the creation. On the death of Counsellor Pitcairne, (not many years ago.) Counsellor Seare bought his tye-wig, thinking no doubt, that, like the mantle of Elijah, it would confer a double portion of the wisdom of its old master upon its new one. How much then must Mr. Seare have been gratified when, on his appearance in it at the Chancery Bar, the Lord Chancellor (Hardwicke) addressed, not Mr. Seare, for he thought not of him, but the well-known wig, in these words, "Mr. Pitcairne, have you any thing to move?" Of the antiquity of wigs we need not seek for proof. They must have been coeval with baldness itself. Mankind sensible of the beauty of the hair, and of the advantage which it gave to the most important part of the human figure-the face, would soon devise means to conceal the want of it, whether by the laurel leaves of Cæsar, or the more modern contrivance of a periwig. The attempt to regenerate the hair itself, by Macassars, and other unguents, must have been a more recent contrivance; in the same way as in a natural state of society we are more apt to supply ourselves with what we want, from the stock of our neighbours, than to increase our own by honest means. The earliest recorded notice we have of wigs is about the time of the first Roman Emperors. Otho, we are told, had a kind of scalp of fine leather, with locks of hair upon it, so well arranged as to appear natural; and the ladies seem, with their wonted tact, to have arrived in that distant, although enlightened age, at great perfection in the art; for they had their wigs dressed in imitation of a military casque, and the curls were confined with small chains, or rings of gold, and bodkins studded with precious stones. But, in this country, whatever may have been its previous use, it does not appear that the wig came into favour as an ornament, till about the period of the Restoration of Charles II. Then, at least among the great, it assumed all "the pride, pomp, and circumstance" which length and breadth could give it. As an ornament it would have been nothing unless conspicuous; and fashion, when once it takes a direction towards a certain point, never stops but in an extreme. The French set us the example. The first periwig was made in Paris in 1620; and the French clergy began to adopt the mode about 1660, not, however, without much zealous opposition. Wigs were denounced as indecent in an ecclesiastic, and directly contrary to the decrees and canons of councils. A priest's head, embellished with artificial hair, was deemed monstrous; and nothing could be conceived so scandalous as an abbot, with a florid countenance, heightened with a well-curled peruke. No period could be better fitted for the introduction of this fashion into England than the Restoration. And, no doubt, the wig, as a decoration, owed its general reception and increasing prosperity to the spirit which characterised all the doings of that period-a desire to run into the opposite extreme from that which had prevailed during the days of the Commonwealth. It was then that the zealous Roundhead, to enforce what he thought St. Paul had laid upon him as a religious duty, urged an exterminating war against long hair, and earned his political nickname by the shortness of his locks. But that party had now fallen into disgrace, and no Cavalier could better show his detestation of the "prick-eared curs," as they were called, than by availing himself of a fashion so opposite to theirs, and showing the extent of his loyalty by the length of his wig. That it was now worn by both sexes instead of the natural hair, we are informed by Mr. Pepys in his diary, (1663.) "24th March. By and bye comes La Belle Pierce to see my wife, and to bring her a pair of peruques of hair, as the fashion now is for ladies to wear; which are pretty and are of my wife's own hair, or else I should not endure them." "30th Oct-To my great sorrow find myself £43 worse than 1 was the last month, which was then £760, and now it is but £717. But it hath chiefly arisen from my layings out in clothes for myself and wife: viz. for her about £12 and for myself £55 or thereabouts; having made myself a velvet cloak, two new cloth skirts, black; plain both; a new shag gown, trimmed with gold buttons and twist, with a new hat and silk tops for my legs, and many other things, being resolved henceforward to go like myself. And also two periwigs, one whereof cost me £3 and the other £2. I have worn neither yet, but will begin next week, God willing." The fashion continued during the two following reigns. Were you an unostentatious or economical individual, your wig was one of short locks-a short bob. Were you a dandy or a man of fashion, you wore a large handsome wig floating on your shoulders, and nicely curled; and then you had your travelling wig, having the side or bottom locks turned up into bobs or knots tied up with ribands. Of the "short bob," or "wig that hath short locks and a hairy crown," we have the following feeling description from a writer in 1683, (Randle Holme):-"This is a counterfeit hair which men wear instead of their own, a thing much used in our days by the generality