.'-t --'J^i,i rjjSJmTiTr^Tr 'MM r^m%MH kiikt mi ip»Mfi 'V#3 Cornell university Library arV12191 Costume in England 3 1924 031 251 238 olin.anx The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031251238 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. COSTUME IN ENGLAND. A HISTORY OF DEESS fbom: iHit BARtrBST PERIOD UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. TO WHICH IS APPENDED an EUustratetJ ©lossarg of SDerms FOB ALL AKTICLES OP USE OR ORNAMENT WORN ABOUT THE PERSON. F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A., ilONOBARY MEMBKn OF Tlia BOCIBTIBB OF ANTIQUABIB B OF NOBUAKDT, FICABDY, AnB FOlTlEBa ; anu cobbbsfondino mbmbbb of TBB 80C1BTT OP AWTIOUABIBS OP SCOTtAND. ILLUSTMATJSD WITM NBARLT SEVEN MVNBBEB ENGSAVINOS DRAWN ON WOOD ST THE AUTMOE. Bttaria 3EDition. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. BEIHTED BY JOHH EDWAED TATIOB, MMLB QrBBK 6TEEET, UKOOIiH'a IlfS BIELDS. PREFACE. EonETEEN years have elapsed since the first edition of this book was printed ; from that time to the present I have seen and noted much that has enabled me to make it still more useful as a book of reference. Fifty-six new engravings have been added, many of much curiosity (such as those on pp. Ill, 205, and 214), and which are not to be found in any other work on Costume. To the literary portion of the historic part of the book I have added much ; and nearly doubled the Glos- sary, which I have also endeavoured to make, by means of cross- references, a sort of index to the whole. The favour with which the book has been received demanded thus much at my hands. To me it has been a labour of love. A knowledge of costume is in some degree inseparable from a right knowledge of history. We can scarcely read its events without in some measure picturing "in the mind's eye" the appearance of the actors ; while correct information on this point has become an acknowledged essential to the historical painter. The reign of imaginary costume has reached its close. A conviction of the necessity and value of "truth " in this par- ticular has been the slow growth of the last half-century. A deaf ear was long turned to the urgency of critical antiquaries by whom it had been studied. Assertions were constantly made IV PEEPACB. of the impossibility of accomplishiag their desires, and twice the necessary amount of trouble was taken in inventing a hete- rogeneous costume that would have been required to procure accuracy. The great principle that all historic painting should be truth- ful in costume, and could be made so, I hope to have proved by the aid of the many woodcuts scattered through the volume. They are unpretending as works of art, and are to be looked on merely as facts ; such they undoubtedly are, and they have been got together with no small care and research, and from very varied sources. Ancient delineations and ancient autho- rities have been solely confided in. By referring to any por- tion of the entire series, the reader may see how thoroughly distinctive the dress of each period is, and how great the dif- ference made by fifty years in every age of England's growth. As no historian could venture to give wrong dates designedly, so no painter should falsify history by delineating the charac- ters on his canvas in habits not known until many years after their death, or holding implements that were not at the time invented. Whatever talent may be displayed in the drawing, grouping, and colonring of such pictures, they are but " painted lies ;" and cannot be excused any more than the history that falsifies facts and dates would be, although clothed in all the flowers of rhetoric. Ealse costume is now an unnecessary obtrusion, and not worth an excuse. Modern continental painters, and some few English ones, have treated the most awkward costume, when necessary to be used, with picturesque efiect ; and it has added a truthfulness to their delineations, a charm and a value not to be obtained by any other means. The general arrangement of this volume may be here ex- plained. Each period is treated distinctly from that which precedes or follows it, and the history of the costume of each period commences with that worn by royalty and nobility ; PHEFACE. then the dresses of the middle classes are considered, and the commonalty in the last place. The civil costume being thus disposed of, that worn by the clergy is next described; and each section closed by a disquisition on the armour and arms of the military classes. Where it has not been practicable to go into minutiae, a reference to the proper name of any article in the Glossary wUl generally furnish the reader with what he requires, as many of the articles there incorporated are in fact illustrated historical essays on various minor articles of cos- tume. My primary design has been to act as a guide rather than a lecturer, — to show where sufficient knowledge may be obtained, rather than to seek to communicate it. This, it is hoped, has been done, and in as clear a form as possible ; a condensation of style and matter has been principally at- tempted, and the illustrations selected as carefully as possible, with a view to the proper delineation of the peculiarities of each period. F. W. Paieholt. 11', Montpelier Square, Brampton, September, 1860. CONTENTS. — ♦ — THB EAELY BEITOHS 1 THE ROMANS IN BEITATN 18 THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES . . 28 THE NOEMANS 60 THE PtANTAGENETS 78 TOEK AND LANCASTER 135 THE TUDOES 183 THE ST0AETS 234 FEOM THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM III. TO DEATH OF GEOEGE II. 279 FEOM THE ACCESSION OF GEOEGE III. TO THE YEAE MDCCC. . 300 GLOSSAEY 335 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. C^£ €nxi^ §ntxrits. The early Msfcory of Britain is involved in an obscurity so pro- found, tliat conjecture, not fact, can only be offered to those who demand minute information upon it. It will therefore follow, that the costume of the inhabitants is but sparingly alluded to by the few authors of the Classic world who cared to notice these semi- barbarous people. A commerce with Britain was commenced at a very early period by the Phoenician merchants, who traded here for tin, which was " so abundant on the coast of Cornwall, that it gave the name Cassiterides to a cluster of islands now called SciUy, from whence the tin was dug and exported."* Strabo, in describing these islands, says : " They are inhabited by a people wearing black gar- ments, or cloaks, reaching down to their heels, and bound round their breasts. They walk with sticks, and wear long beards ."f Such slight notices are all that can be gleaned from the writers of an- tiquity, concerning the dress or appearance of the early Britons, * Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire. The Phoenicians preserved for a long time the exclusive monopoly of this trade, and kept the knowledge of these islands from all other coimtries, as far as lay in their power ; and on one occasion, when a Eoman ship was employed to watch the Fhcenician vessel, the master of the latter ran his ship on shore, where she was lost, together with the Eoman vessel; for which act of heroism he was indemnified from the public treasury. f He uses language almost identical when speaking of the Iberians of the south of Spain, who are by some considered as' their ancestors, and who' may have been a colony of miners induced to settle in our southern counties by the Phceniciana. B a COSTTIME IN ENGLAND. before the invasion of Julius Csesar. From a comparison of their accounts, it would seem that, in nearly every particular, they bore a striking resemblance to the South-8ea Islanders, as described by Captain Cook. According to Pomponius Mela, who flourished about the year of our Lord 45, " the Britons dyed their bodies with woad (which bore a small flower of a blue colour), after they had been tattooed." Herodotus, at a still earlier period, declared the same fact, adding, "that it was with them a mark of nobility, and its absence a testimony of mean descent." Herodian attributes the slight clothing of the northern tribes to their desire of display- ing the figures of animals, etc., thus formed on their persons. The term Picts, applied to their tribes, comes icom picti, used by the Eoman writers to denote this tattooing. Pliny describes the opera- tion as performed in infancy by the wives and and nurses of the British ; and Isidorus says, " They squeeze the juice of certain herbs into figures made on their bodies with the points of needles." Csesar (De Bella Gallico, lib. v. c. 14), speaking of the Britons, says : " Of these, by far the most civilized are those who inhabit Cantium (Kent), the whole of which is a maritime region ; and their man- ners difier little from those of the Gauls.* The natives of the in- terior, for the most part, sow no corn ; but they live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. But all the Britons stain themselves with woad, which gives a blue colour, by which they show a more frightful aspect in battle. They have long flowing hair, and shave every part of their bodies except the head and the upper lip." The inhabitants of Gaul and Britain are considered by Sir R. C. Hoare as originally the same people, — "they had the same customs,' the same arms, the same language, and the same names of towns and persons " (Claverii Germania, p. 20). The Cornish historian Borlase, is also of opinion that Britain received its first inhabitants from Gaul, and says : " Some may think that it derogates from the dignity of a country to allow of a Gaulish original ; but, be the consequences what they will, whenever we are in search of truth, although we discover her in ruins and rubbish, we must acknow- ledge and revere her." They were both descended from the ancient Scjrthians, a nation bordering on the Frozen Ocean, comprehend- ing Eussia and Tartary, — the Nomades of Homer and the Greek writers, afterwards termed Celtse and Iberi. "These Scythians, or Celts," continues Hoare, "commenced their emigrations at a * Tacitus also notes the similarity of the southern Britons to their Gaulish neighbors. The northern tribes appear to have come from Denmark and Scan- dinavia. THE BAELY BEITONS. 3 very early period, and continued them probably to a very late one ; for the Gauls, leading the vagabond life of the Nomades, did not begin to construct regular towns, or apply themselves to agriculture, till after the foundation of Marseilles, about 600 years before the Christian era ; and we are informed by a celebrated French author (PeUoutier), that even in the time of the first emperors the greater part of the Germans were Nomades." Herodian, describing the incursion of the Emperor Severus in the year 207, to repress the northern tribes who disputed the Roman power, desolated the Romanized towns, and sacrificed the lives of thousands of their civilized British subjects, — gives a short descrip- tion of the latter people. He says : " Many parts of Britain were become fenny, by the frequent inundations of the sea. The natives swim through these fens, or run through them up to the waist in mud ; for the greatest part of their bodies being naked, they regard not the dirt. They wear iron about their bellies and necks, esteem- ing this as fine and rich an ornament as others do gold. They make upon their bodies the figures of divers animals, and use no clothing, that these may be exposed to view. They are a very bloody and warlike people, using a little shield, or target, and a spear : their sword hangs on their nated bodies. They know not the use of a breastplate and helmet, and imagine these would be an impediment to them in passing the fens."* Dion, describing the Caledonians encountered by Severus in the same expedition, pictures them as a half- wild race, "having no houses but tents, where they live naked ;" and they seem to have resembled the other inhabitants in their weapons of defence. He says : " The arms they make use of are a buckler, a poniard, and a short lance, at the lower end of which is a piece of brass in the form of an apple. With this their custom is to make a noise, in order to frighten their enemies." Tacitus points out the distinction between the Caledonians with their powerful frames and ruddy hair, and the Silures with their dark complexions and curly locks. He calls the former " a strong warlike nation, using large swords without a point, and targets, wherewith they artfully defended themselves against the missive weapons of the Romans, at the same time pouring showers of darts upon them." It should be remembered that these * The early history of tlieae Northern tribes is involved in obscurity and fable; but we still possess, in the earthen and stone ramparts so laboriously constructed across Britain from sea to sea, by the Eomans, to prevent their incursions, a proof of their prowess, and the dread of the inhabitants of these border cities. Exhumations recently made in them present traces of theii" devastations. ii2 4 COSTTJME IS ENGLAND. warriors had most probably disencumbered tbemselves of a great portion of their attire, in accordance with their custom when about to meet an enemy.* A comparison of these and other descriptions of the aboriginal inhabitants of the British Isles, and an examination of the contents of the sepulchral mounds, or barrows, in various English comities, have furnished the materials for the picture of an ancient Briton, as given to us by Sir S. E. Meyrick and C. H. Smith, Esq., in the work jointly produced by these gentlemen on the Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands. Their words are : " The Celtic tribes, in the progress of their migrations to the British Isles, had, like the inhabitants of the South Sea, lost the antediluvian art of working metals ; and the few copper weapons which, from its extinction, gUttered as rarities in the hands of their chiefs, disap- peared, in aU probability, ere they reached their ultimate destina- tion. The Cimbrian savage, therefore, of Britain and Ireland, clad in the skin of the beast he had slain,t issued in search of his prey from a cave hollowed by Nature, "or a hut scarcely artificial, which the interwoven twigs and leaves presented in a wood. His weapons were a bow and some reed-arrows, headed with flint so shaped as to resemble the barbed metal piles of his ancestors, or pointed with bones sharpened to an acute edge. To assist in carrying these missile implements of carnage, he manufactured a quiver from the osier-twigs that grew at hand ; or he proceeded«to the chase — for his feats in hunting were but the peaceable representations of his deeds in war — with the spear and javelin, formed of long bones ground to a point, and inserted in the oaken shaft, held in the end of which by pegs, they became formidable weapons ; or he waged the savage fight with the death-dealing blows of the four-pointed oaken club. His domestic implements were a hatchet, sometimes used as a battle-axe, formed of an elliptical convexly-shaped stone, rounded by the current of a river, which he fastened to a handle with the fibres of plants; a large flint adze for felling timber, fitted for use in the same way, and a powerful stone hammer. To these he added a knife, formed also of a sharpened stone. Unbaked earthen vessels, the shells of fish, and a few wooden bowls, served * Livy says, "tliat at the battle of Cannae there were Gauls who fought naked from the waist upwards ;" and by Polybius we are also told, " some Belgic Gauls fought entirely naked; but it was only on the day of battle that they thus stripped themselves." t The "Welsh poet Aneurin speaks, in the sixth century, of a chieftain whose " garment was of divers colours, made of the speckled skin of young wolves." THE EAELT BEITONS. 5 to contain his meat and drink. These were all his possessions, save his flocks and herds. The partner of his life passed her time in basket-making, or in sewing together, with leathern thongs or vege- table fibres, the skins of such animals as had fallen victims to her husband's prowess, employing for that purpose needles made of bone exactly similar to those used for the heads of arrows. Clad by preference in the skin, if to be procured, of the brindled ox, pinned together with thorns (a custom still with the Welsh peasantry), ornamented with a necklace formed of jet or other beads, and with the wild-flowers entwined in her long but twisted locks, she attrac- tively became the soother of his toils." A singularly curious tumulus was opened in 1834 on the cliffs at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, Torkshire. In it was found the body of a man, enclosed in a coffin roughly formed from the trunk of an oak.* Owing to the nature of the soU, the contents had been well preserved, and the bones become of an ebon colour. The skull was most striking, from the unusual prominence of the superciliary arches, and the depression immediately above them ; the hollow be- tween them was very deep, the nose prominent, and the whole as- pect singularly wild and savage. The remains of a bronze dagger, with a bone handle similar to that on p. 7, was found, with flint heads of arrows, and a javelin. Pins of bone and wood were found on the body, which had been used to secure the mantle of skin in which it was enveloped. Fragments of a bone ring, and of a girdle orna- ment, were also found, as well as a small basket of wickerwork.fthe bottom and sides formed of bark, stitched together by the sinews of animals. Prom the rude simplicity of this funereal deposit, we may safely conjecture that we look on an ancient Silurian chief, who, in accordance with Eoman record, devoted his days to the chase, at a time when the Phoenician traders only, came to the southern counties of England. Beads and ornaments of jet, sometimes in the form of necklaces and armlets, are found in these graves : Whitby is still celebrated for this native manufacture. The graves of Derbyshire and the northern counties also occasionally afford specimens : it is rare in the south. Gaudy coloured beads of earth or glass are common, and might have been brought by the southern traders in exchange, as we carry them stUl to Africa. The two magnificent volumes published by Sir E. C. Hoare on * It 18 now deposited, -witli it contents, in the Scarborough Museum, f The British iasccmda are frequently mentioned by Ceesar and his contempo- raries, and were purchased as ingenious works, by the Bomans, at high prices, 6 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Ancient Wiltshire abound with specimens which, after the lapse of ages, were disinterred from the burial-places of the early Britons, in that most interesting county, so rich in relics of remote antiquity.* The contents of these graves, then, are the only existing relics in our possession of those early times ; and from them, and the descriptions of ancient authors, must the artist realize the aboriginal inhabitants of Britain. The modes of sepulture vary in many of these graves, and that circumstance enables the antiquary to decide on the priority of each that he investigates. The most ancient tumtili supply us with specimens of arrow-heads of flint and lance-heads of bone, with stone knives and battle- axes, probably used before -J /k / ■\ ™etal ones were intro- ifii li/^ i^\ \') /' A duced and the art of mak- ing them taught in. the British islands by the Ty- rian traders. The central object of the accompanying group is a spear-head of bone; the hole at the bottom received a pin of wood or bone, and so fastened it to the top of the lance ; at each side is a lance-head and dagger, or knife, also of bone. Be- side them are several varieties of stone arrow-heads, chipped rudely into their various shapes. Beneath are stone battle- axes and knives; the axe- heads (1, 2, 3) show the holes through which the handles passed. The knife (4) is of the ear- liest form ; similar ones are seen upon the sculp- tures of theancientEgyp- tians, by whom they were also used, and were held by the hand closed round the narrow top of the stone. * It becomes necessary now to say that a wider investigation and comparison of ancient tumuli, enables us more clearly to define tie ages of their contents and the tribes they inhumed and that some of those described as British by^ Hoare ■V,-*-' THE EAELT BEITONS. Tims, inartificially, lived the ancient Britons, until the Phoenician traders arrived, who communicated to them the art of manufacturing their warhke implements of metal. Although their composition was a mixture of copper and tin, and consequently soft and brittle ; they were much superior, both in appearance and utility, to the bone and flint weapons in use before their time. The next engraving re- presents a few of these x improved implements. No. 1 is a sword: the handle was of horn, and the holes show where the pins that fastened it were inserted.* No. 2 is a spear-head of bronze, showing the socket in which the staff was fised. No. 3is the hunting-spear ; the head, and ferrule at the butt -end, of metal; the handle of wood. No. 4 is also the head of a spear, which was fixed upon the staff by a pin passed through the two holes at its base. No. 5 is another head of a spear. Moulds for making such weapons have been dis- covered both in Britain and Ireland ; engravings of them may be seen in the ArchcBologia, vols, xiv, and xv.f But perhaps one of the most beautiful imple- ments discovered in these tombs is the dagger here delineated : it was found in a grave in Wiltshire, are really more modern. A little comparison of this Work witli recent books on the same subject will soon set the reader right. * Similar ones have been foimd at Pompeii ; they are of early Greek form, and appear on the sculptures and paintings of that people. The Soman sword was of very dififerent form, as may be seen in the cut p. 23. + ArchtBologia, or Miscellaneovs Tracts relating to Antiquity, is the title of this work, to which I shall have frequent occasion to refer. It is published by the Society of Antiquaries at intervals, and contains those papers on antiquities that have been communicated to the Society by its members and others. 8 COSTUME IK ENGLAND. carefully preserved in a steatli of wood, lined with, cloth, and was probably worn at the girdle of some chieftain. The wooden handle of another dagger is represented under it, and is a remarkable speci- men of early art, which Sir E. C. Hoare declared "exceeded any- thing he had yet seen, both in design and execution, and could not be surpassed, if indeed equalled, by the most able workman of mo- dern times." In the annexed engraving will be immediately recog- nized the British zigzag, or the modern Vandyke pattern, which was formed with a labour and exactness almost unaccountable, by thousands of gold rivets, smaller than the smallest pin. The head of the handle, though exhibiting no variety of pattern, was also formed by the same kind of studding. " So very minute, indeed, were these pins, that the labourers had thrown out thousands of them with their shovels, and scattered them in every direction, be- fore by the necessary aid of the magnifying-glass, we could know what they were ; but fortunately enough remained attached to the wood to enable us to develope the pattern." A few of these pins, of the actual size, are shown in the cut, beside the dagger-handle. The bronze weapons called celts were axe-heads, and wM\e probably fixed in handles in the same way as the South-Sea Islanders secure their stone hatchets. A few are represented in the next cut. A singularly curious British shield has been engraved in the twenty- fifth volume of the Archceologia ; it is one of those " used by the Britons before the Eoman invasion, and such as they had been taught to manufacture by the Phoenicians ; for when that people commenced trading with the Britan- nic Isles their targets were of wickerwork, in which the natives are said to have excelled, of a circular form, fiat, and covered with abide." The bronze shields were called tarians, or dash- ers, from the sound they emitted on coming into collision with an enemy.* It will be perceived that * Tacitus says, the Britons were armed with large and blunt swords, and miall bucklers (cetra). "The enormous British swords, blunt at the point, are unfit for close grappling and engaging in a confined space."— 4iM»'« Translation of the lAfe ofAgricola. THE EAELT BE1T0S8. 9 this was held at arm's length, and a handle with a projecting conca- vity for that purpose is observable on the inside, which forms a con- vex boss without. The Anglo-Saxon shield was used in the same manner ; but the umbo, or central knob, was of iron, the rest being convex and of wood. The ornament on this British tarian consists of two series of round bosses between concentric circles. ■ AU the bosses are punched in the metal except four, two of which form the rivets to the handle, and two are the rivets to the metal extremities apparently of a strap ; these four bosses being consequently mov- able. This interesting object was found in October, 1836, in the bed of the Thames, between Little Wittenham and Dorchester, a neigh- bourhood that formed the site of many an engagement between the early Britons and the Homan invaders. It is now in the British Museum. By comparing this with the Highland target, we shall find that although the Eoman mode of putting it on the arm has been adopted by these mountaineers, the boss is stiU retained, but of a much smaller size, and is used to fix or screw a spike upon, which is sometimes a foot in length, and capable of giving a deadly thrust ;* the little knobs are now imitated with brass nails, used to fasten the leather, hide, or plates of metal to the wood beneath, as weE as to render the surface impenetrable to a sword-cut.f The older barrows of Wiltshire, from the simplicity of their con- tents, the rudeness of the urns (which are ornamented with a few simple lines or zigzags with the tool of the workman when soft, and then merely baked. in the sun), and the rough character of the flint weapons found in them, prove their high antiquity, and their priority to the £K}man invasion. Hoare observes, that " in the earliest ages of population each nation was obliged to make use of those articles which the nature of their own soil suppUed, either for domestic or military purposes ; thus we find arrow-heads of flint and bone, and hatchets of stone, deposited with the dead — aU of which, we may fairly conclude, were made at home ; but the beads of glass, jet, and * Gillies Macbane, Major of tlie clan Macintosh, killed thiee opponents at the battle of Culloden, by using his shield-dirk after his sword-arm was broken. Ta- citua, in his TAfe ofAgricola, says that his Batavian cohorts struck with the bosses of their shields, and mangled the faces of the enemy (the British). + A remaxkable breastplate of gold was found at Mold, in Flintshire, which is conjectured to be of this early period, and is similarly decorated with knob-or- nament. It is now in the Britash Museum, and has been engraved and described in vol. xxvi. of the ArcluBologia, with an extra plate of the ornamental details, which will be of much value to the artist, as it shows the taste of this early age, and the pattern then generally adopted. 10 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. amber, together with the niunerous articles of brass, and the rare specimens of pure gold, must have been imported."* The ordinary dress of a Briton at this period was the skin of the brindled or spotted cow, of the beasts killed in hunting, or a cloak of sheepskin. After their connection with the Phoenician traders, the arts of dressing wool and flax, and spinning coarse cloth were introduced. The early Britons and G-auls excelled in the art of dyeing cloth. Pliny enumerates several herbs used for this purpose, and teUs us that they dyed purple, scarlet, and other colours from them alone. The peasantry in Wales have the knowledge of several indigenous plants valuable for imparting colours, and use the leaves of the foxglove and sorrel as preparatives for the purpose. They extract a beautiful yeUow from tansy, brown from nut-leaves, and other colours from lichens. But the favourite with the ancient Britons was the blue produced from the woad, and which they had formerly used in tattooing their bodies. This and red predominated. Before the Eoman invasion, the British chieftain's dress consisted of a close coat or covering for the body, shaped like a tunic, and de- scribed as checkered with various colours in divisions. It was open before, and had long close sleeves to the wrist. Below were loose pantaloons, called by the Irish Irigis, and by the Eomans hrages and hracecB ; whence the modem term ' breeches.' Over their shoulders was thrown the mantle or cloak, called by the Eomans sagvm,, and derived from the Celtic word saic, which signified a skin or hide, and which was the original cloak of the country. Diodorus tells us that it was of one uniform colour, generally either blue or black, the predominating tint in the checkered trou- sers and tunic being red. On their heads they wore a conical cap. On their feet were shoes made of raw cow- hide, that had thehairtumed outward, and reached as far as the ankles. Shoes so con- structed were worn within the last few years in Ireland; and we engrave two from specimens in the Hoyal Irish Academy .f One * Gold and brass were known before iron, as the poet Lucretius observes ; and Csesar tells us, that on his arrival in Britain, he was informed that the island produced iron, but that brass was imported. t In the Highlands of Scotland, according to Mr. Logan, they were also in THE BAELY BEITONS. 11 is of cowhide, and drawn together by a string over the foot ; the other has a leather thong, which is fastened beneath the heel inside, and, passing over the instep, draws the shoe Kke a purse over the foot. Both are of untanned leather. Martial has a line of comparison — " Like the old braccae of a needy Briton ;'' and they seem to have been the distinguishing mark between the Homans and the less civUized nations of antiquity, who were fre- quently styled " breeched barbarians " by this haughty people. Per- haps the best idea of an ancient Briton may be obtained by an ex- amination of the statues in the Louvre, of the Gaulish chiefs there exhibited, and who, in point of costume, exactly resembled them. One of these figures is here engraved. He wears the capacious sagum, described by Strabo as "a garment open in the middle, which descended nearly to their knees," and was fastened by a brooch or fibula in the centre of the breast, or sometimes upon the right shoulder. His tunic, which reaches a little below the knees, is secured by a girdle round the waist. His bracca; are very loose upon the leg, and are gathered tightly round the ankle, where they terminate in a sort of plait or fringe.* His shoes are close and use : lie says tliat they were exceedingly pliable, and were perforated with holes to allow the water to pass through when their wearers were crossing morasses. * Theselongbreeches, or trousers, common to the Gaulish and German tribes, gave the name Gallia Braccata to a department in ancient Gaul. 12 COSTITME IN BNOLAND. react to the ankle. Tlie seated figure, from the same collection, ex- hihits the same peculiarities of dress, with the addition of the ca,p, and much longer sleeves to the tunic. This tunic Strabo describes as slit up be- fore and behind, like the modem frock- coat, as far as the waist, where it was se- cured by a girdle. It was termed oao'a- calla in the Eoman era, and introduced to classic costume by the Emperor Aure- lius Antoninus, who was nick-named from it. His father, Septimius Severus, was go- vernor of Lugdunum (Lyons), in Gaul, where he was bom a.d. 188. It ultimately came into general use among the Eoman people, and is more clearly exhibited in our engraving from a bronze found at Lyons. Strabo says, the Gaulish cloth was made of a coarse, harsh kind of wool, but thick and warm ; that some was finer, and woven crosswise, of various colours. These parti-coloured and fringed dresses are fre- quently represented on the barbaric figures in Eoman monuments, particularly in Gaul. The fringes are genera,Uy represented long and • full ; sometimes arranged in bunches, and as if formed of wools, which may have been dyed of various colours. See cut, p. 22. The Britons, like the ancient Gauls> allowed their hair to grow thick on the head; and, although they shaved their beards close on the chin, wore immense tangled mous- taches, which sometimes reached to their breasts.* Among the Townley marbles, in the British Museum, is a magnificent bust of a barbaric chieftain, or king, who was a captive to Eome ; it so completely gives us the fashion of hair as worn by the British chieftains, that it has been con- jectured to be a bust of Caractacus, whose noble character was held in high esteem by the Eomans.t The loose, neglected * Piodorus Siculus saya, that among the Gauls many shaved their beaxds, others wore them long; their nobles and distinguished persons shaved their cheeks slightly, and allowed their whiskers to grow to a great length. This writer and Strabo attribute to the Gauls a vulgar appearance and savage coun- tenance, f It has been beautifully engraved in one of the plates of ancient marbles THE EAELT BEITONS. 13 hair growing over the foretead, and the ferocious yet majestic me- lancholy of the face, are worthy the study of the artist who would faithfully represent this early English hero, who has at least no un- worthy counterpart in the bust here given. Round the neck, bands of twisted gold wire, called torques,* were worn, and bracelets on the arms, of simi- lar construction. In the Museum at Bonn is preserved the cenotaph of M. Cselius, a soldier of the 18th Legion, who perished with Varus and the three le- gions totally destroyed by Arminius in the time of Augustus. He is represented with a victor 's garland, wearing a wreathed torque, and having others of more mas- sive form depending from his shoulders, as exhibited in our wood- cut. They were frequently of great weight and value, and formed a considerable part of the wealth of those who wore them. They were the chief portion of the spoil when a Celtic army was con- quered, and were bestowed as rewards upon the E.oman soldiers, upon whose monuments the number of torques awarded to them are frequently enumerated. T. Manlius obtained the cognomen of Torqua- tus, from having become possessed in battle of a valuable one belonging to a Gaulish chief. Dio- dorus says, they wore ar- millsB, bracelets, torques, rings, and breastplates of unadulterated gold. Of the female dress of this early period no relics save ornaments remain; of these some few specimens are here engraved. published by the Dilettanti Society, accompanied by the learned description of B. P. Knight, the distinguished antiquary, who has declared the opinion above expressed. * Engravings and descriptions of these and other articles of Costume, only named or briefly alluded to in the text, will be found in the Glossary at the end of the volume. 14 COSTUME IN ENOLAND. Kg. 1 is a necklace of beads, each bead being cut so as to repre- sent" a group of several, and give the effect of many small round -beads to what are in reality long and narrow ones. Fig. 2 is a neck- lace of simpler construction, consisting of a row of rudely-shaped beads, its centre being remarkable for containing a rude attempt at representing a human face, the only thing of the kind Hoare disco- vered of so ancient a date in Britain. Fig. 3 is another necklace, consisting of a series of curious little shells, like the hirlas horn* used by the Britons, which are perforated lengthways, and thus strung together. Fig. 4 is a pin of iron, supposed to have been used as a fastening for a mantle ; it is ornamented with two movable rings. Fig. 5 is a small gold ornament, checkered like a chess-board, and suspended from a chain of beautiful workmanship, which, in taste and execution, bears a striking similarity to our modern curb-chains. Fig 6 is an earring, a bead suspended from a twisted wire of gold. Fig. 7 is a brass ornament, and fig. 8 a similar one of gold : such or- naments are usually found upon the breasts of the exhumed skele- tons of our tumuli, and were probably fastened on their clothes as ornaments. Their cruciform character might lead to a doubt of their high antiquity, if we were not aware of the fact, that the sym- bol of the cross was worn as an amulet or ornament ages before the Christian era.t They are here engraved to convey an idea of the sort of ornamental taste displayed by our forefathers. In Douglas's NenicB Britarmicce some beautiful specimens of these ornaments and cruciform fibulse may be seen, with a dissertation on the remote an- tiquity of this emblem. These are all the articles of dress actually remaining to us ; but the description of Boadicea, left us by Dion Cassius, will help us to form a fair notion of the general appearance of a British female. She wore her long yellow hair flowing over her shoulders ; round * These horna were formed from those of the ox, and were used for huBting, and also for drinking. The "Pusey horn," which was given by Canute to an an- cient member of that family, according to the mode then common of thus con- veying landed property (and which the inscription on this horn commemorates), was made so that by screwing on a stopper at the smaller end, it could be used for drinking from, as represented in ancient manuscripts. f In the Desoription de VEgypte, published by the French goverimient under Napoleon, is an engraving of a small cross with a hole at the top, by which it was suspended, as they are now worn in Catholic countries, and which was disinterred from an Egyptian sarcophagus. In the British Museum is an Assyrian sculp- ture, representing a regal figure, who has a perfect Maltese cross suspended from his neck, precisely similar to that found in the grave of St. Cuthbert. We are also told that the Druids used this symbol in the earliest times. THE EAELT BRITONS. 15 her neck a golden torque, and bracelets ornamented her arms and wrists. She was attired in a tunic of several colours (blue, reef, and yellow, or a mixture of these colours, predominated), which hung in folds about her. A cloak was thrown over all, which was fastened by a fibula or brooch. The details of the earliest English costume haye been thus en- tered upon, because it was felt necessary to guide the artist, in his delineation of ancient life, by fact illustrations alone ; and many attempts have been made in expensive works, having much preten- sion to accuracy, that may considerably mislead him in his details ; authorities have been cited and used that are in reality of little va- lue, and plates the result of this guess-worh are fortified by learned descriptions and quotations apparently unquestionable, of authori- ties by no means valid, and from which it would not be difficult to manufacture the most absurd figures. The descriptions of ancient writers should be the groundwork of the design, and all its acces- sories may be readily obtained by a reference to the works treating of the contents of early British sepulchres, where alone the real articles are to be met with that once decorated our forefathers. The style of embellishment ordinarily used at this period may be ga- thered from the simply-varied decorations of the breast ornaments in Hoare's South Wiltshire, " Tumuli," pi. 10 and 26 ; or else from the many vases engraved in the same work. From these and the figures of Gaulish chiefs extant, or the bas-relief upon Trajan's co- lumn, enough for the artist's purpose may be obtained ; but on no account should he depend implicitly upon any attempt to realize these people in modern designs, however they may be backed by learned statements ; for they all fail in truthfulness in many parti- culars, upon a comparison with any genuine antique figure. Druidio costume was of patriarchal simplicity. Long white gar- inents covered their persons, and reached to the ground. A mantle, also of white (but bordered, some authors say, with purple), hung from their shoulders, and fell in broad folds to the feet ;* it was fastened upon the shoulders by drawing a portion through a ring. They were crowned with oak-leaves, and the arch-druid bore in his hand a sceptre. A singularly interesting bas-relief was discovered at Autun, and engraved in Montfaucon's AntiquitS JSxpliqttSe, which aflbrds us the best and only actusil authority for Druidic cos- * The Gauls in tlieir religious ceremonies made use of a square tunic with stripes of purple, gradually diminishing on either side, accordiag to Isidorua ; and Pliny adds that the ground was white. Lenoir, Musie des Monuments Fran- t^ais. 16 COSTTTMB IN ENGLAND. ,^^f^'!