beaux in this reign, who fometimes fuck flowers in their ears.

William, earl of Pembroke, a man far from an effeminate character, is reprefented with earrings,

James appears to have left the beard in much the fame ftate as he found it on his acceffion to the throne,

The cloak, a drefs of great antiquity, was more worn in this, than in any of the preceding

reigns. It continued to be in fashion after the restoration of Charles II.

It is well known that James I. used to hunt in a ruff and trowfers.

We learn from Sir Thomas Overbury, that yellow ftockings were worn by fome of the ordinary gentlemen in the country.

Silk garters, puffed in a large knot, were worn below the knees, and knots, or rofes, in the fhoes.

Wilfon informs us, that the countefs of Effex, after her di vorce, appeared at court in the "habit of a virgin, with her hair "pendant, almost to her feet:" the princefs Elizabeth, with much more propriety, wore hers in the fame manner, when he went to be married to the prince Palatine.

The ruff and farthingale ftill continued to be worn. Yellow ftarch for ruffs, firft invented by the French, and adapted to the fallow complexions of that people, was introduced by Mrs. Turner, a phyfician's widow, who had a principal hand in poifoning Sir Thomas Overbury. This vain and infamous woman, who went to be hanged in a ruff of that colour, helped to fupport the fashion, as long as fhe was able. It began to decline upon her execution.

The ladies, like thofe of Spain, were banished from court, during the reign of James, which was, perhaps, a reafon why drefs underwent very little alteration during that period.

It may not be impertinent to remark, that the lady of Sir Robert Cary, afterwards earl of Monmouth, was miftrefs of the fweet or perfumed coffers to Anne of Denmark; an office which answer. ed to that of mift efs of the robes at prefent.

It appears from portraits, that long coats were worn by boys, till they were feven or eight years of age. We are told by dean Fell, that the famous Dr. Hammond was in long coats, when he was fent to Eton school.

When James came to the crown, there was in the wardrobe, in the Tower, a great variety of dreffes of your ancient kings; which, to the regret of antiquaries, were foon given away and difperfed. Such a collection must have been of much greater ufe to the ftudious in venerable antiquity, than a review of the "ragged regiment" in Weftminfter Abbey.

CHARLES

CHARLES I.

N this reign, the hat continued

fort of crown as that defcribed in the reign of Elizabeth; but the brim was extended to a reasonable breadth. Hats inclining to a cone, a figure very ill adapted to the hum n head, occur in the portraits of this time.

The hair was worn low on the forehead, and generally unparted: fome wore it very long, others of a moderate length. The king, and confequently many others, wore a love-lock on the left fide, which was confiderably longer than the reft of the hair. The unfeemlinefs of this fafhion occafioned Mr. Prynne to write a book in quarto, against love-locks.

The beard dwindled very gradually under the two Charles's till it was reduced to a flender pair of whiskers. It became quite extinct in the reign of James II. as if its fatality had been connected with that of the house of Stuart.

The ruff, which of all fantaftic modes maintained its poffeffion the longeft, was worn, for fome time, after the acceffion of Charles; but it had almoft univerfally given place to the falling band, when Vandyck was in England.

Slafhed doublets, doublets with fit fleeves, and cloaks, were much

in fashion.

Trunk breeches, one of the most monstrous fingularities of dress ever feen in this, or any other age, were worn in the reigns of James and Charles I.

The points, which formerly ufed to be feen hanging about the waift,

are feen dangling at the knees, in fome of the portraits of this pe riod.

Little flimfy Spanish leather boots and fpurs were much worn by gentlemen of fashion, It was ufual for the beaux in England and France, to call for their boots, and fome think their fpurs too, when they were going to a ball, as they very rarely wore the one without the

other.

Mr. Peck, the antiquarian, informs us, that he had, in his poffef fion, a whole length portrait of Charles; the drefs of which he thus defcribes: "He wore a fall"ing band, a fhort green doublet, "the arm-parts toward the shoul "der, wide, and flashed; zig-zag "turned up ruffles; very long 66 green breeches, (like a Dutch"man) tied far below knee with "long yellow ribbands; red ftock"ings, great fhoe-rofes, and a "fhort red cloak, lined with blue, "with a ftar on the fhoulder."

