placed in liquid that contains poison. To the amethyst was attributed
the power of warding off the effects of drunkenness. The diamond, it
was believed, gave to the wearers magnanimity, virtue, and courage. The
ancients supposed that the opal shared the charm of every stone of
which it reflected the colour, but when it was stolen, the thief became
invisible, and was allowed to escape scot free. Mr. Claremont[13] has
made an interesting suggestion as to the reason why the opal has been
considered unlucky. The notion, he says, is not nearly so ancient as
many of the superstitions relating to other stones, and probably does
not date further back than the Middle Ages. The old name "ophal" was
used as late as the time of Queen Elizabeth, and came from the Greek for
"eye"-stone, and as eyes are unlucky even in peacocks' feathers, perhaps
the explanation of the superstition lies in the name of the stone.
Such walking-sticks as those garnished with "sylver" and "golde," which
are described as being at the Royal Palace at Greenwich in the reign of
Henry VIII, may well be considered as ornaments. The same may be said of
the be-ribboned canes of the exquisites of Charles II's and later times.
We mention them because, within the last two or three years, there
has been a talk of seeing "the nice conduct of a clouded cane" more
generally considered, and some men have appeared at the theatre with
long, gold-knobbed and tasselled canes.
The buckle, which may be ornamental or useful, or both, is well worthy
of our attention. It consists in its simple form of a ring and a pin,
and the latter is hinged on to the former. It is, in fact, much like
a brooch, but without a hasp, and used in a different way. There are
brooches, however, at the present day, which are even simpler in
construction than the buckle, and they are used[14] even now by
blacksmiths in Kirkudbrightshire, in the form of the iron ring and a
horseshoe nail, with which they fasten their aprons. Similar pin-ring
brooches were used in Ireland until quite recently and are known from
early times. Mr. Edward Lovett[15] thinks that such a fastening may well
have been derived from two bones of the sheep or deer, the garment being
pulled through the ring formed by half the hip girdle, and speared
through with the pointed heel bone.
A still more primitive pin was no doubt a thorn, and fish-hooks are to
this day used on the coasts of Essex, which are made from the same
natural object.
XIII
HAIR DRESSING
HEAD SHAVING--WIGS THAT ARE STILL WORN--ROMAN CURLS AND FRINGES
The styles in which hair is dressed are so intimately connected
with fashions in costume that no excuse is needed for dealing with
the question here. Moreover, there are certain vestiges in costume
occasionally to be met with which owe their origin to the way in which
hair was once arranged. Hair can be treated in all sorts of manners
without injuring the person in any way, and usually without causing
pain, though some fashions in hair arrangement had results that were far
from pleasant, and must have caused considerable discomfort.
In addition to the styles in which hair is allowed to grow, there are
others which lead to its removal from one or more of the places which it
normally covers, and almost every change that could be rung is met with.
In addition to the hair on the head, women have only their eyebrows
and eyelashes to consider, though it is the fashion to remove any
"superfluous" hair from their faces and arms. Men have also to consider
moustaches, whiskers, and beard. Nowadays it is decreed that women's
hair should be long and that men's should be short; but even now men
with long hair do not necessarily look effeminate, as is shown by the
cowboys from the Wild West who have taken part in various exhibitions in
this country, and whose hair reaches on to their shoulders. The shaving
of the whole head is carried out by many savage nations, and this is
perhaps surprising, seeing that the process cannot but be laborious and
even painful when carried out with flint knives or pieces of shell. The
Chinese leave the hair that grows from one small spot in order to make
their pigtail.
In this country it might be thought that the tonsure of priests was the
only remnant of shaving the head; but we need go no farther than the
East End of London to find Jewesses who upon marriage shave their head
and put on wigs. It appears that the custom is still universal in the
remote villages of Russia, where every Jewess on her marriage shaves her
head. The wig that is worn is of a very plain pattern, and the hair of
which it is composed is parted down the middle. The object which seems
to underlie the custom is the destruction of the charm of the women when
once they have found husbands. In London the younger women do not seem
to be keeping up the practice, and it is mostly in the case of those who
are over forty years of age that shaved heads and wigs are to be found.