of men, contrary to our forefathers, who got estates, loved their wives, and wore their own hair; but in these days there is no such thing." Men of tender consciences were indeed, at its first introduction, greatly scandalized at this article of dress. They reckoned it more indecent than long hair, because more unnatural. The clergy thundered their anathemas against it, and cut their hair shorter to express their abhorrence. But it would not do. Like the natural hair, which the more it is cut grows the stronger, so the wig, in spite of persecution, spread forth into richer luxuriance, till it encompassed all classes of society. The judge expounded the law, and the physician prescribed to his patient with their heads shrouded in the wig's imposing curls, and felt that they were listened to with increasing ve neration. The soldier and sailor fought under it, and no doubt found that, as they wore the mane of the Lion, they were inspired with his courage. At length, even the ecclesiastics gave in, and sought to add to the weight of their admonitions by the size of their wigs. A maker of periwigs must now have felt himself an important person. age; and what must have been his sensations when he saw a row of gallants conversing and combing their splendid head-gear, as it was their custom to do towards the close of the seventeenth century, when met at Court, in the Mall of St. James's Park, in the boxes of the Theatre, or at any place of public resort! In the reign of Queen Anne, the wig lost none of its splendid honours. Her Majesty did all in her power to support the extravagance of the prevailing mode. Her Generals were nothing in her eyes unless dressed in periwigs. When some of her officers who had served in Flanders, imported an alteration of the reigning fashion, by collecting the monstrous tail or fleece and tying it up with ribands, she reckoned it a daring innovation. Turning to the lady of the bed-chamber in waiting, she indignantly said, "I suppose that presently gentlemen will be coming to Court in their jack-boots." And on one occasion when Lord Bolingbroke appeared in this sort of wig. (which was called a Ramillie from one of Marlborough's victories, and was only permitted as an undress,) it drew forth this sarcasm, that she believed the next time Lord B. came to Court, it would be in his night-cap. Yet when we come to enquire into the origin of the full-bottomed wigs which were thus so zealously patronised, we learn that they were contrived by a French barber, Duviller, to conceal the Duke of Burgundy's hump-back! But nothing is more common than for fashion to work such freaks; and it is now a trite observation, that the flatterers of the great are ever ready to affect even their deformities. The reign of George the Third witnessed the downfall of the wig. It expired amid the groans of the peruquiers, who felt that their craft was set at nought. In the month of February 1765, they presented a petition to the King, stating their distressed condition, occasioned by so many people wearing their own hair; and, humbly beseeching his Majesty that he would be pleased to grant them relief, they submitted to his Majesty's goodness and wisdom, whether his own example would not be the best means of rescuing them from their distresses. His Majesty was graciously pleased to receive the petition, and to return for answer, "That he held nothing dearer to his heart than the happiness of his people. and that they may be assured he should at all times use his endeavours to promote their welfare." The King was not unmindful of his promise. He not only cut off his own fine flaxen hair which was much admired, but his reverence for wigs went so far, that on one occasion in the House of Lords, and on another, at the installation of the Knights of the Garter, at Windsor, he wore a powdered dress-wig of George the Second's, which was amazingly out of harmony with the rest of his costume. But the pride of the wig was doomed to have a fall; and the barbers had received an omen of its fate on returning from presenting their petition. Several of those who attended on the occasion were so inconsistent as to wear their own hair, and this gave such offence that it was cut off by the mob. Popular taste for once prevailed over the influence of the crown. People were content to return to the simplicity of nature, and left this "pet of the fancy" to the protection of the learned professions, who might be expected to be the last to give up what now more than ever distinguished them from the vulgar, and gave an air of dignified wisdom to their exterior. At length it was driven from under the wing of the Medical Faculty, and the name of Dr. Sommerville deserves to be recorded in a chapter on wigs, as the bold champion who achieved this victory in favour of good taste and common sense, over folly and affectation. The Doctor, who frequented a coffee-house much resorted to by the Faculty, took it into his head to appear in coloured clothes, and without a sword. This gave great offence to some of his brethren, who on this account insulted him. The following day the Doctor renewed his visit to the