Note 175 — Chapter XIII · MEN'S DRESS.
Reading edition
They were universally of black hue; at least I have never met with mention of any other colour, except in sport: 'I shall very speedily appear at White's in a Cherry coloured Hat. I took this Hint from the Ladies Hoods, which I look upon as the boldest Stroke that Sex has struck for these three hundred Years last past.'[175] They had a gold or silver lace hat band, but ordinary people seldom had their hats edged. A hatband was considered de rigueur for servants, and Swift's man, Peter, even bought a silver one for himself, rather than be without one. Feathers were only worn by military men. 'The Person wearing the Feather, though our Friend took him for an Officer in the Guards, has proved to be an arrant Linnen Draper,'[176] i.e. only in the train bands.