CH. XVIII DRESS OF THE MEN 419 



they are being put on, and are heavy. A good silk 

 hat is not much hurt by rain, if, after coming home, 

 it is wet all over and wiped with a wet cloth. After 

 it is quite dry, it should be brushed with a hard 

 brush, and then with a soft one or a velvet pad ; 

 some coachmen keep a hatter's iron in the harness- 

 room to improve it still further. 



Cockades are worn in the men's hats only when 

 the owner of the coach is, or has been, an Officer 

 of the Army or Navy, or in the Diplomatic Service. 

 It is usually considered that the cockade with a fan 

 belongs to military officers, and the cockade with 

 only the oval body, to Civil Servants of the Gov- 

 ernment.* 



Tan-coloured dog-skin gloves complete the cos- 

 tume ; the gloves should not be white. 



A coachman's coat has flaps on the hips where 

 pockets would be ; a groom's coat has not. The 

 buttons are silver or gilt, corresponding to the 

 mountings of the harness, and should have, raised 

 on them, a monogram or crest ; a perfectly plain 

 metal button suggests a livery stable. The tails of 



* The cockade probably originated with the button used to fasten 

 up the brim of the hat, and seems to have been confined at first to 

 the military servants of Army officers ; it has, for a long time, been 

 a badge of party, as the white, the red, and the tricolour cockades of 

 French history and the black or white cockades of the Houses of 

 Hanover or Stuart. The cockades of Embassy and Legation ser- 

 vants have different colours : for Austria they are black and yellow, 

 for Belgium, black, yellow, and red, etc. 



