The Project Gutenberg eBook, Two Centuries of Costume in America, Vol. 1 (1620-1820), by Alice Morse Earle This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Two Centuries of Costume in America, Vol. 1 (1620-1820) Author: Alice Morse Earle Last Updated: March 9, 2009 Release Date: November 17, 2003 [eBook #10115] Language: English Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO CENTURIES OF COSTUME IN AMERICA, VOL. 1 (1620-1820)*** E-text prepared by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Susan Skinner, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team TWO CENTURIES OF COSTUME IN AMERICA MDCXX-MDCCCXX ALICE MORSE EARLE AUTHOR OF "SUN-DIALS AND ROSES OF YESTERDAY" "OLD TIME GARDENS," ETC. VOLUME I Nineteen Hundred and Three Madam Padishal and Child. To George P. Brett "An honest Stationer (or Publisher) is he, that exercizeth his Mystery (whether it be in printing, bynding or selling of Bookes) with more respect to the glory of God & the publike aduantage than to his owne Commodity & is both an ornament & a profitable member in a ciuill Commonwealth.... If he be a Printer he makes conscience to exemplefy his Coppy fayrely & truly. If he be a Booke-bynder, he is no meere Bookeseller (that is) one who selleth meerely ynck & paper bundled up together for his owne aduantage only: but he is a Chapman of Arts, of wisdome, & of much experience for a little money.... The reputation of Schollers is as deare unto him as his owne: For, he acknowledgeth that from them his Mystery had both begining and means of continuance. He heartely loues & seekes the Prosperity of his owne Corporation: Yet he would not iniure the Uniuersityes to advantage it. In a word, he is such a man that the State ought to cherish him; Schollers to loue him; good Customers to frequent his shopp; and the whole Company of Stationers to pray for him." --GEORGE WITHER, 1625. CONTENTS VOL. I I. APPAREL OF THE PURITAN AND PILGRIM FATHERS II. DRESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND MOTHERS III. ATTIRE OF VIRGINIA DAMES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS IV. A VAIN PURITAN GRANDMOTHER V. THE EVOLUTION OF COATS AND WAISTCOATS VI. RUFFS AND BANDS VII. CAPS AND BEAVERS IN COLONIAL DAYS VIII. THE VENERABLE HOOD IX. CLOAKS AND THEIR COUSINS X. THE DRESS OF OLD-TIME CHILDREN XI. PERUKES AND PERIWIGS XII. THE BEARD XIII. PATTENS, CLOGS, AND GOLOE-SHOES XIV. BATTS AND BROAGS, BOOTS AND SHOES LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME I MADAM PADISHAL AND CHILD Frontispiece This fine presentation of the dress of a gentlewoman and infant child, in the middle of the seventeenth century, hung in old Plymouth homes in the Thomas and Stevenson families till it came by inheritance to the present owner, Mrs. Greely Stevenson Curtis of Boston, Mass. The artist is unknown. JOHN ENDICOTT Born in Dorchester, Eng., 1589. Died in Boston, Mass., 1665. He emigrated to America in 1628; became governor of the colony in 1644, and was major-general of the colonial troops. He hated Indians, the Church of Rome, and Quakers. He wears a velvet skull-cap, and a finger-ring, which is somewhat unusual; a square band; a richly fringed and embroidered glove; and a "stiletto" beard. This portrait is in the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. EDWARD WINSLOW Born in England, 1595; died at sea, 1655. One of the founders of the Plymouth colony in 1620; and governor of that colony in 1633, 1636, 1644. This portrait is dated 1651. It is in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. JOHN WINTHROP Born in England, 1588; died in Boston, 1649. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; admitted to the Inner Temple, 1628. Made governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629. Arrived in Salem, 1630. His portrait by Van Dyck and a fine miniature exist. The latter is owned by American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. This picture is copied from a very rare engraving from the miniature, which is finer and even more thoughtful in expression than the portrait. Both have the lace-edged ruff, but the shape of the dress is indistinct. SIMON BRADSTREET Born in England, 1603; died in Salem, Mass., 1697. He was governor of the colony when he was ninety years old. The Labadists, who visited him, wrote: "He is an old man, quiet and grave; dressed in black silk, but not sumptuously." SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL A mayor of London who came to Salem among the first settlers. The New England families of his name are all descended from him. He wears buff-coat and trooping scarf. This portrait was painted by Rembrandt. SIR WALTER RALEIGH Born in Devonshire, Eng., 1552; executed in London, 1618. A courtier, poet, historian, nobleman, soldier, explorer, and colonizer. He was the favorite of Elizabeth; the colonizer of Virginia; the hero of the Armada; the victim of King James. In this portrait he wears a slashed jerkin; a lace ruff; a broad trooping scarf with great lace shoulder- knot; a jewelled sword-belt; full, embroidered breeches; lace-edged garters, and vast shoe-roses, which combine to form a confused dress. SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND SON This print was owned by the author for many years, with the written endorsement by some unknown hand, Martin Frobisher and Son. I am glad to learn that it is from a painting by Zucchero of Raleigh and his son, and is owned at Wickham Court, in Kent, Eng., by the descendant of one of Raleigh's companions in his explorations. The child's dress is less fantastic than other portraits of English children of the same date. ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF ESSEX From an old print. A general of Cromwell's army. OLIVER CROMWELL DISSOLVING PARLIAMENT From an old Dutch print. SIR WILLIAM WALLER A general in Cromwell's army. Born, 1597; died, 1668. He served in the Thirty Years' War. This portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery. LORD FAIRFAX A general in Cromwell's army. From an old print. ALDERMAN ABELL AND RICHARD KILVERT From an old print. REV. JOHN COTTON, D.D. Born in Derby, Eng., 1585; died at Boston, Mass., in 1652. A Puritan clergyman who settled in Boston in 1633. He drew up for the colonists, at the request of the General Court, an abstract of the laws of Moses entitled Moses His Judicials, which was of greatest influence in the formation of the laws of the colony. This portrait is owned by Robert C. Winthrop, Esq. REV. COTTON MATHER, D.D. Born in Boston, Mass., 1683; died in Boston, Mass., 1728. A clergyman, author, and scholar. His book, Magnalia Christi Americana, an ecclesiastical history of New England, is of much value, though most trying. He took an active and now much-abhorred part in the Salem witchcraft. This portrait is owned by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. SLASHED SLEEVES From portraits temp. Charles I. The first is from a Van Dyck portrait of the Earl of Stanhope, and has a rich, lace- edged cuff. The second, with a graceful lawn undersleeve, is from a Van Dyck of Lucius Gary, Viscount Falkland. The third is from a painting by Mytens of the Duke of Hamilton. The fourth, by Van Dyck, is from one of Lord Villiers, Viscount Grandison. MRS. KATHERINE CLARK Born, 1602; died, 1671. An English gentlewoman renowned in her day for her piety and charity. LADY MARY ARMINE An English lady of great piety, whose gifts to Christianize the Indians make her name appear in the early history of Massachusetts. Her black domino and frontlet are of interest. This portrait was painted about 1650. THE TUB-PREACHER An old print of a Quaker meeting. Probably by Marcel Lawson. VENICE POINT LACE Owned by Mrs. Robert Fulton Crary of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. REBECCA RAWSON The daughter of Edward Rawson, Secretary of State. Born in Boston in 1656; married in 1679 to an adventurer, Thomas Rumsey, who called himself Sir Thomas Hale. She died at sea, in 1692. This portrait is owned by New England Historic Genealogical Society. ELIZABETH PADDY Born in Plymouth, Mass., in 1641. Daughter of William Paddy; she married John Wensley of Plymouth. Their daughter Sarah married Dr. Isaac Winslow. This portrait is in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. MRS. SIMEON STODDARD A wealthy Boston gentlewoman. This portrait was painted in the latter half of the seventeenth century. It is owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society. ANCIENT BLACK LACE Owned by Mrs. Robert Fulton Crary, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. VIRAGO-SLEEVE From a French portrait. NINON DE L'ENCLOS Born in Paris, 1615; died in 1705. Her dress has a slashed virago-sleeve and lace whisk. LADY CATHERINE HOWARD Grandchild of the Earl of Arundel. Aged thirteen years. Drawn in 1646 by W. Hollar. COSTUMES OF ENGLISHWOMEN OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Plates from Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus, or Several Habits of Englishwomen, 1640. By Wenceslaus Hollar, an engraver of much note and much performance; born at Prague, 1607; died in England, 1677. This book contains twenty-six plates illustrating women's dress in all ranks of life with absolute fidelity. GERTRUDE SCHUYLER LIVINGSTONE Second wife and widow of Robert Livingstone. The curiously plaited widow's cap can be seen under her hood. MRS. MAGDALEN BEEKMAN Died in New York in 1730. Widow of Gerardus Beekman, who died in 1723. LADY ANNE CLIFFORD Born, 1590. Daughter of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. Painted in 1603. LADY HERRMAN Of Bohemia Manor, Maryland. Wife of a pioneer settler. From Some Colonial Mansions. Published by Henry T. Coates & Co. ELIZABETH CROMWELL Mother of Oliver Cromwell. She died at Whitehall in 1654, aged 90 years. This portrait is at Hinchinbrook, and is owned by the Earl of Sandwich. It was painted by Robert Walker. Her dress is described as "a green velvet cardinal, trimmed with gold lace." Her hood is white satin. POCAHONTAS Daughter of Powhatan, and wife of Mr. Thomas Rolfe. Born 1593; died 1619; aged twenty-one when this was painted. The portrait is owned by a member of the Rolfe family. DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHILDREN Painted in 1626 by Gerard Honthorst. In the original the Duke of Buckingham is also upon the canvas. He was George Villiers, the "Steenie" of James I, who was assassinated by John Felton. The duchess was the daughter of the Earl of Rutland. The little daughter was afterwards Duchess of Richmond and Lenox. The baby was George, the second Duke of Buckingham, poet, politician, courtier, the friend of Charles II. The picture is now in the National Portrait Gallery. A WOMAN'S DOUBLET Worn by the infamous Mrs. Anne Turner. A PURITAN DAME Plate from Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus. PENELOPE WINSLOW Painted in 1651. Dress dull olive; mantle bright red; pearl necklace, ear-rings and pearl bandeau in hair. The hair is curled as the hair in portraits of Queen Henrietta Maria. