the superfluous energy they possessed. Men's social habits were not
at all of a "blue riband" nature, and, after dinner, the bottle
circulated freely. So those who, like Charles Reade's description of
modern athletic young men, knew "only one language, and lived
principally in the open air," naturally became either "A choice
Spirit," "A Buck," or "A Blood," descendants of the "Hectors,"
"Muns," "Titiretus," "Scourers," and "Mohocks"--men that hustled
honest folk, sang roaring, maudlin, filthy songs--men from whom no
woman was safe; who, armed with bludgeons, and going in company in
large numbers, boxed the watch, set the constables at defiance, and
made night hideous with their brawls and shouting.
[Illustration: Macaronis (From the Mock Duel, 1789.)]
Far be it from me to say that the whole youth of this age could be
classed either in one, or other, of these two categories; there were
good young men who probably "always came home to their tea," well
dressed, well read, well mannered--such as "A Smart."
As a rule, even now-a-days, a man when in the country, very seldom, or
never, carries an umbrella: to a Londoner it is part of his costume.
In Anne's reign the use of the umbrella was strictly set apart for the
softer sex, and then only for those whose avocations compelled them to
be out, whatever the weather. As Gay says in his "_Trivia_"--
"The tuck'd-up sempstress walks with hasty strides,
While streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides."
But for men, fie! he must be an effeminate coxcomb who would carry
one. Hear what fun was made of him (_Female Tatler_, December
12):--"The Young Gentleman belonging to the Custom House, that for
fear of rain borrowed the umbrella at Will's Coffee House in Cornhill
of the _Mistress_, is hereby advertised that to be dry from head to
foot on the like occasion, he shall be welcome to the _Maid's
Pattens_."
One John Macdonald, a footman, who wrote his own biography, helps us
to fix a date when the use of them, by men, was so rare as to make the
user singular. He says that he had "a fine silk umbrella, which he
brought from Spain; but he could not, with any comfort to himself, use
it, the people calling out 'Frenchman! why don't you get a coach?'"
However, he "persisted for three months, till they took no further
notice of this novelty. Foreigners began to use theirs, and then the
English." Macdonald wrote in 1778. Jonas Hanway, the philanthropist,
who had travelled much in Persia and the East, is said to have been
the first Englishman who habitually carried an umbrella whilst walking
in the street. He died in 1786.
That it was not in general use in the year 1790, is evidenced by the
somewhat sneering title of a "Rain Beau," or one that was afraid of a
drop of rain. This illustration shews several modifications of fashion
besides the use of the umbrella. The cocked hat had gone out--and the
galling yoke of the "chimney pot" was being inaugurated. As yet it was
limp, of felt, but there is the hideous head covering that has
martyrised at least three generations.
Then we cannot but notice that the hair has lost all trace of the
wig--and is allowed to be worn "_au naturel_." A huge cravat swathes
the throat, the coat is cut shorter, and more fly-away than hitherto,
that knee breeches are disappearing, and pantaloons coming in, to be
in their turn superseded by the modern trouser. Lastly, the term
_Macaroni_, or _Jessamy_, is replaced by _Beau_--which will soon have
to give way to _Dandy_.
Jimmy Lincum Feadle shows us the Beau of 1791. Here the fashion
is evidently imported from France--loud coloured striped
coat--pantaloons, boots and all. The French Revolution was hastening
on, rapidly, to its culmination, and, the younger Whigs, before the
time came when they were utterly disgusted by the brutal excesses of
the French, copied the dress of the Revolutionary party.
[Illustration: A Jessamy.--1790.]
[Illustration: A Choice Spirit.]
[Illustration: A Buck.]
The accompanying illustration will show how far they succeeded. There
is an elaborately studied negligence about the coat, and a height
about the hat, which could never be of native production, whilst the
bludgeon must have belonged to some "Merveilleux," (the class whom
Bonaparte so cordially detested), and have been imported direct from
Paris. The supercilious look, and the mincing gait, are warranted
truly Parisian, and I have very little doubt but that Isaac Cruikshank
sketched him from the life.
