King George III. was very young when he came to the throne, and he was retiring and modest in his personal habits, so that he did not set the fashion in any extravagant direction. The nobility and gentry started all that was new in the fashions without waiting for the royal sanction to their flippancies and extravagances.
Both ladies and gentlemen dressed simply at first, Fig. 1 being the type of the male costume of the time. It was only remarkable for the great quantity of lace with which the coat and waistcoat were trimmed.
The dress of the countryman at this time was conspicuous for its “bagginess.” The garments were full and easy, the natural hair was worn; a loosely-twisted neckcloth, enormous hat, and easy shoes completed a dress, which “was remarkable as fitting only where it touched.”
At the commencement of the reign, men’s hats were worn with very wide brims (about 6½ inches wide), and cocked in various styles according to the profession of the wearer. A favourite cocked hat was the Nivernois. It was very small, with large flaps, fastened up to the shallow crown by hooks and eyes. The corner in front was spout-shaped, and stiffened out by wire.
Gold-laced hats were generally worn again in 1775, because the wearers thought that they gave them a military and distinguished appearance, and it is said that many men wore them to escape the attentions of the press gang, that were remarkably active about this time. In 1772 a new fashion was introduced by young gentlemen who had been travelling in Italy. They formed themselves into the Maccaroni Club, which was intended as a rival to the Beefsteak Club, and distinguished themselves by a most extravagant and eccentric costume.
The new-fashioned dandy was known as a Maccaroni (Figs. 2 and 3). His hair was dressed into an enormous toupÉe, with large curls at the sides, while behind it was gathered and tied up into an enormous club or knot, that rested on the back of the neck. Upon this, a very small hat was often worn (Fig. 3). A full, white handkerchief was tied in a large bow round the neck. Both coat and waistcoat were shortened, and were edged with lace or braid. The garments were decorated with the wearer’s initials, pictures of windmills, horsemen, hounds, &c., showing to what extent a ridiculous fashion can be carried. Two watches were worn, one in each waistcoat pocket, from which hung large bunches of seals. Silk stockings, and small shoes with diamond buckles, completed the costume, which, however, remained in fashion only one season.
About the middle of the reign of George III., the square-cut coat and the long-flapped waistcoat of the three preceding reigns underwent an alteration. The stiffening was taken out of the skirts, the waists were shortened, and the cut of the present Court suit introduced. Cloth became the general material for the coat, and velvet, silk, satin, and embroidery, were reserved for Court dress or waistcoats and breeches only. The stockings were worn under the breeches, and shoes had large buckles. The lace cravat was abandoned in 1735, and a black ribbon, worn around the neck, was tied in a large bow in front. White cambric stocks, buckled behind, succeeded these, and then followed muslin cravats.
Round hats began to be worn in the mornings, and shortly after this time the French Revolution in 1789 completed the downfall of the three-cornered hat on both sides of the Channel. A flat, folding, crescent-shaped beaver, still called a cocked hat, distinguished the beaux at the theatre, and the chapeau-de-bras, a small triangular silk article, was slipped under the arm of the courtier.
The original three-cornered hat remains in the head-dress of State coachmen of Royal and noble families, and of the Lord Mayor of London, while the chapeau-de-bras is still worn as part of the Court dress.
The French Revolution also affected the wig. It had, during the latter half of the 18th century, become smaller and smaller, and the natural hair was plastered and powdered till it was, at last, as ugly as a wig. This fashion remains in the present day in the powdered hair of footmen in full dress. About 1793, French fashions, copied from the costumes of the leaders of the Revolution, became very much the vogue in this country. A high sugar-loaf hat covered the head, and the flowing hair was powdered; a frilled shirt, a white striped waistcoat, a loose cravat of white cambric tied in a large bow, were worn, and a long green coat covered the upper part of the body. The breeches were tight, and reached to the ankle, being buttoned from the bottom, up the sides to the middle of the thigh, and low top-boots were worn.
Towards the end of the reign, the shirt collar appeared, and the ruffle vanished. The coat was made with lapels and with a tail cut square in front above the hips, like the modern dress-coat. The waistcoat was cut ridiculously short, and pantaloons and Hessian boots were introduced about the same time.
PLATE 53.
