“_The Turk in linen wraps his head The Persian his in lawn, too, The Russ with sables furs his cap And change will not be drawn to. “The Spaniard’s constant to his block The Frenchman inconstant ever; But of all felts that may be felt Give me the English beaver. “The German loves his coney-wool The Irishman his shag, too, The Welsh his Monmouth loves to wear And of the same will brag, too”_ —“A Challenge for Beauty,” THOMAS HAYWARD CHAPTER VII CAPS AND BEAVERS IN COLONIAL DAYS A ny student of English history and letters would know that caps would positively be part of the outfit of every emigrating Englishman. A cap was, for centuries, both the enforced and desired headwear of English folk of quiet lives. City Flat-cap worn by “Bilious” Bale. City Flat-cap worn by “Bilious” Bale. Belgic Britons, Welshmen, Irish, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans all had worn caps, as well as ancient Greeks and Romans. These English caps had been of divers colors and manifold forms, some being grotesque indeed. When we reach the reign of Henry VIII we are made familiar in the paintings of Holbein with a certain flat-cap which sometimes had a small jewel or leather or a double fold, but never varied greatly. This was known as the city flat-cap. It is shown also in the Holbein portrait of Adam Winthrop, grandfather of Governor John Winthrop; he was a man of dignity, Master of the Cloth Workers’ Guild. The muffin-cap of the boys of Christ’s Hospital is a form of this cap. This was at first and ever a Londoner’s cap. A poet wrote in 1630:— “Flat caps as proper are to city gowns As to armour, helmets, or to kings, their crowns.” Winthrop also wears the city gown. This flat-cap was often of gay colors, scarlet being a favorite hue. “Behold the bonnet upon my head A staryng colour of scarlet red I promise you a fyne thred And a soft wool It cost a noble.” These lines were written for the character “Pride,” in the _Interlude of Nature_, before the year 1500. A statute was passed in 1571, “If any person above six years of age (except maidens, ladies, gentlemen, nobles, knights, gentlemen of twenty marks by year in lands, and their heirs, and such as have born office of worship) have not worn upon the Sunday or holyday (except it be in the time of his travell out of the city, town or hamlet where he dwelleth) one cap of wool, knit, thicked and dressed in England, and only dressed and furnished by some of the trade of cappers, shall be fined £;3 4d. for each day’s transgression.” The caps thus worn were called Statute caps. This was, of course, to encourage wool-workers in the pride of the nation. Winthrop, master of a guild whose existence depended on wool, would, of course, wear a woollen cap had he not been a Londoner. It was a plain head-covering, but it was also the one worn by King Edward VI.