Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-06-18
HISTORICAL HOSIERY.
Stockings Worn BY the Men and
Women of Long AGO.

The reign Of Edward III, which gave
birth TO the fanciful conceit of the
Order of the Garter, has naturally set
the authorities TO work on the matter OF
the appendages with which garters are
generally associated. II is worth while
to mention that such high authorities
as Sir Elias Ashmole. Sir Walter Scott
and Sir Samuel Mayrick attach not the
slightest Importance 10 the story OF the
Countess OF Salisbury and the king s
apt remark, "Honi soft Qui NAL y
penSe, - rs he picked the garter up. 1t
/. 20 be remembered, too. that in this
reign and for long centuries afterward
hose, and possibly garters, were worn
by the s;errer sex. Camden, the his
toIian. says that Edward Ill gave
forth his own garter as the signal for
the battle of CIes y But no indica-
tion OF such an article occuIs upon any
monument or illumination of the period.
the chauSses or long huse being attached
10 the dOublet, or at least ascending to
the middle of the thigh, where they
were met by the drawers 1t Is quite
likely, however. that garters were worn
by the ladies of the period, whose hose
were in shape precisely as stockings of
the present day, Is may be seen from
an illum nation of the time of Edward
II.
SAME As THE FLUSKIEs Sow WEAR.
But the orthodox hose or stockings
proper are supposed TO have been IN
known in England before the middle Of
the Sixteenth century. y pair OF long
Spanish silk hose was presented as a
gift 10 Edward VI by Sir Thos. Gres-
ham, and Howe says that Henry VIII
never wore any hose but such as were
made OF cloth. In the IIarleian library
there is. however, preserved record OF
several pairs Of silk hose belonging to
Henry VIII, it being even stated that
he had also other pairs of satin and vel
vet The same document introduces
US TO the word stocking" itself. and
enligh'ens us rs TO its derivation. One
of the entries runs thus: "A yarde and
a quarter of green velvet for stocks TO a
payr of hose for the kings grace" and
numerous allusions occur TO certain
portions Of stuff used for ''stOckyng OF
hose" so cOnfOundIng the hose with
the brescheS and leaving the stocking
an independent article of apparel as at
the present day. Previous 10 this il Is
quite clear that the word hose, in the
case OF men, at least, means stockings
and drawers in one.
Howe is the authority for the state
ment that in the reign of Queen Mary
the London apprentices wore breecEes
and stockings OF white broadclOth, that
is, round slopps or bTeeches, and their
stockings sewed up close thereto, as
they were al but of one piece. In the
reigns Of Edward " and Mary blue
coats and yellow stockings were the
common habit of apprentices and sery-
ing men, and the custom is retained
by London footmeu and flunkies to-
day.
But Elizabeth was the first English
sovereign to wear genuine knitted stock
ings, and as soon as the fashion had
been iLaugurated the ladies went wild
over il. 1t is expressly stated in con-
temporary records that they were mot
ashamed TO wear hose of all kinds of
chanGe,Ible colors, as green, red, white,
russet, tawney and else what nOt;"
commonly knit" too, and ''curiously
Indeuted in every point with quirks,
clocks. open seams and everything else
accordingly"
Ii was NJ stress Montague who pre-
seutei the queen with the first pair OF
black knit silk stockings, which pleased
her so much that size would never wear
any cloth hose afterwaTd. Soon after
this, says Stow, William Rider, then
apprentice to Thomas Burdet, seeing q
pair of knit worsted stockings at an
italian merchants, brought from Man
trim, borrowed them, and having made
a pair Ike them, presented them 10 the
Earl Of Pembroke. which was the first
pair OF worsJed stockings knit in Eng
land.
In 1899, William Lee, master OF arts
and fellow Of ~. Johns College, Cam
bridge, invented stocking frame. Ira
ditiOn attributes the origin of his in
Yention TO a pique he had taken against
a townswoman with whom he was In
love and who neglected his passion. She
got her livelihood by knitting stockings,
and to depreciate her employment he
constructed this frame and instructed
his brother and other relatives how TO
work it. The other stocking makers
combined and drove him from the
country, so that at last he died at Paris
OF a broken heart.
FIom and after this period the cover
ing for the neither eNtremities of men Is
always divided INTO trunk hose, or
breeches, and neither stocks, or stock
-
necessary. for the breeches Of men were
worn of such enormous size in this and
the succeeding reign OF James / that
their cost was sometimes as high as
Elt0 pair, fortune in those DAYS
THE FIRs- BLACK SILK STOCKINGS.
In the reign of James 1 the stock
Ings were gaIteTed beneath the knee,
and the garters fastened in large bow
rNr - AA
''hosen" were still worn and fastened
TO the doublet or jacket by innumerable
''pOluts.'' Silk, worsted and thread
stockings were now almost universally
worn, and cloth OF wooden stockings
considered unfashionable.
In the year 1858 the petlicoat breeches
for men male their appearance in Eng
land, and the fashion was introduced
from France of wearing large stirIup
hose or stockings two yards wide at the
top. with points through several eyelet
holes by which they were made fast to
the pettiCOat breeches. The fashion
went out in tie reign of " illiam Ill,
and the stockings were then drawn over
the hreeChes 10 the middle Of the thigh.
In the reign of Anne the vests were
lengtlened 10 meet the stockings and
entirely conceal the bIeeches, the stock
ings being of blue or scarlet silk, with
gold or silver clocks. Scarlet stockings
were worn by fashionable bellies, who
also INDUCED in the practice of snuff
taking.
Mrs Damer, the eccentric and cele-
brated sculptor of the days of George
III, is said to have been the first femai o
who Wore black silk stockings In Eng
land. Ladies wore white stockings,
even in mourning, as late as the year
1873. and white stockings are worn by
two-thirds of the English women OF all