LADIES IN NEW YORK CITY UNDER ENGLISH RULE






<PRE>
                          1760'S_____


      The ladies dressed their hair low or high according to the latest
mode, wore stiff laced bodices, skirts with deep panniers, hooped petticoats
of considerable  width (though not as vast as those of the London dames,
which blocked the passages), high-heeled colored shoes, and later slippers
of dainty satin or white dressed kid. They carried fans of the latest
pattern. The stuffs were rich, and heavily brocaded in bunches of gold and
silver of the large English pattern. By day they were as simple as
Cinderella at the chimney corner. Their gowns were of plain, sensible
material, woolen or calico, made short, with aprons of linen; their hats
small, their hoods quiet, and at home  always a muslin cap. There was a vast
variety of dress goods from which to select, shipped from the four quarters
of the globe. Of this we may judge from the first advertisements of Mr.
Isaac Low, one of the leading dry goods importers. On November 6, 1766, he
announced in Holt's "New York Journal" that he "had just imported an
assortment of goods suitable to the season, consisting of coatings,
broadcloths, flannels, embossed serges; Paris-fans, and half sticks, spotted
ermine shalloons, satinets, Calimancoes, oznabrigs, sheeting; Russia
drilling donlass, garlix Callicoes, cottons, cambricks, lawns; both muslin
taffetas, Persian cotton lungee and new silk romalls, bandanoes, and women's
gloves; worsted and cotton hose, & etc., which he will sell at most
reasonable terms at his store, between the Exchange and Coenties market.
Surely, as Judge Jones implies, these were times of Arcadian simplicity,
days when, as our modern satirist would say, "Miss Flora McFlimsey had
nothing to wear."  Richard Norris, staymaker from London, in 1771,
advertised "all sorts of stays, turned and plain, thick or thin, straw, cut
French hips and German jackets after the newest and best manner." Any ladies
uneasy in their shape, he likewise fits without any incumbrance, all "by
methods approved by the society of Stay-makers in  London."  Rivington, the
printer, advertised "coque de pearl necklaces, hair pins, sprigs and ear
rings set round with marquisates in a new taste".
      
	In summer, pleasure was found in driving over the Monument Drive,
along the line of Park Row and the Bowery to Astor Place, thence westward by 
way of Greenwich Lane to the river road, on the present line of Greenwich
street, and back to the point of departure. Winter amusements included
sleigh rides and turtle feasts, or an evening at the solitary  theatre in
John Street, near Broadway. Society at these pleasant diversions made an
agreeable impression on the visitor. "The ladies in this vicinity are
slender, of erect carriage, and, without being strong, are plump." "They
have small and pretty feet, good hands and arms, a very white skin, and a
healthy color in the face, which requires no further embellishment. They
have also exceedingly white teeth, pretty lips, and sparkling, laughing
eyes. In connection with these charms they have a natural bearing,
essentially unrestrained, with open frank countenances, and much native
assurance. They are great admirers of cleanliness, and they keep themselves
well shod. They friz their hair every day, and gather it up at the back of
the head into a chignon, at the same time puffing it up in front. They
generally walk about with their heads uncovered, and sometimes, but not
often, wear some light fabric on their hair. Now and then some country nymph
has her hair flowing down behind her, braiding it with a piece of ribbon.
Should they go out (even though they be living in a hut) they throw a silk
wrap about themselves and put on gloves. They have a charming way of wearing
this wrap, by means of which they manage to show a portion of a small white
elbow. They also put on some well-made and stylish sunbonnet, from beneath,
which their roguish  eyes have  a most fascinating way of meeting yours."
      
	There were men of large means in the city, among whom also the level
of education was high. "The wives and daughters of these people spend more
than their income upon finery." "The man must fish up the last penny he has
in his pocket. The funniest part is that the women do not seem to steal it
from them; neither do they obtain it by cajolery, fighting or falling into a
faint. How they obtain it, as obtain it they do, heaven only knows; but that
the men are heavily taxed for their extravagance is certain."


Source:  History of New York State 1523-1927
Publisher:  Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.-New York, Chicago.
Copyright:  1927   Volume I
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                     Researched and Transcribed
                        by Miriam Medina
                 
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