The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages Part 19

Men first wore wigs in Charles the Second's time; and these were gradually increased in size, until they reached the acme of their magnificence in the reign of William and Mary, when not only men, but even young lads and children were disguised in enormous wigs. And though in the reign of Queen Anne this latter custom was not so common, yet the young men had the want of wigs supplied by artificial curlings, and dressing of the hair, which was then only performed by the women.

One Bill preserved amongst the Harl. MSS. runs thus:--

"Next door to the Golden Ball, in St. Bride's Lane, Fleet Street, Lyveth Lidia Beercraft. Who cutteth and curleth ladies, gentlemen, and children's hair. She sells a fine pomatum, which is mixed with ingredients of her own making, that if the hair be never so thin, it makes it grow thick; and if short, it makes it grow long. If any gentleman's or children's hair be never so lank, she makes it curle in a little time, and to look like a periwig."

And this, indeed, the looking like a periwig, seems to have been then the very _beau ideal_ of all beauty and perfection, for another fair tonsoress advertises to cut and curl hair after the French fas.h.i.+on, "after so fine a manner, that _you shall not know it to be their own hair_."

How applicable to these absurdities are the lines of an amiable censor of a later day!--

"We have run Through ev'ry change, that Fancy, at the loom Exhausted, has had genius to supply; And, studious of mutation still, discard A real elegance, a little us'd, For monstrous novelty and strange disguise."

To return to Elizabeth:--

The best known, and most distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic of the costume of her day was the ruff; which was worn of such enormous size that a lady in full dress was obliged to feed herself with a spoon two feet long. In the year 1580, sumptuary laws were published by proclamation, and enforced with great exactness, by which the ruffs were reduced to legal dimensions. Extravagant prices were paid for them, and they were made at first of fine holland, but early in Elizabeth's reign they began to wear lawn and cambric, which were brought to England in very small quant.i.ties, and sold charily by the yard or half yard; for there was then hardly one shopkeeper in fifty who dared to speculate in a whole piece of either. So "strange and wonderful was this stuff," says Stowe, speaking of lawn, "that thereupon rose a general scoff or byeword, that shortly they would wear ruffs of a spider's web." And another difficulty arose; for when the Queen had ruffs made of this new and beautiful fabric, there was n.o.body in England who could starch or stiffen them; but happily Her Grace found a Dutchwoman possessed of that knowledge which England could not supply, and "Guillan's wife was the first starcher the Queen had, as Guillan himself was the first coachman."

"Afterward, in 1564, (16th of Elizabeth), one Mistress Dinghen Vauden Pla.s.se, born at Teenen in Flanders, daughter of a wors.h.i.+pful knight of that province, with her husband, came to London, and there professed herself a starcher, wherein she excelled; unto whom her own nation presently repaired and employed her, rewarding her very liberally for her work. Some of the curious ladies of that time, observing the neatness of the Dutch, and the nicety of their linen, made them cambric ruffs, and sent them to Mistress Dinghen to starch; soon after they began to send their daughters and kinswomen to Mistress Dinghen, to learn how to starch; her usual price was, at that time, 4_l._ or 5_l._ to teach them to starch, and 20_s._ to learn them to see the starch. This Mrs. Dinghen was the first that ever taught starching in England."

The RUFFS were adjusted by poking sticks of iron, steel, or silver, heated in the fire--(probably something answering to our Italian iron), and in May 1582 a lady of Antwerp, being invited to a wedding, could not, although she employed two celebrated laundresses, get her ruff plaited according to her taste, upon which "she fell to sweare and teare, to curse and ban, casting the ruffes under feete, and wis.h.i.+ng that the devill might take her when shee did wear any neckerchers againe." This gentleman, whom it is said an invocation will always summon, now appeared in the likeness of a favoured suitor, and inquiring the cause of her agitation, he "took in hande the setting of her ruffes, which he performed to her great contentation and liking; insomuch, as she, looking herself in a gla.s.se (as the devill bade her) became greatly enamoured with him. This done, the young man kissed her, in the doing whereof, he writhed her neck in sunder, so she died miserably."

