Pen Picture of the Revolutionary Statesman
Shows Him Garbed Gorgeously
in a Blue Damask Gown.
Our revolutionary heroes were not all plain-garbed farmers. Indeed, not a
few of them were rather dandified--which is not surprising, inasmuch as
men dressed more showily in those times than they dress now.
John Hancock, whose bold signature is so prominent among those of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence, was addicted to rich apparel.
One who saw him in 1782 says that he then had the appearance of advanced
age, though his years were only forty-five.
He had been repeatedly and severely afflicted with gout,
probably owing in part to the custom of drinking punch--a
common practise in high circles in those days. As
recollected at this time, Hancock was nearly six feet in
height and of thin person, stooping a little, and apparently
enfeebled by disease. His manners were very gracious, of the
old style; a dignified complaisance. His face had been very
handsome.
Dress was adapted quite as much to the ornamental as useful.
Gentlemen wore wigs when abroad, and commonly caps when at
home. At this time, about noon, Hancock was dressed in a red
velvet cap, within which was one of fine linen. The latter
was turned up over the lower edge of the velvet one, two or
three inches.
He wore a blue damask gown lined with silk, a white stock, a
white satin embroidered waistcoat, black satin small
clothes, white silk stockings, and red morocco slippers. It
was a general practise in genteel families to have a tankard
of punch made in the morning and placed in a cooler when the
season required it.
At this visit Hancock took from the cooler standing on the
hearth a full tankard, and drank first himself and then
offered it to those present. His equipage was splendid, and
such as is not customary at this day.
His apparel was sumptuously embroidered with gold, silver,
lace, and other decorations fashionable among men of fortune
of that period; and he rode, especially upon public
occasions, with six beautiful bay horses, attended by
servants in livery.
He wore a scarlet coat, with ruffles on the sleeves, which
soon became the prevailing fashion; and it is related of Dr.
Nathan Jacques, the famous pedestrian of West Newbury, that
he passed all the way from West Newbury to Boston in one
day, to procure cloth for a coat like that of John Hancock,
and returned with it under his arm on foot.
Hancock was a rich man. In 1764 his uncle, Thomas Hancock, left him about
eighty thousand pounds and the control of a large mercantile business. His
position as a colonial aristocrat emphasized the importance of his
defection from British allegiance. His patriotic services are well
remembered, but it is true, also, that he was somewhat vain and somewhat
jealous.