DOI Heft:
December 8, 1860
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16866#0236
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [December 8, i860.
PUNCH’S BOOK OF BRITISH COSTUMES.
CHAPTER XXXIX. —CONCERNING THE CIVILIANS IN THE
REIGN OF HENRY THE SEVENTH.
ever ELY accurate as our de-
scriptions hitherto have been,
1 hey will henceforth be immea-
surably surpassed in that, par-
ticular. For our knowledge
of Costume we have no longer
to rely on broken-nosed
old effigies, and half-illegible
black-letter chronicles. The
paint brushes of Holbein, of
Rubens and Vandyfce will
henceforth, says a writer,
“ speak volumes to the eye : ”
and as these volumes will be
further enriched by the de-
scriptive pencil of our artist,
they will surpass all that has
hitherto been added to the
history of costume by our
FASHIONABLE GENT IN THE MOST APPROVED
“DUCK-BILLS" OF THE PERIOD. 1485.
pen.
According
to
the chroni-
clers, the clothes worn at the
close of the fifteenth century
were so foolish and fantastical
that, with persons of dis-
tinction, it was difficult to
distinguish one sex from the
other. This indeed might
have been said with almost
equal truth of other eras in
our history, but in the time
of Henry the Seventh it was specially made applicable, not merely
by the fashions, but by the very names of the garments which were
worn, and which were called, as well as cut, the same for male and
female use. Thus in a curious old manuscript called Yf BoJce of
Cvrtasye, the chamberlain is ordered to provide against his master’s
uprising “ a clene sherte and breche, a pettvcote, a doublette, a long
cot.t.e, a stomachere, hvs hozen, hys socks, and hys schoen.” The
order in which these articles were usually put on is indicated in
another writing called “ ye Boke of Kervjnge,” which, in language
somewhat culinary, gives the following quaint recipe, whereof the title
might be written Hoic to Dress a Dandy.
“ Warme your soverayne hys petticotte, his doublett, and his stomacher, and
then putt on hys hozen, and then hys schone or slippers, then stryten up hys hozen
mannerly, and tye them up, and then lace hys doublett hole by bole.”
It may not be unfairly questioned whether en revanche for the
betaking of their husbands to wear stomachers and petticoats, the
ladies now and then were tempted to try putting on the breeches; in
which practice there perhaps may not have been such peril, when there
was no such refuge extant as SikCresswell Cresswell’s Court.
A curious cargo of descriptions of the dresses then in fashion is con-
veyed to us in Barclay’s famous Ship of Footes, which was launched
iu print by Pynson in the year 1508. Among other particulars con
cerning the nobility we bear of “ gorgeous parties ” (as they would
now be called)—
“ Whose necks were charged with collars and with chaines.
In golden withes, their fingers full of rings :
Their necks naked almost unto the raines,
Their sleeves blazing like unto a crane’s wings.”
Besides their almost feminine passion for fine jewellery, the gentle-
men of this age were vastly proud of their fine linen, and to show their
shirt sleeves used to slash their coats. Another way in which they
effected this display was by severing t.lieir coat-sleeves into two or
more divisions, which were tied together by means of “points,” or
laces, between which the shirt sleeve, being made quite loose and full,
was suffered to peep out. The hosen too were sometimes slashed and
puffed above the knee, or differently coloured there to the portion
underneath: a fashion that foreboded the severance of the hosen into
stockings and trunk hose, which division in the course of the next
century took place.
Instead of the long shoes of the last preceding reigns, the feet were
now encased in enormously broad beetlecrushers, the toes whereof says
Pabadin, “ did oftentimes exceed the ye measure of a good foote,” so
that men who had good feet could hardly have walked with comfort in
ihem. Clumsy as they were, however, they must at least have been
more comfortable than the long-toed shoes, which sometimes for con-
venience were chained up to the knees, so that dancers must have
jangled like the men at minor theatres who do hornpipes in stage
fetters. Indeed, for aught, we know, the dandies may have danced t.o
their own music, for we have said that peals of bells were sometimes
worn upon the baldrick ; and when their jingling was added to the
jangling of the knee-chains, we can fancy what a promenade concert
was produced. One of the old balladists draws notice to this fashion,
in lines which have been parodied by some more modern poet, but
which were originally printed in black-letter, thus :—
“ SRitie a coacljJjarsc to fflljaringc its (Crosse,
see ILotb Com figgcli out in fulle force:
SSUitjj bcllg on fjiis balhrtcke anb ebatnes to fps toes,
|P?rc sfyal babc tnustdt inberrber fje goes.”
We should add that as a sort of stepping place between the long
shoes, and the wide ones, a shoe had been iu fashion about five fingers
in length, and at the toe extending to nearly a hand’s breadth. In
some of the old manuscripts
this shoe is t ermed a slipper,
and in winter doubtless the
name was not inapplicable.
Prom their shape these
shoes or slippers were de-
nominated duck-bills ; but
as far as we can learn, there
is no proof extant that
volunteers made use of
them in practising the
goose-step.
