ABSTRACT
Here comes Jack Tar, his bowed legs carrying him up Broadway in a rolling stride1 which immediately marks him as a man defending himself against non-existent dangers and perhaps ill-prepared for the solid and alien ground of New York City. In his dress he is, in the words of a superior, “very nasty and negligent”;2 his black stockings are ragged; his long, baggy trousers-blue or wine-colored, or striped-are tarred to make them waterproof; under his short pea jacket he wears a blue or a yellow vest, or possibly one of the spotted ermine kind sold by Philip Livingston; his large round hat, made of felt or beaver and perhaps with a yellow binding, slopes across his face, partially covering his wig.3
