There was a formal coif or cap worn by men of dignity; always worn, I think, by judges and elderly lawyers, ere the assumption of the formal wig. This coif may be seen on the head of the venerable Dr. Dee, and also on the head of Lord Burleigh, and of Thomas Cecil, surmounted with the citizen’s flat-cap. One of these caps in heavy black lustring lingered by chance in my home—worn by some forgotten ancestor. It had a curious loop, as may be seen on Dr. Dee. This was not a narrow string for tying the coif on the head; it was a loop. And if there was any need of fastening the cap on the head, a narrow ribbon or ferret, a lacing, was put through both loops. In the inventory of the apparel of the first settlers which I have given in the early pages of this book, we find that each colonist to the Massachusetts Bay settlement had one Monmouth cap and five red milled caps. All the lists of necessary clothing for the planters have as an item, caps; but a well-made, well-lined hat was also supplied. Monmouth caps were in general wear in England. Thomas Fuller said, “Caps were the most ancient, general, warm, and profitable coverings of men’s heads in this Island.” In making them thousands of people were employed, especially before the invention of fulling-mills, when caps were wrought, beaten, and thickened by the hands and feet of men. Cap-making afforded occupation to fifteen different callings: carders, spinners, knitters, parters of wool, forcers, thickers, dressers, walkers, dyers, battellers, shearers, pressers, edgers, liners, and band-makers. King James I of England. King James I of England. The Monmouth caps were worth two shillings each, which were furnished to the Massachusetts colonists. These were much affected by seafaring men. We read, in _A Satyr on Sea Officers_, “With Monmouth cap and cutlass at my side, striding at least a yard at every stride.” “The Ballad of the Caps,” 1656, gives a wonderful list of caps. Among them are: The Monmouth Cap, the Saylors thrum, And that wherein the tradesmen come, The Physick, Lawe, the Cap divine, And that which crowns the Muses nine, The Cap that Fools do countenance, The goodly Cap of Maintenance, And any Cap what e’re it be, Is still the sign of some degree. “The sickly Cap both plaine and wrought, The Fuddling-cap however bought, The quilted, furred, the velvet, satin, For which so many pates learn Latin, The Crewel Cap, the Fustian pate, The Perriwig, the Cap of Late, And any Cap what e’er it be Is still the sign of some degree.” —“Ballad of the Caps,” 1656.