Here again we get a case on all fours with the adoption of evening dress by waiters, and the gradual assumption by the lower classes of the dress of their social superiors. XVI COCKADES THE COCKADE A DEGENERATED CHAPERON--THE VARIETIES OF THE COCKADE--COCKADE WEARERS The cockade as we know it (see Figure 116) is now commonly worn by servants, but, like their clothes generally, it was once used by their masters. The books of an old-established firm of hat manufacturers show that as late as 1789 cockades were worn by gentlemen themselves. Apparently in the beginning, the sporting of a black cockade meant allegiance to the House of Hanover. Now the use of the ornaments is supposed to be confined to the servants of Royalty and of those in the Royal service, though this does not seem to be actually the case. In a letter to the _Morning Post_[18] Messrs. André and Co. say that "the practice has long been regarded as a convenient and fitting sign of social distinction, and that only such persons should assume the cockade as enjoy hereditary rank or else some position of importance in the State, including all officers, military and civil." Yet they can find no trace of the question even having been dealt with by any authority, nor have the classes of persons privileged to display the cockade been at any time accurately defined. [Illustration: FIG. 116.--The cockade, known as the "large treble," representing a survival of the chaperon.] Sir Alfred Scott Gatty, Garter King-at-Arms, points out that the matter is really outside the College of Arms, and it does not come under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain's department, which usually arranges all matters connected with official dress. Before, however, we touch on the various kinds of cockades, and mention those by whom the different types are at present worn, it will be well to deal with the construction and evolution of the cockade, and we shall be able to show that it has considerable claims to be considered something more than a mere conventional rosette. As regards actual material, the basis of the cockade consists of leather, which is japanned, while a certain amount of ribbon may also be used. In the case of mourning, we find that the cockade should properly be covered with black cloth (see Figure 117), but nowadays a piece of crape is often twisted round the one generally worn. The ribbon is usually merely a small bow tied in the middle of the rosette (see Figure 116), but the centre of the latter may be covered with ribbon and the bow replaced by a button. [Illustration: FIG. 117.--A "treble cockade" covered with black cloth for mourning. The concentric circles would appear to represent the twisted liripipe of the chaperon.]