s a term of Saxon derivation, from *haec*, a cover for the head. It is sometimes called *castor*, from its being made of the fur of the castor or beaver. As a piece of dress, the period of its introduction is not certain, although it may with great probability be referred to the early distinctions of Roman Catholic dignitaries. Froissart chronicles, that it was "saide to the cardynals, Sirs, aduyse you ye delyvere us a Pope Romayne, we be content, or els we woll maike your heddes receler than your battes be;" from which, and from many other documents, it appears that at this period, as well as for some centuries after, hats were generally of a scarlet or red colour, and made of "a fine kinde of haire matted thegither." A "hatte of biever," about the middle of the twelfth century, was worn by some one of the "nobels of the lande, mett at Clarendon;" and Froissart describes hats and plumes which were worn at Edward's Court in 1340, when the Garter order was instituted. In the Diary of Henry's secretary, there is "ane scarlet beever hatte" presented on new year's day 1443. Even at this early period hats were of various shapes, both in the crowns and the brims; the latter being chiefly broad, sometimes narrowing towards the back, and a little bent up and scooped in front. In Henry's privy purse expenses, during his congress with Francis I. in 1520 or 1521, there is "paid for a hatte and plume for the king, in Boleyn, xv.*;" and in Wolsey's inventory, taken on his resigning the great seal to Sir Thomas More, there are no fewer than five mentioned. The fashion of this article was then much more diversely capricious than even now, as will appear from an extract from Stubbs' *Anatomie of Abuses*, published about 1585: "Sometimes they use them sharpe on the crowne, peaking up like the spire or shaft of a steeple, standing a quarter of a yard above the crowne of their heads; some more, some lesse, as please the fantasies of their inconstant mindes. Othersome be flat, and broade on the crowne, like the battlements of a house. Another sorte have rounde crownes, sometimes with one kind of bande, sometimes with another; now black, now white, now russed, now redde, now grene, now yellow; now this, now that; never content with one colour or fashion two daies to an end. And as the fashions be rare and strange, so is the stiffe whereof their battes be made divers also; for some are silk, some of velvet, some of taffetie, some of sarsnet, some of wool, and, which is more curious, some of a certaine kinde of fine haire; these they call bever battes, of xx., xxx., or xl. shillings price, fetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sorte of other vanities doe come besides; and so common a thing it is, that every serving man, countreman, and other, even all indifferently, doe weare of these battes." About the beginning of 1700, the crowns of hats were mostly round, much lower than before, and had very broad brims, resembling what are now occasionally called Quakers' hats, the protrusive encumbrance of which soon suggested the convenience of their being turned up in front; fashion dictated the upholding of another side or flap, and ultimately a third, so that by this progress, in 1704, the regular three-cocked hat became the order of the day, when feathers ceased to be usually worn. Near the middle of the eighteenth century, a round-edged but flat-topped and full-brimmed hat got into very general use, and the flat and other cocked hats now dwindled almost into a mere distinction of real or assumed rank. Twenty-five years after this, a very near approach to that of the present times became fashionable, and, within ten years, altogether superseded the ordinary use of the cumbrous and antique cock.

Plumes, jewels, silk loops, rosettes, badges, gold and silver bands and loops, have at various periods ornamented this article of dress; metal bands and loops being now esteemed proper only to naval and military "men of honour," and the humble liveried attendants on state, rank, and official dignity. The opera or soft-folding hat is the only relic at present in general use of the hats worn by our grandfathers, although it is not improbable that the mutations of fashion may re-introduce the elegant Spanish hat as the precursor perhaps of various other styles, as well as the cocked hat, which are not yet entirely discarded.

In the Great Exhibition of 1851 several very novel styles of hat were introduced by British exhibitors. It is remarked in the Jury Report respecting them that "in an article of fashion and of such constant use as hats, it does not appear to be easy to change the habits and tastes of the wearers, or to induce them to adopt a new costume."

Until recent times hats were chiefly produced by the art of felting; an art which some persons suppose to have been practised by the nations of antiquity. It is thought that *lana cocta*, used for soldiers' cloaks and for Lacedemonian hats, was felted wool, but others state that it was only knitted wool. In Roman Catholic countries St Clement is the reputed inventor of felt. This personage is said to have put carded wool into his sandals to protect his feet during a pilgrimage, and that the effect of the moisture, warmth, and friction converted the wool into a felted cloth. The hatters' annual festival is on the 23rd November, St Clement's Day.

