An Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Costume by James R. Planche

Author:James R. Planche [Planche, James Robinson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486145334
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Laced Cocked Hat, with feather edging. (Hogarth.)

Clergyman’s Hat. (Hogarth.)

In the ‘Rambler,’ No. 109, dated 1751, is a letter from a young gentleman who says his mother would rather follow him to the grave than see him “sneak about with dirty shoes and blotted fingers, hair unpowdered, and a hat uncocked.” In 1753, ‘The Adventurer,’ No. 101, describes the metamorphosis of a greenhorn into “a blood,” as the dashing young men of that day were styled. “My hat,” says he, “which had been cocked with great exactness in an equilateral triangle, I discarded, and purchased one of a more fashionable size, the fore corner of which projected near two inches further than those on each side, and was moulded into the shape of a spout.” This fashion was, however, of brief endurance, as we find that he afterwards altered the shape of his hat, “the fore corner ” of which “was considerably elevated and shortened, so that it no longer resembled a spout, but the corners of a minced pye.”

The cocked hat, in the middle of the last century, was considered as a mark of gentility, professional rank, and distinction from the lower orders, who wore them uncocked. It was generally carried under the arm at this period:—

“A pretty black beaver tuck’d under his arm:

If placed on his head, it might keep him too warm.”

Monsieur à la Mode, 1752.

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