>^ tume. It represents a Druid in his long tunic and mantle, holding in his right hand the sacred symbol of the orescent ; the arch-druid beside him is crowned with oak-leaves, and bears a sceptre. The Druids were divided into three classes — the Druid (Der-wydd), or su- perior instructor, distinguished by the " proud white gar- ments," mentioned as his cha- racteristic costume by the an- cient Welsh bard Taliesen, who wrote in the sixth century ; the Ovate, from Go-wydd, or O- vydd, subordinate instructors, who wore robes of bright green, symbolic of the learning they pro- fessed, and their knowledge of the secrets of Nature, whose colours they wore; and the Bards (Beirrd), or teachers of wisdom, and " wearers of long blue robes." Noviciates were clothed in garments of three colonrs — blue, green, and white, or red, which were dis- posed in stripes or spots ; for a disciple about to be admitted a gra- duate is allegoricaUy described by the bards as " a dog with spots of red, blue, and green." {Meyrich.) Various Druidic remains have been discovered from time to time in England and Ireland. In the Eoyal Irish Society are preserved some exceedingly beautiful specimens of the ornaments worn upon the breast of. the chief priest — Mhejodhi- an morian, or breastplate of judgment, believed to be endowed with the power of strangling the wearer who gave false judgment.* There is a beautiful engra- ving ot one of these breastplates in the Archaohgia, vol. vii., from which our cut is copied. The ornaments consist of simple raised * It is wortliy of remark, tliat the priests of ancient Egypt wore a breastplate very similar in form, and believed to be possessed of the same virtues ; and it is perhaps equally singular, that others of the precise form, but made of feathers were worn by the people of the Sandwich Islands. See the plates to Cook's Voy- ages, or the articles themselves in the British Museum. THE EAELY BEITONS. 17 lines and bosses arranged circularly. In the same volume is a later work of art, termed the liath meisicith, or stone of judgment, a large crystal set in silver, and surrounded by other stones. They no doubt had their origin in the Jewish Urim and Thummim. In the second volume of the ArchcBologia there is an engraving, which we also copy, of a lunar ornament, similar to that held by the Druid priest in the Autun bas- reKef ; it is tastefully and beautifully or- namented by indented work in lines and zigzags, or chevrons, a simple species of decoration which runs through all the or- namental works of this early age. From the circumstance of the points of the crescent having upon them at right-angles two small circular plates about the size of a guinea, they were also conjectured to be breast- ornaments, for by passing loops over these they would become rea- dily and conveniently pendulous from the neck of the wearer. They are very thin : the one here engraved weighed but one ounce and six pennyweights. Many other antiquities of the Druidic era may be found scattered through the various volumes of the Archmologia, Hoare's Wiltshire, Eing's MMnimenta Antiqaa, VaJlencey's Collectanea de Behus Hi- hernicis, and Bateman's Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derhyshire. Wright's Celt, Soman, and Saxon, will be found a useful illustrated handbook for the student. 18 W\it '§,amRm m '§nhxn. Aftek the subjugation of the Britons by the Romans, their rule extended over a period of more than 300 years ; during which the Britons became Romanized in their dress, adopting that and the manners in general of their conquerors : the bracose were discarded, and the short Roman tunic, reaching only to the knee, and capa- cious mantle, varying but little from their own sagum, were their ordinary covering. Tacitus tells us, that as early as the time of the command of Agricola in England, the British chieftains began to affect the Roman dress. A few remarks on the costume of the Romans, condensed from Hope's Ancient Costume, and other more voluminous works devoted to that subject, will sufficiently point out the peculiarities of Roman dress. He tells us, that " the pre-eminent dress of the Romans, and which distinguished them in the most marked way, as well from the Greeks as from the barbarians, was the toga. This they seemed to have derived from their neighbours the Etrurians ; and it may be called their true national garb. In the earliest ages of Rome, it appears to have been worn by the women as well as by the men, by the lowest orders as well as by the highest, at home as well as abroad, in the country as well as in town : love of novelty probably caused it first to be relinquished by the women ; next, motives of convenience, by the men in lower stations ; and after- wards, fondness of ease and unconstraint, even by the men of higher rank when enjoying the obscurity of private life, or the retirement of the country. From the Tinsuccessful attempts, however, first of Augustus, and afterwards of Domitian, entirely to abolish a dress which still continued to remind the people more forcibly than was wished of their ancient liberty, it appears that the toga remained the costume of state on all occasions with the patricians until the THE EOMANS IN BRITAIN. 19 last days of Eome's undivided splendour; and we may, I think assert, tliat not until the empire was transferred to Constantinople did the toga become en- tirely superseded by that more decidedly Grecian dress the pallium.* Mr. Hope is inclined to the opinion tha,t the true form of the toga was semicircular, and that al- though no tacks or fasten- ings of any kind are visi- ble in the toga, their exis- tence maybe inferred from the great formality and little variation displayed in its divisions and folds. "In general," he says, " the toga seems not only to have formed, as it were> a short sleeve to the right arm, which was left un- oonfined, but to have covered the left arm down to the wrist. A sort of loop or bag of folds was made to hang over the sloped drapery in front, and the folds were ample enough in the back to admit of the garment being occasionally drawn over the head, as it was customary to do during religious ceremonies, and also pro- bably in rainy weather." The figure of the Eoman in his toga here given is copied from one in Hope's book : it very clearly shows its form, with the knobs to keep it down. The toga was formed of wool ; the colour in early ages its own na,tural yellowish hue. In later periods this seems, however, only to have been retained in the togas of the higher orders, inferior persons wearing their's dyed, and candidates for public offices having them bleached by an arti- ficial process. In times of mourning the toga was worn black, or left off altogether. The tunic was a later introduction among the Eomans than the toga, and, being regarded as a species of luxury, " was discarded by * A mantle which generally reached to the thigh, and was fastened by a fibula to the right shoulder, allowing free motion to that arm, and covering the left ; its corners were loaded by weights to make it sit more straight and elegantly on the body. The Saxon cloak or mantle was precisely similar. c2 20 COSTTTMB IN ENGLAND. those who displayed and affected humility, such as candidates and others. The tunic of the men only reached halfway down the thigh ; longer tunics being regarded by them all as a mark of effe- minacy, and left to women and to Eastern nations. The inferior functionaries at sacrifices wore the tunic without the toga ; so did the soldiers when in the camp. The tunic of senators was edged with a purple border, called laticlavus, and that of the knights with a narrow border. called angusticlavus. " The pallium, or mantle, of the Greeks, from its being less cumbersome and trailing than the toga of the Komans, by degrees superseded the latter in the country and the camp. When worn over armour, and fas- tened on the right shoulder with a clasp or button, this cloak assumed the name of pa- ludwmentwm." The figure here engraved is copied from a bas-relief, representing a So- man emperor assisting at a sacrifice, and clothed in this garment, which on these oc- casions was always drawn over the head, in token of religious reverence. " The common people used to wear a sort of cloak made of very coarse brown wool, and provided with a hood, which was called cucuUus. This hooded cloak, always given to Telesphorus, the youthful companion of Esculapius, remains to this day the usual protection against cold and wet with all the seafaring inhabitants both of the islands of the Archipelago and the shores of the Mediterranean." The small cut here given is copied from a figure of Telesphorus, engraved by Hope ; and it will at once be seen how admirably this garb would adapt itself to our more northern climate. The costume of Home would in many in- stances be the most comfortable and commodious of dresses; and as it found many analogies in the British gaib, the native chiefs had but to discard the braccse to speedily become Eomanized. To this they soon accommodated themselves, and it became considered as a barbarism to retain the more un- civilized native dress. This hooded garment, called hwrdocwcullus by Martial, who speaks of it as a Gaulish habit, resembled the ptstmla, which is well THE E0MAN8 IN BEITAIN. 21 exhibited on the monument of Blussus at Mayence, here engraved. It was worn over the tunic in journeys and in cold weather, and also had a hood. In addition to this there was also a cape with a hood (bvrrus), which was a common vest- ment, and seems to have been made in Gaul. Blussus is re- corded on the monu- ment as a sailor, aged seventy-five years at the time of his death. Beside him is seated his wife, " probably many years his junior. She seems to have tem- pered her grief with judgment, and to have taken advantage of the mournful event to set herself forth to the world in her gayest costume. She had evidently dressed carefully for the portrait. She wears a vest fitting closely to the arms and bust, and at the neck gathered to a frill, which is enclosed by a torques. The cufis turn back like the modem gauntlet cufPs. Over this hangs a garment, which falls gracefully down in front, and is crossed at the breast over the left arm. The jewellery of the widow is of no common description, nor niggardly bestowed. Upon the breast, below the torques, is a rose-shaped ornament, or brooch, and beneath that a couple of fibulae; two more of a similar pattern fasten the upper garment near the right shoulder, and upon the left arm just above the left elbow; an armlet encircles the right arm, and bracelets the wrist. The personal decorations completed, the sculptor has typified some of the lady's domestic virtues by the implements of weaving held in the hand, and the pet dog in her lap."* The similarity of these ornaments to many exhumed in Britain and Germany, prove that intermixture of races and their customs noted by Classic writers : thus monuments and relics corro- borate history. * I borrow the description and copy the engraTing from the second volume of Eoach Smith's CoUectcmea AnUqua, in which work an abundance of rehcs of the Roman and Saxon periods are published, greatly illustrative of the costume of both epochs. 22 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. The difference of costume between the Eoman and British ladies appears to have been not very great. The dress of the Celtic fe- males was generally uniform ; a long gown reaching to the feet, and a shorter tunic to the knee. The figure of a Eoman matron (p. 19), from a statue in the Capitol, engraved by Hope, has been selected to show how well such a dress would suit the Eomanized British females. In his description of the more classic originals, Mr. Hope remarks : " The Eoman ladies wore, by way of under garment, a long tunic descending to the feet, and more peculiarly denominated stola. This vestment assumed all the variety of modification dis- played in the correspdnding attire of the Grecian females. Over the stola they also adopted the Grecian peplum,* under the name otpalla, which palla, however, was never worn among the Eomans, as the peplum was among the Greeks, by men. This external cover- ing, as may be observed in the statues of Koman empresses, displayed the same varieties of drapery, or throw, at Home as at Athens. "f The simplicity of the old Eoman dress was abandoned after the seat of empire was re- moved to Constantinople. A greater love of ornament is visible ; fringes, tassels, jew- ellery appear in profusion; the Spartan simplicity of the old dress was overlaid with the ornament and gay colour- ing of the East. The tunic, once scrupulously plain, or simply edged with colour, was now richly embroidered with a band of gold or rich silk (the paragauda) at the borders. It was an adoption of the barbaric splendors of the nations they subjugated. A figure of Cybele, discovered in the neighbourhood of Chesters, Northumberland, close to the great Eoman Wall, gives us the ex- ample of these decorated borders, engraved Fig. 1. The deep fringes. Figs. 2 and 3, are selected from Gaulish monuments in the south of * This article of dress, in the opinion of Mr. Hope, answered to our shawl, as well in texture as in shape. In rainy or cold weather it was worn over the head ; at other times such a mode expressed humiUty or grief, and was usual in the performance of sacred rites. The intricacy of its own involutions, which varied with the taste of the wearer, prevented its falling ofF, as it was never secured by clasps or buttons. "WTien very long and ample, so as to admit of being wound twice round the body, first under the arms, and a second time over the shoulders, it assumed the name of diplax. j- I cannot close my brief quotations from this valuable book, without earnestly THE EOMANS IN BRITAIN. 23 France, and appear on tunics or the large loose cloaks or mantles. Occasionally the loose sleeves were thus enriched. The ingenuity of the provinces was taxed for the luxurious tastes which ultimately conquered the old exolusiveness of the Eomans, and the peculiar manufactures of Britain, Gaul, Germania, etc., swelled their personal grandeur. At Venta (Winchester) was established an institution for weaving ; and the curious inscription known as " the marble of Thorigny," now at St. Lo, Normandy, records the gifts sent by the imperial legate Claudius Paulinus, propraetor of the province of Britain, whUe he was with the sixth legion of soldiers, at York, to T. Sennius Sollemnius, in Gaul, which include a Canusian chlamys,* a Laodicean dalmatio,'^ a golden fihula set with stones, J two racents,^ and a British iossia (" tossiam Britannicam "), believed to be a robe made of the for of the grey squirrel. (Col. Ant. v. iii. p. 91.) The costume of the Roman soldiers, who played so conspicuous a part at this period in Britain, may be ob- tained in all its va- rieties by a reference to the magnificent work of Montfau- con(Antiguit6Hxpli- quSe), or to those de- scribing and delineat- ing the columns of Trajan and Antonine. Scarcely any book on ancient art, or any museum, can be con- sulted without speci- mens meeting the at- recommendiiig it to the attention of all artists and others amdous to obtain in- formation on the subject of ancient costume &om the earliest period to the fall of Homo. The whole of this obscure and difficult period is descanted on, and illus- trated by a large quantity of beautiful engravings, from antique monuments of all kinds. * Made at Canusium, in Italy, of the wool which Pliny tells us was of a yellow tinge, and is often referred to by ancient writers as an article of luxury. t The wool of this district was celebrated for its fineness, like the wools of Thibet and Cashmere at present. J These fibulae have been found in the graves of Saxons, Gauls, and Germans and examples arc engraved in the present volume. § This the Abb^ le Beuf considers lo have been a kind of overcoat. 24 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. tention. The general appearance of the foot-soldiery of their le- gions may be seen in our cut, copied from Roman sculptures. The first figure wears the laminated cuirass, consisting of bands of brass about three inches wide, wrapping half-roxmd the body, and fas- tened upon a leathern or quilted substructure, the shoulders being also covered with similar bands ; he wears a tunic barely reaching - to the knees, beneath which appear the tight drawers, descending to the calf of the leg, and which were not in use by Roman soldiers before the imperial dynasty. Sometimes the tunic is covered with straps, four or five inches long, of leather or felt, and covered with small plates of metal ; or a single row hangs round the body from the waist, where the cuirass ends, their shape and form allowing the freest motion. The soldier beside bim has a cuirass of scale- armour, formed of long flexible bands of steel, on a substructure of leather, made to fold over each other, and allow fuU play to the motion of the body. The tight drawers are very clearly shown. Both wear the military sandals, called caligts, which were set with nails or spikes underneath, for the convenience of a good foot-hold. A belt for a dagger or short sword is worn crossing to his right side, (such as Polybius says were worn by the hastati, the flower of the Roman infantry,*) fit for either thrusting- or cutting, with a strong, well-tempered blade, edged on both sides. They were short, and generally the blade was not more than twice or thrice the length of the hUt. The shields borne by these soldiers, one oval, the other angular, are good examples of those in general use. In battle the infantry of the Roman legion were drawn up in three lines : in the first were the hastati, the finest and youngest of the soldiery ; the second was formed of the troops called ^»'Miape*,t older soldiers, of experienced bravery ; the third, from their posi- tion, were termed triarii, veteran soldiers, each carrying two strong javelins. The light-armed troops consisted of the velites (so named from their agility), who had no armour but a helmet, a round shield of wood covered with leather, and a short sword. Funditores, or slingers, who wore only a helmet, having a shield for protection. Sagittarii, or archers, were adopted from the Asiatic and barbarian armies, who, in their early encounters with the Romans, frequently worsted them by the heavy discharge of their arrows. The Roman cavalry were originally dressed only in their ordinary * So named from the liasta, or long spear, originally carried by them; but which was discontinued under the emperors, t So called because they originally occupied the front of the army. THE BOMANS IN BRITAIN. 25 clothing, for the sake of agility; but after the conquest of Greeee, they were armed much like the infantry, carrying swords, shields, and jaTelins. Among the ArundeHan marbles at Oxford is a bas- relief, found at Ludgate, in 1669, to the memory of a British soldier of the se- cond legion, named Vivius Marcianua: he is -repre- sented with short hair, a short tunic which is fas- tened round the waist by a girdle and fibula, a long sagum flung over his breast and left arm ; his legs are bare; in his left hand he holds a scroll, and in his right a long rod, which re- tired Eoman veterans carried, the point resting on the groimd.* Pennant regarded this curious bas-relief (which is in bad condition) as a repre- sentation of a British soldier, probably of the Cohors Britonum,t dressed after the manner of the country. The slight diflFerence between his costume and that of a Homan legionary will be at once seen. The figure beside him, wearing the long and capacious mantle, is copied from a Roman sepulchral bas-relief found at Cirencester, in 1835 .J In the line of the waUa of Severus and Hadrian, iu Northumberland and Cum- berland, many bas-reliefs and inscriptions occur ; they are in most in- stances in very ruinous condition ; they, however, serve to show how * This figure is often incorrectly given, tlie rod converted into a sword. f A body of soldiers expressly raised to defend the island from the attacks of the Scots and Kcts, guard the coast from Saxon pirates, and maintain the power of the Eomans within it. J It represents (according to the inscription) Philus, the son of Cassarus. Dr. Leemans, in his description of this monument {AycluBologia^ vol. xxvii.), pre- sumes him to have belonged to a family of merchants, of some of whom we have Continental memorials. 26 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. tljorougUy the Eoman habit was adopted. One of these memorial stones to a Eomano-British citizen, is copied on the previous page.* The tunic with its loose sleeves, and the ample cloak fastened on the right shoulder by a circular fibula, the bare legs, and the tout en- semble are perfectly Eoman. In the Arehaologia, vol. xxiii., is engraved a curious military re- lic of this early period. It is the exterior coating of an ancient British shield, such as the Britons fabricated after they had been in- duced to imitate the Eoman fashions. It was held at arm's length, by a handle fitted into the groove made by the ornament, the gripe being guarded by a convex boss. This shield appears to have been originally gilt ; the umbo is ornamented with pieces of red cornelian fastened by brass pins ; and, says Sir 8. E. Meyrict, in whose pos- session this curious relic once was, " it is impossible to contemplate these artistic portions without feeling con- vinced that there is a mix- ture ot British ornament with such resemblances to the elegant designs on Eoman work as would be produced by a people in a less state of civilization.'' We engrave this unique curiosity, with the ornament beside it, on a , large scale, that its peculi- arity may be more distinctly seen. It was found in the bed of the river Witham, in Lincolnshire. The female dress, as before observed, underwent little or no change. The British gwn, from whence comes the modem "gown," descended to the middle of the thigh, the sleeves barely reaching to the elbows : it was sometimes confined by a girdle. Beneath this a longer dress reached to the ankles. The hair was trimmed after the Eoman fashion ; and upon the feet, when covered, were some- times worn shoes of a costly character, of which we know the Eo- mans themselves to have been fond. An extremely beautiful pair * This, and the entire series of sculptures found in this most interesting dis- trict, are engraved in Dr. Bruce'a volume on The Boman Wall. THE EOMANS IN BEITAIN,. 27 was discovered upon opening a Eoman burial-place at Southfleet, in Xent, in 1802. They were placed in a stone sarcophagus, between two large glass urns or vases, each containing a considerable quantity of burnt bones. They were of superb and ex- pensive workmanship, jjeing made of fine pur- ple leather, reticulated in the form of hexagons aU over, and each hexagonal division worked with gold, in an elaborate and beautiful manner. Many passages in ancient writers allude to the great attention paid by the Roman ladies and soldiers to the ornaments upon their shoes, which were as rich and costly as the circumstances of the wearer would permit. Philopo9mon, in recommending soldiers to give more attention to their warlike accoutrements than to their common dress, advises them to be less nice about their sandals, and more careftd in observing that their greaves were kept bright, and fitted well to their legs. In the collection of London Antiquities formed by Mr. Boach Smith, now deposited in the British Museum, are many very curious specimens of Roman sandals. They have been engraved in that author's Illustrations of Roman London, who says of them, "We can look upon these sandals as being nearly in the same condition as when they covered feet which trod the streets of E«man London : and probably they are the only specimens extant ; for although much has been written on the various coverings of the feet of the ancients, the illustrations have been supplied from representations, and not from existing remains." This work, by its lucid and learned descrip- tion and large variety of illustrative engravings, affords the most valuable record of London and its inhabitants dilring Eoman rule. 28 %^t %nQia-Bmam mtx gams. On the first appearance of the Saxons in Britain, tiey were in a state far less civilized than the inhabitants, npon whom the example of Roman life had not been unproductive of improvement. The pagan Saxons were fully aware of the advantages offered by a settle- ment in Britain, and so far improved their time, that in a few years after the final de- parture of the Eomans, about A.D. 450, they ob- tained the mastery of Kent, and there founded their first kingdom. It is in the Kentish bar- rows* we find the most interesting relics of these early people, and of the late Eomano - Britons. Iron swords, inives, heads of spears, relics of shields, are found in the graves of the males; earrings, beads, fibulae, and domestic imple- _ ments in those of the J c 3, women. The engraving here given is copied from a plate in Douglas's Nenia Sritannica, and * This term, applied to these early graves, is the genuine ancient one. In the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf, one of the earliest of these effusions, we have the word "beorh " used for it : it Kterally signifies a mound, or hiU (like its modem derivative hmy), — these graves being piled high above the ground to a greater or less altitude, according to the importance of the deceased interred therein. THE AN&LO-SAXONS AND DANES. 29 represents one of the most ancient of the Kentish barrows, opened by him in the Chatham Lines, Sept. 1779; and it will enable the reader at once to understand the structure of these early graves, and the interesting nature of their contents. The outer circle marks the extent of the mound covering the body, which varied considerably in elevation, sometimes being but a few inches or a couple of feet from the level of the ground, at others of a gigantic structure.* In the centre of the mound, and at a depth of a few feet from the surface, an oblong, rectangular grave is cut, the space between that and the outer circle being filled in with chalk, broken into small bits, and deposited carefully and firmly around and over the grave. The grave contained the body of a male adult, tall and well-proportioned, holding in his right hand a spear, the shaft of which was of wood, and had perished, leaving only the iron head, fifteen inches in length, and at the bottom a flat iron stud (a), having a small pin in the centre, which would appear to have been driven into the bottom of the spear-handle ; an iron knife lay by the right side,t with remains of the original handle of wood. Adhering to its under side were very discernible impression of decayed coarse linen cloth, showing that the warrior was buried in fuU costume. A case of wood appears to have held this knife, in the same manner as the dagger already engraved at p. 7 was protected. An iron sword is on the left side, thirty-five and a quarter inches in its entire length, from the point to the bottom of the handle, which is all in one piece, the woodwork which covered the handle having perished; the blade is thirty inches in length and two in breadth, flat, double- edged, and sharp-pointed, a great portion of wood covering the blade, which indicates that it was buried in a scabbard, the external covering being of leather, the internal of wood. A leathern strap passed round the waist, from which hung the knife and sword, and which was secured by the brass buckle (i), which was found near the last bone of the vertebrae, or close to the os sacrum. Between the thigh-bones lay the iron umbo of a shield, which had been fas- tened by studs of iron, four of which were found near it, the face and reverse of one being represented at c. A thin plate of iron (d), four and a half inches in length, lay exactly under the centre of the * The laxger barrows are generally of the Soman period ; that at Snodland, Kent, is 20 feet in height, and more than 200 in circumference. SUbury TTill, in Wiltshire, is 170 feet high, and 2027 feet round the base, covering 5 acres. f Some etymologists derive the name " Saxon," applied to these people, from the seax, or short sword, or knife, with which they were armed. No warriors are found without these knives, which may have been the prototypes of the dag- gers worn in the same way by those of the Middle Ages. 30 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. lunbo, haying two rivets at tie end, between which and the umbo were the remnants of the original wooden (and perhaps hide-bound) shield ;* the rivets of the umbo having apparently passed through the wood to this plate as its bracer or stay, which also formed the handle of the shield, as in the British one engraved p. 8. In a re- cess at the feet was placed a vase of red earth, slightly ornamented round the neck with concentric circles and zigzag lines. The barrows at Breach Downs, in the neighbourhood of Canter- bury,t and on the south-east coast of Kent, also afford similar speci- mens of spear-heads, knives, and iron bosses of shields; a few beads, of various shapes and colours, with earrings of simple structure, and, occasionally, some sceattas, the earliest of the Saxon coins. J The later t\miuli contain fibulae of a most beautiful character, with buckles and ladies' ornaments§ in a much more refined and elegant taste, pendent necklaces of garnets set in gold, like modem earring- drops, ornaments evincing the great skill of their goldsmiths and jewellers. II The period to which these later barrows may be safely ascribed is that between the years 582, when St. Augustine arrived * Their shields, as ^611 as the shafts of their spears, were of wood, generally linden, which was of a yellow colour. The poem of Beowulf speaks of " th broad shield, yellow rimmed" (sidne scyld geolorand); it is sometimes called a "war-board" (hilde-bord) ; and in another instance we are told: " hond-rong gefeng, " he seized his shield, geolwe linde. the yellow linden-wood." ArcJusoloffical Album, p. 206. f The site of Cajiterbnry was occupied by a Boman town, named Durobemum, which was chosen as the metropolis of the followers of Hengist and Horsa, and &om them received the appellation of Ccmtwwra-hiiruli (or "the town of the Kentish men "), which has been softened down into its modern name. The high grounds or downs to the south, within a distance of a few miles, in a sweep from the south-west to the south-east of the city, are covered by groups of barrows, which are proved by their contents to be the graves of the Kentish Saxons, from their arrival in this island to the beginning of the seventh century. They are most numerous over the hiUs towards the south-west, which may fairly be termed the necropolis of East Kent. J In a barrow at Stowting was found a rude imitation either of a Byzantine or Merovingian coin, such as were in circulation in and after the sixth century; such coins, and articles of the latest Eoman period, are interesting confirmations of the date of these graves. § In the barrows in Greenwich Park, Douglas discovered braids of auburn hair arranged in plaits over the head, with beads and portions of coarse woollen cloth, as well as some of a finer texture, which proved to be Hnen. II Similar fibulse and necklaces to those discovered in Kent have been found'in the Derbyshire barrows : they have also been discovered in Saxony. Thus the graves of If ordendorf have furnished the Augsburg Museum with a series of iew- els identical in style with those found in Kent. The early fathers of the Church THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 31 in England and converted Ethelbert, and a.d. 742, wlien cemeteries were admitted near to churclies and within the walls of towns. The Welsh bard Aneurin, who hved in the sixth century, describes the early Saxon warriors he then saw, as wearing scale-armour, in some instances gilded, square helmets, wooden shields, spears, and daggers ; aU of which perfectly agrees with the contents of these early graves. They also wore a profusion of hair, of which they were as vain as women could be, wreathing it with beads and orna- ments, their necks being encircled with gold torques. Decorated combs, sometimes protected in bone cases, were carried about the person, and are constantly found in the graves of males and females in Saxony and in England. The discoveries made in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries within the last ten years, and the illustrated descriptions of their contents which have been published, enables us to understand more clearly than we have ever done before, the aspect of the various tribes who inhabited Britaia during the pagan era. From a careful comparison of the articles exhumed in the English tumuli, with those of the Continen- tal nations, whom we know made incursions and settlements here, we are now enabled to define their localities, and to see how com- pletely they retained their native habits and modes of life, as well as all their minutise of costume. Thus the earliest invaders of Eng- land after the departure of the Bomans, the Saxons, landed in the Isle of Thanet, and established the Eentish kingdom ; and in the course of a quarter of a century were succeeded by others in Sussex, and afterwards by fresh detachments of the same great Teutonic family, the Jutes, who founded the kingdom of the West Saxons, including the Isle of Wight. These southern Saxons seem to have .been always the richest and most civilized, and the ornaments and implements found in their tumuh are the most valuable intrinsically as well as artistically. It is also remarkable that they are identically the same in design and execution to those found in the ancient graves of Saxony. The northern counties were occupied by the were profuse in their denunciations of these luxuries. St. Cyprian, He Discipl. et Sabit. Virgin,, says, " It is a great crime for virgins to adorn themselves with gold and gems ; but (alluding to the early martyrs) firea, crosses, swords, or wild beasts are the precious jewels of the flesh, and better ornaments for the body, and much to be preferred to those which attract the eyes of young men and in- flame their passions." A style of argument so unpopular in its construction, that we cannot wonder it was imheeded. St. Gregory Nazianzen, extolling his sister for her simplicity, says, " She had no gold to adorn herself, no yellow hair tied in knots and arranged in curls, no transparent garments, brilliant stones, or jewels." 32 COSTUME IN ESraLAND. Angles, who ultimately founded the great kingdom of Mercia: the grayes of the Angles and the Jutes contain relics bearing close affi- nity to those found in Denmark and Sweden. Of the abundance of jewellery found in the early tumuli no ar- ticles are more curious than the fibulse, which appear to have been the most costly enrich- ment worn, as it was the most useful to secure the various por- tionsofthedress. The Lady of Blussus (p. 21) wears five on difierent parts of her dress ; and as many as that have been foimd in a single grave in England. It must be borne in mind that the de- ceased was always buried in full costume, and that jewellery, how- ever beautiful and expensive, de- corated the dead in their last rest as it did ia festivals while living. There is a curious dis- tinction in these fibulae, which may be classed into three kinds. Pig. 1 is the most costly and artistic, and is the type of the southern Saxons, in whose graves the most beautiful examples have been found.* The one we -engrave was discovered at Sibertswold, * One of the finest ever discovered in tliis or any other country was exhumed from a tumulus on Kingston Down, near Canterbury, by the Eev. Bryan Taussett, in 1771, and is engraved in the In/ventoriiwi Sepulchrale : it is three inches and a half in diameter. The centre is richly decorated with garnets and turquoise, cut to fit ornamental cells of gold : it is imbedded in mother-of-pearl, and sur- rounded by five converging circles of ornament, consisting of knots of gold fili- gree-work, or slices of garnet and torquoise, cut to fit in various spaces, on a . ground of gold-foil. ' THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 33 near Deal ; the central part is decorated with torquoise and garnet, the circles with pearl ; the spaces between are filled with twists of delicate gold filigree : the base of this fibula is silver-gilt. A circu- lar fibula, shaped Kke a small tray or saucer, fig. 2, is peculiar to the counties of Grlouoester, Oxford, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire. It is always of brass, strongly gUt, and very rarely decorated with jewels, though the centre is occupied by raised ornament, as in our example found in a grave at Fairford, Gloucestershire. They are generally discovered in pairs, one on each shoulder of the deceased ; and appear to be peculiar to the tribes who bordered the king- doms of the West Saxons and Mercians. The Angles, who formed the population of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, appear to have universally decorated themselves with enormous bronze fibulae, of the form exhibited in fig. 3, which are found in great abundance in the graves of their district. They are generally gUt, and covered with rude but elaborate decoration, and are sometimes six inches in length. Our specimen was found at Linton Heath, Cambridgeshire, upon the right breast of a skeleton, along with two large bronze cir- cular fibulas. This latter kind, which are peculiar to these tribes, are sometimes decorated with incised ornament of a simple kind, as in fig. 4, from the Fairford cemetery, and have generally a tinned surface. A small fibula, fig. 5, is of frequent occurrence in the An- glian district, which appears to have been worn by such as could not afford the more expensive and larger kind, like our fig. 3. Their similarity to those worn by the Ehenish lady, p. 21, wiU be at once apparent. They have been found in the Crimea, and may, with the circular fibulae, have originated in Byzantium. Another kind, hav- ing a radiated ornament set with garnets round the top (fig. 6), is occasionally found in Saxon graves on the Eentish coast : this was found at Osengal, near Eamsgate, and though comparatively rare in England, is a favourite and not uncommon type in Frankish and Germanic tumuli. There is still another distinct kind of brooch, taking the form of birds and beasts (fig. 7 and 8), and which belong almost exclusively to the graves of the Isle of Wight : they are of bronze, and decorated with enamel. Though luicommon in English graves, they have been found in Frankish ones, at Selzen on the Ehine, and at Nordendorf in Saxony. AU these fibulae are secured by pins on the under side ; and in our cut are represented one-third the size of the originals. These distinctive varieties in an article of useful decoration may be further illustrated in our next cut, in which the ancient Irish brooch is .contrasted with the Saxon. Fig. 1 was found by Douglas u COSTTTMK IN ENGLAND. in a Kentisli grave. Fig. 2 is preserved in the Mu- seum of the Eioyal Irish Academy, and is remark- able for the rich and in- volved character of its ornament, as well as for its large size, — some- times they have been found twelve inches in length and eight in dia- meter, and are fre- quently enriched with studs of amber, as in the centres of this specimen. This mode of securing the thick, heavy mantle continued long in use, and fig. 3 exhibits the more modem form. Pendent ornaments, resembling the phalarce and hvllie of the Eomans, were worn by all the Saxon tfibes. Sometimes they were formed of E,oman coins cased in gold and jewels, but generally they were constructed in gold, like fig. 1, or of garnet in a sheath of gold, fig. 2. The clasp and buckle of the girdle was also jewelled, as in fig. 3, and the end of the girdle decorated with pendent metal ornaments. Ear- rings were generally formed of simple twisted- wires, passing through a bead, as in fig. 4. Finger- rings consisting of a coil of flat silver, fig. 5, or of twisted copper wire, fig. 6, are often found, and considering the abundance of Roman rings, it is somewhat curious that such inartificial deocrations should have been preferred for wear: it may be another instance of cherished distinction of races. Bunches of metal ornaments, purses, and keys, are sometimes found appended to the girdles of the ladies. The northern tribes were particularly fond of hanging bunches of chains, with pendent ornaments, to their waists, of which some curious examples, obtained THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 35 at Ascheraden, in Saxony, are in the Britisli Museunu Knives, some- times enclosed in decorated sheaths, tweezers, scissors, combs, and small toilette articles, are commonly disooyered, and occasionally fragments of gold embroidery, the wreck of the dress which once covered these ladies. Of the swords found in the graves of warriors, fig. 1, from a grave on Ohessell Down, in the Isle of Wight, is a fine example : the handle has been enriched with gold, and the scabbard with iater- laced ornament in silver. One found in Oxfordshire has its sheath enriched with figures of animals. The hilt of another found in Kent has a Eunic inscription upon it. In the British Museum is a Icnife- shaped sword (fig. 2), inscribed with runes along the back of the blade. ' They have been found in the Thames, near London, and appear to be of Prankish origiu. The custom of thus inscribing swords is expressly alluded to in the old Saxon poem of Beowulf, 4*= where we are told the name of the owner " was on the surface of bright gold, with Runic letters rightly marked." The seax, or short knife, so constantly worn by males and females, is shown, fig. 3. In the IVankish graves the handle has been discovered enriched with gar- nets, and in a grave in Oxfordshire one was found in a case similarly enriched, and which had probably belonged to a lady. The ordinary varieties of the spear-head may be seen in figs. 4 and 5, and that of the umhones, or central metal projections of the shield, in fig. 6. "We have willingly devoted so much space to a period which may be considered as pre-historic. At a later period we have the draw- ings in manuscripts for our instruction ; but it is only by the con- tinued researches of many antiquaries, who have opened several hun- dreds of tumuli at home and abroad, that these facts and compari- sons have been obtained. The subject is a large one, and has been abundantly illustrated within the last few years ; and I must refer d2 36 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the student who. desires to pursue his researches further, to the Rev. Bryan Fausset's Inventorium Sepulchrale, edited by C. Eoaeh Smith, which is a complete text-book of Saxon Antiquities ; J. Y. Akerman's Pagan Saxondom and Archaeological Index ; T. Wright's Celt, So- man, and Saxon; the Honourable E. C. NeTille's Saxon Obsequies; W. M. Wylie's Fairford Graves ; and the Essays scattered through the Archeeologia ; and the Collectanea Antiqua of 0. E. Smith.