Riding Habit. This
habit combines colors in a daring way--a bright scarlet habit is given
an aqua silk collar and worn with a black hat with a wide rose ribbon
and two black plumes. The white cravat echoes the cravats so essential
to male fashion of the day. The figure in the background is the lady's
groom--the essential servant for a lady going out for a ride in a public
park. Her elegant horse might have been purchased by an adoring husband
or a kind father or brother at Tattersall's
Horse Auction Yard, opened 1766. The original text for Fig. LV reads
"The hair dressed in easy curls, the hind hair turned up plain. Black
beaver hat, trimmed with a purple velvet riband. Two black feathers placed
on the left side. Full cravat round the neck, tied into a small bow in
the front. Plaited trimming round the neck. One white and one blue under-waistcoat.
Riding dress of scarlet cloth, with a capuchin collar, fastened in the
waist by a belt. Gold loop ear-rings. York tan gloves. Purple Spanish
leather spring heel slippers."
