These sleeves took upon themselves all sorts of forms, and they were made so long and narrow that they resembled very much the elongation of the hood which was called a liripipe. Occasionally it was found necessary to knot them so that they should not trail upon the ground. Very few parts of dress have varied so much as sleeves, and it is said that any costume can be dated by an examination of the sleeves. Nowadays, as in the past, the length of the sleeve and of the gown itself indicates the status of the member of the university. At Oxford, for instance, the undergraduate’s gown is so short that it is hardly worthy of the name, and it is without sleeves that act as such. The scholar’s gown is more voluminous, and the gowns of the bachelors and masters of arts are more important again, while the sleeves belonging to the latter reach nearly to the ground.
When we come, however, to the robes of the Chancellor, which are made of stiffer material, we find that the ancient character of the hanging sleeves is much more marked (see Figure 135), and there is a train so long that small pages are told off to support it. In the old days, the material of which the gowns were made, and their trimmings indicated the rank of the wearers; and, as Mr. Druitt30 points out, the bachelor, for instance, was unable to use fur of so costly a kind as that worn by his academical superiors. Stuff or silk gowns still have their significance, and in the hoods which are the survival of a part of dress which was once useful and worn by graduates and undergraduates alike, we find great diversity in the case of the various degrees of different universities.
As a head covering, the cap took the place of a hood, and the latter fell down behind like that often seen on a modern ulster. We have already noticed (p. 157) how this peak of the hood was exaggerated, and in old times the liripipe was longer in the case of undergraduates. The modern hood of the universities has grown in size, but it has lost its long streamer. Examples are, of course, most commonly seen in churches, as it is a custom of the clergy to wear their academical hoods over their white surplices. The colour of the hood and of its lining indicates, to the initiated, the university to which the wearer belongs, and the degree which he has taken.
In early times a tippet or cape made of fur or cloth edged or lined with fur, according to the degree, was also worn. To this we have alluded when speaking of the surplice (see page 199). It seems also to have originally been a kind of hood which developed first into the almuce, one of the processional vestments of the priesthood. This was covered by the ecclesiastical cope, but was worn outside the academical gown. Doctors of Divinity were allowed to wear scarlet tippets, and the colour survives now in their academical hood, and the ordinary black almuce with its fur lining has not been greatly changed in becoming the hood of the Bachelor of Arts.
Sometimes the tippet and sometimes the hood was worn (if we may judge from monumental brasses), but also they were both put on at the same time. The figure of a doctor embroidered on a fifteenth-century cope belonging to the Pro-Cathedral of the Apostles at Clifton, depicts him wearing a tippet edged with white, a red hood, and a red cap. His gown, which is worked in gold thread, is shown with a blue lining.
Perhaps no form of head-dress is more strange than the college cap or mortar-board, or, in technical language, pileus quadratus, or cater cap. This skull-cap, with its curious square top, is not the only kind of academical head-dress. There is the round cap which is especially that of the doctor, while the mortar-board or trencher already mentioned is used by masters and bachelors, as well as by undergraduates and scholars. The former head-dress seems to have been very little altered, and was developed somewhere about the fourteenth century or earlier from the ecclesiastical skull-cap, which was something like an old-fashioned man’s nightcap, with a tuft. The square cap is an undoubted descendant of the ecclesiastical cap of dignity, and in England this also came from the skull-cap already mentioned. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, while still used by ecclesiastics, it began to assume a square or cusped shape. Prof. E. C. Clark31 agrees with the opinion expressed to him by the late Dr. Littledale, that folds were introduced into the soft material in order to make the cap easier to hold, for by them it was stiffened. The folds became four wings, and so converted the round top into a square. From this it was but a short step to the ecclesiastical biretta of the present day. Any further exaggeration of its top would cause the cap to fall down on the face, and would naturally suggest the insertion of something to stiffen it and hold it out, and in the end the square top of the cap was made of cardboard covered with cloth, and a skull-cap was fixed to it underneath. (See Figure 136.)
There is a likeness between the round hat of the doctor and the Tudor flat cap, and Fairholt would derive the mortar-board from the same head-dress; and as illustrating the story of its evolution, he compares the cap shown in the portrait of Cranmer (see Figure 137) in the British Museum with that of a bishop of the time of Charles I (see Figure 138); and here again the need for stiffening is obvious, if the enlargement of the crown of the cap be carried any further.
VESTIGES OF THE COIF—HOODS AND GOWNS—SIGNS OF MOURNING
It would be strange if the majesty of the law did not depend to some extent upon dress, and there is no doubt but that an impressiveness which would otherwise be absent from our courts is given by wigs and gowns. The wigs themselves are an interesting survival, and presumably are not more uncomfortable to the few who now wear them than they were to many in times gone by. We will describe here a few interesting vestiges among those which are to be met with in legal costume.
Any one who has an opportunity of looking on to the top of a judge’s wig will notice a small circular depression about three inches across. (See Figure 139.) This has a very interesting history, and in order to trace it we shall have to look at the long wigs of the serjeants-at-law, from whose ranks in the past most of the judges used to come. On the serjeant’s wig we shall find that there is a similar depression, and that it is filled with a circular white patch, having a black centre, and reminding one of two large pieces of court plaster, one stuck over the other. (See Figure 140.)