* For the costume of the later Anglo-Saxons we have abundant au- thority in the drawings executed by their own hands, and stiLL exist- ing among our collections of iUuminatedf manuscripts. It will be^ sufficient, however, for our purpose and that of the artist, to confine our notice to a few of the more important ones, which most fiiUy illustrate the general dress of the community ; and nearly all that is wanted may be found in a manuscript in the Cottonian Collection,! now in the British Museum, marked " Claudius, B. 4,"§ and Harleian MS., II No. 603 ; the first, a translation of the Pentateuch into An- * Those who would still further compare our English specimens with their foreign prototypes, may consult Worsaae's work on the Domes in jEnglaTid, as translated by the Earl of Ellesmere, Xindenschmit's Germcmische Todtenlager bei Selzen, Dr. Von Kaiser's Grahstatte bei Nordendorf, and the Abb^ Cochet's Normandie Souterradne. All these books, as well as those quoted above, are abundantly illustrated with engravings, many coloured. f The term ' illuminated,' used for those drawings executed in gold and body- colour, in ancient manuscripts, is derived from the name applied to the artists who produced them. They were termed ilVu/mmators (Lat. ilVwrninatores, Fr. enhi/ndnemrs), whence the name given to the paintings executed by them (Lat. iUvminatio, Fr. enVummmre). J So called from Sir Eobert Cotton, who collected these MSS. during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., and suffered much persecution on their account, as many private letters and papers of state were among them, and he was for years debarred the privilege of their use. His son, Sir Thomas Cotton, aug- mented the collection considerably. § This is one of the " press-marks " originally used for the convenience of find- ing the books easily. They stood in presses, or cases, over each of which was a bust of one of the Caesars. Thus this book was in that one over which a bust of Claudius was placed; it stood on shelf B, and was the fourth book upon that shelf. The collection having been used for upwards of two centuries by learned men of all countries, and their references to the books used as their authorities given thus, it became essential that upon their removal no alteration should take place in this particular ; and hence they are still referred to as they originally stood in the library of the Cotton family. II This collection of manuscripts is so named from Eobert Harley, earl of Ox- ford, the prime minister to Queen Anne, and his son Edward, the second and last Earl of Oxford, who brought together nearly 8,000 volumes of letters, papers, charters, and docimients of all kinds, illustrative of. English and foreign history, inclusive" of illuminated books on all subjects, many of an exceedingly rare, beau- tiful, and curious kind. THE ANOLO-SAXONg AND DANES. 37 glo-Saxon, written and profusely illuminated in tlie tenth century, by j3Elfricus, abbot of Mahnesbury, at the command of Etbelward, an illustrious ealderman. It contains a vast variety of valuable illustrations, nearly every incident mentioned being delineated in a drawing, and all the characters represented in the costume of the period when the manuscript was executed ; it being a custom (fortu- nately for the antiquary) with the artist to represent the events he was about to illustrate precisely as they would occur in similar cir- cumstances in his own time. This has afforded a valuable fund of materials to the student of ancient costume and manners ; the dress, carriages, implements of war and husbandry,. the pleasures of the chase, or the amusements of the people, are thiis faithfully delineated. The second manuscript is, probably, a century later ; but it is ex- ecuted with less finish, the drawings being sUght, but valuable and varied, and furnishing some very curious pictures of manners. I have also made some selections from another manuscript in the Har- leian Collection, No. 2908, the Missal of the Church of St. Augus- tine, Canterbury.* But perhaps the finest specimen of the arts in the tenth century is to be found in the library of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire. It is a splendidly decorated Benedictional, executed for St .iEthel- wold, and under his auspices and direction, to be used in his see ol Winchester. It was completed between the years 963 and 984, and it is this knbwn date that stamps so much value on the manuscript. With great liberality, its noble possessor allowed the Society of An- tiquaries to engrave facsimiles of the thirty Uluminations contained in the volume ; and they were published, together with an account of the book, in the twenty-fourth volume of the Archceologia. As these are the finest specimens of the arts of design at present exist- ing of this early period, and the book is more easily accessible than the others I have quoted, I would almost prefer directing the artist's attention to the admirably-executed facsimiles there pubhshed, and which wiU supply him with the costume, and more particularly the ornamental designs of the period, to as great an extent as they can be obtained from any other source. The late Mr. Ottley, so well known for his knowledge of art and its history, declared " he thought these drawings in the highest degree creditable to the taste and in- * Many other references might be given, aa Saxon MSS. are not uncommon. Among the Cottonian collection may be cited, Cleopatra, C. 8; Nero, D. 4; Ti- berius, A. 2 and B. 6 ; Vespasian, A. 8, etc. Among the Harleian MSS., 2803, 2820, 2606, etc., as well aa some few among the Eoyal collection of MSS. in the British Musevun. A glance at the lists appended to Strutt's books will furnish many more. 38 COSTTTME. IN ENGLAND. telligenoe of this nation, at a period when, in most parts of Europe, the fine arts are commonly believed to have been at a very low ebb." For the royal costume of the Anglo-Saxons we meet with many authorities. The grants by Eing Edgar to the abbey of Winchester, which were written in letters of gold in the year 966, and .which contain, opposite their names, the marks of the King and St. Dun- stan, and are now in the British Museum (Cotton MS., Vesp. A. 8), give us the portrait of this monarch and his costume. In its de- tails his dress is exceedingly simple, consisting of a plain tunic, over which is thrown a mantle or short cloak, and his legs are enswathed in bands to the knee. A finer example of royal costume is, however, to be found in the Benedictional above mentioned, and which is here copied. It represents one of the Magi approaching the Virgin and Child with his ofiering. He wears a crown of simple form, with a plain purple tunic reaching nearly to the knees, and confined round the waist by a linen gir- dle. His short blue cloak, bordered with gold, covers the left arm, leaving the right one perfectly free, as it is fastened upon that shoulder by a gold fi- bula or brooch. The kind of bandaged stocking, so common on all Saxon figures, is seen in this instance to greater ad- vantage than in any other known to exist. His legs are enswathed up to the knee in garters of gold, tied in a knot at the top, from which hang tassels. This peculiar feature of Anglo-Saxon dress was in common use among the shepherds and country-people of Prance as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and was called des Ivngettes. In the Apennines, the Contadini stiU wear a kind of stocking bandaged up their legs, the bandages generally crossing each other in this antique style. In the Cotton MS., Tiberius, C. 6, is a representation of King David playing on the harp, whose legs are crossed with bandages diagonally : this was the original " cross- gartering," as mentioned by Shakspeare in Twelfth Night; and the fashion lingered in England at a still later period. Barton Holyday, who wrote fifty years after our great dramatist, speaks of THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES, 39 " Some sharp, crosB-gartered man, tVliom their loud laugh might nickname Puritan." The costume of a queen appears to have been nearly the same as that worn by the noble and wealthy ladies of the land ; in a similar way, that of their kings differs in no degree from the ordinary cos- tume of a nobleman or chief, except in the addition of the regal dia- dem.* The figure selected as an example of queenly costume occurs in the Harleian MS. No. 603. She wears a long gown, which falls in folds round her feet, and has wide hanging sleeves ; the figure is in outline in the manuscript, but the colours have been indicated by inks of a different tint : this gown is drawn with red. Over the gown is thrown a capacious blue mantle, which almost entirely en- velopes the figure ; it is wound round the waist and thrown over the left shoulder, from whence it descends behind the back and nearly reaches the ground ; it is so disposed as to cover the left side of the body from the waist downward, leaving the right side partially free, the mantle hanging in folds from the left arm. This graceful dispo- sition of so important a portion of the costume has a peculiarly grand and dignified effect, which is aided not a little by the extreme sim- plicity of the entire dress, which is perfectly unornamented. The general civU costume of the Anglo-Saxons appears to have been exceedingly simple, as may be gathered from the cut here given, which affords a fair specimen of the dresses worn by young * The croTms worn by hoth these royal personages are of the simple form so common in Anglo-Saxon illuminations. Pointed ornaments, like the fleur-de-lis, are those usually seen, and they are altogether more like our modern ideas of a 40 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. and old men at tMs period. A plain tunid enveloped the body reach- ing to the knee : it was fastened round the waist by a girdle of folded cloth of the same colour, or secured by a band slightly ornamented. The tunic was sometimes enriched by a border of ornaments in small compartments, generally representing leaves, or the usual square and circular simple patterns so common at this period, and of which a good illustration is afforded by the first figure engraved in the pre- ceding cut. In the original it is of light-blue, with a yellow border, and the ornament was probably worked upon it in gold threads;* The Saxon name for this article of dress was tunic; for in an illu- mination to be seen in the Cotton MS., Claudius, B. 4, representing the brothers of Joseph bringing to Jacob his " coat of many colours," they exclaim, 'Saj- ctmican pe j-un&on (" this tunic we found ") ;t and it is a curious instance of the simplicity of the SaxOns in this article of dpess, that the " many colours " of the tunicr are endeavoured to be conveyed to the eye of the spectator by the gradation of one tint only — blue, which is the colour of the tunic ; and spots of darker and lighter blue fill the centre, while a border of light-blue edges the bottom and wrists. This tunic, from the circumstance of its be-, ing held, in the hand, and not worn upon the body, is clearly distin- guishable in all its parts ; it is made to fit closely round the neck, and is open halfway down the breast. It is also open at the sides, from the hip to the bottom. A short cloak was usually worn over it, as before observed, and generally fastened by a brooch upon the right shoulder ; but sometimes the brooch was placed in the centre of the breast, the cloak or mantle hanging over the arms when up- lifted, and occasionally reaching below the knees. A larger cloai was also worn, wrapped round the figure, similar to the mantle of the queen, p. 38, and of which an example is given in the second figure on the preceding page: it is generally worn by persons of distinction, or grave, elderly men. In the Cottonian MS. just quoted, from whence this figure and the one beside it is obtained, the artist has always represented the Cjeator so attired. It is wrapped round the waist, and thrown over the left arm, sometimes covering the hand in its amplitude, or else gathered in a long fold and cast over the left shoulder. There is so striking an analogy be- tween this capacious article of dress and the Eoman toga, that it French crown than the croims worn at this early period by those sovereigna, as depicted in early French manuscripts, of which many are engraved in Montfau- con's AntiquiUs de la MonarcJiie Franfaise. * The cloak of this figure is dark-green ; the hoso white. t This cui-ious representation is engraved in the Glossary appended to this volume. (See Tunic.) THE ANGLO-SAXOKS AND DANES. 41 would lead ub to suppose the latter was its prototype;* indeed it may perhaps be safely affirmed that the Saxon costume is almost whoUy borrowed from the Eomans. The shorter mantle sometimes loosely enveloped the right arm ; and in the Benediotional of St. .SIthelwold we see a pattern upon those worn by higher personages, generally composed of circles surrounded by dots or cross-shaped ornaments, enriched by simple lines, in the manner exhibited in '^^ ^^^^ •'^7' our cut, which shows the princi- iv2/« ^|!i^ OwO pal varieties. This mantle was * • * '•'^ '0>* sometimes pulled over the head like a hood, coverings for the head being seldom met with, and when they are, being generally conical hats or caps, completely Phrygian in shape, a? the war-helmets of the time were ; and it would seem that the head was generally uncovered, except in the time of war ; yet many examples occur of war-scenes where the combatants have no protection for the head whatever. The hair was worn long, and hung upon the shoulders, being parted from the centre of the fore- head, and tucked behind the ears ; the beard was worn trimmed round the bottom, or else allowed to hang several inches upon the breast, and divided from the centre like a fork. 'Breoh' and 'hose' are alluded to by Saxon writers. Tlie breeches were tight to the leg, and sometimes ornamented round the thigh and middle of the leg with coloured bars ; at other times they were wide at the bottom, and reached only to the calf of the leg : such a one is seen upon the ipounted soldier engraved p. 48. The hose, made of skin or leather, is sometimes alluded to. They reached to the knee ; and when unornamented by the bandages before de- scribed, were generally bordered at the top. Their shoes are usually painted black, having an opening down the instep; no fastenings appear in the drawings, but they were secured by thongs.f Strutt, in his Shrda Angel-Cynan, has engraved all the four varieties he could meet with; they are extremely simple in form, and are en- tirely unornamented, although, as we shaU have occasion to observe a little further on, the fashion of enriching them with embroidery, and even precious stones, became common among the noble and the wealthy ; whUe the middle classes indulged themselves with coloured or embroidered shoes of a very ornamental character, and which may have been the work of the ladies, who were celebrated for their ingenuity with the needle. * This mantle is coloured light-blue ru the original MS.; the long tunic with its wide sleeves is dark-green. + Eugravings of the chief varieties will ho found in the Glossary. COSTUME IN EN&LAND. The ladies appear to have riTalled their lords in the simplicity of their costume. A long gown fell in folds oyer the feet, and a super- tunic, reaching to the knee, was frequently worn over that ; it seems to have been confined at the waist, and to have had a wider sleeve, reaching midway from the elbow to the wrist, though instances of longer sleeves occasionally occur. Avery wide mantle covered the upper portion of the body, and this, with the cover- chief, formed a characte- ristic feature of the dress of Anglo-Saxon ladies. In the figure here engraved, from the Benedictional so frequently referred to, the book is held in the left hand, without the removal of the mantle which covers it ; the right hand is, how- ever, protruded, and shows the ornamental wrist of the sleeve, which fits tightly in a number of folds similar to the sleeves of the men, and which may sometimes represent a series of bracelets ; for we are told by the writers of their own period, that they were in the habit of loading their arms with them. A hood or coverchief covers the head, and hangs over the shoulders, completing the nun-Uke cos- tume then commonly worn. The second example of female costume occurs in the Harleian MS. No. 2908. The figure is intended for the Virgin Mary, but, as usual, it is only the representation of a lady of the upper class. The two tunics are here very clearly seen : the upper one with its border and wide sleeve to the elbow, over which is a mantle that falls behind, and aUows full hberty to the arms, im- like the companion figure : the hood, which seems wound about the head, and falls in a graceful manner over the right shoulder, was an indispensable part of the dress at this period. Females of all ranks are seldom or ever seen without this hood, and even royal ladies wear it under their crowns. When the hair is seen, it generally lies in flat curls upon the head, and is bound by a fillet, slightly orna- mented. The long gown, short upper tunic, and hood, is, then, the ordinary costume of the Saxon females ; and in their dresses, as in those of the men, the prevailing colours are blue, red, and green, with sometimes pink and violet, but few are perfectly white. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 43 The two female figures represented in our next cut are selected from the Cotton MS., Claudius B 4, and may be taken as good ex- amples of the costume of ordinary ladies, less dignified than those already given. The hood, coverchief, or head-rail (the latter being the genuine Saxon name), is weU shown in the first figure, in its most capacious form, cover- ing the head and the upper part of the body to the knees.* The lady is Hfting it up preparatory to mount- ing her horse. The com- panion figure has a much smaller red hood, but her gown of blue has very long sleeves, embroidered with a yellow ornament. They reach considerably below the hand. Strutt, in describing this figure, says, " I call this the trcmelling habit, because it is never represented but when the wearer is supposed to be performing a journey, and it might also probably be the winter dress of the time." The gown appears to be secured round the waist by a girdle, but instances occur where the tunics of both sexes are drawn tightly round the waist, but not girdled. The girdle is generally represented, not as a band, but as a folded swathe of cloth. The ecclesiastical cos- tume of the Anglo-Saxons maybe well illustrated by the annexed figures, co- pied from an Ulumination in the ancient Missal of St. Augustine, formerly belonging to the monas- tery at Canterbury, and now in the Harleian col- lection, Fo. 2908. It re- presents Abbot Elfnoth, who died in the year 980, * It is of blue the gown is red. 44 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. presenting his book of prayers to St. Augustine, the founder of his monastery, and is one of the earliest representations extant of the official ecclesiastical habits used at this early period, the drawing having been executed in the abbot's lifetime. The saint is in full costume as archbishop, and wears the chasuble,* a purple mantle bordered with gold, which covers the upper part of the body, and reaches beyond the waist, and as far as the wrist when the arms were allowed to hang beside the body, and which fell in a half- circle in front and behind when the arms were uphfted. Over this is the pall, a narrow strip of woollen cloth, upon which crosses were embroidered, and which passed over the shoulders of the me- tropolitan or archbishop, and with which he was invested on his nomination to the see. Immediately under the chasuble is the dal- matica (coloured yellow in the original) which has long sleeves reach- ing nearly to the wrist ; beneath this appears the end of the stole, a band or scarf passed over the shoulders and round the neck, the undermost part of the dress being the alb, of blue, with tight sleeves to the wrist. His shoes are black, and he wears no mitre, its first appearance in the Latin Church being about the middle of the eleventh century. Abbot Elfnoth wears a chasuble of green bordered with gold, having a hood, which projects upwards to a point behind his head ; a dalmaticf of yellow embroidered with leaves (as is also that worn by the archbishop), and an alb of blue. Behind is an attendant priest, dressed in a yellow dalmatic similar to the abbot's, with a plain close coUar, and a blue alb ; J he carries the pastoral crook, which is of sin- gular simplicity, varying in no degree from that of an ordinary shep- herd. It had indeed an allusion to the Saviour as " the good Shep- * So called from the protection against the weather it afforded to the wearer ; and derived, some writers say, from casnla, a small house : for the same reason it was also called the 'pluvial.' f The * dahnatic ' was the name given to the long flowing dress worn hy priests, and resembling a gown in its form. The name is also frequently applied to the gown with wide sleeves, so common upon royal figures as late as the reign of Edward IV., and which was a peculiar feature in royal costume, as we shall see in the course of our remarks. Pugin, in his Giossary of MccUsiastical Ornament and Costiwie, says it derives its name from Dalmatia, where it was originally used. It had longer and wider sleeves than the tunic, and was, he says, for many centuries peculiar to deacons. I The alb, a long garment reaching to the feet, notwithstanding its name, was not always necessarily white, nor was it invariably made of linen cloth. It was originally intended to indicate the white garment which Pilate placed upon the Saviour after he had despised and mocked him. THE ANfiLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 45 herd ; " as all the other portions of priestly costume Bave an allegori- cal allusion to the Christian faith ; thus the chasuble represents the purple garment which the soldiers put upon Jesus Christ ; the stole, the cords with which he was bound, etc. The priestly costume of the Eomish Church had also a mystic allusion to the office of its wearers, and even their colours were sym- bolic* It became customary to make minor distinctions between the clergy of different grades ; thus the sandal of a bishop had more straps than that of a priest, as he was supposed to have greater need of visiting his flock. The girdle was the symbol of continency ; but from the bishops hung a double sash, figuring the two means of pre- serving purity — fasting and prayer.f The early history of these sacerdotal vestments is not ioourious In M. Didron's Annales ArchSologiques, torn, ii., is a curious paper on this subject by M. Victor Gay, in which they are traced from the classic costume, and more particularly from that worn by the ascetic philosophers. The capa- cious pallium, a wooUen cloak wrapping ^the entire figure, and leaving the right arm free, was succeeded by the pemde or bimts, a garment of less capa- cious form, which hung over the shoulders like a modern cloak, or was secured by a brooch on the breast. It is seen upon the figure here, copied from a painting in the cata- combs of Eome, the work of the primitive Christians. A simple tunic, girded round the loins, a * White indicated purity; blue, as it was tlie colour of the sky, indicated di- vine contemplation; green was symbolic of cheerfulness, the goodness of God, and of the Eesurrection ; red was used to display the intensity of divine charity and love, ajid was worn during Passion Week, on the festival of Corpus Christi, and on all great occasions of rejoicings in the Church, — this, colour being also emblematic of martyrdom, was worn on the festivals of saints ; silver was indi- cative of chastity ; and gold of purity, dignity, wisdom, and glory. See Pugin's Glossary for more on this subject. f Much of this mysticism is feeble in reason. Thus Eupert, bishop of Tuy, as quoted by Pugin, says, " The chasuble signifies the robe of Christ, which is the Church. It is ample and dosed on all sides, to show forth the unity and fuUness of the true faith. The fore-part represents the state of the Church before the 46 COSTUME IN ENGLAND close mantle, sometimes used as a hood, like the Eoman paludamen- tum, or else having a hood attached, and sandals for the feet, com- pleted the primitive costume of the fathers of the Church. This figure is supposed to have been executed in the sixth century; as is the second one, wearing the chasuble in its original form, which had begun to be ?,dopted by the clergy in the fifth century, who had previously little to distinguish them from the other members of the community except the excessive simplicity of their costume, so much resembling the ascetics. In the sixth century the clergy were enjoined to eschew the fashions of the laity, to disuse all gay colours, and to dress with gra- vity and decorum in a becoming costume, by which their holy office might be known. The chasuble, originally worn by laymen as well as eoelesiastios, answered both purposes well ; and St. Augustine aJludes to it, under the name of casula, as the habitual Christian vestment. It win be seen how completely it enveloped the whole body, when the arms fell on each side, like a small house, as its name implies. The form of the dalmatic, which took the place of the primitive oolo- bium, with its wide sleeve and purple stripe woven in the stuff on each side, may be seen in the first figure of the cut here given, also copied from the paintings in the catacombs. Under the pontificate of Euti- chian it was used to enshroud the bodies of martyrs. It was introduced by the emperor Commodus in a.d. 190, and was adopted by the Christians in the third century; in the sixth century it was publicly employed by the clergy of the Christian Church, Pope St. Syl- vester rendering its use obli- gatory. It was worn by fe- males as well as males ; and is seen upon the figure accompanying Passion of Christ; tlie back, the Church under the Gospel." It was indicatire of charity, "because, as charity covers a multitude of sins, this covers the entire person;" and to it was fastened the humerale, because hope embraces charity. The dahnatic was, according to Durandus, the type of an immaculate life, or of bountifuhiess towards the poor, " because of its large and broad sleeves." Deacons should have broader sleeves than subdeacons, to show that they should have a more ample charity! Bishops, for the same reason, ought to wear them still larger But, enough of this. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 47 ^'^ri^^X^ that last described, and wMcli represents Priscilla, an early martyr, copied from a cemetery on the Via Salara Nova. The sleeves are remarkable, as they have a double stripe of purple surrounding them. A writer iu the Dictionary of Greek and Moman Antiquities, edited by Dr. Smith, considers it identical with the clavus angustus of the Romans, a decorative badge, which properly belonged to the equestrian order, but which, like the more honourable latus clavus,* may not have been confined to any particular class originally. The stole of the modern Catholic Church is most probably derived from this article of dress. Pugin considers it to represent its genuine " ancient form, with the present stole as a stripe or orphrey ;"t and he alludes to the name ' stole ' as derived from the dress of the Roman ladies, the stola, which was as characteristic of the Eoman ladies as the toga was of the Roman men ; and hence he considers the modern stole of the Catholic Church to be but the border of the older dress. There is a curious painting in the tomb of Pope Calixtus, on the Via Appia, representing the three children in the furnace, one of which is selected, to show how closely the stripe on his tunic, which, in this instance, does not reach to , the bottom, resembles the more modern stole. The writer al- ready quoted, in the Dictionary just alluded to, tells us that the latus clavus was worn by the priests of Saturn at Carthage, and by the priests of Her- cules at Cadiz ; but ,the first figure in the next cut will show that something still more decidedly like the modern stole was worn by the Romans. It represents a centurion sacrificing at an altar, having such a fringed stole round his neck as was worn in the early Church : it is copied from a bas-relief at Rome. J In Didron's very curious leonographie * The latus clavus was a single broad band of purple, extending perpendicu- larly from the neck down the centre of the tunic; the clavns augustus consisted of two narrow stripes running from the shoulder, as seen in the cut. Some authors consider these as identical with the Jewish phylacteries. f This word is used for a band or border of rich work, generally of gold or silver texture, which is sewed on to church vestments or furniture. Of course it is here used analogically by Mr. Pugin. % Mr. Barker's account of his discoveries in Ancient Cilicia, published ia 1853, under the title of Lares and Feimtes, contains an engraving of a figure discovered in Syria " who wears the toga, and over it a kiad of belt or scarf fringed at the ends, 48 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. CJi/retienne is given our second figure, representing Pope Paschal, from a mosaic of the ninth century, in the church of Santa CecUia at Eome, which very clearly delineates the form of the ancient stole ; whUe the plainness of the chasuble and dal- matic denotes his hu- mility equally with the squa/re nimbus, adopted as less digni- fied than the circular one usually given to saints and martyrs. Saxon military and civil costume difiered but little. Many war- riors are represented with no other weapons but a shield, spear, axe, or bow and arrows, and without any addition to their ordinary dress. The mounted warriors here exhibited wear no extra clothing of de- fence : one of them is pois- ing a spear in his right hand, and holds a shield in his left by the strap in its centre ; he has a tight dress and full trousers ; his shoes are pointed, and the spur, of the most ancient form, consists of a single goad. The warrior beside him fiourishes a double axe or bipennis in his hand, an instrument derived from the nations of earher times. We sometimes see soldiers and husbandmen with their tunics drawn up to the girdle at each side, to allow of greater freedom in motion ; for this reason the short tunic was preferred, or the close-fitting vest and trousers, as worn by the and embroidered, which is unquestionahly the Ifitus clavns," and which is further considered to ressmhle the band of the Order of the Bath aa at present used. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 49 figures above delineated, and which occur in the Harleian MS., No. 603. The two figures here engraved, from the same MS., give us good examples of the foot-sol- diers of the day. One is habited in the tunic and long mantle, and holds in his hand the "kite- shaped shield " that came into use at the end of their dynasty : from a drawing in this same MS., which shows the reverse of one of these shields, they appear to have been held in the centre by a double strap crossed like an X. A spear with its pennon is also held in the same hand ; but no sign of ar- mour, and no helmet, appears on him. The other warrior has a short tunic, and over that a cuirass covering the body to the waist, where it ends in points. It would seem, from the indications in the original drawing, to have been formed of scales — the " scaly mail " of their early bards — ^made of overlapping slices of horn sewn upon coarse linen. He carries a roimd convex shield in the left hand, with a circular boss and pro- jecting spike, which always appear upon their centres.* They were formed of leather,^ the rim or boss of iron ; and of this metal were * A writer in Dr. Smith's Dictiona^ of Greek and Roman Antiquities, con- siders this shield to be the same as the cetra of antiquity, which was a small round shield made of the hide of a quadruped. It formed part of the defensive armour of the Osci. It was also worn by the people of Spain and Mauritania, and was constructed by the latter of the skin of the elephant. " From these accounts, and &om the distinct assertion of Tacitus that it was used by the Britons," says this author, " we may with confidence identify the cetra with the target of the Scottish Highlanders." He engraves two figures from a Saxon MS. of Pruden- tius (Cotton. Cleop. C 8) j but as the Sason shield was convex, the Highland target, as we have before shown, and probably the cetra also, was lite the flat Britannic shield already engraved (p. 8). f The strongest hides were used : one of the laws of .ffiihelstan prohibits the making shields of sheepskin, under the penalty of thirty shillings. E 50 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. their other weapons, which consisted of broad double-edged swords, daggers, long spears, and javelins^. Some of these shields were large enough to cover the whole person. A curious example occurs in the Harleian MS. No. 2908 : it repre- sents a soldier asleep at the sepul- chre of Christ. He is dressed in a simple tunic, close trousers, and black boots reaching to the ankle, which have a double row of white studs running round the top and down the centre. He holds a spear in his hand, its head of curious form; and behind him is an im- mense shield ornamented with red rays springing from its central boss. The general forms of Anglo-Saxon helmets and hats, which were frequently similar, may be gathered from the group here brought together from various sources, and which exhibits every variety to be met with. Fig. 1 shows the form of the square helmet, as worn at an early period ; it gives its shape much clearer than any repre- sentation to be met with elsewhere, and is copied from a plate in Montfaucon's Antiquities of France, where it is worn by the guards of Lothaire, in a representa- tion of that monarch and his court, executed in the ninth century. One nearly similar is worn by fig. 3, with the addition of a sort of crest, called by their writers "camb on helme," the comb of the helmet, — in allusion to its analogy to that upon the head of a fowl : it occurs in the Harleian MS,, No. 603. Kg. 2 gives us the Phry- gian-shaped cap, borrowed from classic costume ; it was formed of leather, bound with metal, or made entirely of that sub- stance. It is copied from ^thehoold's JBenedictional. Pig. 4 is a pointed helmet of a simpler form, slightly varied from that previ- THE AN&LO-SAXONS AND DANES. 51 ously described. It occurs in the Harleian MS., No. 603 ; as also does fig. 5, the back of whicli is serrated like a cock's comb, and has the point projecting forward. Eig. 6 delineates the commonest form of helmet : it is a plain conical cap, with a rim probably of metal, and occurs in the Cotton MS., Claudius B 4. Hats of this shape are alsp constantly seen.* This head and fig. 2 also exhibits the only two varieties of beard worn by the Saxons : in one instance it is trimmed closely round the bottom, uniting with the whiskers, the upper lip being shaved ; in the other, the beard is parted from the centre of the chin. Both varieties are equally common. The short period during which the Danish kings gained the ascen- dency in Britain is very meagre in authorities upon which we may depend for the illustration of their peculiar costume. From an ex- amination of what little we possess, and from stray passages to be met with in the writers of that early period, we find they differed but little from the Saxons ; and the sUence of the Saxon writers, who have carefully noted the peculiarities of their own countrymen, is a tacit argument for the fact. In the colour, however, a change may have taken place, if not in the shape of their garments, black being the favourite tint of this people, and " the black Danes " the common appellation by which they were recognized — a feeling carried out by themselves in the choice of the raven as their national emblem, and which figured on the celebrated standard of this "black army." They eventually discarded this colour, as they also did their original garments — the garb of sailors — so befitting their voyaging and pira- tical propensities; and having achieved conquests to be enjoyed, became as gay in clothing and effeminate in manners as their neigh- bours ; at least so say the chroniclers, who also blame them for too frequently attracting the wives and daughters of the nobility by their fopperies. Long hair, which they regularly combed once a day, was a distinguishing feature with them, and one on which they prided, themselves, exhibiting the most devoted attachment to this natural ornament, and completely rivalling the ladies in their care of it. The " lover of the lady, beauteous in his lochs," mentioned in the Death- song of Lodhroc,'\ seems to usurp the praises that would be bestowed, * Strutt, speaking of the helmet, says : — " The helmet, if it deserves the name, as iij is commonly represented in the drawings of this era, appears to have been nothing more than a cap of leather "with the fur turned outwards : but personages of rank have a diiferent covering for the head ; its form is conical, and apparently it was made of metal, and gilt, for the colour of it is most fi:equently yellow." The specimens he gives of these helmets are similar to those of figures 5 and 6. f This wild rhapsody is an ancient Danish poem, supposed to have been ut- e2 52 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. according to modern notions, more appropriately upon the lady her- self. The hair of King Canute is described as hanging in profusion over his shoulders, and the looks of many gentlemen descended to their waists ; so careful were they of their precious curls, that an anecdote is related of a young Danish warrior, whose "ruling pas- sion, strong in death," induced an urgent request to the executioner, neither to allow his hair to be touched by a slave, nor even to be stained with his own blood during decapitation. A manuscript register of Hyde Abbey, formerly in the possession of the Duke, of Buckingham, at Stowe (executed about the middle of the eleventh century), gives us various illustrations of the costume of this period, as well as full-length figures of Canute and his Queen Alfgyfe, here engraved from the plate in Strutt's Horda Angel- Cynan.