Everich had on a jolyf coronal
With sixty gems and mo."
[Illustration: FIGURE WITH LONG NET-CAUL.]
This, however, refers to the chaplet or garland commonly worn by the
ladies of the fourteenth century.
"Thenne was I war of a wommon wonderliche clothed,
Purfylet with pelure the ricchest uppon eorthe,
I-crouned with a coroune, the King hath no bettre;
Alle hir fyve fyngres weore frettet with rynges,
Of the preciousest perre, that prince wered evere;
In Red Scarlet her Rod i-rybaunt with gold;
Ther nis no Qweene qweyntore, that quik is alyve."
PIERS PLOWMAN, _Description of Meed_ (Bribery).
[Illustration: _From Fra Angelico, Florence._]
The hair was now wound up on either side of the head, the coils either
worn without any covering or enclosed within a caul; the veil or
curtain being extended at the sides. This marked the commencement of
those horned head-dresses which were speedily developed to such an
extravagant degree, and so excited the wrath of the satirists of the
time.
John de Meun, who completed "The Romaunt of the Rose," observes that
these horns appear to be designed to wound the men, and adds: "I know
not whether they call gibbets or corbels that which sustains their
horns, which they consider so fine, but I venture to say that St.
Elizabeth is not in Paradise for having carried such baubles."
[Illustration: _From Fra Angelico, Florence._]
In a volume entitled "Jougleurs et Trouvères," by M. Jubinal, is a
satire on horned head-dresses, under the title of "Des Cornetes," from
a MS. in the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, of the beginning of the
fourteenth century. In this poem it appears that the Bishop of Paris
had preached a sermon directed against extravagance in women's dress,
their horns and the bareness of their necks. "If we do not get out of
the way of the women we shall be killed; for they carry horns with
which to kill men."
This same sermon is quaintly referred to by the Knight of la
Tour-Landry in his advice to his daughters: "He said that the women
that were so horned were lyche to be horned snails and hertis and
unicornes." "I doute that the develle sitte not betwene her hornes, and
that he make hem bowe doun the hede for ferde of the holy water." Also
the good knight told how there was "onis a gentille woman that come to
a fest so straungely atyred and queintly arraied to haue the lokes of
the pepille, that all that sawe her come ranne towardes her to wonder
lik as on a wilde beaste, for she was atyred with highe longe pynnes
lyke a jebet, and so she was scorned of alle the company, and saide she
bare a galous on her hede."[22]
The preaching in the Middle Ages appears to have been remarkably
effective. Monstrelet, in his Chronicles, relates a story of one Thomas
Conecte, a preaching friar, who attacked the steeple head-dresses with
great zeal and resolution. His eloquence was such that the women flung
down their head-dresses in the middle of his sermon and made a bonfire
of them within sight of the pulpit. He frequently had an audience of
20,000 people, the men ranging themselves on one side of the pulpit and
the women on the other, the latter appearing "like a forest of cedars
with their heads reaching to the clouds."
The impression he created was, however, not a lasting one; as soon as
his back was turned the horns again began to grow: "The women that,
like snails in a fright, had drawn in their horns, shot them out again
as soon as the danger was over."
The horn-shaped head-dress appears in no pictorial documents or
monuments older than the reign of Henry IV. The heart-shaped head-dress
began with a flat pad on the top of the head, with the sides slightly
turned up, enclosed in a silken net, which was often jewelled, the hair
being worn in coils above the ears, at the back, or hanging down, as
the case may be. The sides were then turned up sharply in the shape of
a V, and the head-dress heightened. This was developed in a variety of
ways.
The steeple head-dress varied in its height--from a matter of 18
inches or less, to 3 feet--in its ornamentation and colour; it
was either plain, or decorated with simple bands or ribbons wound
crosswise; it varied, however, chiefly in the veiling. There was a veil
thrown over the whole, and falling over the sides of the face, or, the
veil was attached to the summit of the steeple and allowed either to
hang loose, or was looped at some point at the back. There was also a
veil which was attached to the lower border of the steeple at its point
of contact with the head, and which completely shrouded the head, front
and back; there was also the remarkable arrangement of the veil, which
was built up on a system of wires, and which was called the "hennin."
[Illustration: HEART-SHAPED HEAD-DRESS.]