To jump from toe to top,
it must be mentioned that
the nobles wore their hair
so long that it fell below
I heir shoulders, thus re-
viving the fashion of the
time of Henry the First.
Faces, we are told expressly,
“ were shaved clean,” and
it is just possible that they
were sometimes washed so :
of which fact, however, in
the absence of good proof
that the nobility in general
were then well off for soap,
we must entreat their spirits
to suffer us a doubt.
Apparently the hood had
almost disappeared, though
in outlandish country places
it doubtless was still visible; just as now-a-days one sees in the
ball-room at Old Fogyborough, the blue coats and brass buttons
which were once the go at Al nacks. For head-cover the dandies
wore broad felt bats and caps, and things which were called bon-
nets, made of velvet, cloth, and lur. These bonnets were scarcely
more commendable for elegance than are their spoon-shaped namesakes
of the present day. They chiefly were conspicuous for the absence of
good taste, and the presence of a monstrous plume or bunch of feathers,
which made a dandy’s head look almost like a peacock’s tail. That
these plumed head dresses were purchased quite as much for ornament
as they were for use, may be inferred from the fact that they are very
frequently shown slung behind the back, covering it completely from
the shoulder to the knee. In these cases the wearer, or we should
more rightly say the bearer, perched on his head a little cap about as
large as a muffin, or else covered his crown with a few inches of gold
net.
Peculiar also to this period was a peculiarly shaped cap, which card-
players will hardly need us to describe, for a drawing of it is shown on
each of the four knaves. Other queer-shaped hats and caps were like-
wise then iu fashion, some of which our artist, with the help of his old
manuscripts, has been able to depict. From these glimpses at the
truth we think our readers will be quite as much prepared as we
ourselves are to credit the old chronicler, who informs us that “ye
small boys did make fun of ye grete folke, and when a dandy passed
them, dyd crie out ‘ Who’s youre hattere ? ’ ”
NOBLE SWELL DRESSED FOR THE PROMENADE.
TEMP. HENRY THE SEVENTH.
Positive and Comparative.
“ I Declare,” said Chief Justice Cockburn, losing for once his
good temper, “that woman is more stubborn than a mule,” alluding to a
certain lady’s maid, who is always bringing actions against everybody,
and who is the terror and bete noire, in consequence, of both Bench and
Bar; “Yes, I repeat that that poor misguided woman is more stubborn
than a mule.” Glad of the opportunity, Baron Bramyvell immedi-
ately remarked, “ Exactly so. Brother Cockburn—the comparative oi
Mule is of course Mulier."
!
PUNCH’S BOOK OF BRITISH COSTUMES.
CHAPTER XXXIX. —CONCERNING THE CIVILIANS IN THE
REIGN OF HENRY THE SEVENTH.
ever ELY accurate as our de-
scriptions hitherto have been,
1 hey will henceforth be immea-
surably surpassed in that, par-
ticular. For our knowledge
of Costume we have no longer
to rely on broken-nosed
old effigies, and half-illegible
black-letter chronicles. The
paint brushes of Holbein, of
Rubens and Vandyfce will
henceforth, says a writer,
“ speak volumes to the eye : ”
and as these volumes will be
further enriched by the de-
scriptive pencil of our artist,
they will surpass all that has
hitherto been added to the
history of costume by our
FASHIONABLE GENT IN THE MOST APPROVED
“DUCK-BILLS" OF THE PERIOD. 1485.
pen.
According
to
the chroni-
clers, the clothes worn at the
close of the fifteenth century
were so foolish and fantastical
that, with persons of dis-
tinction, it was difficult to
distinguish one sex from the
other. This indeed might
have been said with almost
equal truth of other eras in
our history, but in the time
of Henry the Seventh it was specially made applicable, not merely
by the fashions, but by the very names of the garments which were
worn, and which were called, as well as cut, the same for male and
female use. Thus in a curious old manuscript called Yf BoJce of
Cvrtasye, the chamberlain is ordered to provide against his master’s
uprising “ a clene sherte and breche, a pettvcote, a doublette, a long
cot.t.e, a stomachere, hvs hozen, hys socks, and hys schoen.” The
order in which these articles were usually put on is indicated in
another writing called “ ye Boke of Kervjnge,” which, in language
somewhat culinary, gives the following quaint recipe, whereof the title
might be written Hoic to Dress a Dandy.
“ Warme your soverayne hys petticotte, his doublett, and his stomacher, and
then putt on hys hozen, and then hys schone or slippers, then stryten up hys hozen
mannerly, and tye them up, and then lace hys doublett hole by bole.”
It may not be unfairly questioned whether en revanche for the
betaking of their husbands to wear stomachers and petticoats, the
ladies now and then were tempted to try putting on the breeches; in
which practice there perhaps may not have been such peril, when there
was no such refuge extant as SikCresswell Cresswell’s Court.