* Canute is represented in a plain tunic and mantle, the only novelty being that his mantle is tied by cords, ending in coni- cal ornaments or tassels ; he wears stockings (very similar to the modem Highland ones) nearly reaching to the knee, the tops orna- tered by Eegnar lodbroc, king of Denmark, in the eighth or beginning of the ninth century, when condemned to death. The North American Indiana had a similar custom. * Or, as the title continues, A complete View of the Maimers, Customs, Arms, Sahits, etc., of the People of JEnglamd from the mrrimal cf the Saxons till the reign, ofSemry VIII.; a work containing much that [is valuable, mixed with some few errors. "In estimating his performances," says Dr. Dibdin, "we should not so much compare them with what might have been expected, as with what had been previously performed in our own country. In short, till the ar- THE ANGLO-SAXONB AND DANES. 53 mented by a band.* The Queen is also perfectly Saxon in appear- ance; a simple gown with wide sleeves, a mantle tied like that of her husband, and a close covering for the head, beneath which peeps the royal circlet of gold and jewels, com- pletes her costume. The figure of the Vir- gin, delineated above her in the original drawing, is also in all points the same as the Anglo-Saxon figures already engraved and described; as are also the saints and apos- tles that appear in the same scene. Dr. Dib- din has engraved in the first volume of his Bibliographical Decameron, a group of saints and martyrs, a glance at which wiU show the exact similarity of their costume to that of the Anglo-Saxons already described. One of the figures is here engraved ; he bears a pabn-'branch in his right hand: the mantle fastened by a brooch on the right shoulder, the bordered tunic, and leg-bandages, are all of the Saxon form. The Danish warriors were more expert as bowmen than their Saxon opponents, and they prided themselves upon this warlike accomplishment.f "Amidst the gust of swords, ne'er did the string of his tmerring bow dismiss his bolts in vain," dent and enterprising genius of Strutt displayed itself, we had scarcely anything which deserved the name of graphic iUustrations of the state of art in the earlier ages. "When one thinks, too, that such a labourer was oftentimes working for suhsistence 'for the day that was passing over him;' that the materials he had to collect were not only frequently scattered in distant places, but incongruous in themselves ; that scarcely an Englishman had turned a turf in the field before him; all the severer functions of criticism become paralyzed in a generous bosom, and we are compelled to admit that Joseph Strutt is not only ' a fine fellow in his way,' but is entitled to the grateful remembrance of the antiquary and the man of taste." What a strong satii^e and reproach is the industrious life of Strutt upon the "learned leisure" and unemployed time of many more indepen- dent and better-educated men! * In June 1766, some workmen who were repairing "Winchester Cathedral discovered a monument, wherein was contained the body of King Canute. It was remarkably fresh, had a wreath rotmd the head, and several other ornaments of gold and silver bands. On his finger was a ring, in which was set a large and remarkably fine stone; and ia. one of his hands a silver penny {Archteologia, vol. iii.). The penny found in the hand is a singular instance of a continuance of the pagan custom of always providing the dead with money to pay Charon. f In the barrows, the remains of the bow-brace, buried with the warrior, are frequently found. 54 COSTtTMB IN ENGLAND. is the praise bestowed upon a warrior in Lodbroc's Death-song. "The flexible yew sent forth the barbed reed — clouds of arrows pierced the close-ringed harness," are expressions, among many to be found in this spirited poem, indicative of the dependence placed upon this portion of a Danish army. The "ringed armour" al- luded to was worn by the Anglo-Saxons before the Danish kings were seated upon the British throne ; and is met with, but not fre- quently, in the illumina- tions of that period: it consisted of a tunic, per- haps of quilted cloth or leather, upon which were fastened rings of steel, side by side, covering the entire surface, exactly si- milar to those worn by the soldiers of WUliam the Conqueror, which have been engraved on a future page of this vo- lume. The principal object in the annexed group is the singularly-shaped shield, which appears to have been peculiar to the Danes, who had, how- ever, the orbicular shield also in use.* This is per- fectly Phrygian in form, and is another instance added to the many, of their preservation of the form of antique war-implements from very remote periods. * The antique Phrygian shield is here engraved from one depicted in Hope's Costume of the Ancients, for the sake of immediate refe- rence. The bipennis of the same ancient nation is also given ; and the reader, by comparing it with that held by the Saxon warriors at p. 48, will see its perfect similarity. * " Red were the borders of oiu' moonlike shields," is an expression used by the hero Lodbroc. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 55 The bow and arrows, the former of which is richly ornamented, is from Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6. The hatchets, spears, shield, swords, etc., are collected from Strutt's Sorda Angel- Cynan, Mey- rick's Critical Inquiry into Ancient Arms and Armour, Cottonian MS., Claudius B 4, and Harleian MS., No. 603 ; and give a general idea of the weapons in use during this period. Twenty-four years before the invasion of William the Conqueror, the crown of England reverted to the Saxons, and during that period Edward the Confessor and Harold IT. were seated on the British throne. Driven for safety to Normandy when but thirteen years of age, Edward returned, at the age of forty, to his native land, a Norman in manners ; and the feeling generated by twenty-seven years' intercourse with the people of another land, at a period when the mind is most susceptible of lasting impressions, clung to him, of course, through Ufe. His Norman predilections were visible in all he did : he spoke in their language, and introduced their customs into his palace, which was pretty nearly populated by Norman ad- venturers, whose company the king, from long habit, generally pre- ferred. The Saxons, who desired to be well with their monarch, learned to speak Erench, and urge their claim to notice in the fa- vourite language of their masters ; and the dress, fashions, and man- ners of the Normans were as faithfully imitated, much to the dis- gust of the genuine Saxon lords : all this caused daily enrolments in the ranks of Earl Godwin, and others of the disaffected, who were loud in their condemnation of the changes wrought by the king. One novelty was introduced by Edward, for which we may be grateful — the introduction of the Qreat Seal, which has continued from his era to our own, and furnishes us with the authentic regal costume of each sovereign in undoubted accuracy ; and combined, as it gene- rally is, with an armed figure on the reverse, it becomes of conside- rable value. Upon his great seal Edward is represented seated in regal costume, consisting of a plain robe reaching to his feet, and having tight sleeves, over which hangs a mantle, covering the left arm and leaving the right on^ free : upon this right shoulder it is secured by a brooch or fibula. He holds in his right hand a sceptre, upon which is a dove. This sceptre is a staff of considerable length, reaching to the ground, after the fashion of the antique ;* a sword in his left hand. Upon his head he wears the regal helmet, a fashion not unfrequent with the Danish sovereigns, who are often repre- sented with it upon their coins.f * An engraving of it is given in tlie Glossary, under the word Sc&ptre. f The chest containing the body of Edward the Confessor was opened during 56 COSTCMB IN ENGLAND. This may not be an improper place to say a few words on the sub- ject of early regal head-dresses and crowns. The earliest form of a distinctive ornament for kings is to be met with in the fillet, or head-band of gold and jewels, or, as it sometimes appears, of strings of jewels alone, and which is to be seen on the earhest coins of our national series. Upon the coins of the kings of Mercia it is very distinctly visible, and two examples are here given. Fig. 1 is from a coin of Ofia, who reigned between a.d. 757 and 796. Kg. 2 is from a coin of Behrtulf, who flourished a.d. 839-852. Pigs. 3 and 4 are of a later date, from Strutt's Horda Angel- Cynan. In some instances tassels or strings occur, dependent from it at the back of the head. On the coins of Egbert and Ethelwulf, a round close cap or helmet appears, which becomes very distinct in those of Ethelred smd Canute ; in the first of these two instances it is visibly a helmet, encircled by the points or rays of a crown ; in that of Canute it takes the form of a close helmet, projecting over the forehead, or else of that conical shape so common to warriors, and which has been already described when treating of that period. The best representation of this regal helmet I have yet seen occurs in Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, and which is engraved at fig. 5. That of Edward the Confessor, from his Great Seal, as rendered by Sir S. E. Meyrick, is placed below it, fig. 6. Of crowns, many varieties occur, and we frequently see them of the fipparently inconvenient square form that the helmet of the the reign of James II., when there was found under one of the shoiilder-bonea of the royal corpse a crucifix of pure gold, richly enamelled, suspended by a chain of gold twenty-four inches long, which, parsing round the neck, was fas- tened by a locket of maasire gold, adorned with four large red stones. The skull was entire, and was encircled by a band or diadem of gold, one inch in breadth. Several fragments of gold, coloured sUk, and linen, were also found, the relies of the regal dress, in which it was customary then, and centuries afterwards, to inter kings. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 57 soldiers appears to have also taken : an example, fig. 7, is selected from Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, and others might easily be quoted. There is a representation of King Edgar, in Tiberius A 3, of the same collection of manuscripts, in which that sovereign appears with a richly ornamented crown of that shape, fig. 8 ; and similar ones are worn by Lothaire, and other early French kings, as may be seen on reference to the plates of the first volume of Montfaucon's Anti- guitis de la Mona/rchie Frangaise. The most common form of crowa in Anglo-Saxon times appears to have been that depicted as worn by Edgar, in a representation of that monarch which occurs in his book of grants to the Abbey of Winchester in the year 966, which is still preserved in the British Museum among the Cottonian MSS., marked Vespasian A 8 ; it forms fig. 9 of the group we engrave. Fig. 10 is from Harleian MS. 603. Fig. 11 from Cottonian MS., Tiberius C 6, and is remarkable for the arch springing from its sides, which are decorated with fiorid ornaments, strikingly resem- bling fleurs-de-lis, and which are of such frequent occurrence on all these ancient diadems. Edward appears in crowns of various shapes upon his coins: one has a double arch, fig. 12; and Harold II. wears one still more richly decorated upon one of his coins (fig. 18), exhibiting clearly the pendants that hang from the back of it.* In the time of Edward the Confessor, noblemen wore dresses of fur or skins (pelles, from which comes our modern pelisse) ; and in Michel's Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, 1886, vol. i. p. 107, written about 1185, is a curious passage, relating to a rencontre on a little bridge between London and Westminster (Strand bridge, probably), between Tosti, Earl of Huntingdon, son-in-law of Earl Godwin, and Siward, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon, which runs thus : — " The said Earl (Tosti) approached so near to Siward on the bridge, that he dirtied his pelisse (pelles) with his miry feet ; for it was then customary for noblemen to use skins without cloth." During the reign of Harold II., who had also visited and re- sided in Normandy (at the court of WiUiam, the Duke of that pro- vince and afterwards the Conqueror of England), we meet with the same complaint of the prevalence of Norman fashions. The monkish chroniclers declare that the English had transformed them- selves in speech and garb, and adopted all that was ridiculous in the manners of that people. They shortened their tunics, they trimmed their hair, they loaded their arms with golden bracelets, and entirely * A glance at the plates of Euding'a Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain, or Hawkins's Silver Coins of JEnglancL arra/aged and described, will furnish other examples to those already given, and bear out these remai'ks more fully. 58 COSTUME IN ENOLAKD. forgot their tsual simplicity. The custom of covering the arm from the wrist to the elbow with ornamental bracelets has been before alluded to ; they appear to have been marks of distinction, of which they were not a little vain. There is a curious representation of the temptation of Christ in Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, in which the Evil One is displaying the " riches of the world " to the Saviour, and these bracelets form a conspicuous part of the "glory thereof." The Bayeux Tapes- try, of which we shall have much to say dur- ing the next reign, gives a curious representa- tion of the coronation of Harold. The monarch is seated upon a raised throne, and holding a florid sceptre of a sin- gular form and of con- siderable length.* On his right stand two courtiers, who appear to be vowing their alle- giance upon the sword ; on his left stands Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury. It is altogether a valuable illustration of the extreme simplicity of the regal, noble, and ecclesiastical costume of this pe- riod. Harold is elsewhere represented in a plain red tunic, yellow cloak and stockings, a blue close cap, and blue shoes. "In the military habit," says Mr. Planch^.f " Harold ordered a change which led to his decisive success in Wales. The heavy ar- mour of the Saxons (for the weight of the tunic, covered with iron rings, was considerable) rendered them unable to pursue the Welsh to their recesses. Harold observed this impediment, and commanded them to use armour made of leather only, and lighter weapons. This leathern armour we find to have consisted in overlapping flaps, generally stained of different colours, and cut into the shape of scales or leaves ; it is called corium by some of the writers in the succeed- ing century, and corietum in the Norman laws. It was most pro- bably copied from the Normans ; for in the Bayeux Tapestry we * Upon tlie coins of Edward the Confessor, and the representations of our early Anglo-Saxon kings, the sceptre is a long staff reaching to the ground, sur- mounted hy a hall, and apparently about five feet high. f History of British Costume. THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. 59 perceive it worn by Guy, Count of Ponthieu, and Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the brother of William the Conqueror ; and it continued in use in England as late as the thirteenth century." The ladies during all this time appear to have escaped censure, by their adherence to a simple garb ; though we shall see that when they once broke bounds, about a century after this period, they ran to the other extreme, and obtained a full share of the monkish cen- sure that was now exclusively appropriated to their lords. During the period of which we are treating, they seem, with some few ex- ceptions, to have been of a most exemplary character, exercising the domestic duties with virtuous xm.ostentation, and every incidental or casual notice exhibits them in the amiable light of kind mothers and good housewives. They and the clergy shared the learning of the age between them. All remember the beautiful story of Alfred's mother, the good Osburgha, who wooed him to learning by the pro- mise of a splendidly ornamented volume of Saxon poetry, which caught his youthful eye while she was reading it, surrounded by her children, and which he won by successfully endeavouring to read its contents. Editha, the neglected wife of the priestly Edward the Confessor, was as remarkable for her mental accomplishments as for her beauty, her gracefulness, and cheerful amiability of temper. In- gulphus, the monk of Croyland, who was her contemporary and personal acquaintance, speaks of her with a homely and subdued en- thusiasm that is singularly touching, declaring that she sprang from Earl Godwin, her rough and turbulent father, as the rose springs from the thorn. " I have very often seen her," says he, " in my boyhood, when I used to go to visit my father, who was employed about the court. Often did I meet her as I came from school, and then she questioned jne about my studies and my verses ; and wil- lingly passing from gra/mmar to logic, she would catch me in the subtleties of argwment. She always gave me two or three pieces of money, which were counted* to me by her handmaiden, and then sent me to the royal larder to refresh myself." The ladies were also much skiQed in physic ; and the time unem- ployed in the practice of that art was devoted generally to works of charity, to study, or to needlework, in which they were great profi- cients. Their moral value, which consisted in the due performance of their duties as mothers and housewives, gave them a permanent influence and authority greatly beneficial to society in general. Al- fred, in his translation of Boethius, has given us a beautiful picture of conjugal love, which may have been sketched from nature by this learned and good man, on whom the name of king could cast no ad- ditional lustre. 60 ^'^z "^axmrniu. The Great Seals of tlie kings of this dynasty exhibit each monarch in dresses varying in a very slight degree from each other. A tunic, reaching halfway below the knee, and a mantle thrown over it and fastened by a fibula on the shotdder in front, completes their cos- tume. William I. holds a sword in his right hand, and an orb, surmounted by a cross, in his left; as also does his son Euftis. Henry I. and Stephen bear also swords and orbs, but the crosses upon them are surmounted by large doves. Of WiUiam I. various representations occur in that valuable picture of the manners and costume of his period, known as the Sayeux Tapestry, and which is traditionally recorded to have been worked by his queen, Matilda, and the ladies of her court, to commemorate the in- vasion and conquest of England by her husband; and by her presented to the cathedral of Bayeux, in Normandy, of which Odo, the turbulent half-brother of "WiUiam, was bishop : it reached completely round the cathedral, where it was exhibited on great occasions.* This pictorial history of the Conquest commences with Harold's * It ig no"W preserred in the town-hall of ijie city (having been removed from the cathedral since 1803), where it is kept coiled round a roller : the tapestry measures 20 inches in breadth, and is 214 feet in length; it ends abruptly, and some portion is wanting. Dr. Dibdin, in his Tow in Normandy, has engraved the tapestry on its roll, as it usually appears, and also has given a facsimile of one of the portraits of WiUiam, copied, thread for thread, in imitation of the original needlework. The Society of Antiquaries, feeling the value of this curious histo- ric production, despatched Mr. C. A. Stothard to Normandy to copy it in the most accurate manner, which he effected with minute truthfulness ; and copies of his drawing, one-fourth of the original size, were published in the sixth volume of their work, the Yelmsta Mommiewta. ^Reduced copies of these plates, with an elucidatory test, have been recently published in a quarto volume by Dr. Bruce, of Newcastle. THE NOEMANS. 61 visit to Normandy at tlie instigation of Edward the Confessor ; and gives all the incidents of his stay at WUliam's court, his subsequent departure, the death of Edward and his funeral at Westminster, the coronation of Harold, William's invasion, the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death. In addition to all this, many minute facts are re- corded, and persons depicted and named that have escaped the chro- niclers. Besides the figures of William in this tapestry, there is a full- length portrait of bim in a manuscript that formerly belonged to Battle Abbey (which was founded by him to commemorate his con- quest), and relates to its affairs until a.d. 1176 : it is engraved in Dr. Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron, vol. i., from the original in the Cotton MS., Domitian 2. In the public library at Eouen is a curious manuscript by William, Abbot of Jumi^ges, to which abbey William was a great benefactor, and in whose presence the church was dedicated to the Yirgin, by St. MauriUe, Archbishop of Eouen, in 1067. At the commencement of the book is a drawing represent- ing the historian offering his book to the Conqueror ; the copy here given was drawn by me from the original, while at Eouen, some years since, and is now for the first time engraved. It is the best re- gal figure of WiUiam we possess. His tunic has wide sleeves with a richly ornamented border; a man- tle is fastened to his right shoul- der by a brooch or fibula. His crown is of singular shape, a com- bination of cap and crown,* and he holds in his left hand a sceptre of somewhat peoidiar form. His face is so carefully drawn that it bears the marks of portraiture; a broad full face seems to have been the characteristic distinction of the Conqueror in all contem- porary representations of him. The ordinary costume of the people during this reign appears to have been as simple as that of the Anglo-Saxons. Short tunics, with a sort of cape or tippet about the neck, and drawers that co- * The Saxon Chronicle describes WJHiam as "wearing the regal liehnet "thrice every year when he was in England. At Easter he wore it at Winchester, on Pentecost at Westminster, and in mid-winter at Gloucester." 62 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. vered the entire leg, known as " chaussfe,'' were worn, sometimes bandaged round the leg with various colours, or crossed diagonally. William is represented in one instance with blue garters and gold tassels over his red ohausses, very similar to the regal figure en- graved as an illustration to the previous account of this fashion among the Saxons. Full trousers reaching to the knee are not uncommon, as may be seen in the cut on next page; and one example occurs in the tapestry in which they end in a series of van- dykes, or points, of different colour to the trouser itself. The tunic, too, was sometimes variegated in perpendicular stripes from the waist, where it was confined by a coloured girdle. Their man- tles, as before observed, were fastened by brooches or pins of an ornamental character, either square or round ; and which, having been common for ages previous, remained in fashion centuries after- wards. Their shoes are represented of various colours upon the tapestry, yellow, blue, green, and red ; they wear also short boots, reaching above the ankle, with a plain band round their tops. The male costume is, throughout the tapestry, similar to that worn by the figures to the left of Harold in the cut of his coronation already described, and which, in fact, varied but httle &om that of the Saxons. There was, however, one striking peculiarity in the Normans who came with WiUiam, and that was the singular fashion of shaving the back of the head as well as the entire face. It was so great a novelty, that the spies sent by Harold to reconnoitre the camp of William, declared they had seen no soldiers, but an army of priests. " One of the English who had seen the Normans all shaven and shorn, thought they were aU priests, and could chant masses ; for all were shaven and shorn, not having moustachios left. This he told to Harold, that the duke had far more priests than knights or other troops." Such are the words in which this incident is de- scribed by Wace, the Anglo-Norman poet of the twelfth century, and the historian of the Dukes of Normandy. The engraving given in the next page, of two mounted soldiers, — from the Bayeux tapestry, — shows this fashion very clearly : the central tufts of hair were sometimes covered by a close coif, or cap, which, passing over the centre of the head from the tip of each ear, left the back quite bare of covering, for the purpose of displaying this fashion more plainly. Mr. PlanchI, in his History of British Costume, says that it was adopted from the nobles of Aqtdtaine, who had been distinguished by this extraordinary practice for many THE NOEMANS. 63 years previous to the Conquest ; and who had spread the fashion after the marriage of Constance, Princess of Poitou, with Eobert, Eing of France, in 997, by following her to Paris, and there exhi-' biting themselyes thus shorn ; their general manners being, accord- ing to contemporary authority, distinguished by conceited levity, that and their dress being equally fantastic. But Fashion, who can invent nothing too ugly or too absurd for her votaries to adopt and defend, and whose sway is as blindly submitted to in our own day as it was by the ex- quisites in that of William of Normandy, spread these absurdities amazingly, much to the annoyance of the clergy, who lamented over the changes they could not avert, and the simple honesty of the " good old times " of their forefathers, with as much zest as the writers of a later period when talking of this visionary era — a golden age that existed only in imagination. Once established in England, and revelling in the riches their rapine procured from its unhappy inhabitants, the courtiers of the Conqueror gave way to their ostentatious love of finery, which in- creased during his reign, and in that of Kufus arrived at its height, producing a total change in the appearance of the people. The king having set the example, of course the courtiers followed it ; and the clergy are declared to have been equally distinguished with them for their love of attire both whimsical and expensive.* Not content with the amount of ornament their dresses could contain, they sought extra display by enlarging them to the utmost, allowing their gar- ments to trail upon the ground, and widening their sleeves until they hung, not only over the entire hand, but several inches beyond it, even falling to the middle of the leg when their arms descended. One of the royal figures here engraved from Cotton MS., Nero C * "At this time preists used bualied and braided heads, long-tayled gounes and blasyn clothes, shinyng and golden girdles; and rode -with gilt spurs, using of divers other enormities." Fabian's Chronicle, quoted by Strutt, who says this account is confirmed by Malmesbury ; and that neither the preaching nor the authority of Ansehn could correct these vices. 64 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. 4. exhibits these sleeves very clearly. In the original this group is intended to represent the three Magi. The figure to the left shows another kind of sleeve, frequently seen in the Uluminations of this period, and which looks like a very broad cuff turned over from the wrist ; it is generally gilt in the delineations where it is met with, and widens as it reaches the elbow, to- wards which it tapers to a point projecting from the arm. The mantle of this figure is tucked under the arm, to prevent inconve- nience from its length in walking. These mantles were made from the finest cloths, and then lined with costly ftirs ; Henry I. is said by the histori- ans to have had one pre- sented to him by the Bishop of Lincoln that cost one hundred pounds. The length of their garments, and the love of ampKtude that characterized the fashionables of this period, induced them to dis- card the close shaving introduced at the Conquest, and to allow their hair and beard to vie with their apparel in length and incon- venience, which induced the clergy to give them the name of " filthy goats." The cut of the Magi shows this fashion well (as do also some others a little further on) : their beards are nicely combed (the third figure draws his through his fingers with evident satisfaction), and the moustachios allowed to hang to considerable length over it in single carefully-formed looks. The earliest sculptured effigies of English sovereigns we possess are those of Henry I. and his Queen Matilda, at the sides of the great west door of Eochester cathedral, and of which the cut on the next page is a copy. They are much mutilated, but still preserve important details of costume. The king is in the flowing dress of the period ; a long dalmatic lies in folds over his feet, and it appears to be open in front ; it is partially covered by the super- tunic, which is gathered round the waist, but no girdle is visible ; a long mantle lies iu folds over his left arm, and is partially tucked beneath his THE NOEMANS. 65 tjlC / rigtt hand, in whicli he holds a sceptre; a small model of a church (intended for Bo- chester cathedral, to which he was a chief benefactor) is in his other hand. The crown is much damaged, hut it ap- pears to have been very sim- ple. His beard is trimmed round, but his hair is allowed to flow in carefully-twisted ringlets upon his shoulders, and is apparently hanging luxuriantly over the back. A singular dream, which happened to this monarch when passing over to Nor- mandy in 1130, has been de- picted in a manuscript of Florence of Worcester, in Corpus Christi College, Ox- ford. The rapacity and op- pressive taxation of his go- vernment, and the reflection forced on him by his own un- popular measures, may have originated the vision. He imagined himself to have been visited by the representatives of the three most important grades of society — the husbandmen, the knights, and the clergy — who gather- ed round his bed, and so fearfully menaced him that he awoke in great alarm, and, seiz- ing his sword, loudly called for his atten- dants. The drawings that accompany this narrative, and repre- sent each of these visions, appear to have been executed shortly afterwards, and are va- 66 COSTUME IN EiraLAND. luable illustrations of the general costume of the period. One of them is introduced in the preceding page. The king is there seen sleeping ; behind him stand three husband- men, one carrying a scythe, another a pitchfork, and the third a shovel. They are each dressed in simple tunics, without girdles, with plain close-fitting sle'eves ; the central one has a mantle fastened by a plain brooch, leaving the right arm free. The beards of two of these figures are as ample as those of their lords, this being an article of fashionable indulgence within their means. The one with the scythe wears a hat not unlike the felt hat stiU worn by his de- scendants in the same grade : the scroll in his left hand is merely placed there to contain the words he is supposed to utter to the king. Such, then, was the costume of the poorest of the commonalty. Ascending a slight degree in the scale of life, we shall find an in- crease in the ornamental details of dress. The figures in the annexed cut give us the ordinary costume of the middle classes during the reigns of E.ufus, Henry I., and Stephen. The youngest figure (in- tended, in the original delineation, for David with his sling) is habited in a long tunic, reaching nearly to the ankles : it is red, with a white lining, and has a collar gilt in the original, as also are the cuffs, which reach near- ly to the elbow ; it is bordered with a simple ornament, and is open on the left side from the waist downward, a fashion that appears to have been very com- mon at this period. He has tightly-fitting chauss^s, and high boots, or perhaps the Saxon leg-bandages. The figure beside him (who represents, in the original MS., Noah with his hatchet about to build the Ark) wears a hat similar to the Anglo-Saxon helmet in shape ; a moustache and beard of moderate proportions ; a very long fuU red tunic with hanging sleeves, over which is thrown a green mantle bordered with gold. His tiinic is open from the side, display- THE NOEMANB. 67 ing what appears to be a stocking reaching to the knee, and is cer- tainly much the earliest representation of that article of apparel yet noticed ; his shoes are ornamented by diagonal lines crossing each other, and complete what may be considered as a fair sample of the or- dinary costume of the age. We have here the com- mon trarelling-dress in use at this period. The original is intended for the Saviour meeting the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The dress worn by the Sa- viour varies but little from that of Noah in the last cut, except that he wears an under-tunic, and his mantle, fastened by a narrow band across the chest, is upheld by the right hand. The figures of the disciples are habited much more curiously, the central one particularly so, as he would seem to wear a dress expressly made for travelling ; his large round hat, with its wide brim, seems to be the original of the pilgrim's hat, so well known in later times, and which formed so distinguishing a mark in their costume. His short green tunic is protected by a capacious mantle of skin, provided with a " capa,' or cowl, to draw over the head, and which was frequently used in lieu of a hat. He wears white breeches, ornamented with red cross- stripes ; they end at the ankle, where they are secured by a band or garter,* the foot being covered by close shoes. His companion wears the common cap so frequently represented, and he has his face ornamented to profusion by moustache and beard, each look of which appears to be most carefully separated, and arranged in the nicest order. He has an under-tunic of white, and an upper one of red, and a white mantle bordered with gold he also wears the same kind of breeches, reaching to the ankle, but he has no shoes, which fre- quently appears to have been the case when persons were on a jour- ney. A selection of various shoes and leg-coverings has been made from the MS. that has supphed us with these examples — Cotton * Strutt conaidera this to represent "the coxalia, or trousers, which reach to his ankles, and are hound upon his leg hy leg-handages." f2 68 COSTUMB IN ENGLAND. CoUection, Nero C 4,* and wMcli exMbits nearly all the varieties to be met with. Fig. 1 is a curious swathing for the lower part of the leg, above the shoes, worn by shepherds: 1 2 3 it looks very like the hay- bands of a modern carter.f Fig. 2 is a pair of the richly ornamented shoes, before re- ferred to as frequently worn by the richer classes. Fig. 3 is a sock, or half-boot, also ornamented round the top. Fig. 4, a shoe ornamented by lines crossing each other diagonally. Fig. 5 shows, , upon a larger scale, the ter- mination of the trouser already described, with the band securing it round the ankle. Fig. 6 is a boot, the top of which is cut much Kke ihe cuffs upon the royal figures and others before engraved and de- scribed : from the ankle upwards it is ornamented with red cross-bars, but it may probably be intended for the stocking, as seen above the shoe. From the feet let us ascend to the head, and consider the usual cover- ings worn there. Fig. 1 gives us the flat close cap, and also displays to much advantage the mode of dress- ing the beard. Fig. 2 has the com- mon round scull-cap. Fig. 3 wears one of a Phrygian shape. Fig. 4 has the cowl, as usually worn over the head. These comprise nearly every variety then in use. During this period the ladies gra- dually merged from the simplicity * A manuscript ■which contains a series of drawings of Scriptural subjects, which are of much value for the accurate delineations given by the ancient de- signer, of the costume of his own age, in which he has clothed all the figures. f Some writers, indeed, affirm that the practice of enswathing the legs with havbands was the origin of the cross-gartering, so fashionable among the Saxons and Normans. THE NOEMANS. 69 of tHe Anglo-Saxon costume into all the extravagance of shape and material revelled in by the gentlemen. The alteration appears to have commenced in the sleeves ; and the figure to the left in the annexed out depicts this change. The long narrow sleeve suddenly becomes pendulous at the wrist, and is more than a yard in length. AH the other parts of the dress are precisely similar to that worn by the Saxon ladies before described. The sleeves have become gradually longer and wi- der, and are sometimes tied up in knots. They are generally of a differ- ent colour from the rest of the dress. Their gowns also, like the tunics of the gentlemen, are excessively ample, and lie in folds about their feet, or trail at length behind them. These trains were also occasionally tied up in knots ; and the symmetry of the waist was preserved by lacing, in the manner of the modem stays. The illu- minator of the MS. from which we have so frequently copied (Cotton Collection, Nero C 4), iu the representation of Christ's Temptation, has satirically dressed his infernal majesty in the full costume of a fashionable lady of this period. His waist is most charmingly slender, and its shape admirably preserved by tight lacing from the waist upwards, the ornamental tag depending from the last hole of the bodice. His long sleeves are knotted on his ai-m ; and his gown, open from the right hip downward, is gathered in a knot at his feet. It is an early instance of a fondness for caricature, which was in- dulged in occasionally by ancient illuminators. The hair of the ladies at this time was indeed " a glory unto them," for they far outdid the doings of their lords, extravagant as they were in this particular. They wore it in long plaits, that reached sometimes to their feet. The effigy of Queen Matilda, at Eochester, on p. 65, affords an excellent example of this fashion : it descends in two large plaits to the hips, and terminates in small locks. These treasiired ornaments were bovmd with ribbons occasionally, and were sometimes encased in silk coverings of variegated colours. The lady 70 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. to the right in the last cut is represented as wearing one of these ornamental cases, which reaches to her feet, and ends in tassels.* The ecclesiastical costume of this period is chiefly remarkable for the increase of ornament adopted by the superior clergy, and which called forth the strongest animadversions from the more rigid preci- sians of their own class. Sumptuary laws were made, and partially enforced ; for both now and afterwards it was found much easier to make the laws restraining excess in apparel, than to enforce the rich to keep them. The annexed cut exhibits the costume of the higher order of clergy, the first of whom is arrayed in a chasuble, richly bor- dered, apparently with jewels : his dalmatic varies from that worn by the Anglo-Saxon prelates, in being open at the sides ; it is very richly ornamented. The first approach to a mitre is visible in the cap that covers his head, from which hang the pendent bands called the vittce, or ansulee, which always appear upon mitres, and frequently upon crowns.f The adjoining figure is more plainly habited : a novelty appears in the upper part of his dress, — the sort of ornamental collar, or apparel of the amice, which falls from the neck over the shoulders. One very similar is also seen upon the figure of Eoger, Bishop of Sarum, who died in 1193, and which is now in Salisbury cathedral. It has been engraved in Britton's * la 1839 a coffin was discovered in tlie abbey church of Eomsey, which had originally contained the body of a female of this early time. The bones had en- tirely decayed, but the hair, with its characteristic indestructibility, was found entire, and appeared as if the skull had only recently been removed fiam. it, re- taining its form entire, and having plaited tails eighteen inches in length. It is still preserved in a glass case, lying upon the same block of oak which has been its pUlow for centuries. f It has been supposed tha.t they were originally used for fastening them be- neath the chin. The crown on the Great Seal of Henry I. shows these appen- dages very plainly ; and a story is told of Balph, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, in a fit of wrath, snatched the crown firom the head of this Mng, and broke the ansute, or ola«ps, which secured it. THE NOEMANS. 