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                    THE CORSET AND THE CRINOLINE.




                              THE CORSET

                                 AND

                            THE CRINOLINE.


                              A BOOK OF

                          MODES AND COSTUMES

               FROM REMOTE PERIODS TO THE PRESENT TIME.

                             BY W. B. L.

               WITH 54 FULL-PAGE AND OTHER ENGRAVINGS.

                  "O wha will shoe my fair foot,
                    And wha will glove my han'?
                  And wha will lace my middle jimp
                    Wi' a new-made London ban'?"

                               _Fair Annie of Lochroyan._

                               LONDON:
                        WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER.
                   WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.




                                LONDON

                        PRINTED BY JAS. WADE,

                   TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN




                               PREFACE.


The subject which we have here treated is a sort of figurative
battle-field, where fierce contests have for ages been from time
to time waged; and, notwithstanding the determined assaults of the
attacking hosts, the contention and its cause remain pretty much as
they were at the commencement of the war. We in the matter remain
strictly neutral, merely performing the part of the public's "own
correspondent," making it our duty to gather together such extracts
from despatches, both ancient and modern, as may prove interesting or
important, to take note of the vicissitudes of war, mark its various
phases, and, in fine, to do our best to lay clearly before our readers
the historical facts--experiences and arguments--relating to the
much-discussed "_Corset question_."

As most of our readers are aware, the leading journals especially
intended for the perusal of ladies have been for many years the media
for the exchange of a vast number of letters and papers touching the
use of the Corset. The questions relating to the history of this
apparently indispensable article of ladies' attire, its construction,
application, and influence on the figure have become so numerous of
late that we have thought, by embodying all that we can glean and
garner relating to Corsets, their wearers, and the various costumes
worn by ladies at different periods, arranging the subject-matter in
its due order as to dates, and at the same time availing ourselves of
careful illustration when needed, that an interesting volume would
result.

No one, we apprehend, would be likely to deny that, to enable the
fairer portion of the civilised human race to follow the time-honoured
custom of presenting to the eye the waist in its most slender
proportions, the Corset in some form must be had recourse to. Our
information will show how ancient and almost universal its use has
been, and there is no reason to anticipate that its aid will ever
be dispensed with so long as an elegant and attractive figure is an
object worth achieving.

Such being the case, it becomes a matter of considerable importance
to discover by what means the desirable end can be acquired without
injury to the health of those whose forms are being restrained and
moulded into proportions generally accepted as graceful, by the
use and influence of the Corset. It will be our duty to lay before
the reader the strictures of authors, ancient and modern, on this
article of dress, and it will be seen that the animadversions of
former writers greatly exceed modern censures, both in number and
fierceness of condemnation. This difference probably arises from
the fact of Corsets of the most unyielding and stubborn character
being universally made use of at the time the severest attacks were
made upon them; and there can be no reasonable doubt that much which
was written in their condemnation had some truth in it, although
accompanied by a vast deal of fanciful exaggeration. It would also
be not stating the whole of the case if we omitted here to note that
modern authors, who launch sweeping anathemas on the very stays by
the aid of which their wives and daughters are made presentable in
society, almost invariably quote largely from scribes of ancient date,
and say little or nothing, of their own knowledge. On the other hand,
it will be seen that those writing in praise of the moderate use of
Corsets take their facts, experiences, and grounds of argument from
the everyday life and general custom of the present period.

The Crinoline is too closely associated with the Corset and with the
mutable modes affected by ladies, from season to season, to be omitted
from any volume which treats of Fashion. The same facts, indeed, may
be stated of both the Crinoline and the Corset. Both appear to be
equally indispensable to the woman of the present period. To make
them serve the purposes of increased cleanliness, comfort, and grace,
not only without injury to the health, but with positive and admitted
advantage to the _physique_--these are the problems to be solved by
those whose business it is to minister to the ever-changing taste and
fashion of the day.

  [Illustration]




                              CONTENTS.


                              CHAPTER I.

    THE CORSET:--Origin. Use amongst Savage Tribes and Ancient
    People. Slenderness of Waist esteemed in the East, Ceylon,
    Circassia, Crim Tartary, Hindustan, Persia, China, Egypt, Palestine
                                                          Pages 9 to 29


                             CHAPTER II.

    The Corset according to Homer, Terentius. The Strophium of Rome,
   and the Mitra of Greece. The Peplus. A Roman Toilet, Bath, and
   Promenade. General Luxury. Cleopatra's Jewels. Tight-lacing on the
   Tiber                                                 Pages 30 to 38


                             CHAPTER III.

    Frankish Fashions. The Monks and the Corset. Corsets worn by
    Gentlemen as well as Ladies in the Thirteenth Century. The Kirtle.
    Small Waists in Scotland. Chaucer on Small Bodies. The Surcoat.
    Long Trains. Skirts. Snake-toed Shoes. High-heeled Slippers
                                                         Pages 41 to 59


                             CHAPTER IV.