There may be, however, another explanation. In many countries where
great value was attached to a profuse head of hair a variety of
superstitions arose, and emblematic observances were followed with
regard to it. Parents dedicated the hair of their infants to gods, as
did young women theirs at their marriage, warriors after a successful
campaign, and sailors after deliverance from a storm. The Egyptians of
all classes, as well as their slaves, shaved their heads and wore wigs.
By this habit they ensured greater cleanliness, and the structure of the
wig not only allowed the heat from the head to escape, but protected the
latter effectively from the sun.
It does not happen that both sexes always follow the practice of shaving
their heads, for, contrary to what prevails amongst civilized nations,
Fijian women are usually closely cropped, while the men spend much time
and attention on cultivating and elaborately arranging a luxuriant mass
of hair.
The tendency nowadays is to cultivate eyebrows and eyelashes, but if we
go back in our history to the reign of Richard II we find that it was
thought necessary to pull out the eyebrows, and at the present day in
some parts of Africa it is one of the requirements of female beauty to
eradicate the eyebrows. Special pinchers for this purpose are to be
found among the appliances of the native toilet. A man may of course
remove all the hair, speaking in the ordinary way, from his face, or
he may retain only his moustache or his whiskers or his beard, or a
combination of any two of these. At the present day we meet with all
sorts of styles, though one may be the fashion for the moment among the
younger generation or those who wish to be considered smart. One cannot
alter the disposition of one's hair as easily as one can change one's
clothes, and this, perhaps, taken in conjunction with the objection to
change on the part of a man and his relatives, gives the variety that
has been mentioned. For instance, if it were customary when a man was
young for his fellows to wear beards or only a moustache, then he
continues to wear a beard or only a moustache.
Perhaps no other fashions come round again more regularly than those
which govern the amount of hair on a man's face, and it may be
interesting to indicate very briefly some of the changes which have
taken place during the last two thousand years or so in this country.
[Illustration: FIG. A. FIG. B.
FIG. C. FIG. D.
FIG. E. FIG. F.
METHODS OF HAIRDRESSING ILLUSTRATED BY ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PORTRAIT MODELS
IN THE MYERS COLLECTION, ETON COLLEGE MUSEUM.
(_Photographs by Wilfred Mark Webb_.)
(_See pages 129 and 133._)
_PLATE VII._]
The inhabitants of England at the time of the Roman invasion either did
not shave at all or wore only a moustache. The Romans often cut their
beards (see Plate VII, Figure F.), and the Saxons parted their beards
into double locks or neatly trimmed them. When the Normans came into
this country they were closely shaved, but afterwards they went to the
opposite extreme.
In the fourteenth century old men wore beards and the younger generation
shaved. Edward III had a long beard, Edward II two small tufts on his
chin, and in Edward IV's time the beard was closely shaven. Afterwards
we find that a tax was put on beards, and once more, in Elizabeth's and
the following reigns, we have a number of extraordinary fashions in
connection with the hair on the chin. When we get to 1798, among the
upper classes beards were again no longer worn, and there have been
several changes since that time.
Apart from the prevailing fashion, there is, under the conditions which
we have seen to govern the matter, considerable scope for the indulgence
of individual taste, and often an effect is produced which is much
more striking than otherwise would be the case. A man may choose, for
instance, to grow a large pair of bushy whiskers, and he may thereby
give character and importance to his face, which without them would be
very insignificant. Curly hair is effective and has its advantages,
therefore we find that it is carefully imitated both in the case of real
hair and of wigs. The effect is now usually produced artificially only
in connection with ladies' hair. When dealing with this branch of the
subject, once more we might allude to the monstrous toilets which have
been built up in defiance of all laws of proportion and, we might add,
of comfort and cleanliness also.
