Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/282

262 Atlas petticoats edged with silver, of yellow chintz petticoats, black velvet petticoats, &c. But if women were thus fanciful over their hoop petticoats, men were quite as particular over their wigs. The wig dominated all good dressing, and was to be found on men and even boys of every class of society. Extravagant sums of money were expended on them. Though three guineas was a fair price, as much as forty guineas was frequently spent. While the full-bottomed wig was most usual at this time, the tie wig and the bob wig were both coming into fashion, though not approved of by the Queen. "I suppose his lordship will come to Court next time in his nightcap," she was heard to exclaim when one of her Ministers appeared before her in one of the new tie wigs, so familiar in the Georgian epoch. To be in perfect curl was the essential point, and numerous advertisements of hair-curling fluids appear in the current papers, in case the wig "be out of curl by the pressing of the hat or riding in windy and rainy weather." Such was the effeminacy of some of the men at this time that they used to carry ivory or tortoiseshell combs, and comb their wigs while sitting in the Park or in the theatre. Quaint