Columbia ®[nibers!itp 
 
 in tfje Citp of iSeto gorfe 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
 
fTHEWd 
 
THE QUAKER 
 
 A Study in Costume 
 
 BY 
 
 AMELIA MOTT GUMMERE 
 
 " Chuse thy Cloaths by thine own eye, 
 not anothers. The more simple and plain 
 they are, the better. Neither unshapely, 
 nor fantastical ; and for Use and Decency, 
 and not for Pride." 
 
 William Penn, 1693. 
 "Some Friiits of Solitude." 
 
 FERRIS & LEACH, Publishers 
 
 29 North Seventh Street 
 1901 
 
kJF (THEWS 
 
 
 CoPYBioHT, 1901, BY Ferris & Lkach. 
 
CSi 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The traditional idea of Quakerism always carries 
 with it a suggestion of peculiarity in dress; and this 
 peculiarity has been so marked, that Quaker life can 
 hardly be portrayed without an understanding of the 
 history of the garb. The day has come, however, when 
 the question of dress, even for the Quaker, is no longer 
 bound up with the plan of salvation. We have him 
 sufficiently in perspective to turn our modern camera 
 upon him, and study the variations of this once vital 
 question; for if it is in any degree true that " dress 
 makes the man," certain it is that dress at one time 
 went far to make a Quaker — at least to the world's 
 thinking. There is a picturesque side to the story of 
 the Quaker; he himself hardly appreciates how much 
 of the romantic there has been in his quiet life. The 
 trend of his thought has led him to take himseK too 
 seriously, and he has lost much of the sense of his rela- 
 tion to the great world around him. Quaker dress and 
 customs have varied as the times have changed, often 
 in a very interesting way; but perfect simplicity, unin- 
 fluenced by outside thought, is nowhere to be found in 
 this world, short of Patagonia. The student of a philo- 
 sophic turn of mind will find much light thrown upon 
 the man in drab, if he will attentively observe his 
 habits, manner of life and " conversation " — a word 
 meaning in the Quaker, as in the Pauline vocabulary, 
 
iv. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his whole style of living, and intercourse with his fel- 
 low-men. 
 
 There are three distinct periods into which the his- 
 tory of Quaker dress will naturally fall: — the period of 
 persecution, when the early Friends had everything at 
 stake, and life was to them more than meat and the 
 body than raiment; the second, or reactionary period, 
 when their position was established, their cause won, 
 and prosperity, with its successes, was proving, as it 
 always will prove, a far more dangerous foe than the 
 perils of adversity; and the third, or modern period, 
 when the crisis of the present brings them face to face 
 with intricate problems, and dress again falls into its 
 proper place in the general scheme of things. We shall 
 see that in the face of a real issue, Quakerism disre- 
 garded the question of dress; 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 shall study the Quaker 
 in the light of a Higher Criticism, applied to the Doc- 
 trine of Clothes. 
 
 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 cause 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 
 
INTRODUCTION. v. 
 
 frequently have been avoided, had he at all appreciated 
 his inheritance. But an understanding of the spirit of 
 Quakerism can no more come by heredity alone than 
 can any of the other Christian virtues; and many a 
 young soul has lived himgry for some explanation of 
 the reason for the singularity forced upon him, quite 
 unsatisfied by being told that the elder Friends " de- 
 sired to have him encouraged." The force of example 
 in this case has had a magnificent demonstration; but 
 even it has failed to give the intelligent understanding 
 of causes, \vithout which, when the test comes, the 
 strain must prove too great. The present crisis in the 
 whole religious world is upon the Quaker no less than 
 upon every other member of a sect. How many of his 
 young people can judge, from a clear understanding of 
 the history of their Society, whether the new problems 
 — social, religious or moral — are counter to his own 
 ancestors' teachings, put forth at the cost of life itself, 
 or not? The dead bones of Quaker prophets must be 
 made to live again in the history of their lives and all 
 they meant, or the youth of the Society cannot be prop- 
 erly accounted Quakers. They mil doubtless become 
 good Christians, in the flood of modern religious teach- 
 ing now surrounding them. And it is possible that this 
 is enough, and the Quaker has done his part, and won 
 repose. If not, then I believe that the Quakers have 
 not sufficiently appreciated the immense chasm between 
 seventeenth and nineteenth century needs, and that 
 there are " crosses " far more weighty to be borne than 
 this of the garb, which, if it be worn at all, should be 
 regarded as a privilege. The penitential spirit of the 
 last century Quaker, rather than combat the great evils 
 
vL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 existing in the world about him, and manfully seek to 
 clear its political and social atmosphere, spent fruitless 
 energy, first, in adding to the weight of this " cross " 
 of his peculiar garb, and then in teaching his constitu- 
 ency how to be patient under their burden, forgetting, 
 as Vaughan has well put it, that " there is quite as 
 much self-will in going out of the way of a blessing to 
 seek a misery, as in avoiding a duty for the sake of 
 ease." 
 
 The descriptions here given have in every case had 
 the authority of an original article of dress, or the expe- 
 rience of a participant in the incident quoted. Despite 
 the lapse of time, there still exists ample material for 
 the study of Quaker costume. Doll models still remain ; 
 the flat hat 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 mth such vanities, sim- 
 ply because human affection is too strong to be lightly 
 set aside. There is no 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 of great ser- 
 vice in preparing the following pages, thanks 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. A M G 
 
 Haverfard, Pa., 1901. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, ..... iii 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. — The Coat, ...... 1 
 
 II.— The Spirit of the Hat, ... 65 
 
 III.— Beards, Wigs and Bands, . . . .91 
 
 IV.— The Quakeress, . ... 121 
 
 V. — The Evolution of the Quaker Bonnet, . . 187 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FULL-PAGE PLATES. 
 
 Charles I., . . . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Detail from original painting by Van Dyck, in the Louvre. 
 
 "William Penn, 
 
 OPP. 
 PAGE 
 
 From the full-length mezzotint by Earle, of Philadelphia, after 
 the original painting by Inman. 
 
 "From Lively to Severe," .... 12 
 
 L " The Youth bkfoke Conversion." 
 
 IL " The Youth after Conversion." 
 
 Illustrations for "War with ye Devil, or The Young Man's 
 Conflict with ye Powers of Darkness." 1676. By B. K. 
 [Benjamin Keach], Bodleian Library. 
 
 George Fox, 1624-1690, . . . • .16 
 
 From an engraving by Allan, after the painting by Chinn. 
 
 Elias Hicks, 1748-1830, .... 41 
 
 From a silhouette. 
 
 Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855, . . . .42 
 
 From a silhouette. 
 
 A Welsh Tea Party, .... 60 
 
 From a recent photograph, by courtesy of The Outlook Company. 
 
 George Dillwyn, 1738-1820, . . . .71 
 
 After an engraving on stone by J. Collins. 
 
 Four Old-Time Pennsylvania Worthies, . . 72 
 
 John Pemberton, 1727-1795. 
 Henry Drinker, 1734-1809. 
 James Pemberton, 1724-1809. 
 John Pabeish, 1730-1807. 
 
 Septimus Roberts, 1807, Aged 18, ... 74 
 
 After the etching by RosenthaL 
 
OPP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 William Penn, ..... 96 
 
 After the bust in ivory by Sylvanus Bevan. 
 
 Moses Brown, 1738-1836, . . . .107 
 
 Engraved by T. Pollock, after the portrait by W. J. Harris. 
 
 GULIELMA Springett, First Wife of William Penn, 1644-1694, 129 
 
 From an engraving after the original painting on glass, in 
 possession of descendants of Henry Swan, of Dorking, England. 
 
 Hannah Callowhill, Second Wife of William Penn, 1664-1726, 130 
 
 Original painting at Blackwell Hall, County Durham, England. 
 Copy in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. 
 
 The Collar, ...... 140 
 
 I. Miss Fitzgerald, Lady-in- Waiting to Qdeen 
 
 Caeoline. 1800. 
 
 After the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence. 
 
 II. Margaret Morris, Wife op Isaac Collins, 
 Jr., 1792-18.32. 
 
 From the drawing on stone of A. Newsam, after the original 
 painting. 
 
 "Going to Meeting in 1750," . . . .155 
 
 From an original photograph. 
 
 A Quaker Wedding, 1820, .... 162 
 
 After the original painting by Percy Bigland in possession of 
 Isaac H. Clothier, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Two Friends, . . . . .164 
 
 After the engraving by Bouvier, London. About 1835. 
 
 The Fair Quaker, ..... 166 
 
 London, 1782. 
 
 Elizabeth Fry, 1780-1845, . . . .184 
 
 After the portrait by George Richmond, 1824. 
 
 Martha Routh, 1743-1817, . . . . leo 
 
 SUhouette in possession of Charles Roberts, of Philadelphia. 
 
 The Quakers' Meeting, about 1648, . . .194 
 
 After the original engraving by Egbert van Heemskerck. 
 
OPP. 
 PAGE 
 
 The Calash, ...... 207 
 
 Invented 1765. Worn until about 1830. From an original 
 photograph. 
 
 The Cap, ....... 208 
 
 I. Martha Washington, Silhouette. 
 II. Amelia Opie, 1769-1853. 
 Engrayed by Lightfoot, from the medallion done in Paris by David. 
 
 Gracechukch Street Meeting, London, 1776, . 218 
 
 Original painting in Devonshire House collection, London. 
 
 "The Bride," . . . . . .219 
 
 From the original in the " Aurora Borealis," published at New 
 Castle-upon-Tyne, 1833. 
 
 Queen Victoria, ..... 220 
 
 After an engraving by Freeman. London, 1837. 
 
 Fashion Plate, about 1849, . . . .221 
 
 From " Le Conseiller des Dames," Paris. 
 
 Kainy Day Cover, ..... 223 
 
 From an original photograph. 
 
ILLIJSTRATIOKS. 
 
 IN TEXT MATTER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Initial, Male Costume, 1787, .... 3 
 
 Male Costume, 1818, ..... 35 
 
 After Martin. 
 
 Sunshade, 1760, . . . . , .54 
 
 Initial, Time of James I., . . . . 57 
 
 Hat op Douglas, Earl op Morton, 1553, . . 59 
 
 After Repton. 
 
 Hat op Charles I., .... . 60 
 
 After Martin. 
 
 The " Kevenhullee," , . . . .65 
 
 After Hogarth. 
 
 Owen Jones, Colonial Treasurer of Pennsylvania, 72 
 
 Silhouette. 
 
 Puritan Hat, . . . . . .73 
 
 High-crowned Hat of 1653, .... 73 
 
 Nantucket Beaver Hat, . . . .75 
 
 Royalist Hat, Time of Commonwealth, . . 90 
 
 After Martin. 
 
 Initial, Dr. John Fothergill, . . . .93 
 
PAGE 
 
 William Dillwyn, 1805 .... 99 
 Silhouette. 
 
 Gabkiel-Maec-Antoine de Grellet, 1789, . . 120 
 Silhouette of father of Stephen Grellet. 
 
 Initial, Riding Costttme, 1763, ... 123 
 After Slartin. 
 
 Female Costume, 183.5, ..... 138 
 
 Female Costume, 1787, .... 140 
 
 Headdress, 1756, . . . . . .147 
 
 Lady's Riding Hat, ..... 156 
 
 Female Costumes, 1776, . . . . .164 
 
 After Martin. 
 
 Hannah Hunt, 1799, ..... 182 
 Silhouette of Westtown's first scholar. 
 
 Tail-piece. — Slippers and Clogs, . . .185 
 
 Initial, Headdress of Reign of Edward I., . 189 
 
 Hood of 1641, . . . . . .192 
 
 Broad-brimmed Hat of English Women, 16.35, . 193 
 
 From Hollar. 
 
 Headdress, 1698, . . . . . .194 
 
 From " Memoires, etc., d'Angleterre." 
 
 Hood Worn by Cromwell's Wife, ... 195 
 
 Headdress of Cromwell's Time, . . . .197 
 
 After Repton. 
 
 Hood Worn by Cromwell's Mother, . . 199 
 
 " Lavinia " Chip Hat, 1819, . . . .202 
 
 Trimmed with white sarsenet ribhon. 
 
' COBKETTE," OCTOBEB, 1816, .... 
 
 Composed of tulle, qtiilling of blonde around face, bunch of 
 flowers on top. Style is French, "simply elegant and becoming" : 
 
 PAGE 
 
 204 
 
 Headdbess of 1786, 
 
 209 
 
 Pabisian Peomesade Hat, 1816, 
 
 210 
 
 Headdress of 1776, 
 Silhouette. 
 
 211 
 
 Eighteenth Cexttby Flat Hat, 
 
 215 
 
 BoxNET OF Maetha, Wife of SAsirsL Auliksos, 
 
 No strings, one large box-pleat in soft crown. 
 
 215 
 
 English Bonnet, 
 
 222 
 
 Bonnet of Eebecca Jones, of Philadelphia, 
 
 From doll model dressed by " Sally Smith," of BurUngton, N. J. 
 Soft gathered crown, large cape with three points— one on each 
 shoulder and one in center of back. 
 
 225 
 
 Tail-piece .—Bonnets, 
 
 " Wilburite."— 1856.— " Gumeyite." 
 
 228 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE COAT. 
 
 And that Friends take care to keep to Truth and plain- 
 ness, in language, habit, deportment and behaTiour ; that the 
 simplicity of Truth in these things may not wear out nor be lost 
 in our days, nor in our posterity's ; and be exemplary to their 
 children in each, and train them up therein ; that modesty and 
 sobriety may be countenanced, and the fear of the Lord take 
 place and increase among them ; and to avoid pride and 
 immodesty in apparel, and extravagant wigs, and all other 
 vain and superfluous fashions of the world ; and in God's holy 
 fear watch against and keep out the spirit and corrupt friend- 
 ship of the world ; and that no fellowship may be held or had 
 with the unfruitful works of darkness, nor therein with the 
 workers thereof. Benjamin Bealing. Clerk. 
 
 Epistle of London Yearly Meeting, 4th mo. 1, 1691. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 dress of a time 
 The Philosopher 
 
 THE COAT. 
 
 l!^ entire generation has passed since the 
 distinction of plain dress, as under- 
 stood by the Quakers, became obso- 
 lete in Great Britain. The singu- 
 lar conservatism often shown by a 
 democratic people manifests itseK in 
 this matter, touching the social and 
 religious life of the same body in 
 America, by the survival in one 
 Quaker community of the " plain " 
 and occasion long since gone by. 
 whose Carlylean glance compre- 
 hends the close relationship existing between man's 
 conscience and his clothes, realizes that so far as the 
 Society of Friends is concerned, their peculiarities 
 of dress belong to past history. He 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 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 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 sought in the minor " testimonies " of 
 an earnest people. Chief among those " testimonies " 
 was plainness of garb. But the world has counted two 
 centuries and a half of progress since that day, and its 
 myriads of Socialists, Roman Catholics, Salvation Army 
 soldiers, and the wide circles of a uniformed official 
 class, have overtaken and swept past the Quaker. His 
 neat garb and his honest broad-brimmed hat are no 
 longer conspicuous in the moderation that has followed 
 the periwigged days of King Charles the Second. The 
 Quaker has now chosen to lay aside his distinctive garb, 
 there being no longer the same occasion for its exist- 
 ence. It marks, where it still survives, 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 of 
 Quakerism, it may not 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 seeing eye 
 must know that already the beautiful garments of our 
 stately grandmothers, the t}^)e of Elizabeth Fry, have 
 gone forever. Yet let us honor the motives of high 
 courage and strong principle which led a whole sect 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 
 
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 5 
 
 Plainness to be a temporal Advantage to them do put 
 it on with imsanctified Hearts and Minds filled with 
 Deceit. . . . Such as they are an Abomination to God 
 and to good Men." 
 
 The Tatter, indeed, with its inimitable satire, shows 
 us how clothes and religion get intermingled. It makes 
 Pasquin of Rome write Isaac Bickerstaff: 
 
 There is one thing in which I desire you would be very par- 
 ticular. What 1 mean is an exact list of all the religions in 
 Great Britain, as likewise the habits, which are said here to be 
 the great points of conscience in England, whether they are 
 made of serge or broadcloth, of silk or linen. I should be glad 
 to see a model of the most conscientious dress amongst you, 
 and desire you will send me a hat of each religion; and likewise, 
 if it be not too much trouble, a cravat.* 
 
 There has been no attempt in the following pages to 
 enlarge upon the doctrines of the Quakers. That has 
 been sufficiently done elsewhere. The peculiarities of 
 Quakerism " as to the outward," as Fox would have 
 said, have been so marked, and its church polity for the 
 past seventy-five years has been so much one of re- 
 pression, that the outside world has known little of the 
 Quaker; when it has perceived his presence, it has not 
 troubled itself to understand him, nor to penetrate the 
 atmosphere of exclusiveness that has surrounded him. 
 
 *Tatler, No. 129.— " The Old Cloak," which has been attributed to 
 Swift, also points the same moral, although his satire is in this instance, 
 not directed particularly against the Quakers. It begins thus : 
 
 " This cloak, it was made in old Oliver's days, 
 When zeal and religion were lost in a maze. 
 'Twas made by an elder of Lucifer's club, 
 Who botch'd on a shop-board and whined in a tub. 
 'Twas vampt out of patches, unseemly to name, 
 'Twas hem'd with sedition, & lin'd with the same. 
 This cloak to no party was yet ever true. 
 The inside was black, and the outside was blue ; 
 'Twas smooth all without and rough all within, 
 A shew of religion, a mantle to sin." 
 
(, TEE QUAKER. 
 
 His dress has had much to do with this. jSTo one has 
 portrayed the Quaker with a worldly hand, and at the 
 same time been just to his principles, sympathetic with 
 his sufferings, mindful of his foibles; and it is a fact 
 that so far no attempt has been made from within the 
 pale to handle his garb in the light of other people's 
 opinions and experience, to treat him just like another 
 man, and to attempt to understand why his costume dif- 
 fers. The outsider has regarded the matter as little 
 worth his time; while to the Quaker himself, the sub- 
 ject has been too sacred to be lightly entered upon. Its 
 importance has been so over-emphasized, that his young 
 people have often failed to distinguish between the doc- 
 trine of oaths and the doctrine of the coat-collar. 
 
 The present essay, then, is an attempt to trace the de- 
 velopment of Quaker costume. It has been approached 
 like the history of any other costume, with no detriment, 
 / we trust, to its dignity. The Quaker's interpretation of 
 " Truth " has generally been regarded as the cause of 
 his peculiarities in dress. And so far as the essential 
 doctrine of simplicity as taught by Fox may go, this is 
 eminently true. It is true, also, of some of his customs, 
 as, for instance, the refusal to doff the hat. The fol- 
 lowdng pages, however, attempt to show that the typical 
 Quaker dress has been, in the case of the men, a sur- 
 vival — a crystallization, in essential elements — of the 
 original dress of Charles the Second; while that of the 
 women has been an evolution, having its culmination one 
 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 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME, 7 
 
 withdraw, he cannot part company with his fellow-citi- 
 zens. His past mistake has sprung from his effort to be 
 a " peculiar people," as well as to be " zealous of good 
 works." Very little excites ridicule in these modern 
 faddist days: certainly no distinctive dress of any sort. 
 The wide philanthropy once the inheritance of Quaker- 
 ism, now belongs to the world in general. Religious tol- 
 eration, for which the Quakers died, bids fair to-day if 
 not to extinguish the Society, at least to break down its 
 hedges and boundaries. The Athenian wore his flowing 
 robe with the wish to be plucked on the sleeve with a 
 " what ho ! Philosopher." The Quaker donned his garb 
 from the opposite desire to be let alone. This, of course, 
 was the Quaker position at a time when details served 
 to emphasize the doctrines of their sect. In the two 
 hundred and more years that have passed since the days 
 of Fox, the occasion for such emphasis has largely dis- 
 appeared. Not only among Friends, but everywhere, 
 the different denominations are tending toward greater 
 uniformity. This very fact makes people look leniently 
 upon the peculiarities of the Quakers, who had the best 
 of reasons at the time of their rise, for their various 
 " testimonies." The anecdote may here be recalled of 
 Penn and the King, when, to the sovereign's question 
 wherein their religious beliefs really differed, the 
 Quaker replied, " The difference is the same as between 
 thy hat and mine; mine has no ornaments." The 
 plain coat bears upon it the marks of an historical devel- 
 opment. Warfare and politics are recorded in the cut 
 of its collar and the sweep of its tail. Foreign influ- 
 ence, civil strife, diplomatic relations and political in- 
 trigue all have power to alter fashion and to impress 
 
3 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 upon a certain generation a particular style of dress. 
 The " Steenkirk " tie, the Sedan chair, the farthingale 
 and the " tete de mouton " are striking importations 
 connected with foreign warfare and politics. But re- 
 ligious upheavals stir depths and work changes with a 
 , rapidity that nothing else can equal. Let a man's con- 
 "^1 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 medigeval church. Miss Hill points out 
 that after Cranmer " it took us three hundred years to 
 reach the simplicity of the Victorian era, while the 
 Church accomplished the change in one generation." 
 
 There is a parallelism between clerical and Quaker 
 garb, both in its conservatism and its simplicity of re- 
 sult, as well as the profound importance attached to it 
 by its adherents. Dean Stanley tells us that the dress 
 of the clergy had no distinct intention at the start, 
 " symbolical, sacerdotal, sacrificial, 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 clergy. 
 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 VIII. would make an 
 outfit sufficient for a modern theatrical show. " 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." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 9 
 
 lined with green sarcanet, a black cloth gown trimmed 
 with lamb."* Over against this set the reforming 
 Cranmer, in his dark cassock and leathern girdle. As 
 the Quaker rebelled in spirit against extravagance in 
 dress, his impulse was not to devise a new costume, but 
 to eliminate from that he wore, the offending elements. 
 Hence, retaining the early cut, he evolved in the pass- 
 ing years a costume of his own, just as the church 
 evolved its own distinctive dress. The clerical habit as 
 at present worn in England dates from the time of 
 Charles II., as did the William Penn type of dress. It 
 is striking to note that the coat of a prominent minister 
 among Friends in ISTew York was given upon his death, 
 in 1856, to a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, who 
 wore it without requiring any change whatever ! We 
 are told that Father Greaton, the Jesuit priest who was 
 first sent, in 1732, from Baltimore to build and settle 
 a Romish Church in the Quaker City (which later be- 
 came Saint Joseph's) was wily enough on arriving to 
 put on the Quaker habit. He soon donned his own 
 black clerical garb ; but he was careful not to offend the 
 Quakers in dress or speech, and his first church building 
 might easily have been a meeting-house for plainness. 
 The dress of the bishops of the Church of England at 
 the present day more nearly resembles that of Penn 
 and his colleagues than any garb of modern times; 
 vastly more, in fact, than the " plain " dress of their 
 spiritual descendants. This includes the linen bands, as 
 shown in portraits of Fox and ^ayler.f The clerical 
 
 * Georgiana Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 236. 
 
 t The original of the latter is in the library of Peter's Court Meeting- 
 house, London. 
 
10 THE QUAKER. 
 
 dress-suit of the present is a correct model of the court 
 coat of Charles II., in cut and general style. 
 
 The most picturesque period in the whole history of 
 English dress was that of the princely Stuarts, as Van 
 Dyck has long been telling us. It was an age of swift 
 change and vivid contrast, of luxury and unbridled 
 license, when extravagance ran riot in the English 
 court, and wonderful tales of splendor at Versailles set 
 all St. James wild with envy. Great events crowded 
 fast upon each other; King Charles lost his royal head, 
 after which, for a time, the Protector and the Puritans 
 had things their own way. Then followed the Restora- 
 tion, with churchly prestige, and debauchery and ex- 
 travagance striving together. A feeble attempt at 
 popery came next under James 11. , and finally an estab- 
 lished church and prosperity under Queen Anne — all 
 this in the lifetime of one man ! Into this scene, with 
 its vivid lights and its shadows unfathomable, where 
 Cavalier and Roundhead are eyeing each other, hand on 
 sword and hate in heart, steps the striking figure of the 
 early Quaker; and from the moment of his entrance 
 on the stage, a purer faith and liberty of conscience be- 
 come possible in dogma-ridden England. His true part 
 in English history is yet to be written. Keen to de- 
 nounce alike luxury in the court, and crime in the 
 slums, loyal always to his sovereign Prince, even if re- 
 fusing to doff the hat, or swear allegiance, and true 
 always to the impartial enlightenment of every man, 
 the Quaker is chiefly to be thanked for many of our 
 cherished religious privileges. 
 
 Could George Fox have looked ahead to this day, we 
 cannot doubt that he would have been perfectly satis- 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. H 
 
 fied 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 as ours was not possible when men had 
 to guard blue satin coats and costly lace from soil. 
 Fancy Mr. Edison at work in lace ruffles ! Even Ben- 
 jamin Franklin had to roll up his sleeves. George Fox 
 and his contemporaries did not intend to establish a 
 precedent of any sort when they demanded, rather ar- 
 bitrarily, that their followers should discard all adorn- 
 ment in their dress. The Mennonites, who antedate 
 them by a few years, and to w^hom the Quakers are in- 
 debted for many of their practices, had adopted sim- 
 plicity of attire as one of their cardinal principles; and 
 Independents, Presbyterians and others had been em- 
 phasizing plainness to an extreme point. The first dis- 
 sension in the Leyden community of Separatists came 
 from the lace on the sleeve of Mrs. Francis Johnson, 
 which furnished a subject for eleven years of strife. 
 Bradford says they were so rigid that some of them 
 were offended at the whalebone in a dress or sleeve, or 
 the starch in a collar. The Mennonites disapproved of 
 ornaments even more than the Friends 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 
 called " Heftier " or " Knopfler," because they ex- 
 cluded buttons, substituting hooks, like the Mennonite 
 branch in Pennsylvania, known locally as " hookers." 
 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 
 
13 THE QUAKER. 
 
 movement was directed. The use of hooks and eyes on 
 male garb instead of buttons, was confined to such lo- 
 calities as had made the adornment of their clothes 
 with a quantity of buttons an almost national custom. 
 The plain dress of the Quakers will be found to have 
 much more in common with the Baptists, than with the 
 Puritans, unless we include, as is often erroneously 
 done, most of the dissenting sects of England under the 
 latter head. In the United States, certainly, the many 
 Puritan laws as to the dress of both sexes, and the 
 elaborate detail of rules regarding every minor item, 
 with the frequent enumeration of costly and extrava- 
 gant fashions, lead us inevitably to the conclusion that 
 the New England Puritan was far from the plain and 
 meek person our fancy has been taught to draw; but 
 rather that he was gorgeous in his highly colored rai- 
 ment, his -wigs and velvet ; that his wife was a positively 
 appalling person in her finery, so soon as prosperity had 
 come to the thrifty pair in their adopted land. 
 
 We can respect the feelings of the first Quakers as 
 to ornaments, for th^ir " testimony " had a distinct ob- 
 ject to accomplish; many felt with Ellwood about 
 ^' those Fruits and Effects of Pride, that discover them- 
 selves in the Vanity and Superfluity of Apparell which 
 I, so far as my Ability would extend to, took alas ! too 
 much delight in. This evil of my doings I was re- 
 quired to put away and cease from; and Judgment lay 
 upon me till I did so. Wherefore, ... I took off from 
 my apparel those unnecessary Trimmings of Lace and 
 Pibbands and useless Buttons which had no real ser- 
 vice, but were set only for that which was by Mistake 
 called Ornament, and I ceased to wear Eings." * 
 
 ♦Journal of Thomas Ellwood. 
 
'=^ ? 
 
 ^Tn 
 
 i-"'' '^^^If^'^tP^P^ 
 
 ;:0 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 >. >-t.^j:: ag-ate: *'j!>>^.-. ,, .; ,, . .r^""?^ .j_ ... 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 13 
 
 By a very similar line of spiritual experience, 
 
 Thomas Story was led to a point where the vanity of 
 
 human wishes was forcibly presented to him; for even 
 
 before learning of the peculiar tenets of the Friends, he 
 
 had adopted some of their outward characteristics, in 
 
 discarding sword and ornaments of dress. He did not 
 
 meet the man whose influence led him to become a 
 
 Quaker until 1691; yet in 1689, to use his own words: 
 
 I put oflf my usual Airs, my jovial Actions and Address, 
 and laid aside my Sword, which I had wore, not thro' 
 design of Injury, or Fear of any, but as a modish and manly 
 Ornament. 1 burnt also my Instruments of Musick, and divested 
 myself of the superfluous Parts of my Apparel, retaining only 
 that which was necessary or deem'd decent. The Lust of the 
 Flesh, the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life, had their Ob- 
 jects and Subjects presented; The Airs of Youth were many 
 and potent; Strength, Activity and Comeliness of person were 
 not a-wanting, and had their share; nor were natural Endow- 
 ments of Mind or Competent Acquirements afar off, and the 
 Glory, Advancements and Preferments of the World, spread as 
 Nets in my View, and the Friendship thereof beginning to ad- 
 dress me with flattering Courtship. I wore a sword, which 1 
 well understood, and had foil'd several Masters of that Science, 
 in the North and at London; and rode with firearms also, of 
 which 1 knew the Use; and yet I was not quarrelsome; for 
 though I emulated, I was not envious; But this rule I formed 
 as a Man to myself, never to ofl"end or aS'ront any wilfully, or 
 with Design; and if, inadvertently, I should happen to disoblige 
 any, rather to acknowledge, than to maintain or vindicate a 
 wrong thing; and rather to take ill Behaviour from others by the 
 best Handle, than be ofi"ended where no off'ence was wilfully 
 designed. But then I was determined to resent, and punish an 
 AS'ront or personal Injury, when it was done in Contempt or 
 with Design; and yet I never met with any, save once; and 
 then I kept to my own Maxims with Success; and yet so as 
 neither to wound nor be wounded; the good Providence of Al- 
 mighty being ever over me; and on my side, as ever knowing my 
 Meaning in all my Conduct.* 
 
 *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 peculiarities to 
 which in later days they so closely adhered, were the 
 outgrowth natural to a body which clung to practices 
 that were once established, with the tenacity of larger 
 but no less strongly organized religious bodies, like the 
 Roman Catholics, the Mohammedans, or even the 
 Chinese. A distinctive form of dress was at no time 
 adopted by the Quakers with " malice prepense." The 
 fact that in the second century of their existence a 
 peculiar garb came to be regarded as so essential, goes 
 to prove, not vitality, but rather a period of decadence 
 in their religious principles. The marked changes that 
 Quaker costume has undergone, while they have not 
 kept pace with the outside world as regards frequency 
 of modification, are yet important as an element in 
 studying the history of the sect. A cause is often 
 greatly strengthened by the moral support of a dis- 
 tinctive and conspicuous style of dress, as for instance, 
 that of the Salvation Army. John Wesley regretted 
 that he had not made a regulation about dress. He 
 wrote in his Journal: "I might have been firm (and 
 I now see it would have been far better) as either the 
 people called Quakers or the Moravians; I might have 
 said, this is our manner of dress, which we know is both 
 scriptural and rational. If you join with us, you are 
 to dress as we do, but you need not join us unless you 
 please; but, alas ! the time is now past." 
 
 George Fox, hoAvever, did not dream of such meas- 
 ures among his o^Tn. people. The simple, unadorned 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 15 
 
 costume of the men of his generation was all that Fox 
 aspired to. Along with his admonitions as to all ways of 
 living, he included in his denunciations every extrava- 
 gance of dress. This alone meant a revolution difficult 
 for us to realize. The extremest form of Paris 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 part of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, there appears to have been no really distinctive 
 cut in Quaker costume. It is to be described in nega- 
 tions, was like that of every one else, and was only con- 
 spicuous for what it lacked of the popular extravagances 
 of the day. When men wore even more elaborate cos- 
 tumes than women, as in the days of the " merry mon- 
 arch," anything plain was noted at once. CromwelFs 
 dress was so 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. He wore black cloth or velvet, sword-scarf, 
 trunk-hose, long boots, grey hat and silver clasp ; varied 
 at times with doublet, cloak and hose of 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 curls, 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 ITational Gallery, a 
 page ties his sash. Quakers and Puritans under the 
 Protector were more distinguished for differences of 
 opinion than differences of garb. An old author de- 
 clares that " short cloaks, short hair, short bands and 
 
16 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 long visages " were the rule. What we understand as 
 the typical Quaker garb, worn by WilKam Penn, was a 
 survival of that of Charles the Second, when the dis- 
 tinctive outward marks of Quakerism were burned into 
 the sect, so to speak, by the rigors of persecution. The 
 dress of Fox was more nearly that of Charles the First. 
 This was to be expected of the plain countryman, who 
 would naturally cling to the more old-fashioned garb; 
 he never discarded the doublet, and always wore his 
 own hair long; whereas Penn, the diplomat and 
 courtier, followed the fashions in the cut and stvle of 
 his dress, adopting the full-skirted coat of the sovereign, 
 and wearing as many as four wigs in one year. 
 
 To test the correctness of this comparison, let us take 
 th© costume of Charles the First as we have him in the 
 great portrait by Van Dyck in the Louvre. The King 
 wears a hunting dress consisting of white satin coat, 
 knee breeches in red, long boots 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 long cane. Divest him now of all his super- 
 fluities. Remove the enormous feather in his hat, and 
 Fox's own broadbrim stands 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 bands only being visible over 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 STUDY IN COSTUME. 17 
 
 sake of economy, and hence simplicity in not dyeing the 
 cloth. Leathern breeches and jerkins were universal 
 among the " plainer sort/' as George Fox called them, 
 and were also worn from motives of economy. Trou- 
 sers were not to be 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 are 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 Lythall's, where we lodged, I saw the staff, it is 
 said, George Fox used to travel 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 first arose, was in cut 
 and fashion simply the dress of everybody, 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: 
 
 *Newcut, in " The City Match," I, 4. By Jasper Mayne, 1639. 
 
