As colour plays such a symbolic role in Donne’s writings, I’m curious to know the dress / colour code for early modern Anglican preachers. What would Donne have worn as he preached from the pulpit of St Pauls?
Have you seen the Encyclopedia Britannica 11 article on vestments? See online at http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Vestments. It would appear from the vestarian controversies that any liturgical colors beyond white and black may have seemed to popish at the time. If there were colors in use, they may have been officially listed somewhere, and article cites a number of scholarly works--all before 1911, of course--that may append lists of colors from various periods. It has been my experience, in research into other questions of church history, that official books on new regulations include a history of earlier regulations.