The white piece represents the coif, or close-fitting cap of white lawn or silk which resembles that of a nun, and with which the serjeants-at-law on their creation were decked. From this cap, the body to which the serjeants-at-law belonged was called the Order of the Coif. It seems that the origin of this head-dress cannot definitely be settled. Mr. Druitt32 and Mr. Paley Baildon are content to consider it as part of the insignia of the serjeants-at-law, in the same way that the round cap indicates the possessor of a doctor’s degree, and they are not inclined to give credence to the suggestion that the coif was to hide the tonsure or to prevent its absence from being noticed. The black patch represents a black skull-cap that was worn over the coif.
After having been in existence for many hundreds of years, the order of serjeants-at-law was abolished by Mr. Gladstone. Lord Lindley, we believe, is the last member who survives. A black skull-cap is also worn by a judge, but it is not to be confounded with the cap of dignity which is used by him when pronouncing sentence, and which was ordered to be worn in church when on circuit. Ordinarily, the judge does not wear his scarlet gown, but a black one, the girdle of which has grown to a very great width.
The drab colour of the trimmings, which does not harmonize well with the rest of the gown, has recently begun to give way to primrose, and the change is due to the initiative of the late Lord Coleridge.
It is said that black gowns which are worn by the King’s Counsel and other barristers superseded the coloured ones on the death of Queen Mary II, and in reality were intended as mourning which has never been discarded. Legal gowns have come down with very little change from the Middle Ages, and are doubtless derived from ecclesiastical through academical costume. The original robes of the serjeants-at-law were somewhat striking in colour, for taking a line down the centre of the black, one half was of a mustard colour and the other red, while the latter was further ornamented with green stripes. The robe of the Barons of the Exchequer was of a beautiful heliotrope tint.
The material of the gown of the King’s Counsel is indicated by the phrase “taking silk.” One peculiarity of the garment is that it has a large collar resembling that of court-ushers and of vergers in churches. The ordinary dress of the King’s Counsel which he wears in court is interesting on account of the ornamental cuffs and the escalloped flaps of the pockets of the coat and waistcoat, which resemble those of Court dress.
Fig. 141.—A barrister’s gown showing the vestigial hood and its streamer. The buttons and braid which once temporarily looped up the sleeves now fix it permanently.
On the barrister’s gown there is a tiny hood on the left shoulder resembling that from which the chaperon was developed, and from the vestige runs a streamer which comes over the left shoulder and hangs down in front of the gown. (See Figure 141.) There is also a series of buttons as well as pieces of braid on the sleeves which are survivals, and we have not the hanging sleeves of the King’s Counsel, which are comparable to those seen in many academic gowns. Small falling bands are of course generally worn by members of the legal profession, and barristers and King’s Counsel when in mourning have a little pleat down the middle of each band. Perhaps the most curious additions to legal costume used in order to indicate mourning are the little white lawn or muslin cuffs, like those of widows, which the King’s Counsel wear on their sleeves when the Court is in mourning, or when they themselves have suffered bereavement.
CORONATION DRESS—PARLIAMENTARY ROBES—MISTAKES IN COURT DRESS—VESTIGES OF THE WIG AND OF THE CHAPERON—COURT CARDS
The English sovereigns are heads of the Church as well as of the State, and in connection with their coronation dress there are, as might be expected, many survivals from the past. The vestments used on the occasion in question agree almost entirely with those which we have described as being worn by a bishop at mass.33 We may except, however, the amice and the maniple, while the sceptre and crown take the place of the crosier and the mitre. The first vestment to be put on is of linen, and is an albe or rochet, and up to the time of James II it was provided with sleeves—it is known as the Colobium sindonis. Over this is placed the tunicle or dalmatic. This is made of silk, and across it is worn the stole in the same way as deacons were ordered to do in the year 561. The custom is still followed in Greece and Rome, whereas priests generally put on the stole immediately after the albe.
Over the dalmatic comes the imperial mantle which seems to have been originally a chasuble, but is now slit up in front. This garment, which is of cloth of gold, is embroidered with eagles, that are interesting as probably representing the claim of the King of England to be Emperor of Britain and Lord Paramount over all the Islands of the West. In Charles II’s reign further ornaments occurred in the shape of roses and fleur-de-lys, and on Queen Victoria’s mantle there were roses, half red and half white, as well as thistles, shamrocks, and fleur-de-lys, while the eagles were embroidered in silver.
At the coronation of King Edward VII the vestments which we have described were all used with the exception of the albe, and to the other devices on the imperial mantle the lotus flower was added as a symbol for India, as the King was the first sovereign to be crowned as Emperor of India.
The robe which the King wears at the opening of Parliament has a cape of ermine made up in miniver style, and it is lined throughout with the same fur. We might here say that ordinary ermine is decorated with the tails of the stoat, which remain black when this animal puts on its winter dress, whereas in the case of miniver the fur is spotted all over with little black pieces made from the skin of some other animal. This has not always been the same, but at the present time Persian lamb is used.