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. GOLD-FRINGED GLOVES OF GOVERNOR LEVERETT In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. EMBROIDERED PETTICOAT-BAND, 1750 Bright-colored crewels on linen. Owned by the Misses Manning of Salem, Mass. BLUE DAMASK GOWN AND QUILTED SATIN PETTICOAT These were owned by Mrs. James Lovell, who was born 1735; died, 1817. Through her only daughter, Mrs. Pickard, who died in 1812, they came to her only child, Mary Pickard (Mrs. Henry Ware, Jr.), whose heirs now own them. They are in the keeping of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A PLAIN JERKIN This portrait is of Martin Frobisher, hero of the Armada; explorer in 1576, 1577, and 1578 for the Northwestern Passage, and discoverer of Frobisher's Bay. He died in 1594. CLOTH DOUBLET This portrait is of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. Owned by the Duke of Bedford. It shows a plain cloth doublet with double row of turreted welts at the shoulder. Horace Walpole says of this portrait, "He is quite in the style of Queen Elizabeth's lovers; red-bearded, and not comely." JAMES, DUKE OF YORK Born, 1633. Afterwards James II of England. This scene in a tennis-court was painted about 1643. EMBROIDERED JERKIN This portrait is of George Carew, Earl of Totnes. It was painted by Zucchero, and is owned by the Earl of Verulam. He wears a rich jerkin with four laps on each side below the belt; it is embroidered in sprigs, and guarded on the seams. The sleeves are detached. He wears also a rich sword-belt and ruff. JOHN LILBURNE Born in Greenwich, Eng., in 1614; died in 1659. A Puritan soldier, politician, and pamphleteer. He was fined, whipped, pilloried, tried for treason, sedition, controversy, libel. He was imprisoned in the Tower, Newgate, Tyburn, and the Castle. He was a Puritan till he turned Quaker. His sprawling boots, dangling knee-points, and silly little short doublet form a foolish dress. COLONEL WILLIAM LEGGE Born in 1609. Died in 1672. He was a stanch Royalist. His portrait is by Jacob Huysmans, and is in the National Portrait Gallery. SIR THOMAS ORCHARD KNIGHT, 1646 From an old print indorsed "S Glover ad vivum delineavit 1646." He is in characteristic court-dress, with slashed sleeves, laced cloak, laced garters, and shoe-roses. His hair and beard are like those of Charles II. THE ENGLISH ANTICK From a broadside of 1646. GEORGE I OF ENGLAND Born in Hanover, 1660. Died in Hanover, 1727. Crowned King of England in 1714. This portrait is by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and is in the National Portrait Gallery. It is remarkable for its ribbons and curious shoes. THREE CASSOCK SLEEVES AND A BUFF-COAT SLEEVE Temp. Charles I. The first sleeve is from a portrait of Lord Bedford. The second, with shoulder-knot of ribbon, was worn by Algernon Sidney; the third is from a Van Dyck portrait of Viscount Grandison; the fourth, the sleeve of a curiously slashed buff-coat worn by Sir Philip Sidney. HENRY BENNET, EARL OF ARLINGTON Born, 1618; died, 1685. From the original by Sir Peter Lely. This is asserted to be the costume chosen by Charles II in 1661 "to wear forever." FIGURES FROM FUNERAL PROCESSION OF THE DUKE OF ALBEMARLE IN 1670 These drawings of "Gentlemen," "Earls," "Clergymen," "Physicians," and "Poor Men" are by F. Sanford, Lancaster Herald, and are from his engraving of the Funeral Procession of George Monk, Duke of Albemarle. EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, HENRY WRIOTHESLEY. Born, 1573. Died in The Netherlands in 1624. He was the friend of Shakespere, and governor of the Virginia Company. This portrait is by Mierevelt. A BOWDOIN PORTRAIT This fine portrait is by a master's hand. The name of the subject is unknown. The initials would indicate that he was a Bowdoin, or a Baudouine, which was the name of the original emigrant. It has been owned by the Bowdoin family until it was presented to Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., where it now hangs in the Walker Art Building. WILLIAM PYNCHEON Born, 1590; died, 1670. This portrait was painted in 1657. It is in an unusual dress, with the only double row of buttons I have seen on a portrait of that date. It also shows no hair under the close cap. JONATHAN EDWARDS, D.D. Born, Windsor, Conn., 1703. Died, Princeton, N.J., 1758. A theologian, metaphysician, missionary, author, and president of Princeton University. GEORGE CURWEN Born in England, 1610; died in Salem, 1685. He came to Salem in 1638, where he was the most prominent merchant, and commanded a troop of horse, whereby he acquired his title of Captain. He is in military dress. Portrait owned by Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. WALKING-STICK AND LACE FRILL, 1660 These articles are in the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. WILLIAM CODDINGTON Born in Leicestershire, Eng., 1601; died in Rhode Island, 1678. One of the founders of the Rhode Island Colony, and governor for many years. THOMAS FAYERWEATHER Born, 1692; died, 1733, in Boston. Married, in 1718, Hannah Waldo, sister of Brigadier-general Samuel Waldo. This portrait is by Smybcrt. It is owned by his descendants, Miss Elizabeth L. Bond and Miss Catherine Harris Bond, of Cambridge, Mass. "KING" CARTER IN YOUTH CITY FLAT-CAP Worn by "Bilious" Bale, who died in 1563. His square beard, coif, and citizen's flat-cap were worn by Englishmen till 1620. KING JAMES I OF ENGLAND This portrait was painted before he was king of England. It is now in the National Portrait Gallery. FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE In doublet, with curious slashed tabs or bands at the waist, forming a roll like a woman's farthingale. The hat, with jewelled hat-band, is of a singular and ugly shape. JAMES DOUGLAS, EARL OF MORTON His hat, band, and jerkin are unusual. ELIHU YALE Born in Boston, Mass., in 1648. Died