ends; it hangs in loops round our waists; it ties our shirt-sleeves up
in several places; it twists itself round our knees. It is on our hats
and heads, and necks and arms, and legs and shoes, and it peers out of
the tops of our boots. Divines rave, moralists rush into print, to no
purpose. The names seem to convey a sense of luxury: dove-coloured
silk brocade, Rhingrave breeches, white lutestring seamed all over
with scarlet and silver lace, sleeves whipt with a point lace, coat
trimmed and figured with silver twist or satin ribbon; canvas,
camblet, galloon and shamey, vellam buttons and taffety ribbons. The
cannons, those bunches of ribbons round our knees, and the confidents,
those bunches of curls by our ladies' cheeks, do not shake at the
thunderings of Mr. Baxter or other moral gentlemen who regard a
Maypole as a stinking idol. Mr. Hall writes on 'The Loathsomeness of
Long Hair,' Mr. Prynne on 'The Unloveliness of Lovelocks,' and we do
not care a pinch of rappe.
Little moustaches and tiny lip beards grow under careful treatment,
and the ladies wear a solar system in patches on their cheeks.
The ladies soon escaped the bondage of the broad Puritan collars, and
all these had hid was exposed. The sleeves left the arms bare to the
elbow, and, being slit above and joined loosely by ribbons, showed the
arm nearly to the shoulder. The sleeves of these dresses also followed
the masculine fashion of little cuffs and tied-up linen under-sleeves.
The bodices came to a peak in front and were round behind. The skirts
were full, satin being favoured, and when held up showed a satin
petticoat with a long train. The ladies, for a time, indulged in a
peculiar loop of hair on their foreheads, called a 'fore-top,' which
gave rise to another fashion, less common, called a 'taure,' or bull's
head, being an arrangement of hair on the forehead resembling the
close curls of a bull. The loose curls on the forehead were
called 'favorites'; the long locks arranged to hang away from the
face over the ears were called 'heart-breakers'; and the curls close
to the cheek were called 'confidents.' Ladies wore cloaks with baggy
hoods for travelling, and for the Mall the same hats as men, loaded
with feathers.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES II. (1660-1685)
This is the change which came over men's dress on or about October,
1666. It is the new-fashioned vest or body-coat introduced to the
notice of Charles by John Evelyn.]
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Charles II.}]
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Charles II.}]
I am going to leave the change in dress during this reign to the next
chapter, in which you will read how it struck Mr. Pepys. This change
separates the old world of dress from the new; it is the advent of
frocked coats, the ancestor of our frock-coat. It finishes completely
the series of evolutions beginning with the old tunic, running through
the gown stages to the doublet of Elizabethan times, lives in the half
coat, half doublet of Charles I., and ends in the absurd little
jackets of Charles II., who, sartorially, steps from the end of the
Middle Ages into the New Ages, closes the door on a wardrobe of
brilliant eccentricity, and opens a cupboard containing our first
frock-coat.
PEPYS AND CLOTHES
It is not really necessary for me to remind the reader that one of the
best companions in the world, Samuel Pepys, was the son of a tailor.
Possibly--I say possibly because the argument is really absurd--he may
have inherited his great interest in clothes from his father. You see
where the argument leads in the end: that all men to take an interest
in clothes must be born tailors' sons. This is no more true of Adam,
who certainly did interest himself, than it is of myself.
Pepys was educated at St. Paul's School, went to Trinity College,
Cambridge, got drunk there, and took a scholarship. He married when he
was twenty-two a girl of fifteen, the daughter of a Huguenot. He was
born in 1633, three years after the birth of Charles II., of
outrageous but delightful memory, and he commenced his Diary in 1660,
the year in which Charles entered London, ending it in 1669, owing to
his increasing weakness of sight. He was made Secretary to the
Admiralty in 1672, in 1673 he became a member of Parliament, was sent
to the Tower as a Papist in 1679, and released in 1680. In 1684 he
became President of the Royal Society, and he died in 1703, and is
buried in St. Olave's, Crutched Friars.
Pepys mentions, in 1660, his coat with long skirts, fur cap, and
buckles on his shoes. The coat was, doubtless, an old-fashioned
Cromwellian coat with no waist.
Later he goes to see Mr. Calthrop, and wears his white suit with
silver lace, having left off his great skirt-coat. He leaves Mr.