The magnificence of the King’s parliamentary robe and its train of crimson velvet may be gathered from the fact that in the making of the miniver, upwards of ten thousand pieces of black fur were used. In a portrait of the King, taken when wearing this robe, he is shown in the uniform of a Field Marshal, and holds in his hand the Field Marshal’s baton. The latter originally was a box in which the general carried the orders of his sovereign, and it is rather curious that what was once the emblem of the servant should come to be used by a crowned head himself.
The rank of noblemen is indicated on their parliamentary robes by the number of bands of ermine with which they are decorated. A Baron has two, a Viscount two and a half, an Earl three, a Marquis three and a half, and a Duke four, whereas on their coronation robes the same effect is gained by a similar number of rows of black spots on the miniver, which forms a kind of cape.
As in connection with life at Court there are a number of special uniforms and official dresses which are carefully prescribed, it is likely that we should find among the dress of those surrounding the sovereign, many and excellent examples of survivals. There is, indeed, one uniform which has come down to us practically unaltered from the year 1485. This is the dress worn by the Yeomen of the Guard, who may be looked upon as the King’s Retainers. (See Figure 142.)
It is an obvious example of the point that we have dwelt upon in connection with badges and liveries, for borne on the back and chest are the royal crown and initials. Of course, the latter have altered from time to time, and when the King came to the throne the Tudor crown, which had been superseded by that of St. Edward, was replaced.
The development of the badges on the coat is interesting. In Henry VII’s reign there was the crown and the red and white rose. In the time of Anne the thistle was added, and the rose was placed upon a stalk. The Tudor crown was also replaced, for during the Stuart period, St. Edward’s crown had appeared, and the royal motto was added. In the Georgian period St. Edward’s crown again was made use of, while George III added the shamrock. Now, in King Edward VII’s time, we have the Tudor crown, the rose, thistle, and shamrock, the motto “Dieu et mon droit,” and the initials “E.R.”
What the original uniform was, is not quite certain, but practically the same kind of coat was worn in Henry VIII’s reign that appears now. The ruff would appear to be Elizabethan, though the hat is earlier. The officers used to wear a similar but more gorgeous uniform, but when William IV commanded that only officers of the army should be given commissions in the Guard, the present dress, which is that of a field officer of the Peninsular period, was introduced. When King Edward VII came to the throne he left the decision as to whether they should wear the old Tudor dress, to the officers themselves, and they decided in favour of the more modern military one.34 We might mention the halberds that are carried by the Yeomen, and also allude to some of the duties which they have carried out, from the making of the King’s bed in early times to searching the Houses of Parliament before the session opens, which is a memory of Guy Fawkes, and of attending, as they have done for centuries, at the giving of alms by the sovereign in Westminster Abbey on Maundy Thursday.
Very many uniforms seen at Court show the turned-back edges and the lining of the tails, described when we were dealing with the evolution of the coat (see p. 34)—for instance, in the case of the gentlemen-at-arms, and of several officials. We may mention also the Scottish Archers who wear a green coat with a turned-back part—which represents the lining—of red velvet.
The style of Court dress which may be worn to-day by civilians has become somewhat simpler, though ruffles and frills are still to be found in connection, and may be worn with, what is known as old-style dress that is always adopted by the legal profession. The knee-breeches come from the time of William III, and the coat in its original form dates back to the time of Napoleon. The sides of the coat have, however, been cut away, and this was done during the last reign, when the alteration was made for the convenience of those who were not accustomed to wear a sword.
The more recent simplification of Court dress has, however, provided pitfalls for the unwary, and all sorts of curious mistakes in small details are made. To show how easy it is to put a button too many here, or too few there, we may describe the differences between the old and new styles. On the old there are seven buttons up the front of the coat and three on the cuffs. In the new, there are but six in the first case and none in the second. Again, in the simplified coat there are no buttons below the flaps (which represent pockets), and but four buttons behind on the tails. In the old style there are three buttons below the flaps—while there are similar ornaments on the waistcoat, which is skirted—and there are six buttons on the tails. Then in addition there is the wig-bag, to which we shall refer in a moment, at the back of the coat collar, as well as the frills and ruffles. Although on the lace of these as much may be spent as on the rest of the costume, the cost of the simpler dress is really not much less than that of the other. A survival is, of course, to be seen in the sword and in the simplified costume, it is worn in a frog instead of on a sling.
We have made it evident how much a man now depends upon his tailor for correctness in the detail of his Court dress, and it is amusing to find that wig-bags are put on to modern-style coats, and that the number of buttons is often quite wrong; but if these are the faults of the tailor, it is the man himself who is responsible who goes to Court with his sword hanging at his right side. We have not heard of military men making such a mistake, but officers have been known to appear with their cross-belts over the wrong shoulder. It is a good thing for some that Court etiquette is not so strict as it has been in the past.
A curious survival is found in connection with old-style dress and some of the uniforms which are worn by officials, and we have had to mention similar vestiges when speaking of the Lord Mayor’s coachman and of the Welsh Fusiliers. This is what is known as a wig-bag (see Figures 109 and 113), though in the Lord Chamberlain’s descriptions it is now referred to by the same name as the ornament of somewhat similar origin of the Welsh Fusiliers, namely, the “flash.” It consists of a small bag of silk, at the bottom corners of which little satin ribbon loops are fixed, while the whole is covered by an elaborate rosette of satin ribbon, and is suspended from the back of the coat collar. The bag represents the old bag in which the bob of the wig was placed, and the loops no doubt are those through which a ribbon was passed, which went round the neck of those who wore wigs, and was secured by a jewel on the breast. This was to provide against the wig being lost, should it fall from the head of its wearer, for these curious replacements of natural hair were of considerable value, costing twenty, thirty, sixty or even more guineas. The rosette of ribbon is the modern representative of the bow that tied the wig. (See Figure 143.)
