HAT

HAT, a covering for the head, worn by the men in most parts of Europe. Those most in esteem are made of the pure hair of the castor or beaver; for they are also made of the hair or wool of divers other animals, and that by much the same process.

Hats are said to have been first seen about the year 1400; at which time they became of use for country wear, riding, &c.—Father Daniel relates, that when Charles II. made his public entry into Rouen in 1449, he had on a hat lined with red-velvet, and surmounted with a plume or tuft of feathers.—He adds, that it is from this entry, at least under this reign, that the use of hats and caps is to be dated, which henceforward began to take place of the chaperoons and hoods that had been worn before.

In progress of time, from the laity, the clergy likewise took the habit; but it was looked on as a crying abuse, and several regulations were published, forbidding any priest, or religious person, to appear in a hat without cornets; and enjoining them to keep to the use of chaperoons, made of black cloth, with decent cornets: if they were poor, they were at least to have cornets fastened to their hats, and this upon pain of suspension and excommunication.—Indeed the use of hats is said to have been of a longer standing among the ecclesiastics of Brittany by 200 years, and especially among the canons: but these were no other than a kind of caps; and it was from hence arose the square caps worn in colleges, &c. Lobineau* observes, that a bishop of Dol, in the 12th century, zealous for good order, allowed the canons alone to wear such hats; enjoining, that if any other person should come with them to church, divine service should immediately stand still.

Method of Making Hats. To make the beaver-hats, they tear off the long and short hair from the skin, with knives suitable to the occasion: after which they proportion the quantity of the several sorts of beaver-hair, by mixing one third of the dry castor to two thirds.

thirds of old-coat, which is a term for a skin that has been worn some time by the Indians of America, who catch and sell them to the Europeans. The hair, so mixed, is carded and weighed out into parcels, according to the size and thickness of the hat intended. The stuff is now laid on the hurdle, with an instrument called a bow, resembling that of a violin, but larger; whose string being worked with a small bow-stick, and made to play on the furs, they fly, and mix themselves together, the dust and filth at the same time passing through the chinks. Instead of a bow, some hat-makers use a scarce of hair, through which they pass the stuff. Thus hats are formed of an oval figure, ending with an acute angle at the top: with what stuff remains, they strengthen them where slenderest, yet designedly make them thicker in the brim near the crown, than towards the circumference, or in the crown itself. They next harden the stuff, so managed, into more compact flakes, by pressing down a hardened leather upon it. This done, they are carried to the bason; upon which laying one of the hardened hats, they sprinkle it over with water, and mould it; and the heat of the fire, with the water and pressing, embody the stuff into a slight hairy sort of felt: after which, turning up the edges all round over the mould, they lay it by, and proceed with another; which being in like manner reduced to the same consistence and form, they are both joined together, so as to make them meet in an angle at top, making only one conical cap. The next process is to remove the hat to a trough, resembling a mill-hopper, which is a copper kettle filled with water and grounds, kept hot for the purpose; and, after being dipped in the kettle, the hat is laid on the sloping side, called the plank. Here they proceed to work it, by rolling and unrolling it again and again, one part after another, first with the hand, and afterwards with a small wooden roller, taking care to dip it from time to time; till at length, by thus fulling and thickening it four or five hours, it is brought to the dimensions intended. In this violent labour, the workmen usually guard their hands with thick leather, which they call gloves. The hat thus wrought into the form of a conical cap, is reduced into proper shape on a block of the size of the intended crown, by tying it round with a string, called a commander; after which, with a bent iron called a stamper, they gradually beat down the commander all round, till it has reached the bottom of the block, and what remains at the bottom below the string forms the brim. In this station it is set to dry; and is afterwards singed, by holding it over the blaze of a fire made of straw or shavings: it is then rubbed with pumice-stone, to take off the coarser nap; then rubbed over with seal-skin, to lay the nap still finer; and, lastly, carded with a fine card, to raise the fine cotton with which the hat is to appear when finished: then fitting it to the block, they tie it, cut round the edges, and deliver it to the dyers. The dye being completed, the hat is dyed by being hung in the roof of a stove heated with a charcoal-fire: and, when dry, it is stiffened with melted glue, or rather gum fenega, which is smeared over the hat with a brush, and rubbed in with the hand. Then, having spread a cloth over the steaming bason, which is a little fire-place raised about three feet high, with an iron plate laid over it, exactly

covering the fire, the hat is laid upon the cloth, with the brim downwards, the cloth being first sprinkled with water, to raise a strong steam, to force in the stiffening. When it is moderately hot, the workman strikes gently on the brim, with the flat of his hand, to make the joinings incorporate and bind so as not to appear, turning it from time to time, and at last setting it on the crown. And when it has been sufficiently steamed and dried, it is put again on the block, brushed, ironed, well smoothed, and fitted for lining.

Hats make a considerable article in commerce: England supplies Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Germany, with extraordinary quantities of them; and as our manufacturers have the reputation of making the best hats in Europe, their importation is prohibited.

Hats are also made for womens wear, of chips, straw, or cane, by platting, and sewing the plats together; beginning with the centre of the crown, and working round till the whole is finished. Hats for the same purpose are also wove and made of horse-hair, silk, &c.

HAT is also figuratively used for the dignity of cardinal, or a promotion to that dignity. In this sense they say, "to expect the hat; to claim, or have pretensions to, the hat," &c.

Pope Innocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the cardinals, enjoining them to wear a red hat at the ceremonies and processions, in token of their being ready to spill their blood for Jesus Christ.

Dyeing of Hats. The instructions of Mr Colbert direct hats to be first strongly galled, by boiling them a long time in a decoction of galls with a little logwood, that the dye may penetrate the better into their substance; after which a proper quantity of vitriol, and decoction of logwood, with a little verdigrease, are added, and the hats continued in this mixture also for a considerable time. They are afterwards to be put in a fresh liquor of logwood, galls, vitriol, and verdigrease; and where the hats are of great price, or of a hair which difficultly takes the dye, the same process is to be repeated a third time. For obtaining the most perfect colour, the hair or wool is to be dyed blue, previously to its being formed into hats.—The present practice is more compendious, and affords, as we may daily see, a very good black. According to Dr Lewis, it does not materially differ from that of the Encyclopédie, which is as follows.

An hundred pounds of logwood, 12 pounds of gum, and six pounds of galls, are boiled in a proper quantity of water for some hours; after which, about six pounds of verdigrease, and ten of green vitriol, are added, and the liquor kept just simmering, or of a heat a little below boiling. Ten or twelve dozen of hats are immediately put in, each on its block, and kept down by cross bars for about an hour and an half: they are then taken out and aired, and the same number of others put in their room. The two sets of hats are thus dipped and aired alternately, eight times each; the liquor being refreshed each time with more of the ingredients, but in less quantity than at first.

This process (says Dr Lewis) affords a very good black on woollen and silk stuffs as well as on hats, as we may see in the small pieces of both kinds which are sometimes dyed by the hatters. The workmen lay great stress upon the verdigrease, and affirm that they can-

cannot dye a black hat without it: it were to be wished that the use of this ingredient were more common in the other branches of the black dye; for the hatters dye, both on silk and woollen, is reckoned a finer black than what is commonly produced by the woollen and silk dyer.