'The Court of Nassau,' a gentleman was indicted for wearing
his Hat in the Court: the Attorney-general moved, in favour
of the defendant, that the indictment was falsely laid; for
in it was expressed, the gentleman had his Hat upon his head;
and the Attorney proved his client not to have a head. Now
if, in London, no persons were to wear Hats but such as have
heads, what would become of the hatters? Yet this we may
safely avow, that a man may shew by his Hat whether he has
a head; or at least by the decorating it, whether his head
is properly furnished. A gold button and loop to a plain Hat
distinguishes a person to be a little lunatic; a gold band
round it shews 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.
"_Second Chapter. Upon Wigs._
"Elaborately have both antients and moderns expressed
themselves concerning the brain, the pineal gland, ideas, and
cogitations, by which the head, or the animal spirits of the
head, properly trammeled, might pace in good order.
"But the only persons who can properly be of benefit to
heads, are periwig-makers, and Doctor Monro, Physician to
Moorfields Hospital.
"Wigs are as essential to every person's head, as lace is to
their clothes; and although understanding may be deficient
in the wearer as well as money, yet people dressed out look
pretty; and very fine gentlemen thus embellished represent
those pots upon Apothecaries' shelves which are much
ornament, but always stand empty.
"Behold a Barber's block unadorned: can we conceive any
higher idea of it, than that of a bruiser just preparing
to set to? Indeed, with a foliage round the temples, it
might serve in an Auction-room for the bust of a Cæsar;
and, provided it was properly worm-eaten, would be bid for
accordingly. But of that hereafter: our business now is to
shew the consequence of Wigs.
"_Imprimis._
"The 'Prentice Minor-bob, or Hair-cap; this is always short
in the neck, to show the stone Stock-buckle, and nicely
stroaked from the face, to discover seven-eighths of the
ears; and every Smart we meet so headed seems, like Tristram
Shandy, to have been skaiting against the wind; and his hair,
by the sharpness of the motion, shorn from his face.
"Next the Citizen's Sunday Buckle, or Bob-major; this is
a first-rate, bearing several tiers of curls, disposed in
upper, middle, and lower order.
"Then the Apothecary's Bush, in which the Hat seems sinking
like a stone into a snow heap.
"The Physical and Chirurgical Ties carry much consequence in
their foretops; and the depending knots fall fore and aft the
shoulders, with _secundum artem_ dignity.
"The Scratch, or the Blood's Skull-covering, is combed over
the forehead, untoupeed, to imitate a head of hair, because
those gentlemen love to have every thing natural about them.
"The Jehu's Jemmy, or White and all white, in little curls,
like a fine fleece on a lamb's back, we should say something
upon, were it not for fear of offending some gentlemen of
great riches, who love to look like coachmen.
"_Third Chapter. Frocks, Coats, Surtouts, and Walking-sticks._
"Every gentleman now, by the length of his skirts, seems
Dutch-waisted, or like a Bridewell-boy, with a garment down
to mid-leg; and they are so much splashed sometimes behind,
that I have, when following in a dirty day one of those very
fashionable frock-wearers, been tempted to call out--'Pray,
dear Sir, pin up your petticoats.'
"Then their cuffs cover entirely their wrists, and only the
edge of the ruffles are to be seen; as if they lived in the
slovenly days of Lycurgus, when every one was ashamed to show
clean linen.
"The Mode-makers of the age have taken an antipathy to the
leg; for by their high-topped Shoes, and long trowser-like
Breeches, with a broad knee-band, like a compress for the
Rotula, a leg in high taste is not longer than a Common
Councilman's tobacco-stopper.
"Fine scarlet shag Frocks were becoming, while no persons
appeared in them but real gentlemen; but since tumblers,
strolling-players, and French figure-dancers, dress
themselves in such martial outsides, it is to be presumed,
every one else will quit this very lasting habiliment,
unless he has a mind to pass for one of those exotics
above-mentioned.