in England in 1721. He founded Yale College, now Yale University. This portrait is owned by Yale University, New Haven, Conn. THOMAS CECIL, FIRST EARL OF EXETER Died in 1621. CORNELIUS STEINWYCK The wealthiest merchant of New Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. This portrait is owned by the New York Historical Society. HAT WITH GLOVE AS A FAVOR From portrait of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. He died in 1605. GULIELMA SPRINGETT PENN First wife of William Penn. Born, 1644; died, 1694. The original painting is on glass. Owned by the heirs of Henry Swan, Dorking, Eng. HANNAH CALLOWHILL PENN Second wife of William Penn; from a portrait now in Blackwell Hall, County Durham, Eng. MADAME DE MIRAMION Born, 1629; died in Paris, 1696. THE STRAWBERRY GIRL From Tempest's Cries of London. OPERA HOOD, OR CARDINAL, OF BLACK SILK It is now in Boston Museum of Fine Arts. QUILTED HOOD Owned by Miss Mary Atkinson of Doylestown, Pa. PINK SILK HOOD Owned by Miss Alice Browne of Salem, Mass. PUG HOOD Owned by Miss Alice Browne of Salem, Mass. SCARLET CLOAK This fine broadcloth cloak and hood were worn by Judge Curwen. They are in perfect preservation, owing, in later years, to the excellent care given them by their present owner, Miss Bessie Curwen, of Salem, Mass., a descendant of the original owner. JUDGE STOUGHTON WOMAN'S CLOAK From Hogarth. A CAPUCHIN From Hogarth. LADY CAROLINE MONTAGU Daughter of Duke of Buccleuch. Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1776. JOHN QUINCY Born, 1686. This portrait is owned by Brooks Adams, Esq., Boston, Mass. Miss CAMPION From Andrew W. Tuer's History of the Hornbook. This portrait has hung for two centuries in an Essex manor- house. Its date, 1661, is but nine years earlier than the portraits of the Gibbes children, and the dress is the same. The cavalier hat and cuffs are the only varying detail. INFANT'S CAP Tambour work, 1790. ELEANOR FOSTER Born, 1746. She married Dr. Nathaniel Coffin, of Portland, Me., and became the mother of the beautiful Martha, who married Richard C. Derby. This portrait was painted in 1755. It is owned by Mrs. Greely Stevenson Curtis of Boston, Mass. WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE From an old print. MRS. THEODORE S. SEDGWICK AND DAUGHTER. Mrs. Sedgwick was Pamela Dwight. This portrait was painted by Ralph Earle, and exhibits one of his peculiarities. The home of the subject of the portrait is shown through an open window, though the immediate surroundings are a room within the house. The child is Catherine M. Sedgwick, the poet. This painting is owned in Stockbridge by members of the family. INFANT CHILD OF FRANCIS HOPKINSON, THE SIGNER A drawing in crayon by the child's father. The child carries a coral and bells. MARY SETON 1763. Died in 1800, aged forty. Married John Wilkes of New York. White frock and blue scarf. THE BOWDOIN CHILDREN Lady Temple and Governor James Bowdoin in childhood. The artist of this pleasing portrait is unknown. I think it was painted by Blackburn. It is now in the Walker Art Gallery, at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. Miss LYDIA ROBINSON Aged twelve years, daughter of Colonel James Robinson, Salem, Mass. Painted by M. Corné in 1808. Owned by the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. KNITTED FLAXEN MITTENS These are knitted upon finest wire needles, of linen thread, which had been spun, and the flax raised and prepared by the knitter. MRS. ELIZABETH (LUX) RUSSELL AND DAUGHTER. CHRISTENING SHIRT AND MITTS OF GOVERNOR BRADFORD. White linen with pinched sleeves and chaney ruffles and fingertips. Owned by Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. FLANDERS LACE MITTS These infant's mitts were worn in the sixteenth century, and came to Salem with the first emigrants. Owned by Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. INFANT'S ADJUSTABLE CAP This has curious shirring-strings to make it fit heads of various sizes. It is home spun and woven, and the lace edging is home knit. REV. JOHN P. DABNEY, WHEN A CHILD IN 1806 This portrait of a Salem minister in childhood is in jacket and trousers, with openwork collar and ruffles. It is now owned by the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. ROBERT GIBBES Born, 1665. This portrait is dated 1670. It is owned by Miss Sarah B. Hager of Kendal Green, Mass. NANKEEN BREECHES, WITH SILVER BUTTONS. 1790 RALPH IZARD, WHEN A LITTLE BOY Born in Charleston, S. C., 1742; died in 1804. Painted in 1750. He was United States Senator 1789-1795. This debonair little figure in blue velvet, silk-embroidered waistcoat, silken hose, buckled shoes, and black hat, gold-laced, is a miniature courtier. The portrait is now owned by William E. Huger, Esq., of Charleston, S.C. GOVERNOR AND REVEREND GURDON SALTONSTALL Born in 1666; died in 1724. Governor of Connecticut, 1708-24. He was also ordained a minister of the church at New London. MAYOR RIP VAN DAM Mayor of New York in 1710. JUDGE ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER OF NEW YORK GOVERNOR DE BIENVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE LEMOINE Born in Montreal, Can., 1680. Died in 1768. French Governor of Louisiana for many years. He founded New Orleans. The original is in Longeuil, Can. DANIEL WALDO Born in Boston, 1724; died in 1808. Married Rebecca Salisbury. REV. JOHN MARSH, HARTFORD, CONN JOHN ADAMS IN YOUTH Born in Braintree, Mass., 1735; died at Quincy, Mass., 1826. Second President of the United States, 1797-1801. He was a member of Congress, signer of Declaration of Independence, Commissioner to France, Ambassador to The Netherlands, Peace