"Each son of Sol, to make him look more big, Had on a large, grave, decent, three-tailed wig; His clothes full-trimmed, with button-holes behind, Stiff were the skirts, with buckram stoutly lined; The cloth-cut velvet, or more reverend black, Full-made, and powder'd half-way down his back; Large decent cuffs, which near the ground did reach, With half a dozen buttons fix'd on each. Grave were their faces--fix'd in solemn state, These men struck awe; their children carried weight, In reverend wigs old heads young shoulders bore, And twenty-five or thirty seemed threescore." The three-tailed wig was the one worn by Will Atkins, the gout doctor in Charles the Second's time (a good specialty then!). Will Atkins lived in the Old Bailey, and had a vast practice. His nostrums, some of which were composed of _thirty_ different ingredients, were wonderful--but far less so than his wig, which was combed and frizzled over each cheek. When Will walked about the town, visiting his patients, he sometimes carried a cane, but never wore a hat. Such an article of costume would have disarranged the beautiful locks, or, at least, have obscured their glory. "Physic of old her entry made Beneath th' immense full-bottom's shade; While the gilt cane, with solemn pride, To each sagacious nose applied, Seem'd but a necessary prop To bear the weight of wig at top." One of the most magnificent wigs on record was that of Colonel Dalmahoy, which was celebrated in a song beginning:-- "If you would see a noble wig, And in that wig a man look big, To Ludgate Hill repair, my joy, And gaze on Col'nel Dalmahoy." On Ludgate Hill, in close proximity to the Hall of the Apothecaries in Water Lane, the Colonel vended drugs and nostrums of all sorts--sweetmeats, washes for the complexion, scented oil for the hair, pomades, love-drops, and charms. Wadd, the humorous collector of anecdotes relating to his profession, records of him-- "Dalmahoy sold infusions and lotions, Decoctions, and gargles, and pills; Electuaries, powders, and potions, Spermaceti, salts, scammony, squills. "Horse-aloes, burnt alum, agaric, Balm, benzoine, blood-stone, and dill; Castor, camphor, and acid tartaric, With specifics for every ill. "But with all his specifics in store, Death on Dalmahoy one day did pop; And although he had doctors a score, Made poor Dalmahoy shut up his shop."