When we first see James, he's taken this robe off in the kitchen to flirt with the sometimes-cook. The outfit I will post next is what he's wearing underneath (the doctor is in the house, so he is dressed ~ otherwise there would likely be nothing underneath!).
I may enhance the lost detail on this as you probably can't read the title of the paper he has in his hand. It's called The Whip. There was a popular underground movement in the 1840s to publish racy political tracts that were ultimately banned as pornography for their lewd poems and often salacious engravings.
In the 1850s, I imagine there may have been one or two still quietly in limited circulation. James would have easily been a contributor to such trashy rags.