Dolly Varden

the coquettish but warmhearted daughter of Gabriel Varden in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge. In the beginning of the story she is described as a "pretty, laughing girl; dimpled and fresh and healthful--the very impersonation of good humor and blooming beauty." After an interval of five years, she comes again upon the scene: "When and where was there ever such a plump, roguish, comely, bright-eyed, enticing, bewitching, captivating, maddening little puss in all this world as Dolly? . . . This same Dolly Varden, so whimsical and hard to please that she was Dolly Varden still, all smiles and dimples, and pleasant looks, and caring no more for the fifty or sixty young fellows who at that very moment were breaking their hearts to marry her, than if so many oysters had been crossed in love and opened afterwards." Dolly wears a cherry colored mantle and cherry colored ribbons. Her attire is always dainty and bewitching and gay. With no real descriptions of her costumes the author so frequently alludes to their attractiveness that the name, "Dolly Varden," has ever since been in use. In the early seventies a popular style of costume was named the Dolly Varden. A pointed bodice and a light muslin skirt, printed with gay flowers and tucked up over a petticoat of solid color, were the distinguishing features of the Dolly Varden gown. Dimity or other dainty fabrics of delicate color besprinkled with bright flowers are often called Dolly Varden patterns.