18 THE QUAKER. 
 
 My spirit was greatly burthened to see the pride that was 
 got lip in the nation, even among professors; in the sense where- 
 of I was moved to give forth a paper directed 
 
 " TO SUCH AS FOLLOW THE WORLD'S FASHIONS. 
 
 "What a world is this! hoAv doth the devil garnish himself! 
 how obedient are people to do his will and mind! They are 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 is 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 must 
 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 not powdered. But if one have 
 store of ribands hanging about his waist at his knees, and in 
 his hat, of divers colours, red white black or yellow, and his 
 hair powdered, then he is a brave man, then he is accepted, then 
 he is no Quaker. He hath ribands on his back, belly, and knees, 
 and his hair powdered: this is the array of the world. . . . 
 Likewise, the women having their gold, their patches on their 
 faces, noses, cheeks, foreheads, their rings on their fingers, wear- 
 ing gold, their cuffs double under and above, like a butcher with 
 his white .sleeves; their ribands tied about their hands, and 
 three or four gold laces about their cloaths; this is no Quaker, 
 say they. . . . Are not these, that have got ribands hanging 
 about their arms, hands, back, waists, knees, hats, like fiddler's 
 boys? And further, if one get a pair of breeches 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 fiddlers, a set 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, 1690, he issued from 
 the home of his stepson-in-law, William Meade, at 
 Gooseyes, whither he had retired in feeble and broken 
 health, a note of warning directed " To such as follow 
 the fashions of the world." 
 
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, 
 la grown a Garment now in great Request. 
 More Colours now in one Waist-Coat they wear 
 Than in the Eainbow ever did appear. 
 
 And he that in a modest Garb is drest, 
 
 Is made the Laughing-stock of all the rest. 
 
 Nor are they with their Baubles satisfy'd, 
 
 But sex-distinctions too are laid aside; 
 
 The Women wear the Trowsies and the Vest, 
 
 While Men in Muffs, Fans, Petticoats are drest. 
 
 He warns Friends of the danger of the modes, and 
 says: 
 
 It hath come to pass that there is scarce a new Fashion come 
 up, or a fantastick Cut invented, but some one or other that 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 Latey, 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 of 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. King 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. 21 
 
 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 diflScult; but we may be as- 
 sured that the struggle was a hard one. Wo 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 anywhere 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- 
 
22 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 parel according to the vain and changeable fashions of 
 the world ; " and these meetings of " merchant tail- 
 ors and clothiers " reported to the church. They very 
 judiciously advised Friends to " wear plain stuffs 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 tailors, for the en- 
 couragement of those Friends of that trade that cannot 
 answer the world's fashions." This may be the rea- 
 son, as Barclay * suggests, that Dublin Friends were 
 spared the details of Christian simplicity that appear 
 on the books 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 so well, that in 1693 they invoked the aid of 
 joiners, ship-carpenters, brass-founders, saddlers and 
 shoe-makers, to give their judgment to the meeting " in 
 the matter of the furniture of houses, etc., etc."; " fine, 
 shining, glittering tables, stands, chests of drawers and 
 dressing-boxes; " " large looking-glasses and painting 
 of rooms," as well as " painted or printed hangings." 
 Where these latter were needful, they would do well to 
 ad\dse 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 sold," such as " lace and ribbons." They 
 inspected the houses with ornamental " eaves," and of 
 superfluous size, from the drawing-room curtains, with 
 other " Babylonish adornings " which were declared to 
 
 * Robert Barclay, ' ' Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Common- 
 wealth." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 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, cloths or silks were, about 1693, gen- 
 erally condemned. As Barclay, from whom we have 
 already quoted, says: " 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. Coffins ought to be made plain, without 
 covering of cloth or needless plates." In 1717 they or- 
 der that chaises, except when absolutely necessary, are a 
 needless luxury. The food, dress and even the gait of 
 the children come imder 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 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- 
 ful,'^ are reprobated ! Tobacco, in the early days, was 
 more universally used among the plain Friends than 
 now. William Penn is said to have enjoyed his pipe, as 
 did many another worthy. An unlocated minute of 
 !N^inth month, 1691, runs: 
 
 It being discovered that the common excess of smoaking 
 tobacco is inconsistent with our Holy Profession, this meeting 
 adviseth that such as have occation to make use of it, take it 
 privately, neither in their Labour nor employment nor by the 
 highway, nor alehouses or elsewhere, too publicly.* 
 
 The climax, however, is reached, when we are told 
 that a lowly mind would rather " admire the wonderful 
 hand of Providence " in contemplating the necessary 
 than the beautiful in nature, and the eye is not to be 
 indulged in " great superfluity and too great nicety in 
 gardens." In other words, turnips and cabbages tend 
 to keep the mind humble, but the rose and the lily may 
 prove a snare ! And this, in the land of gardening and 
 wall-fruit, where even the gooseberry is idealized ! It 
 surely is a wonder that all artistic sense has not been 
 crushed out of the sect in two hundred years of such 
 arbitrary dictation to the consciences of people, as may 
 be found through the greater part of the eighteenth 
 century among the Quakers, when they were a prosper- 
 ous, not a persecuted, body. But 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 old English Minutes, in possession of the author, 
 made by Henry Hull, of New York, 1850. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 35 
 
 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 1655 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 the 
 public libraries of England, or on the shelves of Ameri- 
 can antiquarians. It is necessary, however, to note 
 their existence, since 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 penuriousness ; their marriages without the priest 
 were declared illegal, and their children were scoffed at 
 as illegitimate, l^o stone was left unturned to render 
 their lives a burden. This was a popular description: 
 
 A Quaker is an everlasting Argument; For like Afrique, he is 
 daily teeming with some new Wonder; he that can describe hini 
 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 gnomen. If he wants money, he need only 
 say to one of his gang " The Lord hath sent me to borrow of 
 thee 40 shillings." . . . These 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 
 
26 THE QUAKER. 
 
 confines Christianity to such a Complexion or habit, being con- 
 fident that cannot be a wedding garment that hath any trim- 
 ming. . . . But 'tis no small attempt to encounter a Party whose 
 Impious Penn hath presumed to duel the sacred Trinity. 
 
 "A candle of himself can't stand upright; — 
 The reason is, because his head is light." * 
 
 An anti-Quaker tract of 1679 f says: " The Quakers 
 cry out against all external ornaments, whilst them- 
 selves at the same time doat most wickedly upon a 
 Quirp-cravat, copied from a Chitterling original." 
 
 The Quaker was universally known as " Aminadab." 
 
 Says Misson: 
 
 The Quakers are great Fanaticks; there seems to be some- 
 thing laudable in their outward Appearance — they are mild, sim- 
 ple in all respects, sober, modest, peaceable — nay, and they have 
 the reputation of being honest; and they often are so. But 
 you must have a Care of being Bit by this Appearance, which 
 very 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 to expect less difference be- 
 tween the early Quakers and the " world's people " in 
 cut and style of dress than in the society even seventy- 
 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 " Work for a Cooper. Being an answer to a Libel." 1679. 
 Printed by J. C. for S. C. Prince of Wales Arms. 
 
 X " Les Quaeres sent de grands fanatiques. II parvit en eux quelqne 
 chose delouable : il semble qu'il soient doux, simples a tous ^gards, sobres, 
 modestes, paisables : ils ont meme la reputation d'etre fideles, et cela est 
 souvent vrai. Mais il ne faut pas s'y tromper, car il y a souvent aussi bien 
 du fard dans tout cet exterieur." 
 
 " Memoires et Observations faites par un Voyageur en Angleterre, 
 1698." Quoted by Repton, in an article On the Development of Hats 
 and Bonnets, from the Time of Henry VIII., to the Present Day. 
 Published in Archseologia, Vol. XXIV., p. 174. 
 
A 8TVDT IN COSTUME. 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 become 
 almost an essential in the plan of salvation. The process 
 of adoption of a Quaker fashion has thus been described 
 by an anonymous English writer f : 
 
 A novelty in dress is at first regarded as objectionable; then 
 it is admitted and not considered inconsistent; and lastly, when 
 the rest of men have passed from it, it is clung to with aD the 
 devotion which our society entertains for its peculiar customs. 
 Where are now the cocked hats that were at first a vanity and 
 afterward the outward visible signs of Quakerism, and have now 
 . . . disappeared? Where are the green aprons that became us 
 as a people? Where is the testimony against trousers, that, it 
 one may trust tradition, once agitated the Society, and was the 
 theme of discourses that claimed to be the utterances of eternal 
 wisdom ? 
 
 Our author concludes by saying 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 1657: 
 
 * William Penn, Jr., to James Logan : 
 
 " Worminghurst, Aug. 18, 1702. 
 
 " My dress is all they can complain of, and that but decently genteel, 
 without extravagance ; and as for the poking iron (sword), I never had 
 courage enough to wear one by my side." 
 
 Howard M. Jenkins, " 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. 
 
 f'Nehushtan; A Letter addressed to the Members of the Society of 
 Friends on their Peculiarities of Dress and Language." London, 1859. 
 
28 THE QUAKER. 
 
 The Puritan Spirit was the spirit of Quakerism in the first de- 
 gree, — which thing wise men know full well. . . . For 1 know, 
 countrymen, what I say, that three parts of you that are re- 
 ligiously affected at this day are possessed with that humour 
 that will make you Quakers if you take not great heed.* 
 
 Banbury was a great stronghold of dissenters, chiefly 
 Presbyterians; but many Quakers were yearly tried at 
 the Banbury Assizes, from the neighborhood of Oxford- 
 shire. Castor, in " The Ordinary," an old play by Cart- 
 wright, 1651, says: 
 
 I'll build a cathedral next in Banbury; 
 
 Give organs to each parish in the Kingdom, 
 
 And so root out the unmusical sect.f 
 
 The cant of the Presbyterians laid them open to an 
 equal amount of ridicule with the Quakers. Little Wit 
 in " Bartholomew Fair/' is made to say: " Our mother 
 is a most elect hypocrite, and has maintained us all this 
 seven year like gentlefolks." 
 
 An old play, " The City Match," makes Aurelia thus 
 
 remonstrate against the preaching tendencies of her 
 
 Presbyterian maid: 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Banswright, are you come? My woman 
 
 Was in her preaching fit; She only wanted 
 
 A table's end." 
 
 Banswright. " Why, what's the matter ? " 
 
 Aurelia. " Never 
 
 Poor lady had so much unbred holiness 
 
 About her person: I am never drest 
 
 Without a sermon: but am forced to prove 
 
 The lawfulness of curling-irons before 
 
 She'll crisp me in the morning. I must show 
 
 Text for the fashions of my gowns. She'll ask 
 
 Where jewels are commanded? Or what lady 
 
 rth primitive times, wore ropes of pearl or rubies? 
 
 *" Anti-Quakerism, or The Character of the Quaker Spirit." Lon- 
 don, 1659. 
 
 tActll., So. 3. 
 
A STUDT IN COSTUME. 29 
 
 She will urge councils for her little ruffs 
 
 Call'd in Northamptonshire, and her whole Bervice 
 
 Is but a confutation of my clothes.* 
 
 The long grace of tlie Presbyterian was another of 
 his characteristics often ridiculed. We read of 
 One that cools a feast 
 
 With his long grace, and sooner eats a caipon 
 Than blesses it. 
 
 or this: 
 
 Dost thou ever think to bring thy ears or stomach to the 
 patience of a dry grace as long as thy tablecloth; and droned 
 out by thy son here till all the meat on thy board has forgot it 
 "was that daj- in the kitchen, or to brook the noise made in a 
 question of predestination by the good laborers and painful eat- 
 ers assembled together, put to them by the matron, your spouse, 
 who moderates with a cup of wine ever and anon, and a sen- 
 tence out of Knox between ? f 
 
 The Quakers were thus derided in a similar way: 
 
 Water us young Shrubs, with the Dew of Thy blessing; that 
 we may grow up into Tall Oaks, and may live to be saw'd out 
 into Deal Boards, to wainscot Thy New Jerusalem! $ 
 
 The Puritans, as we have seen, emphasized plainness 
 
 of garb, but 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, she is a Puritan at her needle, too: 
 
 She works religious petticoats; for flowers 
 
 She'll make church histories; besides. 
 
 My smock-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. 
 
 f'The Quaker's Grace." Thomas Brown, "Works, Serious and 
 Comical." London, 1720. 
 
30 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Some pure instructor. Yesterday I went 
 To see a lady that has a parrot; my woman, 
 While I was in discourse, converted the fowl; 
 And now it can speak but Knox's Works; — 
 So there's a parrot lost.* 
 
 The Puritan ladies showed great ingenuity in the 
 choice and execution of some of the sacred themes that 
 appeared upon the garments of members of their fami- 
 lies. The custom lived but a short life, because of its 
 elaborate and expensive development. The texts and 
 sacred scenes that were thus worked upon clothing in 
 lace and embroidery, remind us of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury fashion of emblazoning armorial bearings upon the 
 dress. This custom became general in France during 
 the reign of Charles V. A general sumptuary law in 
 the time of the Roses, applied to all classes, forbade cut- 
 ting the edges of sleeves or borders of gowns into the 
 form of letters or other devices; and the tailor who 
 made such gown was subject to imprisonment. f The 
 extravagant display of gold lace and thread grew among 
 the Puritans to an abuse that rapidly put an end to this 
 sort of " moralizing," which was in every way opposed 
 to the professed simplicity of Puritanism. We read in 
 Beaumont and Fletcher: 
 
 Having a mistress, sure you should not be 
 Without a neat historical shirt? J 
 
 The range of color in Quaker clothing seems to have 
 
 nA been early limited to the browns and grays. Thomas 
 
 Ellwood says that there was a man in the Monthly 
 
 Meeting at Isaac Pennington's who '' had his eye often 
 
 * Jasper Mayne, " The City Match." 1639. 
 
 tGeorgiana Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 137. 
 
 X " Custom of the Country." Act II., Sc. 1. 
 
 / 
 
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 31 
 
 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 of Oxford, indeed, 
 brown was under a ban for a short time. " Heretofore 
 Friends chose to wear grey clothing out of a dislike to 
 brown, because it bore the name of a certain man of 
 Abingdon that had stuck close upon the skirts of 
 Friends thereabouts." * All wearing apparel was 
 treated seriously, and was bequeathed to relatives and 
 friends, and great minuteness was shown in disposing 
 of 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 short coat, knee breeches and 
 heavy yarn stockings. The breeches were often of 
 leather, adding to the neutral coloring in the matter of 
 dress. The man of the world, on the other hand, was 
 correspondingly gay. Even Robespierre, a century 
 later, as Carlyle tells us, wore a sky blue coat, a white 
 silk waistcoat, embroidered with silver, black silk 
 breeches, white stockings, and gold shoe buckles. The 
 doublet in Charles the Second'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 succeed. f 
 
 *See "Quaker's Art of Courtship," by the author of " Teague- 
 Land Jests — Calculated for the Meridian of the Bull and Mouth." Abing- 
 don had long been famous for its woolens, even then. 
 
 fFor the new costume of the King, see Pepys' Diary, Vol. VI., 
 p. 29. "A long cassock close to the body, of black cloth pinked with 
 white silke under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black 
 riband like a pigeon's leg." Oct. 15, 1666. 
 
 ^ 
 
32 THE QUAKER. 
 
 By the end of this reign the picturesque old doublet 
 had vanished and the King's coat was almost of the 
 eighteenth century cut. The dragoons of this and the 
 succeeding reign wore their brilliant red coats in the 
 new square fashion, with ample sleeves, and skirts 
 turned back with two buttons. This was the coat worn 
 by everybody for the next hundred years, Quakers as 
 well as others, with slight modifications. It was not 
 until the end of the century that coats became short 
 and grew a tail. William Penn's skirts were full — and 
 why ? Because the Stuart reign demanded a sword im- 
 der the coat — quite as a mere matter of decency; and 
 when William renounced the sword it did not strike 
 him as at all necessary to curtail his ample skirts in 
 anticipation of what, otie hundred years later, came to 
 be known as the " shad-belly " of his Pennsylvania suc- 
 cessor. Yet skirts could be too full, even then. 
 
 20th. of 9 mo. 1688. It is concluded that the Friends appointed 
 in every particular meeting shall give notice publicly in the 
 meeting that cross-pockets before men's coats, side slopes, broad 
 liems on cravats, and overfull skirted coats are not allowed by 
 Friends.* 
 
 The American Friends were not behind their Eng- 
 lish cousins in this matter of plainness, and earlier even 
 than this period had been warning their constituency of 
 the dangers of conformity to worldliness. 
 
 In 1695 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting advised: 
 
 That all that profess the Truth and their Children, whether 
 young or grown up, keep to Plainess in Apparel as becomes the 
 Truth and that none wear long-lapped Sleeves, or Coats gathered 
 at the Sides, or Superfluous Buttons, or broad Ribbons about 
 their Hats, or long curled Periwiggs, and that no Women, their 
 Children or Servants dress their heads immodestly or wear their 
 
 « MS. of Henry Hull. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 33 
 
 Garments indecently as is too common; nor wear long Scarves; 
 and that all be careful about making, buying or wearing (as 
 much as they can) strip'd or flower'd Stuffs, or other useless & 
 superfluous Things, and in order Thereunto, that all Taylors pro- 
 fessing Truth be dealt with and advised Accordingly. 
 
 Also advised, " That all Superfluity & Excess in 
 Buildings and Furniture be avoided for time to come." 
 
 Change had to come among the Quakers, however, 
 as it had in the world. By the middle of the eighteenth 
 century the country folk were f ollovdng more closely in 
 the wake of the town. " Fifty years ago," says a writer 
 in 1761, " the dress of people in distant counties was no 
 more like those in town than Turkish or Chinese. But 
 now in the course of a tour you will not meet with a 
 high crowned hat, or a pair of red stockings." ]\Iiss Hill 
 goes on to say: 
 
 The high crowned hat was pretty well confined to the Quak- 
 ers, who were as noticeable for the neatness as for the old- 
 fashioned cut of their garments. Their linen was always fine 
 and clean, and the quality of their sober colored coats and gowns 
 was of the best. The most rigid discarded all additions which 
 could in any be described as ornaments, even to the buttons 
 with which it was the fashion to loop up the hats. The men's 
 hats were lower and wider brimmed than the women's, which 
 were of the regular steeple shape. Quakers, of course, did not 
 wear wigs.* 
 
 Upon the matter of wigs we must correct Miss Hill. 
 Many Quakers wore them, including William Penn. 
 
 In August, 1787, the London " Chronicle " published 
 a satirical paragraph of advice to a man of fashion rela- 
 tive to correct costume for seaside 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 THE QUAKER. 
 
 be well filled with pomatum, powder and bear's grease, and tuck 
 it under your hat. Have an enormous chitterling * 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 say your head looks like that of John 
 the Baptist on a charger, tell them you are not ashamed to look 
 like an Apostle, what ever they are! Your first appearance 
 must be in red morocco slippers with yellow heels; your second 
 in shoes with the Vandyke tie; your third in Cordovan boots, 
 with very long rowelled spiu-s, which are very useful to walk 
 in; for if you tear a lady's apron, it gives you a good oppor- 
 tunity of showing how gracefully you can ask pardon. Your 
 fourth dress must be the three cornered hat, the Paris pump, 
 and the Artois buckle.f 
 
 The foregoing is valuable as sliomng how far dress 
 had become modern in 1787. 
 
 Eed heels were worn under Louis XIV., and in the 
 time of Louis XV. these were made of wood in bright 
 red at Court, and were considered a great mark of gen- 
 tility.:}: Shoe buckles adorn the shoes of Louis XIV. in 
 his portrait by Kigaud in the Louvre, painted in 1701; 
 they came into England in the reign of William III., 
 and 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. But he did not "gratify pride" to that extent !§ 
 
 * A ruffled front, falling from the neck. 
 fHill, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 128. 
 % Quicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 562. 
 I Hannah W, Smith, " Diary of John M. Whitall," p. 107. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 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 beau went about 
 encumbered with this, a sword and a very 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. Muffs had come to America 
 as early as 1638. Dr. Thomas Prence, in Boston, in 
 1725, lost his "black bear-skin muff"; and several 
 muffs were left by will in ]^ew York 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 Charles the Second, and paint and " patches " pre- 
 vailed. The riding-coats of this period were red, but in 
 1786 we find them green, with enor- 
 mous mother-of-pearl buttons. It was 
 about 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 ! " f 
 
 In the first years 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 QUAKER. 
 
 would have been horrified at its height; and as to 
 its tail, an early nineteenth century mode. Some- 
 thing in its shape appealed to an American wag 
 long ago, who, struck by its resemblance to the fish 
 familiar to our shores, dubbed it the " shad ! " 
 Had it been possible, the Quakers would doubt- 
 less still have clung to the early style of dress, but 
 their bravest efforts were of no avail. The coat of Wil- 
 liam Penn had no collar whatever, as we have seen. 
 There came a time when the worldly coat rose straight 
 up to a line behind the ears, and the neckcloth passed in 
 many folds about the choked and gasping neck, tilting 
 the chin, for air and ease, to a point which carried the 
 nose upward and gave the beaux of the period a most 
 supercilious 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 from 
 all its swaddling bands of cambric. The Quaker stopped 
 at this point; he had followed the fashion a quarter of 
 a century behind, it is true, but still followed, his coat 
 collar creeping up by imperceptible degrees until the 
 middle of the nineteenth century. At the present time 
 only a faithful few are left to struggle 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 be as long in rolling ? 
 
 Seventy-five years ago trousers were among the 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 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 court of Louis XIII. danced " en pantalon," as did 
 Richelieu himself, for the edification of Anne of Aus- 
 tria. The breeches were first lengthened to the calf, 
 meeting the reversed boot-top, but trousers did not be- 
 come popular at that time for stout wear, because the 
 supreme 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 short-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. 
 
38 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Fox and his friends in the House of Commons aided its 
 coming. 13 May, 1807, one Hamilton, at Balliol Col- 
 lege, Oxford, wrote: " ISTo boots are allowed to be 
 worn here, or trousers or pantaloons. In the morning 
 we wear white stockings, and before dinner, regularly 
 dress in silk stockings," etc. In 1808 the " trousered 
 beau " was present. He had before this worn silk stock- 
 ings, velvet knee breeches, powdered wig, cocked hat 
 and sword.* All through the eighteenth century 
 Quakers wore knee breeches, with silk or yarn stock- 
 ings, according to their circumstances in life, and low 
 shoes or riding boots. It is interesting to learn from 
 Miss Hill that knit stockings were only worn some fifty 
 years before Fox was born. They had before been of 
 cloth or continuous with the clothing, as in the days of 
 trunk hose. Pepys' stockings were of silk and wool. 
 When the " pantalon " arrived from Italy, the first 
 were of plain light cloth, fitting very tightly. By 1830 
 thev were much as thev have since remained, the " cos- 
 sack " shape being the transition, reminding us of Dr. 
 Holmes' lines: 
 
 They have a certain dignity that frequently appals, 
 Those mediaeval gentlemen, in semi-lunar smalls. 
 
 " French Pantaloons " are advertised in a Philadel- 
 phia newspaper of 1828. 
 
 In 1798 Mrs. Lloyd wrote to her son Robert, who 
 had gone up to London to visit his friend Charles Lamb : 
 1 was grieved to hear of thy appearing in those fantastical 
 trousers in London. 1 am clear svich eccentricities of dress would 
 only make thee laughed at by the world, whilst thy sincere 
 friends would be deeply hurt. . . . Neither thy mind nor person 
 are formed for eccentricities of dress or conduct.f 
 
 * HiU, " History of English Dress." Vol. II., p. 233. 
 t E. V. Lucas, " Charles Lamb and the Lloyds," p. 97. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 39 
 
 Robert Lloyd, in 1809, wrote to his wife: 
 
 Pray dispatch me from the Dog Inn at seven o'clock in the 
 evening, 2 pair of White Silk stockings. 1 must go smart to 
 the Opera. I have ordered a pair of dress-clothes in London. 
 
 His brother Charles inquires of him about the same 
 
 time: 
 
 If Hessian boots would do to wear with pantaloons or small 
 clothes indiscriminately, I should prefer them, but not -ftdthout.* 
 
 The Lloyds were of Quaker stock, and a charmingly 
 cultivated family, to whom the friendship of Charles 
 Lamb was sure testimony of wit and culture. They did 
 not remain in the circle of Quakers, but intermarried 
 with the Wordsworths, and from them sprang three 
 Bishops and an Archbishop of the Established Church ! 
 The English Quakers, however, were not alone in 
 their dread of the new fashion. 
 
 When Mr. Jefferson discarded his short breeches, silk stockings 
 and low shoes with silver buckles, and concealed his well-formed 
 legs in pantaloons, the Federalists were prone to regard it as 
 the trick of a demagogue to secure favor with the mob. A 
 gentleman in trousers and short hair! But what better could 
 be thought or expected of a Democrat and an atheist? 
 
 In 1867, folks forty years old could remember the high stock, 
 cruel shirt collar, ruthless coat-collar, the prodigious bonnet and 
 general severity of costume before Channing, Dickens, Beecher, 
 and the New York " Tribune " had begun to emancipate the 
 American understanding from its tight fitting armor of opinion.f 
 
 Mrs. Earle tells us that the colonists of Massachusetts 
 Bay landed, some in doublet and hose, and some in coat 
 and breeches. 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. 268. 
 
 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 1776, although they are possibly the 
 " tongs '' or " tushes " of 1638. The garment was at 
 first put to the use of what we now call overalls. The 
 Pilgrim men wore buff breeches, red waistcoats, and 
 green or sad-colored " mandillions." * The indignant 
 Stubbes was also moved to inveigh against " man- 
 dillions " in a passage that gives a perfect picture of the 
 coat and jerkins of the late sixteenth and early seven- 
 teenth centuries. He says: 
 
 Their coates and ierkis, as they be diuers in colours, so be 
 they diuers in fashions; for some be made with collors, some 
 without, some close to the body, some loose, which they cal 
 mandilians, couering the whole body down to the thigh, like 
 bags or sacks, that were drawne ouer them, hiding the dimen- 
 sions and lineaments of the body; some are buttoned down the 
 breast, some vnder the arme, and some doAvn the backe, some 
 with flaps ouer the brest, some without ; some with gi'eat sleeues, 
 some with small, some with none at all; some pleated and 
 crested behinde and curiously gathered, some not ; and how many 
 dayes ( 1 might saye houres or minutes of houres in the yeare) 
 so many sortes of apparell some one man will haue, and think- 
 eth it good prouision in fayre weather to lay vp agaynst a 
 storme.t 
 
 Doublet and hose were worn more in the Southern 
 colonies than in New England, and were richer in ma- 
 terial. In the list of " apparel for 100 men," of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Company, Mrs. Earle tells us that 
 doublet and hose may be found in 1628, but they had 
 disappeared in Xew England by 1635. The doublet 
 was worn in England also by women in 1666, to the 
 
 * " ' Mandillions,' a sort of doublet, fastened with hooks and eyes, 
 and lined with cotton." — Alice Morse Earle, " Costume of Colonial Times," 
 p. 218. 
 
 t Philip Stubbes, " Anatomic of Abuses." Ed. 1586, p. 49. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 41 
 
 scandal of our friend, Mr. Pepjs. 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, ^ew Jersey, going to " pass meeting " for the first 
 time previous to his marriage with Hannah, the daugh- 
 ter of James Logan, of Pennsylvania, 28th 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 1739, is thus described by a descendant, and the 
 description may be taken as that of many Quakers of 
 the middle of the last century. Its cut is much like 
 that of Elias Hicks. 
 
 During his preaching expeditions, he went out mounted on a 
 pacing 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 sides so as to form a point in front and rolled up behind; a 
 drab coat, with broad skirts 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; j5ne 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. 
 
42 THE QUAKER. 
 
 When he adopted pantaloons, with great reluctance, 
 just before his death, at an advanced age, he com- 
 plained of their feeling " so ' slawny/ flapping about 
 the ankles ! " * 
 
 The men Friends of the early nineteenth century 
 wore for an overcoat a long collarless garment of heavy 
 cloth, like Gay's 
 
 True Witney broadcloth, with its shag unshorn, 
 which was usually known among them as a " surtout," 
 worldly French name though it was ! 
 
 That garment best the winter's rage defends 
 Whose ample form without one plait depends; 
 By various names, in various countries known 
 Yet held in all the true surtout alone. 
 Be thine of kersey firm, though small the cost; 
 Then brave unwet the rain, unchill'd the frost.f 
 
 Possibly none clung to knee breeches longer than 
 
 some of the Quakers in America, and the last instance 
 
 that I have found is that of Kichard Mott, who for 
 
 forty years was clerk of i^ew York Yearly Meeting, 
 
 and who died in 1856. His daughter-in-law writes, in 
 
 a letter preserved among old family papers: 
 
 Mother Mott is better again. She is making [him] a pair of 
 pantaloons, and I am helping her. The men have nearly all got 
 to wearing them now, and he looks and feels so singular in his 
 " smalls," that he could not stand it any longer, but bought 
 some beautiful cloth in New York for the purpose.^ 
 
 Sometimes it is not clear what particular point in the 
 costume was criticized, as at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 
 whose Records say: 
 
 *Mahlon S. Kirkbride, "Domestic Portraiture of our Ancestors 
 Kirkbride ; 1650-1824." 
 
 tGay, "Trivia." 
 
 J Hannah B. Mott to her mother, Hannah Smith, from Mamaroneck, 
 N. Y., 8 mo. 23, 1828. 
 
L.^> 
 
 f//r-;^/i''^^^ -'. j;^^!*;?^^" 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 43 
 
 27th. 1 mo. 1722; The visitors give account that they have 
 been with B. S. who is gone from ye order of Friends into y«? 
 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 lay 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 ]^antucket, Massachusetts, 1801, L H 
 
 was disowned for " deviating from our principles in 
 dress and address." We find that he persisted in wear- 
 ing buckles, 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 
 thatdat€. " Settlement of Germantown," by Judge Pennypacker, p. 128. 
 
44 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 hoods in white or black, had evidently belonged to his 
 wife, whose death took place some years before that of 
 her husband, in 1742. Sarah Lay was also a little 
 hunchback, an English woman, and an acknowledged 
 minister in the Society of Friends, who accompanied 
 her husband when he first came to America in 1731. 
 She evidently had not been ensnared by so worldly a 
 fashion as the bonnet, which was far from the thoughts 
 of the good Quakeress of that date. The few items that 
 follow are selected from the original manuscript with 
 an eye to the style of garments worn by the Lays. 
 Benjamin Lay died Second month 3d, 1759, aged 82. 
 The sale (or " vendue," as the document reads) oc- 
 curred the next month, and fills fifteen folio pages of 
 description. £68 I7s. Id. were realized. The list in- 
 cludes one hundred and twenty-five books, mostly 
 Friends', a copy of Plutarch's Lives, etc. His home was 
 near Abington, Pa. The last rather startling item in 
 this list evidently refers to a piece of damaged goods ! 
 
 Inventory of Clothing 
 
 OF 
 
 Benjamin Lat, of Pennstlvania, 
 Died 2 mo. Srd. 1759. 
 
 s d 
 
 Coat and Jacket 2 6 
 
 Buckrim Coat 4 
 
 2 Jackets and a frok 1 2 
 
 Plush coat 9 7 
 
 Pare of Leather Britches 3 11 
 
 Leather Jacket 5 
 
 4 1 
 
 1 8 
 
 Skin Coat 3 
 
 Pare of Shoos 6 6 
 
 Coat and Hat 1 1 
 
 Bag and pare of Cloth boots 2 5 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 45 
 
 s d 
 
 Leather Jacot 10 3 
 
 Coa£ 1 6 
 
 Pare of Britches 11 6 
 
 « " 4 
 
 Trunk 2 
 
 Cloke 1 6 
 
 A Hide and cloke 1 6 
 
 2 flanell petty cote 3 3 
 
 Clock [cloak] and riding-hood 2 4 
 
 Petecoat 3 1 
 
 Crap gound [cr&pe gown] 3 1 
 
 Callemineo gound 4 6 
 
 Camblit " 1 1 
 
 Quilted petecoat 10 1 
 
 Winder curtins 1 H 
 
 Black silk scarf 1 18 
 
 Ditto 1 17 1 
 
 Black silk scarf 18 
 
 Black hood H 
 
 Whit silk " 3 9 
 
 A. " " " 5 
 
 Ditto 4 1 
 
 A silk handkerchief 7 
 
 Ditto 2 9 
 
 A silk handkerchief 7 
 
 pare of silk gloves 5 
 
 " " gloves 1 10 
 
 A whit hood 2 3 
 
 " linen " 1 4 
 
 Ditto 2 
 
 2 muslin handkerchiefs 4 
 
 A whit hood 3 
 
 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 TEE QUAKER, 
 
 8 d 
 
 20 neck cloths 4 3 
 
 sundry mittens 2 3 
 
 a green apron 2 
 
 Ditto 2 4 
 
 a pare of pockets 1 
 
 3 pare worsted stocks 4 7 
 
 1 dimity wastecoat & 2 shifts 18 
 
 12 diaper napkins & 2 table-cloths 3 10 
 Besides shirts, stockings, gloves, " 17 shifts," 12 table-cloths, 
 
 towels, napkins, sheets, pillow-cases, " curtins," "a hammack," 
 
 quilts, " vallians," etc., " to numerous to mention." 
 