**Hat-making** embraces two distinct kinds of manufacture, viz., of *felted*, and *covered* hats; the covering of the latter being generally plush. *Felted* hats comprehend two classes, differing chiefly in the materials used in making, the processes being nearly identical. The lower class is marked by inferior ingredients, unmixed with beaver, and embraces *wool*, *plated*, and *short nap* hats. *Wool* hats are made entirely of coarse native wool and hair stiffened with glue. Before the emancipation act these hats were largely exported for negroes' wear; but the manufacture is now almost extinct. *Plates* have a nap or pile rather finer than their body, and are sometimes waterproof stiffened. *Short naps* are distinguished from *plates* by additional kinds of wool, viz., hare's back, seal, neuter or nutria, musquash (Muscovy cat), and are all waterproof stiffened.

The second class may be said to comprehend two orders, called *stuff* and *beaver* hats. The first includes mottled and stuff bodies. The latter term is not used generally, as all stuffs are understood to be of this sort when *mottled* is not expressed. *Mottled bodies* are made chiefly of fine Spanish wool, and inferior rabbit down or coney wool. *Stuff bodies* consist of the best hare, Saxony, and red wools, mixed with Cashmere hair and silks. *Stuff* hats are *napped*, that is, covered with pile of mixed seal, neuter, hare-back, inferior beaver, and musquash. *Beaver* hats are, or ought to be, napped with beaver only; the lower priced qualities with *brown wooms* taken from the back; the more valuable kinds with *check* and *white wooms*, such being the finest parts of the fur found on the belly and cheeks of the beaver. The manufacture of a beaver hat involves a number of curious and interesting processes, the most important of which is felting, or the art of combining animal fibres in such a way as to form, without weaving, a thick compact cloth. The felting property of animal fibres depends on their peculiar structure, which, as revealed by the microscope, appears to be notched or jagged at the edges with teeth directed from the root towards the extremity. Wool in the yolk, or with the natural grease adhering to it, does not readily felt; the jagged portions being smoothed over or filled up with the oil; but when the fibres of clean wool or hair are made to undergo a gentle friction under the influence of moisture and heat they readily felt together.

Several of the furs mentioned above (see also Fur Trade) are used for hats. The beaver has been so assiduously hunted during many years that it is now becoming a rarity, and the fur of other animals is substituted for it. The coypu furnishes nutria skin; the musquash or muskrat, the hare, and the rabbit, yield fur for the nap of the hat, while the body is made of lamb's wool, or of the woolly hair of the llama or vicuna.

A beaver hat, properly so called, has a body or foundation of rabbits' fur, with a beaver nap, although the beaver, for the reason above stated, is often mixed with a more common fur. Such a hat has a pleasant softness and plasticity, and readily moulds itself to the shape of the head, presenting a marked contrast to the hard, horny, silk hat, which has nearly superseded it. Still, however, there must always be certain persons who, not objecting to the price, will continue to keep alive this the most interesting branch of the hat manufacture, and it is our duty to describe its processes.

The beaver hat, with the body of rabbits' fur and a beaver nap, may be regarded as the highest achievement of the latter. A cheaper kind has the body of lambs' wool, and the nap of some fur cheaper than beaver. Such is the plate hat, so called from an analogy with plated metal goods, the exposed surface being of the more valuable material upon an inferior base or foundation. A notice of the mode of preparing a plate hat will sufficiently show the nature of the processes concerned in the manufacture of a beaver hat. In preparing this fur plate, the batter weighs out an ounce of beaver down, a quarter of an ounce of musquash, and a quarter of an ounce of cotton wool, which last ingredient serves the temporary purpose of preventing the surfaces of the beaver from felting together instead of adhering to the body. These three substances are spread out and combined by the operation of bowing. The bow or stang, ABC, is about seven feet long, and is usually of ash; A is called the breech, and C the cock. The stang is suspended by a string over the bench where the operation is performed. It stretches a single cord of cat-gut, D, which the workman vibrates by means of a wooden pin, E, furnished with a half knob at each end. Holding the bow in his left hand, and the pin in his right, he causes the vibrating string to come in contact with the heap of tangled fur, which does not cover a space greater than that of the hand. At each vibration some of the filaments start up to the height of a few inches, and fall away from the mass, a little to the right of the bow, their excursions being restrained by a concave frame of wicker-work F, called the basket. In the course of a few minutes the fibres are completely separated, and spread over a considerable space. They are then divided as nearly as possible, and one half laid aside, whilst the other is again bowed. In this second operation, partly by the bowing, but chiefly by the gathering, or patting use of the basket, the stuff is loosely matted into a conical figure, about fifty by thirty-six inches, called a bat. In this formation care is taken to work about two-thirds of the wools down towards what is intended for the brim, which being effected greater density is induced by gentle pressure with the basket. It is then covered with a wetish linen cloth, upon which is laid the hardening skin, a piece of dry half-tanned horse hide. On this the workman presses or bakes for seven or eight minutes, until the stuff adheres closely to the damp cloth, in which it is then doubled up, freely pressed with the hand, and laid aside. By this process, called basoning (from a metal plate or basin, used for like purposes in making wool hats), the bat has become compactly felted and thinned toward the sides and point. The other half of the flaked stuff is next subjected to precisely the same processes; after which, a cone-shaped slip of stiff paper is laid on its surface, and the sides of the hat are folded over its edges to its form and size. It is then laid paper-side downward upon the first bat, which is now replaced on the hurdle, and its edges are transversely doubled over the introverted side-lays of the second bat, thus giving equal thickness to the whole body. In this condition it is re-introduced between folds of damp linen cloth, and again hardened, so as to unite both halves, the knitting together of which is quickly effected. The paper is now withdrawn; and the body, being folded into three plies, is removed to the plank or battery room.