    Bonnets. Headdresses. Costumes in the time of Francis I. Pins in
    France and England. Masks in France. Puffed Sleeves. Bernaise
    Dress. Marie Stuart. Long Slender Waists. Henry III. of France
    "tight-laces." Austrian Joseph prohibits Stays. Catherine de Medici
    and Elizabeth of England. Severe form of Corset. Lawn Ruffs.
    Starching. Stuffed Hose. Venice Fashions. Elizabeth's False Hair.
    Stubs on the Ladies. James I. affects Fashion. Garters and
    Shoe-roses. Dagger and Rapier                        Pages 60 to 91


                              CHAPTER V.

    Louise de Lorraine. Marie de Medici. Distended Skirts. Hair Powder.
    Hair _à l'enfant_. Low Dresses. Louis XIV. High Heels. Slender
    Waists. Siamese Dress. Charles I. Patches. Elaborate Costumes.
    Puritan Modes. Tight-lacing and Strait-lacing under Cromwell.
    Augsburg Ladies                                     Pages 92 to 104


                             CHAPTER VI.

    Louis XV. À la Watteau. Barbers. Fashions under Queen Anne.
    Diminutive Waists and Enormous Hoop. The Farthingale. The
    _Guardian_. Fashions in 1713. Low Dresses. Tight Stays. Short
    Skirts. A Lady's Maid's Accomplishments. Gay and Ben Jonson on the
    Bodice and Stays                                   Pages 109 to 123


                             CHAPTER VII.

    Stays or Corset. Louis XVI. Dress in 1776. Severe Lacing. Hogarth.
    French Revolution. Short Waists. Long Trains. Buchan. Jumpers and
    Garibaldis. Figure-training. Backboards and Stocks. Doctors on
    Stays. George III. Gentlemen's Stays. The Changes of Fashion. The
    term CRINOLINE not new. South Sea Islanders. Madame la
    Sante on Crinoline. Starving and Lacing. Anecdote. Wearing the
    Corset during sleep. American Belles. Illusion Waists. Medicus
    favours moderate tight-lacing. Ladies' Letters on tight-lacing
                                                       Pages 124 to 164


                            CHAPTER VIII.

    The Austrian Empress. Viennese Waists. London small-sized Corsets.
    Correspondence of _The Queen_ and the _Englishwoman's
    Domestic Magazine_. Lady Morton. Figure-training. Corsets for
    Young Girls. Early use of well-constructed Corsets. The
    Boarding-School and the Corset. Letters in praise of tight-lacing.
    Defence of the Crinoline and the Corset. The Venus de Medici.
    Fashionably-dressed Statue. Clumsy Figures. Letter from a
    Tight-lacer. A Young Baronet. A Family Man         Pages 165 to 186


                             CHAPTER IX.

    No elegance without the Corset. Fashion of 1865. Short Waist and
    Train of 1867. Tight Corset and Short Waist. A form of French
    Corset. Proportions of Figure and Waist. The Point of the Waist.
    Older Writers on Stays. Denunciations against Small Waists and High
    Heels. Alarming Diseases through High Heels. Female Mortality.
    Corset Statistics. Modern and Ancient Corset       Pages 189 to 201


                              CHAPTER X.

    Front-fastening Stays. Thomson's Corset. Stability of
    front-fastening Corset. De La Garde's Corset. Self-measurement.
    Viennese _Redresseur_ Corset. Flimsy Corsets. Proper
    Materials. "Minet Back" Corset. Elastic Corsets. Narrow Bands
    Injurious. The Corset properly applied produces a graceful figure.
    The Farthingale Reviewed. Thomson's Zephyrina Crinoline. Costume
    of the Present Season. The claims of Nature. Similitude between the
    Tahitian Girl and Venetian Lady                    Pages 202 to 224




                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                                  PAGE

    1. THE DAWN OF THE CORSET                                       11

    2. CIRCASSIAN LADY                                              15

    3. EGYPTIAN LADY IN FULL SKIRT                                  18

    4. PERSIAN DANCING GIRL                                         21

    5. EGYPTIAN LADY IN NARROW SKIRT                                24

    6. LADY OF ANCIENT GREECE                                       32

    7. ROMAN LADY OF RANK (REIGN OF HELIOGABALUS)                   39

    8. THE FIEND OF FASHION, FROM AN ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT             43

    9. THE PRINCESS BLANCHE, DAUGHTER OF EDWARD III.                48

    10. LADY OF RANK OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY                      51

    11. LADY OF THE COURT OF QUEEN CATHERINE DE MEDICI              55

    12. FULL COURT DRESS AS WORN IN FRANCE, 1515                    58

    13. LADIES OF FASHION IN THE COSTUME OF 1380                    61

    14. NORMAN HEADDRESS OF THE PRESENT DAY                         64

    15. LADY OF THE COURT OF CHARLES VIII., 1500                    67

    16. LADY OF THE COURT OF MAXIMILIAN OF GERMANY AND FRANCIS OF
        FRANCE                                                      70

    17. CORSET-COVER OF STEEL WORN IN THE TIME OF CATHERINE DE
        MEDICI                                                      