A variation of the "hennin" was the "butterfly," in which the steeple
which formed the base of the head-dress was reduced to a comparatively
short "caul," and the veil extended itself on either side like the
wings of an insect; this, in a slightly different form, continued to
the Tudor period.
[Illustration: HORNED HEAD-DRESS.]
There was also the "balloon" or turban. This, like the heart-shaped
head-dress, commenced with a flat pad, like a cake, which in its
earlier stage was invariably richly ornamented, offering no particular
variety in its form; when it became round, it developed a second
roll around the forehead, with bands at intervals, which formed its
constructive elements.
Notwithstanding the strictures passed upon these head-dresses by
contemporary moralists or purists and by subsequent writers, who simply
echo their sentiments without bringing any independent judgment to bear
upon the matter, and who often possess no artistic knowledge or even
perception, these head-dresses are often extremely piquant and quaint;
extravagance there was, doubtless, and even ugliness; but even the high
steeple was not out of proportion, as it must be remembered that the
gowns and trains were correspondingly long, thus balancing the high
tapering steeple. As a matter of fact, the whole dress was in keeping,
the high tapering head-dress, the long tapering toes, the close-fitting
sleeves (which, however, were occasionally provided with an outer
hanging sleeve, also long), forming an _ensemble_ which would compare
favourably with the dress of any period.
The Tudor period brought about a complete change in the head-dresses of
both men and women; as a matter of fact, dress generally of this period
assumed a graver character. Horns, hearts, steeples, and butterflies
suddenly disappeared, and the head-dress of the ladies of the Court
assumed that diamond-shaped form with which we are familiar in the
portraits by Holbein, who doubtless materially influenced the costume
of this period. It consisted of a cap and coverchief, and sometimes a
hood, the coverchief being generally allowed to fall down on the right
side. The cap was invariably richly jewelled and embroidered. Good
examples may be seen in the drawing of the Lady Vaux at Windsor and the
portrait of Jane Seymour at Vienna. It was a dignified, restrained, and
exceedingly beautiful head-dress; if any confirmation of this statement
were needed, it is to be found in the remarks of the various lay
writers on costume, who invariably describe it as harsh and ugly.
An excellent example of the beautiful flat cap or bonnet worn generally
during the Tudor period is to be seen in the portrait of William,
Duke of Juliers and Cleves, by Aldegrever (p. 6). The cap, in this
instance, is tilted to one side of the head, instead of being worn flat
on the top; it is jewelled at intervals along the brim, and plumed.
The material is most certainly velvet, which is that most generally
used by the nobility, but, in 1571, with the view of encouraging
English manufactures, it was by Parliament enacted that all persons
above the age of six years, except only the nobility and persons of
degree, should on Sabbaths and holydays wear caps of wool, of English
manufacture. Twenty-six years afterwards this law was repealed.
[Illustration: FRANCIS BACON.
_Engraved by W. Marshall._]
This flat cap appears in a number of portraits by Holbein, worn both
tilted on one side and flat on the top of the head. A cap of this kind
might very well be worn by men at the present day, minus, of course,
the plume and jewels, without appearing startlingly obtrusive. It could
be made in any cloth, and would be a great improvement on the caps
which are at present in use. The extreme refinement, however, of the
Tudor cap is due to the material, to the quality of the workmanship,
and, in the instance of the portrait above-mentioned, to the rich
jewels which adorn it.
Similar shaped headgear has, as a matter of fact, been recently
adopted by girls, but they are for the most part vulgar productions,
indifferently made, and sold cheaply, and afford abundant evidence of
the fact that the milliner possessed no artistic knowledge, or even
taste, and had not taken the trouble, possibly had not considered it
advisable, to refer to fine examples.
The simple flat cap above mentioned was developed in various ways
during the Tudor period, both for men and for women; the brim was
either divided in two or more parts, or it was doubled, slashed, and
puffed in various ways, the puffing being of a different material and
colour to the rest of the hat. For women and for the military, large
plumes of ostrich feathers were added. Many examples of the latter may
be seen in Hans Burgkmair's "Triumphs of Maximilian." In the equestrian
portrait of Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham (p. 23), we get the
pot-hat proper (Elizabethan version), differing very little as to shape
from that at present in use, but plumed, with three ostrich feathers
and three other pointed ones. The horse is similarly plumed. The hat
can scarcely be said to be a thing of beauty, even with the addition
of its ostrich plume, and adds nothing to the decorative beauty of the
plate, but rather detracts from it.
