/
THE QUAKER
A Study in Costume
n
AMELIA MOTT GUMMERE
" 1 hu»e thy i j'
n. I another', pie and j
they are, the letter. Neither unshapely,
nor I; and for L^c and l>eceocy,
and : .!e."
William 1'ens, 1G93.
$f](Iat>rlpf)ta
FERRIS & LEACH, Publishers
29 North Seventh Street
1901
Copy* t VWU
[TROD I CTION
■
■
<|u< r if il
t he sen.-
I } ••< ami
in I
mncfa
: " — a \v
Pan
m
iv. INTRODUCTION.
his whole style of living, and intercourse with his fel-
low-men.
There arc three distinct periods into which tl
tory of Quaker dress will naturally Call: — the period of
persecution, when the early Friends had everything at
stake, and life was to them more than meal and the
body than raiment; the Becond, <t reactionary period,
when their position was established, their cause won,
and prosperity, with its SB proving, as it
always will prove, a far more dangerous foe than tin-
perils of adversity; and the third, or modern period,
when the crisis of the present brings them face to face
with intricate problems, and <lr< - in f;ill- it
proper place in the general Bcheme of things. We -hall
see that in the face of a real issue, Quakerism disre-
garded the question of • and it is worth while to
trace the growth and development of the traditional
idea of Quaker costume, as it has come to be universally
accepted. In other words, we Bhall Btudy the Quaker
in the light of a Higher Criticism, applied to the Doc-
trine of Cloth
Since the great days of persecution, when, for the
sake of a principle, all the minor " testimonies " gained
in weight and import, bearing their share in forwarding
the caase of Truth and Quakerism, many of the beliefs
then peculiar to a sect are now held by multitudes of
God-fearing people the world over. A total absence in
the denominational schools of any proper teaching of
Quaker history, has in past years made the matter of
dress a veritable " cross " to many a youthful member,
who has thrown off the obnoxious burden as soon as he
was master of his own movements; a result that might
/\ PRODI CTIOW. v.
frequently have been avoided, had he at all appreciated
hi- inheritance. But an understanding "i" the Bpirit of
Quakerism can do more come by heredity alone than
can any of tin- other Christian virtues; and many a
voung -<'iil has lived hungry for Borne explanation of
the reason for the singularity forced upon him, quite
unsatisfied by being told thai the elder Friends "de-
sired t«» have him encouraged." The force "1 example
in this case has had a magnificenl demonstration; but
even it has failed to give the intelligent understanding
«.f .an-«-. without which, when the test comes, the
-train must prove too great. Th< nt crisis in the
whole religious world i- upon the Quaker no less than
upon every other member of n sect. Bow many of his
young people can judge, from a clear understanding of
the history of their Society, whether the now problems
— social, religious or moral— are counter to his own
ancestors' teachings, put forth at the cost of life itself,
or ; ' i Tl Quaker prophets must be
made t<» live ;!L r ain in the history of their lives and all
-
they meant, or the youth of the Soci< not he prop-
erly accounted Quakers. They will doubtless beco
od ( Christians, in the flood of modern religious teach-
ing now surrounding them. Ami it i- possible that this
i- enough, and the Qui k< r has done hi- part, and won
repose. If not, then I believe that the Quakers have
not sufficiently appreciated the immense chasm between
seventeenth ami ninel century needs, 1 that
there are " crosses " far more weighty to be borne than
this <4 the garb, which, if it be worn at all, should he
regarded as a privilege. The penitential spirit of the
last century Quaker, rather than combat the great evils
vi. l\ TRODX OTION.
existing in the world about him, and manfully seel
clear its political and social atmosphere, Bpenl fruitless
energy, first, in :i < i « 1 i 1 1 ir t.> the weigh! of this " cro
of lii> peculiar garb, and thru in teaching his constitu-
ency how t<> be patient under their burden, forgetting,
as Vaughan has well put it. that '* there Lb quite
much s<]f-will in going out of the way of a blessing
seek a misery, as in avoiding ;i duty for the Bake of
ease."
The descriptions here given have in every case had
the authority of an original article of dress, or the oxpe
rience of a participant in the incident quoted. Despite
the lapse of time, there still exists ample material for
the Btudy of Quaker costume. I toll model- still remain;
the flat hut is a treasured relic in more than one family,
and old silhouettes, daguerreotypes, portraits and pen
drawings are to be found in many a household whose
walls have never been adorned with BUch vanities, sim-
ply because human affection is too strong to be lightly
set aside. There is qo community of people among
whom, as a class, family heirlooms, old plate, and the
costumes of an earlier day are more highly valued or
more carefully handed down from parent to child, than
the Quakers. These have been called upon for their
secrets of the precious past, and have been al Ber-
vice in preparing the following pages, thank- to their
generous owners. My acknowledgments are also espe-
cially due to Mr. Sidney Colvin, of the British Museum,
for his kind permission to reproduce certain prints, and
to Charles Roberts, of Philadelphia, for the use of his
unique collection of Quakeriana. \ « q
Haverford, Pa., 1901.
CONTENTS.
Is i BOD1 CTIOH, • • • • • '"
I II Mill.
I. —Tin ...... 1
1 1. — Til K BPIBl i • >1 i Hi- II I i • • • M
m.— Bi uii- Wiee un> Baw . . . i*i
IV.— Tiik QCAKKRl . • • W
V.— TBI Kn.'M PlOU "K tiik QUAXKH BOMKBT, . . 187
[LLUSTRATION B
Kl I.I.-l'Ai.K 1'LATKS.
Cbabi n i . . . nt t » §i te t
I '■ Mil fr.Mii original painting by Van l»yc», in the l>jurr.v
Will [AM r
< • i-i-.
PA'. It
a Hi.- full-length menotlnt by Etrle, • ■( Philadelphia, ai
til.- original | v Iniuan.
" FK')M I.i\ i i r TO nmi. . . U
i " i he ^ 01 nt nrofti I "«\ KEsioN."
ii. * - i in. v.. i ii inni
Qltutratloai ton "War vltfa ye 1>.-m1. h The Young Man's
llcl with >■ I By H K
[Benjamin Ketch], rWlemu Library.
QBOBOl 1 OX, l'-'l I ..... lrj
1 _ra\ing l>y Allan, after the painting by 1'binn.
I 1 I \- BlCKS, 1741 .... 41
1 r..iu .i -ilbiM ■
Hi\ I KM I IT. 1773-18 . . . .42
. .1 -llh" .■
A W I I SB 1 I \ PABTT, .... 60
From .\ r. • .ni iih.'t.i^raph, by iviirte^y of The < »utlook Company.
GBOB&B IUI.I.WYN BO, . . . 71
Ait. r au engraving - - by J. Collin-.
POUB OLD-TlMK PsmrSTLTAKIA WOBTHISB, . . '-
JOHJI P B, 1727-1"
Emi Dionu s, 17 .1-1*09.
James Pbcbbbxo*, 1TJ4-1809.
J. .UN Pakklsu, 173O-1807.
Septimt ^ I: s, 1807, Aged 18, ... 74
After the et< bing by Rosenthal.
OPP
lAt.K
William Penn, .....
After the bust in Ivory by Sylvanua Bevan.
Moses Bkown, 1738-1836, ..... 107
Engraved by T. Pollock, attir the jxirtrait by W. .1 Harris.
Gulielma Spbingett, First Wife of William Penn, 1644-H i-".'
From an engraving after the original painting «'ii jrlaas, In
possesion of di-si en dan U "i lit nry Swai lag, England.
Hannah Callowhill, Second Wife of William Penn, 1664-1796,
Original painting at Blackwell Hall, County Durham, England.
. in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
The Collar, ... .140
I l£issFiTZGEKALD,LAnY-in- Waiting i
After the painting by Sii Ehomai Lawrei
II. MAUi.AKtT afOBBIS, Wui. of I ■
Jr., 1799
From the drawing "ti atone of A. Neman, after the original
painting.
"Going to Meeting in 17 . . 166
From an original photograph
A (ji'aker Weddim., i . 163
After t lie original painting by Percy Kigland In | I a of
Isaac II. Clothier, \\ ynnewood, Pennsylvai
The Two Friends, ..... i.,-i
After the engraving by Bouvier, London. About r
The Fair Quaker, .....
London, 1782,
Elizabeth Fry, 1780-18 . . . .184
After the portrait by George Richmond, 1824.
Martha Rotjth, 1743-1817, . . . ioo
Silhouette in possession of Charles Roberts, <,f Philadelphia.
The Quakers' Meeting, about 1648, . . .194
After the original engraving by Egbert van Heemakerek.
opp.
PAGI
Thk Calash, ...... 207
Invent" '1 1765. Worn until about 1880, Prom U original
photograph.
In i Cap, . . . . . . . 208
I. Martha Washington, Sii.ium-kttk.
II. Amu U "in:, 1769
Engmrad by Ughtroot, from t be medallion done In Paris bj I >avld.
( ,i; \. i . iii i:« ii si i:i i i Mi i us.., London, 177 . 218
Original painting In Deronablre Houaa ooQaction, London.
"Tin: BBID1 ...... 319
I r ID th( DI rinjj in l ra Iloreali-," pnblllthtfl at New
i latle-upon- 1 j in-, i"<83.
<^i u \ Victoria, .....
After an engraving by Froemai London, It
Fashiob Plats, ah..i r 1849, .... 221
i i. 'in " I-e ' tanaeiller dee Da iris.
Rain? i».\y Cover, .
I run an original jibotograi'l..
ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TEXT MATTKW.
I A'. I
Isn l \l . M vi i COBTI UK, 1787, ....
M \ i i i Off] i M i
Aftrr M.irtin.
Bi NOT aim , 1780, ......
iNII l.\l . TlMi: <>K .1 \MK< [.,
ii \ i o) Douglas, i ibj o« IIobtoh, i" . . ■ •'■<
Afi. r Etopton.
EAT OP CHABJLB8 I., . • • ■ • 80
After M.irliu.
Till " Kl'.vi sin l I l i:
After Hogarth.
• iuin J0HK8, I OLOWIAl Tkk.wkik OP Pennsylvania, 7-'
BUhoaotte.
Puritan* Hat, ......
High-crowned Hat of 1653, .... 73
Nantucket Bkaveb Hat, . . . .75
Royalist Hat. Timk of Commonwealth, . . 90
After Martin.
Initial, Dr. John Fothergill, . . . .93
PAUK
William Dillwyn. 1805 .... M
Silhouette.
Gabriel-Marc-Antoine di Gebllet, 1789, . . ISO
Silhouette of father of Stephen Orel let.
Initial, Rii>in<. COSTUME, 17' ...
After Martin.
Female Costume, i- . . . . .138
female costume, 1787, . . . . mo
llKADDRKSS, 1756, . . . . . .147
I. vdy's Rii>im. Hat, ..... 158
Female Co.sti-.mi:>., 177'.. ..... LM
After Martin.
Hannah Hunt, 1700, .....
Bllhoaette of Werttowii'i fir-<t scholar.
TAIL-PIECB.— SlJPPKBfl AN1> ( LOG8,
Initial, Headdress ok Red.n <>p Bdwabd I.,
Hood of 1641, . . . 1W
Broad-brimmed Hat of English Women, Ii
From Hollar.
Headdress, 1698, . . . . . .1*4
From " Memoires, et«., d'Angleterre."
Hood Worn by Cromwell's Wife, . . . UKj
Headdress of Cromwell's Time, . . . .re
After Repton.
Hood Worn by Cromwell's Mother,
" La vinia" Chip Hat, 1819, . . . .202
Trimmed with white sarsenet ribbon.
< OBNBTTB," < ►CTOBBB, 1816, ....
i i.iu|)osed of tulle, qaiUlng of blonde around (hoe. lmu< h ol
Bo wen on top, Btyfeu French, "simply elegant and becoming" I
PAUK
204
ill ADDB1 SS <'K 178(i,
209
PABI8IAM PBOM1 KADI H M . 1816,
110
III- tDDBKSfi OF 1776,
-
L'll
ElOH i i i m ii i'imi i:v Pi \t Hat,
jr.
BOMVBT <>i- M.\ urn a, Wife or Sam fee Ai.i.in
No strings, one large l>ox-pleat in *..ft • r«wn.
English Bonn i.
:::
Bonnkt of Rebecca Jones, of Phii.adei.I'ih a,
in 'I'M n » -illy Smith," of Burlington, N J,
• gathered crown, lur^e sane with three points — oueoor»<ii
shoulder and one in center >>f baik.
Ta 1 1.-1*1 BCB.— BOS KBT6,
"Wilburite."— 1866.— "Gurnejrite."
228
CIIAPTK B I.
111!. COAT.
And that Frlei di Uki p i" Truth u
aunt an. I 1 i li:iTi..ur j th.it th.-
■impUt i' ! "-t
in our days, i lemplaxy to their
■
■obrit take
I pride
num. "1. -ty i if.-. nit « ■• il "tin r
h.ily
rrnpt friena-
■hlp I or h.i'l
wiih tbfl unfruitful wurk- of (UrkneM, D< r with the
« Benj Ufl!) ]:i ai iv.. Clerk.
„•, 4th ujo. 1, 1C91.
CHAPTER I.
THE (DAT
,N entire generation has passed i-ince the
distinction of plain "Ire--, as under-
stood by the Quakers, heeame obso-
lete in ( ireat I Jritain. The -ingu-
l;ir conservatism often Bhown by a
democratic people manifests itself in
this matter, touching the Bocial and
religions life of the same body in
America, by the Burvival in one
Quaker community of the "plain''
dress of a time and occasion long since gone by.
The Philosopher, whose Carlylean glance compre-
hends the close relationship existing between man's
conscience ami his clothes, realizes that so far as the
Society of Friends is concerned, their peculiarities
of dress belong to past history. lie sees also, that
whether the Quakers, having accomplished, a mis-
sion than which few things are more remarkable in the
social and religious history of the past, are now quietly
awaiting extinction, or whether they are standing in the
pause for breath before they cast aside their encum-
brances to plunge into the new socialism which should
be their natural inheritance in the struggles of the new
century, — in any case the "pride of potential martyr-
dom," as a recent writer puts it, has been one of the
strongest elements in the old Quakerism.
4 THE yi AKER,
In the burning moment of the first inspiration and
enthusiasm, when the watchword was, " Come out from
among them and be ye separate," the emphasis of that
separateness was soughl in the minor " testimonies " of
an earnest people. Chief among those " testimonies '
was plainness of garb. But the world has counted I
centuries ami a half of progress since that day, and its
myriads of Socialists, Roman < 'atholics, Salvation Army
soldiers, and the wide circles of a unifori 1 official
class, have overtaken and swept past the Quaker. His
neat garb and his 1. broad-brimmed hat are no
Longer conspicuous in the moderation thai has followed
the periwigged <\-.r of Kh I harles th< S >nd. The
Quaker has qow chosen to lay ;i - 1. 1 « • his distinctive L r arl>,
there being no longer the same occasion for it- exisl
ence. It mark-, when' i: -till Burvives, the formalism
of a caste, and the day of its inspiration is over. Since
the modifications inevitable for continuance involve
the disappearance of the distinguishing outward garb
Quakerism, it may nol be amiss to seek among its
records the history of that idea of dress which, in the
early days of persecution, so strongly fortified the mar-
tyr-spirit of the Quaker. He who has the Beeing eye
must know that already the beautiful garments of our
stately grandmothers, the type <»t" Elizabeth Fry, h
gone forever. Yet let us honor the motives of hi{
courage and strong principle which led a whole -ect to
face one of the hardest tests of the human spirit, the
world's ridicule; the sincerity of their principles is no-
where better voiced than in the " Advices " given forth
to its members by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in
1726: "If any who may conceive the Appearance of
,1 STI l>Y IX cost l ME. 5
Plainness to be a temporal Advantage to them do put
it on with unsanctified Heart- and Minds filled with
Deceit. . . .- Such a- they are an Abomination to God
and t.i g 1 Men."
The Tatler, indeed, with it- inimitable satire, shows
as how clothes and religion get intermingled. It mak
Pasquin <<( Rome write [saac Bickerstaff:
There is one thing in which 1 desire you would l»- rery par-
ticular. What I mean Lb an exacl li-t <>f all the religions in
Ureal Britain, ;i- likewise the habits, which are — - •. i - 1 here i" !"•
the greal points <■! conscience in England, whether tiny are
made "t Berge or broadcloth, of -ilk i>r limn. I Bhould l"' glad
i.i see a mode] of the mosi conscientious • -t you,
and desire you will -cud me a hat of each religion; and Likewise,
if it In' not too much trouble, a <ia\at.*
There ha- been do attempl in tin- following pages to
enlarge upon tin- doctrines of tin- Quakers. Thai bas
been sufficiently done elsewhere. The peculiarities of
Quakerism " a- to the outward," as Fox would have
Baid, have been bo marked, and is- church polity for the
past seventy-five years has been bo much one <>( re-
pression, that the outside world ha- known little of the
Quaker; when it has perceived hi- presence, it ha- nol
troubled itself to understand him, nor to penetrate the
atmosphere <>( exclusiveness that has surrounded him.
*Tatler, No. 129.— "The Old Cloak," which has been attributed to
Swift, also points the same moral, although his -mire i- in this instance,
not directed particularly againsl the Quakers. It begins thus :
"This cloak, it was made in old Oliver's days,
When zeal and religion were lost in a maze,
'Twaa made by an elder of Lucifer's club,
Who botch'd .in a shop-board and whined in a tub.
'Twas rampt oat of patches, unseemly to name,
'Twas hem'd with sedition, & lin'd with the same.
This cloak to no party was y. t ever true,
The inside was Mack, and the outside was blue ;
'Twas smooth all without and rough all within,
A shew of religion, a mantle to sin.''
6 FEE yi AM i;.
His dress has had much to do with this. No one I
portrayed the (Junker with a worldly hand, and at the
same time been jusl to hia principles, Bympathetie with
his sufferings, mindful of his foibles; and it i- a fa
that so far no attempt has been made from within the
pale to handle his garb in the light of other j pi
opinions and experience, to treat him just like anoth
man, and to attempt to understand why his costume dif-
lY; The outsider has regarded the matter as little
worth his time; while to the Quaker himself, the sub-
ject has 1 ed to be lightly entered upon. Etc
importance has been bo over-empht . thai hi- young
people have often failed to distinguish between the d<
trine ..;" oaths and the doctrine of the coat-collar.
The present essay, then, is an attempt to trai I Dde-
velopment of Quaker costume. 1 1 has been approached
like the history of any other costume, with no detriment,
we trust, ' ity. The Quaker's interpretation of
"Truth" generally been regarded a- the cans*
his peculiarities in dress. And so far a< the essential
doctrine • plicity as taught by Foi may go, this is
eminently true. It is true, also, of some of his customs,
a?, for instance, the refusal to doff the hat. The fol-
lowing pages, however, attempt to -how that the typical
Quaker dress has been, in the of the men, a sur-
vival — a crystallization, in essentia] elements — of the
original dress of Charles thi S rod; while that of the
women has been an evolution, ha vn sulmination <>ne
hundred and fifty years later in the costume of Elizabeth
Fry. Both have been influenced to an unappreciated de-
gree by the fashions of a changing world: for while the
Quaker walks this " vale of tears," try as he may to
.1 > 1 1 l>) l\ COSTl ME. 7
withdraw, he cannot part company with his fellow-citi-
zens. Hi- past mistake has Bprung from his effort to he
a " peculiar'people," as well a- to be '* zealous of good
works." Very 1 i 1 1 1« • excites ridicule in these modem
faddist days: certainly no distinctive dress of any Bort.
The wide philanthropy once the inheritance of Q laker-
i-in, now belongs to the world in general. Religious tol-
eration, for which the Quakers died, bids fair t .-day if
not to extinguish the Society, at least to break down its
hedges and boundaries. The Athenian wore 1*1— flowing
robe with the wish to be plucked on the sleeve with a
" what bo ! Philosoph( 1 he Quaker donned his garb
from the opposite desire to be let alone. This, of course,
was the Quaker position at a time when detai rved
to emphasize the doctrines of their sect, In the two
hundred and mi ars that hav.- passed Bince the days
of Fox, the occasion for Buch emphasis has largely dis-
appeared. Not only among Friends, but everywhere,
the different denominations are tending toward greater
uniformity. This very fact makes people I- «> »k leniently
upon the peculiarities of the Quakers, who had the l»est
of reasons at the time of their rise, f<>r their various
" testimonies." The anecdote may here he recalled of
Penn and the King, when, t<« the Bover< question
wherein their religious beliefs really differed, the
Quaker replied, " The difference is the Bame as between
thy hat and mine: mine has no ornaments." The
plain coat hears upon it the marks of an historical devel-
nent. Warfare and politics are recorded in the cut
of its collar and the -weep of its tail. Foreign influ-
ence, civil strife, diplomatic relations and political in-
trigue all have power to alter fashion and to impress
8 TEE Ql A.KER.
upon a certain generation a particular style of dress.
The " Steenkirk " tie, the Sedan chair, the farthingale
and the " tete de mouton ,)l are striking importations
connected with foreign warfare and politics. But re-
ligious upheavals Btir depths and work changes with a
rapidity that nothing else can equal. Lei a man's con-
science once become involved in his garb, and the garb
is capable of the most radical changes. The Reforma-
tion introduced simplicity at one bound into the gor-
geousness of the mediaeval church. Miss Hill points out
that after Cranmer " it took us three hundred years to
reach the simplicity of the Victorian era, while the
( Ihurch accomplished tin- change in one generation."
There is a parallelism between clerical and Quaker
garb, both in it- conservatism and it- simplicity of re-
sult, as well as the profound importance attached to it
by its adherents. Dean Stanley tell- us that the dri
of the clergy had no distinct intention at the start,
"symbolical, sacerdotal, Bacrificial, or mystical, but
originated simply in the fashion common to the whole
community of the Roman empire during the first three
centuries." * In the earliest times in England the ton-
sure was the only distinguishing mark of the elerg
Yet we all know to what elaborate proportions clerical
dress had run in England by the time of Cardinal
Wolsey; and the list of a few of the ordinary garments
of a country parson under Henry VI 1 1, would make an
outfit sufficient for a modern theatrical -how. "A
gown of violet cloth, lined with red, jerkin of tawny
camlet, tipped with sarcanet, two hoods of violet cloth
* Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, " Christian Institutions."
William Penn,
^length . *hia,
. m.
i si i in i\ COSTl u/'. 9
lined with green Barcanet, a Mark cloth ^r< >\vn trimmed
with lamb."* Over against tin- el the reforming
1 anmer, in -I » I ~ dark cassock ;in<l leathern girdle. A
the Quaker rebelled in spirit again in
dress, hi- impulse was not to di I . but
to eliminate from that he wore, tl elemeu
1 1" qc( • he early cut, hi I in the pa
inr of hi- own, j church
>lved its own distinctive <lr»--. 1 ': I habit as
at present worn in England • from the time of
( 'harh - LI., as 'li<l tin- William I ' It
that t! ■ minister
giv< d apon hi- death,
in 1856, ! - rgyman of the Episcopal Church, who
re it without requiring any ch ' We
an told that Fat! n, the Jesuit priest who
first Bent, in 17::_\ from Baltimore to build and settle
■ Romish < 'hurch in the Quak< I which later
S int Josi aough on at
put on the Quaker habit. 1 [< >wn
black clerical garb; but ! ■ reful not I ad the
Quakers in dress <»r speech, and hi church building
might easily have been a i ej-house for plainn< -.
The di :' the I I Ihurch ind at
the present day mort rly resembles that of Penn
and his i than any garb of modern tin.
vastly more, in fact, than the "plain" dr ' their
spiritual This includes the linen bands,
Bhown in portraits s and Nayler.f The cleri
* Georgiana Hill, "History of Eng] ••' Vol.L.p.S
fTbe original of the latter U in tto library of Pi " ing-
honse, L< mi Ion.
1() THE 01 AJS.BR.
dress-suit of the- presenl ia a correct model of the court
coat of < lharlea 1 L, in cut and genera] Btyle.
The mos1 picturesque period in the whole history of
English dress was thai of the princely Stuart-, as Van
Dyck 1ms long been telling as. It was an age of swift
change and vivid contrast, of luxury and unbridled
license, when extravi e ran riot in the English
court, and wonderful tal< plendor at Versailli
all St. James wild with envy. ' Qta crowded
fast upon each other; King < 'harles lost his royal head,
after which, for a time, the IV rid the Puritans
had things their own way. Then followed the Restora-
tion, with churchly prestige, and debauchery and i
travagance striving th( r. A feeble attempt at
popery came oexl nnder dam' - 1 1., and finally an estab
lished church and pn ity under i . Anne — all
this in the lifetime of one man! [nto thi- , with
its vivid lights and its shadows onfathomable, wh<
Cavalier and Roundhead ach other, hand on
sword and hate in heart. the Btriking figure of tin-
early Quaker; and from the moment of his entran
on the Btage, a purer faith and liberty <>f conscience be-
come possible in dogma-ridden England. His true part
in English history is yet t.» be written. Keen to de-
nounce alike luxury in the court, and crime in the
«
slums, h»yal always to hi reign Prince, even if i
fusing to doff the hat, <»r swear allegiance, and true
always to the impartial enlightenment of every man.
the Quaker is chiefly to be thanked for many of OUT
cherished religious privili
Could George Fox have looked ah< t ; .i- day. we
cannot doubt that he would have been perfectly satis-
A BTl nv IV OOSTUMB. 11
Bed with the simplicity of male costume in the world
at Large: and that the modification must have come
without George Fox, we may be equally sure. Material
progress such a- ours was not possible when men had
t<> guard blue satin coats and costly lace from -oil.
Fancy Mr. Edison at work in lace ruffles! Even Ben
janiin Franklin had to roll up hi- -. George Fox
and hi- contemporarii - did not intend to establish a
precedent of any sorl when they demanded, rather ar-
bitrarily, that their followers should discard all adorn-
ment in their <lr« The AfennoniteS, who ante. la q
them hv a few \ear-. and to whom the Quakers are in-
debted for many <»f their practices, had adopted sim-
plicity of attire as one of their cardinal principles; and
[ndependents, Presbyterians ami other- had been em-
phasizing plainness to an ae point. The first dis-
sension in the Leyden community of Separatists cai
from the lace on the b1< :' Mr-. Francis Johnson,
which furnished a subject for eleven year- of strife.
Bradford says they were so ri^id that fomc of them
were offended at the whalebone in a dress "i - sleeve, or
the Btarch in a foliar. The Nfennonites disapproved of
ornaments even more than the Friend- did at a later
date, condemning buttons, buckles, and everything not
absolutely necessary. The Baptist Brethren in Hol-
land (a sect that arose in Germany about 1521), were
railed ••Heftier" or " Knopfler," because they ex-
eluded buttons, substituting hooks, like the ftfennonite
branch in Pennsylvania, known locally as " hooker-."
In some parts of the continent, rows of silver and metal
buttons were used as ornaments on coats and waist-
coats; and it was chiefly against these that the Baptist
12 THE Q\ IKER.
movement was directed. I he use of hooks ami i
male garb instead of buttons, was confined to such lo-
ss had made the adornmenl of their clothes
with a quantity of buttons an almosl national custom.
The plain drees of the Quakers will be found t<> hi
much more in < •< n ji m« »m with the B -. than with the
Puritans, u n 1» — we include, as is often erroi usly
done, most of the diss< jland under the
latter head. In the I "nit< ,| Si I . the many
Puritan laws as to the dr . and the
elaborate detail of i ry mil i • m,
with the frequent enun eratioi i va-
Mt fashions, lead us inevitably to the conclusion that
the New I nd Puritan . and
Mi' ■! our fan . draw; :
rather that he Wl :
ment, his wigs and velvet; that hi- b positively
appalling person in her finei prosperity had
come to the thrifty pair in their adopted land.
We can •
to ornam or their " testimony " had a di I ob-
ject to accomplish; many felt with Ellwood about
" those Fruits and of Pri '• . thai die m-
selves in the Vanity and Superfluity of Apparel! which
I. so tar as my Ability would extend to, took alas! I
much delight in. This evil of my doings I was r
quired to put away and c and Jti Igment lay
upon me till I did so. Wherefore, . . . [took off fro
my apparel those unn ry Trimmings of Lace and
Ribbands and useless Buttons which had no real ser-
vice, but were set only for that which was by .Mi-take
called Ornament, and I ceased to wear Rings." *
♦Journal of Thomas Ellwood.
rom 1
11
^^^^SHH
\
-
*****
:-^--^X
A si l l>) l\ 008TI I//'. 13
b very Bimilar line of spiritual experience .
Thomas Story was led to a point where the vanity of
human wishesjwas forcibly presented to him; for even
before learning of the peculiar tenets of the Priends, be
had adopted some of their outward characteristics, in
discarding Bword and ornaments of dress. He 'li 1 ' not
meel the man whose influence led him to become a
Quaker until L691;yet in 1689, to use his own word :
I put off my usual Aii-. my jovial Actions and Addi
and laid aside my Bword, which 1 had wore, do( i
design ol Injury, oi Fear "f any. but as ■ modish and manly
Ornament, l burnt also my Instruments ol Mu-i.k. and divested
myseli o! the superfluous Parts of my Apparel, retaining only
t ha t w hit li was i i dei m'd decent.
I,. the Lust of the EJye and I of Life, had their Ob-
jects and Subjects presented; The Airs "f Youth were ma
and potent Strength, Activity and Comeliness "t person were
nt.t a wanting, and had their share; oor were natural Endo
ments <d Mind or Competent Acquirements afar off, and I
Glory, Advancements and Preferments <>f the World, Bpread
ts in my View, and the Friendship finning to
dness me with flattering Courtship. I wore s - rd, which 1
well understood, and had f««ilM several Blasters "f t ence,
in the North and a1 London; and rode with firearms also, of
which 1 knew the I Be; and yet 1 was not quarrelsome; f'-r
though I emulated, I was not envious; But this rule I formed
as n Man t<> myself, never t.> offend or affront any wilfully, or
with Design; and if, inadvertently, I Bhould happen to di
any, rather t<> acknowledge, than t<> maintain <>r vindicate a
wrong thing; and rather t- take ill Behaviour from others by the
best Handle, than be offended where no offence was wilfully
designed. Hut then I was determined t<> resent, and punish an
Affront or personal Injury, when it was done in Contempt or
with Design; and yet 1 never met with any. Bave once; and
then 1 kept to my own Maxims with Success; and yet so as
neither t" wound nor be wounded: the good Providence of Al-
mighty being ever over me: and on my side. a~ ever knowing my
Meaning in all my Conduet.*
•Thomas Story, Journal, Folio ed., p. 15.
14 THE QUAKER.
The Quakers, in fact, will be found to have held a
middle ground between the austerities of the old-line
Cromwellian Puritans and Roundheads, and the ex
travagances of the Cavaliers. The peculiariti
which in later days they bo closely adhered, were the
outgrowth natural to a body which clung to practii
that were once established, with the tenacity of larger
bul ii" less Btrongly organized religious bodies, like the
Roman Catholics, the Mohammedans, or even the
Chinese. A distinctive form of dress was at do time
adapted by the Quakers with " malice prepens<
fact that in thi atury of their ace a
peculiar garb came to be regarded as so < ssential,
to prove, not vitality, l>nt rather a period of decadence
in their religious principL The marked changes that
Quaker costume has undergone, while they have not
kepi pace with the on irds frequei
of modification, i re yel importanl as an element in
Btudying the history of the sect. A cause is often
greatly strengthened by the moral Bupporl of a •
tinctive and conspicuous Btyle of dre lance,
that of the Salvation Army. John Wesley regret!
that he had not made a regulation about dress, lie
wrote in his Journal: " I might have been firm (and
I now see it would have been far better ither the
people called Quakers or the Moravians; I might have
d, thi- is our manner <>f dress, which we know is both
scriptural and rational. If you join with us, you are
to dress as we do, hut you need not join us unless you
please; hut, alas! the time is now past."
George Fox, however, did not dream of such meas-
ures among his own people. The simple, unadorned
.4 STUDY IN COSTUME. 15
costume of the men of his generation was all that Fox
aspired t<>. Along with his admonitions as t<» all ways of
living, he included in In- denunciations every extrava-
ice «.i" dre This alone meant a revolution difficult
for us to realize. The extremesl form of l'ari- fashion
to-day would be simplicity itself compared with the
dress of an English aristocrat in the time of the first
■
Charles. Until the early pari of the eighteenth cen-
tury, there appears to have been no really distinctive
cut in Quaker costume. It i- to be described in nega-
tions, was lik«- that of every on< . and was only con-
spicuous for what it lacked of the popular ex1 ravagances
of the dav. When nun wore ev< n more elaborate eos-
tumes than women, as in the days of the " merry mon-
arch," anything plain was noted at one,'. Cromwell's
dress was bo much more simple than that of the kings
before and after him, that Quaker simplicity was in his
time less conspicuous. The Protector was very frugal
in attire, lie wort- black cloth or velvet. Bword-scarf,
trunk-hose, long hoot-, grey hat and Bilver c ; varied
at times with doublet, cloak and ho coarse cloth
turned up with velvet, and stockings of grey worsted
reaching over the knee to meet the hose. His hair
was simply arranged, without curl-, and was somewhat
long behind. His moustache was so small as to be
quite inconspicuous. At fifty-eight he looks like a
Quaker himself, with his muslin collar and long hair.
In his portrait, by Walker, in the National Gallery, a
page ties his sash. Quakers and Puritans under the
Protector were more di-tinguished for differences of
opinion than differences of gark An old author de-
clares that " short cloaks, short hair, short hands and
16 THE QIAKER.
long visages " were the rule. What we understand as
the typical Quaker garb, worn by William Penn, was a
survival of that of Charles the Second, when the dis-
tinctive outward marks of Quakerism wen- burned into
the sect, so to speak, by the rigors of persecution. The
dress of Fox was more nearly that of ( lharles 1 1 1 « - First.
This was t-i be expected of the plain countryman, who
would naturally Him: to the more old-fashioned garb;
he never discarded the doublet, and always wore hia
own hair long; whereas Penn, the diplomat and
courti.r, followed the fashions in the cut and Btyle of
his dress, adopting the full-skirted coat of the Bovereign,
and wearing as many as four wigs in one year.
I o test tlio correctness of this < iparison, 1m us take
the costume <>f ( lharles the First as we have him in the
greal portrait by Van I>yek in the Louvre. The King
wears a hunting dress consisting of white satin coat,
knee breeches in red, long 1 ts with square toes, flat
lace collar, long hair, a pearl drop in the left ear (which
he even wore to his execution), and carries an enor-
mously li ne. Divest him now of all his -upcr-
fluities. Remove the enormous feather in hi- hat, and
Fox's own broadbrim Btands revealed. Both King and
subject wear the hair " banged " on the forehead, fall-
ing in long locks on the shoulder — only the curls and
perfume are wanting in the Quaker. The lace worn by
the King at throat and wrists is missing altogether
with Fox, plain hands only being visible ever his drab
coat, which buttons to the throat, and takes the place
of the King's satin doublet and rich cloak. But every
other man of plain origin wears a doublet of similar
cut to that of Fox, the drab in his case being for the
A #777)7 IN COSTUME. 17
sake of economy, and hence simplicity in not dyeing the
cloth. Leathern breeches and jerkins were universal
among the u plainer sort," as George Fox called them,
and were also worn from motives of economy. Trou-
sers were not to he invented for another century. The
style of knee-breeches, stockings and low shoes is iden-
tical with Fox and his King. The only difference is
one of ornament. Fox's breeches have no " points,"
as the elaborate bows of jewelled ribbon at the knee
were called; the stockings arc of homespun, not silk,
like the King's; and the heavy, square-toed shoes are
minus the elaborate ribbons on the instep. Even the
long cane is common to both. Samuel Smith, of Phila-
delphia, who kept a Journal, and who died in 1817,
aged eighty-one. says of his travels in England: "At
Samuel LythalFs, where we lodged, I saw the staff, it is
said, George Fox used to t raved with — a large cane stick
about four feet in length and ivory head — looked as
though it might have belonged to a country squire, and
probably had been Judge Fell's." And this is all.
The dress of the Quaker, when he lirst arose, was in cut
and fashion simplv the dress of evervbodv, with all ex-
travagances left off; and since costume was then so
elaborate, his perfect simplicity was quite enough to
draw attention and render him conspicuous, even had
he held his peace.
transmutation!
Of satin changed to kersey hose I sing.*
But this he could not do, and many were his testi-
monies. In 1654, Fox wrote:
* Xewcut, in " The City Match," I, 4. By Jasper Mayne, 1639.
18 THE (J I AKER.
Aly spirit was greatly burthened to see the pride that was
got up in the nation, even among professors; in the sense where-
of I was moved to give forth a paper directed
"TO SUCH AS FOLLOW TI!L WORLD'S FASHIONS.
"What a world is this! bow doth the devil garnish himself!
how obedient are people to do bis will and mind! They arc alto-
gether carried away with fooleries and vanities, both men and
women. They have lost the hidden man of the heart, the meek
and quiet spirit; which with the Lord i- of great price. They
have lost the adorning of Sarah; they are putting on gold and
gay apparel] women plaiting the hair, men and women powdering
it ; making their backs look like bags of meal. . . . They inu-t
be in the fashion of the world, else they are not in esteem; nay,
they shall not be respected, if they have not gold or silver upon
their backs, or if the hair be nol powdered. Bui if one have
store of ribands hanging about his waisi a! his knee-, and in
his hat, of divers colours, red white black or yellow, and Ids
hair powdered, then he i- a brave nun. then he is accepted, then
he is no Quaker. He hath ribands on his back, belly, and knei -.
and his hair powdered: this is the array of the world. . . .
Likewise, the women having their gold, their patches on their
fares, noses, cheeks, foreheads, their rings on their fingers, wear-
ing gold, their eulTs double under and above, like a butcher with
his white sleeves; their riband- tied about their hands, and
three or four gold laees about their cloaths; this is no Quaker,
say they. . . . Are not these, thai have got ribands hanging
about their arms, hands, back, waists, knees, bats, like tiddler's
boys! And further, if one ■-* I a pair of 1 reeches like a coat, and
hang them about with points and up almost to the middle, a
pair of double cuffs upon his hands, and a feather in his cap,
here's a gentleman; bow before him, put off your hats, get a
company of tiddlers, a Bel of music, and women to dance. . . .
They are not in the adorning of the Lord, which is a meek and
quiet spirit, and is with the Lord of great price."
Late in life, in Second month, 1G90, ho issued from
the home of his stepson-in-law, William Meade, at
Gooseves, whither he had retired in feeble and broken
health, a note of warning directed " To such as follow
the fashions of the world."
V
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 19
Thomas Ellwood, whose Journal is one of the most
graphic pictures of the day, but who, it is to be hoped,
was a better tutor than poet, thus bewailed the preval-
ent extravagance:
But Oh! the Luxury and great Excess
Which by this wanton Age is us'd in Dress!
What Pains do Men & Women take, alas!
To make themselves for arrant Bedlam's pass!
The Fool's py'd Coat, which all wise Men detest,
Is grown a Garment now in great Request.
Mmi' Colours now in one Waist-Coat they wear
Than in the Rainbovt ever did appear.
And he that in a modest Garb i- drest,
Is made the Laughing-stock of all the rest.
Nor are they with their Baubles satisfy'd,
But Bex-distinctions too are laid aside-.
The Women wear tin- Trowsies and the Vest,
While Men in Muffs, Fan-. Petticoats are drest.
He warns Friends of the danger of the modes, and
says :
It hath eome to pass that there is scarce a new Fashion come
up, or a fantastick Cut invented, hut some one or other thai pro-
fesses Truth, is ready with the foremost to run into it. . . .
Assuredly, Friends, if Truth be kept to, none will need to learn
of the World what to wear, what to put on, how to shape or
fashion their Garments, but Truth will teach all how best to
answer the end of clothing. . . . Let every one examine himself
that this Achan, with his Babylonish Garment, may be found out
and cast out, for indeed, he is a Troubler of Israel.*
" Babylonish garments " sorely troubled the
Friends, and it was with those of them who were tail-
ors by trade much as it was with John Mulliner and
■Thomas Ellwood, Journal, p. 343.
20 THE QUAKER.
his musical instruments.* Gilbert La toy, a very inter-
esting character of that early day, was a master tailor,
whose attention to business, combined with his natural
tact and uprightness, had won for him a very lucrative
trade among the worldly, so that he was patronized by
the gentlemen of fortune about the court. Becoming
one of the " Children of the Light," he was no longer
able to make the gay clothing that the fops <>( the day
required, and he imperilled his fortune by declining to
take any more such orders, although eventually a
steady plain trade remained to him as his reward of
faithfulness. Killer Charles the Second, while out
hunting one day, met him upon the road, and the merry
monarch called out to the Quaker tailor to step up to
his horse's side for a chat, after which, with words of
cheer, the King rode to his hounds, while the Quaker
pursued his way to meeting, f
But the question of dress became more and more im-
portant as the cessation of active persecution gave the
Friends time to devote more attention to its details.
Dress was every day growing more and more extrava-
gant; there seemed no limit to the extremes which it
might reach. A cursory glance at the old fashion
plates of this period, or an examination of Hogarth's
works of a satirical character, will show us in a mo-
ment the reason for the emphasis laid on dress by the
early Quakers — not the earliest, however, for these had
been occupied with a struggle that involved life itself,
and had no time for attention to clothes. Between
* See chapter on Wigs.
fBeck and Ball, " History of London Friends' Meetings," p. 250.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. %\
1660 and 1680, men's dress underwent many more
changes than that of women. A large portion of a
gentleman'-s time was given over to his elaborate toil-
ette, and fortunes were squandered on lace and wigs
by the fops and ladies of fashion. To these evils the
Quakers very naturally directed their condemnation,
and the subject became a prominent one in the care and
instruction of their youth. How to guard a young man
from the dangerous fascinations of a periwig that meas-
ured some three or four feet in length, or a young
woman from a spreading farthingale, or a tight bodice
in which she could barely draw the breath of life, may
not seem to us now so very difficult; but we may be as-
sured that the struggle was a hard one. No matter
into what eccentricity Dame Fashion led her followers,
they were willing to be guided by any blind extrava-
gance; and the youthful Quaker cast longing eyes in
her direction, even if she masqueraded in wig or farth-
ingale, petticoat-breeches or wide hoop. More and
more stringent became the laws of the Quakers on the
subject; and while Aberdeen seems to have breathed in
the atmosphere of the Scotch Covenanters a spirit more
rigid than is to be found anvwhere else in the limits of
the Society, London and Dublin were not far behind.
It is instructive to notice that drab tape was just as bad
as red tape.
In 1686 the Meeting in Dublin seems to have shown
very high order of talent in dealing with the question
of dress, and went to the root of the matter when it at-
tempted to purify the source of supply. The General
Meeting appointed meetings of tailors " to see that
none did exceed the bounds of truth in making of ap-
&2 Till: QUAKER.
parol according to the vain and changeable fashions of
the world ; " and these meetings of " merchant tail-
ors and clothiers " reported t" the church. They very
judiciously advised Friends to " wear plain >tutTs and
to sell plain things, and tailors to make clothes plain."
And also to ensure their wishes, " Friends would do
well to employ Friends that are tail<>r-. for the en-
couragement of those Friends of that trade that cannot
answer the world's fashions." This may he the rea-
son, a- Barclay* suggests, that Dublin Friends were
spared the details of Christian simplicity that appear
on the hooks of their Scotch brethren, and from which
we may get an insight into the drastic measures of
Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The trade plan, we are told,
worked bo well, that in L693 they invoked the aid of
joiner-, Bhip-carpenters, brass-founders, saddlers and
shoe-makers, t<» give their judgment t<> the meeting " in
the matter of the furniture of houses, etc., etc"; " fine,
shining, glittering tables, stands, chests of drawers and
dressing-boxes; 3 "large looking-glasses and painting
of room-," as well as " painted or printed hangings."
Where these latter were needful, they would do well to
advise with concerned Elders of their meetings before
they put them up.
The Overseers of the church traveled over the coun-
try. They inspected the shops to see if " needless
things were - -Id," such as "lace and ribbons." They
inspected the houses with ornamental " eaves," and of
superfluous size, from the drawing-room ctirtains, with
other " Babylonish adornings " which were declared to
* Robert Barclay, " Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Common-
wealth."
a xTi nv /.\ cost i \\u:. 23
be "needless," to the kitchens whose array of "shin-
ing, needless " pewter and brass pots, pans and candle-
sticks were evidently for ornament, and therefore con-
trary to the "simplicity of truth." Figured, striped
or flowered stuffs, cloth- or silks were, about 1G93, gen-
erally condemned. A.8 Barclay, from whom we have
already quoted, Bays: " The whole life of man, from the
cradle to the grave, was legislated upon; the ornaments
on his cradle were to be dispensed with. Mothers were
to suckle their children. It hath also been recom-
mended to our Women's Meeting causing [ concerning \ \
their child-bed dressings and superfluities of that nature
that things may answer the plainness of Truth's princi-
ples both in themselves and their children from their
births upwards. Collin- oughl to be made plain, without
covering of cloth or medio- plates." In 17 1 7 they or-
der that chaises, except when absolutely necessary, area
needless luxury. The food, dress and even the gait of
the children come under the care of the officers of the
meeting, as well as the deportment of the nursemaids!