The term "a Crop," is indicative of Revolutionary and Republican
sympathies. Lucius Junius Brutus, and all the ancient Romans, wore
their hair cut short--and so we must needs copy them, and have a
revolution in hair cutting, just to show the outer world what our
thoughts are on the present position of political parties. The
elaborate hair of the _Macaroni_ or the _Jessamy_, or even the
negligent, but natural _chevelure_ of the _Beau_, would not suit
Republican simplicity, and, as in our own Commonwealth, the men of the
Republic cropped their heads, as a testimony against their political
opponents, so did they in 1791. The Duke of Bedford, especially,
attracted public attention, by having his hair cut short, and many are
the allusions to him, with respect to it, in the public prints.
But with 1792 came another change of fashion, of which we get two
views, back and front, and as they are by a lady (Miss Keate), they
are probably not caricatured.
Here we see a return to a more natural style of dress, the colours of
which, in "_Neck or Nothing_," are well chosen, and very becoming. Of
course the awful cravat is of white cambric or muslin, and he wears a
pink underwaistcoat, white over-waistcoat, and knee-breeches, a
mulberry-coloured coat, and blue and white stockings; hair powdered.
"A back view of the cape" is not so felicitous as regards colour,
being somewhat "_prononcé_." The coat is green, breeches yellow,
necktie yellow, stockings grey, powdered hair, and a liberal supply of
powder on the back of the coat.
In order to keep this hair powder on the hair, it was necessary to
saturate it with some kind of grease, even if only a tallow dip, or
rushlight, were used; but an advertisement in the _Times_, of 7th
February 1793, gives us some notion as to the antiquity of Bears'
Grease, which must have been undoubtedly genuine, if the last
paragraph can be taken as a fact:--
"JUST KILLED, an extraordinary fine Fat Russian Bear, at Ross's
Ornamental Hair and Perfumery Warehouse, No. 119 Bishopsgate
Street (late Vickery's), three doors from the London Tavern.
"The excellent virtue which the fat of Bears possesses, has been
experienced by thousands of both sexes, and of all Ages, in this
Metropolis. To those who have used the real Bears' Grease, it is
evident no Grease whatever beside, retains its moisture so long
upon the head, it being the only thing possible to make the Hair
grow thick and long, recover it after illness, prevent it
falling off, or turning grey, during life: being the most
efficacious remedy for making the Hair grow on Horses' knees
when broken or chafed.
"It is sold at 1s. per ounce, or 16s. the pound, to be seen cut
off the Animal in the presence of the purchaser."
_Apropos_ of "cropping," take the following skit from the _Times_,
January 21, 1794:--
"Sir Robert Mackworth is at Bath, and seems to be no otherways
distinguished than by the particularity of his equipage: he
drives four horses of different colours in his phaeton, which has
four wheels painted to correspond with the colours of the horses:
in the midst of his badge of distinction, the bloody hand, is the
figure of 4, which he explains in this way, four in hand. The
motto 'This is the Tippy.' If anything can add to the folly of
the whole it is that he intends to crop four opposite ears of his
horses, to make room for four monstrous roses, of different
colours, to match."
[Illustration: A Smart.--1790.]
[Illustration: A Rain-beau.]
The Court dresses which the Nobility and Gentry then wore, were
magnificent, and the following are only a few, taken as an example,
from the _Times_, June 4, 1794:--
"KING'S BIRTHDAY.
"Yesterday, being the anniversary of the King's birthday, when
His Majesty entered into the 57th year of his age, a Drawing-Room
was held in the afternoon, and, at night, a Ball at St. James'.
The Gentlemen's dresses were in general embroidered silks and
silk cloths: but one half were dressed in Regimentals.
