Although at the present time we may be inclined to appreciate
some of our purposeless buttons, on account of their historic
associations, we cannot say the same for many of those which now appear
on ladies' dresses. There is little sense in having on the front of a
bodice a series of buttons of which the first member is very large and
the last very small, with the others graduated in size between them,
while there seems to be no rhyme nor reason in many other individual
buttons or patches of them which are dotted here and there over the
costume. It is not as if these additions were really handsome. Not long
ago they looked as if the wearer had saved up all her old glove buttons,
and then had sewed them to her frock, for they were quite tiny and made
of brass. Now, though they are larger, they are merely covered with the
cloth of which the dress is made and are usually quite plain.

In some cases buttons show great beauty of design, and for this reason,
if not on account of the material of which they are made, may be
exceedingly valuable.

Bearing on the antiquity of buttons, we may say that they are found
among prehistoric remains in this country, and though they were foreign
to the ancient Egyptians, we learn (through the kindness of Professor
Flinders Petrie) that engraved buttons or seals were usual from the
sixth to the nineteenth dynasty, probably among foreign immigrants,
for the designs are never true Egyptian. In the present year, 1907,
Professor Petrie found a cornelian button with a copper shank which
belongs to the twelfth dynasty.

The use of flowers, whether artificial or natural, on the person, and
more particularly the wearing of feathers, also takes us back to the
primitive instinct of early or uncivilized man.

In our own country the custom of wearing feathers is an exceedingly
old one. The single upright specimens worn by the knights of the
fourteenth century have been characterized as being preposterous in
size. The plumes afterwards worn in helmets in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries were also immense. In 1606, according to Nichol's
"Progresses," on the occasion of the visit of Christian IV, some of
the knights "wore strange feathers of rich and great esteem which they
called Birdes of Paradice," and, unfortunately, ladies of the present
day wear them still. In the reign of Edward IV, we learn, only men,
practically speaking, wore feathers. They still survive in the army,
but otherwise in the twentieth century, with the exception of an
occasional small and modest instance amongst civilians, the wearing of
plumes is confined to ladies.

Many flowers and feathers are exceedingly beautiful, and from an
artistic point of view there seems little reason why we should allow
civilization to sweep them away. We are quiet and colourless in our
clothing, and if we are not careful the same element of dulness may
creep into our lives. At the same time, however, to wear feathers which
can only be obtained at the cost of cruelty or of depriving others of
the sight of beautiful birds, or, again, of bringing any species to
extinction, savours too much of barbarousness and thoughtlessness to be
in any way condoned.

Ostriches are reared for their feathers, and the plumage of many birds
that are killed for food is always at hand.

Men have much less opportunity now of showing any great individuality in
their dress than heretofore, but sometimes they may be known by always
wearing a buttonhole, even if that does not always consist of the same
kind of bloom. The language of flowers, though now seemingly considered
to be a dead letter, was hardly invented for nothing.

Of the brooch and its connection with the safety-pin we have already
spoken. In many ornaments we find remnants of religious ideas; for
instance, all brooches showing a crescent pattern or bearing the design
of a hand are connected with the old phallic worship. The cross, it may
be mentioned, is of much more ancient origin than Christianity, and is
connected intimately with the swastika or fylfot.

The locket and other pendant ornaments must in many, if not all, cases
be the descendants of amulets. The Arab women at the present day wear
a little metal box containing a written talisman. An ancient Egyptian
buried, with his mummies, many amulets and charms so that the soul, in
obedience to various precepts, might enter into complete union with Ra,
the solar god, and so accompany him on his journey round the world, and
secure his everlasting protection.

It is due to these ideas that we owe the beautifully modelled figures
of glazed pottery found in the Egyptian tombs. Many of them depict the
various gods and goddesses acknowledged in Egypt, and they are usually
pierced for attachment to the person. These were also carried on the
person during life, and children especially were accustomed to wear
them.

Old religious beliefs and superstitions that have not yet died out, have
elsewhere given rise to the wearing of charms, and it is interesting to
note that flint arrow-heads, under the name of "elves' arrows," were
made into pendants by races who had reached the metal stage of culture.

Precious stones, upon which a word may be said here, no doubt at first
were prized for their beauty alone, and then imagination gradually
endowed many of them with fictitious properties and virtues, though
doubtless the supposed attributes of some and the value and beauty of
others have kept many precious stones in favour until the present day.
Fashion is now particularly fickle as regards them, and craftsmen who
deal with gems, feel her decrees[12] more keenly perhaps than any
one else. Some half-dozen kinds of stones--such as diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, sapphires, opals, and turquoises--never go completely out of
fashion, but even among these, one or other becomes paramount from time
to time.

The topaz and chrysolite were reported to lose their brilliancy when
placed in liquid that contains poison. To the amethyst was attributed
the power of warding off the effects of drunkenness. The diamond, it
was believed, gave to the wearers magnanimity, virtue, and courage. The
ancients supposed that the opal shared the charm of every stone of
which it reflected the colour, but when it was stolen, the thief became
invisible, and was allowed to escape scot free. Mr. Claremont[13] has
made an interesting suggestion as to the reason why the opal has been
considered unlucky. The notion, he says, is not nearly so ancient as
many of the superstitions relating to other stones, and probably does
not date further back than the Middle Ages. The old name "ophal" was
used as late as the time of Queen Elizabeth, and came from the Greek for
"eye"-stone, and as eyes are unlucky even in peacocks' feathers, perhaps
the explanation of the superstition lies in the name of the stone.

Such walking-sticks as those garnished with "sylver" and "golde," which
are described as being at the Royal Palace at Greenwich in the reign of
Henry VIII, may well be considered as ornaments. The same may be said of
the be-ribboned canes of the exquisites of Charles II's and later times.
We mention them because, within the last two or three years, there
has been a talk of seeing "the nice conduct of a clouded cane" more
generally considered, and some men have appeared at the theatre with
long, gold-knobbed and tasselled canes.

The buckle, which may be ornamental or useful, or both, is well worthy
of our attention. It consists in its simple form of a ring and a pin,
and the latter is hinged on to the former. It is, in fact, much like
a brooch, but without a hasp, and used in a different way. There are
brooches, however, at the present day, which are even simpler in
construction than the buckle, and they are used[14] even now by
blacksmiths in Kirkudbrightshire, in the form of the iron ring and a
horseshoe nail, with which they fasten their aprons. Similar pin-ring
brooches were used in Ireland until quite recently and are known from
early times. Mr. Edward Lovett[15] thinks that such a fastening may well
have been derived from two bones of the sheep or deer, the garment being
pulled through the ring formed by half the hip girdle, and speared
through with the pointed heel bone.

A still more primitive pin was no doubt a thorn, and fish-hooks are to
this day used on the coasts of Essex, which are made from the same
natural object.




XIII

HAIR DRESSING

HEAD SHAVING--WIGS THAT ARE STILL WORN--ROMAN CURLS AND FRINGES


The styles in which hair is dressed are so intimately connected
with fashions in costume that no excuse is needed for dealing with
the question here. Moreover, there are certain vestiges in costume
occasionally to be met with which owe their origin to the way in which
hair was once arranged. Hair can be treated in all sorts of manners
without injuring the person in any way, and usually without causing
pain, though some fashions in hair arrangement had results that were far
from pleasant, and must have caused considerable discomfort.

In addition to the styles in which hair is allowed to grow, there are
others which lead to its removal from one or more of the places which it
normally covers, and almost every change that could be rung is met with.
In addition to the hair on the head, women have only their eyebrows
and eyelashes to consider, though it is the fashion to remove any
"superfluous" hair from their faces and arms. Men have also to consider
moustaches, whiskers, and beard. Nowadays it is decreed that women's
hair should be long and that men's should be short; but even now men
with long hair do not necessarily look effeminate, as is shown by the
cowboys from the Wild West who have taken part in various exhibitions in
this country, and whose hair reaches on to their shoulders. The shaving
of the whole head is carried out by many savage nations, and this is
perhaps surprising, seeing that the process cannot but be laborious and
even painful when carried out with flint knives or pieces of shell. The
Chinese leave the hair that grows from one small spot in order to make
their pigtail.

In this country it might be thought that the tonsure of priests was the
only remnant of shaving the head; but we need go no farther than the
East End of London to find Jewesses who upon marriage shave their head
and put on wigs. It appears that the custom is still universal in the
remote villages of Russia, where every Jewess on her marriage shaves her
head. The wig that is worn is of a very plain pattern, and the hair of
which it is composed is parted down the middle. The object which seems
to underlie the custom is the destruction of the charm of the women when
once they have found husbands. In London the younger women do not seem
to be keeping up the practice, and it is mostly in the case of those who
are over forty years of age that shaved heads and wigs are to be found.

There may be, however, another explanation. In many countries where
great value was attached to a profuse head of hair a variety of
superstitions arose, and emblematic observances were followed with
regard to it. Parents dedicated the hair of their infants to gods, as
did young women theirs at their marriage, warriors after a successful
campaign, and sailors after deliverance from a storm. The Egyptians of
all classes, as well as their slaves, shaved their heads and wore wigs.
By this habit they ensured greater cleanliness, and the structure of the
wig not only allowed the heat from the head to escape, but protected the
latter effectively from the sun.

It does not happen that both sexes always follow the practice of shaving
their heads, for, contrary to what prevails amongst civilized nations,
Fijian women are usually closely cropped, while the men spend much time
and attention on cultivating and elaborately arranging a luxuriant mass
of hair.

The tendency nowadays is to cultivate eyebrows and eyelashes, but if we
go back in our history to the reign of Richard II we find that it was
thought necessary to pull out the eyebrows, and at the present day in
some parts of Africa it is one of the requirements of female beauty to
eradicate the eyebrows. Special pinchers for this purpose are to be
found among the appliances of the native toilet. A man may of course
remove all the hair, speaking in the ordinary way, from his face, or
he may retain only his moustache or his whiskers or his beard, or a
combination of any two of these. At the present day we meet with all
sorts of styles, though one may be the fashion for the moment among the
younger generation or those who wish to be considered smart. One cannot
alter the disposition of one's hair as easily as one can change one's
clothes, and this, perhaps, taken in conjunction with the objection to
change on the part of a man and his relatives, gives the variety that
has been mentioned. For instance, if it were customary when a man was
young for his fellows to wear beards or only a moustache, then he
continues to wear a beard or only a moustache.

Perhaps no other fashions come round again more regularly than those
which govern the amount of hair on a man's face, and it may be
interesting to indicate very briefly some of the changes which have
taken place during the last two thousand years or so in this country.

  [Illustration: FIG. A.     FIG. B.
                 FIG. C.     FIG. D.
                 FIG. E.     FIG. F.

METHODS OF HAIRDRESSING ILLUSTRATED BY ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PORTRAIT MODELS
IN THE MYERS COLLECTION, ETON COLLEGE MUSEUM.

(_Photographs by Wilfred Mark Webb_.)

  (_See pages 129 and 133._)

  _PLATE VII._]

The inhabitants of England at the time of the Roman invasion either did
not shave at all or wore only a moustache. The Romans often cut their
beards (see Plate VII, Figure F.), and the Saxons parted their beards
into double locks or neatly trimmed them. When the Normans came into
this country they were closely shaved, but afterwards they went to the
opposite extreme.

In the fourteenth century old men wore beards and the younger generation
shaved. Edward III had a long beard, Edward II two small tufts on his
chin, and in Edward IV's time the beard was closely shaven. Afterwards
we find that a tax was put on beards, and once more, in Elizabeth's and
the following reigns, we have a number of extraordinary fashions in
connection with the hair on the chin. When we get to 1798, among the
upper classes beards were again no longer worn, and there have been
several changes since that time.

Apart from the prevailing fashion, there is, under the conditions which
we have seen to govern the matter, considerable scope for the indulgence
of individual taste, and often an effect is produced which is much
more striking than otherwise would be the case. A man may choose, for
instance, to grow a large pair of bushy whiskers, and he may thereby
give character and importance to his face, which without them would be
very insignificant. Curly hair is effective and has its advantages,
therefore we find that it is carefully imitated both in the case of real
hair and of wigs. The effect is now usually produced artificially only
in connection with ladies' hair. When dealing with this branch of the
subject, once more we might allude to the monstrous toilets which have
been built up in defiance of all laws of proportion and, we might add,
of comfort and cleanliness also.

To utilize the hair from the heads of others is an ancient practice
still to be met with, and all sorts of means for making the most of
one's own hair in the shape of pads and so on are still adopted.

When speaking of footmen, we shall find that those who dress in the
costume that was in fashion when hair powder was in vogue still wear it,
and the custom has been traced to the days of Rome, when gold dust was
put upon the head. It has been suggested that our Saxon forerunners used
coloured hair powder or else dyed their hair, but the evidence comes
from Saxon drawings in which the hair is often painted blue, and this
may be due merely to the caprice of the artist. It is well to be wary
also in studying the colour of clothes at early periods, by looking at
pictures, to remember that the illuminators may have followed their own
fancy, and made garments of such colours as fitted in with their own
ideas of ornament.

Though the use of wigs is extremely ancient, the origin, which is
customarily ascribed to the peruke, is interesting. Many curious
fashions have arisen through royal peculiarities or temporary
indispositions, the courtiers having imitated their royal master or
mistress, out of compliment. Louis XIV had, when a child, remarkably
beautiful hair, which fell in curls on to his shoulders, and to imitate
this, his courtiers put on false hair, while later in life the king
himself adopted the fashion which they had set.

The obvious use of artificial additions to the hair has now been
discontinued for very many years except in a few cases. Judges and
barristers with a few Parliamentary and other officials still wear wigs,
as do also certain coachmen and footmen, but these we shall consider
elsewhere.

It will prove of no small interest after recalling the various modes
of doing the hair which ladies have adopted during the last twenty or
thirty years, to compare them with the fashions in Egypt in Roman times
about two hundred years before the Christian era.

The reason why we can do this so well is that the Romano-Egyptians put
on the top of their coffins a model of the head of the person who was
buried in it. Professor Flinders Petrie has shown that the effigies were
really portraits, and even a glance at some of them would go far to
prove the statement. Professor Petrie made composite photographs of the
face on the outside of the coffin and of the skull within, and both in
the profile as well as in the full-face pictures it was seen that the
plaster model clothed the skull, as it were, with flesh.

To return to the question of hair dressing, if one examines Plate VII
we shall see first of all a lady with corkscrew curls, which were more
prevalent in the last century than they are now, though they have not
yet died out. Then we have a lady with a very elaborate fringe, another
who allows her hair to fall in waves on her forehead, and it forms a
chignon at the back. Lastly (Plate VII, Figure B) a little girl with a
small bun on the top of her head. Another specimen, not figured here,
and also contained in the celebrated Myers Collection, shows the bun
exactly as it was worn at the end of the last century.

We have included two heads (Plate VII, Figures A and F), one of a boy
and the other of a man, showing the great likeness that exists between
the way in which hair was done more than two thousand years ago and at
the present day.

Besides the methods of hair arrangement which have survived or been
revived, there are certain little features still to be seen here and
there in modern dress which owe their origin to the ways in which hair
or wigs were dressed.

A remnant of the bag-wig, with its great bow of black ribbon, we may
find in the army. For a long time on the backs of the collars of the
officers and staff-sergeants of the Welsh Fusiliers there have been
fixed some ribbons which hang down their back. These, which are few in
number, are called the "flash," and are said to represent the bow which
used to ornament the bag-wig. A hundred years ago the officers of the
regiment wore their hair turned up behind, and it was then tied with a
bow. This is in keeping with another explanation which Mr. R. Simkin has
given us, which is that the flash is the survival of a bunch of ribbons
that were sewn on the back of the coat-collar to protect it from the
pomatum and powder of the "clubbed" or "queued" hair. The privilege
of wearing the "flash" has recently been extended to all ranks of the
regiment (see Figure 109).

[Illustration: FIG. 109.--The "flash" of five black ribbons on the
collar of the Welsh Fusiliers. A survival from the days of the pigtail.]

A survival of the same kind, which takes us back to the time of wigs,
is to be seen on the backs of the collars of several court dresses,
and it is known technically as the "wig-bag." It is also, as we have
had occasion to mention, to be seen on the back of the collar of the
liveries of some servants whose dress is in the old style, and here,
as in the case of the Lord Mayor's coachman, it looks as if it had
originated in a bow (see Figure 113).




XIV

SPECIAL DRESSES

FASHIONS KEPT UP BY CEREMONIES--SURVIVALS IN SPECIAL COSTUME--FLOWING
GARMENTS


In the foregoing pages we have been concerned chiefly with individual
parts of costume, and while showing how various garments have reached
their present form, we have busied ourselves with discovering the origin
of many important survivals. We have not however hesitated, in dealing
with these details, to touch on all kinds of costumes, and here and
there we have left civilians' dress for a moment to take an illustration
from that of the soldier or the member of some other profession.

At the same time, we have indicated that on occasions of ceremony,
whether religious or otherwise, the dress adopted is, as a rule, more
primitive or older in style than that which is customarily worn. This
is what might be expected, as, on the one hand, innate conservatism and
objection to change come into play, and, on the other, ordinary everyday
practical matters being for the time put on one side, it is possible to
wear clothes which otherwise would be inconvenient and liable to get
damaged.

When we ourselves dress for dinner we go back nearly a century, but
nothing could be more primitive than the Court etiquette of certain
tribes,[16] where the subjects of the king may only approach him when
entirely unclothed. Livingstone was received by the Queen of the Balonde
Negroes in South Africa when she was in a state of complete nudity. The
women of neighbouring tribes and members of other races, for instance
those in Australia, entirely remove their clothing on festive occasions.

Among some black races, also, the girls who are sent as official
messengers to important persons are not clothed. There are still certain
tribes of "leaf wearers" in India, while at a yearly festival in Madras
the whole low-caste population throw off their ordinary clothing and put
on aprons of leafy twigs. Another case in point is that of the priests
who conducted the sacrifices in ancient Italy and Greece, for they are
often represented on monuments as being naked, while the rest of those
present at the ceremony are fully clothed.

In taking up the question of ceremonial dress among civilized peoples,
we find that we have a very wide field in which to wander. We have the
Court, which might alone occupy our whole attention; we have naval,
military, ecclesiastical, and legal dress, the garb of the universities,
the costume of pantomime characters, of the acrobat, of the athlete,
and the liveries of servants, besides the costumes adopted for special
ceremonies and in connection with particular institutions. In treating
of survivals in the case of the army, where the variety in uniform--if
we may use this paradoxical expression--is so great, we may content
ourselves with discussing matters in a way similar to that which we have
adopted before. On the other hand, we may also describe and illustrate
particular costumes, as a whole, while showing how far their history may
carry us back.

In addition to the clothes actually worn by persons, there are those
which are found on dolls. These may be on the representations of
personages such as St. Nicholas, on the Continent and elsewhere, and
they are interesting because in many cases they may show a national
costume which is no longer worn. In the same way, puppets such as are
used in the play which we know as Punch and Judy, and their dresses,
like others which we have studied, may bring to our notice chapters of
history in a way that is exceedingly attractive.

There is no doubt but that long flowing garments produce a more elegant
effect, and give rise to a more stately appearance than those which are
short or tight fitting. In the case of men, such garments would now be
too much in the way on ordinary occasions, or when any physical exertion
is required. The king and noblemen on state occasions wear robes, as do
also the members of City companies and borough councillors when they
assemble together. The case of the clergy will occur to every one, and
legal and academical dress may also be mentioned.

In the privacy of the home it is possible for every man to wear a
dressing-gown, and pyjamas have not in all cases superseded the more
primitive nightshirt. In the case of ladies, we find that they cling
lovingly to long dresses, though, as we know, there is much effort being
made to dispense with skirts under ordinary conditions, and the fact
that short skirts have for some years been fashionable for outdoor use
looks as if some progress were being made.




XV

SERVANTS' DRESS

  THE PROTOTYPES OF LIVERIES--REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE II AND
    GEORGE III--ORIGIN OF THE PAGE-BOY'S BUTTONS--THE JOCKEY
    CAP--APRONS


In taking up the question of special costumes, we may perhaps begin with
those which we see most commonly, and for that reason we may turn our
attention, in the first place, to the liveries and dress of servants.

We have laid down a sort of rule that the costume of servants is that of
the master of an earlier generation, and we will now bring forward some
evidence in support of it.

Modern coachmen and outdoor footmen wear the tall hat, the bright
buttons, doeskin breeches and the top boots characteristic of the
outdoor and riding dress of the gentlemen at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. The groom, it will be noticed (see Figure 110),
wears in addition a leather belt, and the reason for this will not
perhaps strike the inquirer straight away. Our grandmothers and
great-grandmothers did not always drive in carriages, and it was
customary for them, when riding on horseback, to sit on a pillion
behind a gentleman or a servant. The belt which we now see round the
waist of a groom afforded a hold to which they had to cling, in order to
prevent themselves from falling off the horse.

[Illustration: FIG. 110.--The modern groom, showing the belt to which
ladies clung when riding on a pillion.]

Such a livery as we have described is also adopted by the general run of
well-to-do people. The aristocracy, however, are more inclined to stand
upon ceremony, and through it to make more show. Their footmen, who go
by the generic name of "Jeames," wear plush breeches, silk stockings,
and powdered hair. (See Figure 111.)

[Illustration: FIG. 111.--A footman in plush breeches and with powdered
hair. His "pouter" coat dates from the reign of George III. (By the
courtesy of Messrs. F. T. Prewett and Co.)]

A little inquiry will soon show that these peculiarities of dress were
those which it pleased the gentlemen of George III's time to adopt. Some
flunkeys belonging to the nobility have their breasts ornamented with
cords known as aiguillettes, and these give them somewhat of a military
appearance, besides reminding us of the old retainers. The coats that go
with the plush breeches and are cut away so as to recall the wings
of a pigeon--hence the name "pouter" coat--are a special feature of
George III's reign. The coachman's coat is usually a little fuller in
the skirt, and carries us back to the time of George II. In another way
this costume is a little older in its style than that of the footman who
powders his own hair instead of wearing a wig like his colleague. (See
Figure 112.)

[Illustration: FIG. 112.--A sheriff's coachman with the full-skirted
coat of the time of George II. (By the courtesy of Messrs. F. T. Prewett
and Co.)]

In connection with the Lord Mayor more ceremony still is maintained.
His coachmen and footmen appear in all the glory of three-cornered
hats, which are decorated with feathers, and their coats are highly
ornamented. They are representatives of the very fine gentlemen of
George III's time.

On the back of the collar of the Lord Mayor's coachman, we find an
arrangement that looks like an elaborately made rosette of black ribbon
(see Figure 113). This is a survival of the bag-wig, of which we shall
have occasion to speak again when dealing with Court and military dress,
so that we need not go into further details here with regard to this
curious vestige. (See page 229, Figure 143.)

[Illustration: FIG. 113.--The wig-bag (a survival of the bag-wig) now
seen on the back of the collar of the Lord Mayor's coachman.]

This is a progressive age, in spite of the many survivals which still
flourish, and when we come to consider the costume of the modern
manservant who attends at table, or the waiter in the restaurant, we
find that he has come out of his generation, as it were, and has adopted
the dress of his masters before they have themselves discarded it.
Confusion has arisen through this before now, and it has been suggested
that if ornamental buttons were worn by the man who serves, the
difficulty would be overcome.

The writer well remembers being amused when standing in a room at a
well-known restaurant, where a private dinner was to be given, to notice
the change which suddenly came over the dress of the waiters. When the
latter first arrived they had black cloth buttons on their coats, while
in a few minutes' time, these same garments were adorned with brass
buttons bearing the initials of the firm that provided the dinner.
Inquiry soon elicited the fact that the men carried with them small
brass cases which were sprung on to their ordinary buttons, and at once
gave them the appearance of being on the staff, and showed that they
were waiters.

The almost overwhelming number of buttons which are worn by page-boys
must have been a source of wonder to many. They run from neck to waist
of a tight-fitting jacket in such a crowded line that the pages usually
go by the name of "Buttons." Occasionally we see the livery ornamented
by two other rows of buttons which are useless, and run from the
shoulder towards the waist (see Figure 114) in a way similar to that
described as being the case on the coats of His Majesty's postilions. On
looking at an old book[17] of fashions we find that a costume called the
"Dutch Skeleton Dress" was very fashionable for young boys in 1826 (see
Figure 115). In this we find that there were brass buttons arranged in
three rows, similar to those we have just described. It is difficult
even in the modern page-boy's dress to see the lower edge of his coat,
but in the case of the small boy of 1826 it was impossible, because his
trousers were buttoned on to the outside of it.

[Illustration: FIG. 114.--A modern page-boy's livery.]

[Illustration: FIG. 115.--The Dutch skeleton dress, fashionable for boys
in 1826.]

The name of the skeleton dress is interesting, because it points to the
buttons marking out the position of the breast bone, and it recalls
the story that the lacing on the breast of Hussars, which we have
interpreted as representing enlarged buttonholes, was intended to give
the appearance of ribs. This would be in keeping with the figure of a
skull that was worn by some of them on their head-dress. We may imagine
that in the page-boys, with the superabundance of buttons in one row,
that the other two series have migrated and joined with those which
originally fastened the coat.

On special occasions such as weddings and coronations, the nobility and
members of old families dress their servants in state liveries, and some
very interesting costumes appear for the time. For instance, at the
wedding of the Duke of Norfolk in 1877, some of the coachmen and footmen
appeared wearing on the shoulder of their livery a "manche" or large
hanging sleeve, which is familiar to students of heraldry and may be the
origin of the sign usually called the "Crooked Billet."

An interesting little survival is sometimes seen on livery collars.
It is a little patch of lace, and is an imitation of the knotched
buttonhole or laced hole which was commonly made on elaborate dresses.

We get a survival of a livery cap, which was worn by servants generally
in the middle of the eighteenth century, in the black cap worn by the
drum-major of the Foot Guards and the bands of the Household Cavalry. We
find that it is also adopted by huntsmen and postilions (see Figure
89), while jockey caps are of a similar shape.

The costume of jockeys is an instance of parti-coloured dress which,
apart from the Stage, is now chiefly worn in connection with sports
such as football and racing. Some parti-coloured garments made their
appearance early in English history, as we shall see when dealing with
the subject of patterns.

The cockade is now a particular feature of the liveried servant, and as
the story of its evolution is of a particularly striking nature, we will
consider it in a special chapter.

Here and there we find survivals of the old beadle, with his
three-cornered hat and his long gown with its curious capes and its
bright edging. To find the original wearer of such garments we shall
have to look about at the end of the seventeenth century. The watch then
wore very large coats with many capes, and from these was developed that
of the beadle. No doubt colours and other ornamentation were produced so
as to bring the dress of the beadle more into the line with liveries and
to give him a more ornamental and imposing appearance.

We might also mention that the beadle, to whom we shall once more
allude, still makes his appearance and plays his part in the Punch and
Judy show.

When we recall the many and varied liveries which the porters belonging
to the various places of amusement and business establishments now wear,
we cannot help drawing attention to the magnitude of the problem which
would confront any one who desired to trace the origin of their clothes.
In one detail or another we see the remains of an old livery, while
turning from these we find a gaily coloured plastron borrowed from a
Hussar uniform, and besides the cap there are a host of other features
which have been taken from military and civilian dress.

Railway porters if not menials are the servants of the companies which
employ them, and there is one feature of their dress which is worthy of
note. It will be seen that their waistcoats, although generally built
on the same plan as that of the ordinary individual and having a linen
back, are provided with sleeves. It is truly a coat which comes to the
waist, such as we shall speak of when dealing with the dress of the
Guards and other regiments, and it is usually the outermost garment of
the porter.

If we now turn to the costume of the gentleman, we shall find a very
good instance of what Mr. Paley Baildon claims to be done whenever a
new garment is adopted. He says that it is always put on over all the
others. In the case of the ordinary civilian we have the waistcoat,
which was originally an outer garment. Then comes the frock-coat or
surtout, which at the beginning of the nineteenth century was an
overcoat, and over this again in cold weather the modern ulster or
top-coat is put.

No consideration of servants' dress would be complete without an
allusion to the cap and apron of the house- or parlour-maid. To begin
with, we see in these a survival of the special dresses which were once
adopted by particular trades. The fact that the cap is white points to
a connection with the early head-dresses of women which we see now
perpetuated by the nuns, and which are relics of the time when it was
customary to have linen caps and hoods. Perhaps there is some connection
between the cap of the servant and the custom which condemns women to
wear their hats in church and makes them feel desirous of keeping them
on their heads at all kinds of public entertainments. On this question,
however, we shall have a word to say later.

Sometimes servants' caps have strings which, like those that are
customarily found on bonnets and on mitres (see page 54), are the
survival of the ends of a head fillet. The latest development in this
direction is a scarf which is allowed to hang down from the backs of
ladies' hats, and which may be of so substantial a nature that it looks
very much like a fringed towel.

The apron can claim a long history, and just as the plush and powder of
the footman were once worn by his master, so we may easily discover that
the apron was not always the special attribute of those who work or
serve. Towards the end of the seventeenth century aprons were considered
an almost essential part of a fine lady's costume. A little later on,
Queen Anne made and wore them herself, and very gaily ornamented
garments they were.

In the case of the lower classes, aprons were--as they still often
are--provided with bibs. The old name for them was barme-cloth, and
under this title Chaucer refers to the apron of Carpenter's wife as
being as white as the morning milk. Unless the article of dress which
we are discussing was of considerable age, we should hardly have the
proverbial expression which defines a man who is always at home as being
tied to his wife's apron-strings.

Another name for an apron with a bib which was pinned to the front of
the dress was "pinner," which gives us the word pinafore, which refers
now to a kind of overall rather than to an apron.

In the costumes of the barge-women and milk-women, where we get a slight
survival of characteristic country dress, we have seen that in both
cases the apron is always adopted as part of the outfit. (See Plate
VIII.)

[Illustration: A BARGE GIRL WITH THE CHARACTERISTIC BONNET AND APRON.
SHE IS NOT WEARING HER SMALL PLAID SHAWL.

(_From a photograph by Wakefield, Brentford._)

  _PLATE VIII._]

The uniform of the hospital nurse partakes somewhat of that of the
nun, but at the same time the apron is often one of its most important
features. We mention this uniform here because it has become customary
of recent years for the nurses who look after the children of well-to-do
families to assume the bonnet and veil and severely cut collars and
cuffs of the hospital nurse.

Here again we get a case on all fours with the adoption of evening dress
by waiters, and the gradual assumption by the lower classes of the dress
of their social superiors.




XVI

COCKADES

THE COCKADE A DEGENERATED CHAPERON--THE VARIETIES OF THE
COCKADE--COCKADE WEARERS


The cockade as we know it (see Figure 116) is now commonly worn by
servants, but, like their clothes generally, it was once used by their
masters. The books of an old-established firm of hat manufacturers show
that as late as 1789 cockades were worn by gentlemen themselves.
Apparently in the beginning, the sporting of a black cockade meant
allegiance to the House of Hanover. Now the use of the ornaments is
supposed to be confined to the servants of Royalty and of those in the
Royal service, though this does not seem to be actually the case. In a
letter to the _Morning Post_[18] Messrs. André and Co. say that "the
practice has long been regarded as a convenient and fitting sign of
social distinction, and that only such persons should assume the cockade
as enjoy hereditary rank or else some position of importance in the
State, including all officers, military and civil." Yet they can find no
trace of the question even having been dealt with by any authority, nor
have the classes of persons privileged to display the cockade been at
any time accurately defined.

[Illustration: FIG. 116.--The cockade, known as the "large treble,"
representing a survival of the chaperon.]

Sir Alfred Scott Gatty, Garter King-at-Arms, points out that the matter
is really outside the College of Arms, and it does not come under
the jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain's department, which usually
arranges all matters connected with official dress.

Before, however, we touch on the various kinds of cockades, and mention
those by whom the different types are at present worn, it will be well
to deal with the construction and evolution of the cockade, and we
shall be able to show that it has considerable claims to be considered
something more than a mere conventional rosette. As regards actual
material, the basis of the cockade consists of leather, which is
japanned, while a certain amount of ribbon may also be used. In the case
of mourning, we find that the cockade should properly be covered with
black cloth (see Figure 117), but nowadays a piece of crape is often
twisted round the one generally worn. The ribbon is usually merely a
small bow tied in the middle of the rosette (see Figure 116), but the
centre of the latter may be covered with ribbon and the bow replaced by
a button.

[Illustration: FIG. 117.--A "treble cockade" covered with black cloth
for mourning. The concentric circles would appear to represent the
twisted liripipe of the chaperon.]

The cockades worn by the Royal servants on the front of their
three-cornered hats on state occasions (see Figure 120) are large.
The rosette has points, while the upper part, or fan, shows them in
profusion, and there is no silk bow. The Royal cockade for semi-state
has a simple fan, while that worn on the silk hat at ordinary times (see
Figure 121) has no fan, but the edges are cut into points and there is a
bow of ribbon in the centre.

[Illustration: FIG. 118.--Treble cockade used by Chelsea pensioners.]

[Illustration: FIG. 119.--The Regent cockade.]

[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Royal cockade for state occasions.]

[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Ordinary Royal cockade.]

The ordinary fan cockade is used in various sizes, and is shown in
Figure 116. This is called the "treble," and has a bow of ribbon as a
rule. A curious variety worn by the Chelsea Pensioners has no ribbon,
while a segment is cut from the lower part of the rosette (see Figure
118). The only other variety with regard to shape that we have now to
mention is the "regent" cockade, which is exactly like the treble, but
without the fan. (See Figure 119.)

[Illustration: Two stages in the evolution of the chaperon.

FIG. 122.--Combined hood and cape.

FIG. 123.--Enlargement of the peak of the hood to form the liripipe.

(After Calthrop, by kind permission of Messrs. A. and C. Black.)]

It appears that the cockade can lay claim to have been descended from a
very ancient and curious form of head-dress, and Mr. Calthrop[19] has
traced in a very interesting way the development of this, as well as of
the cockade which is a survival of it in miniature. The head-dress in
question was called a chaperon, and came into favour in the time of
Richard II. It was itself derived from a hood and a cape which were
originally worn separately, but afterwards the two were joined together
for convenience, so that they could both be donned at the same time.
Fashion lengthened out the peak of the hood extravagantly until it
reached nearly to the ground, and then the prolongation was called a
liripipe. Next it was ordained that the whole arrangement should be
twisted up round the head, so that what was in the beginning a cape
with jagged edges stuck out on one side like a cock's comb.

[Illustration: Further development of the chaperon.

FIG. 124.--Cape and liripipe made into a head-dress that can be altered
at will.

FIG. 125.--A chaperon ready made up, in order to save trouble.

(After Calthrop, by kind permission of Messrs. A. and C. Black.)]

It will be noticed that the modern cockade shows the jagged edges
sticking up, and it would appear that the rosette represents a coiled-up
liripipe. Even to-day cockades are of various colours, and, as Mr.
Calthrop points out, the servant's chaperon from which it was derived
used to bear the colours of the master's livery. The chaperon is also to
be seen on the robes of the Knights of the Garter at the present day,
where it is fixed on the right shoulder as a kind of cape. (See Figure
144.) Mr. Calthrop also points out that the present head-dress of the
French lawyer is another descendant of the chaperon, and that the
buttons worn by the members of the Legion of Honour and other foreign
Orders are connected with the same idea.

A writer in the _Sketch_[20] sees in the rosette and fan of the treble
cockade the remnants of the crown and star which we see on military
uniforms. He says that the earlier forms seem to have been made of
metal, which must surely be a mistake, though the cock of the hat was,
as we know, sometimes fastened up with a brooch. The example which he
figures, however, and uses in support of his theory, is evidently a
helmet plate which displays the star, garter, and St. George's Cross,
the whole being surmounted by a crown, and in the cockade he claims to
see all these elements in a modified condition. If this derivation of
the cockade were correct, it would be in keeping with the quotation
which the same writer gives from Cussan's "Handbook of Heraldry," that
the privilege of wearing a cockade is confined to the servants of
officers in the King's service, or those who by courtesy may be regarded
as such. The theory is that the servant is a private soldier who when
not wearing his uniform retains this badge as a mark of his profession.
We cannot help thinking that Mr. Calthrop's derivation of the cockade is
more feasible, though it is not easy to see the remains of the coiled-up
liripipe of the chaperon in the way which Mr. Calthrop represents it in
his sketch.[21] In the majority of the cockades there is no trace of
a spiral such as he indicates in his figure, though in the mourning
cockade, concentric rings are very clearly shown. A word may now be said
as to those whose coachmen and footmen wear cockades.

The Royal cockade is used by the servants of the King, and by those
belonging to members of the Royal Household. It is large and circular,
as we have seen, and half the disk projects above the top of the hat.
The regent cockade, which has no fan, is worn by the servants of naval
officers, and no part of it is allowed to project above the hat. The
servants of the officers in the Army, Yeomanry, Militia, and Volunteers
wear the treble cockade with the fan, as do also the Lords Lieutenant
and their deputies, as well as the servants of the members of the
Diplomatic Corps. Besides this, it appears that the same kind of cockade
is worn by the servants of the following: All peers and their sons
and daughters, baronets, knights, and sheriffs, judges, justices, and
magistrates; members and high officers of Parliament and of the Civil
Service; dignitaries of the Church, King's Counsel, and law officers of
the Crown.

English ambassadors have the fan painted with three stripes of red,
white, and blue, and while the edge of the rosette is red, the next
part is white, and the centre blue. In this case also the ribbon in
the centre shows the same three colours. The cockade of the Danish
ambassador is of ordinary black leather, but the centre is covered with
a rosette of ribbon, red at the edge, with a circle of white next to
it, and green in the centre, while the whole is finished off with an
ornamental black button or knob. Other foreign ambassadors have their
cockades coloured upon the same principle as the English; but in some
the colours are shown on the fan in bands instead of in stripes, and the
centre of the rosette may have segments of different colours instead of
rings. In the case of the French ambassador the colours on the fan are
in stripes, while those of the rosette are in segments.

Of recent years cockades have been reduced in size until they have
become mere pigmies in connection with the uniform of "chauffeurs," or
motorcar drivers. The latter customarily wear a military kind of hat
with a mushroom top, and as a cockade fastened on the side of one of
these would not look elegant, a very small cockade is now made and
fixed in the front of the cap just above the peak. Would not one of the
wearers of the old cock's-comb turbans be amazed if he could see the
most recent outcome of his head-dress in its modern surroundings?

There seems to be little doubt but that the "cockade" forms part of the
livery of many who have no recognized right to it. Perhaps the ease with
which it can be assumed is shown by the price lists of jobmasters, in
which we find, after the charge for the hire of broughams and victorias,
a footnote to the effect that cockades are "6d. extra if required."




XVII

CHILDREN'S DRESS

  SURVIVALS IN CHILDREN'S DRESS--SPECIAL SCHOOL COSTUMES--THE
    BLUE-COAT BOY--PUBLIC SCHOOL BOYS--ADOPTION OF A SPECIAL DRESS
    AT GIRLS' SCHOOLS


Children's costume, though characteristic, is in some instances
connected with ceremonies, and in others with particular institutions;
it may therefore with advantage be considered at this point.

We find that for very many centuries in this country, children, except
when small babies and in their early years, were dressed practically
in the same way as their parents, and looked like men and women in
miniature.

The ludicrous effect that was sometimes produced is well seen in
Hogarth's engravings, which date from the time when infants were
powdered and patched as well as dressed in a way that made them truly
grotesque.

A relic of this custom is still to be seen in certain costumes which it
is now fashionable for children to wear. Possibly the sailor's suit
takes the most prominent place, and the Highland dress is also a
favourite. It is perhaps not very strange that we do not see little boys
going about in the uniform of policemen, and until the South African
war occupied the attention of this country, boys were seldom if ever
seriously dressed as soldiers, but during the struggle to which allusion
has been made, it was not an uncommon sight to see small boys in the
khaki uniform and slouch hats which were adopted by the troops in
Africa. Now, of course, the knickerbockers of the small boy, and the
short skirts of his little sisters, though not absolutely characteristic
of extreme youth, are recognized features of children's costume.

As regards small infants, it is still customary for some time after
they are born to wrap more or less of a bandage round them in order to
protect their tender bodies from injury. The modern "binder" is, of
course, a relic of swaddling clothes, or those which consisted of a
profusion of bandages. These still survive in the Holy Land. It may here
be said that we meet in the word "pupa," which is the scientific term
that we apply to a chrysalis, with the old Greek name for a baby in
swaddling clothes. It is used now because the wings and legs of the
future flying insect are hidden in something the same way as are the
legs and arms of the much trussed-up baby. From the same word we get the
name "puppet" and the French word "poupée," meaning a doll.

