16. The form, substance, and color, of this article of dress, have been exceedingly various in different ages, according to the circumstances or humor of the wearer. The ancient Persians wore turbans, similar to those of the modern Turks; and the nations inhabiting the Indian Peninsula, wore a kind of head-dress so large, that it divested the person of all proportion.
17. The imperial turban is said to have been composed of a great many yards of muslin, twisted and formed into a shape nearly oval, and surmounted with a woollen cap, encircled with a radiated crown. The turban of the prime minister was smaller in its dimensions, but of greater altitude. The chief magi, on account of his superior eminence, wore a higher turban than those of the monarch and minister united. Those worn by the inferior magi, were regulated by the dignity of the stations which they held.
18. The Jewish people and the neighboring nations borrowed the turban from the Persians; but, at a later period, they very commonly adopted the cap which the Romans were accustomed to give to their slaves, on their manumission.
19. The ancient helmet, made of steel, brass, and sometimes of more costly materials, was worn as a piece of defensive armor in war, instead of the ordinary coverings, used while engaged in peaceful occupations.
20. Roman citizens went bare-headed, except upon occasions of sacred rites, games, and festivals; or when engaged in travelling or in war. They were accustomed, however, in the city, to throw over their head the lappet of their toga, as a screen from the wind or sun. The people of Scotland used to wear a kind of bonnet, as in some parts of that country they do at the present time; and the English, before the invention of felt hats, covered the head with knit caps and cloth hoods, and sometimes with hats made of thrummed silk.
21. The Chinese do not wear hats, but use a cap of peculiar structure, which the laws of civility will not allow them to put off in public. The form and material of this is varied with the change of the season. That used in summer is shaped like a cone, is made of a beautiful kind of mat, and lined with satin; to this is added, at the top, a large tuft of red silk, which falls all round to the lower part of the cap, and which fluctuates gracefully on all sides, while the wearer is in motion. The kind worn in winter is made of shaggy cloth, bordered with some kind of fur, and ornamented in a similar manner.
22. Head-dresses, from their variety, simplicity, and mutability, were but little regulated by commercial or manufacturing interests, until the introduction of felt hats, which has occasioned a uniformity in this article of dress, unknown in former ages.
23. Curiosity is naturally excited to become acquainted with the particulars of the invention of the hat, and the subsequent stages of improvement in the manufacture. But the operation of individual interest, so generally connected with the useful arts, seems to have concealed the whole in obscurity; and little information on the subject can now be obtained.
24. The hatters have a tradition, that the art of felting originated with St. Clement, the fourth bishop of Rome. Under this impression, in Catholic countries, they adopt him as their patron saint, and hold an annual festival in his honor. The principle of felting is said to have been suggested to his mind by the following circumstance; while fleeing from his persecutors, his feet became blistered, and, to obtain relief, he placed wool between them and his sandals. On continuing his journey, the wool, by the perspiration, motion, and pressure of the feet, assumed a compact form.
25. Notwithstanding this tradition, it appears, that felt hats were invented at Paris, by a Swiss, about the commencement of the fifteenth century; but they were not generally known, until Charles the Seventh made his triumphal entry into Rouen, in the year 1492, when he astonished the people by wearing a hat, lined with red silk, and surmounted with a plume of feathers.