But here comes the marvel: four men tried in vain to lift her "fearful body" when coffined for interment; six were equally unsuccessful; "whereat the standers-by marvelling, caused the coffin to be opened to see the cause thereof: where they found the body to be taken away, and a blacke catte, very leane and deformed, sitting in the coffin, _setting of great ruffes and frizling of haire_, to the great feare and woonder of all the beholders."

The large hoop farthingales were worn now, but they were said to be adopted by the ladies from a laudable spirit of emulation, a praiseworthy desire on their parts to be of equal standing with the "n.o.bler s.e.x," who now wore breeches, stuffed with rags or other materials to such an enormous size, that a bench of extraordinary dimension was placed round the parliament house, (of which the traces were visible at a very late period) solely for their accommodation.

Strutt quotes an instance of a man whom the judges accused of wearing breeches contrary to the law (for a law was made against them): he, for his excuse, drew out of his slops the contents; at first a pair of sheets, two table-cloths, ten napkins, four s.h.i.+rts, a brush, a gla.s.s, and a comb; with nightcaps and other things of use, saying, "Your wors.h.i.+p may understand, that because I have no safer a storehouse, these pockets do serve me for a room to lay up my goods in,--and, though it be a strait prison, yet it is big enough for them, for I have many things of value yet within it." His excuse was heartily laughed at and accepted.

This ridiculous fas.h.i.+on was for a short time disused, but revived again in 1614. The breeches were then chiefly stuffed with hair. Many satirical rhymes were written upon them; amongst others, "A lamentable complaint of the poore Countrye Men agaynst great hose, for the loss of their cattelles tales." In which occur these:--

"What hurt, what damage doth ensue, And fall upon the poore, For want of wool and flaxe, of late, Whych monstrous hose devoure.

"But haire hath so possess'd, of late, The bryche of every knave, That no one beast, nor horse can tell, Whiche way his taile to save."

Henry VIII. had received a few pairs of silk stockings from Spain, but knitted silk ones were not known until the second year of Elizabeth, when her silk-woman, Mrs. Montague, presented to Her Majesty a pair of black knit silk stockings, for a new-year's gift, with which she was so much pleased that she desired to know if the donor could not help her to any more, to which Mrs. Montague answered, "I made them carefully on purpose for your Majestie; and seeing they please you so well, I will presently set more in hand." "Do so (said the Queen), for I like silk stockings so well, that I will not henceforth wear any more cloth hose." These shortly became common; though even over so simple an article as a stocking, Fas.h.i.+on a.s.serted her supremacy, and at a subsequent period they were two yards wide at the top, and made fast to the "petticoat breeches," by means of strings through eyelet holes.

But Elizabeth's predilection for rich attire is well known, and if the costume of her day was fantastic, it was still magnificent. A suit trimmed with sables was considered the richest dress worn by men; and so expensive was this fur, that, it is said a thousand ducats were sometimes given for "a face of sables." It was towards the close of her reign that the celebrated Gabrielle d'Estrees wore on a festive occasion a dress of black satin, so ornamented with pearls and precious stones, that she could scarcely move under its weight. She had a handkerchief, for the embroidering of which she engaged to pay 1900 crowns. And such it was said was the influence of her example in Paris, that the ladies ornamented even their shoes with jewels.