 Also, a variety of dry-goods in the piece, 40 lbs. whalebone, 
 
 thimbles, needles, buttons, 12,000 pins, stay -tape, 1 doz. flints; 
 
 and finally, "8 yards of damnified ozonbriggs! "* 
 
 The dress of Mcholas Biddle is described by tbe 
 Frenchman, M. de Bacourt, so late as 1840, as " a blue 
 coat with brass buttons, yellow nankeen pantaloons, 
 canary colored gloves, and a glossy beaver." The same 
 M. de Bacourt is said to have made the mot, that the 
 " world is ruled by three boxes — the ballot-box, the 
 cartridge-box, and the band-box ! " 
 
 The only title of honor recognized by Friends seems 
 to have been that of Doctor. The ills of the flesh were 
 so heavy in the days before the use of modern methods 
 of healing, that the physician who could in any way 
 alleviate suffering was made welcome for his kindly 
 services, and his title was generally given him. Eng- 
 land was far behind Holland in the healing art, and 
 Friends went to the Netherlands, where Leyden was 
 famous in science and learning, to study 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 names, so much in use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 Spelt also Oznaburg, Ozenbridge, etc. ; originally made at Osnabriick, 
 Hanover. Linen. (Alice Morse Earle.) 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 47 
 
 Dutch thoroughness, and Rembrandt's great painting, 
 " The Anatomist," was a correct representation of the 
 scientific training which that nation was giving to the 
 whole world. The Doctor, in the seventeenth cen- «' 
 tury, was a great social personage. His power and his : 
 presence were only second to that of a great church, 
 dignitary, ^o one ever questioned his authority on* 
 any point, and to his utterances the people paid great 
 heed. He had but just stepped over that mysterious 
 borderland lying between mystery and science, and to 
 the unlettered of his day, his knowledge was hardly to 
 be 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, and 
 the great bush wig was invariably accompanied by a 
 gold-headed cane. Portraits of Doctors Fothergill and 
 Lettsom, both very eminent men, and both Quakers, 
 show them in clothing of rather lighter hue, but with 
 the adjuncts of cocked hat, wig and cane. The Quaker 
 profession in England maintained the courtesy and the 
 garb without, however, any of its exaggerations; and 
 respect for their calling led them to wear the wig 
 throughout the period of its history — a motive which 
 did them honor, although, at this date, we may not be 
 able to recognize any added sentiment of beauty or 
 dignity 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 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 ishment at the appearance of a Doctor in Philadelphia, 
 wearing none of the insignia of his profession. She 
 writes, in 1786, " We dined at Nicholas Wain's in com- 
 pany with there sisters and two public Friends." (A 
 usual term for minister among the Quakers.) " One, 
 I understood, was a country Physician, but how would 
 he look by the side of ours, instead of a great Bush 
 Wig, and everything answerable, his Dress was as hum- 
 ble 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 of Thomas Story, who in 171 7, at Rad- 
 nor, Pennsylvania, in describing meetings he had held 
 at that place, says: " 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 who the following year carried a yellow glazed 
 linen umbrella down Glasgow streets, justly proud of 
 the new importation from Paris. Before this, huge 
 green paper fans were employed as a protection from 
 the sun, while the rainy-day devices were many. Jonas 
 Hanway, however, although he has the credit of carry- 
 ing the first umbrella in London, in 1Y56, must now 
 give way to a Philadelphia Quaker, for on February 
 20, 1738, an "umberella" was imported to Philadelphia 
 in the good ship " Constantino," 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.* N^athaniel ISTewlin 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 Nathaniel 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 
 only 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 Xewlin. 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-dyin' ? " 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 1650 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 days is like a breath from the Elysian Fields. We 
 could not all find it possible, or even our duty, to Kve 
 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." 
 
 tGeorgiana Hill, " Women in English Life." Vol. I., p. 158. 
 
A STUDY IN 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 ! He 
 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 
 intimatelv. 
 
 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 
 already in use, and then his first move in the direction 
 of the new reform was to buy an undyed 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 smaU 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 singiilar- 
 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. 
 
52 THE QUAKER. 
 
 No portrait, alas, exists of John Woolman, but this 
 
 lets us know that his hat was a beaver of the natural 
 
 color. Doubtless he would never have consented to 
 
 have his " counterfeit presentment " taken. He had 
 
 some mental stress because of this step, for he adds that 
 
 after this. 
 
 In attending meetings, this singularity was a trial to me, and 
 more especially at this time, as white hats were used by some 
 who were fond of following the changeable modes of dress, and 
 as some Friends who knew not from what motives I wore it 
 grew shy of me, I felt my way for a time shut up in the exer- 
 cise of the ministry. . . . My heart was often tender in meetings, 
 and I felt an inward consolation which to me was very precious 
 under these difficulties. Some Friends were afraid that my wear- 
 ing such a hat savored of an affected singularity; those who 
 spoke with me in a friendly way, I generally informed, in a few 
 words, that I believed my wearing it was not in my own will. 
 I had at times been sensible that a superficial friendship had been 
 dangerous to me; and many Friends being now uneasy with me, 
 I had an inclination to acquaint some with the manner of my 
 being led into these things; yet upon a deeper thought I was 
 for a time most easy to omit it, believing the present dispensa- 
 tion was profitable, and trusting that if I kept my place, the 
 Lord in His own time would open the hearts of Friends toward 
 me. I have since had cause to admire His goodness and loving 
 kindness 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 
 some criticisms possible. But if all the Friends to-day 
 bought their hats and bonnets in the same spirit, it 
 would surely not be long before the Society of Friends 
 again became a power in the world. Shall any one here- 
 after say that there is nothing of philosophy in clothes ? 
 The Quaker custom of self-examination and comparison 
 with the ideal life, and a disparagement of native gifts 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 53 
 
 and talent, made the humility in which the Quaker was 
 ^' clothed as with a garment," and which he seldom 
 ceased in the last century to recommend, take on some- 
 times a melancholy hue. 
 
 Aggressive as the Quaker garb would seem to have 
 been upon a superficial glance at the situation, it will be 
 found that the sect made no effort to force their pecu- 
 liarities upon the public, nor have they ever done so. 
 They and their hats became conspicuous by force of cir- 
 cumstances, and of course were at once in the public 
 eye. They did not preach Quaker, but only plain 
 dressing; and they would at first have denied their pub- 
 lic position on the subject had they been given the 
 choice. The Quakers have always had the good sense 
 to hold quite in the background their views on dress, 
 when they have gone out as missionaries to what we are 
 pleased to call " the heathen." And herein they have 
 been wise in their generation. How much good would 
 they have accomplished, for instance, by insisting that 
 a Hindu woman should at once put on the plain bon- 
 net ? It is quite as reasonable to expect the Quakers to 
 adopt the Chinese dress, as, 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 possesses still more attraction for the moralist or 
 historian. It is hardly perceptible to him who is iin- 
 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 QUAKER. 
 
 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 the ap- 
 peal to his prowess. But it is only of late years that we 
 have had a conscience in our clothes; and what is beau- 
 tiful must now stimulate our feeling for the best and 
 truest. We do not object to the peculiarities of the 
 Quaker garb as did the public in Oliver Cromwell's day, 
 to whom it was offensive because an implied reproach. 
 But we see in it the memory of martyr and saint and 
 hero, and we suffer it, because to us it stands as a sym- 
 bol of some of the qualities for which the human soul 
 has greatest need. A feeling of sadness creeps over our 
 mind that its history has become altogether that of the 
 past. 
 
 Sunshade. 1760. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE HAT 
 
 Any Cappe, whate'er it be, 
 
 Is still the signe of some Degre. 
 
 " Ballad of tU Capt," 1656. 
 
 Ne dit-on pas qu'il n6 f»ut pas penser avoir toutes ses 
 uses en ce monde ? 
 
 Loii de la Galanterie. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE HAT. 
 
 'WO hats in the history of the church 
 stand forth conspicuous from the 
 mass. In shape they are not unlike. 
 The oldest has a round crown, and 
 plain wide brim, and is unadorned 
 save for cord and tassel. Gorgeous 
 in brilliant red, it typifies churchly 
 prestige and power; and the car- 
 dinal who wears it is a functionary of what has been 
 the most 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 day 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 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 church, and the clergy preached in them. The elegant 
 courtiers at the French and English courts were now 
 beginning to greet the ladies and their superiors in rank 
 with the new sweeping bow — " making a leg," as it was 
 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, nor yet a history 
 of worldly costume; nevertheless, we must seek the 
 origin of the Quaker hat among the abodes of fashion. 
 This part of the costume has a very interesting history, 
 and might in itself fill a good-sized volume. The felt 
 hat with which we are chiefly concerned goes back to 
 the time of the early Greeks. There is a felt hat on a 
 statue of Endymion in the British Museum. The Nor- 
 mans at the conquest wore hats of the same durable 
 material, and we love the " flaundrish bever hat " of the 
 Merchant, in the Canterbury Tales. Among the 
 peasantry of the seventeenth century, the old English 
 and Scotch " bonnets " were worn, usually of cloth or 
 other heavy stuff, low and broad in shape; while at all 
 times in the early history of England some variety of 
 the hood was to be found among both sexes alike. 
 Chaucer's Reve was rewarded by his master with 
 " thanks, a cote and hood "; and the Monk — 
 " For to fasten his hood under his chinne, 
 He 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 time-honored bonnet 
 had been superseded by the hat in the early sixteenth 
 century; and in the reign of Henry VIIL, we find cer- 
 tain old prints that give us the jaunty hat always asso- 
 * Archseologia, Vol. XXIV., p. 172. 
 
A STUDY IN 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 that a new-fashioned 
 beaver hat, sometimes called felt and made by the 
 Dutch, came in about 1559. 
 They were afterward made in 
 England by the Dutch refu- 
 gees 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 Queen Anne, we 
 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 eappes, 
 
 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 
 
 Douglas, Earl of Morton. 
 1553. 
 (After Repton.) 
 
 * " Maner of the World Now-a-Days." 
 
60 THE QUAKER. 
 
 fashionable man of 1652 has the hat-brim extending 
 horizontally, with a long drooping feather, threatening 
 
 to fall. This was the hat of 
 Charles the First, which has 
 since come down to us as 
 the Quaker broad-brim. The 
 Hat of Charles I. steeple - crowned hat of 
 
 (After Martin.) JamCS I. Still CxistS in 
 
 beaver in Wales, worn by both men and women, the 
 latter placing it over the hood or cap in the manner of 
 the first Quaker women. Xothing has ever destroyed 
 the hold of the felt hat upon the affections of the Eng- 
 lish nation. 
 
 " The Turk in linen wraps his head, 
 The Persian his in lawn too; 
 The Euss with sables furs his cap. 
 And change will not be drawn to; 
 The Spaniard's constant to his block, 
 
 The French inconstant ever; 
 But of all felts that can be felt. 
 Give me your English beaver." * 
 
 Old Philip Stubbes, in 1585, wrote of 
 
 HATS OF SUNDRIE FATIONS.f 
 
 Sometymes they vse them sharpe on the croune, pea,rking vp 
 like the spere, or shaft of a steeple, standyng a quarter of a 
 yarde aboue the crowne of their heades, some more, some iesse, 
 as please the phantasies of their inconstant mindes. Other- 
 some be flat and broad on the crowne, like the battlemetes of a 
 house. An other sorte haue rounde crownes, sometymes with 
 one kinde of band, sometymes 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 
 dales to an ende. And thus in vanitie they spend the Lorde his 
 treasure, consuming their golden yeres and siluer dales in wick- 
 ednesse and sinne. And as the fashions bee rare and strange, 
 
 *" English Mutability in Dress." 
 
 t Philip Stubbes, " Anatomic of Abuses," 1586. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 61 
 
 BO is the stuflFe whereof their hattes be made diners also; for 
 some are of silke, some of uehiet, some of taflfatie, some of sarce- 
 net, some of wooll, and, whiche is more curious, some of a 
 certaine kinde of fine haire; these they call beuer hattes, of xx. 
 XXX. or xl. shillinges price, fetched from beyonde the seas, from 
 whence a greate sorte of other vanities doe come besides. And 
 so common a thing it is, that euery seruyng man, countrieman, 
 and other, euen all indefferently, dooe weare of these hattes. 
 For he is of no account or estimation amongst men if he haue 
 not a ueluet or taffatie hatte, and that must be pincked, and 
 cunnyngly carued of the beste fashion. And good profitable 
 hattes be these, for the longer you weare them the fewer holes 
 they haue. Besides this, of late there is a new fashion of 
 wearyng their hattes sprong vp amongst them, which they father 
 vpon a Frenchman, namely, to weare them with bandes, but how 
 vnsemely (I will not sale how assie) a fashion that is let the 
 wise judge; notwithstanding, howeuer it be, if it please them, 
 it shall not displease me. 
 
 And another sort (as phantasticall as the rest) are content 
 with no kinde of hat without a greate bunche of feathers of 
 diuers and sondrie colours, peakyng on top of their heades, not 
 vnlike (I dare not sale) cockescombes, but as sternes of pride, 
 and ensignes of vanity. And yet, notwithstanding these flut- 
 terying sailes, and feathered flagges of defiaunce of vertue (for 
 so they be) are so advanced in Ailgna [England], that euery 
 child hath them in his hat or cap: many get good lining by 
 dying and selling of them, and not a few proue theselues more 
 than fooles in wearyng of them. 
 
 Bright, in " Bartholomew Fair " (Act I., Sc. 4), says: 
 
 By this two-handed beaver, which is so thin 
 
 And light, a butterfly's wings put to 't would make it 
 
 A Mercury's flying hat, and soar aloft. 
 
 And Edgeworth, in the same play: 
 
 See him steal pears in exchange for his beaver hat and his 
 cloak, thus. 
 
 Gay afterward wrote: 
 
 The Broker here his spacious beaver wears; 
 Upon his brow sit jealousies and cares.* 
 
 *" Trivia." 
 
63 THE QUAKER. 
 
 A list of clothing for Prince Henry, eldest son of 
 James I., in a bill rendered by Alexander Wilson, 
 tailor, September 28, 1607, contains " a side hunting 
 coat camblett wrought alle thicke with silke galowne 
 in 3 together [double ?] with a whoode [hood] of 
 same camblett," etc. Also, " Beavers of divers 
 colours, lined with satin or taffeta," at sixty shillings 
 each, and " new dying and lining three beavers with 
 taffeta or sateen," five shillings.* Plumes on the broad 
 hat came in at the end of the sixteenth century, and 
 continued to the time of Queen Anne. The Spanish 
 Dons on the streets of London were familiar figures in 
 their flat-crowned hats and short cloaks, taking snuff 
 prodigiously and smelling of garlic. Plain broad-brim 
 hats of shovel shape were worn a good deal in the coun- 
 try and by poorer Londoners for many years after this, 
 when the cocked hat had begun its long and eventful 
 reign. Samuel Pepys, to whose invaluable diary we 
 must often turn, tells us, under date of November 30, 
 1663: " Put on my new beaver "; and the next year he 
 says: " Caught cold by flinging off my hat at dinner," 
 In a note to this passage in Lord Clarendon's " Essay on 
 Decay of Respect due to Old Age," the author says 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 says 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 wall, but that my 
 Lord [Brouncker] and the rest did." This was doubt- 
 
 *Arch8eologia. Vol. XXIV. 1793. 
 
A STUDY IN 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 large bordered hat was turned 
 up at three sides, and until 1710 kept the adornment of 
 plumes. After that the cord and ribbon seem to have 
 been adopted.''^ These flapping brims grew so 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 snufT-box, cock, and look smart, hah," 
 
 says Carlos, in Gibber's " Love makes a Man." Their 
 numerous shapes are alluded to by Budgell ^: " 1 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 milan, le castor, 
 Ome 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. XXVII., p. 9,) says: " J'ai beax 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. 
 
 t Spectator, 319. 
 
64 THE QUAKER. 
 
 " Cynthia's Kevels " we read: " Where is your page? 
 
 Call for your 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 says: 
 
 " My lively shade thou ever shalt retaine. 
 In thy enclosed, feather-framed glasse." * 
 
 The cocked hat was universal, and was worn by boys 
 as well as men — the " tri-corne " of the French. The 
 varying cocks f were well known ; there were, for in- 
 stance, the " military cock," the " mercantile cock," 
 the " Denmark cock "; they were ridiculed occasionally 
 as the " Egham, Staines and Windsor," from the three- 
 cornered sign post of that name. During this period 
 all hats were black, with a gold or silver band. 
 
 The London Chronicle (Vol. XL, p. 167, for the year 
 
 1762) has the following: 
 
 Hats are now worn upon an average, six inches and three- 
 fifths broad in the brim, and cocked between Quaker and Keven- 
 huller. Some have their hats open before, like a church-spout, 
 or the tin scales they weigh flower in; some wear them rather 
 sharper, like the nose of a greyhound; and we can distinguish 
 by the taste of the hat, the mode of the wearer's mind. There 
 is the military cock, and the mercantile cock; and while the 
 beaux of St. James wear their hats under their arms, the beaux 
 of Morefield 'Mall wear theirs diagonally over the left or right 
 eye. Sailors wear the sides of their hats uniformly tucked down 
 to the crown, and look as if they carried a triangular apple- 
 pasty upon their heads. . . . With Quakers it is a point of their 
 faith not to wear a button or a loop tight up; their hats spread 
 over their heads like a pent-house, and darken the outward man, 
 to signify that they have the inward light. 
 
 *Thistleton-Dyer, " Domestic Folk Lore," p. 115. 
 
 t In the two-cocked hat originated our naval and military cocked hats 
 of modem uniform. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. (55 
 
 The " Kevenhuller " would seem to have heen an ex- 
 aggerated form of cock, for one writ- 
 ing in The Connoisseur, in 1754 (ISTo. 
 36), had said of the women's hats in 
 that year: " They are more bold and 
 impudent than the broad-brimmed, 
 staring KevenJiullers worn a few years rpj^^ "Kevenhuller." 
 ago by the men." (After Hogarth.) 
 
 The " Ladie's Advice to A Painter," in the London 
 Magazine for August, 1755, ran thus: 
 
 Painter, once more shew thy art; 
 Draw the idol of my heart; 
 Draw him as he sports away. 
 Softly smiling, sweetly gay; 
 Carefully each mode express, 
 For man's judgment is his dress. 
 Cock his beaver neat and well, 
 (Beaver size of cockleshell) ; 
 Cast around a silver cordj 
 Glittering like the polish'd sword. 
 Let his 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- 
 fashioned. The French Revolution put a period to 
 wigs, and hence also to the " chapeau bras "; for as a 
 protection these enormous powdered periwigs rendered 
 hats superfluous, beside the necessity for displaying 
 what had been come at with such expenditure of time 
 and money! 
 
 " His pretty black beaver tucked under his arm, 
 If placed on his head, might keep it too warm ! " 
 
 After the great periwig disappeared, the '' tie " wig 
 followed, and then the " queue " of natural hair, with its 
 neat ribbon bow, 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 its place on the head. The beaver hat had 
 a long life of two hundred years. Its weight was doubt- 
 less an element in its loss of popularity. For several 
 years the " filled beaver "' (a silk 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 dress. 
 
 1810 saw the manufacture of the first all-silk hat. 
 It did not become popular in Paris, and consequently 
 anywhere else, until 1830. At that period the soft hat 
 for purposes of dress was 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 D'Orsay, with ribbed 
 silk binding and large bow on the band.* The Ameri- 
 can, like the Frenchman, has been largely released from 
 
 *Georgiana HUl, " History of English Dress. Vol. II., p. 254. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 67 
 
 the dominion of the stiff 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 
 that greeted Kossuth when he first came to our shores 
 wearing the " Alpine " hat and feather,* We drew the 
 line at the feather, but his hat is with us still. 
 
 Such, briefly, is the history of the worldly hat, dur- 
 ing two hundred years of Quakerism. Let us see what 
 the Quaker did with his. The hat worn by Fox and 
 ever since associated in our minds with the Quakers, 
 was that of the cayalier, without the feather, worn less 
 jauntily, but still the same. William Penn's more fa- 
 miliar figure will occur to us. J^ow it is easy to per- 
 ceiye that in a community where the people had been 
 accustomed to see their older members retaining the 
 hat much of the time while indoors, and had regarded 
 the rapidly preyailing custom of removing it on enter- 
 ing the house as an affectation of the " smart set," that 
 the moment any notion was suggested of the conscience 
 being involved in the retention of that article, there 
 would be a prompt response. I^ot 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 ealane, so much in favor with the bravos of Seville and Madrid." 
 George Borrow, " Romany Rye," p. 34. 
 
68 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Will Peirn, the Quaker — at the head of his brethren, 
 to thank the Duke for his kindness to their people in 
 Ireland. To see a dozen scoundrels with their hats on, 
 and the Duke complimenting with his off, was a good 
 sight 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 on. The 
 humorous sovereign quietly laid aside his own, which 
 occasioned Penn's inquiry, " Friend Charles, why dost 
 thou 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, " It is 
 not lawful for Christians to kneel or prostrate them- 
 selves to any man," an observer of the English who 
 traveled among them from the Continent in 1698, thus 
 wrote, noting a slight improvement in the manners of 
 the stricter Quakers at that date : 
 
 Plusieiirs d'entre eux. depuis quelques arniees, s'humanisent 
 un pen, a I'egard de la salutation: ils n'otent pas le chapean, 
 Dieu les garde de eonimetre cet horrible peche: mais ils com- 
 mencent a baiser un peu le menton, a faire une espece de petite 
 inclination de tete. 
 
 Old Tom Brown wrote: 
 These are more just than the other dissenters, because, as 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 mjiy 
 get sixpence by, but ne'er vail the bonnet to God, by whom they 
 may get Heaven.t 
 
 Fox says: 
 
 Moreover, when the Lord sent me into the world, he forbade 
 mo to put off 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 " Archseologia." Vol. XXVII., p. 51. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. (39 
 
 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 
 Pjot. He says: 
 
 We stood a pretty while with our hats on, and all was quiet. 
 I was moved to say, " Peace be amongst you." Judge Glyn, a 
 Welshman, then Chief Justice of England, said to the gaoler, 
 " What be these you have brought here into court ? " " Prison- 
 ers, my Lord," says he. " Why do you not put off your hats ? " 
 said the judge to us. We said nothing. " Put off your hats," 
 said the Judge again. Still we said nothing. Then said the 
 Judge, " The court commands you to put off your hats." Then 
 I 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, either 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 my 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, 1657, at Edinburgh, Eox was obliged to 
 appear before the Koyal Council, and upon his entrance 
 into the Council Chamber the doorkeeper removed his 
 hat. " I asked him," says Eox, " 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." 
 
70 THE QUAKER. 
 
 At Basingstoke, whicli Fox calls " a very rude town," 
 he had a meeting, at the close of which he says: " I 
 was moved to put off my hat and pray to the Lord to 
 open their understandings; upon which they raised a 
 report that I put off my hat to them, and bid them 
 goodnight, which was never in my heart." At Read- 
 ing, 1658, he adds: " We had much to do with them 
 about our hats, and saying Thou and Thee to them. 
 They turned their profession of patience and modera- 
 tion into rage and madness; many of them were like 
 distracted men for this hat-honour." At the Exon as- 
 sizes Friends were fined for not putting off their hats. 
 At Tenby, John-ap-John was imprisoned for wearing 
 his hat in what Fox calls " the steeple-house," which he 
 entered after leaving the meeting which Fox was at the 
 time conducting. ]!^ext day, in a conversation with the 
 Governor, Fox says: 
 
 I asked him, " Why he cast my friend into prison ? " He said, 
 " For standing with his hat on in the church." I said, " Had not 
 the priest two caps on his head, a black one and a white one? 
 Cut off the brims of the hat, and then my friend would have but 
 one ; and the brims of the hat were but to defend him from the 
 ■weather." " These are frivolous things," said the Governor. 
 " Why, then," said I, " dost thou cast my friend into prison for 
 such frivolous things ? " 
 
 In London, before Sir Henry Vane, Friends were 
 finally admitted to court with their hats on, chiefly 
 through the mediation of others. 
 
 That so serious results should have followed so ap- 
 parently innocent a peculiarity as the refusal to remove 
 the hat, or give what the Quakers termed " hat-honor," 
 seems almost incredible to us now. And doubtless 
 there were many in the position of Johnson's " pious 
 
^ 
 
 # 
 
 .^ 
 
 .'it 
 
 ^ 
 
 /: ' 
 
 /^ 
 
 %, 
 
 r&rt 
 
 •O'" 
 
 
 J 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 71 
 
 gentleman/' who, though " he never entered a church, 
 never passed one without taking off his hat." Robert 
 Barclay sums up the whole matter when he says: 
 
 Kneeling, bowing and uncovering of the head is the alone out- 
 ward signification of our adoration towards God, and therefore 
 it is not lawful to give it unto man. He that kneeleth or pros- 
 trateth himself to man, what doeth he more to God? He that 
 boweth and uncovereth his head to the Creature, what hath he 
 reserved to the Creator ? * 
 
 It has been the mistake of writers upon costume not 
 only to assert that the shape of the hat has never ma- 
 terially altered among the Quakers, but that they never 
 wore cocked hats at all. That cocked hats accom- 
 panied the wigs, and were the usual form of head-dress 
 at one time, even in the minister's gallery, is a per- 
 fectly established fact. George Dillwyn, who died in 
 1820, wears the transition hat, from the cock, to the 
 broad-brim revived and modified. The broad-brim and 
 the cock are the two forms of the Quaker hat. The 
 common sense of the cock early appealed to the f)rac- 
 tical Quaker mind, and we have many portraits of 
 prominent Quakers in hats of varying cock — Dr. Foth- 
 ergill. Dr. Lettsom, William Cookworthy in England; 
 and in America, Robert Proud, the Pembertons, Owen 
 Jones, and many others. The Americans were always 
 more strict in dress than the English, largely because 
 his 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 Hight of summer. . . . However, consider and act for the 
 best Husbandry, and then please thyself e; but be sure weh. ever 
 'tis, that 'tis packed up in a very Frd. like way, for the fantas- 
 tical cocks in thine and thy brother Johne's hats has burthened 
 my Spiritt much, and Indeed more than most of your Dress be- 
 sides; therefore, as thou Valines my Comfort, Regulate it more 
 for the future. I have a Multitude of Toyls and Cares, but they 
 would be greatly Mitigated, if I may but behold thee and thy 
 Brother, persuing hard after Vertue and leaving as behind your 
 backs the Toyish allurements and snares of this uncertam 
 world,* 
 
 In spite of himself, the Quaker was carried along on 
 the tide of fashion; indeed, he might to this day be 
 
 wearing his heavy beaver hat, had 
 it not, like the mammoth, become 
 extinct ! Certain of the " plainer 
 sort " (not in the sense in which 
 George Fox used the term, but 
 meaning the more strict in guise) 
 for many years refused to dye the 
 beaver of their hats. The last 
 white beaver hat did not disappear 
 
 Owen Jones. - -p., .. , . ^ . -i h o^/> 
 
 ColonialTreasurerofPenna. irom Jr^hlladelphia UUtll loTO, 
 Nat. 1711. Obiitl793. ^ 
 
 Ae.82. when what we know as the modern 
 
 silk hat appeared, f A modification of it was adopted 
 by the cosmopolitan Quaker, and has ever since 
 been retained. To the initiated, however, the silk 
 hat goes a long way to mark the man; and 
 the decree of King Edward VII. in favor of 
 that adornment, keeps it de rigueur in England 
 
 ♦Howard M. Jenkins, " The Family of "William Penn," p. 99. 
 
 t John Hetherington wore the first silk top hat on the Strand, in 
 London, in 1797. The style was his own invention, and he was mobbed in 
 consequence. 
 
JOirX PEMEEKTON. 
 
 HENRY DF>1NKER. 
 
 JAMES PEMEEKTON. 
 
 JOHN PAHRISll. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 and America. As the silk hat of the cabinet minis- 
 ter is not the mercantile silk hat, nor yet that of 
 the cleric, so the Quaker hat also retains its indi- 
 viduality; and in its shiny perfection and its amplitude 
 of dimensions, when mounted above the occasional 
 straight coat collar, more nearly resembles the 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 reasons for the 
 peculiarities of his forefathers. When the court gal- 
 lants of James II. lowered their crowns and widened 
 
 Puritan. 1653. 
 
 their brims, the Puritans kept their crowns high. 
 Charles II. escaped in a " very greasy old grey steeple- 
 crowned hat, with the brim turned up, without lining 
 or hat-band." The high-crowned hat was beginning to 
 be old-fashioned before his time; hence its choice as a 
 means of disguise. So tall a hat had had its inconveni- 
 ences, as we read: " I pray, what were our sugar-loofe 
 hats, so mightily affected of late, both by men and 
 women, so incommodious for us, that every puffe of 
 winde deprived us of them, requiring the employment 
 
74 THE QUAKER. 
 
 of one hand to keep them on." * The tall hat came to 
 America on our Pilgrim Fathers, where its shape un- 
 derwent a slight 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 this hat lasted in New 
 England until the time came for Benjamin Franklin 
 to go to France, when, as we know, he went to Paris 
 in a New England chimney-pot hat. This was at once 
 adopted by the ardent Parisians, who almost worshiped 
 the American envoy, as " anti-English," the symbol of 
 Liberty, etc. For some years the French had a monop- 
 oly of it; then it came to England, and eventually to 
 America again, transformed and modified into the 
 modern top hat. It may be noted that the Quakers 
 adopted the court style of James II., and not the Puri- 
 tan hat, when they first wore the beaver, illustrating 
 in the hat, as has elsewhere been shown in their long 
 hair, the loyalty to the crown that was a part of their 
 conservatism. One of these early Quaker hats, once 
 the property of Peuben Macy, may now be seen in the 
 museum at Nantucket, Massachusetts. f 
 
 The attitude of the Quakers at once led to endless 
 controversies, whose repetition here is unnecessary. 
 
 *Bulwer, "Artificial Changeling." Quoted by Repton, in Arch- 
 seologia. Vol. XXIV., p. 181. 
 
 fA French Canadian Journal of recent date (Montreal " Presse," 
 ed. hebdomadaire, May 18th, 1899), thus describes with mild surprise 
 and courteously expressed admiration, a nineteenth century Friend who 
 has retained the plain garb of the latest form evolved. He is called 
 " un ministre Quaker," " d'une taille gigantesqiie." "Pour ne parler 
 que de sa coiffure, disons de suite qu'il portait un chapeau de castor de 
 dix-huit pouces de hauteur avec des bords droits d'egales dimensions. 
 . . . II ne parle qu'a la seconde personne, et n'ote son fameux couvre- 
 che.( qvie pour dormir ! En dehors de sa toquade religieuse, dont il vqus 
 entretient a I'exclusion de tout autre sujet, c'est un gentilhomme d'uae in- 
 telligence remarkable." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 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 The Quakers Madrigal, in Rime Dogrell," begin- 
 ning: 
 
 The Quaker and his brats 
 Are born with their hats^ 
 Which a point with two Taggs 
 Ties fast to their Craggs.* 
 
 Certain Friends warned their members that the re- 
 moval of the hat was a dangerous formality. During 
 worship, however, Fox 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. 
 
76 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Friends pray." Fox was originally in the habit of at- 
 tending the Church of England. When welcome doc- 
 trine was expounded, he removed his hat; if, however, 
 the preacher uttered unwelcome sentiments, he sol- 
 emnly put it on as a protest; and if the matter continued 
 to offend him, he rose and silently left. It was for 
 purposes of habitual protest that Quakers first learned 
 to sit in places of worship with their hats on. The pro- 
 test was a decorous and inoffensive one, compared with 
 much of the rough dealing then prevalent. There was 
 no proper attitude of reverence in the London churches 
 up to, and during the time of Queen Anne; lolling, ris- 
 ing, or sitting at mil being the rule, even among the 
 Episcopalians.* The Presbyterian minister's example 
 in the pulpit was so far followed, that often in country 
 neighborhoods, one might see the louts of the congre- 
 gation fling on their hats in sermon time. In Scotland, 
 in 1740, a traveler condemns " a custom which I see 
 is getting pretty general among the lower sort, of cock- 
 ing on the hat when the sermon 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 beginning 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. 
 George Whitehead says,f "All preaching cannot be that 
 entire and peculiar prophesying, which, when one is im- 
 mediately called to, I grant it is most seemly to stand 
 up with the hat off." Some others beside the Inde- 
 pendents preached with the hat on. Lady Montague 
 
 »See Spectator, No. 455, and Tatler, No. 241. 
 t" The Apostate Incendiary Rebuked," p. 30. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 77 
 
 wrote from Nimeguen, in the Netherlands, in 1716 
 [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 parish 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 his hat. If you 
 put your hat on the right one, it will please; none of 
 the others have hit upon it." He did so, 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 so 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 himseK with a general air 
 of dignity that his predecessor would have regarded as 
 savoring 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. 
 