[Illustration: THOMAS KILLEGREW.
_Engraved by William Faithorne._]
The centenary of the modern pot-hat was celebrated in Paris only last
year, and, amid much jubilation, a number of caustic remarks were
made by Madame Sarah Bernhardt and others on the subject of "man's
cylindrical attire."
On looking at the various developments during the century, as
illustrated in a well-known weekly magazine, the contour of the pot-hat
has changed perhaps less than one might suppose. It has not been a
continuous development, but, rather, an oscillation backwards and
forwards. In point of fact, a continuous development was impossible
without taking leave of the pot-hat altogether; one must either
retrace one's steps or start upon a new track, as will be seen by a
reference to the accompanying diagrams, which must be considered, be it
understood, _merely as diagrams_, and not in any sense as representing
the limits of the artist's power of realism.
The scale of decorative development is, like the scale of tones in
music, _absolute_. It is the principle upon which Nature herself works,
and this principle may be as well illustrated by means of the pot-hat
as by anything else, as the principle holds good, and may be applied to
any "demned thing," as Mr. Mantalini would say.
[Illustration: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHIMNEY-POT HAT.]
We have, then, the two primal, elemental forms to work with, the
straight line and the curved. Fig. 1 represents the pot-hat in what
may be called its primordial state, in which state it stands in
the same relation to headgear generally as did Millbank Prison to
architecture; it would not be possible to produce less variety except
by reducing its height and making its shape an exact parallelogram.
In the next figure, by substituting the curved line for the straight
lines of the sides and brim, we get a hint of those delicate and subtle
curves for which the pot-hat is famous. In Fig. 4--not to weary the
gentle reader with a long dissertation, he will at once perceive the
principle--the degree of curvature is carried as far as is consonant
with dignity or propriety; to carry it further would be to border upon
buffoonery; such vagaries could not by any possibility be entertained
in a work of such gravity and seriousness as the present. The same may
be said of development in the direction of _height_. It only remains
to develop the hat by means of reducing the width of its crown at the
top, since the dimension AA is absolute, as the article must
conform itself to the human cranium, which for present purposes is
a fixed quantity. It is at this point that we take an affectionate
and regretful leave of the pot-hat proper. Fig. 5 represents the
high-crowned hat of the reign of James I., and which, in fact, was worn
during the greater part of the Stuart period. "I send you," writes the
King (James I.) to his son, in 1623, "for youre wearing, the three
bretheren that ye knowe full well, but newlie sette, and the mirroure
of Fraunce, the fellow of the Portugall dyamont, quiche I wolde wishe
you to weare alone in your hatte, with a little blakke feather"; and
to Buckingham he says, "As to thee, my sweete gossippe, I send thee a
faire table dyamont, quiche I wolde once have givin thee before if thou
wolde have taken it, and I have hung a faire pearle to it for wearing
on thy hatte or quhaire thou plaisis, and if my Babie will spaire thee
the two long dyamonts in forme of an anker, with the pendant dyamont,
it were fit for an admiral to weare.... If my Babie will not spaire the
anker from his mistresse, he may well lend thee his rounde broocke to
weare, and yett he shall have jewells to weare in his hatte for three
great dayes."
It was customary to wear jewels either in front of the hat or upon the
brim when turned up. Often a single pearl was depended over the edge
of the brim. Such a pearl may be seen in William Rogers's portrait of
Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex (Elizabeth's Essex), the hat, in
this instance, having a broad brim.
[Illustration: ROBERT DEVEREUX, SECOND EARL OF ESSEX.
_Engraved by William Rogers._]
To return to our diagrams. No. 6, a further narrowing of the top of the
crown, represents the quaint extinguisher hats which have been worn
at various periods, and which are still worn by the Welsh peasantry.
"There came up a Lass from a country town,
intending to live in the City,
In a steeple-crown Hat and a Paragon Gown,
who thought herself wondrous pretty;
Her Petticoat serge, her Stockings were green,
her Smock cut out of a sheet, Sir;
And under it all, was seldom yet seen so fair
a young maid for the street, Sir!"