Calthrop to lay up his money and change his shoes and stockings.
He mentions his scarlet waistclothes, presumably a sash, and regards
Mr. John Pickering as an ass because of his feathers and his new suit
made at the Hague. He mentions his linning stockings and wide cannons.
This mention of wide cannons leads me to suppose that at this time any
ornament at the knee would be called cannons, whether it was a part of
the breeches or the stockings, or a separate frill or bunch of ribbons
to put on.
On July 1, still in the same year, comes home his fine camlett cloak
and gold buttons; also a silk suit. Later he buys a jackanapes coat
with silver buttons. Then he and Mr. Pin, the tailor, agree upon a
velvet coat and cap ('the first I ever had'). He buys short black
stockings to wear over silk ones for mourning.
[Illustration: {Two women of the time of Charles II.}]
On October 7 he says that, long cloaks being out of fashion, he must
get a short one. He speaks of a suit made in France for My Lord
costing L200. He mentions ladies' masks.
In 1662 his wife has a pair of peruques of hair and a new-fashioned
petticoat of sancenett with black, broad lace. Smocks are mentioned,
and linen petticoats.
He has a riding-suit with close knees.
His new lace band is so neat that he is resolved they shall be his
great expense. He wears a scallop. In 1663 he has a new black cloth
suit, with white linings under all--as the fashion is--to appear under
the breeches.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES II. (1650-1685)
You will notice her hair in ringlets tied with a ribbon, and dressed
over a frame at the sides.]
The Queen wears a white-laced waistcoat and a crimson short
petticoat. Ladies are wearing hats covered with feathers.
[Illustration: {Three types of wig for men}]
God willing, he will begin next week to wear his three-pound periwig.
He has spent last month (October) L12 on Miss Pepys, and L55 on his
clothes. He has silk tops for his legs and a new shag gown. He has a
close-bodied coat, light-coloured cloth with a gold edge. He sees Lady
Castlemaine in yellow satin with a pinner on.
In 1664 his wife begins to wear light-coloured locks.
In 1665 there is a new fashion for ladies of yellow bird's-eye hood.
There is a fear of the hair of periwigs during the Plague. Even in the
middle of the Plague Pepys ponders on the next fashion.
In 1666 women begin to wear buttoned-up riding-coats, hats and
periwigs.
On October 8 the King says he will set a thrifty fashion in clothes.
At this momentous date in history we must break for a minute from our
friend Pepys, and hear how this came about. Evelyn had given the King
his pamphlet entitled 'Tyrannus, or the Mode.' The King reads the
pamphlet, and is struck with the idea of the Persian coat. A long
pause may be made here, in which the reader may float on a mental
cloud back into the dim ages in the East, and there behold a
transmogrified edition of his own frock-coat gracing the back of some
staid philosopher. Evelyn had also published 'Mundus Muliebris; or,
the Ladies' Dressing-Room Unlocked.'
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Charles II.}]
So, only one month after the Great Fire of London, only a short time
before the Dutch burnt ships in the Medway, only a year after the
Plague, King Charles decides to reform the fashion. By October 13 the
new vests are made, and the King and the Duke of York try them on. On
the fifteenth the King wears his in public, and says he will never
change to another fashion. 'It is,' says Pepys, 'a long cassocke close
to the body, of black cloth and pinked with white silk under it, and a
coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black ribband like a pigeon's
legs.'
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Charles II.}]
The ladies, to make an alteration, are to wear short skirts. Nell
Gwynne had a neat ankle, so I imagine she had a hand in this fashion.
On October 17 the King, seeing Lord St. Alban in an all black suit,
says that the black and white makes them look too much like magpies.
He bespeaks one of all black velvet.
Sir Philip Howard increases in the Eastern fashion, and wears a
nightgown and a turban like a Turk.
On November 2 Pepys buys a vest like the King's.
On November 22 the King of France, Louis XIV., who had declared war
against England earlier in the year, says that he will dress all his
footmen in vests like the King of England. However, fashion is beyond
the power of royal command, and the world soon followed in the matter
of the Persian coat and vest, even to the present day.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Charles II.}]
Next year, 1667, Pepys notes that Lady Newcastle, in her velvet cap
and her hair about her ears, is the talk of the town. She wears a
number of black patches because of the pimples about her mouth, she is
naked-necked (no great peculiarity), and she wears a _just au corps_,
which is a close body-coat.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Charles II.}]
Pepys notices the shepherd at Epsom with his wool-knit stockings of
two colours, mixed. He wears a new camlett cloak. The shoe-strings
have given place to buckles, and children wear long coats.