78 THE QUAKER. 
 
 of prayer,* and who wrote verses to the memory of 
 Perot, says, in a letter to a friend, " What matter 
 whether Hat on or Hat off, so long as the Heart is 
 right ? " t 
 
 The majesty of the law demanded recognition in the 
 removal of the hat ; and it was in the courts that Friends 
 suffered most severely because they could not conscien- 
 tiously observe the conventionalities. The famous case 
 of William Penn and William Meade, the son-in-law of 
 Margaret Fox, may be cited as an early instance. After 
 their discharge by the jury at the trial, September 1-5, 
 1670, they were re-committed to Newgate in default 
 of payment of fines for " contempt of court " in declin- 
 ing to remove their hats during the trial. Admiral 
 Penn paid their fines two days later, without their 
 knowledge, and they were released. Thousands of 
 similar cases 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 
 Pennsylvania gave the Quakers in that colony a distinct 
 advantage in regard to some of their scruples. After 
 his death, the traditions of his proprietaryship are well 
 exemplified in the following petition and the resulting 
 order of the Chancellor. Sir William Keith, who filled 
 that office, instituted in 1720 a Court of Chancery, 
 and it was before that court that the eminent Chief Jus- 
 tice Kinsey appeared with his hat on. John Kinsey 
 was prominent both as lawyer and Quaker, and when he 
 
 *Ellwood refers to Perot's " peculiar error of keeping on the Hatte 
 in Time of Prayer, as well publick as private, unless they had an imme- 
 diate motion at that time to put it off." 
 
 t Joseph Smith, Catalogue of Friends' Books. Vol. II., p. 153. See 
 also, by Pilchard Richardson, of London, " Of adoration in general, &, in 
 particular, of Hat-Honour — their rise, etc." Svo. 1680. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 79 
 
 followed the usual custom of his sect in retaining his 
 hat, the President promptly ordered it taken off, which 
 was accordingly done.* This arbitrary proceeding 
 called forth 
 
 The humble address of the people called Quakers, by appoint- 
 ment of their Quarterly Meeting, held in Philadelphia, for the 
 city and county, 2nd. of second month, 1725, — 
 
 May it please the Governor: Having maturely considered the 
 inconveniences and hardships which, we are apprehensive, all 
 those of our community may be laid under who shall be obliged 
 or required to attend the respective courts of judicature in this 
 province, if they may not be admitted without first having their 
 hats taken oS from their heads by an officer, as we understand 
 was the case of our friend John Kinsey, when the Governor waa 
 pleased to command his to be taken off, before he could be ad- 
 mitted to speak in a case depending in a Court of Chancery, 
 after that he had declared that he could not, for conscience, 
 comply with the Governor's order to himself to the same pur- 
 pose; which, being altogether new and unprecedented in this 
 province, was the more surprising to the spectators, and as we 
 conceive (however slight some may account it) has a tendency 
 to the subversion of our religious liberties. 
 
 This province, with the powers of government, was granted 
 by King Charles the Second to our proprietor, who, at the time 
 of the said grant, was known to dissent from the national way 
 of worship in divers points, and particularly in that of outward 
 behavior, of refusing to pay unto man the honors that he, with 
 all others of the same profession, believe only to be due to the 
 Supreme Being; and they have, on occasions, supported their tes- 
 timony, so far as to be frequently subjected to the insults of 
 such as require that homage. 
 
 That the principal part of those who accompanied our said 
 proprietor in his first 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. 
 
80 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 not unreasonable to conceive an indulgence intended by the 
 crown, in graciously leaving the government to him and thera 
 in such manner as may best suit their circumstances which 
 appears to have been an early care in the first legislators, by 
 several acts, as that of Liberty of Conscience, and more particu- 
 larly by a law of the province, passed in the thirteenth year of 
 King William, Chapter xcii, now in force. It is provided, " That 
 in all courts, all persons, of all persuasions, may freely appear in 
 their own way, and according to their own manner, and there 
 personally plead their own cause, or, if unable, by their friends," 
 which provision appears to be directly intended to guard against 
 all exceptions to any person appearing in their own way, as our 
 friend at the aforesaid court. 
 
 Now, though no people can be more ready and willing, in all 
 things essential, to pay due regard to superiors, and honor the 
 courts of justice, and those who administer them, yet, in such 
 points as interfere with our conscientious persuasion, we have 
 openly and firmly borne our testimony in all countries and 
 places where our lot has fallen. 
 
 We must therefore, crave leave to hope, from the reasons here 
 humbly offered, that the Governor, when he fully considers thera, 
 will be of opinion with us, tliat we may justly and modestly 
 claim it as a right, that we and our friends should, at all times, 
 be excused in the government from any compliances against our 
 conscientious persuasions; and humbly request that he would, in 
 future, account it so to us, thy assured, well-wishing friends. 
 
 Signed by appointment of the said meeting, 
 
 John Goodson, Samuel Preston, Morris Morris, 
 
 Rowland Ellis, William Hudson, Anthony Morris, 
 
 Eeece Thomas, Richard Hill, Evan Evans. 
 Richard Hayes, 
 
 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- 
 self 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 STUDY IN C08TVME. 81 
 
 obliged to observe the usual ceremony of uncovering their heads, 
 by having their hats taken off. And such privilege, hereby or- 
 dered and granted to the people called Quakers, shall at no time 
 hereafter be understood or interpreted as any contempt or 
 neglect of said Court; and shall be taken only as an act of con- 
 scientious liberty, of right appertaining to the religious persua- 
 sion of the said people, and agreeable to their practice in all civil 
 affairs of hfe. ^^ g^^ William Keith, Chancellor.* 
 
 The refusal of Fox and his contemporaries to remove 
 their hats before Justices, etc., had not been a new 
 thing in England. In Bishop Aylmer's time " there 
 were a sort of people who counted it idolatry to pull off 
 their hat or give reverence, even to princes." f These 
 were probably a sect of the Anabaptists. Aylmer was 
 Bishop of London between 1578 and 1594. The Ger- 
 man Baptists refused the customary greetings. 
 
 This method of protest had been in use among other 
 dissenters also, as the following instance from New 
 England will serve to illustrate : 
 
 William Witter, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was an aged Baptist, 
 who had already been prosecuted by the Puritans; but in 1651, 
 being blind and infirm, he asked the Newport church to send 
 some of the 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 Holmes and John Crandall. 
 
 They reached Lynn on Saturday, July 19, 1651, and on Sunday 
 staid within doors, in order not to disturb the congregation. A 
 few friends were present, and Clark was in the midst of a ser- 
 mon, when the house was 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. 
 
82 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Baptists remonstrated, saying that were they forced into ths 
 meeting house, they should be obliged to dissent from the ser- 
 vice, but this the constable said, was nothing to him, and so 
 he carried them away. On entering, during the prayer, the 
 prisoners took off their hats, but presently put them on again 
 and began reading in their seats. Whereupon Bridges ordered 
 the officers to uncover their heads, which was done, and the ser- 
 vice was then quietly finished. When all was over, Clark asked 
 leave to speak, which, after some hesitation, was granted, on 
 condition he would not discuss what he had heard. He began 
 to explain how he had put on his hat because he could not 
 judge that they were gathered according to the visible order of 
 the Lord; but here he was silenced, and the three committed to 
 custody for the night.* 
 
 After a violent struggle, the ministers under John Norton's 
 lead succeeded, on the 19th of October, 1658, in forcing the 
 capital act through the Legislature, which contained a clause 
 making the denial of reverence to Superiors, or in other words, 
 wearing the hat, evidence of Quakerism.^ 
 
 This was at the time of the famous trial of the South- 
 wicks. 
 
 We are told of four Quakers, who, on the 27th of 
 Eighth month, 1658, at Boston, were brought before 
 the General Court. Thej were Samuel Shattuck, 
 'N. Phelps, Joshua Buffum, and Ann j^eedham. George 
 Bishop's account of their case as he addressed that 
 Court is as follows: 
 
 They answered that they intended no Offense to you in com- 
 ing thither (for they must come to you in their clothes, if they 
 come decently, of which the hat is part) for it was not their 
 Manner to have to do with Courts. And as for withdrawing 
 from the Meetings, or keeping on their Hats, or doing anything 
 in Contempt of them or their Laws, they said, the Lord was 
 their Witness (as he is) that they did it not. So ye rose up 
 and bid the Jaylor take them away.| 
 
 The Puritan minister, John Wilson, at the hanging of the 
 
 * Brooks Adams, " The Emancipation of Massachusetts," p. 111. 
 
 tibid., p. 170. 
 
 J George Bishop, " New England Judged," p. 85. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 83 
 
 Quaker, William Robinson, on Boston Common, in 1659, said to 
 the Quakers present, " Shall such Jacks as you come in before 
 Authority with your Hats on ? " To which Robinson replied, 
 " Mnd you, mind you, it is for not putting off the Hat we are 
 put to Death.* 
 
 Later on, the usual fine for keeping on the hat seems 
 to have been twenty shillings. 
 
 The long hair of the Quakers was an offence to the 
 Puritans of Massachusetts, as well as to those on the 
 other side of the Atlantic. Edward Wharton was a 
 " turbulent Quaker," whose persecutions were related 
 by George Bishop, f in reply to his inquiry of the Bos- 
 ton judges: 
 
 " Wherefore have I been fetch'd from my Habitation, where 
 I was following my honest Calling, and here laid up as an Evil- 
 Doer ?" "Your Hair is too long (reply'd you), and you are 
 disobedient to that Commandment which saith, ' Honour thy 
 Father and Mother.' " To which said Edward, " Wherein ? " 
 "In that you will not put off your Hat, (said you) before the 
 Magistrates." 
 
 The same Wharton, with four other Quakers, was 
 brought before the General Court, Boston, 3 mo., 1665. 
 Their hats, (the great offence), were commanded to be taken 
 off, and thrown on the Ground; which, being done, Mary Tomkina 
 set her foot upon one of the Hats, and calling to you said, " See, 
 I have your Honour under my Feet." Whereupon you demanded 
 of her where her habitation was? She answered, " My Habitation 
 is in the Lord." + 
 
 A feeling of irritation is hardly to be wondered at 
 on the part of any judge who got no more direct reply 
 from a prisoner than that of Mary Tomkins. But this 
 was a trifling matter; for to bluff and confound the Jus- 
 
 * George Bishop, " New England Judged," p. 124. 
 tibid., p. 304. See also Brooks Adams, " The Emancipation of 
 Massacliusetts," p. 151. 
 flbid., p. 460. 
 
84 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 tice was the proper method employed by all men in the 
 English Courts of Law in that day, when literature 
 shared in the involved style of intercourse and address, 
 then universal. " Turbulent " was a term applied to 
 these early Quakers by their contemporaries, and, in- 
 deed, by some of those contemporaries' descendants, 
 who inherit still the old persecuting spirit. 
 
 Thomas Ell wood in 1660, when, as a youth, he was 
 undergoing much for the sake of his hat, gives us a 
 description of his costume that is most interesting to us 
 now. He says: 
 
 While I was in London, I went to a little meeting of Friends, 
 which was then held in the House of one Humphrey Bache, a 
 Goldsmith, at the Sign of the Snail, in Tower Street. It was 
 then a very troublesome time, not from the Government, but 
 from the Rabble of Boys and Rude People, who, upon the turn 
 of the Times, (upon the return of the King) took Liberty to be 
 very abusive. 
 
 When the Meeting ended, a pretty Number of these unruly 
 Folk were got together at the Door, ready to receive the Friends 
 as they came forth not only with evil Words, but with Blows. 
 . . . But quite contrary to my Expectation, when I came out, 
 they said one to another^ " 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 People saw in me, 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 
 black Velvet, the Skirt of which being turned up in Folds, looked 
 (it seems), somewhat above the common Garb of a Quaker; and 
 this put me out of Conceit of my Cap. 
 
 Not long 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 oflF my Head, Knowles (the Deputy- 
 
A STUDY IN 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, I forthwith put it on my Head 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; but I saw his In- 
 tention was to search it, whether it had a Tuck in it [sword] 
 for he tried to have drawn the Head; but when he found it was 
 Fast, he returned it to me. 
 
 The violent antipathy of Thomas Ellwood's father to 
 any Quaker who refused to remove his hat in his pres- 
 ence, caused his son many painful scenes with the 
 worthy squire, and an alienation that was a grief to 
 both. One of these occasions is thus described by Ell- 
 wood: 
 
 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 ray 
 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 untU 
 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 EUwood," by Himself; pp. 50- 
 2,3d ed. 1765. 
 
86 THE QUAKER. 
 
 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, I arose from the Table, and leaving the Room, went 
 into 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 dress at first among the Friends, for the broad- 
 brim was only just becoming sufiiciently popular to be 
 safely adopted by them mthout any risk of seeming 
 too much in the mode. Moreover, they were all too 
 much engaged in preaching and in ministering to their 
 brethren who were in suffering from present or 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 re- 
 lated by Ellwood, who met the great young missionary, 
 Edward Burrough, on his w^ay to Oxford. Burrough 
 v.'as one of the early Quaker martyrs, dying in a foul 
 prison at the age of twenty-eight. 
 
 When I was come within a mile or so of the city (Oxford), 
 whom should I meet upon the way, coming from thence, but Ed- 
 ward Burroiigh! I rode in a Mountier (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.f 
 
 * " The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood," by Himself; p. 68. 
 tlbid.,p. 31. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 87 
 
 This was in the year 1659. 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 so- 
 ciety when it demanded far more formality and elabora- 
 tion 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 says: 
 
 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 
 8un is hot, and at other times ornamental." 
 
38 THE 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' I 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 the spirit in terms of 
 the hat. This affected even political questions, as well 
 as those social and religious ; yet no more innocent body 
 of people ever walked the earth than they under the 
 broad-brims. In 1801 Richard Jordan, a well-known 
 American minister of the Society, was traveling on the 
 Continent with Abraham Barker, a Friend from New 
 Bedford, Massachusetts, and the party arrived in Paris. 
 Richard Jordan mentions the following incident in his 
 Journal : 
 
 It may not perhaps be amiss to mention how we were treated 
 at the municipality, where we attended to present our passports. 
 We were stopped by the guards, who had strict 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 Gurne j relates his own experience upon 
 the first occasion that 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 hat on. From this sacrifice, 
 Btrange 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 the mistress o£ 
 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 gromng 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 sty boldly in the sight of God, from my own ex- 
 perience & that of many thousands more, that however small or 
 foolish this may seem, yet we behooved to suffer death rather 
 than do it, [i.e., remove the hat] and that for conscience' sake; 
 and that, in its being 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. 
 
 Royalist 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. 
 
 BEARDS, WIGS AND BANDS. 
 
 T happened that Quaker customs be- 
 gan to crystallize at a time when 
 smooth faces were universal; and 
 to this accident is due their later 
 " testimony " against beards, which 
 would have been quite as strong 
 against the practice of shaving olf 
 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 beard; and there are also prints of the 
 early Quaker preachers with flowing beards, but 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 Louis, 
 TreiziSme de se nom, 
 Qui toute a Csbarbe sa maison." 
 
94 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 for shaving off his beard and putting himseKe in ye 
 Trench 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 after; 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: "Young 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 beard. Political opinions 
 expressed themselves with the revolutionary party in 
 England in the short hair of the Roundheads. The 
 Puritans, therefore, are to be foimd 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. 
 
 * James Parton, " The Clothes Mania." 
 
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 95 
 
 have 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 14S7 they were wearing long beards, as in earlier 
 times, but they were condemned for wearing long 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 
 Sumner wore a Avig 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 bv ludiies 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, 
 forbidding its members to wear periwigs, smoke tobacco, or read 
 their sermons; and when he was at Newmarket, Nathaniel Vin- 
 cent, Doctor of DiA-inity, Fellow of Clare Hall, and Chaplain to 
 his Majesty, preached before him in a long periwig and Holland 
 
96 THE QUAKER. 
 
 sleeves, according to the fashion in use among gentlemen at that 
 time. This foppery displeased the King, who commanded the 
 Duke of Monmouth, then Chancellor of the University, to cause 
 the statutes concerning decency of apparel to be put in execu- 
 tion, which was accordingly done.* 
 
 Thomas Story, the well-known Quaker preacher and 
 traveler, relates f the following that was told him of 
 Peter the Great, after that monarch had attended a 
 Meeting of the Quakers at Friedrichstadt (Holstein) in 
 1712. The Czar was at one time attending a meeting 
 held in a Dutch market place : 
 
 Being rainy Weather, when they were at it, the Czar wear- 
 ing his own Hair, pulled off the great Wigg from one of his 
 Dukes, and put it on himself, to Cover him from the Eain, mak- 
 ing the owner stand bareheaded the while, for it seems he is so 
 absolute, that there must be no grumbling at what he does, Life 
 and Estate being wholly at his Discretion. 
 
 The portraits of George Fox show him with long 
 locks, reaching to the shoulder, but he never wore a 
 wig; while on the contrary, William Penn wore as 
 many as four in one year. On the subject of his own 
 long hair. Fox speaks occasionally in his Journal. In 
 1655, when before Major Ceely, during a journey into 
 Cornwall, he says of the Major: 
 
 He had with him a silly young priest, who asked us many 
 frivolous questions; amongst the rest, he desired to cut my hair 
 which was then pretty long; but I was not to cut it, though 
 many were ofi'ended 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.) 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 97 
 
 as a pulpit, a certain " rude, jangling Baptist " began to 
 find fault with Fox's long hair ; but, he adds, " I paid 
 nothing to him." The following year, in Wales (1657), 
 Fox's Journal records: 
 
 Next 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 light to receive the weighty things of 
 God. In her lightness she came and asked me, " 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 
 testify. 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 QUAKER. 
 
 the Duke of Burgundy. Its use spread all over Europe, 
 and came to America. The true antiquarian holds 
 everything worth preserving merely because it has 
 heen preserved. Hence we are blessed with the long 
 list of the Kings' fools of old times, and among them we 
 find that of Saxton, the Court fool of Henry VIII., 
 who is the first person in modern England recorded to 
 have worn a wig. In an account of the Treasurer of the 
 King's Chambers in that reign is the entry: " Paid for 
 Saxton, the King's fool, for a wig, 20s." * 
 
 The first ofiicial notice to be found of the wig 
 among the early Quakers is in 1691, when London Six 
 Weeks Meeting issued a " testimony " against " those 
 that have imitated the world, whether it be men, in 
 their extravagant periwigs, or modes in their apparel; 
 or whether it be women in their high towering (head) 
 dress, gold chains, or gaudy attire; or whether it be 
 parents, like old Ely, not sufficiently restraining their 
 children therefrom; ... or whether it be in volup- 
 tuous feasting without fear, or costly furnitures, and 
 too rich adorning of houses," etc.f 
 
 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 ef- 
 fect that on a certain public coach, " Dancing shoes not 
 exceeding four inches in height, and periwigs not ex- 
 ceeding three feet ( !) in length, are carried in the coach 
 box gratis ! " X One 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. 
 tBeck and Ball, " History of London Friends' Meetings," p. 117. 
 t Ashton, " Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," p. 109. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 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 sly boy, whose hand to rapine bred. 
 Plucks off the curling honors of the head.* 
 
 The wearing of wigs among the Quakers must have 
 been much more common than has been supposed, par- 
 ticularly with those somewhat fashionably inclined, if 
 we may judge from the large number of minutes and 
 other papers against that vanity, as well as the many 
 allusions to them in letters of an early date. William 
 Cookworthy and Doctors Tother- 
 gill and Lettsom have already been 
 instanced in describing their 
 cocked hats. William Dillw^m, 
 America and England, 
 rather smaller wis than 
 
 in both 
 
 wears a ^ 
 
 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- 
 
 William Dillwyn. 
 
 1805. 
 
 *" Trivia." The " Ladies' Answer " to a ballad ridiculing black 
 hats and capuchins (published by Percy See, Vol. XXVII., p. 205), 
 thus remonstrated with the men : 
 
 " 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 7 
 With ramelie wigs and muffetees." 
 
100 THE QUAKER. 
 
 versallv it was worn b j the Friends, completely refuting 
 Miss Hill's statement that the Quakers never wore wigs. 
 For a time it was not considered decent or respectable 
 to appear in public without one ; and the Quakers were 
 really less conspicuous by yielding to public opinion, 
 than if they had opposed it more strenuously. As in 
 the case of the adoption of pantaloons, the pressure of 
 circumstances was too much for them ; although we find 
 them slow 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 its 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 source of danger. What 
 would a modern Board of Health have said to Pepys' 
 entry in his Diary, under date September 3d, 1665 ? 
 
 Put on my coloured silk suit very fine and my new periwigg, 
 bought a good while since but durst not wear, because the plague 
 was in Westminster when I bought it. It is a wonder what will 
 be the fashion after the plague is done, as to periwiggs, for no- 
 body will dare to buy any haire, for fear of the infection, that it 
 had been cut off of the heads of people dead of the plague. 
 
 Foulis, of Ravelston, Scotland, in 1704, pays '" for 
 a new long periwig, 7 guineas and a halfe." His dress 
 wig costs " 14, 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 other 
 things, he made wigs and " barberized " customers in 
 his night-cap. A friend of his, who was a Scotch judge, 
 put his wig in a sedan-chair to keep it dry from the 
 
 *H. G. Graham, "Social Life in Scotland in the Eighteenth 
 Century." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. IQI 
 
 rain, and himself quietly walked home. The umbrella 
 
 was still in the future; and a powdered periwig in a 
 
 hard rain meant a ruined pocket book, and a head 
 
 weighed down with a load of paste, drying into a mould 
 
 of plastered hair ! Therefore Gay's timely advice : 
 
 When suflFocating mists obscure the morn, 
 Let thy worst wig, long used to storms be worn; 
 This knows the powdered footman, and with care 
 Beneath his flapping hat secures his hair.* 
 
 The " wigge," however, had come to stay. Through 
 the whole 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. 
 I^apoleon 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 a 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 Quioherat, " Hiatoire do Costume en France," p. 475. 
 
103 THE QUAKER. 
 
 This may be seen in the portrait of Charles I. in the 
 Louvre, who wears a large pearl. 
 
 The English ladies wore the mg devotedly, probably 
 for the same good reason that moved Mrs. Pepys. Her 
 husband says (March 13, 1665): " My wife began to 
 wear light locks, white almost, which, though it made 
 her look very pretty, yet not being natural, vexes me, 
 that I will not have her wear them." After the Brigh- 
 ton races, the bellman once gave notice to the inhab- 
 itants of that place that a lady had lost a wig coming 
 from Broadwater. A reward offered brought no evi- 
 dence of it. A great while after a bird's nest was dis- 
 covered in a tree by some boys, who, climbing to seize 
 the treasure, were surprised to find the lost wig, con- 
 taining a few sticks, 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, if not melodious, strains. The friend 
 of Milton really waxed indignant: 
 
 " Some Women (Oh the Shame!) like ramping Rigs, 
 Ride flaunting in their powder'd Perriwigs; 
 Astride they sit (and not ashamed neither) 
 Drest up like men in Jacket, Cap and Feather ! " * 
 
 Lady Suffolk (Letters; 1728) says: 
 
 Mrs. Beikeley drives herself in a chair in a morning gown, 
 with a 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 
 Mechlenburg-Schwerin in " a riding-habit, with a bag- 
 
 *Thos. Ellwood, " Speculum Seculi ; era Looking Glass for the Times." 
 
A STUDY IN 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 that " The Precisions " (as he calls the Quak- 
 ers), " for the most part, though they are plain in their 
 dress, wear the best of commodities, and though a smart 
 toupie is an abomination, jet a bob or a natural of six 
 or seven guineas' price, is a modest covering allowed of 
 bv the saints." 
 
 It is probable that the Quakers affected the " bob " 
 wig chiefly. This style of wig was not 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 HoflFman, 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," says the 
 Prince, " I know not what to do, for I never had a long periwig 
 in my life; and I have sent 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 ? " f 
 
 The father of Stephen Grellet, an officer in the court 
 of Louis XVL, 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 TSE 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 anj man who has the least care for his soul to wear 
 long hair." They enact that it shall be 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 Puritans permitted their 
 people to wear out the clothes they brought with them, 
 after which the sumptuary laws of Massachusetts went 
 into force. These ordered that no slashed clothes were 
 to be worn, but that one slash in each sleeve might be 
 permitted ! Beaver hats were prohibited. " Immod- 
 erate great shoes " were condemned, and four years 
 later short shoes are also condemned as leading to " the 
 nourishing of pride and exhausting men's estate." In 
 1651 the Government was solicitous to preserve the dis- 
 tinctions of rank; men must not be too richly dressed, 
 nor wear " points " (ribbons with 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. AVigs also fell under con- 
 demnation, but they prevailed by the end of the seven- 
 teenth century, despite the Fathers. 
 
 The sumptuary laws of the early Massachusetts col- 
 
 * See also " Dialogue between Captain Long-Haire and 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 de- 
 tails of every day life, was a natural reaction from dog- 
 matism, 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 so 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 K^ew England, for in- 
 stance, 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 
 developments of the most rapid period of growth in 
 that colony; they thereby preserved many little pecu- 
 liarities of their most conservative sect, which peculiari- 
 ties 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 treat- 
 ment would have preserved Puritan customs to us as 
 interesting religious fossils to the present day. 
 
106 TBE QUAKER. 
 
 Wigs were denounced in the Massachusettts legisla- 
 ture as early as 1675. John Eliot said that the wars 
 and disturbances in the Puritan Meeting House were a 
 judgment on the people for wearing wigs; * and he re- 
 luctantly acknowledged that " the lust for wigs is be- 
 come insuperable ! " We know that John Wilson and 
 Cotton Mather wore them. A young woman of Rhode 
 Island, named Hetty Shepard, when visiting Boston, in 
 1676, wrote in her diary: 
 
 I could not help laughing at the periwig of Elder Jones, which 
 had gone awry. The periwig has been gieatly censured as en- 
 couraging worldly fashions not suitable to the wearing of a min- 
 ister 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.f 
 
 Pepys records the first time he put on his wig, which 
 was in 1663. By 1716 they were universal, although 
 in 1722 the Puritans 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. 
 
 tibid. P. 136. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 107 
 
 enjoyed with that vanity, and which in the bleak ISTew 
 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 Kew England 
 relating to the subject of wigs, occurs at Dartmouth, 
 Massachusetts, whose Monthly Meeting records, under 
 date First month 21, 1719: " A concern lying on this 
 meeting Concerning of Friends Wearing of Wigs is re- 
 ferred to be proposed to the next Quarterly Meeting." 
 Soon after, at the suggestion of the Yearly Meeting at 
 Philadelphia, ISTew 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 First 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 Wig 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 j Especially that 
 
108 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 of waring his 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] and some other modes that we 
 have not unity with; also attended a marriage out of the order 
 of Friends; 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. ISTan- 
 tucket Records, dated Seventh month 6, 1803, also re- 
 late that F. H. " has deviated from our principles in 
 dress, particularly in tying the hair." 
 
 Dartmouth Meeting, in 1733 (Tenth month 17) 
 
 showed its sorrow for one of its members " going from 
 
 education " in the following minute : 
 
 Whereas, H T . . . hath had his Education among 
 
 Friends but for want of keeping the Spirit of Truth and ye good 
 order Established among Friends, hath gone from Education & let 
 himself into a Liberty that is not agreeable to our Holy Profes- 
 sion, by wearing Divers sorts of Periwigs and his Hat set up on 
 three sides like ye Vain Custom of ye World, and also Speaking 
 of Words not agreeable to our Profession, & for these his out- 
 goings he has been Labored with and Advised to forsake the 
 same, but he hath not done it to ye Satisfaction of ye Monthly 
 Meeting, but still goes on with his vain conversation, to the 
 grief of (the) sincere-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 Perriwigs, which, if care be not taken may 
 
A STUDY IN 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, and they are desired to 
 recommend tlie same to the next Quarterly Meeting. — Do., 30 
 of 3 mo. 1701. 
 
 Likewise the Friends appointed to Enquire into the Conversa- 
 tion and Clearness of Abraham Scott, Report that they cannot 
 find but that he is clear in relation to marriage and debts, but 
 as to his orderly walking amongst Friends, they cannot say 
 much for him on that account. Yet upon his appearance before 
 this meeting, making some acknowledgment of Extraordinary 
 Powdering of his Periuig, 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: 
 
 28 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 
 
110 THE QUAKER. 
 
 in well doing, but frequent scandalous or tipling houses, and 
 delight in vain and evil company and communications or shall 
 use gaming, or drink to excess, or behave rudely or such like 
 enormities or shall decline our plain manner of speech or imi- 
 tate the vain antick modes and customs of the times — the men 
 with their extravagant wigges, and hattes set up with three 
 corners; and the women in their immodest dresses, and other 
 indecencies. It is our advice and earnest desire that parents and 
 guardians, whilst such youth are under their tuition, do restrain 
 them, and not indulge or maintain them in such pride or ex- 
 travagances. But if they will not be otherwise reformed, then 
 the Overseers or other Frd's shall use their endeavours to re- 
 strain them, and if that cannot prevail, let the ofifenders (after 
 dealing and admonitions), have notice to be at the next suc- 
 ceeding monthly meeting, in order to be further dealt withall 
 in the Wisdom of Truth, according to the Discipline. 
 
 It is a curious fact that wigs were discarded with 
 more apparent reluctance in democratic America than 
 in England. To appear on the streets of New York, 
 about 1800, without a wig was scarcely decent, and 
 Parton tells us that " many men surrendered the pig- 
 tail only with life." In 1786, Ann Warder's Philadel- 
 phia nephews wore their hair still in the queue, a 
 fashion quite gone out at that date in London. She 
 says: " I threatened the Execusion of these Pig-Tails 
 before I will submit to introduce them as my nephews 
 in our country, which they both acknowledge will be 
 cheerfully resigned." * 
 
 In the year 1795, Martha Routh, the English Friend 
 who wore the first " plain bonnet " in America, at- 
 tended a meeting of the settlers in the Alleghany 
 mountains, " to which," she says, " came many Men- 
 onists and Dunkers. Some of the Elders wear their 
 beards, as they say, according to ancient custom, but do 
 
 *Ann Warder, MS. Journal. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. HI 
 
 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 that Aaron's 
 reached to the hem of his garment. Thej also quoted 
 Leviticus 19: 27. In respect to Adam, they were 
 hardly behind the Rev. George Wickes, the Puritan di- 
 vine, who lived during the fashions in dress of the Ho- 
 garth period. He died in 1744. A sermon that he 
 preached at Harwichtown has been preserved to us, and 
 is quoted by Bliss. The following extracts seem appro- 
 priate : 
 
 Adam, so long as he continued in innocency, did wear his own 
 hair and not a Perriwig. Indeed, I do not see how it was possi- 
 ble that Adam should dislike his own hair, and therefore cut it 
 off, so that he might wear a Perriwig, and yet have continued 
 innocent. . . . The children of God will not wear Perriwigs after 
 the Resurrection. . . . Elisha did not cover his head with a. 
 Perriwig, altho' it was bald. To see the greater part of Men 
 in some congregations wearing Perriwigs is a matter of deep 
 lamentation. For either all these men had a necessity to cut off 
 their Hair, or else not. If they had a necessity to cut off their 
 Hair, then we have reason to take up a lamentation over the 
 sin of our first Parents which hath occasioned so many Persons in 
 one Congregation to be sickly, weakly crazy Persons. Oh, Adam, 
 what hast thou done! f 
 
 Elizabeth Drinker was a Quaker lady of the last cen- 
 tury, in Philadelphia, to whose keen powers of observa- 
 tion we are greatly indebted for much valuable infor- 
 mation. She writes, 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 Eouth, Journal, p. 139. 
 
 tW.R. Bliss, "Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting-house," 
 p. 142. 
 
 J Elizabeth Drinker, Journal. 
 
112 THE QUAKER. 
 
 everywhere more numerous than the Quaker; and for 
 tliis reason, his peculiarities occupy a more conspicuous 
 place in literature than those of the latter. His long 
 hair has been noted by no less a hand than that of Ben 
 Jonson. Brother Zeal-of-the-Land Busy, the Puritan in 
 " Bartholomew Fair," is made by the dramatist to say: 
 
 For long hair, it is an ensign of Pride, a banner; and the 
 world is full of these banners, very full of banners.* 
 
 The famous picture of King Charles L, at St. John's 
 
 College, Oxford, written in the Psalms, in the smallest 
 
 possible handwriting that can be deciphered, was thus 
 
 apostrophized by one Jeremiah Wells: 
 
 The Presbyterian maxim holds not here 
 That calls locks impious if below the ear; 
 When every fatall clip lops off & prayer, 
 And he's nccurs'd, that dare but cut thy hair. 
 
 There are a few rare Quaker pamphlets against wigs. 
 The following extracts from two of the most unique 
 will serve to illustrate the kind of literature devoted to 
 the subject. As usual, in such cases, it is more attrac- 
 tive to the antiquarian than the scholar: 
 
 A Testimony against Periwigs and Peri-wig making and 
 Playing on Instruments of Music among Christians, or 
 
 ANY OTHER IN THE DAYS OF THE GoSPEL. BeINO SEVERAL 
 
 Reasons against those things. By one who for Good 
 Conscience sake hath denyed and forsaken them. 
 
 John Mulliner. 1677. 
 
 This curious pamphlet relates the suffering of mind 
 undergone by Mulliner, who was at one time a barber 
 of Northampton, in regard to making " borders," wigs 
 and periwigs for his trade. He says : 
 
 As to my Employment of Periwig making, it is more than 
 twelve years since I began to make them, and much might be 
 
 *ActIII.,Sc.l. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. II3 
 
 said for the making of them by some, yet much questioning and 
 reasoning have 1 had within myself for some time — so that at 
 some times I have been troubled when I have been makinsr of 
 them. 
 
 He had apparently argued to himself: 
 
 There is hardly any man but is desirous of a good head of 
 Hair, and if Nature doth not afford it, if there be an art to make 
 a Decent Wig or Border, what harm is that? As for those whose 
 hair is wasted, fallen and gone off their Heads through infirmity 
 of Body, and for want of it do find that their health is impaired, 
 or lessened, if such do wear short Borders for their health sake, 
 and for no other End or Cause Whatsoever, I judge them not; 
 but let none make a pretense that they wear Borders or Wigs 
 for their Health, when in Reality, another thing is the Cause. 
 
 And let all those who have Hair growing upon their heads, 
 sufficient to serve them, I mean what is really needful or useful, 
 be content therewith, and not find fault with their own hair and 
 cut it oflF, and lust after and put on others Hair. 
 