A curious cargo of descriptions of the dresses then in fashion is con-
veyed to us in Barclay’s famous Ship of Footes, which was launched
iu print by Pynson in the year 1508. Among other particulars con
cerning the nobility we bear of “ gorgeous parties ” (as they would
now be called)—
“ Whose necks were charged with collars and with chaines.
In golden withes, their fingers full of rings :
Their necks naked almost unto the raines,
Their sleeves blazing like unto a crane’s wings.”
Besides their almost feminine passion for fine jewellery, the gentle-
men of this age were vastly proud of their fine linen, and to show their
shirt sleeves used to slash their coats. Another way in which they
effected this display was by severing t.lieir coat-sleeves into two or
more divisions, which were tied together by means of “points,” or
laces, between which the shirt sleeve, being made quite loose and full,
was suffered to peep out. The hosen too were sometimes slashed and
puffed above the knee, or differently coloured there to the portion
underneath: a fashion that foreboded the severance of the hosen into
stockings and trunk hose, which division in the course of the next
century took place.
Instead of the long shoes of the last preceding reigns, the feet were
now encased in enormously broad beetlecrushers, the toes whereof says
Pabadin, “ did oftentimes exceed the ye measure of a good foote,” so
that men who had good feet could hardly have walked with comfort in
ihem. Clumsy as they were, however, they must at least have been
more comfortable than the long-toed shoes, which sometimes for con-
venience were chained up to the knees, so that dancers must have
jangled like the men at minor theatres who do hornpipes in stage
fetters. Indeed, for aught, we know, the dandies may have danced t.o
their own music, for we have said that peals of bells were sometimes
worn upon the baldrick ; and when their jingling was added to the
jangling of the knee-chains, we can fancy what a promenade concert
was produced. One of the old balladists draws notice to this fashion,
in lines which have been parodied by some more modern poet, but
which were originally printed in black-letter, thus :—
“ SRitie a coacljJjarsc to fflljaringc its (Crosse,
see ILotb Com figgcli out in fulle force:
SSUitjj bcllg on fjiis balhrtcke anb ebatnes to fps toes,
|P?rc sfyal babc tnustdt inberrber fje goes.”
We should add that as a sort of stepping place between the long
shoes, and the wide ones, a shoe had been iu fashion about five fingers
in length, and at the toe extending to nearly a hand’s breadth. In
some of the old manuscripts
this shoe is t ermed a slipper,
and in winter doubtless the
name was not inapplicable.
Prom their shape these
shoes or slippers were de-
nominated duck-bills ; but
as far as we can learn, there
is no proof extant that
volunteers made use of
them in practising the
goose-step.
To jump from toe to top,
it must be mentioned that
the nobles wore their hair
so long that it fell below
I heir shoulders, thus re-
viving the fashion of the
time of Henry the First.
Faces, we are told expressly,
“ were shaved clean,” and
it is just possible that they
were sometimes washed so :
of which fact, however, in
the absence of good proof
that the nobility in general
were then well off for soap,
we must entreat their spirits
to suffer us a doubt.
Apparently the hood had
almost disappeared, though
in outlandish country places
it doubtless was still visible; just as now-a-days one sees in the
ball-room at Old Fogyborough, the blue coats and brass buttons
which were once the go at Al nacks. For head-cover the dandies
wore broad felt bats and caps, and things which were called bon-
nets, made of velvet, cloth, and lur. These bonnets were scarcely
more commendable for elegance than are their spoon-shaped namesakes
of the present day. They chiefly were conspicuous for the absence of
good taste, and the presence of a monstrous plume or bunch of feathers,
which made a dandy’s head look almost like a peacock’s tail. That
these plumed head dresses were purchased quite as much for ornament
as they were for use, may be inferred from the fact that they are very
frequently shown slung behind the back, covering it completely from
the shoulder to the knee. In these cases the wearer, or we should
more rightly say the bearer, perched on his head a little cap about as
large as a muffin, or else covered his crown with a few inches of gold
net.
Peculiar also to this period was a peculiarly shaped cap, which card-
players will hardly need us to describe, for a drawing of it is shown on
each of the four knaves. Other queer-shaped hats and caps were like-
wise then iu fashion, some of which our artist, with the help of his old
manuscripts, has been able to depict. From these glimpses at the
truth we think our readers will be quite as much prepared as we
ourselves are to credit the old chronicler, who informs us that “ye
small boys did make fun of ye grete folke, and when a dandy passed
them, dyd crie out ‘ Who’s youre hattere ? ’ ”
NOBLE SWELL DRESSED FOR THE PROMENADE.
TEMP. HENRY THE SEVENTH.
Positive and Comparative.
“ I Declare,” said Chief Justice Cockburn, losing for once his
good temper, “that woman is more stubborn than a mule,” alluding to a
certain lady’s maid, who is always bringing actions against everybody,
and who is the terror and bete noire, in consequence, of both Bench and
Bar; “Yes, I repeat that that poor misguided woman is more stubborn
than a mule.” Glad of the opportunity, Baron Bramyvell immedi-
ately remarked, “ Exactly so. Brother Cockburn—the comparative oi
Mule is of course Mulier."
!