To utilize the hair from the heads of others is an ancient practice
still to be met with, and all sorts of means for making the most of
one's own hair in the shape of pads and so on are still adopted.
When speaking of footmen, we shall find that those who dress in the
costume that was in fashion when hair powder was in vogue still wear it,
and the custom has been traced to the days of Rome, when gold dust was
put upon the head. It has been suggested that our Saxon forerunners used
coloured hair powder or else dyed their hair, but the evidence comes
from Saxon drawings in which the hair is often painted blue, and this
may be due merely to the caprice of the artist. It is well to be wary
also in studying the colour of clothes at early periods, by looking at
pictures, to remember that the illuminators may have followed their own
fancy, and made garments of such colours as fitted in with their own
ideas of ornament.
Though the use of wigs is extremely ancient, the origin, which is
customarily ascribed to the peruke, is interesting. Many curious
fashions have arisen through royal peculiarities or temporary
indispositions, the courtiers having imitated their royal master or
mistress, out of compliment. Louis XIV had, when a child, remarkably
beautiful hair, which fell in curls on to his shoulders, and to imitate
this, his courtiers put on false hair, while later in life the king
himself adopted the fashion which they had set.
The obvious use of artificial additions to the hair has now been
discontinued for very many years except in a few cases. Judges and
barristers with a few Parliamentary and other officials still wear wigs,
as do also certain coachmen and footmen, but these we shall consider
elsewhere.
It will prove of no small interest after recalling the various modes
of doing the hair which ladies have adopted during the last twenty or
thirty years, to compare them with the fashions in Egypt in Roman times
about two hundred years before the Christian era.
The reason why we can do this so well is that the Romano-Egyptians put
on the top of their coffins a model of the head of the person who was
buried in it. Professor Flinders Petrie has shown that the effigies were
really portraits, and even a glance at some of them would go far to
prove the statement. Professor Petrie made composite photographs of the
face on the outside of the coffin and of the skull within, and both in
the profile as well as in the full-face pictures it was seen that the
plaster model clothed the skull, as it were, with flesh.
To return to the question of hair dressing, if one examines Plate VII
we shall see first of all a lady with corkscrew curls, which were more
prevalent in the last century than they are now, though they have not
yet died out. Then we have a lady with a very elaborate fringe, another
who allows her hair to fall in waves on her forehead, and it forms a
chignon at the back. Lastly (Plate VII, Figure B) a little girl with a
small bun on the top of her head. Another specimen, not figured here,
and also contained in the celebrated Myers Collection, shows the bun
exactly as it was worn at the end of the last century.
We have included two heads (Plate VII, Figures A and F), one of a boy
and the other of a man, showing the great likeness that exists between
the way in which hair was done more than two thousand years ago and at
the present day.
Besides the methods of hair arrangement which have survived or been
revived, there are certain little features still to be seen here and
there in modern dress which owe their origin to the ways in which hair
or wigs were dressed.
A remnant of the bag-wig, with its great bow of black ribbon, we may
find in the army. For a long time on the backs of the collars of the
officers and staff-sergeants of the Welsh Fusiliers there have been
fixed some ribbons which hang down their back. These, which are few in
number, are called the "flash," and are said to represent the bow which
used to ornament the bag-wig. A hundred years ago the officers of the
regiment wore their hair turned up behind, and it was then tied with a
bow. This is in keeping with another explanation which Mr. R. Simkin has
given us, which is that the flash is the survival of a bunch of ribbons
that were sewn on the back of the coat-collar to protect it from the
pomatum and powder of the "clubbed" or "queued" hair. The privilege
of wearing the "flash" has recently been extended to all ranks of the
regiment (see Figure 109).
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--The "flash" of five black ribbons on the
collar of the Welsh Fusiliers. A survival from the days of the pigtail.]
A survival of the same kind, which takes us back to the time of wigs,
is to be seen on the backs of the collars of several court dresses,
and it is known technically as the "wig-bag." It is also, as we have
had occasion to mention, to be seen on the back of the collar of the
liveries of some servants whose dress is in the old style, and here,
as in the case of the Lord Mayor's coachman, it looks as if it had
originated in a bow (see Figure 113).