Commissioner to Great Britain, Minister to Court of St. James. This portrait in youth is in a wig. Throughout life he wore his hair bushed out at the ears. JONATHAN EDWARDS, D.D. Born in 1745; died in 1801. He was a son of the great Jonathan Edwards, and was President of Union College, Schenectady, 1799-1801. This portrait shows the fashion of dressing the hair when wigs and powder had been banished and the hair hung lank and long in the neck. PATRICK HENRY Born in Virginia, 1736; died in Charlotte County, Va., in 1799. An orator, patriot, and a leader in the American Revolution. He organized the Committees of Correspondence, was a member of Continental Congress, 1774, of the Virginia Convention, 1775, and was governor of Virginia for several terms. This portrait shows him in lawyer's close wig and robe. "KING" CARTER Died, 1732. JUDGE BENJAMIN LYNDE, OF SALEM AND BOSTON, MASS Died, 1745. Painted by Smybert. JOHN RUTLEDGE Born, Charleston, S.C., 1739; died, 1800. He was member of Congress, governor of South Carolina, chief justice of Supreme Court. His hair is tied in cue. CAMPAIGN, RAMILLIES, BOB, AND PIGTAIL WIGS REV. WILLIAM WELSTEED From an engraving by Copley, his only engraving. THOMAS HOPKINSON Born in London, 1709. Came to America in 1731. Married Mary Johnson in 1736. Made Judge of the Admiralty in 1741. Died in 1751. He was the father of Francis the Signer. This portrait is believed to be by Sir Godfrey Kneller. REV. DR. BARNARD A Connecticut clergyman. ANDREW ELLICOTT Born, 1754; died, 1820. A Maryland gentleman of wealth and position. HERBERT WESTPHALING Bishop of Hereford, Eng. HERALD CORNELIUS VANDUM. Born, 1483; died, 1577, aged ninety-four years. Yeoman of the Guard and usher to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. His beard is unique. SCOTCH BEARD Worn by Alexander Ross, 1655. DR. WILLIAM SLATER Cathedral beard. DR. JOHN DEE Born in London, 1527; died, 1608. An English mathematician, astrologer, physician, author, and magician. He wrote seventy-nine books, mostly on magic. His "pique-a-devant" beard might well "a man's eye out-pike." IRON AND LEATHER PATTENS, 1760 Owned by author. OAK, IRON, AND LEATHER CLOGS In Museum of Bucks County Historical Society, Penn. ENGLISH CLOGS CHOPINES Drawing from Chopines in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The tallest chopine had a sole about nine inches thick. WEDDING CLOGS These clogs are of silk brocade, and were made to match brocade slippers. The one with pointed toe would fit the brocaded shoes of the year 1760. The other has with it a high-heeled, black satin slipper of the year 1780, to show how they were worn. They forced a curious shuffling step. CLOGS OF PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH CHILD'S CLOGS About 1780. Owned by Bucks County Historical Society. COPLEY FAMILY PICTURE This group, consisting of the artist, John Singleton Copley, his wife, who was formerly a young widow, Susannah Farnham; his wife's father, Richard Clarke, a most respected Boston merchant who was wealthy until ruined by the War of the Revolution; and the four little Copley children. Elizabeth is between four and five; John Singleton, Jr., is the boy of three, who afterwards became Lord Lyndhurst; Mary is aged two, and an infant is in the grandfather's arms. Copley was born in 1737, and must have been about thirty-seven when this was painted in 1775. It is deemed by many his masterpiece. The portrait is owned by Mr. Amory, but is now in the custody of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It is most pronounced, almost startling, in color, every tint being absolutely frank. WEDDING SLIPPERS AND BROCADE STRIP, 1712 Owned by Mrs. Thomas Robinson Harris, of Scarboro on the Hudson, N.Y. JACK-BOOTS Owned by Lord Fairfax of Virginia. JOSHUA WARNER A Portsmouth gentleman. This portrait is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. SHOE AND KNEE BUCKLES They are shoe-buckles, breeches-buckles, garter-buckles, stock-buckles. Some are cut silver and gold; others are cut steel; some are paste. Some of these were owned by Dr. Edward Holyoke, of Salem, and are now owned by Miss Susan W. Osgood, of Salem, Mass. WEDDING SLIPPERS Worn in 1760 by granddaughter of Governor Simon Bradstreet. Owned by Miss Mary S. Cleveland, of Salem, Mass. Their make and finish are curious; they have paste buckles. ABIGAIL BROMFIELD ROGERS Painted by Copley in Europe. Owned by Miss Annette Rogers, of Boston, Mass. SLIPPERS Worn by Mrs. Carroll with the brocade silk sacque. They are embroidered in the colors of the brocade. WHITE KID SLIPPERS, 1810 Owned by author. CHAPTER I APPAREL OF THE PURITAN AND PILGRIM FATHERS "Deep-skirted doublets, puritanic capes Which now would render men like upright apes Was comelier wear, our wiser fathers thought Than the cast fashions from all Europe brought" --"New England's Crisis," BENJAMIN TOMPSON, 1675. "I am neither Niggard nor Cynic to the due Bravery of the true Gentry." --"The simple Cobbler of Agawam," J. WARD, 1713. "Never was it happier in England than when an Englishman was known abroad by his own cloth; and contented himself at home with his fine russet carsey hosen, and a warm slop; his coat, gown, and cloak of brown, blue or putre, with some pretty furnishings of velvet or fur, and a doublet of sad-tawnie or black velvet or comely silk, without such cuts and gawrish colours as are worn in these dayes by those who think themselves the gayest men when they have most diversities of jagges and changes of colours." --"Chronicles," HOLINSHED, 1578. CHAPTER I APPAREL OF THE PURITAN AND PILGRIM FATHERS t is difficult to discover the reasons, to