HATS. 



509 



is more carious, some of a certaine kinde of fine 

 haire; these they call bever hattes of xx., xxx., or 

 xl. shillings price, fetched from beyonde the seas, 

 from whence a greate sorte of other vanities doe 

 come besides ; and so common a thing it is, that 

 every servyng man, countreiman, and other, even 

 all indifferently, doe weare of these hattes ; for he 

 is of no account or estimation amongst men, if he 

 have not a velvet or taffatie hat, and that must be 

 pinched and cunningly carved of the best fashion." 

 Shortly afterwards the rim became remarkably 

 broad, and when much worn was liable to hang 

 down, from thence the name of slouched hats. In 

 1607, a horseman's hat is recommended to be " a 

 hat which will sit close and firme upon your head, 

 with an indifferent narrow verge or brim, so that 

 in the saults or bounds of your horse it may 

 neither through widenesse or unwieldinesse fall from 

 your head, nor with the breadth of the brim fall 

 into your eies, and impeach your sight, both which 

 are verie grosse errors." In a play, called " A 

 Challenge for Beauty," written by Heywood in 

 1636, there is a song describing the fashions of dif-' 

 ferent nations, in words which will equally apply 

 to the present period : 



The Turk in linen wraps his head, 



The Persian his in lawn too ; 

 The Russe with sables furs his cap, 



Alid change will not be drawn to ; 

 The Spaniard's constant to his block. 



The French inconstant ever ; 

 But of all felts that may l>e felt, 



Uive me your English beaver. 



During the reign of Charles I., the common- 

 wealth, and the reigns of Charles II., James II., 

 and William III., very broad brims were in fashion. 

 The inconvenience of these very broad brims be- 

 ing at length felt, first one, and then two flaps 

 were made to turn up, until about the time of 

 queen Anne, when the third flap was turned up, 

 and the regular cocked hat formed. Cocked hats 

 of various sorts, were for the ensuing fifty or sixty 

 years, much in vogue. In the Taller and Specta- 

 tor they are frequently alluded to, and the " Mon- 

 mouth Cock," the " Ramillies Cock," the " Hunt- 

 ing Cock," and the " Military Cock," are alluded 

 to. In No. 532 is a letter from John Sly, haber- 

 dasher of hats, in which he says, "his hats for men 

 of law and physic do but just turn up, to give a 

 little life to their sagacity ; his military hats glare 

 full in the face ; and he has prepared a familiar easy 

 cock for all good companions, between the above 

 extremes." About 1750, round hats became very 

 prevalent among the lower orders, and cocked hats 

 were considered as a mark of distinction from them. 

 In the Rambler, dated 1751, a young gentleman 

 says, that his mother exclaimed, " she would rather 

 follow me to the grave than see me tear my clothes 

 and hang down my head, sneak about, with dirty 

 shoes, blotted fingers, hair unpowdered, and hat 

 uncocked." About 1780 round hats first became 

 fashionable, and about 1790 cocked hats disappeared 

 from common wear. 



Feathers have been used as ornaments for the hat 

 or cap from an early period. They were commonly 

 worn as late as the reign of queen Anne. In the 

 Taller, No VII., " The bridegroom's feathers on 

 his hat all drooped." It is also mentioned in other 

 places in the Taller, Spectator, &c. In some 

 foreign countries it is considered a mark of honour. 

 A heron's plume, set in diamonds, was presented 

 by the sultan to lord Nelson. In China, peacocks' 

 feathers are used for the same purpose. In lord 



Macartney's Embassy to China, it is said, that " iu 

 this dignity there are three degrees, according to 

 the number of feathers granted to the wearer. He 

 to whom three feathers had been granted, thought 

 himself thrice great and happy ;" " some were 

 honoured with peacocks' feathers, stuck in an agate 

 tube, and pendant from the bonnet." In modern 

 times, and at present, feathers in the hat are only 

 worn by dignitaries on state occasions, or by mili- 

 tary men. Joachim Murat, once king of Naples, 

 executed in 1814, generally wore a splendid ostrich 

 plumein battle. Some of our readers may remember 

 bhe superb plume worn by king George IV. at his 

 coronation. Cocks' feathers, with the edges tinged 

 in crimson, are common in the military dresses of 

 officers of rank in England and Russia. In France 

 a fringe of white feathers is worn. 



In the days of chivalry, and for some short time 

 afterwards, it was frequently the fashion to wear 

 some distinguishing badge in the hat. It has con- 

 tinued to our times in the shape of a cockade. 

 These badges, when given by a lady, were of 

 course highly valued and carefully preserved ; in 

 the first year of Henry IV., we hear of the conspi- 

 rators under the duke of Exeter that, " one ware 

 on his head-piece his lady's sieve, and another bare 

 on his helme the glove of his dearlyng." This 

 custom is constantly alluded to in the history of 

 those times. It is said, that a glove in the hat 

 was worn as the favour of a mistress, the memo- 

 rial of a friend, or a mark to be challenged as an 

 enemy. When an adversary gave a challenge, he 

 threw down his glove, which the other placed in 

 his hat, whence the origin of this custom. Wear- 

 ing yew in the hat, in mourning, is mentioned by 

 G. Wither, in 1633 ; 



But then, why mourn I not to open view ? 



In sable robes, according to the rites ? 

 Why is my hat without a oranch of yeugh ? 



We do not know whether this custom of wear- 

 ing yew as mourning still prevails to any extent in 

 England, but a popular doggrel of the day, begin- 

 ning, 



" All round my hat, I wear the green willow," 



would seem to indicate that it is not entirely ex- 

 tinct. Particular plants were worn as badges of a 

 party or family in ancient times. The Plarita- 

 genets derived their name from the circumstance of 

 an ancestor wearing heather, or broom, in his hel- 

 met, (in Latin, Planta yenista.*) In Sir Walter 

 Scott's novels, the Monastery and the Abbot, many 

 of our readers will remember the holly, the badge 

 of the Avenel family. The highland clans had 

 each a peculiar tree or plant. The Welsh wear 

 leeks on St David's day, in memory of the gallant 

 behaviour of a party of Welsh troops in a battle, 

 where, being posted in a garden, they put leeks in 

 their caps. The Irish wear the shamrock on St 

 Patrick's day, in honour of that saint, who is said 

 to have refuted some persons who were arguing 

 against the doctrine of the trinity, by plucking 

 a leaf of it, and showing them that it contained 

 Three in One. Oak-leaves are worn in many parts 

 of the country, in memory of king Charles II. 

 sheltering himself from his pursuers in that tree 

 after the battle of Worcester; laurel is worn by the 

 foot guards on the 18th of June, in memory of 

 Waterloo. 



Of cockades, the white is the well-known badge 

 of the families of Stuart and Bourbon ; blue, 

 white, and red, of France ; and blue, yellow, and 

 red, of Belgium ; orange, of the family of Orange- 



