Of course, when the commode was worn, no other head-covering could be worn with it; but, when it came to be lowered, and almost disappear, a graceful fashion came up of scarves or hoods, and thus bright colours are alluded to more than once by contemporary writers, especially in the Spectator:[231] 'I took notice of a little Cluster of Women sitting together in the prettiest colour'd Hoods that I ever saw. One of them was Blue, another Yellow, and another Philomot;[232] the fourth was of a Pink Colour, and the fifth was of a pale Green. I looked with as much pleasure upon this little party Coloured Assembly, as upon a Bed of Tulips, and did not know at first whether it might not be an Embassy of Indian Queens,' etc. Whatever made Steele attack the hood as he did in a manner so scurrilous, and utterly unlike him?—though, after all, his objurgations are directed more against the cloak than the hood.
Your Hoods and Cloaths or rather Riding Hoods
Were first invented to steal People's Goods—
For when their Wearers came with a Pretence
To Buy—Tho' looking with much Innocence,
Lace, Silk, or Muslin privately they steal
And under those same Cloaks their Theft Conceal.[233]
The tall broad-brimmed hat (which still exists in Wales, only made in beaver) of James the First's reign was still used by country women, and the poorer class in towns. Ward, talking of an 'Assembly of Fat Motherly Flat Caps' at Billingsgate, says: 'Their Chief clamour was against High Heads and Patches; and said it would have been a very good Law, if Q. Mary had effected her design, and brought the proud Minks's of the Town, to have worn High Crownd Hats instead of Top Knots.'[234] And in 'Tunbridge Walks': 'Oh! the joys of a Country life, to mind one's Poultry, and one's Dairy, and the pretty business of milking a Cow, then, the soft diversions of riding on Horseback, or going to a Bull baiting, and the Charming Conversation of High Crown'd Hats, who can talk of nothing but their Hogs and their Husbands.'
AN UMBRELLA.
Furs were worn, and of course duly lost. From one advertisement we get to know the name of 'a Sable Tippit or Zar;' and from another we learn something of its shape, 'a round Sable Tippet, about 2 yards long, the Sable pretty deep and dark, with a piece of black Silk in the Square of the neck.' They also had muffs, not only of feathers, as we have already seen, but of fur of all sorts, from otter skin to 'the Cats' fur. But ladies did not go out more than they could help, either in cold or wet weather. The streets were so bad, and, although to them was accorded the 'umberellow' (for it was far too effeminate a thing for men to carry, no Jonas Hanway having yet arisen), yet they did not stir out unless obliged; and it was only
The tuck'd up sempstress walks with hasty strides
While Streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides.[235]
Curious clumsy things these old umbrellas must have been. For a man to have used one, he would have deserved, and received, some such satire as 'The Young gentleman belonging to the Custom House, that for fear of rain borrowed the Umbrella at Will's Coffee House in Cornhill of the Mistress, is hereby advertised that to be dry from head to foot on the like occasion he shall be welcome to the Maid's Pattens.'[236]
Good Huswives all the Winter's Rage despise,
Defended by the Riding Hood's Disguise;
Or underneath th' Umbrella's oily Shed,
Safe thro' the Wet on clinking Pattens tread.
Let Persian Dames th' Umbrella's Ribs display,
To guard their Beauties from the sunny Ray;
Or sweating Slaves support the shady Load,
When Eastern Monarchs shew their State abroad;
Britain in Winter only knows its Aid,
To guard from chilly Show'rs the walking Maid.
But O! forget not, Muse, the Patten's Praise,
That female Implement shall grace thy Lays;
Say from what Art Divine th' Invention came,
And from its Origine deduce the name.[237]
And then Gay tells the legend of how Vulcan fell in love with Martha (or Patty), the daughter of a Lincolnshire yeoman; how to save her feet from the cold and wet he studded her shoes with nails; but still she had a cold and lost her voice, until he hit upon the happy idea of the 'patten' the use of which completely restored her to health, and