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

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 grew 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