Yet even this costly magnificence was afterwards surpa.s.sed by that of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with whom it was common, even at an ordinary dancing, to have his clothes trimmed with great diamond b.u.t.tons, and to have diamond hatbands, c.o.c.kades, and earrings, to be yoked with great and manifold ropes and knots of pearl; in short, to be manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in jewels: insomuch that at his going to Paris in 1625, he had twenty-seven suits of clothes made, the richest that embroidery, lace, silk, velvet, gold, and gems could contribute; one of which was a white uncut velvet set all over, both suit and cloak, with diamonds valued at fourscore thousand pounds, besides a great feather, stuck all over with diamonds, as were also his sword, girdle, hatband, and spurs.[110]

It would but weary our readers were we to dwell on the well-known peculiarities of the "Cavalier and Roundhead" days; and tell how the steeple-crowned hat was replaced at the Restoration by the plumed and jewelled velvet; the forlorn, smooth, methodistical pate, by the curled ringlets and flowing lovelock; the sober, sombre, "sad"

coloured garment, with its starched folds, by the gay, varied, flowing drapery of all hues. Then, how the plume of feathers gave way to the simpler band and buckle, and the thick large curling wig and full ruffle, to the bagwig, the tie, and stock.

The das.h.i.+ng cloak and slashed sleeves were succeeded by the coat of ample dimensions, and the waistcoat with interminable pockets resting on the knees; the "breeches" were in universal use, though they were not of the universal "black" which Cowper immortalises; but "black breeches" and "powder" have had their reign, and are succeeded by the "inexpressible" costume of the present day. We will conclude a chapter, which we fear to have spun out tediously, by Lady Morgan's animated account of the introduction, in France, of that universally-coveted article of dress--a Cashmir shawl:--

"While partaking of a sumptuous collation (at Rouen), the conversation naturally turned on the splendid views which the windows commanded, and on the subjects connected with their existence. The flocks, which were grazing before us had furnished the beautiful shawls which hung on the backs of the chairs occupied by our fair companions, and which might compete with the turbans of the Grand Signor. It would be difficult now to persuade a Parisian _pet.i.te maitresse_ that there was a time when French women of fas.h.i.+on could exist without a cashmir, or that such an indispensable article of the toilet and _sultan_ was unknown even to the most elegant. 'The first cashemir that appeared in France,' said Madame D'Aubespine, (for an educated French woman has always something worth hearing to say on all subjects,) 'was sent over by Baron de Tott, then in the service of the Porte, to Madame de Tesse. When they were produced in her society, every body thought them very fine, but n.o.body knew what use to make of them. It was determined that they would make pretty _couvre-pieds_ and veils for the cradle; but the fas.h.i.+on wore out with the shawls, and ladies returned to their eider-down quilts.'

"Monsieur Ternaux observed that 'though the produce of the Cashmerian looms had long been known in Europe, they did not become a vogue until after Napoleon's expedition to Egypt; and that even then they took, in the first instance, but slowly.' The shawl was still a novelty in France, when Josephine, as yet but the wife of the First Consul, knew not how to drape its elegant folds, and stood indebted to the _brusque_ Rapp for the grace with which she afterwards wore it.

"'Permettez que je vous fa.s.se l'observation,' said Rapp, as they were setting off for the opera; 'que votre schall n'est pas mis avec cette grace qui vous est habituelle.'

"Josephine laughingly let him arrange it in the manner of the Egyptian women. This impromptu toilette caused a little delay, and the infernal machine exploded in vain!

"What destinies waited upon the arrangement of this cashemir! A moment sooner or later, and the shawl might have given another course to events, which would have changed the whole face of Europe."[111]

The Empress Josephine (says her biographer) had quite a pa.s.sion for shawls, and I question whether any collection of them was ever as valuable as hers. At Navarre she had one hundred and fifty, all extremely beautiful and high-priced. She sent designs to Constantinople, and the shawls made after these patterns were as beautiful as they were valuable. Every week M. Lenormant came to Navarre, and sold her whatever he could obtain that was curious in this way. I have seen white shawls covered with roses, bluebells, perroquets, peac.o.c.ks, &c., which I believe were not to be met with any where else in Europe; they were valued at 15,000 and 20,000 francs each.