"Blue Manchester velvets, with gold cords, or rich
button-holes, are generally the uniform of bum-bailiffs,
slight-of-hand men, and money-droppers. But plain suits
of those cottons, of grave colours, are the dress of
shop-riders, and country traders.
"Walking-sticks are now almost reduced to an useful size.
"Is it not wonderful we should put forth so many paragraphs
concerning female fantasticalness as we are prone to do, and
never consider that our own heads are but mere Piece-brokers'
shops, full of the remnants of fashion. Do not some of us
strut about with walking-sticks as long as leaping-poles,
as if we were pioneers to the troop of Hickerry-cutters;
or else with a yard of varnished cane, scraped taper, and
bound at one end with wax-thread, and the other tipt with
a neat-turned ivory head, as big as a silver penny, which
switch we hug under our arms so jemmy?--Could our forefathers
be such fools? Like enough, faith; and as we are but twigs of
the same trunks, we scorn to degenerate from our ancestors.
"Surtouts now have four laps on each side, which are called
Dog's-ears; when these pieces are unbuttoned, they flap
backwards and forwards, like so many supernumerary patches,
just tacked on at one end; and the wearer seems to have
been playing many bouts at back-sword, till his Coat is
cut to pieces. When they are buttoned up, they appear like
comb-cases, or pacquets for a penny-postman to sort his
letters in. Very spruce smarts have no buttons nor holes
upon the breast of these their Surtouts, save what are upon
the ears; and their garments only wrap over their breasts,
like a Morning Gown--a proof, that dress may be made too
fashionable to be useful.
"How far several sorts of people dress above themselves, and
'wear the cost of Princes on unworthy shoulders,' is not in
the compass of our plan to examine; but we must beg leave to
observe, that propriety in dress is an indication to a fine
understanding; and those persons are blessed with the nicest
tastes who never sacrifice sense to show, or derogate from
that great rule of right, the Golden Mean."
The Countess Dowager of Effingham was robbed of the Robes which she
wore at the Coronation, and other dresses; and thus described them in
an advertisement: "Coronation Robes with a silver tissue Petticoat,
the gold trimmings to the Petticoat, and the tassels, &c. to the Robe
taken off, and put into papers; a scarlet-flowered damask Mantua
Petticoat, very richly embroidered with silver; an uncut red-flowered
velvet Mantua Petticoat, trimmed with silver flounces of net with
silver tassels; a very rich blue and silver Mantua Petticoat, with a
figured ground; a Mantua Petticoat white and gold, with figured ground;
a white satin Gown and Petticoat; a brown satin Sack richly brocaded
with silver; a new satin Sack and Petticoat, white satin ground
brocaded with yellow; a scarlet unwatered tabby Sack and Petticoat; a
white tissue flowered Sack and Petticoat; a white and silver Sack; a
red satin Fly Petticoat, with a broad silver orrice at the bottom; a
quilted red silk Petticoat; and a blue and gold Turkey silk Sack and
Petticoat."
A person whose name is not mentioned, influenced by the same cause
as the Countess, described clothes as follows: "A brocaded lustring
Sack with a ruby-coloured ground and white tobine stripes trimmed with
_floss_; a _black_ satin Sack flowered with _red_ and _white flowers_
trimmed with _white_ floss; a pink and white striped tobine Sack and
Petticoat trimmed with white floss; and a garnet-coloured lustring
Night-gown, with a tobine stripe of green and white, trimmed with floss
of the same colour, and lined with straw-coloured lustring."
Such were the gawdy fashions of our dames _circa_ 1763. Are we not
improved in our taste, good reader?
The rational change adopted soon after of wearing the natural Hair
instead of Wigs produced the following petition, which is worth
recording, as it marks an æra in an essential turn of public opinion. A
Wig is necessary to him whose hair falls from the head; but that young
persons should shave off their own locks, and adopt those of others,
seems so absurd, that we wonder at the folly of the practice.
"To the KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY.
