The Art of Tying the Cravat is an art without the knowledge of which all
others are useless.
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It is the very key-stone to polite society; it is the _open sesame_ to
the highest honours both in church and state. Look at any individual
making his _entrée_ into a drawing-room, where there is a circle in the
slightest degree distinguished for taste and elegance. Is it his coat,
his waistcoat, his shirt, his inexpressibles, his silk stocking, or his
shoe, to which the glass of the critic, or the soft eye of beauty, is
principally directed? No! it is none of these. It is the cravat that
instantaneously stamps the character of its wearer. If it be put on
with a _recherché_ air--if its folds be correct, and its set _comme il
faut_--then he may defy fate. Even though his coat should not be of the
last _cut_, and his waistcoat buttoned a whole button too high, still he
will carry everything before him. The man of fashion will own him for
an equal--beauty will smile upon him as a friend--and humbler aspirants
will gaze with fond and respectful admiration on the individual who
has so successfully studied the art of tying the cravat. But behold
the reverse of the picture! Suppose that the unhappy wretch is but an
ignorant pretender to a knowledge of the proper mode of covering that
part of the person which separates the shoulders from the chin--a being
who disgraces his laundress by the most barbarous use of her well-ironed
and folded neckcloths, starched with that degree of nicety, that a
single grain more or less would have made the elasticity too great or
the suppleness too little;--suppose this Yahoo, with a white cravat tied
round his neck like a rope, somewhat after the fashion most in
vogue among the poorer class of divinity students, were to enter a
drawingroom! What man on earth would not turn away from him in disgust?
The very poodle would snap at his heels, and the large tortoise-shell
cat upon the hearth-rug would elevate her back into the form of an arch,
bristle up her tail like a brush, and spit at him with sentiments of
manifest indignation. Ladies would shrink from the contamination of his
approach, and the dearest friend he had in the world would cut him dead
upon the spot. He might, perhaps, be a man of genius; but what is the
value of genius to a person ignorant of the “Art of Tying the Cravat?”
Let us inquire for a moment into the history of the cravat, and the
influence it has always held over society in general. “_L’art de mettre
sa cravate_,” says a French philosopher (Montesquieu, we think), “_est à
l’homme du monde ce que l’art de donner à diner est à l’homme d’etat_.”
It is believed that the Germans have the merit of inventing the cravat,
which was first used in the year 1636, by a regiment of Croats then in
their service. Croat, being pronounced Cro-at, was easily corrupted
into cravat. The Greeks and Romans usually wore their neck free and
uncovered, although in winter they sometimes wrapped a comforter round
their throats, which they called a _focalium_, from _fauces_. Augustus
Cæsar, who was particularly liable to catch cold, continually used a
_focalium_ or _sudarium_. Even now, it is only some of the European
nations who use cravats. Throughout all the east the throat is
invariably kept uncovered, and a white and well-turned neck is looked
upon as a great beauty, being, metaphorically compared to a tower of
ivory. In France, for a long period, the ruff, stiffened and curled in
single or double rows, was the favourite ornament of the neck; but when
Louis XIII. introduced the fashion of wearing the hair in long ringlets
upon the shoulders, the ruff was necessarily abandoned. In 1660, when
a regiment of Croats arrived in France, their singular _tour de cou_
attracted particular attention. It was made of muslin or silk, and the
ends, arranged _en rosette_, hung gracefully on the breast. The cro-at
(now cravat) became the passion; and the throat, which had hitherto
been comparatively free, lost its liberty for ever. Many varieties were
introduced; but a fine starched linen cloth acquired the ascendency over
all other, and retains it to this day. Abuses crept in, however, for the
fancy of the _èlégans_ ran wanton on the subject of pieces of muslin,
stiffeners, collars, and stocks. At one time it was fashionable to wear
such a quantity of bandaging round the neck, that shot has been known
to lodge in it with perfect impunity to the wearer, and few sabre
cuts could find their way through. Stocks are a variety of the cravat
species, which are now very general. Collars were the _avant-couriers_
of stocks, and were sometimes worn by the Egyptians and Greeks, made of
the richest metals, and ornamented with precious stones. Of late years,
a black silk cravat has come into great favour, and with a white or
light-coloured waistcoat especially, it has a manly and agreeable
effect. Bonaparte commonly wore a black silk cravat, and in it he fought
at Lodi, Marengo, and Austerlitz. It is somewhat remarkable, however,
that at Waterloo he wore a white neckcloth, although the day previous he
appeared in his black cravat. Some persons have attempted to introduce
coloured silk cravats, but, much to the honour of this country, the
attempt has failed. A cravat of red silk in particular, can be worn only
by a Manchester tailor.
