DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0046
32
INTRODUCTION.
continue in this fashion beyond a certain time, which proved to be
the case. (i It was,” says Evelyn, “ a comely and a manly habit;
too good to hold, it being- impossible for us to leave the Monsieur’s
vanities long-.”
The use of ladies’ riding-habits, or Amazonian habits as they
were termed, was introduced in this reign. It was the custom for
the Queen and the Maids of Honour to accompany the King- in
his hawking’ parties, mounted upon tine horses, and attended by
the courtiers. To ride well, was then an admired female accom-
plishment- it appears that the peculiar grace with which Miss
Stewart sat and managed her horse, was one of her principal
attractions in the eyes of the King; and that Miss Churchill had
nearly lost the heart of the Duke of York by her equestrian
awkwardness.
Cocked hats, laced with gold, and trimmed with white, black,
and red feathers were worn by both sexes. Pepys records his
admiration of Miss Stewart in her a cocked hat and red plume,”
as she returned from riding. A particularly smart and knowing-
cock of the hat was assumed by the young gallants, called the
a Monmouth cock,” after the Duke of Monmouth.
In the latter part of Charles’s reign, the close and disgraceful
connexion between the French and English courts delivered us up
to French interests, French politics, and French fashions. This
was the era of those enormous perukes, which in the succeeding
reigns of William and Anne attained to such a preposterous size.*
Mustachios on the upper lip disappeared from court, but were not
finally abolished till the succeeding reign. At this time, the ex-
posure of the neck and shoulders was carried to such a shameless
* They were first worn by a Duke of Anjou, to conceal a personal deformity,
and adopted by the court in compliment to him. In the same spirit, when Philip
of Macedon was wounded in the forehead, all his courtiers walked about with
bandages round their heads.
INTRODUCTION.
continue in this fashion beyond a certain time, which proved to be
the case. (i It was,” says Evelyn, “ a comely and a manly habit;
too good to hold, it being- impossible for us to leave the Monsieur’s
vanities long-.”
The use of ladies’ riding-habits, or Amazonian habits as they
were termed, was introduced in this reign. It was the custom for
the Queen and the Maids of Honour to accompany the King- in
his hawking’ parties, mounted upon tine horses, and attended by
the courtiers. To ride well, was then an admired female accom-
plishment- it appears that the peculiar grace with which Miss
Stewart sat and managed her horse, was one of her principal
attractions in the eyes of the King; and that Miss Churchill had
nearly lost the heart of the Duke of York by her equestrian
awkwardness.
Cocked hats, laced with gold, and trimmed with white, black,
and red feathers were worn by both sexes. Pepys records his
admiration of Miss Stewart in her a cocked hat and red plume,”
as she returned from riding. A particularly smart and knowing-
cock of the hat was assumed by the young gallants, called the
a Monmouth cock,” after the Duke of Monmouth.
In the latter part of Charles’s reign, the close and disgraceful
connexion between the French and English courts delivered us up
to French interests, French politics, and French fashions. This
was the era of those enormous perukes, which in the succeeding
reigns of William and Anne attained to such a preposterous size.*
Mustachios on the upper lip disappeared from court, but were not
finally abolished till the succeeding reign. At this time, the ex-
posure of the neck and shoulders was carried to such a shameless
* They were first worn by a Duke of Anjou, to conceal a personal deformity,
and adopted by the court in compliment to him. In the same spirit, when Philip
of Macedon was wounded in the forehead, all his courtiers walked about with
bandages round their heads.