"The Petition of the Master Peruke-makers of
the Cities of London and Westminster, on behalf
of themselves and the whole of their distressed
Brethren of the Trade in Great Britain,
"Most humbly sheweth,
"That your Petitioners feel the utmost reluctance to prefer
complaints to your Majesty. But the great distresses which
they already labour under, and the expectation and even
certainty of the continual increase of them unless timely
averted, compels them to cast themselves at your Majesty's
feet, and humbly implore your gracious attention to their
sufferings:
"That themselves, and the several manufacturers depending
on them, such as hair-manufacturers, ribbon-weavers,
cawl-makers, &c. do amount to such a number, that they fear
they should not be credited if they were to give a modest
estimate of it; for they conceive the thousands thus employed
are little if at all inferior to what can be boasted by any
one manufactory in your Majesty's dominions:
"That out of this number of your Majesty's most loyal and
dutiful subjects, there is a multitude already actually
reduced to the want of the common necessaries of life; and
that the whole body must seek subsistence in some different
employ, at the risque of perishing miserably by a failure
in the attempt, unless some means can be speedily found to
support their falling trade, fatally wounded by the present
mode of fashion which so generally prevails, of men in almost
all stations wearing their own hair:
"That this mode, pernicious enough in itself to their
trade, is rendered excessively more so by swarms of French
hair-dressers already in these Cities, and daily increasing,
who by artifice more than merit, as your Petitioners humbly
presume, and by that facility with which your Majesty's
British subjects are too much inclined to prefer French
skill and taste in every article of dress (by which the most
considerable manufactories in these kingdoms, as well as
those of your Petitioners, do greatly suffer), find means to
get employment, to the privation of that pittance to your
Majesty's natural subjects which the fashion itself would
still leave in their power to obtain:
"That, by the present fashion, your Petitioners are compelled
to a breach of the command of God and man, and a course of
disobedience to your Majesty's proclamation, wisely intended
for the benefit of all your Majesty's subjects; for the
Lord's day, designed for their instruction and confirmation
in the principles of virtue and piety, is to such of your
Petitioners as can yet find employment, the day, of all
others, on which they are most hurried and confused; and a
refusal to comply with any order from their employers on
that day amounts to a resolution of starving at once. This
is a hardship of so peculiar a nature, that your Petitioners
humbly conceive no considerable body of your Majesty's
subjects labour under it in any manner proportionally as
they do. May they be permitted to say, that they tremble
for themselves and their children, lest by this unavoidable
absence from the sacred duties of that day, and the
misemployment of it entirely to worldly pursuits, they become
as those that knew not God, while their fellow-subjects
are happy in the inestimable privilege of attending and
discharging their religious duties, and imbibing continually
the precepts that teach to bear a conscience void of offence,
to fear God, and honour the King?
"Pressed by the weight of these sufferings; feeling their
trade failing under them; sensible of the impending ruin
of the several manufactories dependent on them, beholding
great and daily increasing numbers of their journeymen
in a starving and despairing condition; beholding also
the subjects of France feeding on the only fragments they
might hope to subsist on; and urged by every consideration
interesting to human nature; your Petitioners have at last
ventured on an application to the only earthly power able
to save them from the torrent which is bearing them down to
destruction. Their hearts prompt them to believe, that to
know and to relieve the distresses of your subjects, is the
same thing with your Majesty; in which sentiment they are
fully confirmed by many Royal Acts since the commencement of
your reign, and by none more than that which rescued the poor
from the scourge of the oppressors, by reducing the price
of provisions. Your Petitioners feel this effect of Royal
paternal care, and gratefully bless the protecting hand.
"Your Petitioners therefore, with submissive hope
and dutiful resignation, leave to your Majesty's
consideration the merits of their Petition; and
whether your Majesty's gracious condescension,
by example and countenance, is not the only
means whereby unimagined numbers can possibly be
saved from the deepest misery; humbly praying
such commiseration and relief in their present
deplorable situation as to your Majesty shall seem
meet. And they shall ever pray, &c.
"The above Petition was presented to his Majesty on Monday
last; to which he was most graciously pleased to return the
following answer: 'That he held nothing dearer to his heart
than the happiness of his people; and that they may be
assured, he should at all times use his endeavours to promote
their real welfare[353:A].'"
