The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-27 00:00:00

St' !ode to,' 5e .eted 0 11111 C 'Da e the :BED, 27, 1855.] when " hostile and independent nations •ected and planted like sentries on the If Russia." er papers in this first-class Magazine are gal excellence, embracing a variety of topics, among which Calcraft's able •taining series on " The Dramatic Ireland" holds a conspicuous and an ,e place. Periodical of Wit and Humour. Lon don : The Falstaff-office. !rial, which appears to have come in le departed Diogenes, as a rival to Punch, the first part has been recently issued, aim at producing effect by the breadth less of its caricatures, rather than by the )f its wit or the refinement of its senti itio‘4 In it, as in most of the low-priced pub sof the day, the democratic element of ; 4 ial p olity me has acquire a new aent I(c'r a ti at least, will d g be worked vigo , Nil a ceaseless application of pen and kts. It seems passing strange, that while such io 4 is everywhere manifested in the dissemi- Nsb e i lf do c t r i ne an d practice, inimical to the N ill g of society, so much cold-rife apathy N ter eontinu e undisturbed by any attempt to 41y t the dangerous trash which is sedu '4l)l. 'Nat into the hands of young and old. e % tee ms with the implements of political kligi kll k ., ,arl e - t e i b lis disturbance, while scarce an effort tie through the same means to counteract ,11g Ne a 4 41 eY . b The care of religion seems to be k lety ); left to the clergy, and that of political th itp 4/ have been abandoned altogether to the ‘ 4 % l ° ' a few parliamentary leaders, while the both swarm at every street corner. PA I )RESS OF OUR ANCESTORS. , Air, 41- le; " bAd lit In dress especially. Could our g reat I ht a iDl t il 'e,ata revisit the world, their astonish ed b the cut of our attire would only be ex -1111 b o o of ours at their own. A volumi itt46-4 might be devoted entirely to the task iNfi ll the varying fashions of dress genera ae'' generation ; and now when the subject ctingoi es attention, we think that a few ct t z te ' gathered from antiquarian and other ' will b e f oun d sufficiently interesting to „ N I a leis ure h a lf-h our . From the following, ' 4 44Ze seen thatwhat is now called " Bloomerism ' counterpart n ea rly two centuries ago. I N do 8 not propose to revert to the times of l 'At h , o ll forefathers, but 'krill commence with 1 1 ;lee whom Shakspere has immortalised,— N y °II companion, the " mad rogue," the ~Ike e `` Hal" of old Jack Falstaff—Henry, `4, 11 ,.0f Wales, subsequently King Henry V., of Speed tells us, once presented himself to i of r in " a garment of blue satin, wrought It f li eyelet holes, and, at every eyelet, the ~v left hanging by the silk it was wrought tt i e This costume, it appears, had reference ° academical dress of Queen's College, , r)d. ‘, , where the prince had been a student. litt P A assa ges in Shakspere may be referred to Ni o -I\ d-rkg curious glimpses and allusions to the 4 1 , 112 . of the middle ages. He speaks of V s n coats, and caps, and golden ringi, \‘ , i 4 , , , and cuffs, and farthingales and things : I tid da. scarfs, and fans, and double ' change of bravery. i iQ tt ve may , gather many hints from such pas 11,', _ , .I . le will come to her in yellow stock 4.arteql, 'tis a colour she abhors ; and cross aistafittllit fashion she detests." Or where Kendal •l'e prince he was attacked by "knaves °1(1 . 1 r; aZ e i . ll ." Green was for ages a favourite from Chaucer (who describes the is p come Ni a° the en o1:11 ' , t iers of The ot h e D th e usoi f eatin g [e ' . enter 1 t 8 erg o f 'Fable re 1, " i ' 4 C a ear ' ro ta se t r one 01 , t \n il ul ,ta eti t 11 9 ', i‘ b r , t ° a loc o liea ui une tit. :l of vi et' at;.' It SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD• Queen of Love " clad in royal habit green") down to Wordsworth, we find countless poets, both in England and Scotland, who assign green garments to their heroines. Dunbar, in his " Freirs of Berwick," minutely describes the dress of the wife of a wealthy Scot tish yeoman in the middle of the sixteenth century. She wore a robe of fine scarlet ; a white hood ; a sash of green silk, richly embroi dered with silver, round her waist ; a purse and keys suspended from a silken belt of silver tissue ; and two rings on each finger ! In England, about the same epoch (viz., the reign of Elizabeth), the breeches of gentlemen fell only to the middle of the thigh, long hose being drawn up to them. Hats were broad-brimmed, with a lofty conical crown. Men, as well as women, wore ruffs, and those of the ladies were of enormous size, as were also their farthingales. The Earl of Pembroke, at this period, was the first to wear knitted stock ings, which were made in imitation of a pair brought from Mantua ; and Italy also then intro duced embroidered gloves—the Earl of Oxford bringing a variety to England, and present ing the queen with a perfumed pair. Ladies wore boddices extremely long-waisted, and Eliza beth herself is said to have possessed dresses of the fashions of all lands, and when she died her wardrobe contained three thousand habits. That dress had then attained a degree of extravagance . and luxury previously unknown, there is ample evidence in many contemporary writings. Thus, in " Albion's England" (by Warner), two ancient dames are represented as lamenting over the effeminate changes in dress which had taken place within their recollection. So curious is their discourse, that we may well quote a few lines : When we were maids (quoth one of them), Was no such new-found pride : Then wore they