"His Majesty, as usual on his own Birthday, was in a plain suit
of clothes. The best dressed Gentlemen whom we saw at Court, and
indeed their dresses were very generally noticed for their taste
and splendour, were--
"Mr. Skeffington.
"A brown spotted silk coat and breeches, with a white silk
waistcoat richly embroidered with silver, stones, and shades of
silk: the design was large baskets of silver and stones, filled
with bouquets of roses, jonquilles, &c., the _ensemble_ producing
a beautiful and splendid effect.
"The Hon. Thomas Anson.
"A striped silk coat and breeches, with a white silk waistcoat,
richly embroidered with white silk and dentelle: the waistcoat
embroidered to match the coat.
"The Hon. Mr. Paget.
"A brown and blue striped silk coat and breeches, with a white
silk waistcoat, the suit elegantly embroidered with silver,
stones, and bouquets of flowers.
"Duke of Queensberry.
"A striped, and spotted silk coat, and breeches, with diamond
buttons, with a white silk waistcoat embroidered with silver,
stones, and silk.
"Marquis of Lorn.
"A blue and brown striped silk cloth coat, and breeches, with a
white silk waistcoat, embroidered with dentelle, and shades of
silk.
"Lord Willoughby de Broke.
"A dark olive spotted silk coat, and breeches, with a white silk
waistcoat, the suit richly embroidered in silver, coloured
stones, and shades of silk."
Anent Hair Powder, we have the following, which may be a libel:--
"As a Frenchman cannot exist without a powdered head, and meal
being so dear in France, the _Beaux_ are under the necessity of
wearing _powdered whiting_. Rouge is plenty enough, that article
not being put in requisition: the ladies therefore, as usual,
wear their faces under _red masks_. They go to bed as blooming as
_Sol_, when he retires to the _Lap of Thetis_: and rise as pale
as _Cynthia_, in her nocturnal visits to the earth."--(_Times,
Nov. 29, 1794._)
"_Mother of Pearl buttons_ are likely to take the lead in the
fashionable world, as they are both beautiful and ornamental, as
well as durable and economical: on the contrary, those made of
steel, and other metals, soon rust, and want frequent
cleaning."--(_Times, Dec. 16, 1794._)
[Illustration: Jimmy Lincum Feadle--1791.]
[Illustration: A Scaramouch.]
By the 35 Geo. III., c. 49--a Duty was laid on Hair powder--and "the
Crops," besides their (as we should term it) Radical tendencies, were
extra unpopular among the Tories, because they evaded the Hair Powder
duty, by wearing none:--
"A numerous club has been formed in Lambeth, called the _Crop
Club_, every member of which, on his entrance, is obliged to have
his head docked as close as the Duke of Bridgewater's old bay
coach-horses. This assemblage is instituted for the purpose of
opposing, or rather evading, the tax on powdered
heads."--(_Times, April 14, 1795._)
"The following Noblemen and Gentlemen were of the party with the
Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, when a general cropping, and
combing out of hair powder took place: Lord W. Russell, Lord
Villiers, Lord Paget, &c., &c. They entered into an engagement to
forfeit a sum of money if any of them wore their hair tied, or
powdered, within a certain period. Many Noblemen and Gentlemen in
the county of Bedford have since followed the example: it has
become general with the Gentry in Hampshire, and the Ladies have
left off wearing powder."--(_Times, Sept. 25, 1795._)
"The Bedford Crops.--Something has at last fallen from this party
to entertain the Public. We hope they will find their heads
cooler for this salutary operation. Dr. Willis[3] is of opinion,
that more than one of them ought to have been _shaved_. If the
_Shavees_ think by publishing their names they will gain
proselytes, till their absurdity is lost in the crowd, they are
mistaken. Can it be supposed that a few drunken persons in a
frolic, will be followed by the sober part of the people of
England?
[Footnote 3: Dr. Willis was a Clergyman, who turned
Physician, and his specialty was treatment of the insane. He
attended George III. in his mental alienation, and was
handsomely rewarded.]