We have already traced the connection which Mr. Calthrop has shown between the cockade and the chaperon, and we might mention again that this ancient form of head-dress survives in connection with the hood of the mantle of the Knights of the Garter and of other Orders, for instance, those of St. Patrick and of the Thistle. (See Figure 144.)
Fig. 143.—The wig-bag or “flash” from a Court suit, showing the rosette held away and displaying the black silk bag. At the lower corners of the latter loops are seen, which are probably the remains of those through which a ribbon was passed, which went round the neck and fastened on the breast by a brooch.
In the case of the Knight of the Garter, the hood consists of a flat piece of crimson velvet about three-quarters of a yard across, slightly oval in shape, and at a spot a little on one side of the centre is to be found the remains of the turban of the chaperon. It is a thick ring covered outside with crimson velvet, and inside with white silk. To one side of this is fastened a long band of crimson velvet one and three-quarter times as long as the hood is wide. This represents, of course, the liripipe of the chaperon. (See page 166 and Figures 122-125.) The edges of the velvet in all cases are ornamented with a white silk piping. The hood is fixed on the right shoulder, and the band representing the liripipe is brought across the breast of the wearer. In addition there are some wide loops and ends of ribbon called the streamer, and narrow ribbons with which to fasten the structure to the mantle.
Fig. 144.—The hood from the mantle of a Knight of the Garter, showing the survival of the chaperon and its liripipe.
The hoods of the Orders of the Thistle and of St. Patrick are similar in construction, and in the case of the former the velvet of which they are made is blue in colour. On the mantles of other Orders only the streamer remains. On the left shoulder of the Knights of the Bath and of St. Michael and St. George there is a small vestige of aiguillettes. This is of silk cord in the former case, and of gold cord in the second. The under-dress, which is not commonly worn now, is furnished with trunk hose and silk tights, and from its appearance is known as the silver dress. Much the same style was carried out in all the Orders that we have up to the present had occasion to mention. In the more modern Orders there is, of course, no such ancient under-dress.
If we have Kings and Queens at Court, we also have Kings and Queens and Knaves among our playing-cards, and the costumes which survive on the curious pictures which represent them in double, but without their lower limbs, are worthy of some little attention. As a matter of fact, they are Tudor dresses, slightly modified perhaps of recent years, but nevertheless, a common and widespread relic of the fashions which were in vogue when Henry VIII was going through his matrimonial troubles, and shaking this country clear from its allegiance to the Pope.
There are two series of ceremonial dresses not immediately connected with the State which it may be worth while to investigate. They are, in the first place, the liveries of the City Companies, and in the second the insignia of Masons. In the first case, on some of the gowns we find again the chaperon appearing as a hood on the shoulder, and many of the caps that are worn have survived for some centuries. A few of the companies still possess their ancient embroidered hearse cloths, which recall the early semi-religious and provident purposes of the guilds out of which the great City Companies have developed.
There seems no doubt, too, but that the apron of the Masons is actually derived from that worn by the craftsmen when at work, and in some countries it is still of the same circular form as those which were used by the English masons of the eighteenth century. Other parts of the clothing of Masons are no doubt derived from the old guild liveries, and in the fact that some high officials wear gauntlets we have a reminder of the knights’ armour, and possibly a survival from the time when high officials were knights.
ARMOUR—PRICKERS FOR FLINT-LOCKS—FORAGE CORDS—REMINISCENCES OF GALLANTRY—REGIMENTAL BADGES—COURTSHIP COLOURS
The cuirass of the Household troops which they wear on important occasions, as well as the metal helmets of various regiments, are survivals from the time when armour was of use, and if we examine the shoulders of certain soldiers, we shall find that there are vestiges of chain mail, though now this only takes the place of epaulettes. (See Figure 145.) To see chain mail in its perfection we must go back to the time of Edward I, and if we look, for instance, at the brass of Sir John D’Aubernoun (who died in the year 1277) or of Sir Richard de Trumpington, A.D. 1289 (see Figure 146), which are the earliest remaining in this country, we shall find that the chain mail now represented by a little patch on the shoulder then covered the head and neck, arms and hands, body, feet and legs.
As time went on, plate armour was mixed with the mail, until at last, in the time of Henry IV, we get the complete plate period in which there was a breastplate and a corresponding back plate, which had already appeared in the period of transition of chain mail to plate armour. From thence onward the development of armour progressed until it gradually disappeared. In Stuart times, jack boots and spur leathers took the place of the armour on the legs, and a buff coat that on the body, with the exception of a gorget. This came to be in the early part of the nineteenth century, merely a small badge of the officer on duty, and in a still more diminished form is to be seen in some foreign armies.