shoes of ease, now of An inch broad, corked high. Black kersey stockings, worsted now, Yea, silk of youthfurst dye : G irters of list, but now of silk, Some edged deep with gold ; With costlier toys for coarser turns, Than used perhaps of old. Fringed and embroider'd petticoats Now beg. But heard you named, Till now of late, busks, periwigs, Masks, plumes of feathers framed, Supporters, posturs, farthingales About the loins to wear ; That be she ne'er so slender, yet She, cross-like, seems four-square. Passing to the next reign, we hear of the Earl of Oxford being the first nobleman who appeared at court with a white feather in his hat, and the cloak was in great fashion (continuing so for half a century later). Splendidly embroidered night caps were much worn, and country gentlemen shone bravely in yellow stockings. Roses and knots were worn in the shoes, and silken garters were gathered in bunches below the knee. Little boys wore long coats of a fashion similar to those yet worn by the Blue-coat Schoolboys in London. Beaux wore love-locks, and ear-rings, and some times flowers over behind their ears. Ladies yet delighted in starched ruffs and monstrous far thingales, and now began to acquire that passion for foreign laces which they have bequeathed to their descendants to this very day. Of the dress of the time of the " Merry monarch," we have most ample and minute memoranda in many contemporary writings. Periwigs were introduced from France, and the rage for them speedily gre w to an almost incre dible pitch of extravagance. Open sleeves, lace neckcloths, shoulder-knots, and shoe-buckles, all became the fashion ; and ladies wore green stockings at court, acid had their hair plastered and frizzled until it rose some feet above their heads. Pepys' Diary overflows with notices of 187 the dress of this era. In May, 1662, he writes —My wife and I, in the privy gardens saw the finest " she-shirts" and linen petticoats of my Lady Castlemaine, laced with rich laces at the bottom, that ever I saw." A year later, he describes the Queen as wearing " a white laced waistcoat and a crimson short petticoat, and her hair dressed a la negligence, mighty pretty." He next mentions buying for himself " a velvet cloak, a new shag gown, trimmed with gold buttons and twist, with a new hat, and silk tops for my legs—two periwegs, one whereof cost me £3." On the 30th November, he tells us, he put on his " best black cloth suit, trimmed with scarlet ribbons, very neat, with my cloak lined with velvet, and a new beaver, which is altogether very noble, with my black silk canons." It ap pears that silver-laced gowns had gone out of fashion, for he mentions meeting the Queen coming from chapel, with her maids of honour, " all in silver-laced gowns again, which is new to me, and that which I did not think would have been brought up again." The following year, lie speaks of going to church, " my wife very fine in a new, yellow, bird's-eye hood, as the fashion is now." Very amusing is the following passage from his diary, under the date June 11, 1665 : " Walking in the galleries at Whitehall, I find the ladies of honour dressed in their riding garbs, with coats and doublets with deep skirts, just for all the world like mine, and their doublets but toned up the breast, with periwigs and hats ; so that, only for a long petticoat dragging under their men's coats, nobody would talce them for women in any point whatever, which was an odd sight, and a sight that did not please me." He speaks also of great courtiers wearing " a long cassock close to the body, of black cloth, and pinked with white silk under it., and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black riband like a pigeon's leg ;" and adds, that Lady Cartaret told him the ladies were to have a new fashion shortly, "to wear short coats above their ancles." _ _ In the reign of William and Mary, French fashions were all the vogue, although courtiers, out of compliment to the King, somewhat affected the Dutch dress. Enormous, white-powdered wigs were indiscriminately worn by all orders and professions, and beaux had their coats powdered on the shoulder, as well as their wigs. We read that gentlemen wore their coats " cut straight before, and reaching below the knee, with lace in front, and often buttoned to the bottom, without pockets on the outside ; large cuffs, laced and buttoned, but no collar. The vest reached nearly to the knee. Frogs or tassels adorned the but ton-holes. The breeches fitted close, and reached ' below the knee; the shirt was ruffled, and generally with lace ; the cravat long, plain, or entirely of point ; shoes square-toed, the heel high ; the buckles were large ; the boots were worn high and stiffened ; the hats were cocked, and of a moderate size." As to the ladies, they wore flounced coats and long flowing dresses, with ruffles long and double, and jewels, pearls, and amber in their hair. Queen Anne was a keen stickler for etiquette in dress, and would reprove even her ministers, if they presumed to come into her presence care lessly attired. In her reign, " the coat had no collar, was long, open at the bottom of the sleeves, without cuffs, and edged with gold or silver from the top to the bottom, with clasps and buttons the whole length, and at the opening of the sleeve. Young gentlemen often had the sleeves only half-way down the arm, and the short sleeves very full and deeply ruffled. An ornamental belt kept the coat tight at the bottom of the waist. The vest and lower part of the dress had little clasps, and was seldom seen. The roll-up stock ing came into vogue, and the sandal was much