(Fig. 1): Costume of a gentleman at the commencement of the reign of George III. It is remarkable only for the extra quantity of lace with which it is decorated, and the small black cravat which he wears. (Fig. 2): Side view of head-dress of a Maccaroni, showing (1) the height to which the hair was raised and plastered, (2) the row of curls around it, and (3) the large “club” tied with a broad ribbon. (Fig. 3): Complete costume of a Maccaroni (1772) showing a different treatment of the hair from that in Fig. 2, the ridiculously small hat, and the ornamented coat are also shown. (Fig. 4): A hat of the style worn in 1786. (Fig. 5): The last form of the cocked hat. Both Figs. 4 and 5 may be taken as specimens of the latter days of the wig, “large curls, ties and bob, ending in a single pigtail.” (Fig. 6): Fashionable riding dress in 1786. The costume consists of a broad brimmed hat with band and buckle, powdered wig and pigtail, a long-tailed coat with large buttons, tight buckskin breeches buttoned at the knee, and high boots. (Fig. 7): A hat of the newest fashion of 1792, gaily decorated with gold strings and tassels. The natural hair is worn powdered, and the high coat collar is very characteristic of the time. (All the above are from contemporary prints.)
FEMALE COSTUMES.
Both George III. and his wife were decorous and retiring in their habits, and during their reign the fashions were started and maintained by the nobility and gentry of their Court.
The latter “did not wait for the royal sanction to their flippancies, and their taste or want of taste ran riot during this reign to an extent that equalled the absurdities of any previous period, and which makes the history of fashion during that time more varied than that of any similar length of time.”
At the commencement of the reign, ladies’ dresses were generally simple enough; but about 1763 the fashion came over from France of dressing the hair by curling and crisping it, and raising it by adding pomatum, upon a foundation of “many a good pound of wool,” into such an erection “that my lady is dressed for three months at least, during which time it is not in her power to comb her head.” So enormous were these head-dresses, that a satirist said: “Our fine ladies remind me of an apple stuck on the point of a small skewer.” A sign of the times was the number of works written by hairdressers, which appeared with many illustrations, describing the various styles of these monstrosities of hairdressing, “for in those days hairdressers were great men.”
When the Maccaroni costume was adopted in 1772 by some of the dandies, many ladies followed suit with a costume on similar, extravagant lines, particularly copying the enormous toupÉe.
In 1775 another fashion came in, depicted in Fig. 1. The head-dress is called a half-moon toupÉe, combed up from the forehead, large curls being made at the sides, and a plume of feathers surmounting the structure. Round the neck is a simple ribbon. The gown is high behind at the neck, and low in front, with a large bunch of flowers stuck in the breast, and the body is tightly confined in stays strengthened with steel busks. The sleeves reach to the elbow; long gloves are worn, and the fan is constantly displayed.
The gown is open from the waist, and gathered in festoons at the sides, the edges being ornamented with silk ribbons in puffs, forming a diamond shaped pattern and edged with lace. The petticoat, which is displayed by the open gown, is similarly decorated, and small, high-heeled shoes with rosettes complete the dress.
The head-dress continued as monstrous as ever until, in 1782, it reached the enormous size shown in Fig. 6. One hairdresser, on completing his task, told the lady that “heads, when properly dressed, kept for three weeks”; that they would not “keep” longer may be seen from the many recipes given for the destruction of the insects which bred in the flour and pomatum so liberally bestowed upon the head-dresses. Needless to say, these structures gave unlimited materials to the many satirists and caricaturists of the period. About 1786 the heads began to lower, and the hair was allowed to stream down the back, a fashion attributed to the portrait painters, led by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Hats with enormous brims were worn of the style shown in Fig. 4, which represents a lady in a fashionable riding dress of 1786.
In 1789 the hair began to be worn “frizzled” in a close bush all over, with pendant curls on the back and shoulders (Fig. 5). The high bonnet of the French peasants was introduced and was worn trimmed with lace, so that it hung over the face like an extinguisher. The puffed out chest, the little frilled jacket and tight sleeves, were also very characteristic of this time.
A curious fashion came in during 1783, in the use of straw as an ornament of dress. It was used to decorate everything, from the cap to the shoe buckle, and naturally this was the era of straw bonnets. In 1794 extremely short waists became fashionable; that is to say, the waists of dresses were carried up to the armpits. In derision of this fashion, a song commencing,
“Shepherds, I have lost my love,
Have you seen my Anna?”
was parodied thus by a wag:
“Shepherds, I have lost my waist,
Have you seen my body?”
