The Heritage of Dress. Wilfred Mark Webb
have got in the way of a sword and thereby caused the overthrow or even death of its wearer. At the present day in the army (see Figure 59), the plumes will be found on the left side as in the days of cavaliers.
Sir George Darwin8 has traced the origin of the busby, and has shown that the little red flap that hangs on the left side as a useless appendage is really the original cap. Busbies were the special attributes of the Hussars, who were originally Hungarian soldiers. It is the peasant’s cap of Hungary that is the forerunner of the military head-dress which we are considering, and it consisted of a red cap of cloth with a band of fur round the edge. As time went on, the fur on the cap, which was adopted in the end by various regiments, became wider and wider, and the original red cap got smaller and smaller until the form of the modern busby was reached. In some cases even the flap already mentioned has gone, though the fact that the top of the busby is made of cloth instead of fur still points to its origin. (See Figures 60 and 61.)
Fig. 60.—The red Hungarian cap, which was the forerunner of the busby.
Fig. 61.—A busby (of the Honourable Artillery Company) in which the cap is a vestige only.
Though we are not discussing armour at the moment, we may say while speaking of military head-dresses that metal helmets are still in use in a few regiments. The helmet also of the fireman deserves attention, as it is practically of the same type as that worn by the ancient Greeks. (See Figure 62.)
Fig. 62.—A fireman’s helmet (of the ancient Greek type).
Fig. 63.—Buttons so arranged that the broad brim of a hat can be fastened to the crown, thus forming a temporary “cock” (Hudibras after Hogarth).
The cocked hat should also claim our attention, and it gives us another instance of temporary alterations which have ultimately become permanent. The picture of Hudibras shows an early stage in the history of cocking. The strings which connect the brim of a bishop’s tall hat to the crown are evidently connected with this practice. In the modern cocked hat more of the right side is turned up than of the left. A little careful examination will render its development from the broad-brimmed hat easily understood, while the representatives of the hat-band and the details of the cocking will be soon discovered.
The cock of the hat formed a convenient spot in which to fix an ornament, and the name cockade has come to be applied to such an addition, borne on the hat, as a mark to distinguish the wearer.
The part which cockades have played in history is considerable, but as they are now chiefly associated with the liveries of men-servants they will be considered later on in the book. Before, however, we leave, for the present, the subject of head coverings, we ought to mention that a piece of woven material as primitively used without even a restraining band, still survives in the shape of the small shawl which north-country girls and women very generally wear over their heads. The head-dress of the nun is another case in point, and recalls that in vogue in Tudor times, while the sun-bonnet of the barge and market women, though more highly developed, still consists to a considerable extent of simple drapery.
VII
SHOES AND STOCKINGS
EARLY FOOT-GEAR—THE ORIGIN OF THE CLOCK—A MODERN IMITATION OF TATTOOING—GAILY COLOURED GARTERS
Many persons still go barefoot, so that ancient as foot-gear may be, the stage preceding its adoption is even now represented. Moreover, sandals, which are very primitive, have been much in use of recent years, and have especially been worn by children.
If we turn to ordinary boots and shoes we shall not find many obvious points about them which lead up to their history. Still we shall see in the case of a large number that in places where one piece of leather laps over another, it is perforated with rows of holes which form a kind of simple ornamentation. (See Figure 64.)
The perforations do not go through the boot or shoe, and in a Roman example in the British Museum, which is much more highly decorated, there are two thicknesses of leather, of which the outer one only is pierced. (See Figure 65.)
In many cases, however, the Roman shoe was truly of open work. It consisted of but one thickness of leather, and from this, large pieces were cut out so as to make a kind of lattice. Several examples of this kind of shoe are exhibited at the British Museum, and we give an illustration of one of these, which is in a very fair state of preservation. (See Figure 66.)
Fig. 64.—A modern boot decorated with perforations made in the leather.
Fig. 65.—An ornamented Roman shoe, of two thicknesses.
Fig. 66.—A Roman shoe of open-work leather.
It seems very probable that the ornamentation on our modern shoes is a survival of the open work which was in favour with the Romans, especially as even then the apertures did not always expose the foot. In pre-Roman times in this country there were perforations in some of the shoes which were useful rather than ornamental, and one type (of which a specimen figured by Fairholt is preserved by the Royal Irish Academy) has survived until recently, if it is not to be found to-day, in Scotland and Ireland. This shoe was made of raw hide (see Figure 67), and the holes, it is said, were intended to allow the water to pass through when the wearer was crossing morasses. An examination of the figure will, however, show that the holes are really slits, and it would appear that however useful they may have proved in the way described, they were originally made for quite a different reason.
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