522 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



to be found in the latest portraits of William of Orange, tbe constant oppo- 

 nent of Louis XIV., and the loser of that battle. 



Cravats, in various forms, did not go out of fashion until about thirty 

 years since, and may still be seen occasionally. 



The stock, however, a band fashioned of cambric and fastened behind the 

 neck by a buckle, was occasionally worn, late in the reign of George II., 

 and for the first twenty years of that of his successor. The son of the 

 latter, however, afterwards George IV., having, it is said, unsightly scars 

 on his neck, introduced, in order to hide them, a most preposterous addition 

 to the cravat. This was a species of mattrass, formed of silk, padded with 

 cotton, of sufficient breadth to reach from the breast to the lower lip. This 

 was enveloped in cambric and tied by it around the neck. 



Philip of Orleans (Egalife), while in disgrace at the court of France, 

 resided for a time in Fngland, whence he carried this fashion, with other 

 proofs of '■'' Anglo-maiiie'''' into France. Among these was the cut away 

 coat, such as is now worn in full dress, in lieu of the old court garment. 

 This coat, with long and narrow tails, with the padding-lined cravat, became 

 the distinctive dress of the opponents of the royal authority, at the break- 

 ing out of the revolution. They were worn by the incroyahles up to the 

 time of the Consulate, when more rational forms of neck covering began 

 to prevail. 



The cravat was still stiffened by a light frame, which, however, did not 

 raise it beyond the chin, until Beau Brummel found out that " starch was 

 the thing." " " ' 



This brilliant discovery had but a short lived influence, for it was speedily 

 superseded by the black stock. 



The substitution of a black for a white material for the covering of the 

 neck, is borrowed from the French military men. They, during the wars 

 of the revolution, discarded many of the fopperies of dress, and in imitation 

 of them, the whole student-world of Paris W'ore black silk cravats as early 

 as 1816. Leather stocks were worn by private soldiers as early as 1800, 

 both in French and English armies. Officers wore cravats of black silk, 

 but Napoleon himself, and his great opponent, the Duke of Wellington, 

 wore white cambric to the latest period of their lives. 



The first black satin stock ever seen in New York, was sent to me from 

 Paris, by my brother-in-law, Henry Brevoort, about the year 1828. It 

 was several months before I ventured to put it on, and several years before 

 it was worn in full dress. It finally prevailed, even among the clergy, and 

 I have heard that a right reverend prelate "had trouble in bringing back 

 some of his presbyters to the orthodox white tie. 



Dr. Stevens. — The most natural covering for the neck is that which 

 nature provides. The peculiar dermal structure of the face, which enables 

 it to withstand atmospheric changes, is continued down on the neck, and 

 enables it, to some extent, to endure the action of the atmosphere. This 

 is seen in the thickening of the tissues immediately under the skin, and in 

 the peculiar arrangement of the nerves; a somewhat similar dermal strue- 



