DEVELOPMENT IN DRESS. 45 



Blurt, up under the arms, and these' were made to button up, in a man- 

 ner similar in all respects to the slit of the tails. The sword was 

 usually worn under the coat, and the sword-hilt came through the slit 

 on the left side. Later on these slits appear to have been sewed up, 

 and the buttons and button-holes died away, with the exception of two 

 or three buttons just at the tops of the slits ; thus in coats of about 

 the year 1705, it is not uncommon to see several buttons clustered 

 about the tops of all three slits. The buttons at the top of the centre 

 slit entirely disappeared, but the two buttons now on the backs of our 

 coats trace their pedigree up to those on the hips. Thus it is not im- 

 probable that, although our present buttons represent those used for 

 making the waist, as above explained, yet that they in part represent 

 the buttons for fastening up these side-slits. 



The folds which we now wear below the buttons on the back are the 

 descendants of the falling plaits, notwithstanding that they appear as 

 though they were made for, and that they are in fact commonly used 

 as, the recesses for the tail-pockets ; but that this was not their original 

 object is proved by the fact that during the last century the pockets 

 were either vertical or horizontal, placed a little in front of the two 

 hip-buttons (which have since moved round toward the back), and 

 had highly-embroidered flaps, buttons, and button-holes. The hori- 

 zontal pockets may now be traced in the pocket-flaps of court-dress 

 before alluded to ; and the vertical pocket is represented by some 

 curious braiding and a row of buttons, which may be observed on the 

 tails of the tunics of the Foot-Guards. The details of the manner in 

 which this last rudiment became reduced to its present shape may be 

 traced in books of uniforms, and one of the stages may now be fre- 

 quently seen in the livery of servants, in the form of a row of three or 

 fonr buttons running down near the edge of the tail, sewn on to a scal- 

 loped patch of cloth (the pocket-flap), which is itself sewed to the coat. 



In the last century, when the coats had large flapping skirts, it be- 

 came the custom (as may be seen in Hogarth's pictures) to button 

 back the two corners of the coat, and also to button forward the inner 

 corners, so as to separate the tails for convenience in riding. 1 This 

 custom left its traces in the uniform of our soldiers down to the in- 

 troduction of the modern tunic, and such traces may still be seen in 

 some uniforms, for example, those of a lord-lieutenant and of the 

 French gensdarmerie. In the uniforms of which I speak, the coats 

 have swallow-tails, and these are broadly edged with a light-colored 

 border, tapering upward and getting broader downward ; at the bot- 

 tom of the tail, below where the borders join (at which joining there 

 is usually a button), there is a small triangle of the same color as the 

 coat with its apex at this button. This curious appearance is explained 

 thus : the two corners, one of which is buttoned forward and the 



1 It seems to have been in actual use in 1760, although not in 1794. See Cannon's 

 " Hist. Rec. of British Army" (Loudon, 1837), the Second Dragoon Guards 