In 1719 "floor-cloth." or the new fashion of carpets,
was denounced, grateful to the feet of young and old
on the cold, chilly floors in an English winter, but
savoring of other vanities then being introduced with
the growth of the Eastern trade under the care of the
new r East India Company. The question was, how far
can one go before a comfort becomes a snare or a
vanity. A vast amount of time was wasted in searching
for the line of demarcation. Just before this, " the
fashionable using of tea ' : (another Eastern importa-
tion, now become as national as the Union Jack), was
ordered to be avoided; tea-tables to be laid aside, "as
24 THE QUAKER.
formerly advised "; and snuff, snuff-boxes, and the
chewing and smoking of tobacco, "except when need-
/"(//," are reprobated! Tobacco, in the early days, was
more universally used among the plain Friends than
now. William IVnn is said to have enjoyed his pipe, as
did many another worthy. An unlocatcd minute of
Ninth month, L691, runs:
It being discovered thai the common excess of Bmoaking
tobacco is inconsistent with <>ur ll>>h- Profession, this meeting
adviseth that Bucta as bave occation to make use of it, take it
privately, neither in their Labour nor employment nor by the
highway, nor alehouses "r elsewhere, t",» publicly."
The climax, however, is reached, when we are told
that a lowly mind would rather " admin- the wonderful
hand of Pr< ridence ' in contemplating the necessary
than the beautiful in nature, and th< is Dot to be
indulged in " great superfluity and toe, greal nicety in
gardens." In other words, turnip- and cabbages tend
to keep the mind humble, but the rose and the lily may
prove a Bnare ! And this, in the land of gardening and
wall-fruit, where even the gooseberry is idealized! It
surely is a wonder that all artistic Bense has ool been
crushed out of the seel in two hundred years of such
arbitrary dictation to the consciences of people, as may
be found through the greater part ot* the eigh e< nth
century among the Quakers, when they were a prosper-
ous, not a persecuted, body. Cut the elasticity of hu-
man nature, and the eternal demand for some outlet to
his pent-up artistic enthusiasm, is being manifested to-
day in the reaction of the modern young Quaker in
favor of music and the arts generally.
• Manuscript copy of nM English Minutes, in possession of the author,
made by Henry Hull, of New York, 1850.
.1 STUDY IS cosTUME. 25
The plain Quaker administered a silent reproof to
all extravagance wherever he appeared, and the lam-
poons and broadsides of the day began their scurrilous
attacks almost as soon as church and state combined to
persecute him in earnest. One reason that we have
heard so little of the anti-Quaker literature of L655 to
1700 is because of its indecency. At a time when no-
body was nice in speech or manners, it can hardly be
imagined to what depths the popular Lampoon sank; so
that we are forced to leave these bits of Quaker history
where we find them — buried in musty collections in tin-
public libraries of England, or on the -helve- of Ameri-
can antiquarians. It is necessary, however, to note
their existence, Bince they show how the world regarded
the Quaker. Those quoted are among the most decent.
The Quakers were derided and pursued by every one.
Their simplicity was said to be for purposes of decep-
tion; their frugality and consequent thrift were mocked
at as penuriousne88 ; their marriages without the priest
were declared illegal, and their children were scoffed at
as illegitimate. No stone was left unturned to render
their lives a burden. This was a popular description:
A Quaker is an everlasting Argument ; Fur like Afrique, he is
daily teeming with some now Wonder; he that can describe him
fully may boast he hath squared the circle. . . . His looks and
habit cry " Pray observe me ", and his whole deportment is
starched and affected; you may take his face for a new-fashioned
Sun-Dyal. where the forced wrinkles represent Hower lines, and
his Tunable nose the gnonien. If he wants money, he need only
say to one of his gang " The Lord hath sent me to borrow of
thee 40 shillings."' . . . Those new seers ramble about to estab-
lish certain little Fopperies, as if the Salvation of the World
depended on the Preaching down of Points, Cuffs, Tyth-Pigs and
Pulpit-Hour-glasses; he is a kind of spiritual Gypsy that de-
scribes Grace and Piety by the Lines of the Physiognomy, and
2(3 TUB Vl AKER.
confines Christianity to such a Complexion <>r habit, being con-
fident thai cannot be a wedding garment thai hath any trim-
ming. . . . But "ti~ lid small attempt t<> encounter a Party whose
Impious I'i.n\ hath presumed t.> duel the Bacred Trinity.
"A candle of himself can't stand upright; —
The reason i-. because bis head is light." *
An anti-Quaker tract of 1679 * Bays: " The Quakers
cry out against all external ornaments, whilst them-
selves at the same time doal mosl wickedly upon a
Quirp-cravat, copied from a Chitterling original."
The Quaker was universally known as '* Aminadab."
Says Misson:
Quakers arc great Fanaticks; there - to be some*
thin.!,' laudable in their outward Ap] they are mild, aim
pic in all respects, Bober, modest, peaceable— nay, and they have
the reputation of being honest; and they often arc so. Hut
you must have a Car-' of being Bit by this Appearance, which
Miy often is only outward.)
Such universal dislike was the logical result of their
contrast to the exaggerated verbiage and ornate dress
of the time. It is natural t<» expect less difference be-
tween the early Quakers and the "world's people" in
cut and style of dress than in the Bociety even Beventy-
five years after the death of Fox, for the very good
*"Plus Ultra, Or the Second Part of the Character of a Quaker,
etc." 1672.
t' 4 Work for a Cooper. Being an answer to a Libel." 1679.
Printed l>y J. C. fol >. C Prince of Wall* Arms.
% " Les Quaeres sont de grands fanatiques. II parvit en eux quelque
chose delouahle : il semble qu'il soient doux, simphs a tons egartis, sobres,
modestes, paisablcs : ils ont meme la reputation d'etre fiddles, et cela est
souvent vr;ii. Mais il ne Brat pas s'y troinper, car il y asouvent aussi bien
du fard duns tout cet exterieur."
" Memoires et Observations faites par un Voyageur en Angleterre,
1698." Quoted by Kepton, in an article On the Development of Hats
and Bonnets, from the Time of Henry VIII., to the Present Day.
Published in Archaxdogia, Vol. XXIV. \ p. 174.
*
A STUDY IX COSTUMi:. 27
reason that when persecution was following them, and
they were being scourged, imprisoned and beaten to
death, dress was a subject little dwelt upon. Simplicity
only was taught; no distinctiveness other than that in-
duced by its practice. A few years later matters are
very different,* and the cut of the coat has hecorae
almosl an essential in the plan of Balvation. 'The process
of adoption of a Quaker fashion has thus been described
by an anonymous English writer f :
A novelty in dress is :it first regarded as objectionable; then
it is admitted and not considered inconsistent; and lastly, when
the rot of men have passed from it. it is clung to with all the
devotion which our Bociety entertains for its peculiar customs.
Where are now the cocked hat- thai were at Brsl a vanity ami
afterward t lie outward risible signs <>f Quakerism, and have now
. . . disappeared? Where are the green apron- thai became us
as a people? Where is the testimony against trousers, that, it
one may truBl tradition, cine agitated the Society, and was the
theme of discourses that claimed to be the utterances of eternal
wisdom?
Our author concludes by Baying that if we wear to-
day George Fox's coat, we cannot retain the principle;
if we retain the principle, we cannot retain the coat.
" A Pious Gentleman that had been thirteen years
among the Separatists to make observations," wrote
warningly in a Broadside to his countrymen in 1G57:
♦William Penn, Jr., to James Logan :
" Worminghurst, Aug. 18,1702.
" My dress is all they can complain of f and that but decently genteel,
without extravagance; and as for the poking iron (sword), I never had
courage enough to wear one bv my side."
Howard M. Jenkins, ,r The Family of William Penn," p. 109.
Soon after, his father, the Founder, thus writes of him to James
Logan in Pennsylvania : " Pray Friends to bear all they can, and melt
toward him at least civilly, if not religiously." Ibid., p. 111.
t " Nehushtan ; A Letter addressed to the Members of the Society of
Friends on their Peculiarities of Dress and Language." London, 1859.
Tin: q\ \ki:r.
The Puritan Spirit was the spirit <>f Quakerism in the first de<
gree,— which thing wise men know foil welL . . . For 1 know,
countrymen, what I say, that three part- "f you that are re
tigiously affected at 1 1 1 1 — day are 1 with that immour
tluit \\ ill make you Quakers if y< i take m . heed.'
Banbury waa a irr-a t Btronghold of dissenters, chiefly
Pn sbyterians; but many Quakers were yearly tried al
the Banbury A . from the aeighborh 1 of Oxford
Bhire. < tastor, in " The Ordinary," as old play by Cart-
wright, L651, si
I'll build a cathedral next in Banbury;
Give organs t.. each pariah in tin- Kingdom,
A ii- 1 M i""t ■• .t tlu- unmusfc a!
The cant of the Presbyfc laid them open to .in
equal amount of ridicule with the Quakers. Little Wit
in '* Bartholomew Fair," i- made i " Our mother
i- a most elect hypocrite, and ha- maintained as all this
gentlefolk
An old play, " The City Match.*' makes Anrelia thus
remon the preaching tendencies <»f her
Presbyterian maid:
i. Mr. Banswright, u come? My woman
Was in her preaching tit; She only granted
A table's end."
Banswright " Why. what'- the matter r"
Aurelia. ■' Never
Poor lady lia<l so much unbred holiness
it her person: I am never dr. -t
Without a sermon: but am forced t<» prove
The lawfulness <■!* curling-irons before
she'll crisp me in the morning. I mur-t show
Text for the fashions of my gov. i Shell a-k
Where jewels arc commanded 1 Or what lady
I'th primitive times, wore ropes of pearl or rube
*" Anti-Quakerism, or The Character of the Quaker Spirit." i
don, IS
fAet II., 8.-. 3.
A STUDY l\ COBTl HE. 29
She will urge councils for her little raffs
CalI'd in Northamptonshire, and her whole Bervice
I- but a oonfutation <>f my dotl
The long grace of the Presbyterian was another of
his characteristics often ridiculed. We rc.nl of
One thai cools t f » -;i ~ t
With his long grace, and Booner eats a capon
1 ban blesses it.
or llii-:
Dost thou ever think to bring thy ears or Btomacfa to the
patience ol a dry gra - thy tablecloth; and droned
out by thy son here till all the meat on thy board ha- forgot it
was that daj in the kitchen, or to brook the ooise made in a
question of predestination by the pood laborers and painful e
'i- aasembled together, put to them by the matron, your Bpouse,
who moderates with ■ cup ol wine ever and anon, and a Ben-
ten* <■ out of Knox bet w i en
The Quakers were thus derided in a similar way:
Water us young Shrubs, with the Dew of Thy blessing; thai
we may prow up into Tall <>ak-. and may live to be Baw*d Out
into ivai Boards, to wainscot Thy New Jerusalem!!
The Puritans, as we have seen, emphasized plainness
of garb, bul evaded the spirit of the law when they
wrought embroidered texts upon their garments with
a view to " moralize " them. The old play, previously
quoted, has the following :
Nay. sir. -lie i- a Puritan at her needle, too:
She works religious petticoats; for flowers
She'll make church histories; besides,
My Bmock-sleeves have such holy embroideries,
And are so learned, that I fear in time
All my apparel will be quoted by
Jasper Mayne, " The City Match." 1639.
t" Quarlous," in " Bartholomew Fair," Act I., Sc. 1.
J "The Quaker's Grace." Thomas Brown, "Works, Serious and
Comical." London, 1720.
3u THE V' Ahn:
• instructor. Yesterday I went
To -'■<■ ;i lady thai baa ;i parrot; nay iroraaa,
\\ bile I * .1^ in 1I1-. • > « i r -•- t be f<
tad non ii can -p«iik but Knox's w-ik^; —
irrot loot.*
The Puritan ladies Bho? real ingenuity in the
choice and execution • icred th< ia<
appeared upon the garments of men I their fami-
lies. The custom lived but ife, !•• of its
elaborate and i
clothing in
• nth <
tur u:>"ii the
dress. This <u~r t.i-i ! ral in luring
the reign I V. A ';nv in
tli- tii | jut-
form of letl md tl
ma< The
th<- Purit this
sorl •ralnting," which was in - e 1
to the j>r i simplicit ■ ttism. V7e read in
nmont and Fletch
1 1 .i -.
Without •> neat historical shirt?!
Th< »lor in Quaker clothing I • have
been early limited t-» the browns and nr-.r- :n:i<
EUwood says that there was a man in the Monthly
Meeting at L " had hi ten
•Ji . "The I " itch." 11
gisns Hill, " History of English Dresa " Vol. I , p. :
Custom of the Country." AetlL, Se. I.
i BTl h) l v COBTl Mi:. 3i
upon me, for I was a young Man and had at that time
a black Suit on." This was, of course, very early in the
period of Ellwood's convincement. The women had a
rather wider scope at first, but after the opening of the
eighteenth century plain colors were universal among
the Quakers, In the neighborhood i I ' ord, indeed,
brown was under a ban for a Bhort time. " Beretof<
ends chose to v >thing out of a dislike to
brown, because it bore the name of a certain man of
Abingdon thai had Btuck close upon the -kin- of
Friends thereabouts." All wearing apparel ■■
treated seriously, and was bequeathed t-» relatives and
friends, and minuteness was shown in disposing
It. The laborer in Queen Anne's day wore the broad
brim, flat, felt hat that had been discarded by the man
of fashion; a jerkin or Bhort coat, knee breeches and
heavy yarn Btockii The breech< re often of
leather, adding to the neutral coloring in the matter of
dress. The man of the world, <>n the other hand, was
responding Even Robespierre, a century
lati r, . ' rlyle tells us, wore a sky blue coat, a white
bilk waistcoat, embroidered with silver, Mack silk
breech* -, white stock] buckles. The
doublet in Charles tl. S time was cut; it then
became longer than before, and was adorned with the
new buttons, just introduced, down the front. There
was one royal attempt at reformation in dress, but it
did not Bucceed.f
•See "Quaker** Art of Courtship," by the author of " Teague-
Laml .'• olated for the Meridian of the Bull ami Mouth." Abing-
don had long been famous for its woolens, even then,
fFor the new eoatnme of the Kin?, see Pepys' Diary, Vol. VI.,
p. 29. "A long eaeaoek close to the body, of black cloth pinked with
white silke ondei it, and a eoai over it, and the legs ruffled with black
riband like a pigeon's leg." Oct. 15, 1666.
Tilt: Ql \hi i:
•i<1 of this reign the picturesque mM doublet
1 vanished ami the Kim it was. almost of the
bteentfa century ••ut. The draj of this and the
Bucceedi] re tin ir brilliant red i in the
'.■ square fashion, with amp]- . and -k :
turned bach with tw<» bul 1 bis was tl I worn
by body f<>r tin* next liuinln-'l vears, Quaki i
others, with Blight modifi I
until ' 1 of the century that me -1.
an<l grew a tail. William Penn's -k. re full — and
why! I- ■ Stuart reign demanded a Bword \m-
der i ' —quit matter of d< ind
when William renounced th< ord it did i ike
hi i • curtail his ample -kirt- in
e hundred years lau
!><• known as th< d-belly " of hie Pennsylvania rac-
could : full, even then.
luded thai the Friends tppointed
in ■ "nil.' shall >:i\' publicly in the
I ■
Idrted eoal . by
■ rican Friend behind their 1
li.-h cousins in this matter "f plainj ad earlier e\
than this period had I srning their constil y of
the dai sonformity to worldlin*
In if.'.".". Philadelphia Yearly Meeting advised:
t all that profeee tin- Truth an<I their Children, whether
tug or grown op, keep t" Plainess in Apparel as bi
Truth ami that n<>ne wear long-lapped 81< or Coats gathered
at tin- si.l«~. or Superfluous Buttons, or broad Ribbons ah<>ut
their Hat-, or long curled Periwiggs, ami that no Women, th«ir
Children or Servai I eir heads immodestly <>r wear their
•MS. of Henry Hull.
i si i I >) i\ COBTl ME. 33
Garments indecently as u t"<> common; nor wear long Bean
and thai all be careful about making, buying or wearing as
much as they can) stripM or BowerM Stuffs, <t other useless <t
luperfluouaJIhingB, and in order Thereunto, that all Taylors pro-
f< Being Truth be dealt with and a>!\ iaed accordingly.
Also advised, " That all Superfluity & ' in
Buildings and Furniture 1"' avoided for time to come."
Change bad to come among the Quakers, however,
as it had in the world. By the middle of the eighteenth
century the country f * » 1 k were following more closely in
the wake of the town. " Fifty yean ago," Baya a writer
in 1761, " the dress of people in distanl counti* no
ire like those in town than Turkish <t Chinese. But
now in the course of a tour you will not meel with a
high crowned hat, or a pair of red stockings." Miss Hill
n to Bay:
The high crowned bat was pretty well confined to the Quak-
era, who were as noticeable for the neatness as for the old-
fashioned < ut of their garments. Their linen was always fine
mid clean, and the quality of their sober «■« ats and gowns
was of the best. The moat rigid discarded all additions which
could in any be described as ornaments, even to the imttons
with which it was the fashion t<> loop up the hats. The men's
hat* were lower and wider brimmed than the women's, which
were of the regular Bteeple shape. Quakers, of course, did not
wear wig! '
Upon the matter of wiga we must correct Miss Hill.
Many Quakers wore them, including William Penn.
In August, L787, the London " Chronicle " published
a satirical paragraph of advice to a man of fashion rela-
tive to correct costume for Beaside wear:
For the morning, provide yourself with a very large round
hat. This will preserve your face from the sun and wind, both
of which are very prejudicial to the complexion. Let your hair
* Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 167.
34 TEE Ql A.KER.
be well filled with pomatum, powder and bear'- <jrox*o, and tuck
it under your hat. Have an enormous rhitterling* to your
shirt, the broader the better, and pull it up to look as like the
pouter pigeon as you possibly can. A white waistcoat without
skirts, and a coat with a collar up to your ears will do for an
early hour; and if they ^ay your head look- like that <>f .John
the Baptist on a charger, tell them you arc n<>t ashamed to look
like an _\ j > < > - 1 1 « - . what ever they an ■! Your first appearance
must be in r«-«l morocco Blippers with yellow heels; your second
in shoes with the Vandyke tie; your third in Cordovan boots,
with very Long rowelled -pur-', which arc very useful to walk
in; for if a a lady's apron, it gives you a irood oppor-
tunity of Bhowing how gracefully you can a-k pardon. Your
fourth dress must be th< irnered hat, the Paris pump,
and the Artoifl buckle.f
The foregoing is valuable as showing how far dr<
had become modem in 1 787.
Red heels were w«>ni under Louis XIV., and in the
time of Louis XV. these were made of wood in bright
red at Court, and were considered al mark of gen-
tility.^: Shoe buckles adorn the Bhoes of Louis XIV. in
his | rt rait by Rigaud in the Louvre, painted in 1701;
they came Into England in the reign of William III.,
ami by the end of the eighteenth century were enor-
mous. Then came the French Revolution, which.
affected even shoe buckles, and they were supplanted by
ribbons or strings. The American Quaker sea-captain,
John M. Whitall, who visited England in 1819, relates
that he wanted to go to meeting in Liverpool, and had
a struggle in mind over putting leather strings in his
shoes, instead of the worldly ribbons he would have had
to buy. Bu1 he did not "gratify pride" to that extent !§
* A ruffled front, falling from the neck.
fllill, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 128.
t Quicherat, " Ilistoire de Costume en France," p. 54
\ nannah W. Smith, " Diary of John M. Whitall," p. 107.
A STUDY IN COtiirilK.
35
Men in 1786 carried enormous muffs. These had a
ribbon attached to suspend them from the neck, with a
bow of ribbon tied in the center. The bean wenl about
encumbered with this, a sword and a verv long cane, no
doubt with the " very jantee " air that the old books
refer to as the sine qua non of the modish gentleman of
two hundred years ago. M nil's had come to America
as early a- lt',:;^. Dr. Thomas Prence, in Boston, in
1725, lost his "black bear-skin muff""; and several
muffs were left by will in Now Fork in 1783.* An old
French print shows a " Quaquer d' Amsterdam " in the
dress of William Penn, carrying an enormous muff.
Buttons of great size adorned everything possible un-
der I iharlea the Second, and paint and " patches " pre-
vailed. The riding-coats of this period were red, but in
L786 we find them green, with enor-
mous mother-of-pearl buttons. It was
aboul this time that a Frenchman in
Philadelphia wrote that on a certain
day in September the Quakers in that
town *' put on worsted stockings to a
man
t
In the first rears of the nineteenth
century the worldly coat took on the
cut-away effect seen in portraits of
Jeffersonian times; and here we have
the origin of the modern " plain coat,"
which is in reality a nondescript affair,
being, as to its collar, a survival of
the coat of Penn, who, however,
1818.
(After Martin.)
* Alice Morse Earle, " Costume of Colonial Days," p. 164.
t Elizabeth Drinker, Journal.
36 THE Ql A.KER.
would have been horrified at its height; and as to
it- tail, an early nineteenth century mode. Sonic-
thing in its Bhape appealed to an American w
long ago, who, struck by its resemblance to the fish
familiar to OUT BllOre8, dubbed it the " -had ! '
Had it been possible, the Quakers would doubt-
til] have clung to the early style of dress, but
their bravest efforts were of no avail. The coat of Wil-
liam Penn had n< liar whatever, as we have seen.
There fame a time when the worldly coat rose Btraight
up to a line behind the ear-, and the neckcloth passed in
many folds about the choked and gasping neck, tilting
the (dun, for air and < ■ . to a point which carried the
e upward and gave the beaux of the period a most
Mipereilidi- air. The familiar portrait of Robespierre
will illustrate this, when all the gentlemen of England
were aping the fashions of the Directoire. Presently,
because it could rise no higher, the worldly coat-collar
dropped over in a roll, and the neck was released fr<nn
all it- Bwaddling hand- <>f cambric The Quaker stopped
at this point; he had followed the fashion a quarter of
a century behind, it i- true, hut >\\\\ followed, his coat
collar creeping up by imperceptible decrees until the
middle of the nineteenth century. At the present time
only a faithful few arc left to Btruggle against the in-
evitable roll, and these few are in America, Friends in
the mother country having ceased to observe an obso-
lete convention. It took the coat collar a full two hun-
dred years to rise to its greatest height and fall in the
snare of a worldly roll — what more natural than that
the Quaker collar should he as long in rolling ?
Seventy-five years ago trousers were among the
A 8TDD7 I\ COSTl ME. 37
things viewed by conservative Quakers with very grave
suspicion. The evolution of the " pantalon," its rise,
name, origin and effect are described by Quicherat.*
The garment seems to have come from Venice in the
sixteenth century* The Venetians were called " Pan-
taloni " in upper Italy, and the Italian comedians intro-
duced the garment in France, in fantasy and ballets.
The COUrl of Louis XIII. danced " en pantalon," as did
Richelieu himself, for the edification of Anno of Aus-
tria. The breeches were first lengthened to the calf,
meeting the reversed 1 t-top, but trousers did not be-
come popular at that time for stout wear, because the
Bupreme hour had not yet come in which to discard the
boot. Without attempting to dwell on the history of
the most modern garment worn, it may be as well to re-
mind ourselves that trunk hose had just been succeeded
in Fox's time by breeches to the knee, adorned with
fringe and ribbon; " petticoat breeches," frilled and
voluminous, having been a Bhort-lived mode. What
George Fox would have done with trunk hose it would
be interesting to know! At their height a law was
necessary forbidding a man to carry " bags stuffed in
his sacks" — a mild form of smuggling. A person be-
fore a court justice, when charged by the judges with
being habited contrary to the statute, convinced them
that the stuffing was not composed of any prohibited
article, inasmuch as it " contained merely a pair of
sheets, two tablecloths, ten napkins, four shirts, a brush,
a comb and a nightcap ! " f
By the end of the eighteenth century there was a
growing plainness in men's dress, and Charles James
•Quicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 480.
t " The Book of Costume. By a Lady of Quality." London, 1846.
It P
38 THE QUAKER.
Fox and his friends in the House of Commons sided its
coming. 13 May, 1807, one Hamilton, at Balliol Col-
lege Oxford, \vr«>tc: "No boots arc allowed to be
worn lure, or trousers or pantaloons. In the morning
we wear white Btockings, and dinner, regularly
(Ire.— in -ilk Btockings," etc. In i v <» s the "trousered
bean " was present. He had before this worn silk Btock-
ings, velvet knee breeches, powdered wig, cocked hat
and Bword.* Ail through the eighteenth century
Quakers wore knee breeches, with Bilk or yarn stork
ingB, according to 1 1 1 « • i r circumstances in life, and low
shoes or riding 1 ts, Ir is ii ting to Irani from
Miss Hill that knit stockings were only worn Borne fifty
\.ar- before Fox was born. They had been of
cloth or continuous with the clothing, as in the -lays of
trunk hose. 1 '• : ' were of -ilk and wool.
When the "pantalon' arrive. 1 from Italy, the tir-t
w.tc of plain light doth, fitting very tightly. By l s 30
they were much as they have Bince remained, the " c
Bach " shape being the transition, reminding us of Dr.
Holm< -' lim - :
They nity th.it frequently ay-j.al-,
Th( liseval gentlemen, in semi-lunar .-mall-.
" French Pantaloons " arc advertised in a Philadel-
phia newspaper of l v - s .
In 1798 Mr-. Lloyd wrote to her ?on Robert, who
had gone up to London to visit his friend ( harles Lamb:
1 was grieved to hoar of thy appearing in those fantastical
trousers in London. 1 am clear such eccentricities of dress would
only make thee laughed at by the world, whilst thy sin<
blends would be deeply hurt. . . . Neither thy mind nor person
are formed for eccentricities of dress or conduct.f
♦Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 233.
1 E. V. Lucas, " Charles Lamb and the Lloyd-," p.
i BTl l>) i\ COSTl ME. 39
Robert Lloyd, in I s11 '- 1 , wrote to his wife:
*
Pray dispatch me from the Dog tun at Beven o'clock in the
aing, - pair of White Silk Btockings. 1 must go smart to
the Opera. 1 have ordered a pair <>f dress-clothes in London.
Hi- brother Charles inquires of him about the same
time:
If Bessian boots would <!" t" wear with pantaloons or small
clothes indiscriminately, I should prefer them, but not without."
The Lloyds were of Quaker -t<»-k, and a charmingly
cultivated family, t«. whom the friendship of < harles
Lamb was bum testimony of wit and culture. They did
not remain in the circle "t* Quakers, but intermarried
with tin- Wordsworths, and from them Bprang three
Bislin],- and an Archbishop <>f the Established Church!
The English Quaki re, however, were not alone in
their dread <>( the new fashion.
When Mr. .1- in rson discarded his short breeches, -ilk stockings
fl ,„l ],, - with diver buckles, and concealed his well-formed
legs in pantaloons, the Federalists were prone l<> regard it
the trick >>i a demagogue to secure favor with the mob. A
gentleman in trousers and short hair! But what better could
\h- thought ..r , d of a Democrat ami an atheist!
In is,,;. ; ;.. i rty years old could remember the high stock,
cruel Bhirt collar, ruthless coat-collar, the prodigious bonnet and
genera] severity of costume before Channing, Dickens, Beecher,
ami the New York "Tribune*' had begun to emancipate the
American understanding from it- tight fitting armor of opinion.f
Mrs. Earle tell- us that the colonists of Massachusetts
Bay landed, some in doublet and hose, and some in coat
and bi 3. The fact is interesting to the student
of Quaker dress, for it is another evidence that there
must have been great variety of costume among the
•Ibid., p. 2';-.
t James Parton, " The Clothes Mania."
40 THE QUAKER.
different classes of society in England in the seven-
teenth century. The first mention of trousers in this
country was in 1 T T » '• . although they are possibly the
"tongs" or "tushes" of 1638. The • 'it was at
first put to tlir use of what we now call overalls. The
Pilgrim men wore l>nfT breeches, red waistcoats, and
green or Bad-colored " mandillion The indignant
Stubbes was also moved t«> inveigh against "man-
dillions " in b passage that gives a perfecl picture of t li«-»
i ;in<l jerkins of the late sixteenth and early seven-
aturies. He
i ■ : ind ierlris, ;i> they be diuera in colours, to be
they diuera in fashions; for some be made \*itli collors, some
without, Borne cl< se to the body, some loose, which they cal
mandilians, ring t he whole body down t<> the thigh, like
bags or sacks, that were drawne ouer them, lii'lim: the dimen-
sions and lineaments of tho body; some are buttoned down !
breast - me vnder the arms, and some down the be ome
with flaps ouer th( , some without ; some witb
some with small, Borne \Nitb none at all; some pleated and
sted behinde si thered, some no! . and how many
dayes | I might Baye hourea or minutes of hourea in the yeare)
bo many Bort I spparell some one man will haue, and think-
eth it good prouision in fayre weathei to lay vp agaynst s
Btorme.1
Doublet and hose were worn more in the Southern
colonies than in New England, and were richer in ma-
terial. In tin- list of "apparel for LOO men," of the
Massachusetts Bay Company, Mr.-. Earle tells us that
■doul'let ami hose may be found in 1628, but they had
disappeared in New England by 16! The doublet
was worn in England also by women in 1666, to the
• " * MandiHions,' a sort of doublet, fastened with hooks an<l <
and lined with cotton." — Alice Morse Earle, " Costume of Colonial Tim
p. 218.
f Philip Stubbes, " Anatomie of Abuses." Ed. 15S6, p. 49.
Elias Hicks, tj 48-1830.
From a si.'
A STUDY IN COSTIVE.
41
scandal of our friend, Mr. Pepys. As has been noted,
George Fox wore the doublet all his life. What was
known as " hair camlet " seems to have been a fashion-
able material among the plainer Friends for coats, while
the gayer, or, as the phrase went, " the finer sort,"
wore velvet of various colors. John Smith, of Burling-
ton, New Jersey, going to " pass meeting " for the first
time previous to his marriage with Hannah, the daugh-
ter of James Logan, of Pennsylvania, 2Sth of Eighth
month, 1748, wrote in his diary, " I put on a new suit
of hair camlet." *
The dress of Jonathan Kirkbride, of Pennsylvania,
born in 17-']!», is thus described by a descendant, and the
description may be taken as that of many Quakers of
the middle of the last centurv. Its cut is much like
that of Elias Hicks.
During his preaching expeditions, lie went out mounted on a
paeing horse, a pair of leather saddle-bags, containing his ward-
robe, hung behind the saddle, a silk oil-cloth cover for his hat,
and an oilcloth cape over the shoulders, which came down nearly
to the saddle, as a protection from storms. Stout corduroy
overalls, with rows of buttons down the outside to close them
on, protected the breeches and stockings. A light walking stick
did double duty, as a cane when on foot, and a riding whip when
mounted. . . .
He wore a black beaver hat, with a broad brim turned up at
the side9 so as to form a point in front and rolled up behind; a
drab coat, with broad >kirts reaching to the knee, with a low
standing collar; a collarless waistcoat, bound at the neck, reach-
ing beyond the hips, with broad pockets, and pocket flaps over
them: a white cravat served for a collar; breeches with an open-
ing a few inches above and below the knee, closed with a row
of buttons and a silver buckle at the bottom; ample silver
buckles to fasten the shoes with; fine yarn stockings. . . .
In winter, shoes gave place to high boots, reaching to the
knee in front, and cut lower behind to accommodate the limb.
*"The Burlington Smiths," by R. Morris Smith, p. 153.
Till. QUAKER.
When lie adopted pantaloons, with great reluctai i
just before his death, at an advanced age, he com-
plained of their feeling " bo ' slavmy,' flapping about
the ankles I "
The men Friends of the early nineteenth century
• »
wore for an overcoat a long collarlees garment of heavy
cloth, like < fa
True Witney broadcloth, with it- shag unshorn,
which w;i- usually known among them a- a "surtout,"
worldly French name though it wi
iii.it garment best the winter's rai:e defen
Whose ample form without one plait depends;
By various names, In varioua countries known
\.t held in all the true inrtout alone.
Be thine ol kersey firm, though small t ]
Then brave unwel the rain, unchill'd the frosty
Possibly none <-l 11 nj_r to knee breeches longer than
some of the Quakers in America, and the Last instance
that 1 have found is that of Richard BCott, who for
forty years was clerk of New York Nearly Meeting,
and who died in l v "' ,; . Hi- daughter-in-law writes, in
a letter preserved anion- old family papers:
Mother M"tt i- better again. She i- making [hiin] a pair ol
pantaloons, and I am helping her. The men have nearly all pot
to wearing them now, and he looks and feels so singular in hi->
" -mall-." that he eould not stand it any longer, but bought
some beautiful cloth in New York fur the purpose.!
Sometimes it is not clear what particular point in the
costume was criticized, as at Dartmouth, Massachusetts,
■whose Records -ay:
*Mahlon i* 1 . Kirkbride, "Domestic Portraiture of our Ancestors
Kirkbride ; 1660-1824."
tGay, "Trivia."
{Hannah B. Mott to her mother, Hannah Smith, from Mamaroneck,
BT. Y.,8mo. 23, 1828.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 43
27th. 1 mo. 1722; The visitors give account that thoy have
been with B. S. who is gone from ye order of Friends into ye
fashion of ye world in his apparel, who signified that he is re-
solved to have his own way.
Benjamin, we learn, was disowned; but the minutes
are silent as to what he wore, which we should very
much like to know. A rather more serious case was
that of C. G., Jr., who on the 15th of Third month,
1756, "made an attempt to lav his intentions of mar-
riage before the Preparative Meeting at Acoaxet & was
not admitted by reason of his wearing fashionable
clothes." He was labored with by the Friends, but re-
fused to change his worldly apparel, married " out of
the order," and was eventually disowned.
At Nantucket, Massachusetts, 1801, L II
was disowned for " deviating from our principles in
dress and address." We find that he persisted in wear-
ing buekles, and refused to use " thee " and " thou."
In 1803, at the same meeting, it is recorded that
H C " had deviated in dress and address from
the plainness of our Profession." *
The inventory of the household goods and clothing
of Benjamin Lay, the extraordinary Anti-Slavery
Quaker of Pennsylvania, is still in existence; and this
curious and unique account is sufficiently instructive to
warrant its partial reproduction. It will be noted that
the list includes " britches " and trousers, the former
of leather in several cases, f as well as a " skin coat,"
and jacket of the same leather as the " britches." Vari-
ous cloaks and riding hoods, and seven or eight other
* Worth, "Nantucket Friends' Meetings."
t William Strypers in 1685, had "two pair of leather breeches, two
leather doublets, handkerchiefs, stockings, and a new hat." This consti-
tuted the outfit of the Dutchman, when he settled in Germantown, Pa., at
that date. " Settlement of Germantown," by Judge Pennypacker, p. 128.
44 THE Ql AJiER.
hoo<ls in white or black, had evidently belonged to his
wife, whose death took place Bome years before that of
her husband, in 17 12. Sarah Lay was also a little
hunchback, an English woman, and an acknowledged
minister in the Society of Friends, who a mpanied
her husband when he first came to America in 17:51.
She evidently had Dot been ensnared by bo worldly a
fashion as the bonnet, which was far from the thoughts
of the good Qiiakrn-ss of that date. The few items that
follow are Belected from the original manuscript with
an eye to the Btyle of garments worn by the Lays.
Benjamin Lay died Second month 3d, L759, aged 32.
The Bale (or "vendue," as the document reads) i
curred the next month, and fills fifteen folio pages of
description. E68 17-. Id. were realized. The list in-
cludes one hundred and twenty-five 1 ks, mostly
Friends*, a copy of Plutarch's Li i -. i tc. Hi- home \
mar Abington, Pa. The last rather Btartling item in
this list evidently refers t<> a |>h lamaged g 1~!
In\ i \ rOBl O] I •■: him;
Hi N .1 WIN I. W, t'l l'l NN--, | \ A MA,
Died i vo. 3bd. 17
s d
Coat and Jacket - G
Buckrim < !oat 4
•J la. keta and a fmk 1 J
Plush coat '' 7
Pare of Leather Britches 3 11
Leather Jacket 5
4 1
1 8
Skin Coat 3
Pare of Shoo9 6 6
tt and Hat 1 1
Bag and pare of Cloth boots 2 5
A STI I>) /.V COSTl'ME.
45
s d
Leather Jacot 10 3
Coal 1 C
Pare of Britches 11 G
A
Trunk 2
Clokc 1 a
A Side and cloke 1
2 Banell petty cote 3 3
Clock [cloak] and riding-hood - 4
Pete* oal 3 1
Crap gound [crftpe gown] 3 1
Callexninco gound 4
Camhlil " I 1
Quilted petecoat 10 1
Winder curtina l 11
Black -ilk Bcari I 18
Ditto 1 17 l
Black >ilk Bcari 18
Black hood 11
Whit Bilk " 3 9
A 5
Ditto 4 1
A -ilk handkerchief 1
Ditto 2 9
A -ilk handkerchief 7
pare of ^ilk glovea 5
•■ glovea l 10
A whit hood 2 3
" linen " 1 4
Ditto 2
2 muslin handkerchiefs 4
A whit hood 3
•« 4
3 " aprons 5
Pocket handkerchief 5
6 caps 4 9
'• " 4 8
10 " 5 3
3 cambric handkerchiefs 4 4
8 pinners 7
A checkard apron 2 3
46 THE yi AKER.
a d
20 neck cloths 4 3
sundry mittens - 3
a preen apron 2
Ditto - 4
a pare of pockets 1
3 pare worsted stocks 4 7
1 dimity wastecoat A 2 -liift-* H
12 diaper napkins A 2 table-cloths 3 10
Besides shirts, stockings, gloves 17 shifts," 12 table-cloths,
towels, napkin-, sheets, pillow-cases, " < wi-tin-." 1 "a bammack,"
quilts "valliai "to numerous to mention."
Also, a variety oi drj in the piece, 40 lbs. whalebone,
thimbles, needles, buttons, 12,000 pins, tape, l do*, flints;
and flnalrj rds «>f damnifil
The • 1 1- * — - of Nicholas Biddle i- described by the
Frenchman, M. de Bacourt, -■> late as L840, as " .1 blue
coal with brass buttons, yellow nankeen pantaloons,
canarj colored gloves, and a glossy beaver." The same
M. de Bacourl is Baid to have made the mot, that the
'• world is ruled by three boxes — the ballot-box, the
cartridge l"x. and the band-box!
The only title of honor r I bj Friends --'ins
to have been that of 1 1 ttor. The ill- of the flesh were
so heavy in the days the use of modern methods
of healing, that the physician who could in any wi
alleviate Buffering was made we] for his kindly
. and his title wi lly given him. Eng-
land was far behind Holland in the healing art, and
Friends went t«» the Netherlands, where Leyden v.
famous in Bcience and learning, to Btudy medicine. A
flourishing body of Quakers already existed in Amster-
dam. Anatomy and physiology were taught with
•Ozonbrigg — One of the many materials with Eastern or other
curious oames, bo much in use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Spelt also Oznaburg, Ozenbridge, etc.; originally made at Osnabruck,
Hanover. Linen. (Alice Horse Earie.)
.1 n/7 DY 1\ COSTl ME. 47
Dutch thoroughness, and Rembrandt's great painting,
"The Anatomist," was a correcl representation of tho
scientific training which that nation was giving to the
whole workl. The Doctor, in the seventeenth cen-
tury, was a great Bocial personage. Hi- power ami his
presence wen- only second to that of a great church
dignitary. No one ever questioned hi- authority on
any point, ami to his utterances the people paid great
heed. He had hut just Btepped over that mysterious
borderland lying between mystery and science, and to
tin 1 unlettered of his day, hi- knowledge was hardly to
hr attained without supernatural means. Both on the
continent and in England he wore a distinctive dress.
The black cloth garb was quite clerical in effect, ami
the great bush wig was invariably accompanied by a
gold-headed cane. Tort raits of Doctors Fothergill and
I.ett-om, both very eminent men, and both Quakers,
show them in clothing of rather lighter hue, hut with
the adjuncts of cocked hat, wig aid cane. The Quaker
profession in England maintained the courtesy ami the
garb without, however, any of it- exaggerations; and
jpect for their calling led them to wear the wig
throughout the period of its history — a motive which
did them honor, although, at this .late, we may not be
able to recognize any added sentiment of beauty or
dignitv in that adornment.
In America, democratic as it was — and yet most con-
servative, so far as adhering to a style of dress is con-
cerned — the wig was not considered de rigueur among
Friends, where its adoption, with Doctors, as with
other mortals, was entirely a matter of taste. We can
therefore the better understand Ann Warder's aston-
48 THE QUAKER.
ishment at the appearance of a Doctor in Philadelphia,
wearing none of the insignia of his profession. She
writes, in L786, " We dined at Nicholas Wain's in com-
pany with there sisters ami two public Friends." (A
usual term for minister among the Quakers.) "One,
I understood, was a country Physician, hut how would
he look by the side of ours, instead of a great Bush
Wig, and everything answerable, his Dress was a- hum-
hie as possible. " At meeting, the next day: "The
Doctor I mentioned yesterday appeared beautifully ";
that is, he preached or prayed acceptably to his audi-
ence. The Doctor of Divinity also shared in a pro-
fessional costume as he does now, and this lends mean-
ing to the note <>f Thomas Story, who in 1717, at Rad-
nor, Pennsylvania, in describing meetings he had held
::t that place, Bays: " We heard also of a Doctor of
Divinity in one of our meetings, disguised in a blue
coat; but not of any objections made." *
The new thing, whatever it might be, was viewed
askance by Quakerism, which, in America, at least, was
never more fearful of innovations than during the
period immediately succeeding the departure of the
Quakers from the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1756.
They withdrew from active life, and paid more atten-
tion to the limitations of dress and custom among their
membership, and this grew upon them with the passing
years. Richard Talbot, of Ohio, was visited by Friends
of his Yearly Meeting for putting on suspenders; and
umbrellas caused many anxious moments when they
were introduced among the Friends. The first um-
brella carried in Edinburgh was borne by Alexander
♦Thomas Story, Journal, p. 573. (Folio.)
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 49
Wood, a surgeon, in 1782. It was a huge gingham ap-
paratus, clumsy and awkward to a degree. It was also a
surgeon wlib the following year carried a yellow glazed
linen umbrella down Glasgow streets, justly proud of
the new importation from Pari-. Before this, huge
green paper fans were employed as a protection from
the sun, while the rainy-day devices were many. Jonas
llanway, however, although he has the credit of carry-
ing the first umbrella in London, in 1756, must now
give way to a Philadelphia Quaker, for on February
20, 173S, an "umberella" was imported to Philadelphia
in the good ship " Constantine," as shown by the in-
voice, for the " proper account and risque " of Edward
Shippen, who, indeed, for aught we know, may have
worn out that nine shilling umbrella long before Jonas
Hanway carried his.* Nathaniel Xewlin carried the
first umbrella to Chester (Pa.) Meeting, and to this
evidence of a worldly spirit Friends took great excep-
• tion, and made remonstrance, although Xathaniel was
a person of weight, and had sat six times in the Penn-
sylvania Assembly.
As for the women, they had long been used to fol-
lowing the advice of Gay:
Good housewives all the winter's rage despise,
Defended by the riding hood's disguise;
but it was considered a very feminine and unmanly per-
formance at first to be seen carrying an umbrella, and
onlv women might
Underneath the umbrella's oily shed,
Safe through the wet on clinking patten tread.
Let Persian dames the umbrella's ribs display,
To guard their beauties from the sunny ray;
*" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography." Jan., 1901.
50 THE QUAKER.
Or sweating slaves support the shady load,
When Eastern monarchs show their state abroad.
Britain in winter only knows its aid,
To guard from chilling showers the walking maid.*
The grandmother of the Philadelphia lady who
vouches for the following had a no less thrilling ex-
perience in the attempt to be in the mode than had
Nathaniel Newlin. During her girlhood her father
brought her an umbrella. She carried the novel
gift with great pleasure and delight, but so new and
unknown was the article that the meeting to which she
belonged became alarmed and the Overseers dealt with
the worldly-minded father. During the controversy
one woman Friend said to the young girl, " Miriam,
would thee want that held over thee when thee was
a-dvin' ? ' That of course settled the matter, and the
offending umbrella was relegated to seclusion. Many
present necessities of the toilet were unknown luxuries
in the early days. We are told that in 1G50 Sir Ralph
Verney sent to a friend a present of " teeth-brushes and
boxes," which were new-fangled Parisian articles, called
by him, " inconsiderable toyes." f
There are few more sensitive souls than that of sweet
and tender John Woolman, to read whom in these sor-
did davs is like a breath from the Elysian Fields. We
%j %j
could not all find it possible, or even our duty, to live
so near his ideal; for to few human beings is it given
to so completely sever their connection with the world,
and the things of the world. Nevertheless, there is no
more salutary reading for these strenuous days than
the small but precious contribution made by John
*" Trivia."
fGeorgiana Hill, " Women in English Life." Vol. I., p. 158.
