2'>dS.N''54.,JAN. 10. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



33 



in Peacliam's case; and it is said, that most of them 

 concur to find it treason, yet my Lord Chief Justice 

 [Coke] is for the contrary; and if the Lord Hobart, that 

 rides the West Circuit, can be drawn to jump with his 

 colleague, the Chief Baron [Tanfield], it is thought he 

 shall be sent down to be tried and trussed up in Somer- 

 setshire." 



It is evident that this wretched king had some 

 difficulty in making out a case against the poor 

 old minister, who had justly denounced the 

 wicked practices of the Court, and written " trait- 

 orous slanders against his Majesty's person." The 

 King's logic upon high treason in the paper called 

 " The True State of the Question whether Pea- 

 cham's case be Treason or not," is most amusing, 

 and worth a quiet perusal. 



I beg leave to refer those interested in the pre- 

 sent question to C. W. Johnson's Life of Sir Ed- 

 ward Cohei second edition, vol. i. p. 240. et seq. 



Edwaed F. Bimbault. 



FASHIONS. 



(2"^ S. i. 332.) 



In Malcolm's Anecdotes of the Manners and Ctis- 

 toms of London during the Eighteenth Century 

 (London, 1810), I find, at p. 337. of the second 

 volume, the following passage, which will doubt- 

 less interest Mb. R. W. Hackwood : 



" The author of Historical Remarks 07t Dress, published 

 in 1761, by Jefferies, asserts, that party-coloured coats were 

 first worn ia England in the time of Henry I. ; chaplets, 

 or wreaths of artificial flowers, in the time of Edward III. ; 

 hoods and short coats without sleeves, called tabarts, in 

 the time of Henry IV. ; hats, in the time of Henry VII. ; 

 ruffs, in the reign of Edward VI. ; and wrought caps, or 

 bonnets, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Judge Finch 

 introduced the band in the time of James I. French 

 hoods, bibs, and gorgets, were discontinued by the queen 

 of Charles 1. The commode, or tower, was introduced in 

 1687; shoes of the then fashion, in 1633; breeches, in- 

 stead of trunk hose, in 1654. And perukes were first 

 worn after the Restoration." 



As Mb. Hackwood expresses a wish to hear 

 something about periwigs, I would refer him to the 

 second volume of Malcolm's work, in the eighth 

 chapter of which he will find several notices of 

 the different kinds worn in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. The following curious passage occurs in 

 the first volume of Malcolm's book (p. 104).: 



" It is not often that thefts can be narrated which are 

 calculated to excite a smile ; and yet I am much mis- 

 taken if the reader doth not relax his risible faculties, 

 when he is informed of a singular method of stealing 

 wigs, practised in 1717. This I present him verbatim 

 from the Weekly Journal of March 30 : ' The thieves have 

 got such a villainous way now of robbing gentlemen, that 

 they cut through the backs of Hackney coaches, and take 

 away their wigs, or fine head-dresses of gentlewomen ; so 

 a gentleman was served last Sunday in Tooley-street, 

 and another but last Tuesday in Fenchurch-street ; 

 wherefore, this may serve for a caution to gentlemen or 



gentlewomen that ride single in the night-time, to sit on 

 the fore-seat, which will prevent that way of robbing.' " 



At the present time, when Punch is carrying on 

 such a vigorous crusade against the prevailing 

 fashion as regards ladies' dresses, the following 

 extracts from Malcolm will not be out of place : 



" The Weekly Journal of January, 1717, mentions the 

 death of the celebrated mantua-maker, Mrs. Selby, whose 

 inventive talents supplied the ladies with that absurd and 

 troublesome obstruction, that enemy to elegance and 

 S3'mmetry, the hooped petticoat. The same paper of a 

 subsequent date contains an humourous essay on the ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages of the hooped petticoat. As 

 I presume the reader with me inclines to the disadvan- 

 tages, he Avill be pleased, with a short extract : ' I be- 

 lieve it would puzzle the quickest invention to find out 

 one tolerable conveniency in these machines. I appeal to 

 the sincerity of the ladies, whether they are not a great 

 incumbrance upon all occasions (vanity apart), both at 

 home and abroad. What skill and management is re- 

 quired to reduce one of these circles within the limits of 

 a chair, or to find space for two in a chariot ; and what 

 precautions must a modest female take even to enter at 

 the doors of a private family without obstruction ! Then 

 a vivacious damsel cannot turn herself round in a room a 

 little inconsiderately without oversetting every thing like 

 a whirlwind ; stands and tea-tables, flower-pots, China- 

 jars and basins innumerable perish daily bj' this spread- 

 ing mischief, which, like a comet, spares nothing that 

 comes within its sweep. Neither is this fashion more 

 ornamental than convenient. Nothing can be imagined 

 more unnatural, and consequently less agreeable. When 

 a slender virgin stands upon a basis so exorbitantly wide, 

 she resembles a funnel, a figure of no great elegancy; 

 and I have seen many fine ladies of a low stature, who, 

 when they sail in their hoops about an apartment, look 

 like children in go-carts.' " (2nd vol. pp. 321-2.) 



" The ladies wore hooped petticoats, scarlet cloaks, and 

 masks, when walking. The hoops were fair games for 

 the wits, and they spared them not. 



' " An elderly lady whose bulky squat figure 



By hoop and white damask was rendered much bigger. 

 Without hood and bare-neck'd to the park did repair. 

 To shew her new clothes, and to take the fresh air ; 

 Her shape, her attire, rais'd a shout and loud laughter ; 

 Away waddles madam ; the mob hurries after. 

 Quoth a wag, then observing the noisy crowd follow. 

 As she came with a hoop, she is gone with a hollow.' " 



(2nd vol. p. 323.) 



Vespbetilio. 



VEBSBS ON LONDON. 



(l'» S. vii. 238.) 



These verses are much older than the year 

 1811. They have not only considerable smart- 

 ness, but in their original state contain some allu- 

 sions to things now passed away, which I think 

 will entitle them to be reprinted in " N. & Q. : " 



" a DESCKIPTION of LONDON. 



"/m imitation of Scaron's Description of Paris. 



" Houses, Churches, mix'd together ; 

 Streets, unpleasant in all weather ; 

 Prisons, Palaces, contiguous ; 

 Gates ; a Bridge ; the Thames irriguous. 



