Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-03-24
THE HISTORY OF HATS.


The Paris correspondent of the Lon
don Morning Standard thus summarizes
some French gossip on hats: 1t was
Burke, Iibelieve, who said that the his
tory of Partisan revolutions was the his
tory of mots. An ingenious archeolo
gist supplies the Debats with an inter
esting paper, from which may be infer
red that the history of revolutions is
also the history of hats. According to
this learned person the chimney pot,
which, though universally worn, is as
generally abused as the most inconven-
| lent of all head coverings, is an institu-
tion venerable for its antiquity. Chin
ney-pot hats were commonly worn in
Thibet long before the days of Magma
Charta There were, however, distinc-
tions. A native Of Thibet in those days
could tell who and what the wearer was
from the color OF his hat 1t was white
for civilians, black for officials, yellow
for monks and the Grand Lama alone
had--and the Debats assures US still re-
tains-the privilege OF wearing a
ehapeau of the finest red. The De-
bats regrets to find that the Hebrews
have not in any way contributed to
hatology;' but the writer surely goes a
little too far in infering from the fact
that he has been unable to discover any
Hebrew name for hat that the Jews en-
tirely discarded that useful article of
dress. The Spartans wore felt hats, not
that they particularly affected any COW
ering for their heads, but as a distin-
gushing mark. The felt hat was the
outward sign which distinguished the
freemen from the helot The natives
of Egina wore hats of peculiar char
acter they were so thick that they
might serve for a shield, and so heavy
that they formed dangerous offensive
weapon. When Draco went to Crete, he
went to the theater to read out his code
of laws. The Cretans determined that
he should be summarily extinguished,
and forthwith they threw their hats at
him. Draco did not recover. The hats
had proved too much for him. | was
not myself aware of this curious episode,
but is it be founded on fact, il is / be-
lieve the only instance on record. The
Romans = sensible people = only wore
hats for use-broad-brimmed straw hats,
to keep off the sun and rain. In France
hats appear to have been worn toward
the close of the Hundred Years War.
The first King that is represented with
this civilian headgear is Charles VII.
When he went to Rome he wore on his
solemn entry ehimney-pot hat with a
piece Of gold braiding round it, hot an
like the hats now occasionally worn by
footmen. Louis XI-a sensible man
discarded hats, and resumed the conve-
nient and picturesque cap Of mainte-
nance which had been the favorite head
dress OF most OF his forefathers. 1t was
not, however until the days Of the
League and religious wars that the hat
rose into political importance. The
Huguenots wore tall felt hats, not un-
like those now worn by tourists, orna-
mented with single feather; the Catho-
lies wore short felt hats, adorned by the
double cross adopted by the House Of
Lorraine. This fashion gave rise to not
few squibs. One of these quatrains
has been preserved:
"Que veult dire je vous prie
Ce signr de la double crOix2
C'est du' en- la ligue on crucife
NOtre Seigneur une aultre fois.
Freedom Of the press was no better un-
derstood then than tits now. Ike author
of this quaint epigram was discovered
and hanged. Under Louis XIII and
Louis XIV the hat become once more
social symbol. The hat in general use
was three.cornered one, like that worn
by London coachmen on levee and
drawing-room days But doctors wore
chimney pots abouttwo feet high priests
wore, on the contrary, shovel hats of
the same pattern as that Of Don Basi,
lio' in the Barhiere. Under Louis XIV
the hat was an article for ornament, not
use; people used to wear IT not on their
heads but under their arms. The revo-
lutisn came, and made very short work
of hats and the heads that wore them.
When Napoleon fell, and Louis le De-
sire returned to the throne Of his
fathers, the bat again became a politi-
cal emblem. The partisans OF Napoleon
wore huge machines with broad turn
/ ed up brim, weighing over a pound; the
LegiiimStes donned light tall silk hats
tapering to a point, with a very narrow
brim. Duels-latal duels- too, were
then very frequent, and It was
sufficient to bring about q dead