XIV
SPECIAL DRESSES
FASHIONS KEPT UP BY CEREMONIES--SURVIVALS IN SPECIAL COSTUME--FLOWING
GARMENTS
In the foregoing pages we have been concerned chiefly with individual
parts of costume, and while showing how various garments have reached
their present form, we have busied ourselves with discovering the origin
of many important survivals. We have not however hesitated, in dealing
with these details, to touch on all kinds of costumes, and here and
there we have left civilians' dress for a moment to take an illustration
from that of the soldier or the member of some other profession.
At the same time, we have indicated that on occasions of ceremony,
whether religious or otherwise, the dress adopted is, as a rule, more
primitive or older in style than that which is customarily worn. This
is what might be expected, as, on the one hand, innate conservatism and
objection to change come into play, and, on the other, ordinary everyday
practical matters being for the time put on one side, it is possible to
wear clothes which otherwise would be inconvenient and liable to get
damaged.
When we ourselves dress for dinner we go back nearly a century, but
nothing could be more primitive than the Court etiquette of certain
tribes,[16] where the subjects of the king may only approach him when
entirely unclothed. Livingstone was received by the Queen of the Balonde
Negroes in South Africa when she was in a state of complete nudity. The
women of neighbouring tribes and members of other races, for instance
those in Australia, entirely remove their clothing on festive occasions.
Among some black races, also, the girls who are sent as official
messengers to important persons are not clothed. There are still certain
tribes of "leaf wearers" in India, while at a yearly festival in Madras
the whole low-caste population throw off their ordinary clothing and put
on aprons of leafy twigs. Another case in point is that of the priests
who conducted the sacrifices in ancient Italy and Greece, for they are
often represented on monuments as being naked, while the rest of those
present at the ceremony are fully clothed.
In taking up the question of ceremonial dress among civilized peoples,
we find that we have a very wide field in which to wander. We have the
Court, which might alone occupy our whole attention; we have naval,
military, ecclesiastical, and legal dress, the garb of the universities,
the costume of pantomime characters, of the acrobat, of the athlete,
and the liveries of servants, besides the costumes adopted for special
ceremonies and in connection with particular institutions. In treating
of survivals in the case of the army, where the variety in uniform--if
we may use this paradoxical expression--is so great, we may content
ourselves with discussing matters in a way similar to that which we have
adopted before. On the other hand, we may also describe and illustrate
particular costumes, as a whole, while showing how far their history may
carry us back.
In addition to the clothes actually worn by persons, there are those
which are found on dolls. These may be on the representations of
personages such as St. Nicholas, on the Continent and elsewhere, and
they are interesting because in many cases they may show a national
costume which is no longer worn. In the same way, puppets such as are
used in the play which we know as Punch and Judy, and their dresses,
like others which we have studied, may bring to our notice chapters of
history in a way that is exceedingly attractive.
There is no doubt but that long flowing garments produce a more elegant
effect, and give rise to a more stately appearance than those which are
short or tight fitting. In the case of men, such garments would now be
too much in the way on ordinary occasions, or when any physical exertion
is required. The king and noblemen on state occasions wear robes, as do
also the members of City companies and borough councillors when they
assemble together. The case of the clergy will occur to every one, and
legal and academical dress may also be mentioned.
In the privacy of the home it is possible for every man to wear a
dressing-gown, and pyjamas have not in all cases superseded the more
primitive nightshirt. In the case of ladies, we find that they cling
lovingly to long dresses, though, as we know, there is much effort being
made to dispense with skirts under ordinary conditions, and the fact
that short skirts have for some years been fashionable for outdoor use
looks as if some progress were being made.
