Sunday 9 May 1669.
"This day I first left off both my waistcoats by day, and my waistcoat by night, it being very hot weather, so hot as to make me break out, here and there, in my hands, which vexes me to see, but is good for me".
" and my waistcoat by night". Does he mean at night as in bed?
Waistcoat could mean various things to wear on the upper body, including warm things that went next to the skin. I guess that could be in bed. (?) It makes me think of the way an American "vest" is part of a suit, but in some countries a "vest" goes under a shirt.
ReplyDeleteI assumed he meant that it was too hot to wear any waistcoat during the day, and only cooled down enough to wear one in the evening.
ReplyDeleteI did a fair amount of research on waistcoats/weskits a while back, & found that indeed the waistcoat was worn under the shirt as well as over the shirt. Also two waistcoats were sometimes worn at the same time in cold weather.
ReplyDeleteKeith