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 51
Woolman to the body of English literature. He is here
named because of the travail of soul that he endured
over his clothes; for to him, poor dear, the dye in his
garments was as great an object of uneasiness of spirit
as the lack of it would have been to William Penn ! lie
tells us in his Journal, that amazing record of a soul's
experience, that " the thought of wearing hats and gar-
ments dyed with a dye hurtful to them, had made a last-
ing impression on me." This was in the year 1760,
when the Quaker tailor was just forty years old, and his
calling had led him to see the vanities of men rather
intimately.
This, and the wearing more clothes in summer than are need-
ful, grew weary to me, believing them to be customs which have
not their foundation in pure wisdom. The apprehension of being
singular from my beloved friends was a strait upon me; and thus
I continued in the use of some things contrary to my judgment.
But our Journalist fell ill and in the depths he re-
cords his mind brought into a state of perfect submis-
sion to the will of God, as he interpreted it. For nine
months he continued to wear out the garments he had
alreadv in use, and then his first move in the direction
of the new reform was to buv an undved hat.
I thought of getting a hat the natural color of the fur, but
the apprehension of being looked upon as one affecting singular-
ity felt uneasy to me. Here I had occasion to consider that
things, though small in themselves, being clearly enjoined by Di-
vine authority, become great things to us; and I trusted that the
Lord would support me in the trials that might attend singular-
ity, so long as singularity was only for His sake. On this ac-
count I was under close exercise of mind in the time of our Gen-
eral Spring Meeting, 1762, greatly desiring to be rightly directed ;
when, being deeply bowed in spirit before the Lord, I was made
willing to submit to what I apprehended was required of me,
and when I returned home got a hat the natural color of the fur.
THE Ql AKER.
No portrait, alas, exists of John Woolman, but this
lets us know thai his hat was a beaver of the natural
color. Doubtless he would never have consented to
have li!- "counterfeit presentment' taken. He had
some mental Btresa because of this Btep, i'«»r he adds that
after this,
In attending n . this singularity was a trial to mo. and
more especially at this time, as white hat- were used by -•<mc
who were fond of following the changeable modes of dre--. and
»- riends who knew not from what motives I wore it
grew Bhy of me, I felt my way r>r a time shut uj> In the e\er-
ministry. . . . My bearl \\a-~ often tender in m«<ting8,
and I felt an inward tion which to mo was very precious
under these difficulti< a afraid that my wi r
Lag Buch a 1 .it Bavored of an aff< ngularity; those who
ke with me in a friendly way. I generally informed, in a few
words, that l 1 my ? I in my own will.
I had at til pa ficial friendship had 1
dan i" me; and many I ii ing now uneasy with me,
I had an inclination t>> acquaint Borne with the manner of my
og led i yet upon a deeper t : .":_'M I
for a time most easy to omil it. believi present dispensa-
tion y ml trusting that if 1 kept my place, the
Cord in His own time would open the hearts of Friends I
mo. I hav< t" admire His and loving
kindm bs in leading about and instructing me, and in opening and
enlarging my heart in some of our meetings.
Surely nothing could be more beautiful than the
spirit here shown, although a practical mind might find
me criticisms po But it' all the Frien lay
honglit their hats and bonnets in the same spirit, it
would surely not be long before th S iety of Friends
again became a power in the world. Shall any one here-
after say that there i? nothing of philosophy in cloth
The Quaker custom of self-examination and comparison
with the ideal life, and a disparagement of native gifts
A STl nv i\ COSTl mi:. 53
and talent, made the humility in which the Quaker was
"clothed as with a garment," and which he Beldom
ceased in the last century to recommend, take on some-
time- a melancholy hue
Aggressive as the Quaker garb would Beem to have
been upon a superficial glance at the situation, it will be
found that the Bed made no effort to force their pecu-
liarities upon the public, nor have they ever don,, bo.
They and their hat- became conspicuous by force of cir-
cumstances, and of course were at once in the jmblic
eye. They did uol preach Quaker, but only plain
dr< : and they would at first have denied their pub-
lic position on the Bubjecl had they been given the
choice. The Quakers have always had the good Bense
to hold quite in the background their view- on dress,
when they have gone out a.- missionaries to what we are
pleased to call " the heathen." Ami herein they have
been wise in their generation. How much uood would
they have accomplished, for instance, by insisting that
a Hindu woman should at once put on the plain bon-
net \ It i- quite as reasonable to expect the Quakers to
adopt the Chinese dr< . indeed, more than one has
done. There is a beauty of line in certain forms that
Quaker dress has taken, that is pleasing to the artist,
and possi ssi - still more attraction for the moralist or
historian. It is hardly perceptible to him who is un-
familiar with Quaker history. The modern idea of
beauty in dress is no longer one of personal adornment,
but there is a moral quality that enters into it, which is
quite the product of the last three hundred years. The
merely decorative element is one that has always ap-
pealed to the savage on the plains, or in Central Africa.
54 THE W AKER.
The purely aesthetic side of dress was present to the
Greek as never before or since; and to the Knight in
armor came a sense of protection together with tho
appeal to his prowess. But it is only of late years that
we have had a conscience in our clothes; and what is
beautiful must now stimulate our feeling for the best
and truest. Wo do not object to the peculiarities of the
Quaker garb as did the public in Oliver Cromwell's day,
to whom it was offensive b an implied reproach.
But we see in it the menmrv of martyr and saint and
hero, and we suffer it, because to us it Btanda as a sym-
bol of Bome of the qualities for which the human bouI
has greatest need. A feeling of Badness creeps over our
mind that its history has become altogether that of the
past.
Sunshade. 1760.
CHAPTER II.
THE SPIRIT OF THE HAT
Auy Cappe, whato'i-r it l>e,
I- > t i 1 1 the signe of some Degre.
" Ballad of the Caps," 1656.
Ne dit-on pas qu'il n« f»ut pas penser avoir toutes scs
aises en ce monde ?
Lois de la Galanterie.
CHAPTEB II.
THE SPIRIT OF THE HAT.
YV() hats in tin* history of the clmrcli
stand forth conspicuous from the
mass. In Bhape they are not unlike.
I e oldesi has a round crown, and
plain wide brim, and is unadorned
save for cord and tassel. Gorgeous
in brillianl red, ir typifies churchly
prestige and power; and the car-
dinal who wear- it is a functionary of what has been
the ni"-i powerful church organization on the face of
the earth. To but one other hat has ever attached so
much religious significance. That is the drab broad-
brim of the early Quaker. How many controversies
have been waged, how many hard words flung over
the apparently simple matter of the hat! On this
futile subject we have had countless tracts, pamphlets
and sermons: while lawsuits, loss of property and loss
of life are all on record. The spiritual welfare of an
entire sect has at one time seemed to depend on the
manner of wearing the covering for the head. The
whole " testimony " of the early Quaker against the
frivolities of his dav was concentrated in his hat.
It is important to remember that the period was but
just past when this had been a part of the costume, no
more to be removed when entering the house or seated
at table than the shoes or doublet. Hats were worn in
58 THE Q( AKBR.
church, and the clergy preached in them. The elegant
courtier- at the French and English courts wen- now
beginning to greet the ladies and their superiors in rank
with the new bw< eping bow — " making a leg," as it w
termed — with consummate grace and art, the hat's
long, graceful feather sweeping the floor in the action.
This is not a Parisian fashion book, m-r yet a history
of worldly costume; nevertheless, we must Beek the
origin of the (Junker hat among the abodes of fashion.
This part of the costume has a very interesting history,
and might in itself till a good-sized volume. The felt
hat with which we are chiefly concerned goes hack to
the time of the early Greeks. There is a felt hat on a
statue of Endymion in the British Museum. The Xor-
nians at the conquest wore hats of the same durable
material, and we love the " tlaumlri-h bevel hat " of the
Merchant, in the Canterbury Tale-. Among the
peasantry of ti enteenth century, the old English
ami Scotch " bonnets " wire worn, usually of cloth or
other heavy stutT, low and broad in shape; while at all
times in the early history of England pome variety of
the hood was to be found among both sexes alike.
Chaucer's love was rewarded by his master with
" thank-, a cote and hood "; and the Monk —
■' For to f:i-ton hi- hood under hi- chinne,
Re had of gold ywrought, a curious pinne."
At the coronation of Anne Boleyn, the Aldermen
" toke their hoddes from their necks, and cast them
about their shoulders." * The old timedionored bonnet
had been superseded by the hat in the early sixteenth
century, and in the reign of Henry VIII., we find cer-
tain old prints that give us the jaunty hat always ass -
* Archteologia, Vol. XXIV., p. 172.
A UTLDX IS COSTUME.
59
ciated with that monarch, showing the hood still worn
underneath it, or thrown over the shoulder. Felt hats
had been found most durable for soldiers' wear, and
their lasting qualities made them popular with the com-
mon people. Ashton tells us thai a uew-fashioned
beaver hat, sometimes called fell and made by the
Dutch, came in about 1 r»r>9.
They were afterward made in
England by the Dutch refu-
g< es at Wandsworth, and were
a luxury only to be afforded by
fine gentlemen. A good hat
was very expensive, and im-
portant enough to be left
among bequests in a will.
They were borrowed and hired
for many years, and even down
to the time of Queeil Anne, we Douglas, Karl of Mortc
find the rent of a subscription
hat to be two pounds six shil-
lings per annum! There must have been great peace
and harmony in the wearing of that hat, one would
think ! In the time of Elizabeth beaver hats were an ex-
travagant luxury, and " were fetched from beyond the
seas, where a great sort of other varieties do come be-
side." The hats were small at first, and one old writer
Says: "So propre cappes,
So lytle hattes,
And so false hartes
Saw y never." *
The " hattes " soon grew as broad as that of the Wife
of Bath, and were known as " castors." The print of a
ton.
1553.
Aii.r Bepton.)
*" Maner of the World Now-a-Days."
00 THE QUAKER.
fashionable man of 1652 has the hat-brim extending
horizontally, with a long drooping feather, threatening
to fall. Thifl was the hat of
( !harles the First, which has
Bince come down to us as
the Quaker broad-brim. The
Bat of Charles L steeple - crowned hat of
u ' rMar,ln ' -lame. I. still exists in
beaver in Wale-, worn by both men ami women, the
latter j>laeiiiL r it over the hood or cap in the manner of
the firsl Quaker women. Nothing has ever destroyed
the hold <>t' tin- felt hat upon the affections of the Eng-
lish nation.
" Thf Turk in linen wraps hi- head,
The I '• i ian 1 * i — in law n t .... ;
The Ruse with Babies fur- his <-.ip.
And change will no1 be drawn t";
The Spaniard's constant to hie block.
The French inconstant i •■•
But of all felts that < ; \n !»• felt,
Give me your English bea
Old Philip Stubbes, in L585, wr< te of
BATS 01 81 m-i:ii I .\ I [OB
letymea they vse them Bharpe on t he croune, pearking vp
like the Bpere, or Bhafl <>f a Bteeple, Btandyng a quarter of a
yarde aboue the erowne of their heades, Borne inure, ><mi.' 1- ■— e,
- please the phantasies of their inconstant mindes. Other-
Bome be flat and broad on the crowne, like the battleruetes of a
house. An other sorte haue rounde crownes, Bometymes with
one kinde of band, Bometymes with another, now blacke, now
white, nowe russed, now redde, now grene, nowe yellowe, now
this, now that, neuer content with one colour or fashion two
daies to an ende. And thus in vanitie they spend the Lorde his
treasure, consuming their golden yeres and siluer daies in wick-
ednesse and sinne. And as the fashions bee rare and strange,
r.ndi-h Mutability in Dress."
f Philip Stubbes, " Anatomie of Abuses," 1586.
A IVelsh Jen Party.
A BTl 1>Y IN COBTl Mi:. 6!
so is the stufTo whereof their hattes be made diners also; for
some are of silke. Borne of ueluet, some of taffatie, sumo of sarce-
net, some "f wooll, and, whiche is more curious, some of a
certaine kinde of fine haire; these they call beuer hattes, <>f w.
\w. or xl. shillinges price, fetched from beyonde the seas, from
whence a greate Borte of other vanities d some besides. And
so common a thing it i-. thai euery seruyng man, countrieman,
and other, cui'ii all indefferently, dooe weare of these hattes,
For he is "f m. account or estimation amongst nun if he haue
nol a in in, t or taffatie hatte, and thai musl be pincked, and
cunnyngly carued of the bests fashion. And good profitable
hattes l"' these, for the longer you weare them the fewer holes
they haue. Besides I I late there i^ a new fashion of
wearyng their hattes vp amongsl them, which they father
vpon a Frenchman, namely, t<> weare them with bandes, bul how
vnaemely il will nol Baie how assie) a fashion that is let the.
wise judge; notwithstanding, howeuer it be, if it please them,
tl shall not displease me.
And another - • phantasticaU as the rest) are content
with no kinde of hat without a greate bunche of feathers 'i
diuers and Bondrie colours, peakyng on top of their headi
vnlike 1 dan- not Baie) cockescombes, but at Bternes of pride,
and ensignes of vanity. And yet, notwithstanding these flut-
terying sailes, and feathered flagges of defiaunce of v< for
bo they be) are bo advanced in Ailgna [England], that euery
child hath them in bis hat or cap: man', '<>od lining by
dying and Belling of them, and not a few proue theselues more
than fooles in wearyng of them.
Bright, in " Bartholomew Fair " < Act L, Sc. 1 1, bi
By this two-handed beaver, which is so thin
And light, a butterfly's wings pul to 't would make it
A Mercury's Dying hat, and soar aloft.
And Edgeworth, in the same play:
See him steal pears in exchange for his beaver hat and his
cloak, thus.
( ray afterward wrote:
The Broker here his spacious beaver wears;
Upon his brow sit jealousies and cares.*
* 77 Trivia."
62 THE QUAKER.
A list of clothing for Prince Benry, eldest son of
James I., in a l>ill rendered by Alexander Wilson,
tailor, September 28, 1607, contains " a Bide hunting
c<-at camblett wrought alle thicke with >ilk«> galowne
in 2 together [double i\ with a whoode |hood] of
.-ante camblett," etc Also, " Beavera of divers
colours, lined with satin or taffeta," at sixty Bhillinga
each, and " new dying and lining three beavers with
taffeta or Bateen," five Bhillinga.* Plumes on the broad
hat came in at the end of the sixteenth century, and
continued to the time <>f Queen Anne. The Spanish
I><>n- on the -treats of London were familiar figures in
their flat-crowned hat- and ^hwrt cloaks, taking Bnuff
prodigiously and Bmelling of garlic. Plain broad-brim
hats of shovel Bhape were worn a good deal in the coun-
try and by poorer Londoners for many year- after this,
when the cocked hat had begun its long and eventful
reign. Samuel Pepys, to whose invaluable diary we
must often turn, tells OS, under date of November 30,
1G03: " Put on my new heaver "; and the next vear he
says: " Caught cold by flinging off my hat at dinner."
In a note to this passage in Lord ( !larcndon's " Essay on
Decay of Respect ^\\\r to Old Age," the author Bays that
in his younger days he never kept his hat on before his
elders "except at dinner"! This custom lasted into
the next century. Pepys -ays again (February 22,
1666-7): "All of us to sir W. Pen's house, where
some other company. It is instead of a wedding dinner
for his daughter. . . . We had favors given us all, and
we put them in our hats, I against my will, but that my
Lord [Brouncker] and the rest did." This was doubt-
•Archaeologia. Vol. XXIV. 1793.
A STl DY IS COSTUME. 63
less at table. Planche says that the absence of hats in
the print of the banquet for Charles II. can only be ac-
counted for by the presence of the sovereign.
The gentleman of fashion in 1695 wore his hair long
under a broad plumed hat. The jeweled sword at his
side dangled from an embroidered scarf; enormous coat
cuffs concealed his hands, when they were not thrust
into a huge muff. The lame bordered hat was turned
up at three sides, and until 1710 kept the adornment of
plume-. After that the cord and ribbon seem to have
been adopted.* These flapping brims grew bo broad as
to necessitate looping up, and hence the origin of the
cocked hat, which had a long and honored career. The
absence of cocking denoted the sloven. f
"Take out your snuff-box, cock, and look smart, hah,"
says Carlos, in Cibber'a '* Love makes a Man." Their
numerous shapes are alluded to by Budgell %\ "I ob-
served afterwards that the variety of Cock in which
he moulded his Hat, had not a little contributed to his
Impositions upon me." That man was to be guarded
against "who had a sly look in his eye, and wore the but-
ton of his hat in front." Both sexes wore small looking-
glasses. Men even wore them in their hats. In
* " Le bas de niilan, le castor,
Orne d'un riche cordon d'or."
— Quicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 474.
An early poem, " The Mercer," belonging to the thirteenth century,
(Percy Soc, Vol. XX VII. p. 9,) says: J'ai bcax laz a chapeax de
feutre." ("I have beautiful lace for beaver hats "). The cable hat-band
was introduced about 1599 ; and in the speech of Fastidio in " Every Man
Out of His Humour," we find him saying : " I had a gold cable hat-band,
then new come up, of massie goldsmith's work."
t" My mother . . . had rather follow me to the grave than see me
tear my clothes, and hang down my head and sneak about with dirty shoes
and blotted fingers, hair unpowdered and a hat uncocked." (Rambler,
109.) See also, Ashton, " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," p. 107.
X Spectator, 319.
CI THE QUAKER.
"Cynthia's Revels" we read: " Where i- your page!
Call for y<»ur casting bottle, and place your mirror in
your hat, as I told you." This, however, was the height
of affectation. Ladies wore mirrors in their girdles,
and on their breasts; and Lovelace Bays:
"My lively shade limn ovor sluilt retaine,
In thy enclosed, feather-fram&d glass*
The cocked hat was universal, and was worn by b
as well as men — the " tri-corne" of the French. The
\;ir.i: jks *j" wire wdl known: there were, for in-
stance, the " military cock," the " mercantile cock,"
the " I Denmark cock "; they were ridiculed tonally
as the " Egham, Staines and Windsor," from the tin-.
cornered Bigo posl of thai name. During this period
all hats were black, with a gold or Bilver band.
• • I. oil' 1 on CJi Vol. XI.. p. 167, for the y<
1 762 I has the following:
Hal rn upon an n - -i\ inches and three-
fifths broad in the brim, and cocked between Quaker and Kevi
huller. Some have their hats open before, liko a church-spout,
or the tin Bcalea they weigh (lower in; Borne wear them rather
r, like the nose <■; phound; and we can distinguish
by the taste of the hat, the mode of the - mind. Tl<
i- the military cock, and the mercantile cock; and while the
beaux of St. James wear their hat* under their arm-, the beaux
of Morefield 'Mall iagonally over the left or right
eye. Bailors wear th< eir hats uniformly tucked down
to the crown, and look as if they carried a triangular apple-
pasty upon tluir heads. . . . With Quakers it i> a point of their
faith not t< r a button or a loop tight up; their hats spread
over their heads like a penthouse, and darken the outward man,
to Bignify that they have the inward light.
• Tiiistleton-Dyer, " Domestic Folk Lore," p. 115.
t In the two-cocked hat originated our naval and military cocked hats
of modem uniform.
A si l ID IX COSTUME, (55
The " Kevenhuller " would seem to have been an ex-
aggerated form of cock, fur one writ-
ing in TJie Connoisseur, in 1754 (Xo.
36), had said of the women's hats in
that year: "They are more bold and
impudent than the broad-brimmed, /f 1
Btaring Kevenhuller* worn a few years The "Kevenhuller."
ago by the men." aiUr "Hogarth.")
The " Ladle's Advice to A Painter," in the London
Magazine for August, 17">".. ran thus:
Painter, once morr shew thy art;
Draw t lie idol of mv heart ;
Draw him a< be sports away.
Soft ly smiling, sw ay ;
Carefully each mode express,
For man'e judgment is his dress.
Cock his beaver neat and well,
(Beaver -ize of cockleshell);
Cast around a ailver cord,
Glittering like the poliah'd sword.
Let bis wig be thin of hairs,
(Wig that covers half his ears).
Toward the end of the century there were signs of a
change. In 1770 hats became round; in 1772 they rose
behind and fell before, as in the portraits of some of
the old worthies well known. The round hat that again
appeared after 1789, with highish crown and wide
brim, was the ancestor of the top hat of the nineteenth
century. In 1776, the period of the American Revolu-
tion, the popular hat in Paris was that " a la Suisse,"
known later as the " Alpine ' : hat. Parisian anglo-
maniacs preferred the " jockey," small and round.
Then there were hats " a la Hollandais," and " a la
Quaker," both the latter round in form, with large
66 THE QUAKER,
brim, usually worn in preference by the more old-
faahioned. The French Revolution put a period to
wigs, and hence also to the "chapean bras"; for as a
protection these enormous powdered periwiga rendered
hats superfluous, beside the necessity for displaying
what had been come at with Buch expenditure of time
and money !
"His pretty Murk bearer tucked under bifl arm,
It" placed "ii in- head, might keep it t<»> warm ! "
After the great periwig disappeared, the '"tic" wig
followed, and then the "queue" of natural hair, with
it- neat ribbon 1h»w, so familiar to us in the portraits of
Washington and the men of the succeeding generation.
The hat again became a necessity rather than a luxury,
and resumed it- place on the head. The beaver hat had
a long life of two hundred years, [ta weight was doubt-
Leas an element in it- lo popularity. For several
yean the " filled heaver" (a >ilk finish on a felt body,
now obsolete), was worn; and by the early nineteenth
century was leaving the cocked hat solely to conserva-
tive men of the older generation for full dr»
I s 10 saw the manufacture of the first all-silk hat.
It did not become popular in Pari-, and consequently
anywhere else, until 1830. At that period the soft hat
for purposes of dress wa- rejected, and the top hat
came, and has never gone. At first it was the " Wel-
lington," with " yeoman " crown; then the " Anglesea,"
with bell-shaped crown; then the I>'<>r-ay. with ribbed
silk binding and large bow on the band.* The Ameri-
can, like the Frenchman, has been largely released from
•Georgians Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 254.
.1 STUDY IX COSTUME. 67
the dominion of the -tiff hat for ordinary occasions;
and this freedom is traceable to the influence respec-
tively of the first Mexican war, when we made the ac-
quaintance of the soft and picturesque Spanish hat; the
rush of the " '49ers," who were again introduced to it,
in California three years later; and the wild enthusiasm
thai greeted Kossuth when be firsl came to our shon -
wearing the " Alpine" hat and feather.* We drew the
line at the feather, hut his hat is with US still.
Such, briefly, is the history of the worldly hat, dur-
ing two hundred year- of Quakerism. Let us Bee what
the Quaker did with his. The hat worn by Fox and
ever sine ciated in our minds with the Quakers,
was that of the cavalier, withoul the feather, worn I
jauntily, hut still the same. William Penn's more
familiar figure will occur to us. Now it is easy to per-
ceive that in a community when- the people had been
accustomed t.. see their older members retaining the
hat much of the time while indoors, and had regarded
the rapidly prevailing custom of removing it on enter-
ing the house as an affectation of the "smart set," that
the moment any notion was BUgg ested of the conscience
being involved in the retention of that article, there
would be a prompt response. Not only did the Quakers
decline to greet their neighbors by doffing the hat, but
they were equally stiff in the presence of the sovereign.
Swift writes to Stella : " My friend Penn came here —
•This hat was much like the Welsh hat still worn, and the Tyrolese
steeple hat. There was an old legend on the other side of the mountains
that the Tyrolese were men who wore such high-pointed hats that they
could not walk about on the mountains without knocking down the stars.
So the Lord God drew down the clouds every night to keep the stars in
Heaven ! The Spanish hat was somewhat the same. " Upon his head
was a hat with a high peak, somewhat of the kind which the Spaniards
call calani, so much in favor with the bravos of Seville and Madrid."
George Borrow, " Romany Rye," p. 34.
58 THE Ql AKBB,
Will Penn, the Quaker — at the head of his brethren,
to thank the Duke for his kmdn< their people in
[reland. To see a dozen scoundrels with their hats on,
and the Puke complimenting with his off, was a good
Bighl enough." Charles II once granted an audience
to the courtly Quaker, William Penn, who, as was his
custom, entered the royal presence with his hat <»n. The
humorous - reign quietly laid aside his own, which
tasioned Penn'a inquiry, '* Friend Charles, why <]ost
the,u remove thy hat '.' "It is the custom," he replied,
" in this place, for one person only to remain covered."
Apropos of Barclay's dictum in the Apology, u It. is
not lawful for Christians to kneel or prostrate tbem-
Belv( - to any man." an observer of the English who
traveled among them from the Continent in 1698, thus
wrote, noting a Blight improvement in the manner- of
the b1 ricfc r Quakers at thai dat
Phurieura d'entre eux, depuia qnelquee annexes, iTnimaniaent
\in pen, a I'egard de la salutation; ila n'">t.'nt pas le ehapeau,
Dien lea garde de commetre oet horrible peche: mais ila com-
meneenl a badser an pen le menton, a faire one espece de petite
inclinat ion de i
( )1<1 Tom Brown wr<
These are more just than the other dissenters, because, a9 they
pull not off their hats to God, so they pull them not off to men,
whereas, the others shall cringe and bow to any man they may
get sixpence by, but ne'er vail the bonnet to God, by whom they
may get Heaven. t
Fox Bays :
Moreover, when the Lord sent me into the world, he forbade
me to put oft my hat to any, high or low, and I was required to
thee and thou all men and women, without any respect to rich
or poor, great or small. And as I travelled up and down, I was
♦Journal to Stella. January 15, 1712.
t Quoted " Archaeologia." Vol. XXVII., p. 51.
A STUDY I\ COSTl HE. 69
not to bid people Good-morrow or Good-evening, neither might
I bow or scrape with my leg to any one; this made the sects
and professions rage.
At the Launceston assizes, in 1656, Fox was brought
Into court wearing his hat, with his companion, Edward
Pyot He Bays :
We stood a pretty while with our hats on, and all was quiet.
I was moved to say. "Peace lx amongsl you." Judge Glyn, a
Welshman, then Chief Justice <>( England, said to the gaoler,
"What l»o these you have brought here into court?" "Prison-
ers, my Lord," says lie. "Why do you not put off your hats T"
said the judge to us. We said nothing. "Put ofT your hats,"
said the Judge again. Still we said nothing. Then said the
Judge, " The court commands you to put off your hats." Then
1 queried, "Where did ever any magistrate, king or judge, from
Moses to Daniel, command any to put off their hats, when they
came before them in their courts, cither among the Jews, (the
people of God), or the heathen'.' and if the law of England doth
command any such thing, shew me that law, either written or
printed." The Judge grew very angry, and said, "I do not
carry ray law-books on my back." ... So they took us away,
and put us among the thieves. Presently after he said to the
gaoler, " Bring them up again." " Come," said he, " where had
they hats from Moses to Daniel? Come, answer me, I have you
now." I replied, " Thou mayest read in the third of Daniel, that
the three children were cast into the fiery furnace by Nebuchad-
nezzar's command, with their coats, their hose and their hats
on." This plain instance stopped him; so that not having any
thing else to the point, he cried again, "Take him away,
gaoler."
In October, 1G57, at Edinburgh, Fox was obliged to
appear before the Royal Council, and upon his entrance
into the Council Chamber the doorkeeper removed his
hat. "I asked him," says Fox, "why he did so, and
who was there, that I might not go in with my hat on ?
I told him I had been before the Protector with my hat
on. But he hung up my hat and had me in before
them."
-(i THE Q\ IKER.
At Basingstoke, which Fos calls " a very rude town/'
he had a meeting, at the close of which he Bays: " I
was moved to put <>tf my hal and pray to the Lord to
open their understandings; upon which they raised a
report that I put <.tf my hal to them, and hid them
goodnight, which was never in my heart." At Read-
ing, L658, he adds: '* We had mnch to do with them
about our hats, and -;ivin>_ r Thou and Thee t<> them.
They turned their profession of patience and modera-
tion into rage and madness; many <>t' them were like
distracted men for this hat-honour." At the Ezon
Friends were fined for nol putting <>tT their hi
At Tenby, John-ap-John was imprisoned for wearing
hi- hat iu what Foa calls " the steeple-house," which he
cutcr<d after leaving the mi which Fox was at t he
time conducting. Next day, in a conversation with the
1 1 aor, I'"\ Baj - :
l asked him. "Why tx friend into : " !!••
" For standing with bis hat <>n in the church." I Mid, "Had not
the n !>- bend, a black "m- and a white one!
on off tin- brima > : the then my friend would have bat
. and the brima of the hat were but t<> defend him from the
weather." "These arc frivolous things," said the Governor.
"Why. then.*' -aid I. -t my friend into priaon for
such frivolous ilm _-
In London, bei Sir Henry Vane, Friends were
finally admitted t" court with their hat- on, chiefly
through tlie mediation of oth<
That bo tserioua results should have followed bo appar-
ently innocent ;i peculiarity a- the refusal to remove
the hat. or give what the Quak< 1 " hat-honor."
ins almost incredible to us now. And doubtless
there were many in the position of John- n's " pious
'
^.r
'"■"'..
orge Dillwyn l 1738-1820.
After an 01 by J.
A si i 1>Y IS COST! MB, 71
gentleman," who, though " he never entered a church,
Dover passed one without taking ofi his hat." Robert
Barclay nuns up the whole matter when he says:
Kneeling, bowing and uncovering of the bend is t ho alone out-
ward signification of our adoration towards <;<h1, and therefore
it is Tmt lawful to give it unto man. He that kneeletb or proa-
tratetb binuelf t<> man, what doeth he more to »;<>d? He that
bowetb and oncovereth hi- head t<> the Creature, what hath he
r. Bel \ ed to t be * hreatoi ! *
It has been the mistake of writers upon costume not
only to assert that the shape of the hal has never
materially altered among the Quakers, but that they
never u.-re cocked batfl at all. That cocked huts accom-
panied the wigs, and were the usual form of head-dress
at one time, even in the minister's gallery, is a per-
tablished fact George Dillwyn, win. died in
L820, wears the transition hat. from the cock, t<> the
broad-brim revived and modified The broad-brim and
the cock tire the two form- of the Quaker hat. The
common - of the cock early appealed to the prac-
tical Quaker mind, and we have many portraits of
prominent Quakers in hat> of varying cock — Dr. Foth-
ergill, Dr. Lettsom, William Cookworthy in England;
and in America, Robert Proud, t lie Pembertons, Owen
Jones, and many others. The American? were always
more strict in dress than the English, largely because
Ins proximity to the continent familiarized the English-
man with more cosmopolitan ideas. However, the kind
of cock was vastly important. Hannah Callowhill
Penn, William Penn's second wife, in writing to her
son Thomas Penn, in London, December, 1717, says:
*" Apology." Proposition XV.
72 THE QUAKER.
I wish thou could have shifted till nearer Spring for a hatt,
for I doubt to buy a good one now 'twill be near spoyled before
the High! i-t Bummer. . . . However, consider and act for the
ImM Husbandry, and then please thyeelfe; bat he sure wch. ever
'tis, thai tis packed up in a very i"rl. like way, fox the fanl
tical cocks in thine and thy brother Johne's hat-* ha-< burthened
my Bpiritt much, and Indeed more than mosi of your Dress be-
sides; therefore, m thou Valines my Oomfort, Regulate it more
for the future. 1 have a Multitude Of ToylS and Cares, but they
would bi greatly Mil if l may but behold thee and thy
Brother, persuing hard after Vertue and leaving as behind your
backrt the Toyisb allurements and snares of this uncertain
world.*
In spite of himself, the Quaker was carried along on
the tide of fashion; indeed, he might to this day I" 1
wearing lii- heavy beaver hat, had
it not, like the mammoth, l>ecome
extinct ! ( Sertain of the " plainer
i not in the sense in which
rge Fox used the term, but
meaning the more in gui
for many years refused to dye the
beaver of their hata The last
Owen ],„,. white beaver hat did not disap]
^N n »\ a \Tir' ,, ntTt' f i79 e ° n *" ^ TOm PwT*delphia until 1876, Ion-
At ' after what we know as the modern
silk hat bad appeared.^ A modification of it ■
adopted by the cosmopolitan Quaker, and has ever since
been retained. To the initiated, however, the silk
hat goes a long away to mark the man; and the
decree of King Edward VII in favor of that adorn-
ment, keeps it de rigueur in England and America.
* Howard M. Jenkins, "The Family of William Penn," p. 99.
t John Hetherington wore the fir~t silk top hat on the Strand, in
London, in 1797. The style was his own invention, and he was mobbed in
consequence.
K.MN l-l \l
. i i:
I AMI - II V
JOHN PABRISH.
t 8TUU1 is <•>.<!! \U.
73
A- the -ilk bat of the cabinet minister is not the
mercantile -ilk hat, nor yet that of the cleric, so
tin- Quaker bat also retains it- individuality; and
in its Bhiny perfection and mplitude of dimen-
sions, when mounted above th< laional straight
' collar, more nrarly resembles tin* dress of the
American Roman Catholic priest than any other.
The modern young Quaker has now freed himself
from the conventions of the early nineteenth cen-
tury, and is often ignorant of the true us for the
oliarities of his foret When the court gal-
lant 11. lowered their cr and widened
tl
\
Puritan. 1653.
tr brims, the Puritans kept their crowns high.
I arl< - 11. I in a " v< .• old grey steeple-
crowned hat, with the brim turned up, without lining
or bat-band." The high-crowned hat was beginning
be old-fashioned before his time; hei te choice a-
ins of disguie So tall a hat had had its inconveni-
ene :: -, I pray, what were our sugar-loofe
hats, - mightily affected of late, both by men and
* «
women, bo incommodious for us, that every puffe of
winde deprived us of them, requiring the employment
- j ////; Ql a Kr.it.
of one hand to keep them on." * The tall hat came to
America on <.ur Pilgrim Fathers, wher shape
underwent a alight alteration. The brim became more
narrow, and the top rather less pointed. Difficulty in
finishing the beaver quite so finely also left the fur
more fluffy. We are told that thia hat laated in New
England until the time came for Benjamin Franklin
t<» go to Prance, when, ae we know, he went to Paria
in a New England chimney-pot hat. This waa at one*
adopted by the ardent Parisians, who almost worshiped
the American envoy, as "anti-English," the Bymbol of
Liberty, etc For some yeara the French had a monop-
oly of it; then it came to England, and eventually to
Aim rica again, transformed and modified into the
modern top hat It may be noted that the Quakera
adopted the court style of Jam< i I L, and aot the Puri-
tan hat, when they first wore the beaver, illustrating
in the hat, aa baa elsewhere been shown in their long
hair, the loyalty to tin crown that waa a part <>f their
conservatism. One of these early Quaker hats, on
the property of Reuben Afacy, may now be seen in the
museum at Nantucket, Massachusetts.!
The attitude of the Quakera at once led to end;
controversies, phost repetition here is unnecessary.
* Bui war. "Artificial Changeling." Quoted by Repton, in Anh-
awlogia. Vol. XXIV.. p. 181.
\ French Canadian Journal 01 recent date (Montreal " Pre-
e«l. aebdomadaire, Ifay L8th, 1899), thus describes with mild nupriac
and courteously expressed admiration, a nineteenth century Friend who
has retained the plain ^'arh of the latest form evolved. He is caJled
"un miniatee Quaker," d'une taille giganteaque." " Poor ne parler
aue <lf sa ooiffure. diaona de suite qu'il portait un chapeau de castor de
dix-huit pouces de hauteur avec des bonis droit* d'egalea dimenaiona.
. . . II ne parle qu'i la seconde personue, et n'6te son farneux couvre-
chef que ponr dormir .' En dehors de sa toquade religieuse, dnnt il rooa
entretient a 1'exeluaion de tout autre sujet, e'e-t un gentUhomme d'une in
telligenoe remarkable."
A si I ID IS V08TVj1£.
75
Much literature appeared on the subject, which fur-
nished a fruitful source to the writer of satirical tracts.
Such things were published as " Wickham Wakened:
or Tlie Quakers Afadrigal, in Rime Dogrell," begin-
ning:
The Qnmkei iind hi* hrath
Are txirn wit h their hats,
Which a i«>int with two Tag^'H
TSea fast t«i their Cntggs.*
Certain Friends warned their members that the
removal of the hat was a dangerous formality. During
worship, however, K<»\ had given instructions that the
head should be uncovered at time of prayer, and
Friends should either reverently kneel, as among the
Episcopalians, or stand, as did the Presbyterians. The
latter custom eventually became adopted.
The " Canons and Institutions " of Fox, in Article
Seventh, condemn " those who wear their Hattes when
•By Martin Llewellyn, of Christ Church, Oxford.
-,; THE 01 VKER.
Friends pray." Fox was originally in the habit of
attending the Church of England. When welcome doc-
trim- was expounded, lie removed his hat; if. however,
the preacher uttered unwelcome Bentiments, he sol-
emnly put it on .:- a protesl ; and if the matter continued
to offend him, he rose and silently left The pro-
tesl waa a decorous and inoffensive one, compared with
much of the rough dealing then prevalent. Then 1 \
no proper attitude of reverence in the London churches
up to, and during the time of Queen Anne; lolling, ria-
ing, or sitting at will being the rule, even among the
Episcopalians.* Tin Presbyterian minister's example
in the pulpit was bo far followed, thai often in country
neighborhoods, one might Bee the Louts <>i the congre-
gation fling on their hats in Bermon time, In Scotland,
in 17 I", a traveler condemns "a custom which I see
is getting pretty general among the lower sort, of cock-
ing on the hat when the Bermon began." William
Mucklow, who, in his " Spirit of the Hat,'* had said that
" the removal of the hat in worship and during prayer
is the heginning of a formal worship," was eventually
" recovered to a better mind," and brought to agree
with Fox and to be more in charity with Friends.
pge Whitehead Bays,f " All preaching cannot be
that entire and peculiar prophesying, which, when one is
immediately called to, I grant it is most seemly to stand
up with the hat off." Some others beside the Inde-
pendent- preached with the hat on. Lady Montague
wrote from Nimeguen, in the Netherlands, in 1710
*Se«? Spectator, No. 45."., and Tat!, r, No. 241.
f'The Apostate Incendiary Rebuk.-.l." p. 30.
A BTl l>\ IX COSTUME. 77
[Letters] : " I was yesterday at the French church, and
stared very much at the manner of the service. The
parson clapped on a broad brimmed hat in the first
place, which gave him the air of What d'ye call him, in
Bartholomew Fair." Up to the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, the hat was a prominent object in their
pulpits. At a pariah in Clydesdale (Scotland), the
patron said to a new candidate for the incumbency,
" Sir, there are two nails in the pulpit, on one of which
the late worthy minister used to hang hi< hat. If you
put your hat on the right one, it will please; none of
the other- have hit upon it." Be did BO, and got the
place! * The clergy in the earliest days in England had
worn woollen caps, which in some form long prevailed.
The Scotch minister of 1700 was not bo different from
his congregation in dress as one hundred years later,
when an official clerical uniform had been evolved and
received general recognition. The cleric of the earlier
date wore gray homespun, like his next neighbor, with
a colored cravat; while in 1800, he appeared on Edin-
burgh streets, wearing a brown wig, or possibly pow-
dered hair in a pigtail, a cocked hat, black single-
breasted coat, frills and ruffles, knee-breeches and sil-
ver-buckled shoes, and bore himself with a general air
of dignity that his predecessor would have regarded a8
Bavoring of worldliness to the last degree. Culture and
religion, in those early days in Scotland, could never go
hand in hand.
.Martin Mason, of Lincoln, who was one of John
Perot's schism in regard to taking off the hat in time
* H. G. Graham, "Social Life in Scotland in the Eighteenth Cen-
tury." Vol. II., p. 104.
mi: QUAKER.
of prayer,* and who wrote verses to the memory of
Perot, Bays, in a letter to a friend, " What matter
whether Hat on "r Hat off, 90 Long as the Heart 13
right?"!
The majesty of the law demanded recognition in the
removal <>f the hat ; and it was in the courts that Friend-.
Buffered most severely 1- they oould not consoien-
tionsly observe the conventionalities. The famom case
of William Penn and William Meade, 1 1 in law of
Margaret Fox, may be cited as an early inst After
their discharge by the jury si the trial, September 1
K'7<>, they were recommitted to Newgate in default
payment of fines for '* contempt of court " in declin-
ing to remove their hats during the trial. Admiral
Penn paid their tin. lays later, without their
knowledge, and they were released. Thousands of
similar oases are to be found in England. The feeling
was the same in New England. But the presence of
Penn at the head of the administration of affairs in
P ansylvanis gave the Quakers in that colony a distinct
advantage in regard to some of their scruples. A:
his death, the tradition- of his proprietaryship are well
mplified in the following petition and the resulting
the Chancellor. Sir William Keith, who filled
that office, instituted in 1720 .1 Court of Chancery, and
it was before that court thai the eminent Chief Jus-
tice Kinsey appeared with his hat on. John rXinsey
was prominent both as lawyer and Quaker, and when be
• Ellwood ret", rs to •.••■culiar error of keening on the Hatte
in Time of Prayer, as well publiefc a* private, unless tney had an imme-
diate motioa at that time to put it otT."
t Joseph Smith. Catalogue of Friends' Rooks. VoL II., p. If
also, try Richard Richardson, of London, "Of adoration in general, A. in
particular, of Hat-Honour— their rise, etc." Bro, 1680.
A STUDY l\ COSTUME. 79
followed the usual custom of hi* sect in retaining his
hat, the Preaidenl promptly ordered it taken off, which
was accordingly done* This arbitrary proceeding
called forth
The humble address of the 1 pie called Quakers, by appoint-
ment of their Quarterly Meeting, held in Philadelphia, for the
city and county, 2nd. of second month, 17J.">, —
May it please the Governor: I la\ in^' maturely considered the
inconveniences and hardships which, «<• are apprehensive, all
those of our community may !«• laid under who shall i>e obliged
it required t<> attend the respective oourts "t" judicature in t h i -♦
province, if the] maj not he admitted without first having their
hats taken "ir fr<itn their heads bj an offioer, aa we understand
was the ease of "ur friend John Kinsey, when the Gk>vernor was
pleased t«> command bis to be taken otr. before he could be ad-
mitted to speak in a case depending in 1 Court of I hancery,
after thai he had declared thai he oould not, for conscience,
ply with the Governor's order to himself to the same pur-
po.-.- : which, being altogether new and unprecedented in this
province, was the more surprising to the r-, and as we
ooneeive (however slight some □ count it) has a tendency
to the subversion of our religious libertii
This province, with tin- pi. wit-* of government, was granted
by King Charles the Second to our proprietor, who, at the time
of the -aid grant, was known to dissent from the national way
of worship in di\ers points, and particularly in that of outward
behavior, of refusing ' unto man the honors that he, with
all other- of the same pi '1. believe only to }»■ due to the
Supreme Being; and they hive, on occasions, supported their !
timony. so far as to ]»• frequently subjected to the insults of
such as require that boms
That the principal part of tin-.' who accompanied our .said
proprietor in his tir-t settlement of this colony with others of
the same profession, who have since retired into it, justly con-
ceived that by virtue of said powers granted to our proprietor,
they should have a free and unquestioned right to the exercise
of their religious principles, and their persuasion in the afore-
mentioned points and all others, by which they were dis-
tinguished from those of all other professions. And it seems
•Proud. Vol. II., p. 197.
THE 'J' i A /./.'.
n< > t unreasonable to conceive an indulgence intended by the
crown, iti graciously leaving tli<- government t<> him and th<
in bu< ti manner as maj suit t fn-ir dream which
appears to have been an early care in the fir-t legislators, by
■ I Libert] of Conscience, and m^r.' particu-
larly by a law of the provii teenth year ot
King William, r iccii, no* in i led, I lint
in all courts, all j- 11 persuasii ns, may freelj - in
their nun rding t<. their own manner, and tl
id tln-ir own caus< unable, by their fi
which pi ■ tly intended to guard i
all excepti iny person appearing in their own way, ai "ur
friend at the ■ .rt.
Mow, though it" i and willing, in all
thii ■ ni ial. ' rd to supei honor the
c<<\;: ii lUCfa
interfere with oui . we have
nly and firmly !>• rn-- our testimony in all countries and
places w here "ur lol has fallen.
