DRESS—WEDDINGS
In the Elizabethan age, the poet, satirists, and preachers are so
full of the subject of feminine fashions that it becomes of great
importance. The increase of wealth and the growing power of the middle
class give a greater prominence to women’s dress, while the improvement
in the streets and the roads, the introduction of coaches and the
development of outdoor amusements, theatres, shows, masques, gardens,
and water-parties bring the wives and daughters of London more into the
open.
[Illustration: Farthingale. Lady Runsdon.
From Planché’s _Cyclopædia of Costume_.]
It was a time of great expenditure upon clothes; the fashions were rich
and costly; the custom was to make what we should call an ostentatious
display of wealth. Ben Jonson and the dramatists are full of the
extravagance of City madams. Not only did the ladies wear rich dresses;
they prided themselves upon possessing a great number—as many as they
could afford; in every house there was a room called the Wardrobe, in
which the clothes of the household were hung up and carefully watched
and kept from moth and decay.
At the beginning of her reign the Queen, who set the fashion, wore a
small ruff, with a kerchief about her neck; a kind of coat of black
velvet and ermine fastened at the throat only; with a waistcoat and
kirtle below of white silk or silver embroidered with black; on the
shoulders were humps, and the sleeves were large. Stubbes abuses the
fashion because it is “proper only to a man, yet they blush not to
wear it.” The cap or coif was adorned with strings of pearls. Lawn and
cambric ruffs came in shortly after Elizabeth’s accession. A Flemish
woman named Van der Plasse came over and set up as a starcher of ruffs.
The mere mention of starch made Stubbes furiously angry; the ruff was a
“master devil”; the devil himself invented starch.
[Illustration:
LADY IN THE COURT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, 1559. NOBLE MATRON OF ENGLAND,
1577.
From _Collection of Ancient and Modern Dresses_, 1772.]
The custom of wearing whalebone to imprison the figure down to the hips
also began early in the reign; a long stomacher descended in front, and
from the hips stood out the farthingale, horizontally; a hideous thing
which was perpetuated in the hoop for two hundred years. As for the
gowns they were made, to the indignation of the satirist, “of silk,
of velvet, of grograin, of taffata, and of fine cloth, ten, twenty,
or forty shillings a yard”; they were decorated with lace two fingers
broad, or with velvet edged with lace. The petticoats were also of the
finest stuff, fringed with silk, and in addition, they had a kirtle
also of fine stuff and fringed with lace and silk. It appears therefore
that they had first a gown which was pulled back and showed the kirtle,
which itself was pulled back and disclosed the petticoat.
[Illustration:
ENGLISH LADY OF QUALITY, 1588 ENGLISH NOBLEMAN, 1559
From _Collection of Ancient and Modern Dresses_, 1772.]
Their stockings were made of the finest cloth, yarn, or worsted; silk
stockings were presented to the Queen in her third year; knitted
worsted stockings were introduced from Italy; the stockings of the fine
ladies were “curiously indented in every point with quicks, clocks, and
open seams.” They wore cork shoes made, like the petticoats and kirtle,
of anything that was costly and rare and could be embroidered.
The fashions of wearing the hair were endless. It was curled in
innumerable curls; it was crisped; it was built up over a cushion; it
was laid out over the forehead; it was ornamented with jewels, gold,
wreaths of silver and gold, and kept in place with hairpins; the women
wore over their hair French hoods, hats, and caps; they wore cauls
made of net-wire and cloth of gold and tinsel; they wore “lattice” caps
with horns; and every merchant’s wife or mean gentlewoman indulged in
these extravagant fashions.
“The cappe on hyre heade
Is lyke a sowes mawe;
Such another facion
I thynke never Jewe sawe.
Then fyne geare on the foreheade
After the newe trycke,
Though it coste a crowne or two,
What then? They may not stycke.
If theyr heyr wyl not take colour,
Then must they buy newe,
And laye it out in tussocks;
This thynge is too true,
At each syde a tussocke
As bygge as a ball.
Hyr face faire payned
To make it shine bright
And her bosom all bare,
Hyr mydle braced in
As small as a wande;
And some buy water of qyre
At the paste wyf’s hande.”
