Punch: Punch (39.1860)

£U8

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[November 24, 1850.

PUNCH’S BOOK OF BRITISH COSTUMES.

RICHARD THE THIRD, FROM THE PORTRAIT BY
RICHARDSON, IN THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE
BARTLEMY FAIR, ESQ.

CHAPTER XXXVII.—THE REIGNS OF EDWARD THE FIFTH
AND RICHARD THE THIRD.

S 1 he first of these two
sovereigns only reigned
three months, it, is not very
surprising that we find but
little change of costume in
his reign. Nor were the
two years and a quarter
which saw the “sly and
bloody ” Richard on the
throne, prolific in new
fashions, either military or
civil. But with the reign
of Henry the Seventh,
we enter a new period in
the history of costume; and
we have something more to
say about the fashionable
marvels of the Yorkists and
Lancastrians before we turn
our pen to the wonders of
the Tudors.

That King Richard was
a dandy is an historic fact,
although our playgoers may
not have seen much cause
to credit it. The “crook-
backed tyrant” is in general
dressed somewhat dowdily
upon the stage, and has
more of the heavy villain
than of the heavy swell
about him. Yet, we^ learn,
when Duke of Gloucester
he was the most fashionable
dresser of his day; and that
his love of finery survived
his coining to the throne, is pretty evident from a mandate to the keeper
of his wardrobe which is extant among the Harleian MSS., and which
they who can decipher it are welcome to peruse. This letter lie dis-
patched from York on the 31st of August, 1483, and it contains a curious
list of the dresses he wished sent to
him, and in which he was desirous
of exhibiting himself to his sub-
jects in the north. As his favourite,
the Duke of Buckingham, was
equally notorious for his gorgeous
apparel, we may presume that fops
were mostly in favour at his court;
and we can fancy how the York-
shiremen rubbed their eyes, and
“danged their breeches,” to see
“ t’ foine fwoak v who came to them
from “ Lunnun.”

Familiar as we are with the
Richard of the stage, it is difficult,
to credit that the Richard of
reality could have looked other
than a ruffian. Yet that there was
more of beauty than of an ugly
beast about him, is proved by no
less an authority than the Countess
of Desmond, who danced with him
when young, and described him to
her friends as “ the handsomest man
in the room, except his brother, the
King.” This exception seems to us
in some measure to account for the
Countess’ opinion; and we incline
rather to fancy, that if Richard

had not had a title to his back, she would not have shut her eyes to its
deformity.* As the poet says, or might have said -.—

“ If to his lot some ugly features fall.

Look at his rank and you forget them all.”

* Wags have tried to make out for the purpose of a joke that King Richard was
a hunchback, and that the street boys of the period, when the King happened to
pass them, used to take delight in giving him a military salute, significantly
shouting as they did so, “Shoulder humps ! ” But it is wrong to imagine that
Richard had a hump. Rous, who knew him personally, says of him in his history :
“ He was of low stature, had small compressed features, and his left shoulder higher

RICHARD THE TH1HD, WITH ALL THE
LATEST IMPROVEMENTS.

Some slight, notion may be formed of what sort of a figure the King
cut in his State robes, when we mention, that the day before his
coronation he rode in a procession from the Tower down to West-
minster, in a doublet and stomacher of blue cloth of gold, wrought
with nets and pine-apples (a pattern often seen in drawings of this
epoch), a long gown of purple velvet furred with ermine, and a pair of
short gilt spurs. Still more gorgeous was his get-up on the day of
coronation, when he came out coram populo (no, Cox, we don’t mean
in Great Coram Street) in a couple of State suits; one of crimson
velvet furred with miniver, and having an extremely rich embroidery
of gold, and the other of purple velvet fringed with ermine fur. His
sabatons, or shoes, were covered with crimson tissue cloth of gold :.
his hose were of crimson satin, as also were the shirt, coat, surcoat,
hood, and mantle in which he was anointed. Fine feathers these; but
surely all this crimson plumage must have rather given Richard the
look of a flamingo, if it did not make him look more like Sam Weller'
swell friend, “Blazes." Perhaps the King, however, wished to symbolise
his bashfulness by wearing a red suit, which might have served to show
how he blushed all over at the honour that was done him. This may
seem a foolish fancy, but history in some measure bears us out in
entertaining it. For instance, Goldsmith tells us, that when the
Mayor and Aldermen waited upon the Protector with an offer of the
crown, “ he accepted it with seeming reluctance,” as though he wished
them to imagine he was too modest to take it. A pretty subject this
for a fresco in St. Stephens, and we almost wonder that our artists
have not thought of it. Richard, nine feet high, with one hand
hiding a smile and with the other grabbing the crown, represented with
a sort of “ Oh-no-I-couldn’t-think-of-it-Pray-don’Dask-me” air about
him, would form an interesting addition to the series of subjects which
have been taken lately from the lives of English Kings.

Whether the dandies of this period were gifted with gpod legs, is a
question which we have not leisure to debate, but which, naturally
suggests itself at sight of the
exceedingly short jackets that
were worn, whereby the lower
limb’s were left completely un-
concealed. The only things that
covered them were long stock-
ings or hose, which, in fact, were
the same garments as the ancient
Norman chavsses. These ex-
tended up the thigh like the
thread tights of an acrobat, and
were tied by points or laces to
the doublet, much in the same
manner as our roley-poley suits.

The short jackets we have men-
tioned were worn over the dou-
blet, and were made plain at the
sides, but full of plaits upon the
chest as well as in the back.

Sometimes they were edged with
fur, and at the waist were tightly
belted with a narrow girdle,
from which a dagger generally
depended in the front. Their
sleeves were large and full,
padded at the shoulder to give
broadness to the chest, and
slashed to show the doublet, or
even shirt, beneath. For this
purpose, apparently, they were
often slit entirely from the shoul-
der to the wrist, and the edges
laced together about three inches apart,
the swollen appearance of the shoulder, must have made the wearers-
look as though they had their arms broken, and were obliged to walk
about with a poultice in each sleeve.

Coming fashions, like events, sometimes cast their shadows on before
them : and we find that these short jackets were somewhat giving way
in Richard’s time to the long and sober gowns which came in with-
his successor. But for several years previous, long dresses had been,
worn at times as commonly as short ones. In fact, variety was as
charming in these days as in ours, and persons of distinction were as
frequently distinguished for their oddities of dress. The modern pork-
pie hat, with a slightly higher crown and with a single feather leaning
forward from the hack, was a common form of head-cover throughout
the fifteenth century, and Jews, for aught we know, may have seen
nothing wrong in wearing it. Other eccentricities were equally con-
spicuous : ana among them we may mention a gentleman depicted in
an old illumination, who wears a shoulder-belt or baldriek slung to
reach down to his knee, having a peal of little bells looped all along its
length.

than his right.” For thus setting us right respecting his left shoulder, the Gtow* qf
Richard clearly ought to cry out, “ Bravo, Kous I ”

YOUNG GENT IN THE HEIGHT 07 TUB
FASHION. TEMP. RICHARD THE THIRIP.

This slitting, combined with