\\v in-. from ■ here
humbly offered, thai the Governor, when he fully considers them,
will be of opinion with us, that we may justly and modestly
claim it a- a ri^'ht, that we [ friends should, at all tin
: in the government from any nini|.:
conscientious pei . and humbly i that he would, in
future, account it so to u-. thy assured, well-wishing friends.
■i.i by appoint i the said i
•i Good n. Morris Morris,
Mis, William Hudson, Anthony M"r:
Reece Inon Richard Hill, Evan Evans.
Richard flayi
On consideration had of the humble address presented, this
day read in open court, from the Quarterly Meeting of the peo-
ple called Quakers for the city and county of Philadelphia; it is
ordered, that the address be filed with the Register, and that it
be made a standing rule of the Court of Chancery for the Prov-
ince of Pennsylvania for all time to come, that any practitioner
of the law, or other officer or person, whatsoever, professing him-
Belf to be one of the people called Quakers, may, and shall be
admitted, if they so think fit, to speak or otherwise officiate or
apply themselves decently unto the said court without being
*
A Bfl i>y i\ OOBTl \ir. 81
obliged to observe the usual ceremony of uncovering their heads,
by having their bate taken off. And such privilege, hereby or-
dered and granted tn the peni.li' railed Quakers, shall at no time
hereafter * be understood or interpreted a< any contempt or
neglect of said Oourtj and shall be taken only u an act of eon-
entious liberty, <d righl sppertsining to tlie religious j>ersua-
aion "t" the said people, and ■ • to their practice in all civil
affairs of life. Hy Sm W|IUKM Kdth, Chancellor/
The refusal of Fox and his contemporaries to remove
their hats before Justices, etc, had not en a u<
thing in England. In Bishop Aylmer's time " there
were a Bort ><i people who counted it idolatry t<» pull off
their hat or give reven nee, even to princes." + Th<
were probably :» sect <»f the Anabaptists. Aylmer was
Bishop of London between 1578 and L594. The Ger-
man Baptists refused the customary greetanj
This method of protest had been in use among other
ili- also, as the following instance from Xew
England will Berve to illustrate:
William Witter. of Lynn. Massachusetts, VU an aged Baptist,
who had already 1 n prosecuted by the Puritan-: hut in 1651,
being blind and infirm, he asked the Newport church to send
e of th« brethren to him, to administer the communion, for
he found himself alone in Massachusetts. Accordingly, John
Clark (the pastor) undertook the mission, accompanied by
Obadiah Eolmee and John CrandalL
They reached Lvnn on Saturday, July 1!'. 1651, and on Sundav
staid within doors, in order n«>t to disturb the congregation. A
few friends were present, and (lark was in the midst of a ser-
mon, when the house W as entered by two constables with a war-
rant signed by Robert Bridges, commanding them to arrest cer-
tain " erroneous persons being strangers." The travellers were
at once seized and carried to the tavern, and after dinner they
were told that they must go to church. . . . The unfortunate
* Michener, " Retrospect of Early Quakerism," p. 368.
t Robert Barclay, " Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the
Commonwealth," p. 501.
THE V' AKER,
j?.i]iti-it-< remonstrated, saying thai were they forced Into the
meeting house, they should I bliged to <i i -•-« n t from tho ser-
rice, but this the constable said, was nothing t<> him, and so
he carried then away. On entering, daring the prayer) tho
prisoners took "iT thnr hate, i>ut presently put then <>n apnn
Hiii I." i lin^' in tlu-ii \\ li.TiMipnn Hridges ordered
tli.- officers t.« uncover their beads, which was done, and tin- *nr-
was then quietly finished, When all was over, (lark
I < - i i >'ak, which, after some hesitation, ws <>n
condition be would not rd He bt
tn explain bow be had put on his fa rase fa old ml
judge t bat I bey s the i : - 1 > . 1 . - ordei
the Lord; but here he was silen
iy for I i"- night."
the n • under John Norton's
lea : 10th ol 8, in forcing the
capital set tl ••!■■- iture, which contained a els
niakm_' the denial of rev< ther words,
m aring tin- hut , ■
Thia was at tli<- time of tin- famous trial of the South-
wicks.
W< told of four Quakers, «rho, on the 27th
I :lith month, 16 - 1 »r- miltIi t
I I i • - General Court They 9 muel Shattuck,
X. Phelps, Joshua Buffum, and Ann Needham. G
tounl of their ; :<" addressed that
I
Tii.
Ing thitbei i in their I
for if
Manna for withdrawing
• i the M : >in^ anything
in ' their Lord was
their Wit- - that they did it not. Bo ye rose up
and hid tli»> Jayli r take them sway4
The Puritan minister, John Wilson, at the handnjr of the
* Brooks Adams, " The Emanci] p. ill.
flbid., p. 17
J George Bishop " New Kngland Judged," p. 85.
A si i id i\ COSTUME. 83
Quaker, William Robinson, on Boston Common, in 1669, said to
the Quakers present, "Shall such Jacks as \ou come in before
Authority with your Sets on?" To which Robinson replied,
"Mini you, mind you, it is for not putting "if the Hat we arc
put to Death." *
Later on, the usual fine for keeping on the bat seems
to have been twenty shilling
The !• >nir hair ->t' the Quakers was an offence to the
Puritan- of Massachusetts, as well as to those on the
other side of the Atlantic, Edward Wharton was a
"turbulent Quaker, 71 whose persecutions were related
by George Bishop,f in reply t<> his inquiry of the Bos-
ton judgt
"Wherefore bare I t h'.i from my Sanitation, where
I was following mj honest Calling, and here laid up as an Evil-
I I erf" * Your Hair is too I • Bply'd you), snd you are
disobedient to that Commandment which saith, 'Honour thy
Father and Mother.'" l- which -ail I "Wherein
"In t! will not put off your Hat. .u) before the
The same Wharton, with four other Quakers, was
brought before the General Court, Boston, •'; mo., it'-''.",.
Their hats, it: mmanded to be taken
off, and thrown on the Ground; which, l «e, Mary Tomkins
set her foot upon one of the Hat-, and calling to you said, "See,
1 hs iz Honour under my Feet." Whereupon you demanded
of her where her habitation was? She answered, " My Habitation
is in the Lord.
A :'• ling of irritation is hardly t.» be wondered at
on the part of any judge who got no more direct reply
from a prisoner than that of fcfary Tomkins. But this
was a trifling matter; for to Muff and confound the Jus-
•George Bishop, " New Kngland Judged," p. 124.
t Ibid. , p. 304. See also Brooks Adams, "The Emancipation of
Massachu-ctts," p. 151.
J Ibid., p. 460.
s ( TEE Ql AKBR,
tice was the proper method employed by all men in the
Bnglisb Courts of Law in that day, when literature
Bhared in the involved Btyle of intercourse and address,
n univi real. *' Turbulenl " was a term applied to
these early Quakers by their contemporaries, and,
indeed, by Borne of those contemporary -' d< acendai
who inherit -till the old persecuting -j'irit.
Thomas Ellwood in 1660, when, as a youth, he was
undergoing much for tin- sake of hi- hat, L r i\r> as a
cription of i rtume that i- most interesting t<» us
DOW. II'
While 1 \*:i- in London, 1 went to a little meeting <>f Friends,
which was then held in the Souse of one Humphrey I'.ache, a
Goldsmith, at the Sign of the Snail, in Tower Street. It was
tlu-ri a very troublesome time, nol from the Government, but
from tlic Rabble of Boys and Rude People, win.. uj>"n the turn
of the Times, (upon the return of tin- King) t<x.k Liberty to be
very abusive.
When the Meeting ended, a pretty Number of these unruly
F<>lk Wl r at the I 1 !y t<« receive the Friends
a- liny came forth not only with evil Words, hut with Blows.
. . . Hut quite contrary t>> my Exp n. when I came out,
they Raid one to arMther. " Let him alone; don't meddle with
him; he is no Quaker, Fll warrant you."
I was troubled to think what the Matter was, or what these
rude Pi saw in inc. that made them not take me for a
(Quaker. And upon a close examination of myself, with respect
to my Habit and Deportment. I could not find anything to place
it on. but that I had then on my Head a large Mountier Cap of
bUck Velvet, the Skirt of which being turned up in Folds, looked
(it sconisi, somewhat above the common Garb of a Quaker; and
this put me out of Conceit of my Cap.
Not Ion?: after this he writes:
■-
When a young Priest, who, as I understood, was Chap-
lain in (a certain) family, took upon him pragmatically to re-
prove me for standing with my Hat on before the Magistrates,
and snatch'd my Cap from off my Head, Knowles (the Deputy-
A sri h) ix COSTUME. 85
Lieutenant ) in a pleasant manner corrected him, telling him he
mistook himself in taking a Cap for a Hat (for mine was a
Mountier-Cap) and bid him give it me again; which he (though
unwillingly) doing, 1 forthwith put it on my Eead again, and
thenceforward none meddled with me about it.
Again, he adds:
I had in my hand a little Walking-Stick with a Head on it,
which he took out of my Hand to look on it; l>ut I Baw his In-
tention was to search it, whether it had ■ Tuck in it [sword]
fur he tried to have drawn the Head; but when he found it was
Fast, he returned it to me.
The violent antipathy of Thomas Elhvood's father to
any Quaker who refused to remove his hat in his pres-
ence, caused his Bon many painful scenes with the
worthy squire, and an alienation thai was a grief to
both. One of these occasions is thus described by
Ellwood :
The sight of my hat upon my head . . . (made) . . . his pas-
sion of grief turn to anger; he could not contain himself; but
running upon me with both hands, first violently snatcht off my
Hat and threw it away; and then giving me some buffets on the
head he said, " Sirrah, get you up to your chamber." ... I had
now lost one of my hats, and I had but one more. That there-
fore, I put on, but did not keep it long; for the next Time my
Father saw it on my Head, he tore it violently from me, and laid
it up with the other, I knew not where. Wherefore I put on my
Mountier-Cap, which was all I had left to wear on my head, and
it was but a very little while that I had that to wear, for as
soon as my Father came where I was, I lost that also. And now
I was forced to go bareheaded wherever I had Occasion to go,
within Doors and without.* . . .
The day that I came home I did not see my Father, nor until
noon the next Day, when I went into the Parlour where he was,
to take my usual Place at Dinner. As soon as I came in, I ob-
served by my Father's Countenance, that my Hat was still an
Offence to him; but when I was sitten down, and before I had
* " The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood," by Himself; pp. 50-
2, 3d ed. 1765.
Si; THE QVAKEK.
eaten anything, he made me understand it more fully, by say-
ing to me, but in a milder Tone than he had formerly used to
speak to me in, " If you cannot content yourself to come to Din-
ner without your Hive upon your Head [so he called my Hat],
pray rise and go take your Dinner some where else." Upon
those words, 1 arose from the Table, and having the Room, went
inlo the Kitchen, where I staid till the Servants went to Din-
ner, and then sate down very contentedly with them. . . . And
from this time he rather chose, as I thought, to avoid seeing me,
than to renew the Quarrel about the Hat.*
It appears that many wore caps and other varieties
of head dresfl at first among the Friends, for the broad-
brim was only just becoming sufficiently popular to be
safely adopted by them without any risk of seeming
too much in tlif mode. Moreover, they were all too
much engaged in preaching and in ministering to tin >ii
brethren who were in Buffering from presenl <>r past
imprisonments, to devote much time to dress, and each
wore what best suited his purse and convenience. This
is- fully demonstrated in a charming little incident
related by EUw I, who met the great young mission-
ary, Edward Burrough, on his way to Oxford. Bur-
rougb was one of the early Quaker martyrs, dying in a
foid prison at the age of twenty-eight.
When 1 was come within a mile or so of the city (Oxford),
whom should I meet upon the way, coming from thence, but Ed-
ward Burrough! 1 rode in a Mount ier (montero) cap (a dress
more used then than now), and so did he; and because the
weather was exceeding sharp, we both had drawn our caps down,
to shelter our Faces from the Cold, and by that means neither
of us knew the other, but passed by without taking notice one
of the other till a few Days after, meeting again, and observ-
ing each other's dress, we recollected where we had so lately
met.t
* " The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood," by Himself; p. 68 :
flbid., p. 31.
A .STUDY IN COSTUME. 87
This was in the year 1G59. The Century Dictionary
defines a montero cap as derived from the Spanish
" Montero, a hunter," and describes it as " a horse-
man's or huntsman's cap, having a round crown with
flaps which could be drawn down over the sides of the
face." *
But the cap, as time went on, had to be given up, for
it was not very long before the broad-brim became
unfashionable, and then it grew to be the distinctive
mark of the Quaker. His following was so large that
the hat became the badge of Quakerism wherever he
went.
Thomas Story, the famous Quaker traveler and
preacher, who became a member of Penn's Council of
State, Master of the Rolls, and Commissioner of Claims
in Pennsylvania, describes graphically in his Journal
the sufferings he endured as a young man on the subject
of the hat ; his treatment by his father was quite similar
to that of Penn and Ellwood. All three were brought
up as refined young men, carefully instructed by
solicitous parents in all the airs and graces of polite
society when it demanded far more formality and elab-
oration of manner than these busy, telephonic times
will now permit their descendants. He tells us that in
1691 he was invited to meet some gentlemen at a tav-
ern, and savs:
I was not hasty to go, looking for the Countenance of the
Lord therein., neither did I refuse; but my Father & some others,
being impatient to have me among them, came likewise to me.
I arose from my seat when they came in, but did not move my
* " His hat was like a Helmet, or Spanish Montero," (Bacon).
Evelyn's " Tyrannas " calls the Montero " light and serviceable when the
sun is hot, and at other times ornamental."
g3 TEE QUAKER.
Hat to them as they to me. Upon which my Father fell a weep-
ing and said, I did not use to behave so to him. I intreated
him not to resent it as a Fault, for Tho' 1 now thought fit to
decline that Ceremony, it was not in Disobedience, or Disrespect
to him or them; for I honoured him as much as ever, and de-
sired he would please to think so, notwithstanding exterior
Alteration.*
Of course it is possible to multiply indefinitely inci-
dents that show the struggles of tho spirit in tonus of
the hat. This affected even political questions, as well
as those social and religious; yel no more innocent l>ody
of people ever walked the earth than they under the
broad-brims. Iii l^>i, Richard Jordan, a well-known
American minister <>t" tin- Society, was traveling on the
Continent with Abraham Barker, a Friend from New
Bedford, Massachusetts, ami the party arrived in Paris.
Richard Jordan mentions the following incident in his
Journal :
It may not perhaps be amiss to merit inn how we were treated
at the municipality, where we attended t<> present our passports.
We were stopped by the guards, who had striet orders, it seems,
not to suffer any man to pass unless he had what is called a
cockade in his hat, but on our desiring our guide to step for-
ward and inform the Officers that we were of the people called
Quakers, and that our not observing those signs of the times
was not in contempt of authority, or disrespect to any office,
but from a religious scruple in our minds, — it being the same
with us in our own country — they readily accepted our reasons;
and one of the officers came and took us by the guards, and so
up into the chamber, where we were suffered to remain quietly
with our hats on, until our passports were examined by two
officers, and again endorsed under the seal of the republic, per-
mitting us to go to Calvisson, in Languedoc. Thus it often ap-
pears to me that we make our way better in the minds of the
* Thomas Story, Journal, p. 40. (Folio ed.)
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 89
people when we keep strictly to our religious profession, in all
countries and among all sorts of persons.*
Joseph John Gurney relates his own experience upon
the first occasion thai his Quakerism affected his hat.
The step was very marked for one who had not pre-
viously been a pronounced Friend, and who was so
much in the midst of worldly interests as were all the
Gurneys. He says :
I was engaged long beforehand to a dinner party. For three
weeks before I was in agitation from the knowledge that I must
enter the drawing-room with my bat on. From this sacrifice,
strange and unaccountable as it may seem, I could not escape.
In a Friend's attire and with my hat on, I entered the drawing-
room at the dreaded moment, shook hands with tlu> mistress of
the house, went back into the hall, deposited my hat, and re-
turned home in some degree of peace. I had afterward the
same thing to do at the Bishop's. The result was that I found
myself a decided Quaker, was perfectly understood to have as-
sumed that character, and to dinner parties, except in the family
circle, I was asked no more.
This was in 1810, when the Quaker " testimony "
had become but an eccentricity to the world, which
chose to laugh rather than make it a cause for persecu-
tion. Samuel Gurney and his brother Joseph John
possessed in a remarkable degree the physical beauty
that so distinguished the family, and the black velvet
cap worn in later life by the latter over his beautiful
hair, then growing gray, gave him the air of a fine old
Roman Catholic Archbishop.
It was no easy matter for the Quakers at any period
thus to mortify the flesh, and Barclay says for himself
and all his brethren:
* Richard Jordan, Journal, p. 106.
90
THE QUAKER.
This I can say boldly in the sight of God, from my own ex-
perience & that of many thousands more, that however small or
foolish this niav seem, vet we behooved to suffer death rather
* * *
than do it, [i. e., remove the hat] and that fur OOtUCienctf sake;
and that, in its l>eing so contrary to our natural spirits, there
are many of us to whom the forsaking of these bowings and cere-
monies was as death itself; which we could never have left if
we could have enjoyed our peace with God in the use of them.
Rovalist Hat, time of Commonwealth.
After Martin.)
CHAPTER III.
BEARDS, WIGS AND BANDS.
Now a beard is a thing that commands in a King
Be his sceptres never so fair ;
Where the beard bears the sway, the people obey,
And are subject to a hair.
Now of the beards there be such a company
And fashions such a throng,
That it is very hard to handle a beard,
Tho' it be never so long.
Ballad of the Beard, Temp. Ch. I.
CHAPTER III.
BEAKDS, WIGS AM) HANDS.
T happened thai Quaker customs be-
gan to crystallize at a time when
smooth faces were universal; and
to this accidenl is due their later
•• testimony " against beards, which
would have Ik en quite as strong
against the practice of shaving off
a natural adornment had the sect
arisen a century earlier. It was noted by the early
historian Sewel, as one of John Perot's "extravagant
steps," that he had allowed his beard to grow! Por-
traits of James Nayler, the " Apostate," show him in a
full pointed heard; and there are also prints of the
early Quaker preachers with flowing beards, bul they
are conspicuous exceptions. The full beard of Henry
IV. had by 1628 become the pointed beard. Quicherat
states as the origin of the smooth face the sportive
order of Louis XIII. to his courtiers to cut off all the
beard, leaving only a small tuft on the chin.* The Rus-
sians were conspicuous exceptions to this fashion; and
Evelyn, under date 24 October, 1681, writes of the
Russian Ambassador at the court of St. James : " 'Twas
reported of him he condemned his sonn to lose his head
* The following verse celebrates this :
" Helas ! Ma pauvre barbe,
Qu'est-ce qui t'a faite ainsi ?
C'est le grand roy Louie,
Treizieme de se nom,
Qui toute a £sbarb£ Ba maison."
94 THE QUAKER.
for shaving off his beard and putting hiraselfe in ye
French fashion at Paris, and that he would have exe-
cuted it had not the French King interceded."
The beard disappeared when the ruff went out, and
smooth faces are associated with the time of the early
Quakers, and the reign of the Stuarts. The moustache
was not then fashionable, hence that military append-
age did not have occasion to meet the disapproval of
the Quakers until long utter; and I have nowhere found
any notice taken of the moustache in any meeting so
far. Early in the present century an English fashion
book remarks: " Yoxmg bucks have mounted the
'Jewish mustachio' on the upper lip." Parton says:
" It is hard to believe in the soundness of a person's
judgment who turns his collar down, when every one
turns it up, or who allows his hair to grow long, when
the rest of mankind wear theirs short." * Even more
attention has been paid to the morality, so to speak, of
the hair, than to that of the hoard. Political opinions
expressed themselves with the revolutionary party in
England in the short hair of the Roundheads. The
Puritans, therefore, are to be found with short locks,
making religious capital out of what were really their
political sympathies. The early Quakers, always con-
servative, and never, like the Irish, " agin the Govern-
ment," wore the long hair of the Royalists (as did the
French) for some years for fear of resemblance to
the rebels. A notice published in 1698 mentions a
delinquent Quaker " wearing his own hair straight
and lank." The Germans wore unkempt beards
and moustaches. The clergy, like the Quakers, have
* James Parton, " The Clothes Mania."
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 95
always been rigid in their ideas of dress, and even
in the time of Stephen did not wear long hair or
beards. Wigs, also, which appeared for a short time
then, were later condemned, along with flowing locks.
By 1487 they were wearing long beards, as in earlier
times, but thev were condemned for wearing loiiir hair,
and charged to cut it " short enough to show the ears."
Carefully curled and powdered hair was the forerunner
of the periwig. The clergy held out longest against
adopting it, and were the last to discard it, except pro-
fessors of the law. The first cleric to wear an official
wig was Archbishop Tillotson, in the reign of James II.
Once introduced, the wig was worn until the time of
the French Revolution, just before which a fine wig
cost thirty to forty guineas. Bishop Blomfield first set
the example of wearing his own hair. Archbishop
Simmer wore a wig so late as 1858, at the wedding of
the Princess Royal. The church has now discarded the
wig entirely, while the law is the only profession that
retains it. The Speaker of the House of Commons is
most imposing in a full-bottomed wig, while short wigs
are worn by judges and barristers. The court coach-
men and some of the servants of the nobility still wear
the wig as a part of the livery.
King Charles the Second, lax as he was in his own
person and costume, and wearing perhaps the heaviest
periwig in the realm, had, nevertheless, certain notions
of what was befitting the clergy. We read :
A letter was written by [him] to the University of Cambridge,
forbiding its members to wear periwigs, smoke tobacco, or read
their sermons; and when he was at Newmarket, Nathaniel Vin-
cent, Doctor of Divinity, Fellow of Clare Hall, and Chaplain to
his Majesty, preached before him in a long periwig and Holland
% THE (j l Aht.K.
sleeves, according to the fashion in use among gentlemen at that
time. This foppery displeased the King, who < "iiunanded the
Duke of Monmouth, then Chancellor <>f tlie University, to cause
the statin* erning decency of apparel to be put in execu-
tion, which was rdingly done.*
Thomas Story, the well-known Quaker preacher and
traveler, relates f the following thai was t « >1 * 1 him of
Peter tin Great, after that monarch had attended a
Meeting of the Quakers at Friedrichstadt (Holstein) in
171:.'. The Czar waa at one time attending a meeting
held in a I hitch market plao
Being rainy Weather, when they were at it. the Czar wear-
ing In- own Hair, polled oh" the great Wigg from one of his
Duke-, and put it on himself, to Dover him from the Rain, mak-
ing the owner stand bareheaded the while, for it seems he is so
absolute, that there most be no grumbling at what he does, Life
and Estate being wholly at hu Discretion.
The portraits i I ^■■•mc Fox show him with long
locks, reaching to the shoulder, but In- never wore a
wig; while <.n the contrary, William Pens wore as many
as four in one year. On the subject <>f Ins own long
hair. Fox speaks occasionally in his Journal. In 1G55,
when before Major Ceely, during a journey into Corn-
wall, he says of the Major:
He had with him a silly young priest, who asked us many
frivolous questions; amongst ihe rest, he desired to cut my hair
which was then pretty long; but I was not to cut it, though
many were otTended at it. I told them I had no pride in it, and
it was not of my own putting on.
A few months later, at Bristol, when Fox stood in the
orchard that seems to have been a favorite meeting
place for both Baptists and Quakers, addressing some
thousands of people from the great stone that did duty
* " The Book of Costume, By a Lady of Quality." London, 1846.
t Thomas Story, Journal, p. 496. (Folio.)
// tlliam Penn.
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 97
as a pulpit, a certain " rude, jangling Baptist " began to
find fault with Fox's long hair; but, he adds, "I said
nothing to him." The following year, in Wales (1657),
Fox's Journal record- :
N«xt morning one called a Lady sent for me, who kept a
preacher in her house, but I found both her and her preacher
very light and airy; too lijiht to receive the weighty things of
God. In her lightness she came and asked ni<-, " If she should
cut my hair ? " I was moved to reprove her, and bid her cut
down the corruptions in herself with the sword of the spirit of
God; so after I had admonished her to be more grave and sober,
we passed away. Afterward in her frothy mind, she made her
boast that she " came up behind me and cut off the curl of my
hair "; but she spoke falsely.
The fascinations of the wig proved too much for the
other Quakers, however, and it soon became quite gen-
eral among them, as the records of many old meetings
testily. In 1698 periwigs on men and high headdresses
on women are condemned. By 1717 so great a declen-
sion in plainness of dress had taken place, that a paper
on " Pride, Plainness of Dress,'' etc., was issued by
London Quarterly Meeting. This document inveighs
against " men's extravagant Wigs and wearing the hair
in a beauish manner"; it grants that "modest, decent
or necessary ( !) " wigs might be allowed; but prevail-
ing modes are condemned. Some of the old Friends,
in 1715, mourned, with good reason, we should think,
that " some of the young people cut off good heads of
hair to put on long extravagant, gay wigs." The peri-
wig — " falbala," or " furbelow," the dress wig of the
reign of Queen Anne — was the culmination of the art
of dress in the life time of the second generation of
Quakers. Ashton tells us that it was the invention of a
French courtier to conceal a defect in the shoulders of
98 THE Ql IKER.
the Duke of Burgundy. Its use spread all over Europe,
and came to America. The true antiquarian holds
everything worth preserving merely because it baa
Ix'cn preserved. Hence we arc Messed with The long
lisl of the Kings' fools of old times, and among them
find that of Saxton, the Court fool of Eenry VIII.,
who is the first person in modern England recorded to
have worn :i win. In an accounl of the Treasurer of the
King's Chambers in that reign is the entry: " Paid for
S ston, the King's fool, for a wig, 20s."*
The first official notice to be found of the wig
among the early Quakers is in L691, when London Six
Weeks Meeting issued a " testimony " airain<t " those
that have imitated the world, whether it be men, in
their extravagant periwigB, or modes in their apparel;
or whether it 1"' women in their bigh towering (head)
dress, gold chains, or gaudy attire; or whether it be
parents, like old Ely, oot - otly restraining th
children therefrom; . . . or whether it bo in volup-
tuous feasting without fear, or costly furniture-, and
too rich adorning of houses/ 1 etcf
The " Wigges " may well have been called extrava-
gant. An advertisement of Queen Anne's time, not
many years before this, appeared in London, to the
effect that on a certain public coach, "Dancing shoes
not exceeding four inches in height, and periwigs not
exceeding three fed ( !) in length, are carried in the
coach box gratis ! " % O ne of the dangers of London
streets in that uncomfortable period of their history has
been noticed by the poet Gay :
* Walpole, " Anecdotes of Painting " ; 3d ed., Vol. I., p. 135.
t Beck and Ball, " History of London Friends' Meetings," p. 117.
X Ashton, " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," p. 109.
A STUDY IN COSTIVE.
99
You'll sometimes meet a fop of nicest tread,
Whose mantling peruke veils his empty head.
Him, like the miller, pass with caution by,
Lest from his shoulder clouds of powder fly.
Nor is the flaxen wig with safety worn;
High on the shoulder, in a basket borne,
Lurks the Bly boy, whose hand to rapine bred,
Plucks off the curling honors of the head.*
The wearing of wigs among the Quakers musl \iw\ ■
been much more common than bas beeu supposed, par-
ticularly with those somewhal fashionably inclined, if
we may judge from the large number of minutes and
other papers against that vanity, as well as many
allusions to them in letters of an early date. William
Cookworthy and Doctors Fother-
gill and Lettsom have already 1»
instanced in describing their
cocked hats. William Dillwyn,
in both America and England,
wears a rather smaller wig than
theirs.
The care of the wig was a seri-
ous matter, and in every way its
use was in direct opposition to
Quaker principles of moderation
and economy. It is therefore the
more striking to discover how uni-
*" Trivia." The "Ladies' Answer'' to a ballad ridiculii -
hats and capuchins (published by Percy Soc, Vol. XXVII. , • 205),
thus remonstrated with the meu :
" I wonder what these men can mean
To trouble their heads with our capuchins ?
Let 'em mind their ruffs and mufetees ;
Pray, what harm in our black hats is found,
To make them so much with scandal abound ?
Why can they not let the women alone,
When idle fashions they have of their own 1
With ramelie wigs and muffetees."
William Dillwyn.
1805.
100 HI '■' <■" LOB.
versally it was worn by tin- Friends, completely refuting
Mi— Bill's Btatemenl that the Quakers never wore wigs.
For a time it was not considered decent or respectable
t<> appear in public without one; and the Quakers were
really less conspicuous by yielding to public opinion,
than if they had opposed it more atrenuously. As in
the case of tin- adoption of pantaloons, the pressure of
circumstances was too much for them; although we find
them bIow to adopt the wig, and, contrary to their usual
custom in matters of dress, among the first to discard
it. The wig was expensive, demanding a great deal of
time and money in it- proper care; it was heavy and
awkward, and very messy and dirty, particularly when
powdered; and the periwig in the hands of a careless
person became a positive Bource of danger. What would
a modern Board of Health have said to Pepvs' entry
in his Diary, under date September 3d, L665 i
I*u t on my coloured silk suit very fine and my new periwigg,
bought ;i good while Binoe bill durst not war, because the plague
was in Westminster whin I bought it. It is a wonder what will
be the fashion after tin 1 plague i- dune, as to peiiwiggs, for no-
body will dare to buy any haire. for fear of the infection, that it
had been cut off of the beads of people dead of the plague.
Poulis, of Ravelston, Scotland, in 1704, pays "for
a new Ion:: periwig, 7 guineas and a halfe." His dress
wj,, costs " 1 1, 6s." Scots, or a guinea; a new hat, 7
Scots; a bob-wig, a guinea.* Allan Ramsay, the poet,
was a Jack-of-all-trades as well, and among ot lie r things,
he made wigs and " barberized " customers in his
night-cap. A friend of his. who was a Scotch jndge,
put his wig in a sedan-chair to keep it dry from the
S H. G. Graham, "Social Life in Scotland in the Eighteenth
Century."
A STl 1>Y IS cosTI Ui:. 10 i
rain, and himself quietly walked home. The umbrella
was still in the future, and a powdered periwig in a
hard rain meant a ruined pockel book, and a head
weighed down with a load of paste, drying into a mould
of plastered hair! Therefore Gay's timely advice:
When suffocating mists obscure the morn,
Let thy worel \\i;_ r . long used in storms be worn;;
This knows the powdered Footman, and with care
Beneath his flapping hat Becurea his hair.*
The "wigge," however, had come to stay. Through
the whok- of the eighteenth century it prevailed. The
-> Ranelagh Tail " was the beginning of the end, so to
speak, toward the period of the American Revolution,
as is seen in the portraits of some of the English officers
of that time; the Americans, like Washington, usually
preferring to wear their own hair tied with a ribbon in
a knot behind, and occasionally powdered; the fash-
ionable use of powder disappeared about 1794.
Xapoleon wore his queue and " cadenettes " in the cam-
paign in Italy, sacrificing both in Egypt, where he
prided himself on being unique among his Generals,
who flattered his fancied resemblance, with short hair,
to Titus. The " cadenette " f was worn well over the
left ear, to which the gallants attached a large jewel.
♦"Trivia."
t " Cadenette." So called from Marechal Cadenet, of France, in
the seventeenth century. The Century Dictionary defines it as " a love-
lock, or tress of hair worn longer than the others."
" L'ondoyant et venteux pennache
Donnant du galbe ;i ce bravache,
Un long flocon de poil natte
En petits anneaux frisottes
Pris au bout de tresse vermeille
Descendoit de sa gauche oreille." *
• Quoted by Quicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 475.
[02 THE Ql A.KER.
ie may be seen in the portrait of Charles I. in the
Louvre, who wears a large pearl.
The English ladies wore tin- wig devotedly, probably
f<n- the Bame good reason thai moved Mrs, Pepys. Her
husband says (March L3, L665) : "My wife began to
wear light locks, white almost, which, though it made
her look v< ry pretty, yel QOl being natural, vexes me,
that I will qo1 have }nr wear them." After the Brigh-
ton race-, the bellman once gave notice to the inhab-
itants of that place that a lady bad lost a wig coming
mi Broadwater. A reward offered brought no evi-
dence of it. A great while after a bird's a< -i was dis-
r« d in a tree by Borne boys, who, climbing to seize
the treasure, w< irprised to find the lost wig, con-
taining a few .-tick-, and the maker's name intact. We
are also told of the discovery of a hedgehog's nest in the
lost scratch wig of a toper, who dropped it along the
roadside! Thomas Ellwood had his opinion of the
women who wore wigs, and did not hesitate to express
it in most forcible, it* not melodious, -trains. The friend
really waxed indignant :
" Some Women (Oh the Shame! ) like ramping Rigs,
Kide flaunting in their powderM Perriwigs;
ride they .-it land riot ashamed neither)
Drest up like men in .Jacket. Cap and Feather ! "*
Lady Suffolk (Letters; 1728) says:
Mrs. Berkeley drives herself in a chair in a morning gown,
with « white apron, a white handkerchief pinned under her head
like a nun, a black silk over that, and another white one over the
hat!
Nugent (Travels; 1766) describes the Duchess of
Alechlenburg-Schwerin in " a riding-habit, with a bag-
*Thos. Ellwood, " Speculum Seculi ; or a LookiDg Glass for the Times.',
A STl l)Y I2i COSTUME. 103
wig, and a cocked hat and a feather." He several times
tells us: " The ladies do wear hats and bag-wigs."
The "life and Actions of John Everett " (1729-30),
tells us thai " The Precisione " (as he calls the Quak-
i rs), " for the most part, though they arc plain in their
dress, wear the best of commodities, and though a smart
toupie is an abomination, yel a l>ob or a natural of six
or Beven guineas' price, is a modest covering allowed of
by the saint-."
It is probable thai the Quakers affected the "bob"
wig chiefly. This Btyle of wig was nol intended for full
dress, and the following instance, mentioned by Swift,*
will well illustrate the distinctions in wig- wearing:
As Prince Eugene was going with Mr. Secretary to Court, he
told the Secretary that Boffman, the Emperor "s resident, said to
his Highness that it was not proper to go to Court without a
long wig, and his was only a tied up one. "Now," Bays the
Prince, " I know not what to do, for I never had a long periwig
in ray life; and I have Bent to all my valets and footmen to see
whether any of them have one, that I might borrow it, but none
of them has any." But the Secretary said it was a thing of no
consequence, and only observed by gentlemen ushers.
John Byrom, on the appearance of the President of a
Club in a " black bob- wig " wrote:
"A phrensy? or a periwigmanee,
That overruns his pericranie ? " t
The father of Stephen Grellet, an officer in the court
of Louis XVI., wears a " cauliflower " wig, as shown in
his silhouette.
* Swift, " Journal to Stella," January 1, 1712.
t Leslie Stephen, "Studies of a Biographer," p. 91.
104 " li: QUAKER.
The American Puritans in the time of Charles I.,
issued a manifesto against Long hair in their colony,
calling it •• an impious custom and a shameful practice
for any man who has the least cart- for his soul to wear
long hair." They enact that it shall !"• cropped and not
worn in churches so that those persons who persist in
this custom "shall have both God and man at the same
time against them." The Puritan- permitted their
people to wear out the clothes they brought with them,
after which tin' sumptuary laws of Massachusetts went
into force. These ordered that no slashed clothes were
to l>e worn, hut that one slash in each Bleeve might be
permitted! Beaver hats wen- prohibited. "Immod-
erate great sh< wen- condemned, and four years
later short shoes an- also condemned a.- leading to " the
nourishing of pride and exhausting men's • state." In
l»i.~)l the (iovernment was BolicitOUS t" preserve the dis-
tinctions of rank; men must not be too richly dressed,
nor wear " points" ( rihbons witli jeweled ends to tie
up the clothing, often very gay) at the knee. Women
with an income under two hundred pounds were not to
wear silk or tiffany hoods. Long hair was condemned
by the Legislature, and by the Grand Jury; while with
a curious disregard for consistency, the women were
condemned who cut and curled theirs. Evidently the
modern prejudice against long-haired men and short-
haired women is not so new. Wigs also fell under con-
demnation, but they prevailed by the end of the seven-
teenth century, despite the Father-.
The sumptuary laws of the early Massachusetts col-
*See also " Dialogue between Captain Long-Haireand Captain Short-
Haire." Brit. Mus. Harleian MSS. Pub. by Percy Soc. Vol. XXVII.,
p. 170.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 105
onists are much like the orders of the Quakers to their
constituency a little later. What must be emphasized
all through this study of the Quaker idea of dress is the
fact that their attention to plainness, and to all the
details of every day life, was a natural reaction from
dogmatism, royal prerogative and worldly extravagance.
It was by no means a characteristic of the Quakers
alone, but was even more pronounced among the Separ-
atists, the Mennonites, and the Puritans; and of the
latter body, none were BO arbitrary or narrow as
those who sought religious freedom in America. This.
is not the place for large quotations from the laws of
the Massachusetts Colony. But it was the temper of
the times which led Puritan and Quaker alike, whether
in England, Holland or America, to attempt to rule the
consciences of the people in minor matters of daily life,
and thus to narrow the spiritual outlook of a whole sect.
The other bodies threw off these small peculiarities, as
the exigencies of the time in New England, for instance,
demanded an active participation in the life — political
and social — of the growing commonwealth. The
Quakers in Pennsylvania, on the contrary, after 1756,
the period of their withdrawal from the public arena,
no longer participated in the political and social devel-
opments of the most rapid period of growth in that
colony; they thereby preserved many little peculiarities
of their most conservative sect, which peculiarities would
necessarily have been rubbed off in contact with men
of other minds. This must be borne in mind regarding
the Quakers; for the same method of treatment would
have preserved Puritan customs to us as interesting
religous fossils to the present day.
106 THE QUAKER.
Wigs were denounced in the Massachusetts legisla-
ture as early as L675. John Eliot said that the wars
%J
and disturbances in the Puritan Meeting House were a
judgment on the people for wearing wigs; * and he
reluctantly acknowledged that "the lust for wigs is
become insuperable ! ' We know that John AVilson and
Cotton Mather wore them. A young woman of Rhode
Island, named Hetty Shepard, when visiting Boston, in
1676, wp'tr in her diary :
I could not help laughing at the periwig of Elder Jonea, which
bad gone awry, rhe periwig has been greatly censured as en-
couraging worldly fashions not suitable to the wearing of a min-
r of the Gospel, and it has been preached about by Mr.
Mather, and many think he is not severe enough in the matter,
but rather doth find excuse for it on account of health.!
Pepys records the firsl time he put on his wig, which
was in 1663. By 1716 they were universal, although
in 1722 the Puritan- declared at Hampton that "ye
wearing of extravagant, superfluous wigges is alto-
gether contrary to Truth." The New York Assembly
taxed every wig of human or horse hair mixed. The
early Colonists, both Baptists and Friends, in 1689-
1698, unitedly attacked the wearing of periwigs in men
and high headdresses in women, the former holding
that the anticipated appearance of the Fifth Monarchy
made such frivolity both unnecessary and inappropri-
ate. Portraits of Endicott, Judge Sewall, and others
who abjured the wig, show them in small black skull-
caps. The Judge, who wore a hood, probably did so to
afford his neck the protection that the wearers of wigs
*W.R. Bliss, "Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting-house,
p. 97.
t Ibid., p. 136.
fc
Moses Brown, 1738-1836.
T. Po
A 8TCI1Y IN COSTUME. 107
enjoyed with that vanity, and which in the bleak New
England climate gave the custom more semblance of
sense than anywhere else. The portrait of Moses
Brown, the well-known Quaker of Providence, shows
him in a similar substitute for the wig.
One of the earliest Quaker minutes in Ww England
relating to the subject of wigs, occurs at Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, whose Monthly Meeting records, under
date Firs! month 21, 1719: " A concern lying on this
meeting Concerning of Friends Wearing of Wigs is
referred to be proposed to the next Quarterly Meet-
ing."' Soon after, at the suggestion of the Yearly Meet-
ing at Philadelphia, New England Yearly Meeting
advised (1721) that the important subject of wigs be
taken up. As a consequence of this action, in Sixth
month of that year, Dartmouth Monthly Meeting
appointed John Tucker and Thomas Taber, Jr., "to
draw up something relating to wigges"; and Sandwich
. Quarterly Meeting, on Eirst month 19, 1722, saw fit to
elaborate its views as follows:
The Sense and Judgment of Sandwich Quarterly Meeting in
Relation to Wigs is that if any friend by reason of Age or Sick-
ness have lost their Hair, may wear a small decent Wij: as much
like their owne Hair as may be — but for any friend to cut of
their Hair on purpose to wear a Wig seems to be more pride
than Profit and when any professing truth with us go into the
same, they ought to be proceeded against as disorderly walkers.
There is evidence of many who became so far " disor-
derly walkers " as to be quite unable to resist the fasci-
nations of an artificial superstructure. The same meet-
ing records some years later :
1 mo. 1791 : R D hath given way to the Lust of the Eye
and the Pride of Life in following some of the vain Fations and
Customs of the times and Continues Therein; Especially that
1(l> THE Ql iA/.'A'.
of waring hi- Hair long which is a shame according to the Apos-
tles Declaration; also tied with a string [doubtless the worldly
black ribbon worn by the Father of his Country, an example
for all loyal citizens to follow J and 9ome other modes that we
have not unity with; also attended B marriage out ot the order
of Friends j for all which we have Labored with him,
This case shows the period of transition from the wig
to the natural hair worn Long, tied and powdered. Nan-
tucket Records, dated Seventh month ti, 1S03, also
relate that V. II. " has deviated from our principles in
dn-ss, particularly in tying the hair."
Dartmouth Meeting, in 17:;:'. (Tenth month 17)
showed its sorrow for <-ne of it- members " going- from
education " in the following minute :
Whereas, 11 — - T . . . hath had hifl Education among
Friends but for want of keeping the Spirit of Truth and ye good
order Established among Friends, bath gone from Education A let
himself into a Liberty thai is n"t agreeable to our Holy Profes-
sion, by wearing Divers -■ rts of Periwigs and his Hat set up on
three udes like jre Nam i ustom of ye World, and also Speaking
of Words not agreeable to our Profession, a for these his out-
goings he lias been Labored with and Advised to forsake the
same, but he hath not done it to J •• Satisfaction of ye Monthly
Meeting, but stii! on with his vain conversation, to the
grief of (the) Bincere-hearted among us. Therefore for the clear-
ing of Truth of Such Reproachful things we are concerned to
give Forth this as a Public Condemnation.
Philadelphia, now the most conservative, was at that
period the most fashionable town in the new country,
and we find its Quaker Meeting struggling with the
wig-mania some time before there is any record of its
appearance among that body in New England. Such
minutes as the following are not uncommon:
It being spoken to at this Meeting as a grief upon some
friends. That many comes out of England with fashionable
Cloathes and great Perri\\iL r s, which, if care be not taken may
A si l />Y IS COSTUME. 109
(its feared) tend to Corrupt the Youth of this place. This
Meeting recommends the same [to the next Quarterly Meeting.]
—Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 26 of 2 mo. 1700.
The friends appointed by the preparative Meeting to bring in
the testimony of Ancient Friends concerning fashionable cloath-
ing and Long Perriwigs, have done it. ;unl they are desired to
recommend the same to the next Quarterly Meeting. — Do., 30
of 3 mo. 1701.
Likewise the Friends apjminted to Enquire into the Conversa-
tion and Clearness of Abraham Scott. Report that they cannot
find but that he LB dear in relation to marriage and debts, but
as to his orderly walking amongst Friends, they cannot say
much for him on that account. Vet upon his appearance before
this meeting, making some acknowledment of Extraordinary
Powdering 0/ his Periwig, which is the chief (thing) Friends
had against him, and hoping to take more care for the future,
Samuel Carpenter and Anthony Morris are desired to write him
a Certificate and sign the same on behalf of this Meeting. — Do.,
25 of 5 mo. 1701.
Under the same date we find:
Some course might be taken with the Taylors that make pro-
fession of Truth, and are found in the practice of making such
fashionable cloathing as Tends to the Corruption of Youth.
They do not seem, however, to have gone the lengths
of Dublin Meeting:
25 of 6 mo. 1702; Philadelphia Monthly Meeting desires that
the proposition of the last Preparative meeting about cutting of
hair & wearing of perriwigs, may be laid before the next Quar-
terly Meeting. . . . 17th of 6 mo. 1703; Ordered that friends in
their particular meetings make inquiry if there be any in the
use of perriwigs extravagantly or unnecessary.