trace the influences which have resulted in the production in the modern mind of that composite figure which serves to the everyday reader, the heedless observer, as the counterfeit presentment of the New England colonist,--the Boston Puritan or Plymouth Pilgrim. We have a very respectable notion, a fairly true picture, of Dutch patroon, Pennsylvania Quaker, and Virginia planter; but we see a very unreal New Englishman. This "gray old Gospeller, sour as midwinter," appears with goodwife or dame in the hastily drawn illustrations of our daily press; we find him outlined with greater care but equal inaccuracy in our choicer periodical literature; we have him depicted by artists in our handsome books and on the walls of our art museums; he is cut in stone and cast in bronze for our halls and parks; he is dressed by actors for a part in some historical play; he is furbished up with conglomerate and makeshift garments by enthusiastic and confident young folk in tableau and fancy-dress party; he is richly and amply attired by portly, self-satisfied members of our patriotic-hereditary societies; we constantly see these figures garbed in semblance in some details, yet never in verisimilitude as a whole figure. We are wont to think of our Puritan forbears, indeed we are determined to think of them, garbed in sombre sad- colored garments, in a life devoid of color, warmth, or fragrance. But sad color was not dismal and dull save in name; it was brown in tone, and brown is warm, and being a primitive color is, like many primitive things, cheerful. Old England was garbed in hearty honest russet, even in the days of our colonization. Read the list of the garments of any master of the manor, of the honest English yeoman, of our own sturdy English emigrants from manor and farm in Suffolk and Essex. What did they wear across seas? What did they wear in the New World? What they wore in England, namely: Doublets of leathers, all brown in tint; breeches of various tanned skins and hides; untanned leather shoes; jerkins of "filomot" or "phillymort" (feuille morte), dead-leaf color; buff-coats of fine buff leather; tawny camlet cloaks and jackets of "du Boys" (which was wood color); russet hose; horseman's coats of tan- colored linsey-woolsey or homespun ginger-lyne or brown perpetuana; fawn-colored mandillions and deer-colored cassocks--all brown; and sometimes a hat of natural beaver. Here is a "falding" doublet of "treen color"--and what is treen but wooden and wood color is brown again. It was a fitting dress for their conditions of life. The colonists lived close to nature--they touched the beginnings of things; and we are close to nature when all dress in russet. The homely "butternuts" of the Kentucky mountains express this; so too does khaki, a good, simple native dye and stuff; so eagerly welcomed, so closely cherished, as all good and primitive things should be. Governor John Endicott So when I think of my sturdy Puritan forbears in the summer planting of Salem and of Boston, I see them in "honest russet kersey"; gay too with the bright stamell-red of their waistcoats and the grain-red linings of mandillions; scarlet-capped are they, and enlivened with many a great scarlet-hooded cloak. I see them in this attire on shipboard, where they were greeted off Salem with "a smell from the shore like the smell of a garden"; I see them landing in happy June amid "sweet wild strawberries and fair single roses." I see them walking along the little lanes and half- streets in which for many years bayberry and sweet-fern lingered in dusty fragrant clumps by the roadside. "Scented with Caedar and Sweet Fern From Heats reflection dry," wrote of that welcoming shore one colonist who came on the first ship, and noted in rhyme what he found and saw and felt and smelt. And I see the forefathers standing under the hot little cedar trees of the Massachusetts coast, not sober in sad color, but cheery in russet and scarlet; and sweetbrier and strawberries, bayberry and cedar, smell sweetly and glow genially in that summer sunlight which shines down on us through all these two centuries. We have ample sources from which to learn precisely what was worn by these first colonists--men and women-- gentle and simple. We have minute "Lists of Apparell" furnished by the Colonization Companies to the male colonists; we have also ample lists of apparel supplied to individual emigrants of varied degree; we have inventories in detail of the personal estates of all those who died in the colonies even in the earliest years--inventories wherein even a half-worn pair of gloves is gravely set down, appraised in value, sworn to, and entered in the town records; we have wills giving equal minuteness; we have even the articles of dress themselves preserved from moth and rust and mildew; we have private letters asking that supplies of clothing be sent across seas--clothing substantial and clothing fashionable; we have ships' bills of lading showing that these orders were carried out; we have curiously minute private letters giving quaint descriptions and hints of new and modish wearing apparel; we have sumptuary laws telling what articles of clothing must not be worn by those of mean estate; we have court records showing trials under these laws; we have ministers' sermons denouncing excessive details of fashion, enumerating and almost describing the offences; and we have also a goodly number of portraits of men and a few of women. I give in this chapter excellent portraits of the first governors, Endicott, Winthrop, Bradstreet, Winslow; and others could be added. Having all these, do we need fashion-plates or