The shawls were at length sold _by auction_ at Malmaison, at a rate much below their value. All Paris went to the sale.

FOOTNOTES:

[109] "Her Majesty told the ladies, that if the Bishop held more discourse on such matters, she would fit him for heaven; but he should walk thither without a staff, and leave his mantle behind him."

[110] Life of Raleigh, by Oldys.

[111] Lady Morgan's France in 1829-30.

CHAPTER XV.

THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD.

"Where are the proud and lofty dames, Their jewell'd crowns, their gay attire, Their odours sweet?

Where are the love-enkindled flames, The bursts of pa.s.sionate desire Laid at their feet?

Where are the songs, the troubadours, The music which delighted then?-- It speaks no more.

Where is the dance that shook the floors, And all the gay and laughing train, And all they wore?

"The royal gifts profusely shed, The palaces so proudly built, With riches stor'd; The roof with s.h.i.+ning gold o'erspread, The services of silver gilt, The secret h.o.a.rd, The Arabian pards, the harness bright, The bending plumes, the crowded mews, The lacquey train, Where are they?--where!--all lost in night, And scatter'd as the early dews Across the plain."

Bowring's Anc. Span. Romances.

Romance and song have united to celebrate the splendours of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold." The most scrupulously minute and faithful of recorders has detailed day by day, and point by point, its varied and showy routine, and every subsequent historian has borrowed from the pages of the old chronicler; and these dry details have been so expanded by the breath of Fancy, and his skeleton frame has been so fleshed by the magical drapery of talent, that there seems little left on which the imagination can dilate, or the pen expatiate.

The astonis.h.i.+ng impulse which has in various ways within the last few years been given to the searching of ancient records, and the development of hitherto obscure and comparatively uninteresting details, and vesting them in an alluring garb, has made us as familiar with the domestic records of the eighth Henry, as in our school-days we were with the orthodox abstract of necessary historical information,--that "Henry the Eighth ascended the throne in the 18th year of his age;" that "he became extremely corpulent;" that "he married six wives, and beheaded two." Not even affording gratuitously the codicil which the talent of some writer hath educed--that "if Henry the Eighth had not beheaded his wives, there would have been no impeachment on his gallantry to the fair s.e.x."

But in describing this, according to some, "the most magnificent spectacle that Europe ever beheld," and to others, "a heavy ma.s.s of allegory and frippery," historians have been contented to pourtray the outward features of the gorgeous scene, and have slightly, if at all, touched on the contending feelings which were veiled beneath a broad though thin surface of concord and joy. Truly, it were a task of deep interest, even slightly to picture them, or to attempt to enter into the feelings of the chief actors on that field.

First and foremost, as the guiding spirit of the whole, as the mighty artificer of that pageant on which, however gaudy in its particulars the fates of Europe were supposed to depend, and the earnest eyes of Europe were certainly fixed--comes WOLSEY.--Gorgeously habited himself, and the burnished gold of his saddle cloth only partially relieved by the more sombre crimson velvet; nay, his very shoes gleaming with brilliants, and himself withal so lofty in bearing, of so n.o.ble a presence, that this very magnificence seemed but a natural appendage, Wolsey took his lofty way from monarch to monarch; and so well did he become his dignity, that none but kings, and such kings as Henry and Francis, would have drawn the eyes of the myriad spectators from himself. And surely he was now happy; surely his ambition was now gratified to the uttermost; now, in the eyes of all Europe did the two proudest of her princes not merely a.s.sociate with him almost as an equal, but openly yield to his suggestions--almost bow to his decisions. No--loftily as he bore himself, courtly as was his demeanour, rapid and commanding as was his eloquence, and influential as seemed his opinions on all and every one around--the cardinal had a mind ill at ease, as, despite his self-control, was occasionally testified by his contracted brow and thoughtful aspect. After exerting all the might of his mighty influence, and for his own aggrandis.e.m.e.nt, to procure this meeting between the two potentates, he had at the last moment seen fit to alter his policy. He had sold himself to a higher bidder; he had pledged himself to Charles in the very teeth of his solemn engagement to Francis. Even whilst celebrating this league of amity, he was turning in his own mind the means by which to rupture it; and was yet withal, nervously fearful of any accident which should prematurely break it, or lead to a discovery of his own faithlessness.--So much for his enjoyment!