In the earlier part of the book it was made evident that military uniforms afford a fine field for research, though apart from the remains of armour, however, they are comparatively modern. It was not, indeed, until the reign of Charles II that we meet with uniforms regularly adopted by the Army; and the red coat which has given its name to the soldier, though many regiments are dressed in other colours, was previous to that time merely a best coat. We see it now on fox-hunters and golfers, though a long coat of this colour is still worn by the King’s footmen and coachmen. A writer in the Spectator, No. 129, says, when speaking of Cornwall: “Here we fancied ourselves in Charles II’s reign, people having made little variation in their dress since that time. The smartest of the country squires appear still in the Monmouth cock; when they go a-wooing (whether they have any post in the militia or not) they put on a red coat.”
There had previous to the Restoration been some attempt to introduce uniform dress for soldiers quite apart from the sovereign’s special guards, who, after the fashion of retainers, wore his livery. For instance, the Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Henry VIII, issued instructions that every soldier should wear a blue coat guarded with red, the right hose to be red, the left blue, and a red stripe three fingers broad down the outside of each leg. The archers are described as wearing white gaberdines, at one time in this reign, while in 1576 those belonging to Ireland had a cassock of blue cloth with two small white guards. Red coats as well as others of blue or white were worn by the English troops in Turenne’s army in 1657, and examples of the last two colours are by no means extinct in the army to-day. Red, blue, grey, and green, it may be added, were all worn during the Civil War on both sides.
It must not be forgotten, however, that gay uniforms are now only used at home in times of peace, for we have learnt a lesson from the lower animals, many of which are protectively coloured, and the service uniform to-day is one calculated to render its wearer as inconspicuous as possible. Before the time of firearms which could be used with precision, and when hand-to-hand combats played a great part in war, it was necessary for two adversaries to be able to see one another, but now each tries to hide himself.
Fig. 147.—A reversion in military equipment.
| One of Cromwell’s Ironsides (1679), from a print. | A Cavalryman sketched at Aldershot in 1901. |
Copied, by permission, from the Daily Mail.
Some years ago a sketch, which was made from a cavalry man at Aldershot, was given in the Daily Mail; side by side was shown another taken from a print representing one of Cromwell’s Ironsides, and the likeness between the two is almost exact. (See Figure 147.)
Ornamental epaulettes may also be looked upon as the last remnant of armour, though the modern kind probably came from a shoulder-knot of Charles II’s time, as they were originally intended to protect the shoulders from sword-thrusts. At the present day, though they are worn in the English Navy and are common on the Continent, they have practically disappeared from the Army.
The officers of the Yeomen of the Guard, whose uniform is that which was worn in the Peninsular War, still wear epaulettes, as do the Gentlemen-at-Arms and the Lords-Lieutenant of Counties. As we have said, there is a fine field for the study of survivals in uniforms proper, and from time to time many of these have attracted the notice of popular writers.35 & 36
Additional interest is given to this subject by the fact that besides the variations which have gradually evolved, there are special features which have suddenly appeared often in connection with some important battle, which we might liken to the curious sports and freaks which sometimes occur in the natural history world.
When, in 1881, the old regimental facings were abolished, many distinctions vanished, still there are more curious details left than we shall be able to describe. We have already seen how the busby was derived from the Hungarian cap, and quite a number of other features have been introduced from foreign countries. The square cap of the Lancer is the national head-dress of the Poles, who call it a shapka, and the uniform itself came from Poland. The sling jacket or dolman of the Hussars (see Figure 82), which is now extinct in our army, was also an introduction, but still on the pouch-belt of Light Cavalry officers are the prickers fastened with silver chains, which were used with old flint-lock muzzle-loaders. (See Figure 148.)
Fig. 148.—The prickers on the shoulder-belt of a Hussar, which survive from the time of flint-lock muskets.
Some of these interesting but useless instruments are furnished with plain round knobs, but others made as if they were arrows with feathered shafts. Mr. Caton Woodville gives the following explanation of the aiguillettes worn by aides-de-camp. He says that “they date from the days when the war-horses, or chargers, were of solid build and slow of movement, and when only the adjutants were mounted on fleet steeds. Then the head-dress was a heavy three-cornered hat perched on a wig that was itself often not too securely fastened to its wearer’s head. He needed, therefore, a cord with metal tags passing round the brim and under the loops which upheld its three sides. It was fastened to the officer’s shoulder, as the weight of the felt hat, with its bars of steel as a protection against sword cuts, was considerable, and it was enough to choke a man if it should happen to dangle from his throat, so the aiguillettes have become the distinguished mark of the assistant to the general commanding in the field or garrison.”
It should, however, be mentioned also that these ornaments are worn in the Household Cavalry by non-commissioned officers, and are a relic there of the days when these soldiers were gentlemen of the Royal Life Guards, who had the right to a commission in a line regiment after a certain number of years’ service. Other soldiers carry them, as do also the footmen of the nobility. Horse soldiers have also an ornamental cord to their head-dresses, and it seems likely that the aiguillettes had another origin, and that prickers or some other instruments were at one time attached to them.
In the Lancers there is a very long cap-line, which has been mixed up, we are told by Mr. P. W. Reynolds, with a very interesting survival. This is the remains of a cord used for binding up grass and other forage into bundles, worn for convenience round the body, and over one shoulder by cavalry men, when it was not in use. It is known to the French as a “fourragère.” In the Lancers the cap-line passes round the cap and is brought under the right shoulder-strap. So far it is the original cap-line; then it passes twice round the body, under the left arm, and under the right shoulder-strap, and ends, in a festoon and a couple of acorns, which remind one of aiguillettes, on the left breast. The part that goes round the body is the old forage cord.
