The notice from Fairholt's _Costume in England_, concerning the earliest
use of a beaver hat in England, is not very satisfactory. Beaver hats
were certainly used in this country long before Stubbes's time. They
were originally, like many other articles of dress, manufactured abroad,
and imported here. Indeed, this was a great source of complaint by the
English artizan until a comparatively late period. The author of _A
Brief Discourse of English Poesy_, n.d. (temp. Eliz.) says:--
"I merveil no man taketh heed to it, what number of trifles come
hither from beyond the seas, that we might clean spare, or else
make them within our realme. For the which we either pay
inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial wares
and necessaries for them, for the which we might receive great
treasure."
"The _beaver_ or felt hats (says J.H. Burn, in his interesting
_History of the Foreign Refugees_, p. 257.) worn in the reign of
Edward III., and for a long time afterwards, were made in Flanders.
The refugees in Norfolk introduced the manufacture of felts and
thrummed hats into that country; and by a statute of 5 and 6 Edward
VI., that trade was confined to Norwich, and all other corporate
and market towns in the country."
"About that time (says a _History of Trade_, published in 1702) we
suffered a great herd of French tradesmen to come in, and
particularly hat-makers, who brought with them the fashion of
making a slight, coarse, mean commodity, viz. felt hats, now called
_Carolinas_; a very inferior article to beavers and demicastors,
the former of which then sold at from 24s. to 48s. a piece."
In the _Privy-Purse Expenses of Henry VIII._, we read, under the date
1532:--
"Item the xxiij day [October] paied for a hatte
and a plume for the King in Boleyn [_i.e._
Boulogue] ... xvs."