_Roxburghe Ballads, 1685._
By lowering the crown and widening the brim we arrive at the sombrero,
No. 7.
The slouch hat turned up on one side, of the Stuart period, was the
precursor, historically and decoratively, of the three-cornered hat of
the period of the House of Orange. It was afterwards turned up on two
sides, and in this stage decorated with feathers, and finally turned
up at the back, thus forming the three-cornered hat, which lasted for
a century, the feathers disappearing, and the edges trimmed with lace.
Such turning up of the brim was called "cocking" the hat.
The different modes of cocking the hat were almost innumerable--in
fact, according to the fancy of the wearer; there was the "Monmouth
cock," after the unfortunate Duke of that name; the "Ramillie cock,"
which came in at the Battle of Ramillies in 1706; the military cock and
the mercantile cock; and upon the accession of George III. (1760) "a
hat worn upon an average six inches and three-fifths broad in the brim,
and cocked between Quaker and Kevenhuller."
"When Anna ruled, and Kevenhuller fought,
The hat its title from the Hero caught."
_Art of Dressing the Hair, 1770._
From a chapter on hats in the _London Chronicle_ for 1762 we learn
that--"Some wear their hats with the corner that should come over their
foreheads high in the air; these are the Gawkies. Others do not above
half cover their heads, which is, indeed, owing to the shallowness
of their crowns; but, between beaver and eyebrows, expose a blank
forehead, which looks like a sandy road in a surveyor's plan.... A gold
button and loop to a plain hat distinguishes a person to be a little
lunatic; a gold band round it shows the owner to be very dangerously
infected; and if a tassel is added, the patient is incurable. A man
with a hat larger than common represents the fable of the mountain in
labour, and the hats edged round with a gold binding belong to brothers
of the turf."
[Illustration: LETITIA BONAPARTE, MOTHER OF NAPOLEON.]
With the advent of the French Revolution in 1789 the three-cornered
cocked hat disappears, and in 1803 we find a noticeable change in
costume. "The French anticipated this invasion by sending over the most
unsightly fashions that have ever appeared. The most distinguishing
features were the coverings of the head, which consisted, in the one
sex of an enormous military cap, and in the other of a bonnet,
probably of straw, of a very ungraceful form. They are represented in
the accompanying cut, taken from a caricature entitled 'Two of the
Wigginses--Tops and Bottoms of 1803,' published on the 2nd of July in
that year" (Thomas Wright, "Works of Gillray").
[Illustration: ANNE DAY.
_Engraved by James Macardell._]
In 1765 a large hood appeared called calash, made of a framework of
whalebone hoops, resembling the hood of a carriage (_calèche_), and
pulled over the head by means of a string. It is said to have been
introduced into England by the Duchess of Bedford.
[Illustration: "TWO OF THE WIGGINSES--TOPS AND BOTTOMS OF 1803."
_Gillray._]
What shall we say to the page of Parisian head-dresses from _Bell's
Fashionable Magazine_ for April, 1812, three years before the Battle of
Waterloo?
Goldsmith, in a short essay "on the ladies' passion for levelling all
distinction of dress," says: "Foreigners observe that there are no
ladies in the world more beautiful or more ill-dressed than those of
England. Our countrywomen have been compared to those pictures where
the face is the work of a Raphael, but the draperies thrown out by some
empty pretender, destitute of taste, and entirely unacquainted with
design."
[Illustration: PARISIAN HEAD-DRESSES FOR APRIL, 1812.
_Bell's Fashionable Magazine._]
He adds, by way of compensation to the ladies, "If I were a poet I
might observe, on this occasion, that so much beauty, set off with
all the advantages of dress, would be too powerful an antagonist for
the opposite sex; and therefore it was wisely ordered that our ladies
should want taste, lest their admirers should entirely want reason."
It has always been, however, and is still, a stock saying with
foreigners that English women are ill-dressed, but the saying has
little point in it, since the majority of English fashions still come
from abroad. On the comparatively rare occasions when English women
rely upon their own invention, taste, and judgment, they appear better
dressed than the women of any European country. English women under
these circumstances, therefore, if the above statement as to their
personality be true, must necessarily be the most charming creatures in
the world.