We also find the following, in an Epistle of Philadel-
phia Yearly Meeting to the Quarterly and Monthly
Meetings, dated Seventh month 18, 1723, " on third
day as usual " :
As to such young people who have been educated in the way
of Truth, or make profession with us, if they do not continue
Hi, THE 01 IK1
in well doing, but frequent r tipltng tad
delight in \ain and evil company and oommunicationa "r -hall
Lining, or drink b i behave rudely or such like
-hull decline "ur plain manner "t Bpeech "r imi-
tate the vain antick modee and custoi I the timet the men
w ith lh''i: ami liatt. op with 1 1
oers; and the women in their inn: ami other
intl I' i- "iir advia that parents and
guardians, whilst such youth are tinder their tuition, .1" restrain
th. in. ami not indulge <<r maintain them in such pride or
tr.i - Bui it they will not I therwiae reformed, then
tin r Frd's shall nse their endi
strain them, and if I nut prevail, let th
iling ami adm to be at th.- next iu^-
Ling monthly n ■ to be further dealt withall
in the Wisdom ■■( Truth, according t" th.- Disci]
1- is a curious fact that wigg were discarded with
more apparenl reluctance in democratic America than
in England. To a{>|>. ar on th< 5 rk,
about 1800, without a wig v ely decent, and
Parton tells us that "many men surrendered the pig-
tail only with \ In 1786, Ann Warder's Philadel-
phia oephews wore their hair -till in the queut
<inir.' gone out at that .late in London.
•"I thr ed the Execusi iils
I will submit to introduce them a- my nephews
in nntry, which they b •■ will be
illy r- signed
In the ; I 795, M irtha Routh,
who wore the tir.-r " plain bonn in A:
attended a meeting of the Bettlers in th" Alleghany
mountains, " to which," shi aays, many M
onists and Dunkers, So Elders r their
to anci<
•Ann Warder, MS. Joarnal.
1 si I ID l\ ens I I Ml. 1U
not enjoin it as a part of their religion." These same
German Baptists argued that Adam came into being
fully equipped with a luxuriant beard; and thai Aaron's
reached to 'In- hem of hi- garment. They also quoted
Leviticus 19: l'T. In respect to Adam, they v
hardly behind the \i . G Wickes, the Puritan
divine, who lived during the fashions in dress of the
Hogarth period. He died in 1744. A sermon thai he
preached al Harwichtown has been preserved to us, and
U quoted by Bliss. The following extrac ma appro-
priate :
Adam, bo long u in' oontinued in innoeency, did wear hia own
hair and not a Perriwig [ndeed, 1 <!■> aot Bee how it was pos
bio that Ad. mi should dislike hia own iiair. and there! I it
otr. bo thai he mighl wear a Perriwig, and yet have oontin
innocent. . . . The children of <!'«! will no1 wear Perriwige after
th.' Resurrection. . . . Elisha did not oover hia bead with a
Perriwig, altho 1 it waa bald. I eater j>art of Men
in - itiona wearing Perriwiga i- a matter of deep
lamentation. Foi either all these men had a necessity to rut >>tT
their Hair, or else not. It they had a i to cut "tF their
Hair, then we have reason to tak<- up a lam a over the
sin of <>ur tir>t Parents which hath occasioned bo many Persons in
on" Congregation to be Bickly, weakly eras] Pen n-. <>h, Adam,
what lia.-t t huii don<
Elizabeth Drinker was a Quaker lady of the last cen-
tury, in Philadelphia, to whose keeu powers of observa-
tion we are greatly indebted for much valuable infor-
mation. She write-, in 1794: "Two bearded men
drank tea here," recording the fact in much the same
way that she had noted the passing by of an elephant,
then a rare sight, a short time before.:}: The Puritan was
* Martha Booth, Journal, p. 139.
t W. R. Bliss, "Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting-house,"
p. 142.
X Elizabeth Drinker, Journal.
] 12 l III. Ql A.KBR.
everywhere more Qumerous than the Quaker; and for
this reason, his peculiarities occupy a more conspicuous
place in literature than those of the latter. His long
hair has been noted by no lees a hand than that of Ben
Jonson. Brother Zeal-of-the-Land Busy, the Puritan in
" Bartholomew Fair," i< made by the dramatist to say:
Tor long hair, it in an en-ign of Pride, a banner: and the
world is full nf these bam • y full of banners.*
The famous j >i« • r \i rt of King Charles I., at St. .John's
Collegi . I taford, written in the Psalms, in tin- small'
possible handwriting that can be deciphered, was thus
apostrophized by one Jeremiah Well
The Presbyterian maxim h tide not here
That ralK locks impious if belon the ear;
When every fstail clip lopa off a prayer,
And h irs'd, that dare but eat thy hair.
There an- a few rare Quaker pamphlets againai wigs.
The following extracts from two of the most unique
will aerve t«> illustrate the kind of literature devoted t..
the sul'jrrt. Aa OSUal, in BUch cases, it is more attrac-
tivr tn the a ii t i. | ua via n than the Bcholar:
A Testimony LGAIN8T PCBTWIOfl AND PERI-WIG making and
Pj WIN , on [INSTRUMENTS 01 IfUSIO IX0NG Christians, OB
ANY OTHKB IX THE i>ays Of THE Gospel Bcma bkvebal
Reasons a-gaikbi hiose things. By onk who fob Good
Conscience sake ii.vtii denteo and fobsaken hum.
John Meelineh. 1G77.
This curious pamphlet relates the Buffering of mind
undergone by Mulliner, who was at one time a barber
of Northampton, in regard tn making " borders," wigs
ami periwigs for his trade. lie says:
4^ to my Employment of Periwig making, it i> more than
twelve \.ar< ~ince I began to make them, and much might be
*ActIII.,Sc. 1.
l si I DY IX ens 1 1 ME. H3
i for the making of them by ^iunc yet much questioning and
reasoning have 1 had within myself for some time — so that at
me times*] have been troubled when 1 have been making of
them.
Be had apparently i rgued to himself:
re i- hardlj any man hut is desirous of a good head of
Hair, and if Nature doth not i fford it. if there be an art to make
a Decent Wig i r H rder, what harm i- thatl As for those wl
hair i- wasted, fallen and goi if their Beads througfa infirmity
of Body, and for want of it «h> find that their health i- impaired,
ened, if Buch do wear short Borders for t !n-ir health -ake.
aii'l for no other End or Cause Whi ■ r. I judge them not;
but let none make a pretense that 'hey wear Borders or \\
for their Health, when in Reality, another thing is the Cause.
And let all those who have Hair growing upon their h<
sufficient to serve them, I mean what is really needful or useful,
1m- content therewith, and not find fault with their own hair and
cut it off, and lust alter and put OH other- Hair.
As 1 bad been a publick Professor of this Employment for some
time, 1 must hear m_\ Testimony against them; and that was, I
should send for my two men. as I had instructed in that way,
and tell them how I was troubled and take a Wig and burn it
before them, as a Testimony for God against them. . . . So, ac-
cording to the pain and sorrow that lay hard upon me, I gave
up to do it, and 1 thank God 1 have much ease and comfort of
mind since I have done it.
I was a great lover of Mustek, and many times as I have been
thinking of God and of the condition I was in, it would have
brought trouble upon me; so that many times I have took my
Cittern or Treble Viol or any instrument as I had most delight
in, thinking to drive away these Thoughts, and I have been so
troubled, as I have been playing, that I have laid my instrument
down and have reasoned with myself. . . . and fell a crying to
God, and my music began to be a burden. ... I would fain have
sold my Instruments, but that I had not freedom in my mind to
do; for if I did, those who bought them would have made use of
them as I did. and 1 thought I could not be the cause of it; so
2 1 j THE Ql IKBR.
1 took as many aa I suppose rty shilling, and Burned
Them, and had great Peace in nay mind in doing of it, which ia
more to me than all the pleasures in tlii-^ world. -
A DeCLABATIOK vmnm WlGS \M> PERIWIGS.
i.v i:i« 11 .mid Kit ii omsoif.
Jcr. tt: '2». I'hil. I: a
Several Testimonies having been given by Friends against I*r i«I.-
in Apparel relating to Women; tis considerable whether Women
being reflected on, may not reasonably i- on Men, their arti-
ficial frizzled Hair: for Women's Saira on Men's Beads Bwann
like one of Egy] I and creep in too much upon ami
among Christians. And a Nehemiah is desirable, that might
pluck ftr this strange Hair of Btrange Women lusted after
(Nehem. 13 25.) And the Heathen may rise up against us, for
an Embassador coming befon tte with false Han-, a Qi •
id, What credil ia to be bad ti> him whose very l»eks
do lyol And it', upon necessity the Locks of any amongst us do
lye tis iii they should lye to purpose, \i/. bo aa not to he dis-
: from nat i\e I k to d( -o as to be
perceived, argu< much want of Wit Sincerity; and a
want of an Endeavor in it n • a want of
Humility and Moderat
Ii Hi at causes Headach, Bure a Wig under a Hat is not a
nuan- to cure it. The Prophet Rlisha likely had neither, when
Efc ' del l y8 cri< •. A Bald Head!
John Mulliner, A Friend about Northamton, a Wig-maker, left
ofT his trade and was made to burn one in his Prentices Bight and
Print against it. John Hall, a Gentleman of Northumberland,
being Convinced, sitting in a meetin - iken by the Lord'*
Power, pluck'd off and threw down his Wig; so 'tie considerable
whether care may not be taken, that conceited conterfit [coun-
terfeit] Calvinist8 may not continue amongst us, nor that any
the people of God make thei - Bald for Pride now, as
they did oi old for (Levit. 21. .3.)
The Apostles Peter and Paul forbad ornament of Plaited Hair
(aa ours translate: Crisp'd or CurPd, aa others) and the An-
This was reprinted in 1" -
.1 sit DY l\ COSTUME. lig
dents write, that they both had Bald-Heads, and it they should
have covered them with Women's Hair, would they not have re-
torted Was that the cause, Peter and Paul, that you had us leave
off our Locks, that you and such like might get them yourselves
to make l'eri-u iga of I
And thru Friend Richard's feelings overcame him
entirely, and In- - :
Who can refrain to fall into a Poetical Vein, and Paint out in
such sad Colours, that it may look a- ugly as it doth. For a
glorying in a Shame as an Ornament, Sharppens a Pen to describe
it to make it appear as it is. Difficile et Satyram non scrihere!
Ml i LMOBPHOSEB.
The manner of this Age unmannerly
I-. Man unmanning, Women's Hair i" buy.
Dub Poles and Joles Dame Venus 1 knights to be,
Smock-coal and Petticoat-Breech their Liveryj
Scarce man-like fac'd, though Woman-like in Hair,
\- sting-tail'd Locusts in the ViBion were;
And like dm ii the Phrygian Ganymede,
Or as Tiresia- I inaliz'd indeed;
<>r one that (sith he would a Woman be)
Put Period to Assyrian Monarchy.
Hair in a Night turn'd Hew, of old 'tis said,
An old man young, a Boy a Girl was made;
Elders so now transform'd to (iirls appear,
And Girls to Boys by their short curtail'd Hair.
By bulls, some seem "it li twilight turn'd to owls.
As antique Harpyes, or some new Night Fowles.
As charming Sirens (bate their ugly Hair)
Having their Arms, Necks, Brests. Backs, Shoulders bare,
Nay, for their Knights rich (barters some prepare.
While long hair was the fashion for men, the col-
lar was unpretending, and an inch or two its utmost
height. Henry VIII., who introduced short hair, kept
up a simple band of this sort; and no lace was worn.
Bands for the neck were of Italian cut-work, costing as
11( ; THE Ql /LEER.
much as £60. ,- Partelete " were of velvel or lawn,
larger than bands, and worn like the earlier "gorgets"
of embroidered lawn, velvel or Venetian work.*
French gentlemen began t.. wear collarettes or frilled
ruffles aboul I540.f The Bhirts of this period were of
very fine holland, with no neckband, 1»ut a neckcloth,
the mosl Btylisb being the " Ste( rikirk," after the bat-
tle of that name. Starch reached the extreme of it- use
in tl;i' i normous mtT- <>\ Queen Elizabeth's
r< ign.^: Small ruffs wi re >till worn in tin- early Quaker
times, but they w< tarched. A.urelia, in Jas]
Mayne's play, "The City Match," when her Puritan
maid has become worldly, and enters her presence in
tionable attire, exclain
miracle! out
1 > ur little ruff, l> and in the fashion —
-t thou hope tu be saved ?§
and again :
1 tliu-. I'll get dry jalin-
With atarching, and pnl on my smocks myself. ||
Quarlous, in " Bartholomew Fair.** Bays of an
quaintance :
Ay. there was a blue-starch woman of the name;
. Nightingale, in th< same play, sella " A Ballad of
1 irch and the Devil, Le., a Goodly ltallad
insi pride, showing how a Devil appeared to a lady
which was starching her rnff l>v night." Yellow starch
•
- most in vogue in England. Old Stubbes scoffs at
*Georgiana Hill, " History of English Dress," Vol. I., p. 187.
fQuicherat, " Histoirede Costume en France," p. 17"
} One Mr<. Turner introduced yellow starch from France with great
By a dreadful irony of fate she was hanged for the murder of
Thomas Overhury in a starched ruff!
A.t IV.. So. 3.
A.t 11.. Be 1.
.1 sllliY IS COSTUME. 117
"the liquor which they call starch, wherein the devil
hath willed them to dye their ruffs!"* He aays of
their "great ruffes and supportassee ":
They haue irreat and monstrous ruffes, made either of cam-
brike, hoUand, lawne, or els of some other the finest elotli that
can be got for money, whereof some be a quarter of a yarde
deejK', yea, some more, very feu [esse, so thai they stande a
full quarter of a yearde i and more i from their necks hanging
oner their shoulder points in steade of a vaile. Bui it ASolus
with his blasts, or Neptune with hi- storms, ehaunee to hit vpon
the erasie barke of their brused ruffes, then they goe flip tlap
in the winde lik<' raggee that flew abroade lying vpon their
shoulders like the dish cloute <>f a slut. Hut wot you what?
the deuill, as he, in the fulnesse of his malice, tir-t inuented these
great ruffes, SO hath he DOW found *>ut also two great pillers to
beare vp and maintaine this hi> idngdome of pride withal (for
the deuill is kyng and prince ouer a] the children of priele) The
one arch nr piller, whereby bis kyngdome of great ruffes is vnder-
prupped, is a certaine kind of liquid matter, whiche they call
starch, wherein the deuill hath willed them to washe and diue
their ruffes well, whiche, beeying drie, will then stande stitT and
indexible about their necks. The other piller is a certaine deuice
. made of wiers crested for the purpose whipped ouer either with
gold thred, siluer, or silke, and this he calleth a supportasse or
vnderpropper; this is to bee applied round about their neckeu
vnder the rutfe, vpon the out side of the bande, to beare vp the
whole frame and bodie of the ruffe, from fallying and hangying
doune.
Ruffs gradually went out, clergymen and judges
being the last to abandon them, and embroidered muslin
or lace collars in Van Dvck style came in. These were
worn with no coat collar whatever, in order that they
might lie flat on the shoulders; and this is the collar of
the time of Penn, whose coat, as we have seen, was
collarless. His sovereign's coat was ornamented with
a deep lace collar, reaching to the point of the shoul-
*"Anatomieof Abuses," 1586.
I !„ THE 01 iKBB,
dcr, under which any collar of cloth had been imp
rible. Therefore, when William Penn cast off his laa
be laid bare hie collarlese and il required one
hundred and fifty yean to develop the Btraight coal cut
of lil— successors.
But the form of neckwear known .1- "bands" was
n«. sooner introduced than it commended itself a1 on
to the Quaker, and v. rthwith adopted. Bands are
the only item of civil dress thai the cl< ain
to-day, Burviving in tl ra and bands oi th< Prt Bby-
terian Church, as those who know l>r. Parkhunt'e
familiar figure will recalL Without entering into the
question of its authenti 1 portrait, Sir 1*.
I . painting of G Fox in bands is rather strik-
ing in connection with our presenl ition of that
portion of the costume with the clergy. Tl an
portrait oi Penn Bhows him in bands, as does thai oi
Milton at thi bteen. The latter wears the
band." The bands, worn oon by most
.v.- them another peculiarity among the
bionable lace ;m<l embroidered collars; and fin 1 pub-
lic was quick to make a hit. An anti-Quaker tract of
1671 ' Bavs: "A Quaker is a vessel of Phanaticism
iwn off to the I -. ►mmon Bhore [sewer]
II. 1. aie, into which n.-.-r extravagant opinions at h
jembogue and enter; tl end of Reformation
marked with a sullen meagre l""k and this charact
'Thou.' .. . [He] decries superstition, yet idoll
Garbs and phrases. Yon may know him by his diminu-
tive Band that l"«.k- lik*- the forlorn hope of lii- Bhirt
•"Character of a Quaker is II i Tree and Proper Colon, <.r, The
Clownish Hypocrite anatomised " London, 1671.
I STUD! i\ COBTl MB. 119
crawling out at his collar, for his purity consists only in
his dress, and his religion is doI \<> speak like his neigh-
bora." *
Bands were worn by the less fashionable, and by lit-
erary and professional men, after they ceased to be
universally popular. The Dutch were very partial to
them; and the portrait of the painter Le Febvre, with
his pupil, in the Louvre, shows both in bands.
Walpole, in his "Anecdotes of Painting," thus
describes the Quakers :
A I' ng \< si and cloke < i black or some other grave colour,
\sitli h collar of plain linen called a turnover, and a broad kind,
with the lmir closely cropped, distinguished 1 1 1 ** men of every
rank, aiul the ladiea equally excluded bice, jewels and braided
l<>< lea.
At one time bands had a certain political significance,
and on their introduction into [reland, in 1728, the fol-
lowing "Answer to the Band Ballad, by a Man Mil-
liner," declared :
The town is alarm'd and seems at s stand,
\- if both the Pope and the Devil would land
I" doom tlii< whole [ale in the shape <>f a band —
Which nobody can deny, deny; which nobody tan deny.
The bands a n < 1 lace tie following it were succeeded by
the white stock; then came the muslin cravat, which
was always a favorite with the Quaker, and a graceful
dress at all times; to this succeeded the modern rule of
the starched shirt collar, almost as uncompromising in
-"ine of its forms as anything worn in the davs of
Queen Elizabeth. Stiff linen bands, or soft cambric
ones, were worn by all Puritans. We find four plain
bands and three falling ones supplied to each settler of
Massachust tts Bay. Sumptuary laws forbade embroid-
120 ////; '<" ,A/:/ '-
ery. The Judges of the Supreme Court won' bands
when on the bench until this century. The linen col-
lar, turned down over the doublet, was known as the
" falling band."
Gabriel Marc -AlfTOZm t)C Gbellet.
father of Stephen Crell.-t. 1789.
CHAPTEK IV
Til i: QUASI B i 9fi
Mistress Anno Ix>vely.— " Isn't it monstrously redieulous
that they shoul<l desire to Impomi their qaAklng 'ln's- upon me
at these years " When I ru a child, no matter what they ma. le
me wear ; hut now — "
Betty— "I would resolve against it, madam; I'd see 'em
hanged Before Vi pat on the piuch'd cap again."
M lstreas Lorely. — Are the puich'd cap and formal hood the
emblems of sanctity ? Does your rirtue consist in your dress,
btra. PrlaT"
i Arvfejbr ■ »v."
When she to silent meeting comes,
With apron green before her.
She simpers so like muffle plums,
'Twould make a Jew adore her.
CHAPTER IV
Till QUAKER
< »\t !( >\ I < )RMITY baa nowhere i
pressed itself more fully than in
Quaker dn ss. Th< re is unconscious
satire in the old Quaker plea that no
change baa crepl into their institu-
tion-; in regard to their dress, at Lea i\ .
this i- all a mistake. But one creature
exists in which m» change, which is the
other name for growth, has been
in- on. an<l that i- the fossil. On tin contrary, an
instance of adaptability in dress on the part of the
Quakers i- their prompl acceptance of the Bhawl,
which, at it- introduction, near [Revolutionary th.
was at once Beized upon a- eminently adapted to Quaker
needs. Possibly tin- most notable instance of adher-
ence to a Btyle i- that of Mrs. Noah, in the famous toy
ark. It will he remembered that -he wears high stays,
with a very waspish waist, and her petticoats are
extended by what are evidently padded hips. The head-
dress crowning her rather conventional features — so
far as she has any lineament- at all — is a most frivolous
" Tain o' Shanter," — or is it a Hat hat, rather circum-
scribed in extent '. At any rate, here is a lady who has
dressed just the same for several hundred years, and
we should weep to see her change now.
]■• i TEE Ql IKER.
It would be wry valuable to aa to Learn what was
the exacl costume worn by Kiargarel FeU (afterward
Margaret Fox) and ber talented and interestmg daugh-
ters. We only know bow her contemporaries di
and bave a few details of the family wardrobe in thi
Bwarthmoor account hooks which still exist. That they
wore the popular Btyle of dress, without adornments, ia
altogether likely, for -he baa lefl on r< •»•< n-i I ber disap-
proval of anything tending to uniformity among the
Friends. We shall not be far wrong, I think, if we
imagine George Fox's wife in a h I of black wadded
Bilk, a short, full .-kin, standing well ou1 from the hips,
and beld in position by an array of petticoata (for she
would never have worn the false hips then in vogu<
a kerchief of muslin, over a low bodice, stifi ami Long
in thr waist, and Laced with many eyelets, its cord of
blue or white or black, depending upon whether her
gown were red or blue; her shoes heavy, Low and square-
toed, with heels that may have been another color from
the Bhoe itself, hut not the fashionable red, and higher
than we Bhould now car-' to wear upon the street Her
cloak, whose color we dare nor speculate upon, was of
substantial cloth, with a hood for ornament when not
in use, as it often was, particularly in her Long journeys
on horseback from county r>> county attending public
meetingB. She may have called it a " capuchin," for
that was the form of cloak then coming into wear. But
we are not privileged to possess descriptions of her per-
sonal appearance nor of her style of dress, as is the
case with both of her distinguished husbands. We
Learn from one or two references to old letters of
ancient worthies, that she was fair and comely, and
A 8TI 1'Y l\ OOBTX \ir. 125
Maria Webb says thai she had a " beaming counte-
nance," and ;i " mosl sweet, harmonious voice." But
with these slight references we are lain to be content.
A few items "t' clothing touched upon in the family
letters give us <>nr only cine t<» the Btyle of drese worn
by the women of i 1m - Swarthmoor circle. .J<>lm Rous,
the son-in-law of Rfargarel Fell Fox, writes her from
London in 1 670 :
Yesterday, by John Soott, the Preston r;irriiT. I senl « -mall
box f\ present use, directed for Thomas Green. The
sealed as t!ii> letter is, and in it was a white mantle,
and a white sarsanel hood for tii<". and Borne playthings for the
children.*
The following items from a portion of the old
Swarthmoor Account Book of L673, which i- quoted
from at Length in "The Fells of Swarthmoor Eall,"
an- very interesting for the light they throw upon the-
Btyle <>t' dress in 1 1 1 « - Fell family. The precious old book
i- in Sarah Fell'- handwriting. Sarah was the eld<
daughter of the household, ami tin- head "f affairs and
business manager, t.. win an. after her marriage with
William Meade, the whole family, including her mother,
repeatedly appealed in despair to clear up the confusion
into which Swarthmoor affairs immediately fell after
she left the home. In some cases the cost of the articles
given is illesrible :
By money pd. Thos. Benson for dying 2 pr. stock-
ings -ky colour, of mine, and a petticoat red, of
mine ( Defaced )
By money pd. for a hat for little Mary Lower I
gave her 6
For 20 yds. Cumberland cloth 2 9
Paid for a vizard mask for myself & a hat (Defaced)
* Maria Webb, " The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," p. 231.
226 T/II: 0' IKBB.
By money pd. for l yd. and nail of black paragon
for apron for sell -
Paid for leading Btrings for little Margaret Lower. 2
By money paid for a blue apron an 1 Btrii my-
aelf , 1 3
By money pd. for a black hood for sister Susan . . 4
By money pd. i'"i a black alamode whiske* for
fcer l: ichel u 2
By money paid f"r a round whiske for sister Su«
Banna 4 4
Do for a litue black whiske for myself o l 10
1678
Bj money pd. for clogging a pair of clo^s and for
nailes ti> mend Bhoes for my b y, !■ m Hani
(own account) 5Vi
Sarah (Fell) Meade wrote to her sister, Etachael
Abraham, from London, under date "The L9th. of
10th. 1 December] L683 *':
I have endeavoured to lit my dear Mother with black cloth for
n gown, which i- very good and fine, and as much as Jno. Rich-
ards saitfa is enough to the full. 5 yards and half, and what
materials as he thoughl was needful to Bend down, vist. silk.
both sewing and Btitching, gallowne ribbon, and laces, and I wa-
ver, to know what she wanted, fur it has been in my mind
a pretty while to Bend her and you something, and 1 could not
tell what Bhe might need or might be most -erviceable to her
was the reason of my thus long forbearance, and so I desire
her acceptance of it. and yours of the small things underwritten:
;: pair doe -kin gloves Buch as are worn in winter, for mother,
Bister Lower and thyself; the thickest pair for mother if they fit
her, but thai I leave to you to agree on aa yon please.
1 pair same sort of gloves for brother Abraham.
4 ells of Holland, for Bister Lower and thyself, each two ells.
■2 pots of balsam, one for my mother, the other for sister
S i amans.
3 pocket almanacs, for sister Yeamans, sister Lower and thy-
self.
Whisk, " A neckerchief worn by women in the seventeenth century.
Also, called ' falling-whisk,' apparently to distinguish it from the ruff."
— " The Century Dictionary."
.1 STUDY IN COSTl ME. 127
1 muslin nightrail fur sister Yeamans, which she sent for.
100 needles, of which half for Bister Yeamans, which she sent
for, the other, half hundred for Bister Lower and thyself.
There is (in the box ) for Bister Lower, which Bhe sent to Bister
Susanna to buy her, a colored atuff manteo, cos! 14s., and 11
yards and half "i" blade worsted >tuiF. at 2s. per yard, cos! 22a
Bister Susanna exchanged the old •J(»>. piece of gold as -he desired,
which yielded 23s. 6d., bo she is out of purse for her 12s. *5d.
Black stuiT was worse to gi-t than colored, which is now mostly
worn; but Bhe bath done a- well as Bhe can, and hopes it will
please her; its a Btrong, serviceable atuff.
Mary Frith presents her Bervice t<> i ~ i -t «-r Yeamans), and
takes it kindly that Bhe should Bend her her fillet.
I am thy affectio] ter, S. M.
(P. S.)
We advise you to make my mother's cl<>th gown without a
skirt, which is \tiv civil, and usually bo worn, both by vung
and old. in Btiffened suits.*
These were all women of cultivation and good t;t
and the sister in London kept them posted as to the
correct mode of dress, with an evident desire that their
mother should not be allowed to appear singular in her
garb, although no time was wasted by any of them on
the frivolities of dress. The simple, homely view
of the family life presented in these and other letters
of the Fells, allows us to clothe them with a person-
ality that gives them a living charm when we meet
them again in the larger arena of public life, in court or
prison. Making " my mother's gown without a skirt '
is probably making it without an overdress of any
sort, the full, stiffened petticoats that were then the
mode requiring none. The Quaker women had been
* Maria Webb, " The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," p. 92.
128 itli: QUAKER.
wearing the short over-kin represented in the Quaker-
ess Tub-Preacher,* and it was evidently to this that the
reference was made. The " whisk " above referred to
is the forerunner of the handkerchief worn by Eliza-
l- th Fry and her successors ever since.
Sometimes the modest dress of the Quakers was sadly
misrepresented, and when the course of true love in
the case of Thomas Lower and Mary, daughter of Judge
Fell and Margaret (afterward Fox), did not at first
run quite smoothly, certain persons at Plymouth circu-
lated a description of her and her sister that Thomas
hastened to deny. He write- Mary:
At Plymouth both thou and Bister Yeamana wore painted
with naked necks, and in costly array, until T. S. [Thomas Salt-
house] and I deciphered yen. and quite defaced the former coun-
terfeit by representing you in a more commendable dress. The
authors of these unsavory belchings 1 cannot fully discover, but
that which brings report will also tarry.
The Fells lived in days of more extravagance of taste
than we, although a recent writer on modern dress
asserts that women to-day appear "one season like
wriggling worms in lampshades, and the next, fes-
tooned and befringed in the upholstery of a four-post
bedstead."f
No wonder that Fox, to whom it must have been as
gall and wormwood to be obliged to touch upon the
subject at all, cried out, in a moment of wrath and
indignation, to the women of his day, " Away with your
long slit peaks behind in the skirts of your waistcoats,"
" your skimming-dish hats," " unnecessary buttons,"
♦See illustration, " The Quaker Meeting."
tLady Gwendolen Eamsden, " The Nineteenth Century," for Novem-
ber, 1900. " On Extravagance in Dress."
( rulii Ima Springett t 1644- / 694.
first Wife of William Pent).
A STUDY /v COST! MB. 129
"short sleeves," "short Mack aprons," "vizzards,"
"your greal aeedless flying scarfs, like colours [flags]
on your backs." But they went on, the world's people;
and the Quakers of Queen Anne's time saw fashions
come :m<l go that beside the beautiful costumi the
greal days of Van Dyck and Bol, seem the very embodi-
ment of grotesquene the 1 p, the periwig, and the
tighl stays. Finally, In 1770, an Act was passed by
Parliament to the effect that
All women, of whatever age, rank, profession, ee, wheth-
er virgins, maids or widows, that -hall from and after Bucfa \<t
Impose upon Beduce or betraj into matrimony, any of hi- Ma-
jesty's male Bubjecta by tin- scents, paints, cosmetics, washes,
artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron-stays, I ps, high-
heeled shoee • • Bhall incur the penalty <>f t >»* - la \s now in force
against icitchcraft, and like misdemi and that the marriage
upon conviction >hall he null ami void! 4
Of tin- two wi\ William Perm we possess a fine
portrait "t" the first — the fair Gulielma Springett,
whose liff and love an- one of t!.< i t romances of
Quakerism. She i- represented in the silk li 1 worn
by the mother and the wife of Cromwell, and by most
of the nobility and gentry of England in her day, with
the border of a dainty muslin cap showing beneath.
Hit brocaded gown i- short and very full at the hips;
the pointed laced bodice cnt low in the neck, and filled
in with a kerchief: the elbow sleeves turned hack in a
large loose cuff, beneath which fine muslin under-
sleevea appear. It i- probable that her dress does not
represent the costume of the plainest Friends of her
day, any more than did that of her distinguished hus-
band. But the dress of contemporary modish ladies
•Georgians Hill, " Women in English Life," Vol. I., p. 317.
130 TUE QUAKER.
with which we are able to compare it La bo vastly more
elaborate than " Guli's," that we at once recognize the
presence of Quaker moderation, combined with taste
and good sense, such i ahould expecl in the daugh-
ter <-!' Lady Springett. Hannah Callowhill, the Becond
wife of William Penn, broughl up in the rather a
community of Friends in Bristol, whose mercantile i
mosphere did not foster the arts or the graces of li
among her immediate family or associates, repr<
an older woman, in Bober attire, whose gowns i
aprons were of a plainer hue, and whose whole mien
was one of seriousness and sobriety. The portrait that
we have of her is also taken in the hood, and there i- no
e\ idence of any cap underneath.*
The Quakeresses were not unfamiliar in their modest
garb to the lords and ladies about the Court. Seven
of them, in 17''-.*., went together to wait upon Queen
Charlotte, " when her Majesty ordered her lady-in-wait-
ing to compliment each of them, which they returned
in a Bensible and modest manner." f Margaret Fell,
both before and after her marriage to George Fox,
made various visits to the Court, usually accompanied
by another woman Friend.
Aberdeen and DuHin seem to have been from the
*The 01 :' the portrait of Gulielma Penn is a painting on class
in the possession of the descendants of Henry Swan, of Holmwood, Dork-
ing, England, who died in 17:'n. The copy from which this present
example is taken, forms the frontispiece to the " Penns and Penningtons
of the Seventeenth Centnry," by Maria W< I b.
The portrait of Hannah Penn is from a painting in the Banqueting
Boom of Independence Hall, Philadelphia. This is a copy in its turn ofa
crayon drawing in p< of a descendant of Francis Place, the artist,
who lived mar Darlington. Place is said to have taken the portrait dur-
ing one of the frequent visits of the Penns to their sister, who lived near
him.
t British Museum "Scrap Book " (4152, n, 5).
Hannah Callow hi 11, 1664-1726.
William Penn.
■
' '"''' '' M wy i yy T 111 1 1 f T I T | Vm ^ ^^ - * M n M M < I M 1 1^ i VnH lli n iff
A ISTIDY IN COSTUME. 131
first the meetings most anxious to keep their member-
ship as plain as possible. The former issued an early
"• Testimony " to the effect that " no colored plaids be
worn any more, but either mantles or low hoods." An
order prohibiting plaids, in the land of the Scotch, did
violence to long-cherished traditions of patriotism and
clan-feeling, and the Aberdeen Friends wasted many
years in trying to enforce arbitrary laws of dress. The
Friends give gaiety as the ground of their objection to
plaids, and herein show their want of tact, for this gar-
ment had fallen under condemnation for another reason
than its fashion among the Scotch in the town of Glas-
gow, where the Kirk Session Books say: * " Great dis-
order hath been in the Kirk by reason of women sitting
with their heads covered in time of sermon, sleeping."
This led to condemnation of hoods, under whose
friendly protection the Scotch women could indulge in
a refreshing nap during the interminable sermons of the
Scotch clergy. Thirty years later, in 1G37, the plaids
worn by the plain folk over the head were condemned
for the same reason, and not, as has been thought, for
the gay coloring.
The clothing of the common people, as well as of the
more well-to-do, was spun by the women of the family,
and woven by the village " wabster." The spinning-
wheel was in use in England in the time of the first
Friends, but in many of the country districts, and
almost everywhere in Scotland, the old " rock and
reel " were still employed. The " rock " was the hand
distaff, referred to by Spenser in the " Faerv Queen "
(IV., iii. 48):
•Planche, " Dictionnaire de Costume," p. 244.
132 THB 01 AKKR.
Pa«l Clotho ho]<] thr r«'iko, the whiles tho tlirid
By grieely Lacheeu was spun with peine.
Burns also makes Bees, in "Bess and her Spinning-
Wheel," Bay:
Oh, leezc dm nn my spinning wheel,
Oh, leeze me on my rock ami red.
L730 -aw the wheel introduced in1 3 itland, before
which " rockings," Bomewhat corresponding to our old
quilting parties, w< real Bocial events. The cloth
thus prepared was made up inl a1 home, or
by traveling tailor-, for a milliner was only known in
the large cities, where her business was n<»t only to
clothe the living, bul to '" dress dead t ■• .rj »~< •-,* ' and Bell
" dead flannels." Tin- peripatetic tailor was paid two or
three pence a day and his t 1. or " diet." The travel-
ing weaver was also an institution, and boughl the
thrifty housewife's yarn, giving or Belling in exchange
new and tempting webs of cloth. The " dead flannels "
referred to were the wool garments in which, according
to the law of England, in L678, enacted in order
to encourage the wool trade, all corpses were required
to be buried, heavy fines being imposed for it- eva-
sion. Friends were usually careful to comply with
th< [uirements, as instances on record in minutes
of various meetings abundantly Bhow.
Many of the first Quaker women were of the peasant
class, as would l»e natural with the convert- of a race of
open air preacher-. A very short time saw ladies of
wealth and position, like Lady Springett, taking their
places in the meetings; but the "women of the fields were
wearers of homespun gowns, and not until the next cen-
tury were these confined to any special color. Ked was
.1 sti dy ix COSTUME. 133
very popular in the early half of the seventeenth cen-
tury; and scurlrt was common among the Quaker
women, ;r- it always has been among the peasants of
other countries besides England, both t"<>r its apparent
warmth, and for it- lasting qualities. Among the
household accounts of Alargarel Fell we find charges
for searlel cloth, after the manner of the good house-
keeper in the Book of Proverbs, who "clothed her
household in Bcarlet." When Bhe became the wife of
George Fox he bought her Bcarlel cloth for a mantle.
Ilr writes his wife, aboul 1678, thai with the money she
had Benl him to buy clothes for himself h<- purchased of
Richard Smith a piece of " red cloth for a mantle, be-
lieving she needed thai mure than he needed the coat."
Again, from Worcester prison, he wrote to her thai he
had go1 a friend to purchas - much black Spanish
cloth as would make her a gown," with what -he had
given him, adding, " It cosl a great deal of money, but
1 will save." *
It is to be hoped thai she did nol wear with her gay
wrap one of the green aprons that the Friend- were
then regarding as almost the badge of Quakerism, and
which were so identified with the Quaker women that
the satires then plentiful in the shape of broadsides and
pamphlets, all made playful allusions to the green
apron-.
This garment happened to be in high favor at the
time the Quakers arose, and to this accident is due manv
an entry in minutes of Dublin, Aberdeen and London
meetings, advising their young women with great detail
as to the style and color of their aprons. The fashion
* Maria Webb, " The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," p. 259.
i;. ;i Tin; V' A.KBR,
held for many years, and thi- important article of cos-
tume wag worn by court lady and little scullery maid
alike. The favorite color with everybody was green
at first; long afterward we find Swift writing to
Stella:
Y"u shall have your aprons; and I'll put all your commissions
as they come in a paper together; and don*t think I'll forget
(your) orders because they arc friend's; I'll be a- careful as if
they uirr -t rang< i
The apron i- described as of green >ilk, in a letter of
April 24th. Later (October 30th, 1711:
Who'll pay me f"r this green apron 1 I will have tho moneys
it cosl ten shillings and -i\ pence. I think it plague; dear for
a cheap thing, but they ^ai<l that English -ilk would cockle, and
1 kni>'.\ not trhai
In the following year Swift has Beveral more com-
missions Prom Stella for green aprons from the metropo-
lis.
In L698, Aberdeen Meeting said:
Lei none want aprons at all. nn<l that either preen or blue,
or other grave colors, and not white upon the Btreet ot In pub-
lic at all, nor any spangled or speckled -ilk or cloth <>r any <ilk
apron- nt alL And dt-ar Friends, we being persuaded that nnne
of a right spirit will be -■ -titf or BO willful as to prefer their
own lusts or wills to our tender Bense or advice, and labor of
to\ v in these thing
The Women'- Quarterly Meeting of Lincolnshire,
2 l-t of Fourth month, 1721,
We think green aprons an- very decent and becoming us as a
people.
In 17."!.". a young woman Friend named May Drnni-
mond, of Edinburgh, who appears to have been a per-
* Journal to Stella, April 5th, 1711.
f Aberdeen, " A Testimony," 5 mo. 28th, 1698.
A STl i>) /v COSTl Mi:. 135
son of attractive appearance, and much real ability, was
given an audience with Queen Caroline. An original
letter ofihal date, from which the following is an ex-
tract, gives an interesting description of her ministry
and persona] appearance, and emphasizes the preen
apron. She is described as preaching t<> audiences of
more than three thousand people. The writer then goes
on:
She hath nlso horn to wait on the Queen, and was more than
an hour in her presence. At t her first coming tn the Queen Boon
began ami asked her many questions which May was not very
forward to answer, but after some little pawce she began and had
a good opportunity for Dear half an hour [with little interrup-
tion) To Bpeake to t lie Queen the Princesses and Borne Ladys
of honour (so called I which she and those three friends who
accompanied her had good reason to think was very much to all
tlieir satisfaction ffor Bhe -poke in such a tender handsome and
moving manner that pretty much affected all present bo that I
believe that h«r visit was n<>t onely acceptable hut of very good
service. The Queen Beemed much pleased with her plain dress, and
yreen apron, and often said she thought it exceedingly neat and
becoming.
The French country women in the reign <>f Louis
XI. wore white aprons at work, or in demi-toilette,
when going to the town to market. The negligee of 1672
coiisiste-l of a black dress with a white apron, and we
are t«>hl by Boursault (" Mots a la Mode ") the name of
this apron:
L'homme le plus grossier et l'esprit le plus lourd,
Sait qu'un " Laisse-tout-faire " est un tablier court.
After the regency the apron, having had a period of
disfavor, reappeared in France on young people, and
was a part of ordinary costume, the overdress being
abandoned and the apron worn with a jacket ("caraco")
and a flounced skirt. The apron descended to the bor-
13G Tin: QUAKER.
dor of tlio gown, had pockets, and mas trimmed <»n tho
edge, h was without ends (" bavettes M ), a Btyle con-
fined to chambermaid Miss Hill describee a lady of
Queen Aunt'- day thus:
siio wore a black silk i ■ t with red and white calico
border, cherry-colored stays, trimmed with blue and silver, r t-.i
and dove-colored damask gown flowered with large trees, a yellow
satin apron trimmed with white Persian, muslin b< th with
crowfoot edging, double ruffles with fine edging, ■ Mark silk fur-
belowed si art and I ; t
A bride in the middle of the eighteenth century w<
a sprigged tnuslin apron trimmed with lace, over a >i 1 -
ver muslin " night-gown " — (an elegant affair, probably
so called becau worn at night). Nollekin's wife
also wore on her wedding day " an eleganl lace apron."
The opening of the nineteenth century saw the Paris-
ians adoring simplicity, and they took back Into favor
un the discarded white apron, which soon became
part of full dress. The rusti ■■ hat a la Bhepherdi
was in favor ;i- also in England, and the gipsy hat tied
down with a ribbon or a -ilk handkerchief. Straw was
worn only with morning dress; the time of year mat-
tered little.
During the latter half of the eighteenth century the
plainesl women among the Friends wore aprons of what
now seem very gay colors — blue, green, etc The rea-
for this is that the white apron was in the height
of fashion. Watson, the Annalist, Bays, in writing of a
period about 1770:
The plainest women among the Friends (now so averse to fancy
colour-), wore their coloured silk apron-, -ay of green or blue,
•Quicherat, • Hi-toire de Costume en France," pp. .'- 574.
fGeorgiana Hill, " History of English Dress," Vol. II., p. 73.
A 8TI l>V IX COSTUME. 137
etc. This was at a time when the "gay " wore white aprons. In
time, white aprons were diBUBed (by the latter), and then the
friends left off" their enlored ones and used white.
A letter of Richard ShacHeton's * dated Ballitore,
liih Third month, L776, Bhows thai the green apron,
even, had its dangers, in its tendency to become a spe-
cial costume for wear on occasions of public meetings,
or during the time of religious worship:
What shall I -ay about these green aprons 1 I think we are of
one mind about them. 1 believe it i- the Master's mind that His
disciples and follower-, should be distinguished from the world
by a singularity <>f externa] appearance. 1 suppose it i, also
His will that a certain peculiarity of habit should distinguish
them on the solemn occasion of assembling for Divine worship,
or other religious performani
When Sarah, the wife of George Dillwyn, was in
London, in 17 s L she wrote to a member of her family:
I think the women here far before the men— they dress ex-
tremely neat and exactj a few of the plainest with black hoods
and green aprons. Some go to meeting without aprons, but gen-
erally carry One muslin or cambri in their pocket-, to
put on when they get in the house; if we don't bring one, they
alway> offer.
This also shows us the time of transition from the
green to the white apron, which did not lose its hold
among the plainer Quakeresses for nearly a hundred
Year-.
f
The skirt of the dress was worn with very full
gathers, soon followed by false hips, and the natural
successor to this was of course the famous hooped pet-
ticoat of history and song, which made its appearance
in 1709. The crinoline, or hoop, was invented by one
Mrs. Selby, remaining through a longer period than the
'Quoted by R. Morris Smith, "The Burlington Smiths," p. 157.
138
THE Ql AKER.
<>]<] farthingale, and v ntually banished by George
[V.* The following appeared at Hath in 1711:
'I'm: PABTHIHG mi RSVIVBD: OH
MoRr. Wobm roa I ! a Pakegybick <>n TIIK I. ATE,
\ i >\t i h \ im i: in\iniii..n 01 nil BOOFKD PI mOOAl
t writ in former titm-
Had great, so bright ;i theme for rhyme,
, if li\ i M eonfi
1 ;r.- more surprising then hit Pyrian
< >\ Id's mi-tr< m, in her 1
• charm hii
Were hi 1 1 - in i ■>•
Hr'd write his metamorphosis ■•
prevail
To leart I her tawdry reiL
petticoat was no
donbt, thought very fine in the
country. It had the merit, which
many fashions did not p . of
towing importance upon the
•■ 1 Qsignificant - looking
women, to whom before nobody
had paid an- n, now came
into notice: and portly women be-
positively awful in their ma-
" +
tyle 1 at revival
1850-1865, both with gay ami plain.
1835.
* The stomacher was an earlier garment in the fifteenth
century. It vu worn by both nd by King Edward IV.
tA roriLvn Baii at of ltr.?..
What a fine thing hare I sevn t. — l.iy .
01
I must i tny djv —
( »li Mother, a hoop !
F'T hoabandfl are gotten this w i .
Men's erea and Ifea'i beerta they >•• ne.itly ajlnre.
Oh Mother, a hoop, a hoop ; < Hi Mother, a hoop !