 As I had been a publick Professor of this Employment for some 
 time, I must bear my 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 I thank God I have much ease and comfort of 
 mind since I have done it. 
 
 I was a great lover of Musick, 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 
 ill, 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 I thought I could not be the cause of it; so 
 
114 THE QUAKER. 
 
 I took as many as I suppose cost forty shilling, and Burned 
 Them, and had great Peace in my mind in doing of it, which i3 
 more to me than all the pleasures in this world.* 
 
 A Declabation against Wigs and Periwigs. 
 Bt Kichaed Richardson. 
 
 Jer, 22 : 24. Phil. 3 : 3 
 
 Several Testimonies having been given by Friends against Pride 
 in Apparel relating to Women; 'tis considerable whether Women 
 being reflected on, may not reasonably reflect on Men, their arti- 
 ficial frizzled Hair; for Women's Hairs on Men's Heads swarm 
 like one of Egypt's Plagues, and creep in too much upon and 
 among Christians. And a Nehemiah is desirable, that might 
 pluck off this strange Hair of strange Women lusted after. 
 (Nehem. 13: 25.) And the Heathen may rise up against us, for 
 an Ambassador coming before a Senate with false Hair, a Grave 
 Senator said. What credit is to be had to him whose very Locks 
 do lye? And if, upon necessity the Locks of any amongst us do 
 lye, 'tis fit they should lye to purpose, viz., so as not to be dis- 
 covered from native Locks! For to seek to deceive so as to be 
 perceived, argues as much want of Wit as of Sincerity; and a 
 want of an Endeavor in it not to be perceived, argues a want of 
 Humility and Moderation! 
 
 • • • • • • 
 
 If Heat causes Headach, sure a Wig under a Hat is not a 
 means to cure it. The Prophet Elisha likely had neither, when 
 Bethel Boys cried, A Bald Head! 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 John Mulliner, A Friend about Northamton, a Wig-maker, left 
 off his trade and was made to burn one in his Prentices sight and 
 Print against it. John Hall, a Gentleman of Northumberland, 
 being Convinced, sitting in a meeting, was shaken by the Lord's 
 Power, pluck'd off and threw down his Wig; so 'tis considerable 
 whether care may not be taken, that conceited conterfit [coun- 
 terfeit] Calvinists may not continue amongst us, nor tliat any 
 of the people of God make themselves Bald for Pride now, as 
 they did of old for Sorrow. (Levit. 21. 5.) 
 
 The Apostles Peter and Paul forbad ornament of Plaited Hair 
 (as ours translate; Crisp'd or Curl'd, as others) and the An- 
 
 * This was reprinted in 1708. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 115 
 
 cients write, that they both had Bald-Heads, and if 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 Peri-wigs of? 
 
 And then Friend Richard's feelings overcame him 
 entirely, and he says: 
 
 WTio can refrain to fall into a Poetical Vein, and Paint out in 
 such sad Colours, that it may look as 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 scribere! 
 
 Metamorphoses. 
 
 The manner of this Age unmannerly 
 Is, Man unmanning, Women's Hair to buy. 
 Dub Poles and Joles Dame Venus' knights to be, 
 Smock-coat and Petticoat-Breech their Livery; 
 Scarce man-like fac'd, though Woman-like in Hair, 
 As sting-tail'd Locusts in the Vision were; 
 
 • •.••• 
 
 And like unto the Phrygian Ganymede, 
 Or as Tiresias Femaliz'd indeed; 
 Or 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 Girls appear. 
 And Girls to Boys by their short curtail'd Hair. 
 By bulls, some seem 'ith 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 Garters 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 
 
116 THE QUAKER. 
 
 much as £60. " Partelets " were of velvet or lawn, 
 larger than bands, and worn like the earlier " gorgets " 
 of embroidered lawn, velvet or Venetian work.* 
 French gentlemen began to wear collarettes or frilled 
 ruffles about 1540.f The shirts of this period were of 
 very fine holland, with no neckband, but a neckcloth, 
 the most stylish being the " Steenkirk," after the bat- 
 tle of that name. Starch reached the extreme of its use 
 or abuse in the enormous ruffs of Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign. :{: Small ruffs were still worn in the early Quaker 
 times, but they were less starched. Aurelia, in Jasper 
 Mayne's play, " The City Match," when her Puritan 
 maid has become worldly, and enters her presence in 
 fashionable attire, exclaims: 
 
 O, miracle ! out of 
 
 Your little ruff, Dorcas, and in the fashion — 
 
 Dost thou hope to be saved? § 
 
 and again: 
 
 Ere I'll be tortured thus, I'll get dry palms 
 With starching, and put on my smocks myself. || 
 
 Quarlous, in " Bartholomew Fair," says of an ac- 
 quaintance : 
 
 Ay, there was a blue-starch woman of the name; 
 
 and ^Nightingale, in the same play, sells " A Ballad of 
 Goose-green starch and the Devil, i.e, a Goodly ballad 
 against Pride, showing how a Devil appeared to 
 a lady which was starching her ruff by night." Yel- 
 low starch was most in vogue in England. Old Stubbes 
 
 *Georgiana Hill, " History of English Dress," Vol. I., p. 187. 
 
 tQuicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 175. 
 
 J One Mrs. Turner introduced yellow starch from France with great 
 success. By a dreadful irony of fate she was hanged for the murder of 
 Sir Thomas Overbury in a starched ruff I 
 
 §ActIV.,Sc. 3. 
 
 II Act II., Sc. 1. 
 
A 8TUDY IN COSTUME. II7 
 
 scoffs at " the liquor which they call starch, wherein the 
 devil hath willed them to dye their ruffs ! " * He says 
 of their " great ruffes and supportasses " : 
 
 They haue great and monstrous ruffes, made either of cam- 
 brike, holland, lawne, or els of some other the finest cloth that 
 can be got for money, whereof some be a quarter of a yarde 
 deepe, yea, some more, very few lesse, so that they stande a 
 full quarter of a yearde (and more) from their necks hanging 
 ouer their shoulder points in steade of a vaile. But if ^Eolus 
 with his blasts, or Neptune with his storms, chaunce to hit vpon 
 the crasie barke of their brused ruffes, then they goe flip flap 
 in the winde like ragges that flew abroade lying vpon their 
 shoulders like the dish cloute of a slut. But wot you what? 
 the deuill, as he, in the fulnesse of his malice, first inuented these 
 great ruffes, so hath he now found out also two great pillers to 
 beare vp and maintaine this his kingdome of pride withal (for 
 the deuill is kyng and prince ouer al the children, of pride) The 
 one arch or piller, whereby his kyngdome of great ruffes is vnder- 
 propped, 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 stiff and 
 inflexible 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 neckes 
 vnder the ruffe, 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 be- 
 ing the last to abandon them, and embroidered muslin 
 or lace collars in Van Dyck 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- 
 
 * " Anatomie of Abuses," 1586. 
 
118 THE QUAKER. 
 
 der, under which any collar of cloth had been impos- 
 sible. Therefore, when William Penn cast off his laces, 
 he laid bare his collarless state, and it required one 
 hundred and fifty years to develop the straight coat cut 
 of his successors. 
 
 But the form of neckwear known as " bands " was 
 no sooner introduced than it commended itself at once 
 to the Quaker, and was forthwith adopted. Bands are 
 the only item of civil dress that the clergy still retain 
 to-day, surviving in the gown and bands of the Presby- 
 terian Church, as those who know Dr. Parkhurst's 
 familiar figure will recall. Without entering into the 
 question of its authenticity as a portrait, Sir Peter 
 Lely's painting of George Pox in bands is rather strik- 
 ing in connection with our present association of that 
 portion of the costume with the clergy. The Bevan 
 portrait of Penn shows him in bands, as does that of 
 Milton at the age of eighteen. The latter wears the 
 *' falling-band." The bands, worn very soon by most 
 Quakers, gave them another peculiarity among the 
 fashionable lace and embroidered collars; and the public 
 was quick to make a hit. An anti-Quaker tract of 
 1671 * says: " A Quaker is a vessel of Phanaticism 
 drawn off to the Lees; a common shore [sewer] of 
 Heresie, into which most extravagant opinions at last 
 disembogue and enter; the fag end of Reformation 
 marked with a sullen meagre look and this character- 
 istic ' Thou.' . . . [He] decries superstition, yet idolizes 
 Garbs and phrases. You may know him by his diminu- 
 tive Band that looks like the forlorn hope of his shirt 
 
 * " Character of a Quaker in His True and Proper Colors ; or, The 
 Clownish Hypocrite Anatomized." London, 1671. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 119 
 
 crawling out at Lis collar, for his purity consists only in 
 his dress, and his religion is not to speak like his neigh- 
 bors." 
 
 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 de- 
 scribes the Quakers: 
 
 A long vest and cloke of black or some other grave colour, 
 with a collar of plain linen called a turnover, and a broad band, 
 with the hair closely cropped, distinguished the men of every 
 rank, and the ladies equally excluded lace, jewels and braided 
 locks. 
 
 At one time bands had a certain political signifi- 
 cance, and on their introduction into Ireland, in 1728, 
 the following " Answer to the Band Ballad, by a Man 
 Milliner," declared: 
 
 The town is alarm'd and seems at a stand. 
 As if both the Pope and the Devil would land 
 To doom this whole Isle in the shape of a band — 
 Which nobody can deny, deny ; which nobody can deny. 
 
 The bands and 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 
 some of its forms as anything worn in the days 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 
 Massachusetts Bay. Sumptuary laws forbade embroid- 
 
120 
 
 THE QUAKER. 
 
 ery. The Judges of the Supreme Court wore bands 
 when on the bench until this century. The linen col- 
 lar, turned down over the doublet, was known as the 
 '' falling band." 
 
 Gabkiel-Marc-Antoine de Gbellet, 
 father of Stephen Grellet. 1789. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE QUAKERESS. 
 
 Mistress Anne Lovely. — "Isn't it monstrously rediculoos 
 that they should desire to impose their quaking dress upon me 
 at these years ? When I was a child, no matter what they made 
 me wear ; but now — " 
 
 Betty. — "I would resolve against it, madam; I'd see 'em 
 hanged before I'd put on the pinch'd cap again." 
 
 Mistress Lovely. — " Are the pinch'd cap and formal hood the 
 emblems of sanctity? Does your virtue consist in your dress, 
 Mrs. Prim?" 
 
 Mrs. Cenllivre: "A Bold Stroke for a Wife." 
 
 When she to silent meeting comes. 
 With apron green before her, 
 
 She simpers so like mut9e plums, 
 'Twould make a Jew adore her. 
 
 Old Verse. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE QUAKERESS. 
 
 ONCOXFORMITY has nowhere ex- 
 pressed itself more fully than in 
 Quaker dress. There is unconscious 
 satire in the old Quaker plea that no 
 change has crept into their institu- 
 tions ; in regard to their dress, at least, 
 this is all a mistake. But one creature 
 exists in which no change, which is the 
 other name for growth, has been go- 
 ing on, and that is the fossil. On the contrary, an 
 instance of adaptability in dress on the part of the 
 Quakers is their prompt acceptance of the shawl, 
 which, at its introduction, near Revolutionary times, 
 was at once seized upon as eminently adapted to Quaker 
 needs. Possibly the most notable instance of adher- 
 ence to a style is that of Mrs. ISToah, in the famous toy 
 ark. It will be remembered that she wears high stays, 
 with a very waspish waist, and her petticoats are ex- 
 tended by what are evidently padded hips. The head- 
 dress crowning her rather conventional features — so 
 far as she has any lineaments at all — is a most frivolous 
 " Tam o' Shanter," — or is it a flat 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. 
 
124 "^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 It would be very valuable to us to learn what was 
 the exact costume worn by Margaret Fell (afterward 
 Margaret Fox) and her talented and interesting daugh- 
 ters. We only know how her contemporaries dressed, 
 and have a few details of the family wardrobe in those 
 Swarthmoor account books which still exist. That they 
 wore the popular style of dress, without adornments, is 
 altogether likely, for she has left on record her disap- 
 proval of anything tending to uniformity among the 
 Friends. We shall not be far wrong, I think, if we im- 
 agine George Fox's wife in a hood of black wadded 
 silk, a short, full skirt, standing well out from the hips, 
 and held in position by an array of petticoats (for she 
 would never have worn the false hips then in vogue); 
 a kerchief of muslin, over a low bodice, stiff and long 
 in the 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, wdth heels that may have been another color from 
 the shoe itself, but not the fashionable red, and higher 
 than we should now care to wear upon the street. Her 
 cloak, whose color we dare not 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 to county attending public 
 meetings. 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 STUDY IN COSTUME. 125 
 
 Maria Webb says that she had a " beaming counte- 
 nance," and a " most sweet, harmonious voice." But 
 with these slight references we are fain to be content. 
 A few items of clothing touched upon in the family- 
 letters give us our only clue to the style of dress worn 
 by the women of the Swarthmoor circle. John Rous, 
 the son-in-law of Margaret Fell Fox, writes her from 
 London in 1670: 
 
 Yesterday, by John Scott, the Preston carrier, I sent a small 
 box of sugar for present use, directed for Thomas Green. The 
 hasp was sealed as this letter is, and in it was a white mantle, 
 and a white sarsanet hood for thee, and some playthings for the 
 children.* 
 
 The following items from a portion of the old 
 Swarthmoor Account Book of 1673, which is quoted 
 from at length in " The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," 
 are very interesting for the light they throw upon the 
 style of dress in the Fell family. The precious old book 
 is in Sarah Fell's handwriting. Sarah was the eldest 
 daughter of the household, and the head of affairs and 
 its business manager, to whom, 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 illegible: 
 By money pd. Thos. Benson for dying 2 pr. stock- 
 ings sky 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. 
 
126 THE QUAKER. 
 
 By money pd. for 1 yd. and nail of black paragon 
 
 for apron for self 2 
 
 Paid for leading strings for little Margaret Lower 2 
 
 By money paid for a blue apron »nd strings for my- 
 self 1 3 
 
 By money pd. for a black hood for sister Susan. ... 4 
 
 By money pd. for a black alamode whiske* for sis- 
 ter Rachel 2 
 
 By money paid for a round whiske for sister Su- 
 sanna 4 4 
 
 Do. for a little black whiske for myself 1 10 
 
 1678. 
 
 By money pd. for clogging a pair of clogs and for 
 nailes to mend shoes for my boy, Tom Harrison, 
 (owTi account) 5i^ 
 
 Sarah (Fell) Meade wrote to her sister, Rachel 
 
 Abraham, from London, under date " The 19th. of 
 
 10th. [December] 1683": 
 
 I have endeavoured to fit my dear Mother with black cloth for 
 a gown, which is very good and fine, and as much as Jno. Rich- 
 ards saith is enough to the full, 5 yards and half, and what 
 materials as he thought was needful to send down, vizt. silk, 
 both sewing and stitching, gallowne ribbon, and laces, and I was 
 very glad to know what she wanted, for it has been in my mind 
 a pretty while to send her and you something, and I could not 
 tell what she might need or might be most serviceable 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: 
 
 3 pair doe skin gloves such as are worn in winter, for mother, 
 Bister Lower and thyself; the thickest pair for mother if they fit 
 her, but that I leave to you to agree on as you please. 
 
 1 pair same sort of gloves for brother Abraham. 
 
 4 ells of Holland, for sister Lower and thyself, each two ells. 
 
 2 pots of balsam, one for my mother, the other for sister 
 Yeamans. 
 
 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 ruflf." 
 — " The Century Dictionary." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 127 
 
 1 muslin nightrail for sister Yeamans, which she sent for. 
 100 needles, of which half for sister Yeamans, which she sent 
 for, the other half hundred for sister Lower and thyself. 
 
 • • • • • « 
 
 There is (in the box) for sister Lower, which she sent to sister 
 Susanna to buy her, a colored stuff manteo, cost 143., and 11 
 yards and half of black worsted stuff, at 2s. per yard, cost 223. 
 Sister Susanna exchanged the old 20s. piece of gold as she desired, 
 which yielded 233. 6d., so she is out of purse for her 12s. 6d. 
 Black stuff was worse to get than colored, which is now mostly 
 worn; but she hath done as well as she can, and hopes it will 
 please her; its a strong, serviceable stuff. 
 
 Mary Frith presents her service to (sister Yeamans), and 
 takes it kindly that she should send her her fillet. 
 
 I am thy affectionate sister, S. M. 
 
 (P. S.) 
 
 We advise you to make my mother's cloth gown without a 
 skirt, which is very civil, and usually so worn, both by young 
 and old, in stiffened suits.* 
 
 These were all women of cultivation and good taste, 
 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 let- 
 ters of the Fells, allows us to clothe them with a per- 
 sonality 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 FeUsof Swarthmoor HaU," p. 92. 
 
128 THE QUAKER. 
 
 wearing the short overskirt 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- 
 beth Try and her successors ever since. 
 
 Sometimes the modest dress of the Quakers was sad- 
 ly 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 
 circulated a description of her and her sister that 
 Thomas hastened to deny. He writes Mary: 
 
 At Plymouth both thou and sister Yeamans were painted 
 with naked necks, and in costly array, until T. S. [Thomas Salt- 
 house] and I deciphered you, and quite defaced the former coun- 
 terfeit by representing you in a more commendable dress. The 
 authors of these unsavory belchings I cannot fully discover, but 
 that which brings report will also carry. 
 
 The Pells 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 in- 
 dignation, 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." 
 
 t Lady Gwendolen Ramsden, " The Nineteenth Century," for Novem- 
 ber, 1900, On Extravagance in Dress." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 129 
 
 " short sleeves," " short black aprons," " vizzards," 
 " your great needless 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 and go that beside the beautiful costumes of the 
 great days of Van Dyck and Bol, seem the very embodi- 
 ment of grotesqueness — the hoop, the periwig, and the 
 tight stays. Finalh^, in 1770, an Act was passed by 
 Parliament to the effect that 
 
 All women, of whatever age, rank, profession, degree, wheth- 
 er virgins, maids or widows, that shall from and after such Act 
 impose upon seduce or betray into matrimony, any of his Ma- 
 jesty's male subjects by the scents, paints, cosmetics, washes, 
 artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron-stays, hoops, high- 
 heeled shoes, etc., shall incur the penalty of the law now in force 
 against vitchcraft, and like misdemeanors, and that the marriage 
 upon conviction shall be null and void!* 
 
 Of the two wives of William Penn we possess a fine 
 portrait of the first — the fair Gulielma Springett, 
 whose life and love are one of the sweet romances of 
 Quakerism. She is represented in the silk hood 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. 
 Her brocaded gown is short and very full at the hips; 
 the pointed laced bodice cut low in the neck, and filled 
 in with a kerchief; the elbow sleeves turned back in a 
 large loose cuff, beneath which fine muslin under- 
 sleeves appear. It is 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 
 
 •Georgiana HUl, " Women in English Life," Vol. I., p. 317. 
 
130 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 with which we are able to compare it is so vastly more 
 elaborate than " Guli's," that we at once recognize the 
 presence of Quaker moderation, combined with taste 
 and good sense, such as we should expect in the daugh- 
 ter of Lady Springett. Hannah Callowhill, the second 
 wife of William Penn, brought up in the rather austere 
 community of Friends in Bristol, whose mercantile at- 
 mosphere did not foster the arts or the graces of life 
 among her immediate family or associates, represents 
 an older woman, in sober attire, whose gowns and 
 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 is no 
 evidence 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 1765, 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 sensible 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 Dublin seem to have been from the 
 
 *The original of the portrait of Gulielma Penn is a painting on glass 
 in the possession of the descendants of Henry Swan, of Holmwood, Dork- 
 ing, England, who died in 1796. The copy from which this present 
 example is taken, forms the frontispiece to the " Penns and Penningtons 
 of the Seventeenth Century," by Maria Webb. 
 
 The portrait of Hannah Penn is from a painting in the Banqueting 
 Room of Independence Hall, Philadelphia. This is a copy in its turn of a 
 crayon drawing in possession of a descendant of Francis Place, the artist, 
 who lived near 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, H, 5). 
 
A STUDY IN COtiTUME. 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 1637, 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 " Faery Queen " 
 (IV., iii. 48): 
 
 •Planchg, " Dictionnaire de Costume," p. 244. 
 
132 THE QUAKER. 
 
 Sad Clotho held the rockCj the whiles the thrid 
 By griesly Laehesis was spun with paine. 
 
 Burns also makes Bess, in "Bess and her Spinning- 
 
 Wheel," say: 
 
 Oh, leeze me on my spinning wheel, 
 Oh, leeze me on my rock and reel. 
 
 1730 saw the wheel introduced into Scotland, before 
 which " rockings," somewhat corresponding to our old 
 quilting parties, were great social events. The cloth 
 thus prepared was made up into garments at home, or 
 by traveling tailors, for a milliner was only kno"^Ti in 
 the large cities, where her business was not only to 
 clothe the living, but to " dress dead corpses," and sell 
 *' dead flannels." The peripatetic tailor was paid two or 
 three pence a day and his food, or " diet." The travel- 
 ing weaver was also an institution, and bought the 
 thrifty housewife's yarn, giving or selling 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 1678, enacted in order 
 to encourage the wool trade, all corpses were required 
 to be buried, heavy fines being imposed for its eva- 
 sion. Friends were usually careful to comply with 
 these requirements, as instances on record in minutes 
 of various meetings abundantly show. 
 
 Many of the first Quaker women were of the peasant 
 class, as would be natural with the converts of a race of 
 open air preachers. 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. Red was 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 133 
 
 very popular in the early half of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury; and scarlet was common among the Quaker 
 women, as it always has been among the peasants of 
 other countries besides England, both for its apparent 
 warmth, and for its lasting qualities. Among the 
 household accounts of Margaret Fell we find charges 
 for scarlet cloth, after the manner of the good house- 
 keeper in the Book of Proverbs, who " clothed her 
 household in scarlet." When she became the ^\dfe of 
 George Fox he bought her scarlet cloth for a mantle. 
 He writes his wife, about 16Y8, that with the money she 
 had sent him to buy clothes for himself he purchased of 
 Richard Smith a piece of " red cloth for a mantle, be- 
 lieving she needed that more than he needed the coat." 
 Again, from Worcester prison, he wrote to her that he 
 had got a friend to purchase " as much black Spanish 
 cloth as would make her a gown," with what she had 
 given him, adding, " It cost a great deal of money, but 
 I will save." * 
 
 It is to be hoped that she did not wear with her gay 
 wrap one of the green aprons that the Friends 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 
 aprons. 
 
 This garment happened to be in high favor at the 
 time the Quakers arose, and to this accident is due many 
 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. 
 
134 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 held for many years, and this important article of cos- 
 tume was 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: 
 
 You 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 are friend's; I'll be as careful as if 
 they were stranger's.* 
 
 The apron is described as of green silk, in a letter of 
 April 24th. Later (October 30th, 1711): 
 
 Who'll pay me for this green apron? I will have the money ^ 
 it cost ten shillings and six pence. I think it plaguey dear for 
 a cheap thing, but they said that English silk would cockle, and 
 1 know not what. 
 
 In the following year Swift has several more com- 
 missions from Stella for green aprons from the metropo- 
 lis. 
 
 In 1698, Aberdeen Meeting said: 
 
 Let none want aprons at all, and that either green or blue, 
 or other grave colors, and not white upon the street or in pub- 
 lic at all, nor any spangled or speckled silk or cloth or any .silk 
 aprons at all. And dear Friends, we being persuaded that none 
 of a right spirit will be so stiff or so willful as to prefer their 
 own lusts or wills to our tender sense or advice, and labor of 
 love in these things.f 
 
 The Women's Quarterly Meeting of Lincolnshire, 
 21st of Fourth month, 1721, says: 
 
 We think green aprons are very decent and becoming us as a 
 people. 
 
 In 1735, a young woman Friend named May Drum- 
 mond, of Edinburgh, who appears to have been a per- 
 
 * Journal to Stella, April 5th, 1711. 
 
 t Aberdeen, " A Testimony," 5 mo. 28th, 1698. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 135 
 
 son of attractive appearance, and much real ability, was 
 given an audience with. Queen Caroline. An original 
 letter of that date, from which the following is an ex- 
 tract, gives an interesting description of her ministry 
 and personal appearance, and emphasizes the green 
 apron. She is described as preaching to audiences of 
 more than three thousand people. The writer then goes 
 on: 
 
 She hath also been to wait on the Queen, and was more than 
 an hour in her presence. Att her first coming in the Queen soon 
 began and 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 near half an hour (with Ifttle interrup- 
 tion) To speake to the Queen the Princesses and some Ladys 
 of honour (so called) which she and those three friends who 
 accompanied her had good reason to think was very much to all 
 their satisfaction ffor she spoke in such a tender handsome and 
 moving manner that pretty much aflFected all present so that I 
 believe that her visit was not onely acceptable but of very good 
 service. The Queen seemed much pleased with her plain dress, and 
 green apron, and often said she thought it exceedingly neat and 
 becoming. 
 
 The French country women in the reign of Louis 
 XI. wore white aprons at work, or in demi-toilette, 
 when going to the town to market. The negligee of 1672 
 consisted of a black dress with a white apron, and we 
 are told by Boursault (" Mots a la Mode ") the name of 
 
 this apron : 
 
 L'homme le plus grossier et I'esprit le plus lourd, 
 Salt 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- 
 
136 THE QUAKER. 
 
 der of the gown, liad pockets, and was trimmed on the 
 edge. It was without ends (" havettes "), a style con- 
 fined to chambermaids.* Miss Hill describes a lady of 
 Queen Anne's day thus: 
 
 She -wore a black silk petticoat witli red and white calico 
 border, cherry-colored stays, trimmed with blue and silver, red 
 and dove-colored damask gown flowered with large trees, a yellow 
 eatin apron trimmed with white Persian, muslin head-cloth with 
 crowfoot edging, double ruffles with fine edging, a black silk fur- 
 belowed scarf and a spotted hood! f 
 
 A bride in the middle of the eighteenth century wore 
 a sprigged muslin apron trimmed with lace, over a sil- 
 ver muslin " night-gown " — (an elegant affair, probably 
 so called because not worn at night). Nollekin's wife 
 also wore on her wedding day " an elegant lace apron." 
 The opening of the nineteenth century saw the Paris- 
 ians adoring simplicity, and they took back into favor 
 again the discarded white apron, which soon became a 
 part of full dress. The rustic straw hat a la shepherdess 
 was in favor as also in England, and the gipsy hat tied 
 down with a ribbon or a silk handkerchief. Straw was 
 worn only with morning dress; the time of year mat- 
 tered little. 
 
 During the latter half of the eighteenth century the 
 plainest women among the Friends wore aprons of what 
 now seem very gay colors — blue, green, etc. The rea- 
 son for this is that the white apron was in the height 
 of fashion. Watson, the Annalist, says, in writing of a 
 period about 1770: 
 
 The plainest women among the Friends (now so averse to fancy 
 colours), wore their colouied silk aprons, say of green or blue, 
 
 « Quicherat, " Histoire de Costume en France," pp. 328, 520, 574. 
 tGeorgiana Hill, " History of English Dress," Vol. II., p. 73. 
 
A STUDY IK COSTUME. I37 
 
 etc. This was at a time when the " gay " wore white aprons. In 
 time, white aprons were disused (by the latter), and then the 
 Friends left off their colored ones and used white. 
 
 A letter of Richard Shackleton's * dated Ballitore, 
 14th Third month, 1776, shows that 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 say about these green aprons? I think we are of 
 one mind about them. I believe it is the Master's mind that Hia 
 disciples and followers should be distinguished from the world 
 by a singularity of external appearance. I suppose it is also 
 His will that a certain peculiarity of habit should distinguish 
 them on the solemn occasion of assembling for Divine worship, 
 or other religious performances. 
 
 When Sarah, the wife of George Dillwjn, was in 
 London, in 1784, she wrote to a member of her family: 
 I think the women here far before the men — they dress ex- 
 tremely neat and exact, a few of the plainest with black hoods 
 and green aprons. Some go to meeting without aprons, but gen- 
 erally carry fine muslin or cambric ones in their pockets, to 
 put on when they get in the house; if we don't bring one, they 
 always 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 
 years. 
 
 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 QUAKER. 
 
 old farthingale, and was eventually banished by George 
 IV.* The following appeared at Bath in 1711: 
 
 The Farthingale Revived: or 
 More Work for The Cooper. A Panegyrick on the late, 
 
 BUT most admirable INVENTION OF THE HOOPED PETTICOAT. 
 
 There's scarce a bard that writ in former time 
 
 Had e'er so great, so bright a theme for rhyme. 
 
 The Mantua swain, if living, would confess 
 
 Ours more surprising than his Tyrian dress; 
 
 And Ovid's mistresSj in her loose attire, 
 
 Would cease to charm his eyes, or fan Love's fire. 
 
 Were he in Bath, and had these coats in view, 
 
 He'd write his metamorphosis anew. 
 
 Delia, fresh hooped, would o'er his heart prevail 
 
 To leave Corinna and her tawdry veil. 
 
 The hoop - petticoat was, no 
 doubt, thought very fine in the 
 country. It had the merit, which 
 many fashions did not possess, of 
 bestowing importance upon the 
 wearer. " Insignificant - looking 
 women, to whom before nobody 
 had paid any attention, now came 
 into notice; and portly women be- 
 came positively awful in their ma- 
 jesty ! " t 
 
 The style had a great revival 
 1850-1865, both with gay and plain. 
 
 * The stomacher was an earlier garment, introduced in the fifteenth 
 century. It was worn by both sexes, and by King Edward IV. 
 
 tA Popular Ballad of 1733. 
 
 What a fine thing have I seen to-day, 
 
 Oh Mother, a hoop ! 
 I must have one, you cannot say nay — 
 
 Oh Mother, a hoop ! 
 For husbands are gotten this way, to be sure, 
 Men's eyes and Men's hearts they so neatly allure. 
 
 Oh Mother, a hoop, a hoop ; Oh Mother, a hoop ! 
 
 —Percy Soc, Vol. xxvii., p. 220. 
 
 1835. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 139 
 
 There are no doubt to be found in the archives of 
 many old Quaker families certain queer and very ugly 
 long jackets of a shapeless sort of pattern, known in 
 their day and generation as a " short-gown." The 
 " short-gowTi and petticoat " may be met with in litera- 
 ture occasionally still, or in the letters of our great- 
 grandmothers. It is difficult to understand the early 
 enthusiasms over such a thoroughly inartistic garment; 
 perhaps feminine ingenuity found an outlet in its deco- 
 ration rather than its outline. At all events, the muse 
 became thus inspired: 
 
 The Short-Body'd Gown. (1801.) 
 
 Last midsummer day Sally went to the fair, 
 For to sell her yarn. Oh, how she did stare! 
 Both wives, maids and widows, in every shop round, 
 They all were dressed up in a short-body'd gown! 
 
 So home in the evening Miss Sally she hies, 
 And tells it her mother with greatest surprise; 
 Saying, " Two hanks a day will I spin the week round 
 Until I can purchase a short-body'd gown.* 
 
 When Ann Warder landed in 'New York, in 1786, 
 she wrote to her sister in London: 
 
 The women all wear short gowns, a custom so truly ugly that 
 I am mistaken if I ever fall into it. Notwithstanding they say I 
 shall soon be glad to do it on account of the heat. 
 
 Thomas Chalkley was sufficiently moved by the hor- 
 rors of the hoop to say: 
 
 If Almighty God should make a woman in the same shape her 
 hoop makes her, Everybody would say truly it was monstrous. 
 So according to this real truth they make themselves monstrous 
 by art. 
 
 » Percy Society, Vol. XXVII., p. 264. 
 
140 
 
 TBE QUAKER. 
 
 1787. 
 
 The bodices worn at the time that dress begins to be 
 a subject for official notice in meetings were laced, and 
 opened in front, exposing the tight stays in gay colors 
 worn beneath them. The bodice was cut very low, the 
 
 bosom being covered with a 
 " tucker " or " modesty piece " 
 worn across the top of the bodice 
 in front. In 1713 we find the 
 Guardian growling at the ladies 
 who are beginning to discard the 
 latter in order to follow the 
 fashion. The year 1800 finds the 
 court ladies wearing a becoming 
 broad muslin collar of very 
 " sheer " quality, and the Quak- 
 eresses adopted the style quite 
 generally, as may be seen by comparing the two illus- 
 trations of that date. In 1644, when gowns were 
 very decollete, Quicherat tells us that the ladies wore, 
 en negligee, a white fichu or handkerchief, known as the 
 " whisk," and a linen or fine lace scarf for dress. This 
 simplicity was encouraged by Anne of Austria. The 
 handkerchief seems to have been the one portion of the 
 Quakeress dress that has come down unchanged to mod- 
 ern times. 
 
 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 Quar- 
 
.'^:'l-i" 
 
 
 % 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 141 
 
 terly Meeting in long cloaks and the new Paris im- 
 portation called the " bonnet." They were therefore 
 not only ordered to take the advice of their elders be- 
 fore coming to " these great meetings here in York," 
 but one subordinate meeting actually ordered the 
 young women of its own meeting to appear before it "in 
 those clothes that they intend to have on at York." * 
 However, neither this, nor the strict oversight of Aber- 
 deen, was sufficient in the early years to exclude all 
 worldliness; for in 1720 we find all these vanities noted 
 in the minutes of the latter as existing among the 
 young Quakeresses: " Quilted petticoats, set out in imi- 
 tation of hoops; cloth shoes of a light color, with heels 
 white and red; scarlet and purple stockings, and petti- 
 coats made short to expose them." In that year, York 
 Quarterly Meeting sent the following letter to the 
 monthly meetings composing its constituency, which 
 was in its turn sent to each particular meeting of 
 women. The original from which this is copied was 
 directed to " the Women Friends of Rilston Meeting, 
 These." t 
 
 Att our Quarterly Meeting held att York, ye 22 & 23 4th. Mon. 
 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 wch are 
 very Burthensome to the honest-hearted & 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 Headclothes 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. 
 
