HAT, a well-known species of head-covering, which has assumed various shapes and characters. What we understand by a hat is a fabric of felt (q.v.), or a silk material used as a substitute for felt. diets are only a variety of the still more ancient cap and bonnet, and were at first made of velvet, silk, and other rich materials. Formed of felt, and assuming a certain firmness of fabric, hats began to be manufactured in Eng. land about 1510, and we hear of them superseding caps, or softer headgear, in the reign of Elizabeth. The felting of caps is, however, said to have been long known anterior to this period; and there is a tradition that a knowledge of felted caps or hats had been introduced by the crusaders. Wool was the material first employed in forming felt hats; but in time, as trade with America was developed• the fur of the beaver (q.v.), as liner and softer, came into use; hence, the term beaver was long synonymous with hat. For about three centuries, fine beaver lulls, dyed black. and prepared with much skill. formed the bend-covering Of the higher classes iu Great Britain; themiddle and humbler classes, still continuing, for a length of time, to use the less expensive caps and bonnets according to the fashions of their ancestors. See BONNET.
The growing scarcity of beaver-fur led to attempts to substitute a cloth formed of silk plush, drawn over a pasteboard frame, about 1810. These were not very success fill; and hats of wool or beaver-felt were common until about 1840. The high cost of beaver at length forced on the improvement of silk hats, and now the beaver is almost entirely superseded; while the fabrication of silk hats has been carried to great perfec tion not only in England, but in continental countries and the United States. The silk hat consist of a body and rim, usually made of two or three layers of cotton-cloth satu rated with varnishes, to give the faliric stiffness, and make it waterproof. These are molded on wooden blocks according to the fashion of the day; and when the desired shape is produced, the whole is carefully furnished over with lac and dammar varnish, end, before dry, the fine silk plush is applied with great nicety, so as to prevent the seams being perceived; it is then trimmed with silk braid on the edge of the brim, and a silken band round the junction of the body with the brim; and the lining of leather and thin silk being put in, it is complete. Lightness, gloss, and durability are the prime qualities of the silk hat; and in these respects the hats oftNew-York manufacture deserve a high commendation. Very excellent hats are made in London, Paris, and Edinburgh; but they are heavier than those of America.
As suggested by the whims of fashion (q.v.), bats have undergone a wide variety of changes of shape. The raising of the top part in which the head is inserted, and the widening or diminishing of the brims, have constituted the chief diffeiences. Some times the top has been high and narrow, sometimes high and widened; and as regards the brim, it has sometimes been so broad as to be looped up.' Political and religious
differences have been marked by the form of hat. The Puritan of the reign of Charles I. adopted the steeple hat, high and narrow with a broad brim, and devoid of orna ment, as the badge of his party. The Cavalier, during the same era, wore a lowe'r and broader crown, with a feather stuck on one side. And a still lower-crowned hat, with a profusion of feathers, became the fashion in the reign of Charles II. The Quaker hat, low in the crown, with a broad brim, and quite plain, dates from the origin of the sect at the middle of the 17th century. A growing extravagance in breadth of brim led to the device of looping up the back and sides, and so was fashioned the cocked hat which was worn by gentlemen throughout the 18th century. But in this cocked-hat era there were exceptions to the fashion. Beaux, by way of singularity, wore low crowned lists with brims, and such must be considered the precursors of the present round-hat, whiCh finally superseded every variety of cocked-hat at the beginning of the 19th century. The writer of this can recollect of only three persons wearing cocked hats as ordinary attire as late as 1810. While cocked-hats ceased to be used by common soldiers at the reform of military costume consequent on the war with the French republic, officers in the army continued till a later period to wear that species of flat tened cocked-hat known as the chapeau, bras—that is, the hat which, by being flattened up, could be carried conveniently under the arm. This kind of hat was disused by reghnental officers about 1812; but with slight variation in shape, it is still continued by field officers in European armies.
Light, handy, and, in effect, adding height to the stature, the common round-hat is easily damaged, and quite unsuitable for rough wear in traveling or when in the country. These inconveniences, as is well known, have led to the introduction of a variety of undress hats, black and gray, and some of them of felt almost as soft as cloth. Such are the wide-awakes, the Toni-and-Jerries, and an innumerable tribe of hats worn by sportsmen, tourists, and youths generally. With these exceptions, the round-hat, with slight changes of form from time to time as suggested by fashion, continues to be the hat proper, worn by all when in ceremonial dress. The only professional hat in England is that of clergymen of the established church. It is a round-hat of fine beaver, with a broad brim, which is looped up at sides and back, so as to form a kind of shovel.. This is ordinarily known as the shovel-hat. During the 18th c., it was not unusual for the gentlemen to wear gold-lace bands and edgings on their hats. This, like some other fantastic decorations of attire, is now resigned to footmen and other domestic servants in livery, whose hats and other garments present a fair specimen of the dress of our foppish ancestors.