The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-11-24


surely be at least contested by the jewelled and
PINNED caps, the long locks, the vests, mantles,
ana hose OF the reign OF Henry the Seventh ;
especially II we recollect that they had the broad
hats and feathers too, when they chose to wear
them, and that they had moi the "peaked" beard,
nor steeple crown 10 the hat. (See the figures
at pages s20 and 222; aud imagine them put
in'o US gallant bearing, as those in the pictures
o. Vandyke. See also the portrait OF Henry
himself, al the beginning OF the volume and
the cap cloak, and vest ofthe Earl Of Suny, The
poet, IN the Holbein portrait of him in Lodges
illustrations.)
II is curious fact, that good taste in costume
has by no means been in proportion TO an ages
refinement IN other respects. Mere utility is a
better teacher than mere viii and power; and
fashions in dress have generally been regulated
BY those who had power, and nothing else
Shakspeares age was that of rulfs and pufls ;
Ropes that OF the most execrabIe of all coats,
cooked hats, and waistcoats; lumpsh, formal,
and useless; miserable affection of ease with
the most ridiculous buckram And vet the cos
tune OF part of George the Thirds reign was
perhaps worse, for II had not even the garnish ;
Il was the extreme of mechanical dullness; and
the women had preposterous tresses of curls and
pomatum on their head, by way of setting off the
extremity of dull plainness with that of duh ca
price: For the hoop, possibly, something may
De SAID, not as dress, not as an investment, but
as an enclosure. Ii did not seem so much to
disfgure, as to contain the sycarer,--to be not a
dress, but gliding she'll The dancers at Ota-
heite, IN the pictures to Captain Cooks voyages,
have some such Lower Houses; and look well
IN them for the same reason. The body issued
from the hoop as out sea Of tiounce and furbe-
low II was the next thing 10 nymph half
hidden in water. The arm and fan rcposed
upon It, as upon cloud, or a moving sphere,
the fair angel looking serene and superior above
II. Thus much we would say in defence Of the
hoop, properly so called, when it was in its per
lection, large and circular, and to be approached
like "hedge of divinity" or the walls Of Troy,
Pride pomp and circumstance Of glorious petiieoat;
not for those masked and minor shapes oil the
phenomenon, which degenerated into mere APP
pendages, panniers, or side Jumps, and remind
ed you Of nothing but their deformity. But it
was always thing fantastic, and fit only for
court and ceremony.
Mr. blanche justly cautions one generation
against laughing at the fashion of another. He
advises such ladies as would scream at the
dresses OF the fourteenth, or even eighteenth
century, to look into a fashionable pocket-book
or magazine for the year 1915 or go, and then
candidly compare notes. Appendages or enclo-
sures are one thing; positive clinging disfgure-
ments another. The ugliest female dress, in
our opinion, without exception, was that which
we CoHCtlVt MT. IiaucHe 10 !aHuue 10, ana WHICH
COMPOUNDED all ages and shapes by girdling the
gown under the arm-pits; and sticking little
pad at the back almost between the shoulders I!
II reduced all figures to humps of absurdity. No
well-shaped woman, we may be sure, invented
it. A history of the real origin Of many fashions
would be curious document. We should find
infrmity and unsightliness cheating youth and
beauty into an imitation Of them, and beaux and
bellies piquing themselves on resembling the
worst points about theircunning elders.
AS long as man wears the modern coat he
has no right to despise any dress. What thing
It Is, though so often taken for something eek
quisite !" What horse-collar for a collar |!
What ships at the collar and lapels What a
| mechanical and ridiculous cut about the flaps I!
| What buttons in front that are never meant to
button, and yet are no ornament And what an
exquisiely absurd pair of buttons at the back !!
gravely regarded, nevertheless, and thought as
indispensably necessary, to every well-conditon-
ed coat as other bits of metal or bone are to the
bodies of savages whom we laugh at. There is
absolutely not one iota of sense, grace, or even
economy, in the modern coat. II is an article as
costly as it is ugly, and as ugly as lis useless.
In winter it is not enough, and in hot weather it
is too much. 1t is the taors' remnant and cab
baging of the coats formerly in use, and deserves
only to be chucked back to them as an imposi-
ton in the bill. Ii is the old or frock coat, cut
away in front and at the sides, mounted with a
horse-collar, and left with ridiculous tail. The
waistcoat, or vest, elongated, and, with the add-
ton of sleeves, might supersede it at once and
be quite sufficient in warm weather A vest
reaching to the md-thigh is graceful and rea-
sonable habit, and, with the addition of scarf
or sash, would make as handsome, or even bril-
liant one, as any body could desire. In winter
time the same cloaks would do for it as are used
now and there might be lighter cloaks for sum
mer. But the coat as il now exists, is mere
nuisance and expense, and disgraces every part
Of the dress, except the neck-cloth Even the
hat is too good for it, for hat is good for some
thing, though there is more chimney-top than
beauty in it. II furnishes shade TO the eyes, and
has not always an i'll look if we-proportioned.
The coat is a sheer piece of mechanical ugliness.
The frock- coat is another matter, except as to
the collar, which, iii its present rolled or bolster
ed shape, is always ugly As TO the great-coat,
it makes a man look either like man in a sack,
or shorn bear. II is cloth upon CLOTH clumsi-
ness made clumsier, sometimes thrice over
cloth waistcoat, cloth coat, cloth great Goa, "a
s'three piled hypcIbole." II is probably for ira
vellers, coachmen, and others who require to
have no drapery in the way. A cloak is the only
| handsome overall
| The eek cloth is worthy of the coat. What
heaping of monstrosity on monstosity The
woollen horsecollar is bad enough; yet as if this
were not sufficient, linen one must be super
ADDED. Men must look as III they WIRE MiSe
seized with symbols of apoplexy,--the horse-col-
| lar to shorten the neck, and the linen collar TO
squeeze it, Some man with desperately bad
| throat must have invented the neck-cloth, espe-
cially as it had padding, or pudding IN IT,
| when il first came up. His neck could not have
been fit to be seen II must have been like a
pole, or withered stalk; or else he was some
faded, fat dandy, ashamed of his double chm
i There can be no objection TO peoples looking as
wen as they can contrive, young or old but y Is
a little too much TO set fashion, which, besides
being deformed is injurious. The man was ex-
cusabc, because he knew no better; but 1t IS nc