The sergeants’ sashes, it is said, were originally intended to make slings so that the wounded could be carried out of action with the help of pikes, and the drum-major’s baton is the survival of a cane which the drill-sergeant sometimes used on the backs of the recruits. The “flash” of the Welsh Fusiliers, as we have seen, is a survival from the times when wigs were worn. Here and there we find old head-dresses once nearly universal, such as the shako which is now confined to the Highland Light Infantry and the Scottish Rifles. Other regiments, such as those of the Rifle Brigade, which have been at times used as cavalry, retain certain features of the horse soldier’s uniform. For instance, the Rifle Brigade has a head-dress which resembles the Hussars’ busby, and instead of a sash the officers wear a cross-belt.
The officers of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, which on one occasion was turned into cavalry at a moment’s notice, wear a mess jacket of the cavalry pattern; they have also a black worm in their lace, like the East Yorkshire and North Lancashire regiments, which is usually explained as being mourning for Sir John Moore in the first case, and for General Wolfe in the two others. Before turning to peculiarities which were granted for special services, we may mention the black tunics and black plumes of the farriers belonging to the Life Guards, who carry a great axe with which to kill horses that are wounded in battle, and the state trumpeters also of the Household Cavalry, who wear a highly ornamental uniform which has persisted for nearly two centuries.
There still remain relics of the time when commanding officers had a great deal to say in connection with the uniforms of their regiments. When the Cameron Highlanders were first raised in 1794, Colonel Cameron did not adopt the Cameron tartan, because he did not think it would go well with a scarlet tunic, and he introduced one which had been designed by his mother, called the “Cameron Erracht,” which has been worn ever since. The White Horse of Hanover appears as a badge on several regiments, and it is recorded that George I, objecting to the private crests of the commanding officers, replaced them in many cases with the Hanoverian device. Even now, in spite of the minute regulations of the War Office, which are continually being altered, the uniforms are not always made absolutely as they are prescribed. Little details may be added, and colonels still seem to exercise some influence in the matter. The red puggaree of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry is not obtained from the regimental tailor who supplies the uniform.
The white jackets of the Guards and Highland corps which are worn in undress are still called “waistcoats,” and, according to Mr. Walter Wood, are a relic of the white waistcoat which was worn under the tunic by the British soldiers down to the time of William IV. It must, however, be remembered that a waistcoat was originally an outer garment, as indicated on page 148.
An exceedingly curious privilege is that which has been accorded to the non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marines, who for many years have been allowed when in mourning, to cover one button of their tunics with crape. The Eighth Hussars wear their sword-belts over their shoulders, and the tradition is that at the battle of Saragossa they behaved so gallantly that they totally destroyed a corps of Spanish cavalry and took possession of their adversaries’ belts.
Perhaps the most curious mark of distinction is the extra drummer of the Third Hussars, who enjoys special pay and is permitted to wear a sergeant’s uniform. This privilege was granted by George III when it was brought to his notice that the regiment possessed some silver kettledrums which they had captured. The request for this honour was made in 1778 by General Fitzroy, and his wife presented a silver collar for the use of the additional drummer which is still worn to-day. It is handsomely engraved with military devices, and fits closely round the throat. In full dress the Eleventh Hussars wear an ivory-hilted sword made on the model of one picked up at Bhurtpore. The Fifteenth Hussars wear the Austrian Imperial lace on account of their gallantry at Villiers-en-Couche, which prevented the Emperor of Austria from falling a prisoner to the French.
The Scots Greys were given Grenadier caps, which are not worn by other cavalry regiments, for their bravery at Ramillies. The Northumberland Fusiliers have red and white hackle feathers—that is to say, that the upper part of their plume is red, and the lower part white. It is recorded that at Wilhelmstahl, and also when in St. Lucia, this regiment was victorious after great struggles, and took from the caps of the French Grenadiers who were slain, enough white feathers to fit up the whole regiment with plumes, the use of which afterwards received official sanction. When, however, an order was made in 1829 that white plumes should be generally worn, the Fusiliers complained that they would lose the distinction which they enjoyed, and by a compromise they were allowed to have a plume which was half red and half white. The Northumberland Fusiliers share with one or two other regiments, that distinguished themselves at the battle of Minden, the privilege of wearing roses in their caps on St. George’s Day.
We might spend a considerable time in dealing with the badges of various regiments, for often the history of the latter is bound up with them. They figure on the collar and other parts of the uniform, and occasionally, as badges might be expected to do, they appear on the buttons. We have touched upon this subject in connection with George I. The Scots Greys have as a badge an eagle with outstretched wings. It commemorates the capture of a French eagle at Waterloo by Sergeant Ewart, who was given a commission for his bravery.
The Gloucestershire Regiment has a badge in front and another on the back of the helmets, because on one occasion, in Egypt, when it was attacked in the rear as well as in front by large bodies of French cavalry, and there was no time to form a square, the commanding officer gave the order, “Rear rank, right about face, fire!” The result was that the enemy was beaten off. In connection with this achievement the second badge was given.