71 history of that edifice, and forms the first plate in Stothard's Monu- mental Effigies.* Among the military of this period a most important body were the archers, who did the Conqueror invaluable service at Hastings, and made the bow for many centuries the chief strength of the Eng- lish hnes. Its practice was greatly encouraged ; and Henry I. made a law to the effect that no archer should be punished for murder, or charged with it, who had accidentally killed any person while prac- tising with his weapon. The engraving represents four of these archers from the Bayeux Tapestry ; and it scarcely need be mentioned that they are facsimiles of the original, where they are placed above each other, although they are in- tended to be side by side. Two of them are dressed nearly alike, in a close vest, with wide breeches to the knee ; another has full breeches, apparently gathered above and below the knee, and ornamented with large red spots. The third is more fuUy armed ; he wears the steel cap, with its protecting nasal, and a close-fitting dress reaching to the knee, of ringed mail, which was formed by sewing metal rings upon leather * Bisliop Eoger was indebted to a sirigulax ciroumstaiice for his rise in the church from a simple priest to chief justiciary and regent of the kingdom. He dehghted Henry I. by the rapid manner in which he got over the ceremony of the Mass, which the sense of morality possessed by our early sovereigns woxild not allow them to miss, although the easy pliability of their consciences induced them so richly to reward the priest who could get it done with most rapidity. But the fighting clergy of those days, who wielded swords as cheerfully as cro- siers, probably looked most to the 'externals of religion. The waxlike mous- tache of the figure engraved above seems admirably adapted for the steel cap of the soldier; and Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the half-brother of the Conqueror, is a striking example of what too many of the higher clergy of these troublesome times were. 72 COSTITMB IN BNGLAND. or cloth. The quiver is suspended from the waist, or else from the shoulder, from whence arrows are taken as wanted, or several held in the left hand ready for use ; as seen in the third figure of our group.* The ordinary costume of the Norman soldiers is here given from the same tapestry. The military tunic, or hau- berk, " which was of German origin," says Meyrick, "was probably so entitled from hauen, to hew or out, and herg, a defence ; that is, a pro- tection against cuts or stabs." It fitted the body ■very closely, being slit a little way up in the centre both before and behind, for the convenience of ri- ding ; although occasion- ally, it appears to have ended in close-fitting trousers at the knee. Meyrick says: "It ap- pears to have been put on by first drawing it on the thighs, where it sits wide, and then putting the arms into the sleeves, which hang loosely, reaching not much below the elbow, as was the case with the Saxon flat-ringed tunic. The hood attached to it was then brought up over the head, and the opening on the chest covered by a square piece, through which were passed straps that fastened behind, hang- ing down with tasselled terminations, as did also the strap which drew the hood, or capuchon, as it was called, tight round the fore- head." Mr. Planche contends for "the evident impossibility of getting into a garment so made," of tunic and trousers in one ; but so many examples of such a body-armour occur — too distinctly deli- neated about the thigh, as may be seen in our engraving, to be con- sidered as merely bad drawing, or an imperfect representation of the opening in the long tunic — that it certainly appears to have been thus worn, although it may have been divided at the waist. The hood of mail is seen in the figure to the right, in the preceding cut, covering * These figures haTO been modernized in Meyrick's Critical Inguiry into Ancient Armour, vol. i. pi. 8. THE NOBMANS. 73 the head, and the conical helmet is placed over it. The wide sleeves of the hauberk reach to the elbow only, and are covered with rings ; bxxt the body of this defence appears to be composed of the kind of armour termed " treUised " by Meyrick, which was formed of straps of leather, fastened on a body of quQted cloth, and crossing each other diagonally, leaving angular spaces in the centre, where knobs of steel were placed as an additional protection. His legs are also protected by ringed mail. He holds in his hands a gonfanon, the term applied to the lance to which a small flag or streamer was ap- pended, and which was generally carried by the principal men in the army, to gender themselves more conspicuous to their followers, as well as to terrify the horses of their adversaries ; hence it became a mark of dignity, and the bearing of the royal one was only en- trusted to certain great and noble persons.* The other warrior is more fully armed : he has a sword, an axe, and a spear, with the latter of which he is about to strike. The axe continued in use long after this period. Stephen fought with his battle-axe at the siege of Lincoln, in 1141, untU it snapped within his grasp. The long pointed shield, borne by this figure, has been termed by antiquaries " heater-shaped " and " kite-shaped," from its resemblance to both these articles. Various Sicilian bronzes exist, the figures holding similar shields, and it was among these people that they probably originated. They were held by a strap in their centre. The figures here given are of a later date, appa- rently of the time of Henry I. or Stephen. They occur in Cotton MS., Nero C 4. They wear the helmet pointed forward, similar to the Anglo-Saxon ones before described, and have pro- tecting nasals. The shield held by the first of our figures is bowed so as to cover the body, the umbo projects considerably, and * The banner of the Conqueror had been presented to him by the Pope, who had given the expedition his blessing. Wace says, that vmder one of the jewels 74, COSTUME IN ENGLAND. IS of an ornamental character ; decorative bands radiate from it, and it has a broad border. It is of common occurrence, being some- times represented large enough to reach the ground, on which its point rests. A sword is in the girdle, and three spears, or hand- javelins, are held in the right hand.* The legs are unprotected, and high boots slightly ornamented cover the feet. The warrior beside him has a ringed hauberk, open at each side, and through an opening at the waist the scabbard of his sword is stuck. It is on the right side, as will perhaps be noticed ; but it frequently occurs on that side as well as on the other in figures of this period. A long green tunic appears beneath his hauberk, and he wears white boots. This figure is copied from one in Cotton MS., Caligula A 7, and exhibits the masded armour of this era. These mascles were lozenge- shaped plates of metal, fastened on the hauberk through holes at each corner; and they were so worked one over the other, that no openings ever appeared between them. The soldier here engraved has a tall round conical cap, with a nasal, to which his hood of mail is affixed ; and this was the commencement of a protec- tion for the face, which afterwards be- came so much more complete. Little more than the eyes of the figure are visible ; and the neck seems protected by a sort of tippet of mail connected with the hood, which completely en- velopes the head, passing under the helmet, and which is probably the original of the eamail of the days of the third Edward. The legs are also encased, and he has the long-pointed toe that became fashion- able at this time, and which came first into use during the reign of Eufus : they were strictly forbidden to be worn by the clergy, as too with which it was ornamented was placed a hair of St. Peter. It is represented on the tapestry as a simple square banner, hearing upon it a cross or, in a hor- dure azure. * It was not imcommon for the early warriors to use these jaTslins with the points so constructed that if they missed an adversary and fell to the earth, they would immediately turn, and thus become useless to am opponent. The Saxon and Norman javelins were so formed. THE HOBMANS. 75 foppisli ; shoes were worn at this period with toes of great length, and stuffed with tow tiU they curled like a ram's horn. The shoes of horsemen generally curve downwards ; and WiUiam of Malms- bury says, that they were invented by Eufus to keep the toes from slipping from the stirrup. Shoes of this description are worn by Richard, constable of Chester, in the reign of Stephen, whose mounted figure is here copied from his seal published in the Ve- tusta Monmnenta of the Soci- ety of Antiquaries. He wears a novel kind of armour, called by Meyrick " tegulated," and formed of little square plates, covering each other in the manner of tiles, and sewn upon a hauberk without sleeves or hood. On his head is a tall conical helmet with- out a nasal, the fashion having probably been discontinued from the inconvenient hold it afforded the enemy of the wearer in battle, — Stephen, at the siege of Lincoln, having been seized by the nasal of his helmet and detained a prisoner ; this may probably have led to its discon- tinuance, and the then unprotected state of the face have occasioned the invention of the close face-guards soon afterwards in common use. The long pendent sleeves of the knight, and his flowing tunic reaching below his heels, was a Frankish fashion of Oriental origin. He bears a small shield and a banner. He was standard-bearer of England in 1140. A very good coloured engraving, designed from this seal, may be seen in the first volume of Meyrick's Critical In- quiry into Ancient Armour, plate 12. Two other kinds of armour were also in use at this period. Scale- armour, derived from the ancient Dacians and Sarmatians, who may be seen thus protected in Hope's admirable Costume of the Ancients. It was formed of a series of overlapping scales formed of leather or metal, similar to those of fish,* from whence the idea was evidently taken. The great seal of Eufus represents that monarch thus habited. * A poem of the time of Henry III., on the tajdng of Lincohi, printed in Wright's Political Songs, figuratively mentions " the iron-girt bees of war, who with fearful stings penetrate the hostile shirts, and cut the scaly textures of iron." n COSTXTME IN ENGLAND. The other kind is termed by Meyrick"rustred armour," and consisted of rows of rings placed flat over each other, so that two of the upp,er row partially covered one in that below, and thus filled up all inter- stices, while free motion was allowed the wearer. Many curious examples of costume occur upon the ancient sculptures of our churches erected during this period, particularly those which decorate the doors and fonts. The Norman churches of Kilpeck and Shobdon, in Herefordshire, are particularly deserving of notice ; the figure? of Welsh knights* iatroduced among the or- naments may be considered as delineating the features of the more ancient British dress, then preserved in the border country. Mr. J. G. Eokewode first pointed out their singular curiosity in the thir- tieth volume of the Archceologia, and .engraved two of the figures from Kilpeck.t one of which is here annexed : this figure is in profile, and wears a cap of the Phrygian form, and ex- ceedingly similar to those worn by the an- cient Britons and Gauls, as will be seen by refer- ence to the cut on p. 11. His hair and beard is bushy, and he wears a close vest of rayed tex- ture, fitting tightly to the hips, round which passes a long belt, which is fancifully secured by a double knot, the ends hanging nearly to the feet. The long loose trouser is curious, and precisely such as was worn by the early, Saxons (see cut, p. 48) and by the Norman pea- santry. A kind of mace is borne in the hand, and the entire figure * The parts of Herefordshire lying without Offa's Dyke were regarded, until the reign of Henry VIII., as belonging to Wales. f The church of St. David at Kilpeck was given by Hugh, the son of William the Norman, to the monastery of St. Peter of Gloucester, ui H34, and the pre- sent building was erected not long after the appropriation. THE NOEMANS. 77 is enwreathed mtli foliage, as is also the companion sculpture in the same out, copied from Shobdon churcli ;* this figure, being full-faced, does not show the cap or helmet to the same advantage as the com- panion one ; but other parts of the dress are equally curious, and the vest even more so. It is rayed, or striped, as the other, but it has the addition of a collar richly ornamented with studs or jewels. The knotted belt is not worn, but the trouser is striped like the vest, and it is shorter than that worn by the KUpeck figure. Another figure, from the latter church, engraved in the Archcsologia, " carries a long pointed sword with a guard at the hilt ;"t the Shobdon figip-es have all clubs similar to that carried by the one engraved. Sir S. E. Meyrick, in his Inquiry into Ancient Armour, quoting Wace's de- scription of the battle of Hastings, and the "villains," or serfs, hastening "with pUls and maces in their hand," says that the piU was a piece of wood cut smaller at one end than the other, resem- bling the Irish shillelagh. The mace was something of the same kind, but with a larger head ; which agrees exactly with the Shobdon figure. A superior one of iron appears in the hand of Odo in the Bayeux Tapestry, and some other equestrian figures, but its adop^ tion by knights generally was later than the Conquest. The pills and maces were the weapons of the serfs, who were not permitted to make use of the lance or sword, which, in the Conqueror's laws, are expressly termed " the arms of freemen." * Engraved from drawings- by Mr. G. K. Lewia in tlie ArchtjeologieaUoumal, Vol. 1, with descriptions by Mr. T. Wright. Shobdon was built about 1141 by OUver de Merlimond, a Herefordshire knight, who obtained the manor of the powerful lord of Wigmore, Eoger de Mortimer, to whom he was steward. f So says Mr. Eokewode ; but it seems more like a dart or small javelin, and the guard at the hilt I believe to be no more than one of the broad stripes of the long sleeve partially covering the hand, as sword-handles were never thus protected at this early period. 78 %\i& '^ImtnQ&mk. The monumental effigies of England, — those interesting bequests of our forefathers, that at once iRustrate the history of art and social life, boldly delineating the great departed, " whose actions stirred the nations," by the hands of their contemporaries, " in their habit as they lived " faithfully given to the minutest point, — these vene- rable mementoes wiU henceforward light us on our path, and, by their truthfulness of detail, aid us in understanding much that else would be obscure. The language cannot be too strong that should be used to impress their value on the minds of those who have them in their keeping. Many an exquisite specimen reposes in lonely, unirequented village churches, their beauty hidden by coats of whitewash, and their safety dependent on their utter worthlessness in the eyes of those whose duty it should be to guard them against destruction. May the hands uphfited in prayer speat to man, as they appeal to God, and hinder the wantonness of ignorant destruc- tion ! Long may they be preserved from the barbarism of the de- spoiler, and remain piously preserved as a sacred bequest from our progenitors, to gladden posterity, and to prove that the utilitari- anism of a boasted " march-of-intellect '' age has not quite dried up all respect for the ancestry who have made us what we are, and whose governing principles we are frequently obliged to acknowledge as unwisely forgotten ! We are indebted to that excellent artist and judicious antiquary, the late C. A. Stothard, for the conception and execution of his beau- tiful work, the Monvmental Effigies of Ctreat JBrifain, which, for the first time, did fuU justice to these subjects. His own opinion of their value he thus expressed: — "Among the various antiquities which England possesses, there are none so immediately illustrative of our history as its national monuments, which abound in our ca- thedrals and churches. Considered with an attention to all they are THE PLANTAGENBTS. 79 capable of embracing, there is no subject can furmsL. more various or original information." With the enthusiastic desire of rendering our national series of royal effigies as complete as possible, he jovir- neyed to Fontevraud, in Normandy, where, previous to the Revolu- tion, the earliest monumental effigies of English sovereigns were to be seen, and which were depicted by Montfaucon* and Sandford.f but which were confidently reported to have been destroyed during that disgustingly awful period, the first French Eevolution. " An indiscriminate destruction," says Mr. Stothard, "which on every side presented itself in a tract of three hundred miles, left little hope on arriving at the abbey of Fontevraud j bat still less, when this celebrated depository of our early kings was found to be but a ruin. Contrary, however, to such an unpromising appearance, the whole of the effigies were discovered in a cellar of one of the buildings ad- joining the abbey ; for, amidst the total annihilation of everything that immediately surrounded them, these effigies alone were saved — not a vestige of the tomb and chapel which contained them remain- ing." This was the chosen burial-place of a few of our early kings, until they lost the provinces of Anjou and Maine, in the time of John. Henry II., who loved the banks of the Loire, and frequently resided in the Castle of Saumur, dying in that of Chinon — both in the neighbourhood of the abbey — was buried here with his queen, Eleanor of Guienne ; as also were Richard I. and Isabella of An- goulSme, the queen of John. AU their effigies are beautifully en- graved by Mr. Stothard, and are particularly valuable as records of the regal costume of the period. Henry II. is represented lying upon a bier, his head supported by a cushion. The character of the face is strongly marked by high cheek-bones, and projecting lips and chin (the nose has been knocked away) ; the beard is painted and pencilled like a miniature, to repre- sent its being close shaven ; the mantle is fastened by a fibula on the right shoulder — ^its colour has been of a deep reddish-chocolate ; the dalmatic is crimson, and appears to have been starred or flowered with gold. The mantle probably was originally ornamented in a similar manner. The boots are green, enriched with gold, on which the gUt spurs are secured by red leathers ; upon his hands are gloves, with large jewels fastened upon the back of each of them. This ef- figy, in accordance with the usual custom at that time, appears to have been a literal representation of the deceased king, as if he stiU lay in state. Matthew Paris, describing this ceremony, says : " On * Antiquit^s de la MonarcHe Frari9aise, vol. ii. f Genealogical History of the Kings of England. 80 COST0MB IN ENGLAND. the morrow, when he should be carried to be buried, he was arrayed in the regal investments, having a golden crown on the head, and gloves on the hands ; boots wrought with gold on the feet, and spurs ; a great ring on the finger, and a sceptre in the hand, and girt with a sword: he lay with his face uncovered." This account exactly agrees with the effigy. The right hand, with the ring and the sceptre, has been destroyed'; the only variation from this description being in the sword, which is not girt, but lies on the bier on the king's left side, with the belt twisted round it. His queen, Eleanor of Guienne, is attired in regal vestments, with a crown upon her head, which is also enveloped in a close kerchief hanging in folds upon her shoulders. A long gown, with a close collar at the neck, and fastened round the waist by an ornamental girdle, envelopes the body; the sleeves being tight to the wrist, where they become slightly wide and pendulous. A portion of the under-tunic is visible at the neck, where it is fastened by a circular brooch. A capacious mantle falls from her shoulders, supported by a strap, or band, across the breast ; it is wound about the lower part of the figure, and partially upheld by the right hand. The pattern upon the queen's dress consists of golden crescents, in pairs, placed point from point, within a lozenge formed by the crossing of the di- agonal bars of gold that cover the whole surface. fiichard I. wears a crown, the trefoils of which are filled up with a honeysuckle pattern, which various architectura remains of the same period show to have been then much in vogue. His royal mantle (fastened in the centre of the breast) is painted blue, with a richly ornamented gold border; his dalmatic or super-tunic is red; his tunic is white,* and under this appears his camise or shirt : the bor- ders of all these articles of dress being richly and variously decorated. The boots are adorned with broad ribbon-like stripes of gold, which appear to have been intended to express the earher mode of chaus- sure sandals. The leathers of the spurs are visible. The corpse of Eichard was, according to his own request, divided, and bequeathed to three difierent places. His body was buried at the feet of his father, at Fontevraud. His entrails, brains, and blood, were given to Poictiers. His heart, as a "remembrance d'amour," was bequeathed to Eouen. " He was not one of those or- dinary dead whom a single spot would contain," says the Chronicle * These three garments were ecclesiastical, answering to the bishop's chasuble or cope, the deacon's dalmatic, the sub-deacon's tunic : the church itself, perhaps, originally devised them from the imperial costume, in order to denote the spiritaal authority of her ministers. — Stothard's Monumental Effigies. THE PLANTAaENETS. 81 of NormmAy. At Eouen his heart was magnificently interred near the principal altar of the Notre Dame, and over it was placed an efflgy of the ting, surrounded by a balustrade of silTer. In 1250 the Dean and Chapter of -Eouen ordered this to be melted down, to partially pay the ransom of St. Louis, at that time captive among the Saracens. In 1733 the tomb was wantonly demolished by the order of the Dean and Chapter, in order to raise the high altar, etc. In July, 1838, at the suggestion of Mr. Deville, an antiquary of that city, the spot where the tomb formerly stood was excavated, and the result was the discovery of the box containing the heart of E.ichard, and the eflBgy engraved below. The face of the kiug is much more expressive than that of the effigy at Fontevraud. The nose has been broken'off, and the face otherwise injured ; but stUl enough remains to form a satisfactory and characteristic likeness. He wears a crown very similar to the Fontevraud effigy ; his hair is parted in the centre of the head, and falls in curls upon the shoul- ders ; he has a long dalmatic, confined by a girdle at the waist, and closed by a brooch at the neck ; and a capacious mantle falls in folds over the left arm, leaving the right one free, which has for- merly held a sceptre. His boots are strapped across the instep : , the effigy is altoge- ther more simple than that at Fontevraud. The more perfect effigy of Eichard I. is engraved beside the one just described, as it existed at Fontevraud, and was copied byStothard in his Monumen- tal Effigies. There are varie- ties in the details of the cos- tume of these two figures, but the general characteristics remain the same ; the girdle is seen more clearly on the Bouen effigy, and is decora- ted with a florid ornament, like the architectural quatre- foil : the small portion of the same article of dress in the Fonte- vraud effigy has an elegant scroU pattern upon it. A border of lo- zenge-shaped ornaments, filled with crosses, edges the regal mantle.. COSTTTME IN BNOLAND. The border of the dalmatic resembles a series of overlapping scales. The under-garments have studded borders, arranged in single lines, or groups of five each. I must refer the reader to Stothard's work for the study of these details, which are too minute for the scale on which my out is given. The regal gloves, with the large jewel on the back of the hand, should, however, be noticed as characteristic of dignity. The effigy of Queen Berengaria was delineated by Mr. Stothard from the remains of her tomb ia the Abbey of L'Espan, near Mans. The queen is represented with her hair imconfined and flowing, but partly con- cealed by the coverchief, over which is placed an ele- gant crown. A large and or- namental fermail or brooch, richly set with stones, con- fines her tunic at the neck, beneath which is the broad band securing the mantle, and hanging from the shoul- ders nearly to the feet be- hind. To a decorated girdle, which encircles her waist, is attached a small aulmoniire, or purse to contain alms.* The queen holds in her hands a book, singular from the circumstance of having embossed on its cover a se- cond representation of her- self, as lying on a bier, with waxen torches burning in candlesticks, by her side. The details engraved beside the effigy are — Kg. 1. part of the crown ; 2, the aul/moniere, as attached to the girdle ; 3. the brooch at the neck. During this period of English history the changes that occurred in civil costume were few or none. The age was a military one, and * It was the custom at Urn period, and previously, for ladies of distinction and wealth, regularly to distribute money or food to the poor. The title of ladu is by some said to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and to hterally signify giaier of bread. The purse, mth similar meaning, was named as a receptacle for alms, and not as an invention for the preservation of money. THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 83 in the improvement of arms and armour the chief and most im- portant changes were effected. The dress, described and depicted in the time of the Normans, was that still worn ; or modified a little, as in these examples, selected from the Sloane collection of MSS. ia the British Mnsemn, and marked No. 1975. It gives us the cos- tmne of the youth and elders of the community. The young man wears an ornamental tip- pet round the neck; a plain bordered tunic, tight at the waist, and which varies from those worn at the commence- ment of this century, in being shorter and closed all round, in- stead of open at the right side, as they have been described in a previous page. High boots now seem to have become the general fashion, and the youth wears a pair reaching above the ancle. The elder figure, which in the ori- ginal represents a medical practitioner, wears a hood of a pecu- liar form ; a long gown reaching to his feet, over which is a tunic confined by a girdle at the waist ; a mantle, fastened as usual on the right shoidder, and leaving that arm free, envelopes the entire body. The beard appears to have been shaved, or at least trimmed closer than it was at the period to which we have just referred. The ladies seem to have retained the same costume, but to have shortened their trains and sleeves, which now hang but six or eight inches from the wrist. The long plaited hair, enclosed sometimes in its silken case of embroidery, appears to have been also dis- carded, and moderation to have reigned for a season. The earliest momimental effigy of an English sovereign in this country is that of King John, in Worcester Cathedral. It is of ruder workmanship than the continental effigies before described, and was probably the work of a native sculptor. He wears a super- tunic of crimson embroidered with gold ; a golden belt, richly jewelled, confining the waist, and descending beyond the knee. The under-tunio is cloth of gold, of which material the mantle appears to be formed, which is lined with green. His hose are red, and the shoes black ; gilt spurs are fastened over them by straps of a light-blue colour, striped with green and yellow. The peculiarity g2 84 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. of this costume is its shortness, when contrasted with the flowing draperies of the earlier effigies. The mantle is fastened upon the shoulders so far back as not at aU to interfere with the full sleeve of the tunic ; or, indeed, to be more than just visible at the sides of the figure. His beard is closely trimmed, and the face stern of feature.* The effigy of Isabel d'AngouMme, the third and last wife of John, who took the veil, and died at Fontevraud, is regally attired, and varies but little from that of Queen Berengaria. She wears a close gown with embroidered cuffs and collar, confined by a slightly or- namented girdle. A mantle with a border, held by a narrow band crossing the breast, envelopes the figure. A plain crown is upon the head, a kerchief falls over the shoulder from beneath it, and a band passes round the chin. From what little we can gather of the costume of this period, it would appear that splendour of appearance and costliness of mate- rial, rather than quaintness of shape, was studied by the nobles. The mantle in particular was splendidly adorned. Strutt teUs us that " Eobert Bloet, Bishop of London, made a present to Eing Henry I. of a mantle of exquisitely fine cloth, lined with black sables, with white spots, which cost £100 of the money of that time ;t and Eichard I. possessed a mantle stiU more splendid, and probably more expensive, which is said to have been striped in straight lines, ornamented with half-moons of solid silver, and nearly covered with shining orbs, in imitation of the system of the heavenly bodies."J Henry II. introduced a short mantle, known as the cloak of Anjou, and obtained by that means the sobriquet of "Curt Man- teau," as Eichard I. got that of Coeur-de-Lion from his bravery, and John that of Sans-terre from his supposed poverty, as the younger son of his father. The ancient leg-bandages are still occasionally seen; and the * The efBgy is beautifully given by Stotbard. tTpon opening tbe tomb in' the year 1797; the body of the king was discovered in all respects similarly habited, the only exception being that upon his head was a monk's cowl: thus confirming' the accuracy of the ancient chroniclers, who affirmed that the king adopted that habit in his dying moments, in accordance with the faith of the age, which believed the evil one to have no power over a body thua sacredly invested. ■(• Which he computes at £1,500 of present money. + These half-moons appear on the dress of Eleanor of Guienne, and were probably a family badge. They occur on the great seal and coins of Eichard I. THE PLANTAGBNETS. 85 s, fitted with close scarlet hose, and crossed all tlie way up by garters of gold stufi) have a very rich and elegant appearance. Gloves, jewelled at the back, became a characteristic distinction with the higher classes, both in church and state. The commonalty dressed much as usual. Plain tunics, strong boots, and a hood for the head ; or else a hat of cloth, leather, or felt ; and coarsely made warm gloves, without separate fingers, com- pleted their costume. The women wore long gowns, and swathed the head in kerchiefs or hoods that fell over the shoidders. The effigy of the next English monarch, Henry III., is at West- minster, and is chiefly remarkable for its great simpUcity.* A long dalmatic, over which is thrown a capacious mantle, fastened by a brooch as usual on the right shoulder, are the robes in which he is dressed : no ornament or border appears on either ; the crown is also very simple. The only splendid articles of apparel are the boots, which are covered by fretwork, each square being ornamented with a figure of a lion. Boots of this kind, of scarlet, and embroidered fancifully with gold, were fashionable among the nobles of the land. Many rich stuffs were introduced about this time, such as cloth of Baldekin, a rich silk woven with gold, and so termed because it was made and imported irom Baldeck, or Babylon. It became the fashion to ornament the edges of the garments by cutting them into the shape of leaves, or series of half-circles (and of which we shall see many instances a little further on), which obtained for the dresses so ornamented the name of contoise or quintis ; a word de- rived, as the garment probably was, from the French, and indica- tive of the quaintness or capricious fancy displayed in this article of dress. The reign of Henry III. extended over fifty-six years ; but during the whole of that period httle or no change of form is perceptiblei in the civU costume of the people. A glance at the drawings in Mat- thew Paris's Lives of the Offa's, which is believed to have been exe- cuted by his own hand during this reign, will show this iuUy ; the series are engraved in Strutt's Sorda Angel- Cynan, vol. i.f These copies occupy thirty-three plates, and wiU supply the artist with authority for the costume of all grades of society during this reign. The cut on the next page is from one of the series, and represents * A portrait of tiiis monarcli, nearly the size of life, and copied from this effigy,- is given in Grough's Sepulchral Monuments. f The original MS. is in the Cotton Library, marked Nero, D. 1. 86 COSTUME IN ENSLAND. the introduction of King Ofia to the daughter of one of the petty- kings of Yorkshire. The extreme simplicity of the dresses of the entire group wUl be at once remarked, and the total absence of orna- mental decoration ; the loose gowns, falling to the feet in ample folds, and the capacious mantles, would be excellent material in the hands of the artist, as such a costume is susceptible of much simple dig- nity, and even grandeur of treatment. Mr. Wright, in his Political Songs, published by the Camden Society, has printed a very amusing Latin " Song upon the Tailors" of lihe reign of Henry III., from the Harleiaa MS. No. 978. He prefaces it by saying : " A perpetual subject of popular outcry against the great, during this and the following centuries, was aflForded by the foreign and extravagant fashions in dress which were prevalent. A glance at the illuminations in contemporary manuscripts wUl show us that these complaints were not without foundation. We, even at the present day, can with difficulty con- ceive the immense sums which were in former days expended on the toilet. This profusion was frequently and severely commented upon in the writings of the clergy, and was not uncommonly the subject of popular satire." The song, addressing the tailors, be- gins : " I have said ye are gods ; why should I omit the service which should be said on festival days ? Gods certainly ye are, who can transform an old garment into the shape of a new one. The cloth, while fresh and new, is made either a cape or mantle ; but. in order of time, first it is a cape, after a little space this is trans- THE PLANTAGBSTETS. 87 formed into the other ; thus ye change bodies. When it becomes old, the collar is cut off; when deprived of the collar, it is made a mantle : thus in the maimer of Proteus are garments changed. When at length winter returns, many engraft immediately upon the cape a capuce ; then it is squared; after being squared it is rounded, and so it becomes an amice. If there remain any morsels of the cloth or skin which is out, they do not want a use : of these are made gloves. This is the general manner they all make one robe out of another, English, Germans, French, and Normans, with scarcely an exception. Thus cape is declined," continues the old author, " but mantle otherwise : in the first year, while it is still fresh, the skin and the cloth being both new, it is laid up in a box ; when, how- ever, the fur begins to be worn off, and the thread of the seams broken, the fur is clipped and placed on a new mantle, until at last, in order that nothing may be lost, it is given to the servant for his wages." A general simplicity of costume is visible during the next reign. Edward I. is reported to have declared the impossibihty of adding or diminishing real worth by outward apparel. For himself, he enforced the remark by always dressing in a plain and unostenta- tious manner, little differing from a common citizen. His only magnificence was noble and heroic deeds. However costly the stuffs of which the dresses of this period were composed, they al- ways appear to have been of the plainest and most unpretending form. Of this monarch no monumental effigy exists. He was buried at Westminster ; and the tomb was opened in 1774, when the body of the monarch was discovered regally habited in a dal- matic of red silk damask,* a crimson satin mantle fastened on the shoulder by a gilt fibula, decorated with precious stones ; a stolef of white tissue, ornamented with gilt quatrefoUs and knots of pearl, crossed the breast, and jewelled gloves decorated the hands. The lower part of the body was wrapped in a piece of cloth of gold, which was not disturbed.J The effigy of his beloved queen, Eleanor, is remarkable for a ma- * Damascus was celebrated during this period for the mBSiufaoture of orna- mental stuffs, and hence the name of "damask" was applied to them; as diaper is said to be derived from " D'Ypres," of Ypres, a town noted for the rich stuffs and fine linen there fabricated, f The stole was an article of priestly costume. A good example occurs upon the figure of John de Campden, engraved and described in the account of the ecclesiastical costume worn during tins period. J Upon his great seal the king is depicted in a dalmatic, super-tunic, and 88 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. jestie simplicity. A long gown with, a loose sleeve, beneath which appears that of the under-garment tight to the wrist, and a long mantle, secured over the breast by a narrow band, held in the left hand, the folds falling down and enveloping the feet, complete the dress, which is utterly devoid of ornament. It bears a strong resem- blance in grace and elegance to the figure of the queen in one of the niches of Waltham-cross, erected to her memory by the king, and which has been engraved in Flaxman's Lectures on Sculpture. Speak- mg of that placed in this cross, and of those at Northampton and Geddington, he says : " The statues have considerable simplicity and delicacy ; they partake of the character and grace of the school of Pisano ; and it is not unlikely, as the sepulchral statue and tomb of Henry III. was executed by Italians, that these statues of Queen Eleanor might have been done by some of the numerous travelling scholars from Pisano's school."* The general male costume during this reign appears to have con- sisted of a long gown reaching to the heels, and fastened round the waist ; or a tunic coming down to the knee, with wide sleeves de- scending a little below the elbow ; the tight sleeves of the under- tunic reaching to the wrist, and confined by a row of buttons (which mantle, fastened on the right shoulder. Except in the shape of the crown and orb, very triSing varieties occur in the seals of Henry II., Eichard I., John, or Henry III. The first three hold swords in the right hand; Henry III., and all since then, cairry sceptres. Henry II.'s seal varies most from the others, and is the most interesting. * The queen's efiigy has been engraved by Stothard, and a portrait from the same source is to be seen in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. THE PIANTAGBNBTS. 