In Roman Catholic churches at the time of baptism it is still the
custom to place on the head of the baby a white cloth. It is now too
small to cover the body, and it is called the chrysome, or chrism cloth,
and with it once the newly-baptized infant was swathed. This was worn
for a month by the child, and if the latter died within that time the
cloth was used as a shroud. The chrysome is really the remains of a
series of vestments which in the sixth or seventh century were worn by
the newly baptized. The most important part of the costume was the albe,
which was probably similar to that worn by the clergy, and a chaplet of
flowers was also used to crown the child after baptism.

There are in this country still a few monumental brasses called chrysom
brasses showing babies in their baptismal robes. A case where the child
is swathed up even more rigidly than was customary in the old world is
to be seen in the case of the North American Indian papoose, which is
fastened down to a cradle of board or basket work, and at first is so
fixed by the swaddling process that only its head is movable. In some
instances several months elapse before even the arms are allowed to be
free, and these are fastened up again at night.

It is probably owing to deformities that were at first accidentally
caused by this bandaging process, that the fashions arose which demand
that the shape of the skull in certain races shall be intentionally and
artificially altered. To this subject, however, we shall refer again
when dealing with the question of the effects of clothes upon the body.

As might well be imagined, the petticoats of small boys are a survival,
and one which is to be commended in every way. The putting of infants at
an early age into jersey knickerbocker suits cannot but be bad for them
physically, and it makes them look for all the world like little woollen
monkeys. Mr. Druitt[22] has described as many as seven brasses of
various dates between the years 1585 and 1642, which show boys dressed
in petticoats.

Dr. Alice Vickery thinks that it would be well if infant boys and girls
were dressed exactly alike, say up to the age of five or seven. She says
it is difficult to judge the extent to which sex bias is imbibed in the
earliest years, and we should do our best to postpone it as long as
possible. She continues[23]:--"If boys and girls were dressed alike,
taught together and played together, this would do much to direct
attention away from, instead of towards, sex distinction. The longer
such a system could be maintained the longer would be the period during
which rewards and punishments, praise and blame, would attach to actions
and conduct, to the exercise of self-control, kindliness and generosity,
efficiency, industry and alertness, quite apart from all intrusions of
sex idea, and its possibilities of subjection and predominance. That
would in itself be a great gain."

"The best school for the training of life and conduct is the school of
equality, where privilege and subjection are alike unknown, and the
co-education of the sexes is a step in the direction of justice and
fraternity."

"There is one point more on which I will add a few words. I have always
been a great sceptic as to the essential physical inferiority of the
feminine. It is true that in the aggregate that inferiority does exist,
but where can we find a place, a people among whom the development of
girlhood has had full and free scope?"

The custom for young girls to wear their hair down is also an old
one, though married ladies of the fifteenth century are occasionally
represented with flowing tresses.

At the present day, as a rule, when a girl puts up her hair her
petticoats are usually lengthened simultaneously. The age at which these
important changes are made varies. For instance, if a girl has a number
of unmarried sisters older than herself, the time is often put off.
Sometimes the term "old-fashioned" is synonymous with "sensible," and
people with such ideas very often keep their girls in short frocks until
they are really grown up.

The two changes in the girls' method of dressing are not, however,
always made at the same time. In the upper classes we find a tendency
for the long dress to come first. Girls, on the other hand, who have
to go out into the world as nursemaids and kitchenmaids, may, in order
to make themselves look older and more sedate, put up their hair while
they are still in short frocks, though it must be said that the effect
is not quite pleasing if it is business-like.

In the bib of the infant we find a relative of that part of the apron or
the more voluminous pinafore which covers the chest. Although grown-up
women sometimes wear pinafores, these, like the bibs, must now be
considered as part of children's dress, though no doubt in the beginning
they were derived from the costume of grown-up people.

[Illustration: FIG. A.

THE CAP WORN BY THE SCHOLARS OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

FIG. B.

A SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL.

(_By the courtesy of the Rev. A. W. Upcott, M.A., Headmaster of Christ's
Hospital._)

  _PLATE IX._]

The next subject that we may appropriately consider here is that of the
characteristic costumes which are worn in certain schools. In connection
with boys, the first case which immediately comes to mind is that of the
Blue-coat boys, as the scholars of Christ's Hospital, which was founded
in 1552, have come to be called. Their blue coat is part of the ordinary
dress of the citizen of the reign of Edward VI, and the scholarly man
at this time had the skirts of his blue coat long, while in other cases
they were cut off at the knee. Instead of trunks, however, the Blue-coat
boy wears more modern knickerbockers, but he clings to his yellow
stockings. (See Plate IX, Figure B.)

The scholars of Christ's Hospital have discarded caps (see Plate IX,
Figure A), but the one which should go with their dress is flat, like
the one which came into fashion in the reign just mentioned. It was the
one afterwards called the statute cap, when Elizabeth for the good of
trade ordered that "one cap of wool, knitted thick and dressed in
England," was to be worn "by all over six years of age except such
persons as had twenty marks a year in land and their heirs and such as
have borne office of worship." A cap of the same kind was worn by
Edward VI, and is still part of the dress of Beef-eaters at the Tower
of London.

The blue coat afterwards came to be the ordinary livery of serving-men
in the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries, and blue
is still a popular colour for coachmen's liveries at the present day.

In a similar way we find that certain schools are called grey-coat or
green-coat schools, and we have blue schools--for instance, one for boys
and another for girls at Wells.

Then there is the Red Maid School, which was established in 1627 at
Bristol, and in accordance with the founder's will the girls are dressed
in red frocks, with white aprons and tippets and plain straw bonnets,
trimmed with blue ribbon. In connection with this foundation it may be
said that £50 is set on one side each year for the award of marriage
portions to girls who have left the school.

Our public schools afford us very interesting cases of special dresses.
Perhaps no other coat which a boy wears is so well known as the Eton
jacket. This is accompanied by a tall silk hat.

King's scholars who are on the foundation and live "in College" also
wear an academical gown of fairly ample proportions. The Eton jacket was
not always black, and originally the head-dress was a mortar-board, and
there was a broad lace collar or bands round the neck (see page 47).
The black coats and top hats were introduced in 1820 as mourning for
King George III, and have been worn ever since. The broad collar which
takes its name from Eton is probably a survival of lace bands, and is
worn over the jacket in the same way.

Very similar coats are also worn by the younger boys at Westminster and
at Harrow. In the latter case the jacket finishes off in a small point
at the back, whereas the jacket worn at Eton is cut straight. The older
boys at Eton wear a morning coat, a stick-up collar, and a white tie.
This white tie is also worn by the masters, whether they be clerks in
holy orders or not, and it seems to be a survival of a white choker
which was wound round and round the stick-up collar, though, on the
other hand, it may represent academical bands.

At Winchester the scholars wear bands, and this is no doubt connected
with the use of academical dress, for it is usual for the boys on the
foundation of public schools, as we have seen to be the case at Eton, to
wear gowns.

The upper boys at Harrow, on the other hand, wear dress-coats with
swallow tails; but should, however, a lower boy outgrow his short
jacket, he is given what is called "charity" tails.

When speeches are made at Eton, those who take part in the performance
wear dress-coats, knee-breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes.

Some costumes have probably been in existence since the foundation and
endowment of the schools, and we can find parallel cases in the dress
of some almshouses and hospitals for pensioners. Probably the idea
originally underlying the wearing of a special dress is the same as
is to be seen in modern charity schools, where all the boys or girls
are dressed alike. It must simplify the tailoring and dressmaking
arrangements, but at the same time it intentionally or unintentionally
brands the children. Nevertheless, we see that the boys at most
aristocratic and celebrated schools are in very much the same kind of
boat.

To return to Eton again, we might mention one or two fashions in the
ordinary dress which are curious. It is ordained that the lowest button
of the waistcoat should be left unbuttoned and the bottom of the
trousers should be turned up, while it is part of the performance to
thrust the hands deeply into the trouser pockets. If a boy elects to
wear an overcoat, and he does not occupy a certain definite position or
status in the school, public opinion forces him to keep the collar of
his top coat turned up. Of course, schools generally, and sometimes the
various houses in important schools, make a particular point of school
or house colours.

At Eton, on the Fourth of June, in connection with the boating there
are interesting ornamentations added to the straw hats in the shape
of flowers, and three boys who act as coxswains wear the uniform of
an admiral and carry bouquets. The Fourth of June celebrations were
instituted to take the place of the festival known as the Eton Montem.
The ceremony consisted of a procession to a little hill near Slough,
when many old and interesting costumes were worn.

The custom came to an end in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign,
and its immediate object was the collecting of money with which to send
the head boy of the year to the University. It seems, however, to have
originated in a piece of folk-lore, probably connected with the old
tree worship, but sanctioned by the early Christian authorities as a
semi-religious function. In this connection it is pleasant to think that
flowers seen in the hats on the Fourth of June are a survival of the
green branches and garlands that were once brought back each year from
the Montem expedition.

When dealing with children's dress we ought not to forget the special
costumes that have been adopted in some private girls' schools, nor how
much is being done in them towards disseminating ideas on the subject
of dress reform. For, after all, it is to the women of the future that
we must look if any alteration is to be generally made. The introduction
of exercises in the gymnasium has necessitated the adoption of a
drilling dress in very many cases, but there are schools where such a
costume is generally worn at all times, and others where it forms the
working dress, while long skirts are only put on when no active exertion
is expected.

[Illustration: FIG. 126.--Dress worn by the girls at Coombe Hill School,
Westerham. It is a modification of the Dervish Djibah.]

At Coombe Hill School, Westerham, in Kent, the dress takes the form of a
tunic with wide sleeves which come to the elbow (see Figure 126). It is
put over the head and has no fastenings. It is modelled upon the Djibah
of the Dervishes, and is made of soft woollen material of a fawn colour.
The yoke is of green embroidery and the underslip is tussore. Under the
tunic a blouse of white silk is worn, and the sleeves, of course, show
from the elbow downwards. The rest of the costume consists of cloth
knickerbockers and stockings, with sandals or shoes that are made to the
shape of the foot. This dress is worn on all occasions at school, and
the girls are very proud of it.

[Illustration: FIG. 127.--Dress worn by the girls at the Croft School,
Betley, when at work.]

At the Croft School, Betley, in school and when any basket-making,
book-binding, drilling, or Morris-dancing is going on, a special costume
is brought into use. In this case it consists of a tunic without
sleeves, of red material with a velvet yoke, and shoulder straps (see
Figure 127). As a finishing touch there is a girdle tied loosely in a
bow. It is not placed round the waist proper, but drops towards the left
knee as did the sword-belts which the knights in olden times wore over
their armour. A white silk blouse shows above the yoke round the neck
and has full sleeves. The knickerbockers in this case are made of
red knitted stockinette instead of cloth. The whole costume has been
carefully worked out, and Miss Hodgson, one of the principals of the
school, has an interesting doll which is dressed exactly like the girls.
It should be said that all the girls wear this dress whether they are
nine or nineteen years old, and as it is much appreciated by them there
is no doubt but that when they come to have girls of their own they
will support any movement in favour of the more general adoption of a
sensible costume.




XVIII

WEDDING GARMENTS

THE VEIL--BRIDESMAIDS AND BRIBERY--OLD SHOES--ORANGE BLOSSOM


Weddings are ceremonies in connection with which we may look for some
points of interest, as customs in connection with them change but
slowly. In this country, if convention be followed, the bride's dress is
of white.

The veil that is worn recalls the primitive head-dress that was bound
by a fillet, and, like that of the nun, may well be derived from the
wimple, though it is said to represent the canopy which in many
countries, and by the Jews in our own, is held over, or erected above,
the bride and bridegroom. Flowers take a part in the adornment of the
bride, and the special use of orange blossom will be dealt with when
discussing wedding crowns.

It is customary for the bridesmaids to be dressed alike, and they often
wear some ornament which has been presented to them by the bridegroom.
It may be that this is a survival like many other wedding customs of the
old marriage by capture, for in some countries the girl friends of the
bride will not allow her to be approached by the bridegroom until he
has given them presents, or in reality bribed them. Now, like tipping,
it is merely a custom that must be followed, but originally no doubt the
bridegroom and his accomplice, the best man, might have found that what
they could not do by force they might encompass by bribery.

The expression "to tie the nuptial knot" takes its origin from the fact
that, among the Babylonians, the priest who conducted the wedding used
to take a thread from the garment of the bride and another from that of
the bridegroom. These he tied together into a knot and presented to the
bride as a symbol of the binding nature of the union between her and her
husband.

There is an article of dress which often plays a part at weddings, for
old shoes are usually thrown after the newly-married pair, while boots,
with a hole in them, filled with rice, are hung from the backs of
carriages, and satin slippers have on occasion been fastened to the
carriage door handle of the railway train which speeds the pair on their
honeymoon.

We all know that the throwing of old slippers is intended to bring luck
to the bride and bridegroom, but it is not apparent what particular
form it is intended that the blessing should take, and the origin of
the custom is difficult to determine. Mr. James E. Crombie,[24] after
carefully considering the various superstitions connected with weddings
and shoes, has come to the conclusion that the intention is to ensure
that the young couple shall be blessed with children, and that old
shoes are thrown because of the idea that the essence or life of the
individual that wore them remains in them, and makes them powerful
talismans.

In this connection it may be well to consider the importance which shoes
have assumed at various times in connection with weddings and otherwise.
So long ago as the year 1291, a law in Hamburg ordered that the
bridegroom should give his bride a pair of shoes, and it is still a
custom in Transylvania for the bridegroom to make a similar present on
his wedding morning. In Greece the best man puts a new pair of boots,
supplied by the bridegroom, on to the feet of the bride when she leaves
her father's house. In Bulgaria, a money present which the bridegroom
makes to the relatives of the bride is called shoe money, and with it
the father of the family buys shoes for it. This money is said to be
a relic of the price that was paid to the clan from which a wife was
taken.

Shoes have figured as part of wages, and they were thrown over the heads
of the O'Neils by the O'Cahans when the former were chosen chiefs. This
was done to symbolize the superiority of the throwers. In Russia, the
wives as part of the wedding festivities remove their husband's boots in
order to show their subjection to him, though while the bride dutifully
takes off her lord and master's boots as a sign of subserviency, she
always hits him on the head with one of them to show that she is not one
whit inferior to him. It is said that the Hebrew word for shoe and wife
are identical, and a Bedouin form of divorce is "She is my slipper, I
have cast her off." The casting of a shoe over land, as mentioned in the
Bible, was symbolical of conquering it.

As regards fruitfulness, the Eskimo women carry a piece of an old shoe
which has once been worn by European sailors, to make them prolific
mothers. Women who are blessed with families in China present shoes to
the "Mother goddess," and those who wish for children borrow these shoes
and vow that if the desired result is effected they will present another
one to the divinity when the borrowed shoe is returned.

Mr. Crombie gives a number of instances to show that there is still a
belief that the soul of persons may live in their shoes. In the Museum
of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen is a mummified corpse of a
woman who was intentionally drowned in a bog, and from her body, after
the murder, a shoe had been removed. During the Arran murder case at
Edinburgh, in 1889, it transpired that the boots of the murdered man had
been removed by the local constable, who had buried them on the seashore
between high and low water marks. No explanation was forthcoming, though
the man admitted that it was by the orders of his senior officer that
he put them out of sight. There is no doubt but that the idea underlying
the action was that of preventing the ghost of the murdered man from
walking.

It must not be forgotten that shoes used to be thrown after anybody
when he or she was starting on a journey, which in old days was a risky
business, and Ben Jonson wrote, "Would I had Kemp's shoes to throw
after you." This has been interpreted as meaning that Kemp was a lucky
individual, and that something of him and his good fortune remained
in his shoes. Summing up his remarks, Mr. Crombie says with regard to
throwing shoes at weddings that by doing so "we should be doing for the
young couple, in a more pleasant way, exactly the same as the relatives
of the Galla bride did for her when they anointed her from top to toe
with bullock's blood. We should be doing for them with shoes what our
Aryan ancestors did for their cattle with the sacred parna rod, and what
the herdsmen of Sweden and The Mark do to this day, when on the 1st
of May they watch on which branch of the mountain ash the sun first
strikes, and then, cutting it down, beat the yearling heifers with it on
the loins and haunches, repeating at each stroke a verse in which they
pray that as sap comes into the birch so may milk fill the cow's udder.
We should be doing with shoes what the Romans did in ancient Rome at
the festival of the Lupercalia, when the boys, armed with strips of the
skin of the slaughtered goats, used to rush through the city striking
all they met, and where women, particularly those who desired to be made
fruitful, placed themselves naked in the way, and received the blows of
the Luperci on their palms."

At a wedding sometimes the priest's vestments play a part. It is
customary in some continental countries for the priest to wrap the hands
of the bride and bridegroom in his stole, and even in some of our
English churches the contracting parties are instructed to take hold of
the stole by the officiating clergyman. We might mention that in many
countries the bridal dresses are very beautiful, and are often survivals
of very old-fashioned costumes. The Norwegian bridal dress is an
instance of this. The wearing of a bridal crown is also a custom in
Scandinavia, where it is said that every parish possesses its special
crown which is the property of the church, but the use of it is only
sanctioned when the bride bears an irreproachable character.

The wearing of orange blossom has apparently the same meaning, and it
may be mentioned that on funeral monuments or brasses the wearing of a
garland by the effigy of a girl means that she died a virgin.




XIX

MOURNING

COLOURS ASSOCIATED WITH MOURNING--WIDOWS' WEEDS--PERENNIAL MOURNING


The ceremonies connected with death and burial are no exception to the
rule which we have laid down, that on solemn and important occasions
primitive customs and costumes are most commonly to be met with. The
making of clothes from bark has come to have a special significance
in the case of races which no longer adopt this in everyday life. The
Kayans of Borneo now ordinarily wear smart foreign stuffs which they
get from traders; but when they go into mourning they discard these
garments, and return once more to the old native garment of bark
cloth. The putting on of sackcloth is no doubt a similar custom, and
dishevelling of locks is also in keeping with it.

Among the many curious customs connected with funeral rites which
survive in civilized countries, the adoption of some kind of mourning
dress is very general. Sombre black has come to be associated in our
minds with mourning, but other colours are used among other nations,
and even in this country. The drapery with which the hats of the hired
mourners at a child's funeral are veiled are white instead of black.
White ostrich feathers may appear on the horses' heads, and white adorns
their trappings. Royalty is still privileged to have a special mourning
colour--purple is used at state funerals, and grey is looked upon as
half-mourning.

In China white is the colour used instead of black, and other Oriental
nations wear yellow. In modern Egypt, at a funeral, the women, whether
relatives or servants of the deceased, are distinguished by a strip of
linen or muslin bound round the head and tied in a single knot behind.
This stuff is usually of a blue colour. The women of ancient Egypt, as
shown on the walls of tombs, wore a similar bandage round their head.
Excessive mourning is now becoming a thing of the past, and there is no
need now for such laws as were made at the end of the fifteenth century
to restrict extravagance in mourning attire. Nowadays men may follow the
custom observed by those in the army and those who wear Highland dress
of putting a black band round their arm. At the most they wear black
clothes and put a wider band round their hats. Among women it is only
widows who wear a special costume. It is not a becoming one, though
sometimes a smartness is imparted to it that is a little out of keeping
with the idea of mourning. Now a widow's dress is called weeds, though
this term at one time signified the whole of any woman's costume.

For the origin of the widow's veil we must go back to mediæval times,
when the dress of widow ladies was similar to that of the convent. It
was the custom of elderly ladies whose husbands had died to become what
is called vowesses, and to go into seclusion. A relic perhaps of the
practice is to be found in the kind of prejudice which still exists in
the minds of some people against second marriages. The white cuffs of
the widow recall those of the nurse, and similar ones are used by some
members of the legal profession as part of their mourning.

When dealing with military costume we shall find that signs of mourning,
when once adopted, have in some cases never been wholly abandoned. There
are similar vestiges like those found in the dress of public schools,
and there has been a suggestion of the same thing happening in the Navy.

In connection with the hired mourners or mutes at funerals, now so
solemnly habited in black, it may be interesting to recall that the old
Roman mimes, of whom we have seen that Punch was originally one, were
employed at funerals to imitate the language and manners of the
deceased.




XX

COSTUME CONNECTED WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

  THE SURPLICE AND "THE CLOTH"--THE CIVIL ORIGIN OF
    VESTMENTS--SPECIAL VESTMENTS--PROCESSIONAL VESTMENTS, SO
    CALLED--NUNS' DRESS--THE CHOKER


The dress worn by clergy when conducting religious ceremonies offers
many opportunities for studying the development of garments, and
illustrates at the same time how the dress used by a special class may
evolve more slowly and on different lines from the same clothes that may
be worn by the people at large. The case is similar to that of animals
or plants which are isolated from the other members of their species,
and in course of time come to differ very markedly from their far-away
relatives who flourish in the old home.

We shall see that many of the ecclesiastical vestments can be traced to
civil dress; but for the moment we may discuss those which are in use at
the present time, and which afford additional evidence in support of our
statement that the more important the ceremonial, the more ancient the
costume. At the present day we find that the clergy of the Church of
England preach either in a white surplice or in a black gown. We can
trace the black gown to an order made by James I, but at the present day
the vestments worn by the clergy of the Presbyterian Churches are rather
professional, or academical like a barrister's gown, than properly
ecclesiastical. We have already mentioned the bands (see p. 44) which
are worn with the black gown, and here we might mention that when the
preacher ministers to a recognized congregation he wears them, though if
he is ordained but is conducting an occasional service he does not.

Charles I gave instructions that the surplice should be worn, and had an
Act passed giving him power to regulate clerical costume. But the clergy
sent in a petition that matters should be left as they were, and this
request seems to have been granted, as some of the ministers at the time
expressed the fear that His Majesty would order them to wear hoods and
bells. Mr. Macalister[25] says that the surplice was originally invented
to take the place of the albe, which was made so small that it was
difficult to put it over the cassock when the latter garment was thick
and lined with fur.

Originally the surplice was put on over the head, in the same way as the
albe, the place of which it took, but some two hundred years ago the
surplice was made open in front and fastened at the neck with a button.
The reason for this is that in this way the surplice could be put on
without disarranging the enormous wigs which were worn during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The cassock, to which we have
already alluded, was a long, loose coat or gown, which was worn by both
sexes from the eleventh century onwards. The name was applied to the
coat adopted by foot soldiers in the time of Elizabeth. In the case of
the laity, it was abandoned in favour of the shorter and more convenient
coat.

The black coat of the modern clergy, whom we term "the cloth," no doubt
represents it, while it is of course worn ordinarily by many Roman
Catholic clergy, and some High Churchmen, as an everyday garment, for
which it was originally intended. The row of buttons which now fasten
the long cassocks from neck to the foot have been humorously compared by
Lord Grimthorpe to the close row of rivets on a boiler.

With regard to the development of the more ornamental dress of the
clergy there is a great deal to be said. In the past, two separate
origins for it have been suggested, and to pursue either of these would
be to take us far back into history. It has been claimed, in the first
place, that modern church vestments have been derived from those of the
Levitical priesthood. The other idea is that the ceremonial dress of the
clergy was derived from the civil costume of the Romans. It appears,
however, that careful researches have shown that the decorations
which have given ecclesiastical vestments their highly ornamented
character--in which they resemble certainly those used by the Jews in
Temple worship--have been gradually acquired.

The dress of the ancient Christians was simple, and it seems likely that
owing to the poverty of the early Church rich clothing could hardly have
been adopted. Besides, for many centuries there is no mention of such
vestments as we are considering, and no records as to their having been
derived from Jewish models. On the other hand, everything points to a
more natural origin of the raiment concerned. Flowing garments, as
we have already seen, give dignity, and we find that among the Romans
such were used in dignified leisure or on occasions of state, in
contradistinction to the dress of active existence, which consisted of a
short tunic or chiton. It is with the first kind of dress that we have
to deal.

It consisted of a tunic either short or long, over which was worn the
toga which was capable of the same variety of arrangement as the plaid
which still survives. Even when the toga was given up by the people
generally, on the founding of the Roman Empire, it continued to be used
in certain cases.

It was etiquette to wear a toga when dining with the Emperor or going
to court; advocates wore it, as did clients when they visited their
patrons, and it was also adopted at funerals and when sacrifices were
being made.

On the face of it, it would appear likely that those who ministered to
the early Christian Church would follow the general custom. Nothing,
perhaps, affords better evidence of this having taken place than an
illustration which is considered authentic of St. Gregory the Great with
his father and mother. As Mr. Marriott[26] points out, if it were not
for the Papal pallium--that is to say, the band round his shoulders--on
which crosses are embroidered, and the book of the Gospels which he
holds in his hand, it would be hard to distinguish which was the bishop
and which the senator. (See Figure 128.)

[Illustration: FIG. 128.--St. Gregory the Great with his father
Gordianus, who was a senator, on his right, and his mother Sylvia on his
left. This shows the similarity between ecclesiastical and civil costume
in early times. From an authentic picture (after Marriott).]

From this dress it is claimed, by those who have carefully gone into
the question, that ecclesiastical vestments have been developed. In
connection with this, Mr. Macalister[27] makes the following remarks:
"Fashion in dress or ornaments is subject to constant changes, which,
though perhaps individually trifling, in time amount to complete
revolutions; but the devotees of any religion, true or false, are by
nature conservative of its doctrines or observances. At first the early
Christians wore the same costume both at worship and at home. Fashion,"
Mr. Macalister continues, "would slowly change unchecked from year to
year, while ecclesiastical conservatism would retard such changes as
far as they concern the dress worn at divine service; small differences
would spring into existence between everyday dress and the dress of
the worshipper. These differences, at first hardly perceptible, would
increase as the process went on, until the two styles of costume became
sharply distinguished from one another." In this connection it will be
interesting to mention those vestments which antiquarians have traced to
Roman costume.

The albe takes its name from the _tunica alba_, which was used as a
purely secular garment until the ninth century. It was worn by all the
ministers and deacons, but as the latter had no vestment above the albe,
it came to be the special characteristic of the deacons. Usually, as the
name implies, the albe was white, but in this country coloured albes
were sometimes used.

We have already seen that the surplice was derived from the albe, and
Mr. Marriott has brought forward all the evidence that he can to show
that white was the colour of the vestments at the earliest times in
the history of the Church. His arguments, however, do not seem to
be conclusive, and his inferences do not commend themselves to Mr.
Macalister. The latter thinks, however, that the view that white was the
colour appropriated in primitive times to the dress of the Christian
ministry is preferable to the theory that the early vestments were of
the same elaborate description as their mediæval successors. He is of
opinion, nevertheless, that the passages upon which Mr. Marriott bases
his arguments are quite consistent with a third alternative, namely,
that no distinctive vestments were set apart for the exclusive use of
the Christian minister during the first four centuries of the Christian
era.

The dalmatic was a wide gown or tunic with long full sleeves, which was
derived apparently from the albe and used by persons in high secular
positions before it was adopted by the Church. In the mediæval period
the dalmatic was slit for a short distance up either side and fringes
were added to decorate the slits, the hems, and the ends of the sleeves.
In this style the garment was worn by a bishop. There were, however,
only fringes on the left sleeves and along the left side in the form of
this vestment which was appropriated to a deacon.

Most elaborate explanations were offered by mediæval writers for this
difference, which seems merely to be a matter of convenience for the
deacon, who served at the altar. It was important that he should have
his right side free, and the heavy fringes would have got into his way.
One of the ideas with regard to the fringe was that the absence from the
right side symbolizes our freedom from care in the world to come; but
why, Mr. Macalister asks, was not the bishop to be exempt from care
in the future world? In connection with the coronation of English
sovereigns the dalmatic is still used, as well as representatives of
other ecclesiastical vestments, but to these we shall refer again.

It is not at all unlikely that the stole which a clergyman wears after
the fashion of an untied tie, and which hangs from his neck nearly to
the ground, is really the same thing as our handkerchief, and it is
certain that it was employed originally as a scarf or _orarium_. In many
Roman monuments which are not of an ecclesiastical character, scarves
are worn over the rest of the dress. They pass over the left shoulder,
diagonally, towards the right side, and are fastened under the right
arm. They are not to be confounded with the two bands of purple (or
_clavi_) which on the tunics of senators and other important men ran
round the sides of the neck openings and down to the lower hem.

It is probable that the scarves were used in the same way as favours and
"colours" among ourselves. It is recorded that Aurelian was the first
emperor who distributed "oraria" as presents to the people to be worn as
favours. In this connection we must not forget the ribbons of the
Knightly Orders, which we have already mentioned when speaking of the
baldric.

The Fourth Council of Toledo enacted that deacons should wear their
stoles over their left shoulder so that their right arm might be free to
facilitate the execution of their duties in divine service. An English
church vestment actually goes by the name of the scarf, and is a broad
black band of silk worn in the same way as the stole. It is probably a
modification of some article of university costume, possibly the tippet
(see p. 212), and is worn by Doctors of Divinity and the clerical
authorities of Collegiate and Cathedral bodies.

The outdoor garment which replaced the toga took several forms. One of
these had already been in use for some time as part of the dress of the
lower classes and of slaves. Speaking briefly, it rose in the world, and
emperors even wore it when they were travelling. One form, called the
casula, is of interest to us because it is the forerunner of the
chasuble.

So much attention has been drawn to ecclesiastical vestments of recent
years, owing to the adoption by English High Church clergy of those in
which Roman Catholic priests celebrate Mass, that it may be perhaps
of interest, even at the risk of recapitulation, to consider them. It
should be said at the outset that the stripes of embroidery, which are
often very elaborate and enriched with jewels, which appear on vestments
such as the amice and albe, are called apparels.

To garments which are white and have at times to be washed, these
ornaments are sewn or otherwise attached, so that they can be removed
when it is necessary and replaced. The amice we have not yet mentioned,
as it is of mediæval origin and did not come into our consideration of
the evolution of modern vestments from Roman dress. It was a rectangular
piece of linen, about thirty-six inches by twenty-five inches, with an
apparel sewn along one edge and a cross embroidered in the centre. This
the priest at the present time wears round his neck. The outer garment
or chasuble, which is richly ornamented, we have traced to the garment
which replaced the Roman toga, and as it is without sleeves and has
become heavier, it has been found necessary to slit up the sides. Under
this the stole is worn over the albe, and only its ends appear beneath
the chasuble. (See Figure 129.) There is ornamentation on the sleeves
of the albe, where they show, and on the back and front of it where it
shows below the chasuble.

[Illustration: FIG. 129.--A priest in the vestments now worn at the
celebration of the Eucharist.]

The apparels, according to Druitt, are possibly the remains of the
purple bands and other ornamentations of the Roman tunic, from which
we have seen that the albe was derived. Over the left arm the priest
carries a maniple which is something like a stole. This was originally
made of linen, and worn over the fingers of the left hand. There
is no doubt but that it was once a napkin and, according to Mr.
G. C. Coulton,[28] originally used in the fashion of a modern
pocket-handkerchief. That it was a napkin is shown by quotations from
ancient writers, and there seems no doubt also that many refinements of
Roman civilization, of which the pocket handkerchief was one, were lost
in the later Middle Ages. In fact, the handkerchief only began to come
into general use in polite society about Henry VIII's reign, and the
maniple of the ministrant at the altar must have lost its original use,
or Bernard would not have twice warned him against blowing his nose on
his chasuble or surplice.

When speaking of the handkerchief, there is another use which we may
mention. It was often employed for ceremonial purposes in connection
with the giving of presents, and this idea seems to have come from
Eastern lands, where gifts are wrapped in highly ornamental covers. In
the parable of the talents, one of them, it will be remembered, was
wrapped in a napkin, and even to-day the labourer has his dinner taken
to him in a brightly coloured cotton handkerchief.

Among the special vestments of bishops are the dalmatic, which we have
already described, and the tunicle, which originally did not differ from
it, and began to be worn beneath it about the twelfth century. Others
are the buskins or stockings (which were originally reserved for the
pope), sandals, ring, gloves, and mitre, together with a pastoral staff
adapted from the shepherd's crook.

Archbishops have a cross staff and a pallium or pall which is probably
derived from the same ancestor as the stole, namely the orarium, which,
we have seen, was a favour or distinction granted by the Roman Emperor.

The word pallium has been applied to a number of garments in the past,
many of which were of a flowing character, and some writers have seen
in the archbishop's pall a small vestige of what was once an ample
vestment. Early pictures, however, show the pall looped round the
shoulders with one end hanging in front of the body and one behind. Mr.
Macalister says that it was difficult sometimes to distinguish between
it and the stole, and that the next step in its evolution was to knot
the free ends to the loops as shown in the eighth, ninth, and tenth
centuries. From this it was but an easy step to the final form which
consists of an oval loop with a long tail pendent from each of its ends,
so that when it is worn on the person it makes a capital "Y" on the back
and another on the chest. It should be pointed out that the pall must
not be confounded with the apparel of the chasuble called the orphrey,
which also has a "Y" shape.

In connection with the manufacture of the pall there are some
interesting proceedings. It is made from the wool of two lambs, and they
are solemnly blessed on Saint Agnes's day in the church dedicated in
the name of that saint at Rome. The animals are chosen with special
reference to their whiteness and goodness, and are carried into Rome in
separate baskets, which are slung over a horse's back.

On the way to the church the Pope makes the sign of the cross from a
window over the lambs, and they, after Mass has been celebrated and they
have been blessed by the celebrant, go back to the Pope, who sends them
to a nunnery, where they are shorn and the wool made into palls by the
nuns.

The modern pall has six black crosses on it, but previous to the eighth
century it had sometimes four, sometimes eight, worked in purple.

At first the pall was fastened by gold pins to the chasuble to keep it
in place, but just as ladies now use little lead weights to keep parts
of their dress in position, so lead was used to hold the archbishop's
pall in place. The effigy of Albrect von Brandenburg in 1555, at
Mayence, shows two palls, which probably indicate that he was Archbishop
of Magdeburg as well as of Mayence. This repetition can hardly be
strictly correct, as the pall could only be worn within the Archbishop's
province.

Archbishops in olden days appeared to have had no authority to act
until they received their pall from the Pope. The honour was, however,
bestowed occasionally on bishops. The pall is generally shown on the
coats of arms of archbishops. (See Figure 130.)

The cope is one of the so-called processional vestments. It does not
appear before the ninth century, and is apparently connected with Roman
dress. It was an outer cloak without sleeves, and originally was used
as a protection from the weather at open-air processions in Rome, its
ancestor probably being the lacerna. In a similar way the almuce was a
hood to protect the head, and such articles, as Mr. Macalister says, the
clergy would continue to adopt in their cold and draughty churches or in
open-air processions.

[Illustration: FIG. 130.--The coat of arms of Thomas à Becket. Showing
an archbishop's pall.]

Of monastic habits the earliest was the Benedictine, consisting of a
cassock over which was worn the cowl--a large, loose gown, with hanging
sleeves and a hood attached to it. In the old times the costume of
abbesses and nuns resembled the mourning habit of widows, who often
retired to end their days in a convent. When the English Church was
reformed, the Mass vestments practically disappeared. The first Prayer
Book of Edward VI prescribed for the Holy Communion a white albe,
without any apparels, with a vestment or cope, while the assistant
priest or deacons were to wear albes with tunicles. The cope was also
to be worn with a plain albe or surplice on Wednesdays and Fridays when
there was no communion. The bishop was to wear a rochet, a surplice or
albe, and a cope or vestment. The second Prayer Book prohibited the use
of the albe, vestment, or cope to the minister, allowing him only a
surplice, while the archbishop or bishop was allowed a rochet. The Act
of Uniformity upheld the ornaments rubric of the first Prayer Book of
Edward VI, and this has never been superseded.

The lawn sleeves of the modern bishop developed from the rochet, which
was a kind of modified albe, which at first had a kind of tight-fitting
sleeves or none at all. Over this rochet is worn a black satin chimere,
and as it was difficult to get this over the bishop's sleeves, they were
removed from the rochet and are now fastened to the chimere. The black
scarf we have already considered.

It is customary at the present day for clergy of the English Church to
wear the academical hood of their university degree over their
surplices. This is ordained by the fifty-eighth canon, but ministers who
are not graduates are permitted to wear, instead of hoods, "some decent
tippet of black, be it not silk." It appears that in the time of
Elizabeth, in everyday dress, ministers wore a gown and some of them a
silk hood. The tippet is a survival of the almuce, which we mentioned
in connection with the cope, and is one of the so-called processional
dresses. It must therefore not be confounded with the amice, which is a
truly ecclesiastical vestment.

As bearing on the conservatism of the Church in matters of dress, we
may mention that in Holland, until recent times, the clergy wore a
very old-fashioned dress, or perhaps it may better be described as a
picturesque uniform, consisting of an old three-cornered hat, and a coat
resembling the ordinary evening dress-coat, having a long pleated strip
called "the mantle" hooked on the neck, and obviously being a survival
from an early and more ample gown of some kind. They wore knee-breeches
buckled at the knees, and buckled shoes, but this costume was only used
when the minister was officiating at service.

Some of the heads of the churches in Scotland still adopt a kind of
Court dress.

In turning for a moment again to the everyday dress of the clergy, the
method of fastening the characteristic white choker at the back seems
to have come from the bands. Thackeray in "The Newcomes" uses the name
choker as meaning a white necktie, and it was also applied to the old
leather stocks which the clerical collar, in its stiffness, resembles.
The bishop's hat we have already alluded to, as showing the stage in a
process of cocking, the brim being tied to the crown by strings. The
clerical gaiters we can derive from the old episcopal buskins, while the
apron appears to be a vestige of the cassock to which we have before
referred.

The dress of monks usually consists of a tunic or closed gown and
scapular, while there may be one or more open gowns with a hood at the
back.

Nuns or Sisters of Mercy are so commonly seen in our streets, and
they do so much for the benefit of the poor, and take such a part in
educational matters, that their dress is very familiar to us. It is
difficult to say how old it may not be, and though stiff hoods similar
to those which are now in use by nuns were adopted by women generally
in Tudor times, we find in the head-dress of Henry II's reign the
counterpart of the linen bands which surround the face and hide
the hair. The other garments of nuns may have the same origin as
ecclesiastical vestments, for the dress of the Roman women was very
much like that of the men. (See Figures 128 and 131-133.)

There are, of course, many orders, congregations, and communities of
nuns, but we may describe the dress of one of the latter, and then make
a few additional remarks. In the case of the Kilburn Sisters of the
Church, who are English Catholics--but who have dedicated their lives to
religion in the same way as the Roman Catholic nuns--the indoor dress
consists of a white cap, the descendant of the Norman chin-band, which
fits tightly round the head--as the hair of all nuns is, of course, cut
close--and it is gathered round the face with a string. This cap, if
it comes down low on the forehead, correspondingly covers the chin,
but in many cases the latter is free. Over the white cap in indoor
dress a black veil is worn in the case of professed nuns, a blue veil
by novices, while postulants, who may be taken as corresponding to
probationers in a hospital, wear only a cap, though in chapel they have
a white veil as well. Round the neck of the Sister is a white collar,
which in this case is separate from the cap and buttons on to it at one
side.

This collar, which like the veil may be traced to the wimple of Norman
and later ladies, is also called a breast cloth or a gremial, and may
be, as we have indicated, made in one piece with the cap.

In outdoor dress a stiff white hood is placed over the indoor
head-dress, and over that again comes the outdoor black veil.

It should be mentioned that the Kilburn Sisters now pin their veils to
the sides of their linen caps in exactly the same way that the dame in
the time of the early Plantagenets did her wimple to the sides of her
chin-band.

For working Sisters, the rest of the costume is a habit with skin-tight
sleeves, though there are also most voluminous outer sleeves which are
detachable and can be removed. A small cape is buttoned across the
chest, and the number of buttons corresponds with the letters in the
word "Obedience." An apron is also worn and a thick girdle, to one of
the hanging ends of which a cross is attached. Other Sisters wear a
scapular with shoulder-straps, over a white cape. Nuns are not allowed
to wear gloves, and some orders use sandals, though absolutely
barefooted orders exist.

[Illustration: FIG. 131.--The head-dress of a nun showing the veil and
breast-cloth derived from the wimple, the cap which represents the
chin-cloth, together with the frontal and the hood.]

[Illustration: FIG. 132.--The head-dress of a lady of the time of
Henry II. The wimple is shown covering the chin- and head-bands (after
Calthrop).]

[Illustration: FIG. 133.--The chin-band and forehead strap after the
wimple has been removed (after Calthrop).]

The lay sisters of the community under consideration wear a blue habit
and a white cap with flaps. Some orders, in addition to the white cap,
wear a plain band round the forehead over it, which is called a frontal,
and is seen in the dress of Henry II's time. (See Figures 131 and 133.)