In 1668 his wife wears a flower tabby suit ('everybody in love with
it'). He is forced to lend the Duke of York his cloak because it
rains. His barber agrees to keep his periwig in order for L1 a year.
He buys a black bombazin suit.
In 1669 his wife wears the new French gown called a sac; he pays 55s.
for his new belt. His wife still wears her old flower tabby gown. So
ends the dress note in the Diary.
JAMES THE SECOND
Reigned four years: 1685-1689.
Born 1633. Married, 1661, Anne Hyde; 1673, Mary of
Modena.
THE MEN AND WOMEN
[Illustration: {Two men of the time of James II.; a type of sleeve}]
In such a short space of time as this reign occupies it is not
possible to show any great difference in the character of the dress,
but there is a tendency, shown over the country at large, to discard
the earlier beribboned fashions, and to take more seriously to the
long coat and waistcoat. There is a tendency, even, to become more
buttoned up--to present what I can only call a frock-coat figure. The
coat became closer to the body, and was braided across the front
in many rows, the ends fringed out and held by buttons. The waistcoat,
with the pockets an arm's length down, was cut the same length as the
coat. Breeches were more frequently cut tighter, and were buttoned up
the side of the leg. The cuffs of the sleeves were wide, and were
turned back well over the wrist.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF JAMES II. (1685-1689)
The body-coat has now become the universal fashion, as have also the
wide knee-breeches. Buckles are used on the shoes instead of
strings.]
[Illustration: {A man of the time of James II.}]
Of course the change was gradual, and more men wore the transitional
coat than the tight one. By the coat in its changing stages I mean
such a coat as this: the short coat of the early Charles II. period
made long, and, following the old lines of cut, correspondingly loose.
The sleeves remained much the same, well over the elbow, showing the
white shirt full and tied with ribbons. The shoe-strings had nearly
died out, giving place to a buckle placed on a strap well over the
instep.
There is a hint of growth in the periwig, and of fewer feathers round
the brim of the hat; indeed, little low hats with broad brims, merely
ornamented with a bunch or so of ribbons, began to become
fashionable.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of James II.}]
Swords were carried in broad baldricks richly ornamented.
The waistclothes of Mr. Pepys would, by now, have grown into broad
sashes, with heavily fringed ends, and would be worn round the outside
coat; for riding, this appears to have been the fashion, together with
small peaked caps, like jockey caps, and high boots.
The ladies of this reign simplified the dress into a gown more tight
to the bust, the sleeves more like the men's, the skirt still very
full, but not quite so long in the train.
Black hoods with or without capes were worn, and wide collars coming
over the shoulders again came into fashion. The pinner, noticed by
Pepys, was often worn.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF JAMES II. (1685-1689)
Notice the broad collar again in use, also the nosegay. The sleeves
are more in the mannish fashion.]
But the most noticeable change occurs in the dress of countryfolk and
ordinary citizens. The men began to drop all forms of doublet, and
take to the long coat, a suit of black grogram below the knees, a
sash, and a walking-stick; for the cold, a short black cloak. In the
country the change would be very noticeable. The country town, the
countryside, was, until a few years back, distinctly Puritanical in
garb; there were Elizabethan doublets on old men, and wide Cromwellian
breeches, patched doubtless, walked the market-place. Hair was worn
short. Now the russet brown clothes take a decided character in the
direction of the Persian coat and knickerbockers closed at the knee.
The good-wife of the farmer knots a loose cloth over her head, and
pops a broad-brimmed man's hat over it. She has the sleeves of her
dress made with turned-back cuffs, like her husband's, ties her shoes
with strings, laces her dress in front, so as to show a
bright-coloured under-bodice, and, as like as not, wears a green
pinner (an apron with bib, which was pinned on to the dress), and
altogether brings herself up to date.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of James II.}]
One might see the farmer's wife riding to market with her eggs in a
basket covered with a corner of her red cloak, and many a red cloak
would she meet on the way to clep with on the times and the fashions.
The green apron was a mark of a Quaker in America, and the Society of
Friends was not by any means sad in colour until late in their
history.
