DANDY, a word which about 1813-16 became a London colloquialism for the exquisite of the period. It is probably de rived from the French dandin, "a ninny or booby," but in The Northampton Mercury (April 17, 1819), occurs the follow ing: "Origin of the word 'dandy.' This term, which has been re cently applied to a species of reptile very common in the me tropolis, appears to have arisen from a small silver coin struck by King Henry VII., of little value, called a dandiprat; and hence Bishop Fleetwood observes the term is applied to worthless and contemptible persons." It was Beau Brummel, the high-priest of fashion, who gave dandyism its great vogue, though it existed before his day. About the middle of the i8th century was founded the Macaroni club. This was a band of young men of rank who had visited Italy and sought to introduce the southern elegances of manner and dress into England. Their costume is described as "white silk breeches, very tight coat and vest, with enormous white neckcloths, white silk stockings and diamond-buckled, red-heeled shoes." For some time the moving spirit of the club was Charles James Fox. It was with the advent of Brummel, however, that the cult of dandyism became a social force. Beau Brummel was supreme dictator in matters of dress, and the Prince Regent is said to have wept when he disapproved of the cut of the royal coat. Around the Beau collected a band of young men whose insolent and affected man ners made them universally unpopular. Their chief glory was their clothes. They wore coats of blue or brown cloth with brass buttons, the coat-tails almost touching the heels. Their breeches were buckskin, so tight that it is said they "could only be taken off as an eel would be divested of his skin." A pair of highly polished Hessian boots, a waistcoat buttoned incredibly tight so as to produce a small waist, and opening at the breast to exhibit the frilled shirt and cravat, completed the costume of the true dandy.
See Barbey D'Aurevilly, Du dandysme et de G. Brummel (1887); Sir A. Conan Doyle, Rodney Stone (1896).