An interesting tale is told with regard to the formation of the Guards by Charles II after the Restoration. There were three regiments present, and they were commanded to take up arms as the First, Second, and Third Guards, but while the first and third obeyed the order, General Monk’s regiment stood still. The King, who was surprised at the apparent insubordination, asked Monk for the reason. Whereupon he said that his regiment declined to be considered second to any other. As a result, Charles is said to have answered, “Very well, they shall be my Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, and second to none.” From this comes their motto, “Nulli secundus.” It may be mentioned, also, that this regiment has a distinction which is absolutely unique in the Army, as it bears on the King’s colour a small Union Jack, which commemorates the fact that Monk was an Admiral of the Fleet as well as a General.
It is only about a hundred years since the pretensions of the English sovereigns to the throne of France ceased to be evident, for it was not until the end of George III’s reign that the French fleur-de-lys were removed from the Royal Arms and disappeared from our coins. There is still, however, a survival of the lilies of France on the braid of the drummers in the Guards. White lace with red crowns is what is almost universally worn by drummers in the Army, but the crown is replaced in the case mentioned by the fleur-de-lys. Whilst speaking of the Guards, one may recall that not very long ago a uniform was used by the solicitor with which these soldiers were, and in the case of the Coldstream Guards are still, provided. The solicitor, like the medical officer, wore the cocked hat that is now dying out in the Army, though generals and aides-de-camp still adopt this most curious outcome of the Cavalier’s beaver. Here and there, as in the case of the surgeon and veterinary surgeon of the Life Guards, and the medical officers of some Volunteer regiments, we still see the cocked hat. It flourishes also in Court dress, it adorns the Lords-Lieutenant and their deputies, besides maintaining its position among the officers of the Navy.
Fur, the material of which the first clothes of our ancestors were made, is still seen to a considerable extent in the Army, and is chiefly used for the construction of busbies. So important was the trade in furs for military purposes at one time, that bear-skins were classified as follows: “Officers,” or first grade; “Grenadiers,” or second grade; and “unfit for the Army,” or third grade. Like all features of dress which are exaggerated, the big busbies of the Guards have on more than one occasion afforded material for the caricaturist. Leech depicted the soldiers of the Brigade of Guards warming their hands and feet in their busbies, which they used as muffs; and an amusing series of sketches for the amusement of the young people was published not long ago, in which the soldier disappeared almost entirely into his busby and became a sort of Humpty-Dumpty.
Tall hats of the type of our modern silk hats were not unknown in the Army. Perhaps it may come as a shock to some that Lord Howard of Effingham is shown in a portrait as wearing a top hat, in shape very similar to the modern form, but ornamented with a plume of ostrich feathers. There is, we believe, however, still one top hat which is served out by the War Office at the present day, and this is worn by the Chapel Keeper at Wellington Barracks.
Of buttons we have already spoken times out of number, and it may be interesting to mention here that the various regiments of the Brigade of Guards may be told by the arrangement of buttons on the tunic. They are arranged at even distances apart in the Grenadiers, in twos on the Coldstreams, and in threes on the Scots Guards, and in fours on the Irish Guards, which were created of recent years.
We find plenty of survivals in the Army of buttons which are seen in similar places to those on civilians’ clothes. Mr. P. W. Reynolds has pointed out another, which is found in connection with a cord loop on the collars of the officers of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. This is a survival of a fashion once universal in the British Infantry, though the loop often consisted of half-inch lace instead of cord. The button was originally on a turned-down collar, and previous to that was on the coat, coming through a hole in the collar with a view to holding the latter properly in place.
If officers and sergeants were seen together it would probably be noticed that the former wear their sashes over the left shoulder, whilst the latter wear theirs over the right. To this a single exception can, however, be found. In the Twenty-ninth Foot the sergeants and officers both wear their sashes over the left shoulder, and this custom has been traced back to the battle of Culloden, where so many officers were slain that the sergeants had to take their places.
The drummers of the Leicestershire Regiment on state occasions wear tiger-skin aprons instead of the usual ones of pipeclayed leather. This is connected, as is also their badge, with their services in India.
A point that is perhaps not generally known is that officers going on voyages in hot climates are allowed to substitute the kamarband for the mess waistcoat, various colours being adopted by various regiments.
We have seen the origin of the red coat so far as it affects the modern army. Under these circumstances it is hardly necessary to say that it is not intended to prevent the soldier from seeing his blood when he is wounded, as has sometimes been suggested. It might be taken as acting as a warning colour like that of the wasp or hornet, but we have also noticed the way in which conspicuous dress is replaced by protectively coloured uniforms when the soldiers are upon active service.
We cannot help mentioning, however, one case in which the ornamental garb of peace proves useful to its wearer. We find in the animal kingdom that, whatever may happen in modern times in our own case, the males are as a rule the more brightly coloured, and we have come to call the brilliant hues with which they are endowed “courtship colours.” The charm which our gallant soldiers seem to have for the fair sex surely entitles us to reckon the gay uniforms of our Army as coming into the category of “courtship colours.”