Professed sisters wear a wedding ring on the third finger of their right
hand. The white outdoor stiffened hoods often stand right up from the
head in a very striking way, and sometimes no veils are worn. Some of
the caps, which are made in one piece with the collar, are fastened
under the chin by two strings, and the goffered edges of the collar
recall the bands of the Stuart period.




XXI

SUNDAY CLOTHES

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUNDAY CLOTHES--THE WEARING OF HATS IN CHURCH BY
LADIES


Sunday clothes are a time-honoured institution, though it is a sign of
the times that many now make no difference between their weekday costume
and that which they wear on the day of rest, or if they do, they only
put on garments which are appropriate to the relaxations in which they
are accustomed to indulge. St. Jerome and St. Clement both exhorted the
early Christian worshippers to wear a special dress for worship, and the
Jews in their synagogues put on a vestment called a talith, which is
used by the whole of the congregation as well as by the officiating
minister.

We quote the following passage from St. Clement[29] because it deals
with the question of women having their heads covered while at church:
"The wife and the husband should take their way unto the church, in
seemly apparel, with unaffected gait, and speech refrained; having love
unfeigned; pure in body and pure in heart; fitly decked for prayer to
God. And this further let the woman have: let her wholly cover her head
(unless perchance she be at home), for so dressed she will have respect
and be withdrawn from gazing eyes. And if thus with modesty, and with a
veil, she covereth her own eyes, she shall neither be misled herself,
nor shall she draw others, by the exposure of her face, into the
dangerous path of sin. For this willeth the Word; seeing that it is meet
for the woman that she pray with covered head.... But then so as they,
who are joined to Christ, adorn themselves, in a more solemn fashion,
for assemblies of the church, even such should they ever be, even so be
fashioned, all the days of their life. 'To be, not seem to be,' let that
be their watchword; gentle, reverent, full of holy love, at one time not
less than at another.

"But it is not so, indeed. Somehow doth it come about, that, with change
of place, they change both their habit and their manners; even as the
polypus is said to change each one his colour to the semblance of the
rock whereby he dwells."

It will be remembered that not long ago objection was taken by a
minister to women appearing in his church without any hats. It would
appear that the whole custom is a relic of that still observed in
eastern countries, where women cover not only their heads, but also
their faces, though, as pointed out in an earlier chapter (see page
13), in some places it is still considered more immodest to uncover the
back of the head than to expose any other part of the person; and in
Egypt, for instance, an Arab woman disturbed when drawing water will
throw her single garment over her head in order to hide it.

One is rather afraid that those ladies who follow the lines laid down
by St. Clement as to covering their heads in church sometimes obey his
injunctions in the letter rather than in the spirit. For scoffers have
been found who say that one of the reasons why fashionable ladies go
to church is to show their own new hats and gowns and to look at those
belonging to their neighbours. The question of covering the head was
touched upon when dealing with servants' dress in connection with the
cap of the housemaid. (See page 149.)

The greatest contrast between Sunday and weekday clothes is to be looked
for in the country among agricultural labourers, as the cessation of
labour gives an opportunity for discarding the rough and heavy garments
of the field in favour of something lighter and of better quality, and
this quite apart from the religious idea which no doubt first led to
the practice. Probably the custom of putting on Sunday clothes in the
country will survive until the rural exodus, which has unfortunately
begun, has led to the complete depopulation of our villages.




XXII

ACADEMICAL DRESS

  GOWNS AND HANGING SLEEVES--THE FORERUNNER OF THE HOOD--THE ORIGIN
    OF THE DOCTOR'S HAT--THE EVOLUTION OF THE MORTAR-BOARD


Many complaints have been very justly made against the solemnity, if
not the ugliness, of men's modern evening dress. On important occasions
it may be more or less enlivened by the ribbons and stars of various
orders, but we really get a return to something of mediæval brightness
at those functions connected with the universities at which academical
dress is worn. Then the black coats and trousers are practically hidden,
in many cases by scarlet, by purple, and other coloured gowns.
Occasionally there are combinations of colours which are trying to the
eyes of many, but on the whole the effect is one that is pleasing and
worthy of repetition. Academical dress is in itself a survival, and the
gay colours are almost enough to tell us this. Records exist which show
that in the fifteenth century they were already adopted by the graduates
of our universities.

The evidence which has been brought forward as to the origin of academic
costume points to its having been derived from that of the clergy; but
there are interesting connections with civil dress, as we shall see. One
of the special features of many academic gowns is their long hanging
sleeves, and we shall find that so long ago as the time of William Rufus
sleeves had grown so long that it had become convenient to make a hole
through them through which the hand and forearm could be protruded. (See
Figure 134.)

[Illustration: FIG. 134.--Hanging sleeve of the fifteenth century.]

These sleeves took upon themselves all sorts of forms, and they were
made so long and narrow that they resembled very much the elongation
of the hood which was called a liripipe. Occasionally it was found
necessary to knot them so that they should not trail upon the ground.
Very few parts of dress have varied so much as sleeves, and it is
said that any costume can be dated by an examination of the sleeves.
Nowadays, as in the past, the length of the sleeve and of the gown
itself indicates the status of the member of the university. At Oxford,
for instance, the undergraduate's gown is so short that it is hardly
worthy of the name, and it is without sleeves that act as such. The
scholar's gown is more voluminous, and the gowns of the bachelors and
masters of arts are more important again, while the sleeves belonging to
the latter reach nearly to the ground.

When we come, however, to the robes of the Chancellor, which are made
of stiffer material, we find that the ancient character of the hanging
sleeves is much more marked (see Figure 135), and there is a train so
long that small pages are told off to support it. In the old days, the
material of which the gowns were made, and their trimmings indicated the
rank of the wearers; and, as Mr. Druitt[30] points out, the bachelor,
for instance, was unable to use fur of so costly a kind as that worn
by his academical superiors. Stuff or silk gowns still have their
significance, and in the hoods which are the survival of a part of
dress which was once useful and worn by graduates and undergraduates
alike, we find great diversity in the case of the various degrees of
different universities.

[Illustration: FIG. 135.--The hanging sleeve of a Chancellor of Oxford
University.]

As a head covering, the cap took the place of a hood, and the latter
fell down behind like that often seen on a modern ulster. We have
already noticed (p. 157) how this peak of the hood was exaggerated, and
in old times the liripipe was longer in the case of undergraduates. The
modern hood of the universities has grown in size, but it has lost its
long streamer. Examples are, of course, most commonly seen in churches,
as it is a custom of the clergy to wear their academical hoods over
their white surplices. The colour of the hood and of its lining
indicates, to the initiated, the university to which the wearer belongs,
and the degree which he has taken.

In early times a tippet or cape made of fur or cloth edged or lined with
fur, according to the degree, was also worn. To this we have alluded
when speaking of the surplice (see page 199). It seems also to have
originally been a kind of hood which developed first into the almuce,
one of the processional vestments of the priesthood. This was covered by
the ecclesiastical cope, but was worn outside the academical gown.
Doctors of Divinity were allowed to wear scarlet tippets, and the colour
survives now in their academical hood, and the ordinary black almuce
with its fur lining has not been greatly changed in becoming the hood of
the Bachelor of Arts.

Sometimes the tippet and sometimes the hood was worn (if we may judge
from monumental brasses), but also they were both put on at the same
time. The figure of a doctor embroidered on a fifteenth-century cope
belonging to the Pro-Cathedral of the Apostles at Clifton, depicts him
wearing a tippet edged with white, a red hood, and a red cap. His gown,
which is worked in gold thread, is shown with a blue lining.

Perhaps no form of head-dress is more strange than the college cap or
mortar-board, or, in technical language, _pileus quadratus_, or cater
cap. This skull-cap, with its curious square top, is not the only kind
of academical head-dress. There is the round cap which is especially
that of the doctor, while the mortar-board or trencher already mentioned
is used by masters and bachelors, as well as by undergraduates and
scholars. The former head-dress seems to have been very little altered,
and was developed somewhere about the fourteenth century or earlier from
the ecclesiastical skull-cap, which was something like an old-fashioned
man's nightcap, with a tuft. The square cap is an undoubted descendant
of the ecclesiastical cap of dignity, and in England this also came
from the skull-cap already mentioned. Towards the end of the fifteenth
century, while still used by ecclesiastics, it began to assume a square
or cusped shape. Prof. E. C. Clark[31] agrees with the opinion expressed
to him by the late Dr. Littledale, that folds were introduced into the
soft material in order to make the cap easier to hold, for by them it
was stiffened. The folds became four wings, and so converted the
round top into a square. From this it was but a short step to the
ecclesiastical biretta of the present day. Any further exaggeration
of its top would cause the cap to fall down on the face, and would
naturally suggest the insertion of something to stiffen it and hold it
out, and in the end the square top of the cap was made of cardboard
covered with cloth, and a skull-cap was fixed to it underneath. (See
Figure 136.)

[Illustration: FIG. 136.--A college cap or trencher.]

[Illustration: FIG. 137.--Cranmer's hat, illustrating a stage in the
evolution of a mortar-board (after Fairholt).]

[Illustration: FIG. 138.--The hat of a bishop of the Stuart Period
showing a stage at which the stiffening now seen in the mortar-board was
becoming necessary (after Fairholt).]

There is a likeness between the round hat of the doctor and the Tudor
flat cap, and Fairholt would derive the mortar-board from the same
head-dress; and as illustrating the story of its evolution, he compares
the cap shown in the portrait of Cranmer (see Figure 137) in the British
Museum with that of a bishop of the time of Charles I (see Figure 138);
and here again the need for stiffening is obvious, if the enlargement of
the crown of the cap be carried any further.




XXIII

LEGAL DRESS

VESTIGES OF THE COIF--HOODS AND GOWNS--SIGNS OF MOURNING


It would be strange if the majesty of the law did not depend to some
extent upon dress, and there is no doubt but that an impressiveness
which would otherwise be absent from our courts is given by wigs and
gowns. The wigs themselves are an interesting survival, and presumably
are not more uncomfortable to the few who now wear them than they were
to many in times gone by. We will describe here a few interesting
vestiges among those which are to be met with in legal costume.

Any one who has an opportunity of looking on to the top of a judge's wig
will notice a small circular depression about three inches across. (See
Figure 139.) This has a very interesting history, and in order to trace
it we shall have to look at the long wigs of the serjeants-at-law,
from whose ranks in the past most of the judges used to come. On the
serjeant's wig we shall find that there is a similar depression, and
that it is filled with a circular white patch, having a black centre,
and reminding one of two large pieces of court plaster, one stuck over
the other. (See Figure 140.)

[Illustration: FIG. 139.--The wig of a modern judge.]

The white piece represents the coif, or close-fitting cap of white
lawn or silk which resembles that of a nun, and with which the
serjeants-at-law on their creation were decked. From this cap, the body
to which the serjeants-at-law belonged was called the Order of the
Coif. It seems that the origin of this head-dress cannot definitely be
settled. Mr. Druitt[32] and Mr. Paley Baildon are content to consider it
as part of the insignia of the serjeants-at-law, in the same way that
the round cap indicates the possessor of a doctor's degree, and they are
not inclined to give credence to the suggestion that the coif was to
hide the tonsure or to prevent its absence from being noticed. The black
patch represents a black skull-cap that was worn over the coif.

[Illustration: FIG. 140.--The vestige of the coif from the wig of a
serjeant-at-law.]

After having been in existence for many hundreds of years, the order
of serjeants-at-law was abolished by Mr. Gladstone. Lord Lindley, we
believe, is the last member who survives. A black skull-cap is also worn
by a judge, but it is not to be confounded with the cap of dignity which
is used by him when pronouncing sentence, and which was ordered to be
worn in church when on circuit. Ordinarily, the judge does not wear his
scarlet gown, but a black one, the girdle of which has grown to a very
great width.

The drab colour of the trimmings, which does not harmonize well with the
rest of the gown, has recently begun to give way to primrose, and the
change is due to the initiative of the late Lord Coleridge.

It is said that black gowns which are worn by the King's Counsel and
other barristers superseded the coloured ones on the death of Queen
Mary II, and in reality were intended as mourning which has never been
discarded. Legal gowns have come down with very little change from the
Middle Ages, and are doubtless derived from ecclesiastical through
academical costume. The original robes of the serjeants-at-law were
somewhat striking in colour, for taking a line down the centre of the
black, one half was of a mustard colour and the other red, while the
latter was further ornamented with green stripes. The robe of the Barons
of the Exchequer was of a beautiful heliotrope tint.

The material of the gown of the King's Counsel is indicated by the
phrase "taking silk." One peculiarity of the garment is that it has a
large collar resembling that of court-ushers and of vergers in churches.
The ordinary dress of the King's Counsel which he wears in court is
interesting on account of the ornamental cuffs and the escalloped flaps
of the pockets of the coat and waistcoat, which resemble those of Court
dress.

[Illustration: FIG. 141.--A barrister's gown showing the vestigial hood
and its streamer. The buttons and braid which once temporarily looped up
the sleeves now fix it permanently.]

On the barrister's gown there is a tiny hood on the left shoulder
resembling that from which the chaperon was developed, and from the
vestige runs a streamer which comes over the left shoulder and hangs
down in front of the gown. (See Figure 141.) There is also a series of
buttons as well as pieces of braid on the sleeves which are survivals,
and we have not the hanging sleeves of the King's Counsel, which are
comparable to those seen in many academic gowns. Small falling bands
are of course generally worn by members of the legal profession, and
barristers and King's Counsel when in mourning have a little pleat down
the middle of each band. Perhaps the most curious additions to legal
costume used in order to indicate mourning are the little white lawn or
muslin cuffs, like those of widows, which the King's Counsel wear on
their sleeves when the Court is in mourning, or when they themselves
have suffered bereavement.




XXIV

STATE AND COURT ATTIRE

  CORONATION DRESS--PARLIAMENTARY ROBES--MISTAKES IN COURT
    DRESS--VESTIGES OF THE WIG AND OF THE CHAPERON--COURT CARDS


The English sovereigns are heads of the Church as well as of the State,
and in connection with their coronation dress there are, as might be
expected, many survivals from the past. The vestments used on the
occasion in question agree almost entirely with those which we have
described as being worn by a bishop at mass. We may except, however, the
amice and the maniple, while the sceptre and crown take the place of the
crosier and the mitre. The first vestment to be put on is of linen, and
is an albe or rochet, and up to the time of James II it was provided
with sleeves--it is known as the _Colobium sindonis_. Over this is
placed the tunicle or dalmatic. This is made of silk, and across it is
worn the stole in the same way as deacons were ordered to do in the year
561. The custom is still followed in Greece and Rome, whereas priests
generally put on the stole immediately after the albe.

Over the dalmatic comes the imperial mantle which seems to have been
originally a chasuble, but is now slit up in front. This garment, which
is of cloth of gold, is embroidered with eagles, that are interesting as
probably representing the claim of the King of England to be Emperor of
Britain and Lord Paramount over all the Islands of the West. In
Charles II's reign further ornaments occurred in the shape of roses and
fleur-de-lys, and on Queen Victoria's mantle there were roses, half red
and half white, as well as thistles, shamrocks, and fleur-de-lys, while
the eagles were embroidered in silver.

At the coronation of King Edward VII the vestments which we have
described were all used with the exception of the albe, and to the other
devices on the imperial mantle the lotus flower was added as a symbol
for India, as the King was the first sovereign to be crowned as Emperor
of India.

The robe which the King wears at the opening of Parliament has a cape
of ermine made up in miniver style, and it is lined throughout with the
same fur. We might here say that ordinary ermine is decorated with the
tails of the stoat, which remain black when this animal puts on its
winter dress, whereas in the case of miniver the fur is spotted all over
with little black pieces made from the skin of some other animal. This
has not always been the same, but at the present time Persian lamb is
used.

The magnificence of the King's parliamentary robe and its train of
crimson velvet may be gathered from the fact that in the making of the
miniver, upwards of ten thousand pieces of black fur were used. In a
portrait of the King, taken when wearing this robe, he is shown in the
uniform of a Field Marshal, and holds in his hand the Field Marshal's
baton. The latter originally was a box in which the general carried the
orders of his sovereign, and it is rather curious that what was once the
emblem of the servant should come to be used by a crowned head himself.

The rank of noblemen is indicated on their parliamentary robes by the
number of bands of ermine with which they are decorated. A Baron has
two, a Viscount two and a half, an Earl three, a Marquis three and a
half, and a Duke four, whereas on their coronation robes the same effect
is gained by a similar number of rows of black spots on the miniver,
which forms a kind of cape.

As in connection with life at Court there are a number of special
uniforms and official dresses which are carefully prescribed, it is
likely that we should find among the dress of those surrounding the
sovereign, many and excellent examples of survivals. There is, indeed,
one uniform which has come down to us practically unaltered from the
year 1485. This is the dress worn by the Yeomen of the Guard, who may be
looked upon as the King's Retainers. (See Figure 142.)

It is an obvious example of the point that we have dwelt upon in
connection with badges and liveries, for borne on the back and chest are
the royal crown and initials. Of course, the latter have altered from
time to time, and when the King came to the throne the Tudor crown,
which had been superseded by that of St. Edward, was replaced.

[Illustration: FIG. 142.--A Yeoman of the Guard of the present reign.]

The development of the badges on the coat is interesting. In Henry VII's
reign there was the crown and the red and white rose. In the time of
Anne the thistle was added, and the rose was placed upon a stalk. The
Tudor crown was also replaced, for during the Stuart period, St.
Edward's crown had appeared, and the royal motto was added. In the
Georgian period St. Edward's crown again was made use of, while
George III added the shamrock. Now, in King Edward VII's time, we have
the Tudor crown, the rose, thistle, and shamrock, the motto "Dieu et mon
droit," and the initials "E.R."

What the original uniform was, is not quite certain, but practically the
same kind of coat was worn in Henry VIII's reign that appears now. The
ruff would appear to be Elizabethan, though the hat is earlier. The
officers used to wear a similar but more gorgeous uniform, but when
William IV commanded that only officers of the army should be given
commissions in the Guard, the present dress, which is that of a field
officer of the Peninsular period, was introduced. When King Edward VII
came to the throne he left the decision as to whether they should wear
the old Tudor dress, to the officers themselves, and they decided in
favour of the more modern military one. We might mention the halberds
that are carried by the Yeomen, and also allude to some of the duties
which they have carried out, from the making of the King's bed in early
times to searching the Houses of Parliament before the session opens,
which is a memory of Guy Fawkes, and of attending, as they have done for
centuries, at the giving of alms by the sovereign in Westminster Abbey
on Maundy Thursday.

Very many uniforms seen at Court show the turned-back edges and
the lining of the tails, described when we were dealing with the
evolution of the coat (see p. 34)--for instance, in the case of the
gentlemen-at-arms, and of several officials. We may mention also the
Scottish Archers who wear a green coat with a turned-back part--which
represents the lining--of red velvet.

The style of Court dress which may be worn to-day by civilians has
become somewhat simpler, though ruffles and frills are still to be found
in connection, and may be worn with, what is known as old-style dress
that is always adopted by the legal profession. The knee-breeches come
from the time of William III, and the coat in its original form dates
back to the time of Napoleon. The sides of the coat have, however, been
cut away, and this was done during the last reign, when the alteration
was made for the convenience of those who were not accustomed to wear a
sword.

The more recent simplification of Court dress has, however, provided
pitfalls for the unwary, and all sorts of curious mistakes in small
details are made. To show how easy it is to put a button too many here,
or too few there, we may describe the differences between the old and
new styles. On the old there are seven buttons up the front of the coat
and three on the cuffs. In the new, there are but six in the first case
and none in the second. Again, in the simplified coat there are no
buttons below the flaps (which represent pockets), and but four buttons
behind on the tails. In the old style there are three buttons below the
flaps--while there are similar ornaments on the waistcoat, which is
skirted--and there are six buttons on the tails. Then in addition there
is the wig-bag, to which we shall refer in a moment, at the back of the
coat collar, as well as the frills and ruffles. Although on the lace of
these as much may be spent as on the rest of the costume, the cost of
the simpler dress is really not much less than that of the other. A
survival is, of course, to be seen in the sword and in the simplified
costume, it is worn in a frog instead of on a sling.

We have made it evident how much a man now depends upon his tailor for
correctness in the detail of his Court dress, and it is amusing to find
that wig-bags are put on to modern-style coats, and that the number of
buttons is often quite wrong; but if these are the faults of the tailor,
it is the man himself who is responsible who goes to Court with his
sword hanging at his right side. We have not heard of military men
making such a mistake, but officers have been known to appear with their
cross-belts over the wrong shoulder. It is a good thing for some that
Court etiquette is not so strict as it has been in the past.

A curious survival is found in connection with old-style dress and some
of the uniforms which are worn by officials, and we have had to mention
similar vestiges when speaking of the Lord Mayor's coachman and of the
Welsh Fusiliers. This is what is known as a wig-bag (see Figures 109 and
113), though in the Lord Chamberlain's descriptions it is now referred
to by the same name as the ornament of somewhat similar origin of the
Welsh Fusiliers, namely, the "flash." It consists of a small bag of
silk, at the bottom corners of which little satin ribbon loops are
fixed, while the whole is covered by an elaborate rosette of satin
ribbon, and is suspended from the back of the coat collar. The bag
represents the old bag in which the bob of the wig was placed, and the
loops no doubt are those through which a ribbon was passed, which went
round the neck of those who wore wigs, and was secured by a jewel on the
breast. This was to provide against the wig being lost, should it fall
from the head of its wearer, for these curious replacements of natural
hair were of considerable value, costing twenty, thirty, sixty or even
more guineas. The rosette of ribbon is the modern representative of the
bow that tied the wig. (See Figure 143.)

We have already traced the connection which Mr. Calthrop has shown
between the cockade and the chaperon, and we might mention again that
this ancient form of head-dress survives in connection with the hood
of the mantle of the Knights of the Garter and of other Orders, for
instance, those of St. Patrick and of the Thistle. (See Figure 144.)

[Illustration: FIG. 143.--The wig-bag or "flash" from a Court suit,
showing the rosette held away and displaying the black silk bag. At
the lower corners of the latter loops are seen, which are probably the
remains of those through which a ribbon was passed, which went round the
neck and fastened on the breast by a brooch.]

In the case of the Knight of the Garter, the hood consists of a flat
piece of crimson velvet about three-quarters of a yard across, slightly
oval in shape, and at a spot a little on one side of the centre is to
be found the remains of the turban of the chaperon. It is a thick ring
covered outside with crimson velvet, and inside with white silk. To
one side of this is fastened a long band of crimson velvet one and
three-quarter times as long as the hood is wide. This represents,
of course, the liripipe of the chaperon. (See page 166 and Figures
122-125.) The edges of the velvet in all cases are ornamented with a
white silk piping. The hood is fixed on the right shoulder, and the band
representing the liripipe is brought across the breast of the wearer.
In addition there are some wide loops and ends of ribbon called the
streamer, and narrow ribbons with which to fasten the structure to the
mantle.

[Illustration: FIG. 144.--The hood from the mantle of a Knight of the
Garter, showing the survival of the chaperon and its liripipe.]

The hoods of the Orders of the Thistle and of St. Patrick are similar
in construction, and in the case of the former the velvet of which they
are made is blue in colour. On the mantles of other Orders only the
streamer remains. On the left shoulder of the Knights of the Bath and
of St. Michael and St. George there is a small vestige of aiguillettes.
This is of silk cord in the former case, and of gold cord in the second.
The under-dress, which is not commonly worn now, is furnished with trunk
hose and silk tights, and from its appearance is known as the silver
dress. Much the same style was carried out in all the Orders that we
have up to the present had occasion to mention. In the more modern
Orders there is, of course, no such ancient under-dress.

If we have Kings and Queens at Court, we also have Kings and Queens and
Knaves among our playing-cards, and the costumes which survive on the
curious pictures which represent them in double, but without their lower
limbs, are worthy of some little attention. As a matter of fact, they
are Tudor dresses, slightly modified perhaps of recent years, but
nevertheless, a common and widespread relic of the fashions which were
in vogue when Henry VIII was going through his matrimonial troubles, and
shaking this country clear from its allegiance to the Pope.

There are two series of ceremonial dresses not immediately connected
with the State which it may be worth while to investigate. They are, in
the first place, the liveries of the City Companies, and in the second
the insignia of Masons. In the first case, on some of the gowns we find
again the chaperon appearing as a hood on the shoulder, and many of
the caps that are worn have survived for some centuries. A few of the
companies still possess their ancient embroidered hearse cloths, which
recall the early semi-religious and provident purposes of the guilds out
of which the great City Companies have developed.

There seems no doubt, too, but that the apron of the Masons is actually
derived from that worn by the craftsmen when at work, and in some
countries it is still of the same circular form as those which were used
by the English masons of the eighteenth century. Other parts of the
clothing of Masons are no doubt derived from the old guild liveries, and
in the fact that some high officials wear gauntlets we have a reminder
of the knights' armour, and possibly a survival from the time when high
officials were knights.




XXV

SURVIVALS IN MILITARY UNIFORMS

  ARMOUR--PRICKERS FOR FLINT-LOCKS--FORAGE CORDS--REMINISCENCES OF
    GALLANTRY--REGIMENTAL BADGES--COURTSHIP COLOURS


The cuirass of the Household troops which they wear on important
occasions, as well as the metal helmets of various regiments, are
survivals from the time when armour was of use, and if we examine the
shoulders of certain soldiers, we shall find that there are vestiges of
chain mail, though now this only takes the place of epaulettes. (See
Figure 145.) To see chain mail in its perfection we must go back to the
time of Edward I, and if we look, for instance, at the brass of Sir
John D'Aubernoun (who died in the year 1277) or of Sir Richard de
Trumpington, A.D. 1289 (see Figure 146), which are the earliest
remaining in this country, we shall find that the chain mail now
represented by a little patch on the shoulder then covered the head and
neck, arms and hands, body, feet and legs.

[Illustration: FIG. 145.--Relic of chain mail on the shoulder of an
Imperial Yeoman.]

As time went on, plate armour was mixed with the mail, until at last, in
the time of Henry IV, we get the complete plate period in which there
was a breastplate and a corresponding back plate, which had already
appeared in the period of transition of chain mail to plate armour. From
thence onward the development of armour progressed until it gradually
disappeared. In Stuart times, jack boots and spur leathers took the
place of the armour on the legs, and a buff coat that on the body, with
the exception of a gorget. This came to be in the early part of the
nineteenth century, merely a small badge of the officer on duty, and in
a still more diminished form is to be seen in some foreign armies.

[Illustration: FIG. 146.--Chain mail illustrated by the brass of Sir
Richard de Trumpington, A.D. 1289.]

In the earlier part of the book it was made evident that military
uniforms afford a fine field for research, though apart from the remains
of armour, however, they are comparatively modern. It was not, indeed,
until the reign of Charles II that we meet with uniforms regularly
adopted by the Army; and the red coat which has given its name to
the soldier, though many regiments are dressed in other colours, was
previous to that time merely a best coat. We see it now on fox-hunters
and golfers, though a long coat of this colour is still worn by the
King's footmen and coachmen. A writer in the _Spectator_, No. 129, says,
when speaking of Cornwall: "Here we fancied ourselves in Charles II's
reign, people having made little variation in their dress since that
time. The smartest of the country squires appear still in the Monmouth
cock; when they go a-wooing (whether they have any post in the militia
or not) they put on a red coat."

There had previous to the Restoration been some attempt to introduce
uniform dress for soldiers quite apart from the sovereign's special
guards, who, after the fashion of retainers, wore his livery. For
instance, the Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Henry VIII, issued
instructions that every soldier should wear a blue coat guarded with
red, the right hose to be red, the left blue, and a red stripe three
fingers broad down the outside of each leg. The archers are described as
wearing white gaberdines, at one time in this reign, while in 1576 those
belonging to Ireland had a cassock of blue cloth with two small white
guards. Red coats as well as others of blue or white were worn by the
English troops in Turenne's army in 1657, and examples of the last two
colours are by no means extinct in the army to-day. Red, blue, grey,
and green, it may be added, were all worn during the Civil War on both
sides.

It must not be forgotten, however, that gay uniforms are now only used
at home in times of peace, for we have learnt a lesson from the lower
animals, many of which are protectively coloured, and the service
uniform to-day is one calculated to render its wearer as inconspicuous
as possible. Before the time of firearms which could be used with
precision, and when hand-to-hand combats played a great part in war, it
was necessary for two adversaries to be able to see one another, but
now each tries to hide himself.

[Illustration: FIG. 147.--A reversion in military equipment.

One of Cromwell's Ironsides (1679), from a print.

A Cavalryman sketched at Aldershot in 1901.

Copied, by permission, from the _Daily Mail_.]

Some years ago a sketch, which was made from a cavalry man at Aldershot,
was given in the _Daily Mail_; side by side was shown another taken
from a print representing one of Cromwell's Ironsides, and the likeness
between the two is almost exact. (See Figure 147.)

Ornamental epaulettes may also be looked upon as the last remnant of
armour, though the modern kind probably came from a shoulder-knot of
Charles II's time, as they were originally intended to protect the
shoulders from sword-thrusts. At the present day, though they are
worn in the English Navy and are common on the Continent, they have
practically disappeared from the Army.

The officers of the Yeomen of the Guard, whose uniform is that which was
worn in the Peninsular War, still wear epaulettes, as do the
Gentlemen-at-Arms and the Lords-Lieutenant of Counties. As we have said,
there is a fine field for the study of survivals in uniforms proper, and
from time to time many of these have attracted the notice of popular
writers.[35 & 36]

Additional interest is given to this subject by the fact that besides
the variations which have gradually evolved, there are special features
which have suddenly appeared often in connection with some important
battle, which we might liken to the curious sports and freaks which
sometimes occur in the natural history world.

When, in 1881, the old regimental facings were abolished, many
distinctions vanished, still there are more curious details left than
we shall be able to describe. We have already seen how the busby was
derived from the Hungarian cap, and quite a number of other features
have been introduced from foreign countries. The square cap of the
Lancer is the national head-dress of the Poles, who call it a shapka,
and the uniform itself came from Poland. The sling jacket or dolman of
the Hussars (see Figure 82), which is now extinct in our army, was also
an introduction, but still on the pouch-belt of Light Cavalry officers
are the prickers fastened with silver chains, which were used with old
flint-lock muzzle-loaders. (See Figure 148.)

[Illustration: FIG. 148.--The prickers on the shoulder-belt of a Hussar,
which survive from the time of flint-lock muskets.]

Some of these interesting but useless instruments are furnished
with plain round knobs, but others made as if they were arrows with
feathered shafts. Mr. Caton Woodville gives the following explanation of
the aiguillettes worn by aides-de-camp. He says that "they date from the
days when the war-horses, or chargers, were of solid build and slow of
movement, and when only the adjutants were mounted on fleet steeds. Then
the head-dress was a heavy three-cornered hat perched on a wig that was
itself often not too securely fastened to its wearer's head. He needed,
therefore, a cord with metal tags passing round the brim and under the
loops which upheld its three sides. It was fastened to the officer's
shoulder, as the weight of the felt hat, with its bars of steel as a
protection against sword cuts, was considerable, and it was enough
to choke a man if it should happen to dangle from his throat, so the
aiguillettes have become the distinguished mark of the assistant to the
general commanding in the field or garrison."

It should, however, be mentioned also that these ornaments are worn in
the Household Cavalry by non-commissioned officers, and are a relic
there of the days when these soldiers were gentlemen of the Royal Life
Guards, who had the right to a commission in a line regiment after a
certain number of years' service. Other soldiers carry them, as do also
the footmen of the nobility. Horse soldiers have also an ornamental cord
to their head-dresses, and it seems likely that the aiguillettes had
another origin, and that prickers or some other instruments were at one
time attached to them.

In the Lancers there is a very long cap-line, which has been mixed up,
we are told by Mr. P. W. Reynolds, with a very interesting survival.
This is the remains of a cord used for binding up grass and other forage
into bundles, worn for convenience round the body, and over one shoulder
by cavalry men, when it was not in use. It is known to the French as a
"fourragère." In the Lancers the cap-line passes round the cap and
is brought under the right shoulder-strap. So far it is the original
cap-line; then it passes twice round the body, under the left arm, and
under the right shoulder-strap, and ends, in a festoon and a couple of
acorns, which remind one of aiguillettes, on the left breast. The part
that goes round the body is the old forage cord.

The sergeants' sashes, it is said, were originally intended to make
slings so that the wounded could be carried out of action with the help
of pikes, and the drum-major's baton is the survival of a cane which the
drill-sergeant sometimes used on the backs of the recruits. The "flash"
of the Welsh Fusiliers, as we have seen, is a survival from the times
when wigs were worn. Here and there we find old head-dresses once nearly
universal, such as the shako which is now confined to the Highland Light
Infantry and the Scottish Rifles. Other regiments, such as those of the
Rifle Brigade, which have been at times used as cavalry, retain certain
features of the horse soldier's uniform. For instance, the Rifle Brigade
has a head-dress which resembles the Hussars' busby, and instead of a
sash the officers wear a cross-belt.

The officers of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, which on one occasion
was turned into cavalry at a moment's notice, wear a mess jacket of the
cavalry pattern; they have also a black worm in their lace, like
the East Yorkshire and North Lancashire regiments, which is usually
explained as being mourning for Sir John Moore in the first case, and
for General Wolfe in the two others. Before turning to peculiarities
which were granted for special services, we may mention the black tunics
and black plumes of the farriers belonging to the Life Guards, who carry
a great axe with which to kill horses that are wounded in battle, and
the state trumpeters also of the Household Cavalry, who wear a highly
ornamental uniform which has persisted for nearly two centuries.

There still remain relics of the time when commanding officers had a
great deal to say in connection with the uniforms of their regiments.
When the Cameron Highlanders were first raised in 1794, Colonel Cameron
did not adopt the Cameron tartan, because he did not think it would go
well with a scarlet tunic, and he introduced one which had been designed
by his mother, called the "Cameron Erracht," which has been worn
ever since. The White Horse of Hanover appears as a badge on several
regiments, and it is recorded that George I, objecting to the private
crests of the commanding officers, replaced them in many cases with the
Hanoverian device. Even now, in spite of the minute regulations of the
War Office, which are continually being altered, the uniforms are not
always made absolutely as they are prescribed. Little details may be
added, and colonels still seem to exercise some influence in the matter.
The red puggaree of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry is not
obtained from the regimental tailor who supplies the uniform.

The white jackets of the Guards and Highland corps which are worn in
undress are still called "waistcoats," and, according to Mr. Walter
Wood, are a relic of the white waistcoat which was worn under the
tunic by the British soldiers down to the time of William IV. It must,
however, be remembered that a waistcoat was originally an outer garment,
as indicated on page 148.

An exceedingly curious privilege is that which has been accorded to the
non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marines, who for many
years have been allowed when in mourning, to cover one button of their
tunics with crape. The Eighth Hussars wear their sword-belts over their
shoulders, and the tradition is that at the battle of Saragossa they
behaved so gallantly that they totally destroyed a corps of Spanish
cavalry and took possession of their adversaries' belts.

Perhaps the most curious mark of distinction is the extra drummer of
the Third Hussars, who enjoys special pay and is permitted to wear a
sergeant's uniform. This privilege was granted by George III when it
was brought to his notice that the regiment possessed some silver
kettledrums which they had captured. The request for this honour was
made in 1778 by General Fitzroy, and his wife presented a silver collar
for the use of the additional drummer which is still worn to-day. It is
handsomely engraved with military devices, and fits closely round the
throat. In full dress the Eleventh Hussars wear an ivory-hilted sword
made on the model of one picked up at Bhurtpore. The Fifteenth Hussars
wear the Austrian Imperial lace on account of their gallantry at
Villiers-en-Couche, which prevented the Emperor of Austria from falling
a prisoner to the French.

The Scots Greys were given Grenadier caps, which are not worn by other
cavalry regiments, for their bravery at Ramillies. The Northumberland
Fusiliers have red and white hackle feathers--that is to say, that
the upper part of their plume is red, and the lower part white. It is
recorded that at Wilhelmstahl, and also when in St. Lucia, this regiment
was victorious after great struggles, and took from the caps of the
French Grenadiers who were slain, enough white feathers to fit up
the whole regiment with plumes, the use of which afterwards received
official sanction. When, however, an order was made in 1829 that white
plumes should be generally worn, the Fusiliers complained that they
would lose the distinction which they enjoyed, and by a compromise they
were allowed to have a plume which was half red and half white. The
Northumberland Fusiliers share with one or two other regiments, that
distinguished themselves at the battle of Minden, the privilege of
wearing roses in their caps on St. George's Day.

We might spend a considerable time in dealing with the badges of
various regiments, for often the history of the latter is bound up with
them. They figure on the collar and other parts of the uniform, and
occasionally, as badges might be expected to do, they appear on the
buttons. We have touched upon this subject in connection with George I.
The Scots Greys have as a badge an eagle with outstretched wings. It
commemorates the capture of a French eagle at Waterloo by Sergeant
Ewart, who was given a commission for his bravery.

The Gloucestershire Regiment has a badge in front and another on the
back of the helmets, because on one occasion, in Egypt, when it was
attacked in the rear as well as in front by large bodies of French
cavalry, and there was no time to form a square, the commanding officer
gave the order, "Rear rank, right about face, fire!" The result was
that the enemy was beaten off. In connection with this achievement the
second badge was given.

An interesting tale is told with regard to the formation of the Guards
by Charles II after the Restoration. There were three regiments present,
and they were commanded to take up arms as the First, Second, and Third
Guards, but while the first and third obeyed the order, General Monk's
regiment stood still. The King, who was surprised at the apparent
insubordination, asked Monk for the reason. Whereupon he said that his
regiment declined to be considered second to any other. As a result,
Charles is said to have answered, "Very well, they shall be my
Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, and second to none." From this comes
their motto, "Nulli secundus." It may be mentioned, also, that this
regiment has a distinction which is absolutely unique in the Army, as it
bears on the King's colour a small Union Jack, which commemorates the
fact that Monk was an Admiral of the Fleet as well as a General.

It is only about a hundred years since the pretensions of the English
sovereigns to the throne of France ceased to be evident, for it was not
until the end of George III's reign that the French fleur-de-lys were
removed from the Royal Arms and disappeared from our coins. There is
still, however, a survival of the lilies of France on the braid of the
drummers in the Guards. White lace with red crowns is what is almost
universally worn by drummers in the Army, but the crown is replaced in
the case mentioned by the fleur-de-lys. Whilst speaking of the Guards,
one may recall that not very long ago a uniform was used by the
solicitor with which these soldiers were, and in the case of the
Coldstream Guards are still, provided. The solicitor, like the medical
officer, wore the cocked hat that is now dying out in the Army, though
generals and aides-de-camp still adopt this most curious outcome of the
Cavalier's beaver. Here and there, as in the case of the surgeon and
veterinary surgeon of the Life Guards, and the medical officers of some
Volunteer regiments, we still see the cocked hat. It flourishes also in
Court dress, it adorns the Lords-Lieutenant and their deputies, besides
maintaining its position among the officers of the Navy.

Fur, the material of which the first clothes of our ancestors were made,
is still seen to a considerable extent in the Army, and is chiefly used
for the construction of busbies. So important was the trade in furs
for military purposes at one time, that bear-skins were classified as
follows: "Officers," or first grade; "Grenadiers," or second grade; and
"unfit for the Army," or third grade. Like all features of dress which
are exaggerated, the big busbies of the Guards have on more than one
occasion afforded material for the caricaturist. Leech depicted the
soldiers of the Brigade of Guards warming their hands and feet in their
busbies, which they used as muffs; and an amusing series of sketches
for the amusement of the young people was published not long ago, in
which the soldier disappeared almost entirely into his busby and became
a sort of Humpty-Dumpty.

Tall hats of the type of our modern silk hats were not unknown in the
Army. Perhaps it may come as a shock to some that Lord Howard of
Effingham is shown in a portrait as wearing a top hat, in shape very
similar to the modern form, but ornamented with a plume of ostrich
feathers. There is, we believe, however, still one top hat which is
served out by the War Office at the present day, and this is worn by the
Chapel Keeper at Wellington Barracks.

Of buttons we have already spoken times out of number, and it may be
interesting to mention here that the various regiments of the Brigade of
Guards may be told by the arrangement of buttons on the tunic. They are
arranged at even distances apart in the Grenadiers, in twos on the
Coldstreams, and in threes on the Scots Guards, and in fours on the
Irish Guards, which were created of recent years.

We find plenty of survivals in the Army of buttons which are seen in
similar places to those on civilians' clothes. Mr. P. W. Reynolds has
pointed out another, which is found in connection with a cord loop on
the collars of the officers of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. This is a
survival of a fashion once universal in the British Infantry, though the
loop often consisted of half-inch lace instead of cord. The button was
originally on a turned-down collar, and previous to that was on the
coat, coming through a hole in the collar with a view to holding the
latter properly in place.