The battery consists of an open iron boiler or kettle A, with shelves B, C, partly of mahogany and partly of lead, sloping down to it. The liquor in the battery is of a scalding heat, and consists of pure soft water, about half a gill of oil of vitriol as an astringent, and a full handful of oatmeal to correct its corrosive tendencies. Herein the body is imbibed, and then withdrawn to the plank to partly cool and drain, when it is unfolded, rolled gently with a pin tapering towards the ends, turned, and worked in every direction, to toughen, shrink, and at the same time prevent adhesion of its sides. Stopping or thickening the thin spots which now appear on looking through the body, is carefully performed by dabbing on additional stuff in successive supplies from the hot liquor, with a brush frequently dipped into the kettle, until the body be shrunk sufficiently (about one half), and thoroughly equalized. When quite dried, stiffening is performed with a brush dipped into a glutinous pulpy composition, and rubbed into the body; the surface intended for the inside having much more laid on it than the outer, while the brim is made to absorb many times the quantity applied to any other part. This viscous matter contains proofing, or those ingredients which render the hat waterproof.

On being again dried, the body is ready to be covered, and is once more taken to the battery. The first cover of beaver or napping, which has been previously bowed, is strewn equally over the body, and patted with the brush charged with the hot liquor, until incorporated; the cut ends only inserting themselves. The body is now put into a coarse hair-cloth dipped and rolled in the hot liquor, until the beaver is quite worked in. This is called rolling off, or ruffling. A stripe for the brim, round the edge of the inside, is treated in like manner, and is thus prepared for the second cover, which is applied and worked in similarly; the rolling, &c., being continued until the whole has become incorporated, and a clean, regular, close, and well-felted hood is the result. The dry hood, after having the nap beat up and freed, is clipped to the desired length by means of shears, or by the clipping machine, which is preferable on account of its performing the work with greater speed and regularity. When the nap is thus disposed of, the hood is soaked in the battery kettle, then drawn down on a block to the size and shape wanted, and firmly tied at the bottom with a cord, around which the brim is left in a frilled condition.

Dyeing is the next step. A suit, or six dozen, all mounted on the crown-blocks and hung round a circular frame, are put into the dye kettle, and allowed to remain three-quarters of an hour in the liquor, which is kept as near as possible one degree below the boiling point. These being taken out and set in the yard to cool, another suit is introduced for a like period; and the various suits are so treated at least twelve times in successive order. Each of the first four steepings of every suit is accompanied by about 7 lbs. of copperas, and 2 lbs. of verdigris. The body is then washed and brushed out in changes of hot water, until it ceases to give off colour. When thus thoroughly cleansed, it is steamed on a block, shaped as the hat is wished to be when complete; and in the finishing shop, by heavy (21-pound) heated irons and moisture, the frilled brim is shrunk until rendered quite level, the nap gently raised all over with a fine wire card, and brushed and ironed smooth in a uniform direction. Machinery is sometimes employed for these purposes. The tip, a thin lath sheet, is then fitted and stuck to the inside of the crown, and robbined or secured all round the edges by stripes of prepared paper. When thus got down, it is sent to the picker, who with tweezers extracts the kempa, vulgarly called "grey hairs," or the coarse hairs that have escaped the search of the machine used in blowing the beaver, so as to separate them from its fine parts. This being carefully accomplished, the hat is transferred to the finisher, who, with a plush cushion or edware, a brush, and hot iron, imparts to it a bright sleeky lustre. The shaper then rounds the brim with a knife and notched segment to the breadth wanted; and shapes it in varied styles by means of a hot iron and damp, with about a foot length of rope, over which the curl is laid. The trimming is next done, when the tipper off corrects the twists, smooths the ruffled nap caused by trimming, and papers it up with tissue and cartridge, which completes it for the retailer.