— Fercy Soc., Vol. xxtu., p. 220.
A sti i>Y i\ C08TI MB. 139
There are do <l<>n!>t to be found in the archives of
inaii\ old Quaker families certain queer and very ugly
long ja.-kt'N i4' a shapeless sort <>f pattern, known in
their day ami generation aa a "short-gown." The
"short-gown and petticoal " may be met with in litera-
ture occasionally -till, or in the letters of our great-
grandmothers. It i- difficult t<> understand the early
enthusiasms over Buch a thoroughly inartistic garment;
perhaps feminine ingenuity found an outlel in its de<
ration ratlu-r than it- outline. At all events, the muse
ame thus inspired :
Tin Bnom Body's Gon v. 1801 i
T-n>t midsummer -lay Sally went to the fair.
For to -rii hex yarn. <>h. ho* she did stare I
Both wives, maids and widows, in every shop rmind,
They all were dressed op m ■ short body'd ^«n!
Bo home in the evening Mi-> Sally she hies,
And tells it her mother with greatest Burpria
Baying, "Two hank- a day will I spin the week round
Until I can purchase ■ Bhort body'd gown.*
When Ann Warder landed in New York, in 17-''..
she wrote to her Bister in London:
The women all wear Bhort gowns, a custom so truly ugly that
1 am mistaken if I ever fall into it. Notwithstanding they say I
shall soon be glad tn do it (Hi account of the heat.
Thomas Chalkley was sufficiently moved by the hor-
rors of the hoop t<» say:
If Almighty God -hould make a woman in the same shape her
hoop makes her. Everybody would say truly it was monstrou-.
So according to this real truth they make themselves monstrous
by art.
•Percy Socu-ty, Vol. XXYJJ., p. 204.
I ;i , 77//: QUAKER.
The bodices worn al the time that dress begins to be
nbjecl for official notice in meetings were laced, and
opened in front, exposing the tight Btays in gay colors
worn beneath them. The bodice was cnt very low, the
bosom being covered with a
" tucker " or " modesty piece'
worn across the t . » | > of the 1m. .lie-
in front. In 1713 we find the
^^ " v Guardian growling at the ladies
- Y^Hnf w ^° are ^ginning '" discard the
£v£ *^"$ latter in order to follow the
^ fashion. The year 1800 finds the
Jv''*lr \ • art ladies wearing a 1" ming
broad muslin foliar of very
■• jheer " quality, and the Quak-
er* adopted the Btyle quite
generally, as may 1m- Been by comparing the two illus-
trations of that date. In 1644, when gowns were
decollete, Quicherat tells us that the ladies wore,
t'li negligee, a white fichu or handkerchief, known as the
" whisk," ami a Linen or fine lace -'-art' for dress. This
simplicity was encouraged by Anne of Austria. Che
handkerchief stems to have been the one portion of the
Quakeress dress that has come down unchanged to mod-
ern tin
Thus it was with the ••world's people," and as
Quaker persecution ceased, vanity in dress arose, alas!
even among them; poor Susan Ponder was disowned for
"conforming to the fashions of this wicked world."
Aberdeen Meeting has an elaborate description of
what is and is not to be suffered in men's and women's
dress. In 1703 the young women came to York Qnar-
I I (IT
■
I
., %
A STUDY /.V COSTIVE. 141
terlv Meeting in long cloaks and the new Paris im-
portation called the "bonnet." They were therefore
not onlv ordered to take the advice of their elders be-
fore coming to "these great meetings lure in York,"
hut one subordinate meeting actually ordered the
young women of it- own meeting to appear before it "in
those clothes that they intend to have on at York."
However, neither this, nor the Btrict oversight of Aber-
deen, was sufficient in the early years to exclude all
worldliness; for in L720 we find all these vanities noted
in the minutes of the latter SB existing among the
young Quakeresses: " Quilted petticoats, Bet out in imi-
tation of hoops; cloth Bhoea of a light color, with heels
white and red; scarlet and purple stockings, and petti-
coats made Bhort to expose them." In that year. York
Quarterly Meeting sent the following letter to the
monthly meetings composing its constituency, which
was in it- turn Bent to each particular meeting of
women. The original from which this fa copied was
directed to u the Women Friends of Rilston Meeting,
These." f
Att our Quarterly Meeting heTd at t York, ye 22 & 23 4th. M-n.
1720 The Monthly Meets, were called & there was thatt an-
swered for all. either by Representatives or papers & most gave
account thatt things were pretty well amongst them notwith-
standing there are severall things remains amongst us weh are
very Burthensome to the honest-hearted «fc have been weightily
spoken against wch its Desired the Representatives would Deliver
in the Wisdom of Truth (viz.) the imitating the Fashions of the
World in their Headelothes some haveing four pinner ends hang-
* Robert Barclay, " Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Com-
monwealth," p. 491.
t Devonshire House Collection, London.
1 Hg inl - V aXJ :u.
in^r Down" tad handki ... mo havefag tat
boll it ft pott rr of 1 i >wa
t Deo] t>> pinn up in tin- Bkirl
a l»,, their i t fa imit.it loa ol b
|),|T, III. I
r Puq 4
|.,f ■ • jrai Pi i"
■
[. !., r two largo wtk
■
olf of 1 1
M m:v \\ ii
1! \nn mi ' LO,
M u.
Q r hair, like that
the men, cut md
braided or put in ' the head. It
• in tl.
tin the 1. 1 with
tiffany or rather thin -ilk i head*
<1p word " c • ■ iod< " i i rer used
tlii <lrr-s in
■
When
• i
Lo-t these prove
• PiniM
hanging down at I ly behind — like
r ' liripipea," which were longer, uinl rJ k. These were
all quite distinct fr>>ni cap strings.
t "The Book i Quality." I
.t srri DI /\ ' ">// i//:. 1 }-
*'I i- all . ompris'd in t he commode
l'iii- tipi with diamond, point and head,
\ hicb tin- curie .1 1 oed.
In radiant nrmamenl .t,
ill the hood sur-tout.
Thus, I t head w ;i- plaeM
bout the v.
] • :ir on tour, end t ire on t i
I.i mi ipii
( »r ni'iin. once at !
• half to well •
behold
I'.. .lilt I l\ t \ I«!lt II; • ! nil". I *
«
The article* required in a lad [let bore many
and curious oa they w< ■ aprehenaible to
the uninitiated, that the foil La moat
amuaii
A 1 1 • uring her n
treei one day < ell ■ far from bi
hastily ran
out of ' l'l rai-. ■ \ i! | t
The con! the Q may I A
French Btyle in f i conaiated of a
bandeau of j< locks in i ent
fashion on the , to match I k " of
the men. The " lovt introduced by Charles
I.. and <• a curl *th than the
resl • :* the hair, worn on tl This soon be-
A corresponding lock with the ladi
•From "Mondua Ifoliei I i tag-Boom
nnloeked, and Her! Lnonymons. Thia isanelab-
description i i' woi tumi It is given in the publications of
th.- 1'. • - ciety. V..1. XXVII., p. 190.
I by Repton, " Archasologia." v. .1. XXVII., p
244 THE 01 AKBB.
was the " heart-breaker." * The high headdress lasted
much later than the love-lock. In 1698 we find
Jonathan Edwards rebuking Its appearance in Puritan
\cw England. Tin.- Puritan women arc often repre-
m oted with " banged " hair. The '* high head " had a
period "t" decadence, ami was revivi tin in 1715,
and Addison write- Boon after: "There is not so
variable a thing in nature a- a Lady's headdress; with-
in my memory I have known it rise and fall above
thirty degrees." " I pretend not to draw tin- quill
against that immense er<>]> of plumi Th< com-
mode " killed itself by it- own extravagance, the time
and expense required t" j»nt up one's hair becoming
great that the hair-dresser could not make hi- rounds
to any but the most wealthy oftener than once in thr
i ks or a month, leading one Batirical writer of 'he
i<"l t.. remark:
[ consent also 1 present tyle of curling the hair so that
it in. iv -t.iv n month without combii I ' I run- - ■'• -s that
I t ; iink :; weeka or i fortnight might be sufficient tine-!
The tremendous " crop," or turban, that all Lovers of
u ( ranford " will remember, was a favorite of the Udii -
later en. e moment a woman became a Quaker, the
fact was proclaimed t«> all the world by her discarding
all extravagant headdn The early Methodists
were quite as pronounced. An old Norfolk journal
has the following:
Several fine ladies uho used tn wear French silk-. Trenih
hoops, 4 yards wide, tt'te de mouton heads, and white satin
smock petticoat*, are now turned Methodists, and follower- of
•Another "heart-breaker" is descrilx.l :i- "False Looks set on
Wyera to make them stand at a distance," ul>out 1670. They resembled
butterfly wings over the ear-.
1 >77 DP l\ COBTl ME. 1 |;,
Mr. Wbitefield, whoso doctrine of the new birth has bo prevailed
over them, thai they no* wear plain Btufl gowns, no hoops,
common night m< >t«- . ami old plain ba
ibbes, from whom we have before quoted, de-
scribes the elaborate coiffure of an eleganl dame:
Then followeth the trimming and tricking of their heades, in
laying out their haire t<> the shewe, whiche of force must he
curled, fristed, and crisped, laid out (a world to see) on wreathes
mul borders, from one eare to another. And least it Bhould fall
down, ii is vnder propped with forks, wiers, and I cannoi tell
what, like grim Bterne monsters, rather than ch
matrones. Then on I ■ • of their boulstered hair (for it
standeth ci rounde Hair frontiers, and hanging ouer their
faces like pendicea or uailes, witl ■ windowee on euery Bide)
there i- laide great wreathes "f golde and Biluer curiously
wrought, and cunningly applied t>> the temples of their heades.
And for feare "f lacking anythii rthe their pride with-
nil. at their haire, thi i bugles
(1 dare not -ay babies), ouches, iii! I, Biluer, glasses, an«l
Buche other childish and foolish trinket-- besides,
whiche, for they are innumerable, and 1 vnskilfull in worn
termes I cannot easily > But God giue them grace to
giue ouer their vanities, and Btudie to adorn their heades with
the incorruptible ornaments of vertue and true godlinesse.
The ancient London graveyard of the Friends, in
Lower Etedcross Street, Southwark, was removed a few
years since, not having had any interment made in it
since 1799. ( me of the graves was found to be that of
a young woman who wore on her head a pad quite per-
fect, such as was customary at the time to keep the hair
high on the crown: and in the mass of auburn hair,
lone and fine, was a handsome tortoise shell comb.*
This would indicate the tendency, Lofore alluded to,
for the Quakers to follow the dictates of fashion, even
at a safe distance. It was a passing fancy in the early
•Beck and Ball, " The London Friends' Meetings," p. 238.
j46 TUb: l <" dJUMfc
days to draw up the petticoat through the pockel hole
and other openings, thereby displaying the gaiety of
that garment We may oote tin- case of thf maid,
who being required by .I<>lm Bolton, <>n an order from
1 orge Fox, to Bew up the -lit in her waist-coal >kirt
behind, answered that Bhe "saw do evil in it; and
James < laypoole thought it Buitable to tin ir princi]
thai she Bhould first Bee the i \ il in it herself before she
judged it, and oof (saith he) because we say it."*
Wherein Jai showed great discrimination. The
Q lakeresses who wore the liair low were really more
in the French mode, th< that nation
rebelling sooner against the rule of the "commode,"
which after the law of contraries to have won i - -
name from it- inconvenience, much as the "nightr
gown" and "night-cap" were elegant constructions,
ne\ • >rn at ni.L ,:
February 1 5th, 1 T *"..". , the Duchi I Devonshire
wrote to her mother:
[ was too I My sister sad I were rery -rn.irt f"r
Csrlton House. <'i:r gowns were n I .\n- « »f my invention.
- black \ and with pink, and th<>
t-kir • od handkerchii bound with li^'lit pink, ami
large chip hats with feat! I pink-. Ify sister looked vastly
i r ■ ; ' y •
.1 the Germans of tin- last eenturv were
<h -. of the " - ihlafrock," which, however, was
emphatically a lounging garment, :i purpo-e with
which is instinctively associated all our ideas of the
old-time German " Ilerr Professor," who never made
bis toilet until the working hours of the day were
•"Tyranny nn>l Hypocrisy Detected." — Answer to a pamphlet,
" The Spirit of the Hat" London. 1673.
A sti J>Y IX COSTl MB. 1 j:
over, and not always then. Macbeth dons a " night-
gown," and so does Julius Caasar, both being loose
rob
Henrietta Maria, Queen of I harles I., in her well-
known portrait in the National Gallery, wears her hair
curled, and is * en in a aimple yellow Batin gown, with
broad lace at the low neck, and at the elbow sleeves.
She wears a pearl necklace and chain. Catherine,
Duchess of Queensbury (1700-1777),
the daughter <d Lord Clarendon, and
the pal roness of < lay, Prior and
others, called by Walpole, " Prior's
Kitty, ever young," wears in her por-
trait in the National Gallery a cos
tume almosl Quaker-like in it- >{m-
plicity, with a Bimple coiffure, and a
kerchief thrown over the shoulders. Even Nell
Gwynn (1650 L687) is simple in Bhorl Bleeves, low
neck, and Bhort CUrlv hair.
Thomas Story, whose wide acquaintance took him
among the u world's people/' tells US of an attempt he
made to convert the Countess of Kildare to Quaker
dress:
It being the Time of the Assizes, many of the higher Rank were
in Town on that Occasion, and divers of our Friends being ac-
quainted with Beveral of them, one Day <ame to my Friend
John Pike's to Dinner, the young Countess of Kildare, and her
Maiden Sister, and three more of lesser Quality of the Gentry.
Upon this occasion we had some free and open Conversation to-
gether, in which this Lady and the rest commended the plain
Dress of our Women, as the most decent and comely, wishing it
were in Fashion among them. Upon this I told her " That she
and the rest of her Quality, standing in Places of Eminence,
were the fittest to begin it, especially as they saw a Beauty in
1 |s THE Ql Mil: It.
it; nri'l they would he sooner followed than those of lower De-
pree." To thia Bhe replied, " If we should Dress ourselves Plain.
People would gaze .a us, <all as Quakers, and make ua the Sub-
ject of their Discourse and Town-talk; and we cannot bear to
be made bo particular."
I answered, u The Cause i- BO good, 1" dng thai "f Truth and
Virtue, if you will espouse it heartily upon it- just Foundation,
n few of you would da-li out of I nance, with !y and
find Gravity, Abundance of the other Bide, who have no Bottom
but t!i.' Vain Customs of The limes; and you will find a Satis-
faction in it. an Overbalai 11 you i the W'^rk-*
of Virtue nnd Modesty carrj in them an Immediate and perpel
ual Reward to the Worker." Thia seemed not unpleasant, being
said in an open Freedom; But then, alas! all was quenched at
by this; they all of them a' "'rh.it our own young 91
men of an; London and Bristol, went a- fine
they with the ftm ^i!k and Laced Bhoes; and when they
vrent t" Bath, made a- i Show a- an; I knowing
l>ut -nine Particul it give too much occasion for thia Alle-
gation, it WU a Uttl< liini:: hut. with Borne I •■ of
Min.i, I replied, '"I I' n lately at London and Bristol, and
also at the Bath, and have not observed any such; hut at all
th. lerally indifferent plain, ami many of them.
:i of i he youi well on at . But racfa
among us who I eside their Profession, and
are no Examples of Virtue, but a dishonour and Reproach to our
Profession, and a daily ami perpetual Exercise t-> us; ami I hope
y<>u will not l>'"k at tin- Worst, Bince, among ua everywhere, yon
. find better and n neral Examples of Virtue and Plain-
Thia they did ny; and bo that Part ended.*
London Quarterly Meeting, in 1717. issued a paper
in which the women arc exhorted not to deck them-
selves with "gaudy and costly apparel," nor to wear
"gold chains, l<>ckct<, necklaces and gold watches ex-
posed to open view/' The "immodest fashion of
hooped petticoats " i- condemned; the wearing of
mourning, and worldly conversation. " Likewise there
is a declension crept in among us of unbecoming ges-
* Thomas Story, Journal. Folio edition, p. 533. 1716.
A STl 1>) I\ COSTl HE. 149
tures in cringing and bowing of the body by way of
Balutation, which ought not to be taught or coun-
tenanced in our schools or famili The document
then a-ks:
II..V. shall any persona reputed I wearing extravagant
\\i.L r >, open breasts, their bate and clothes after a beauish fash-
ion, gold chains with lockets ami gold watches openly exposed,
like the lofty dames, or hooped petticoats, like the wanton wo-
men, be distinguished from the loose, proud people of the worl
Stubbes had declared f that the perfumes bo prevalent
at thia time were "engines of pride, allurements to
Binne, and provocatioi ' 1 1 eanliness is
next to godliness, old Stubbes may indeed have 1" i a
right; for the heavy odors in use covered up a multi-
tude of -ins. The prevalent u null' made the silk
handkerchief a 1. y. A few dainty folk used
those of cambric. An old advertisement calls atten-
tion to "■ handkerchiefs that will wash in a weak lath r
of Boap without prejudice." % The custom of ladies
smoking was a fad with the " smart Bet " of that day as
well a.- our own. They --till painted, a custom which
Evelyn (11th of May, L654) had noticed beginning:
"I now observed how the women began to paint them-
selves, formerly a most ignominious thing.''
Ajb for patching, it was universal, and evidently only
another "snare" for the feminine Quaker mind! We
learn from Pepys (May 1, 1CG7) of the patching of one
maid :
That which I did see and wonder at with reason, was to find
I'egg Ten in a new coach, with only her husband's pretty sister
*Beck and BaJl, " London Friends' Meetings," p. 77.
t "Anatomie of Abuses," p. 200.
i Ashton. " Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne," p. 118.
150 THE Ql AKBR.
[Margaret Lowther] with her, i • « > t > i patched and rery t"mo, iml
in much the finent coach in the park. , . ■ When we had »]
half .in hour in the park, we wen! out again, , . and bo home,
where we find the two young ladiea come !»• -ni*- ;m<l tluir pat
«iT. I Buppose Sir W Pen '1" not allow of them in lii-^ -i^'lit !
The "stay-maker' 11 was the companion of the wig-
maker; there ai eral Quakers whose names appear
in the old London n as " Btay-makera," or
" bodice-maki ■■-." They ad 1 " I >« » 1 1 * w ien
and whalebone eorsel busks." Winn the wig-mak< rs
; to be found among t Q
makers pursued their way alone, that trade not be
und< r condemnation, which only -< rved to ruin tin-
bealth, i nd was let picuous than the «. g. " Fash-
ion I'.i have been alluded t-; these merit more
than ;i passing aoti 11. istume,
!i? by Paris mo to London and other
cities of large population, displaying the very lat<
ideas in • fashion plat I en far in the
future, and even the Qua) • d this method
tnunicating t h«-i r ideas as to the " proper th
in drab to their country friends, or, as in th< of
the «1"11 model that was given to Si Grellet, to
oth< : muni; their own
£ vera! of thes< Is have been kindlv 1 me
for examination. Just as Mademoiselle Kiartin, a
famous 1 1 1< »« 1 i~ t « • of the tii Antoinette, was in
the habit of sending '1"11 models of the latest -f.
called " babies," to the m< st distant parts of Europe,
so these quaint little Quaker doll- Berved to -how th»-
distanl friend whal was worn at the metropolis. There
were, as we have soon, many changes of style in Quaker
dress. The difference between them and the " world's
A 8TI l>) /\ C08TI VIE. 151
people n lay in the magnitude and profundity <>i" the
question, relatively speaking; for quite as much
thoughl a*n-l expenditure of time and money went
Into the alteration of a pleat in the Quaker bonnet, or
a Hap <m the Quaker coat, i ent< red into the con-
struction of a Paris " confection." ( M' these models —
for it i- a mistake to call them dolls, Bince they were
anything bul toys- one, for instance, is in the exact
dre— ut' Rebecca Jones, a well-known Philadelphia
Friend, who lived from 1739 to L818. She wear- the
bonnel with sofl crown and a very large cape spreading
in three points down the hack and to the tip of each
shoulder. The crown of another bonnel made about
1790, -till extant, has a double box-pleat at top in ren-
ter and four pleats down the Bide, clearly showing the
coming Btiff pleats in the " coal-scuttle ,!l of later de-
velopment. " Patty Rutter " is also a doll with a Beri-
ous purpose, dressed in 17 s _' by Mi— Sarah Rutter, of
Philadelphia, and Bent to -Mrs. Samuel Adams, of
Quincy, Massachusetts. It was presented to the
Museum in [ndependence Hall in 1845. The doll is
in Quaker dress, consisting of white silk bonnet and
shawl, and drat) silk gown. At her side hangs a chate-
laine, with watch and pencil. The doll and her cos-
tume are -till intact. The most interesting of all these
models, however, is that of the Grellet family. Ste-
phen Grellet was a famous French Quaker, who, as
Etienne de Grellet du Mabillier, escaped from Limoges,
his patrician father's home, at the time of the French
revolution, and with a brother took refuge in America.
Meeting with the Quakers, he became convinced of
their principles, and at the time of his death was one
THE QUAKER.
of their most famous preachers, lie was in England
in the year L816, intending to risit the French at Con-
ic-, in France, where was b little community re-
markably in sympathy with the Friends, although hav-
ing had no communication with them originally. Eng-
lish Friends desired to aid his efforts to build up their
ill meeting. The Quaker women of London, there-
fore, made and dressed for them a model in wax of a
properly gowned woman Friend. Some untoward
event recalled the preacher to hi< American home I
fore In- succeeded in the accomplishment of iginal
purpose. Upon his arrival, the doll was discovered,
to his astonishment, in one of his trunk-. When
lie wrote to a-k how \<> dis of the doll, the
reply was: "Give her to thy little daughter." That
"little daughter," Living in Nev Jersey until .Inly,
I'.'iii, t,, the great age of ninety years, was herself the
authority for tin- Btory of " Rachel," as the beautiful
• loll has always been called. The fine rolled hem of the
*
cap-border bears witness to the exquisite needle-work
of the last century.
An increasing manifestation of the love of dress was
marked throughout the colonii The Friends from
England noted this with an anxioi , and in nearly
all the meetings in America may l>o found records deal-
*
ing with that tendency. Finally, Friends of Philadel-
phia Yearly Meeting, then held at Burlington, Xew
Jersey, issued the following note of warning:
From Women ffrienda at the Yearly Meeting held at Bur-
lington, The 21st. of the 7th. Month. 17 JO.
To Women ffriends at the Several Quarterly & Monthly Meet-
ings belonging to the same, — Greeting.
A sTl i>) i\ COSTUME. 153
Dear and Well-beloved Bisters:
A Weighty Concern coming upon many
fTaitlifnl ffriends at this Meeting, In Relation t<> diver-, undue
Liberties that are too frequently taken by some yt. walck among
us, & are Accounted of us, We are Willing in the pure Love of
Truth well, hath .Mercifully Visited "iir S.mls. Tenderly to Cau-
tion A Advise ffriends : i •_■ a i 1 1 -- 1 those things which we think In-
consistent with our Ancient Christian Testimony of Plainness in
Apparel 4c., Some of which we think it proper to Particularize.
As first, That [mmodest (fashion of hooped Pettycoats, or ye.
imitation of them. Either by Something ]>ut into their Petty-
coats to make ym — « - 1 1 full, or Wearing more than i- Necessary,
or any other Imitation Whatsoever, Which we take to be l>ut a.
Branch Springing fron ipt root of Pride.
And also That None of Sd ffriends A© ustom themselves I i
wear their Gowns with Superfluous ffolds behind, but plain and
Decent. Nor to go without Aprons, v > r to wear Superfluous
Gathers or That- iii their Cappe or Pinners, Nor Eo wear their
head- drest high behind, Neither to < ut or Lay their hair on ye
Sorehead or Temples.
And that ffriends are careful to avoid Wearing of v tiipt shoos,
or Red or White heel'd Shoos, or Clogs, or Shooe trimmed wh.
Gawdy Colours.
Likewise, That all ffriends be Careful to Avoid Superfluity of
Furniture in their Bouses, And as much a- may be to refrain
Using Gawdy floured or Stript Callicos and Stuffs.
And also that no ffriends Use ye Irreverent practice of tak-
ing Snuff, or handing Snuff boxes one to Another in Meetings.
Also That ffriends Avoid ye Unnecessary use of ffans* in Meet-
ings, least it Divert ye mind from ye more Inward & Spiritual
Exercise wch. all ought to be Concern'd in.
And also That ffriends do not Accustom themselves to go in
bare Breasts or bare Necks.
There is Likewise a Tender Concern upon or minds to recom-
mend unto all ffriends, the Constant use of ye plain Language
It being a Branch of our Ancient Christian Testimony, for wch.
many of or Worthy Elders underwent deep Sufferings in their
Day As they Likewise Did because they could not give ye Com-
*" Ffans" first came to New England in 1714, so were not new in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey at this time, although they were not in
common use before 1750, and the Friends considered them very gay.
]: ,.j i hi: v' AKBR.
BOB Salutation by Bowing an.l Cringing of ye Bodj Wch. we
Earnest!, de-ire ffriendi may be < areful to Avoid
And we farther Tenderly Advise and K\li<.rt That all tTriendi
be Careful tO Maintain Love and Unity and • ./iin-t
Whispering and Evil Sunnisii insl Another, and to keep
in Humility, 1 I ' through Strife or Vainglory,
and \t. th"-e who U rn- d to t.ik.-an oversight the
Bock, 1'" it not as 1 i ■ •'- beritage, but aa Servants
I
i i ' ,r - lidly recommend I
am! in a i • . Divine Love h huh i r>
" nifested Itself for ye Redcmpti n of s [MS illegible re Vain
.• in \ <• World, That
we might be unto I n, A Roj il Pi I
!. An
] * i .ii-. - of him w li" li.it ii it of D '■' l
relloui Light, thai We maj all walck as Children of the Light
ft of ye Day, Is ye 1
W e « ii' lu.le wth Love,;
and S
Sign< d 'H i . ball W Bj
Hannah II ii ! ..
The " rarpri made with an an ted
joint, like t ly parasols. Aim Warder notes the
nstant and needless u- . and with some com-
pla< . remarks npon her own forbearance in the matr
ter, " lest it should | a disturbance to othei
l ly two days after her arrival from England, under
date 9th of June, 178< wrote, " Such a general
of fans niv Id. 5fo sely -•
woman without one. And in winter, I am told, they
visit with them as a playthinj £ noticed a
child with a clirty face playing in the .- The
ther "' »li<l not wash its face in the daytime for fear
spoiling its complexion ! " " Their mode of dress-
ing children in Philadelphia," she regards, as " not so
becoming as with us. I have scarcely seen a White
MSSfjr
ing to M< < ting in /
A 8TI m l\ C08TX i//'. 155
Frock Bince my arrival. Nol a woman has visited me
but was elegant enough for any Bride, indeed we could
almost perBuade ourselves thai was the case from so
much salutinj
No Co -tunic was more important for the Quaker
woman of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
than thai designed for use on horseback. This was
even more the case in the colonies than in England,
where, in London, a1 least, the sedan chair and the
coach were cosmopolitan luxuries enjoyed very early.
Country Friends, however, had to ride ev< rywh< re, and
a woman, and especially a \ □ minister, it' she trav-
eled at all. must of necessity be a good horsewoman.
The riding h I, with cape or lot:L r cloak attached —
called a " Nithesdale " or " Capuchin," respectively —
was worn over the ordinary dress, the skirt of which
often protected by a "safeguard." Mr-. Earle
defines a "safeguard" as an "outside petticoat of
heavy linen or woollen Btuff, worn over other -kiit- to
protect them from mud in riding on horseback." Ann
Warder wrote of the Quaker women of Pennsylvania,
in 1786, " They are very shiftable. They ride by them-
selves with a safeguard, which, when done with, is tied
to the saddle, and the horse hooked to a rail, standing
all meeting time as still as their rider- sit." The
"safeguard " Beems to have disappeared in New Eng-
land after 1750, indicating the introduction of the rid-
ing habit, which was appearing in England, and excit-
ing the ridicule of the cynical Dean of St. Patrick's. *
• " I did not like [Miss Forester], although she he a toast and was
dressed like a man." Swift, Journal to Stella, August 11th, 1711. The
riding habit, which was the dress Swift alluded to, had just come in.
Pepys, 1666, had also described the ladies in the galleries at Whitehall,
in doublets, with periwigs and hat-.
156
THE Ql l A /'/.'.
and others. The flat beaver hat, with very broad brim,
and crown cot two inches in height, was much
worn for riding, and it- contemporary cloak ifl of
heavy grej -tuff, tin i which the illus-
tration was taken being known to be over one hundred
and fifty yean old.
An accompaniment of the riding une was the
riding-mask, \i tally written, " Ezard."
I- » of this that Fox wrote, "Away with your un-
necessary butl . "your Bkimming-dish ha1
Hi- i- probably referring also to the
" vizzard " which was used U in walking, and
one time worn hanging by a ribbon or cord at the aide.
In L645, we are told, the Puritan- of Plymouth, Mass.,
for " lountable reason," forbade them to
their peoj We Bhould think that the reason
extravagance might have proved as sufficient with
them as with the Quaker-. For old Stubbes, not l<>ng
htfore tin-, had been making his ultra-Puritanical
A STl'DY IX OOSTl Mi:. [.-,;
Btricturea on almost all varieties of English dress, and
lie thus sci. re- the \ I8i
When they \ s< • t ■ ride nbroad. they haue visors made of reluel
(or in my iudgmenl they may rather be called inui where-
with they couer all their faces, hauing boles made in them
aguviM their eiee, whereout they looke. Bo thai if a man
that knew doI their guise before, Bhoul ince to meete one
i.f theme, he would thinke he mette a monster or a deuill; for
face he can see none, but two broad holes againsl their e
with glasses in them. Thus they prophane the name of God, and
liue in all kinde of voluptm e and pleasure, than
euer « i i < l the heathen.*
The mystery of their attachmenl while riding, with
posaibly both hands occupied with a restless horse, Is
solved by Learning that the article had a silver mouth-
piece, by which the teeth of the wearer held it in place,
leaving her free to grasp the reins or the pillion, as
the case mighl be. There was no protection from rain
or sleet in those days before the umbrella, and a rainy-
day costume was imperative. All Borts of devices wure
permissible.
Good housewives all the wint • ••■ despise,
■ d h\ the riiin ise.
Why should 1 teach t he maid, when torrents pour
Her head to Bhelter from the sudden -hower?
Nature will best her ready hand inform
With her spread petti oat to fence the storm.
I " Trivia."
Eeference has elsewhere been made to the gay color-
ing of the clothing among the early Puritans in Xew
England, but by the middle of the eighteenth century
their garb was generally as " sad " in color as their or-
dinary life was in tone. A pleasant contrast to them
•Philip Stubbes, " Anatomie of Abuses," p. 76. Ed. 1586.
THE Ql \KI It.
are the homely Dutch Vrouws of New Amsterdam,
wo0 W ore j of I I tints, as they went
clinking along the ts in their heavy footgear. The
Quaker women of tin- colonies Beem to hare more in
anion with the latter than with the Puritans, despite
their sobriety of living. 9 uid their
way to America very early in the history of Penn I
colony, and there Beeraa to have been much latitude in
<lr- The wealthy women Friends i Pennsylvania
in the dj th< ! 11 r. dressed far more expen-
m\.]y and elaborately than thej did at a lat
date; they flourished about in " whil
worked in flowers, pearl ' ' <■« •!' t< 1
tin cloaks; their wl cks were covered with deli-
i u :i, and they w. Id chains ami seals, •
iven with their arms." " Repplier tell- n- tl
ah I . d [ Norris, of Fair-
hill, Wore a gown Mary, the daught
Thomas Lloyd, who marr Morris, the elder,
re blue and crimson; while her granddaughto r,
alary Dickinson, woi ep red. All these women
re Quakers of the best families in the country. LI
i- worth while t.> note that the daughter of Mary Dick-
inson, Maria Logan, was far more plain than her
mother or grandmother had I showing ing
tendency of the Quak< emphasize plainness, and an
increasing attention to uniformity rb among their
members. The i t the Found< I i have
had much the effect of the residi wvereign
in a small < His courtly dress and manners had
their inevitable r upon the Quaker-, whether in
London or Philadelphia: and had it been possible to
A STVD7 /v OOBTl MS. 159
prolong his life through the next century, his people
might have been spared much of their narrow policy,
political as well a- social, by the aid of his Bane and ex-
perienced advice. There is universal testimony to
thr beauty and picturesqueness of the young Quaker-
esses of the aristocracy in the early da Thr por*
trait of "The Fair Quaker/' Hannah Aliddleton Gur-
ney, whose costume was identical with thai of Gulielma
Springett, William Penn's firsl wife,* is that of a sur-
passingly handsome woman; and the Frenchman, Bris
Bot, wrote of tin- Philadelphia Quakeresses many years
after at the time of the Revolution when dress *
plainer among them:
Thc^e youthful creatures whom nature has so well endowed,
whose charm baa bo little need of art, wear t J i • - Bnesi musHns anil
eilks. Oriental luxury would not disdain the exquisite textures
in which they take delight.
The Frenchman did n«»t fail to admire anything
artistic, ami the Due de la Rochefoucauld i- the next
to express himself, adding, " Ribbons please the young
Quakeresses, and are the greatest enemies of the
et." t
Many agreed with the writer who not long before
bad said:
Behold the smart Quaker that looks in the glass,
Her hair doth all other companions surpass;
Yon deform your sweet faces, I vow and declare;
You should cut off your lappets and burn your false hair. J
•See explanatory note regarding this portrait in Maria Webb's
"Penus and Penningtona of the Seventeenth Century," to which the
engraving of " Uuli " Penn forms the frontispiece. It is quite distinct
from the engraving with the same title, here reproduced.
t Agnes Repplier, "Philadelphia; The Place and the People,"
p. 286.
% " The Mountain of Hair," 1760. Percy Soc. Vol. XXVII., p. 245.
!,,,, 1 HI. (,)/ VKl /.'.
Our great-grandmothers, if we may judge by the
clothes thai me down to us, w i rule.
Bmaller women than the in these days of their
tall and athletic
The private Diary of Aim, wi Whitall,
of \l< d 1 1 ok, New • ' . tinder •■ 1st 12 mo.,
1761 followii
w ill there i oui meetii
running Into them ! The
t up I.. nd next it'- likely
will tie their bait op behind; the girU In Penn-
■yh llnir ; with n black rilil»>ii; a
r.>\\ ful . . 1 m'l
up behind!
A little I mo. 18, L7<
I thinl Id my eyei run down with teara .il
tbomii »n«l
much "f it. and I they cant
do « i! b( i it ; ami t !.• ' think
With t
irnful -train in which tl.
was i what characterise ber plain
folk among the Quakers of the last nry. Many
old 1« ■ in which a: >rded prolonged wails
and groanings in - j » i r-I t over bonnet -. hat-bands,
ahoe-bucklee, and rach momentous matter-, all ti
with the utm< I i r. at into ;< f
stake in both England and America at tl riods;
l>ut the Friends withdrew then from cont
with outside ii all sorts; and this, in addition
to the greater isolation h little community than
in modern tim< the difficulty of travel, tended
• Hannah Whitull Smith, " The Life of John If. Whitall."
A sTi h) l\ COBTl Mi:. 161
t<> cultivate a feeling of their <>wn importance in the
world, and \<> tin- exaggeration of details in their little
neighborhoods; bo that tin- appearance "t a man on the
Btreel with a new cock t.. his hat, or of a young woman
with a black ril>!"<n at In r neck, -\\<»>k the community
to it- foundational It ifi amusing t" read, in tin' « - « 1 i —
tor's comments on the above diary, that at the very
time the writer was bo bewailing the worldliness "t a
black ribbon, Bhe herself -at under the gallery of
Woodbury meeting, arrayed in a Btraw bonnet lined
with pink ^-i Ik ! After all, there la do standard of per
feet plainness. The matter i- entirely a relative one.
In the month of May, L771, Esaac Collins, of B
Lington, N. .1., married Rachel Budd, of Philadelphia,
at the "Bank Meeting," in that city. Hi- wedding
dre-- was a coal of peach blossom cloth, the greal skirts
of which had outside pockets; it was lined throughout
with quilted white >\\k. The large waistcoat was of
tin' same material, lie wore Bmall clothes, knee buck-
les, -iik stockings and pumps— a cocked hat but-
mountcd the whole. The bride, who is described as
"lovely in mind and person," wore a light l»lue bro-
cade, shoes of the same material, with very high heels
— not larger at the sole than a gold dollar — and sharp-
ly pointed at the toes. Her dress was in the fashion
of the day, consisting of a robe, long in the back, with
a large hoop. A short blue bodice with a white satin
stomacher embroidered in colors, had a blue cord lace 1
from side to side. On her head she wore a black mode
hood lined with white silk, the large cape extending
over the shoulders. Upon her return from meeting
after the ceremony, she put on a thin white apron of
THE V AKSB,
ample dimensions, tied in t"r<mt with rge bine bow.
Tli. this display positively takes "iir breath,
particularly when we r< that the bride had oi
longed in John W< And ■
it only en i bow that the en •• of dr<
i- rchiti i and | nt usually <liet;it
what i- unlawful, the whole matter being arbitrary
to :i Btartling <!• ( Mir heart this l» -an-
ti hilly picturesqih I ; couple, bom ti. »om
was already makii r himself in the print'
;irt, :in<l u hi tial currency
•
of N«'\v .1 mnection with the greater Frank-
lin.' Apparently, the plain IV accus-
tomed to brilliant in the neighborhood
Philadelphii . a in tl jr, that ti.
<li<l not . at the colon introduced on tl
bad ad wri »n the
Bubjecl of dress in tl il character.
That the Q ■ ' • • nges of
1 1 • .- 1 ..- .ion hi think, fully demon*
Btrated. Tl i ( and R
1 dd carried out the styles then prevailing. The ideal
painting by Percy Bij ad, "A Quaker Wedding," his-
torically correct in - ;i dn
plainly influenced by the ti
the brid The " Two Friem
be! I - in, and rince
that time the ; p to the cos-
tm their own t Older pcple have worn
■ modern plain bonnet and shawl for fifty or sixty
•I bid Indebted to the great-gnu • itaresqne couple
for the description, w '.. atic.
Quaker Wedding, 1S20.
■
A STl Dl in COSTUME. 163
years. Before that time, the same bonnet had a soft
crown; and a long hooded cloak — cloth in winter and
silk in summer — was substituted for the shawl. The
Quaker- have always shown their exquisite taste in
choice of materials, and have instinctively realized
thai nothing bu1 the besl Btuffs would lend themsel
with dignity to the severe simplicity of their gart>.
This could have been better realized some thirty yeara
ago, when each of our great cities supported at least
one large Bhop where Quaker g Is exclusively were
sold. The fact that the Quakers can now he Berved at
any Bhop Bpeaks volumes for either their deterioration
or their progress— depending upon one's point <»t' view.
By the time of the Revolution, Philadelphia far Bur-
passed all other towns in the colonies with it- extrava-
gance and luxury of living, winding up with the " Mes-
chianza " — that pageant whose tradition is -till re-
hearsed in the ears of modern town-folk, sounding
more like a page from the fairy tales of the Middle
Ages than actual happenings in the city of Penn. A
Hessian officer, writing of the ladies of America at that
time, says,*
They are great admirers of cleanliness, and keep themselves well
shod. They friz their hair every day and gather it up on the
back of the head into a chignon, at the -ame time puffing it up
in front. They generally walk about with their heads uncovered,
and sometimes but not often wear some light fabric on then-
hair. Now and then some country nymph has her hair flowing
down behind her. braided with a piece of ribbon. Should they
go out. even though they be living in a hut, they throw a silk
wrap about themselves and put on gloves. They also put on
some well made and stylish little sunbonnet, from which their
roguish eyes have a most fascinating way of meeting yours. In
•Alice Morse Earle, " Costume of Colonial Times," p. 31.
164
Tilt: QVAKER.
the Kn giiali colonies the beauties have fallen in love with red
silk or woolen wraps.
A letter of Miss Rebecca Franks, a Philadelphia
belle visiting in New York in 1778, speaks thus of so-
ciety there in thai year:
You ean have no idea of the
life of continued amusement 1 live
in. I can scarce have a moment
to myself. I have stole this while
everybody is retired to ilre^s for
dinner. I am hut ju-t come from
under Mr. J. Black's hands, and
mod elegantly dressed am I for
a ball this evening at Smith's,
where we have one every Thurs-
day. . . . The dress Is more redicu-
lous and pretty than anything 1
ever -aw — a great quantity of
different coloured feathers on the
head .it s t ime beside ■ thousand
other tilings. The hair dr.
rery high, in the shape Miss Yin-
ing*S \\a- the night ire returned
from Smith's the Bat we found
in your Mother's closet wou'd he
of a proper size. I have an after-
noon cap with one wing, tho' i assure you I go less in the fashion
than mo>t of the ladies —no heing dressed without a hoop.
The Journal of Elizabeth Drinker, of Philadelphia,
under date " December 15, 1777." Bays:
Feggy York called this morning. . . . She had on the highest
and most rediculous headdress that I have yet seen.
1770
I Aft.r Martin. I
A little later, July 4, 1778:
A very high headdress was exhibited thro' ye streets this af-
ternoon, on a very dirty woman, with a mob after her with
drums etc. by way of ridiculing that very foolish fashion.
77/c Two Fricmh.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 165
In 1786 Ann Warder's Journal describes similar ex-
travagance:
" Came to call " — a fine girl called the perfection of America
but her being drest fantastical to the greatest degree and painted
like a doll destroyed every pretension to Beauty, in my mind.
Such extravagance recalls the old poem:
Tin: Ladies' Hkad Dress.
Give Chloe a bushel of horse-hair and wool.
Of paste and pomatum a pound.
Ten yards of gay ribbon to deck her sweet skull,
And gauze to encompass it round.
Of all the bright colours the rainbow displays
Be those ribbons which hang on her head,
Be her flounces adapted to make the folks gaze,
And about the whole work be they spread.
Let her flaps fly behind, for a yard at the least;
Let her curls meet just under her chin;
Let these curls be supported, to keep up the jest,
With an hundred; instead of one, pin.
Let her gown be tuck'd up to the hip on each side;
Shoes too high for to walk, or to jump;
And, to deck the sweet creature complete for a bride,
Let the cork-cutter make her a rump.
Thus finish'd in taste, while on Chloe you gaze,
You may take the dear charmer for life;
But never undress her — for, out of her stays
You'll find you have lost half your wife.*
An American in London at the end of the last cen-
tury, whether Quaker or not, was bound to have some
surprises in contrasting the styles at home and abroad.
• From Publications of Percy Society, Vol. XXVII., p. 259. Printed
first in " London Magazine " for 1777, and very popular.
KJ6 THE QUAKER,
In 17M, Lady Cathcart, an American by birth, wrote
of London fashions:
They \\<ar for morning a white poloneze or a dress tiny call
a Levete [Levite] which is a kind of gown and Peticote with long
Blecvo in. ulr with -<.irc.lv any pique in Die back, ami worn with
a iaab tyed on the left side. They inakc these in winter of
White dimity, and in summer of muslin with (hint/ !i<>rcl(T8.
We are told thai the " robe-levite " imitated this
garment, and thai the "monkey-tailed levite ,: had i
enrionsly twisted train, and was b French fashion.*
Onr " Fair Quaker' 1 of this date wean what i- no
doul't s " Levite." 1 >i« 1 its name help to make it seem
worldly I
ami Sarali (Hill) Dillwyn, very plain
Friends from Philadelphia, went over to visit their
En gli sh relatives in London booh after the peace waa
Mnl. Il.r letters to her family at home in New Jer-
Bey are the observations of an alert, lively woman, to
whose philosophical mind the gay capital served a- an
amusement, bul nol in the leasl a temptation. Ber
opportunities for observation were of the best She
writer to ber sister, M. Iforris, dating her letter,
" Lond< .n, I 12th. 1785 ":
I find it in vain to keep pace here with the ni( c dames, so don't
• are a fi£ about it; let US be dressed as we wiB, I find the best
of them take a great deal more notice of us than either of us
desir.
They mention their reticules — spelt preferably by
all, apparently, "ridicule;' these Bide pockets must
match the gown, with tassel and strii..