As for the merchants’ wives, their dress is described in the following
lines:—
“You wore
Satin on solemn days, a chain of gold,
A velvet hood, rich borders, and sometimes
A dainty miniver cap, a silver pin,
Headed with a pearl worth threepence.”
It was a common practice to entice little children into private places
and unfrequented courts there to cut off their long hair to be made up
into false hair for women. Long and beautiful hair was in great request
by the fashionable dames of the time. Brides especially went to the
altar with flowing locks, the longer the better.
“Come, come, my Lord, untie your folded thoughts,
And let them dangle loose as a bride’s hair.”
In a word, the Elizabethan fine lady was very fine indeed; much more
artificial than her grandmother, and much less beautiful therefore.
She painted her face; she dyed her hair, sometimes changing the colour
from time to time, a practice which explains the different colour
of the hair in Queen Mary’s portraits. She used perfumes copiously;
she carried a large feather fan with a costly handle of silver or
ivory. She also carried a mirror hanging from her girdle with which to
contemplate the thing she loved best—her own face, made up, painted,
and set in the frame of ruff and cap; strings of pearls were round
the cap and a gold chain round the throat. And she frequented, but
secretly, the wise women—there were scores of them in the city—who
knew secrets ineffable—secrets that were like magic; perhaps they
were magic—for the improvement and preservation of the complexion,
the brightness of the eyes, the gloss of the hair, the softness and
smoothness of the arm and the throat, and everything that was open to
the gaze of man. Ben Jonson preserves as in a phonograph the words and
voice of the wise woman.
FOR LADIES’ COMPLEXIONS
“_Wit._ They have
Water of gourds, of radish, the white beans,
Flowers of glass, of thistles, rose-marine,
Raw honey, mustard seed, and bread dough baked,
The crums of bread, goat’s-milk, and whites of eggs,
Camphire, and lily-roots, the fat of swans,
Marrow of veal, white pigeons, and pine-kernals,
The seeds of nettles, purseline, and hare’s-gall:
Lemons, thin-skinn’d——
_Lady E._ How her ladyship has studied
All excellent things!
_Wit._ But ordinary, madam:
No, the true rarities are the alvagada
And argentata of queen Isabella.
_Lady T._ Ay, what are their ingredients, gentle madam?
_Wit._ Your allum scagliola, or pol di pedra:
And zuccarino: turpentine of Abezzo,
Wash’d in nine waters: soda dilevants,
Or your fern ashes: benjamin di gotta:
Grasso di serpe: porceletto marino:
Oils of lentisco: zucche mugia: make
The admirable varnish for the face,
Gives the right lustre: but two drops rubb’d on
With a piece of scarlet, makes a lady of sixty
Look as sixteen. But above all, the water
Of the white hen, of the lady Estifania’s.
_Lady T._ O, ay, that same, good madam, I have heard of:
How is it done?
_Wit._ Madam, you take your hen,
Plume it, and skin it, cleanse it o’ the inwards:
Then chop it bones and all: add to four ounces:
Of carravicins, pipitas, soap of Cyprus,
Make the decoction, strain it: then distil it,
And keep it in your gallipot well gliddered:
Three drops preserves from wrinkles, warts, spots, moles,
Blemish, or sun-burnings: and keeps the skin
In decimo sexto, ever bright and smooth,
As any looking-glass: and indeed is call’d
A ceruse, neither cold or heat, oglio reale:
And mix’d with oil of myrrh and the red gilliflower,
Call’d cataputia, and flowers of rovistico,
Makes the best muta or dye of the whole world.”
The stuffs worn by gentlemen were taffeta; mockado—an inferior velvet;
grogram—a cheaper taffeta; quellio for the ruff; tamin; sendall; and
many others which are now mere words. The poorer women, not to be
outdone more than was necessary, bought the same clothes, made in the
same style, of the fripperer, or broker, who dealt in second-hand
clothes. Now the great danger of buying second-hand clothes was that
you might at the same time buy the plague.
