DANDY  , a word of uncertain origin which about 1813-1816 became a

London colloquialism for the exquisite or fop of the period . It seems to have been in use on the Scottish border at the end of the 18th century, its full form, it is suggested, being " Jack-a-Dandy," which from 1659 had a sense much like its later one . It is probably ultimately derived from the French dandin, " a ninny or booby," but a more direct derivation was suggested at the time of the uprise of the Regency dandies . In The Northampton Mercury, under date of the 17th of April 1819, occurs the following: " Origin of the word ` dandy.' This term, which has been recently applied to a species of reptile very common in the metropolis, appears to have arisen from a small silver coin struck by King Henry VII., of little value, called a dandiprat; and hence Bishop Fleetwood observes the term is applied to worthless and contemptible persons." It was Beau Brummel, the high-priest of fashion, who gave dandyism its great vogue . But before his day foppery in dress had become something more than the personal eccentricity which it had been in the Stuart days and earlier . About the middle of the 18th century was founded the Macaroni Club . This was a band of young men of rank who had visited Italy and sought to introduce the southern elegances of manner and dress into England . The Macaronis gained their name from their introduction of the Italian dish to English tables, and were at their zenith about 1772, when their costume is described as " white silk breeches, very tight coat and vest with enormous white neckcloths, white silk stockings and diamond-buckled red-heeled shoes." For some time the moving spirit of the club was Charles James Fox . It was with the advent of Brummel, however, that the cult of dandyism became a social force . Beau Brummel was supreme dictator in matters of dress, and the prince regent is said to have wept when he disapproved of the cut of the royal coat . Around the Beau collected a band of young men whose insolent and affected manners made them universally unpopular . Their chief glory was their clothes .

They wore coats of

blue or brown cloth with brass buttons, the coat-tails almost touching the heels . Their trousers were buckskin, so tight that it is said they " could only be taken off as an eel would be divested of his skin." A pair of highly-polished Hessian boots, a waistcoat buttoned incredibly tight so as to produce a small waist, and opening at the breast to exhibit the frilled shirt and cravat, completed the costume of the true dandy . Upon the Beau's disgrace and ruin, Lord Alvanleywas regarded as leader of the dandies and " first gentleman in England." Though in many ways a worthier man than Brummel, his vanity exposed him to much derision, and he fought a duel on Wimbledon Common with Morgan O'Connell, who, in the House of Commons, had called him a " bloated buffoon." After 1825 " dandy " lost its invidious meaning, and came to be applied generally to those who were neat in dress rather than to those guilty of effeminacy . See Barbey D'Aurevilly, Du dandysme et de G . Brummel (Paris, 1887) .