14 THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY. 



servant would be little inclined to think that he wears his cockade on 

 the left side to give his sword-arm full liberty. 



Coats. Every one must have noticed the nick in the folded collar 

 of the coat and of the waistcoat ; this is of course made to allow for 

 the buttoning round the neck, but it is in the condition of a rudi- 

 mentary organ, for the nick would probably not come into the right 

 place, and in the waistcoat at least there are usually neither the requi- 

 site buttons nor button-holes. 



" The modern gentleman's coat may be said to take its origin from 

 the vest, or long outer garment, worn toward the end of the reign of 

 Charles II." ! This vest seems to have had no gathering at the waist, 

 and to have been buttoned all down the front, and in shape rather like 

 a loose bag ; to facilitate riding it was furnished with a slit behind, 

 which could be buttoned up at pleasure ; the button-holes were em- 

 broidered, and, in order to secure similarity of embroidery on each side 

 of the slit, the buttons were sewn on to a strip of lace matching the 

 corresponding button-hole on the other side. These buttons and but- 

 ton-holes left their marks in the coats of a century later in the form of 

 gold lacing on either side of the slit of the tails. 



In about the year 1700, it began to be the fashion to gather in the 

 vest or coat at the waist, and it seems that this was first done by two 

 buttons near the hips being buttoned to loops rather nearer to the 

 edge of the coat, and situated at about the level of the waist. Our 

 soldiers much in the same manner now make a waist in their loose 

 overcoats, by buttoning a short strap to two buttons, placed a consid- 

 erable distance apart on the back. 



This old fashion is illustrated in a figure dressed in the costume of 

 1696, in an old illustration of the " Tale of the Tub," and also in the 

 figure of a dandy smelling a nosegay, in Hogarth's picture, entitled 

 "Here Justice triumphs in his Easy-Chair," etc., as well as elesewhere. 

 Engravings of this transition period of dress are, however, somewhat 

 rare, and it is naturally not common to be able to get a good view of 

 the part of the coat under the arms. This habit of gathering in the 

 waist will, I think, explain how it was that, although the buttons and 

 button-holes were retained down the front edges, the coat came to be 

 worn somewhat open in front. 



The coat naturally fell in a number of plaits or folds below these 

 hip-buttons ; but in most of Hogarth's pictures, although the buttons 

 and plaits remain, yet the creases above the buttons disappear, and 

 seams appear to run from the buttons up under the arms. It may be 

 worth mentioning that in all such matters of detail Hogarth's accuracy 

 is notorious, and that therefore his engravings are most valuable for 

 the study of the dress of the period. At the end of the seventeenth, 

 and at the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, coats seem very com- 

 monly to have been furnished with slits running from the edge of the 



1 Fairholt, p. 479. 



