A hose and doublet which a lordship cost,
A gaudy cloak, three mansions' price almost;
A beaver band and feather for the head,
Prized at the church's tythe, the poor man's bread.
The old cloth stockings were obsolete, and stockings of silk, thread, or worsted used.
"A Godly Dissenting Brother," and " A Brother of the Presbyterian Way." Copied from " A Pious and Reasonable Persuasive to the Sonnes of Zion," date 1616.
The ladies of the court were still in the stiff Elizabethan farthingale, elevated collar, and hair dressed in the lofty style. Anne of Denmark was Elizabeth over again. But in more domestic life we find the ladies painted in a far more natural style, without the farthingale, with falling collars, plain or edged with lace, and the hair with ringlets falling on each side; and this simple and more elegant fashion became more and more general, and at length universal in Charles's reign.
Citizens of the time of James I. Copied from the Charter of the Leather Sellers' Company.
The male costume of Charles's time was extremely elegant. At the commencement of the civil war no contrast could be greater than that of the appearance of the cavaliers and the roundheads. The cavalier dress consisted of a doublet of silk, satin, or velvet, with large loose sleeves slashed up the front, the collar covered by a falling band of the richest point lace, with Vandyck edging. The long breeches, fringed or pointed, met the tops of the wide boots, which were also commonly ruffled with lace or lawn. A broad Flemish beaver hat, with a rich hatband and plume of feathers, was set on one side of the head, and a Spanish rapier hung from a most magnificent baldrick or sword belt, worn sash-wise over the right shoulder, and on one shoulder was worn a short cloak with an air of carelessness.
Gentlemen of the Middle Temple.From a Pamphlet entitled "News from Hell", date 1641.
In war this short cloak was exchanged generally for the buff coat, which was also richly laced, and sometimes embroidered with gold and silver, and round the waist was worn a broad silk or satin scarf tied in a large bow behind or over the hip, or a buff jerkin without sleeves was worn over the doublet, and the lace or lawn on the boots dispensed with. The beard was worn very peaked, with small upturned moustaches, and the hair long and flowing on the shoulders. In contrast to this the parliamentarians wore their hair cut short—whence the name of roundhead—and studied a sober cut and colour of clothes. The first appearance of Cromwell in parliament, described by Sir Philip Warwick, has been taken as a sufficient specimen of his costume when protector. But Cromwell was then but a gentleman farmer, and appeared in careless rustic habit. "I came one morning into the house." says Warwick, "well clad, and perceived a gentleman speaking whom I knew not, very ordinarily apparelled, for it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed to have been made by an ill country tailor. His hat was without a hatband."
Musketeer of the time of James I.
But no one knew better than Cromwell what was necessary to the decorum of station, and very different is the account of his appearance when going to be sworn protector. "His