89 are generally set close together from the elbow to the wrist) ; a capa- cious hood, and close-fitting boots ; or tight stockings (sometimes richly embroidered) and shoes. Wide and flowing mantles were worn. The cut on the previous page is a very curious delineation of two articles of apparel, expressly displayed, and is copied from a MS. of this period, preserved in the Boyal Library at Paris (Sup. 428). The volume is a collection of poems, two of which are de- voted to moralizations of parts of dress, and the figures here given are illustrations of these poems. The first, the Iiay of the Garde- cors, gives us the exact form of the super-tunic now so universally worn, and which was so called in France. In the original drawing the gar decors held in the hand of the man who displays it is of a grey colour, but that worn by himself is red, and he wears a white coif. The second poem, devoted to the Mantle of Honour , is headed by the second of our figures, and displays that article, which is very gay in effect : it has a deep scarlet border, the entire surface being laid out in a series of white escallops : the groundwork of the whole (which is tinted in the engraving) is of a rich blue, with an edge like scales overlapping each row of patterns. The man who holds it is in a plain brown dress, he wears a coif and a broad collar, which lies in folds upon his shoulders. These very curious drawings, which have never before been engraved, are particularly valuable as illus- trations of costume ; it is very rare to find designs, like these are, ex- pressly conceived for the display of peculiarities in dress. The ladies' costume may be seen to advantage in the annexed engraving from the Sloane MS., No. 3983. A wimple or gorget is wrapped round the neck, and is fastened by pins at the sides of the face, which are covered above the ears ; a gown of capa- cious size, imconfined at the waist and loose in the sleeves, trails far behind in the dirt. The under-garment, which is darker, hag sleeves that fit closely ; and it appears to be turned over, and pinned up round the bot- tom. The unnecessary amount of stuff that was used in ladies' robes rendered them always obnoxious to the satirists of the period. 90 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. In Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, published by the Percy Society, there is one of the fourteenth century, which is so curious an instance of monkish satire, and is so apt an illustration of the cut before us, that I cannot resist presenting it to my readers. It runs thus : — "Ofa ProuA Woman. — I have heard of a proud woman who wore a white dress with a long train,* which, trailing behind her, raised a dust even as far as the altar and the crucifix. But as she left the church, and lifted up her train on account of the dirt, a cer- tain holy man saw a devU laughing ; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, thtf devil said, ' A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her train up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt j and that is why I was laughing." The luxuriousness in apparel of Edward II. is not visible upon the effigy of that monarch on his tomb in Gloucester Cathedral, which is remarkably plain and unostentatious. A long dalmatic covers the entire body, hanging in simple folds from the breast to the feet, unconfined by a girdle, and perfectly unornamented : it is slit in the centre to the knee, exhibiting the long gown or tunic be- neath. The sleeves of the dalmatic terminate at the elbow, from whence they hang loosely, the sleeves of the tunic continuing to the wrist. He wears boots reaching to the ankle, and carries a plain sceptre and simple ball, one in each hand. The only trace of fop- pery is in the hair, which is carefully cut across the forehead, and hangs from the sides of the head in waving ringlets on the shoulders; a fashion that appears most vividly on the coins of this monarch and his father, and which continued to be copied on our national series until the reign of Henry VII. His beard and mnstaohios are equally redundant, and are parted and curled in separate locks with great precision.t Piers Gaveston, the unworthy and effeminate favourite of the youthful monarch, — ^whose friendship for him had alarmed Ed- ward I., and produced a sentence of banishment against Piers ; and whose bigoted attachment, after the death of his father, effectually estranged the love of his subjects, — was remarkable for his par- * " Cauda" — ^literally tail; the tails of a gown. f More traces of splendour occur in the figure of this monarch upon his great seal. The sleeves of the puper-tunio are wide, and ornamented with a deep rich border ; the waist is confined by a girdle, and the mantle, fastened on the right shoulder, covers the left arm; not, as in the effigy, falling over the back from the shoulders, upon each of which it is secured. THE PLANTAGENBTS. 91 tiality to finery. " None," say the old chroniclers, "came near to Piers in bravery of apparel or delicacy of fashion." Under the rnle of this favourite the court swarmed with buflToons and parasites;* and at his death the king was speedily enthralled by his new fa- vourites, the Despencers. The twenty eventful years of his reign originated a great change in dress ; but it appeared chiefly at court, the troublesome times not allowing of that general difiusion of luxuriant taste which else might have occurred ; it was, however , silently increasing, and appeared in full splendour during the next reign. But the germs of all the remarkable changes originated in the court of this unfortunate king. The annexed figures, copied from Eoyal MS. 14 E 3, wiU give us the ordinary costume of the commonalty during this reign. The male figure is ha- bited in a long gown, buttoned from the neck to the waist, and having loose hanging sleeves be- low the elbow, beneath which appear the tight sleeves of the tunic. A hood covers the he«d and shoulders ; it is frequently seen folded back, or hanging down behind.f Scarcely any instances occur * In Wright's Political Songs is a curious one against the retinue of the rich people, whose idle attendants and servants preyed upon the industrious pea- santry. It shows how great was the pride and ostentation of the courtiers of the latter years of Edward I., and that the servants followed their masters' example. " Now are horse-elawers* clothed in pride j They bustf them with buttons, as it were a bride; With low-laced shoes of a heifer's hide, They pick out of their provender all their pride.'' After detailing their expense, arrogance, and perverseness, the author ends with this curious and characteristic style of argument : — " When God was on earth and wandered wide. What was the reason why he would not ride p Because he would have no groom to go by his side, Nor discontented gadlyng J to chatter and chide." f A retrospective glance at the figure of the Guulish sailor Blussus, engraved * grooms. . i" dress, adorn. J idle fellow. 92 COSTUME IN BNGIAND. of girdles conflning tlie waist of male or female. Sometimes the super-tunio is slit at the sides, or in front to the hips, displaying the under-garment. Shoes are generally worn reaching to the ankles, with pointed toes, and slightly ornamented. The female carries a distaff, and wears a hood or terchief swathed round the head, and tied in a knot at the side ; a wide gown, rather short, being caught up under the arm, displays the under-garment, and the high boots reaching to the calf of the leg fastened by rows of buttons up their fronts. In " A book for the Preservation of the Health," a MS. of the fourteenth century, preserved among those once belonging to Sir Hans Sloane in the British Museum (No. 2435), are the four curious figures engraved on this page, and which give the form of the gar- ments worn by men at each season of the year. In spring the hood is drawn over the head, and the hands are placed for warmth in the opening of the sleeveless surcoat, beneath which appears the tunic with its close sleeves. In summer the short tunic only is worn, without hood or surcoat, and is confined at the waist by a girdle. In autumn we see the same dress, with the addition of a mantle. In winter the hood and surcoat are again adopted, the latter having long loose sleeves, covering the entire hand, and admirably adapted for warmth and comfort. The author carefully admonishes an attention to dress as a means of preserving health : in spring he advises the wearing of a medium sort of clothing, neither too hot nor cold, such as " tyretanis and cloths of cotton, furred with lamb's in p. 21., will show how little useful dress liad changed its form in the course of centuries. It is nearly identical with that on the preceding page. THE PLANTAGBNETS. 93 skin." In summer, linen, or even sUk, will be warm enough. In autumn he advises the clothing of spring, or something thicker and warmer. In wiuter he recommends good substantial woollen gar- ments, well lined with furs, of which he considers the fox's as the warmest : but if this be unattainable, he advises the use of that of hares, or even of cats. The chief feature in the costume of this period was the hood, always exhibiting a great variety of form, as if the ingenuity of fashionable changes had been chiefly directed to decorate the heads that invented them. Specimens have been selected from Sloane MS., No. 346, and exhibits some of the commonest forms. Fig. 1 displays the hood closely fitting the head and neck, the point that hangs down the back when the hood is withdrawn projecting over the forehead. Fig. 3 is a flat cap with a narrow border, that just covers the upper part of the head, sinking in the centre, and thence rising to a point, as if to form a convenient handle for its removal. Fig. 3 shows an equally common form of hood, which is more ca- pacious, hanging loosely over the shoulders, being a comfortable combina- tionof tippet and hood, no doubt exceedingly warm and convenient in bad weather ; it is closed tightly about the head by the Urvpvpe, or long pendent tail of the hood, that hung down the back when the hood was thrown off, and was wound like a bandage about it when placed over the head. Fig. 4 exhibits the hat usually worn, and which is precisely similar to a modern countryman's ; it is slung round the neck by a string ; the head being generally imcovered, except in bad weather, when the oapuchon or hood wag brought over the head, and the hat placed over that, giving it a double protection. Fig. 5 is a conical flexible cap of woollen or cloth, turned up round the edges, and very similar to the nightcaps stiE worn by the lower class of the community. Some dozens of cuts might be given if all varieties were shown, but those most in use are here depicted. There was a singular kind of hood, deserving a more distinct illustration; it covered the head and shoulders, reaching to the 94 COSTTTME IN ENGLAND. elbow, having pointed ends spreading at each side. The above cut, from the Romances of St. Grraal and Lancelot, in the British Museum (Additional MS. 10,293). will show it perfectly. It repre- sents a countrywoman in the act of churning, to whom a blind beggar is approaching to ask alms, carrying his child on his back, both wearing their hoods.* The beggar's dog, with a dish in his mouth, shows the antiquity of this mode of begging. The coun- trywoman at her chum is a good specimen of costume : her head is warmly tied up in her kerchief; she wears an apron, and her gown is prudently pinned up around her, showing her dark petticoat beneath. This manuscript was executed in 1316. A good specimen of the costume of a female of the higher classes is here given, from an effigy of a lady of the Eyther family, in Eyther church, Yorkshire, en- graved in HoUis's Monumental Effigies. She wears a wimple, covering the neck and encircling the head, the hair of which is gathered in plaits at the sides, and covered with a kerchief, which falls upon the shoulders, and is secured by a fiUet passing over the forehead. The sleeves of the gown hang midway from the elbow and the wrist, and display the tight sleeve with its rows of buttons beneath. The mantle is fastened by a band of ribbon, secured by ornamental * The same sort of hooda occur in a MS. in the Bodleian library, written and iUuminated in the reign of King Edward III., and finished in 1344. In a fool's dance engraved in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People ofJBngland ftom this MS., all the figures wear this hood, with bells at the ends. THE PLANTAGENBTS. 95 studs. The lower part of the dress consists of the wide gown, lying in folds, and completely concealing the feet ; but this has been omit- ted in our cut, in order to display the upper part of this interesting effigy to greater advantage. The general costume up to this period had been exceedingly plain, and abundant examples may be found in a very common book, Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, as repub- lished by Hone, with woodcut facsimiles of the original delinea- tions of ancient games and amusements, given in manuscript illu- minations, many of which were executed at this period, such as those copied fromEoyal MS. 2 B 7, etc. There is another manuscript of the St. Grraal in the Royal Collec- tion, British Museum, marked 14 E 3, of this period, from whence this group has been selected, giving the dresses of a king, his cour- tiers and councillors. The simplicity of the whole group is re- markable. The carving on the chair or throne of the king is of the simplest kind, and the back and arms look as if made of wicker. The crown and shoes of the royal figure are the only articles of splendour, if we except the robe, which is lined with fur. The group given in next page, from the same MS., may be accepted as an additional confirmation of this general simplicity. They are persons of the highest class, yet they wear dresses upon which no decoration appears. The gentlemen wear a super-tunic reaching to the caif of the leg, with wide sleeves, showing those of the under-garment. The way in which the hood was worn over 96 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. the head, or thrown upon the shoulders, is distinctly seen. They carry gloves in their hands, a very common prac- tice at this period. The lady's dress is too simple to need comment. The brilliant reign of Ed- ward III. was favourable to the fuU development of that display in costume which began during that of his unfortunate father, and to the fostering of a good taste for its regulation. Peace and commerce did much in inducing this, as new luxuries were imported in great abundance. Wo less than eight sumptuary laws were enacted in one session of Parliament ia this reign. The effigy of Edward at Westminster is remarkable for its simple, yet rich and majestic style. A long dalmatic, open in front to the thigh, displays the under-tunic, the sleeves of which reach to the root of the thumb, and are buttoned closely all the way from the elbow ; his mantle and dalmatic have rich borders, and the shoes are splendidly embroidered. The ordinary costume of the upper classes, during the early part of this reign, is very well displayed in the figures annexed. The gentleman wears a close- fitting tunic, called a cote- hardie, with tight sleeves, and considerably shorter than the dresses worn dur. ing the previous reign. It does not reach to the knee, and leaves room for the fall display of the embroi- dered garter, which encir- cles the leg, and hangs from the buckle after the fashion of the usual repre- sentations of that of the knights of the Garter. His girdle is confined by a large circular buckle in its THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 97 centre ; and he wears, suspended from it, on the left side, an orna- mental purse (or gvpciere, as it was now generally termed),* and a small dagger. His shoes have long pointed toes, and are fast- ened up the centre with rows of buttons — an exceedingly common and fashionable mode of securing and ornamenting any portion of the dress that required fastening. Not the least curious part of this figure ia the hood, carried over the left shoulder, and which clearly shows the peculiar shape of this head-tire. It is in this in- stance so slung, that the pendant, or liripipe, hangs in front of the breast; the opening for the face is seen, and the double border ornamenting the neck; it must have been an exceedingly warm article of clothing, encasing head and shoulders, with but a slight oval opening for the face. The lady wears a long gown, over which is a cyclas, or tightly-fitting upper-tunic. She carries in her hand her gloves, which at this period were very commonly worn, and are as commonly depicted in the illuminations, either carried in the hand, or tucked in the girdle, when not actually worn. Her hair is fastened in a reticulated caul, and from it streams the long contoise, so fashionable during this reign and the preceding one, and which frequently floats a yard or more in length from the jousting-helmet of the knight. It was no unfrequent thing for the noble ladies to decorate their long gowns with the armorial bearings of their family. A good example occurs in the cut on next page, copied, as are the two figures just described, from the illuminations in the famous Psalter executed for Sir Geofirey LouttereU, who died in 1345. It repre- sents that nobleman, armed at all points, receiving from the ladies of his family his tilting-helmet, shield, and pamon, as the triangular flag held by one of the ladies was termed. The cut will show the constant repetition of his coat-of-arms (azure, a bend between six martlets argent) on every article where it could be introduced ; and embroidered on a large scale upon the flowing dress of the foremost lady, who displays the arms of LouttereU impaling or, a lion ram- pant vert for Sutton ; his wife, whom this figure represents, being the daughter of Sir Eichard de Sutton. The lady behind, who carries the shield, impalss azure, a bend or, a label argent, for Scrope of Masham, the two eldest sons of Sir Geofirey LouttereU having married the daughters of Sir Geoffrey Scrope. The fre- quent tournaments and jousts, so much patronized by the king — who, indeed, re-estabUshed at Windsor the " Bound Table," and * A Tery fine specimen in stamped leather will be found engraved in the Glossary to thia volume. H 98 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. encouraged to the utmost the chivalrio feeling of the nobility — rendered a great display of heraldic gorgeousness a necessary means for detecting the knight who was so completely concealed by the arms he wore. The brilliant exhibition of so much coat-armour, with all its quaintness of form and figure, and splendour of colour, must have presented a cowp-d'ceil of great beauty and magnificence ; and may still be useful to the painter who desires rich masses of colour, and variety of tint, on portions of dress generally monoto- nous; the forms and lines of heraldic fancy may also frequently be brought to bear usefuUy, if judiciously introduced into a com- position. To the pendent streamers from the hood were now added others from the elbow. They first appear as narrow elongations from the sleeve of the upper-tunic, or oote-hardie ; they afterwards assume the form of long narrow strips of white cloth, and were called tip- pets, generally reaching from the elbow to the knee, or lower. They are seen upon the second figure in the cut introduced on next page. This figure wears a hood, with a border of a different colour, and cut into escalops. His cote-hardie fits tightly to the waist, and is parti- coloured, half being with its sleeve of one colour, and the other half with its sleeve of another. The stockings also are of different tints ; THE PLANTAGENETS. 99 the slioes of ricli workmanship. The other figure, which is an excellent example of the ordi- nary costume of a gentleman of the day, is from an illumination of this period in my own pos- session, which, with some others, have been ruthlessly cut from a copy of the famous Moman de la Rose. His hair (which during this period was gene- rally cut close over the fore- head, and allowed to flow at the sides, encircling the shoul- ders) is luxuriant. His hood, less ample than that of the other figure, embraces the neck, and hangs behind : it is of crimson. His tightly -fitting cote- hardie, of dark blue, is encircled at the hips by an elegantly orna- mented girdle, which is never represented, either on male or female figures, as encompassing the waist, and is generally divided into a series of square compartments, exhibiting ornamental patterns, many of which are of great beauty : a small dagger or anelace hangs from the girdle. The right stocking is white, the left one red, and the shoes (of the general fashion) are open at the instep, and fastened round the ankle. A knight of France, Geofiroi de la Tour Landry, wrote a treatise on morals and behaviour for the use of his daughters, which he be- gan in 1371, and in which occur many very curious notices of dress.* He alludes to the oote-hardie as a German (Almayne) fashion in a story he tells of two knights, brothers, who took upon them always to reprove improprieties. One day, at a great feast, there came in a young squire clothed in a cote-hardie, after the German fashion; one of the knights called this young squire, and asked him where was his fiddle, or such other instrument as belonged unto a min- strel. " Sir," said the squire, " I cannot meddle with such things ; it is not my craft nor science." " Sir," said the knight, " I cannot understand you ; your array is like unto a minstrel. I have known all your ancestors, and the knights and squires of your lineage, which * This manuscript is preserved in the Harleiam Collection, N'o, 1764. The book, under the title of TJie Kniqht of the Tower, was printed by Caxton, 1484 h2 100 COSTUME IN ENGIAND. were all worthy men, but I never saw one of them clothed in such array." This comparison of his appearance to that of an itinerant fiddler, induced him to put on "another gown" immediately, and give the offending garment to a servant. The parti-coloured dresses were especially obnoxious to the clergy and satirists. The red, side of a gentleman, they declare, gives them the idea of his having been half-roasted, or that he and his dress were afflicted by St. Anthony s fire ! The clergy were strictly en- joined to eschew the heterogeneous fashion, and church canons were levelled at those whose love of finery induced them to patro- nize it. The beautiful bronze figures of the children of Edward III., that are on the south side of his sumptuous tomb in Westminster Abbey, may be cited as fine examples of the costume of this era ; two are engraved here. The lady has her hair arranged in squaje plaits at the sides of the head, similar to Queen Philippa's ; a band, ornamented with jewels, encircles the forehead; her tight-fitting gown is plain and unomamented,hanging in folds over the feet ; long streamers fall from the upper part of the arm to the ankles, and the hands are placed in pocTcets, which now begin to appear in ladies' dresses, and into which they are most generally thrust, in the manner that a modem French gill places hers in the pockets of her apron. The male figure is exceedingly simple, extravagant in nought but buttons. Indeed, that this is the most beautiful of the various dresses worn in Eng- land has long been my opinion ; and if we omit the ugly streamer from the lady's costume, it must be granted that both figures, for elegant simplicity, could not be exceeded by anything of classic times. There is a very curious figure engraved in Hope's Costume of the Ancients, copied from Caylus, volume vi., and delineating the an- cient Etruscan attire, which is here given to show its extraordinary similarity to that now under consideration: the rows of buttons down the tight tunic, the girdle round the hips, the close-fitting THE PLANTAGENETS. 101 attire of the legs, all but the sleeves, are nearly identical, and again confirm the old adage of " nothing new under the sun ;" a phrase that may well apply to the changes of fashion.* A long mantle was occasionally worn over this dress, and was fastened on the right shoulder by two or more buttons, or ornamental clasps; it completely en- veloped the wearer, hanging to his feet ; its border was cut into the shape of leaves, a fashion very common at this time, and which has before been alluded to. This mantle was generally allowed to hang over the breast loosely pendent, and was thrown back over the left shoulder. It may be seen worn both ways on the figures upon Edward's tomb. Geo&oi de la Tour Landry, in his curious treatise, tells many edifying stories to his daughters of the foUy of new fashions. He relates how a young knight made choice of the plainest of two ladies, because she looked freshest and healthiest, being warmly clothed for the winter, the time at which he visited them, while the more beautiful sister chilled herself in a fashionable cote-hardie, and so lost her husband. The following extract will afibrd a fair example of the curious style of argument adopted by the good old knight, whilst it speaks of the fashion of furring the garments as being peculiarly English : "Fair daughters, I pray you that ye be not the first to take new shapes and guises of array of women of strange countries ; as I will tell you, there was a debate between a baroness that dwelt in Guienne, and another lord that was a wise knight and a shrewd : the baroness said unto him, ' Cousin, I come out of Brittany, and there I have seen my cousin, your wife, but she is not arrayed hke ladies of this coimtry of Guienne be, nor of divers other places here about ; for her hoods, tails, and sleeves are not furred enough, after the shape that is in fashion now.' And the knight answered, ' Since she is not arrayed in your guise, and that you think her array and her fur too Kttle, and blame me for it, you shall have no more cause to blame me, for I will array her as nobly as any of you all, and as quaintly ;t for you have but half your hoods and coats ftirsed with * See also what is said in note p. 91. f Curiously. 102 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. ermine, or minever ; and I will do better to her, for I will fur her gowns, collars, sleeves, and coats, the hair outward ; thus shall she be better furred than other ladies and gentlewomen. I will see that she is arrayed after the state of the good women and worshipful of France, not of them of this country that are evil women, and companions to Englishmen, and other men of war, for they were the first that brought up this fashion that you use of great purfiles and slit eoats, for I have remembrance of that time and I saw it. And to take array that such women bring up first I hold as folly ; and as to my wife she shall not ; but the princesses and ladies of England have taken up the said state and guise, and they may well hold it, if they like ; but I have heard say that ladies and gentlewomen should sooner take the guise after good women than after evil.' " It must not be imagined that our knight is averse to fair clothing at proper times, as he relates the punishment of a lady because she "had good clothes," and " would not do on her good clothes on the holidays nor on the Sundays for the worship of our Lord ;" though he tells of a sister of St. Bernard that visited him "well arrayed with rich clothing, and rich attired with pearls and precious stones," whom he rigidly admonished for " such pomp and pride to adorn such a carrion as is your body ;" and the Saint asks, " Wiy think you not of the poor people that die for hunger and cold ? for the sixth part of your gay array forty persons might be clothed, refreshed, and kept from the cold." Concerning the punishment for head-dressing and painting, he relates the story of a knight, whose wife dying, and his love for her continuing, he asked Lis brother, a hermit, to learn how she fared in the other world. " And the angel showed him the pain and tor- ment that she was made to suffer and endure, and the cause why, he saw perfectly ; how a devil held her by the tresses of the hair of her head, like as a lion holdeth his prey, in such wise as she might not move; and the same devil thrust in her brows, temples, and forehead hot burning awls and needles into the brain ; and the poor woman cried every time that he thrust in awl or needle. And the hermit asked the angel why the fiend made her suffer that pain. And the angel said because she ha,d, when she was alive, plucked the hair from her brows and forehead, to make herself the fairer to please the world ; wherefore in every hole from whence her hair had been plucked out, once every day the devil thrusts in a burning awl or needle into the brain. And after that another devil came with great, sharp, foul, hideous teeth and claws ; and enflamed her face with burn- ing pitch, oU, tar, grease, and boiling lead; and dealt so horribly with THE PLANTA&BNBTS. 103 her that the hermit trembled, and was almost out of his wits for fear. And the angel comforted him, and told him not to be afraid, for she had well deserved the pain, and more ; and the hermit asked why. And the angel answered, because when she was aliye she adorned and paiated her visage to please the sight of the world." An excellent description of the costume of a lady in the middle of the fourteenth century occurs in the romance of Sir Degrevant, edited by Mr. Halliwell for the Camden Society. The lady is an earl's daughter, who is described as elaborately dressed in a velvet gown, covered with pearl fretwork ; in the centre of each square sapphires were set, and the gown was furred with ermine. Rows of enamelled buttons decorated it. A gold girdle encircled her waist. The hair was held on high with a coronal of gold, with rich bosses on each side of it, and a pointed frontal of pearls. In a future page engravings are given of head-dresses which fully answer to this gorgeous description. The romances of the Middle Ages are fertile sources for a true description of the costume of the day, and are often very curious, although frequently brief and casual. In Weber's collection of Early Metrical Eomances, the dress of an empress is thus described. It should be premised that the authors of those days, like the artists, clothed and described the personages in their narratives precisely as if they lived in their own time.* The lady is the Empress of Home ; and she, in a fit of disappointment, "Waxed ■nrotli; She tare her hair and eke her doth. Her kirtyl, her pilche of ermine,f Her kerchiefs of silk, her amok of line,t * Adam Davie, a poet of the fourteenth century, cited by Mr. Warton, repre- sents Pilate as challenging our Lord to single combat ; and in Pierce Plowman's Vision (edit. 1550, fol. 98), the person who pierced our Saviour's side is described as a hnight who came forth cmd jousted with Jesus. See the preface to "Way and Ellis's Fabliaux of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. The Cottonian MS. Domitian A' xvii., a devotional volume originally belonging to iRichard IL, has upon its &st page a curious pictured version of Old Testament history of a similar kind. The subject is David slaying Goliath. Both combatants are re- presented within a wooden raiHng as at a tom-nament. King Saul, accompanied by his warder and attendants, is in a pavihon above j a group of spectators resting on the railings around, and remarking on the event, as they would at a judicial duel of Henry's own era in Smithfield. f A cloak or mantle lined vrith fur. J Iiincn. 104 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. A1 togedere, with both fist She did rend beneath her breast. With both hands her yellow hair Out of the tresses she did tare." The Seven Sages. Yellow liair was at this time esteemed a beauty, and safifron was used by the ladies to dye it of a colour esteemed " odious " by mo- dem ladies. Queen Elizabeth long afterwards made yellow hau-. fashionable, as hers was of the same tint. ' In the romance of King Alisamider, we are told of Queen Olimpius : "Her yellow hair was fair attired With rich strings of gold wired. And in wreaths about did fall To her gentle middle small." To see this sight, we are told, "Ifeptanabus in the way stood, With poUed head, and off his hood :" which illustrates the fashion of cutting the hair, and throwing the hood upon the shoulders, as we have already engraved examples. The costly nature of the robes occasionally worn may be gathered from the following lines of iporm/don .• " Ipomydon and Tholomew £obes had on and mantles new. Of the richest that may be ; There was none such in that countrie ; For many was the rich stone That the mantles was upon.'' The minute truthfulness of these descriptions may be seen by an- other extract, where Ipomydon loosens the mantle by drawing the string through the jewelled clasp, of which we have engraved some examples : "And drew a lace of silk full clere : Adown then felle his mantle." In The Adventures of Arthur at the Tamewathelan, a romance of the fourteenth century, edited by Mr. Eobson for the Camden So- ciety series, the costume of the queen is described as consisting of a shining (or silken) gown trimmed with gay ribbons, with a blue hood, decorated with precious stones, and a short cloak because she was on horseback. She is described as riding a white palfrey whose housings were of silk. The sovereign himself is thus described in another stanza : THE PLANTAGEJTETS. 105 " Manly in his mantle lie sat at his meat, With pall puret in poon,* was proudly pight ;t Trowlt with trulufes and tranes between,J The tassels were of topaz, that was thereto tied." At tliis feast appears a lady leading a knight. Slie wears a gown of grass-green ; her girdle is of white cloth embroidered with birds, enriched with golden studs, fastened by a buckle. Her hair is braided with gold wire and coloured ribbons set with jewels, her kerchief being secured by rich pins or bodkins. The knight wears an emblazoned surcoat upon which his coat-armour is displayed ; he also has a coat-of-mail of bright steel studded with gilt stars ; and a bascinet with a gold border, above which is his crest; on his shoul- der a silver shield with his arms ; and an anelace. His gloves and his jambeson gleamed with ornament, and we find in illuminations of this era the armour covered with bright-red spots. The leg- pieces of his armour, and the ' poleyns ' or knee-pieces, are also de- scribed as 'powdered,' or sprinkled with some similar decoration. The description ends by adding a lance, with its fanon, or banner, attached, to the knight's accoutrements. In another portion of the the poem we are told : " Sir Gavan the good was clothed in green, With his griffins of gold engrelet§ full gay, Trowlt with trulofes and tranes between." From which it appears that green was the favourite colour for the surcoat of knights and the gowns of ladies at this time. In " the Avowynge of Eing Arthur, Sir Gawen, Sir Eaye, and Sir Bawde- wyn of Britain," also to be found in the same volume, we are told the knights wore " Gay gownes of green, To hold their armour clean. And keep- it from the wet." For specimens of the costume of the middle classes and mer- chantmen during this period, I may refer to the brasses in St.Mar- * Kne cloth furred, and spread out like a peacock's tail : fram. paon, Fr. + Placed. t Ornamented with true-loves, and knots between. A curious confirmation of this method of decorating the dress of royalty is noticed by Mr. Eobson in his notes : " When the corpse of Edwai-d I. was discovered, on opening his tomb in 1774, his stole of rich white tissue was found studded with gilt quatre-foils in filagree-work, and embroidered with pearls in the shape of what are called true- lovers' knots." § Interspersed. 106 COSTUME IN ENaliAND. garet's church, LyBn, engraved by Cotman, and which are the finest and most elaborate in the kingdom. They represent Adam de Wal- sokne and Margaret his wife, 1349 ; Eobert Braimch and his two wives, 1364 ; and Egbert Attelath, 1376. The ladies' dresses, as seen beneath the surcoat, are particularly splendid, being covered with embroidery of the richest description ; in shape they are pre- cisely similar to those worn by the group of courtiers on page 96. Many other examples may he found in Gotman, Stothard, Hollis, and Waller's works on Monumental Effigies and Brasses. We find a curious and interesting picture of the costume of a shepherd on holiday occasions, in the fourteenth century, in a " Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd," published in Hartshorne's Metrical Tales : " On morrow, wlien he should to court go. In russet clothing he tyret him tho,* In kyrtil and in surstbye jf And a blak furred hood. That well fast to his cheek stood. The typet might not wrye.J The mytans clutt forgat he nought. The slyng even is not out of his thought, "Wherewith he wrought mastry."§ To attempt to narrate all the varieties of costume introduced du- ring the reign of B,ichard IT., in the space- allotted here, is an evi- dent impossibility. The freaks of ever-changing fashion were as varied as the whim and extravagance of the many courtiers who thronged the palace of the king — ^himself the greatest fop.|| His effigy, and that of his queen, Anne of Bohemia, in West- minster Abbey, are remarkable for the costly splendour of their ha- biliments, and their evident accuracy of portraiture. The king's hair, which is ample and flowing, is confined round the temples by a narrow band ; his moustachios and beard are trimmed close, except two small and pendent tufts that hang from each side of the chin. The queen's hair is confined by a band round the head, but is al- * He dressed him then. f This word was probably cowrtpye, a short outer garment or mantle. Harts- home's book is disfigured by very many errors of the transcriber. J His hood was so well secured that the tippet could not go awry. § His mittens, and the sling, in the use of which he was famous, he also car- ried with him. II King Eichard's expense in dress was very extraordinary. Holinshed says, "he had one cote, which he caused to be made for him of gold and stone, valued at 30,000 marks ;" a mark was 13s. M. THE PLANTAGENETS. 107 lowed to flow down tke back in great profiision. Tie exceeding splendour of the dresses is, howeyer, the most remariable point for consideration. They are embroidered all over with the royal badges and devices, and decorated with rich and elaborate borders. The letters 3^ and ^ together, his badges of the white hart crowned and chained, the sun emerging from a cloud, and the broom-plant,* cover the entire dress. His queen's, still more costly and elaborate, is de- corated with her badges of the ostrich, the interlaced band or knot, and the 3fil — ^ joined by a band or chain and regally crowned. They are much the finest examples we possess of the fashion of em- broidering the dress with heraldic insignia.f The famous portrait of Eichard II., in the Jerusalem Chamber, is another fine example of the usual dress of a monarch, who, with his courtiers, seems to have set no bounds to extravagance in cloth- ing. His dalmatic bf. this picture is embroidered all over with roses and the letter SS' ; his robe is lined with ermine, having a deep col- lar of the same material covering the shoulders, and is fastened round the neck by a band and clasp of the most costly jewelled or- naments. His shoes (like those upon the effigy) are also richly em- broidered and set with stones ; and his crown, sceptre, and orb, are very elegant and splendid. There is also an engraving, by Hollar, from a picture at Wilton, of this monarch, in a different but equally gorgeous costume : a beautiful coloured plate from this picture is given in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations. The fashion of embroidering the dress with heraldic devices, fa- mily badges, or initial letters of the name, and mottoes used by the wearer, became common during this period, and originated in Italy. The edges were also cut into various shapes, of leaves, etc., and richly decorated with elaborate workmanship, being frequently set with precious stones. The servants of the nobility were also sump- tuously attired, and a universal extravagance in dress reigned throughout the nation ; " every man," says Harding, in his chro- nicle, " desiring to surpass his fellows in costly clothing of silk, satin, * Or planta genista, a sprig of wMcli was always worn in the cap of the great ancestor of the family, Greoffroy lo Bel; &om which circumstance it is 'Said to have derived its name of Plantagenet. f We are indebted to the late Mr. HoUis, who has delineated these figures in his Monumental ^Eiffigies, for their restoration. The patterns were concealed by the dirt of ages, having been executed in delicate dotted indentations, and their existence doubted, or positively denied, till his patience and perseverance again brought them to light. 