The Infamous Brown Knitted Garment

[heather_mist]

"And as Stephen rose to wave and hoot, Jack saw that he was dressed from head to foot in a single tight dull-brown garment; it clung to him, and his pale, delighted face emerged from a woollen roll at the top, looking unnaturally large.  His general appearance was something between that of an attenuated ape and a meagre heart....

'Mr Simmons,' said Jack, fixing him with a hard, savage eye, 'this is my friend Dr Maturin, who will be accompanying me.  Dr Maturin, Mr Simmons, the first lieutenant of the Lively.'
'Your servant, sir,' said Stephen, making a leg: and this, thought Jack, was perhaps the most hideous action that a person in so subhuman a garment could perform....

Jack got him into the after-cabin at last... here he sat on a locker and gazed at Stephen's garment.  It had been horrible at a distance; it was worse near to - far worse...
'Stephen, will you for the love of God take off that thing?'
'My wool garment?  You have noticed it have you?  I had forgot, or I should have pointed it out.  Have you ever seen anything so deeply rational?  See, I can withdraw my head entirely: the same applies to the feet and the hands.  Warm yet unencumbering; light; and above all healthy - no constriction anywhere!  Paris, who was once a framework knitter made it to my design: he is working on one for you at present' "
Post Captain Ch. 12

Words Fail Me. 
*facepalm*