XV
SERVANTS' DRESS
THE PROTOTYPES OF LIVERIES--REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE II AND
GEORGE III--ORIGIN OF THE PAGE-BOY'S BUTTONS--THE JOCKEY
CAP--APRONS
In taking up the question of special costumes, we may perhaps begin with
those which we see most commonly, and for that reason we may turn our
attention, in the first place, to the liveries and dress of servants.
We have laid down a sort of rule that the costume of servants is that of
the master of an earlier generation, and we will now bring forward some
evidence in support of it.
Modern coachmen and outdoor footmen wear the tall hat, the bright
buttons, doeskin breeches and the top boots characteristic of the
outdoor and riding dress of the gentlemen at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. The groom, it will be noticed (see Figure 110),
wears in addition a leather belt, and the reason for this will not
perhaps strike the inquirer straight away. Our grandmothers and
great-grandmothers did not always drive in carriages, and it was
customary for them, when riding on horseback, to sit on a pillion
behind a gentleman or a servant. The belt which we now see round the
waist of a groom afforded a hold to which they had to cling, in order to
prevent themselves from falling off the horse.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--The modern groom, showing the belt to which
ladies clung when riding on a pillion.]
Such a livery as we have described is also adopted by the general run of
well-to-do people. The aristocracy, however, are more inclined to stand
upon ceremony, and through it to make more show. Their footmen, who go
by the generic name of "Jeames," wear plush breeches, silk stockings,
and powdered hair. (See Figure 111.)
[Illustration: FIG. 111.--A footman in plush breeches and with powdered
hair. His "pouter" coat dates from the reign of George III. (By the
courtesy of Messrs. F. T. Prewett and Co.)]
A little inquiry will soon show that these peculiarities of dress were
those which it pleased the gentlemen of George III's time to adopt. Some
flunkeys belonging to the nobility have their breasts ornamented with
cords known as aiguillettes, and these give them somewhat of a military
appearance, besides reminding us of the old retainers. The coats that go
with the plush breeches and are cut away so as to recall the wings
of a pigeon--hence the name "pouter" coat--are a special feature of
George III's reign. The coachman's coat is usually a little fuller in
the skirt, and carries us back to the time of George II. In another way
this costume is a little older in its style than that of the footman who
powders his own hair instead of wearing a wig like his colleague. (See
Figure 112.)
[Illustration: FIG. 112.--A sheriff's coachman with the full-skirted
coat of the time of George II. (By the courtesy of Messrs. F. T. Prewett
and Co.)]
In connection with the Lord Mayor more ceremony still is maintained.
His coachmen and footmen appear in all the glory of three-cornered
hats, which are decorated with feathers, and their coats are highly
ornamented. They are representatives of the very fine gentlemen of
George III's time.
On the back of the collar of the Lord Mayor's coachman, we find an
arrangement that looks like an elaborately made rosette of black ribbon
(see Figure 113). This is a survival of the bag-wig, of which we shall
have occasion to speak again when dealing with Court and military dress,
so that we need not go into further details here with regard to this
curious vestige. (See page 229, Figure 143.)
[Illustration: FIG. 113.--The wig-bag (a survival of the bag-wig) now
seen on the back of the collar of the Lord Mayor's coachman.]
This is a progressive age, in spite of the many survivals which still
flourish, and when we come to consider the costume of the modern
manservant who attends at table, or the waiter in the restaurant, we
find that he has come out of his generation, as it were, and has adopted
the dress of his masters before they have themselves discarded it.
Confusion has arisen through this before now, and it has been suggested
that if ornamental buttons were worn by the man who serves, the
difficulty would be overcome.
The writer well remembers being amused when standing in a room at a
well-known restaurant, where a private dinner was to be given, to notice
the change which suddenly came over the dress of the waiters. When the
latter first arrived they had black cloth buttons on their coats, while
in a few minutes' time, these same garments were adorned with brass
buttons bearing the initials of the firm that provided the dinner.
Inquiry soon elicited the fact that the men carried with them small
brass cases which were sprung on to their ordinary buttons, and at once
gave them the appearance of being on the staff, and showed that they
were waiters.