Many thanks to all of you.

I've been cobbling together a Town Crier's costume to serve the Township of Rideau Lakes in Leeds & Grenville County, Ontario, Canada (about 75 miles north of Syracuse New York.

Town Crier's usually kit themselves up in a muddle of mixed uniforms, often ending up with a mix of American-British-French. Taking note that my township was settled first by Loyalists (Tories) from the American Revolution, then by the Scots and Irish, who were involved with the Royal Engineers and the Corps of Royal Sappers & Miners building the Rideau Canal, I have used the Scots/Irish as my primary blend.

I had a kilt tailored last year. Since then I've bought a feather (Highland) bonnet (uncomfortable monster, it is!), and paraphenalia including spats, skien dhub, hair sporran, sealskin sporran, tweed cutaway jacket, checked hose-tops, wide belt, long dirk, glegarry and white cross-belts. Now I am having a red cape and a neck-high waistcoat tailored The cape will have some gold braid, loops on the collar, which will be a shawl collar under which is a second collar in green. The fabric used is doeskin, and it will be tailored, in Kingston, by a chap who fashions military mess kits and uniforms for Canada's Grenadier Guards.

Thinking of rejecting the tall feather bonnet, I saw that statues of Lieut-Col John By R.E. (The fellow who engineered the canal) show him wearing a bicorn. I've written to the Speaker of Canada's House of Parliament asking him to pass along any hand-me-downs. He wears one every day when he opens parliament. His Sergeant at Arms wears a tri-corn. I just wrote last week, I'm still waiting.

Meanwhile I have ordered a tri-corn hat from an outfit called Jas. Townsend & Son, in Indiana. They asked me to tell them what kind of cockade I wanted. Thanks to your string on cockades and 'stuff' (Yea, verily, there was much 'stuff') I was ably to declare, quite firmly, "Black, please."
OH, it will be a muddle, but it certainly will do the trick!
Cheers! & OYEZ! OYEZ! OYEZ!

Jones Falls on the Rideau Canal