The Ladies Head-dress in 1765 is said to have exactly resembled that of
Mary Queen of Scots as represented in her portraits.
Court Mournings were continued for a most unreasonable length of time
previous to 1768, and became very prejudicial to the Manufacturer
and Retailer; but remonstrances from the City of London procured the
ensuing notice, which was inserted in the Gazette:
"His Majesty, in compassion to such manufacturers and people
in trade as by the length of Court Mournings are, in this
time of general scarcity and dearness of provisions, deprived
in a great measure of the means of getting bread, hath been
pleased to give directions for shortening all such mournings
for the future: and the Lord Chamberlain's orders for Court
Mournings will be issued hereafter conformably thereto.
HERTFORD."
The subject of Dress is now nearly exhausted; but I cannot part with
the Follies of thirty years without permitting an observer to speak of
one of them:
"Among the many enormous exuberances of modern dress, I believe there
is one lately sprung up which you may not have noticed. You will
perhaps be surprized when I tell you it is the _Cork-rump_. To explain
this technical term, you are to know that the ladies have thought it
conducive to elegance to make an addition to the hinder-part of their
dress, by sewing several large pieces of cork under the straps of their
stays, in order that, by the protuberance of this new additional rump,
their waist may seem the smaller and the more delicate."
Some of the then and subsequent exuberances shall now be brought to
recollection. And first, the Head--this we have seen covered with
a _Cushion_, as it was termed, generally formed of horse-hair, and
something like a porter's knot set upon the ends; over this the hair
was combed strait, the sides curled, and the back turned up, and the
whole powdered; diminutive Caps of gauze, adorned with ribands, and
miniature Hats, generally of black silk trimmed, were _stuck_ on the
tower of hair with long pins. The Waist was covered by a long-bodied
Gown, drawn exceedingly close over stays laced still closer; the Hips
sometimes supported a Bell Hoop; the Shoulders alternately small Cloaks
and Cardinals, the former of muslin and silk, and the latter almost
always of black silk richly laced.
This description of Female dress altered by _degrees_ to the present
fashion: the Head insensibly lowered; the horse-hair gave place to
large natural curls spread over the face and ears; the Cap enlarged
to an enormous size, and the Bonnet swelled in proportion; Hoops were
entirely discontinued, except at Court; silks became unfashionable,
and printed calicoes and the finest white muslins were substituted,
and still hold their influence. The Ladies have at length, much to
their honour, thrown aside those hateful attempts to supply Nature's
deficiencies or omissions, the false breasts, pads, and bottoms; and
now appear in that native grace and proportion which distinguishes an
English-woman: the Hair, cleansed from all extraneous matter, shines
in beautiful lustre carelessly turned round the head in the manner
adopted by the most eminent Grecian sculptors; and the Form appears
through their snow-white draperies in that fascinating manner which
excludes the least thought of impropriety. Their Hats and Bonnets of
straw, chip, and beaver, are generally well-proportioned and handsome;
and their velvet Pelisses, Shawls, and silk Spencers, are contrived to
improve rather than injure the form.
But in the midst of this praise I must be permitted to make one
observation; and that is, some thoughtless females indulge in the
licence of freedom rather too far, and shew their persons in a manner
offensive to modesty.
The Male dress changed almost insensibly from formality to ease. This
was effected merely by altering the cut of the clothes: the materials
are the same they were an hundred years past; the colours however are
more grave. Deep blue, dark browns, mixtures, and black, are worn
by the sedate and the gay, the young and the old: the former indeed
sometimes appear in Coats _rather large_ for their persons; but they
compensate for this oddity by stretching their Pantaloons almost to
bursting, and wear something _that resembles_ the Waistcoat of a boy
seven years old. The modern Hat is very convenient--a high flat crown
and narrow brim, pressed down before and behind, and turned up at the
sides. Square-toed Shoes have been revived; and half and whole Boots
are, I believe, every thing but slept in. The modern Neckcloth should
not be omitted, especially as it has undergone more ridicule than the
rest of the dress in the aggregate; it is enough to say, the Neckcloth
has been compared _to a towel tied under the chin_.
