The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed.: Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical TapestriesMenzies, Sutherland, active 1840-1883
History
The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed.: Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries
Menzies, Sutherland, active 1840-1883
Needlework; Tapestry
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 dashing 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 _petite maitresse_ that there was
a time when French women of fashion 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 nobody knew what use to make of them. It was determined
that they would make pretty _couvre-pieds_ and veils for the cradle;
but the fashion 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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