If officers and sergeants were seen together it would probably be
noticed that the former wear their sashes over the left shoulder, whilst
the latter wear theirs over the right. To this a single exception can,
however, be found. In the Twenty-ninth Foot the sergeants and officers
both wear their sashes over the left shoulder, and this custom has been
traced back to the battle of Culloden, where so many officers were slain
that the sergeants had to take their places.

The drummers of the Leicestershire Regiment on state occasions wear
tiger-skin aprons instead of the usual ones of pipeclayed leather. This
is connected, as is also their badge, with their services in India.

A point that is perhaps not generally known is that officers going on
voyages in hot climates are allowed to substitute the kamarband for the
mess waistcoat, various colours being adopted by various regiments.

We have seen the origin of the red coat so far as it affects the modern
army. Under these circumstances it is hardly necessary to say that it
is not intended to prevent the soldier from seeing his blood when he is
wounded, as has sometimes been suggested. It might be taken as acting
as a warning colour like that of the wasp or hornet, but we have also
noticed the way in which conspicuous dress is replaced by protectively
coloured uniforms when the soldiers are upon active service.

We cannot help mentioning, however, one case in which the ornamental
garb of peace proves useful to its wearer. We find in the animal kingdom
that, whatever may happen in modern times in our own case, the males
are as a rule the more brightly coloured, and we have come to call the
brilliant hues with which they are endowed "courtship colours." The
charm which our gallant soldiers seem to have for the fair sex surely
entitles us to reckon the gay uniforms of our Army as coming into the
category of "courtship colours."




XXVI

NAVAL UNIFORMS

SUPPOSED SURVIVALS--PETTICOATS AND WIDE BREECHES


If we had headed this chapter "survivals in naval dress," we should have
been in the historic predicament of the writer who took as his topic the
snakes of Iceland, and afterwards had to own that there were none. It
would be better, however, if we were to say that there are no survivals
of a strictly naval kind, as then we should be nearer the truth. There
are, of course, in the uniform of both officers and men, plenty of
survivals from civilian costume, such as we have spent much time in
describing. Though the crews of the galleys, which are the boats
reserved for the captain's use, had, in the case of the smart ships,
long been dressed in a uniform manner, the actual uniforms of the Navy
only date from a little before the year 1767.

The colours, blue and white, so tradition says, were due to an
inspiration which George II received, while the subject was under
discussion, on seeing the Duchess of Bedford riding in a new habit which
was of blue faced with white.

There are two points in the dress of the ordinary sailor which are
commonly supposed to be interesting survivals, and indeed they appear on
the surface to have all the makings of such. It has been thought that
the black silk handkerchief which a sailor wears round his neck was
first put on as mourning for the death of Nelson. The other matter is
the blue jean collar which covers the similar-shaped one which is made
of the same material as the sailor's jumper. This would no doubt have
protected its fellow from the grease of the pigtail which sailors wore
once; but Commander Robinson, who has gone into the question, says that
pigtails were discarded before the blue jean collar came into existence,
and at the same time tells us that black silk handkerchiefs were adopted
previous to the time of Nelson. It is not perhaps very widely known that
sailors at one time wore a kind of kilt or petticoat, and this no longer
ago than the year 1779.

Some thirty or forty years earlier there were in vogue loose slops like
the petticoat breeches of the reign of Charles II, and the collar of the
coat, which was open at the neck, turned back on to the shoulders.

The trousers, however, that are now adopted are tight round the body and
thighs, but remain very loose round the legs, and are therefore somewhat
curious. The method of buttoning is one which they share with the
gentlemen of George II's time, the old-fashioned labourer, and, we
believe, the bishop.




XXVII

THE COSTUME OF PUPPETS

PUNCH AND JUDY--FASHION DOLLS--DOLLS IN SWADDLING CLOTHES--THE EGYPTIAN
"SHABBIES"


By way of a change let us turn from people to their images--in fact, to
puppets and dolls--for these semblances and caricatures of human forms
are generally clothed, and at times may present to us very curious
survivals. Let us begin with Punch and Judy, and in this connection we
must not forget the dog Toby, for the ruff which he wears round his neck
is a reminiscence of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Punch himself, however, is
very much older than his clothes, though to find the explanation of the
hump in front we must examine the clothes of the time of Henry III of
France, when the men's busked doublets came down low to a strap-shaped
point, and had a great padded punch-like protuberance.[37]

For other peculiarities that we see we may have to go to the times of
Henry IV of France, but the character is very many centuries older; and
the careful investigations made by a friend of the present writer, Mr.
George Heppel,[38] into the history of Punch have shown why his present
costume was adopted and what was his prototype.

As might be expected, the original Punch was a man--not Pontius Pilate,
as has sometimes been suggested owing to the connection of Punch with
miracle plays, but a character in the old Italian farces, which go
back to the early days of Rome. The town most celebrated for such
entertainments was Atella, situated not very far from Naples. The
farcical plays were full of buffoonery, and Punch or Pulicinella was one
of the stock characters, represented by a live actor, as were also the
originals of the Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Scaramouch, among others.

It appears that the plays were not written as we understand a play to be
written, but as a rule the plot of them was known, and a great deal of
the dialogue was left to the actors themselves. From this it will be
seen that the art of gagging can hardly be considered to be modern. The
Italian, though by no means great as a dramatic author, was, as he is
now, exceedingly good as an actor. It is said[39] that for genuine fun
no dramatist can beat the Neapolitan, no actor can surpass him. He
writes or acts without the least effort; it is born in him, and he
cannot help it. The very beggar-boy who hunts one along the street is a
consummate actor; his gestures are prolific, easy, and natural; he is a
facial artist without knowing it, and he has a power of elocution and
expression which are only acquired by experienced performers after many
years of study.

It may perhaps come as a surprise to many, seeing how long Punch has
persisted, to learn that in Italy he was not one of the important
characters in the original plays, but his choice as the hero of the
puppet-show depended rather on the fact that he had not so much to do as
some of the others--the harlequin, for instance. Therefore his character
could be better portrayed under the restricted conditions that prevailed
in such an entertainment as the Punch and Judy show. It will be obvious
also that only two characters can be acting at one time, as the showman
has only two hands. Mr. Heppel could only trace one instance of Punch
figures being worked by wires like other marionettes. This is a figure
in a little book no larger than a playing-card, entitled "Scènes de
Polichinelle," in the Art Library at the South Kensington Museum.

The showman in the case of the French Punch on occasion makes a virtue
of necessity, and when the hero of the puppet-show is about to be tried
for murder, the performance is interrupted in order that the following
apology may be made:--"The scene which we are about to have the honour
to put before you requires a tolerably large number of characters. It
is, indeed, impossible to suppose that so important a prisoner as
Guignol should be tried without due ceremony and by a single judge, but
as the director of this theatre, like the generality of mankind, has
but two hands, the actors in this scene will most of them remain quite
still. This need not in the least interfere with the truth of the
representation, for this stillness gives the administration of justice
an additional solemnity. We may suppose that the judges are asleep,
which will enable them to decide free from passion, and that the
officials of the court are paralysed by the majesty of the court and the
magnitude of the issues to be determined."

[Illustration: FIG. 149.--The Oscan Pulicinella of 1731, without a long
nose. The dress is very similar to that figured in 1630 (after
Riccoboni).]

The Punch and Judy show went on in Italy side by side with the farces
that were represented by living actors, but the idea of puppet-shows is
very much more ancient than this.

The clothes of Punch were plain, and illustrations made in 1630 are
similar to others made a hundred years later (see Figures 149 and 150).

[Illustration: FIG. 150.--The Calabrian Giangurgolo of 1731, with the
long nose. The dress is very similar to that figured in 1630 (after
Riccoboni).]

Originally, also, Punch does not seem to have had a long nose. The
exaggerated nose is, however, found on the representative of Punch which
flourished in Calabria, and which went by the name of "Giangurgolo" (see
Figure 150).

The French Punch is called Guignol, of which the derivation cannot be
directly traced, but Mr. Heppel has made an interesting suggestion that
in the name of this character is to be found that of Giangurgolo in a
contracted form.

As may have been surmised, we got our Punch and Judy by way of France,
but as a human actor Punch himself came direct to England.

[Illustration: FIG. 151.--An ancient bronze statuette with the face and
features of Punch (after Ficorroni).]

An ancient statuette which is figured by Ficorroni (see Figure 151) is
supposed by antiquarians to represent Punch, and if the individual whom
it represents did not go by that name, he must certainly have been one
of Punch's ancestors, for the likeness to our modern hero is exceedingly
great. References are made by a number of classical authors to
puppet-shows, and these were also known in China as long ago as a
thousand years before the Christian era.

[Illustration: FIG. 152.--A fourteenth-century puppet-show (from the MS.
of the "Roman d'Alexandre").]

The method also of exhibiting the puppets is not very modern, for a very
interesting figure of a show embellishes the celebrated MS. of the
"Roman d'Alexandre" (see Figure 152) which is preserved in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford, and was executed between the years 1338 and 1344. The
figures were evidently worked by the hands as in Punch and Judy, and
that it was intended to amuse children is shown by three little girls
who are represented as looking on.

Though sticks are not strictly a part of dress, unless we consider the
canes of the dandies as being so, yet their usefulness in puppet-shows
is so great that we are tempted to digress for a moment to give the
comments of M. Lemercier de Neuville on the subject:--

"The stick! that is the great argument of Guignol, as well as of
Polichinelle. The stick settles everything. It puts an end to disputes,
it pays debts, it sends away troublesome people, it disciplines wives,
it takes vengeance on men, it is the 'Deus ex machina' of all this
Lilliputian world. What a marvellous dramatic resource it is. If a
situation becomes difficult to manage, settle it with a blow of the
stick. If a _dénouement_ seems to hang fire, hasten its progress by
a thrashing. The stick is above all criticism; it checkmates it, it
destroys it, for it is in the right, in spite of everybody, because it
is the strongest. The stick has no respect of persons. With it Guignol
beats his creditors, his friends, his wife, the constable, the judge,
the hangman, and the more he strikes the more he makes people laugh.
There is no spoken joke that is as good as this. And yet the stick is
not beautiful, nor is it new. One sees that it has done duty for a long
time, for it is worn out and cracked."

We have, in fact, a record of Italian players coming to act their farces
in this country in 1577, but as Punch in the capacity of a person is
now obsolete with us, we shall only incidentally refer to him as a
living actor, though perhaps we might recall the fact that Molière
introduced him into his play _Le Malade Imaginaire_.

We have spoken already of Punch's hump in front, and it may be
interesting in this connection to give the opinion of a Frenchman on
the subject of Punch's bodily characteristics. M. Magnin says that with
a sufficient amount of exaggeration and caricature to set aside the
suspicion of disloyalty, the Punch figure recalls the appearance of some
Gascon officer imitating the walk and demeanour of Henri IV in the Guard
Chamber of St. Germain or in the Louvre. The hump in front, he says, was
derived from the protuberance of the heavy cuirass. This is much the
same explanation as that which we have already given, though the cuirass
probably stuck out in front of its wearer even more than did the
doublet.

There is no doubt but that the French like gayer dresses than the
Italians, and we have seen that even in 1630 the clothes of Harlequin,
Pantaloon, and Scaramouch in Italy were, like those of Punch, plain
and simple; but in order to be popular in France the Pulicinella had
to dress in a new style, and it is known that already in 1649 the
puppet-show of which he is the hero had set up on the left bank of the
Seine, opposite the Louvre. When Punch got to England it was at a time
when gay clothes were worn, and some relics of these he has retained to
the present day.

Red and yellow play a considerable part in the dress of the Punch
figures used by Mr. W. H. Jesson, the members of whose family have for
generations been performers of Punch and Judy, and who is one of the few
that are still left. Punch has a very high cap of antique appearance,
with turned-up brim and a bow of ribbon on the top. The hump on his back
is almost horn-like, and forms a complete circle. It seems unlikely
that this appendage was developed from any part of costume unless
it were perhaps the liripipe; but we may rather imagine that in the
past Pulicinella may have been represented as being a hunchback, and
certainly Figure 151, taken from the statuette mentioned previously,
suggests an individual suffering from such a deformity.

Punch also wears a ruff (see Figure 153), though it is not a separate
part of his costume, as in Judy's case, where it is of lace and its
character is well shown, as it consists of more than one thickness.
Judy's head-dress is the mob cap which was fashionable in the time of
George III. (See Figure 154.)

The beadle, with his three-cornered hat and his brightly trimmed coat
and cape, has survived for a century or so after his clothes first
became fashionable, and no doubt in the puppet-show he will persist for
many years when every living representative of his kind has passed away.
(See Figure 155.) Of two more characters we have a word to say,--in
the first place, of the doctor, who is brought before us in clothes of
almost clerical cut, which remind us of the fact that the members of the
medical profession were once more easily recognized by their dress
than they are now (see Figure 156); in the second, of Toby, whose sole
costume consists of a ruff, that once more takes us back to the time of
Good Queen Bess.

[Illustration: FIG. 153.--Punch, from the Punch and Judy Show, showing
the ruff and other details of Elizabethan costume.]

[Illustration: FIG. 154.--Judy, from the Punch and Judy Show, with ruff,
mob cap, and apron.]

Though Punch has donned new clothes and altered his habits to suit not
only the countries in which he sojourned, but the times in which he has
performed, yet despite these and other changes that have gone on since
he set foot on these islands, there is one thing that has always been
his special characteristic. This is his squeaky voice, which he retained
even in Molière's play, and it is from the peculiarity of his voice that
he gained his name. Pulicinella means a "hen-chicken," which might well
be expected to have a squeaky voice.

[Illustration: FIG. 155.--The Beadle, from the Punch and Judy Show.]

[Illustration: FIG. 156.--The Doctor, from the Punch and Judy Show, with
wig and white tie.]

With regard to the changes in Punch's behaviour we have a word to say.
Originally he was somewhat of a composite character, the constituent
elements being derived from several of the personages of the larger
theatre. At first, to the amorous and intriguing ways of Pulicinella
there was added the roguery of Scaramouch, as well as the dash and
braggadocio of the Spanish captain who was a member of the comedy
company, akin to the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus and the Bobadil of Ben
Jonson.

As time went on there was less love-making and trickery and more
knocking about, but Mr. Heppel will not allow that the French writers
are right in ascribing the whole of this to English influence. For the
fact that the puppets are not alive gives an opportunity for dealing
blows with a reality that could not be tolerated if the actors were
living, and when we remember the way in which dog Toby seizes Punch by
the nose, we cannot help feeling that the effect could hardly be so
realistically produced on the actual stage.

In France, Punch is a bachelor, or if he is married he is not very much
married, while in England Punch always runs in double harness. Another
alteration has taken place. Polly, who was one of the characters that
have disappeared, has departed for the reasons put into the showman's
mouth by Mr. Henry Mayhew in 1861. "Miss Polly was left out, because it
wasn't exactly moral. Opinions has changed. We ain't better, I fancy.
Such things goes on, but people don't like to let it be seen now; that's
the difference. Judy's dress, you see, is far different, bless you, than
Miss Polly's. Judy's, you see, is bed-furniture stuff, and Polly's is
all silk and satin. Yes, that's the way of the world; the wife comes off
second best."

As in old times, there was much buffoonery introduced even into
religious plays, and the characters which have been separated from the
other performers to take part in the special harlequinade of the modern
pantomime used, together with Punch, to appear side by side with those
who took the part of religious personages. To uneducated people there
seemed nothing profane about this; but as time went on men and women
came to look at matters in a different light. For reasons somewhat
similar, the devil and the ghost are now left out, and in the
performances that are given in drawing-rooms even the coffin, in some
cases.

The connection, however, of Punch with religious plays probably accounts
for the name by which his wife now goes. Those who mistakenly supposed
that the word Punch was derived from Pontius Pilate looked upon Judy as
representing Judas Iscariot. We have already pointed out the origin of
the former appellation, which ante-dates the Christian era, while a
difficulty is met with in the fact that the wife of Punch for many years
was known as Joan. Mr. Heppel says that of the miracle plays some of the
most popular were taken from the Apocrypha, and a very favourite subject
was the tale of Judith and Holofernes. If we cannot find an instance
recorded of Punch furnishing the amusement in this story, we can, at
any rate, find an advertisement of a play in which Harlequin and Judith
were together, and the comic business was sometimes entrusted to Punch
and sometimes to Harlequin. Hence Punch and Judy may not improbably have
come from Punch and Judith, while Toby naturally suggests the dog in the
book of Tobit.

With regard to Toby, it may be said that he is represented in France
by a cat, and that until the nineteenth century he was only a stuffed
figure. In China, where Punch beats his wife to the music of the
clarionette instead of Pandæan pipes held in a muffler, Toby is replaced
by a wooden dragon with jaws that snap, and this figure is also now
introduced in England. Hector the horse has quite disappeared. We might
mention here that in the English version a clown is brought in with very
considerable effect.

There is another connection of dolls with costume rather than of costume
with dolls which we may mention at this point. In the fourteenth
century, when there were no fashion plates, and written descriptions
would hardly do their duty effectively, model costumes were put upon
dolls and sent from country to country. It is, moreover, a curious and
interesting fact that it was principally from Paris that these fashions
were sent out.

Examples of national costumes sometimes survive on the bodies of dolls.
The figure of St. Nicholas, in Belgium, shows an old dress, and the
costume dolls of Holland, France, and Switzerland are excellent records
of native dress now seldom seen in everyday life. Mr. Edward Lovett
bought a little doll in Lucerne which is in a cradle, and shows
excellently well the swaddling clothes that were formerly in use.
Ancient Greek and Roman dolls, taken from children's graves, were
similarly dressed, and a modern Russian doll, which is also in
possession of Mr. Lovett, is shown with the swathing band _in situ_. The
only dolls that are to be found in Malta represent ancient saints, and
it is said that they are dressed as such.

The long garments of Noah and his sons in the toy Noah's Ark are worthy
of mention and are an interesting survival.

The wrappings that were placed round mummies in ancient Egypt are shown
on figures which were found in the tombs, and which are often seen as
curiosities in this country. They were carved out of wood or modelled
out of clay, while some of them were made out of the well-known glazed
faïence. They were put into the tombs in order that they might do the
work of the deceased in his after life, and their origin is exceedingly
interesting. Many barbarous nations have in the past sacrificed the
servants of a chief at his funeral, and the Egyptians, who were humane
people, contented themselves with a make-believe, and replaced the
actual persons with the figures that we call "ushabti," or, in modern
parlance, "shabbies."




XXVIII

THE CLOWN AND PAINTING THE BODY

  THE CLOWN'S DRESS--SAVAGE PAINTING AND SURVIVALS OF
    IT--TATTOOING--PATCHES AND FALSE COMPLEXIONS--MASKS


No costume is perhaps more characteristic or better known than that
of the clown; and it is of special interest, for while the hat was
fashionable at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the dress,
generally speaking, is a caricature of that which was in vogue in
the time of Queen Elizabeth. The same remarks apply to the method of
hair-dressing, and we shall see, when dealing with the other characters
that appear in the harlequinade, that the pantaloon in his dress
illustrates that of the same time in our history.

Unlike the other heroes of the pantomime, the clown is essentially
English, and he is to be found also in the circus of to-day, at all
times of the year, as well as on the stage at Christmas.

As to the clown's clothes, first of all there is the ruff, which is,
however, not stiffened out. He has trunk hose or wide breeches which do
not reach to his knee, his stockings are well ornamented with clocks;
and lastly, there is the paint on his face, which brings us to a custom
that seems nearly as old as man himself. (See Figure 157 and Plate X,
Figure A.)

[Illustration: FIG. 157.--A clown, showing a survival of an Elizabethan
costume.]

Among the relics of the ancient cave men of Europe are found hollowed
stones, and these were used as mortars in which ochre and other colours
were ground for painting the body.

[Illustration: FIG. A.

THE HEAD OF A CLOWN, SHOWING THE PAINTED FACE, THE RUFF AND THE
ELIZABETHAN METHOD OF DOING THE HAIR.


FIG. B.

THE FACE OF A JAPANESE ACTOR.

(_After Moseley, by the courtesy of Mr. John Murray._)


FIG. C.

THE PAINTED FACE OF A PAPER FIGURE WHICH IS BURNED AT CHINESE FUNERALS.

(_After Moseley, by the courtesy of Mr. John Murray.)_


FIG. D.

THE TATTOOED HEAD OF A MAORI CHIEF.

(_By the courtesy of General Robley._)

  _PLATE X._]

The Egyptians still follow the practice of blackening the edge of the
eyelid, both below and above the eye, with a black powder called kohl.
The material is prepared either from burning an aromatic resin or the
shells of almonds. The custom prevailed among both sexes in Egypt far
back in its history, and long before the historic period, painting the
eyes was already practised by the people whom Professor Petrie called
the "New Race" (until he determined that they preceded the dynastic
Egyptians).

It may be well to point out that these prehistoric people lived about
6000 years B.C.: they had little or no metal, though they made most
beautiful flint knives and stone vases. They buried their dead lying on
one side with the knees towards the chin, instead of making mummies.
Among the contents of their tombs have been found curious slate palettes
of all shapes and sizes, similar to some which had previously been known
for many years, but the origin of which was undetermined. It has been
shown that these palettes were used for grinding up malachite to form a
green colour with which to paint the eye. The idea was, it is supposed,
to mitigate the glare of the sun, and is similar to that which leads
Anglo-Indians to have the under sides of the brims of their hats
coloured green.

Another kind of temporary ornamentation is produced in Egypt to-day by
staining the feet and hands with the juice of the leaves of henna. The
result is that the part to which it is applied becomes a yellowish red
or deep orange colour. The most common practice is to dye the tips of
the fingers and toes so far as the first joint, the whole of the inside
of the hand and the sole of the foot, and there are other and more
fanciful modes of applying the henna, which is said to have an agreeable
effect upon the skin, particularly in the way of preventing it from
becoming too tender. The dyeing has to be renewed every fortnight or
three weeks, and the stain is brighter and more permanent on the nails
than on the fingers.

Among many native races in a low stage of civilization there are few who
do not decorate their body by painting it in some way. We have already
mentioned that painting takes away the appearance of nakedness, and that
many nations would be as much ashamed to be seen without their paint,
as Europeans would be to walk about without their clothes. On special
occasions, however, particularly striking colours are put on--for
instance, by the Australians when about to dance a corroboree, and
Professor Moseley[40] has pointed out that they have breast stripes and
leg stripes such as those which are seen on European uniforms. At first
sight these, as Professor Moseley, indeed, points out, would appear
to have quite a different origin, but it will be remembered that when
speaking of the Hussar uniform and the Dutch skeleton dress (see pages
145-6) it was suggested that the ornamentation might be intended to
follow the lines of the chief bones of the body, and it is possible that
the same idea may have underlain the painting carried out by savages.

In this case what in one instance was effected by paint was in the other
done by means of trimmings.

Paint plays a great part in savage warfare, and no doubt the intention
very often was to terrify the adversary. It is apparently this idea
which actuated the old inhabitants of this country, who, as Cæsar says,
stained themselves with woad in order to be of horrider aspect in
battle; but Dr. Tylor has pointed out the error into which many
historians have fallen through considering as savages races who, while
having attained to considerable civilization, still kept up the practice
of colouring their bodies in time of war. To the instances which we have
mentioned of modern races staining themselves, we may add that of the
Hindu women in India, who colour their teeth black and paint their feet
scarlet. Japanese women blacken their teeth upon marriage.

In certain Japanese plays the actors have bright streaks of red paint
made on their faces, usually on each side of the eyes (see Plate X,
Figure B).

Professor Moseley[41] records that the same form of painting is to be
seen in the case of Japanese children on festive occasions, for after
they have been elaborately dressed by their parents they are further
adorned with one or two transverse and narrow streaks of bright red
paint, leading outwards from the outer corners of their eyes, or placed
near to that position. The style is the same as that which survives in
the case of adults on the stage. Professor Moseley brings forward a
further case showing that such a form of painting possibly existed in
ancient times in China. When a man of distinction died in China in
former times, a certain number of servants were sacrificed at his
burial. Now, figures made of pasteboard and paper, about three feet or
so high, are burnt instead at the funeral service in small furnaces
provided for the purpose in the temples, together with cartloads of
similar pasteboard gifts which are sent by the survivors for the use of
the dead in the next world. Earthenware figures were similarly buried
with great men in old times in Japan, and we may compare with these
customs that of the Egyptians who buried models of servants, as
mentioned on page 268, in the graves of their dead.

The pasteboard heads of these funeral servants and retainers are painted
with streaks, some of which are put on in almost exactly the same style,
at the angles of the eyes, as those of modern Japanese actors. It seems
a fair conjecture that the streaks on these heads are a direct survival
of an actual former savage form of painting which was once in vogue in
China, and probably used to make fighting men hideous.

It is well known that primitive customs survive in connection with
funerals all over the world with extreme tenacity. The numerous
interesting survivals existing in the case of English funerals are
familiar.

We give a figure taken from the head of a Chinese servant, which
Professor Moseley bought at a manufactory of funeral properties in Hong
Kong. (See Plate X, Figure C.)

With regard to the ordinary use of paint by women in China and Japan,
Professor Moseley points out that it is entirely different in principle
from that in vogue in Europe. He says: "The use of paint as an ornament
in China and Japan seems to me to be of considerable interest. In both
countries the women regularly paint their faces when in full dress, of
which the paint is a necessary part.

"The paint is not put on with any idea of simulating a beauty of
complexion, which might be present naturally, or which has been lost by
age. The painted face is utterly unlike the appearance of any natural
beauty.

"An even layer of white is put on over the whole face and neck, with the
exception, in Japan, of two or three angular points of natural brown
skin, which are left bare at the back of the neck as a contrast. After
the face is whitened, a dab of red is rubbed in on the cheeks, below
each eye. The lips are then coloured pink with magenta, and in Japan
this colour is put on so thickly that it ceases to appear red, but takes
on the iridescent metallic green tint of the crystallized aniline
colour.

"In modern Japanese picture books, the lips of girls may sometimes be
seen to be represented thus green. I suppose the idea is that such
application of paint shows a meritorious disregard for expense. It is
curious that the use of aniline colour should have so rapidly spread in
China and Japan. In China, at least, such was not to be expected; but it
seems to have supplanted the old rouge, and it is sold spread on folding
cards, with Chinese characters on them, at Canton and in Japan. This
form of painting the face seems to be exactly of the same nature as
savage painting."

The likeness of this painting to that of our clowns is of course quite
obvious.

Sometimes the painting of the body has a practical advantage. The
Andaman Islanders plaster themselves with a mixture of lard and coloured
earth, which protects their skin from the heat and mosquitoes; but, as
Dr. Tylor points out, they go off into love of display when they proceed
to draw lines on the paint with their fingers, or when a dandy will
colour one side of his face red and the other olive-green, and make an
ornamental border-line where the two colours meet down his chest and
abdomen.

Fashions in paint were quite as slavishly followed as any other, and,
as we see, have died hard. It is not a very far cry from painting to
tattooing. Of savages, Théophile Gautier has said that, having no
clothes to embroider, they embroider themselves. Scar tattooing is
connected with various rites such as are followed when a brave arrives
at manhood, and certainly tattooing serves to indicate the family or
tribe to which the ornamented person belongs. There is no doubt,
however, that the intention of much tattooing is to increase individual
beauty. Excellent examples of this are to be found in the case of the
Maoris, whose faces were most elaborately covered with designs. We are
kindly permitted to reproduce some of the drawings which General Robley
has made from specimens in his magnificent collection (see Plate X,
Figure D). The practice now, however, is dying out. Of the Formosans it
is said that their skins are covered with flower patterns until they
look like damask.

Tattooing was practised by the old inhabitants of this country, by the
Jews and the earliest Egyptians: it is still carried on in modern Egypt,
chiefly on the chin, on the back of the hands, the arms and feet, the
middle of the bosom, and the forehead. It survives principally in the
case of the women of the lower classes and in the country. Among
European sailors and among the lower classes, and even occasionally
those up in high social scale, we find tattooing carried on, though the
original idea of ornamentation is lost when the decoration is covered by
clothing.

We have seen occasionally at shows--such as that organized by
Barnum--white people who have been tattooed to a very great extent, and
even in the case of Europeans the patterns tend to take off the bare
look even of the white skin. No doubt the desire to make permanent such
ornamentation as that obtained by painting, led to the introduction of
tattooing, and just as some marks suggest that they are copied from
amulets, so some amulets show traces of having been derived from tattoo
patterns. Mr. Lovett has pointed out to us that possibly the floral
designs worked on the backs of the bodices of the women of Marken, in
Holland, may have originated from tattooing, but no doubt careful
research would show some other and undoubted instances.

The painting of the face, which is intended to heighten its beauty and
hide the ravages of time, is quite another matter. It survives to the
present day, but luckily it is much less common in this country than
it was a few years ago. It does not, however, seem to have been at all
in vogue in England until the Middle Ages, though cosmetics and false
complexions were made use of by ladies in Roman times.

Fairholt[42] quotes from an old French poem of the thirteenth century
which describes the wares of a mercer who declares, "I have cotton with
which they rouge, and whitening with which they whiten themselves." The
cotton took the place of the hare's foot that is now used in making up,
to rub colour on the cheeks.

At this point we might consider patches, the use of which made it
possible to ornament the skin with patterns that could be removed at
will. These patches came into fashion in Charles I's reign, but were
banned by the Puritans. As soon, however, as Charles II came into his
own again, they made their appearance once more, and took various
fantastic shapes: owls, rings, crescents, and crowns; a coach and horses
was particularly fashionable, and in the time of Queen Anne it was
possible to tell the political views of fashionable ladies by their
faces and their fans. Party feeling ran very high at this time, and
those who were neutral wore patches on both cheeks, a Whig lady on the
right side only, while a High Church Tory dame only adorned the left,
and she wore suspended from her wrist a fan on which was depicted a
scene from the trial of Dr. Sacheverell at Westminster Hall.

Red and white paint was at the same time universally employed by women
of fashion, who, as Miss Helen Gordon[43] says, had perforce to keep
their lovers at a respectful distance, lest a kiss "snatched by a
forward one might transfer the complexion of the mistress to the
admirer." The untimely decease of more than one famous beauty was
attributed to the paint with which she besmeared her countenance, a
notable instance being the death of Lady Coventry, whose husband had
been wont to chase her round the dinner-table in his determined efforts
to remove the deleterious compound from her face with his serviette.
According to Walpole, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu used the cheapest white
paint obtainable, and left it so long on her skin that it had literally
to be scraped off. It may be inferred that these fine ladies rarely
washed; but "the age was careless in that respect, personal cleanliness
at a discount, and the essence pot consequently in great demand."

We spoke just now of fans, which can, perhaps, be considered an article
of dress as they are very often fastened to the person. There seems no
doubt but that at first fans did not close, and were made of feathers
like those still in use in the East from whence they are derived.
Probably in the beginning, leaves were used as fans, and palm-leaf fans
are still to be seen. Fans were in general use in the sixteenth century,
and the folding one appeared in the next.

Sometimes, as at the end of the eighteenth century, large green fans,
called sunshades, were used out of doors in the same way as a modern
parasol now is. There is another use of the fan still to be noted in
China, namely, for blowing up a fire, and from this we no doubt get the
expression of "fanning the flame."

Painting apparently was not only practised by women, for male courtiers
at the end of the sixteenth century occasionally coloured their faces.
If we are to believe some of the writers in the newspapers of to-day,
men of leisure are not a whit better nor less foolish now.

Of masks as an ordinary everyday addition to costume we have no
survivals, except in connection with some balls and an occasional
burglary; but masks such as we see on the 5th of November will remind
us, like the face of the clown, of primitive face-painting, and also of
the many curious head-dresses and masks which savages wear at certain
ceremonies and dances. It is easy to produce grotesque effects by means
of masks, and the discomfort that would arise from the paint is thereby
avoided.

The practice of wearing masks, and indeed dominoes, by private
individuals came from Venice. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
masks made of black satin and velvet often formed part of the toilet of
society ladies. At one period the wearing of them was restricted to the
times of carnivals; at another, the nobility alone were allowed to use
them, and now we only see masks at fancy-dress balls. Of the unwritten
laws that rule the wearing of the mask, Mrs. Aria says[44]: "Whether
worn privately or in public, its disguise has at all times and in
all countries been respected as inviolably sacred. To the masked the
greatest extravagance of language and gesture is permitted. He is
allowed to indulge in acrid personalities and proclaim scathing truths,
which, even if addressed to the monarch himself, go unrebuked. To strike
a mask is a serious offence, while in no class of society, however
degraded, would any one dare to unmask a woman. Yet another prerogative
entitles the masked to invite any woman present, whether masked or not,
to dance with him, etiquette decreeing that the queen of the land may
not claim exemption from this rule. Dear to romance is the masked
highwayman, who flourished until the advent of railways robbed him of
his occupation; and a grim figure is ever the masked headsman."




XXIX

STAGE COSTUMES

THE HARLEQUIN, PANTALOON, COLUMBINE, AND ACROBAT


While Punch has left the stage and is now a puppet, some of his
coadjutors are with us, for the harlequinade is still introduced into
many pantomimes at Christmas, and special plays have been written in
which these characters appear. The harlequin, who gives his name to what
is now an interlude, was some thousand or two years back one of the
important personages in the old Italian comedy which gave us Punch, and
which we have already mentioned in a previous chapter.

Harlequin was versatile and many-sided, and he still keeps up his
slap-dash character. It is true that harlequin does not now speak, any
more than does the columbine, and we may trace the evolution of the
Italian Mimi, or buffoons, into the Pantomimi, who were tragic actors.
They, by means of certain well-understood signs and gestures, were able
to play tragedies in the open air under conditions which would have
prevented their voices from being heard. In some theatres also the
actors were not allowed by the authorities to speak. Originally the
harlequin was a mime. He had a shaven head, a sooty face--for the mimi
blackened their faces like our modern niggers--he had flat, unshod feet
and a patched coat of many colours which he derived from the ancient
peasants of Italy.

Some have seen in the wand of the harlequin a descendant of the rod of
Mercury, and have sought for a prototype of the modern pantomime in
pagan mysteries. In England, however, we have turned the harlequin into
a magician, and his wand is perhaps the gilt wooden sword which belonged
to the clown or fool all the world over. Now also we have the character
in what Mr. Calthrop terms his tight-fitting lizard-skin of flashing
golden colours, for the patches on his rags have now given place to a
symmetrical pattern (see Figure 158).

There have been many celebrated harlequins who have devoted their lives
to the development of this character, and there is an interesting case
which Disraeli[45] gives in his "Curiosities of Literature," in which,
as part of a quit-rent or feudal tenure--whenever the Abbot of Figéac
entered this town--the Lord of Montbron, dressed in a harlequin's coat,
with one of his legs bare, has to lead the prelate's horse by its bridle
to the abbey.

[Illustration: FIG. 158.--The dress of a modern harlequin.]

In the clown and the pantaloon we still have the dress of Elizabethan
times (see Figures 157 and 159). The paint on the former, as we have
seen, will carry us back to times of remote antiquity. His hat is of a
shape well known in early English history, and he himself is English
all through. The pantaloon, again, is Italian. Both he and his Venetian
breeches get their names from St. Pantaleone, one of the patron saints
of Venice. Pantaleone was by no means an uncommon patronymic in that
place. In order to reconcile the statements that the dress of the
pantaloon is Elizabethan and his nether garments are Venetian, which
might appear to be mutually contradictory, it must be pointed out
that the Venetian breeches had been introduced in the days of earlier
Tudors, and were still in vogue when Elizabeth was on the throne. The
pantaloon's red and green colours and his red heels are also, as we have
indicated, Elizabethan.

[Illustration: FIG. 159.--A pantaloon, showing an Elizabethan costume of
which Venetian breeches form part.]

The columbine, who, like the harlequin, does not speak, and so keeps
up the pantomime character, wears the ballet dress of early Victorian
times. Originally she was a female harlequin, or harlequinne, and her
dress of spangles is still sometimes used in fancy-dress dances. Of the
other characters, who once assisted those that we have described, we
have none left. Scaramouch persisted for some time, and was, like the
harlequin and columbine, a pantomimist. He has gone even from Punch and
Judy, though the doctor still remains.

Though not strictly a theatrical performer, but seen in the circus,
the music-hall, and still also as a wandering mountebank, we have the
acrobat. His dress is simple and eminently suitable for the work which
he has to do; it consists of a vest, of very short trunk hose or
breeches, and long Florentine hose, or, as we now call them, tights.
Though such a costume was worn in the reigns of the early Tudors, in
detail the breeches are very much like those which were worn by Lord
Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Doubtless also in the
tights which are so familiar on the stage we have a survival similar
to that seen in the acrobat, the clown, and the knights of the older
orders.




XXX

NIGHTDRESS

BANDS ON NIGHTGOWNS--NIGHTCAPS--NIGHT ATTIRE WORN IN THE STREET


Going to bed can hardly be called a ceremony; but the dress in which the
bulk of humanity now sleeps can claim to be a special one. There are, of
course, many people, who are not mere casual tramps, who sleep in their
everyday clothes. Drovers who have to go to out-of-the-way places with
cattle, where they can never be sure of getting a lodging, will sleep
possibly after merely removing their outer coat, and it stands to reason
that men engaged in this business can hardly be bothered to carry
luggage with them. Any survivals that we may have to deal with in the
case of our airiest dresses will not take us very far back into history,
because our ancestors, from all accounts, went to an extreme which is
the opposite to that which we have just been mentioning, and instead of
keeping on all their clothes at night, they took them all off and put
on no others. Mr. Calthrop[46] graphically describes a scene which he
supposes to be taking place in the reign of William Rufus. A lady is
disturbed while getting ready for bed by a cry of "sanctuary," and
watches from her window until the fugitive is let into the church by the
monks. In concluding his story, Mr. Calthrop says, "The night is cold.
The lady pulls a curtain across the window, and then, stripping herself
of her chemise, she gets into bed."

A man's nightshirt is severe in cut like that which he wears in the day,
and the sides are slit up in both garments as they are in the dalmatic
and the tunics worn by the Anglo-Saxons, which were like a day shirt,
longer behind than in front. A survival of the latter as an outer
garment is to be seen in the short smocks worn by labourers who dig
drains and do similar work. The lady's nightgown may be elegantly
ornamented with lace in the same way as are the linen garments which she
wears in the daytime; but very often we find a large collar edged with
lace, which recalls the falling band which we have had so often to
mention. (See Figure 160.)

To a great extent sleeping suits of a coat and trousers, which are known
by the name of pyjamas, have taken the place of the man's nightshirt.
These have the merit of making a man look more presentable if called up
on an emergency. We shall see, if we contrast male and female fashions,
that it has always been customary for the costume of women to follow
that of men, though most ladies draw the line at adopting trousers. We
have heard, however, of one young lady at least who does by night what
she will not do by day, for she has given up her nightgown in favour of
pyjamas.

[Illustration: FIG. 160.--The bands that survive on a lady's
nightdress.]

[Illustration: FIG. 161.--A woman's nightcap, still worn in Wiltshire.]

Here and there we find that nightcaps are still worn. That belonging to
an old lady, which we figure (see Figure 161), came from the village of
Bishopstone in Wiltshire, where no fewer than twelve old ladies, all of
them over eighty, still wear such a head-dress at night. Nightcaps were
worn by men in the time of the Tudors, and that of Queen Elizabeth, as
is shown by the following extract from a bill of 1547: "Pd. for two
nyght caps of vellvet for them, 8s. 0d."[47]

They were very elaborately embroidered at this time, and in Mary's
reign were mentioned in a sumptuary law. Old men still wear nightcaps,
and the one we figure was used until lately at South Stoke in
Oxfordshire. It is of the familiar style that we associate with such a
head-dress, and has a tassel on the top. (See Figure 162.)

[Illustration: FIG. 162.--A man's nightcap, from Oxfordshire.]

In the time of Queen Anne ladies wore their nightdresses, or night-rails
as they were called, in the streets, and the fashion seems to have
been in vogue at later times, though every means were taken to try and
abolish it. It was not until a murderess was persuaded to appear at her
execution in a bedgown that the fad was relinquished.




XXXI

THE DRESS OF ANIMALS

  NATURAL REPRESENTATIVES OF CLOTHES--HORSE TRAPPINGS--AMULETS ON
    HARNESS--DOGS' DISGUISES--FASHIONS IN THE FORM OF ANIMALS


Here and there in the animal kingdom we find that creatures protect
themselves from injury by building up cases and coverings from
extraneous materials, and these may very well be compared with the
armour and clothes of mankind. Protection may be gained by merely
securing something ready made to take the place of a coat, as is done in
the case of the hermit-crab or "soldier," which covers itself with the
shell of some dead mollusc. The caddis worm, or larva of the caddis
fly, builds its home of sticks and stones or twigs, and thereby not
only preserves its soft body from injury, but also harmonizes with its
surroundings, in the same way as does the soldier on active service in
time of war.