Men were never so affected and so splendid in their dress as in the
sixteenth century. They wore earrings; they wore costly brooches in
their hats; the great nobles wore strings of pearls; they had thumb
rings; they carried jewelled daggers; they carried a case of toothpicks
with them; they carried their own napkins to the taverns; they had a
favourite lock of hair, which they curled and treated tenderly, tying a
rose to it or a bunch of ribbons; they wore their hair and their beards
in fantastic ways, either after the French, Italian, or Spanish manner.
As for the younger men, they played the usual tricks. That is to say,
they tried to make the waist small; they wore “grulled calves”; they
“bleached their hands at midnight, gumming and triding their beards.”
Sleeves were slashed; girdles were hung with mirrors; the head was set
in a ruff; high-heeled shoes raised the stature; men’s cloaks were of
velvet trimmed with lace; buttons, buckles, and clasps were of gold;
the hats were adorned with feathers.
[Illustration: WEALTHY MERCHANT OF LONDON, 1588
From _Collection of Ancient and Modern Dresses_, 1772.]
Tavern life in the time of the Tudors was picturesque and pleasant.
The taverns were frequented not only by gallants and merchants, but
by ladies. Suppers, it is true, were given to bona robas; the viol de
gamba played for companies not always the most respectable; but there
were rooms which the City madams used as a resort for parties of their
own friends; and that without any question of offence.
[Illustration: PAGE BOY, TIME OF EDWARD VI
From _Collection of Ancient and Modern Dresses_, 1772.]
The City Trained Bands were gorgeous in white doublets, with the City
arms before and behind; the men-servants wore gorgeous liveries. Dress
to a certain extent indicated class. Law and Divinity wore black.
Furred gowns and satin sleeves marked the Sheriff or the Alderman. The
plain citizen wore a cloak of brown or chocolate colour; the craftsman
wore a doublet of cloth, or leather, with a leather belt, and in winter
an overcoat down to the knees or the ankles. The following is the
description of a runaway page:—
“One doblet of yelow million fustian, th’one halfe therof buttoned
with peche-colour buttons, and th’other halfe laced downewardes;
one payer of peche-colour hose, laced with smale tawnye lace; a
graye hat with a copper edge rounde aboute it, with a bande p’cell
of the same hatt; a payer of watchet (blue) stockings. Likewise he
hath twoe clokes; th’one of vessey collor, garded with twoe gards
of black clothe and twisted lace of carnacion colour, and lyned
with crymsone bayes; and th’other is a red shipp russet colour,
striped about th’cape, and downe the fore face, twisted with two
rows of twisted lace, russet and gold buttons afore and uppon the
sholdier, being of the clothe itselfe, set with the said twisted
lace, and the buttons of russet silke and golde.”
[Illustration: Sir William Russell. 1590.
From Planché’s _Cyclopœdia of Costume_.]
’Prentices wore a dress very much like that of the Blue Coat Boys,
but with a flat cap. A citizen’s servant wore a blue livery. Knots of
ribbons were tied on the shoes. The women gathered round the conduit
and the bakehouse for gossip. The tradesmen issued their own tokens
which passed current. Girls who served in the shops were taken on
Sundays by their sweethearts to Islington or Pimlico. Shops were
furnished with cudgels for the use of ’prentices in case of a fight.
The cudgels were called by various endearing names, but the favourite
name was a “Plymouth Cloak.” Clothes were washed at the riverside on
wood or a flat stone. The love of fine dress is charged as a fault of
the fair Londoners. Why they should be blamed for desiring what all
men desire, viz. the appearance of bravery and splendour, is hard to
understand. The sumptuary laws which were passed from time to time
appear to have been intended not so much to prevent the gratification
of this instinctive desire as to make different classes proclaim their
rank and station by their dress. A tradesman, in fact, must not appear
as a gentleman; nor a craftsman as a master. In a word, there was a
constant feeling that rank should be indicated by outward apparel, and
that every one should proclaim his station by his garments. Thus the
Act of 1464 ordered
“That none below the dignity of a lord or knight of the garter, or
their wives, should be allowed to wear purple, or any manner of
cloth of gold, velvet or sable furs, under a penalty of 20 marks.
That none below knights, bachelors, mayors, and aldermen, and their
wives, should wear satin or ermine, under a penalty of 10 marks.