142 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 ing Down* and handkerchiefs being too thin some haveing them 
 hollowed out & putt on farr of their necks also their gown 
 sleeves & short capps wth a great Deal to pinn up in the Skirt 
 also their Quilted petticoats sett out in imitation of hoops some 
 wearing two together also cloth Shoes of light Colors bound wth 
 DifTering colours and heels White or Red wth White Bands and 
 fine Coloured Clogs & strings also Scarlet or Purple Stockings & 
 l)etticoats made Short to Expose ym. Friends are also Desired to 
 keep out of the fashion of wearing black hats or shaving 
 [chip] or straw ones with crowns too little or two large wth 
 wch else the Judgment of Truth is gone out agst. 
 Signed in behalf of the meeting by , « 
 
 Mary White, 
 Sarah Elam, 
 Hannah Armitstead, 
 Tamer Fielding, 
 Mary Slater. 
 
 The early Quaker women wore their hair, like that 
 of the men, cut low and straight on the forehead, and 
 braided or put in a knot on the top of the head. It 
 was the era when the great commode was approaching, 
 reaching its height in the reign of Queen Anne. This 
 perilous structure consisted of " a frame of wire two or 
 three stories high, fitted to the head and covered with 
 tiffany or rather thin silk now completed into a head- 
 dress." f The word " commode " was never used for 
 this head dress in America. 
 
 Nor holy church is safe, they say, 
 Where decent veil was wont to hide 
 The modest sex' religious pride; 
 Lest these yet prove too great a load, 
 
 * Pinners appear to have been the pendant ends, streamers, or lap- 
 pets, hanging down at the sides of the face, or occasionally behind — like 
 liripipes," which were longer, and always at the back. These were 
 all quite distinct from cap strings. 
 
 t " The Book of Costume. By a Lady of Quality." London, 1846. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. I4.3 
 
 'Tis all eompris'd in the commode; 
 
 Pins tipt with diamond, point and head. 
 
 By which the curls are fastened, 
 
 In radiant firmament set out. 
 
 And over all the hood sur-tout. 
 
 Thus, face that e'rst near head was plac'd 
 
 Imagine now about the wast. 
 
 For tour on tour, and tire on tire, 
 
 Like steeple Bow, or Grantham spire, 
 
 Or Septizonium, once at Eome, 
 
 (But does not half so well become 
 
 Fair ladies' head) you here behold 
 
 Beauty by tyrant mode controU'd.* 
 
 The articles required in a lady's toilet bore many 
 and curious names; they were so incomprehensible to 
 the uninitiated, that the following anecdote is most 
 amusing: 
 
 A raw lass, being entertained in service, and hearing her mis- 
 tress one day call for some of them, she was so far from bring- 
 ing any, that she verily took her to be conjuring, and hastily ran 
 out of the house, for fear she should raise the devil! f 
 
 The contrast to the Quakeress may be imagined. A 
 French style in favor at this time also consisted of a 
 bandeau of jewels worn over flowing locks in negligent 
 fashion on the shoulders, to match the " love-lock " of 
 the men. The " love-lock " was introduced by Charles 
 I., and consisted of a curl of greater length than the 
 rest of the hair, worn on the left side. This soon be- 
 came the rage. A corresponding lock with the ladies 
 
 *From " Mundus Mulieribns, or, The Ladiea Dressing-Room 
 unlocked, and Her Toilet spread," 1670. Anonymous. This is an elab- 
 orate description of women's costume. It is given in the publications of 
 the Percy Society. Vol. XXVII., p. 190. 
 
 tQuoted by Repton, " Archaeologia." Vol. XXVII., p. 56. 
 
144 THE QUAKER. 
 
 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 
 New England. The Puritan women are often repre- 
 sented with " banged " hair. The " high head " had a 
 period of decadence, and was revived again in 1715, 
 and Addison writes soon after: "There is not so 
 variable a thing in nature as a Lady's headdress; with- 
 in my memory I have known it rise and fall above 
 thirty degrees." " I pretend not to draw the quill 
 against that immense crop of plumes." The " com- 
 mode " killed itself by its own extravagance, the time 
 and expense required to put up one's hair becoming so 
 great that the hair-dresser could not make his rounds 
 to any but the most wealthy oftener than once in three 
 weeks or a month, leading one satirical writer of the 
 period to remark: 
 
 I consent also to the present style of curling the hair so that 
 it may stay a month without combing, tho' I must confess that 
 I think 3 weeks or a fortnight might be sufficient time! 
 
 The tremendous " crop," or turban, that all lovers of 
 
 " Cranford " will remember, was a favorite of the ladies 
 
 later on. The moment a woman became a Quaker, the 
 
 fact was proclaimed to all the world by her discarding 
 
 all extravagant headdresses. The early Methodists 
 
 were quite as pronounced. An old Norfolk journal 
 
 has the following: 
 
 Several fine ladies who used to wear French silks, French 
 hoops, 4 yards wide, tete de mouton heads, and white satin 
 smock petticoats, are now turned Methodists, and followers of 
 
 ♦Another "heart-breaker" is described as "False Locks set on 
 Wyers to make them stand at a distance," about 1670. They resembled 
 butterfly wings over the ears. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. X45 
 
 Mr. Whitefield, whose doctrine of the new birth has so prevailed 
 over them, that they now wear plain stuff gowns, no hoops, 
 common night mobs, and old plain bags! 
 
 Stubbes, from whom we have before quoted, de- 
 scribes the elaborate coiffure of an elegant dame: 
 
 Then followeth the trimming and tricking of their heades, in 
 laying out their haire to the shewe, whiche of force must be 
 curled, fristed, and crisped, laid out (a world to see) on wreathes 
 and borders, from one eare to another. And least it should fall 
 down, it is vnder propped with forks, wiers, and I cannot tell 
 what, like grim sterne monsters, rather than chaste Christian 
 matrones. Then on the edges of their boulstered hair (for it 
 standeth crested rounde their frontiers, and hanging ouer their 
 faces like pcndices or uailes, with glasse windowes on euery side) 
 there is laide great wreathes of golde and siluer curiously 
 wrought, and cunningly applied to the temples of their heades. 
 And for feare of lacking anything to set forthe their pride with- 
 all, at their haire, thus wreathed and creasted, are hanged bugles 
 (I dare not say babies), ouches, ringes, gold, siluer, glasses, and 
 suche other childish gewgaws, and foolish trinkets besides, 
 whiche, for they are innumerable, and I vnskilfull in women's 
 termes I cannot easily expresse. But God giue them grace to 
 giue ouer their vanities, and studie to adorn their heades with 
 the incorruptible ornaments of vertue and true godlinesse. 
 
 The ancient London graveyard of the Friends, in 
 Lower Redcross Street, Southwark, was removed a few 
 years since, not having had any interment made in it 
 since 1799. One 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, 
 long and fine, was a handsome tortoise shell comb.* 
 This would indicate the tendency, before 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. 
 
146 '^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 days to draw up the petticoat through the pocket hole 
 and other openings, thereby displaying the gaiety of 
 that garment. We may note the case of the maid, 
 who being required by John Bolton, on an order from 
 George Fox, to sew up the slit in her waist-coat skirt 
 behind, answered that she " saw no evil in it; and 
 James Claypoole thought it suitable to their principle 
 that she should first see the evil in it herseK before she 
 judged it, and not (saith he) because we say it." * 
 Wherein James showed great discrimination. The 
 Quakeresses who wore the hair low were really more 
 in the French mode, the artistic sense of that nation 
 rebelling sooner against the rule of the " commode," 
 which seems after the law of contraries to have won its 
 name from its inconvenience, much as the " night- 
 gown " and " night-cap " were elegant constructions, 
 never worn at night ! 
 
 February 15th, 1765, the Duchess of Devonshire 
 wrote to her mother: 
 
 I was too tired to write. My sister and I were very smart for 
 Carlton House. Our gowns were night-gowns of my invention. 
 The body and sleeves black velvet bound with pink, and the 
 Bkirt, apron and handkerchie crape, bound with light pink, and 
 large chip hats with feathers and pinks. My sister looked vastly 
 pretty. 
 
 Of course all the Germans of the last century were 
 devotees of the " schlafrock," which, however, was 
 emphatically a lounging garment, a purpose with 
 which is instinctively associated all our ideas of the 
 old-time German " Herr Professor," who never made 
 his toilet until the working hours of the day were 
 
 *" Tyranny and Hypocrisy Detected." — Answer to a pamphlet, 
 " The Spirit of the Hat." London, 1673. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 147 
 
 over, and not always then. Macbeth dons a " night- 
 gown," and so does Julius Csesar, both being loose 
 robes. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles L, in her well- 
 known portrait in the National Gallery, wears her hair 
 curled, and is seen in a simple yellow satin gown, with 
 broad lace at the low neck, and at the elbow sleeves. 
 She wears a pearl necklace and chain. Catherine, 
 Duchess of Queensbury (ITOO-ITYY), 
 the daughter of Lord Clarendon, and 
 the patroness of Gay, Prior and 
 others, called by Walpole, " Prior's 
 Kitty, ever young," wears in her por- 
 trait in the National Gallery a cos- 
 tume almost Quaker-like in its sim- 
 plicity, with a simple coiffure, and a 
 kerchief thrown over the shoulders. 
 Gwynn (1650-1687) is simple in short sleeves, low 
 neck, and short curly hair. 
 
 Thomas Story, whose wide acquaintance took him 
 among the " 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 several of them, one Day came 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 Gentrj'. 
 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 
 
 1756. 
 
 Even iSTell 
 
148 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 it; and they would be sooner followed than those of lower De- 
 gree." To this she replied, " If we should Dress ourselves Plain, 
 People would gaze at us, call us Quakers, and make us the Sub- 
 ject of their Discourse and Town-talk; and we cannot bear to 
 be made so particular." 
 
 I answered, " The Cause is so good, being that of Truth and 
 Virtue, if you will espouse it heartily upon its just Foundation, 
 a few of you would dash out of Countenance, with a steady and 
 fixed Gravity, Abimdance of the other Side, who have no Bottom 
 but the Vain Customs of The Times; and you will find a Satis- 
 faction in it, an Overbalance to all you can lose, since the Works 
 of Virtue and Modesty carry in them an immediate and perpet- 
 ual Reward to the Worker." This seemed not unpleasant, being 
 said in an open Freedom ; But then, alas ! all was quenched at last 
 by this; they all of them alledged, "That our own young Wo- 
 men of any Note, about London and Bristol, went as fine as 
 they with the finest of Silk and Laced Shoes; and when they 
 went to Bath, made as great a Show as any." Not knowing 
 but some Particulars might give too much occasion for this Alle- 
 gation, it was a little quenching; but, with some Presence of 
 llind, I replied, " I have been lately at London and Bristol, and 
 also at the Bath, and have not observed any such; but at all 
 these three Places generally indifferent plain, and many of them, 
 even of the younger sort, very well on that Account ; But such 
 among us who take such Liberties, go beside their Profession, and 
 are no Examples of Virtue, but a dishonour and Reproach to our 
 Profession, and a daily and perpetual Exercise to us; and 1 hope 
 you will not look at the Worst, since, among us everywhere, you 
 may find better and more general Examples of Virtue and Plain- 
 ness." This they did not deny; and so that Part ended.* 
 
 London Quarterly Meeting, in 1717, issued a paper 
 in which the women are exhorted not to deck them- 
 selves with " gaudy and costly apparel," nor to wear 
 '^ gold chains, lockets, necklaces and gold watches ex- 
 posed to open view." The " immodest fashion of 
 hooped petticoats " is 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 STUDY IN COSTUME. I49 
 
 tures in cringing and bowing of the body by way of 
 salutation, wbich ought not to be taught or coun- 
 tenanced in our schools or families." The document 
 then asks: 
 
 How shall any persons reputed Quakers wearing extravagant 
 wigs, open breasts, their hats and clothes after a beauish fash- 
 ion, gold chains Avith lockets and 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 world?* 
 
 Stubbes had declared f that the perfumes so prevalent 
 at this time were " engines of pride, allurements to 
 sinne, and provocations to vice ! " If cleanliness is 
 next to godliness, old Stubbes may indeed have been 
 right; for the heavy odors in use covered up a multi- 
 tude of sins. The prevalent use of snuff made the silk 
 handkerchief a necessity. A few dainty folk used 
 those of cambric. An old advertisement calls atten- 
 tion to " handkerchiefs that will wash in a weak lather 
 of soap without prejudice." :j: The custom of ladies 
 smoking was a fad with the " smart set " of that day as 
 well as our own. They still painted, a custom which 
 Evelyn (11th of May, 1654) had noticed beginning: 
 " I now observed how the women began to paint them- 
 selves, formerly a most ignominious thing." 
 
 As for patching, it was universal, and evidently only 
 another " snare " for the feminine Quaker mind ! We 
 learn from Pepys (May 1, 1667) of the patching of one 
 maid: 
 
 That which I did see and wonder at with reason^ was to find 
 Pegg Pen in a new coach, with only her husband's pretty sister 
 
 * Beck and Ball, " London Friends' Meetings," p. 77. 
 
 t "Anatomie of Abuses," p. 200. 
 
 J Ashton. " Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne," p. 118. 
 
150 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 [Margaret Lowther] with her, both patched and very fine, and 
 in much the finest coach in the park. . . . When we had spent 
 half an hour in the park, we went out again, . . . and so home, 
 where we find the two young ladies come home and their patches 
 off. I suppose Sir W. Pen do not allow of them in his sight! 
 
 The " stay-maker " was the companion of the wig- 
 maker; there are several Quakers whose names appear 
 in the old London records as " stay-makers," or 
 " bodice-makers." They advertised " both wooden 
 and whalebone corset-busks." When the wig-makers 
 ceased to be found among the Quakers, the bodice- 
 makers pursued their way alone, that trade not being 
 under condemnation, which only served to ruin the 
 health, and was less conspicuous than the wig. " Fash- 
 ion babies " have been alluded to; these merit more 
 than a passing notice. They were models of costume, 
 originally sent by Paris modistes to London and other 
 cities of large population, displaying the very latest 
 ideas in dress. The fashion plate was then far in the 
 future, and even the Quakers employed this method 
 of communicating their ideas as to the " proper thing " 
 in drab to their country friends, or, as in the case of 
 the doll model that was given to Stephen Grellet, to 
 other communities of their own sect. 
 
 Several of these dolls have been kindly loaned me 
 for examination. Just as Mademoiselle Martin, a 
 famous modiste of the time of Marie Antoinette, was in 
 the habit of sending doll models of the latest style, 
 called " babies," to the most distant parts of Europe, 
 so these quaint little Quaker dolls served to show the 
 distant friend what was worn at the metropolis. There 
 were, as we have seen, many changes of style in Quaker 
 dress. The difference between them and the " world's 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 151 
 
 people " lay in the magnitude and profundity of the 
 question, relatively speaking; for quite as much 
 thought and expenditure of time and money went 
 into the alteration of a pleat in the Quaker bonnet, or 
 a flap on the Quaker coat, as ever entered into the con- 
 struction of a Paris " confection." Of these models — 
 for it is a mistake to call them dolls, since they were 
 anything but toys — one, for instance, is in the exact 
 dress of Rebecca Jones, a well-known Philadelphia 
 Friend, who lived from 1739 to 1818, She wears the 
 bonnet with soft crown and a very large cape spreading 
 in three points down the back and to the tip of each 
 shoulder. The crown of another bonnet made about 
 1790, still extant, has a double box-pleat at top in cen- 
 ter and four pleats down the side, clearly showing the 
 coming stiff pleats in the " coal-scuttle " of later de- 
 velopment. " Patty Rutter " is also a doll with a seri- 
 ous purpose, dressed in 1782 by Miss Sarah Rutter, of 
 Philadelphia, and sent to Mrs. Samuel Adams, of 
 Quincy, Massachusetts. It was presented to the 
 Museum in Independence Hall in 1845. The doll is 
 in Quaker dress, consisting of white silk bonnet and 
 shawl, and drab silk gown. At her side hangs a chate- 
 laine, with watch and pencil. The doll and her cos- 
 tume are still 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 
 
152 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 of their most famous preachers. He was in England 
 in the year 1816, intending to visit the French at Con- 
 genies in France, where was a little community re- 
 markably in sympathy -^dth the Friends, although hav- 
 ing had no communication with them originally. Eng- 
 lish Friends desired to aid his efforts to build up their 
 small 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 his American home be- 
 fore he succeeded in the accomplishment of his original 
 purpose. Upon his arrival, the doll was discovered, 
 to his astonishment, in one of his trunks. When 
 he wrote to ask how to dispose of the doll, the 
 reply was: "Give her to thy little daughter." That 
 " little daughter," living in Xew Jersey until July, 
 1901, to the great age of ninety years, was herseK the 
 authority for this story of " Rachel," as the beautiful 
 doll 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 colonies. The Friends from 
 England noted this with an anxious eye, and in nearly 
 all the meetings in America may be found records deal- 
 ing with that tendency. Finally, Friends of Philadel- 
 phia Yearly Meeting, then held at Burlington, New 
 Jersey, issued the following note of warning: 
 
 From Women ffriends at the Yearly Meeting held at Bur- 
 lington, The 21st. of the 7th. Month, 1726. 
 
 To Women ffriends at the Several Quarterly & Monthly Meet- 
 ings belonging to the same, — Greeting. 
 
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 153 
 
 Dear and Well-beloved Sisters: 
 
 A Weighty Concern coming upon many 
 ffaithful ffriends at this Meeting, In Relation to divers 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 wch. hath Mercifully Visited our Souls, Tenderly to Cau- 
 tion & Advise ffriends against those things which we think In- 
 consistent with our Ancient Christian Testimony of Plainness in 
 Apparel &c.. Some of which we think it proper to Particularize. 
 
 As first, That Immodest ffashion of hooped Pettycoats, or ye. 
 imitation of them. Either by Something put into their Petty- 
 coats to make ym sett full, or Wearing more than is Necessary, 
 or any other Imitation Whatsoever, Which we take to be but a 
 Branch Springing from ye. same Corrupt root of Pride. 
 
 And also That None of Sd ffriends Accustom themselves to 
 wear their Gowns with Superfluous ffolds behind, but plain and 
 Decent. Nor to go without Aprons, Nor to wear Superfluous 
 Gathers or Pleats in their Capps or Pinners, Nor lo wear their 
 heads drest high behind. Neither to Cut or Lay their hair on ye 
 fforehead or Temples. 
 
 And that ffriends are careful to avoid Wearing of Stript Shoos, 
 or Red or White heel'd Shoos, or Clogs, or Shoos trimmed wh. 
 Gawdy Colours. 
 
 Likewise, That all ffriends be Careful to Avoid Superfluity of 
 Furniture in their Houses, And as much as 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 frona 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. 
 
154 ^'^^ QUAKER. 
 
 mon Salutation by Bowing and Cringing of ye Body wch. we 
 Earnestly desire flFriends may be Careful to Avoid. 
 
 And we farther Tenderly Advise and Exhort That all ffriends 
 be careful to Maintain Love and Unity and to Watch against 
 Whispering and Evil Surmisings One against Another, and to keep 
 in Humility, That Nothing be done through Strife or Vainglory, 
 and yt. those who are Concerned to take an oversight over the 
 flflock. Do it not as Lords over God's heritage, but as Servants 
 to ye Churches. 
 
 Dear Sisters, These Things we Solidly recommend to yor Care 
 and Notice In a Degree of yt. Divine Love wch hath previously 
 Manifested Itself for ye Redemption of a [MS. illegible] ye Vain 
 Conversations, Customs, & Fashions yt. are in ye World, That- 
 we might be unto ye Lord, A Chosen Generation, A Royal Priest- 
 hood, An Holy Nation, A Peculair People, Shewing forth ye 
 Praises of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his Mar- 
 vellous Light, that We may all walck as Children of the Light. 
 & of ye Day, Is ye Earnest Desire of our Souls. 
 
 We Conclude wth. ye Salutation of Unfeigned Love, yor ffriends 
 and Sisters. 
 
 Signed on behalf & by ordr. of ye sd. Meeting By 
 
 Hannah Hill. 
 
 The " surprise " fan was made with an unexpected 
 joint, like the early parasols. Ann Warder notes the 
 constant and needless use of fans, and with some com- 
 placency, remarks upon her own forbearance in the mat- 
 ter, " lest it should prove a disturbance to others." 
 Only two days after her arrival from England, under 
 date 9th of June, 1786, she wrote, " Such a general use- 
 of fans my eyes never beheld. You scarcely see a 
 woman without one. And in winter, I am told, they 
 visit with them as a plaything." She noticed a. 
 child with a dirty face playing in the street. The 
 mother " did not wash its face in the daytime for fear 
 of 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 
 
A STUDY 7A' COSTUME. 155 
 
 Frock since my arrival. !N^ot a woman has visited me 
 but was elegant enough for any Bride, indeed we could 
 almost persuade ourselves that was the case from so 
 much saluting." 
 
 No costume was more important for the Quaker 
 woman of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 than that designed for use on horseback. This was 
 even more the case in the colonies than in England, 
 where, in London, at least, the sedan chair and the 
 coach were cosmopolitan luxuries enjoyed very early. 
 Country Friends, however, had to ride everywhere, and 
 a woman, and especially a woman minister, if she trav- 
 eled at all, must of necessity be a good horsewoman. 
 The riding hood, with cape or long cloak attached — 
 called a " Nithesdale " or " Capuchin," respectively — 
 was worn over the ordinary dress, the skirt of which 
 was often protected by a " safeguard." Mrs. Earle 
 defines a " safeguard " as an " outside petticoat of 
 heavy linen or woollen stuff, worn over other skirts 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 riders sit." The 
 " safeguard " seems 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 be 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 hats. 
 
156 
 
 THE QUAKER. 
 
 and others. The flat beaver hat, with very broad brim, 
 and crown not two inches in height, was much 
 worn for riding, and its contemporary cloak is of 
 heavy grey stuff, the originals from which the illus- 
 tration was taken being known to be over one hundred 
 and fifty years old. 
 
 An accompaniment of the riding costume was the 
 riding-mask, vizor, or, as usually written, " vizzard." 
 
 It was of this that Fox wrote, "Away with your un- 
 necessary buttons," " your skimming-dish hats," 
 " vizzards,^' etc. He is probably referring also to the 
 " vizzard " which was used as well in walking, and at 
 one time worn hanging by a ribbon or cord at the side. 
 In 1645, we are told, the Puritans of Plymouth, Mass., 
 for " some unaccountable reason," forbade them to 
 their people. We should think that the reason of 
 extravagance might have proved as sufficient with 
 them as with the Quakers. For old Stubbes, not long 
 before this, had been making his ultra-Puritanical 
 
A STUDY IX COSTUME. 15 - 
 
 Strictures on almost all varieties of English dress, and 
 he thus scores the ^■iso^s: 
 
 When thev vse to ride abroad, they haue visors made of veluet 
 (or in mv iudgment they may rather be called inuisories) where- 
 with they couer all their faces, haning holes made in them 
 agaynst their eies, whereout they looke. So that if a man 
 that knew not their guise before, shoulde chaunce to meete one 
 of theme, he would thinke he mette a monster or a deuill: for 
 face he can see none, but two broad holes against their eyes 
 with glasses in them. Thus they prophane the name of God, and 
 liue in all kinde of voluptuousnesse and pleasure, worse than 
 euer did the heathen.* 
 
 The mystery of their attachment while riding, with 
 possibly 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 might be. There was no protection from rain 
 or sleet in those davs before the umbrella, and a rainv- 
 day costume was imperative. All sorts of devices were 
 permissible. 
 
 Good housewives all the winter^s rage despise, 
 
 Defended by the riding-hood's disguise. 
 
 Why should I teach the maid, when torrents pour 
 Her head to shelter from the sudden shower? 
 Nature will best her ready hand inform 
 With her spread petticoat to fence the storm. 
 
 Gay. "Trivia." 
 
 Reference 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 Srubbes, " Anatomic of Abuses/' p. 76. Ed. 15S6. 
 
158 THE QUAKER. 
 
 are the liomelj Dutch Vrouws of I^ew Amsterdam, 
 who wore gowns of the gayest tints, as they went 
 clinking along the streets in their heavy footgear. The 
 Quaker women of the colonies seem to have more in 
 common with the latter than with the Puritans, despite 
 their sobriety of living. Scarlet cloaks found their 
 way to America very early in the history of Penn's 
 colony, and there seems to have been much latitude in 
 dress. The wealthy women Friends in Pennsylvania 
 in the days of the Pounder, dressed far more expen- 
 sively and elaborately than they ever did at a later 
 date; they flourished about in "white satin petticoats, 
 worked in flowers, pearl satin gowns, or peach-colored 
 satin cloaks; their white necks were covered with deli- 
 cate lawn, and they wore gold chains and seals, en- 
 graven with their arms." Miss Pepplier tells us that 
 Sarah Logan Norris, the wife of Isaac ISTorris, of Fair- 
 hill, wore a gown of deep blue. Mary, the daughter 
 of Thomas Lloyd, who married Isaac ISTorris, the elder, 
 wore blue and crimson; while her granddaughter, 
 Mary Dickinson, wore deep red. All these women 
 were Quakers of the best families in the country. It 
 is worth while to note that the daughter of Mary Dick- 
 inson, Maria Logan, was far more plain than her 
 mother or grandmother had been, sho^ving a growing 
 tendency of the Quakers to emphasize plainness, and an 
 increasing attention to uniformity of garb among their 
 members. The presence of the Founder seems to have 
 had much the effect of the residence of the sovereign 
 in a small estate. His courtly dress and manners had 
 their inevitable effect upon the Quakers, whether in 
 London or Philadelphia; and had it been possible to 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 159 
 
 prolong his life through the next century, his people 
 might have been spared much of their narrow policy, 
 political as well as social, by the aid of his sane and ex- 
 perienced advice. There is universal testimony to 
 the beauty and picturesqueness of the young Quaker- 
 esses of the aristocracy in the early days. The por- 
 trait of " The Fair Quaker," Hannah Middleton Gur- 
 ney, whose costume was identical with that of Gulielma 
 Springett, William Penn's first wife,* is that of a sur- 
 passingly handsome woman; and the Frenchman, Bris- 
 sot, wrote of the Philadelphia Quakeresses many years 
 after at the time of the Revolution, when dress was 
 plainer among them : 
 
 These youthful creatures whom nature has so well endowed, 
 whose charm has so little need of art, wear the finest muslins and 
 silks. Oriental luxury would not disdain the exquisite textures 
 in which they take delight. 
 
 The Frenchman did not fail to admire anything so 
 artistic, and the Due de la Rochefoucauld is the next 
 to express himseK, adding, " Ribbons please the young 
 Quakeresses, and are the greatest enemies of the 
 ■sect." f 
 
 Many agreed with the writer who not long before 
 
 had said: 
 
 Behold the smart Quaker that looks in the glass, 
 
 Her hair doth all other companions surpass; 
 
 You deform your sweet faces, I vow and declare; 
 
 You should cut off your lappets and burn your false hair.t 
 
 ♦See explanatory note regarding this portrait in Maria Webb's 
 " Penns and Penningtons of the Seventeenth Century," to which the 
 engraving of " Guli " Penn forms the frontispiece. It is quite distinct 
 from the engraving with the same title, here reproduced. 
 
 t Agnes Eepplier, "Philadelphia; The Place and the People," 
 p. 286. 
 
 X " The Mountain of Hair," 1760. Percy See. Vol. XXVII., p. 245. 
 
160 3"J?£ QUAKER. 
 
 Onr great-grandmothers, if we may judge by the 
 clothes that have come down to us, were, as a rule, 
 smaller women than the average in these days of their 
 tall and athletic descendants. 
 
 The private Diary of Ann, wife of James Whitall, 
 of Red Bank, New Jersey, under date, 21st 12 mo., 
 1760, has the following: 
 
 Oh, win there ever be a Nehemiah raised at our meeting to 
 mourn and grieve! Oh, the fashions and running into them! The 
 young men wearing their hats set up behind, and next it's likely 
 will be a ribbon to tie their hair up behind; the girls in Penn- 
 sylvania have their necks set off with a black ribbon; a sor- 
 rowful sight indeed! . . . There is this day Josiah Albertson's 
 son, all the son he has, and his hat is close up behind! 
 
 A little later, 3 mo. 18, 1762: 
 Oh, I think, could my eyes run down with tears always for 
 the abomination of the times. So much excess of tobacco; and 
 tea is as bad, so much of it, and they will pretend they can't 
 do without it; and there is the calico — Oh, the calico! ... I think 
 tobacco and tea and calico may all be set down with the negroes, 
 one as bad as the other.* 
 
 The mournful strain in which the above is written 
 was somewhat characteristic of the more sober plain 
 folk among the Quakers of the last century. Many 
 old letters exist in which are recorded prolonged wails 
 and groanings in spirit over bonnet strings, hat-bands, 
 shoe-buckles, and such momentous matters, all treated 
 with the utmost gravity. Great interests were at 
 stake in both England and America at these periods; 
 but the Friends withdrew themselves from contact 
 with outside interests of all sorts; and this, in addition 
 to the greater isolation of each little community than 
 in modern times, due to the difficulty of travel, tended 
 
 •Hannah Whitall Smith, " The Life of John M. Whitall." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 161 
 
 to cultivate a feeling of their own importance in the 
 world, and to the exaggeration of details in their little 
 neighborhoods; so that the appearance of a man on the 
 street with a new cock to his hat, or of a young woman 
 \vith a black ribbon at her neck, shook the community 
 to its foundations ! It is amusing to read, in the edi- 
 tor's comments on the above diary, that at the very 
 time the writer was so bewailing the worldliness of a 
 black ribbon, she herself sat under the gallery of 
 Woodbury meeting, arrayed in a straw bonnet lined 
 with pink silk ! After all, there is no standard of per- 
 fect plainness. The matter is entirely a relative one. 
 
 In the month of May, 1771, Isaac Collins, of Bur- 
 lington, ISJ". J., married Rachel Budd, of Philadelphia, 
 at the " Bank Meeting," in that city. His wedding 
 dress was a coat of peach blossom cloth, the great skirts 
 of which had outside pockets; it was lined throughout 
 with quilted white silk. The large waistcoat was of 
 the same material. He wore small clothes, knee buck- 
 les, silk stockings and pumps — a cocked hat sur- 
 mounted the whole. The bride, who is described as 
 " lovely in mind and person," wore a light blue 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 laced 
 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 
 
1(32 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 ample dimensions, tied in front with a large blue bow. 
 The gaiety of this display positively takes our breath, 
 particularly when we reflect that the bride had once 
 belonged in John Woolman's o^vn meeting. And yet, 
 it only serves to show that the entire question of dress 
 is relative, custom and precedent usually dictating 
 what is unlawful, the whole matter being arbitrary 
 to a startling degree. Our heart goes out to this beau- 
 tifully picturesque Quaker couple, of whom the groom 
 was already making a name for himself in the printer's 
 art, and who shortly after issued the colonial currency 
 of ISTew Jersey in connection with the greater Frank- 
 lin.* Apparently, the plain Friends were so accus- 
 tomed to brilliant dressing in the neighborhood of 
 Philadelphia, a very gay town in that day, that they 
 did not take alarm at the colors introduced on this oc- 
 casion, despite all they had said and written on the 
 subject of dress in their official character. 
 
 That the younger Quakers followed the changes of 
 Dame Fashion has been, we think, fully demon- 
 strated. The wedding of Isaac Collins and Rachel 
 Budd carried out the styles then prevailing. The ideal 
 painting by Percy Bigland, "A Quaker Wedding," his- 
 torically correct in its representation, shows a dress 
 plainly influenced by the times, as the " empire " 
 gown of the bride indicates. The " Two Friends," 
 belongs to the years between 1835 and 1840, and since 
 that time the present generation can refer to the cos- 
 tumes of their own parents. Older people have worn 
 the modern plain bonnet and shawl for fifty or sixty 
 
 * I am indebted to the great-granddaughter of this picturesque couple 
 for the description, which is authentic. 
 
A STUDY 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 
 Quakers have always shown their exquisite taste in 
 choice of materials, and have instinctively realized 
 that nothing but the best stuffs would lend themselves 
 with dignity to the severe simplicity of their garb. 
 This could have been better realized some thirty years 
 ago, when each of our great cities supported at least 
 one large shop where Quaker goods exclusively were 
 sold. The fact that the Quakers can now be served at 
 any shop speaks volumes for either their deterioration 
 or their progress — depending upon one's point of view. 
 By the time of the Revolution, Philadelphia far sur- 
 passed all other towns in the colonies with its extrava- 
 gance and luxury of living, winding up with the " Mes- 
 chianza " — that pageant whose tradition is still re- 
 hearsed in the ears of modern townsfolk, 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 same time puffing it up 
 in front. They generally walk about with their heads uncovered, 
 and sometimes but not often wear some light fabric on their 
 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 Colomal Times," p. 31. 
 
164 
 
 THE QUAKER. 
 
 the English colonies the beauties have fallen in love with red 
 silk or woolen wraps. 
 