The gown was worn without a hoop, and fell in straight, loose folds to the feet. The fashion of powdering the hair fell into disuse, for Mr. Pitt, computing that it would bring in a revenue of about £210,000, put a tax upon powdering the hair, and almost everyone, to his disgust, abandoned the fashion.
Although the hoop had been discarded in private life for some time, it appeared regularly at Court in as great state as ever (Fig. 7).
It was decorated with ribbons, cords, tassels, and bunches of flowers; the waist was pinched, and the head overloaded with feathers, jewels, ribbons, and ornaments—altogether a most uncomfortable attire.
Many of the fashions at the end of George’s reign became tasteful and simple, and illustrations of them will be seen in the portraits, engravings, and caricatures of the time.
PLATE 54.
(Fig. 1): Costume of a lady in 1775, from an illustration in the “Ladies’ Magazine” of that year (taken from a drawing made at Ranelagh). (Fig. 2): A bonnet “of unassisted British taste” of the time of the Regency, 1811-1820. (Fig. 3): A head-dress about 1768, from a curious work written by a hairdresser named Stewart, under the astounding title of “Plocacosmos, or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing.” It is a large but light compound of gauze, wire, ribbons and flowers, sloping over the forehead. (Fig. 4): A lady’s fashionable riding costume in August, 1786 (from a print). (Fig. 5): A lady of fashion in 1789 (from a print dated 1790). (Fig. 6): Head-dress of a lady, 1766 (in Stewart’s “Plocacosmos”). (Fig. 7): A lady in Court dress in 1796. The hoop petticoat, though fallen into disuse generally, was retained in the Court dress.
THE MONASTIC ORDERS.
PLATE 55.
1. The Benedictines (Fig. 1) are the most ancient of the Monastic Orders, and have always been the most learned. They were founded by St. Benedict in Italy about A.D. 529, as a monastery for 12 monks, in order that they might live, in a religious community, a Christian life with lofty ideals. Originally, St. Benedict’s idea was not to found an Order whose branches should extend throughout Europe as one organisation, but rather that the various houses should be independent of one another.
The Order spread very rapidly, being very rational and elastic in its rules, and it displaced the others that were in existence. Pope Gregory the Great gave to it his high approval, for as the learned Abbot Gasquet says:—“In his (Gregory’s) opinion, it manifested no common wisdom in its provisions, which were dictated by a marvellous insight into human nature, and by a knowledge of the best possible conditions for attaining the end of a monastic life, the perfect love of God and of man.”
Its rule did not enforce ascetism, and great liberty was given to the heads of the Order to modify its regulations to suit special circumstances. The Mission sent to England by St. Augustine, A.D. 597, consisted of a Prior and Monks of St. Benedict’s rule; and as Christianity spread in this country, so the number of houses of the Order increased, until “during the whole Saxon period, this was the only form of monasticism in England.”
2. The Cluniacs grew out of the Benedictines, being established at Cluny, near Macon-sur-Saone, A.D. 912. By the Benedictine rule, all religious houses were self-centred. The Cluniac rule established a new principle—that there should be a great central monastery, with dependencies spread over many lands, all owing allegiance to the central authority. In every case, the Superior of the lesser houses was not elected by the community, but was nominated by the Abbot of Cluny.
The Order was established in England shortly after the Norman Conquest, and when the monasteries were suppressed in the 16th century, there were thirty-two Cluniac Monasteries in this country, one only—at Bermondsey—being an abbey.
3. The Cistercians (Fig. 2).
This was the most flourishing offshoot of the Benedictines, and was founded at the Monastery of Citeaux, A.D. 1092. Though not the founder the greatest organiser was an Englishman, St. Stephen Harding. The Cistercians formed themselves “into an organised corporation, under the perpetual pre-eminence of the Abbot and house of Citeaux, with yearly Chapters, which all Superiors were bound to attend.”
The Order spread very rapidly, and the first abbey was founded in England A.D. 1129. At the general suppression there were one hundred Cistercian houses in this country.
4. The Carthusians (Fig. 3).
This Order was founded in the 11th century on very strict and ascetic lines. The monks lived a life of the greatest austerity and practised the most self-denying ordinances. Their clothes were mean and rough; they never ate meat—fish and eggs being the only animal food allowed, and that only on two days in the week. On two days they had pulse or herbs boiled, and on three days bread and water—only two meals a day being taken.
The first Carthusian house was founded in England A.D. 1180, and there were only eight monasteries of the Order in this country at the dissolution of the monasteries.
Most of the above Orders had houses of Nuns affiliated to them.