The Hair was a long time dressed or frizzed high on the head, like
a negro's wool, and perfectly whitened with powder, and alternately
plaited and turned up or queued behind. The Powder-tax occurred, and
thousands of heads became in an instant black and brown; and, as the
Revolution in France _deserved_ imitation, the fierce Republican head
of Brutus stared us full in the front, mounted upon the shoulders of
_Ladies_ and Box-lobby Loungers composed of puppies rather than men.
Since those days of horror Powder again makes its appearance with the
hair cropped close, except above the forehead; there it is turned
erect, in imitation of a--cock's-comb.
And now, Fashion, I bid thee, in perfect good humour, heartily
farewell!
FOOTNOTES:
[323:A] The Bishop of Durham, within his Diocese, has many of the
privileges of a Lay Peer; and Dr. Talbot had then lately succeeded to
that See.
[338:A] See London Chronicle, vol. XI. p. 167, for 1762.
[353:A] London Chronicle, Feb. 14, 1763.
CHAP. IX.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE TRACED FROM ITS ORIGIN TO ITS
PRESENT IMPROVED STATE IN LONDON--LIGHTING AND IMPROVING OF
STREETS--OBSTRUCTIONS IN THEM--ORNAMENTS, &C. &C.
The annual movement of the Sun to the South renders it an indisputable
fact, that the Northern climate of England must have made huts or caves
indispensibly necessary to the inhabitants, at least five months of
each twelve, from the hour that our country was peopled. _Ideas_ are
useless on such a subject; _sensation_ is sufficient; and instinct,
which compels a brute to seek shelter under ground, or in a hollow
tree, from the inclemency of the season, cannot have been so far denied
to the Briton as to lead him to other expedients less calculated to
answer his purpose. I do not hesitate, therefore, to assert that our
Aborigines fortified existence in caverns natural and artificial,
and in huts constructed of branches easily separated from trees, and
covered or thatched with leaves and dried plants; nay, the piling of
flat stones on each other seems an operation so easy and natural, that
I cannot conceive why the art should have been imported; indeed, mortar
is suggested by wet earth or mud dried on river sides by the air;
and who knows but that our mud walls and even mud villages now to be
found in numbers North of London may be the traditionary houses of our
remotest ancestors[359:A]?
After this Island was invaded, the habitations of the various nations
which accomplished the invasions were introduced by imitation, and
copies of Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman houses were doubtlessly
common. The Tesselated Pavements and Baths still discovered belong to
the first; but their form can only be supposed, I should imagine, from
the discoveries at Herculaneum.
The Saxons have left us strong and almost eternal proofs of their skill
in masonry; but I believe there is little or nothing to be found, the
work of their hands, besides Ecclesiastical Buildings and Castles. It
is true, the latter were _habitations_, but for the rich and powerful
alone; the dwellings of the mass of the community were too frail to
reach our days.
The Danes appear to have done little more than plunder and destroy. The
Normans, more politic, imitated the Saxons, and left us Churches and
Castellated Mansions; but still we are without domestic architecture.
All these facts tend to prove, that our Cities, and even London,
consisted almost wholly of wooden or framed houses plastered. Why it
was so, is a problem not easily resolved; for, supposing the antient
Briton ignorant of masonry before the country was invaded, the Romans
immediately introduced the cutting and sculpturing of stone, such
cement as we cannot now equal, and the use of bricks. Perhaps, however,
the uncertain tenure of all property discouraged the Farmer and
Citizen from erecting solid mansions; indeed, they were all soldiers
and vassals, and their houses probably were erected by their various
masters at the least possible expence. This argument may apply to the
time anterior to the Norman invasion; but it will not do after London
increased, and the people were made more independent. When property
became secure, the houses were certainly slight and combustible; and
hence the tremendous fires which have been recorded between the time of
William the Conqueror and 1666.