Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820)Earle, Alice Morse
History
Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820)
Earle, Alice Morse
Clothing and dress -- United States -- History
In 1676 Wait Winthrop sent a wig (price £;3) to his brother in New
London. Mr. Sergeant had brought it from England for his own use; but
was willing to sell it to oblige a friend, who was, I am confident,
very devoted to wig-wearing. The largest wig that I recall upon any
colonist’s head is in the portrait of Governor Fitz-John Winthrop. He
is painted in armor; and a great wig never seems so absurd as when worn
with armor. Horace Walpole said, “Perukes of outrageous length flowing
over suits of armour compose wonderful habits.” An edge of Winthrop’s
own dark hair seems to show under the wig front. I do not know the
precise date of this portrait. It was, of course, painted in England.
He served in the Parliamentary army with General Monck; returned to New
England in 1663, and was commander of the New England forces. He spent
1693 to l697 in England as commissioner. Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey
Kneller both were painting in England in those years, and both were
constant in painting men with armor and perukes. This portrait seems
like Kneller’s work.
Governor De Bienville. Governor De Bienville.
Another portrait attired also in armor and peruke is of Sir Nathaniel
Johnson, who was appointed governor of South Carolina by the Lords
Proprietors in 1702. The portrait was painted in 1705. It is one of the
few of that date which show a faint mustache; he likewise wears a seal
ring with coat-of-arms on the little finger of his left hand, which was
unusual at that day. De Bienville, the governor of Louisiana, is
likewise in wig and armor. In 1682 Thomas Richbell died in Boston,
leaving a very rich and costly wardrobe. He had eight wigs. Of these,
three were small periwigs worth but a pound apiece. In New York, in
Virginia, in all the colonies, these wigs were worn, and were just as
large and costly, as elaborately curled, as heavily powdered, as at the
English and French courts.
Archbishop Tillotson is usually regarded as the first amongst the
English clergy to adopt the wig. He said in one of his sermons:—
“I can remember since the wearing of hair below the ears was looked
upon as a sin of the first magnitude, and when ministers generally,
whatever their text was, did either find or make occasion to reprove
the great sin of long hair; and if they saw any one in the congregation
guilty in that kind, they would point him out particularly, and let fly
at him with great zeal.”
Dr. Tillotson died on November 24, 1694.
Daniel Waldo. Daniel Waldo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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