----- Original Message -----
1617
"Else (mincing madams) why do we (alas!)
Pine at your Pencill and conspiring Glasse?
Your Curles, Purles, Perriwigs, your Whale bone wheels?
That shelter all defects from head to heeles."
Henry Fitz - Jeoffery, Satyres and Satyrical Epigrams.
The 'head to heeles' part does suggest a farthingale to me, I must say, but
as others have suggested, the farthingale seems like it would be, at the
least, less than fashionable in 1617 Given the nature of the book, it's
perfectly possible that the verse being quoted is not originally from 1617,
though. After a quick look to see when a periwig would have been worn, I
was surprised to find the word's origin in the 1520s, and less surprised
that wigs were popular during Elizabeth's reign. And to be unintentionally
coarse, wouldn't a farthingale collapsed on the floor look like a wheel?
On the other side of the argument, though, what about that drawing seen in
Waugh's C&C, of the dancers wearing wheels around their waist? Or would you
say those are for dancers only?
-E House
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