coffee-house, dressed in the Jehu wig of his coachman, who on the contrary wore the Doctor's tye, and accompanied him. Here, gentlemen," said the Doctor, "is an argument to the purpose, that knowledge does not consist in exteriors. There is not one of you would trust me to drive you, and the world shall see as I pass through the streets of London, that the wig does not constitute the physician." Continuing for several days to visit the coffee-house and his patients thus metamorphosed, the tye-wig became an object of ridicule instead of respect, and was at length universally abandoned. Even the Law had very nearly deserted its favourite protege. At the summer assizes at Lancaster, in 1819, Mr. Scarlett having hurried into court without his wig and gown, apologized to the judge, and expressed a hope that the time would shortly come when these mummeries would be entirely discarded. Next day all the Counsel appeared in court without the usual professional badges of wisdom. But it was but for a day; and no doubt Mr. Scarlett had his laugh at the expence of his learned friends, for taking in earnest what was merely a dexterous manoeuvre contrived for the occasion. Glad are we that this remnant of bygone times still sits on the brow of justice, scowling defiance to any one who would seek to depose it and if the law be for it, who shall be against it. But alas! how is the mighty fallen. What a contrast is there between that shrivelled thing of the present day called a lawyer's wig, and the gorgeously fashioned peruke of the Augustan age of English literature. It is a mere ghost in comparison! As we reflect upon "the illustrious dead," all the kindly feelings of our nature are stirred up; and laying aside the stern duty of the historian, we beg to make the amende honorable for any contumelious expressions which may have escaped us in chronicling the rise and fall of this noblest work of the maker of periwigs. We confess, after all, a partiality for wigs; and had we been bred to the Law, we would have esteemed it a strong indication of our future elevation to the Bench. And why should not a flowing full-bottomed periwig have our esteem and veneration? Who does not prefer the wide spreading beech, under which he can repose in the noon-day heat, to that which is trimmed, and clipped, and twisted, so as to form a hedge? Who does not prefer the graceful, flowing robes of the Greeks and Romans, to the stiff and format garments of our own days? And who does not prefer the gallant vessel, sweeping along under a press of sail like a thing of life and joy, to that dingy, log-like mass with its smoking funnel, called a steamboat? Yet not more favourable than any of these comparisons, is that between the splendid periwig of the days of Addison, and Steele, and Pope, and Swift, flowing over the shoulders like a cataract, and the short and wire-like appearance of the hair, or the wig, as it is The contrast reminds us of the description of the poet; "All round the borders where the pansie blue, Crocus and polyanthus speckled fine, And daffodils in fayre confusion grew, now worn. Among the rosebush roots and eglantine; Mickle's Translation of Cameëns. But, it will be said, this is trying the question by a capricious standard, and we will perhaps be asked of what utility were these monsters of fashion. Utility! Was it not such a wig that mainly contributed to our gaining one of those victories over the French, which has spread the fame of British valour over the world? If it was not, there is no truth in the following anecdote. When Admiral Boscawen was in the heat of an engagement with the French fleet, he was under the necessity of going into a boat to shift his flag from his own ship to another. In his passage, a shot went through the boat's side, when the Admiral, taking off his wig, stopped the leak with it, and by that means saved the boat from sinking. He reached the ship in safety; and thus, by the help of a wig, was the gallant Admiral not only saved himself, but enabled to continue an engagement which ended so gloriously to the British nation. The laurel, as a type of bravery, should after this have given place to the wig. But to descend from such elevated praise. As a poetical barber has it versified: "Oh, Absalom! Oh Absalom! Oh, Absalom! my son, If thou had'st worn a periwig Thou had'st not been undone !" Again, what a boon did it not confer on the fair sex, whose heads furnished the raw material out of which was woven the beautiful specimen of human art and ingenuity which we are now commemorating. A fine head of hair was then something to be proud of. A lady could purchase herself a husband with it, or the Protestant Mercury for July 1700, is a lie. On the authority of it we learn that an Oxfordshire lass who knew of a husband, if she had but a tocher of fifty pounds, went to London, where she disposed of her hair (which was delicately long and light) to a chapman in the Strand, who gave sixty pounds for it, with which she returned into the country with a joyous heart, and married her lover. Or if the maiden of those days chose to live in single blessedness rather than risk her frail bark on |