Maccaronies
Posted by Ross Rosenberg
The Macaroni, 18th century fop and precursor to the Dandy. Formally, the macaroni is the small, tri-corner hat seen perched atop the gentleman’s towering wig. In the parody “Yankee Doodle” an American “doodle”, or fool, places a feather in his hat, proclaiming that it made him stylish, or “macaroni”. It was also an oft repeated rumor in Britain that members of the “Maccaroni Club” were sodomites.
While no such club actually existed, the phrase was used in newspaper articles and letters in reference to the trial of Captain Robert Jones who, in July 1772, was convicted of sodomizing a thirteen year-old boy. He would be pardoned later but not before reporters and outraged citizens had thoroughly intertwined his behavior with that of “The Maccaroni Club (which is composed of all the travelled young men who wear long curls and spying-glasses)” and, in doing so, permanently besmirched the public image of the fashionable, towering wig.
The Macaroni Club [Rictor Norton] : Wikipedia : Scribal Terror
Categories: Boys Boys Boys, Homosexuals, Fashion
Posted at 4:57 pm on November 8, 2007
6 Comments -
Finally, I have found my people.
Comment by Qais Fulton — November 8, 2007 @ 7:53 pm
^^^^Yeah, I was just gonna say…
Comment by Eliza Gauger — November 9, 2007 @ 3:06 am
I love this stuff!
Comment by Mogo the mmoMugger — November 9, 2007 @ 3:38 am
@Qais: rule 34? ^_~
so, was Captain Jones pardoned because he didn’t do such a deed? could he be posthumously punished for his besmirching the be-wig’d?
Comment by zanbowser — November 9, 2007 @ 9:32 am
Looking around Mr. Norton’s site I found this:
“The legal argument for Jones’s pardon was (1) that the boy had consented to sex on several occasions, (2) that had the boy been just a year older he would himself have been prosecuted as a particeps crimen (the age of consent for males was fourteen), and (3) that the evidence came solely from the boy, who may have been coached to insist that anal penetration had taken place (the evidence for masturbation is clear, but that would entail only a conviction on the misdemeanour of ‘assault with intent to commit sodomy’, rather than conviction on the capital felony).”
The Royal Pardon was granted with the condition that he leave the country and never return.
As for towering wigs, justice is, I think, beyond their grasp.
Comment by Ross Rosenberg — November 9, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Okay this is awesome. Thanks, Ross.
Comment by V. Blame — November 9, 2007 @ 2:32 pm