Most notable was the neckcloth in this unhappy reign, which went by
the name of Judge Jeffreys' hempen cravat.
WILLIAM AND MARY
Reigned thirteen years: 1689-1702.
The King born in 1650; the Queen born in 1662; married
in 1677.
THE MEN
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary}]
First and foremost, the wig. Periwig, peruke, campaign wig with
pole-locks or dildos, all the rage, all the thought of the first
gentlemen. Their heads loaded with curl upon curl, long ringlets
hanging over their shoulders and down their backs, some brown, some
covered with meal until their coats looked like millers' coats;
scented hair, almost hiding the loose-tied cravat, 'most agreeably
discoloured with snuff from top to bottom.'
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary; a type of
cuff}]
My fine gentleman walking the street with the square-cut coat open to
show a fine waistcoat, his stick hanging by a ribbon on to his wrist
and rattling on the pavement as it dragged along, his hat carefully
perched on his wig, the crown made wide and high to hold the two wings
of curls, which formed a negligent central parting. His pockets, low
down in his coat, show a lace kerchief half dropping from one of them.
One hand is in a small muff, the other holds a fine silver-gilt box
filled with Vigo snuff. He wears high-heeled shoes, red heeled,
perhaps, and the tongue of his shoe sticks up well above the instep.
Probably he is on his way to the theatre, where he will comb his
periwig in public, and puff away the clouds of powder that come from
it. The fair lady in a side box, who hides her face behind a mask, is
delighted if Sir Beau will bow to her.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM AND MARY (1689-1702)
Strings again in use on the shoes. Cuffs much broader; wigs more
full; skirts wider. Coat left open to show the long waistcoat.]
We are now among most precise people. One must walk here with just
such an air of artificiality as will account one a fellow of high
tone. The more enormous is our wig, the more frequently we take a
pinch of Violet Strasburg or Best Brazil, Orangery, Bergamotte, or
Jassamena, the more shall we be followed by persons anxious to learn
the fashion. We may even draw a little silver bowl from our pocket,
place it on a seat by us, and, in meditative mood, spit therein.
We have gone completely into skirted coats and big flapped waistcoats;
we have adopted the big cuff buttoned back; we have given up
altogether the wide knee-breeches, and wear only breeches not tight to
the leg, but just full enough for comfort.
The hats have altered considerably now; they are cocked up at all
angles, turned off the forehead, turned up one side, turned up all
round; some are fringed with gold or silver lace, others are crowned
with feathers.
We hear of such a number of claret-coloured suits that we must imagine
that colour to be all the rage, and, in contrast to other times not
long gone by, we must stiffen ourselves in buckram-lined skirts.
These powdered Absaloms could change themselves into very fine
fighting creatures, and look twice as sober again when occasion
demanded. They rode about the country in periwigs, certainly, but not
quite so bushy and curled; many of them took to the travelling or
campaign wig with the dildos or pole-locks. These wigs were full over
the ears and at the sides of the forehead, but they were low in the
crown, and the two front ends were twisted into single pipes of hair;
or the pipes of hair at the side were entirely removed, and one single
pipe hung down the back. The custom of thus twisting the hair at the
back, and there holding it with a ribbon, gave rise to the later
pigtail. The periwigs so altered were known as short bobs, the bob
being the fullness of the hair by the cheeks of the wig.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary}]
The cuffs of the coat-sleeve varied to the idea and taste of the owner
of the coat; sometimes the sleeve was widened at the elbow to 18
inches, and the cuffs, turned back to meet the sleeves, were wider
still. Two, three, or even more buttons held the cuff back.
The pockets on the coats were cut vertically and horizontally, and
these also might be buttoned up. Often the coat was held by only two
centre buttons, and the waistcoat flaps were not buttoned at all. The
men's and women's muffs were small, and often tied and slung with
ribbons.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary}]
Plain round riding-coats were worn, fastened by a clasp or a couple of
large buttons.
The habit of tying the neckcloth in a bow with full hanging ends was
dying out, and a more loosely tied cravat was being worn; this was
finished with fine lace ends, and was frequently worn quite long.
[Illustration: {Three men of the time of William and Mary}]
Stockings were pulled over the knee, and were gartered below and
rolled above it.
The ordinary citizen wore a modified edition of these clothes--plain
in cut, full, without half the number of buttons, and without the
tremendous periwig, wearing merely his own hair long.
