Cross-dressing

Denis de Repas, a French official at the English Court, wrote to Sir Robert Harley of court women's delight in transvestism: "Unless one hath the eyes of a Lynx, [which] can see through a wall, for by the face and garbe, the women are like men: they do not wear hood or gown, but only men's perwik hats and coats" (Sergeant 125). Female transvestism at the Restoration court (its social, feminist, and sexual impulses) is a rich subject, which merits more attention from scholars. We are just beginning to appreciate the popularity of this vogue or divertissement; see, e.g., Emma Donaghue, Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture, 1688-1801 (NY: HarperCollins, 1995).