Dye-stuffs for a gross of beaver hats.—About 180 gallons of pure soft water, 1½ cwt. of best Campeachy logwood, 8 lbs. of oxide of copper, and 30 lbs. of copperas. It is to be observed, however, that some put the chips, others only the juice, of the logwood into the dye-kettle. Galls are now disused. Stiffening stuffs.—Makers differ in the proportions, but the ingredients are shell-lac, rosin, mastic, sandarach, and elemi, all churned until dissolved. A quantity of this is then melted over steam, sieved, put in hot, and well mixed. Cleaning stuffs.—These are now seldom considered necessary. Half a pound of borax, diluted in five gallons of water, into which the stiffened nap is dipped, and then well brushed.

The trade is now almost exclusively occupied in the manufacture of silk hats, which forms a distinct branch; and scarcely in any respect in its earlier stages, resembles the beaver hat manufacture. The hat body may consist of wool, stuff, willow, straw, cambric, woollen cloth, or calico; linen or calico are very common. For the latter material the body is moulded on an oval block generally made up of five segments; a piece of calico is first folded round the block and the edges secured with a solution of shell-lac or some adhesive compound. The surface of the calico is next coated with the shell-lac solution, and another layer of calico is wound round and coated as before; the edges of the top being turned down to form a portion of the crown; other layers of calico are similarly put on, until the desired thickness is attained. The crown consists of disks of calico, and the brim is formed by attaching an oval piece of calico to a piece of twilt; the centre of the oval is now cut away to the size of the hat, and the brim thus formed is secured to the hat body by cementing one of its loose edges to the inside, and the other to the outside of the body, the brim being further secured by a strap of calico, called a bond-robbin, saturated with cement, and passed round near the juncture. The tip being fitted and robbined, the whole of the exterior is covered with cement, and when quite dry, the proper width of the brim is adjusted by means of a gauge and a knife, the gauge consisting of the segment of an oval attached to a straight rod at right angles with the longer axis, and furnished with notches for the reception of the back of the knife at the proper distance. The body is now ready for covering with silk plush, which is woven like velvet and has a nap or slug on one side; it is partly supplied to this country from Lyons, whence this kind of hat is called a French hat, but it is also manufactured at Banbury, Coventry, and in Spitalfields. It is cut into threes, namely, a circular piece for the crown of the hat, a rhomboidal piece for the side, and a long slip for the brim. The latter is cut of greater width than is sufficient to cover both sides of the brim, and the two ends are sewn together; the crown and the side piece are also sewn together, the sloping opening at the side being left unsewn. The hat body being smoothed with sand-paper, the strip for the brim is put on, wetted with a sponge, and the adhesion completed by means of a hot iron; the moisture and heat temporarily dissolving a portion of the shell-lac. In fitting on the brim-strip the workman is furnished with a brass wire attached to a rope stirrup; this wire serves him as a third hand, for he can gather up under it, and hold fast the various puckers that are formed, while both hands are at liberty to make the required adjustment, and when once he is satisfied, the wet sponge and the hot iron fix his work. The superfluous portions above the wire are either cut off, or, for the under part of the brim, are turned inside the hat and attached to the body. The cover of plush is next drawn over the body and nicely adjusted; it is attached by moisture and heat as already described, and the diagonal line formed by the union of the parts is concealed under the nap. Some skill is required to cover a hat body neatly; but this being done, the plush is smoothed by a carding comb, a box-wood dummy, and a velvet cushion. After the hat has been trimmed and lined by women, the brim receives its shape, and the body itself may also be considerably modified by the aid of a stove-heat. Loose or imperfect filaments are now removed by means of a steel picker, the hat is once more polished up, and being packed in paper is ready for the market.

The exports in 1864 of hats manufactured in the United Kingdom amounted to 138,060 dozen; the declared real value of these being L252,102. In the same year the quantity imported of silk plush for hats was 144,116 lbs.; of which the computed real value was L86,469. The duty on imported hats (at one time as high as 10s. 6d. each), was reduced in 1853 to 1s.