magazines of the modes? We have also for the early years great instruction through comparison and inference in knowing the English fashions of those dates as revealed through inventories, compotuses, accounts, diaries, letters, portraits, prints, carvings, and effigies; and American fashions varied little from English ones. Governor Edward Winslow. It is impossible to disassociate the history of costume from the general history of the country where such dress is worn. Nor could any one write upon dress with discrimination and balance unless he knew thoroughly the dress of all countries and likewise the history of all countries. Of the special country, he must know more than general history, for the relations of small things to great things are too close. Influences apparently remote prove vital. At no time was history told in dress, and at no period was dress influenced by historical events more than during the seventeenth century and in the dress of English-speaking folk. The writer on dress should know the temperament and character of the dress wearer; this was of special bearing in the seventeenth century. It would be thought by any one ignorant of the character of the first Puritan settlers, and indifferent to or ignorant of historical facts, that in a new world with all the hardships, restraints, lacks, and inconveniences, no one, even the vainest woman, would think much upon dress, save that it should be warm, comfortable, ample, and durable. But, in truth, such was not the case. Even in the first years the settlers paid close attention to their attire, to its richness, its elegance, its modishness, and watched narrowly also the attire of their neighbors, not only from a distinct liking for dress, but from a careful regard of social distinctions and from a regard for the proprieties and relations of life. Dress was a badge of rank, of social standing and dignity; and class distinctions were just as zealously guarded in America, the land of liberty, as in England. The Puritan church preached simplicity of dress; but the church attendants never followed that preaching. All believed, too, that dress had a moral effect, as it certainly does; that to dress orderly and well and convenable to the existing fashions helped to preserve the morals of the individual and general welfare of the community. Eagerly did the settlers seek every year, every season, by every incoming ship, by every traveller, to learn the changes of fashions in Europe. The first native-born poet, Benjamin Tompson, is quoted in the heading of this chapter in a wail over thus following new fashions, a wail for the "good old times," as has been the cry of "old fogy" poets and philosophers since the days of the ancient classics. We have ample proof of the love of dignity, of form, of state, which dominated even in the first struggling days; we can see the governor of Virginia when he landed, turning out his entire force in most formal attire and with full company of forty halberdiers in scarlet cloaks to attend in imposing procession the church services in the poor little church edifice--this when the settlement at Jamestown was scarce more than an encampment. We can read the words of Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts, in which he recounts his mortification at the undignified condition of affairs when the governor of the French province, the courtly La Tour, landed unexpectedly in Boston and caught the governor picnicking peacefully with his family on an island in the harbor, with no attendants, no soldiers, no dignitaries. Nor was there any force in the fort, and therefore no salute could be given to the distinguished visitors; and still more mortifying was the sole announcement of this important arrival through the hurried sail across the bay, and the running to the governor of a badly scared woman neighbor. We see Winthrop trying to recover his dignity in La Tour's eyes (and in his own) by bourgeoning throughout the remainder of the French governor's stay with an imposing guard of soldiers in formal attendance at every step he took abroad; ordering them to wear, I am sure, their very fullest stuffed doublets and shiniest armor, while he displayed his best black velvet suit of garments. Fortunately for New England's appearance, Winthrop was a man of such aristocratic bearing and feature that no dress or lack of dress could lower his dignity. Governor John Winthrop. Our forbears did not change their dress by emigrating; they may have worn heavier clothing in New England, more furs, stronger shoes, but I cannot find that they adopted simpler or less costly clothing; any change that may have been made through Puritan belief and teaching had been made in England. All the colonists " ... studied after nyce array, And made greet cost in clothing." Many persons preferred to keep their property in the form of what they quaintly called "duds." The fashion did not wear out more apparel than the man; for clothing, no matter what its cut, was worn as long as it lasted, doing service frequently through three generations. For instance, we find Mrs. Epes, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, when she was over fifty years old, receiving this bequest by will: "If she desire to have the suit of damask which was the Lady Cheynies her grandmother, let her have it upon appraisement." I have traced a certain flowered satin gown and "manto" in four wills; a dame to her daughter; she to her sister; then to the child of the last-named who was a granddaughter of the first owner. And it was a proud possession to the last. The fashions and shapes then did not change yearly. The Boston