Ladies wore their hair low on the

forehead, and parted in fmall ringlets. Many wore it curled like a peruke, and fome braided and rounded in a knot, on the top of the crown. They frequently wore ftrings of pearls in their hair. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and other jewels, were also much worn.

Laced handkerchiefs, refembling the large falling band worn by the men, were in fashion among the ladies: this article of drefs has been lately revived, and called a Vandyck.

Many ladies, at this period, are painted with their arms and their bofoms bare; and there is no doubt but they fometimes went with those parts expofed,

Cowley,

Cowley, in his difcourfe "of "greatnefs," cenfures fome enormities in the drefs of his time, in the following terms. "Is any "thing more common than to fee "our ladies of quality wear fuch high fhoes as they cannot walk "in without one to lead them? " and a gown as long again as "their body; fo that they cannot ftir to the next room, without a "page or two to hold it up."

The citizens wives, in this reign, feem to have had their domeftic fumptuary laws, and to have adopted the frugal maxims of their hufbands. There appears from Hollar's habits, to have been a much greater difparity in point of drefs, betwixt them, and the ladies of quality, than betwixt the former, and the wives of our prefent yeo

the right fide much longer than the reft.

Mr. Benlowes, in his "Theo"phila," published in 1652, has given us a print of a man of mode. In his hat, the brim of which is extended horizontally, is a large feather: it inclines much to the right fide, as if it were falling off his head. His hair is very long, his ruffles are double, his doublet reaches no lower than the waiftband of his breeches: his fword is enormous, and fufpended to a belt, which comes over his right fhoulder; his breeches are large, with puffs like fmall blown bladders, quite round the knees; his boots are very fhert, with fringed tops, which are near as ample in their dimenfions as the brim of his hat. It appears from the fame author, that black patches were fometimes worn by the beaux at the time of the interregnum. Short hair, fhort bands, fhort cloaks, and, long vifages, frequently occur in the portraits of this period.

Mr. Benlowes has alfo given us prints of two ladies, by the hand of Hollar; one in a fummer, the other in a winter drefs. The former is without a cap, has her hair combed like a wig, except that which grows on the crown of the head, which is nicely braided, and

muff of the fame kind, which entirely hides her arms.

THE

CHARLES II.

HE Monmouth, or military cock of the hat, was much worn in this reign, and continued a confiderable time in fashion.

The periwig, which had been long ufed in France, was introduced into England foon after the Reftoration.

There is a tradition, that the large black wig which Dr. R. R. bequeathed, among other things of much less confideration, to the Bodleian library, was worn by Charles

II. Some men of tender confciences were greatly fcandalized at this article of drefs, as equally indecent with long hair; and more culpable, becaufe unnatural. Many preachers inveighed against it in their fermons, and cut their hair fhorter, to exprefs their abhorrence of the reigning mode.

It was obferved, that a periwig procured many perfons a refpect, and even veneration, which they were ftrangers to before, and to which they had not the leaft claim from their perfonal merit. The judges, and phyficians, who tho roughly understood this magic of the wig, gave it all the advantage of length, as well as fize.

The

nary to the king, preached before him at Newmarket, in a long periwig, and Holland fleeves, according to the then fashion for gentlemen; and that his majefty was fo offended at it, that he commanded the duke of Monmouth, chancellor to the univerfity of Cambridge, to see the ftatutes concerning decency of apparel put in execution; which was done accordingly.

The lace neckloth became in fashion in this, and continued to be worn in the two following reigns.

Open fleeves, pantaloons, and fhoulder-knots, were alfo worn at this period, which was the era of fhoe-buckles: but ordinary people, and fuch as affected plainnefs in their garb, continued, for a long time after, to wear ftrings in their fhoes.

The clerical habit, which before it is grown rufty is a very decent drefs, feems not to have been worn in its prefent form, before the reign of Charles II.

The ladies hair was curled and frizled with the nicest art, and they frequently fet it off with heartbreakers. Sometimes a ftring of pearls, or an ornament of ribband, was worn on the head; and in the latter part of this reign, hoods of various kinds were in fashion.

"chard