me from
it. The fair lady in a side box, who hides her face behind a mask, is
delighted if Sir Beau will bow to her.

[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM AND MARY (1689-1702)

Strings again in use on the shoes. Cuffs much broader; wigs more
full; skirts wider. Coat left open to show the long waistcoat.]

We are now among most precise people. One must walk here with just
such an air of artificiality as will account one a fellow of high
tone. The more enormous is our wig, the more frequently we take a
pinch of Violet Strasburg or Best Brazil, Orangery, Bergamotte, or
Jassamena, the more shall we be followed by persons anxious to learn
the fashion. We may even draw a little silver bowl from our pocket,
place it on a seat by us, and, in meditative mood, spit therein.

We have gone completely into skirted coats and big flapped waistcoats;
we have adopted the big cuff buttoned back; we have given up
altogether the wide knee-breeches, and wear only breeches not tight to
the leg, but just full enough for comfort.

The hats have altered considerably now; they are cocked up at all
angles, turned off the forehead, turned up one side, turned up all
round; some are fringed with gold or silver lace, others are crowned
with feathers.

We hear of such a number of claret-coloured suits that we must imagine
that colour to be all the rage, and, in contrast to other times not
long gone by, we must stiffen ourselves in buckram-lined skirts.

These powdered Absaloms could change themselves into very fine
fighting creatures, and look twice as sober again when occasion
demanded. They rode about the country in periwigs, certainly, but not
quite so bushy and curled; many of them took to the travelling or
campaign wig with the dildos or pole-locks. These wigs were full over
the ears and at the sides of the forehead, but they were low in the
crown, and the two front ends were twisted into single pipes of hair;
or the pipes of hair at the side were entirely removed, and one single
pipe hung down the back. The custom of thus twisting the hair at the
back, and there holding it with a ribbon, gave rise to the later
pigtail. The periwigs so altered were known as short bobs, the bob
being the fullness of the hair by the cheeks of the wig.

[Illustration: {A man of the time of William and Mary}]

The cuffs of the coat-sleeve varied to the idea and taste of the owner
of the coat; sometimes the sleeve was widened at the elbow to 1