Page:Elizabethan People.djvu/136

 chin, in particular, was a favourite point of reference. "The boy, he does not look like a bawd, he has no double chin." (Dekker, Northward Ho.) "With her fat, sag chin, hanging down like a cow's udder." (Middleton, The Black Book.)

Prostitutes of the lower order frequently wore loose bodied gowns in the street, a form of attire that was not then, so far as we know, ever worn by respectable women. Sir John Davies thus describes a bawd:

Though the meaning of the word is not clear the association of taffeta with whoredom is very common. A courtesan would not leave the house without a fan; but, perhaps, the most distinguishing mark of her dress was her ring—a death's