To gain protection, also, some molluscs when building their shells
introduce stones and other shells and corals into the edifice, so that
they become indistinguishable from the sea-bottom on which they lie.
Many caterpillars cover themselves with bits of leaves, and even with
the help of silk make spiral shells that might easily be mistaken for
those of snails. The silk also, from which many of our gay clothes are
made, is spun by the silkworm, which, like the larva of many moths,
produces it in order to protect the chrysalis while it rests.

We are occupied here, however, with the coverings of animals that they
owe to man, and first and foremost of those creatures which have come in
for his polite attentions is the horse.

We may recall the armour by which the chargers of the old knights were
protected, and the trappings or emblazoned coverings that were put over
this in the same way as the surcoat was made to cover the armour of the
knights. (See Figure 84.) The trappings were often made of coloured
satin, and were embroidered with gold and silver, and at the exhibition
held by the Burlington Fine Arts Society in 1905 a chasuble of red
velvet was shown, embroidered with the arms of England in gold, which
was apparently made from a horse-trapper of the fourteenth century.
Figure 84 well shows how the horses carried the armorial bearings of
their masters.

In the ostrich-feather ornaments and the velvet trappings of modern
funeral horses, we still have some remnants of the days of chivalry.

To-day horse clothing, though not intended to be of an ornamental
character, we should imagine, is still often decorated with a monogram
of the horse's owner.

Perhaps one of the most interesting survivals in connection with horses
is to be found in the brasses which decorate those used for carts and
waggons. Dr. Plowright[48] has shown that many of these ornaments, which
are really amulets put on to the harness with a view to protecting the
horses against the evil eye, are of Moorish origin. He contrasts their
style with the ornamental details shown in the Alhambra, and he figures
a number which take the form of a crescent, or a crescent enclosing
an eight-rayed star, and others in which the ornament shows eyes and
eyebrows conventionalized. In other cases we get the fleur-de-lys
treated in an arabesque way, the escallop shell and the mystic
interlaced triangles (which were considered the talisman of talismans,
and are known as the seal of Solomon or the shield of David), with
a crescent in the centre. Miss Lina Eckenstein[49] figures many
other horse brasses which can be compared with those worn by Roman
cart-horses. Among them is the crescent, which was also worn by women
carved in ivory, and by certain senators as ornaments on their shoes.

The crescent is made from a thin plate of metal, and is worn by children
on the west coast of India, with the points upwards, as a protection
against the evil eye, and gold ornaments of similar shape are among
those which were worn in ancient Peru.

The moon, from times of remote antiquity, has been represented by a ring
for the full moon and a half-ring or sickle for the crescent. Miss
Eckenstein does not, however, carry the origin of the horse amulets back
to the stone stage of civilization, but she thinks that the crescent
represents two boars' tusks joined together by a thong, and the
horse-amulet now worn in Italy shows the thinness and sharpness of curve
that would be evident in one which was made out of boars' tusks.

[Illustration: FIG. 163.--An English horse amulet in the form of a
crescent. The flat places near the tips of the horns are evidence that
the form is derived from two boars' tusks.]

We may point out that in some English crescents the hollows which one
tusk makes by wearing against its fellow are represented by little flat
places on the horns of the crescent near their tips. (See Figure 163.)

The brasses seen in England to-day are worn on the face-plate,
breast-plate, and martingale. On grand occasions, such as May Day
celebrations, and the cart-horse parade of Whit Monday, brasses are
specially put on, though there is a tendency now for them to be stamped
out of thin metal instead of being cast, with the result that they soon
wear out. German horses wear the crescent on a strap which dangles below
the right ear.

The English crescent from harness will be found to match those which are
represented on the horses on Trajan's column and other monuments. The
same design is to be seen also on the harness of camels and elephants.
The most important symbol besides the moon is that of the sun, which is
worn on the top of the head between the ears.

Heraldic brasses are not uncommon, and the heart-shaped amulet is also
seen; it is possible, too, that this form may be connected with that
of the flint arrows, which we have already mentioned as being worn as
amulets. In Egypt, an amulet hung on a cow is said to protect the woman
who owns it, and Miss Eckenstein suggests a similar origin in the case
of the heart worn by horses. A brass showing a horse rampant, came from
the estate of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel, and it will be seen on
looking at the arms of the nobleman in question that this device forms
one of the supporters of his shield.

In prehistoric Egypt the slate palettes on which malachite was ground
for face painting were often in the form of two birds, with their bodies
put back to back, and their heads fully shown, and when this form
degenerates it becomes a kind of heart-shaped shield. Professor Petrie
has pointed out that when this decoration is used, as on coffins and
elsewhere, it is often thought to be merely a shield. Possibly the
heart-shaped amulet may have some connection with this.

[Illustration: FIG. 164.--An English horse amulet showing both the heart
and the sun.]

An amulet found by Professor Vellucci in Umbria consisted of an
arrow-head sewn upon a piece of scarlet cloth, which was of a heart
shape, and was intended doubtless to emphasize the heart significance.
Another horse amulet, obtained by Miss Eckenstein from Sicily, also
consists of a piece of scarlet cloth cut into the shape of a heart and
decorated with tinsel.

An English horse brass seen in Figure 164 shows both the heart and the
sun.

While on the subject of horses, one might allude to the wisps of straw
which are twisted in the mane and tail of cart-horses when they are for
sale at markets and fairs. Horses were sacrificed in the old days; and
as the slaying of domestic animals was supposed to secure fruitfulness,
the horse became identified as a corn spirit, and the killing of horses
formed a necessary incident of the harvest. The deity Demeter took upon
himself the semblance of a mare, and the word mare is applied in the
Midlands to the last uncut ears of corn, at which the sickles are thrown
in order to bring them down. It is possible that the wisps of straw worn
by horses are connected with these ideas.

A very curious and interesting custom is represented on the trappings of
the horses ridden by the officers of the 10th Hussars. These trappings
are ornamented on full-dress occasions with cowry shells; and to find a
parallel to this we have to go to the East, where the head-stalls of the
camels and mules are covered with the shells, while round their necks
and those of donkeys there may hang an ornament or bell on a band which
is similarly decorated. It will be noted that there is a pendant from
the head of the Hussar horse which resembles that of the mule of the
Holy Land. There is no doubt but that originally these ornaments were
really amulets, and it is said that they are a survival of ancient
phallic worship. (See Figures 165-7.)

Cowry shells were once generally used by the Hussars, and were revived
in the case of the 10th Hussars in connection with service in India.

[Illustration: FIG. 165.--The cowry-shell ornaments on the head of an
officer's charger of the 10th Hussars. The pendant recalls that on mules
in Palestine.]

Toby, as we have seen, is decorated with an Elizabethan ruff, but the
wearing of collars and bells by pet animals is a remnant of a very old
custom, and on early mediæval brasses in this country, dogs are often
seen decorated with collars--sometimes bearing their actual names--and
with bells. Now the wearing of a collar is enforced by law as a means
of identification. All dogs found without collars may be considered as
strays, and the regulation followed, as is well known, upon the muzzling
order by which hydrophobia was practically stamped out.

[Illustration: FIG. 166.--Cowry shells on an Eastern mule, hanging like
the pendant of the 10th Hussars.]

[Illustration: FIG. 167.--Cowry shells on the head-stall of a camel from
Palestine.]

Mr. C. J. Cornish[50] once considered the subject of animals' clothes,
and made some interesting remarks on horses' hats and sun-bonnets. He
described the following sight, met with in Kensington Gore: First came
a costermonger with his horse duly "hatted" and the hat trimmed with
ribbon; next came a lady wearing a hat, in a victoria. Her horse also
had a hat, and both hats had pink flowers in them.

In Holland, cows wear rain-proof jackets all the winter, and coats for
show cattle are quite the fashion in England. Mr. Cornish says that a
really smart Jersey cow would not like to be seen at a show without her
luggage--"a chest containing, not only her sleeping jacket, but her
brushes and combs, cosmetics and horn protectors. She puts on, or
has put on, a smarter jacket in the daytime if she has to stand in a
draughty place; if she is not sleeping out it does not so much matter.
There are many ladies who would almost go without a jacket themselves
rather than see their best animals go to a show without proper clothes."

In the North lambs are provided with waterproof coats when going on to
the hills. These garments are called "brats," and the name has been
transferred not only to the young sheep themselves, but also to human
babies. We are all familiar with the clothes which monkeys wear when
they go about with organs, and the big apes which are exhibited at
shows are sometimes even clothed in the dress suit of conventionality.
Johanna, the chimpanzee which was at Barnum's exhibition, looked
very effective in her petticoats, and the penguins at the Zoo, when
performing tricks, wear coats, while animal actors are often dressed to
suit their parts.

There is one case at least in which animals are disguised by dressing
them up. There was a duck-decoy dog which was known to Mr. Cornish,
which, in the first instance, grew as much like a fox as it was possible
for a dog to be. This proved exceedingly attractive to the ducks, which
seem to have an irresistible impulse to swim after a fox in order to
see what he is about. In a short time, however, they get used to a
particular dog, and their curiosity dies away. Then the dog's master
supplies him with a disguise in the shape of a jacket made of sheepskin.
Furthermore, when this palls a rough woollen jacket of a black colour is
brought into requisition, and the dog apparently knows the meaning of
the whole performance. In other cases the disguise of a decoy dog takes
the shape of a foxskin with its brush.

Racing dogs, prize dogs, and pet dogs also have their coats, and we have
heard even of bracelets for poodles, while there are fashions which
regulate the way in which the hair of these dogs should be cut. Just as
men and women deform themselves, so they mutilate their animals by the
clipping of their ears and the shortening of their tails--practices
which are worse than the dubbing of the birds' combs in the old days
of cock-fighting, for the infliction of one slight injury probably
prevented many.

This deforming of animals is a savage custom, for Hottentots twist the
horns of their cattle and sheep, while a number of horns are produced in
Africa by splitting the budding horns of the young animals. Though not
obviously causing any deformity, there is one fashion which, though
condemned by most people, is still followed by otherwise cultured and
humane people. We refer to the bearing-rein with which horses' heads are
kept in unnatural, uncomfortable, and constrained positions.

If, however, we consider animal fashions as a whole, and bring under
discussion the colours and peculiarities of the fur or feathers that
cover their bodies, we shall find that men from quite early times have
amused themselves with producing all manner of curious and striking
appearances. The fact is, that the ordinary conditions and dangers
of life in the open, which would soon eliminate any creatures out of
harmony with their surroundings, do not act in the case of domesticated
animals very much; and this has been a help. We have, therefore, white
rats, piebald mice, gold fishes--some even with several tails--yellow
canaries, frizzled bantams, hairless dogs, hornless cattle, booted
bantams, and top-knotted fowls, as well as hosts of patterns and forms
that are hardly to be numbered. There is an adage that "like produces
like," but the student of heredity has recently become aware of the fact
that animals of a certain colour may not always produce offspring
which resemble them in this respect; but that in order to get the tint
required for show purposes, parents of some particular but unfashionable
colour should be chosen.

The colour of animals is taken into consideration in connection with
ceremonies. White elephants have to be treated as if they were gods,
and proverbially cost much to keep. Black horses are usually used at
funerals; white or grey horses, which are much decorated with the badges
and insignia of the regiments, carry the kettledrums of the cavalry. The
Scots Greys take their name from their horses, which are all grey, like
those with which, it is said, they were supplied by William III in
Flanders. Spotted Dalmatian hounds are those which are chosen to run
by the side of carriages, while circus horses exhibit much variety of
colouring.

Whips are perhaps a little beside the subject, though there are fashions
with regard to them. Not long ago it was customary for the whip stick in
connection with a smart turn-out to have a bend in it. In various parts
of the East the camel driver carries in a graceful manner a red forked
stick, and one of this form was used as a sceptre in ancient Egypt from
5000 B.C. downwards, so that we meet with a very interesting, if humble,
survival of what was once a royal ornament.




XXXII

COLOUR

  IMPORTANCE OF COLOUR--INSTINCTIVE LOVE OF BRIGHT
    HUES--DESIRABILITY OF COLOURED CLOTHES AND GAY SCENES--COLOUR
    AND COMPLEXION


It has been apparent throughout this book, as it is in everyday life,
that colour plays a tremendous part. Not only has it often a great
significance, but its presence or absence must also have a considerable
effect upon the minds of the people at large. One cannot help thinking
that if women were to dress as a whole in the same quiet, or let us say
solemn, tints which are characteristic of men in their everyday life,
how much we should lose. Yet that there is a craving for bright colours
is shown in every direction, and that they are attractive to those who
do not themselves have an opportunity of wearing them is also obvious.
The High Church clergy in this country make use of the coloured
vestments that had developed in the Roman Catholic Church previous to
the Reformation, and which have been proclaimed illegal.

The new universities vie with the older seats of learning in the colours
which they choose for gowns and hoods. It is merely a question of
expense which prevents the fancy-dress dance from being more common
than it is. The pageants which have been held in various parts of this
country, and the profits which have been made in many cases, bear out
what we have said. Men, as shown by the red coats which they don for
hunting and golfing, the colours in which they ride steeplechases or
play hockey, or the dresses in which they bathe, seek as far as possible
during their leisure hour pursuits to go back to bright array.

Plays also are popular which are cast in the times when picturesque
attire flourished or which borrow it from Oriental countries. The
significance of colour is exceedingly far reaching. The ordinary
liveries of Royalty in this country are red; the red shirt of the
followers of Garibaldi, the red cap of Liberty in the French Revolution,
the red rose of Lancaster, call to mind great struggles. The platelayer,
it is said, is instructed to wear a red tie so that on emergency it may
be used as a danger signal. A red ribbon worn in the hair of a girl in
some places on the Continent shows that she is engaged to be married,
and it is with a red rag that the chulos in the bull fight enrage the
bull. The term "born in the purple" alludes to this colour having been
that adopted by emperors and kings in the past. Yellow is a favourite
colour with gipsies; the women wear yellow kerchiefs and yellow beads,
while the men favour yellow neckties. Mr. Yoxall[51] points out that
this colour was worn by mediæval Jews, and had a contemptuous or
degrading significance. We have seen that yellow has been chosen as a
mourning colour in Oriental countries, and possibly it was adopted on
some particular occasion by gipsies like the black worms that we have
mentioned in the lace of military uniforms, and has never been entirely
left off since.

Among savages, yellow comes next in popularity to red, and it is said
that young children are also fond of red, but are inclined to prefer
yellow. The latter colour is not so stimulating as red, and this is well
shown by the fact that the red light used in photographic works was
found to cause so much mental irritation on the part of the workers that
it has been abandoned in many cases in favour of orange. As regards the
preference of older persons, it has been found that schoolgirls are more
precocious than boys in the discrimination of colours, and never prefer
orange to any other colour, yet they choose yellow rather than green,
and usually than violet, but never prefer it to red or blue.

As age goes on, male students shift their liking towards the violet end
of the spectrum which is the favourite one with men, while women keep
to the red. Blue is associated in this country with the boat race held
between representatives of the two old Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, and blue is usually taken to represent the Liberal side in
political elections. The blue blouse of the butcher is characteristic,
and, as we have found, is a still better instance of the survival of a
trade costume than that seen in the case of servants. The colour, it is
said, was chosen, as blood stains are not so noticeable upon it as upon
other tints. A black habit is that which the clergy adopt when not
engaged in religious duties, while white has for centuries been used by
them when conducting services. The same two colours, if we can so call
them, are to be found in mourning, and to them a man is now restricted
when he appears in ordinary Court or evening dress. The use of colour
merely as a distinguishing mark without any deeper origin or special
significance is so general that we shall touch upon it, and recall one
or two instances with which we have previously met.

The gorgeous dresses of the Masons and the bright green scarfs of their
humbler brethren, the Foresters, are further evidences of the love which
civilized man still retains of dressing himself up. It is only but
little less strongly developed apparently in him than it is in his
children and in savage people.

We pointed out that red, although a special character of the British
Army, is very far from being the universal colour of the uniform. We
have had to deal with blue, buff, white, and black among the other
colours that are to be seen adorning the bodies of our soldiers. The
colours of heraldry no longer appear on our persons, except when we wear
favours such as ribbons of red, white, and blue that come from national
flags, and here we may recall that the standards of our regiments are
called their "colours," and illustrate not only regimental but national
history. The part that colour plays in the hoods and gowns of academical
dress has on more than one occasion occupied our attention. Various
coloured veils serve to differentiate the sisters of a religious order,
while the ribbons and mantles of the knightly orders serve a similar
purpose. It seems a great pity that at the present day the chapters or
meetings of these Orders are seldom if ever held, and it would surely be
interesting and useful, as well as enlivening, for certain occasions to
be created on which the public might have an opportunity of seeing more
of the dresses which have been handed down to our own times.

It is true that the King has of recent years opened Parliament in
person, and glimpses may have been had of him in his state robes by a
privileged few, but surely some opportunity should be found of having
more pageants which are real and where there is no need for any
make-believe. Besides having the advantages which we have urged would
accrue from the bringing of a little more colour into our lives, such
meetings would also have a practical result, and be exceedingly good for
trade.

It is obvious that certain costumes, particularly the gay peasant
dresses of the Continent, suit the style, complexion, and colouring of
those who wear them. In races like our own, where we have all kinds of
stages between the very fair blonde and the very dark brunette, the
question of the choice of colours from an artistic point of view is
important. There is also the question of surroundings to be considered,
though nowadays it is not every one who can afford the time, as the late
Mrs. Haweis did, to visit the rooms in which she was invited to spend
an evening, so that the colours of her costume might be arranged to
harmonize with her temporary surroundings.




XXXIII

PATTERNS

ANCIENT DESIGNS--CHECKS AND TARTANS--PARTI-COLOURED CLOTHES--EVOLUTION
OF ORNAMENTATION


The subject of patterns is a very wide one, and we shall content
ourselves with mentioning a few to show how these have survived. When
speaking of studs, we had occasion to mention the swastika or fylfot,
which is probably the earliest known symbol. It is the forerunner of
the cross, and it occurs on ecclesiastical vestments as well as civil
clothes, and the well-known key pattern was derived from it. On Plate
VII, Figure F, it may be seen on the shoulder of the Romano-Egyptian
man, and its use seems to be almost universal. The pine pattern which we
see on shawls is of Eastern origin, and it is said that it originally
was taken from a map of some rivers in Cashmere.

Checks and plaids are among the commonest of our present-day designs,
and the Gauls and those of our forerunners, who flourished at the time
of Cæsar, wore breeches of chequered patterns. In fact, the very name of
breeches is derived from "breac," which means striped or spotted, and in
Gaelic also signifies the trout, which is speckled. Usually the ancient
breeches showed a number of colours, in which, according to Diodorus,
red predominated. Queen Boadicea wore a tunic apparently of plaid,
the colours of which had a mixture of blue, red, and yellow. The real
shepherd's plaid of Scotland is of a plainer character, being merely
black and white, but it is in the special tartans of the Scotch clans
that we find the system of coloured lines and squares carried to great
perfection.

These tartans, as we may judge, date back to times of which we have no
record, but they have been used continuously in historic times. In the
accounts of King James III of Scotland, in 1471, there are several
entries with regard to money spent on tartans. The tartans, of course,
were a distinguishing mark of the various Scottish clans, but sometimes,
when attempts have been made to identify the patterns, confusion has
arisen owing to the fact that many clans had more than one tartan; in
fact, there may be the common clan tartan; that which was worn only
by the chief and his heir; a dress tartan; a fourth for hunting, and
a fifth for mourning. For instance, while the dress tartan of the
MacPhersons consists chiefly of black and white, with thin lines of red
and yellow, the hunting tartan of the same clan is black and buff, with
lines of blue and red. Similarly, in the Royal Stuart tartans, we find
that the ordinary Royal Stuart has large red squares, the hunting
tartan is mostly green and blue, while the dress Stuart has a large
amount of white in its composition. There was, of course, a wonderful
variety in colours, and it is interesting to note that all the dyes
required were obtained from common native plants.

In England, after the Norman Conquest, there seems to have been little
pattern used up to the time of Henry II, when diaper began to appear.
Just as damask takes its name from Damascus, so diaper originally
was derived from D'Ypres, meaning "of Ypres," a town which was noted
for rich stuffs and fine linen. In Edward II's time pied cloth and
parti-coloured silks came into vogue, while costumes of a parti-coloured
character, which developed in the following reign to such an extent,
were seen for the first time. Sometimes the whole dress would be
symmetrically divided, so that half was of one colour and half of
another. Again, the clothes would be striped in various directions, or
one would find the right arm and left leg coloured blue, while the other
two limbs were red. We get something of the same kind of ornamentation
nowadays, as already noticed, in the dress of jockeys and the colours of
athletic clubs.

In studying decorative patterns, the way in which some natural object
has often become conventionalized is very interesting to trace, and if
this is so in the case of art of civilized people, it is still more
true of savage decoration. Our object is not, however, to deal with the
evolution of ornamentation pure and simple, though we commend its study
to our readers.

Turning to the Jews for a moment, we may recall that part of the
adornment of the High Priests consisted of pomegranates and bells. The
connection does not seem at all obvious, and Mrs. Finn has suggested
that the bells are probably the flowers of the pomegranate which have
been conventionalized.




XXXIV

IMPRESSIONS TO BE GAINED FROM DRESS

  CLUES FROM CLOTHES--INDIVIDUALITY NOT DISGUISED BY THEM--MODERN
    DRESS OF OTHER COUNTRIES--SIGNIFICANCE OF CLOTHES


If we turn our attention once more to clothes and their effect upon the
outsider, there are questions to consider with regard to what may be
judged from dress. First of all, as to the matter of social status, it
must be confessed that it is very much more difficult nowadays than it
was years ago to make any pronouncements from clothes, though it must be
pointed out that there is a way of wearing clothes, quite irrespective
of their kind, that will help us considerably in making a judgment.

The reason for the levelling up or down as the case may be, is due, of
course, to the standard of luxury having been raised and the price of
materials for clothing having been lowered. As regards the determination
of the profession of the wearer from his or her dress, it must be
said that often we remain quite at a loss in the matter. Bearing and
expression and general action may again afford a clue.

Characteristic costumes are now rare. We can tell the cleric as a rule,
though some, especially those who have belonged to some other profession
previously, will not adopt the collarless coat of black, the choker, or
the white tie.

Servants' liveries may be left out of consideration here, but the man
that has to do with horses proverbially looks "horsey." To the list of
uniforms to which we are accustomed there has been added of recent
years that of the hospital nurse. The garb of various sisterhoods
still catches our eye, and there are certain points which may help us
occasionally in identifying a doctor, a lawyer, a schoolmaster, and an
actor. According to a recent article by a detective in one of the daily
papers,[52] the characteristics and individuality of a man will show
through his clothes, and the writer alluded to, suggests the putting
of a clergyman into a soldier's or a sailor's uniform, or again, the
dressing of a valet in his master's clothes. "He will look quite
different. He will give a fresh character to the clothes, and you will
realize at once that he is a second-hand copy."

Mr. Chevasse says that if you walk down Oxford Street, Piccadilly, or
through the City, you may pick out the ex-army officer, in his mufti
tweed, for his instinct for dress is so ingrained that it is easy to
recognize him. Mr. Chevasse would tell the fashionable physician from
the following signs. His frock coat, scrupulously cut, his silk hat
correctly quiet, which fit in with his sleek manners and the sang-froid
of his superior knowledge. The dress dummy is another type--the man with
the airs of a peacock, whose every article of dress is meant to attract
attention. Of the actor whom one meets in the Strand, it is said that
the odds and ends which he wears are typical of the parts he plays, but
that his real individual character is not disguised as sometimes he
might wish it to be.

In similar fashion we are given the points of the modern solicitor, of
whom there are, we are told, two classes. The first type is dressed to
exhale prosperity, and to convince the litigant that he is a safe man,
but the character of his waistcoat will tell you more often than not
that he robs Peter to pay Paul. The dress of other solicitors beams out
sincerity, truth, reliability; the cloth is good and plain, and is well
fitted to inspire trust and confidence.

At the present time so many visitors from other countries, who are
sojourning here for a while or have come to stay, are to be seen in our
streets, that it may be of interest to see what the Editor of the
_Tailor and Cutter_[53] has to say upon the subject of their dress, or
so far as that of the men goes. He says that, as a rule, in the case of
the members of the aristocracy of all nations, their garments give
the impression of having been made in London, and are free from the
peculiarities which characterize those of other countries. Generally
speaking, however, it is not difficult to tell the nationality of a man
by his clothes. The American's garments are usually made two sizes too
large for him. The collar of his coat is very narrow, and the shoulders
and back, on the other hand, exceedingly wide. His jackets are often
extremely long, his trousers are peg-tops, finished with raised seams.

In some ways the German is a modified American, though often there is
to be found a seam up the front of his coat from the waist, as he likes
plenty of room about his chest, of which he makes much. While the
American, however, often has his coat finished in some extraordinary way
which he fancies to be original, there is a lack of personality about
the German, and the uniformity of his garments would appear to be the
result of his military training. The American likes a lounge suit, and
the German the same, or a morning coat, while the Frenchman favours
the latter or a frock coat, which he has finished off with as much
ornamentation as possible in the way of silk facings, braided edges,
and fantastic flaps. His garments are close-fitting, and the waist is
emphasized.

The Spaniard is like the Frenchman with modifications, for his garments
are tasteful and neat, with few peculiarities. In warm weather he wears
no vest, and his jackets are close-fitting and finished with a low roll.
In Austrian and Hungarian clothes French and German ideas seem to be
skilfully blended, while Italian dress has more of the French than of
the German characters. Norwegians and Danes are like Englishmen, though
there is perhaps a little more preciseness and stiffness about their
clothes. The colonial has no desire for show, and his tweed lounge suit
is cut for comfort and made up for strength.

The impressions to be gained from dress that we have hitherto mentioned
in this chapter are chiefly those which are unintentionally given to
us by their wearers. The significances which it is meant that clothes
should bear are still most numerous and important.

To-day, on ordinary occasions, rank is not shown by any special dress,
which those in high stations themselves wear, though the case of their
servants is different. In earlier times in our history, especially under
the earlier Tudors, rank was indicated in civilian dress. Now the frock
coat worn by King and Peer is considered just as necessary in many
businesses, and is characteristic of the shop-walker. Men of assured
position can even afford to dress badly, though the poor man cannot.

Here and there we have met with survivals of class costumes (see pages
150 and 308), and to these we may add that of the costermongers, for
in the dress of both men and women there are peculiarities which single
them out.

In the same way we find remnants here and there of special dresses that
are characteristic of trades. The blue blouse of the butcher, the white
clothes of the butterman or man cook, and the white cap of the latter
are cases in point; and in connection with certain duties and modern
manufactures we have special dresses. We might allude to the overalls
of furriers, feather merchants, and stationers. Divers, sewage men, and
miners have special dresses, and boiler cleaners have a curious dress of
coat and trousers made in one, which recalls one form of the military
tunic used by the Norman soldiers, which sometimes ended in closely
fitting trousers. It was first drawn on the legs, and the arms were
then put through the sleeves. Such combination garments are shown in
contemporary drawings, and it has been questioned whether these were
really made in one piece, but the artist, though he might not indicate
with certainty the openings through which they were put on, is hardly
likely to have left out the lines which would have made clear a division
at the waist.

At the present time in England there are very little differences in the
costume of single and married women, though it was once compulsory for
them to dress differently. The remains, however, of the custom are to be
found in plenty in foreign countries.

In many professions rank is indicated by the dress or its
ornamentations. In the Army and Navy, the Church, the legal profession,
such points are obvious. We have had occasion to deal with academical
costume, and in the knightly orders the same holds good. Just as an
undergraduate has a stuff gown, while a graduate may have a silk one, a
Proctor is given velvet sleeves and the Chancellor of the University an
embroidered gown and train, so, for instance, in the order of Knights
of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Knight of Grace has a stuff
gown, the Knight of Justice a silk one, while the Grand Prior is habited
in velvet.




XXXV

THE EFFECT OF CLOTHES UPON THE INDIVIDUAL

  THE ORIGIN OF STAYS--TIGHT LACING NO NEW THING--ITS EFFECTS--MR.
    HEATHER BIGG ON THE NEED FOR SUPPORT--THE IDEAL FOOT--SKULL
    DEFORMITIES--PADDING


We have already seen (page 111) that the human form may be directly
mutilated in connection with the wearing of ornaments and in order to
produce scars or tattoo marks which are considered to be embellishments
and often in a way take the place of clothes, in so much as they do away
with the appearance of nakedness. Now we may consider the distortions
which are actually caused by clothes and bandages. There are cases for
which, as a rule, we have to look outside the confines of Europe in
which special contrivances are worn for a time in order to permanently
alter the shape of some part of the body. Then, again, we meet among the
races which claim to be most highly civilized instances which are not
one whit less barbaric, but in which some article of dress is intended
to cause or allowed to produce distortions, which satisfy the dictates
of some particular fashion. It may be that an appearance of elegance or
smartness is aimed at which may be the natural attribute of some persons
and the envy of others, or a false idea of symmetry may lead to the same
thing.

The idea of altering bodily conformation is very ancient, but following
our usual plan we will touch, first of all, on the modern examples of
the custom before tracing the older ones. Not very long ago, and not for
the first time in history, a great many women became imbued with the
notion that there was nothing more desirable in this world than a
wasp-like waist; and there are rumours, not to say signs, even in the
twentieth century, when it might be supposed that we were getting more
sensible, that a similar madness is again to overtake the gentler sex.

Now we may discuss the apparatus which has been degraded into carrying
out the painful duty of producing an attenuated figure. The name stays
indicates exactly the original intention of the clothing to which it is
applied; but unfortunately something more than mere support has been
sought after at various times since the classic period to which the
beginnings of stays may be traced. The pair of stays which together form
the modern corset--sometimes ignorantly and by false analogy supplied
with an extra "s"--is what is now used for purposes of compression.
Proximately the idea is that of improving the figure, as it is called,
and ensuring that it can be covered with garments of a fashionable
shape. The ultimate results are about as bad as they can be, and it is
not a question of opinion in this case, for the evil effects can be
easily demonstrated. Sir William Flower[54] refers to the practice as
being "one of the most remarkable of all the artificial deformities
produced by adherents to a conventional standard, in defiance of the
dictates of Nature and of reason." He points out that in the process of
deforming the skull, to which we shall allude later, the latter being a
solid case with tolerably uniform walls, its capacity remains the same
whatever alterations may be made in the shape, but in the case of the
body it is quite another matter. It can, in fact, be well likened to a
cylinder of fixed length which is closed above and below by a framework
of bone, and circular compression must actually diminish the area which
has to be occupied by some of the most vital organs. He goes on to
say that the framework of the chest is a most admirable and complex
arrangement of numerous pieces of solid bone and elastic cartilage
joined together in such a manner as to allow of expansion and
contraction for the purposes of respiration--expansion and contraction
which, if a function so essential to the preservation of life and health
is to be performed in an efficient manner, should be perfectly free
and capable of variation under different circumstances. So, indeed, it
has been allowed to be in all parts of the world and in all ages with
one exception. It was reserved for mediæval civilized Europe to have
invented the system of squeezing together, rendering immobile, and
actually deforming the most important part of the human frame; and
the custom has been handed down to, and flourishes in, our day,
notwithstanding all our professed admiration for the models of classical
antiquity, and our awakened attention to the laws of health.

The crusade against corsets is by no means confined to this country;
even the educational authorities in America and on the continent of
Europe have dealt pretty drastically with the matter. It is said,
moreover, that the Queen of Portugal has brought before the ladies of
her Court the evils of tight lacing, by means of radiographs. There
have been other times when even laws have been made with regard to the
corset, which, it appears, was first employed for a wrong purpose in
mediæval times. It is said of the time of Henry III of France that the
corset was no longer the simple basquine that was inoffensive enough at
first.[55] The corps piqué which was endured by the fair ladies of the
period was an instrument of torture. A hard solid mould into which the
wearer had to be compressed, there to remain and suffer in spite of
the splinters of wood that penetrated the flesh, took the skin off the
waist, and made the ribs ride one over the other. Montaigne and Ambrose
Paré are witnesses, and the latter must have known something about the
question. It is not, perhaps, surprising that Charles IX and Henry III
brought in stringent laws on the subject.

We are told[56] that with Catherine de Medici's ascent to the throne the
habit became compulsory. She gave her subjects no choice, and said that
all women of good birth and breeding should wear corsets which would
reduce their waists to the abnormal size of thirteen inches.

In our country on various occasions lacing was carried to extremes, as
in the time of Henry VIII. In Elizabeth's time, the forerunner of the
busks was not fastened to the stays, but consisted of a piece of carved
wood which was pushed down inside the bodice. (See Plate XI.) Some of
the outer bodices in the times of the early Georges seem to be as hard
and unyielding as if they were intended for armour. Tin stays were not
unheard of in the days of the earlier colonists in America.

[Illustration: WOODEN STAY BUSKS. THESE INCIDENTALLY SHOW SURVIVALS OF
PRIMITIVE ORNAMENT.

_From the "Reliquary," by kind permission of Messrs. Bembrose & Sons,
Ltd._

  _PLATE XI._]

The craze for tight lacing once more made itself felt at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, and not many years before the end one heard
from time to time of the cruelty that was practised at high-class
schools for young ladies, where the girls were made to sleep in
specially tight and rigid corsets.

Although there is a tendency to abolish stays, it does not, of course,
prove that on occasion they may not be of use. Mr. Heather Bigg, the
well-known surgeon, who is a specialist in cases of spinal curvature,
and who adopts mechanical means of treatment,[57] is in a position to
offer an opinion on the use of corsets, as he uses special ones as
precautionary means of support and where curvatures may threaten, as
well as to be safeguards against relapse after the mechanical treatment
of a curvature has been consummated. In one of his books he has much to
offer in favour of the corset, and at the outset it may be well to say
that Mr. Heather Bigg's remarks are mainly directed against the views of
the practitioner who, from the treatment that he advises, is called a
gymnastic practitioner, and who, according to Mr. Heather Bigg, goes
further than attacking matters of treatment, and in order to popularize
his own practice endeavours to entwine with it revolutions that shall
extend even to the simplest garments. For instance, the gymnastic
practitioner maintains that corsets are detrimental to health.

Mr. Heather Bigg's opinions practically are those with which most
sensible people would entirely agree. The arguments which he brings
forward in favour of them are not, however, very conclusive, as we hope
to show. Corsets, he says, are intended in their right and proper use
simply to stay and support the body in its natural shape, and not to
mould it into funny forms according to the vagaries of fashion. The
women of classic times did not use them for this purpose. On the
contrary, they had no reason to do so, as their flowing garments did not
permit them to display the outlines of their figures; they therefore
simply wore corsets because it had been found by centuries of experience
that they were conducive to health and serviceable in exertion.

His description of the original corset of Greece and Rome will show
to what ancient form of stay the modern corset may be traced. The
arrangements of the ancients consisted of three pieces, and these were
worn either together or separately, as required. They consisted of
supporting bands worn round the body in a way very similar to the
"putties" worn for support round the legs by the present-day soldiery.
The main and most useful portion of the corset was a zone, or loin band.
Then there was the thoracic band, or strophion, intended to uphold the
breasts and conserve the figure. And, lastly, there was the waistband,
which filled up the space between the other two. It is from the
conjunction of these triple bands that the modern corset has been
evolved, as it is worn by women of every class throughout civilized
Europe to-day. What was made before in three pieces is now simply
manufactured in one.

Now let us consider the reasons given by Mr. Heather Bigg as to why
"women of all dominant and civilized races always wear, and with
advantage have worn, some binder or corset"; and again, why the whole
history of the world shows that extraneous support is beneficial. In
the first place, Mr. Heather Bigg says that in primitive and aboriginal
races that practically wear no clothes, the girls may be perfect in
form when they arrive at their full growth, but that they are, as a
rule, "hideous objects of disfigurement after their first child." The
inference is that civilized women retain their beauty in later life
owing to the fact that they have worn stays. On the other hand, the fact
that the native girls lose their beauty must, according to the argument,
be because they have not worn stays; but surely this can be compared
with the fading of a flower or its changing colour after fertilization,
and is rather due to the absence of any conditions or kind of selection
which would tend to preserve the woman's youthfulness. Besides, we need
go no farther than our own country to find cases where married women
gradually lose their beauty, and the Welsh and Italian women
proverbially age rapidly.

The wearing of belts by navvies when they are doing heavy work is
possibly a precautionary measure against strain, but it does not refer
to the race as a whole, and one would take it that when it is said that
Elijah girt his loins in order to run before the chariot of Ahab, it
simply means that he fastened up his flowing garments. To the second
question as to history showing that extraneous support is beneficial,
Mr. Heather Bigg says that the answer is simple even if Darwinian. He
may claim that the "if" saves him, though unintentionally, for in his
argument he seems to ignore the main principles of evolution. He says,
first of all, that it might just as well be asked why any clothing
whatsoever should be found requisite by civilized mankind. He claims
rightly, and so far he is in keeping with Darwinism, that man, according
to his obvious mechanism and morphology, is a creature built on the
quadruped pattern. The word is spelt "quadrupled," though presumably
this is a printer's error; but he goes on to say that this building
was done with the intent that his body should be horizontal instead of
vertical. Of course, the body of the original quadruped was horizontal;
but in the course of evolution such changes were made as enabled man
to occupy an upright position. Mr. Heather Bigg talks as if it was an
intentional act on the part of man when he says that he "managed to
rear himself in a permanently erect position, and as he has chosen the
upright position, so he has to experience some of the penalties attached
to it."

The state of affairs is this: man became perfectly well fitted for an
upright position, and his internal organs were arranged quite properly
for progress on two legs instead of four, although Mr. Heather Bigg
claims to the contrary. What may be the case is, that natural selection
no longer acts to keep man as perfectly constructed as he was, or to
improve him, and some human beings may need support, owing to weakness
or the undue development of their bust, just as those of us who suffer
from short sight and bad teeth take advantage of eye-glasses and the
skill of the dentist. We think it hardly time yet to say that all women
need stays, any more than that we all need eye-glasses or should be
provided with false teeth at a certain age.

Summing up the matter, when human beings take up work for which their
bodies were not specially evolved, or when they wish to do things which
at one time all human beings could do, but which, through the cessation
of the action of natural selection, they are not now able to do, then
they want help. This would explain why our soldiers when marching in
South Africa found puttees so useful, as Mr. Heather Bigg maintains.

The case of dress brought forward by Mr. Heather Bigg is exactly a case
in point. We have seen in the opening chapters of this book that man has
lost his hairy covering, and, so far as cold climates are concerned, we
must agree with Mr. Heather Bigg that it has been found by experience
that clothing is necessary for healthful warmth. All the same, we should
like to see some experiments tried to show whether even now it might not
be quite possible to exist in this climate with little or no artificial
covering. We do not agree at all with the statement that as man "has
reared himself from four legs on to two, so he has found by similar
experience that some sort of bandaged support is required in order to
assist an abdominal mechanism that is inadequate for biped progression."

In order to prove that the gymnastic practitioner is wrong when he says
that corsets are injurious to health, Mr. Heather Bigg brings forward
the results of experiments made by Professors Roy and Adami, which he
says scientifically prove stays to be distinctly beneficial. These
experiments were described at the British Association Meeting in 1888,
under the title of "The Physiological Bearing of Waist-belts and Stays,"
and the effects of these contrivances were tried not only upon men, but
upon animals. It was shown that a gentle compression of the abdomen
caused a greater flow of blood to other parts of the body, and conduced
in consequence to an increase of mental and muscular activity. The
experimenters do not seem to have waited to see whether in the course
of time these effects were or were not obtained at the expense of the
digestive organs, but they concluded that they had directly explained
"the beneficial and extensive use of some form or other of waist-belt by
all nations that had passed beyond the stage of absolute barbarity."

The theory has been advanced that stays are derived from swaddling
clothes, and that the custom has survived in the case of women alone,
for we may neglect the occasional use of such garments by men in the
past at the present time, for, judging from advertisements in the
papers, their use is not confined to the fair sex. There seems, however,
little evidence in support of this theory, and inquiry from a lady who
has lived a long time in Palestine has elicited the information that
while swaddling clothes are still in use in the Holy Land, stays do not
form a part of native dress.