gentlewoman of 1660 would not have been ill dressed or out of the mode in the dress worn by her grandmother when she landed in 1625. Petty details were altered in woman's dress--though but slightly; the change of a cap, a band, a scarf, a ruffle, meant much to the wearer, though it seems unimportant to us to-day. Men's dress, we know from portraits, was unaltered for a time save in neckwear and hair-dressing, both being of such importance in costume that they must be written upon at length. Let us fix in our minds the limit of reign of each ruler during the early years of colonization, and the dates of settlement of each colony. When Elizabeth died in 1603, the Brownist Puritans or Separatists were well established in Holland; they had been there twenty years. They were dissatisfied with their Dutch home, however, and had had internal quarrels--one, of petty cause, namely, a "topish Hatt," a "Schowish Hood," a "garish spitz-fashioned Stomacher," the vain garments of one woman; but the strife over these "abhominations" lasted eleven years. James I was king when the Pilgrims came to America in 1620; but Charles I was on the throne in 1630 when John Winthrop arrived with his band of friends and followers and settled in Salem and Boston. The settlement of Portsmouth and Dover in New Hampshire was in 1623, and in Maine the same year. The settlements of the Dutch in New Netherland were in 1614; while Virginia, named for Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, and discovered in her day, was settled first of all at Jamestown in 1607. The Plymouth colony was poor. It came poor from Holland, and grew poorer through various misfortunes and set-backs--one being the condition of the land near Plymouth. The Massachusetts Bay Company was different. It came with properties estimated to be worth a million dollars, and it had prospered wonderfully after an opening year of want and distress. The relative social condition and means of the settlers of Jamestown, of Plymouth, of Boston, were carefully investigated from English sources by a thoughtful and fair authority, the historian Green. He says of the Boston settlers in his Short History of the English People:-- "Those Massachusetts settlers were not like the earlier colonists of the South; broken men, adventurers, bankrupts, criminals; or simply poor men and artisans like the Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower. They were in great part men of the professional and middle classes, some of them men of large landed estate, some zealous clergymen, some shrewd London lawyers or young scholars from Oxford. The bulk were God-fearing farmers from Lincolnshire and the Eastern counties." A full comprehension of these differences in the colonies will make us understand certain conditions, certain surprises, as to dress; for instance, why so little of the extreme Puritan is found in the dress of the first Boston colonists. There lived in England, near the close of Elizabeth's reign, a Puritan named Philip Stubbes, to whom we are infinitely indebted for our knowledge of English dress of his times. It was also the dress of the colonists; for details of attire, especially of men's wear, had not changed to any extent since the years in which and of which Philip Stubbes wrote. He published in 1586 a book called An Anatomie of Abuses, in which he described in full the excesses of England in his day. He wrote with spirited, vivid pen, and in plain speech, leaving nothing unspoken lest it offend, and he used strong, racy English words and sentences. In his later editions he even took pains to change certain "strange, inkhorn terms" or complicate words of his first writing into simpler ones. Thus he changed preter time to former ages; auditory to hearers; prostrated to humbled; consummate to ended; and of course this was to the book's advantage. Unusual words still linger, however, but we must believe they are not intentionally "outlandish" as was the term of the day for such words. The attitude of Stubbes toward dress and dress wearers is of great interest, for he was certainly one of the most severe, most determined, most conscientious of Puritans; yet his hatred of "corruptions desiring reformation" did not lead him to a hatred of dress in itself. He is careful to state in detail in the body of his book and in his preface that his attack is not upon the dress of people of wealth and station; that he approves of rich dress for the rich. His hatred is for the pretentious dress of the many men of low birth or of mean estate who lavish their all in dress ill suited to their station; and also his reproof is for swindling in dress materials and dress-making; against false weights and measures, adulterations and profits; in short, against abuses, not uses. Governor Simon Bradstreet. His words run thus explicitly:-- "Whereas I have spoken of the excesse in apparell, and of the Abuse of the same as wel in Men as in Women, generally I would not be so understood as though my speaches extended to any either noble honorable or worshipful; for I am farre from once thinking that any kind of sumptuous or gorgeous Attire is not to be worn of them; as I suppose them rather Ornaments in them than otherwise. And therefore when I speak of excesse of Apparel my meaning is of the inferiour sorte only who for the most parte do farre surpasse either noble honorable or worshipful, ruffling in Silks Velvets, Satens, Damaske, Taffeties, Gold Silver and what not; these bee the Abuses I speak of, these bee the Evills that I lament, and these bee the Persons my wordes doe concern." There was ample room for reformation from Stubbes's point of view.