108 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. or damask ; and with tlie universal feeling that seems to pervade ancient and modem dandyism, never troubling themselves about the payment for these articles of extravagance. Harding adds, that " Cut worke was great both in court and towns, Both in men's hoods and also in their gowns ; Embroidery, and fur, and goldsmith's wort all new, In many a wyse each day they did renew;" and that no array so rich, costly, and precious, was known in the English nation either before or since. The fashion of cutting the edges of the gar- ments into the shape of leaves, and other ornaments, originally invented on the Conti- nent, may be clearly seen in some of the plates to Montfaucon's Antiguitis de la Monarohie Frcmfaise. A striking example is here given, in the full-length of Louis d'Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Sicily, copied from a MS. of the fourteenth century, in the Eoyal Library at Paris, containing the laws of the Order of St. I*4L^ ^ Esprit, founded by him. The long pendant to Mra ^ his hood is very clearly shown, as weU as the / ' ;ra rows of leaves that edge his hood and surcoat, and run entirely down each side of the pen- dant which hangs from his shoulder. The precise similarity of this dress with the Eng- glish one of the same period may be accounted for by our close connection with the Continent, and the eagerness with which foreign fashions were adopted, if they were in any degree quaint or extravagant. The reader of English history, during this troublesome period, might imagine that the heroes of chivalry, the knights and warriors of the age, those models of courtesy and bravery, who frequently, upon the battle-field, " Lay down to rest with corslet laced, Pillowed on buckler, cold and hard," would at court be exceptions to the general love of efieminate finery. It was really quite the reverse. The hero, leaving the scene of war, or the hsts of the tournament, arrayed himself with a softness and luxuriance so perfectly feminine, that the declaration of the satirists of the age, — that it really was diflScult, if not im- possible, to distinguish the sexes if the face was turned aside, — ^be- THE PLANTAGENETS. 109 comes strictly true. For proof, take the annexed illustration, copied from one of the most extraordinary and valuable manuscripts in our National Collection. It represents a knight and a gentleman in civil costume, and is the first Ulumination in the volume marked No. 1319 of the Harleian Collec- tion, a metrical history, in French, of the adven- tures of Eichard II., from the period of his last expedition into Ire- land, to his death in 1339 ; and was " com- posed by a French gen- tleman of mark, who was in the suite of the said king," and who prevailed on a noble knight of his acquaintance to leave France, and join Sichard in his wars. The illumination represents the author of the work addressing this knight and proposing the journey. The amplitude and splendour of the dresses, with their sleeves reaching to the ground, and ornamented at the edges by being cut into leaves, and other patterns, will at once be noticed.* It must not be imagined that long, wide, and flowing gowns, were the only dresses of the fashionables of the period. They were some- times worn in the opposite extreme, and so short that they did not reach the hips ; a fashion loudly complained of as indelicate by the clerical satirists of the times, who, indeed, found much that they * The whole of the illumiaations in this beautiful and valuable historic ma- nuscript, the work of an eye-witness of the extraordinary events in our history immortalized by Shakspeare, are by far the finest authority for the costume of this period, and for Shaispeare's drama. With such accuracy are they executed, that the variouB personages of the narrative may always be traced by feature, as well as by dreas ; and from these miniatures the portraits of the Earl of l^orth- imiberland, and others, have been enlarged for Harding's Sliakspeare Portraits. An instance of their minute accuracy may be mentioned. Bohngbroke is de- picted in a black dress and dark-coloiu'ed armour. He was in mourning at this period for the death of his father. The whole series, sixteen in number, have been beautifully engraved in the twentieth volume of the ArcTueoloffia, where the poem (to which all our historians have been greatly indebted) is printed en- tire, with a prose translation. 110 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. might reasonably object to. The figure to the right, in the engra- ving here given, will display this fashion, which looks sufficiently absurd in conjunction with the wide sleeve of this article of apparel. The three figures in the original ma- nuscript are beheved to represent the uncles of Eichard II., the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester.* It has been carefully traced from the ori- ginal illumination, and placed upon the wood-block from that tracing, that no possible change of form, however slight, might take place, and warrant a supposition that the extravagance of dress here delineated was in any way caricatured. The hair of these noble- men is bound by jewelled circlets round the forehead ; one carries a hat similar to that worn by the central fi- gure. The spreading dark cufi" of the sleeve is a peculiarity of this age, as are also the enormously long toes, which became so fashionable, and were termed crackowes; being so named, says Mr. Planch^, from the city of Cracow ; Poland and Bohemia having been incorporated by John, the grandfather of Richard's queen, and the fashion probably imported from thence. They are compared to " devil's claws " by a contemporary writer, who says that they were fastened to the knees with chains of gold and silver. But one representation of crackowes thus fastened has been recorded, and in that instance they are secured to the girdle. Smith, in his Ancient Costume of Englamd, has noticed a fall-length portrait of James I. of Scotland, preserved in the castle of Eielberg, near Tubingen, in Swabia, the seat of the family of Von Lytrams, whose shoe-toes are thus fastened ; but the chain and ornamental loop hanging round the left leg of one of the figures in the group on this page may be one of these fastenings through which the toes were drawn. It is the only approach to it that I am enabled to depict ; but the fashion of thus securing the toes and enabling the * The MS. is among the Eoyal Collection, marked 20, B 6 ; and is a copy of a letter on the subject of a peace between France and England, written by an aged monk at Paris, and presented by him to Eichaid, who is depicted as seated on his throne, and receiving the book from the monk, surrounded by the officers of his court and his nobles. THE PLANTAGENETS. Ill wearers to walk without confusion, is well authenticated by contem- porary narrators of this inconvenient absurdity. In the armoury of Lord Londesborough is a jambe and soUeret of this era, a singu- larly curious and probably unique illustra- tion of the fashion as carried out in war- caparison. The long toe of the solleret is furnished with a ring, to allow a chain to be fastened to it, which may be secured to an- other ring in the centre of the knee-cap. By his Lordship's permission it has been engraved for these pages : I have never seen a similar example of this curious fashion, which renders it the more valuable. The flexible plates of the instep, and the frag- ments of chain-mail at the back of the leg, are worthy of observation. The shape of the ladies' costume continued the same as that before described, except that the long streamers, or tippets, (as with the men,) were discard- ed, and the dress elaborated with or- namental and heral- dic devices, and frequently parti-ooloured. Chaucer, — the Shakspeare of the Middle Ages, — ^has, in his im- mortal Canterbury Tales, given us the best information connected with the costume of the different grades ia English society during this reign, and which may be thus condensed': — The young squire was dressed in a short gown with sleeves long and wide, embroidered all over with white and red flowers, and his hair was as carefully curled as if each lock had been laid in a press. The yeoman was clad in a coat and hood of green, with a horn slung across his shoulders by a green baldrick, like a good forester. Under his belt was fixed a sheaf of arrows, tipped with peacocks' feathers ; a sword and buckler on one side, and a " gay dagger" on the other. In one hand he bore a bow, and upon his arm a gay bracer ; while a silver figure of St. Christopher, his patron saint, ornamented his breast. The merchant had a forked beard, and was arrayed in a parti-coloured or motley dress ; he wore a hat of Planders beaver, and his shoes were " clasped fair and fetously." The frankelein, or country gentleman, is described as wearing at his 112 COSTUME IN ENGIiAND. girdle an anelace and gipciere.* The haberdasher, carpenter, weaver, dyer, and tapestry -worker, were clothed in the Hvery of their va- rious eompames ; their pouches, girdles, and knives, wrought with silver, and "not with brass." The shipman was habited in a gown of "falding," or coarse cloth, reaching to the knee ; a dagger hung, under his arm by a lace passing round his neck. The poor plough- man wore a simple tabard, a jacket or sleeveless coat. The Tniller had a beard as broad as a spade, and wore a white coat and blue hood, with a sword and buckler by his side. The reeve or steward had his beard close shaved, and his hair cut close round the ears, and at the top of his head, like a priest ; and he wore a long surcoat of "perse," a sky-coloured or bluish-grey cloth, which was tucked Hke a friar's gown about him, and carried a rusty blade by his side. Of the ladies, we may notice the wife of Bath, whose costume may be taken as a good example of that of the other classes of the commonalty. She wore kerchiefs on her head of fine cloth upon Sundays, that "weighed a pound;" scarlet hose, with moist new shoes. Her travelling dress was a wimple, a hat as broad as a buck- ler or target, and a mantle. In the course of the tales many other illustrations of costume occur ; and that of the carpenter's wife in the Miller's Tale may be cited as an instance. She wore a girdle "barred all of sOk," a white "barme-cloth " or apron, fuU of gores, or formed perhaps of patchwork. The collar of her shift was em- broidered before and behind with black silk, and fastened by a brooch as big as the boss of a buckler. Upon her head she wore a white " volupere," or cap tied with tapes, and a broad sUk fillet round her head. At her girdle hung a leather purse ornamented with metal buttons and silk tassels ; her shoes were laced high upon her legs. The Parson's Tale contains some severe allusions to the fashions in general, and details much information in the illustration of their peculiarities, with the reasons for condemning them held by the so- berer kind of people. The ecclesiastical costume is chiefly remarkable for an increase of splendour. The vestments of the clergy were richly embroidered with figures or flowers, and other ornaments of the most elaborate workmanship, and the borders sometimes were set with precious * Or a dagger and purse, then usually worn by all tut the lower classes of the community, and of which a good specimen is engraved on p. 96. The term cutpwse was origiaally invented to distinguish the chmaUers d^indmstrie of the Middle Ages, who, by severing the thongs that held these purses to the girdle, easily made themselves masters of the property therein contained. THE PLANTAGENBTS. 113 stones ; while upon the enrichment of the mitres and crosiers of the elerical dignitaries the art of the goldsmith and jeweller was ex- hausted in exquisite inventions. The effigy of John de Sheppey, Bishop of Eochester, who was consecrated to the see in 1353, and died 1360,* is a fine example of the clerical splendour of the period. He wears a mitre elaborately wrought and set with jewels. The collar, or apparel of the amice, is richly wrought, and stands up freely round the neck ; the cope has a pattern all over it. The dahnatio is covered with rich florid em- broidery. The alb is also embroidered in front with a species of flower arranged like an X, and which may be supposed to repre- sent a Greek cross. His gloves are richly embroidered and jewelled on the back — a mark of high dignity in church and state ; and he carries over his left arm the maniple, a narrow strip of embroidered cloth, which originally was a napkin used for wiping any impurities from the sacramental cup, but which took this form at a very early period; it may be seen in the hand of Stigand, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, in the cut of the co- ronation of Harold, engraved at p. 58 of this volume. He bears a richly decorated crosier (the head is broken off in the origi- nal), the staff of which is enswathed with linen. His shoes are also embroidered, and the bands that ornament them are intended to represent the thongs of the ancient sandals that gave place to them. The two figures on the next page, copied from Cotman's series of brasses, are good illustrations of ordinary clerical costume. The first figure is in the church of the Hospital of St. Cross, near Win- chester, and represents John de Campden, the grand vicar and con- fidential friend of the great Wykeham, and who was appointed master of the hospital in 1382. He wears the cassock, almuce, and cope. The effigy of Eichard Thaseburgh, who died in 1387, in Heylesdon Church, Norfolk, is a good example of a priest fuUy * Engraved in the thirty-fifth volume of the Archeeologia, with an account of its discovery. I 114 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. habited for tlie altar. He wears a chasuble, above whicli is the rich coUar of the amice, beneath it ap- pears the ends of the stole. The alb is decorated in the front, and an embroidered maniple is upon the left arm. I must again refer to " the honour of the English tongue," Chaucer, for much that is curious in the way of information upon cleri- cal dress. The Monk, in the Catiterhiury Filgrimage, is luxuriously habited; among other espensire articles, are noticed — " his sleeves purfiled at the liand With gris, and that the finest of the land ;* And for to fasten his hood under his chin He had of gold ywrought a curious pin." The parish clerk, Absolon, in the Miller's Tale, is richly dressed in red hose, a sky-blue kirtle ornamented with points, or tags, and over all a white surplice, "with Panic's windows carven on his shoes ;" that is, they were cut or embroidered like gothic windows, a fashion previously treated of, and of which a curious example is given in the illustrations to our Glossary. The ploughman rails at the clergy in unmeasured terms for their almost regal luxuriance, declaring that they ride high horses " In glittering golde of grete arraie, Fainted and portrid all in pride, Tfo common knight may go so gay. Change of clothing every day, With golden girdles great and small." * Garments thus "purfiled," or bordered with costly furs, as " gris," miniver, or ermine, were in great request among the wealthy clergy, who were restrained by clerical ordinances from an imitation of the fashionable freaks and follies of the times, and of which restraint it became necessary frequently to remind them. They therefore indulged themselves in the luxury of the most expensive furs and finest cloth for their ordinary costume, while their official dresses allowed of the most costly and ornamental materials, which were unsparingly adopted. THE PIANTAGENBTS. 115 Many of them, he says, have more than a couple of mitres, orna- mented with pearls like the head of a queen ; and pastoral staffs of gold set with jewels, as heavy as if made of, lead : "They be so rooted in ricliea That ChTis,t's poverty is forgot. * * * * * Some wear a miter and ring; With double worsted well dressed ; With royall mete and rich drihke ; And ride on coursers as a knight, With hawkes and with hounds ete, With brooch or ouches on his hood." And he speaks of the monks, when out of the church, joining in dances and sports, dressed in gowns of scarlet or green, shaped after the newest fashion, and cut into ornaments at the edges like those of the laity ; and even appearing with " Bucklers broad, and swords long, Baudriok, with ba^elards kene, Such tools about their neck they hong ;" and, like the foppish laity, they have " long pikes on their shoon." Piers Plowman is equally loud in his complaint of their pride. Contrasting them with the saints, he says, " some of them, instead of baselards (the ornamental daggers worn by gentlemen at their girdles) and brooches, have a rosary in their hands and a book under their arm ; but Sir John and Sir Jeffery* hath a girdle of silver, and a baselard decorated with gilt studs." A little afterwards, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "with him came above a hundred proud priests, habited in paltocks (a short jacket appropriated to the laity), with peaked shoes, and large knives or daggers."t The common * It was usual to call a priest Sir long after this period. Instances occur in Shakespeare's plays, in the names Sir Hugh Evans, Sir OKver Martext, etc. f In an earher poem on the evil times of Edward II., preserved in the Au- chinleck MSS., in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and published in Wright's Political Songs, the clergy are loudly complained of, because " These abbots and priors do again their rights ; They ride with hawk and hound, and counterfeit knights ;'' leaving "wantoune priestes" to attend each parish, who "by night, Gro with sword and buckler as men that would fight." And we are told : " This is the penance monkes do for our Lords love. Wear socks in their shoes, and felted boots above." In the Abingdon Chronicle, edited by Halliwell, it is said that — " a.d. 129*7. The rectors of churches, and other clerics, when they rode through the country, wore I 3 116 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. friars, wko could not dress so showily, wore theirs Tery snug and trimly, and " a great cherl " of that fraternity is described in a cope made of double worsted, that covered him well to his heels, and a white kirtle neatly sewed. In a sumptuary law of the 37th of Edward III., the dignified clergy, who require the indulgence, are allowed to wear such fiirs as are best suited to their constitutions : others of the clergy, who have yearly incomes exceeding two hundred marks, are entitled to the same privileges with the knights of the same estate ; and those of inferior degree are allowed to rank with the esquires possessed of one hundred pounds yearly income. But knights were restricted, by the same laws, from wearing expensive furs, or having any parts of their garments embroidered and decorated with jewellery ; while the esquires are restricted to a certain inexpensive cloth : " they shall not wear any cloth of gold, of silk, or of silver ; nor any sort of embroidered garment ; nor any ring, buckle, ouch, ribband, or girdle. No part of their apparel to be decorated with gold or silver : nor are they to wear any ornaments of precious stones, or furs of any kind." These regulations became so thoroughly neg- lected in the following reign, that Henry the Fourth found it ne- cessary to revive and remodel them soon after he came to the throne, as wiU be narrated in its proper place. Various orders of monks were now established in England. The chief were the Benedictines, the earliest introduced into our island, having been probably brought in by St. Augustine, but first gene- rally established in the tenth century by St. Dunstan. In 1128 the Cistercians or Bemardines were introduced, and in 1180 the Car- thusians : in the thirteenth century a formidable rival to the re- gularly-established monks appeared in the new religious order of Mendicant Friars. The Dominicans, or Black Eriars (also known as Preaching Eriars), and the Franciscans or Grey Friars (also called Cordeliers), were established by the Pope's authority in 1216 and 1223. Of many ot?ier orders which soon sprang up in imitation of these, all were evontuaUy suppressed except two — ^the Carmelites, or White Friars, and the Augustines, also known, as well as the Franciscans, by the name of Grey Eriars, from the colour of their cloaks. For the costume of these popular religious orders we must garments of different colours i^nd/uebwKtur vestibus sfragulatis)^ that they might not be recognized by passere-by, and thus be enabled to travel in security wher- ever they wished." It appears that these vestes stragulatee distinguished the laity from the clergy, who were at this time put out of the protection of the law. THE PLANTAGENETS. 117 refer the reader to the plates in the last splendid edition of Dug- dale's Monasticon. The Augustine Friar, who is described in the Creed of Piers Plowman as denouncing the pride of the Franciscans, says that — " In coting of their copes Is more cloth folded Than was in St. Francis frock. When he them first made. And yet under that cope A cote hath he furred With foyns, or with fitchews, Or else with fine beaver; And that is cutted to the knee, And quaintly buttoned. Lest any spiritual man Espy that gmle. Francis had his brethren Barefoot to walk ; Now hare they buckled shoes, Lest they hurt their heels ; And hose in hard weather. Fastened at the ankle." In the romance of St. Crraal (Eoyal MSS. 14, E. 3), ex- ecuted in the 14th century, we have this representation of one of these preaching friars in his rude portable pulpit. Prom the contrast afforded by their mendicancy, and enthusiasm in teaching, to the pride and riches of the higher clergy, and their oonstant mixing with the people, they became excessively popular. The preacher in the cut has a crowded and attentive audience (though one lady seems inclined to nap) ; the costume of the entire group (who are all seated, after a primitive fashion, on the bare ground) 118 COSTUME IN EN&LAND. is wortliy of note, and may be received as a fair picture of the com- monalty of this period, whose fancy was confined to the head-dress. The figures here engraved are copied from a curious httle bronze, strongly gilt, now in the posses- sion of Lord Londes- borough, and which was first engraved in the Gentleman's Ma- gazine for 1833, ac- companied with a de- scription, by A. J. Eempe, E.S.A.; this gentleman was au- thor of the letter- press to Stothwrd's Monumental Effi- gies, and his intimate knowledge in these matters enabled him to well authenticate dates ; and he considered this relic might safely be attributed to the early part of the twelfth century. It was disco- vered in the Temple Church, and had originally formed a portion of a pyx, or smaU shrine, in which the consecrated host was kept. It represents the soldiers watching the body of our Lord, who was, in mystical form, supposed to be enshrined in the pyx. They wear skull-caps of the Phrygian form, with the nasal like those in the Bayeux Tapestry, already described : and the maUles or rings of the hauberk appear, as in the armour there, sewn, down, perhaps, on a sort of gambeson, but not interlaced. They bear kite-shaped shields, raised to an obtuse angle in the centre, and having large projecting bosses ; the third figure is again represented beside the cut in pro- file, in order to enable the reader more clearly to detect its pecu- liarities. On two of these shields are some approaches to armorial bearings ; the first is marked with four narrow bendlets ; the se- cond is fretted, the frets being repeated in front of his helmet, or chwpelle de fer. All the helmets have the nasal. A long tunic, bordered, and in one instance ornamented with cross-lines, or che- quered, appears beneath the tunic. The sword is very broad, and the spear, carried by the first figure, obtuse in the head, — a mark of its antiquity. The shoes are admirable illustrations of that passage of Geofirey of Malmesbury, where, reprehending the luxury of cos- THB PLANTAGENBTS. 119 tume in wMoh the English indulged at the time when Henry I. began his reign, he says : " Then was there flowing hair, and extra- vagant dress ; and then was invented the fashion of shoes with curved points : then the model for young men was to rival women in delicacy of person, to mimic their gait, to walk with loose gesture, half-naked." The curvature of the points of the shoes in the little relic before us, in conformity with the custom censured by Malmes- bury, is quite remarkable. One turns up, another down ; one to the left, another to the right ; and scarcely any two in the same direction. The home of these military fashions was Nor- mandy; the Bayeux Tapestry delineates them, and the little figure here given also illustrates the close similarity of appearance presented by the conti- nental knights. It is copied from an illumination in a French MS. of the twelfth century, — a frag- ment of Horace, — preserved in the Eoyal Library at Paris (8214). This knight wears the conical helmet, with a ball on its apex ; he carries the pointed shield ; his hauberk is composed of the overlapping square plates of steel termed by Mey- rick tegulated armour, beneath which appears the long tunic. The broad sword is precisely like those worn by the three knights engraved on the preceding page. The most interesting military class of the earlier period of the Plantagenets were the Knights Templars, a body of men called into existence by the various pilgrimages undertaken to the Holy Land, and elevated into importance by the crusading mania of Richard I. and other romantic warriors. The dangers that beset a pUgrim on all sides from his first landing in Palestine, and the frequent sacri- fices of life to Mahommedan hatred and prejudice, determined nine valiant and pious knights to form themselves into a band for their especial protection, and to bind themselves by a vow to save them harmless during their religious sojourning in that country.* Lead- * Tanner says : " The Knights Templars were instituted a.d. 1118, and were so caUed from having their first residence in some rooms adjoining to the Temple at Jerusalem. Their business, also, was to guard the roads for the security of pilgrims in the Holy Landj and their rule, that of canons regular of St. Austin; their habit was white, with a red cross on their left shoulder. Their coming into England was probably pretty early in the reign of Eing Stephen, and their first seat in Holbome." They increased very fast, and in a short time obtained very 120 COSTtTME IN ENGLAND. ing a life of piety and chastity, eschewing pomp and riches, and uniting the ohaxacter of monk and soldier, they attracted the atten- tion of the world; and aU moneys sent to them from Christian countries were religiously devoted to the service of the pilgrim and his advantage, while remaining under their protection. Their ulti- mate wealth, their power, their fall, and the many cruel and unjus- tifiable proceedings commenced and carried out by jealousy and avarice, ending in their suppression and destruction, in many in- stances by the cruellest tortures, are matters for the historian to narrate ; and which, when read, leave an indelible impression upon the mind of the cruelty that may pass under the name of justice, and be sanctioned by the greatest of the land, when popxdar clamour is misdirected by designing men, and enforced by appeals to man's worst passions. They were as much the objects of jealousy to their rivals, the more ancient body of Knights Hospitallers,* whose more immediate province it was to provide lodgings for poor pilgrims, and attend to their wants, but which eventually became a military order, owing to the success of the Templars, and in imitation of them ; and the two bodies regarding each other with much hatred, would turn their arms against their rivals, instead of mutual attacks upon " foul Paynims ;" and thus the warriors who had sworn to protect all comers, and oppose all foes to Christianity, forgetting its first and greatest precept, charity, would strew the field with their brother believers, leaving the "heathen hounds" they so much despised sensibly strengthened by their sinful weakness. The distinction in dress between a Knight Templar and a Knight large possessions. But in less than two hundred years, their wealth and power was thought too great; they were accused of horrid crimes, and thereupon everywhere imprisoned; their estates were seized; their order suppressed hy Pope Clement V., a.d. 1309 ; and totally aholished by the Council of Vienna, A.D. 1312. The superior of this order in England was styled Master of the Temple, and was often summoned to Parliament. * " The first of these orders, the Knights Hospitallers, began, and took its name from an hospital, built at Jerusalem for the use of pilgrims coming to the Holy Land, and dedicated to St. John Baptist; for the first busiuess of these knights was to provide for such pilgrims at that hospital, and to protect them from iujuries and insults on the road. They were instituted about A.D. 1092, and were very much favoured by Godfrey of Bulloigne, and his successor, Bald- win, King of Jerusalem. They followed chiefly St. Austin's rule, and wore a black habit with a white cross upon it. They soon came into England, and had a house built for them in London, a.d. 1100 ; and from a poor and mean begin- ning obtained so great wealth, honoTirs, and exemptions, that their superior here in England was the first lay baron, and had a seat among the lords in parliament; and some of their privileges were extended even to their tenants." THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 131 Hospitaller consisted in the mantle, which was thrown over the shoulders and hung upon the ground.* The Templar's mantle was white, with a red cross upon the left shoulder ; the Hospitaller's black, with a white cross in the same position. Grood engravings were etched by Hollar, for Dugdale's Monastieon, of both these dresses, which are copied below from the last edition of that work.f The authority from which these figures are copied is not mentioned; but from the mixture of plate with the chain-mail, they evidently exhibit their costume as worn just previous to their suppression. They are certainly not older than the reign of Edward I. The only undoubted effigy of a Knight Templar known to exist is the one engraved by Montfaucon, in his Monuments de la Monar- chie Franqaise, torn. ii. pi. 36 ; and which, when that book was pub- lished (in 1730), existed ia the Church of St. Yved de Braine, near * In the very curious satire on the monks, entitled The Order of Fairease, written in the reign of Edward I., and published in Wright's Political Songs, mention is made of the Hospitallers, "who are very courteous knights, and have very becoming robes, so long that they drag at their feet." Of course this praise is ironical. f Sir "Walter Scott is not to be depended on for accuracy, when he describes the Templar in IvanJioe as wearing a white mantle, upon which is a blaelc cross of eight points. Such a cross was never worn by either Templar or Hospitaller. The cross they wore originally resembled that on which the Saviour suffered, the lowest of the four arms being the longest. His description of the armour of these early warriors is also far from accurate. 122 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Soissons, in France. It is liere copied. The effigy was that of Jean de Dreux, knight of the Order of the Temple, second son of Jean I., Comte de Dreux and de Braine, and Marie de Bourhon. This Templar was living in 1275, but the year of his death is unrecord- ed. He is entirely unarmed ; but he wears the mantle of his order, oyer the left side of which is the cross, which is of Greek form, the hori- zontal arms being rather shorter than the per- pendicular ones; and it is not at all of the paUe form, which strengthens the conjecture that Hollar's figures (the only ones we possess) have been copied from later representations, when alterations of the original costume had been adopted with the alterations of worldly prosperity in these communities. Jean de Dreux is bearded, and wears the coif or close cap of his order (again difieiing from Hollar), and a long gown or tunic. This simple cos- tum.e was the undress of the fraternity, and this figure is of much value for its undoubted delineation of one of these knights; as the cross-legged effigies called Templars are by no means proved to represent knights of the order, including even those iu the Temple Church, London. Mr. Richardson, the sculptor, who restored the Temple Church effigies, has given, iu the descriptive portion of his work devoted to these figures, a very good summary of the Templars' costume. He says, they wore long beards, and their general dress consisted of a hauberk or tunic of ringed mail, reaching to the knee, with sleeves and gloves ; ohausses, covering the legs and feet, of the same kind of mail ; a light sleeveless sureoat, over the hauberk, girded about the waist with a belt ; a guige, or transverse belt, passing round the body, over the right shoulder and under the left arm, by which a long or kite-shaped shield was supported ; a sword-belt, obliquely round the loins, with a long heavy sword attached; and single- pointed or goad-shaped spurs. Over all, a long white mantle, fas- tened under the chin, and reaching to the feet, upon which was the cross : on the head was worn a linen coif, and*above that a bowl- shaped skull-cap of red cloth, turned up all round. When com- pletely armed, the coif and cap were exchanged for a hood of mail, covering the neck and head, and over that, some one of the variously- THE PLANTAGENETS. 123 formed helmets, or caps of mail or steel, then in use. The parts of their dress peculiar to the order were, the mantle with its cross, the coif, and the cap. Now, none of these peculiarities are visible in the Temple effigies : they have not the beard and mantle similar to that worn by Jean de Dreux, the distinguishing feature of the order, and in which they would most probably have been represented ; for in Stothard's Effigies, those of Sir Eoger de Bois and his lady wear the mantle of the order of St. Anthony, to which he belonged. On the right shoulder of each is the circular badge here engraved, bear- ing, what is called the Tau cross, and the letters ANTHON, in the uncial character. If the cross- legged knights were not Templars, they may stOl, however, have been Crusaders, in whose ranks appeared the scions of our noblest families ; and who may have been thus distinguished upon their tombs ; for cross-legged figures are not found be- fore or after the Crusading era. The effigies in the Temple Church, nine in number, are certainly the finest and most interesting collection of monumental figures of this early period possessed by any one church in the kingdom. As works of art they are deeply interesting, from the correct idea they give of the state of sculpture at this early period ; and they exhibit the military costume as it is said to have been worn at the Crusades, and with the addition then invented to suit the torrid climate in which the " warriors of the cross " fought. Thus we are told, that the surcoat, or tunic without sleeves, worn over the iron armour of the knights, was adopted to veil that defence, as it was apt to heat with the sun to a degree that rendered it inconvenient to the wearer. The figure here en- graved, from one of these effigies, displays this surcoat hanging lower than the ringed hauberk beneath ; it had also the advantage of distin- guishing different nations by its colour and form when congregated on the battle-plain. The chausses of the knight are also formed with rings set edgewise ; which Bohadin, the secre- tary of Saladin, speaks of as excellent protec- tions from the arrows of their opponents, which, he declares, stuck upon them without injury to 124 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the wearer. " I have seen," says he, " not one or two, but neaifly ten, sticking upon a soldier." The large shield of the knight is sup- ported by an ornamented strap, passing across the shoulder ; a si- milar one crosses the waist, towards the right side, where the sword hangs. His hands are crossed upon the breast, probably with the same intention that the legs of other effigies of this class are placed in a similar position, to indicate their militant profession of the cross and are covered by the chain-mail not separated for the fingers ; he wears a close cap or helmet of iron, which is sometimes seen in use at this period. The figure is altogether a good illustration of military costume now generally worn. There is a remarkably spirited effigy among this series, here en- graved from Mr. Eichardaon's book, who says, " It is now considered to be that of Gilbert Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1241. It represents a young knight, in ring-mail, with the legs crossed ; the hood, which is covered with a coif of maU, seems fastened by a tie, as two ends appear, but no buckle. A strap or fillet runs round the face, through the rings, at intervals. The surooat is long. No belt appears at the waist, but the folds of the surcoat appear to fall over it. The guige is enriched with small shields. The sword-belt is ornamented with bars only. The mode of fastening the buckle on the belt is well shown. The shield is long and plain. The sword-hilt is in the form of an escallop - shell. The knight is in the act of drawing the sword from the scabbard. Be- tween the hauberk and surcoat is a plain, thick under-garment, fastened with straps or clasps, .which appear under the arms ; probably some kind of haqueton. The feet are treading on a winged dragon, which is biting the spur-strap of the left foot." The action of this figure is exceedingly energetic, and it exhibits the first introduction of plate-armour, which eventually superseded the ringed maU, commencing with the small knee-caps, as worn by this knight. The effigy now beheved to be that of WUliam Mareschal the younger, Earl of Pembroke, furnishes us with the excellent ex- ample in next page of the way in which the cmf de mailles was se- cured on the head, and lapped round the face, being fastened to THB PLANTAGBNETS. 