For convenience in riding, the skirts of the coats were slit up the
back to the waist; this slit could be buttoned up if need be.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary; a shoe}]
Now, let us give the dandy of this time his pipe, and let him go in
peace. Let us watch him stroll down the street, planting his high
heels carefully, to join two companions outside the tobacco shop.
Here, by the great carved wood figure of a smoking Indian with his
kilt of tobacco leaves, he meets his fellows. From the hoop hung by
the door one chooses a pipe, another asks for a quid to chew and a
spittoon, the third calls for a paper of snuff newly rasped. Then they
pull aside the curtains and go into the room behind the shop, where,
seated at a table made of planks upon barrels, they will discuss the
merits of smoking, chewing, and snuffing.
'We three are engaged in one cause,
I snuffs, I smokes, and I chaws.'
THE WOMEN
Let me picture for you a lady of this time in the language of those
learned in dress, and you will see how much it may benefit.
'We see her coming afar off; against the yew hedge her weeds shine for
a moment. We see her figuretto gown well looped and puffed with the
monte-la-haut. Her echelle is beautiful, and her pinner exquisitely
worked. We can see her commode, her top-not, and her fontage, for she
wears no rayonne. A silver pin holds her meurtriers, and the fashion
suits better than did the creve-coeurs. One hand holds her Saxon
green muffetee, under one arm is her chapeau-bras. She is beautiful,
she needs no plumpers, and she regards us kindly with her watchet
eyes.'
A lady of this date would read this and enjoy it, just as a lady of
to-day would understand modern dress language, which is equally
peculiar to the mere man. For example, this one of the Queen of
Spain's hats from her trousseau (curiously enough a trousseau is a
little bundle):
'The hat is a paille d'Italie trimmed with a profusion of pink roses,
accompanied by a pink chiffon ruffle fashioned into masses
bouillonnee arranged at intervals and circled with wreaths of shaded
roses.'
[Illustration: {Two women of the time of William and Mary}]
The modern terms so vaguely used are shocking, and the descriptive
names given to colours by dress-artists are horrible beyond
belief--such as Watteau pink and elephant grey, not to speak of
Sevres-blue cherries.
However, the female mind delights in such jargon and hotch-potch.
Let me be kind enough to translate our William and Mary fashion
language. 'Weeds' is a term still in use in 'widow's weeds,' meaning
the entire dress appearance of a woman. A 'figuretto gown looped and
puffed with the monte-la-haut' is a gown of figured material gathered
into loops over the petticoat and stiffened out with wires
'monte-la-haut.' The 'echelle' is a stomacher laced with ribbons in
rungs like a ladder. Her 'pinner' is her apron. The 'commode' is the
wire frame over which the curls are arranged, piled up in high masses
over the forehead. The 'top-not' is a large bow worn at the top of the
commode; and the 'fontage' or 'tower' is a French arrangement of
alternate layers of lace and ribbon raised one above another about
half a yard high. It was invented in the time of Louis XIV., about
1680, by Mademoiselle Fontage. The 'rayonne' is a cloth hood pinned in
a circle. The 'meurtriers,' or murderers, are those twists in the hair
which tie or unloose the arrangements of curls; and the
'creve-coeurs' are the row of little forehead curls of the previous
reign. A 'muffetee' is a little muff, and a 'chapeau-bras' is a hat
never worn, but made to be carried under the arm by men or women; for
the men hated to disarrange their wigs.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William and Mary}]
'Plumpers' were artificial arrangements for filling out the cheeks,
and 'watchet' eyes are blue eyes.
The ladies have changed a good deal by the middle of this reign: they
have looped up the gown till it makes side-panniers and a bag-like
droop at the back; the under-gown has a long train, and the bodice is
long-waisted. The front of the bodice is laced open, and shows either
an arrangement of ribbon and lace or a piece of the material of the
under-gown.
[Illustration: {Two hair arrangements and necklines for women}]
Black pinners in silk with a deep frill are worn as well as the white
lace and linen ones.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William and Mary}]
The ladies wear short black capes of this stuff with a deep frill.
Sometimes, instead of the fontage, a lady wears a lace shawl over her
head and shoulders, or a sort of lace cap bedizened with coloured
ribbons.
Her sleeves are like a man's, except that they come to the elbow only,
showing a white under-sleeve of lace gathered into a deep frill of
lace just below the elbow.