That none but such as had possessions to the amount of 40s. per
annum should be permitted to wear fustian, bustian, or scarlet
cloth, and no fur, but black or white lamb, on forfeiture of 40s.
That no yeoman, nor any under that degree, should be allowed to
stuff or bolster their doublets, to wear short cloaks or jackets,
or shoes with pikes passing the length of eleven inches, under a
penalty of 20s.
That no husbandman should use broad cloth at above 11s. a yard, nor
hose above 14d. a pair: nor their wives kerchiefs whereof the price
should exceed 12d. nor girdles harnessed with silver, upon pain of
forfeiting at every default 40d.
And because foreign kerchiefs were brought into the country, and
sold at such extravagant prices, it was ordained that any one
selling lawne, nyfell, umple, or other manner of kerchief whereof
the price should exceed 10s. the seller should forfeit a mark for
every one that he sold above that price.”
[Illustration: COURT OF WARDS AND LIVERIES IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH
From Planché’s _Cyclopædia of Costume_.
The person at the head of the table appears to be Lord Burghley;
on either side of him is a judge, who may have been there as
assessors. The next on the left side is Thomas Seckford, who held
the office of Surveyor from 1580 to 1589. The one opposite may be
Richard Kingsmill, Attorney from 1582 to 1589. The third on the
left side may be George Goring, Receiver-General from 1583 to 1593.
The opposite person with a book open may be William Tooke, Auditor
1551 to 1588. The three persons at the lower end of the table are
clerks. At the left hand side next the end is the Usher with a rod.
In 1578 Marmaduke Servant held this office. Opposite to him on the
other side stands the Messenger, who in 1565 was Leonard Taylor.
This picture was probably made about 1585.]
To those who take the worthy Philip Stubbes quite seriously and
literally, the Elizabethan age will appear more than commonly wicked
and unscrupulous; to those who are ready to make allowance for
the exaggerated indignation of the satirist, the narrowness of the
Puritan, and the real and genuine craving after equity, justice, and
honesty, it will become manifest that the age contained, like every
other age, grave abuses, great injustices, and much small meanness
and trickery. Laws were passed attempting to restrain the tricks of
clothiers, tanners, shoemakers, and “brokers,” _i.e._ pawnbrokers and
marine store-dealers. These laws failed, as all such laws must fail,
because men who wish to cheat will cheat in spite of any laws that may
be passed. In truth there is very little in Stubbes but does not belong
to every town and every age. He laments the pride of the age. So does
every satirist. Especially he laments Pride of Apparel. Take their hats
for instance:—
“Sometimes they use them sharp on the crowne, pearking up like a
spere, or shafte of a steeple, standing a quarter of a yard above
the crowne of their heades; some more, some lesse, as please the
phantasies of their inconstant mindes. Othersome be flat and broad
on the crowne, like the battlementes of a house. An other sort have
round crownes, sometymes with one kinde of bande, sometymes with
an other; now blacke, now white, now russet, now red, now grene,
now yellowe, now this, nowe that, never content with one colour or
fashion two daies to an ende....
And as the fashions bee rare and straunge, so is the stuffe wherof
their hattes be made, divers also; for some are of silke, some
of velvet, some of taffatie, some of sarcenet, some of wooll,
and, whiche is more curious, some of a certaine kind of fine
haire.... And so common a thinge it is, that everie servingman,
countrieman, and other, even all indifferently, do weare of these
hattes. For he is of no account or estimation amongst men, if hee
have not a velvet or a taffatie hatte, and that muste bee pincked
and cunningly carved of the beste fashion. And good profitable
hattes bee these, for the longer you weare them the fewer holes
they haue. Besides this, of late there is a new fashion of wearyng
their hattes sprung up amongst them, which they father upon the
Frenchmen, namely, to weare them without bandes; but how unseemely
(I will not saie how assie) a fashion that is, let the wise judge;
notwithstanding, howe ever it be, if it please them, it shall not
displease me. And an other sort (as phantasticall as the rest) are
content with no kinde of hat without a greate bunche of feathers
of divers and sundrie colours, peakyng on top of their heades, not
unlike (I dare not saie) Cockescombes, but as sternes of pride and
ensigns of vanitie.” (Stubbes, 1836 edition, p. 38.)
