DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0044
30
INTRODUCTION.
indispensable; but it was not till a later period, after a secret and
disgraceful treaty had made Charles a pensioned creature of
France; that the English court became in dress and manners; a
gross and caricatured copy of the court of Louis the Fourteenth.
Before the introduction of perukes, men as well as women wore
their hair long and curling down their shoulders: the women, in
particular; had their tresses artfully arranged in elaborate ringlets,
partly loose; or confined to the back of the head by jewels or knots
of riband; as in the portraits of Lady Northumberland and Lady
Rochester. The general effect was graceful and feminine; till;
like other fashions; it was carried to an excess, and artificial curls
were worn to supply the want or scarcity of natural hair. The
men wore coats of cloth, velvet, or serge; and, in full dress, of
gold and silver tissue, richly slashed and covered with embroidery :
large bows of riband of various colours, wherever they could be
placed—on the shoulders, at the breast, at the knees, at the sword-
hilt, distinguished the “ ruffling gallants” of the court.* The
dress of the ladies was, in material, rich silk or satin, sometimes
brocaded with gold and silver and consisted of a long boddice
fitted to the shape, and cut low in the bosom, a tucker or laced
chemise appearing above. This boddice was open down the front,
and fastened with brooches of jewels, or knots of riband, or creve-s,
as in the portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Lady Sunder-
land. The skirt was worn full with many plaits, and sufficiently
short to shew the ankles: the sleeves were generally full, long,
and very wide, gathered and looped up high in front with jewels;
and shewing beneath a white sleeve of fine linen or cambric,
* Evelyn humorously alludes to this extravagant fashion. “ He met,” he says,
“ a fine thing in Westminster Hall, that had as much riband about him as would
have plundered six shops, and set up twenty pedlars: a frigate, newly rigged,
kept not half such a clatter in a storm as this puppet’s streamers did, when the
wind was in his shrouds.”—Tyrannus, or the Mode—Evelyns Memoirs, vol. ii.
f Pepys mentions, that his wife and Lady Castlemaine purchased a dross off
the same piece of silk, for which they paid 15s. a-yard : this is, as if a lady of
these days were to pay three guineas a-yard for a gown.
INTRODUCTION.
indispensable; but it was not till a later period, after a secret and
disgraceful treaty had made Charles a pensioned creature of
France; that the English court became in dress and manners; a
gross and caricatured copy of the court of Louis the Fourteenth.
Before the introduction of perukes, men as well as women wore
their hair long and curling down their shoulders: the women, in
particular; had their tresses artfully arranged in elaborate ringlets,
partly loose; or confined to the back of the head by jewels or knots
of riband; as in the portraits of Lady Northumberland and Lady
Rochester. The general effect was graceful and feminine; till;
like other fashions; it was carried to an excess, and artificial curls
were worn to supply the want or scarcity of natural hair. The
men wore coats of cloth, velvet, or serge; and, in full dress, of
gold and silver tissue, richly slashed and covered with embroidery :
large bows of riband of various colours, wherever they could be
placed—on the shoulders, at the breast, at the knees, at the sword-
hilt, distinguished the “ ruffling gallants” of the court.* The
dress of the ladies was, in material, rich silk or satin, sometimes
brocaded with gold and silver and consisted of a long boddice
fitted to the shape, and cut low in the bosom, a tucker or laced
chemise appearing above. This boddice was open down the front,
and fastened with brooches of jewels, or knots of riband, or creve-s,
as in the portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Lady Sunder-
land. The skirt was worn full with many plaits, and sufficiently
short to shew the ankles: the sleeves were generally full, long,
and very wide, gathered and looped up high in front with jewels;
and shewing beneath a white sleeve of fine linen or cambric,
* Evelyn humorously alludes to this extravagant fashion. “ He met,” he says,
“ a fine thing in Westminster Hall, that had as much riband about him as would
have plundered six shops, and set up twenty pedlars: a frigate, newly rigged,
kept not half such a clatter in a storm as this puppet’s streamers did, when the
wind was in his shrouds.”—Tyrannus, or the Mode—Evelyns Memoirs, vol. ii.
f Pepys mentions, that his wife and Lady Castlemaine purchased a dross off
the same piece of silk, for which they paid 15s. a-yard : this is, as if a lady of
these days were to pay three guineas a-yard for a gown.