The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the CuriousStauffer, Frank H.
History
The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the Curious
Stauffer, Frank H.
Literary curiosa
"I pray you good my Lord Ambassador sende me two paire of perfumed
gloves, perfumed with orrange flowers and jacemin, th' one for my wives
hand, the other for mine owne; and wherin soever I can pleasure you with
anything in this countrey, you shall have it in recompence thereof, or
els so moche money as they shall coste you, provided alwaies that they
be of the best choise, wherin your judgment is inferior to none."
_Trains in the Fourteenth Century._
In Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, there is one of the
fourteenth century—a monkish satire upon dresses with long trains—
_Of a Proud Woman._—I have heard of a proud woman who wore a white
dress with a long train, which, trailing behind her, raised a dust as
far as the altar and the crucifix. But, as she left the church, and
lifted up her train on account of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a
devil laughing; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the
devil said: "A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of
that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her
train up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt, and that is why I
was laughing."
_Foppery in Eminent Men._
Peculiarities of dress, even amounting to foppery, so common among
eminent men, are carried off from ridicule by ease in some or
stateliness in others. We may smile at Chatham, scrupulously crowned in
his best wig, if intending to speak; at Erskine, drawing on his bright
yellow gloves before he rose to plead; at Horace Walpole, in a cravat of
Gibbon's carvings; at Raleigh, loading his shoes with jewels so heavy
that he could scarcely walk; at Petrarch, pinching his feet till he
crippled them; at the rings which covered the philosophical fingers of
Aristotle; at the bare throat of Byron; the American dress of Rousseau;
the scarlet and gold coat of Voltaire; or the prudent carefulness with
which Cæsar scratched his head so as not to disturb the locks arranged
over the bald place. But most of these men, we apprehend, found it easy
to enforce respect and curb impertinence.—_Edinburgh Review._
_The Turban in Arabia._
A fashionable Arab will wear fifteen caps one above the other, some of
which are linen, but the greater part of which are thick cloth or
cotton. That which covers the whole is richly embroidered with gold, and
inwrought with texts or passages from the Koran. Over all there is
wrapped a sash or large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and
ornamented with silk or gold fringe. This useless encumbrance is
considered a mark of respect towards superiors. It is also used, as the
beard was formerly in Europe, to indicate literary merit; and those who
affect to be thought men of learning, discover their pretensions by the
size of their turbans. No part of oriental costume is so variable as
this covering for the head. Niebuhr has given illustrations of
forty-eight different ways of wearing it.—_King._
_Queen Elizabeth's Dresses._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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