SUPPOSED SURVIVALS—PETTICOATS AND WIDE BREECHES
If we had headed this chapter “survivals in naval dress,” we should have been in the historic predicament of the writer who took as his topic the snakes of Iceland, and afterwards had to own that there were none. It would be better, however, if we were to say that there are no survivals of a strictly naval kind, as then we should be nearer the truth. There are, of course, in the uniform of both officers and men, plenty of survivals from civilian costume, such as we have spent much time in describing. Though the crews of the galleys, which are the boats reserved for the captain’s use, had, in the case of the smart ships, long been dressed in a uniform manner, the actual uniforms of the Navy only date from a little before the year 1767.
The colours, blue and white, so tradition says, were due to an inspiration which George II received, while the subject was under discussion, on seeing the Duchess of Bedford riding in a new habit which was of blue faced with white.
There are two points in the dress of the ordinary sailor which are commonly supposed to be interesting survivals, and indeed they appear on the surface to have all the makings of such. It has been thought that the black silk handkerchief which a sailor wears round his neck was first put on as mourning for the death of Nelson. The other matter is the blue jean collar which covers the similar-shaped one which is made of the same material as the sailor’s jumper. This would no doubt have protected its fellow from the grease of the pigtail which sailors wore once; but Commander Robinson, who has gone into the question, says that pigtails were discarded before the blue jean collar came into existence, and at the same time tells us that black silk handkerchiefs were adopted previous to the time of Nelson. It is not perhaps very widely known that sailors at one time wore a kind of kilt or petticoat, and this no longer ago than the year 1779.
Some thirty or forty years earlier there were in vogue loose slops like the petticoat breeches of the reign of Charles II, and the collar of the coat, which was open at the neck, turned back on to the shoulders.
The trousers, however, that are now adopted are tight round the body and thighs, but remain very loose round the legs, and are therefore somewhat curious. The method of buttoning is one which they share with the gentlemen of George II’s time, the old-fashioned labourer, and, we believe, the bishop.
PUNCH AND JUDY—FASHION DOLLS—DOLLS IN SWADDLING CLOTHES—THE EGYPTIAN “SHABBIES”
By way of a change let us turn from people to their images—in fact, to puppets and dolls—for these semblances and caricatures of human forms are generally clothed, and at times may present to us very curious survivals. Let us begin with Punch and Judy, and in this connection we must not forget the dog Toby, for the ruff which he wears round his neck is a reminiscence of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Punch himself, however, is very much older than his clothes, though to find the explanation of the hump in front we must examine the clothes of the time of Henry III of France, when the men’s busked doublets came down low to a strap-shaped point, and had a great padded punch-like protuberance.37
For other peculiarities that we see we may have to go to the times of Henry IV of France, but the character is very many centuries older; and the careful investigations made by a friend of the present writer, Mr. George Heppel,38 into the history of Punch have shown why his present costume was adopted and what was his prototype.
As might be expected, the original Punch was a man—not Pontius Pilate, as has sometimes been suggested owing to the connection of Punch with miracle plays, but a character in the old Italian farces, which go back to the early days of Rome. The town most celebrated for such entertainments was Atella, situated not very far from Naples. The farcical plays were full of buffoonery, and Punch or Pulicinella was one of the stock characters, represented by a live actor, as were also the originals of the Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Scaramouch, among others.
It appears that the plays were not written as we understand a play to be written, but as a rule the plot of them was known, and a great deal of the dialogue was left to the actors themselves. From this it will be seen that the art of gagging can hardly be considered to be modern. The Italian, though by no means great as a dramatic author, was, as he is now, exceedingly good as an actor. It is said39 that for genuine fun no dramatist can beat the Neapolitan, no actor can surpass him. He writes or acts without the least effort; it is born in him, and he cannot help it. The very beggar-boy who hunts one along the street is a consummate actor; his gestures are prolific, easy, and natural; he is a facial artist without knowing it, and he has a power of elocution and expression which are only acquired by experienced performers after many years of study.
It may perhaps come as a surprise to many, seeing how long Punch has persisted, to learn that in Italy he was not one of the important characters in the original plays, but his choice as the hero of the puppet-show depended rather on the fact that he had not so much to do as some of the others—the harlequin, for instance. Therefore his character could be better portrayed under the restricted conditions that prevailed in such an entertainment as the Punch and Judy show. It will be obvious also that only two characters can be acting at one time, as the showman has only two hands. Mr. Heppel could only trace one instance of Punch figures being worked by wires like other marionettes. This is a figure in a little book no larger than a playing-card, entitled “Scènes de Polichinelle,” in the Art Library at the South Kensington Museum.
The showman in the case of the French Punch on occasion makes a virtue of necessity, and when the hero of the puppet-show is about to be tried for murder, the performance is interrupted in order that the following apology may be made:—“The scene which we are about to have the honour to put before you requires a tolerably large number of characters. It is, indeed, impossible to suppose that so important a prisoner as Guignol should be tried without due ceremony and by a single judge, but as the director of this theatre, like the generality of mankind, has but two hands, the actors in this scene will most of them remain quite still. This need not in the least interfere with the truth of the representation, for this stillness gives the administration of justice an additional solemnity. We may suppose that the judges are asleep, which will enable them to decide free from passion, and that the officials of the court are paralysed by the majesty of the court and the magnitude of the issues to be determined.”