 A letter of Miss Kebecea Franks, a Philadelphia 
 belle visiting in ISTew York in 1778, speaks thus of so- 
 ciety there in that year : 
 
 You can have no idea of the 
 life of continued amusement I live 
 in. I can scarce have a moment 
 to myself. I have stole this while 
 everybody is retired to dress for 
 dinner. I am but just come from 
 under Mr. J. Black's hands, and 
 most elegantly dressed am I for 
 91 ball this evening at Smith's, 
 where we have one every Thurs- 
 day. . . . The dress is more redicu- 
 lous and pretty than anything I 
 ever saw— a great quantity of 
 different coloured feathers on the 
 head at a time beside a thousand 
 other things. The hair dressed 
 very high, in the shape Miss Vin- 
 ing's was the night we returned 
 from Smith's — the Hat we found 
 in your Mother's closet wou'd be 
 of a proper size. I have an after- 
 noon cap with one wing, tho' I assure you I go less in the fashion 
 than most of the ladies — no being dressed without a hoop. 
 
 The Journal of Elizabeth Drinker, of Philadelphia, 
 under date " December 15, 1777," says: 
 
 Peggy York called this morning. . . . She had on the highest 
 and most rediculous headdress that I have yet seen. 
 
 1776. 
 
 (After Martin.) 
 
 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. 
 
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: 
 
 The Labies' Head-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. 
 
166 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 In 1781, Lady Cathcart, an American by birth, wrote 
 of London fashions: 
 
 They wear for morning a white poloneze or a dress they call 
 a Levete [Levite] which is a kind of gown and Peticote with long 
 sleeves made with scarcely any pique in the back, and worn with 
 a sash tyed on the left side. They make these in winter of 
 white dimity, and in summer of muslin with chintz borders. 
 
 We are told that the " robe-levite " imitated this 
 garment, and that the " monkey-tailed levite " had a 
 curiously twisted train, and was a French fashion.* 
 Our " Fair Quaker " of this date wears what is no 
 doubt a " Levite." Did its name help to make it seem 
 less worldly? 
 
 George and Sarah (Hill) Dillwyn, very plain 
 Friends from Philadelphia, went over to visit their 
 English relatives in London soon after the peace was 
 signed. Her letters to her family at home in New Jer- 
 sey are the observations of an alert, lively woman, to 
 whose philosophical mind the gay capital served as an 
 amusement, but not in the least a temptation. Her 
 opportunities for observation were of the best. She 
 writes to her sister, M. Morris, dating her letter, 
 "London, 4 12th. 1785": 
 
 I find it in vain to keep pace here with the nice dames, so don't 
 care a fig about it; let us be dressed as we will, I find the best 
 of them take a great deal more notice of us than either of us 
 desires.t 
 
 They mention their reticules — spelt preferably by 
 all, apparently, "ridicule;" these side pockets must 
 match the gown, with tassel and strings. 
 
 " When writing of women," said Diderot, " we 
 should dip our pen in the rainbow, and throw over each 
 
 *Mrs. Earle, " Costume of Colonial Times," p. 152. 
 
 t " Letters of the Hill Family," edited by J. J. Smith, p. 256. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 167 
 
 line the powder of the butterfly's wing, instead of 
 sand ! " No suck ethereal notion is left of woman in 
 these athletic days of the golfing girl, but it is not so 
 long since exercise was a disgrace, and to seem to live 
 on anything more substantial than air, a crime against 
 good taste. Gowns, of course, partook of the general 
 aesthetic tendency, and the period of classicism in dress 
 left its imprint on the garb even of the Quaker ladies 
 of the early part of this century. Fashions as a rule 
 change gradually, but at the French Revolution they 
 made a sudden revolt, and down came the " high 
 heads " and the " poufs au sentiment," the latter a 
 pleasing structure some four feet high, representing 
 at the wearer's whim, gardens and trees, and ships un- 
 der full sail in billowy seas of gauze, or models of their 
 nursery and babies and all their pet animals. The re- 
 action went to the other extreme, when Paris sought 
 to reproduce Greek 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. Xone too many, accord- 
 ing to our hygienic ideas in this day, had ever been 
 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 
 
IQg THE QUAKER. 
 
 name to a coiffure ! The only thing to be said in favor 
 of this riot of classicism was that it put an abrupt end 
 to cocked hats, wigs, pigtails and hair powder. Hoops 
 became past horrors, as did 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 that interfered with 
 statuesque effects, and perilous indeed must have been 
 the results in the unfriendly English climate. Gauze 
 and silks and tiffanvs and taffetas, India muslins and 
 delicate gossamers were considered heavy enough for 
 winter wear by our English grandmothers, who, poor 
 things, killed themselves off before their time and trans- 
 mitted many an ill to their descendants as a tribute to 
 Dame Fashion. Shoes came from France, and were of 
 finest kid, for by some unaccountable mental bias it 
 was no more possible then than it is now for the Eng- 
 lish to make a graceful shoe. Rouge was described as 
 an " animating appendage " to the toilette, and cold 
 water was regarded as an enemy to good looks — " the 
 natural enemy to a smooth skin ! " Prince Jerome 
 Bonaparte married Miss Elizabeth Patterson on Christ- 
 mas eve, 1803. A gentleman who was present wrote: 
 
 All the clothes worn by the bride might have been put in my 
 pocket. Her dress was of muslin richly embroidered, of extreme- 
 ly fine texture. Beneath her dress she wore but a single 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 scanty supply of underclothing which it per- 
 
 * Mrs. Hunt, " Our Grandmothers' Gowns," p. 15. 
 
A STUDY IN COHTUME. 109 
 
 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 
 unfeminine even for an outside wrap. Linen was uni- 
 versal, and silk stockings with the thinnest lasting, or 
 " prunella " shoes and slippers, with soles of paper-like 
 thickness, were the usual foot-covering in houses full 
 of draughts caused by open fires. Carpet or " list " 
 shoes were donned by old ladies for snow and ice, and 
 clogs and pattens were worn by the belles of the day. 
 To be sure, heavy fur pelisses were worn in bitter 
 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 refers. An old newspaper says, " Since 
 the peace, calico has become the general fashion of our 
 country women, and is 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 
 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," 
 " Eanelagh half -moon," and a " fine check inclosing 
 Eour Lions Eampant and three flours de Luce." Some 
 
170 y^^ QUAKER. 
 
 were adorned witli the portraits of political heroes, like 
 Washington and Franklin. We are further told that 
 these designs were stamped by blocks for the hand, 
 which are still in existence,* The 'New England 
 mantua-maker of 1668 charged eight shillings per day 
 — a fair comparison with a modern seamstress — and 
 the dressmaker who made up the calicoes a hundred 
 years later got no more. A young married woman, 
 who was a Friend, wrote to her sister from Washing- 
 ton, Dutchess County, New York, Seventh month 13th, 
 1828: 
 
 Yesterday was Preparative Meeting. The clerk was a young 
 girl, I think not twenty years of age, dressed in a painted mus- 
 lin, with a very large figure, almost white, a cape with a small 
 transparent handkerchief round the neck, and a bonnet of white 
 Bilk in the real English fashion, gathered very full, and altogether 
 the most showy looking clerk I ever saw. . . . 
 
 I went over to the store yesterday and bought a real calico 
 gown, a dress one, — light, to put on afternoons, when it is too 
 cold for gingham, as it mostly is in this elevated region. I find 
 it necessary to be pretty much dressed all the time if one is to 
 keep up with the custom of the house. Even Mother made up 
 a white apron, as she says she 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 but crepe handkerchiefs this hot 
 Aveather. . . . Short sleeves only are wearable either. I have not 
 yet ventur'd to cut off more than one pair, but think I shall. 
 
 * Alice Morse 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 " flour'd 
 and figur'd things " have seemed to recur in feminine 
 costume in some form ever since 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 " fip " 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 tlour'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 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 properly; the depth of the three folds exactly in the cen- 
 ter of the back of the neck, and the size of the pin that 
 holds them ; the pin on the tip of each shoulder, to hold 
 the fullness in sufficient firmness, without pulling, and 
 without showing that it is a pin; and the momentous 
 decision whether the point of the shawl is exactly in 
 the middle, or 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 shawl commended itself at 
 first sight to the Quakeress of the nineteenth century. 
 The return of the Emperor Napoleon from his campaign 
 in Egypt, bringing to Josephine some beautiful cash- 
 mere shawls, gave that garment a great vogue in 1807. 
 The Empress took an immense fancy to the shawl, and 
 there was a time at which she was scarcely ever seen 
 without one in the morning. It is said that " she had 
 about five hundred, for many of which she had given as 
 much as ten or twelve thousand francs. The Emperor 
 did not like to see her wrapped in her shawls within 
 doors, and sometimes pulled them off and threw them in 
 the fire, but she always sent for another." 
 
 The " Belle Assemblee " discourages the shawl. It 
 
 says: 
 
 It is only wonderful, that such an article of dress sHould ever 
 have found its path to fashionable adoption in the various cir- 
 cles of British taste. In its 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 is 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 sickly taste of the tawny BELLES of the torrid zone, 
 nothing but that witching beauty which occasionally veils itself 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. I73 
 
 in the rusticity and homeliness (like the sun, its mists and 
 clouds) that it may dazzle anew, with the refulgent splendor of 
 its 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 is the very contrast to the 
 flowing elegance of the Grecian costume, whose light and trans- 
 parent draperies so admirably display the female form.* 
 
 A Quaker poet thus expressed himself later: 
 
 Observe yon belles! behold the waspish waist! 
 
 See the broad bishop spreading far behind; 
 The shawl immense, with uncouth figures graced, 
 
 And veil loose waving in the playful wind; , 
 
 Mark the huge bonnets, stuck on hills of hair. 
 Like meteors streaming in the turbid air.f 
 
 The impressions of the life and manners of the seven 
 sisters Gurney, of Norwich, England, by A. J. C. 
 Hare,:}: 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 
 Gurney, 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 by Mrs. A. W. Hunt, in " Our Grandmothers' Gowns," 
 p. 28. 
 
 t Samuel J. Smith, of Hickory Grove, N. J. 
 
 J Augustus J. C. Hare, " The Gurneys of Earlham." 
 
174 THE QUAKER. 
 
 have linked arms, and in their scarlet * riding-habits, 
 in which they scoured the country side on their ponies, 
 stopped the great mail-coach from ascending the neigh- 
 boring hill ! The brother Daniel states in his " Remin- 
 iscences," that his four younger sisters never wore bon- 
 nets on the Earlham grounds, but put on little red 
 cloaks in which they ran about as they liked. Louisa 
 Gurney (afterward Mrs. Samuel Hoare) writes, June 
 5th, 1797, " In the evening I dressed up in Quaker 
 things, but I felt far too ashamed to say or act any- 
 thing," so strong was the influence of the Quaker spirit. 
 The same seven sat in a row in front of the ministers' 
 gallery at ISTorwich Meeting. One day Betsey (Eliza- 
 beth Fry) had on a pair of " new purple boots lined 
 with scarlet," which sounds amazingly gorgeous to us 
 at this day. Betsey was counting upon the delights of 
 the shoes to console her through the tedium she antici- 
 pated. But as it proved, this was to be a memorable 
 day to her. It was the fourth of February, 1798, and 
 Betsey was eighteen. William Savery, the great 
 American preacher, was present, and his sermon was so 
 forceful and appealed so to her, that she became con- 
 vinced of the truth of Quaker principles and became a 
 Quaker from that time forth. 
 
 That same meeting seems to have shocked Friend 
 Savery, for he wrote that he found it very gay for a 
 Friends' meeting. " There were," he says, " about two 
 hundred under our name, very few middle aged. I 
 thought it the gayest meeting of Friends I ever sat in, 
 and was quite grieved at it. . . . Marks of wealth and 
 grandeur are too evident in several families in this 
 
 * " Kutusoff " mantles of scarlet cloth were much worn later. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 175 
 
 place." Maria Edgeworth describes Elizabeth Ery 
 after years had passed, in her " drab-colored silk cloak 
 and plain borderless silk cap." "When Joseph Ery first 
 determined to marry Elizabeth Gurney, if it were possi- 
 ble, he saw her in a brown silk gown, with a black lace 
 veil bound around her head like a turban, the ends 
 pendant on one side of her face, and contrasting with 
 her beautiful light brown hair. Eichenda, her sister, 
 writes of the " troutbecks " they were all wearing at 
 the seaside in 1803. These were hats of that year. 
 Red cloaks are mentioned, and the fashions of the time 
 show the brilliant colors of wraps and all outside gar- 
 ments of the day to have been very startling. All ex- 
 cept the plainest Quakers made some concession to the 
 mode. Priscilla Gurney writes to Hannah, her sister, 
 afterward the wife of Sir T. Eowell Buxton, " Chenda 
 and I wear our dark gowns every day, and our aprons 
 in the evening." This was in Eebruary, 1803. In 
 1805, Louisa Gurney writes to her sister, Elizabeth 
 Ery, " I often seem 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 Friends at the time, to which reference has already 
 been made. We are told that in May, 1807, at the 
 marriage of the Buxtons, " The house was overrun with 
 bridesmaids in muslin cloaks and chip hats." In 1813, 
 Katherine Fry says, " Our Aimts Catherine and Rachel 
 (Gurney) wore no caps, but a headdress of crepe folded 
 turbanwise. Both were brown in the morning; in the 
 afternoons, Aunt Catherine's were dark red; Aunt 
 Rachel's, white. Aunt Rachel also frequently wore 
 
176 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 white muslin dresses. They had few or no ornaments. 
 Aunt Catherine always wore dark or black silk, but 
 often with a red shawl. Aunt Priscilla, as a Friend, 
 was dressed in a dark silk or poplin gown, exquisitely 
 neat, finished and refined." The Aunt Catherine who 
 was the head of the family, while never a Quaker, al- 
 ways regarded the preferences of those who were of that 
 faith in her circle, and studied an elegant simplicity of 
 dress that was the admiration of her friends, seeking to 
 avoid any marked or startling contrasts among the very 
 varied views of the sisters. 
 
 Their intimate friend was the author, Amelia Opie; 
 that talented convert to the faith went into it with her 
 customary ardor, and the change from worldly garb 
 was made at one leap, when once she became convinced 
 of the necessity for the sacrifice of her love of color, 
 which, as the wife of the artist, John Opie, had been 
 more than ordinarily cultivated.* But she seems to 
 have seen in the simple elegance of her Quaker friends, 
 sufficient outlet for all artistic aspirations in the realm 
 of costume; and certainly no more stately women 
 could have been found in the King's domain to set off 
 the possibilities of silk and satin, when worn with grace 
 and distinction. As though partly in explanation of 
 what seemed to their friends an extraordinary step, 
 Southey wrote of Mrs. Opie: 
 
 I like her in spite of her Quakerism — nay, perhaps the better 
 for it. It must always be remembered amongst what persons 
 she had lived, and that religion was never presented to her in 
 a serious form until she saw it in drab. 
 
 * Joseph John Gurney, in writing of her at this time, says, " Great 
 •was her agony of mind in view of changing her dress, and of addressing 
 her numerous friends and acquaintances by their plain names, and with 
 the humbling simplicity of thee and thou." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 177 
 
 So remarkable a figure was that of Elizabeth Fry 
 in the elegant simplicity of Quaker dress, whether in 
 the prison of Newgate, or before the crowned heads of 
 Europe, that her dress has become fixed in the public 
 mind as the tj^je of woman's Quaker costume. Eliza- 
 beth Fry writes to her husband from The Hague, after 
 an audience with the King and Queen, in 1847, " I 
 wore a dark plain satin, and a new fawn colored silk 
 shawl." At this time, however, it was no new thing 
 for Elizabeth Ery to wait upon royalty. Her first visit 
 to court was made in 1818, when Queen Charlotte com- 
 manded her presence at the Mansion House, upon 
 which occasion A. J. C. Hare says, " Royalty offered 
 its meed of approval at the shrine of mercy and good 
 works." The Queen's stature was diminutive; she was 
 covered with diamonds, her countenance lighted up 
 with an expression of the kindest benevolence. Eliza- 
 beth Fry's simple Quaker dress added to the height of 
 her tall figure. She was slightly flushed, but kept her 
 wonted calm. Her daughter wrote afterward: 
 
 They entered, Lady Harcourt in full court dress, on the arm 
 of Alderman Wood in scarlet gown; and then the Bishop of 
 Gloucester (Ryder) in lawn sleeves, leading our darling mother 
 in her plain Friend's cap, one of the light scarf cloaks worn by 
 plain Friends, and a dark silk gown. I see her now, her light 
 flaxen hair, a little flush in her face from the bustle and noise 
 she had passed through, and her sweet, lovely, placid smile.* 
 
 Ann Warder, whose interesting Journal covers three 
 years, from 1786 to 1789, among the Friends of Phila- 
 delphia and vicinity, gives us vivid pictures of life in 
 the young republic, and the privilege of quoting from 
 
 * A. J. C. Hare, " The Gurneys of Earlham." 
 
i;8 THE QUAKER. 
 
 its unpublished pages has been gladly availed of. She 
 tells us that upon landing from the ship Edward, in 
 iN'ew York, in 1786, they were taken at once to the 
 home of a Friend of the family. " The woman Friend 
 of the house came up, and as a mark of her welcome, 
 untied my cap to help strip me." At this period, Ann 
 Warder was twenty-eight. On being told that her ap- 
 pearance was singular, she explained that " countries 
 differed; riding dresses with us were very much worn, 
 and mine in England would be esteemed a plain one. 
 This is a specimen of their singularity on this Island 
 [Long Island] ; scarce any had Buckles, and not a 
 looped hat did I see." When word reached Philadel- 
 phia by messenger of the arrival of John Warder and 
 his English wife, ten minutes sufficed to see their 
 Brother Jeremiah and his wife on their way to I^ew 
 York to meet them. Haste probably accounts for the 
 appearance of the new arrival from the South, who is 
 thus described by the English w^oman, and contrasted 
 with her husband, his brother. She allows us to see 
 the unconventional dress of the Quaker of that day: 
 
 His dress unstudied, a Cocked Hat, Clumsy Boots, Brown cloth 
 large Breeches, Black Velvet Waistcoat, light old Cazemar [cassi- 
 mere] coat, handkerchie instead of stock which is tied on with- 
 out much pains. Conceive J. W. [her husband] with "his suit — 
 Nankeen Inexpressibles and white silk stockings, much more re- 
 sembling an English gentleman. 
 
 She adds: 
 The women I have seen at present appear Indolent, which may 
 perhaps be a reason for Mother Warder's bearing such a high 
 character for notability. 
 
 To be a " notable " housewife was to reach woman's 
 summit of social ambition at that day among the Quak- 
 ers. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 179 
 
 Got B. Parker to go out shoping with me. On our way hap- 
 pened of Uncle Head, to whom I complained bitterly of the dirty 
 streets, declaring if I could purchase a pair of pattens, the sin- 
 gularity I wovild not mind. Uncle soon found me up an apartment, 
 out of which I took a pair and trotted along quite Comfortable, 
 crossing some Streets with the greatest ease, which the idea of 
 had troubled me. My little companion was so pleased, that she 
 wished some also, and kept them on her feet to learn to walk 
 ill 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. Gay'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 Isew 
 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 r^^ QUAKER. 
 
 A shopping expedition is recorded to find white 
 leather mitts. " In not less than twenty [shops] did we 
 ask for them before we succeeded; there is no place 
 regular for different trades, as with us." 
 
 The apron, as we have seen, had its day of popular- 
 ity, and it is perhaps interesting to notice that the 
 sleeve, which early in the seventeenth century was 
 often a separate article of dress, after the old custom 
 from the time of the Wars of the Roses, was apt to be 
 of another color than the gown, and green was still the 
 fashionable shade at this period. A famous old song 
 of the time, in everybody's mouth, was " My Lady 
 Greensleeves." It is mentioned by Shakespeare in 
 the " Merry Wives of Windsor," where Falstaff says: 
 " Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune 
 of ' Green-Sleeves.' " (Act V., Scene 5.) Part of the 
 old song is as follows: * 
 
 Alas, my love, you do me wrong 
 
 To cast me off discourteously; 
 And I have loved you so long, 
 
 Delighting in your company. 
 
 Greensleeves was all my joy, 
 Greensleeves was my delight; 
 Greensleeves was my heart of Gold, 
 And Who but Lady Greensleeves? 
 
 I have been ready at your hand 
 
 To grant whatever you would crave; 
 I have both waged life and land 
 Your goodwDl for to have. 
 
 Thou couldst desire no earthly thing 
 
 But still thou hadst it readily. 
 Thy music still to play and sing; 
 
 And yet thou wouldst not love me. 
 
 ♦From " A Handful of Pleasant Delites," by Clement Robinson, 1584. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 181 
 
 My men were clothM all in green. 
 
 And they did ever wait on thee, 
 All this was gallant to be seen. 
 
 And yet thou wouldst not love me. 
 
 They set thee up, they took thee down. 
 
 They served thee with humility, 
 Thy foot might not once touch the ground. 
 
 And yet thou wouldst not love me. 
 
 Thy gown was of the grassy green, 
 
 Thy sleeves of satin hanging by, 
 Which made thee be our harvest queen. 
 
 And yet thou wouldst not love me. 
 
 Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu! 
 
 God I pray to prosper thee! 
 For I am still thy lover true; 
 
 Come once again and love me. 
 
 Walter Rutherford is quoted by Miss Wharton as 
 objecting violently to " a late abominable fashion 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 fine muslin under-sleeves, 
 with the little gold link buttons to fasten them at the 
 ends, 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 
 
 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 Hannah Hunt, 
 
 Westtowu's First Scholar. 
 1799. 
 (Aetat 11.) 
 
 put on her cap before she was fairly grown up; and 
 the first little girl sent to Westtown School in Penn- 
 sylvania, in 1799, wore a cap of 
 large proportions. No baby came 
 into the world, whether of Quak- 
 erdom or of fashion, in the last 
 century, without at once having its 
 hairless little pate clapped into a 
 more or less uncompromising cap, 
 many of those still in existence 
 being very elaborately embroid- 
 ered. But we might forgive them 
 for refusing to the little head the 
 proper circulation of air, if they 
 had not sinned in a far worse way 
 when they at once enclosed the poor little ribs in the 
 most cruel of stays. For a long time, I tried to per- 
 suade myself that it was only the ultra-fashionable (or 
 the Chinese) that so treated their offspring. But, alas ! 
 the pair of stiff, diminutive stays in my own possession 
 has never 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 great-grandmother 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 still put their babies 
 in tight jackets of this kind immediately after their 
 birth, under the impression, which I suppose animated 
 our great-grandmothers, that the small body needed 
 " support," forsooth, much more than freedom ! 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 183 
 
 When the children got to be of a suitable age for 
 such instruction, literature like the following was read 
 to them, with what effect, either on manners or morals, 
 we are not told: 
 
 Counsel to Friends' Children, 
 
 Written at Coggeshall, Essex, 
 
 1745, by Anthony Purver.* 
 
 Dear little Friends, not tainted yet with ill. 
 By Sense not biassed, nor misled by Will; 
 
 Dress not to please, nor imitate the Nice; 
 Be like good Friends, and follow their Advice. 
 The rich man, gaily cloth'd, is now in Hell, 
 And Dogges did eat attirgd Jezebel. 
 
 Speak truly still, with Thou and Thee to One 
 As unto God; and feed the Pride in None; 
 Give them no llatt'ring Titles, tho' they scoff. 
 Lest God, provok'd, should quickly cut you off. 
 Him only did not the three Children fear. 
 And with their Hats before the King appear? 
 
 It may be set down as a safe rule, in seeking for a 
 Quaker style or custom at 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. 
 
184 THE QUAKER. 
 
 taught us. A very modern instance of this familiariz- 
 ing process and ultimate acceptance of what, on its first 
 appearance, is set doAvn as a vain fashion, is the recent 
 adoption in one of the largest boarding-schools in the 
 society, and the only plain one, of the ordinary straw 
 sailor-hat among the girls, just as its popularity is on 
 the wane. 
 
 It will be noted that during the period following the 
 time of William Penn up to that of the summit of Eliza- 
 beth Fry's fame — an interval of nearly one hundred 
 and fifty years — there was no established type of 
 Quaker dress. ISTo woman of the society had ever 
 come before the public eye in such a way as to impress 
 it vn\h. her personality, or stamp her character upon 
 the public mind. Elsewhere, I have indicated that the 
 witchcraft persecutions had caused the preaching 
 woman who was the contemporary of William Penn, 
 who came from the same class of society as the witch 
 who was hung or burned with such wanton cruelty on 
 both sides the Atlantic, and who wore a garb exactly 
 similar, to be seized upon as the type of our nursery 
 "witch." The most conspicuous instance was taken; 
 otherwise, we should have had the Quaker woman in 
 her cap and pointed hat, her apron and her high-heeled 
 shoes, standing 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, appeared Elizabeth Fry's beautiful figure 
 in its exquisite setting. The great movement in Eng- 
 land toward prison reform organized by her noble 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 185 
 
 effort, has made her the type of the Quaker woman for 
 all time. 
 
 A Meditation on the Pride of Women's Apparel. 
 
 (From " A New Spring of Divine Poetry," James Day, 1637. Percy 
 Society. Vol. XXVII, p. 143.) 
 
 See how some borrow'd off-cast vaine attire, 
 
 Can puff up pamper'd clay and dirty mire: 
 
 Tell me, whence hadst thy cloaths that make thee fine, 
 
 Was't not the silly sheep's before 'twas thine? 
 
 Doth not the silk-worm and the oxe's hide^ 
 
 Serve to maintain thee in thy cheefest pride? 
 
 Do'st not thou often with those feathers vaile 
 
 Thy face, with which the ostridge hides her taile? 
 
 What 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 nise. 
 
 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 glory in th' effect of sin. 
 
 " Madam, I do as is my duty — 
 Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie." 
 
 — Hudibras. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE QUAKER BONNET. 
 
 Then let Fashion exult in her rapid vagaries ; 
 
 From her fascinations my favorite is free; 
 Be Folly's the headgear that momently varies, 
 
 But a Bonnet of Drab is the bonnet for me. 
 
 Bernard Barton. 
 
 Borrow'd guise fits not the wise — 
 
 A simple look is best ; 
 Native grace becomes a face 
 
 Though ne'er so rudely drest. 
 
 ThoTTUu Campion, 161%, 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE QUAKER BONNET. 
 
 • O 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 — anywhere, 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 try. 
 
 * Plain bonnet-making was a trade exceedingly hard on the fingers. 
 
190 '^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 Again it becomes necessary, in order to study the 
 Quaker headdress, to examine first the worldly bonnet 
 and mode of dressing the hair. The clue to all the 
 changes within the Society may be found without; and 
 not a pleat of the bonnet as now worn by the plainest 
 Friend; not a turn of the shawl, not a flare of the coat 
 nor a roll of the hat-brim, but had its origin at some 
 remote day — ^let us whisper it softly — in Paris ! There 
 was a time when the bonnet, which for the sake of dis- 
 tinction, we shall call Elizabeth Fry's — the " techni- 
 cal " Quaker bonnet, so to speak, known among the ir- 
 reverent as the " coal-scuttle," or " sugar-scoop," or 
 " stiff-pleat " — was a new thing in America. It came 
 to this country on the head of an accredited English 
 woman Eriend, Martha Routh,* who was also a min- 
 ister; and echoes of its coming had preceded her. A 
 contemporary journal, still in existence, tells us: 
 
 Martha Routh, a Minister of the Gospel from Old England^ 
 ■was at Goshen (Pennsylvania) Meeting the 11th. day of 11th. mo. 
 1798; was a means (if I mistake not) of bringing bonnets in fash- 
 ion for our leading Frd's, and hoods or Caps on the Cloaks in 
 the Galleries, which of Latter time the Hoods on the Cloaks 
 of our overseers and other active members have increased to an 
 alarming hight or size: — how unlike the dress of their grand- 
 mothers! t 
 
 What should we not give to behold that same 
 " dress of their grandmothers ! " Martha Routh 
 made a second visit to America in 1802. She writes in 
 her Journal on her return home after her first visit that 
 
 * Martha Routh, born 1743, died 1817. 
 
 tFrom "A Memorandum Book belonging to Ennion Cook, of 
 Birmingham, Chester county, Pennsylvania," dated 1820. Eunion Cook 
 ■was the village schoolmaster, and the old memorandum book is in posses- 
 sion of a descendant. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 191 
 
 thej were taken bj 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 ? He 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 century women, declares 
 Viollet le Due, were of a uniform type; the prevailing 
 style of headdress during the Wars of the Roses 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 ^'ffJE; 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 bonnet, no headdress existed 
 lending such uniformity of type to the faces it sur- 
 mounted, the " commode " and the " high head " not 
 excepted. The " head rail " of the Saxon period, and 
 the " wimple " or " gorget " of Plantagenet times, 
 came down to the early seventeenth century as the 
 hood, with which we shall presently make closer ac- 
 quaintance. The " head rail " was not shaped at all, 
 but consisted merely of a long piece of linen or stuff 
 drawn over the head like a hood, 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 life ! 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 
 band 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 VIILf 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 chin.:j: 
 Small bonnets or hoods, with two long " pattes," behind 
 
 *Hm, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 61. 
 
 t See chapter on Hats. 
 
 JQuicherat, "Histoirede Costume." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 193 
 
 the ears, or " mouchoirs " with lace, or " toquets " of 
 velvet (called " bonnets de plumes " because worn with 
 so many plumes), were all tentatively suggesting the 
 coming 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 — doubtless the origin of the modern " bavolet." 
 English women of the common- 
 alty in the seventeenth century 
 wore broad hats 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 the 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 of Hester Pooks, second wife of 
 John Tradescant, the younger. She lived from 1608 
 until 1678; her portrait hangs on the stairway of the 
 Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. She wears a costume 
 exactly similar to the Quakeress Tub-Preacher, includ- 
 ing cap and peaked beaver hat, the only difference in 
 dress being the rich lace upon her gown. 
 
 This peculiar headdress has remained from the time 
 of James I. (who is responsible for the beaver hat in 
 this form) to the present day among the Welsh women; 
 and almost all of the earliest prints of the Quaker 
 women who preach, show them dressed in this cap and 
 hat. It is impossible, in examining any of these pic- 
 tures, to avoid the suggestion 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 
 1650 and 1675; it was popular 
 with the middle and lower 
 classes, and 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 " Meraoires, etc., 
 d'Angleterre." 1698. 
 
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 annoyed 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. 
 
 tGeorgiana Hill, " History of English Dress." Vol. I., p. 226. 
 
196 THE QUAKER. 
 
 wark Meeting, London, in 1707, bj 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 records say: 
 
 It being taken notice of that several women Friends at the 
 Park Meeting do usually hang their riding-hoods on the rail of 
 the gallery, whereby the Friends that sit under the rail of the 
 gallery are incommoded, It's left to Robert Fairman and Mary 
 Fairman to take order for remedying the same.t 
 
 The " capuchin " came into this country as a fashion- 
 able hooded cloak early in the eighteenth century, and 
 shared its popularity with the smaller " cardinal," a 
 similar garment or hood, so named because the original 
 was of scarlet cloth, like the mozetta of a cardinal. 
 The capuchin (named from its resemblance to the gar- 
 ment distinguishing the monks of that order) was worn 
 by high and low, rich and poor, plain and gay; and the 
 Friends 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 New 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," "cabans," " royales," 
 " balandras," " houppelandes," " mandilles," " roquets," etc. Quic-lierat, 
 " Histoire de Costume en France," p. 458. 
 
 tBeck and Ball, " History of London Friends' Meetings," p. 227. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 197 
 
 Cromwell's Time. 
 (After Reptoa.) 
 
 the Quakers in their notice of such matters. It must 
 at no time be thought that the Quakers were alone in 
 their extreme care for the dress 
 of their constituency. The Puri- 
 tan clergymen preached more 
 about bonnets and hats than ever 
 the Quakers did ; and their 
 opinions were very varied. For 
 instance, Mr. Davenport, at New 
 Haven, preached that the men, 
 upon the announcement of the 
 text, should remove their hats 
 and stand up; Mr. Williams, 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, at Boston, 
 on the 7th of March, 1633, 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 
 I^ew 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 customary.* 
 
 *Dr. Dexter, " As to Roger WUliams," p. 31. 
 
198 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 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 sche may nocht be 
 kend, under the pane of escheit of the curchie." * 
 There were many minds. 
 
 The World, a periodical for 1753, contains a let- 
 ter condemning the ladies for wearing their hats in the 
 churches during divine service, as transgressing against 
 the laws of decency and decorum. At the arraignment 
 of Ann Turner before the King's Bench in 1615, for 
 the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury: 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice told her that women must be covered 
 in the church, but not when they are arraigned, and so caused 
 her to put off her hat; which being done, she covered her hair 
 with her handkerchief, being before dressed in her hair, and her 
 hat over it.f 
 
 In 1726, an advertisement in the Boston News Letter 
 
 of September relates the loss of a hood: 
 
 On the Sabbath, the 28th of August last, was taken away or 
 Stole out of a Pew at the Old North Meeting House, A Cinnamon 
 Colour'd Woman's Silk Camblet Eiding-Hood, the head faced 
 with Black Velvet. 
 
 We are tempted to hope the " cinnamon colour'd 
 woman " got her 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 Mary 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 itseK 
 
 *PercySoc. Vol. XXVII., p. 77. 
 
 t Archseologia. Vol. XXVII., p. 61. 
 
 I W. R. Bliss, " Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting-house." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 199 
 
 at the same date. We should much like to know what 
 
 might have been the shape of the " Ladies Newest 
 
 Fashion White 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 degrees the tall, steeple-crowned hats 
 
 became relegated to the country women, and the poorer 
 
 class in the towns. Ward, speaking of an assembly of 
 
 "fat, motherly flat-caps," at Billingsgate, says: 
 
 Their chief Clamour was against 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.f 
 
 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 THE QUAKER. 
 
 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 century. ISo garments were more 
 popular than this and the " cardinal " among the young 
 Quakeresses, as letters of the period testify. 
 
 The Riding-Hood. 
 
