protexity

Updated: May 10, 2025

Eliot, the noble preacher and missionary to the Indians, found time even in the midst of his arduous and incessant duties to deliver many a blast against "prolix locks," "with boiling zeal," as Cotton Mather said, and he labelled them a "luxurious feminine protexity;" but lamented late in life that "the lust for wigs is become insuperable."

Alice Morse Earle - Sabbath in Puritan New England

John Wilson and Cotton Mather wore them, but Rev. Mr. Noyes launched denunciations at them from the pulpit and the Apostle Eliot delivered many a blast against "prolix locks with boiling zeal," and he stigmatized them as a "luxurious feminine protexity," but yielded sadly later in life to the fact that the "lust for wigs is become insuperable."

Alice Morse Earle - Customs and Fashions in Old New England