[Illustration:
Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford. John Clinch, Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas. 1584. Sir Edward Coke, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench.
1613.
From Planché’s _Cyclopædia of Costume_.]
Marriages took place at an earlier age than is now common, both for
men and for women. An unmarried girl of twenty was regarded as an old
maid. Thus in the _Crowne Garland of Golden Roses_ the maiden laments
her virginity:—
“Twenty winters have I seen,
And as many summers greene,
’Tis long enough to breed despaire
So long a maidenhead to beare;
’Tis a burden of such waight
That I would faine be eas’d of’t straight;
But alasse! I am afraid
I shall live and die a maid.”
The betrothal took place forty days before the wedding:—
“A contract of eternal bond of love,
Confirmed by mutual joinder of your hands,
Attested by the holy close of lips,
Strengthened by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compact
Seal’d in my function, by my testimony.”
To make the betrothal binding there were, therefore, four points to be
observed: (1) The joining of hands; (2) the exchange of kisses; (3) the
exchange of rings; (4) the testimony of witnesses.
After the betrothal, the wedding:—
“The procession accompanying a rural bride, of some consequence,
or of the middle rank, to church was as follows:—The bride, being
attired in a gown of sheep’s russet, and a kirtle of fine worsted,
her hair attired with a ‘billement of gold’ (decorated with long
chains of gold), and her hair as yellow as gold hanging down behind
her, which was curiously combed and plaited, was led to the church
between two sweet boys, with bride laces and rosemary tied about
their silken sleeves. There was carried before her a fair bride-cup
of silver, gilt, filled with hippocras and garnished with a goodly
branch of rosemary, which stands for constancy. The cup was hung
about with silken ribbands of all colours. Musicians followed, then
a group of maidens, some bearing bride-cakes, others garlands of
wheat finely gilded; and thus they passed on to the church.”
The wedding customs were very pretty. The bride, like all unmarried
women, wore a dress which exposed a portion of her bosom—you may
see how far the exposure went by looking at any portrait of Queen
Elizabeth; she wore her hair flowing. Some girls married very early,
even at fifteen, which was considered quite old enough to undertake the
duties of a wife. On the way to and from the church, wheat was thrown
on the head of the bride, just as rice is thrown now, as a symbol of
fruitfulness to follow. The wedding guests wore scarves, gloves, and
favours; cake—the bride-cake—was taken to the Church and distributed
after the ceremony; brooches were also given to the young men and
maidens present. Then the cup of wine was sent round: the “knitting”
cup, or the “contracting” cup; and then, carrying in her hand a piece
of gilt rosemary, the bride led the way home, where, for three days,
festivities, masques, mumming, music, dancing, feasting, and drinking
were carried on. In some of the churches special pews were provided
for newly married couples, who sat in them and listened, while the
preacher discoursed on “The Bride’s Bush” or “The Wedding Garment
Beautified.”
In 1584 the Puritans got in a Bill permitting to marry at all seasons
and on every day of the year. It had been the endeavour of the Bishops
to keep Lent as a season in which there was to be no marrying or giving
in marriage. Meantime, the keeping of Lent remained, if only as an
outward sign of revolt against the Puritans.
When there was a christening it was conducted in the mother’s bedroom.
After the service, the sponsors presented “Postle Spoons”; then, of
course, they sat down to a solid feast, or, at least, a drink—nothing
could be done without a drink; comfits were handed round with the wine,
and it was not unusual for some of the guests to go away royally drunk.
[Illustration: THE CHRISTENING OF PRINCE ARTHUR
From a historical print in the British Museum.]
An example of a marriage feast is that of one Coke, citizen, with the
daughter of Mr. Nicolls, Master of London Bridge. My Lord Mayor and
all the Aldermen, with many ladies and other worshipful men and women,
were present at the wedding. Mr. Bacon, an eminent divine, preached
the wedding sermon. After the discourse the company went home to the
Bridge House to dinner, where was as good cheer as ever was known—Stow
says so, and he knew very well—with all manner of music and dancing,
and at night a masque till midnight. But this was only half the feast,
for next day the wedding was again kept at the Bridge House with great
cheer. After supper more mumming, after that more masques. One was in
cloth of gold, the next consisted of friars, and the third of nuns.