 Let traitors against kings conspire. 
 Let secret spies great statesmen hire, 
 Nought shall be by detection got, 
 If women may have leave to plot; 
 There's nothing clos'd with bars or locks 
 Can hinder nightrayls, pinners, smocks, 
 For they will everywhere make good, 
 As now they've done the Riding-hood. 
 
 Oh thou, that by this sacred wife. 
 
 Hast saved thy Liberty and life. 
 
 And by her wits immortal pains, 
 
 With her quick head hast sav'd thy brains: 
 
 Let all designs her worth adorn, 
 
 Sing her anthem night and morn. 
 
 And let thy fervent zeal make good, 
 
 A reverence for the Riding-hood.* 
 
 The song, of which these are the last two stanzas, 
 was composed after the battle 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. XXVII., p. 207. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 201 
 
 Home 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 " ISTithesdale." 
 
 The " mob " was a rather slovenly undress, always 
 spoken of disparagingly. There were advertised 
 " Women's laced Head-Cloths," commonly called 
 " Quaker's Primers," and " Dowds." * The later tur- 
 bans of the " Cranf ord " 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 its 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) names " 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 " un bon- 
 net de conquete assuree ! " Changes were made with 
 lightning rapidity. A despairing beau in the London 
 Magazine, in April, 1762, 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 Anne," p. 134. 
 fFrom " A Repartee," London Magazine, April, 1762. 
 
202 
 
 TEE QUAKE I!. 
 
 'Lavinia" chip hat for walking; 
 
 trimmed with white sarsenet 
 
 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 
 Grecque," 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 tell you that I am getting very extravagant and 
 spending all my money. . . . Miss Burton has made me a very 
 pretty bonnet and now nothing can satisfy me but 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. In 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, was 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 "^vith the head than the 
 " chapeau bras " of the men. At one time hat hrims 
 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 with garnets 
 and brilKants. The ladies at home also wore the " cor- 
 
 *The name commode does not appear to have been used in America. 
 
204 
 
 THE QUAKER. 
 
 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 1730. In this class the hood neglige was without 
 ends. The " bagnolette " was an outdoor protection, 
 something on this order. In France 
 it was the " capeline sans bavolet." * 
 It was really the old coif of Louis 
 XIV. 's time, worn on the back of the 
 head, and without anything at nape 
 of neck. The old cape worn by 
 elderly ladies became the mantelet. 
 This was for cold weather, while the 
 "Cornette." mantilla was a summer garment worn 
 qumiSr^of °bio"n!fe ^^^6 ^ ^^^g fichu, throwu over the 
 IfT^i^on^'tov. head and knotted on the breast. The 
 
 style is French, .,., , - . , i 
 
 ''simply elegant and mantilla and mantle must not be con- 
 becoming " 1 
 
 October, 1816. founded. The latter was 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 
 Queen Anne, and for holidays the high-crowned 
 hat of beaver still had some vogue, f The straw hat 
 came in as early as the reign of James II. (1685 
 to 1688), 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. 305 
 
 moulting, and have cast great quantities of lace, rib- 
 bons, and cambric." Swift writes to Stella: "May 
 19tli. 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 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 The dress of Anne of Cleves, when brought to Eng- 
 land to marry Henry the 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 ful of orient pearle of a very proper fassyion, and 
 before that she had a cornet of black velvet and about her necke 
 she had a partlet set full of riche stones vrhich glistered all the 
 felde.* 
 
 The " pinched cap " seems to have been a favorite 
 matter of allusion to characterise the Quaker women 
 by many of the old contemporary writers. Tom 
 Brown, who lived certainly until 1704, and who, of 
 course, had little but derision for the Quakers, says: 
 " What have we here ? Old Mother Shipton of the 
 second edition, with amendments; a close black hood 
 over a pinched coif, etc." The " Querpo hood " f worn 
 chiefly by the Puritans and plainer people, was also a 
 Quaker peculiarity after it was discarded by the world- 
 ly. Ned Ward, in a dialogue between a termagant and 
 her miserly husband, makes her say: 
 
 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 New 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," 
 " Quilted," " Kitty Fisher," " Quebeck," " Garrick," 
 
 * Quoted by Repton, Archseologia, XXVII., p. 37. 
 
 t" Querpo "was a corruption of the Spanish Cuerj)o, signifying 
 close fitting. An undress. The body "in querpo" — t. c, in body-cloth- 
 ing—close. See Hudibras : 
 
 " Exposed in querpo to their rage 
 Without my arms & equipage." 
 
•/■*n-.r"-^^ 
 
 ^h^ 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 207 
 
 " Prussian," " Eanelagh," and others. They were of 
 " plain and masqueraded newest fashion crimson, blue, 
 white and black." 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 know by reason of their enormous bon- 
 nets. Mr. White doth pleasantlie saye from ye pulpit 
 hee doth seeme to be 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 Hattes on in the Meeting 
 House in time of Divine Service as being Indecent " 
 (with a capital I !). The " Hattes " were ordered off, 
 but with no more effect than if the meeting house had 
 been a modern theatre ! 
 
 The calash, invented by the Duchess of Bedford in 
 1765 was so much more like a buggy-top, or 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 Avith 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 
 
208 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 ladies in country towns in New England certainly until 1840 and 
 possibly later. In England they were also worn until that date, 
 as we learn from Mrs. Gaskell's " Cranford " and Thackeray's 
 " Vanity Fair." * 
 
 The '■ punkin " hood was the winter mate to the 
 calash in ^ew England, quilted with rolls of wadding, 
 and drawn tight between the rolls with strong cording. 
 It was 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 no strings; " strap caps " had a band passing un- 
 der the chin. A little boy, aged eight years, wrote to 
 his Quaker grandmother: 
 
 Burlington, 12 mo. 23, 1833. — Mother wears long-eared caps 
 now, and I think they look better than the old ones. She has 
 worn them a considerable time now, and I have got quite recon- 
 ciled to the change. 
 
 His mother at this time was about thirty-five. 
 
 " Bugle fly-caps " were worn in Pennsylvania in 
 1760. Mob caps are described by Mrs. Earle as a 
 " caul with two lappets," and as we may learn from 
 many old portraits, were much worn. The " mobs " 
 were no doubt the streamers which gave the name to 
 the cap, and their undue length proved a source of un- 
 easiness to the Quakers, The mob cap is most familiar 
 to us in the portraits of Martha Washington, and it is 
 undoubtedly the 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. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 209 
 
 and red quilted petticoats, pink and blue gowns, mob 
 caps with lace ends, and flat 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. Grosley (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 /T^^N, 
 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. 
 t Ibid., Vol. II., p. 50. 
 
210 
 
 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 round and close as to look like caps, with which daintv 
 little white veils were worn half way over the face." 
 Bonnets had been enormous, the tremendous " poko " 
 having come in with French fashions after the French 
 war. This was the bonnet of which Moore wrote: 
 
 That build of boiinct whose extent 
 Should, like a doctrine of Dissent, 
 Puzzle church-goers to let it in; — 
 Nor half had reached the pitch sublime 
 To which trim toques and berets climb; 
 Leaving, like lofty Alps that throw 
 O'er minor Alps their shadowy sway, 
 Earth's humbler bonnets far below. 
 To poke tlurough life their fameleaa way. 
 
 Parisian Promenade Hat. 1816. 
 
 Bonnets had fallen back to more decent dimensions 
 after the French revolution, and hats received a round 
 form that justitied their Parisian name of " chapeaux 
 casques." * London still remained for a time the para- 
 
 •" Le Cabinet des Modes " rejoicingly said, " Nos moeurs commen- 
 cent a s'6purer : le luxe tombe." 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 4 
 
 211 
 
 dise of the " high head," and ostrich feathers and 
 })lumes 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 soon on Queen Street a coach on a new construc- 
 tion. The ladies ait in a well, and see between the spokes of the 
 wheels. With this contrivance, the fair proprietor is able to 
 go quite 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 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 ried white muffs for evening dress. A silver bear muff 
 in 1799, in Philadelphia, cost $14.00, one of grey bear 
 $19.00. 
 
 Snuff-taking vras 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 sure that the more fashionable 
 " snuffed." In Puritan New England a clergyman 
 held forth against mitts, calling them " wanton, open- 
 worked gloves slit 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 snuffs, but in her 
 hands the snuff-box seems 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. 
 
 Fairholt has given us a beautiful old Scotch version 
 of " The Garment of Gude Ladies," belonging to the 
 fifteenth century, which describes such a lady's head- 
 dress as might be the Quaker ideal : 
 
 Would my gude lady hife me best 
 
 And wark after my will, 
 I suld ane garment gudliest 
 
 Gar mak hir body till.* 
 Of he honour suld be hir hud,t 
 
 Upon hir heid to wear; 
 Gamiest $ with governance so good, 
 
 Na demyng suld 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 latter's 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 day of the " high-head," down to the end of the 
 
 * Cause to be made for her. 
 
 t Of high honor should be her hood. 
 
 X Garnished. 
 
 § No opinion should dismay her — cause her to fear censure. Percj 
 Society, XXVII., p. 59. 
 
214 THE QUAKER. 
 
 eighteenth century. The Quakers simply retained it 
 through all the mutations of fashion, until the intro- 
 duction of the bonnet, the flat hat having kept parallel 
 with it until the evolution of the bonnet of Quakerism 
 in the last century. Why the flat hat should have 
 seemed more plain to the dear Friends, than the small 
 and modest affair at first introduced as 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 of the law, thus cautioned their younger 
 members in the year 1703: 
 
 "As touching Bonnets — it is desired that a question 
 be moved at the Quarterly Meeting whether any should 
 be worn, yea or nay." And the meeting thus put it- 
 self on record on this momentous question; that 
 " though they might be lawful, it was not expedient to 
 wear them ! " * 
 
 Can am'thing be more delicious than this verdict ? 
 
 Priscilla Hannah Gurney was one who long retained 
 the old-fashioned black hood, which gave much char- 
 acter to her appearance. So late as 1818, Katherine, 
 daughter of Elizabeth Fry, remembered this ancient 
 Quakeress relative, who had had great influence upon 
 her famous mother. Priscilla Gurney was the daugh- 
 ter of Joseph and Christiana Barclay. She is described 
 as slight in build, and elegant in figure and manner, 
 dressing in the hood, to which reference has been made, 
 long after it had been discarded by others. It is prob- 
 able that the plain Quaker bonnet has been an evolu- 
 
 * Minutes of Aberdeen Monthly Meeting, 4 mo., 1703. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 
 
 215 
 
 18th Century Flat Hat. 
 
 tion from the original flat hat of beaver of the middle 
 of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. The bonnet one 
 degree less plain, with 
 a square crown, and 
 gathers, instead of 
 pleats, would seem to 
 be the lineal descend- 
 ant of the peculiar hat- 
 like bonnet worn by 
 the " Fair Quaker " of our engraving. It is prob- 
 ably that against which Aberdeen took exception 
 as " not expedient," and marks 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 still exist, 
 and it is from one of these that our illustration 
 is taken. The thought of putting on the worldly 
 construction from Paris may have alarmed the plain 
 
 Quakeress 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, wife of Samuel Strings Uudcr her chiu, the 
 Allinson, of Burlington, N. J. ; , . <• i i 
 
 died 1823. No strings, one eVOlutlOn 01 tllC prCSCUt DOU- 
 large box pleat in soft 
 
 <=™"''^- 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 tlie bonnet, and the change from the first 
 soft crown that was tentatively added to the un- 
 compromising five stiff pleats of the Quaker bonnet in 
 its highest development. 
 
 Watson, the annalist of Philadelphia, says: " The 
 same old ladies whom we remember as wearers of the 
 white aprons, wore also large white beaver hats, with 
 scarcely the sign of a crown, and which was confined to 
 the head by silk cords tied under the chin." A re- 
 cent writer * tells the following tale, which was re- 
 lated to 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 summer, 
 with one of these broad, flat, dish-like white beavers on 
 her head, when a cock, flying in through the low, open 
 window, behind the * gallery,' and perhaps mistaking 
 the hat for the head of a barrel, perched upon it and ut- 
 tered a vigorous crow ! " 
 
 In the year 1Y86, Ann Warder, who came out at that 
 date from London to join her husband at Philadelphia, 
 went up into the country to attend the funeral of her 
 old friend, Eobert Valentine. She was asked, very 
 much to her consternation, to sit in the " ministers' 
 gallery," but made her escape. " I felt so conscious of 
 being higher than I ought to be, intirely among Cloth 
 Hats,'' she wrote, " that I beg'd to return near the 
 Door with the excuse it would be cooler." * Those 
 beaver hats were to the Quaker of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury what the plain bonnet, technically so called, has 
 
 * R. M. Smith, " The Burlington Smiths," p. 157. 
 fMS. Journal of Ann Warder, 1786-1789. 
 
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 
 be looked at askance, and hardly admitted into full 
 standing, 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 either 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 beaver hat. For this 
 proceeding, and its evidence of what the Friends were 
 pleased to regard as her hopeless worldliness, she was 
 severely " dealt with " by the officers of her meeting. 
 There were heart burnings, we may be sure, over bon- 
 nets then, even if they were not worldly, and 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 generally 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 TEE QUAKER. 
 
 A painting of Gracechurch Street Meeting, London, 
 about 1778, shows a large assemblage in a pillared 
 hall; whose dignity and dimensions are quite imposing. 
 It is lighted solely from the roof. The men sit on one 
 side, the women on the other, both in rising seats and 
 on the main floor. Some of the women wear the newly- 
 introduced bonnet, like that of the " Fair Quaker," and 
 others wear the flat beaver or " skimming-dish " hat, 
 in some cases tied down over the ears; in others, not. A 
 few of the older women wear hoods. Many of the men 
 are in wigs, and all wear cocked hat, skirt-coat, and 
 knee-breeches. All wear their hats, except the 
 preacher, whose cocked hat hangs on a peg in the wall 
 behind him. Groups of the " world's people " look 
 down upon the worshiping Friends from the galleries 
 above, each group apparently accompanied by a plain 
 Friend who sits with them. This picture is very inter- 
 esting, as showing the period of transition to the plain 
 bonnet, and fully demonstrating the extent to which 
 the cocked hat and wig were worn among the Quakers 
 during the height of that fashion. It is worth noting 
 that the seats all have the luxury of backs — not a com- 
 mon thing by any means in the meetings of the day. 
 
 A Dutch engraving entitled, "Assemblee des Quak- 
 ers a Amsterdam — Un Quaker qui preche," shows a 
 plain room lighted from a dome in the ceiling. The 
 hard benches, without backs, are occupied by m.en in 
 full skirted coats, wigs and cocked hats. They carry 
 enormously long canes, fastened to the wrist by a cord. 
 A few worldly men standing as spectators in the back- 
 ground, wear swords. The hat-brims of two men 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 219 
 
 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 !Rewcastle-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 
 Koyal Yacht, in Kingston Harbor, has a similar shape, 
 except that it is probable that the Queen's was some- 
 what stiffened in the crown. Mrs. Lucock, of Beau- 
 mont-road, Plymouth, who is 84 years 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 Koyal 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 1840-1849, 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 QUAKER. 
 
 difference existing between Quaker and worldly. The 
 young Quakeresses of the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury were given to wearing silk and satin bonnets of 
 very delicate light colors, pearl gray and a rose pink 
 being favorites. The quilled bonnets, and those with 
 a plain front and gathered crown, both now adhered to 
 in Philadelphia, and considered plain, may here be seen 
 in their beginning, and that the modification for every 
 bonnet has had its inspiration in Paris, there seems no 
 possible doubt. It has 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, Paris; while the expression 
 of Quakerism lay simply in the absence of any super- 
 fluous adornments. In this one idea lies the secret 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 
 1784: 
 
 My G. D.*said he did not wish me to look singular, and my 
 bonnet was much so ... so out she went and bought some nice thin 
 "mode" such as they wear, and made it presently herself; she 
 would have me wear a cloak of hers with a hood, as the plainest 
 of them do. . . . She had on a quilled rovmd hat of gauze, white 
 shade, and I think, a cream-coloured dress, but not so bedizened 
 as I've seen some; — and a little round hoop. The girls did not 
 look tawdry; . . . Neither of them answers George Fox's descrip- 
 tion; fte paints high!* 
 
 * J. J. Smith, ' ' Letters of the Hill Family," p. 247. 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 221 
 
 Marj 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 retirement 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 wearers. This style of bonnet has been 
 referred to as the " shun-the-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 
 hat 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 ow^n invention. A green lin- 
 ing which she put in it when well 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 
 
223 
 
 THE QUAKER. 
 
 questioned about it, her grandmother said, " jSTo harm 
 in wearing green and blue; the grass is green, and the 
 sky is bhie ! " She died in 1857, having moved from 
 the South to Ohio, then called " Northwest Territory," 
 about 1803. Some interesting old Quaker bonnets may 
 be seen 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 stiff pleats 
 in the crown; while one of drab, dating from the Revo- 
 lution, has much larger stiff pleats, showing the devel- 
 opment of the present Philadelphia " plain " bonnet, 
 known in ISTew England as the " Wilburite " bonnet. 
 There is also in the same collection, one labeled " Eng- 
 lish " bonnet, distinguished chiefly by a wider flare to 
 
A STUDY 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 sides 
 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's Daily American Advertiser 
 for Saturday, August 23d, 1828, 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 ^^^ QUAKER. 
 
 September, 1788. [Ann Warder had no dread of the " heath- 
 en " names of the months.] I put no cloak on this forenoon, but 
 was obliged to afterward, not to look singular, for some had long 
 ones lined with Baize down to there toes, but no hoods, instead 
 of which a lay-down coular [collar] which would look very dis- 
 agreeable to me but for the Cape to there Bonnets, hiding the 
 neck. Black are worn more here than with us; — no Brown ex- 
 cept Cloth. 
 
 This was at Yearly Meeting time, then in the au- 
 tumn, to prepare for which she had written just before : 
 
 9mo. 22. — This forenoon I sat pretty close to my needle, in 
 some degree preparing for Yearly Meeting, wishing to want noth- 
 ing in the Cap or Apron way that week. 
 
 The thieves that she mentions as having broken into 
 the house during the previous week, made off, among 
 other things, with " a new white Myrtle gown, a petti- 
 coat, apron, boots, J's new white hat and two old ones." 
 The " Cape to there Bonnets, hiding the neck," was 
 that of the " wagon " bonnet, so called from its resem- 
 blance to the top of a "Jersey" wagon; they were 
 usually of black silk, and had a pendant piece of the 
 same from the back of the bonnet, covering the shoul- 
 ders. The " wagon " bonnet antedated the " coal- 
 scuttle," still lingering among us. It was the style 
 worn by Rebecca Jones, of Philadelphia, the friend of 
 John Woolman. 
 
 But the plain bonnet had its intricacies, and it is 
 not for the stranger 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 STUDY IN COSTUME. 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 bj an irreverent young 
 Friend, the " shun-the-cross " bonnet. It daily grows 
 harder to discern social differences in congregations by 
 means of the once infallible test of hats and bonnets. 
 Even among the worldly, the distinction of class dress 
 
 Bonnet from doll model of costume of Rebecca Jones, of Philadelphia ; 
 
 died 1817. Dressed by "Sally Smith," of Burlington, N. J. Soft 
 
 gathered crown, large cape with three points— one on each 
 
 shoulder and one in center of back. 
 
 is nearly or quite obliterated. It is therefore a sur- 
 prise to find a sect 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 
 
 * The Public Ledger for November 1, 1899, had the following remark- 
 able notice : 
 
 "barred from church by hat 
 
 "Miss May oiler, of Waynesboro, . . . who lately returned from a trip 
 to the Holy Land, has been expelled from the Antietam German Baptist 
 Dunkard 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 tlie 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 majority. . . . Miss Olier is the daughter of the late Bishop Jacob 
 F. Oiler." 
 
226 THE QUAKER. 
 
 days when it concealed youth and beauty, and the 
 broad-brim had to bend, in order to see within its 
 depths, hearts were warm and faces gay, even in sober 
 garb; and the old story was whispered just the same 
 in the long tunnel of the bonnet. The little street 
 urchins were once said to have chased a beautiful Quak- 
 eress some distance down the street of one of our great 
 cities, in order to run around in front and peep up at 
 the lovely laughing eyes that met their admiring 
 glances. One young bride is said to have threatened to 
 cut a slit in the side of her bonnet, in order to be able 
 to see her new husband when driving beside him on 
 their way to meeting ! Are we not to suppose that his 
 sentiments might have been those of the Quaker friend 
 of Wendell Phillips, as he sat quietly thinking to him- 
 self: 
 
 My love's like a red, red rose 
 
 That's newly blown in — the Sixth MontJi! 
 
 Then, too, the crashing kiss of two full-fledged 
 Quaker bonnets is something awe-inspiring to contem- 
 plate. The bonnets collide at top speed; occasionally 
 they have been known to telescope, when the rescue is 
 effected by a third party. The usual result, however, is 
 to send each bonnet far back on the head of the wearer, 
 since the front projects some inches beyond the face 
 — when a necessary pause for readjustment follows, 
 infinitely funny to a spectator blest with a sense of 
 humor. 
 
 ISTow the Quaker philosophy of costume is essentially 
 in the direction of plainness and moderation. But the 
 study we have been making shows us how contrary to 
 
A STUDY IN COSTUME. 227 
 
 the true spirit of Quakerism the technical bonnet, for 
 instance, really is. Adopted in the days of decadence 
 of spirituality, when life was easy, and time permitted 
 infinite attention to details, the bonnet became lit- 
 erally a snare, a fetish, a sort 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 preserve of the outward shell, and must 
 address herself to far greater 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 
 style 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 street, 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 once spoke volumes; 
 a glance sufficed to distinguish Beaconite, Wilburite, 
 Maulite, Gurneyite, or Hicksite, and the dwellers in 
 the Mesopotamia of the East. But time has leveled 
 distinctions here as elsewhere ; and manifestations 
 of doctrinal difference are sought to-day, 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 QUAKER. 
 
 altogether contrary to the spirituality of the Gospel. 
 
 From her published epistles we extract the following: 
 
 Legal ceremonies are far from Gospel freedom ; let us beware of 
 being guilty or having a hand in ordering or contriving what is 
 contrary to Gospel freedom; for the Apostles would not have 
 dominion over their faith, but be helpers of their faith. It is a 
 dangerous thing to lead young Friends much into tlie observation 
 of outward things, which may easily be done, for they can soon 
 get into an outward garb to be all alike outwardly, but this will 
 not make them true Christians. 
 
 Epistle from M. Fox to Friends, 4 mo., 1698. 
 
 
 "Wilburite." 
 
 1856. 
 
 "Gurneyite." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen 21, 140, 214 
 
 Advices 4 
 
 Alexander, Ann 203 
 
 Amsterdam 218 
 
 Angerstein 201 
 
 Anne, Queen 10 
 
 Apron 133-137 
 
 "Aurora Borealis " 219 
 
 Aylmer 81 
 
 Bavolette 193 
 
 Bodice 140 
 
 Bolton, John 146 
 
 Bonaparte, Prince 168 
 
 Bourgoigne 205 
 
 Brissot 159 
 
 Brown, Moses 107 
 
 Budd, Rachel 161 
 
 Cadenette 101 
 
 Calash 207 
 
 Calico 169 
 
 Callo%\hill, Hannah lao 
 
 Camlet 41 
 
 Cane 16, 17 
 
 Canons and Institutions 75 
 
 Cap 182, 208, 209 
 
 Cape 224 
 
 Capuchin 124, 196, 213 
 
 Cardinal 57, 196, 213 
 
 Carpet 23 
 
 Casing (Bonnet) 223 
 
 Castor 59 
 
 Cathcart, Lady 106 
 
 Cavalier 10 
 
 Chalkley, Thomas . 139 
 
 Chapeau Bras 66 
 
 Charles 1 16, 102, 104, 112 
 
 Charles II 68, 73, 95 
 
 Charlotte, Queen 130 
 
 "Chronicle," London 33 
 
 Classicism 167 
 
 Claypoole, James 146 
 
 Clergy 8, 94, 197 
 
 Cleves, Anne of 206 
 
 Clogs 153, 179 
 
 Coach 98 
 
 Coal-scuttle bonnet 190 
 
 Coat, Skirt 32 
 
 Cocked hat 63-65 
 
 Collar 16, 36, 117 
 
 Collins, Isaac 161 
 
 Colonists 39, 106 
 
 Color 30, 31, 132, 133, 158 
 
 Comb 145 
 
 Commode 142, 144 
 
 Coif 192,193 
 
 Congenies 152 
 
 Conscience 54 
 
 " Conseiller des Dames " 219 
 
 Conservatism 3 
 
 "Conversation" bonnet 202 
 
 Cookworthy, William 71, 79 
 
 Comette 204 
 
 "Cottage" bonnet 202 
 
 Cotton, John 197 
 
 Cranmer 9 
 
 Crinoline 137 
 
 Cromwell, Elizabeth 199 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver 15 
 
 Dartmouth 42, 107, 108 
 
 Davenport, John 197 
 
 Dickinson, Mary 158 
 
 Dillwyn, George 71 
 
 Dillwyn, Sarah 137, 166, 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 106 
 
 Ellwood, Thomas . . 12, 19, 84, 86, 102 
 
 Embroidery 29 
 
 Eralyn, John 1, 93, 149 
 
 Endicott, Governor 106, 197 
 
 EngUsh bonnet 222 
 
 Everett, John 103 
 
 Extravagance 9 
 
 Falbala ["furbelow"] 97 
 
 Fan 153, 154 
 
 Fashion "babies" 150 
 
 Feathers 211 
 
 Fell, Margaret 124 
 
 Fell, Sarah 125 
 
 Felt 58, 59 
 
 Fichu 140 
 
 Flat cap 195 
 
 Flat hat 214, 215 
 
 Fothergill, Dr 71, 99 
 
 Fox . ..10, 14, 16, 18, 68-70, 75, 76, 96 
 
 Franks, Rebecca 164 
 
 Fry, Elizabeth 4, 174, 184 
 
 Gardens 24 
 
 Gay 49 
 
 Germans 94 
 
 Gorget 192 
 
 Gracechurch 218 
 
 Greaton [Father] 9 
 
 Grellet, Stephen 103, 151 
 
 Gurney, Hannah 159 
 
 Gurney, Joseph John 89 
 
 Gumey, Samuel 89 
 
 Gurneys 173-177 
 
 Handkerchief 128, 140 
 
 Hanway, 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 39 
 
 Jeffersonian coat 39 
 
 Jones, Owen 71 
 
 Jones, Rebecca 151, 171, 224 
 
 Jonson, Ben 112 
 
 Jordan, Richard 88 
 
 Keith, Sir William 78 
 
 Kevenhuller 65 
 
 Kinsey, John 78 
 
 Kirkbride, Jonathan 41 
 
 Kneel 75 
 
 Kossuth 67 
 
 Lace 16 
 
 Lamb 38 
 
 Lampoon 25, 28 
 
 Lappet 209 
 
 Latey, Gilbert 20 
 
 " Lavinia " chip hat 202 
 
 Lay, Benjamin 43 
 
 Lay, Sarah 44 
 
 Leather 17, 31 
 
 Lettsom, Dr 71, 99 
 
 Levite 166 
 
 Limoges 151 
 
 Lloyd, Thomas 158 
 
 Lloyds 38 
 
 Logan, ilaria 158 
 
 Louis XIV 34 
 
 Lovelock 143 
 
 Lower, Thomas 128 
 
 Macy, Reuben 74 
 
 Mandillions 40 
 
 Mantelet 204 
 
 Mantilla 204 
 
 Marie Antoinette 150 
 
 Mason, Martin 77 
 
 Massachusetts 104 
 
 Meade, William 78 
 
 Mennonites 11 
 
 Methodist 144 
 
 Minever 195 
 
 Mirror 63, 64 
 
 Mitts 180 
 
 Mode 183 
 
 Model 150 
 
 Montague 76 
 
 Montero cap 84, 86, 87 
 
 Mott, Richard 42 
 
INDEX. 
 
 231 
 
 Mouchoir 192 
 
 Moustache 94 
 
 Mucklow, William 76 
 
 Muff 35, 212 
 
 MuUiner, John 112 
 
 Nantucket 43, 108 
 
 Napoleon 101 
 
 Nayler, James 9, 93 
 
 Needham, Ann 82 
 
 Negro 205 
 
 Newlin, Nathaniel 49 
 
 Nightgo\vii 146 
 
 Nithesdale, Earl of 200 
 
 Nollekins 136 
 
 Nonconformity 123 
 
 Norris, Isaac 158 
 
 Nugent 102 
 
 Nuns 192 
 
 Overbury, Sir Thomas 198 
 
 Overcoat 42 
 
 Overseers 22 
 
 Pantaloons 37 
 
 Pantelets 116 
 
 Paris 190 
 
 Parton, James 94 
 
 Pasteboard 223 
 
 Patten 179 
 
 Patterson, Elizabeth 168 
 
 Pattes 192 
 
 Pembertons 71 
 
 Penn, Hannah 71 
 
 Penn, Thomas 71 
 
 Penn, Sir W 62 
 
 Penn, William 16, 67, 78, 158, 184, 195 
 
 Pennsylvania 105 
 
 Pepys 100, 102, 106, 149 
 
 Periwig 97 
 
 Perot, John 77 
 
 Peter the Great 96 
 
 Petition 79 
 
 Petticoat 137 
 
 Phelps, N 82 
 
 Philadelphia 108, 110, 152, 159 
 
 Physician 46-48 
 
 Pilgrim 40, 74 
 
 Pinched cap 206 
 
 Pinners 153 
 
 Plaid 131 
 
 Plume 62, 63 
 
 Points 17, 104 
 
 Poke 209 
 
 Poulson's Advertiser 223 
 
 "Precisions" 103 
 
 Presbyterian 28, 29, 76 
 
 Proud, Robert 71 
 
 " Punkin " hood 208 
 
 Puritan 12. 29, 73-4, 
 
 94, 104, 106, 119, 157, 197, 207 
 
 Querpo 206 
 
 Queue 66, 101 
 
 Quilled bonnet 220 
 
 Reel 131 
 
 Reticule 166 
 
 Revolution 163 
 
 Richardson, Richard 114 
 
 Richelieu 193 
 
 Riding hat 199 
 
 Riding hood 155, 200 
 
 Rilston 141 
 
 Rochefoucauld, de la 159 
 
 Rock 131-2 
 
 Safeguard 155 
 
 Sandwich 107 
 
 Savery, William 174 
 
 Saxton 98 
 
 Sewall, Judge 106 
 
 Shackleton, Richard 137 
 
 Shad 36 
 
 Shattuck, Samuel 82 
 
 Shawl 171 
 
 Shepard, Hetty 106 
 
 Shippen, Edward 49 
 
 Shirt 116 
 
 Shoe-strings 34 
 
 "Short gown" 139 
 
 " Shun-the-Cross " bonnet 221 
 
 Sleeves 180 
 
 Snuff 153, 212 
 
 Springett, " Guli " 129, 159 
 
 Starch 116 
 
 Stays 150, 182 
 
 Steeple hat 60, 199 
 
 Steeple headdress 191 
 
 Stiff pleat 190 
 
 Stockings 38 
 
 Stomacher 138 
 
 Story, Thomas . ..13. 48, 87, 96, 147 
 Straw 198, 203, 204, 209 
 
232 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Stuarts 10 
 
 Stubbes 145. 149, 15G 
 
 Subscription hat 59 
 
 SufEolk 102 
 
 Sugar-scoop 190 
 
 Sumner [Archbisliop] 95 
 
 Surtout 42 
 
 Suspenders 48 
 
 Swartlimoor 125 
 
 Swift, Dean 67, 134, 205 
 
 Sword 32, 63 
 
 Taber, Thomas 107 
 
 Talbot, Richard 48 
 
 " Tatler," The 5 
 
 Tea 23 
 
 Testimony 89 
 
 Tillotson, Archbishop 95 
 
 Tobacco 24 
 
 Toleration 7 
 
 Tomkins, Mary 83 
 
 Top hat 66, 74 
 
 Toquet 192 
 
 Trade 22 
 
 Tradescant, John 194 
 
 Trousers 36 
 
 Trunk hose 37, 40 
 
 Tub preacher 128, 194 
 
 Tucker, John 107 
 
 Turban 144, 201 
 
 Turner, Anne 198 
 
 Type 6, 184 
 
 Umbrella 48, 49, 50 
 
 Underclothing 168 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry 70 
 
 Yerney, Sir R 50 
 
 Victoria, Queen 219 
 
 Viollet le Due 1<J1 
 
 Vizzard 156 
 
 "Wagon" bonnet 224 
 
 Wain, Nicholas 48 
 
 Warder, Ann — 
 
 47, 110, 155, 165, 178, 216, 223 
 
 Washington, George 66, 101 
 
 Washington, Martha 208 
 
 Watson, John 216 
 
 Weaver 132 
 
 Wedding 161, 162 
 
 Welsh 194 
 
 Weslej', John 14 
 
 Whalebone 223 
 
 Wharton, Edward 83 
 
 Whisk 126, 140 
 
 Whitall, Ann 160 
 
 Whitall, John M 34 
 
 White, Rev. Mr 207 
 
 Whitehead, George 76 
 
 Wickes, Rev. George Ill 
 
 Wig 16, 33, 47, 95, 98 
 
 " Wilburite " bonnet 222 
 
 Williams, Rev. Mr 197 
 
 Wilson, John 82 
 
 Wimple 192, 193 
 
 Witch 194 
 
 Woolman, John 50-52 
 
 York 141 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
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 Printed 
 In USA 
 
93^.96 
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 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 0039049582 
 
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 FEB 1 ' 1962