" When writing of women," said Diderot, " we
should dip our pen in the rainbow, and throw over each
•Mrs. Earle, "Costume of Colouial Times," p. 152.
t " Letters of the Hill Family," edited by J. .1. Smith, p. :
.4 si I DY l\ C08TI Ml. It;;
line the powder of the butterfly's wing, instead of
sand ! " No Buch ethereal notion Lb left of woman in
these athletic days of the jolting girl, but il is doI
long -in 1 •• cise was a disgrace, and to Beem to live
mi anything more substantia] than air, a crime against
good taste. Gowns, of course, partook of the general
thetic tendency, and the period of classicism in dr<
left it- imprint on the garb even of the Quaker ladies
of the early pari of this century. Fashions as a rule
change gradually, but at the 1 r. nch Revolution they
made a Budden revolt, and down came the " high
heads '" and the *' poufs an Bentiment," the latter a
pleasing structure Borne four feet high, representing
at the wcanr'- whim, gardens and trees, and Bhipe un-
der full Bail in billowy . or models of their
nursery and babies and all their pet animals. The
action went to the other extreme, when Paris Bought
to reproduce Gr< simplicity; the "statuesque"
effects that resulted might have caused even a Greek
statue to blush. The desired effect was attained by dis-
carding to the limit of decency, and even beyond it,
all possible undergarments. None too many, accord-
ing to our hygienic ideas in this day, had ever heen
worn. But a scanty cambric petticoat in the last days
of the last century was quite the heaviest undergar-
ment possible. The clinging draperies that resulted
displayed a curious commingling of classical names;
and one fine lady is quoted as wearing at the same time
in 1809, " a robe a la Didon, a Carthage Cymar, and a
Spartan Diadem." Tito, Daphne, Ariadne, Calypso,
Diana and the whole Greek array were levied upon to
distinguish different styles; and even Medusa lent her
168 THE Ql \ki:i:
name to a coiffure I The only thing to be Baid in favor
of this riol of classicism was thai it put an abrupt end
to cocked hats, wigs, pigtails and hair powder. II"
became pasl horrors, as «li«l expanded petticoats; but
while the less enthusiastic English refused to be quite
so unrestrained in dress as their neighbors across the
channel, they followed sufficiently far to attain a high
disdain for any underclothing thai interfered with
statuesque effects, and perilous indeed musl have 1"
the results in the unfriendly English climate. I
and silks and tiffanys and taff< tas, [ndia muslins and
• It lira' miners v. osidered heavy enough for
winter wear by < <n r English grandmothers, who, poor
things, killed themselves off before their time and trans*
mined many an ill t«» their descendants as a tribute to
1 1 ..:. • I ashion. Shoes came from France, and were of
finesl kid, for by some unaccountable mental bias it
was ii" more possible then than it i- now for the lv
li.-h to make a . ! | described as
an "animating appendage" to the toilette, and cohl
water was regarded as an enemy to good looks " the
tural enemy to a smooth -kin !' Prince Jerome
Bonaparte married Miss Elizabeth P m <>n Christ-
mas < v. . L803. A gentleman who was present wrote:
All the clothes worn by the bride might have been pat in my
pocket. Hei dreee ires of rnusHu richly embroidered, of extreme-
ly fine texture. her drr-^ she wore but a .-in^le gar-
ment.*
The classical craze wore itself out, as crazes will.
The only reason that it has here been referred to is be-
cause the -canty supply of underclothing which it per-
* Mrs. Hunt. " Our Grandmothers' Gowns," p. 15.
A (STUDY IN COSTUME. 169
mitted caused our Quaker grandmothers many an ill,
in the tradition Left them that true refinement de-
manded an attire too airy to be compatible with the
sharp changes of an English or American winter. No-
body wore woollen garments in the early nineteenth
century, and for a long time cloth was regarded as very
onfeminine even for an outside wrap. Linen was uni-
versal, and -ilk Btockinge with the thinnest la-ting, or
" prunella " Bhoea and Blippera, with solo of paper-like
thickness, were the usual foot-covering in houses full
of draughts caused by open fires. Carpel or " li-t
Bhoea were donned by <»ld ladies for Bnow and ice, and
clogs and pattens were worn by the bellea <d' the day.
To be Bure, heavy fur pelisses were worn in hitter
weather, but Were at Once thrown aside On entering the
house.
We find that calicoes with gay and fanciful designs
became very fashionable after the Revolution in Amer-
ica; and it is no doubt to this mode that the Diary of
Ann Whitall refer-. An old newspaper says, " Since
the peace, calico has become the general fashion of our
country women, and i- worn by females of all condi-
tions at all seasons of the year, both in town and coun-
try." The French calicoes were delicate in texture and
i
color, and were said to have been so popular that they
were even worn in the freezing cold churches and meet-
ing houses in the dead of a New England winter. There
was nothing modest about some of the designs, if we
may believe the old advertisements, which describe pat-
terns called " liberty peak," "Covent Garden crossbar/'
" Ranelagh half -moon," and a " fine check inclosing
Four Lions Rampant and three flours de Luce." Some
170 Tll,: 01 ia/.v.-.
were adorned with the portraits of political heroes, like
Washington and Franklin. We are further told thai
these designs were Btamped by Mock- for the hand,
which an- -till in existence.* The New England
mantua-maker of 1668 charged eighl shillings per day
— a fair comparison with a modern seamstress — and
the dressmaker who made np the calicoes a hundred
years later got do more. A young married woman,
who was a Friend, wrote to her -i-ter from Washing
ton, Dutchess ( lounty, New York. Seventh month 13th,
1828:
Yesterday was Preparative Meeting. The clerk was ji young
girl, 1 think doJ twenty yean of ap\ dreased In ■ painted mus-
lin, with n very large figure, almost white, a cape with ■ small
transparent handkerchief round the neck, and ■ Imnnet of white
silk in the real English fashion, gathered eery full, and altogether
the most showy looking clerk I ever Baw. . . .
I went over to the store yesterday ami bought ■ real calico
gown, a dress one, light, to put on afternoon-, when it i- too
cold for gingham, ss it mostly is in this elevated region. I find
it Decessary to be pretty much dreased .ill the time if one is to
keep up with the custom of the house. Even Mother made up
a white apron, as -he says -he did not bring one. thinking they
w*d not be worn here, but she finds her mistake.
The large figures became more modest later on. On
the back of an old letter, dated 1833, in my grand-
mother's handwriting, I find the following memoran-
dum: " Very small figures are the fashion here now for
waistcoats and for gowns too."
Just before this she had written:
I can't bear to wear anything hut crepe handkerchiefs this hot
weather. . . . JShort sleeves only are wearable either. I have not
yet ventur'd to cut off more than one pair, but think I shall.
•Alice Horse Earle, " Costume of Colonial Times," p. 74.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 171
These calicoes and figured stuffs were so famous for
their large design that what to-day would seem to us
a very conspicuous figure, was considered proper for
Rebecca Jones to wear in Philadelphia on the occasion
of her first appearance in the ministry. The original
material is really a printed brown linen; the name of
calico seems to have been of general application to
stuffs of this sort. The early Friends had borne their
testimony against these flights of fancy,* but "flonr'd
and figur'd things" have seemed to recur in feminine
costume in some form ever Bince the days of Mother
Eve.
It is hard to imagine the Quaker woman without her
shawl; yet that article of dress was not worn in this
country until 1784, when " a rich assortment of
shawls " was advertised in Salem, Mass. The garment
was the result of the East India trade, just beginning at
this time, and was not worn in Europe much before the
opening of the present century. An observant attender
of Quaker meetings must have noted the manner in
which the plain Quakeress sometimes takes her seat, as,
with a hand behind her, palm outward, she gives an in-
describable little " fiip " to the corner of her shawl, to
turn it up behind at the moment of seating herself to
avoid wrinkles in the tail ! The air with which that
" -flip " is sometimes given by a quick-motioned young
woman, is levity itself. And none but the initiated
can know of the art involved in donning the plain shawl
*"lst of 5 mo., 1693, Minute 7th. Before a minute offered to the
Quarterly Meeting, concerning Fr'ds making, ordering, or selling striped
cloths silks, or stuffs, or any sort of flour'd, figur'd things of different
colours. It is the judgment of the Quarterly Meet'g that Friends ought to
stand clear of such things." Unlocated. Copy by H. Hull, New York,
1850.
172 THB 91 IKBR,
properly; the deptb of the three folds exactlyin the cen-
ter of the back of the neck, and the size of the pin that
holds them; the pin on the tip of < :u-h Bhonlder, to hold
the fullness in Bufficienl firmness, without pulling, and
without showing thai it is a pin; and the momentous
decisioD whether the point of the Bhawl i tly in
the middle, <»r not — indeed, there are impressive mo-
ments in the lives of all women.
Some form of cloak, usually hooded, was universal
before the simplicity of the Bhawl commended itself at
' Bight to the Quaker the nineteenth century.
The return of the Emperor Napoli on from hi- campaign
in Egypt, bringing to Josephine beautiful cash-
mere Bhawls, gave that garment a great vogue in L807.
The Elm] took an immense fancy to the shawl, and
there was a time at which A\< rcely ever seen
without one in the morning. It is aaid that " -he had
about five hundred, for many of which she had as
much as ten or twelve thousand francs. The Emperor
did not like t., Bee her wrapped in her Bhawls within
doors, and Bometimes pulled them off and threw them in
the lire, but -he always Bent for another."
The '• Belle Aasemblee " discourages the shawl. It
sav- :
•
It i- only wonderful, that rach an article of dross should ever
liave found its path to fashionable adoption In the various cir-
cles of British taste. In it- form, nothing can be more opposed
to every principle of refined taste, or carry less the appearance
of that elegant simplicity at which it aims. It i- calculated
much more to conceal and vulgarize than to display or regulate
the contour of an elegant form, and is totally destitute of every
idea of ease, elegance, or dignity. Whatever charms it may have
for the siikly taste of the tawny BELLES of the torrid zone,
nothing but that witching beauty which occasionally veils itself
A STUDY IN COSTl mi:.
173
in the rusticity and homeliness (like the sun, its mists and
(hinds) that it may dazzle anew, \\ it h the refulgent splendor of
it- taste and charm, could render even tolerable the introduction
of an habiliment which turns any female NOT beautiful and ele-
gant Into an absolute DOWDY. IT i- the very contrast t-> the
flowing elegance of the Grecian costume, whose lighl and trans-
parent draperies so admirably display the female form.*
A Quaker poet thus expressed himself later:
Observe yon belles I behold the waspish waist I
the broad bishop spreading far behind;
The shawl Immense, with uncouth figures graced,
And \cii loose waving In the playful wind;
Mark the huge bonnets, stuck on hills <d hair.
Like meteors streaming in the turbid air.f
The impressions of the life ami manners of the Beven
sister- Gurney, of Norwich, England, by A. J. C.
llan'4 show the Quaker influence at work on a set of
young people to whom no privileges of culture or re-
finement had ever been denied. The family to which
belonged Joseph John and his talented sister, Elizabeth
Gurnev, better known by her married name of Eliza-
beth Fry, may well merit a little attentive study. Har-
riet Martineau describes the sisters as "a set of dash-
ing young people, dressing in gay riding habits and
scarlet boots, and riding about the country to balls and
gaieties of all sorts. Accomplished and charming
young ladies they were, and we children used to hear
whispered gossip about the effect of their charms on
heart-stricken young men." The seven are said to
•1807, quoted bv Mrs. A. W. Hunt, in " Our Grandmothers' Gowns,"
p. 28.
t Samuel J. Smith, of Hickory Grove, N. J.
X Augustus J. C. Hare, " The Gurneys of Earlham."
i; j Tin: v' ±KSB
have linked arms, and in their Bcarlet * riding-habits,
in which they Booured the country aide on their ponii
stopped the great mail-coach from ascending the neigh-
boring hill ! The brother Daniel states in his " Remin-
iscences," that hi- four you] r wore bon-
nets on the Earlham grounds, but put on Little red
cloaks in which they ran about as they liked. Lou
Gurney (afterward Mrs. Samuel Boare) writes, Jm
6th, I797,"ln th< .i:,_- I ■ i r. — • < 1 up in Quaker
thin::-, but I felt far too ashamed I act any-
tlu trong was the inllnei • Quaker spirit
The sam< I in i row in fi I the minisfc
gallery at Norwich Meeting. One day Betsey (Elii
bet) 1 r-. i had on ■ pair of " new purple boots lii
with Bcarlet," which sounds amazingly to oi
at tiii- day. B< ranting npon the delights
the shoes to console her through I be antici-
pated 1 • it proved, this was to be I memorable
<lay to her. It was the fourth ■ •' February, i~ : '^, and
Betsey was a. Willian sry, the irreat
American preacher, was present, and hi- sermon was so
forceful and B] • her, that same con-
vince.) of the truth of Quaker principles and became a
Quaker from that til h.
That aame meeting - to havi iked Fri<
B 'crv. for ho wrote that he found it very gay for a
Friends' meeting. M There were/' h< . " ibout two
hundred under our name, very few middle acred. I
thought it the crayest meeting of Friend- I ever Bat in,
and was quite grieved at it. . . . Marks of wealth and
grandeur arc too evident in several families in this
• " Kutusoff " mantles of scarlet cloth were much worn later.
t > 1 1 i>) i\ OOBTl \ir. L75
place." Maria Edgeworth describes Elizabeth Fry
after yean bad passed, in ber '* drab-colored Bilk cloak
and plain borderless .-ilk cap." When Joeepb Pry first
determined to marry Elizabeth < hirney, it' it were pot
l>lc, he -;iw her in a brown .-ilk gown, with a black lace
vi-il bound around her head like a turban, the ends
pendant on one side of her face, and contrasting with
her beautiful light brown hair. Richenda, her sister,
writes of the " troutbecks " they were all wearing at
the seaside in L808. These were hats of that year.
Red cloaks arc mentioned, and the fashions of the time
Bhow the brilliant colors of wraps and all out jar-
ments of the day to have b ::linu r . All ex-
cept the plainest Quakers made -■ ssion to the
mode. Priscilla Gurney writes to Hannah, her Bister,
afterward the wife of Sir T. Fowell Buxton, " Chenda
and I wear our dark . ery day, and our aprons
in the evening." This was in February, l s <>-'5. In
i s i>.".. Louisa Gurney writes to her sister, Elizabeth
Fry, " I often Beem to see thee in thy pink acorn gown
attending to all thy flock in the dining room," etc.
This '* pink acorn gown " was probably a pattern sim-
ilar to the calicoes and printed stuffs so popular among
the Friend- at the time, to which reference has already
been made. We are told that in May, 1807, at the
marriage of the Buxton?;, " The house was overrun with
bridesmaids in muslin cloak- and chip hats." In 1813,
Katherine Frv savs, " Our Aunts Catherine and Rachel
(Gurney) wore no caps, hut a headdress of crepe folded
turhanwise. Both -were brown in the morning; in the
afternoons, Aunt Catherine's were dark red; Aunt
Rachel's, white. Aunt Rachel also frequently wore
white muslin «lr Thry had few or DO "rnaii.'-:.t-.
Aunt Catherine alwayi wore dark <>r black -ilk, but
often with a red shawL Aunt Priaeflla, a- a Friend,
dn-.-M-d in a dark -ilk <>r poplin
t, finished i 1." The Aunt < Satherine who
tin- head <«t* t': Q taker, ;il-
rdcd the pn
faith in her cirt at simplicity oi
ilns- that o of ! i
id any mark. I tj
• ir inl • . \
that talented com • at into it with I
from worldly ptrl>
onvirn
her h
which, had b<
I : • to
ha . in the Minpl r frierj
I] arti u the realm
tclv women
-
lid ha 1 in tl off
th< :i. when w<>m with
tion. Afl though partly in explanation
what seemed I ctraordinar^
Opi
I like : i-!Tl T
it. It inu-t
had H\t'«i. and that relij i never pi her in
» • until -' it in <!•
• J<w ph .T-'?ni Qureey, in writing <-f her at tbi* tin .reat
was her agony <>f mind in view <•( ohftaging her drew, aii'l of Hildn-wne
t ■■ r I on • ' ta friei ■!- an<l acquaintances by thi ;r plain name*. an>i n
ihf bumbling simplicity <•( th»-»- an-1
i > 1 1 id i\ 006 a \u:. 177
remarkable i figure was that of Elizabeth Fry
in the elegant simplicity of Quaker dress, whether in
the prison ef V >re the crowned heads of
Europe, that her «lr< fixed in the public
mind as the type of womai Qu iker costume. Eliza-
beth Fry writes to her husband from The I - . after
;m audience with tin- Ring and Queen, in L847, " I
wore a dark plain satin, and a d colored >ilk
BhawL" At this time, hoi do new thing
for Elizabeth Frv to wait upon royalt II<r tir-t visit
to court was made in 1818, whi Q Char) im-
manded her pi at t in- .Man-ion Hou pon
which ion A. J. C. Han R red
it> in- approval :it the Bhrine of mercy and
work-." Tl ' - diminutive; Bhe v.
■ 1 with diamonds, 1.' 1 i ^r 1 1 1 « • • 1 up
with an i Eliza-
beth 1 Q ..ikrr <: Ided t.. the height
her tall figure. Shi- ightly flushed, hut kept her
wonted calm. lit r daughter wrote afterward:
Tin \ Lady Ilanourt in full court dre**, on the arm
of Alderman Wood in scarlet gown; and then tin- Bishop of
Gloucester i: a lawn leading our darling mother
in hex plain Friend's cap, one of the light scarf cloak* worn by
plain Friei I a ilark silk gown. I Bee her now, her light
flaxen hair, a little flush in her fa-e from the bustle and noise
had passed through, and her sweet, lovely, placid .-mile*
Ann Warder, whose interesting Journal covers three
years, from 17SG to 17S9, among the Friends of Phila-
delphia and vicinity, gives ns vivid pictures of life in
the young republic, and the privilege of quoting from
•A. J. C. Hare, "The Gurneys of Earlham."
278 THE QUAKER.
its unpublished pages has been gladly availed of. She
tells as thai upon landing from the ship Edward, in
New Fork, in I7 s ''>, they were taken at once to the
home of :i Friend of tin- family. " The woman Friend
of the house ••aim- up, and aa a mark of her welcome,
untied my raj) t<» help Btrip me." At this period, Ann
Warder was twenty-eight. <>n being told that her ap-
pearance was singular, Bhe explained that " countries
differed; riding dn with ua very much worn,
and mine in England would b • teemed a plain one.
Thia La a Bpecimen of their singularity on this [aland
g [sland] ; Bcarce any had Bucl and not ■
looped hat did I -• i ." When word reached Philadel-
phia by messeng r of the arrival of John Warder and
his English wife, ten minutes sufficed to -• ■ their
Brother Jeremiah and his wife on their way to Xew
Fork to meet them. Haste probably accounts for the
appearance of the new arrival from the South, who is
th> cribed by the English woman, and contrasted
with her husband, his brother. She allows us to see
the unconventional dri ( i k< r of that 'lav:
lii- dress unstudied, a Cocked Hat. Clumsy B >ots, Brown cloth
large Breeches, Black Velvel Waistcoat, light old > azemar [cassi-
mere] eoat, handkerchie instead <'i" Btock which is tied on with-
out much pains. Conceive -T. W. [her husband] with hi-* suit —
Nankeen Inexpressibles ami white silk Btocldngs, much more re-
b< mbling an English gentleman.
She adds:
The women 1 have seen at present appear Indolent, which may
perhaps he a reason for Mother Warder's bearing such a high
character for notability.
To he a " notable " housewife was to reach woman's
summit of social ambition at that day among the Quak-
ers.
A 8TU&Y IN COSTUME. 179
Got B. Parker to go out Bhoping with me. On our way hap-
pened of Uncle Head, to whom I complained bitterly of the dirty
streets, declaring if 1 could purchase ;i pair of pattens, the sin-
gularity I would ii"t mind. Uncle Boon found me up an apartment,
out of which I tn,.k a pair and trottc.l al<>rij,' quite Comfortable,
crossing some Streets with the greatest ease, which the idea of
had troubled me. My little companion was -,<> pleased, that she
wished some also, and kept them on her feet to learn to walk
in them most of the remainder of the day.
The patten and clog are often spoken of interchange-
ably, but the clog is of vastly greater antiquity. The
patten dates from the reign of Queen Anne, and is
raised on a supporting ring; an excellent example may
be seen in the museum of Independence Hall, day's
charming explanation of their origin in his "Trivia"
will, of course, come in mind. The clog in the illustra-
tion is from a beautiful pair carefully preserved in New
Jersey. The hollow for the heel, and the preposterous
elevation on the instep, designed to fill the arch of the
foot in the companion shoe or slipper, are explained,
and the illustration from our originals almost dupli-
cated, in Fairholt's " Costume in England," which may
be properly regarded as the final authority on matters
of historical costume.
An insane woman remarked on Ann Warder's ap-
pearance when she visited the asylum in Philadelphia,
that she (A. W.") was the " most clumsy woman in the
party, but she believed it was because she had on too
many petticoats."
I could not help being struck with two women Minister's ap-
pearance, both having Drab Silk Gowns, and Black Pasteboard
Bonnets on. To see an old man stand up with a Mulberry Coat,
Nankeen Waistcoat and Breeches with white stockings would
look very Singular in England. My cap is the admiration of
plain and gay.
180 Tin: Ql IKBR,
A Bhopping lition Lb recorded to find white
leather mitts. " In n<»t 1<-- than twei di i
. fnr them before we m ed; th( do \>\n>-,-
•ular for different trad with -
Th«- apron, i pular-
ity, and it i- perhaps i - ting t" aotice that I
sleeve, which early in the nth century was
often a separate er the old custom
from the time of the Wi I the R •-• -. \ be
mothi r r than the gown, and | ill the
fashionable shade at this period. A famous old song
of t lit* time, ii ' ' I idj
I ■ Shaki in
th<- "' Merrv Wiv< - i i Windsor," wl • •• I
*' 1 -ky rain j" ■ I thunder to the tune
• •f ' < lreen-Sl< t V., S Part of the
old song is as follows: *
; do DM « r
t off
-
I I bare 1
mpany.
ill my
Gr< I light ;
■• I I
An. 1 . Who but Ladj
I li» ". ready at your hand
To pram whatever you would crt
I hi • '1 lari'l
Your goodwill for to have.
Thou eouldsl desire no earthly thing
But >u\\ thou liad-t it readily.
Thy music *till to play and -i:
And yi t thou wouldat not lore me.
•FlOB \ Handful of Pleasant J ».: bin-on,
A sti i>) i\ C08TI ;//'. 181
My men were clothed 1 all in green,
And they « i i • 1 ever wait <>n thee,
All 1 1 1 i — waa L'.illant t" be Been,
A i ! yti thou wouldat not love me.
They set thee uj>. they t""k thee down,
'1 h< Ait h humility,
Thy foot might not •nice touch the ground,
And yet thou wouldat di t love me.
Thy gown wh of ' ii.
Thy sleeves of satin hanging by,
Which made thee be our harvest queen,
And j < t t hou m ouldst not lot <• me.
I ,i . i naleei • farewell, adieu 1
.1 I pray to | thee!
For l am still thy kn er true ;
i ome "ii' e again and 1"\ e me.
i-'
Walter Rutherford i- quoted by Miss Wharton as
objecting violently to % ' a late abominable fashioo from
London, of ladies like Washerwomen with their sleeves
above their elbows." This was in 1790. Elbow sleeves
were worn by all the plain Friends at one time; and
long " mitts/' reaching to the shoulder, elaborate and
exquisitely plaited linen and line muslin under-sleeves,
with the little gold link buttons to fasten them at the
end-, are now in my possession. Through the latter half
of the eighteenth, and the beginning of the nineteenth
century, all plain women Friends wore gowns with low
neck and short sleeves. This, I think, may be taken
as an universal rule. The neck was protected by a
dainty muslin or lawn handkerchief, folded across the
bosom and pinned at the waist on each side. Over this
was worn a soft silk shawl, and the shades of delicate
gray or drab were often productive of the most exquis-
ite effects, with a fresh young face. The young girl
182
THE (,n AKER.
Hi- lit,
u •
171
put on her cap 1" she was fairly grown ap; and
the first little girl Bent to Weettown School in Penn-
sylvania, in 17 , . , ! , < WON B Cap
large proportional No baby came
into the world, whether of Quak-
erdom or of fashion, in the
•urv, witli<.ut at once having
bairlesa little pate clapped into ;i
more or leas uncompromising i
many of thi II in exist* ace
viry elaborately embroid-
light forgive them
t"<-r refusing t.. the little head the
per circulation of air, it' t ;
lia<l aol sinned in a far worse way
when they at once enclosed the j r little ril»s in the
-t cruel • og time, I tried to per-
Buade mvself that it was only the ultra-fashionable for
the < liitH -c ! that bo treated their offspring. But, alai I
the pair of MitT, diminuti in my own possession
r been in the hands of the " world's people ":
they come straight to me from a long line of Quaker
ancestry, and I am reluctantly forced to believe that it
was my own gi andmother who refused freedom
to the small ribs of her children, and laced the uncom-
promising implement of torture on her new-born in-
fant. There are even now certain conservative women
across the border in Canada, who stfll put their babies
in tight jackets <>f this kin<l immediately after their
birth, under the impression, which T suppose animated
our great-grandmothers, that the small body needed
" support," forsooth, much more than freedom!
i STUDY IS COSTUME. 183
When the children got to be of a suitable ape for
suoli instruction, literature like the following was road
to them, with what effect, either <>n manners or morals,
we are not told:
CotntSE] ro Friends' < hii dbi n.
Written al hall, K
I7t.">. by Anthony Purver.*
I'<-ar little Friends, Dot tainted yel with ill,
l'.\ Sense int biaasedj n..r misled by Will;
Dress nol i" please, nor imitate the Nice;
Be like joh d Friends, and follow their Advi
The rich man, gaily eloth'd, u nou ho ll< 11.
And Dopgcs <1 i<l eal attir£d Jezebel.
. • > •
Speak truly still, with Thou and Thee to <>ne
As un1 d; ;ui<1 feed the Pride in None;
Give them no Satt'ring Titles, tho' they scoff,
Lest God, 1 1 "\ "k'd. should quickly cut you <>ir.
Him only did nol the three Children f«:ir.
And with their ll.it- before the King appear]
It may be set down as a safe rule. In seeking for a
Quaker Btyle or custom ;it any given time, to take the
worldly fashion or habit of the period preceding.
When the mode changes, and a style is dropped, the
Quaker will be found just ready to adopt it, having by
that time become habituated to its use. Of all this
process he is quite unconscious; the philosophy of such
matters having never been presented to him. He
might, indeed, shrink from the suggestion that there is
any philosophy of clothes, at all; but Carlyle has so
•Anthony Purver was born at Uphurstborn, near Whitechurch, in
1702, and died at Andover, Hampshire, 1777, aged 75. He was buried in
the Friends' grounds at the latter place.
1>1 THE QUAKER.
taught us. A \t-ry modern instance of this familiaris-
ing procesfl ;m<l ultimate acceptance of what, <>n its first
appearance, is Be1 down bh ;i vain fashion, is the recent
adoption in one of the lai-L'-'-t boarding-schools in the
ii«l the only plain one, of the ordinary Btraw
Bailor-hal among the girls, jnsl a- it- popularity is on
t be wane.
It will he Hotel that during the period following the
time "t" William Penn up to that <>f the summit of Kli
beth Fry's fan d interval of nearly one hundred
and fifty years — there was no established type of
Quaker drees. No woman of the society had ever
CO! fore thr publj in BUCh a way U to iinpp
it with her personality, ->r stamp her character up
the public mind. Elsewhere, I have indicated that the
witchcraft persecutions bad caused tin- preaching
woman who was thr contemporary of William Penn,
who came from t! is the witch
wh<> was hung or burned with such wanton cruelty <»n
!i sides the Atlantic, and who WOTC a garb exactly
similar, to I "'l upon as the type of our nursery
*' witch." The D »n8picUOU8 instance was taken;
Otherwise, we Bhould have had the Quaker woman in
hi r cap and pointed hat, her apron aid her high-heeled
shoes, Btanding beside William Penn upon our boxes
of Quaker oats. But during the interval that followed
the preaching of the first Quaker women, in the fields
and on upturned tubs in the halls and kitchens of the
early Quakers, no striking Quaker woman arose, until,
at Newgate, | Bred Elizabeth Fry'.- beautiful figure
in its exquisite Betting. The great movement in Eng-
land toward prison reform organized by her noble
Elizabeth Fry, /jSo-
A STUDY IX COSTl ME.
185
effort, has made her the type of the Quaker woman for
all time.
A Mi:ditatiox on thk Pride of Women's Appabbx.
(From "A New Spring of Divine Pootrv," Junes Day, l'>.'{7. Percy
Society. Vol. XX VI I, p. II.;.)
See how some borrow'd off-cast vaine attire,
Can puff up pamper'd clay and dirty mire:
Tell me, whence hadst thy cloathfl that make thee fine,
Was't not the silly sheep's before 'twas thine?
Doth not the silk-worm and the oxc's hide.
Si Tve to maintain tlicc in thy ehecfest pride?
Do'st not thou often with those feathers vaile
Thy face, with which the ostridge hides her taile?
Yi hat art thou proud of, then? me thinks 'tis fit
Thou shouldst be humble for the wearing it:
Tell me, proud madam; thou that art so ni->\
How were thy parents clad in Paradise?
At first they wore the armour of defence,
And were compleatly wrapt in innocence:
Had they not sin'd, they ne're had been dismaid,
Nor needed not the fig-tree's leavy ayde!
Whatever state, O Lord, thou place me in,
Let me not Ldorv in th' effect of sin.
" Madam, I do as is my duty —
Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie."
— Hudibras.
CHAPTEK V.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE QUAKER BONNET.
Then let Fashion exult in her rapid vagaries ;
From her bwdnfttloiU my favuriic la frit-;
Be Folly's the headgear that momently varir>,
But a Bonnet >>( l'r.iti is the l>ouut't fur me.
Bernard Barton.
Borrow'd guise fits not the wise —
A simple look is t>est ;
Native grace becomes a face
Though ne'er so rudely drest
Thomas Oampion, 1612.
CHAPTER V.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE QUAKER BONNET.
one brought up within the fold it
is no light matter to approach so
awful a subject as the Quaker bon-
net. There was a certain sol-
emnity about it that was born of
terror. Whether it presided at
the head of the women's meeting,
or ventured in winter storms, pro-
tected in its satin or oil-skin case under the Friendly
umbrella, or even lay alone in splendid state upon the
bed of the welcome guest — anywdiere, everywhere, it
was a solemn thing. Born of much meditation, con-
structed with care and skill and many pricks (if not of
conscience, at least of fingers *) ; with time and money
and eyesight lavished recklessly upon it, that no devia-
tion of a pleat from the pattern, or tint from the
color, or grain from the quality might be wanting —
shades of our grandmothers ! Can we get our bonnet
sufficiently in perspective to realize that it is already a
matter of history, that the next generation will know
the true Quaker bonnet no more, and that if some of
these matters of custom and costume of the past among
the Friends are not soon preserved, valuable oppor-
tunities for future students of the Quaker will be lost ?
Let us trv.
* Plain bonnet-making was a trade exceedingly hard on the fingers.
190 FJMP QUAKER.
Again it becomes necessary, in order to study the
Quaker headdress, to examine first the worldly bonnet
and mode of dressing tin- hair. The clue to all the
changes within the Society may be found without; and
not b pleat <>f" the bonnet as now worn by the plainest
Friend; not a turn of the shawl, nor a flare of the coat
nor a roll <.f the hat-brim, hut ha«l its origin at some
r< mote day — let us whisper it softly — in Paris 1 There
was a time when the bonnet, which for the Bake of ui-
tinction, we Bhall call Elizabeth Fry's — tin- " techni-
cal " Quaker bonnet, k, known among the ir-
reverenl n- tin- "coal-scuttle," or "sugar-scoop," or
tiff-pleat " was ;< new thinL r in America. It came
to this country on the head of an accredited English
woman Friend, Martha Routh,* who was also :i min-
ister; and echoes of it- coming hail preceded her. A
contemporary journal, -till in existence, tells us:
Martha Routh, a Minister "f tl pel from Old Engla
> mi Pennsylvania) Meeting the 11th. day of 11th. mo.
1798; was a means if I misl ike not) <>f bringing bonnets in fa-h
i"ii for out leading FWa, an. I ! i I ape on tin- Cloaks in
tin- Galleries, which of Latter time tin- Hoods on the Cloaks
ir overseen and other a . t i \ .- members have increased t<> an
alarming bight or size:— how unlike the <lr»~-» of their •.'rand
mothers! t
What Bhould we not give to behold that same
"dress of their grandmothers !" Martha Routh
made a Becond visit to America in 1802. She write- in
her Journal on her return home after her hY-t visit that
■ Manila Booth, born 1743, died 1817.
"J From "A Memorandum B«v<>k belonging to Bnnion Cook, of
Birmingham, Chester county, E^emisylTania,' dated 1820. Ennion <'o<.k
was the Tillage schoolmaster, and the old memorandum book is iu po-
sion of a descendant.
Martha Routh, IJ43-1S1J.
-Ifhia
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 191
they were taken by a French privateer, when a young
man in the boarding party remarked to her that she
and her women companions looked like the nuns in
France. " I told him," she says, " that we were
Friends or Quakers, and inquired if they had heard of
such in their country? lie replied that they had."*
But American Friends have always been more con-
servative in their dress than their English cousins,
probably because the latter's proximity to the conti-
nent forced them into more cosmopolitan habits. At
any rate, American Friends were shocked at the giddy
structure. But time went on. They gazed, they ad-
mired, they stole a furtive pattern; they made the ven-
ture, and behold! When a synonym was wanted for
conservatism, for stability, for all things that endure,
it was found in the Quaker bonnet. How sad that it
must soon be as extinct as the dodo! To understand
the evolution of this bonnet, it is necessary to go back
more than three hundred years, and see through what
changes the worldly bonnet has passed.
The faces of fifteenth centurv women, declares
Yiollet le Due, were of a uniform type; the prevailing
style of headdress during the Wars of the Boses hav-
ing a tendency to cause a superficial resemblance
among persons really unlike. Individuality is ob-
scured by the universal adoption of a distinctive effect
in bonnets or gowns. This illusion of similarity is
marked among the few existing portraits of that period,
when the imposing " steeple headdress ' : was the
mode. That towering structure was composed of rolls
and rolls of long linen, reaching two feet above the
* Journal of Martha Routh, p. 280.
192 THE QUAKER.
head, and going to a point like an extinguisher, from
whose apex floated a long gauzy veil. Until the evo-
lution of the Quaker 1 >< > 1 1 n« * t , no headdress existed
lending such uniformity of type to the faces it sur-
mounted, the "commode" and the " high head" not
epted. The " head rail " of the Saxon period, and
the " wimple M or "gorget" of riant:!-. net times,
came down to the earlv seventeenth century as the
hood, with which we shall presently make closer ac-
quaintance. The "head rail" was not Bhaped at all,
but consisted merely of a long piece of linen or stuff
drawn over the head like a li 1, and loosely wrapped
about the neck, the grace of the latter movement, even
on the most ungainly, exceeding that of the partly
shaped wimple, which was more attractive in early
English poetry than in actual li The wimple was of
silk or white cloth; and when discarded by the women
of the period was retained as the " gorget " by the
nuns, who to-day may thus trace the origin of the white
hand worn about face and throat, under
the black hood.* So universal was the
hood that men as well as women wore it;
and it remained in general use until the
time of Henry VIII. t About 1644, both
in France and England, we find again
the "coif," usually worn in black, and
really another form of hood of crepe or
taffetas, brought forward and tied under the chin4
Small bonnets or hoods, with two long " pattes," behind
• Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 61.
tSee chapter on Hats.
JQuicherat, " Histoire de Costurm ."
.1 STUDY IX COSTL ME.
193
the ears, or " mouchoirs " with lace, or " toquets " of
velvet (called " bonnets de pinnies " because worn with
so many plumes), were all tentatively suggesting the
coining riot of headdress. A handkerchief of lace fas-
tened with a pin, covered the hair in the time of Riche-
lieu; and the "coif" of deshabille, often called the
"round bonnet" ("sans passe ?") became the bonnet
after many years seen in the accompanying engraving
of the " Fair Quaker." French women of the lower
classes, and servants, wore the "coif" with two long
"drapeaux" or "bavolettes" streaming down be-
hind — doubtles< the origin of the modern "bavolet."
English women of the common-
alty in the seventeenth century
wore broad bats like the men, of
beaver, with lower crowns, and
caps beneath, tied at the chin.
The black beaver hat was also
popular for riding. It was not
a universal custom with tin- low-
er classes at this period to cover
the head at all; while shortly-
after, by way of contrast, Pepys
tells us that the aristocracy did
not remove the hat, even at table. When the wimple was
worn under the hat, the latter was fastened on with a
hat-pin; so that there is truly nothing new under the
sun, not even this modern convenience. At the end of
Queen Anne's reign, the revival of the silk trade gave
a temporary popularity again to the silk hood. The
pointed beaver hat with the cap below, although
chiefly a middle-class costume, was in vogue among a
1635.
(From Hollar.)
194
THE QUAKER.
few of the plainer in taste of the aristocracy, as may be
seen in the portrait oi Eestei Pooks, second wife of
John Tradescant, the younger. She lived from 1G08
until L678; her portrait hangs on the stairway of the
Ashmolean .Museum at Oxford. She wears a costume
exactly Bimilar to the Quakeress Tub Preacher, includ-
ing cap and peaked heaver hat, the only difference in
dress being the rich lace upon hei gown.
This peculiar headdress has remained from the time
of James I. (who is responsible for the beaver hat in
this form) to the presenl day among the Welsh women;
and almost all of the earliest prints of the Quaker
women who preach, slmw them dressed in this eap and
hat. I; i impossible, in examining any of these pic-
tures, to avoid the stioD that here is the hat of the
conventional witch of our childhood — the old woman,
who, for so many years, has swept the cobwebs from the
sky; and we are justified in the conclusion. The steeple-
crowned hat was worn over the
hood about the period between
L650 and L675; it was popular
with the middle and lower
(da- d familiar throughout
the kingdom. It will be remem-
bered that the terrible witch
trials of the Continent, England
and Massachusetts in America,
all culminated during the latter
half of the seventeenth century,
the sufferers being chiefly drawn
from the class who wore this dress. What more natural
and inevitable than that the woman who wore so
From "Memoires, pfc,
d'Angleterre." 1698.
The Quakers Meeting.
A STUDY IN COSTUME.
195
striking a garb should need but a broomstick to en-
able her to. set out as the typical witch, in her journey
to immortality and posterity \ * The ideal Quaker
man's garb is that of this period, as seen in the well-
known broad-brim of William Penn, immortalized even
in " Quaker Oats," and on boxes of lye. But the proper
companion for him is the witch of story; while, curi-
ously enough, the type of the Quakeress did not crys-
talize until time gave us Elizabeth Fry, a century and
a half later.
Soon after this early period the " City Flat Caps "
became prominent, and were worn by both sexes in a
modified form. The edict went forth that the three-
cornered minever caps for
women should not be worn
by the wives of those who
were not " gentlemen by
descent." f The little black
hood, in the Stuart period,
was getting to be thought
old-fashioned, but its be-
comingness retained it long
in popularity. The large
" capuchins," of which we
read for many years after
this, were riding-hoods, very popular among the
young Quakeresses. It was probably this style of hood
whose strings annoved the dear men Friends of South-
*The high-crowned hats and point-lace aprons in which the " Merry
Wives of Windsor " are often shown, belong properly to the seventeenth
century and not the fifteenth. The pointed hat is still the stock property
of old women to the present day.
t Georgiana Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 226.
196 THE V' AKBR,
wark Meeting, London, in L707, by dangling down on
their heads when hung on the rail above. These " capu-
chins " were ample enough for storm garments, and, in-
deed, belonged properly under that head.* The meet-
ing record- Bay:
It being taken notice <>f that several women Friends at the
Park Meeting <!<> usually han;: their riding-hoods on the rail of
the gallery, whereby the Friends thai -it under the rail of the
gallery are incommoded, It'- lefl to Robert Fairman anil Mary
Pairman to take order f"r remedying the Bami
r-
The " capuchin " came into this country as a fashion-
able hooded cloak early in the eighteenth century, and
shared it- popularity with the -mailer "cardinal," a
similar garment or hood, BO named because the original
was of scarlet cloth, like the mozetta of a cardinal.
The capuchin (named from it- resemblance to the gar-
ment distinguishing the monk- of that order) was worn
by high and low, rich and poor, plain and gay; and the
Friend- talked unhesitatingly about their " capuchins ''
and " cardinals," when nothing would have induced
them to mention the " heathen " days of the week, or
the months of the year! Such things do even "con-
sistent " Friends come to when they seek a literal
gospel.
The old hood came with the Pilgrims into Xew Eng-
land, and for two centuries was worn by high and low.
The subject of covering the head had been receiving
the attention of the Puritan divines, and they exceeded
♦Other varieties of these were, " hongrelines," "cahans," " royales,"
"balandras," " houppelandes," " inandilles," " roquets," etc. Qoicherat,
" Histoire de Costume en France," p. 458.
fBeck and Ball, " History of London Friends' Meetings," p. 227.
A 8TUD.Y IX COSTUME.
197
( Jromwell'a Time.
Alter Eteptort.)
the Quakers in their notice of such matters. It must
at no time be thoughl that the Quakers wore alone in
their extreme care for the dress
of their constituency. The Puri-
tan clergymen preached more
about bonnets and hats than ever
t he Quakers did ; and their
opinions were very varied. For
instance, M r. I >avenport, al New
Eaven, preached thai the men,
upon the announcemenl of the
text, should remove their hats
and stand up; M p. William-, un-
der whose care was the flock at Salem, Massachusetts,
exhorted the women of his congregation to wear
veils during public worship, quoting Scripture pre-
cedent, of course; while a brisk discussion took
place between Cotton and Endicott, al Boston,
on the 7th of March, 1<'>.'>3, at the " Thursday
Lecture," as to whether all women should veil them-
selves when going abroad. Mr. Cotton argued that, as
by the custom of the place, veils were not considered in
Xew England a sign of the subjection of women, they
were in this case not commanded by the Apostle.
Endicott took the other side, demanding the proper
covering of the head, particularly in time of worship.
Soon after, at Salem, Cotton preached so effectively,
that one Sabbath day sermon sufficed to convince his
female hearers of the correctness of his attitude, and
the veil did not become customarv.*
*Dr. Dexter, " As to Roger Williams," p. 31.
198 Tlli: l <" &KBR.
A sumptuary law of James II., in Scotland, ordains,
" That noe woman come to the kirk or mercat [mar-
ket ] with her face mussled, that schc may nocht be
kend, under tlie pane of escheit of the curchie." *
There were many minds.
The Worldy a periodical for 1753, contains a let-
ter condemning the ladies f<>r wearing their hats in the
churches during divine Bervice, as transgressing against
the laws of decency and decorum. At the arraignment
of Ann Turner before the King's Bench in L615, for
the murder of Sir Thomas Overhury:
The Lord Chief Justice told her that women must be covered
in the church, but not when they are i ed, and bo caused
her t<> put oiT her hat; which being dene, she covered tier h;iir
with her handkerchief, being before dressed in her hair, and her
hat over it.f
In L726, an advertisement in the Boston News Letter
of September relates the loss of a hood:
On the Sal. hath, the 2Sth of August last, was taken away or
Stole out of a Pew at the Old North Meeting House. A < innaraon
ColourM Woman's Hlk Camblet Riding-Hood, the head faced
with Black V"elv< t.
We arc tempted to hope the " cinnamon colonr'd
woman " got ber hood back again ! ^
The hat was a fashionable rival to the hood, and both
men and women alike appeared in felt, beaver and
castor hats. The earliest variety of the Puritan hat
knew no difference for the two sexes. A " straw hatt "
left in the will of Alary Harris, of which Mrs. Earle
tells us, was a great rarity in New London in the year
1655, and would have been so equally in London itself
* Percy Soc. Vol. XXVII., p. 77.
t Areha?ologia. Vol. XXVII., p. 61.
t W. R. Bliss, " Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting-house."
.4 N 777)1* /.V COSTUME.
199
at the same date. We should much like to know what
might have been the shape of the " Ladies Newest
Fashion AVhite Beaver Riding-Hats," advertised for
sale in Boston in 1773. They had been called an
"affectation " by all but the ultra-fashionable. Pepys,
the ever-watchful, notices one of the earliest hats with
commendation. " I took boat again," he says, " being
mightily struck with a woman in a hat that stood on
the key.""" By decrees the tall, steeple-crowned hats
became relegated to the country women, and the poorer
class in the towns. Ward, Bpeaking of an assembly of
"fat, motherly flat-caps," at Billingsgate, says:
Their chief Clamour was again-t High heads and Patches; and
said it would have been a very good Law, if Queen Mary had ef-
fected her design and brought the proud Minks's to have worn
High Crowned Hats instead of Top-Knots.1
Elizabeth, the mother
of Cromwell, sacrifices
no taste to her Puritan-
ism, but wears a hand-
kerchief with broad point
lace, and a green velvet
" cardinal/' the hood just
described as affected by
the Quaker women. A
lady of rank, in Paris,
in 1664, is shown in a
hood of the same style.