Our KING HENRY was all delight, and eager impetuous enjoyment. He had not outlived the good promise of his youth; nor had his foibles become, by indulgence, vices. He loved to see all around him happy; he loved, more especially, to make them so. He delighted in all the exercises of the field; he was unrivalled in the tilt and the tournament; and when engaged in them forgot kings and kingdoms. His vanity, outrageous as it was, hardly sat ungracefully on him, so much was it elevated then by buoyant good humour--so much was it softened at that time by his n.o.ble presence, his manly grace, his kingly accomplishments, and his regal munificence. The stern and selfish tyrant whom one shudders to think upon, was then only "bluff King Hal," loving and beloved, courted and caressed by an empire. He gave himself up to the gaieties of the time without a care for the present, a thought for the future. Could he have glanced dimly into that future! But he could not, and he was happy.

FRANCIS was admirably qualified to grace this scene, and to enjoy it, as probably he did enjoy it, vividly. Yet was this gratification by no means unalloyed. His gentle manly nature was irritated at certain stipulations of Henry's advisers, by which their most trivial intercourse was subjected to specific regulations. There were recorded instances enough of treacherous advantages taken to justify fully this conduct on the part of Henry's ministers; but Francis felt its injustice, as applied to himself, and at that time, made use of a generous and well-known stratagem to convince others. But in the midst of his enjoyments he had misgivings on his mind of a more serious nature, caused by the Emperor's recent visit to Dover. These misgivings were increased by the meeting between Henry and Charles at Gravelines; and too surely confirmed by quickly-following circ.u.mstances.

The gentle and good KATHARINE of England, and the equally amiable Queen CLAUDE, the carefully-trained stepdaughter of the n.o.ble and admirable Anne of Bretagne, probably derived their chief gratification here from the pleasure of seeing their husbands amicable and happy.

For queens though they were, their happiness was in domestic life, and their chief empire was over the hearts of those domesticated with them.

Not so the DOWAGER QUEEN of France--the lively, and graceful, and beautiful d.u.c.h.ess of Suffolk; for though very fond of her royal brother, and devoted to her gallant husband, she had yet an eye and an ear for all the revelries around, and had a radiant glance and a beaming smile for all who crowded to do homage to her charms. And yet her heart must have been somewhat hard--and that we know it was not--if she could have inhaled the air of France, or trod its sunny soil, without recollections which must have dimmed her eye at the thoughts of the past, even whilst breathing a thanksgiving for the present. Somewhat less than five years ago, she had been taken thither a weeping bride; youth, nature, inclination, nay, hope itself, sacrificed to that expediency by which the actions of monarchs are regulated. We are accustomed to read these things so much as mere historical memoranda, to look upon them in their cold unvarnished simplicity of detail, like the rigid outlines of stiff old portraits which we can scarcely suppose were ever meant to represent living flesh and blood--that it requires a strong effort to picture these circ.u.mstances to our eyes as actually occurring.

In considering the state policy of the thing--and the apparent national advantage of the King of England's sister being married to the King of France--we forget that this King of England's sister was a fair young creature, with warm heart, gus.h.i.+ng affections, and pa.s.sions and feelings just opening in all the vividness of early womanhood; and that she was condemned to marry a sickly, querulous, elderly man, who began his loving rule by dismissing at once, even while she was "a stranger in a foreign land," every endeared friend and attendant who had accompanied her thither; and that, worse than all, her young affections had been sought and gained by a n.o.ble English gentleman, the favourite of the English king, and the pride of his Court.