First the friars and the nuns danced separately, one company after the
other, and then they danced together.
At a funeral the mourners first assembled at the house where lay
the coffin. Here the clergyman made a speech on the virtues of the
deceased. On the coffin stood a jug or pot of wine which was passed
round as a loving-cup. Then every one laid branches on the coffin;
money was given to the children; to the mourners ribbons, scarves, and
gloves were distributed; rosemary was laid in the coffin and placed
in the mourners’ hats; as for what followed, we may take the funerals
described by Machyn. First, the Company to which the deceased belonged,
attended in their livery; the Company of Clerks attended the funerals
of the better class and sang over the grave; black gowns were given
to as many poor men and poor women as the condition of the deceased
permitted. When a great citizen died, like Master Husee, “squire and
a grett marchand ventorer and of Muskovia and haberdasher,” he was
followed by a hundred mourners; he had five pennons of arms, and a
“cotte armur,” and “two heralds of arms, Master Clarenshux and Master
Somerset.” He was attended by the Choir of St. Paul’s and by the
Company of Clerks; they buried him at St. Martin’s, Ludgate Hill; the
church was hung with black and with escutcheons of arms; the Reader of
St. Paul’s preached “both days.”
[Illustration: The order and maner of burying in the Fields such as
dyed in prison, and namely, of William Wiseman.]
Master Flammock, grocer, who died in 1560, was apparently a Puritan.
Many gowns were bestowed by his executors; he was taken to the church
without singing or clerks, and was buried with a psalm, “after
Genevay,” and a sermon.
Lady Dobbes, the wife of Sir Richard Dobbes, was buried with a pennon
of armes and four dozen and five escutcheons; many black gowns were
given. “Master Recherdson mad the sermon, and the clarkes syngyng and a
dolle of money of xx nobulles, and a grete dinner after and the compane
of the Skynners in ther leverey.”
Master Hulson, scrivener, was one of the Masters in Bridewell; so the
Masters of Bridewell attended his funeral with green staves in their
hands, and all their children, “and there was great syngyng as ever was
heard.” And when we have added that after most of these notes occur
this passage, “And all dune to the place, fir there was a great dener,”
we have said all that need be said about a civic funeral.
One detail is not mentioned by Machyn. This is the custom observed till
quite recently in Yorkshire, of hanging a garland or wreath of ribbons
in the chancel of a church when a girl died unmarried. This custom had
many forms, one or other of which was certainly observed in London. It
was considered unlucky to carry away a piece of ribbon; if the wreath
dropped to pieces, all the pieces were buried in the churchyard.
Persons of distinction continued to be buried within the walls of the
church.
Some Companies and some parish churches still preserve funeral palls
which have been presented to them at various times for the use of the
members and parishioners. Thus, in May 1848, Mr. William Wansey, Prime
Warden of the Fishmongers’ Company, exhibited a funeral pall of most
beautiful and elaborate workmanship, formed of cloth of gold richly
embroidered.
“This interesting relic has been preserved in the possession of the
Fishmongers’ Company, having doubtless been originally used at the
interments of its more distinguished members. No account of the
acquisition of this fine specimen of decoration, or of the precise
period when it was executed, has been preserved, and the earlier
records of the Company were destroyed in the fire of London; its
date may be attributed to the earlier part of the sixteenth, or
the close of the previous century. The designs which decorate the
head and foot of the pall are precisely similar, and the two sides
likewise correspond exactly in design. On the former is presented
St. Peter, the patron of fishermen, receiving from the Saviour
the keys of heaven and hell; the embroideries on the two sides
represent St. Peter enthroned, crowned with the tiara, with angels
kneeling one on either side, throwing their censers towards him. On
each side of this subject is introduced an escutcheon of the arms
of the Company, with supporters. Nothing can exceed the delicacy
of execution displayed in this remarkable specimen of needle-work:
the countenances are full of expression, and the colours are
generally remarkable for freshness and brilliancy. Another funeral
pall of great beauty is in the possession of the Saddlers’ Company,
and has been accurately represented in Mr. Shaw’s _Dresses and
Decorations_.” (_Archæologia_, xxxi.)