Indeed, in these stormy Puritan times, some peo-
* Pepys' Diary, June 11th, 1666.
t Misson, London Spy. Quoted by Ashton. See also letters of Mme.
de Sevigne for a description of her daughter's hair, as arranged by Martin,
court hair-dresser.
200 TUi: (ji A.KER.
pie came to regard plain dress as an affectation,
put on just as the French ladies at the court of
Marie Antoinette all took to playing dairymaid.
Still another hood for riding was the " Nithesdale " of
the early eighteenth centnry. No garments were more
popular than this and the " cardinal " among the young
Quakeress of the period testify.
Tin. Riding-Hood.
i i .lit ors against king : ire,
I., t -• ■ ni -i men hire,
Nought .-hall be by detection g t,
If women may have leave t>> plot;
There's nothing clos'd with 1 ar.-» or lock*
hinder nightrayls, pinners, Bmocks,
1 : tiny will everywhere mak<
As now they've done the Riding-hood.
Oh thou, that by this sacred wife,
lla-t Baved thy liberty and life.
And by h»r wits immortal pain-,
With her quick head hast Bav'd thy brains:
Let all designs her worth adorn,
Sing her anthem night and inurn,
And let thy fervent zeal make g
A reverence for the Hiding hood.*
The song, of which these are the last two stanzas,
was composed after the hat tie of Preston, when Sir
William Maxwell, Earl of Nithesdale, and a supporter
of the house of Stewart, was taken prisoner. He was
tried and sentenced to death. By the skill of his
Countess, who disguised him in her dress and large
hood, he escaped from the Tower the evening before
the sentence was to have been executed, and died in
* Percy Society. Vol. XX VII., p. 207.
1 STUDY IN COSTUME. 201
Rome in 1744. The pluck of the heroic Countess was
celebrated. throughout England, and the hood which so
largely contributed to the success of the disguise, be-
came thereafter known as the " Xithesdale."
The " mob " was a rather slovenly undress, always
spoken of disparagingly. There were advertised
"Women's laced Eead-Cloths," commonly called
" Quaker's Primers," and " Dowds." * The later tur-
bans of the "Cranford" ladies will at once come to
mind, although this formidable headdress was for elabo-
rate and state occasions as well. A beautiful painting
in the Louvre by Sir Thomas Lawrence of J. Anger-
stein and his wife, shows the turban at it- best. From
the first quarter of the eighteenth century until the
period of the French Revolution, ladies' headdress un-
derwent rapid and appalling changes. A satirical
pamphlet (quoted by Quicherat) name- " coiffures a la
culbutte " and "a la daguine "; in 1750 we find them
"en dorlette," "en papillon," "en equivoque," "en
vergette," " en desespoir," " en tete de mouton."
Mademoiselle Duthe is described as wearing " tin bon-
net de conquete assuree ! " Changes were made with,
lightning rapidity. A despairing beau in the London
Magazine, in April, 17G2, wrote:
Then of late, you're so fickle that few people mind you;
For my part, I never can tell where to find you!
Now dressed in a cap, now naked in none,
Now loose in a mob, now close in a Joan:
Without handkerchief now, and now buried in ruff;
Now plain as a Quaker, now all of a puff.f
* Ashton, " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Aime," p. 134.
fFrom " A Repartee," London Magazine, April, 1762.
202
Till: QVAKl R.
"Lavlnlu" rhlp lint for walking;
trimmed with white aaraeoel
ribbon, 1819.
A " Lavinia " unbleached chip hat, trimmed with
white sarsenet ribbon, was shown in 1810. The white
satin cap underneath was sup-
plemented with an artificial
rose in the front of the bon-
net. The ladies at this time
all talked about the arrange-
ment of their " hind ' hair,
which was often worn " a la
< rrecque," the other half into
which the " hind " hair was
divided, being down the back
in fascinating ringlets! Jane
Austen, the novelist, wrote
her sister Cassandra from London in 1811:
I am sorry to toll you that I am getting very extravagant and
spending all my money. . . . Mi^s Burton lias made me a very
pretty bonnet and now nothing can >;tti-fy me hut I must have
a straw hat of the riding-hat shape.
Not long before she had written:
I am quite pleased with Martha and Mrs. Lefroy for wanting
the pattern of our caps; but I am not so well pleased with your
giving it to them. Some wish, some prevailing wish, is neces-
sary to the animation of everybody's mind; and in gratifying
this, you leave them to form some other which will not probably
be half so innocent. . . . Flowers are very much worn, and fruit
is still more the thing. ... I cannot help thinking that it is
more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit.
What do you think on that subject?*
There were " conversation " or " cottage " bonnets,
of straw or chip. The style was really a modified coal-
scuttle; "the most fashionable straw bonnets for the
*0. F. Adams, " The Story of Jane Austen's Life," pp. 69-151.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 203
promenade are the conversation cottage, which have
have been much distinguished for their negligent neat-
ness ! " The " mountain " hat also enjoyed large pro-
portions. In 1808, straw hats and bonnets were only
used in walking or morning costume. Tn carriage or
evening dress, the hair was worn with veils, flowers,
lace handkerchiefs or similar light attire.
Ann Alexander, an English Friend, who was
in America in 1805, is said by the daughter of
the Friend who was her hostess in this country, to
have taken her bonnet to pieces in order to turn the
silk, when, to the surprise of the American, the Eng-
lish woman's plain bonnet was discovered to have had
a foundation of straw.
The " commode," already described, w r as a pon-
derous headdress, with such a place in history and
literature that its adventures would fill a volume.
Its banishment took a special edict on the part of
Queen Anne.* But the Quakeresses do not seem
generally to have fallen a prey to its enchant-
ments. With its departure it again became possi-
ble to dress the hair low. During its reign hats,
which began to appear, some of them in turban shape,
had had no more connection with the head than the
" chapeau bras " of the men. At one time hat brims
only were worn to shade the eyes, a whole hat on such
a structure being manifestly a work of supererogation !
But through it all the hood in some form still re-
mained. A popular cap for indoors at this time was the
" fly-cap," in shape like a butterfly, edged wuth garnets
and brilliants. The ladies at home also wore the " cor-
*The name commode does not appear to have been used in America.
204
77//; QIAKER.
nette," a little hood with long ends made of a strong
gauze called " marli," or even of baptiste. They were
later the constant wear of the peasant women about and
after L730. In thi 38 the hood neglige" was without
ends. The " bagnolette ,: was an outdoor protection,
something on tin- order. In France
it was tin- " capeline sans bavolet." *
It was nail;.' the old coif of Louis
XIV.'.- time, worn on the hack of the
head, and without anything at nape
of neck. '1 lie old cape worn by
elderly ladies became the mantelet.
This v.;!- for COld weather, while the
"Cornette." mantilla was a summer garment v
qn mirt bffl lik '' ;! !°ng helm, thrown over the
cT flowers on "top. head and knotted on the breast. The
te >- French. ... , . .
••simply elegant and mantilla and mantle mu-t not he eon-
becomlng " !
October, 181G. founded. The latter W;i- often a
large furred pelisse, buttoned from top to bottom
in front, and affording perfect protection. There
were broad-brim straw hats in the early days of
CJueen Anne, and for holidays the high-crowned
hat of heaver still had some vogue. \ The straw hat
came in as early as the reign of James II. (1685
to lOSs), and the hoods for a short time were dis-
carded, to be revived again under French influence
in 1711. Pepys says: " They had pleasure in putting
on straw hats, which are much worn in this coun-
try." At this time there was a feeble return to sim-
plicity, and one writer says: "The ladies have been
* Quicherat.
t Ashton, " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," p. 248.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 205
moulting, and have cast great quantities of lace, rib-
bons, and -cambric. " Swift writes to Stella: "May
19th. 1711; There is a mighty increase of dirty wenches
in straw hats since I knew London." *
It is interesting to note that in America, as long as
the negro women were slaves, they were forced by their
mistresses to wear the bandanna head-handkerchief
as the badge of their servitude. When the Civil War
set them at liberty this detested badge was cast off, and
the many tails and curious knots peculiar to the true
African style appeared, as Mr. Bliss says, " the real in-
heritance of ancestral taste in chignons, straight from
Guinea ! ' There were many names for the varieties
of hood in England, for as many years, and the old bal-
lads and broadsides have helped to preserve these.
For instance, " Fine Phillis," printed in 1745, but
much older in date, has the following:
She's a fine lady,
When she's got her things on;
On the top of her head
Is a fine burgogon —
A crutch there on the side
To show her off neat,
And two little confidants
To make it compleat.
The bourgoigne was that part of the headdress near-
est the head — the " crutch " (cruche) and " confidants ' :
were curls. The hoods were " shabbarons " (chaperon)
and " sorties " ; the latter, a walking hood. Cardinals
and capuchins have been described. " Rayonnes " were
hoods pinned in a circle, like sunbeams.
* Journal to Stella.
206 THE QUAKER.
The dress of Anne of Cleves, when brought to Eng-
land to marry Henry t he Eighth, is thus described as
to the headdress:
She had on her head a kail [caul] and over it a round bonet
or cappe set fal of orient pearle of a very proper fassyion, and
before that she had a cornet of black velvet and about her neeke
Bhe had a partlet set full of riche stones which glistered all the
felde.*
The "pinched cap" seems to have been a favorite
matter of allusion to characterize the Quaker women
by many of the old contemporary writers. Tom
Brown, who lived certainly until 170-i, and who, of
course, had little hut derision for the Quakers, Bays:
" What have we here \ Old Mother Shipton of the
second edition, with amendments; a close black hood
over a pinched coif, etc" The u Querpo hood " f worn
chiefly by the Puritans and plainer people, was also a
Quaker peculiarity after it was discarded by the world-
ly. Xed Ward, in a dialogue between a termagant and
her miserly husband, makes her Bay:
No face of mine shall by my friends be viewed
In Quaker's pinner and a Querpo hood.
The first mention that Mrs. Earle finds of bonnets in
any records of Xew England is in the year 1725, when
two were sent to England in the wardrobe of Madame
Usher. By 1743 they were popular, and the middle
of the century saw bonnets of many shapes — " Sattin,"
14 Quilted," " Kitty Eisher," « Quebeck," " Garrick,"
•Quoted by Repton, Archaxdogia, XXVII., p. 37.
t" Querpo " was a corruption of the Spanish Cuerpo, signifying
close fitting. An undress. The body " in querpo"— i. e., in body-cloth-
ing— close. See Hudibras :
" Exposed in querpo to their rage
Without my arms & equipage."
The CalasJi.
Invented /7A5. Worn until about r8ji
From an original photograph.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 207
' Prussian," " Ranelagh," and others. They were of
" plain and masqueraded newest fashion crimson, blue,
white and' 1. lark." There is no hint of the shapes, un-
fortunately. We are told of the Puritan women in a
certain congregation, that " ye women may sometimes
sleepe and none knew by reason of their enormous bon-
nets. Mr. White doth pleasantlie saye from ye pulpit
hee doth seeme to he preaching to stacks of straw with
men among them ! " In 1769, in Andover, it was
" put to vote whether the Parish Disapprove of the
Female sex sitting with their Eattes on in the Meeting
House in time of Divine Service as being Indecent"
(with a capital I!). The " Eattes " were ordered off,
but with do more effect than if the meeting house had
been a modern theatre !
The calash, invented by the Duchess of Bedford in
LY65 was so much more like a buggy-top, <»r covering to
a gig, both in form and size, that it can hardly be
termed a bonnet, except that to cover the head was its
sole function.
It was made of thin green silk shirred on strong lengths of
rattan or whalebone placed two or three inches apart, which
were drawn in at the neck; and it was sometimes, though sel-
dom, finished with a narrow cape. It was extendible over the
face like the top or hood of an old-fashioned chaise or calash,
from which latter it doubtless received its name. It could be
drawn out by narrow ribbons or bridles which were fastened to
the edge at the top. The calash could also be pushed into a
close gathered mass at the back of the head. Thus, standing well
up from the head, it formed a good covering for the high-dressed
and powdered coiffures of the date when they were fashionably
worn — from 1765 throughout the century; and for the caps worn
in the beginning of this century. They were frequently a foot
and a half in diameter. . . . They were seen on the heads of old
THE Ql AKER.
ladies in country towns in New England certainly until 1840 and
posnibly later. In England they were also worn until that date,
as we learn from Mrs. Gaskell's " Cranford " and Thackeray's
'• Vanity Fair."*
Tho " punkin ' hood was the winter mate to the
calash in New England, quilted with rolls of wadding,
and drawn tight between the rolls with Btrong cording.
It waa very heating to the head.
The caps of the women in this country by the mid-
dle of the eighteenth century were in great variety.
'• Fly caps" appear here also. " Round ear'd caps"
had !i" strings; "strap caps' 1 had a hand passing un-
der the chin, A little \><>\\ aired eight years, wrote to
his Quaker grandmother:
Burlington, 12 mo. 23, 1833.— Mother wear- long-eared caps
now, and I think they look better than the old ones. She ha>
worn them it considerable time now, and I have got quite recon-
ciled to the change.
Bia mother at this time was about thirty five.
" Bugle fly-caps were worn in Pennsylvania in
1700. JS1 < >1 > cap- are described by -Mrs. Earle as a
"caul with two lappets," and as we may learn from
many old portrait-, were much worn. The " mohs ' ;
were no doubt the streamers which gave the name to
the cap, and their undue length proved a source of un-
easiness to the Quaker-. The nioh cap is most familiar
to us in the portraits of Martha Washington, and it is
undouhtedlv tho English original of her cap which fur-
nished the pattern for the familiar type of head dress
worn by Elizabeth Fry and Amelia Opie. The milk-
maids of London on a May-Day were a sight, in yellow
•Alice Morse Earle. "Costume of Colonial Times," p. 72.
The Cap.
I Martha . Silhouette.
J I. Amelia :j.
/'un,
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 209
and red quilted petticoats, pink and blue gowns, mob
caps with lace ends, and Hat straw hats with lace lap-
pets, named for Peg Woffington.*
From this time on we find some form of the hat al-
ways present. The wide style of hair dressing per-
mitted a lower hat or cap; and at one time fashionable
women wore countrified straw hats. (Jrosley (early
George III.) says of Lord Byron's trial: " Many ladies
had no other headdress but a riband tied to their hair,
over which they wore a flat hat adorned with a variety
of ornaments." This hat had a "great effect." "It
affords the ladies who wear it that arch roguish air
which the winged hat gives to Mercury." f Close caps,
ridiculed as " night-caps," literally hoodwinking the
wearer, were born in 1773, and three styles of hair
dressing are quoted for that year: "A
slope bag with no curls, the front toupee
brought high and straight; a long bag
with about six curls," or " the hair
straight with about nine curls cross-
ways." Small chip hats were added. But
the universal cap, once worn by young
as well as old, was going out; and by
June, 1795, at the Royal Birthday fes-
tivities not a cap was to be seen. The last
hood had disappeared five or six years earlier,
and the hat and bonnet had the field. We are
told of " bewitching straw hats with open brims tied
under the chin, worn in summer; and straw hats so
* Hill, " History of English Dress," Vol. I., p. 182.
j Ibid., Vol. II., p. 50.
210
THE QUAKER.
round and close as to look like caps, with which daintr
little white veils were worn half way over the face."
Bonnets had been enormous, the tremendous u poke w
having come in with French fashions after the French
war. This was the honnet of which Moore wrote:
That build of bonnel whose extent
Should, like a doctrine of Dissent,
Puzzle church-goers to lei it in; —
Nor half hud reached tlm pitch sublime
To which tiiin toques end berets climb;
Leering, like lofty Alps that throw
O'er minor Alps their shadowy sway,
Earth's humbler bonnets far below,
To puke through life their fameless way.
Parisian Promenade Hat. 1816.
Bonnets had fallen back to more decent dimensions
after the French revolution, and hats received a rouml
form that justified their Parisian name of " chapeaux
casques." * London still remained for a time the para-
*" Le Cabinet des Modes " rejoicingly said, " Nos inoeurs coinmen-
cent a s'6purer : le luxe torube."
A STUDY IN COSTUME.
211
dise of the " high head," and ostrich feathers and
plumes had yet a vogue. The bonnet, indeed, had
hardly a fair chance, for the towering coiffures made it
1776.
not only unnecessary, but almost impossible. The
Times, in 1794, says " The ladies' feathers are now
generally carried in the sword-case at the back of the
carriage." A little later came a paragraph as follows:
There is to be seen on Queen Street a coach on a new construc-
tion. The ladies sit in a well, and see between the spokes of the
wheels. With this contrivance, the fair proprietor is able to
go (juite dressed to her visits, her feathers being only a yard
and a half high!
With the entrance of the nineteenth century came a
simpler coiffure, and white satin and black velvet hats
were worn on the lowered hair. It was now the ladies'
turn to wear hats indoors, and they danced and dined
and appeared at functions in their hats, just as they car-
212 THE QUAKER.
ried white muffs for evening dress. A silver bear muff
in 17!'i», in Philadelphia, cost $14.00, one of grey bear
$19.00.
Snuff-taking was not unusual among refined people.
There are plenty of references to the old-fashioned
Quaker women of the South indulging in a bed-time
pipe, and we may be ~urc that tin- more fashionable
" snuffed." In Puritan New England a clergyman
held forth againsl mitts, calling them ''wanton, open-
worked gloves -lit at ye thumbs and fingers for ye pur-
pose of taking snuff ! " Dolly Madison, the favorite
and adored of society in America, was an ardent snuff-
taker. " You are aware that she Bnuflfe, but in her
hands the snuff-b<>.\ Beems a gracious implement with
which to charm."
All Paris wore hats indoors. Then came the for-
midable turban, to which reference has already been
made, destined later to become the cap. At this period
even young girls wore caps; and up to 1845 "day-
caps," with ribbon ends as long as bonnet strings, and
tied under the chin, were worn. As the styles seem
always to have been calculated for elderly women, it
may be fancied what an effect they had on a young
face ! The bonnets of 1850 were round and flared wide
in front, permitting the cap below to be seen. Then a
frill was substituted for the cap, which then and there
had its death blow, for the young, at least. England is
still eminently the land of caps, so far as the older
ladies are concerned. Miss Hill describes " black lace
bonnets with a cape or curtain at the back, worn over a
hood made of white lawn tied under the chin " — a fash-
ion surviving in the bonnets with white frilled front
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 213
worn in the middle of the nineteenth century, and still
occasionally met with among old-fashioned people.
Fairh<5lt has given us a beautiful old Scotch version
of " The Garment of Glide Ladies," belonging to the
fifteenth century, which describes such a lady's head-
dress as might be the Quaker ideal :
Would my gude lady lufe me best
And wark after my will,
I &uld ane garment gudliest
Gar mak hir body till.*
Of In' 1 honour suld be hir hud,t
Upon hir heid to wear;
Garniest J with governance so good,
Nil demyng Buld hir deir.$
It has seemed necessary thus to dwell upon the his-
tory of the worldly bonnet, in order the better to fol-
low the progress of that of the Quaker. We may thus
trace the succession of the latters changes. First came
the plain hood, together with the pointed high hat sur-
mounting a similar hood; the two styles almost con-
temporary, and, at least with those not Quakers, often
significant of class distinctions. Then came the adop-
tion by degrees, and with many compunctions of con-
science, of the hat and bonnet in varying form. The
line of descent is quite evident from the time of the
" capuchin " and " cardinal " or other form of hood,
which among the worldly, served as an outdoor dress
in the dav of the " high-head," down to the end of the
* Cause to be made for her.
t Of high honor should be her hood.
J Garnished.
\ No opinion should dismay her — cause her to fear censure. Percy
Society, XXVII., p. 59.
g] J THE Qi AKBR.
eighteenth century. The Quakers simply retained it
through all the mutations oi fashion, until the intro-
duction <»t" the bonnet, the flat hat having k. ■ j>t parallel
with it until the evolution of the bonnet of Quaker
in the last century. Whv the flat hat Bhonld have
1 more plain to the dear Friends, than the .-mall
and modest atTair at tir-t introduced ;t~ the " bonnet,"
it would puzzle us to determine. But the real bonnet
was not accepted by the Friends without many misgiv-
ings; and the women of Aberdeen, always careful of
the letter >•( the law, thus cautioned their younger
members in the year 1 7'
"A- t < > u • • 1 1 i 1 1 _■ Boi ; •■ '- it i- desired that a question
!■< mov< d at the Quarterly Meeting whether any Bhould
be worn, yea or nay." Ami the meeting thus put it-
Belf on record on this momentous question; tl
'• though they might be lawful, it was not expedient
r them ! " *
I an anything be more delicious than this verdict I
I': ilia Hannah (iurney was one who long retained
the old-fashioned black hood, which . much char
acter to her appearai 8o late as 1818, Catherine,
daugb : Elizabeth Fry. remembered this ancient
Quakeress relative, who had had great influence upon
her famous mother. Priscilla (iurney was the 'laugh-
ter of Joseph and Christiana Barclay. She i- described
Blight in build, and elegant in figure and mann<
drt :i the hood, to which reference has been made,
long c it had been discarded by others. It i- prob-
ahle that the plain Quaker bonnet 1 n an evolu-
• Minutes of Aberdeen Monthly Meeting, 1 m<>., I
A sTI 1>Y l\ COBTX Mi:.
215
1m!. Century Flat Hat.
tion from the original flat hat of beaver of the middle
of the eighteenth cen-
tury. The bonnel one
degree less plain, with
■ Bquare crown, and
gathers, instead of
pleats, \\'«>uld Beem to
be the lineal descend-
ant of the peculiar hat-
like bonnet worn by
the " Fair Quaker' 31 of our engraving. It is prob-
ably that againsl which Aberdeen took exception
as " not expedient," and mark- a transition period
in bonnets in the world, as well as in the ranks
of Quakerism. But the history of the flat hat is
of great interest Specimens of these -till exist,
and it Is from one of these that our illustration
taken. The thought of putting on the worldly
construction from Paris may have alarmed the plain
Quaki - under her broad
hat a century ago. But who
could have foreseen, in the
dip of the brim that she gave
to her flat hat by tying its
Bonnet of Martha. « ife of Samuel Strings Ullder llCT cdlin, the
AJllnson, of Burlington, >'. J. ; . , . ,
evolution of the present bon-
ili.M 1-.
large box pleat In
crown.
net ( The dip eventually be-
came secured by permanent strings; a soft crown or
cape was added to the resulting cylinder, and the " crea-
tion " was complete ! The illustrations are from
contemporary articles, showing the evolution of the
216 THE QUAKER.
hat into the bonnet, and the change from the first
soft crown that was tentatively added t<> the un-
compromising five Btiff pleata of the Quaker honnet in
its higheel development.
Watson, the annalisl of Philadelphia, says: "The
same old Ladies whom we remember as wearers of tin-
white apron-, wore also large white beaver hats, with
rcely the sign of a crown, and which was confined to
the head by silk cords tied under th<> chin." A re-
cent writer* tells the following tale, which was re-
lated t<» him by an aged relative, to the effect that she
remembered "a distinguished female preacher sitting
in the ' gallery ' of a country meeting house in Bummer,
with one of these broad, flat, di-h like white heavers on
her head, when a cock, living in through the low, open
window, behind the 'gallery,' ami perhaps mistaking
the hat for the head of a barrel, perched upon it and ut-
d a vigorous crow I
In the year L786, Ann Warder, who came out al that
date from London to join her husband at Philadelphia,
went up into the country to attend the funeral of her
old friend. Robert Valentine. She was asked, very
much to her consternation, to sit in the " ministers'
gallery," but made her escape. " I felt bo conscious of
being higher than I ought to he, intirelv amo ' lh
Wats" Bhe wrote, " that I beg'd to return mar the
Door with the excuse it would he cooler." * Those
beaver hats were to the Quaker of the eighteenth cen-
tury what the plain bonnet, technically so called, has
K. M. Smith, •' Tin- Burlin-toii Smiths." p. 157.
t MS. Journal of Ann Warder, 1 ?
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 217
been to the nineteenth century Quaker. Yet one who
should now appear in Arch Street Meeting, Philadel-
phia, wearing that strange garb of other days would
1 e looked at askance, and hardly admitted into full
Btanding, any more than a certain Irish Friend, who
not long since appeared, wearing the dress of William
Penn. Indeed, George Fox and William Penn would
themselves find a very dubious welcome, if that wel-
come depended cither on their dress or their methods!
A Friend in a Southern Quarterly Meeting in Caro-
lina early in the nineteenth century sent up to Philadel-
phia, then the center of Quaker fashion, for a black
plain bonnet, laying aside her heaver hat. For this
proceeding, and its evidence of what the Friends were
pleased to regard as her hopeless worldliness, she was
-. verely "dealt with" by the officers of her meeting.
There were heart burnings, we may be sure, over bon-
net^ then, even if they were not worldly, ami an old
family letter written by my grandmother in 1829, says:
" had a great deal to say on the inroads of
fashion, etc., and spoke so particularly as to men-
tion the young women having one kind of bonnet
to wear in the streets, and another to meeting.
This is very °;enerallv the case, I believe." We
may be glad to think that the modern young Quak-
eress has no such temptations to hypocrisy. The
same writer adds, a short time later, " A plain young
man is hardly to be found anywhere now, and
Susan B says plain hats are hardly even asked for
now. I mean bonnets, for all are called hats here."
This was in New York, in 1830.
218 THE Ql .A AAA'
A paintii Gracechurch Street Meeting, London,
■bout 1778, Bhowa a large assemblage in ;i pillared
hull, whose dignity and dimensions art- quite imposing.
It is lighted solely from the roof. The men -it on one
side, the women on the other, both in rising .-cats and
«.n the main floor. Some of the women wear the newly-
introduced bonnet, like that <>f the " Fair Quaker," and
others war the flat beaver or u skimming-dish ' bat,
in bod • tied down ov« r the ears; in others, not A
few of the older women wear hoods. Many of the nun
arc in wigs, and nil wear '1 bat, skirl ind
kn- All wear their hat t the
preacher, w] eked hat bangs on a p< i: in tin- wall
behind him. Groups of the "' people" l""k
down upon the worshiping Friends from th<- galleries
al i ch group apparently accon plain
1- ri< ; ! who -it< with them. This picture is very inter-
tin' period of transition to the plain
I": rid fully demonstrating th< -it to which
the • and \\ in wer the Q takers
during the height of thai fashion. l\ is worth noting
that tl ts all have the luxury of backs — not a com-
mon thing by any ] in the m< the day.
A Dutch engraving entitled, "AseembU Quak-
ers a Amsterdam — IH Quaker qui preche," Bhows a
plain room Lighted from a dome in the ceiling. The
hard ben without hack-, are occupied by men in
full skirted coats, ko.l hats. They carry
enormously long canes, f d to the wrist by a cord.
A few worldly men standing pectators in the back-
ground, wear swords. The hat-brims of two men
kurck Street Meeti*
A STUDY m COSTUME. 210
Friends are not cocked. The women, plain and gay
alike, wear hoods, and many of them crinoline. The
date of the picture is much earlier than the preceding.
A lovely picture of a young Quakeress, called " The
Bride," published originally in the Aurora Borealis,
a literary annual of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the year
1833, shows a sweet young woman in cap and handker-
chief, her shawl lightly thrown over her shoulders, and
her plain bonnet lying on the table beside her. The
cap is an exaggeration of that of Martha Washington,
and the bonnet, it will be observed, has a soft crown.
That worn by the Queen, in August, 1849, on the
Royal Yacht, in Kingston Harbor, has a -imilar shape,
except that it is probable that the Queen's was some-
what stiffened in the crown. B£rs. Lucock, of Beau-
mont-road, Plymouth, who is 84 yean of age, is able to
recall with undiminished pride and satisfaction the fact
that she once made a bonnet for the late Queen in an
early year of her reign. Mrs. Lucock was at the time
a young woman employed in a London business which
had the orders for the Royal bonnets, the size and shape
of which gained for them the name of " coal-scuttles."
It is an impressive lesson to one who thinks that the
Quakers have cut their clothes by their rule of con-
science, and always worn the same style of garment, to
examine the cuts and modes in a Parisian fashion jour-
nal of 1S40-1S49, called " Le Conseiller des Dames,"
from one of which our plate is taken. There our
Friend may see the plain bonnet of to-day, exactly re-
produced for the ladies of fashion, and worn by Queen
Victoria, with only the ostrich plume to betoken any
220 THE <H AKMR.
difference existing between Quaker and worldly. The
young Quakeresses of the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury were given to wearing -ilk and satin bonnets of
mtv delicate light colon, pearl gray and a rose pink
being favorifc The quilled bonnets, and those with
a plain front and gathered crown, both now adhered to
in Philadelphia, and considered plain, may here he seen
in tlair beginning, and thai the modification for every
bonnet has had its inspiration in Pari-, there no
possible doubt. It baa been with the Quaker bonnet, as
with every other garment the Quaker has ever worn: —
the cut has originated in that center of all ideas of fash-
ion, and the abode of taste, Pari-; while the ex p r es si on
of Quakerism lay simply in t! nee of any super*
fluoufl adornments. In this one idea lies the I of
Quaker dress. Anything that has tended to pervert
this into a uniform, unchanging and arbitrary, has been
directly counter to the true spirit of simplicity and
meekness which characterized the early Friends.
Sarah Dillwyn, the wife of the well-known Quaker
preacher, George Dillwyn, wrote to her sisters in
America, upon her arrival in London, early in the year
1TS4:
My <;. D. said be did not wish me to look singular, and my
bonnet wu- much - out Bhewent and bought some nice thin
"mode" Buch as they wear, and made it presently herself; she
would have me wear ■ cloak of hers with a hood, as the plainest
of them do. . . . She had on a quilled round hat of gauze, white
Bhade, and I think, a cream-coloured dress, but not bo bedizened
n- Pve Been some; — and a little round hoop. The prls did not
look tawdry: . . . Neither of them answers George Fox's descrip-
tion; he paints high!*
•J. J. Smith, " Letters of the Hill Family/ p.
Fas/iion Plate, about 1849.
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 221
Alary Holgate was a plain bonnet maker in Philadel-
phia two generations ago. Her finger became injured
through making the hard pleats in the bonnet crowns,
and she lost the use of her hand. This incident, to-
gether with the retiremenl of the popular bonnet-
maker, caused in that city a much greater use of bon-
nets with the more easily made gathered crowns, since
which period these bonnets have received the sanction
of the plainest wearer-. This style <»f bonnet has been
referred to as the " -hun-t he-cross." An aged
Friend of the latter half of the eighteenth century,
when a young girl, promised her father on his death-bed
that she would never put on the stiff-pleated plain bon-
net, then beginning to be worn, and considered very
gay, as our extracts have abundantly shown. She kept
her word, and although she was a plain Friend and lived
to the great age of ninety-four, she never flinched in her
determination to keep her promise, although the flat
bat that was the substitute made her very conspicuous,
at a period when the stiff-pleat had become correct for
the most severe. Finally, after having made a solitary
appearance at a certain western meeting for many
years, wearing that conspicuous headdress, she deter-
mined that she could still keep her promise to her
father, and be less conspicuous, by wearing an uncon-
ventional bonnet of her own invention. A green lin-
ing which she put in it when w r ell advanced in years
rather surprised her friends; but she informed them
that it was a " relief to her eyes in the sunshine." Her
granddaughter had a green wool gown which she feared
her grandmother might regard as too gay. When
2522
THE V' AJS.ER.
questioned about it, her grandmother Bald, " No harm
in wearing green and blue; the grass ifl green, and the
sky ia blue I " Sin- died in l s r>7, having moved from
the South to <)hi.», then called " Northwest Territory,"
about L803. Borne interesting old Quaker bonneta may
be Been in the collection of ancient garments at the
Museum in Nantucket, Massachusetts. A Quaker bon-
net of black silk, of the date 1728, has small -tiff pleata
in the crown; while one of drab, dating from the Revo-
lution, has much larger still pleats, showing the devel-
opment of the present Philadelphia "plain' bonnet,
known in New England as the " Wilbnri - ' bonnet
There is also in the Bame collection, one labeled " Eng-
lish " bonnet, distinguished chiefly by a wider flare to
Rainy Day ( over.
A 8TUD7 IN COSTUME. 223
the front. The English bonnets seem always to have
had a shorter front, and a wider flare at the face; in
fact, to have had a much more sensible shape, if com-
fort was to be considered at all, as it evidently was not
in America! Nothing more dangerous could have
been devised for an elderly person whose sight or hear-
ing was somewhat defective than the long tunnel Bides
of the pasteboard front of a plain bonnet of the nine-
teenth century.
Ann Warder, whose journal has already been
quoted, was remonstrated with by an intimate friend
for wearing a " whalebone " bonnet, because of its
greater worldliness than one of pasteboard, as the early
plain bonnets were always called. We should be glad
to know what the condemned bonnet was like. Quite
probably the lining was of some bright color, and the
" casing " or " drawn " bonnet is no doubt its natural
successor. Apropos of the " pasteboard " bonnets, we
may read in Poulson'8 Daily American Advertiser
for Saturday, August 23d, 1S28, among the Philadel-
phia advertisements, the following notice: " Bonnet-
boards — 50 groce of good quality at a low price, and a
few groce of fine quality." They were for sale by
James Y. Humphreys, at 86 South Front Street.
Doubtless these were the foundations, for the fronts of
both worldly and plain bonnets consisted of pasteboard
forms, over which the silk or other covering was
stretched, resulting in the " poke " or the " coal-scut-
tle " as might happen. The same interesting Warder
Journal, which went in instalments to an English sister
in London, has the following entry:
224 TBB (<>' AEEE.
Reptember, 1788. [Ann Warder had n<> dread of t lie "heath-
en ' names of the months.] I pul no •i,.Mk on this forenoon, l>ut
ua- obliged to afterward, not to U >« >k singular, f"r some bad l"n^
ones lined with Baize down t<> there toesj but no K 1-. instead
of which i buy-down conlar [collar] which would l""k very dia
le to me '"it foi t!..- Cape to there Bonnets, hiding the
neck. Black are worn more lure than with as; no Brown •
< ipt < loth.
Tin- was at Yearly Meeting time, thru in the au-
tiiiiin, to prepare for which ahe had written j u ~ t before:
i hie fori i it l to my needle, in
some degree preparing fox xTearlj I wishing to want noth
ap or apron a aj t bat n i
'111.- thieve- that b! having broken into
the house < In ririLT the previous week, made "tf, among
other things, with " ■ new white Mvrtle gown, a petti-
at, apron, boots, • '- new white hat ami two <»M on<
'I'h' " I ape to th.re Bonnets, hiding the Deck," v.
that of the " wagon " bourn t, so called from its resem-
blance to the t«-ji of a "Jersey" wagon; they wore
usually of black .-ilk, and had i pendant | of the
same from the back of the boi shoul-
ders. The "wagon' bonnet antedated the "coal-
sentrle," still lingering among us. [I was the style
w<.rn by Rebecca Jones, of Philadelphia, the friend
John Wnolman.
But the plain bonnet had its intricacies, and it is
not for the Btrangei to learn them in a day. Like the
stars, one bonnet differeth from another in glory.
Eventually, modifications of the extreme conservative
crept in; and we have the popular close bonnet, with
fine gathers rather than pleats, and a shorter front,
which allows itself a furtive bow under the square
A BTl nv ix COSTl Ml'. 225
crown, and which is found in the more modern shades
of blacks and browns, rather than the original drabs
and grays, called long ago by an irreverent young
Friend, the " shun-the-cross " bonnet. It daily grows
harder to discern Bocial differences in congregations by
means of the once infallible test of hats and bonnets.
Even among the worldly, tin- distinction <>f class dress
Bohiki fruni ilnU model of Philadelphia;
!-'• ":■ DgtOD, N. J. S-.ll
gathered crown, I • on each
ack.
is nearly or quite obliterated. ! : is therefore a sur-
prise to find a -<'<-t in Pennsylvania who " disown " at
the present day for gaiety of attire — -a thing not known
now among Friends for many years.
The plain bonnet, too, has had its romance. In the
* Thr Public Ledger for November 1, 1899, had the following remark-
able notice :
"barred from church by hat
" Mis-; May Oiler, of Waynesboro, . . . who lately returned from atrip
to the Holy Land, baa been expelled from the Antietam German Baptist
Dunknrd Church for discarding the plain bonnet for a pretty creation of
the milliner's art. At a meeting of the church authorities in July, Miss
Oiler was notified that she must return to the wearing of the bonnet, and
that she would be given until October to put away her hat. . . . Although
the defence was set up that the annual meeting had made the wearing of
a hat or bonnet discretionary, Miss Oiler's expulsion was ordered by a
large majoritv. . . . Miss Oiler is the daughter of the late Bishop Jacob
F. Oiler."
THE Qi AJLBR.
days when it coi I vouth and beanty, and the
■
broad-brim had t<> bend, in order to Bee within its
depths, hearts \ m and fi » - gay, i ven in Bober
^;ir!>: and the old Btory was whispered jnsl the Bame
in the long tunnel <>i' the bonnet The little Btr
urchin- \ ii- 1 to li;e LUtiful Quak-
er- ance down tl. oc of our great
cities, in order t>» run around in front and prep ap at
the lovely laughii that met their admiring
glances. One young bri aidtohav< atened to
out a slit in the Bi ber bonnet, in itI.t to be able
to Bee her new husband v. hen driving beside him <>n
their • ■ ting! Are we not to supp Be that his
Bentii 'igbt have been those of the Quaker friend
of Wendell Phillips, as I quietly thinking to him-
self:
My lore's lik«' a red, r«-. 1 ro-c
Tbat'i newlj blown in t)>< sijth Month 1
Then, too, tin bing I ■ full-fledged
Quaker bonnets is Bomethii i inspiring to contem-
plate. The bonnets collide at t<>p speed; occasionally
they have been known to e, when the rescue is
effected by a third party. The usual result, however, is
to b< ad each bo k on the head of the wearer,
since the front pr some in< md the face
— when a i iry pause for readjustment follows,
infinitely funny to a spectator blest with a of
humor.
NTow the Quaker philosophy of costume otially
in the direction of plain' ad moderation. But tie'
study we have l>een making shows us how contrary to
l 8TI D3 IX COSTUME. 227
the true -]>irit of Quakerism the technical bonnet, for
instance, really is. Adopted in the days <>f decadence
of spirituality, when life waa easy, and time permitted
infinite attention to detail-, the bonnet became lit-
erally a snare, a fetish, a Borl of class distinction, at one
time almost as exclusive in its ■work as the mark on the
forehead of the high caste Brahmin. That day is effec-
tually past; the modern Quakeress has now but the tra-
dition to | of the outward Bhell, and must
address herself to far gr< ater moral problems. She
must, nevertheless, like Charles Lamb, who loved the
Quakers, endeavor to " live up to that bonnet."
Politics and religion have alternately determined the
Btyle of women's headdress. In the days of Charles
James Fox, the women of his way of thinking wore a
fox tail in the hat or bonnet To day, as we pass along
the Btreet, the nun, the Quaker, the Dunkard, and the
Salvation Army girl are the only types left where the
doctrine of the wearer may be read at a glance. To
the initiated, the Quaker bonnet onee spoke volumes;
a glance Bufficed to distinguish Beaconite, Wilburite,
Maulite, Gurneyite, or Hicksite, and the dwellers in
the Mesopotamia of the Kast. But time has leveled
distinctions here as elsewhere ; and manifestations
of doctrinal difference are sought to-dav, with more
regard for truth, in the heart rather than on the
head.
The venerable Margaret (Fell) Fox, eight years af-
ter her husband's death, raised her voice in warning
against legal conformity, seeing in the society for
which she had done and suffered so much a tendency
228
THE (} i a hi: a.
Altogether contrary t«> the spirituality of the Gospel.
From her published epistles we extract the following:
Legal ceremonies are f;« r from Gospel freedom; l«'t as bewsj
being guilty or baring ;> hand in ordering <>r contriving what is
contrary to Gospel freedom; for the Apostles would no! have
dominion over their faith, but be helpers "f th<-ir faith. It is a
dangerous tliii id young Friends much int<> ths observation
of outward things, which may easily bs « 1 ■ » ti * - . f >>r they can i 1
get into an out irard garb t" be all alike outwardly, but t li i ->
not make them true Christians.
Epistle from M. I to 1 i lends, l mo . 109
" WiU.urite."
1856,
'Gurneyite."
INDEX
Aberdeen 21, 140, 214
Adrioea 4
Alexander, Ann 203
Amsterdam 818
i. in
Anne, Queen io
: 1
" Aurora Borealis " U
AvIiikt bl
Bavolette ' ' ;
Bodice iw
I I i" ;
Bonaparte, Prlaoe W8
Bourgoigne
i US
i 107
Budd, Rachel l^i
Cadonette ' '
. 2" 7
Calico 169
Callowbill, ll..muli i ■
Camlet 41
Cane 16, W
I md Institutions 75
Cap 1S2. 208, 209
ta ( v 224
Capuchin 121. 196, 218
Cardinal 57, 196, 213
Carpet 23
Casing (Bonnet) 223
Castor 59
Cathcart. Lady UW
Cavalier 10
Chalkley, Thomas 139
Chapean Bras 66
Charles 1 16, 102, 104, 112
Charles II 68, 73, 95
Charlotte. Queen 130
•'Chronicle." London 33
Classicism 16V
Claypoole, James 146
8, 94, 197
( 1. n -. Idnm »l 206
Clogs 103, 179
Coach 98
Coal-scuttle bonnet 190
32
• I hat ua-65
Collar 16, 30, 117
Collins, Isaac 161
39, 106
Color , 133, 158
( omb 145
t onunode 1 42. 144
( oil 192,198
152
ience 54
jeilli r dee D urn t" 219
Conservatism 3
• i raati n " bonnet 202
Cookworthy, William 71, 79
Cornette
" Cottage " bonnet .
Cotton, John
Cranmer
Crinoline
Cromwell, Elizabeth
Cromwell, Oliver .
204
202
197
9
137
199
15
Dartmouth 42, 107, 108
Davenport, John 197
Dickinson, Mary 158
Dillwyn, George 71
Dillwyn, Sarah 137, 106, 220
Dillwyn, William 99
Doll 150, 151, 152
Doublet 16, 39, 40, 41
Dragoon 32
"Drawn" bonnet 223
Drinker, Elizabeth Ill, 164
Drummond, May 134, 135
Dublin 21, 109
Dunkard 227
Dutch 158
230
INDEX.
Edwards, Jonathan 144
Eliot, John 100
Ellwood, Thomas . . 12, 19, 64, 86, 102
Embroidery 29
Emlyn, John 1. 91, H'J
Endicott, Governor 10*3, 197
English bonnet 222
Everett, John 103
Extravagance 9
Falbala [" furbelow "] 97
Kan US, 164
Fashion " babi.-s " 180
Feathers 211
Fell, Margaret 124
K. 11, Sarah US
r. It >
Fichu 140
Flat rap
Flat hat -214. OS
Fothergill, I>r 71. B0
Fox . ..10, 14, 10, IB,
Franks, Rebecca 164
Fry, Elizabeth 4, 174, 181
Garden* 24
Gay 49
Germans V4
Gorget 192
Gracechurch 21*
Grcaton (Father] 9
Grellet, Stephen U
Gurney, Hannah ISO
Gurney, Joseph John 89
Gurney, Samuel 89
Gurneys 173-177
Handkerchief 128, 140
llanway, Jonas 49
Headdress 213
Headrail 192
Heart breaker 143
Heels 34
Henrietta Maria 147
Henry (Prince) 62
Henry VIII 98, 206
Hetherington, John 72
Hogarth 20
Holgate, Mary 221
Hood. 104, 193, 195-6, 198, 203, 205, 214
Hoop 137
Humphreys, James Y 223
James 1 194
James II 74, 198
Jefferson 3:)
Jeffersonian i at 39
Jones, • ►wen ti
Jones, Rebecca 151, 171, 221
Jonson, Ben 118
Jordan, Richard 88
Keith, Sir Williain 7s
Kevenhuller 65
Kinsey, John 7S
Kirkbride, Jonathan 41
Kneel 75
Kossuth 07
Lace 16
Lamb 38
Lampoon 25, 28
Lappet 209
Latey, Gilbert BO
'• Lavinia •" chip hat 202
Hetijiinin 43
E I all 44
Leather 17, 31
Lettaom, Dr 71, 99
Lerite IBS
Limoges 151
Lloyd, Thomas 158
Lloyds 38
Logan, Maria 158
Louis XIV 31
Lovelock 143
It mer, Xtoomaa 128
Reuben 74
li&ndUliona 40
Mantelet 204
Mantilla 204
Marie Antoinette 150
Mason, Martin 77
Massachusetts 104
Meade, William 7b
Mi rnnonitcs 11
Methodist 144
Minever 106
Mirror 63, 64
Mitts 180
Mode 183
Model 150
Montague 76
Montero cap 84, 86, 87
Mott, Richard 42
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