Temple.
_Cockade_ (Vol. iii., pp. 7. 196.).--The _cockade_ was simply the knot of
the riband that served to _cock_ the broad flapped hat worn by military men
in the seventeenth century, and which in fine weather, or going into
action, &c., they used to _cock_, by means of hooks, laces, and ribands. We
see still in the {293} cocked-hats of coachmen and beadles, the traces of
these old ligaments. Hence the phrase to _cock one's hat_. Let me add one
or two remarks on other points of dress arising out of old military habits.
In old times coats were of the shape we now call frocks, and _lined_
throughout, generally with a different colour from the outside. When a
person in one of these coats was going about any active work, and
particularly into fight, he doubled back his sleeves, and folded back the
collar, which, being of a different colour, came to be what we now call the
_facings_ of military uniforms. The French, truer to their origin, still
call them the "_revers_." So also on such occasions the broad skirts of the
frock coat used to be hooked back not to impede the movements of the lower
limbs, and thence the swallow tails of military uniforms. So also the high
jack-boots, that covered the knees, used, in walking, to be turned down,
and the inside being of a lighter colour, gave the idea of what are called
_top-boots_.