Hats, Straw. The manufacture of straw hats and bonnets has only existed for about a century in Great Britain; yet it has attained great perfection, and has become an important branch of industry. In no other part of the Hats. world, except North America, is the custom of wearing bonnets so universal as among the women of this country. A constant demand is thus created for the article; and to this may partly be attributed the progress of the home manufacture. Large importations were formerly made of the beautiful straw hats of Leghorn and Tuscany, which were celebrated two centuries ago; but this commerce, being disturbed by political troubles, gradually declined, while our own manufacture from indigenous grasses received encouragement. Still the fine rich colour of the Tuscan straw, its smoothness, and beauty, caused it to be much valued, and imported hither to be worked up by our own people after the Italian method. By this method a broad flat plait is produced in the following manner:—A certain number of straws, frequently thirteen, equal in colour and fineness, are tied together at one end. They are then divided into two bundles, six turned to the left and seven to the right. The seventh, or outer straw, on the right, is then turned down, and brought under two straws, over two, and under two. There are now seven straws to the left, where the outer straw is again taken and turned down under two, over two, and under two. Thus, backwards and forwards, the plaiting proceeds, until a straw is used up. Another straw is then put in under the short end in the middle of the plait, and is fastened by the crossing of the other straws over and under it. This kind of plait is formed in pieces of great length, which are adjusted, according to the Italian method, in large coils, so as to form flats, as they are called, the edges being cleverly knitted together by a thread, which is run straight along in the interior, and entirely concealed. The demand for this kind of plait is now very limited, the fashion having been superseded by fancy straw-plaits like those of Switzerland, which are now produced in such great variety in this country. The chief seats of manufacture of British straw-plait are the counties of Bedford, Hertford, and Buckingham, and in these and some other counties a population of about 70,000 persons is said to be employed in this trade, producing a yearly return which has been reckoned at from L800,000 to L900,000. In the end of the last century, straw-plaiting was successfully introduced into the Orkneys and other parts of the N. of Scotland. In the case of British-grown straw, the process is as follows:—The best and whitest straws are selected, cut into equal lengths, bleached by exposure to fumes of burning sulphur, and split lengthways into several segments. The splitting is performed by means of a wire, having four, six, or eight sharp, cutting edges, which is passed up the middle of the straw. The slits of straw are then softened in water, and are in a convenient state for plaiting. As the plait is formed it is passed between wooden rollers to make it flat and hard. The hat or bonnet is formed by winding this plait on a wooden shape in a spiral direction, leaving a little overlap, which is sewed to the part beneath, and then pressed with a hot iron. At the present time, however, the taste for fancy bonnets has lessened the demand for simple straw bonnets of this kind. Various new materials—Brazilian grass, whalebone, shavings, &c.—are introduced into the manufacture; and mixtures of straws, British and foreign, are invented to gratify the love of novelty. This manufacture is healthy and domestic, and is of great value as an employment for women and children.

The description of straw used, which is cultivated solely for the purposes of the manufacture, and not for the grain, is the Triticeum tergatum, a variety of bearded wheat, which seems to differ in no respect from the spring wheat grown in the valley of Evesham and other parts of England. (Trans. of Soc. of Arts.) After undergoing a certain preparatory process, the upper parts of the stems (being first sorted as to colour and thickness) are formed into a plait of generally thirteen straws, which is afterwards knitted together at the edges into a circular shape called a "flat," or hat. The fineness of the flats is determined by the number of rows of plait which compose them, counting from the bottom of the crown to the edge of the brim, and their relative fineness ranges from about No. 20 to 60, being the rows contained in the breadth of the brim, which is generally eight inches. They are afterwards assorted into first, second, and third quality, which are determined by the colour and texture, the most familiar being denominated the first, whilst the most defective is described as the third quality. These qualities are much influenced by the season of the year in which the straw is plaited. Spring is the most favourable, not only for plaiting, but for bleaching and finishing. The dust and perspiration in summer, and the benumbed fingers of the workwomen in winter, when they are compelled to keep within their smoky huts, plaiting the cold and wet straw, are equally injurious to the colour of the hats, which no bleaching can improve. The flats are afterwards made up in cases of ten or twenty dozen, assorted in progressive numbers or qualities, and the price of the middle or average number governs the whole. The Brent make bears the highest repute, and the Sipson is considered secondary; which names are given to the flats, from the district where they are plaited. Florence is the principal market, and the demand is chiefly from England, France, Germany, and America; but the kinds mostly required are the lower numbers; the very finest hats, particularly of late, being considered too expensive by the buyers. (c. t.)