Why did Edwards wear a wig?
• At the time, though Edwards was beginning to look a little old fashioned, a wig was a normal garment for a man of respectability and position in society. Edwards, like many other clergymen and officials then, wore a wig much like a politician today tends to wear a suit and tie. Towards the end of Edwards’ ministry in Northampton, when he was losing the respect of his congregation, one individual remarked that he would not show respect to a “wig”, meaning, in this case Edwards. Edwards’ wig wearing may have become an unwitting statement of more passing authoritarian traditions than the new climate was willing to countenance.