Such is a very brief abstract of the rise and progress of cravats;
if they are ever destined to lose the place they at present hold in
society, we fervently trust that some Gibbon may appear, to furnish
us with a narrative of their decline and fall. But though all this
knowledge is valuable, it is only preliminary to the great art of tying
the cravat. _Hic labor, hoc opus_. The first tie--the parent of all the
others, the most important, and by far the most deeply interesting--is
the _noeud Gordien_, or Gordian knot. Alexander the Great would have
given half his empire to have understood it;--Brummell was a prouder, a
happier, and a greater man, when he first accomplished it. The mode of
forming this _noeud Gordien_ is the most important problem that can
be offered to the student of the cravat. It is no easy task; and we
seriously advise those, who are not initiated into the mysteries of
this delightful science, to make their first essays on a moderate-sized
block.
We can confidently assure them, that, with tolerable perseverance, they
will be enabled to pursue their studies with pleasure and advantage,
and in a more profitable manner--on themselves. All the practice that is
necessary, need not occupy more time than a couple of hours a day!
After the _noeud Gordien_ come a host of others, all of which ought to
be known for the sake of variety, and that the tie may be made to suit
the occasion on which it is worn. There is the _cravate à l’Orientale_,
when the neckcloth is worn in the shape of a turban, and the ends form
a crescent;--the _cravate à l’Américaine_, which is simple, but not
much to our taste, and the prevailing colours are detestable, being
sea-green, striped blue, or red and white;--the _cravate collier de
cheval_, in which, after making the _noeud Gordien_, the ends are
carried round and fastened behind; a style much admired by ladies’ maids
and milliners, but in our opinion essentially vulgar, unless when used
out of doors;--the _cravate sentimentale_, in which a _rosette_ is
fastened at the top immediately under the chin, and which ought to
be worn only by dapper apprentices, who write “sweet things” on the
Sundays, or by Robert Montgomery, the author of “The Omnipresence of the
Deity”--a young man much puffed by Mr. William Jerdan;--the _cravate à
la Byron_, very free and _dégagée_, but submitted to by the noble poet,
only when accommodating himself to the _bien séances_ of society;--the
_cravate en cascade_, where the linen is brought down over the breast
something like a _jet d’eau_, and is a style in great vogue among valets
and butlers;--the _cravate à la Bergami_, and the _cravate de bal_,
where there is no knot at all, the ends being brought forward,
crossed on the breast, and then fastened to the braces;--the _cravate
mathématique_, grave and severe, where the ends descend obliquely, and
form two acute angles in crossing;--the _cravatte à l’Irelandoise_,
upon the same principle as the preceding, but somewhat more airy;--the
_cravate à la gastronome_, which is a narrow neckcloth, without starch,
fastened very slightly, so that in cases of incipient suffocation it
may be removed at a moment’s notice;--the _cravate de chasse_, or _à la
Diane_, which is worn only on the hunting field, and ought to be deep
green the _cravate en coquille_, the tie of which resembles a shell, and
is very pleasing, though a little finical; the _cravate romantique, à
la fidélité, à la Talma, à l’Italienne, à la Russe_, together with the
_cravate Jesuitique et diplomatique_, are interesting, and may all be
studied to advantage.
In concluding these observations, which are meant to rouse, if possible,
the attention of a slumbering public to a subject, the vast importance
of which the common herd of mankind are too apt to overlook, we cannot
help reflecting with feelings of the most painful kind on the very small
number of persons who are able to tie their cravats in any thing like
a Brummellian or Pe-tershamic style. We call upon our readers, if they
value their necks, to show a greater regard for their cravats. They may
rest assured that a well-tied cravat is better than the most flattering
letter of introduction, or most prepossessing expression of countenance.
An elegant _noeud Gordien_ has been known to secure for its possessor
5,000 L. a-year, and a handsome woman into the bargain. Let it not be
viewed as a light or trifling matter; a cravat, _comme il faut_, is
synonymous with happiness, and they who know the difference between neck
and nothing, will at once perceive that the “march of intellect” means
little more than a due appreciation of the value of the cravat, and as
near an approach as possible to perfection, in the art of tying it.
[EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL.]
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