The other part of the body which nowadays appears to be deformed to
the greatest extent is the foot. It seems to be considered absolutely
necessary, if one is to appear elegant, for one's toes to be pointed
in such a way that the apex of the angle is in the middle of the foot
instead of on the inner side; and although the two points are probably
unconnected, we might here mention the idea that in a perfect foot the
second toe ought to be longer than the great toe. This would make the
extreme end of the foot a little nearer the middle line, and in Art
the second toe is represented as being the longest in accordance with
the Greek canon. These proportions were copied from the Egyptian
representations, and the original is probably to be found in the
negroes, according to Sir William Flower. The latter points out that
the longer our big toe is, the further we are removed from apes; and he
found, too, that amongst hundreds of bare and therefore undeformed feet
of children in Perthshire, which he examined, he was not able to find
one in which the second toe was the longest. These children would, of
course, belong to the lower classes, and it would be interesting to know
whether the same thing holds good in higher social circles when the
foot remains normal. It may be well to remember that Sir William Flower
was a surgeon, for Mr. Heather Bigg, who tilts with the gymnastic
practitioner once more on the subject of boots and stockings, expresses
somewhat different ideas upon the question. He alludes to the two
classes of people in the British Isles who habitually discard boots and
stockings--the fisher-folk and factory girls in some of the large Scotch
cities. He says that he scarcely likes to be ungallant about the latter,
but commends the adult feet of both of these classes to the inspection
of those who would draft their children into the "bare-footed brigade."
He continues as follows: The truth is that the feet of those who have
been unbooted till they have reached adult life are splayed and spread,
large-jointed, and very generally deformed from all approach to the
ideal foot as it is depicted by the greatest painters, or modelled by
the greatest sculptors.

We have seen that the ideal foot of the sculptors is probably not a true
ideal from an evolutionary point of view, and there is no doubt but that
the ideal foot would be the one produced under natural conditions in
which we cannot include boots and stockings. We should take it, however,
that the stones of the seashore and the floor of a factory are not the
ideal surfaces on which to habitually tread.

There is no doubt but that the deformities caused by shoes are often
very great, and Sir William Flower sums up the matter in the following
sentences:--"The English mother or nurse who thrusts the tender feet
of a young child into stiff, unyielding, pointed shoes or boots, often
regardless of the essential difference in form of right and left at
a time when freedom is especially needed for their proper growth and
development, is the exact counterpart of the Chinook Indian woman,
applying her bandages and boards to the opposite end of her baby's body,
only with considerably less excuse; for a distorted head apparently less
affects health and comfort than cramped and misshapen feet, and was also
esteemed of more vital importance to preferment in Chinook society.
Any one who recollects the boots of the late Lord Palmerston will be
reminded that a wide expanse of shoe leather is in this country, even
during the prevalence of an opposite fashion, quite compatible with the
attainment of the highest political and social eminence."[58]

After all, it is generally what our eyes are accustomed to that we
consider to be right and fitting. The broad-toed shoes that were adopted
in the reign of Henry VIII look clumsy to us; but so did the pneumatic
tyres of bicycles after we had got used to the look of the narrow solid
ones. It is not so much the wearing of boots of course, but the kind of
boots that has to be considered.

The high heels of shoes add to the evil effects of the pointed toes, and
a copy of a drawing from an advertisement figured by Sir William Flower
recalls strongly the stunted foot of a Chinese woman which the wearer of
the shoe would be one of the first probably to anathematize. This brings
us to the malformation which has been caused through many centuries in
a country that can claim a good deal of civilization, and is produced by
special bandages after a long and very painful course of treatment.

There is very little evidence of alteration in the form of the head
having been practised in this country, though one or two skulls have
been found, and there is a tradition that the custom prevailed not very
long ago in Norfolk. In France, however, it was well known until recent
years, and even it may not have now become extinct. There are plenty of
records in the works of early writers with regard to the practice, and
some of the North-American Indians still follow the fashion of their
fathers. The Chinook Indians flatten the skull between boards so that
they get the name of Flat-heads, and other tribes produce an elongated
skull by constructing bandages of deer hide. Deformation of the head
seems to have little effect on the free-living American Indians, but
the same statement does not hold good among Europeans. According to the
reports of French physicians, they have traced all kinds of troubles to
the practice.

If we have little evidence of head-deforming in this country by means
of compression, we meet occasionally with prehistoric skulls which
have been trepanned, and have had inserted into them a small piece of
extraneous bone. It is curious that such an operation could have been
successfully made when there were probably no instruments of metal
with which it could be done, and one might well ask what object could
possibly have been in view, especially as the individual so treated had
met with no accident that could have rendered the operation necessary.
It appears, however, that the piece of bone was probably that of some
dead relative, the idea being that the incorporation of it in the head
of the young man would give him the qualities of the chief who had
departed. It is this notion which probably led to cannibalism. When a
brave warrior was slain, his conqueror thought that by eating a small
piece of him he might add his adversary's prowess to his own, and no
doubt when a respected relative died it was thought that his good
qualities would pass to those who ate a portion of him.

Besides the alterations that have been permanently made in the shape of
the body, there are many curious instances where clothes themselves have
been utilized for the purpose of apparently altering its shape. We have
seen that Punch's curious figure is due to a costume, while the stuffed
breeches adopted in the reign of James I, the great farthingale of
Elizabeth's reign, the hooped petticoat of Queen Anne's, and the
crinoline of the nineteenth century are instances of fashions that
originated with or without apparent reasons.

Just as Mrs. Aria discovered what she terms the ancestress of the
straight-fronted specialité corset on a bas-relief of a female figure
from one of the mysterious forest cities in South America, so Mr. Rhead
has reminded us of the festal dress of Otaheite which Captain Cook
figured in his "Geography."

Our grandmothers in their crinoline may have looked like walking
hay-cocks; but the young women of Otaheite who carry presents from one
person of rank to another look as if they were issuing from an immense
drum. It is nothing new to make up deficiencies with padding that is
intended to deceive, and while at one time our countrywomen may have
made themselves flat-chested with the help of leaden weights, some,
judging from articles which we now see displayed in the shops, are
willing to call to their aid artificial contrivances which give the
appearance of plumpness to their bust.

When speaking of padding, one might recall the fact that the most usual
place in which it is to be found--in civilians' clothes at least--is on
the shoulder. This reminds us of the way in which sleeves were sometimes
puffed up above the shoulder. The protuberance thus formed, Dr. Meyer
tells us, was originally intended to prevent weapons from slipping
off when they were carried over the shoulder. The fashion has since,
however, been adopted in civilian costume both by men and by women.




XXXVI

FURTHER EFFECTS OF CLOTHES ON THE INDIVIDUAL

  MENTAL EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CLOTHES--PREFERENCES OF GIRLS FOR
    CERTAIN ARTICLES OF DRESS--MOVEMENTS THAT DEPEND UPON THE
    PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF CLOTHES


Putting on one side the special points of detriment which clothes bring
about with regard to the body, we may turn to more general effects. Our
language is full of proverbial sayings as to the way in which clothes
may give beauty, and also as to how much we owe to fine feathers and to
our tailors. Quite apart from the results which clothes have upon other
people, there are the mental effects which are produced on ourselves.
That it is not, perhaps, comfort or discomfort altogether which
causes our body to react on the mind, is shown by the results of some
investigations made by Dr. Louis W. Flaccus among the schoolgirls of New
York.[59]

Feelings of lightheartedness are the result of filmy clothes, and
one girl of eighteen said that whenever she had on a garment of this
consistency she always wanted to dance. The pleasant mental effects of
gauzy stuffs and laces are said by the investigator to be due not only
to their lightness, but to the mental associations with which they are
connected. Such dresses as those which we have mentioned suggest some
gay social function. Again, just as the putting on of a smoking jacket
suggests relaxation to a man, so does the assuming of evening dress
impart the idea that correct behaviour is necessary. Heavy clothes bring
about mental depression.

"In a large, heavy hat my spirits are low," says one of the girls who
were interrogated, and Dr. Flaccus claims that the mood may change with
the hat, while that he has evidence to go upon will be seen from the
following answers: "A broad hat makes me feel jolly"; "If my hat is flat
on my forehead, I feel depressed"; "If I have a fancy hat on, I am in a
coquettish mood"; or again, "I feel brighter in a hat that rolls away
from my face." Then the effect which certain surfaces have upon various
persons has to be taken into consideration when dealing with this aspect
of the subject, for clothes are made of very different materials.
To touch a blanket will set some individuals' teeth on edge, and an
irritable mood may result when rough material rubs against the skin.
Again, while one person feels chills running down her back when she
touches velvet, another will delight to feel a velvety surface. Another
remarkable thing which Dr. Flaccus has brought before us is the striking
difference between the preferences which girls have for certain articles
of clothing.

Most of the girls to whom the questions were addressed put shoes first;
gloves came very close, then neckwear, hats, underwear, jewellery, and
ribbons; and though this may not fit in with the ideas of the humorists
on the subject, the weakness for hats was shown to be less than
one-third that for gloves.

Speaking of the effect that clothes may have upon the action of
people, we may recall the way in which skirts and trousers may give
rise to different habits. If one drops anything into a boy's lap he
instinctively brings his knees together to prevent the object thrown
from falling between them; whereas a girl would throw her thighs apart
in order to make a receptacle with her frock. Advantage has been taken
of this fact by those who wished to discover whether a person with whom
they were dealing was a woman, or a man masquerading in female attire.

More than one novelist has enlarged on this theme, and Mark Twain
has used it effectively in the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The
occasion is when the hero visits Mrs. Judith Loftus at St. Petersburg,
in order to find out what is going on with regard to the murder. Mrs.
Loftus, whose suspicions were aroused, got the boy who was dressed up as
a girl, to thread a needle, to throw a bit of lead at a rat, and having
gained some evidence from these two experiments, she tried a third.

She says, "Keep your eye on the rats; you had better have the lead in
your lap handy." Huckleberry's story continues: "So she dropped the lump
into my lap just at that moment. I clapped my legs together on it, and
she went on talking, but only about a minute. Then she took off the hank
(he was holding some yarn), and looked me straight in the face, but very
pleasant, and said:

"Come, now--what's your real name?"

"Wh-what, mum?"

"What's your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob, or what is it?"




XXXVII

THE RISE AND FALL OF FASHIONS

  REASONS WHY FASHIONS ARE FOLLOWED--GAY CLOTHES SEEN WHEN PERIODS
    OF DEPRESSION ARE OVER--CONDEMNATION OF FASHIONS BY THE
    CLERGY--QUAKERS--SUMPTUARY LAWS--THE KILLING OF FASHIONS


The rise and fall of fashions is a matter that affects every nation and
practically every individual, for savages are quite as much harassed and
tortured by them as any civilized people are. Fashions are perpetuated,
as Herbert Spencer has pointed out, by imitation, and from two motives
which are widely divergent. It may be prompted by reverence for the one
imitated, on the one hand, or by a desire to assert equality with him.
In the beginning, no doubt fashions arose with an idea to improve upon
nature, though notions as to ideals of beauty must have been hazy in
many cases.

Fashions have been advanced as evidence in support of the proverb
that there is nothing new under the sun, and the way in which some of
them come round again goes a very long way to prove it in the case of
clothes. Luckily some enormities seem to have died out, but in the light
of past history we can never feel quite safe, and we never know, on the
other hand, where some slight change which in itself seems novel may not
lead us to ridiculous extremes. Of course, many garments and styles are
importations from other countries. The pelisse came from Persia at the
time of the Crusaders, just as the kimono was brought in recent times
from Japan. Fads and peculiarities and even deformities of Royalty,
as we saw in the case of the peruke, have introduced fashions. The
crinoline, according to all accounts, was first devised to hide the
shape of a princess. Perhaps no other contrivance has brought more
nuisance in its train or had more ridicule poured upon it; but it is
only one instance of many fashions that have been carried to excess. It
is true, as we shall have occasion to mention, that in earlier times
laws were enacted to restrict the size of ruffs and the length of the
toes of shoes, but often with little effect, and when shape and size did
not occupy attention, the costliness of the garment caused restrictions
to be made, while the clergy seem never to have ceased from inveighing
against the follies of fashions.

In the twelfth century the devil was represented by an old illustrator
in the costume of a fine lady with the long hanging sleeves and tightly
laced bodice of the time. A hundred years later English preachers took
exception to laced openings through which ladies showed their costly
under-linen, and dignified them with the name of "gates of hell." In the
twentieth century ministers in the United States have wasted their time
in scolding the lady members of their congregations for wearing fancy
stockings. Sometimes, on the other hand, the clergy themselves have laid
themselves open to criticism with regard to the gorgeousness of their
apparel.

[Illustration: FIG. 168.--A Merveilleuse (after A. Robida).]

Periods of depression have been followed by fashions of the gayest. We
may recall the times of Charles II, when England breathed again after
the civil wars. After the French Revolution, when the reign of terror
was over, the Merveilleuses went back to the dresses of antiquity, such
as the Athenian costume and that of the Lacedemonian girls, whose tunics
were slit down the sides from the hips. When this was not done the
skirts were looped up on the left side above the knee with a cameo
brooch. (See Figure 168.) One writer records a wager in which a lady
betted that her dress, including trinkets, did not weigh two pounds. She
afterwards retired and took off the dress, which was weighed, and the
whole costume turned the scales at a little over a pound. One of these
dresses went by the name of the "female savage," and consisted of a
gauze chemise over pink fleshings, with golden garters. It is not
surprising that such costumes, like others before, brought down upon
them the condemnation of the Church, and the following "bull," dated at
Rome on the 16th October, 1800, is reprinted from _The Times_ of January
28th, 1801:--

"The Pope, so long engaged in reducing the Gallican Church within the
Catholic pale, has not been negligent of the duty of recalling the
female form within the petticoat and the handkerchief. After speaking
in appropriate terms of the present scarcity of clothing, and of the
sensations it may excite even in the withered bosom of a monk, and
quoting the authority of St. Clement of Alexandria, His Holiness
strictly enjoins his officers, civil and ecclesiastical, to repress, by
fine or corporal punishment, according to the circumstances of the case,
these crying enormities. He directs, too, that their punishment should
be extended to such damsels as though at first sight they appear
properly attired, are nevertheless decked in transparent robes, and with
a voluptuous and magnificent attire display themselves in very seductive
and tempting attitudes. Moreover, fathers, husbands, heads of families,
who weakly or negligently permit their wives, daughters, servants, etc.,
to trespass against these rules, shall not escape with impunity. Also,
all taylors, haberdashers, milliners and men-milliners, hairdressers,
and others who contribute to these enormities of dress shall in no
wise pass unpunished." The bull goes on to state that "all priests,
confessors, overseers, churchwardens, and others shall in no wise admit
such delinquents to the Holy Supper; that they shall not allow women
improperly dressed to enter the church, and if they come they shall be
driven out, and if they resist, the higher powers shall be required to
lend their aid."

It is said that a Russian nobleman who was used to judge the position of
ladies by the amount of furs and clothes that they wore, on seeing an
English lady in a costume of the merveilleuse style offered her money in
the belief that she was a beggar.

Fashions may have a special significance, as in the case of bell-bottom
trousers of the costermonger, for it is said that by the cut of these
garments the progress of the wearer's courtship can be traced. When he
first "walks out," the bottoms of his trousers are of such an ample size
that only the toes of his boots can be seen. As matters proceed and the
wedding comes into view, the trousers assume more moderate dimensions
below the knee, and when at last the man is married he is content with a
bell of quite modest proportions, with what a writer in one of our comic
papers describes as an almost total absence of "sauciness" in the cut of
the garment.

The lengths to which women will go in their desire to appear in the
fashion, even if they are not, is shown by the business which a lady in
New York is said to have founded. According to all accounts, she deals
in nothing but discarded Paris waistbands--that is to say, those which
bear the names of well-known dressmakers. Women in plenty in New York
will buy these little strips of silk in order to have them stitched
into their own dresses, to give their friends the impression that their
garments were made in the French capital.

Laws intended for the good of trade have brought in fashions, as in the
case of the statute cap. The very objections made by religious sects
such as the Puritans and Quakers, who have departed from extravagance
and superfluity, have given rise to new fashions of plainness. Even
Quaker ladies must have shown their love of dress, for at a meeting in
1726 the following message was sent by some of the stronger-minded of
them to their fellow-women:--

"As first, that immodest fashion of hooped petticoats or the imitation,
either by something put into their petticoats to make them set full, or
any other imitation whatever, which we take to be but a branch springing
from the same corrupt root of pride. And also that none of our ffriends
accustom themselves to wear their gowns with superfluous folds behind,
but plain and decent, nor go without aprons, nor to wear superfluous
gathers or plaits in their caps or pinners, nor to wear their heads
drest high behind; neither to cut or lay their hair on their foreheads
or temples.

"And that ffriends be careful to avoid wearing striped shoes or red and
white heeled shoes or clogs or shoes trimmed with gaudy colours.

"And also that no ffriends use that irreverent practice of taking snuff
or handing a snuff-box one to the other in meeting.

"Also that ffriends avoid the unnecessary use of fans in meeting, lest
it direct the mind from the more inward and spiritual exercises which
all ought to be concerned in.

"And also that ffriends do not accustom themselves to go with bare
breasts or bare necks."

Perhaps in a minor way superstitions also have tended to keep up
fashions. At a wedding, for instance, it is always said that a bride
should wear

    Something old and something new,
    Something borrowed and something blue.

The enactments, however, which were directed against excess in dress do
not seem to have always been so successful. The part which the law
has played with regard to dress in our own country has been very
considerable, and it may be of interest to consider briefly one or two
of the so-called sumptuary laws.

In Edward III's reign the people were ordered to dress according to
their station, and those who were not of high rank were forbidden to
use expensive furs and ornaments. These orders were so neglected that
Henry IV revised and strengthened them. Slashed sleeves at the time of
Edward IV were prohibited to yeomen and any one below their rank.
Legislation was also introduced to lessen the preposterous length to
which the toes of shoes had grown, for it was enacted that not even the
gentlemen should have them of a greater length than two inches.

The Recorder of Chester shows the following order made by Henry VIII:
"To distinguish the head-dresses of married women from unmarried, no
married woman to wear white or other coloured caps; and no woman to wear
any hat, unless she rides or goes abroad into the country (except sick
or aged persons), on pain of 3s. 4d."

Another law amounted to a tax on persons who dressed elegantly, for
those who would not keep a horse and armour ready for the wars were
fined heavily if they or their wives wore fine clothes or ornaments. It
is probable, too, that Henry VIII's officers took care to collect the
fines.

Mary brought in a law against the use of silk, and a little later on the
great ruffs claimed attention, for in 1562 it was ordered that no more
than a yard and a half of kersey should be used in making a ruff. James
I repealed all the sumptuary laws, though we have seen that he and his
successors occupied themselves somewhat with the dress of the clergy.

In Scotland, after the rising of 1745, an Act was passed forbidding the
wearing of tartan as part of Highland dress, under the penalty of six
months' imprisonment for the first offence and transportation beyond the
seas for seven years for the second. No Highlander could receive the
benefit of the Act of Indemnity without first taking the following oath:
"I, A.B., do swear, and as I shall answer to God at the great day of
judgement, I have not, nor shall have, in my possession any gun, sword,
pistol, or arm whatsoever, and never use tartan, plaid, or any part of
the Highland garb; and if I do so, may I be cursed in my undertakings,
family, and property,--may I never see my wife and children, father,
mother, or relations,--may I be killed in battle as a coward, and lie
without Christian burial, in a strange land, far from the graves of
my forefathers and kindred; may all this come across me if I break my
oath." This severe and harsh Act caused great discontent, and was
repealed in 1772.

As showing the hindrances caused to trade by some of the peculiar
regulations, we find that in 1565 the Recorder of London describes
an interview which he had with civic tailors, who were puzzled as to
whether they should "line a slop hose, not cut in panes, with a lining
of cotton stitched to the slop over and besydes the linen lining
straight to the leg." The Recorder, on considering the words of the
proclamation which had caused the trouble, gave it as his opinion that
they could not; but the tailors, though they went away satisfied, came
back to say that their customers had gone to other tailors outside
the City, who made their clothes for them in the way that was first
suggested. It was this contretemps which caused the Recorder to write to
a higher legal authority.

Nowadays clothes and the law have little to do with one another,
though occasionally ladies' dresses about which there is a dispute are
seriously tried on in court, the legal luminaries meanwhile making a
studied pretence of ignorance with regard to the garments. Though there
are no statutes to curb modern fashions, yet we are reminded of the
rules that have had to be made in certain theatres on account of the
overwhelming size of the matinée hat.

Although the law does not seem to have been able to change the fashions
to a very great extent, they have sometimes been killed suddenly. In
the days of public executions, criminals sometimes elected to wear
fashionable garments, and in consequence the demand for them ceased.
Sometimes, again, those who were interested in the suppression of the
fashion persuaded the doomed man or woman to wear a particular dress,
and a judge has been known to compass the same end by ordering the
hangman who officiated to deck himself in the objectionable garment.

The wearing of nightgowns in the street by ladies was stopped owing to a
woman being executed in her bedgown. The use of yellow starch had its
death-blow when the hangman appeared in orange collar and cuffs. Black
satin dresses went out of fashion because Mrs. Manning was hung when
wearing one. Now, however, as there are no public executions, there is
not this opportunity of getting rid of obnoxious styles, and society
ought to look about for another means to repress them.




XXXVIII

DRESS REFORM

CLOTHES TO BE AVOIDED--NEED FOR WARMER GARMENTS--"RATIONAL" DRESS FOR
WOMEN


It is evident from what we have said about the effect of clothes upon
the body, that there is ample opportunity for improvement in our costume
as regards its shape and the methods in which it is worn. We have
already said also, when speaking of colour, that, in the case of men
at any rate, it might often be more picturesque and brighter. There
are several societies whose aim it is to bring about improvements. The
Rational Dress League has general objects in view, and it also keeps in
mind the special one of introducing bifurcated garments for women. There
is also the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union which seems to have general
objects.

Education is needed in order that knowledge of the evil results of
wrongly shaped shoes and tight stays may be known, and what is more,
such training as will enable that strength of mind to be acquired
which will prevent the coming generation from being swayed by foolish
fashions. The origin of these it is difficult to trace, but the pioneers
of them, whether self-centred costumiers or willing victims, ought
to be punished in some way. There are points to be borne in mind in
connection with garments which have not yet been considered, and they
cause otherwise unoffending clothes to do harm. There is no doubt but
that the weight of one's dress should be suspended from the shoulders,
though the great majority of women hang much of their clothes from their
waists. A good deal of the weight could easily be taken off this part of
the body by the fastening of skirts and under garments to bodices, or by
the use of shoulder-straps and the introduction of tunics.

Dr. Cantlie[60] has very graphically shown the common features of a
modern family, and he has given a picture (see Figure 169) of a group
consisting of the average-sized mother, the taller and larger-framed
daughter, and the insufficiently clad boy of poor physique. This author
says that the sailor suit worn at the age of two and a half or three
years is a recent innovation, and the rather puny young boy of to-day
came in with the change. Dr. Cantlie has estimated that, except in very
hot weather, children should have a pound of clothing for every stone
they weigh, for the one great secret of rendering children healthy is
to keep them warm. As a matter of fact, a girl that weighs three stone
really wears clothes that weigh three pounds; but one of the small boys
of the same weight, in a sailor suit, wears clothes that only weigh
about half as much as his sister's.

Dr. Cantlie also objects to short jackets which do not cover the loins,
and says that the public school that will introduce the Norfolk jacket
in the place of the Eton will thrive at the expense of its neighbours.

High collars worn by youths keep the head at the wrong angle, and also
perpetuate the deformity of the jaw which is caused by breathing through
the mouth. They also prevent the shoulders from being squared in the
attempt to get rid of round shoulders. Dr. Cantlie urges a return to
the brace worn by our fathers, and still occasionally seen, in which
the straps are not united. It is impossible for any one wearing joined
braces to stand erect with the shoulders squared, for they press on
the neck and cause the wearer to poke his head forward. Dr. Cantlie,
however, hopes that the difficulties in the way of obtaining separate
braces will not lead to the adoption of the elastic belt, for the only
place where this could be worn without bad effects is below the haunch
bones, and in ordinary dress this would bring it below the waistcoat. It
will be found also that the use of belts by labourers brings evils in
its train which were not mentioned by Mr. Heather Bigg, when speaking of
the advantages of girding up the loins. (See page 329.)

No account of dress and its developments would be complete without a
reference to Mrs. Bloomer and the garments which now bear her name, and
are emblematical of rational costume. That women have no absolute claim
to petticoats as their own special dress has been made quite clear, and
it is equally evident that in many places they wear trousers as a matter
of course. Still, in this country there seems to be a rooted objection
on the part of the majority to doffing skirts, though this seems,
however, to be growing less day by day, in spite of the many reasons
which cause the fair sex to cling to petticoats. As we have found
before, garments which fall to the ground give dignity, and women
sacrifice their dignity with difficulty. Yet, as need hardly be
pointed out, men do not wear dressing-gowns when they are jumping, nor
fur-trimmed mantles when they go to business. Dresses with trains could
be kept for ceremonial occasions, or when there is nothing much to be
done, or again, we might add, when there is little dust to be raised.

[Illustration: FIG. 169.--A modern family, consisting of the
average-sized mother, the taller daughter, and the puny boy (from a
drawing by Miss Audrey Watson in "Physical Efficiency," by Dr. Cantlie,
by kind permission of Messrs. Putnam's Sons).]

Bacteriology has shown us that the long skirt disseminates germs as it
trails along the ground; in fact, it stirs them up for other people to
breathe, and the culprit herself carries off as her fair share a large
quantity which settles on her dress. In this way the germs of disease
are carried home to the dwelling-house.

In these days also, when women even jump on and off motor omnibuses
before they are at a stand-still, it is evident that long frocks are
objectionable and dangerous.

When lady gardeners were first employed at Kew Gardens, it was found
that their skirts got in the way, and were liable to damage the plants.
The Director ordered that the girls should wear a suitable costume, and
they adopted divided garments, though it must be said that they covered
them to some extent with an apron. In riding-dress of course ladies wear
trousers under their habits when they use a side saddle, although it has
been considered right of recent years for them to ride astride, and from
time to time we hear that it is being done. In the time of Stephen and
of Edward III women rode astride, and the ladies in Mexico and other
parts of America regularly do so at the present time.

Chaucer described "The Wife of Bath" as wearing "on her feet a paire of
spurries sharpe." From this we may judge that she also adopted a cross
saddle, and as a matter of fact in the Elesmere MSS. we find a picture
of her, showing that she rode astride, and was dressed in a curious
garment like a divided bag. On the Continent, ladies who go shooting
very often dress like their husbands, and a year or two ago the American
newspapers were full of accounts of a lady who imitated the riding
costume of a hunting man to the smallest detail. Apropos of this, _The
Field_[61] told an amusing story of an English lady who in a measure
unintentionally forestalled our American cousins, for after she had had
the best part of her habit carried away by some aggressive brambles, she
was seen scudding after her horse in a pair of real top boots.

Divided garments only appear unfeminine because we are unaccustomed to
see them on ladies, and it is no secret that they are worn to a very
great extent under skirts. Doubtless there may be some to whom the
very idea of such a thing is abhorrent, and possibly there are still
wardrobes like those of a good lady mentioned by Miss Alice Morse
Earle[62] in her book on the "Costume of Colonial Times." She was
the wife of a respectable and well-to-do Dutch settler in the New
Netherlands, and her name was Vrouentje Ides Stoffelsen, and she left
behind her in 1641, "a gold hoop ring, a silver medal and chain, and a
silver undergirdle to hang keys on; a damask furred jacket, two black
camlet jackets, two doublets, one iron gray, the other black; a blue, a
steel-gray lined petticoat, and a black coarse camlet-lined petticoat;
two black skirts, a new bodice, two white waistcoats, one of Harlem
stuff; a little black vest with two sleeves, a pair of damask sleeves,
a reddish mourning gown, not linen; four pair pattens, one of Spanish
leather; a purple apron and four blue aprons, nineteen cambric caps and
four linen ones; a fur cap trimmed with beaver; nine linen handkerchiefs
trimmed with lace, two pair of old stockings, and three shifts. One
disposed to be critical might note the somewhat scanty proportion of
underclothing in this wardrobe, and as Ides's husband swore 'by his
manly troth' that the list of her possessions was a true and complete
one, we are forced to believe that it was indeed all the underclothing
she possessed."

It seems, however, as we have said before, that the actual ugliness of
many of the so-called bloomer costumes which were in vogue a few years
ago, did much to keep back progress in the direction of their adoption.
It seems as if women were frightened, as it were, to go the whole hog,
and instead of wearing neat knickerbockers they had them exceedingly
baggy and inelegant, or adopted a kind of hybrid costume, half bloomers
and half skirt.

Let us see what the tendency now is with regard to a rational dress
for women. Mrs. Bloomer had a skirt just below the knees, and trousers
gathered in at the ankles. The modern bloomers come only to the knee,
but really, as Dr. Bernard O'Connor says when writing in the Gazette
published by the Rational Dress League,[63] "they are made too full."
Dr. O'Connor recommends for active exercise, such as cycling, something
like a sailor's jacket and sailor's trousers, but the latter should end
and be gathered in at the knees. In addition there should be long
tight stockings, and Dr. O'Connor adds that tights throughout would be
preferable to the ordinary bloomers.

It would seem, however, that this dress for general use might be
improved as regards both form and elegance, and that a long coat or
tunic, reaching nearly to the knees, with fairly tight knickerbockers,
is the rational dress that is most to be commended for women.




CONCLUSION


By way of ending, we would again point out that the account which we
have given of survivals in dress and their history, shows that they in
their development are governed by the same laws as those which act on
the bodies and organs of living creatures, and we hope that what we have
gathered together may be taken as a small contribution to "the proper
study of mankind," which we have been told times out of number is
nothing more nor less than "man."




BIBLIOGRAPHY

The small numbers given in the text correspond with those printed here.


  NO.                                                             PAGE
   1. "The Origin of Species," by Charles Darwin. (First edition
        published 1859)                                              2

   2. "Development in Dress," by George H. Darwin. _Macmillan's
        Magazine_, September, 1872, page 410                         3

   3. "_Pithecanthropus erectus_, eine Menschenaehnliche
        Uebergangsform aus Java," by Eug. Dubois, Batavia, 1894      7

   4. "Journal during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle," by Charles
        Darwin. Minerva Library, 1889, page 154                     11

   5. "The Industrial Arts of Denmark," by J. J. A. Worsaae.
        1882, page 48                                               18

   6. See Number 2, page 412                                        30

   7. Notice of Lecture given by Mr. Allan Poe Newcombe, in the
        Sandwich Islands. Quoted from the _Honolulu Commercial
        Advertiser_ in _The English Mechanic_, No. 1934             49

   8. See Number 6                                                  58

   9. "The Human Beast of Burden," by Otis T. Mason. Smithsonian
        Report of the United States National Museum, 1887, page
        246                                                        110

  10. "Anthropology," by Edward B. Tylor. 1892, page 236           111

  11. "The British Lake Dwellings near Glastonbury." 1896,
        page 13                                                    117

  12.} "The Gem Cutter's Craft," by Leopold Claremont. 1906,       123
  13.}  pages 75 and 87                                            124

  14.} "Some Suggestions as to the Origin of the Penannular
  15.}  Brooch," by Edward Lovett. _The Reliquary_, Vol. X,
        1904, page 15                                              125

  16. "Races of Man," by Oscar Peschel. English Translation,
        1889, page 174                                             136

  17. "The Cyclopædia of the British Costumes, from the
        Metropolitan Repository of Fashions." 1826, page 196       145

  18. A letter in _The Morning Post_ of November 12th, 1897,
        from Messrs. André & Co.                                   153

  19. "English Costume," painted and described by Dion Clayton
        Calthrop. 1906, page 130                                   156

  20. Article on "Cockades" in _The Sketch_ for March 9th, 1898    158

  21. See Number 19                                                159

  22. "Costume from Monumental Brasses," by Herbert Druitt. 1906   165

  23. "Rational Dress _v._ Industrialism," _The Rational Dress
        Gazette_, No. 88, by Dr. Alice Vickery, page 356           165

  24. "Shoe-throwing at Weddings," by James E. Crombie, _Folk
        Lore_, Vol. VI (1895), page 258                            176

  25. "Ecclesiastical Vestments, their Development and History,"
        by R. A. S. Macalister. 1896, page 140                     185

  26. "Vestiarium Christianium: the Origin and Gradual
        Development of the Dress of the Holy Ministry in the
        Church," by the Rev. Wharton D. Marriott. 1861, page 48    188

  27. See Number 25, page 21                                       189

  28. A letter in _The Guardian_, by G. C. Coulton, August, 1907   194

  29. Paedag. Lib. iii., page 300                                  205

  30. See Number 22, page 122                                      210

  31. "College Caps and Doctors' Hats," by Professor E. C.
        Clark. _Archæological Journal_, Vol. LXI. 1894, page 36    213

  32. See Number 22, page 224                                      216

  33. "The Sacring of the English Kings," by J. Wickham Legg.
        _Archæological Journal_, Vol. XLI. 1894, page 35           221

  34. "History of the King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the
        Guard," by Colonel Sir Reginald Hennell. 1904, plate
        facing page 32                                             225

     {"Uniforms of our Fighting Forces, Regimental Survivals
  35.{  and Peculiarities," by R. Caton Woodville. _Cassell's
  36.{  Magazine_, 1906, page 524; and "Peculiarities of British
     {  Army Dress," by Walter Wood. _Pall Mall Magazine_, Vol.
     {  XI. 1897, page 527                                         238

  37. "Yester Year," by A. Robida, English translation, page 83    253

  38. A Lecture given by Mr. George Heppel before the
        Hammersmith Literary and Scientific Society                253

  39. "Naples in 1888," by Eustace Neville Rolffe                  254

  40. "Notes by a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger," by Professor
        Moseley                                                    272

  41. See Number 40, page 423                                      273

  42. "Costume in England," by F. W. Fairholt. Revised Edition,
        1885, Vol. II, page 303                                    278

  43. "The Whole Stock of a Coquette," by Helen C. Gordon.
        _English Illustrated Magazine_, February, 1901, page 451   279

  44. "Costume: Fanciful, Historical, and Theatrical," by Mrs.
        Aria. 1906, page 199                                       281

  45. "Curiosities of Literature," by Disraeli. Vol. I, page 186   283

  46. See Number 19, page 20                                       287

  47. See Number 42, page 240                                      289

  48. "Suggested Moorish Origin of certain Amulets in use in
        Great Britain," by Dr. Plowright. _The Reliquary,_ Vol.
        XII, 1906, page 106                                        293

  49. "Horse Brasses," by Lina Eckenstein. _The Reliquary,_ Vol.
        XII, 1906, page 251                                        293

  50. "Animal Artisans," by C. J. Cornish. 1906, page 251          300

  51. Article by Mr. Yoxall in _The Journal of Gipsy Lore_, new
        series, Vol. I, part I, 1907                               306

  52. Article by Mr. J. Chevasse. _Evening News_, April 5th,
        1907                                                       316

  53. Article in _The Daily Mail_, September 4th, 1907             317

  54. "Essays on Museums and other subjects connected with
        Natural History," by Sir William Flower. 1898, page 350    324

  55. See Number 37, page 91                                       325

  56. "The History of the Corset," by Geraldine Vane and F. Glen
        Walker. _Lady's Realm_ Summer Number, 1901                 326

  57. "Spinal Curvatures," by Heather Bigg. 1905                   326

  58. See Number 54, page 347                                      335

  59. Article in _The Morning Leader_ of April 17th, 1906          339

  60. "Physical Efficiency," by James Cantlie. 1906                355

  61. Leaderette in _The Field_, August 29th, 1902, page 452       359

  62. "Costume of Colonial Times," by Alice Morse Earle, page 28   359

  63. "Why Won't They Alter It?" by Bernard O'Connor, _Rational
        Dress Gazette_, No. 87, page 352                           361




INDEX


NOTE.--_The numbers in heavy type refer to the pages on which figures
will be found._


  Abbesses, costume of, 198

  Abergavenny, the Marquis of, wears badges, 91

  Academical dress, 208
  -- hoods, 210

  Achievements, styles of, 87

  Acrobat, dress of, 286
  -- tights of, 286
  -- trunk hose of, 286

  Admiral, uniform of, worn by coxswains at Eton on the Fourth of
    June, 171

  Africa, the West Coast of, little clothing worn on, 8

  Aggries, 113

  Agilbert, Bishop of Paris, ring of, 114

  Aiglets, 100

  Aiguillettes, 101, =101=
  -- Mr. Caton Woodville on, 240
  -- of aides-de-camp, 240
  -- -- footmen, 141, =141=, 240
  -- -- Household Cavalry, 240
  -- -- a Knight of the Bath, 231
  -- -- -- Knight of St. Michael and St. George, 231

  Ailette, 84

  Albe, 198, 199
  -- of James II, 221
  -- originally a secular garment, 189
  -- replaced by surplice, 185

  Alhambra, 293

  Almshouses, costumes of, 170

  Almuce, 198, 199
  -- forerunner of the tippet, 212

  Ambassadors, cockade of Danish, 160
  -- -- -- English, 160
  -- -- -- Foreign, 160
  -- -- -- French, 160

  American, dress of the, 318

  Amethyst, supposed powers of the, 124

  Amice, 200, 221

  Amulet, arrow-head, 296

  Amulets buried with the head of ancient Egyptians, 122
  -- crescent-shaped, 293
  -- heart-shaped, 295, 296
  -- worn by Egyptian children, 123

  Andaman Islanders, painting the body among, 276

  André, Messrs., & Co., on cockades, 153

  Anglo-Saxon, bandaged stocking of, 67, =67=

  Animal actors, clothes of, 301

  Animals, colour of, in connection with ceremonials, 303
  -- curious variations of, produced under domestication, 302
  -- spotted when young, 94
  -- mutilation of, 302

  Anklets, 9

  Anne, apron of Queen, 150
  -- Consort of James I, glove of, 98, =99=

  Antiquities, Museum of, Copenhagen, 178

  Apparel of chasuble called an orphrey, 196
  -- on albe, possibly remains of clavi, 193

  Appendix, vermiform, 3

  Apron, 149
  -- of barge-woman, milk-woman, and hospital nurse, 150
  -- -- bishop, a vestige of the cassock, 200
  -- -- housemaid, 149
  -- -- Judy, 263, =263=
  -- -- masons, 232
  -- -- nuns, 202
  -- -- Queen Anne, 150

  Aprons, tiger skin, of Leicestershire Regiment, 249

  Arab women, 122
  -- -- ideas of modesty, 207

  Arabs use folds of robes as pockets, 110

  Archers, Scottish, coats of, 226

  Aria, Mrs., on the ancestress of the straight-fronted specialité
    corset, 337
  -- -- on the unwritten laws that rule the wearing of a mask, 281

  Armlets conferred on soldiers, 114
  -- need for cooling, in some climates, 114

  Armorial bearings on ladies' dresses, 84, =85=

  Armour, 83
  -- a development of dress, 12
  -- of chargers, 292

  Arms, coat of, 83
  -- of England, 86
  -- -- schools and colleges, 90
  -- -- Thomas à Becket, =198=

  Arran murder case, 178

  Arrow-head amulets, 296

  Arrow-heads, flint, as pendants, 123

  Arts, gown of master of, 210
  -- hood of bachelor of, 212

  Atella, celebrated for Italian farces, 254

  Athletic clubs, parti-coloured dress of, 313

  Aurelian, distribution of oraria by, 192

  Austria, Emperor of, 244

  Austrian, dress of the, 318

  Axe for killing wounded horses, 242

  Ayahs, nose-rings of, 111


  Babylon, finger-rings in, 114

  Baby's glove without fingers, 94, =95=

  Bachelor of Arts, hood of, 212

  Badge and crest, difference between, 90
  -- broad arrow, 91
  -- of Black Prince, 88
  -- -- Edward III, 91
  -- -- the porters of the Inner Temple, 91

  Badges, hereditary, 90
  -- signs derived from royal, 91
  -- regimental, 243, 245
  -- of Gloucestershire regiment, 245
  -- -- private firemen, 91

  Badges of the Yeomen of the Guard, 224, =224=
  -- -- Watermen, 91
  -- worn by the Marquis of Abergavenny, 91

  Bag-wig, vestige of the, 133, =134=, 143, =143=, 228, =229=

  Baildon, Mr. Paley, on new garments put over old, 148
  -- -- -- -- the coif, 216