"The new Crop is called the _Bedford Level_.
"An Irish Member once proposed in the House of Commons of that
Country, to encourage the breed of _Crops_. We believe no such
proposition is likely to be renewed upon the present
occasion."--(_Times, Sept. 29, 1795._)
"The price of hair is considerably fallen. The wig-makers declare
people are so afraid of having anything from the _crops_, that
they can't sell a _single peruke_."--(_Times, Nov. 23, 1795._)
We get a curious insight into the manners of the young men of that
day, in the following cutting from the _Times, Dec. 14, 1795_:--
"If the young men of the present day have not much wit in their
heads, they have it at least in their _hats_. Amongst the
pleasantries we have seen in this way, are the following: 'Not
yours.'--'Hands off'--'No vermin'--and 'Rip this as you would a
hot potato'--and other charming sallies of _refined_ and
_elegant_ vivacity. But the wittiest linings are the political
ones: Upon a table, the other day we observed one perfectly
clean, in which was written '_Avaunt, Guinea Pig!_' and on the
lining, in a very powdery hat, that lay in a window in the same
room, were inscribed the two following monosyllables, '_Off
Crop_.'"
"A Crop, who had begun to let his hair grow, was accused of
aristocracy, and had his head shaved in the form of a horse-shoe
at Wooburn, by a verdict of his Peers."--(_Times, Dec. 30,
1795._)
Clothes were dear in those days, as the following Tailor's bill
shows--because we must reckon the value of money then at more than
double what it is now:--
"Address to the Public.--Those Gentlemen who are inclined to a
solicitude to their interests, the undermentioned prices will be
found to be highly advantageous:--
"G. Brown & Co., Taylors, No. 17 Sun St., Bishopsgate.
A suit of the best Superfine Cloth £4 4 0
A Coat and Waistcoat ditto 3 8 0
A Coat ditto 2 12 6
A suit of the best Second Cloth 3 10 0
A Coat ditto 1 18 0
An Elastic Cloth Coat 2 2 0
A Florentine, or Satin Waistcoat and
Breeches of the best 3 3 0
A pair of Breeches ditto 1 18 0
A Waistcoat ditto 1 5 3
A Cassimere Waistcoat and Breeches 1 16 0
A pair of Breeches ditto 1 1 0
All sorts of Manchester Cotton Breeches
according to their respective sorts and
qualities, from 16s. to 1 4 0
A superfine Cloth Surtout Coat 3 0 0
A ditto of Second or Elastic Cloth 2 2 0
A ditto of Bath Beaver, from 24s. to 1 11 6
A frock suit of Livery, all Cloth 3 3 0
A ditto, with Shag Breeches 3 12 0
A Livery Surtout of Drab Cloth 2 0 0
A Coach-Box Coat ditto 3 3 0
A Cotton Thicksett Frock and Waistcoat 2 2 0
A Pillow Fustian ditto 1 11 6
A Duffil Jacket and Waistcoat ditto 1 10 0
"The above Prices are calculated for middle-sized men only, and
the difference in all colours in grain, Blues and Greys, gilt or
extra buttons, Waistcoat sleeves, &c., must be paid for
extra."--(_Times, April 16, 1795._)
[Illustration: Aping the Frenchman]
Among the eccentricities of Costume, was a Coat devised by the then
Earl Spencer. He made a bet that he would cut off the tails of the
coat which he then wore, and appear in public in a jacket, which,
within a week, should be the fashion. He did so, and won his bet.
Gillray caricatured the Earl, in a picture 17th May, 1792. Earl
Spencer wears (in the picture) a blue spencer red coat with brass
buttons, yellow trousers, and blue and white stockings. The
"Threadpaper" has a green coat and grey stockings. Both have plenty of
powder on the backs of their coats.
