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Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
CIVIL
COSTUME AT LOUISBOURG: 1713 - 1758
MEN'S COSTUME
BY
MONIQUE LA GRENADE
March 1972
(Fortress of Louisbourg Report H-F16AE)
Translated By Christopher Moore
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE ON FABRICS - TISSU, ÉTOFFE, DRAP, TOILE
Several terms used to describe fabrics lack satisfactory equivalents in English. Those that present the greatest problem are generic terms covering a variety of fabrics.
The most general term is tissu which has been translated in this report as "material" or "fabric".
Etoffe and drap are slightly more specific. Drap is roughly equivalent to "cloth" and is used in many combined terms, as in drap d'Elbeuf, Elbeuf cloth. According to Diderot, drap is "of all qualities and of an infinity of different shapes and size". Diderot describes étoffe as "a general name signifying all sorts of manufactures [including] velvets ... taffetas, draps, serges, etc." However, it should be noted that a distinction was drawn between drap and étoffe at Louisbourg. Good quality suits were often made of drap while less expensive ones were made of étoffe. Hence étoffe seems to have been of lesser quality than drap, though each term covers several fabrics. The adjective gros, meaning coarse or rough, was sometimes applied to varieties of both drap and étoffe: gros drap and grosse étoffe.
Toile evidently refers to a particular weave rather than to a type of fabric. "There are toiles of all sizes and a nearly infinite number of different types". (Diderot) The governor's fine shirts were a type of toile equivalent to linen, but there was also a type of toile used for making sails, and other toiles between these extremes. Toile has been left untranslated in this report, but the context will frequently suggest whether a fine or rough fabric is indicated.