  Baldric, 106
  -- modern use of, 106
  -- ornamented with bells, 108, =108=

  Ballrooms, bare necks in, 14

  Band, black on arm as mourning, 182
  -- chin, 202, =203=
  -- hat, 52

  Bandaged stockings of Anglo-Saxons, 67

  Bandages, leg, 66, =66=, =67=

  Bandbox, 46, =47=

  Bandoleer, on baldric, 108

  Bands, 44, =45=
  -- of barristers, 44
  -- -- blue-coat boys, 44, =45=
  -- -- choristers at Jesus College, Cambridge, 45, =45=
  -- -- Jan Steen, 46, =46=
  -- -- John Pym, 46, =46=
  -- -- Milton, 46
  -- -- small boys, 47, =47=
  -- -- the legal profession, 219
  -- -- Winchester scholars, 169
  -- on a lady's nightgown, 288, =289=
  -- worn with a black Geneva gown, 44, 185

  Bantams, booted, 303
  -- frizzled, 303

  Baptism, vestments used at, 164

  Barbarians wore trousers, 77, =78=

  Barge women, apron of, 150; Plate VIII facing page 150
  -- -- costume of, 110
  -- -- sun-bonnet of, 61; Plate VIII facing page 150

  Barme-cloth (apron), 150

  Barons of the Exchequer, robes of, 218

  Barristers' bands, 44
  -- gown, 218, =219=
  -- wigs, 132

  Basquine, 325

  Baton of drum-major, 241
  -- -- Field-Marshal, 223

  Beadle, dress of, 147, =264=
  -- in Punch and Judy, 147, 262, =264=

  Beads as currencies, 113
  -- blue popo, worth their weight in gold, 113
  -- early used in England, 112
  -- from Egypt, 113
  -- of the prehistoric Egyptians, 112
  -- still fashionable, 112

  _Beagle_, H.M.S., voyage of, 11

  Beard of Edward II, 130
  -- -- -- III, 129

  Beards, closely shaved by Normans, 129
  -- -- -- in Edward IV's time, 130
  -- cut by Romans, 129
  -- parted or trimmed by Saxons, 129

  Bedford, Duchess of, riding habit of, 251

  Bedgown, woman executed in a, 290

  Beefeaters, cap of, 168

  Bells as ornaments, derived from flowers, 314

  Belt of groom, =140=
  -- -- -- origin of, 139

  Belts, Dr. Cantlie on the use of, 356
  -- worn by navvies, 329

  Bernard, on blowing the nose on the chasuble, 195

  Bhurtpore, battle of, 244

  Bib, 150
  -- of infant, 167

  Bibliography, 363-7

  Bigg, Mr. Heather, on the erect position of man, 330, 331
  -- -- -- -- -- rapid loss of beauty in native girls, 328
  -- -- -- -- -- use of stays, 326, 327

  Billet, sign of the Crooked, 146

  Binder of infant, 163

  Biretta, evolution of, 213

  Bishop, hat of, 214, =214=
  -- method of buttoning trousers, 252
  -- rochet, chimere, and lawn sleeves of, 199

  Black as mourning, 181

  Bloomer, Mrs., 81, 356
  -- -- dress of, 361

  Bloomers, Dr. Bernard O'Connor on, 361

  Blouse, blue, of the butcher, 307, 320

  Blue blouse of butcher, 307, 320
  -- coat boys, 167
  -- -- -- bands of, 44, =45=
  -- favours, 307

  Boadicea, dress of, 312

  Boar, wild, spotted when young, 94

  Bohemians, the King of the, wore no ostrich feathers, 91

  Body, clothes used to alter the shape of, 337

  Boiler cleaners, combination garments of, 320

  Bone inserted into prehistoric skulls, 336
  -- pin, 105

  Boots, jack, 235
  -- of bridegrooms removed by brides in Russia, 177
  -- ornamentation of modern, 62, =63=
  -- top, 65, =65=
  -- -- upper parts now immovable, 66, =66=

  Borough Councillors, robes of, 138

  Bouquets carried by coxswains on the Fourth of June at Eton, 171

  Bows inside ladies' hats, 57, =58=
  -- of silk ribbon inside hat, 54, =55=

  Boy catching an object in his lap, 341

  Boys, blue-coat, 167
  -- colour preferences of, 307
  -- dressed as soldiers, 163
  -- petticoats of, 165

  Brace in which the straps are not united, 356

  Bracelets, 9
  -- need to be cooled in some climates, 114

  Brandenburg, Albrect von, with two palls, 197

  Brandon, John, brass to, 38

  Brasses, 38, Plate IV, 86, =86=, 234, =234=
  -- chrysome, 164

  Brats, 300

  Breast cloth of nun, 202, =203=
  -- plate of horse, amulets on, 294

  Breasts, bare, in Ancient Egypt, =74=, 75
  -- -- in Korea, 75, =75=
  -- -- in the time of James I, 76

  Breeches, knee, 79
  -- of Lord Darnley, 286
  -- origin of the word, 311
  -- petticoat, of sailors, 252
  -- plush, 140, =141=
  -- stuffed, 337
  -- Venetian, of pantaloon, 284

  Bridesmaids, origin of presents made to, by bridegroom, 175

  Bristol, Red Maid School of, 168

  Broad arrow badge, 91

  Bronze Age chieftains, dress of, 18, =19=
  -- -- people wore deerskin cloaks retaining horns, 117
  -- pins, 105

  Brooch, 122
  -- safety-pin like an Etruscan, 102, =103=
  -- the buckle, a, without hasp, 125

  Brooches, pin ring, 125
  -- to fasten tunic, 17, =17=

  Buckle, 125

  Bulgaria, shoe money in, 177

  Burden, primitive method of carrying a, 106, =107=

  Busbies, caricatures of, 247, 248

  Busby, 238
  -- development of, 59
  -- of Rifle Brigade, 242
  -- origin of the, Sir George Darwin on, 58, =59=
  -- red flap on, 59, =59=

  Buskins, 195

  Bust, padding used to improve the, 338

  Butcher's blue blouse, 320

  Butterman, white clothes of, 320

  Button, 118
  -- covered with crape, 243
  -- Mr. P. W. Reynolds on the survival of a, 248

  Buttonholes, exaggerated on uniforms, 40
  -- knotched, 146
  -- laced, 146
  -- on the backs of coats, 27, =27=, 28, =28=

  Buttons, 24, 248
  -- antiquity of, 120
  -- as chronicles, 25
  -- done up differently by men and women, 21, =23=
  -- horizontal row of, on sleeve, 36, =36=
  -- meaningless, on ladies' dresses, 120
  -- numerous, on sleeve of undervest, 38; Plate IV, facing page 38
  -- of brass on Dutch skeleton dress, 145, =145=
  -- -- Legion of Honour, 158
  -- -- man's coat on right side, 20, =20=
  -- -- page boys, 144, =145=
  -- -- woman's coat on left side, 20, =21=
  -- on coats of Grenadier Guards, 29
  -- -- cuffs, 35, =35=
  -- -- overcoats of Commissionaires, 30
  -- -- postilion's jackets, 38
  -- -- sleeves of clergy, 36
  -- -- the back of coats, 26, =26=, =27=, =28=, =29=, =31=, =32=,
    =33=, =34=
  -- -- the back of tramway driver's coats, 30, =31=
  -- problematical, 15

  Buttons replaced by knobs in the East, 20
  -- vertical row on sleeve, =37=


  Calthrop, Mr., on survivals of the chaperon, 158
  -- -- -- the costume of Harlequin, 283
  -- -- -- -- evolution of the cockade, 156
  -- -- -- -- origin of the cockade, 159

  Camels, cowry shells on the trappings of, 297, =299=

  Cameron Erracht tartan, 242
  -- tartan, 242

  Canaries, yellow, 303

  Cane of drill sergeant, 241

  Canes, be-ribboned, 124
  -- tasselled, 125

  Cannibalism, probable origin of, 337

  Canterbury Cathedral, shield, helmet, and surcoat of Black Prince
    in, 87, =88=, =89=

  Cantlie, Dr., on short jackets, 356
  -- -- -- the effect of insufficient clothing, 355, =357=
  -- -- -- -- use of belts, 356

  Cap, college, 47, 169, 212, =214=
  -- Hungarian, 238
  -- judge's sentence, 217
  -- line of Lancers, 241
  -- livery, 146
  -- of Beefeaters, 168
  -- -- dignity, ecclesiastical, 213
  -- -- housemaid, 149
  -- -- Hungarian peasant, 59, =59=
  -- -- nuns, 201, =203=, 204
  -- -- the Lancers, a Polish head-dress, 239
  -- Scotch, streamers of, 53, =54=
  -- statute, 168, 348
  -- Tudor flat, 214

  Cape, combined with hood, =156=, 157

  Caps not to be worn by married women, 350

  Cards, playing, show Tudor dresses, 231

  Carolines, haircombs of West, 118

  Cases of brass for waiters' buttons, 144

  Cassock, 200
  -- of Benedictines, 198
  -- once generally worn, 186

  Casula, forerunner of the chasuble, 192

  Cater cap, 212

  Cattle, hornless, 303

  Cavalryman, modern, compared with Cromwell's Ironsides, 237, =237=

  Cave men, drawings of, 8, =9=, 10
  -- -- painting of the body by, 270
  -- -- wore ornaments but no clothing, 8

  Ceremony, primitive dress worn on occasions of, 5, 135

  Chaco of Highland Light Infantry, 241
  -- -- Scottish Rifles, 241

  Chain mail, 233, 234, =234=

  Chains for the neck in Richard II's time, 113
  -- of Mayors, origin of, 113

  Chancellor of a University, robes of a, 210

  Chapel keeper at Wellington Barracks, top hat of, 248

  Chaperon, 152
  -- development of, =156=, 157, =157=
  -- of Richard II's time, 157
  -- survival of, 228
  -- vestige on gowns of City Livery Companies, 231
  -- -- -- mantles of knights, 158, =230=

  Chaplet of flowers used after baptism, 164

  Charles I regulates clerical costume, 185
  -- II, formation of Guards by, 246

  Chasuble, 193, =194=
  -- casula, the forerunner of, 192

  Chauffeurs' cockades, 160

  Checks, 311

  Chemise, 288
  -- gauze, of Merveilleuses, 346

  Chevasse, Mr., on individuality shown by clothes, 316

  Children carried on the left arm, 22
  -- dressed like their parents, 162
  -- sucking the left breast, 24

  Chimere, 199

  Chimpanzee, hair of, 6

  China, painted pasteboard figures burnt at funerals in, 274
  -- puppet-show in, 259
  -- the use of paint by women in, 275

  Chin band, 201, 202, =203=

  Chinese women, stunted foot of, 335

  Chinook Indians, deforming the heads of children, 335

  Chiton, 187

  Choker, 200

  Choristers at Jesus College, Cambridge, bands of, 45, =45=

  Chrism cloth, 164

  Christians, dress of ancient, 187
  -- early, wore the same costume at worship as at home, 189

  Christ's Hospital, 167

  Chrysalis, 163

  Chrysolite as a detector of poison, 124

  Chrysome, 164
  -- brasses, 164

  Chulos in bull fight, red rag of, 306

  Churches, Gothic, compared with hennin-like head-dress, 50, =51=

  Clans, tartans of Scotch, 312
  -- with several tartans, 312

  Claremont, Mr., on opals and bad luck, 124

  Clark, Professor E. C., on college caps, 213

  Clavi, 191

  Clement, St., on special dress for worship, 205

  Clergy, adoption of vestments by English High Church, 192
  -- black habit of, 308
  -- buttons on sleeves of, 36
  -- condemnation of dress by, 344
  -- criticized for gorgeous apparel, 345
  -- in Holland, dresses of, 200
  -- wear academical hood over surplice, 199, 212

  Cloaks, deer skin, of Bronze Age people, retaining horns, 117

  Clock, meaning a gusset, 68, =68=
  -- origin of, 68

  Clocks of clowns, 269

  Cloth, breast, 202, =203=
  -- chrism, 164
  -- pied, 313
  -- parti-coloured, 313

  Clothes, adopted for æsthetic reasons, 14
  -- -- -- reasons of coquetry, 14
  -- adoption of, for ornamentation, 8
  -- -- -- -- reasons of modesty, 8
  -- -- -- -- warmth, 8
  -- dispensed with on ceremonial occasions, 136
  -- distortions caused by, 322
  -- effect upon action, 341
  -- -- of, upon the outsider, 315
  -- everyday, worn at night, 287
  -- first worn by women, 12
  -- in their development subject to the same laws that act upon the
    bodies of animals, 362
  -- made from the bark of trees, 11
  -- mental effect of, 339
  -- minimum of, worn at sports, 6
  -- not necessarily worn in cold climates, 11
  -- -- worn at night, 287
  -- of animal actors, 301
  -- -- dolls, 137
  -- -- monkeys, 301
  -- -- Punch, origin of, 257
  -- represented among animals, 291
  -- Sunday, 205
  -- swaddling, 163
  -- the principles of evolution applied to, 1
  -- used to alter the shape of the body, 337
  -- useful characters always retained, 15
  -- why worn, 8
  -- worn at executions, become unfashionable, 353
      (See also under the headings of _Costume_ and _Dress_)

  Clothing, not worn by cave men, 8
  -- preferences of girls for different articles of, 340, 341

  Clown, 283
  -- clocks of, 269

  Clowns, painting of, likened to that once in vogue in China and
    Japan, 276
  -- paint of face of, 269

  Clubbed hair, 134

  Coachman, coat of, 142, =142=
  -- Lord Mayor's, wig-bag of, 143, =143=
  -- origin of dress, 139
  -- red coat of royal, 235
  -- wig of, 132, 142, =142=

  Coastguard, revers of, buttoned back, =39=

  Coat, blue in sixteenth century, 168
  -- buff, 235
  -- development of the modern, 15
  -- evolved from the shawl, 16
  -- lapels, nicks in, 41, =41=, =42=
  -- patched, of harlequin, 283
  -- pouter, 141, =141=
  -- red, a best, 235
  -- -- origin of, 249
  -- -- survived for a long time in Cornwall, 235
  -- skirts buttoned back for riding, =33=
  -- swallow-tail, evolution of, 33, =34=

  Coats at Harrow, 169
  -- -- Westminster, 169
  -- of arms, 83
  -- -- Scottish Archers, 226

  Coats, waterproof of, lambs, 300

  Cobbett, criticisms on Quakers, 119

  Cock of a hat, 61

  Cockade, 61, 152, =152=
  -- black, 153
  -- bow of ribbon on, 156
  -- evolution of, 153, =156=, =157=
  -- for mourning, 154, =154=, 159
  -- jagged edges of, 158
  -- material of, 154
  -- of Chelsea pensioners, =155=, 156
  -- -- Danish ambassadors, 160
  -- -- French ambassadors, 160
  -- -- of various colours, 158
  -- regent, =155=, 156, 159
  -- royal, 154, 155, =155=, 159
  -- treble, =152=, 156

  Cockades, not under the jurisdiction of Heralds' College or Lord
    Chamberlain, 153
  -- of foreign ambassadors, 160
  -- -- chauffeurs, 160
  -- those entitled to use, 153, =159=
  -- worn by gentlemen, 152

  Cocking, 200

  Coffins, Bronze Age, 18

  Coif of Serjeant-at-law, 216
  -- Order of the, 215
  -- vestige of, 215, =217=

  Coin, custom of breaking, upon engagement, 115

  Coldstream Regiment, motto of, 246

  Collar, broad lace, at Eton, 169
  -- silver worn by additional drummer, 244

  Collars, high, keep the head at a wrong angle, 356
  -- metal of Padaung women, =114=; Plate VI, facing page 114
  -- of Court ushers and vergers, 218
  -- -- ladies' mantles standing up, 48
  -- -- nuns, 202
  -- worn by pet animals, 298

  _Colobium sindonis_, 221

  Colonial, dress of the, 319

  Colour, craving for, shown by the gorgeous dress of Masons, 308
  -- -- -- -- -- green scarfs of the Foresters, 308
  -- -- -- -- -- pageants, 306
  -- of academical dress, 309

  Colours, 192
  -- gay uniforms come under the category of courtship, 250
  -- heraldic, derived from flags, still worn, 308
  -- house, 171
  -- of ancient drawings due to caprice of artists, 131
  -- -- Naval uniform, 251
  -- -- regiments, 309

  Columbine, ballet dress of, 285

  Comb as an ornament, 117, =118=

  Combs, hair, 118, =118=
  -- loom, the origin of the ornamental comb, 117, =118=

  Combination garments of boiler cleaners, 320
  -- -- -- Normans, 320

  Coombe Hill School, Westerham, dress worn by girls at, 172, =172=

  Commissionaires, buttons on overcoats of, 30

  Companies, Livery, robes of, 138

  Complexions, false, of Roman ladies, 278

  Convicts' dress, 91

  Cope, 197, 199
  -- of fifteenth century, 212

  Cornish, Mr. C. J., on animals' clothes, 300

  Corps piqué, Montaigne and Ambrose Paré on the suffering caused by
    the, 325

  Corroboree, paint used at a, 272

  Corset, misspelling of the word, 323
  -- of Greece, 328
  -- -- Rome, 328

  Corsets, crusade against, 325

  Cosmetics used by Roman ladies, 278

  Costermongers, dress of, 319
  -- trousers of, show progress of wearer's courtship, 347

  Costume, clerical, regulated by Charles I, 185
  -- connected with religion, 184
  -- ecclesiastical, similar to civil in early times, =188=
  -- of barge-women, 110
  -- -- the clown, Elizabethan, 269, =270=
  -- -- dolls, 267
  -- -- milk-women, 110
  -- -- nuns and abbesses resembled that of widows, 198
  -- -- servants', derived from that of masters, 139
  -- indicating the profession of the wearer, 316

  Costumes adopted in girls' schools, 171
  -- of hospitals for pensioners, 170
  -- ugliness of bloomers, 81, 360
      (See also under the headings of _Clothes_ and _Dress_)

  Coulton, Mr. G. C., on the evolution of the maniple from a
    pocket-handkerchief, 194

  Courier bags carried on a baldric, 106, =107=

  Court dress, mistakes made in, 227
  -- ushers, collars of, 218

  Coventry, Lady, death due to painting the face, 279

  Cowboy's long hair, 127

  Cows, clothing of, 300
  -- rainproof jackets of, 300

  Cradle of American Indian papoose, 164

  Cranmer, hat of, =214=

  Crescent as an amulet among the Romans, 293
  -- made by joining two boars' tusks, 294
  -- worn on a special strap by German horses, 295

  Crest and badge, difference between, 90
  -- -- surcoat of Henry Duke of Lancaster, 86, =86=
  -- on helmet, 83
  -- -- signet ring, 85
  -- worn upon cap of Lord Mayor's postilion, 92, =92=

  Creel carried on a baldric, 106

  Crinoline, 337
  -- devised to hide the shape of a princess, 344
  -- of the young women of Otaheite, 338

  Croft School, Betley, dress worn by girls at, 173, =173=

  Crombie, Mr. James, on superstitions connected with weddings, 176

  Crook, shepherd's, 195

  Crosier, 221

  Cross of nuns, 202
  -- older than Christianity, 122

  Cross-belt of Rifle Brigade, 242

  Crown, 158, 221
  -- bridal, 180
  -- Tudor, superseded that of St. Edward, 224, =224=

  Crusaders, 344

  Cuff, turned back, 35, =36=, =37=, 38

  Cuffs, 35
  -- of widow, 183
  -- white lawn, used as mourning by King's Counsel, 220
  -- worn by the legal profession as part of mourning, 183

  Cuirass of Household troops, 233

  Culloden, battle of, 249

  Currencies carried on the person, 113
  -- ornaments as, 112

  Cussan's "Handbook of Heraldry," 159

  Custom of breaking a coin upon engagement, 115


  Dalmatic, 190, 195, 221
  -- compared with a shirt, 288
  -- of Bishop, fringes on, 190
  -- -- deacon, fringes on left side only, 191
  -- symbolism of fringes, 191

  Damascus, damask takes its name from, 313

  Damask takes its name from Damascus, 313

  Dane, dress of the, 319

  Darnley, Lord, breeches of, 286

  Darwin, Charles, on the loss of hair by man, 7
  -- -- theory of evolution, 2
  -- Sir George, on buttons, 30
  -- -- -- -- evolution in dress, 3
  -- -- -- -- the origin of busbies, 58, =59=
  -- -- -- -- top boots, 65, =65=
  -- -- -- -- why plumes are on the left side, 58, =58=

  D'Aubernoun, Sir John, brass of, showing chain-mail, 234

  David, shield of, 293

  Dawkins, Professor Boyd, on the origin of the hair comb, 117

  Deacons, stoles of, 192

  Deaths due to painting the face, 279

  Decoys, dogs dressed as duck, 301

  Deformities caused by bandaging infants, 164

  Demeter, 297

  Denmark, dress of Bronze Age chieftains, 18, =19=

  Depression in a judge's wig, 215, =216=

  Diamond, supposed powers of the, 124

  Diamonds, always fashionable, 123

  Diaper appeared in reign of Henry II, 313
  -- derived from D'Ypres, 313

  Dinners, handkerchief used for wrapping, 195

  Diodorus on the plaid of, 312

  Distortion of the head, 336

  Divorce, Bedouin form of, 178

  Djibah, =172=, 173

  Doctor in the Punch and Judy show, 263, =264=
  -- of Divinity, scarf of, 192
  -- round cap of, 213

  Dogs, dress of, as duck decoys, 301
  -- hairless, 303

  Dolls, clothes of, 137
  -- costume, 267
  -- in swaddling clothes, Mr. Edward Lovett on, 268

  Dolman of the Hussars, =81=, 239

  Donkeys, cowry shells on trappings of, 297

  Drawings of cave men, 8, =9=, 10

  Dress, academical, 208
  -- -- Druitt on, 210
  -- bridal, 175
  -- characteristic of trades, 320
  -- children's, Dr. Alice Vickery on, 165
  -- colour in academical, 309
  -- condemnation of, by the clergy, =344=
  -- Court, 226
  -- -- mistakes made in, 227
  -- does not usually show rank, 319
  -- Dutch skeleton, 145, =145=
  -- evening, black and white, 308
  -- -- suggests correct behaviour, 340
  -- Highland, 162
  -- League, Rational, 354
  -- monastic, 198
  -- more primitive, worn on occasions of ceremony, 135
  -- naval, supposed survivals in, 252
  -- of acrobats, 286
  -- -- ancient Christians, 187
  -- -- animals, 291
  -- -- beadles, 147, 262, =264=
  -- -- coachmen, origin of, 139
  -- -- convicts, 91
  -- -- costermongers, 319
  -- -- footmen, origin of, 139
  -- -- girls at Coombe Hill School, Westerham, 171, =172=
  -- -- -- -- the Croft School, Betley, 173, =173=
  -- -- grooms, origin of, 139
  -- -- harlequins, 283
  -- -- heads of churches in Scotland, 200
  -- -- jockeys, coloured, 147
  -- -- King's Counsel, 218
  -- -- Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 321
  -- -- monks, 201
  -- -- Mrs. Bloomer, 81, 361

  Dress of Norwegian bride, 180
  -- -- nuns, 201, =203=
  -- -- particular trades, 149
  -- -- peasants, gay, 309
  -- -- Punch and Judy, 137, 253
  -- -- Romans, 187
  -- -- servants, 139
  -- -- the American, 318
  -- -- -- Austrian, 318
  -- -- -- Colonial, 319
  -- -- -- Dane, 319
  -- -- -- Frenchman, 318
  -- -- -- German, 318
  -- -- -- Hungarian, 318
  -- -- -- Norwegian, 319
  -- -- -- Spaniard, 318
  -- -- St. Nicholas, 137
  -- -- soldiers previous to the Restoration, 236
  -- -- Yeomen of the Guard, 223, =225=
  -- once indicated rank, 319
  -- origin of, 6
  -- parti-coloured, came into fashion in Edward II's time, 313
  -- profession often not indicated by, 315
  -- rank indicated in certain professions by, 320
  -- rational, 81, 361
  -- reform, 354
  -- simplification of Court, 226
  -- special, for worship, 205
  -- tax on elegant, 350
  -- to be according to station, 350
  -- ugliness of evening, 208
  -- Union, Healthy and Artistic, 354
  -- used in special occupations, 320

  Dresses, bridal, often survivals, 180
  -- special school, 168
  -- with trains to be kept for ceremonial occasions, 358

  Dressing-gowns, 138, 358

  Drops for ears, 112

  Druitt, Mr., on academical dress, 210
  -- -- -- boys dressed in petticoats, 165
  -- -- -- the coif, 216

  Drummer, extra of Third Hussars, 244

  Dutch settler's wife, Miss Alice Morse Earle on the dress of, 359
  -- skeleton dress, 145, =145=, 272

  Dyes for tartans obtained from native plants, 313


  Eagles on coronation robe, 222

  Ear drops, 112

  Ears, perforated for rings, 112

  Earle, Miss Alice Morse, on the costume of the wife of a Dutch
    settler, 359

  Eckenstein, Miss Lina, on horse brasses, 293

  Edward II, beard of, 130
  -- III, badge of, 91
  -- -- beard of, 129
  -- IV, beard of, closely shaven, 130
  -- VII, robes worn at the coronation of, 222

  Egypt, finger rings in, 114

  Egyptian graves, models of servants put into, 268
  -- pins, 105
  -- rings of blue pottery, 116

  Egyptians, ancient, bury amulets with their dead, 122
  -- blackening eyelids, 270
  -- early, tattooing practised by, 277
  -- modern, tattooing practised by, 277
  -- prehistoric, beads of, 112

  Elizabeth, statute cap of, 168
  -- Queen, stocking of, 68

  Elizabeth's coronation glove, stitching carried on to the back
    of, =97=, 98
  -- reign, ruffs of, 48

  Elsyng, brass in church at, 86, =86=

  Elves' arrows as pendants, 123

  Elworthy, Mr., on horns of honour, 117

  Embroidery carried on to the backs of gloves, 98, =99=

  Emeralds always fashionable, 123

  Epaulettes, 238
  -- worn by the Gentlemen-at-Arms, 238
  -- -- -- officers of the Yeomen of the Guard, 238
  -- -- -- the Lords-Lieutenant of Counties, 238
  -- -- in the Navy, 238

  Ermine, 222
  -- bands of, indicate rank, 223

  Eskimos descendants of the cave men, 10
  -- shoes, piece of old, worn by, to ensure fruitfulness, 178

  Essex, fish-hooks made of thorns in, 125

  Eton, gowns worn by scholars at, 169
  -- jacket, 169
  -- white tie at, 169

  Etruscan brooch, safety-pin like an, 102, =103=

  Eutropius, St., ceremony of garters, 71

  Evolution, the principles applied to clothes, 1

  Ewart, Sergeant, captures a French eagle, 245

  Eyelashes, removal of, 128
  -- lid, blackening of, by Egyptians, 270
  -- sacred on rings, 117
  -- stone or opal, 124
  -- third in slow worm, 3

  Executions, clothes worn at, become unfashionable, 353


  Face plate of horse, amulets on, 294
  -- sooty, of harlequin, 283

  Facings, regimental, abolished in 1881, 238
  -- why a different colour from that of the coat, 34

  Fairholt on bandaged stockings, 67, =67=
  -- -- the origin of the mortar-board, 214

  Fans called sunshades, 280
  -- for blowing up a fire, 280
  -- origin of, 280

  Farces, Atella, celebrated for Italian, 254

  Farthingale, 337

  Fashion determines the amount of the body which is to be covered, 14

  Fashions due to royal peculiarities, 131
  -- gay, follow periods of depression, 345
  -- in hair arrangement, 126
  -- kept up by superstitions, 349
  -- origin of, difficult to trace, 354
  -- the killing of, 352

  Favours, 192

  Fawkes, Guy, 225

  Feathers, objections to the wearing of, 121
  -- of birds of paradise, 121
  -- -- ostriches, 122
  -- peacocks', unlucky because of eyes, 124
  -- wearing of, 121

  Ficorroni, 258

  Field-Marshal's baton, 223

  Fillet, 175
  -- forerunner of the hatband, 52, =52=
  -- head, 149
  -- vestiges of, 52, =52=

  Finn, Huckleberry, 341
  -- Mrs., on bells derived from flowers, 314

  Fireman, helmet of, 60, =60=
  -- private, badge of, 91

  Fisher folk, barefooted, 334

  Fish, gold, with several tails, 303
  -- hook made of a thorn in Essex, 125

  Fitzroy, General, 244

  Flaccus, Dr. Louis W., on the effect of clothes on the minds of
    school-girls, 339, 340
  -- -- -- -- -- -- preference of girls for different articles of
    clothing, 340, 341

  Flags, heraldic colours of, still worn as favours, 308

  Flap, red, on busby, 59, =59=

  Flash on Court dress, 228, =229=
  -- of Welsh Fusiliers, 133, =134=, 241

  Fleshings, pink, of Merveilleuses, 346

  Fleur-de-lys, 222, 293
  -- on braid of drummers of the Guards, 246
  -- removed from royal arms, 246

  Flower, Sir William, on deforming of the foot, 334
  -- -- -- -- injuries caused by tight lacing, 324
  -- -- -- -- the most highly evolved foot, 333

  Flowers, chaplet of, used after baptism, 164
  -- wearing of, 121
  -- worn at Eton on Fourth of June, 171
  -- -- by a bride, 175

  Folds of robes used as pockets by Arabs, 110

  Foot, deforming of the, 334
  -- gear, early, 62
  -- Guards, drum-major's livery cap, 146
  -- Sir William Flower on deforming of the, 334
  -- -- -- -- -- the most highly evolved, 333
  -- stunted, of Chinese woman, 335
  -- the ideal in art, 333, 334

  Footman, 140, =141=, 149
  -- origin of dress, 139

  Footmen, aiguillettes worn by, 240
  -- flaps of, 32, =33=
  -- wig of, 132
  -- with powdered hair, 131

  Fourchettes of gloves, =97=, 98

  Fourragère, 241

  Fowls, top-knotted, 303

  Fox-hunters, red coat of, 235

  Frenchman, dress of, 318

  Frills, 227

  Fringe of a shawl, origin of, 16

  Fringes, Mr. Macalister on symbolism of, on dalmatics, 191

  Frock coat, 148

  Frontal of nun, =203=, 204

  Fruitfulness, superstitious practices to ensure, 179, 180

  Funerals, horse trappings still used at, 292
  -- painted pasteboard figures burnt in China at, 274

  Fur, 11
  -- use of, in the army, 247

  Fusiliers, Welsh, flash of, 133, =134=

  Fylfot, 122; see Plate VII, Fig. F, facing page 129


  Gagging, art of, not modern, 254

  Gaiters, 70

  Garlands, wearing of, signifies virginity, 180

  Garment, new, put on over old, 148

  Garments, dislike of divided, 359
  -- flowing, give an elegant effect, 137, 357
  -- -- -- dignity, 187, 357
  -- long, of Noah's Ark figures, 268

  Garter, 158

  Garters as insignia, 71
  -- golden, of Merveilleuses, 346
  -- of girls, annual ceremony in Haute-Vienne, 71
  -- ornamental, 71

  Gatty, Sir Alfred Scott, on cockades, 153

  Gauntlets worn by masons, 232

  Gentleman of George III's time, 141, 143

  George II's reign, coachman, coat of, 142, =142=
  -- -- on naval uniform, 251
  -- III, black coats at Eton, mourning for, 169
  -- -- gentleman's dress, 141, 143
  -- III's reign, the pouter coat of, 141

  German, dress of the, 318

  Germs of disease disseminated by trailing skirts, 358

  Giangurgolo, Calabrian, 1731, 257, =257=

  Gimmal rings, 115

  Girdle, 73
  -- of judge, 217

  Girl catching an object in her lap, 341

  Girls, colour preferences of, 307
  -- in factories, barefooted, 334
  -- wearing their hair down, 166

  Gladstone, Mr., abolished the serjeants-at-law, 217

  Gloucestershire regiment, badges of, 245

  Glove of Anne, Consort of James I, 98, =99=
  -- stitching carried on to the back of Elizabeth's coronation,
    =97=, 98
  -- -- -- down the back of, =97=, 98

  Gloves, 94, 195
  -- early, without fingers, 94
  -- embroidery carried on to the backs of, 98, =99=
  -- fourchettes of, =97=, 98
  -- not worn by nuns, 204
  -- points on, =96=, 98
  -- with two thumbs in Iceland, 95

  God, solar, of Egypt, 123

  Gold dust put on the head, 131

  Golfers, red coat of, 235

  Gordon, Miss Helen, on painting used in the time of Queen Anne, 279

  Gorget the badge of an officer on duty, 235

  Gorilla, hair of, 6

  Gown, 18
  -- black, 185
  -- Geneva, bands worn with, 44
  -- of judge, 217
  -- -- King's Counsel, 218
  -- -- Master of Arts, 210
  -- -- Oxford Undergraduates, 210

  Gowns, black, legal mourning for Queen Mary II, 218
  -- worn by scholars at Eton, 169

  Greek betrothal rings, 115

  Gremial, 202

  Grenadier, caps of Scots Greys, 244

  Greys, Scots, 245

  Grenadier Guards, 248

  Groom, =140=
  -- origin of belt, 139
  -- -- -- dress, 139

  Guards, drummers of, fleur-de-lys on braid of, 246
  -- formation of, by Charles II, 246
  -- Grenadier, 248
  -- -- buttons on coats of, 29
  -- Irish, 248
  -- Life and Horse, survival of cord for priming powder horn, 108
  -- Scots, 248
  -- white jackets of, 243

  Guignol, 255
  -- French punch, 257
  -- the name derived from Giangurgolo, 257

  Guild liveries, 232

  Guinea, New, women wear no clothes, 9


  Habit, black of clergy, 308

  Habits, monastic, 198

  Hackle feathers of Northumberland Fusiliers, 244

  Hair, clubbed, 134
  -- curly, imitated, 130
  -- dedication of, 128
  -- dishevelling of, as mourning, 181
  -- down, girls wearing their, 166
  -- early man covered with, 6
  -- great value attached to a profuse head of, 128
  -- long, not necessarily effeminate, 127
  -- not correlated with cold climate, 6
  -- of women dressed differently from that of men, 128
  -- powder, 131
  -- -- coloured, 131
  -- putting up of, by girls, 166
  -- queued, 134
  -- Roman modes of doing the, 132; Plate VII, facing page 129
  -- use of others, 130

  Halberds of Yeomen of the Guard, 225

  Handkerchief in general use in Henry VIII's time, 195
  -- used for wrapping up dinners, 195
  -- -- -- -- -- presents, 195

  Hanover, cockade of House of, 153

  Harem, 13

  Harlequin, 261, 267
  -- coat of, worn by the Lord of Montbron, 283
  -- modern dress of, 283, =284=
  -- origin of the character, 282
  -- patched coat of, 283
  -- shaven head of, 283
  -- sooty face of, 283
  -- wand of, 283

  Harlequinade, 269, 282

  Harlequinne, 285

  Harrow, coats at, 169
  -- swallow tails at, 170

  Hat band, 52
  -- -- origin of, 52
  -- cocked, development of, 60, =60=
  -- Cranmer's, 214, =214=
  -- for hunting with lacing, 56, =56=
  -- how made from a disc of material 57, =57=
  -- of a bishop of the Stuart period, 214, =214=
  -- sailor, streamers of, 53, =53=
  -- tall, used in the Army, 248

  Hats with the underside painted green, 271
  -- women in church without, 206

  Haweis, Mrs., dressing to suit her surroundings, 310

  Hawaiian Islands, hut of, 49

  Haybands forerunners of leg bandages, 67

  Head, distortion of, 336

  Head-dress of French lawyer, 158
  -- -- -- Henry II's reign surviving in that of nuns, 201, =203=
  -- -- shawl as a, 61
  -- -- Siamese, compared with a Votive Spire, 50, =51=
  -- shaven, of harlequin, 283
  -- shaving, 127
  -- strap, =203=

  Heads, deforming of children's, by Chinook Indians, 335

  Hearse cloths, 232

  Heart-shaped amulets, 295, 296, =296=

  Hector the horse extinct in Punch and Judy show, 267

  Helmet of Black Prince, 87, =88=
  -- fireman's, 60, =60=
  -- plate, 158

  Helmets, metal, 60

  Henna used for staining fingers and toes by Egyptians, 271

  Henry VIII's reign, handkerchief came into general use in, 195

  Heppel, Mr. George, on Punch and Judy, 253
  -- -- -- -- figures worked by wires, 255

  Heraldry, Handbook of, by Cussan, 159

  Heralds, tabards of, 83

  Hereditary badges, 90

  Hide, raw, shoe made of, 64, =64=

  Highland corps, white jackets of, 243
  -- dress, 162

  Hindu ayahs, nose rings of, 111
  -- women, painting of the feet scarlet by, 273
  -- -- teeth blackened by, 273

  Hodgson, Miss, uses a doll to show costume, 174

  Hogarth's engravings of children, 162

  Holland, dress of clergy in, 200

  Holy Land, swaddling clothes persist in, 163, 333

  Hood, 198
  -- academical, 210
  -- -- wearing of, by clergymen, 199, 212
  -- combined with cape, 156, =156=, 157
  -- enlargement of the peak, =156=, 157
  -- of a Knight of the Garter, 229, =230=
  -- -- Bachelor of Arts, 212
  -- -- nuns, 202, =203=
  -- -- the Order of the Thistle, 230
  -- -- -- -- -- St. Patrick, 230
  -- -- undergraduates, liripipe of, 211
  -- peak of prolonged, to form liripipe, 157
  -- tiny, on barrister's gown, 218, =219=

  Horn for priming powder, survival of cords for suspending, 108

  Horns of honour, 117

  Horse amulets, 293, 294, =294=, 295, =296=
  -- clothing, 292
  -- brass, crescent shaped, derived from boar's tusks, 294, =294=
  -- brasses, English, the counterpart of those shown on Trajan's
    column, 295
  -- -- Dr. Plowright on the origin of some, 293
  -- -- Miss Lina Eckenstein on, 293
  -- -- heraldic, 295
  -- identified as a corn spirit, 297
  -- trappings, 292
  -- -- still used at funerals, 292
  -- white, of Hanover, 243

  Horses, black, used at funerals, 303
  -- circus, 303
  -- grey, carry the kettledrums, 303
  -- hats of, 300
  -- killing of, at harvest time, 297
  -- sun-bonnets, 300
  -- white carry the kettledrums, 303

  Hose, Florentine, 70, 286
  -- tights, a survival of Florentine, 286
  -- trunk, 269
  -- -- of acrobat, 286
  -- -- -- clown, 269
  -- -- -- knights, 231

  Household cavalry, bandsmen's livery caps, 146

  Housemaid, apron of, 149
  -- cap of, 149

  Hounds, Dalmatian, as carriage dogs, 303

  Howard of Effingham, hat of Lord, 248

  Hump of Punch, back, 262, =263=
  -- -- -- front, origin of, 253

  Hungarian, dress of the, 318
  -- peasant's cap, 59, =59=

  Huntsman, livery cap of, 146

  Hussars, 59
  -- cowry shells on trappings of horses of, 297, =298=
  -- dolman of, 81, 239
  -- Eighth, wear sword-belts over their shoulders, 243
  -- Eleventh, wear ivory-hilted swords, 244
  -- Fifteenth, wear Austrian imperial lace, 244
  -- lacing of, 146
  -- prickers on shoulder belt of, 239, =239=
  -- sling jacket of, 81, 239
  -- Third, extra drummer of, 244
  -- uniform of, 272

  Hut of Hawaiian Islands, 49


  Iceland, glove with two thumbs, 95

  India, lotus flowers on king's mantle, symbolical of, 222

  Indian Army, puttees of, 66

  Infant, bib of, 167
  -- binder of, 163

  Infants, deformities caused by bandaging, 164
  -- powdered, 162
  -- patched, 162

  Inner Temple, badge of the porters of, 91

  Ireland, pin-ring brooches in, 125

  Irish Guards, 248

  Ironside of Cromwell compared with a modern cavalryman, 237, =237=

  Italian women age rapidly, 329


  Jacket, Cardigan, 18
  -- Eton, 169
  -- smoking, suggests relaxation, 340

  Jackets, rainproof, for cows, 300
  -- white, of Guards, 243
  -- -- -- Highland corps, 243

  Japan, use of paint by women in, 275

  Japanese actors paint the face, 273
  -- children, painting the face of, 273
  -- women, teeth blackened by, on marriage, 273

  Java, earliest man in, 7. See Frontispiece

  Jerome, St., on special dress for worship, 205

  Jesson, Mr. W. H., a performer of Punch and Judy, 262

  Jesus College, Cambridge, choristers' bands, 45, =45=

  Jewesses shave their heads, 127

  Jews, 205
  -- rending their garments, 42
  -- tattooing practised by, 277

  Joan the old name of Judy, 266

  Jockey, livery cap of, 147
  -- parti-coloured dress of, 147, 313

  Johanna, 301

  Judge, girdle of, 217
  -- gown of, 217
  -- sentence cap of, 217
  -- wig of, 132, 216, =216=