The fashion is alluded to in a paragraph in the _Times_ of 16th May
1795, and the "livery" therein alluded to is a covert satire on the
"Windsor Uniform," which has been the semi-court dress, from George
III.'s time to our own. It is said to have been taken from the uniform
of a Berkshire Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, of which the King was
Colonel:--
"The general fashion of wearing _Spencers_, reminds us of a wager
laid by Lord _March_, who betted several years ago a considerable
sum with some of his friends, that he would be able to introduce
to general imitation, the most humiliating fashion he could think
of. Accordingly he appeared several days successively about the
Royal Exchange, dressed like a livery servant. The livery
consisted of a blue coat, with crimson collar and cuffs; and he
gained the wager."--(_Times, May 16, 1795._)
The accompanying illustration by W. Hanlon (11th July 1795) is, of
course, a caricature, but it is intended to show the eccentricities of
dress, in which the "Crops" indulged.
THE BOND STREET LOUNGE.
AN IMPROMPTU.
_Modo vir, modo foemina.--Virgil._
(_Times, January 7th, 1796._)
When men in _Petty-Coats_ appear,
No wonder Wives the breeches wear:
Assuming manners quite robust,
Game, swear, drive, box, or _take a thrust_.
But happier far would be the case,
Were each to keep their proper place:
The fair ones wear the female dress,
And men adorn their persons less;
For such the fashion of the day,
They make it difficult to say,
Whether the _pretty things_ we meet,
Parading through their fav'rite street,
A Male or Female we may call,
Their shapes are so equivocal. V.
London Coffee-House,
_January 7th, 1796_.
"The high kick of fashion is to wear only one spur, like a
postillion, and to have an assortment of long whips tied up
behind the curricle, in case of wearing them all out in Bond St.,
during a ride in the morning."--(_Times, August 3, 1796._)
[Illustration:
Neck or Nothing A Back View of the Cape
--1792.]
[Illustration: A Spencer and a Thread Paper.--1792.]
We need not go very far, any day in Winter, to see the young men of
our day, doing the same thing, and looking extremely "Norse"--they
never telling of the Chamois leather vests they wear.
"One of the latest roads to fame that any of our young men of
_ton_ have discovered, is to wrap their bodies carefully in
flannel under the shirt, and to keep the coat and waistcoat quite
open, to show the strength of their constitution, and set the
snow at defiance."--(_Times, January 2, 1797._)
* * * * *
"Margate is already beginning to be crowded, as usual, with all
sorts, and for all purposes, some to undo, and some to be undone;
wives to leave their husbands, and misses to procure theirs. Some
tradesmen gone down to get, and others to get rid of their money:
old maids to display tresses not their own, and the young men to
show off Brutus heads, when the grand point is, whether their's
or their type's in Ross's shop window have the most brains:
perhaps there cannot be situations more calculated to display
what Shenstone terms 'The various ways of dressing a calf's
head.'"--(_Times, August 5, 1799._)
* * * * *
"Milan, _July 15th_.--In order to a due execration of the
licentious dresses which our Government has forbidden, the
executioner of this place, with his wife, appeared in the public
walk. He was _elegantly_ dressed, with his head _à la Brutus_, a
large cravat which, concealing the chin, reached to the mouth:
long pantaloons, hanging loose: and shoes, the points of which
were a finger's length. His wife was quite _à la
guillotine_--naked shoulders, neck and arms."--(_Times, August 5,
1799._)
* * * * *
"Our emaciated beaux in their quilted lappelles and stuffed
sleeves are like a dry walnut in a great shell."--(_Times, August
20, 1799._)
This paragraph is easily explained by a reference to the two
accompanying engravings.
These peculiar garments were called "Jean Debry," after the French
statesman of that name, who was born in 1760, died 1834. He was a
somewhat prominent figure in the French Revolution, and, as his name
was at this time much in men's mouths, he was made the peg on which to
hang a coat.--"A French Taylor fitting John Bull with a Jean de Bry,"
is by Gillray, 18th November 1799, and, although a gross Caricature,
fairly represents the garment. The tailor is in ecstasy with the fit.