Amongst modern head-dresses the Spanish mantilla undoubtedly stands
out in pleasant relief from the general rule of the commonplace
which obtains at present. It is an entirely becoming head-dress, and
reasonable, as is also the habit of Spanish women of carrying fans,
which are usually attached to the waist, and serve also the purpose of
sunshades, being held up to the head on the sunny side of the street.
The action is a most graceful one, and the convenience is obvious.
The panama hat is certainly the most satisfactory male headgear, both
as regards appearance, health, durability, and comfort.
The "bowler" can scarcely be said to be a thing of beauty. It has,
however, been rendered historic by the Right Honourable John Burns,
who has established a precedent by appearing at Buckingham Palace in
this form of head-covering for the purpose of receiving his seals of
office.
To return once again, and finally, to the chimney-pot. Milan has just
recently inaugurated her third International Exposition of Industries,
Commerce, and Art:--
"An amusing sidelight of the Exhibition is the unprecedented stimulus
to the sale of stovepipe hats occasioned by a rigid regulation
excluding every other kind from the inaugural function. Such a rigid
enforcement is quite unknown in Rome itself, where there are said to
be Cabinet Ministers, Senators, and Deputies who are innocent of ever
having donned one. The story is told that several provincial Deputies
who were invited to Milan were so fearful of mishap that they bought
tall hats _for their wives as well as themselves_" (_Vide_ daily paper).
[Illustration: FOOL'S CAP OF LEATHER, GERMAN.
Worn by the court fool of an Elector of Mayence (seventeenth century).
_South Kensington Museum._]
FOOTNOTES:
[21] It would appear to be a corruption of "mad as an atter (adder)".
The word "adder" is _atter_ in Saxon, _natter_ in German. Its origin,
however, is apparently somewhat obscure.
[22] The above story was told to the knight by a lady of his
acquaintance who was an eye-witness of the event. We give here Caxton's
version:--"For her clothyng and araye was different and no thyng lyke
to theyr, and therefore she had wel her part beholdyng and lokyng.
Thenne said the good ladyes to her, 'My frende, telle ye us, yf it
please yow, how ye name that aray that ye have on your heed?' She
answerde and saide, 'The galhows aray.' 'God bless us,' said the good
lady, 'the name of hit is not faire.'... 'As ferre as I me remembre
of it,' continued the knight's informant, 'hit was highe culewed with
longe pynnes of sylver uppon her hede, after the makynge and maner of a
gybet or galhows, right straunge and merveylous to se.'"
IX
THE DRESSING
OF THE HAIR,
MOUSTACHIOS,
AND BEARD
"_Truewit._ A wise lady will keep guard always upon the place, that
she may do things securely. I once followed a rude fellow into a
chamber, where the poor madam, for haste, and troubled, snatched at
her peruke to cover her baldness, and put it on the wrong way.
"_Clerimont._ O prodigy!
"_Truewit._ And the unconscionable knave held her in compliment an
hour with that reversed face, when I still looked when she should
talk from the other side.
"_Clerimont._ Why, thou shouldst have relieved her.
"_Truewit._ No, faith, I let her alone, as we'll let this argument,
if you please, and pass to another."
BEN JONSON, _The Silent Woman_, Act I. sc. 1.
[Illustration: COMB (ITALIAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY).]
IX
THE DRESSING OF THE HAIR, MOUSTACHIOS, AND BEARD
There was nothing new, even in the days of Solomon; wigs, curling
irons, hair powder, and turned-up moustachios being no exception to the
rule.
We have abundant evidence, both from the concurring testimony of
authors and from the actual works which have come down to us, that
heated irons were employed from a very early period for the purpose of
curling the hair and beard. Both with the Assyrians, and the Greeks
of the earlier period, the hair and beard were plaited in a series
of symmetrical curls and ringlets, displaying the utmost degree of
formality in their arrangement.
[Illustration: ASSYRIAN BAS-RELIEF.
_Layard's "Nineveh."_]
The hair and beard of Belshazzar when he "made a great feast to a
thousand of his lords," and received an intimation of an unpleasant
character, conveyed to him in an unusual manner, were certainly curled
in such wise, and probably dyed and powdered, as was the custom, the
powder, however, being gold instead of flour, as in more recent days.
As a matter of fact, gold was employed in various ways as an enrichment
to the hair. The Kings of Egypt had their beards interwoven with gold
thread.