laurence had not the least idea what to expect from the occasion , but was careful to dress with especial formality , borrowing riley 's steward jethson to valet him : his best shirt , starched and ironed ; silk stockings and knee-breeches instead of trousers with his polished hessian boots ; his dress coat , bottle-green , with gold bars on the shoulders , and his decorations : the gold medal of the nile , where he had been a naval lieutenant , on its broad blue ribbon , and the silver pin voted recently to the captains of the dover battle .