"Aha! dere my friend, I fit you to de life! dere is Liberté! no tight
Aristocrat Sleeves, to keep from you vat you like! a ha! begar, dere,
he only want von leetle National Cockade to make look quite a la mode
de Paris!"
John Bull surveys himself in the looking-glass, grumbling at his
change of costume. "Liberty! quotha! why, zounds, I can't move my arms
at all! for all it looks woundy big! Oh! damn your French Alamodes,
they give a man the same Liberty as if he was in the Stocks! give me
my old Coat again, say I, if it is a little out of Elbows!"
"The items of a fashionable Taylor's bill are not a little
curious at present:--Ditto, to pasteboard for your back; ditto,
to buckram for your cape; ditto, for wool for your shoulders,
and cotton for your chest. Shakespeare talks of Nature's
Journeymen who make men indifferently, but our Journeymen Taylors
make their customers of any form and dimensions they think
proper."--(_Times, Sept. 6, 1799._)
* * * * *
Modern Costume.
"The _Long-toed Shoe_ which now figures in Bond Street was
regulated by an Act of Parliament so long ago as the reign of
Edward III. No person under the rank of a Knight then had a right
to advance his toe more than four inches beyond the natural
extremity.... If ever, in some centuries to come, the little hat,
stuffed coat, and long-toed shoe of a modern fine Gentleman
should be discovered in some Museum of Antiquities, or to survive
upon the Stage, they would no doubt give birth to many learned
doubts and extraordinary speculations. By the size of a pair of
modern _Leather Breeches_, it will naturally be inferred that the
present race of men were of a Colossal form. When we suppose in
the same collection a pair of our Hussar Boots to have escaped
the ravage of time, will not our descendants enquire by what
descending scale of rapid decay and diminution mankind is
hastening into the pigmy state, or the dwarf? Our Coats too, in
which the Cotton, the Wool, the Tow, and all the _et cetera_ of
quilting, which now form one half of our bulk, will then only
seem the remains of the art of the virtuoso: and the curious
stuffing he has devised to represent the gigantic proportions of
the wearer. It ought, however, to be known, for the honour of
this commercial nation, that it is to the spirit of justice and
liberality of our tradesmen, that this extraordinary augmentation
of our bulk is to be attributed. Having doubled the price of
every article upon us, they have very fairly given us double
measure, both in our Coats, Boots, and Breeches. The Hatter, I am
sorry to say, is not entitled to the same commendation, for he
has of late years perpetually diminished and circumscribed the
little brim he allows us, in the exact proportion that he has
advanced the price of it, so that the scarcity of felt is like
that of bread, the less you have, the more you are to pay for it.
I paid a guinea and a quarter for the last I bought, and I was
ingenuously told that by the time a hat cost two guineas, it
would exactly be the size and the weight of one. All these
tradesmen, in a fairer sense than the _hatters_, make the _most_
of their customers: but he to whom the nobler part of man, the
head, is committed, diminishes in the most scandalous manner the
protection it requires...."--(_Times, Sept. 20, 1799._)
Brobdignag.
[Illustration: "A Jean Debry" (Mr. Skeffington.)]
[Illustration: French Tailor fitting John Bull with a "Jean de Bry"]
WOMEN'S DRESS.
The earliest Lady's fashion book I can find in the British Museum, is
"The Lady's Monthly Museum," &c. "By a Society of Ladies,"--and it was
published in 1799--or just the last year of which this book takes
cognizance. But, luckily, the satirical prints supply the want, in a
great measure, although they are somewhat exaggerated. From them we
are able to see pictorially what might be hard to describe, and may be
perfectly certain that they represent "the very last thing out" at
their date of Publication. If, then, we have very little written about
female attire, in 1788, and the next year, or two, we must be content
with viewing the _veræ effigies_ of the belles of that time.