] On the other hand, there are quite a few references to clergymen at work in JA's books. Robert Ferrars jokes about seeing his brother in "a white surplice", and Henry Tilney talks about choosing his own neck-cloths (not cravats, or anything by a fancy name) But a clergyman's garb doesn't seem to be popular on film. Henry Hayter turns up in his weeds at the big house, and Mr Collins spends much of his time in black breeches and coat, which might, or might not be clerical. But that's about it.

Part of the lack of distinctive clerical "street" dress for Anglican clergymen had to do with the fact that in JA's time one wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything in public that might cause him to be mistaken for a Roman Catholic priest. However, the wide-brimmed black hat with a rounded crown seems to have been one distinguising item of street dress for clergymen.

On the other hand, in most of the recent adaptations, clergymen "at work" (usually performing marriages) look to me more like Presbyterians than Anglicans. They all seem to be wearing black Geneva gowns with white preaching tabs. While it's probable that some "low church" Anglican clergymen did in fact wear outfits like this in church, certainly not all of them did.

I'd expect some of them to be wearing a black cassock with the white suplice Robert Ferrars joked about, and a stole. The cassock was a full-length robelike garment, and the surplice might be described as a VERY oversized white shirt worn over it. The stole was not fur, but a band of cloth about four inches wide and several feet long worn hanging from the neck. I believe in JA's time most stoles were black, though they later came to be used in the liturgical color of the day.

The cassock was "street" wear for Roman Catholic clergy, but you wouldn't have seen Anglican clergy wearing theirs on the street for the reason explained above. In fact, this even resulted in "Roman" and "Anglican" style cassocks. The Roman cassock had a huge number of buttons all the way up the front. The Anglican style was double-breasted with only a few buttons. It other words, it was easy to get into before a service began, and just as easy to get out of when it was over and the clergyman was ready to go outside.

I have posted a link to a site which explains some of this in more detail. The link is provided for the purposes of providing information only, and is not in any way intended to violate RoP's rules regarding the discussion of religion. However, I can't help but add that this particular web site belongs to a minister whose name is "Collins..."