Regency Fashion: The Clericus

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THE CLERICUS PIOUS LOOKING A very CONTEMPLATIVE SEDATE HAT much worn by Police Officers Quack Doctors and Clergymen this it may be said is a strange assem blage of characters to bring under one head and some may hold the association to be a reflection on the latter when in truth the very opposite is intended in proof of which it is only necessary to observe that where the attainment of an object depends on outward show such contrivances will be resorted to as are best calculated to secure the object in view and the very assumption of 99 the habit here spoken of by the traps and quacks of the day is evidence of the habit itself being in the highest possible estimation If taken in an ornamental point of view it would be no easy task to decide on its merits but if usefully considered the conclusion is plain and easy It is an admitted fact that an idea of dignity can not embody itself with little things hence the custom of wearing large wigs for such doubtless these Hats were originally intended and for this reason the hinder part being drawn up with loops in two places no peruke however large its dimensions can receive the least in jury in short it may be worn under this Hat with as little discomfiture to the intricate friz as though it were absolutely on the very block itself here then is produced what may be termed a happy union of wisdom and piety inasmuch as it is allowed when speaking of high legal characters that the wisdom is in the wig and by the same rule when Clericus is worn by a Divine the piety must be in the Hat The style of putting on will greatly depend on the size of the peruke without which it should never be worn particularly if the hair be lank and black

Lloyd’s Treatise on hats (1819)

This is part of a series on Gentleman’s Hats:

Regency Fashion: Gentlemen’s Hats

Regency Fashion: The John Bull Top Hat 

Regency Fashion: The Wellington Top Hat 

Regency Fashion: The Tandem Hat 

Regency Fashion: The Tally-Ho Hat 

Regency Fashion: The Shallow

Regency Fashion: The Coburg 

Regency Fashion: The Marquis 

Regency Fashion: The Eccentric

Regency Fashion: The Regency 

Regency Fashion: The Kent

Regency Fashion: The Cumberland

Regency Fashion: The Vis-A-Vis

Regency Fashion: The Petersham

Regency Fashion: The Bang Up

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