" What the meeting desired to ascertain
was the views as to this revival that were held by those empowered to
offer opinions.
Lord RIBBLESDALE said that there was no doubt that a tall hat was
the most becoming headgear for a gentleman. But a certain regard for
idiosyncracies was important. No gentleman should take without scrutiny
what the hatter offered. Hats were individual things, and as the
character changed and developed so should the hat. The hat that suited
one at forty might be a sad anachronism at fifty. He himself had
endeavoured not only to make his life correspond to his hats, but his
hats correspond to his life. (Loud applause.) As the Master of the
Buck-hounds he wore, as any visitor to the National Gallery at the
present moment might see, at the head of the staircase on the left, a
tall hat that was slightly lower than that which he wore to-day, now
that he had relinquished that responsible and romantic post. He urged
his hearers to encourage the silk hat revival.
Sir SQUIRE BANCROFT concurred with the illustrious nobleman who had just
spoken. The choice of a hat should be the subject of the most earnest
thought, even of prayer. (Cheers.) Not only the shape but the colour.
There were hats that were black and hats that were white.
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