  Judith, 267

  Judy, dress of, =263=
  -- apron of, =263=
  -- mob cap of, 262, =263=
  -- once known as Joan, 266
  -- origin of the name, 266


  Kamarband worn by officers, 249

  Kayans of Borneo, clothes of bark worn by, as mourning, 181

  Kefiyeh fastened with a fillet of camel's hair, 53

  Kersey, 351

  Kettledrums, silver, 244

  Kilburn Sisters, 201, 202

  Kilt of sailors, 252
  -- short, 76, =76=

  Kimono brought from Japan, 344

  King's Counsel, dress of, 218
  -- -- gown of, 218
  -- -- white lawn cuffs used as mourning by, 220
  -- footmen, red coats of, 235

  Kirkudbrightshire, pin-ring brooches of blacksmiths in, 125

  Knee-breeches worn when speeches are made at Eton, 170

  Knickerbocker suits, jersey, 165

  Knickerbockers, 80
  -- of blue-coat boys, 167
  -- a recognized feature of children's costume, 163

  Knights of the Garter, 229
  -- -- -- -- chaperon on robes of, 158
  -- -- St. Patrick, 229
  -- -- the Thistle, 229

  Knobs in the East take the place of buttons, 20

  Kohl, 271


  Label to difference arms, 86, =86=, 88

  Labourers' method of buttoning trousers, 252

  Lace, Austrian imperial, worn by Fifteenth Hussars, 244

  Lacedæmonian girls, tunics of, slit down the sides, 346

  Lacerna, 198

  Laces, 100, =101=

  Lacing inside a hat, =55=
  -- of Hussars, 146
  -- tight, banned by Charles IV and Henry III, 326
  -- -- in England, 326
  -- -- made compulsory by Catherine de Medici, 326

  Ladies, armorial bearings on dresses of, 84, =85=
  -- married with flowing tresses, 166
  -- wear pyjamas, 288

  Lady gardeners at Kew wear trousers, 358

  Lake dwellings, pins found in Swiss, 105

  Lamb, Persian, used for making spots on miniver, 222

  Lambs that supply the wool for the pallium, 196
  -- waterproof coats of, 300

  Lancaster, Henry Duke of, crest and surcoat of, 86, =86=

  Lancers, 39

  Lap, boys and girls catching objects in their, 341

  Lawn sleeves of a bishop, 199

  Laws for the good of trade, 348

  Lawyer, head-dress of French, 158

  Leech, caricatures the busbies of the Guards, 247

  Leg bandages, 66, =66=, =67=
  -- -- derived from haybands, 67
  -- -- of pfiferari, 68

  Leggings, survival of the wearing of skins, 70

  Legion of Honour, buttons of, 158

  Leicestershire Regiment, tiger-skin aprons of, 249

  Leopards on Arms of England, 86

  Life Guards, black plumes of farriers of, 242
  -- -- -- tunics of farriers of, 242

  Light Infantry, Duke of Cornwall's puggaree of, 243

  Lindley, Lord, last surviving serjeant-at-law, 217

  Linen, strip of, round head as mourning in Egypt, 182
  -- the showing of, 44

  Lion spotted when young, 94

  Lions on Arms of England, 86

  Liripipe, =156=, 157, =157=, 210, 230
  -- of undergraduates' hoods, 211
  -- peak of hood prolonged to form, 156, =156=

  Lip plugs, 111

  Liveries of the City Companies, 231

  Livery cap, 146
  -- -- of bandsmen of the Household Cavalry, 146
  -- -- -- drum-major of the Foot Guards, 146
  -- -- -- jockeys, 147
  -- -- -- huntsmen, 146
  -- Companies, chaperon, vestige on gowns of, 231
  -- of page-boy, 145, =145=
  -- -- porters, 148

  Locket, 122

  Loom combs, 117, =118=

  Lord Mayor's coachman, wig-bag of, 134, 143, =143=
  -- -- postilion, crest worn upon cap of, 92, =92=

  Lotus flowers symbolical of India, on Edward VII's mantle, 222

  Louis XVI, hair of, gave rise to wigs, 131

  Louterell, Sir Geoffrey, figure showing armorial bearings, 84, =85=

  Lovett, Mr. Edward, on dolls in swaddling clothes, 268
  -- -- -- -- origin of pin-ring brooches, 125
  -- -- -- -- patterns derived from tattooing, 278

  Lyman, Dr., explanation of buttons being differently arranged on
    the clothes of the two sexes, 22


  Macalister, Mr., on fashions, 189
  -- -- -- symbolism of the fringes on dalmatics, 191
  -- -- -- the pallium, 196
  -- -- -- -- surplice, 185
  -- -- -- there being no distinctive garments for the ministers,
    among early Christians, 190

  Macphersons, tartan of the, 312

  Magnin, M., on the origin of Punch's hump, 261

  Mail, chain, vestige of, on shoulder of Imperial Yeoman, 233, =233=
  -- plate, 235

  Malachite used for painting by prehistoric Egyptians, 271

  Man cook, white clothes of, 320
  -- Isle of, triskele in the coat-of-arms of, 119
  -- once hairy, 7. Frontispiece
  -- skin of, originally reddish, 13
  -- primitive, 5

  Manche, 146

  Maniple, 221
  -- once a napkin, 194

  Manning, Mrs., hung in a black satin dress, 353

  Manservant, modern, 143

  Mantle, imperial, 221
  -- of Edward VII, lotus flowers on, 222
  -- -- Queen Victoria, roses on, 222

  Mantles of ladies, collars standing up, 48

  Maoris, tattooing of, 277

  Mare, the last uncut ears of corn, 297

  Marken, women of, floral designs on the bodice, 278

  Market woman, sun-bonnet of, 61

  Marines, Royal, mourning of, 243

  Marionettes, 255

  Marriage by capture, 175

  Marriott, Mr., on the colour of early vestments, 190

  Martingale of horse, amulets on, 294

  Mask, unwritten laws that rule the wearing of, 281

  Masks of the 5th of November a reminder of primitive
    face-painting, 280
  -- worn by savages, 280

  Mason, Mr. Otis T., on pockets, 110

  Masons, aprons of, 232
  -- insignia of, 231

  Master, clothing of, becomes that of servant, 5, 152

  Maud, 20

  Maundy Thursday, 226

  Mayhew, Mr. Henry, on Punch and Judy, 265

  Medical officers, volunteer, wear cocked hats, 247

  Men, colour preferences of, 307

  Merveilleuses, 345, =345=

  Mess jacket of Somersetshire Light Infantry, 242

  Meyer, Dr., on the padding of sleeves above the shoulder to
    prevent weapons from slipping off, 338

  Mice, piebald, 302

  Milk-women, apron of, 150
  -- -- costume of, 110
  -- -- with yokes, 110

  Milton, bands of, 46

  Mimes, Roman, 183, 282, 283

  Mimi, 282

  Miniver, 222
  -- rows of black spots on, indicate rank, 223

  Mitten, open work, 99

  Mittens and tattooing, 99

  Mitre, 221
  -- strings of, 54, =54=

  Mizpah rings, 116

  Mob cap worn by Judy, 262, =263=

  Modesty a habit, 12
  -- different ideas of, in various regions, 12
  -- ideas of, Arab women, 207

  Molière introduces Punch into _Le Malade Imaginaire_, 261

  Monk, General, 246

  Monkeys, clothes of, 301

  Monk, dress of, 201
  -- scapular of, 201
  -- tunic of, 201

  Montbron, Lord of, harlequin's coat worn by, 283

  Montaigne on the sufferings caused by the corps piqué, 325

  Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, and painting, 279

  Montem at Eton, 171

  Moore, Sir John, black worm as mourning for, 242

  Mortar-board, 47, 169, 212, =214=

  Moseley, Professor, on face-painting in China, 273, 274, 275;
    see Plate X, fig. C facing p. 270
  -- -- -- painting the body, 272
  -- -- -- the use of paint by women in Japan, 275

  Mosque-like turban, 50, =50=

  Mourning bands of barristers, 219
  -- black as, 181
  -- black band on arm for, 182
  -- -- worm for Sir John Moore as, 242
  -- clothes of bark worn by Kayans of Borneo as, 181
  -- cuffs worn by the legal profession as part of, 183
  -- dishevelling of hair as, 181
  -- for death of Nelson, 252
  -- -- General Wolfe, black worm as, 242
  -- of Royal Marines, 243
  -- purple as, 182
  -- sackcloth as, 181
  -- strip of linen round head in Egypt as, 182
  -- white as, 182
  -- white lawn cuffs used by King's Counsel as, 220
  -- yellow as, 182

  Moustache, 129

  Mules, cowry shells on trappings of, 297, =299=

  Mutes at children's funerals, 182


  Nail, horseshoe, as part of a pin-ring brooch, 125

  Nakedness, effect of, destroyed by tattooing even in Europeans, 277

  Napkin, 194, 195

  Naval uniforms, 251

  Navvies wear belts, 329

  Neapolitan, the, as an actor, 254

  Neck chains, 113
  -- -- of Richard II's time, 113

  Nelson, mourning for death of, 252

  Neuville, M. Lemercier de, on Punch's stick, 260

  Newcombe, Allan Poe, on hats and habitations, 49

  Nicks in coat lapels, 41, =41=, =42=

  Nightcap of man, 290, =290=
  -- -- woman, 289, =290=

  Nightcaps, elaboration of, restricted in the reign of Mary, 290
  -- of Tudors, 289
  -- still worn, 289

  Night-dresses worn by ladies in the street in Anne's reign, 290

  Nightgown, the bands on a lady's, 288, =289=

  Night rails, 290

  Nightshirt cut like a day shirt, 288

  Noah's Ark figures, long garments of, 268

  Norman chin-band, 201, =203=

  Normans closely shaved their beards, 129
  -- combination garments of, 320
  -- wore trousers, 79

  Northumberland Fusiliers, hackle feathers of, 244
  -- -- wear roses, 245

  Norwegian, dress of the, 319

  Nose rings of Hindu ayahs, 111

  Novice, veil of, 202

  Nuns, 201, 203
  -- aprons of, 202
  -- breast cloth of, 202, =203=
  -- cap of, 202, =203=, 204
  -- collar of, 202
  -- costume of, 198
  -- cross of, 202
  -- frontal of, =203=, 204
  -- hood of, 202, =203=
  -- not allowed to wear gloves, 204
  -- scapular of, 202
  -- veil of, 202, =203=
  -- wear wedding-rings, 204

  Nurse, hospital, uniform of, 150

  Nurses, domestic, imitating hospital nurses' dress, 150


  O'Connor, Dr. Bernard, on bloomers, 361
  -- -- -- -- woman's dress for active exercises, 361

  Officers, commanding, choice of uniform, 242, 243
  -- non-commissioned, stripes on sleeves of, 114

  Opal, supposed powers of the, 124

  Opals, always fashionable, 123
  -- and bad luck, 124

  Openwork mittens, 99
  -- of Roman shoe, 62, =63=
  -- stocking, 69, =69=

  Ophal, 124

  Orange blossom, 180

  Orang-utan, hair of, 6

  Oraria, distribution of, by Aurelian, 192

  Orarium, 191, 195

  Order of the Coif, 216

  Origin of fashions difficult to trace, 354
  -- -- mayoral chains, 113
  -- -- the clock, 68

  Ornament, love of, among simple races, 8

  Ornamentation of modern boots, 62, =63=
  -- -- -- shoes, 62

  Ornaments as currencies, 112
  -- of Stone Age, 112
  -- serve for identification, 10
  -- shells as, 112
  -- why they survive, 111
  -- worn even if there are little clothes, 9; see Plate II,
    facing page 9

  Orphrey, the apparel of the chasuble, 196

  Ostrich feathers, 122

  Oxford University, Chancellor of, hanging sleeve of, 210, =211=
  -- -- undergraduate's gown, 210

  Overcoat, 149


  Pads in hair dressing, 131

  Padding, 338

  Page-boy, buttons of, 144, =145=
  -- -- livery of, 145, =145=

  Pageants, success of, a sign of the craving for colour, 306

  Paint on face of clowns, 269
  -- use of, by women in Japan, 275
  -- -- -- -- -- -- China, 275
  -- -- -- at a corroboree, 272
  -- -- -- in war to terrify, 273

  Painted pasteboard figures burnt at funerals in China, 274

  Painting, 13
  -- by native races, 272
  -- follows the bones of the body, 272
  -- of clowns likened to that once in vogue in China and Japan, 276
  -- -- the body by cave men, 270
  -- practised by civilized men, 280
  -- the body among Andaman Islanders, 276
  -- -- -- Professor Moseley on, 272
  -- -- eyes, practised by the prehistoric Egyptian, 6000 B.C., 271
  -- -- face to hide the ravages of time, 278
  -- -- -- -- heighten its beauty, 278
  -- -- -- deaths due to, 279
  -- -- -- of Japanese children, 273
  -- -- -- -- -- actors, 273
  -- -- feet scarlet by Hindu women, 273

  Palettes, slate, in the form of two birds in prehistoric Egypt, 295
  -- -- of the New Race, 271

  Pall, 197
  -- manufacture of, 196

  Pallium, 195
  -- development of the, 196

  Palmerston's, Lord, broad-toed shoes, 335

  Panache derived from the horn, 117

  Pantaloon, 254, 261, 283, 285
  -- Elizabethan costume of, 269, 285, =285=

  Pantomimes, 269, 282

  Pantomimi, 282

  Papoose, swathing of American Indian, 164

  Paré, Ambrose, on the suffering caused by the corps piqué, 325

  Paris, waistbands, trade in, discarded, 348

  Parliamentary officials, wigs of, 132

  Parti-coloured dress of Athletic clubs, 313
  -- -- -- jockeys, 313

  Patches indicating political views, 279
  -- of Charles I's reign banned by the Puritans, 278
  -- reappear in Charles II's reign, 279

  Pattern, pine, origin of, 311

  Patterns, breeches of chequered, worn by Gauls and early
    inhabitants of England, 311

  Peasant dress, slight survivals in England, 150; Plate VII,
    facing page 150

  Pelisse obtained from Persia, 344

  Pendants, 122

  Pensioners, costumes of, 170

  People, uncivilized, without pockets, 9

  Persian women wear trousers, 81

  Pet animals, collars worn by, 298

  Perthshire, the bare feet of children in, 333

  Petrie, Professor, on Romano-Egyptian portrait models, 132
  -- -- -- buttons in Egypt, 120
  -- -- -- the origin of a supposed shield-shaped ornament, 296

  Petticoat at first not shaped, 73
  -- hooped, 337

  Petticoats, lengthening of, 166
  -- of sailors, 252
  -- -- small boys, 165

  Pfiferari, cross gartering of, 68
  -- leg bandages of, 68

  Phallic worship, 122

  Pig-tail, grease of, 252

  _Pileus quadratus_, 212

  Pillion, 140

  Pin, safety, 101, 118
  -- -- in hat, 104, =104=
  -- -- -- waistband, =103=, 104
  -- -- like an Etruscan brooch, 102, =103=
  -- scarf, 118

  Pinafore, 150

  Pinafores now children's dress, 167

  Pin-money, 105

  Pinner, 150

  Pins, bronze, 105
  -- Egyptian, 105
  -- found in Swiss Lake dwellings, 105
  -- gold, 197
  -- made of thorns, 125
  -- of bone, 105
  -- ornamental, 106
  -- scarf, 106

  _Pithecanthropus erectus_, 7

  Plaid, 20, 187
  -- belted, 72
  -- shepherd's, 312

  Plaids, 311

  Plastron of Hussars, 148

  Plowright, Dr., on the Moorish origin of some horse brasses, 293

  Plugs for lips, 111

  Plumes, black, of farriers of Life Guards, 242
  -- why on left side, 58

  Plush, 149
  -- breeches, 104, =141=

  Pocket flaps, vestiges of, 32, =33=

  Pockets, 109
  -- in the sleeves of a Corean, 110
  -- side, 30
  -- uncivilized people without, 9

  Points, 98
  -- on gloves, =96=, 98

  Policeman's coat, buttons on the back of, 26, =26=
  -- uniform not worn by children, 163

  Polly, Miss, in the Punch and Judy show, now extinct, 265

  Polypus (= the octopus) changing colour, 206

  Porters, livery of, 148
  -- railway, waistcoats of, 148

  Portugal, Queen of, demonstrates the evils of tight-lacing by
    means of radiographs, 325

  Postilions, buttons on jackets of, 38
  -- coats of His Majesty's, 145
  -- of Lord Mayor, crest worn upon cap of, 92, =92=

  Postulant, veil of, 202

  Poupée derived from pupa, 163

  Pouter coat, 141, =141=

  Powder, 149
  -- for hair, 131

  Prayer-book, first, of Edward V, ornaments, rubric of, upheld by
    Act of Uniformity, 199
  -- -- second, of Edward VI, 199
  -- -- vestments prescribed by the, first, of Edward VI, 198

  Prickers on the shoulder-belt of a Hussar, 239, =239=

  Priest, =194=

  Profession indicated by costumes, 316

  Puggaree of Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 243

  Pulicinella, 254
  -- means a hen chicken, 264
  -- Oscan, of 1731, =256=

  Punch, =263=
  -- a Roman mime, 183
  -- and Judy, dress of, 137
  -- -- -- show, beadle of, 147, 262, =264=
  -- -- -- -- doctor of, 263
  -- -- -- -- Hector, the horse, extinct in, 267
  -- -- -- -- Miss Polly, now extinct in, 265
  -- back hump of, 262, =263=
  -- bronze statuette with face and features of, 258, =258=
  -- figures worked by wires, 255
  -- front hump of, 253, 261
  -- gay clothes of, in France and England, 261
  -- in religious plays, 266
  -- introduced into _Le Malade Imaginaire_, by Molière, 261
  -- origin of clothes of, 257
  -- -- --, hump of, 253, 261
  -- ruff of, 262, =263=
  -- stick of, 260
  -- the behaviour of, changes, 264
  -- voice of, 264

  Pupa, Greek name for a baby in swaddling clothes, 163

  Puppet derived from pupa, 163
  -- show of fourteenth century, 259, =259=
  -- shows in China, 259

  Puritans and Quakers, fashions set by, 348

  Purple as mourning, 182

  Puttees, 66, =66=, 328
  -- of Indian Army, 66

  Pyjamas, 128
  -- worn by ladies, 288

  Pym, John, bands of, 46, =46=


  Quakers refused to wear buttons, 119

  Queued hair, 134

  Quiver carried on a baldric, 106


  Ra, 122

  Rats, white, 302

  Rank once indicated by dress, 319
  -- indicated by dress in certain professions, 320
  -- not usually shown by dress, 319

  Ramillies, battle of, 244

  Red cap of liberty, 306
  -- not universal in the British Army, 308
  -- rag of chulos in the bull fight, 306
  -- ribbon of engaged girl, 306
  -- rose of Lancaster, 306
  -- shirt of the followers of Garibaldi, 306
  -- tie of platelayer, 306

  Regimental badges, 245

  Revers buttoned back, 38, =39=

  Reynolds, Mr. P. W., on the survival of a button, 248
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- forage cords, 241

  Rhead, Mr., on the festal dress of Otaheite, 338

  Richard II's time, chaperon of, 157

  Rifle Brigade, busby of, 242
  -- -- cross belt of, 242

  Ring, 195
  -- for nose of Hindu ayahs, 111
  -- in Ireland, bearing clasped hands, 116
  -- of Bishop Agilbert of Paris, 114

  Rings, betrothal of Greeks, 115
  -- -- -- Romans, 115
  -- engagement, 114
  -- Egyptian, of blue pottery of faïence, 116
  -- Episcopal, 114
  -- finger, in Babylon, 114
  -- -- -- Egypt, 114
  -- for ears, 112
  -- gimmal, 115
  -- in which the stones stand for letters, 116
  -- sacred eye on, 117
  -- signet, 83, =85=
  -- -- in Egypt, 114
  -- -- suspended from the neck, 116
  -- used as an insignia of rank by Romans, 115
  -- wedding, 114
  -- -- worn by nuns, 204
  -- why worn on third finger, 115

  Robe, parliamentary, of the King, 222
  -- coronation, eagles on, 222

  Robes of companies, 138
  -- -- a chancellor of a university, 210
  -- -- borough councillors, 138
  -- -- the Barons of the Exchequer, 218
  -- worn on State occasions, 137

  Robinson, Commander, on naval uniforms, 252

  Robley, General, collection of Maori heads, 277

  Rochet, 199, 221

  Roman betrothal rings, 115
  -- d'Alexandre, MS. of, 259

  Romans cut their beards, 129
  -- did not wear trousers, 77
  -- shoes of open work of, 62, =63=
  -- tunic of, 191
  -- use rings as insignia of rank, 115

  Roses on Queen Victoria's mantle, 222
  -- worn by Northumberland Fusiliers, 245
  -- -- -- soldiers on St. George's day, 245

  Roy and Adami, Professors, on the beneficial use of waist belts
    and stays, 332

  Royalty, fashions arising from deformities of, 344

  Rubies always fashionable, 123

  Ruff, Elizabethan, of Toby, 253
  -- of Toby, 263
  -- worn by Punch, 262, =263=

  Ruffles, 227

  Ruffs of Elizabeth's reign, 48, 351

  Russia, boots of bridegrooms removed by brides in, 177


  Sackcloth as mourning, 181

  Safety-pin, 101, =102=, =103=, =104=, 118

  Sailor suit, 162

  Sailors, European, tattooing practised by, 277
  -- kilt of, 252
  -- petticoat breeches of, 252
  -- petticoat of, 252
  -- trousers, method of buttoning, 252

  St. Clement on women covering their heads in church, 205, 207
  -- George, cross of, 158
  -- Gregory the Great, costume of, 188, =188=
  -- John of Jerusalem, dress of Knights of, 321
  -- Lucia, 244
  -- Nicholas, dress of, 137
  -- -- figure of, shows old dress, 267
  -- Patrick, hood of the Order of, 230

  Sapphires always fashionable, 123

  Saragossa, battle of, 243

  Sashes meant to be used as slings, 241
  -- of officers, 249
  -- worn over the left shoulder by sergeants of the Twenty-Ninth
    Foot, 249

  Satchel carried on a baldric, 106

  Savage, the female--a Merveilleuse dress, 346

  Savages, colour preferences of, 307

  Saxons parted or trimmed their beards, 129
  -- wore trousers, 79, =79=

  Scapular of nuns, 202

  Scaramouch, 254, 261
  -- a pantomimist, 286

  Scarf, 191, 199
  -- on ladies' hats, 149
  -- pin, 106, 118

  Scarves, 192

  Sceptre, 221, 304

  School, Blue-coat, 167
  -- Bristol Red-Maids, 168
  -- Wells Grey-Maids, 168

  Schools, Green-coat, 168
  -- Grey-coat, 168

  Scotland, dress of heads of churches in, 200

  Scottish Rifles, chaco of, 241

  Scots Greys, 245
  -- -- take their name from their horses, 303
  -- -- Grenadier, caps of, 244
  -- Guards, 248

  Seal of Solomon, 293

  Serapis, crown of, 117

  Serjeant-at-law, Lord Lindley, last, 217
  -- coif of, 216
  -- robes of, 218
  -- wig of, 215

  Sergeants of Twenty-Ninth Foot wear sashes over their left
    shoulders, 249

  Servant, clothing of master becomes that of, 5, 139

  Servants' dress, 139

  Sex idea, 165

  "Shabbies," 268

  Shamrock, 222

  Shapka, 239

  Shaving carried out with flint knives or pieces of shell, 127
  -- of heads by Egyptians, 128
  -- -- -- -- East End Jewesses, 127
  -- -- the whole head, 127

  Shawl, 16
  -- as a head-dress, 61
  -- the ancestral, 15
  -- used as kilt by Danish chieftain, 72, =73=

  Shells as ornaments, 112
  -- cowry, on trappings of camels, 297, =299=
  -- -- -- -- -- donkeys, 297
  -- -- -- -- -- Hussars, 297, =298=
  -- -- -- -- -- mules, 297, =299=

  Shepherd, plaid of, 312

  Shield, 83
  -- heart-shaped, derived from a double bird, 296
  -- of Black Prince, 87, =89=
  -- -- David, 293

  Shirt front, origin of the, 44
  -- survival of the, as an outer garment, 288

  Shoe made from a flat piece of hide, 65
  -- money in Bulgaria, 177
  -- of raw hide, 64, =64=

  Shoes, broad toed, of Henry VIII's reign, 335
  -- gift of, by bridegroom to bride, 177
  -- high heels of, 335
  -- old, thrown at weddings, 176
  -- ornamentation of modern, 62
  -- part of wages, 177
  -- pieces of old, worn by Eskimos to ensure fruitfulness, 178
  -- removed from dead bodies to lay ghosts, 178
  -- with preposterously long toes, 350
  -- thrown over the heads of the O'Neils by the O'Cahans, 177
  -- -- to ensure fruitfulness, 177

  Shoulder knot, use of, 238

  Siamese women wear trousers, 81; see Plate V, facing p. 81

  Sicily, triskele in the coat-of-arms of, 119

  Sign of the "Crooked Billet," 146

  Signs derived from Royal badges, 91

  Silk, forbidden, 351
  -- stockings, 140, =141=

  Simkin, Mr. R., explanation of the flash, 133

  Sisters, lay, 204
  -- Kilburn, 201, 202
  -- of Mercy, 201

  Skeleton dress, Dutch, 145, =145=

  "Sketch, The," on cockades, 158

  Skirt, long, dangerous nowadays, 358
  -- -- disseminates germs, 358

  Skirts, short, a recognized feature of children's costume, 163
  -- simple, of a Danish chieftainess, 73
  -- of lady gardeners damaged the plants, 358

  Skull on head-dress of Hussars, 146

  Skulls, bone inserted into prehistoric, 336

  Sleeves, costume dated by, 210
  -- detachable, of nuns, 202
  -- hanging, 209, =209=
  -- hanging, of a chancellor of Oxford University, =211=
  -- slashed, prohibited, 350
  -- velvet, of a Proctor, 321

  Sling jacket of the Hussars, =81=, 239

  Smock-frock, 18, =19=

  Socks, 66

  Soldiers, armlets conferred on, 114
  -- boys dressed as, 163
  -- dress previous to the Restoration, 236

  Solicitor of Guards, uniform of, 247
  -- -- -- cocked hat of, 247

  Solomon, seal of, 293

  Somersetshire Light Infantry, cavalry mess jacket of, 242

  Soul remaining in shoes, 178

  Spaniard, dress of the, 318

  Spatterdashes, 70

  Spencer, Herbert, on fashions, 343

  Spire, Siamese head-dress compared with a votive, 50, =51=

  Sporran, =76=, 77

  Spur leathers, 235

  Staff, cross, 195
  -- pastoral, 195

  Star, 158

  Statuette, bronze, of Punch, 258, =258=

  Statute cap of Elizabeth, 168

  Stays, original intention of, 323
  -- Professors Roy and Adami on the beneficial use of, 332
  -- theory that they are derived from swaddling clothes, 332

  Steen, Jan, bands of, 46, =46=

  Stick of camel driver survival of a sceptre, 304

  Sticks, walking, 124

  Stitching carried down the back of gloves, =97=, 98

  Stoat, 222

  Stockings, 66, 195
  -- embroidered, 69, =69=
  -- leather, worn by William Penn, 70
  -- of cloth, 68
  -- open work, 69, =69=
  -- silk, 140, =141=
  -- yellow, of blue-coat boys, 167

  Stocks of leather, 200

  Stole, 193, 221

  Stoles of deacons, 192

  Stone Age, ornaments of, 112

  Stones, precious, fashions in, 123
  -- -- supposed attributes of, 123

  Straps, shoulder, =74=, 75

  Straw wisps on horses, 297

  Streamers of sailor hat, 53, =53=
  -- -- Scotch cap, 53, =54=
  -- on barristers' gowns, 219
  -- -- hats, 52, =52=
  -- -- head-dress of twelfth century, 53, =53=

  Strings, cap, 149
  -- on mitres, 54, =54=

  Stripe on trousers, vestige of a row of buttons, =81=, 82

  Stripes on sleeves of non-commissioned officers, 114

  Stud, 118, =119=

  Suit, sailor, 162

  Sumptuary laws, 349, 350, 351
  -- -- a hindrance to trade, 351
  -- -- usually a failure, 349

  Sun-bonnet of barge women, 61; see Plate VIII, facing p. 150

  Sun-bonnets of horses, 300
  -- -- -- market-garden women, 61

  Surcoat, 83
  -- of Black Prince, 87, 89
  -- -- Henry Duke of Lancaster, 86, =86=

  Surgeons of the Life Guards wear cocked hats, 247

  Superstitions keep up fashions, 349

  Surplice, 185, 195, 199
  -- academical hood worn by clergy on a, 212
  -- Mr. Macalister on the, 185
  -- slit in front in order to go over big wigs, 185

  Survivals of trade costumes (butchers), 308
  -- supposed in naval dress, 252

  Suspenders, 71

  Surtout, 148

  Swaddling clothes still used in the Holy Land, 333
  -- -- theory that stays are derived from, 332
  -- -- swallow-tail coat, evolution of, 33, =34=
  -- tails at Harrow, 170

  Swastika, 119, 122; see Plate VII, fig. F, facing p. 129, 311
  -- the forerunner of the cross, 311

  Sword belt, not worn outside the coat, 26
  -- handle, opening for, in coat, 30
  -- in Court dress, 227
  -- ivory hilted, worn by Eleventh Hussars, 244


  Tab on soldier's coat, =29=, 30
  -- -- side of coat, =31=, 32

  Tabards of heralds, 83

  Tags, metal, 100, =101=
  -- ornamental, 101, =101=
  -- useless on top boots, 66, =66=

  _Tailor and Cutter_, Editor of, on clothes and nationality, 317

  Talismans, wearing of, by ancient Egyptians, 122

  Talith, 205

  Tannin preserves woven material, 18

  Tapir, spotted when young, 94; see Frontispiece

  Tartan, Cameron, 242
  -- wearing of, forbidden, 351

  Tartans, Royal Stuart, 312
  -- of Scotch clans, 312
  -- dyes for, obtained from native plants, 313
  -- clans with several, 312

  Tattooing, 13
  -- and mittens, 99
  -- destroys the effect of nakedness even in Europeans, 277
  -- effect of, produced by open-work stockings and blouses, 70
  -- of the Maoris, 277
  -- practised by early Egyptians, 277
  -- -- -- European sailors, 277
  -- -- -- modern sailors, 277
  -- -- -- Jews, 277
  -- -- -- practised by old inhabitants of this country, 277
  -- scar, as a means of recognition, 276

  Tax on elegant dress, 350

  Teeth blackened by Hindu women, 273
  -- -- -- Japanese women on marriage, 273

  Thistle, hood of the Order of the, 230

  Thistles, 222

  Tie, white at, Eton, 169

  Tierra del Fuegians, 11

  Tights, 70
  -- of acrobats, 286
  -- a survival of Florentine hose, 286
  -- -- knightly orders, 231

  Tippet, 192, 212

  Tippets of Doctors of Divinity, scarlet, 212
  -- for ministers who are not graduates, 199

  Tobit, dog in the Book of, suggested by Toby, 267

  Toby, Elizabethan ruff of, 253
  -- represented in China by a dragon, 267
  -- -- -- France by a cat, 267
  -- ruff of, 263
  -- suggests the dog in the book of Tobit, 267

  Toga, 187
  -- replacement of, 192
  -- when worn, 187

  Toledo, Fourth Council of, 192

  Tonsure, 217
  -- of priests, 127

  Topaz as a detector of poison, 124

  "Toothpick" collar of dress coat, 43, =43=

  Top-coat, 149

  Trades, characteristic dresses of, 320

  Trajan, trousers shown on the column of, 78

  Tramway drivers, buttons on back of the coats of, 30, =31=

  Treble, cockade, large, =152=

  Trencher, 47, 213, =214=

  Triangles, mystic interlaced, 293

  Trimmings of judge's gown, altered in colour by Lord Coleridge, 218

  Triskele in the coat-of-arms of the Isle of Man, 119
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Sicily, 119

  Trousers, bell-bottom, 347
  -- evolution of, 77
  -- method of buttoning bishops', 252
  -- not worn by Romans, 77
  -- of labourers, method of buttoning, 252
  -- -- sailors, method of buttoning, 252
  -- shown on Trajan's column, 78
  -- worn by barbarians, 78, =78=
  -- -- -- lady gardeners at Kew, 358
  -- -- -- Normans, 79
  -- -- -- Saxons, 79, =79=
  -- -- -- women in Siam, 81; see Plate V, facing p. 81
  -- -- -- -- -- Persia, 81
  -- -- in riding dress by ladies, 358

  Trumpeters, State, uniform of, 242

  Trumpington, Sir Richard de, brass of, showing chain mail, 234, =234=

  Trunk hose of clown, 269
  -- -- of Knightly Orders, 231

  Tudor dresses, shown by playing cards, 231
  -- flat cap, 214

  Tunic, 16, 17, =17=, 187
  -- developed from the shawl, 17, =18=

  Tunic, Egyptian, 16
  -- Greek, 16, =17=
  -- of monks, 201
  -- sleeved, 17
  -- survival of the Anglo-Saxon, 288

  Tunica alba, 189

  Tunicle, 195, 221

  Tunics, black, of farriers of Life Guards, 242
  -- of Anglo-Saxons compared with a shirt, 288
  -- -- Lacedæmonian girls slit down the side, 346

  Turban like the dome of a mosque, 50, =50=

  Turquoises always fashionable, 123

  Twenty-Ninth Foot, sergeants of, wear sashes over their left
    shoulders, 249

  Twain, Mark, 341

  Tylor, Dr., on finger-rings, 114
  -- -- -- painting in war time by civilized races, 273
  -- -- -- the tendency to give up savage ornaments, 111


  Underclothes, lack of, 360

  Ulster, 149

  Uniforms, naval, 251
  -- of Hussars, 272
  -- -- Navy, date from 1767, 251
  -- -- sergeant worn by extra drummer, 244
  -- military, regular adoption of, 235
  -- -- solicitor of Guards, 247
  -- service, protectively coloured, 236
  -- gay, only used in times of peace, 236

  Union Jack on King's colours of Coldstream Guards, 246

  Ushabti, models of servants put into Egyptian graves, 268


  Veil of a bride, 175
  -- -- novice, 202
  -- -- nun, 202, =203=
  -- -- postulants, 202

  Vergers, costume of, 218

  Vermiform appendix, 3

  Vestments, adoption of, by English High Church clergy, 192
  -- baptismal, 164
  -- ecclesiastical, 184
  -- of High Church clergy, coloured, adopted by, 305
  -- ornaments of, gradually acquired, 187
  -- prescribed by the first Prayer Book of Edward VI, 198
  -- prohibited by second Prayer Book of Edward VI, 199
  -- of Presbyterian clergy, professional, 185
  -- worn at the celebration of the Eucharist, =194=

  Vestige of a row of buttons, stripe on trousers, =81=, 82
  -- -- the coif from wig of a sergeant-at-law, 216, =217=

  Vestiges, buttons on postilions, 38
  -- of the fillet, 52, =52=
  -- in the animal kingdom, 3

  Vickery, Dr. Alice, on children's dress, 165

  Villiers-en-Couche, battle of, 244

  Voice of Punch, 264

  Vowesses, 183


  Waist, wasp-like, 323

  Wales', Prince of, feathers a hereditary badge, 90

  Waistbands, trade in discarded, in Paris, 348

  Waistbelts, Professors Roy and Adami, on the beneficial use of, 332

  Waistcoat, 148

  Waiter, 144

  Waiters, evening dress of, 144, 151

  Wand of harlequin, 283

  Warp, 16
  -- of hand loom, 117

  Waterloo, battle of, 245

  Watermen, badges of, 91

  Wearing of talismans by ancient Egyptians, 122

  Weddings, superstitions at, 176

  Weights, leaden, used by women to flatten their chests, 338

  Weeds, old meaning of the word, 182
  -- widows, 182

  Weft of hand loom, 117

  Wells, Blue schools at, 168

  Welsh Fusiliers, flash of, 241

  Westminster, coats at, 169

  Whips, fashions in, 303

  Whiskers, effect of bushy, 130

  White as mourning, 182
  -- clothes of butterman, 320
  -- -- -- man cook, 320

  Widows, costume of, 198

  Wig of coachman, 142, =142=
  -- of judge, 215, =216=
  -- -- -- depression in, 215
  -- -- doctor in the Punch and Judy show, =264=

  Wig-bag of Court dress, 227, =229=
  -- remnant of, 133
  -- on liveries of servants, 134, =143=
  -- of Lord Mayor's coachman, 134, 143, =143=

  Wigs, barristers', 132
  -- coachmen's, 132
  -- imitating curly hair, 130
  -- footmen's, 132
  -- judges, 132
  -- legal, 215
  -- of East End Jewesses, 127
  -- -- Egyptians, 128
  -- -- Parliamentary officials, 132
  -- -- Serjeants-at-law, 215
  -- value of, 228

  Wilhelmstahl, battle of, 244

  William Rufus, hanging sleeves of the time of, 209

  Wimple, 175, =203=
  -- of Norman ladies, 202
  -- of the time of the Plantagenets, 202

  Winchester scholars, bands of, 169

  Wolfe, General, black worm worn as mourning for, 242

  Women, Arab, 122
  -- -- ideas of modesty, 207
  -- barge, apron of, 150; see Plate VIII, facing p. 150
  -- colour preferences of, 307
  -- covering their faces, 13, 206
  -- dress of, varies little, 16
  -- in church without hats, 13, 206
  -- -- many places wear trousers, 357
  -- married, not to wear caps, 350
  -- milk, 150
  -- -- yokes of, 110
  -- Padaung, metal collars of, 114; see Plate VI, facing p. 114
  -- rational dress for, 361
  -- riding astride, 359
  -- the first to wear clothes, 12
  -- Welsh and Italian, age rapidly, 329

  Wood, Mr. Walter, on white jackets for soldiers, 243

  Woodville, Mr. Caton, on aiguillettes, 240

  Worm, black, of East Yorkshire regiment, 242
  -- -- mourning for Sir John Moore, 242
  -- -- of North Lancashire regiment, 242
  -- -- of Somersetshire Light Infantry, 242
  -- -- worn as mourning for General Wolfe, 242
  -- slow, third eye in, 3

  Wristbands, 24


  Yellow as mourning, 182
  -- a favourite colour of gipsies, 306
  -- mourning colour in Oriental countries, 307
  -- worn by mediæval Jews, 307

  Yeomen of the Guard, badges of, 224, =224=, 225
  -- -- -- -- dress of, 223
  -- -- -- -- duties of, 225
  -- -- -- -- officers, dress of, 225
  -- -- -- -- -- of, wear the uniform used in the Peninsular War, 225
  -- -- -- -- original uniform of, 225

  Yoke, =109=, 110
  -- of milk woman, 110

  Yoxall, Mr., on wearing of yellow by Jews, 306




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Transcriber's note


Words in italics were surrounded by _underscores_ and in bold by
=signs=.

Anchors for footnote 33 and 34 were added, after careful consideration
where they should have been.

Some illustrations were slightly moved for reader convenience, but
the bold numbers in the index, leading to the original pages, were not
changed.

In the Index, errors in the alphabetical order were not corrected. Also
in the Index, the item "Moseley" seemed to contain a footnote, which
has been removed because it did not refer to anything. The original
said: "see Plate X, fig. C1".

A few punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Also the
following corrections were made, on page

  134 "Fusillers" changed to "Fusiliers" (Fig. 109)
  145 "Sketon" changed to "Skeleton" (Dutch Skeleton Dress)
  213 "carboard" changed to "cardboard" (made of cardboard covered
      with cloth)
  221 "almostly" changed to "almost" (agree almost entirely with those)
  263 "mop" changed to "mob" (Fig 154.), also in the List of
      Illustrations
  278 "Markan" changed to "Marken" (the women of Marken, in Holland,
      may have)
  289 "o" changed to "0" (8s. 0d.)
  309 "deferentiate" changed to "differentiate" (serve to
      differentiate the sisters)
  314 "promegranate" changed to "pomegranate" (the flowers of the
      pomegranate)
  329 "had" changed to "hand" (On the other hand, the fact that)
  369 "Abesses" changed to "Abbesses" (Abbesses, costume of)
  388 "oy" changed to "by" (worn by Punch).

Otherwise the original has been preserved, including inconsistent
spelling and hyphenation.





End of Project Gutenberg's The Heritage of Dress, by Wilfred Mark Webb

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42682 ***