The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-08-26
THE MUFFS MEN WORE
They Were Oecked With Lace
and Bows of Ribbon.
A FASHION OF OTHER DAYS.
Their Use Was Quite Common, Too,
and Not Confined to Fops and DAN
dies-DoubIs Mufs Were Once In
voaue-Extremes Of Style In Sizes.

dies-Double Muffs Were Once In
vesue-Extrsmes Of Style In Sizes
Muffs were invented for the use Of a
pan. At least so the legend goes. Ii
seems a classic shade found the air of
the world so beastly cold when he re-
assembled TO earth after his death that
his hands were almost frozen.
Consequently 1t was decreed that the
slayer of he poor young gentleman
should kill enough sables-evidently
sables were appreciated even in those
early days-to make a covering for the
frosted fingers. He did it, and that
was the origin of the muf.
Even II one is not prepared to ac-
cept this account of the first muff as
authoritative there Is one thing that Is
certain. 1t is only In very modern
times h muffs have been the exclu-
sive property of women Up to the
third quarter of the eighteenth CEN
fury men were quite as addicted to
them as women were.
In the wardrobe accounts of Henry.
prince of Wales. for 160S the prices OF
two muffs are set down. The most ex
pensive cost Fl, a very big sum In
those days. and Is described as being
made Of cloth OF silver wrought with
purls, plates and Venice twists of sill
yer and gold. The other was n COM
paratively plain one of black satin en-
broidered with black silk. and its price
wa proportionately less, only GO shil-
lings.
At the time of Charles / and Charles
II. there was a curious fashion of dou-
BILE mufs. a small one for each hand.
something like a big loose cuff. The
single or ordinary muffs carried by the
English ladies Of Hollar's etchings are
OF medium size and made entirely of
smooth fur. arranged. as a rule, with
the hair running oun the muf.
At the extreme end of the century.
| after the advent of William of Orange.
mems muffs were still small and were
generally suspended from a ribbon
round the neck. but In 1903 IL seems to
have been more usual to loop the muff
to a coat button. There is a widely
prevalent Idea. I think. that masculine
mufr wearers invariably belonged to
the dandy class-the fops, beaus and
Inacaropies-but this was not actually
the case. although the fashion was
certainly scoffed at by some contempt
rary writer's.
Staid and elderly gentlemen carried
muffs habitually. For instance, DR..
Josiah Tucker. dean OF Gloucester N
a famous political economist, was so
attached to his huge fur muf that he
carried 1t even when officiating at the
| cathedral services. EnGlishmen, how
ever. do not seem ever to have favored
lace frilled muffs such as were affected
by Frenchmen during the early part of
the eighteenth century, but c~ontented
themselves with trimmings of ribbo
bows, adornments quite sufficiently eff
Terminate, one would think.
Mufs, both ladies' and gentlemen's,
varied much in size at different times
from the reign of Queen Anne onward.
L ITO they were very tiny. but grew
somewhat larger during the following
| couple of decades. In 174O. however.
they had decreased again, and a little
later Horace walpole writes of send
ing George Montagu "a decent small
ish muff that you may ppt in your
pocket, and IL cost but IA shilliugs."
| But by 176O 10Th sexes were carrying
such ~capacious muffs that pet dogs
were often concealed I'm their warm re-
/ CeSSGS. ApOut HIS llIlt- bH Tic way
| muffs made of feathers were intro
duced by reason. 1t Is said. of an I'M
usual scarcity of furs in the market.
In 1TS6 ladies' mufs-men. except
such eccentric fogies as Dean Tucker,
had by this time given up wearing
such things-were decidedly diminu-
| tive. However. at the beginning of the
nineteenth century they were again Of
monster proportions and so continued
for about thirty years.
Two muffs OF the year 800 shown In
a fashion plate of that year are of
long, shaggy fur. and In the print one
Is colored yellow and has n bow of
| purple ribbon In the center, while the
| other is deep brown and has no trim
ming. Another huge mum of rough,
dark fur is shown in a set of fashion
| plates for 1903.
A few years nearer our own time the
modish muff was large. fiat and so
widely open at the ends that II could
have afforded but scanty protection to
the wrists. One example was made of
| ermine, a fur which was in high favor
| from this time up to the mid-victorian
| period.-London Queen.