125 tie left side, near the temple, by a strap and buckle. In Pershore Cliuroli, Worcestershire, is an equally curious effigy of the same era, which represents the knight, with this lappet unloosed, and re- posing on the breast. It is a valuable additional illustration of this peculiar portion of early military costume. The form assumed by the coif in covering the iron skull-cap worn under it will also be ob- served, as well as the band which passes around the forehead, and seems, by the bracing springs at intervals over it, as if intended to keep the iron cap in its proper place. These cuts may help us to understand the more imperfect representations of armed knights in the Bayeux Tapestry ; and the omission of such minor details ac- counts for the apparent impossibility of getting into such tight- fitting dresses of mail. In the helmets the principal changes would appear to have taken place, their heat and in- convenience being modi- fied in various ways, with- out exactly rendering the wearer less secure; al- though the necessity for guarding tlie face from a sword-cut, now that the nasal was abandoned, led to the perfect envelop- ment oftheheadinthebar- rel-shaped helmet worn during the reign of Rich- ard I. Some few varieties have been selected in the accompanying engraving. Fig. 1, from an effigy in 136 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the Temple Church, shows the hood of chain-mail drawn over and enveloping the head, and which continued in use until the reign of Edward III. Pig. 2, from the effigy of William Long- espee, the natural son of Henry II. by Kosamond de Clifford (the Pair Eosamond of the old writers and baUad-makers), who died in 1226, and is buried in Salisbury Cathedral. His head is in this instance also covered with the hauberk : it takes its shape, probably, from a cylindrical defence for the head worn beneath it, similar to that upon fig. 4. " There are authorities of the time of Edward I.," says Meyrick, "to show that this under-cap was of steel." Fig. 3, from an effigy in the Temple Church, gives us the steel helmet, or cha- pelle defer, like No. 1, entirely covering the mouth and face, ex- cept the nose and eyes. Fig. 4, also from the Temple Church, de- picts the helmet upon the figure of Geoffrey de MagnaviUe : it is a plain round cap of metal, bearing an unlucky resemblance to an in- verted saucepan, and secured by a strap or band of iron beneath the chin. Figs. 5 and 6 are two views of the helmet upon a figure of a Knight Crusader in Walkerne Church, Hertfordshire. They are interesting delineations of the barrel-shaped case for the head now invented, having a slit in front for the purpose of enabling the wearer to see, and holes towards the bottom to allow him to breathe in this most inconvenient case of metal ; which also has the addition of a face-guard in the centre, passing, for an extra protection, over the visual opening. Kone but those who have placed an antique hel- met on the head, can form an idea of the hot, confined, and oppres- sive sensation produced upon the wearer. Many simple modes of adapting the armour to the soldier may have been adopted in various parts of the chain-mail depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, to enable the warrior to put it on entire. This mailed hood was sometimes covered by a helmet ; and it was thrown off, and reposed on the shoiilders, like the ordinary one of cloth, when the wearer pleased. An instance occurs in the effigy of Eo- bert. Lord de Eos (who died 1227), in the Temple Church, while that of Geofirey de MagnavOle affords another of the union of the coif de maUles with the helmet or chapelle de fer. The heat and heaviness of this armour occasioned the invention of gamboised or pour-pointed coverings for protection in war, and which are also said to have , been invented during the Crusades. They were made of stitched and padded leather or cloth, or quilted and stuffed with wool ; and they derived the name of pour-point from the punctures with which they were covered. John of Salisbury, in the time of Henry 11., complains of the THE PLANTAGENETS. 127 effeminacy of the knights, at a period when modern readers of ro- mances, founded upon their adventures, fancy nothing but daring and bravery was known. He declares the majority think of war only for display, and condemns their love of finery and personal decoration. Their shields are splendidly decorated, he says ; and " if a piece of gold, minium, or any colour of the rainbow should fall from them, their garrulous tongues would make it an everlasting memorial" of their prowess in war. No bad illustration of the gaiety of decoration indulged in by these gentlemen, or of the unchange- ableness of human nature in its faults and foUiea, through all times, ancient as well as modern. In the poem on the evil times of Edward II., printed in Wright's JPolitieal Songs, from the Auchinleck MS. in the Advocates' Li- brary, Edinburgh, the writer complains of these heroes as being " Lions in hall, and hares in the field;" and says that they should wear regular and proper clothing, befitting their stations, as a friar does in his : but he declares, "Now they are so disguised and diversely dight. Scarcely may men know a gleeman from a knight."* The squires, he says, do not value each other imless they wear fop- pish baubles and long beards, kirtles or coats, with the hood hang- ing on the breast ; and a new fashion is introduced : " now in every town. The ray is turned overthwart that should stand adown ; They ben disguised as tormentors that comenfrom clerkes play;" that is, the stripes of their dresses cross the body, instead of run- ning down the stuff; so that they look like the executioners in the Mysteries, or Scripture plays, who were generally made as strange and horrible as possible. In addition to the sword and spear, the warrior occasionally wielded the martel-de-fer, a weapon combining a hammer and pick, and which did great execution among the armed knights, in break- ing or dragging off the rings of the hauberk, and opening a passage for deadly weapons. The heavy mace also split the helmets and head of the wearer with deadly aim ; and Eichard I. is reported to have used such an implement with fatal certainty during the mis- called " Holy Wars." In the romance of Richard Gceur de Lion, published in Weber's collection of these ancient poems, his prowess * The glecmaa was a wandering mountebank, and the satire is similar to that of the old knight narrated in p. 9 128 COSTITME IN ENGLANB. is forcibly narrated. In the following quotation the king is described as fighting with a baron, by whom he is worsted, and the power of this implement shown : " Hye mase upon his hed he layde ; With good will that stroke he set, The baroiin thtought he wolde hym let,* And with his hevy mase of stele Then he gave the kyng his dele, That his helme al to'-roTe,+ And hym over his sadell drove. And his styropes he forbaie ; Such a stroke had he never are. He was so stonyedj of that dent, That nigh he had his life rente ; And for that stroke that hym was given, He ne wy8t§ whether it was day or even." The heaviness of chain-mail was considerably relieved by the adoption, about the early part of the twelfth century, of the Asiatic species, formed of rings connected with each other, and so held without being fast- ened upon the leather garment beneath. Small plates of metal also begin to appear at the elbows and knees, as may be seen in the effigy of William Longesp^e the younger, in Salisbury Cathedral, who died 1250. The knee-caps were styled genmiil- lires. This adoption of plates increased, until, at the latter part of the reign of Ed- ward I., an armed knight presented this appearance. The original is in Gorleston Church, Suffolk, and represents a knight of the Bacon family, whose arms appear on the shield. It has been engraved by Cot- man and Stothard, and is one of the most interesting illustrations of the mixture of chain and mail we possess. A hood of chain-mail covers the head and breast, and a hauberk of mail appears beneath the sur- coat, which is girdled at the waist, the sword being secured by a belt passing over the hips, and fastened to the scabbard in a * hinder. t split his helmet. J stunned. § did not know. THE PLANTAGENBTS. 129 peculiar manner, tliat is indicative of this period. He has roundels at the bend of the arm, and upon the shoulders, which are some- times chased and ornamented. The back of the arm to the elbow, and the front from thence to the wrist, is protected by plates of metal strapped over the chain-mail, the elbow being also defended with a cap of mail. The knees are also» similarly strengthened, and greaves of plate reach to the ankle. But the most singular novelty is the ailettes (or little wings — the literal signification of the French word), which appear upon his shoulders, and which remained fashionable until the reign of Edward III., and are visible on the figure of Sir Geoffrey Loutterell, already engraved, p. 98. They were emblazoned with the arms of the knight, as may in that in- stance be seen ; but in the one now described are ornamented with the cross of St. George. The will of Odo de Eossilion, dated 1298, will show us what was considered as the complete equipment of a knight at this period. He be- queathes an entire suit of armour to Lord Peter de MontanceJin, " viz. : my visored helmet, my bascinet,* my pourpoint of cendal silk,t my godbert.J my gorget,§ my gaudichet,|| my steel greaves, my thigh-coverings and chausses, my great coutel,T[ and my little sword." At this period horses, as well as riders, were armed. When Edward I. went to attack "Wal- lace, he was attended by three thousand knights on horses that were armed in maU, over which was placed caparison that had painted or em- broidered upon it the arms of the rider. During the following reign an increased quan- tity of plate is visible, and small circular plates called mamelih-es, from their position over the paps, had chains attached, that were secured at the other end to the helmet, or the handle of * The bascinet was worn under the hehnet, or else iserved as a heknet, when a visor or guard for the face was attached. + The quilted hauberk, akeady described. Cendal silk was the most luxu- riously-splendid article of dress worn at this time. J lAteraHy good protection, another name for the hauberk of metal. § A defence for the neck. II !N'early similar to the hacketon, which was worn beneath the hauberk, Tf From whence the modern word cutlass is derived. X 130 COSTtTME IN ENGLAND. the sword or dagger, in order that these necessary articles might not be separated from the wearer in. the confusion of the battle-field. That the reader may at once see this peculiarity, a curious example of the time of Edward III. is given in the preceding page, from the brass of Ealph de Knevynton, who died 1370, in Aveley Church, Essex, copied from Waller's interesting series of Monu- mental Brasses.* A beautiful example of knightly costume, during the reign of Edward III., is afforded us by the mounted figure of Sir GeoflEroy Loutterell, already given on p. 98. He is fully arrayed for the tilt or tournament. He wears a bascinet, over which he is about to place the tilting helmet, given him by the lady who bears his pavon. Updn. it is placed a shield with his arms, a similar one being upon the head of the horse, which is enveloped in a covering richly embroidered, and em- blazoned with the coat-ar- mour of the knight. The figure altogether presents us with a singular heraldic display, the very saddle upon which he rides being also ornamented with his arms. In this and the fol- lowing reigns heraldry was in its glory, and the frequent tournaments called it forth in striking splendour. During this reign, chain- mail became quite superse- ded by plate-armour. As an instance, the effigy of Sir Thomas Cawne, in Igh- thain Church, Kent, has been selected from Stot- hard's Monumental Effigi- es ; and it is a remarkably beautiful example of this most elegant knightly costume. He wears a conical helmet or bas- cinet, to which is attached the camail or tippet of mail, shown on an * In the same wort, the brass of Sir Eoger de Truinpington,*1289, shows the tilting helmet fastened by a chain to the girdle. THE PLANTAGENBTS. 131 enlarged scale at fig. 1, and which is the peculiar characteristic of the armour of this period and that of Eichard II., and is aU that is visible, except the gussets of mail at the armpits and elbows. His girdle, the pattern of which is seen at fig. 2, encircles the hips (the sword and dagger being broken ofi", I have restored them from other specimens), and his jupon is emblazoned with his arms. His gloves (see also fig. 3) are richly ornamented (the separation of gloves of steel into fingers having first been adopted during the reign of Ed- ward I.) ; his legs are cased in cuisses and greaves, with sollerets or overlapping plates for the feet. The effigy of Edward the Black Prince, in Canterbury Cathedral, is another fine example of military costume : above which is sus- pended his tabard, shield, gloves (the gads or gadlings, as the spikes upon the knuckles were termed, being shaped like leopards), scab- bard, and tilting helmet, all of which are engraved in Stothard's Effigies ; and are believed to have been those worn by the Prince. The strength of the English army at this period consisted of its archers and cross-bow men, who were much depended on. The vic- tories of Creoy and Poictiers covered them with glory, and made them indispensable. There is a curious passage in the old romance of the fourteenth century, devoted to the adventures of Hichard Cceur de Lion, which describes the host led by Sir Fulke d'Oyley to the siege of a town in the Holy Wars, and their arrangement : " Sir Fouk gan his folk ordajne. As they should them demeyne : Foremost he sett his arwoblastereS, And after that his good archeres, And after his staff-slyngers, And other with scheeldes and with speres: He devysed the fourth part With sword and axe, knyfe and dart ; The men of armes com att the last." Chaucer, in his Rime of Sire Thopas, has given us a vivid pic- ture of the knightly costume in all its minutiae : "He did next his white lere* Of cloth of lake fine and clere, A breche and eke a shirt, And next his shirt an haketon, And over that an habergeon. For peireing of his heart ;-|- * He put on next his white skin. f That is, to protect it. k2 132 COSTUME IN ENGtAND. And over that a fine hauberk Was aJl wrought of jewes work,* Full strong it was of plate; And over that his coat-armouTjf As white as is the Hly flower. In which he wold debate." We have frequently had occasion, to note the mutual illustration afforded by the art and literature of the middle ages; the pages of the author are constantly elimi- nated by reference to the sculpture or painting executed by the artists who flou- rished in his own time. Thus the whole of the articles of dress above mentioned may be distinguished on an Effigy of the Chau- cerian era in Ash Church, Kent. A portion of this figure, from the waist to the knee, is here engraved. The hauberk of plate is the uppermost covering, over which the fringed tabard is drawn tightly by a silken cord at each side. Chaucer continues his description of the knight's equipment by telling us — " His shield was of gold so red. And therein was a bores hed, A charbouclej beside. His jambeux were of cuir bouly,§ His swordes sheath of ivory, His helm of latounjj bright, His spere was of fine cypres, The head fuU sharp y-groimd." His dress, in tim« of peace, being a girdled tunic, shoes " of Cor- dewane," or Cordovan, long famous for its leather. " Of Bruges were his hoseu broun. His robe was of checklatoun." Supposed by Tyrwhitt to be the cyclas, a robe of state, sometimes made of cloth of gold. * Probably damasked. f Or tabard. J A carbuncle, a common heraldic bearing. JV. escarhoucle. § Armour for the legs, of hardened leather. II A metal, composed of a mixture of bronze and tin. THE PLANTAGENBT8. 133 The following out may be received as a curious contemporary illustration of that portion of Chaucer's Rime which describes the equipment of the knight for war. The original drawing is to be found in a beauti- ful MS. of Boccace's lAvre des Nohles Femmes, preserved in the Eoyal Library at Paris. The knight is stripped to " brech and shirt," which are fastened together by ties round the thigh, a mode of securing those articles of dress also depicted in other MSS. of this date ; and he is throwing on his quilted hacketon ; his hauberk of mail lies upon the ground before him, upon which is placed his helmet, with its long-beaked visor, to which a capacious oamail is attached ; his jambeaux and steel gloves lie on each side of them. In the Eomance of Meliadus (Brit. Mus. — Add. MS. 12-223) is a representation of an esquire bringing to a knight his hauberk, which we here copy. It is coloured black and covered with green rings or roundels like those mentioned p. 105 ; and has a pendant covering for the hips cut into the form of leaves and coloured green. . With a notice of the only striking peculia- rity displayed in the armour of the reign of Eichard II., I take my leave of this long and important period of English history. The visored bascinet, in next page, is a novelty of a kind that gives a grotesque air to the soldiery of this eventful reign. It may be seen worn by them in the illuminations to the metrical history already referred to, and in a battle-scene from Cotton MSS., Claudius, B. 6, engraved in Strutt's Horda Angel-Cynan, vol. iii. pi. 28, as well as in our last cut of the knight arming himself. Very few of these singular bascinets are known to exist : there is one in the Tower ; another at Groodrich-court, the seat of Sir S. E.. Meyrick ; a third in the collection of Lord Londesborough ; and some three or four have been recorded in Continental collections. Fig. 1 is engraved from 134 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the specimen in the Meyrict collection. Pig. 2 shows the same bas- cinet with the visor raised. The figure beneath (No. 3) is a joust- mg-helmet used in tUts and tourneys, which was worn, as already described, over the bascinet, and rested upon the shoulders. This helmet, also in the possession of Sir S. E.. Meyriek, former- ly belonged to Sir E. Pem- bridge, who died 1375, and was originally suspended over his monument inHereford Ca- thedral. It was surmounted by a plume of feathers, or the crest of the wearer, and some- times a cointoise, or silken scarf, streamed from its smn- mit ; a narrow opening was cut for sight, and holes pierced for breathing. Those in that of Edward the Black Prince take the shape of a coronet. 135 Haxk anir WummUx. The effigies of Henry IV. and his queen, Joan of Navarre, in the Chapel of St. Thomaa-a-Becket, Canterbury Cathedral, are elegant instances of a style of royal costume uniting richness, grandeur, and simplicity. The king's dalmatic is ornamented by a simple border, and has at the sides an opening similar to a pocket-hole, surrounded by a richly- wrought border ; a broad tippet, or cape, envelopes the shoulders and reaches to the waist ; the sleeves of the dalmatic are wide, and display the tighter sleeve of the under-tunic, with its row of buttons, and its rich border at the wrist. The royal mantle is large and flowing, with a plain narrow border, fastened across the breast by a broad band, rich- ly jewelled, secured to lo- zenge-shaped clasps of ela- borate workmanship, and from which descend cords and tassels. But the most beautiful portion of the "glory of regality" exhi- bited on this effigy is the crown, surrounded by oak-leaves and fleurs-de-lis; as the diadem of a monarch claiming territory in France as well as Britain, nothing can be more appropriately con- ceived than this design. To this splendid bauble Henry clung with characteristic fond- ness ; and although so indirectly obtained, endeavoured to soothe his latest hours by ordering it to be placed upon the pillow of his death- bed. Few monarchs could adhere to the outward display of power 136 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. ■with greater pertinacity and more unfeigned delight than Henry ; under this influence he adopted for his motto the word " Soverayne," frequently repeated on his tomb. The queen's dress is simple : a long gown, open at the sides, and displaying the jewelled girdle beneath, ornamented by a row of large buttons richly chased ; a flowing mantle secured by a cord, a collar of SS round the neck, and the hair encased in a caul of jewelled network, from which a veil descends, completes her cos- tume, which, like that of the king, is rich and majestic. The crown is similar to that of her husband. The very singular gown, open at the sides, and displaying the dress beneath, with the girdle that confined the waist, as worn by Queen Joan, is first observable on monuments of the time of Ed- ward III. It is clearly seen on the effigy of that monarch's daugh- ter, Blanche de la Tour, in Westminster Abbey, and also upon one of the female figures on the side of the tomb. The effigies of Bea- trice, Countess of Arundel, Lady de Thorpe, the Countess of West- moreland, and others, in Stothard's Effigies display the fashion with great perspicuity. A fine example has been selected (see the annexed engraving), from the Eoyal MS. 16 Or 5. It will be seen ' that the figure to the left in this cut is habited in one of these singular dresses ; while the female confront- ing her wears a simple tight-fitting gown or cote- hardie, with a girdle loose- ly encircling the waist, and joined in the centre by cir- cular clasps, from whence hangs an ornamental chain. This may be considered as the fair average costume ' of a person of the better class ; and the lady be- side her displays that of the wealthy and noble. It is the same in form, but has, in addition, the sidpless gown, with its facing and border of fur : it appears to cover the front of the body similar to a stomacher, a row of jewels running down the centre, in colour green, blue, and red, alternately.* The ermine * It is sometimes confined to the Hp on eacli side by a jewelled brooch, as YOEK AND LANCASTEE. 137 appears also to line this robe, and it may be seen distinctly where it is lifted. This dress, in the original, is coloured of a deep vdtra- marine blue, while the tight-fitting gown beneath, similar to the one worn by the other female, is of " baudekyn," or cloth of gold :* the girdle round the hips is seen at the opening on each side of the dress, which is long and capacious at bottom, trailing on the ground, and completely hiding the feet. This peculiar costume continued in fashion until the reign of Henry VI. Another good example of the costume of a lady in the early part of the reign of Henry IV. is afforded by the brass of Margaret, widow of Sir Fulke Pennebrygg, in Shottesbrooke church, Berkshire, who died in 1401. She wears a close gown, fitting tightly round the neck, and secured by buttons down the entire front to the feet ; it has loose sleeves, those of the under-garment appearing beneath, the cuff covering the hand, and buttoned from the elbow. Her girdle is exceedingly beau- tiful. Her hair is confined in an enriched caul, and a veil hangs from it. Her head rests on two richly embroidered cushions. The male costume of Henry IV. 's reign is delineated, on next page, from the illumina- tions in a little calendar of the year 1411, preserved in the Harleian collection, and numbered 2332. In the original MS. they represent a winter and summer month. The elder figure, seated in his chair, is an inter- esting example of the costume of that class of the community whose lives were in " the sere and yellow leaf." He wears a dark cap or hat, turned up behind only, so that it forms a projecting point or shade for the eyes in front : such hats were worn until the latter pai-t of the period of which we are treating.f A close-fitting hood envelopes his head in the effigy of LeuJj- Beauchamp of Holt, in Worcester Cathedral, engraved by Mr. Hollis in his Monumental Effigies. * Cloth of Baudekyn was cloth of Baldach, or Babylon, whence it was origin- ally brought. I* was the richest land of stuff, the web being gold and the woof silk, and was further enriched by embroidery. f During a temporary rage in France for aU things connected with the 138 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. and shoulders, having buttons down the front. A long gown, very similar to that worn during the reign of Edward II., already en- graved in p. 91, but tighter in the sleeve, completely en- velopes the body : it is fast- ened by a row of buttons in front, and the sleeves are secured by a similar close row from the elbow. By looking at the younger figure, we shall perceive that the greater excess of cloth in sleeves and gowns, so glaringly visible in the previous reign, had a little abated. The gown or tu- nic reaches oidy to the knee, where it is cut into the form of leaves : in the original delineation it is of a dark chocolate colour, and is secured round the waist by a close-fitting ornamental girdle. The wide sleeves are of a different colour, and are gene- rally light when the body of the dress is dark, or vice versd; the juncture at the shoulder being slightly ornamented. Tight hose, and boots reaching above the ankle, which are deprived of their enormous crackowes, or long-pointed toes, finish the dress, which is much less foppish than that worn during the reign of Richard 11. The hair is parted in front, and curls at the sides ; and in some in- stances we find the gentlemen confining their locks across the fore- head by a very feminine jewelled band. Sumptuary laws of a stringent kind, for the regulation of excess in apparel, were revived with considerable additions during this reign, by which the costume of the members of the community was sought to be regulated by the rank or riches of the wearer. No person of lower estate than a knight banneret was by these enact- ments permitted to wear cloth of gold or velvet, or to appear in a gown that reached to the ground, or to wear large sleeves, or use upon his dress the furs of either ermine or marten ; while gold and silver ornaments were strictly forbidden to all who were not pos- sessed of two hundred pounds in goods and chattels, or twenty " Moyen Age," these hats were resuscitated, and in 1841 were pretty commonly worn in Paris. They were formed as above described, and accorded better than might be expected with modern costiuue. YOEK AND LANCASTER. 139 pounds per annum. Gowns and garments cut into the form of leaves and other figures at their edges, or ornamented with letters or devices, were altogether condemned, and declared forfeit to the king ; while the unlucky tailor who manufactured such finery was rendered liable to imprisonment during the royal pleasure ! The effect of these severe enactments very much resembled stage- thunder, which may startle us at first by its loudness, but its utter harmlessness soon composes the nerves. The perfect inattention shown by all classes of the community to any of these laws, rendered them complete dead letters on the statute-book, where they lay, " all sound and fury, signifying nothing.'' Occleve, in his satirical poem on the pride of serving-men, and their wastefulness in cloth- ing, declares his horror at seeing them walk in robes of scarlet twelve yards wide, with sleeves hanging to the ground, and bordered or lined with fur to the value of twenty pounds or more, affirming that they see no merit or virtue in any man but him whose array is outrageous. He adds : — "Also there is another new jett, A foul waste of cloth and excessiTe ; There goeth no less in a man's tippet Than a yard of broad cloth, by my life." He then asks how such menials are to assist their masters, if they should be suddenly assaUed, when their " Ai'ms two have right enough to do. And somewhat more, their sleeves up to hold ?" He declares they have thus rendered themselves as unserviceable to their lords as women, and satirically declares what he considers to be their only utility, in the words — " Now have these lords little need of brooms To sweep away the filth out of the street, Since side* sleeves of pennyless grooms Will it up lick, be it dry or wet." These literary gentlemen of the middle ages at least practised what they preached, as far as we can judge from their "lively effi- gies " still remaining to us. John Gower, " the moral," who died in the year 1402, lies buried in St. Saviour's, Southwark ; he is habited in a plain gown, tightly enclosing the neck, and having sleeves fitting * Side sleeves are wide sleeves. The word is still used with that signification in Northumberland among the commonalty; the tailor being admonished, when a capacious garment is wanted, " to myke it syde enough." An ignorance of this meaning of the word has rather pxizzled some commentators on our old poetry. In Ellis's Specimens of the Marly English Poets is printed a curious poem on 140 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. easily but not widely ; this gown hangs to the feet, which it com- pletely covers, being secured down the front, from the neck to the bottom, by a single row of large buttons. He wears no girdle, and no other article of his dress but this simple gown is visible. His only ornaments are the collar of SS and a fillet confining his hair, upon which is inscribed, Jl^u. Ittertte, the clasped hands ajid sim- plicity of figure and face admirably portraying, in obvious truth- fulness, a man who did much good in his own day, and who looked upon God's gift of poesy, entrusted to him, as a high and holy thing, not lightly to be used but for his glory and the good of man. Geoffrey Chaucer, who alludes to him with that affectionate respect which true genius can always afford even a humble fellow-labourer in the same field, is depicted by Occleve from his own memory of this master-spirit of the age. His dress is similar to that of Gower, except that his gown is scantier (showing his short boots) and his sleeves wider ; he also wears a hood. This portrait has been frequently en- graved ; but the best one in existence is that in Sloane MS. 5141, and which has been beautifdUy engraved and co- loured after the original, in Shaw's I)resses and Decorations. Gower is also very soberly habited, as befits a scholar and a gentleman. In a drawing prefixed to a copy of his Vox Clamantis, in the Cottonian Library, he is dressed in a long gown, lined and edged with fur, the sleeves are short, showing the tighter ones belonging to the under-garment ; he wears a close hood, and a plain low-crowned hat. He is depicted aiming his ar- rows (or censures) at the world. Over this drawing are these four lines, in Latin, thus translated by Strutt : tlie power of money, personified under the form of Sir 'P&mvy, and, among many otlier instances, his success witltthe ladies is declared: — *'IiOng witli him they will not chide, For he may gar them f^ail side In good scarlet and gi-een." The editors inquire in a note whether the phrase in italics means that they may ".wear trailing gowns." It plainly means that a superabundance of finest cloth may be procured for them through the intervention of this puissant knight. TOEK AND lANCASTEB. 141 " My darts and arrows to the world I send. Amongst the just my arrows shall not fall; But evil-doers through and through I wound. Who, conscious of their faults, may learn to mend." Strutt has copied, in his Regal Antiquities, pi. 39, a very curious illumination from the Digby MS., No. 233, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It represents Henry seated on his throne, and receiving a copy of Occleve's Megimine Prineeps from its author ; he is sur- rounded by his courtiers, one of whom is particularly remarkable for the dress he wears, which is particoloured diagonally across the body, the upper half with the sleeve on that side dark, the lower part light, with the opposite sleeve ; and he also wears a hat looking two centuries more modern than the era of the fourth Henry. Of his son and successor the monumental efSgy still remains in the Abbey ; but, unluckily, the head was formed of silver, and was therefore too tempting a bait for the ecclesiastical spoliators of the seventeenth century, who ruthlessly consigned it to the melting-pot. The robes worn by this figure are similar to the ordinary regal cos- tume of British sovereigns at this period, but are void of all orna- ment or embroidery. Above the tomb are suspended (after the usual fashion of interments during the age we are speaking of) the helmet and shield of the king, with the saddle upon which he may have sat during some of his glorious victories ; the helmet is a tilt- ing-helmet, such as was usually worn over the bascinet in times of peace, during a tournament or joust ; and therefore we must not,>in this instance, imagine we gaze upon " the very casque That did affright the air at Agincourt." We are not, however, without a likeness of this monarch, small and minute though it be ; for among the MSS. in Benet College Li- brary, Cambridge, there is one volume which was presented to Henry by John ,de Galopes, Dean of the Collegiate Church of St. Louis, in Normandy, and which has an illumination representing the pre- sentation of the volume to the sovereign on the throne, attended by his courtiers. It is a curious and valuable picture, and has been engraved by Strutt in his Regal Antiquities, pi. 40.* The king's * There is a portrait in the British Museum, bequeathed by Dr. Andrew Gif- fard, said to be of Henry V. It is not so old as the era of that prince ; but it bears marks, in the cut of the hair, and other minor peculiarities, sufficient to warrant a supposition that it was copied from some authentic original, of a more perishable character perhaps, and which this might be intended to perpetuate. It is worth consideration, but perhaps may not thoroughly be relied on, although it has been frequently engraved. 142 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. dress is chiefly remarkable for the singular girdle he wears, which has suspended from it, at regular intervals, by ornamental chains, a series of circular pendants ; a fashion which appears to have been indulged by the gentlemen of the day, and to have continued until the reign of Henry VII., for we meet with similar rows of hanging ornaments surrounding the waist, in illuminations, during the whole of this period. There is another and a very good full-length of Henry, as Prince of Wales, receiving a poem from Occleve, in the Arundel MS., No. 38, which has been engraved in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations. Henry is very plslinly dressed, in a long gown, fastened round the waist by a girdle. Occleve wears a long gown, fitting tightly round the neck, secured at the waist by a girdle, and having very wide sleeves ; the whole dress being like that of Eobert Skerne, on p. 145. They both contain evident traces of portraiture, and the book in which they occur is the very volume given by the poet to the prince. A curious example of these pendent decorations occurs in the engraving here copied from Royal MSS. 15 D 3. The gen- tleman wears a baldriok slung across his person from his left shoulder, and reaching to his right knee, which is decorated in its entire length with a series of small bells, hanging by loops ; so that the gallant gentleman must, upon the slightest motion, have ri- valled a team of waggon- horses, to whose bells those upon his baldriok bear an exact resem- blance.* It will be seen that his dress, with this exception, varies in no essential particular from the dresses of the previous reigns of * The fashion appears to be of German origin. Small bells were worn as or- naments by the emperors of Germany and the nobles in the twelfth and thir- teenth centuries. The Emperor Henry VI. who died in 1197, and Wtilphide, wife of Count Eudolph, living in 1138, are represented in habits thus decorated. Breitkopf, in his Vrsprwng der Spielkarten, has given a plate of this " ancient German princely bell costume," as he terms it. It includes two of the emperor named above, one of the lady, and a fourth representing the Emperor Otho IV. who died in 1218. TOEK AND LANCASTEK. 143 Eichard II. and Henry IV. : while that of the lady is similar in the head-dress, which had become decidedly square in its shape ; the tight-fitting long-waisted gowns were very generally discarded, and as the waist became gradually shorter, the sleeves were again made extravagantly wide and long. In the Visions of Patrick's Purgatory, by William Staunton (Eoyal MS. 17 B 43), which that writer declares he saw at that celebrated spot in 1409, an alarming picture is given of the punish- ments inflicted on those people who were proud and vain, and de- lighted in extravagant apparel. He says, " I saw some there, with collars of gold about their necks, and some of silver, and some men I saw with gay girdles of silver and gold, and harneist horns about their necks, some with more jagges on their clothes than whole cloth, sum had their clothes full of gingles and belles of silver all overset, and some with long pokes (bags) on their sleeves, and women vrith gowns trayling behind them a great space, and some others with gay chaplets on their heads of gold and pearls, and other precious stones. And then I looked on him that I saw first in payn, and saw the collars, and the gay girdles, and baw- dricks burning, and the fiends dragging him ; and two fingers deep and more within their flesh was all burning ; and I saw the jagges that men were clothed in turn all to adders, to dragons, and to toads, and many other horrible beasts, sucking them, and biting them, and stinging them with all their might ; and through every gingle I saw fiends drive burning nails of fire into their flesh. I also saw fiends drawing down the skin of their shoulders like to pokes, and cutting these off, and drawing them over the heads of those they cut them from, all burning as fire. And then I saw the women that had side (wide; trails behind them, and these side trails were cut ofi by fiends and burnt on their heads ; and some took ofi' these cuttings all burning, and stopped therewith their mouthes, their noses, and their eyes. I saw also their gay chaplets of gold, of pearls, and of other precious stones, turned into nails of iron, burning, and fiendes with burning hammers smiting them into their heads." The descrip- tions of such satirists are among the most valuable of the contem- porary accounts of costume which we possess. The head-dresses of the ladies during this period were the most remarkable and striking novelty in fashion adopted, and they con- tinued varying in absurdity and monstrosity until the death ol Eichard III. It is impossible to conceive anything more prepos- terous and inconvenient than some contemporary representations of this fashionable head-gear. The engraving on the next page will. 144 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. however, conyey an idea of these things much better than pages of de- scription, selected as they are from effigies of" ladyes fayre " who glo- ried in displaying such inventions when they walked the eari^h. Fig. 1 is from the tomb of Lord Bardolf (circa 1408) and his Lady, Joan,* whose head-dress very clearly shows the homed addi- tions to the golden caul at the sides of the head which had remained so long in fashion, and whichis nowsurmounted by these ugly elevations, from which hangs a small veil behind the head. Pig. 2 is a little less ugly and assuming, and is worn by Catherine, Countess of Suffolk, and wife of Michael de la Pole, who died during this reign at Harfleur, while serving in Henry's French wars. This lady's dress is alto- gether simple and unpretending. Fig. 3 is, on the contrary, as extravagant an example of the fashion carried to excess as now re- mains to us, and is exhibited on the effigy, in the church at Arundel, of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, who died 1439. Her head-dress is altogether in the extreme ; the side-ornaments of the face are preposterously large and ugly, while the veil that covers them is stretched out to its full extent, and supported probably by wires. The coronet above, of equally enormous proportion, descends from the forehead down the back of the head, and completes a head-dress which, in size, endeavouring to be sublime, has certainly taken the one step farther, and reached the ridiculous. The engraving given on next page, from a brass in the church of Kingston-on-Thames, will afford a good example of the costume of * Described in Stotliard's Momimental M^gies aa the supposed effigies of Sir E. Grushill ; but which have been, erace that work was finished, correctly ascribed to lord Baidolf, by Mr. Kempe. YOEK AND LANCASTBB. 145 the middle classes and gentry of ihis period. The original is to the memory of Eobert Skeme, of Kingston, who died in I'M)?, and Joan, his wife, who is said to have been the daughter of the cele- brated Alice Pierce or Perrers, mistress of Edward III., but whe- ther by Sir William de Wyndesore, who mar- ried her after the king's death, is not certainly known. The gentle- man and lady are in dresses plain, but ele- gant in some of their details, which have been engraved on a larger scale between the fi- gures : fig. 1 being one side of the caul of the lady's head-dress ; fig. 2, the brooch confining her mantle ; and fig. 3, the end of the gentleman's girdle, with its beautiful pendent ornament attached by a chain. The ordinary costume of a man of the middle class may be seen in the cut given on next page, which possesses some peculiar interest, as it dehneates one of those ancient artists who decorated manu- scripts in the middle ages with the drawings which have been so useful to us as authorities. It represents Alan Strayler, and occurs in the catalogue of the benefactors to the Abbey of St. Albans, — a work begun by the monks there, about the latter part of the reign of Richard II., and finished in the lifetime of Henry VI. A great many of the illuminations of this MS., says Strutt, were drawn by the hand of Alan, who, it seems, was a designer and painter. Weever speaks of him as follows : — " I had like to have forgotten Alan Strayler, the painter or limner-out of pictures in the golden register of all the benefactors of this Abbey, who, for such his p»ines (how- soever he was well payed), and for that he forgave three shillings and fourpence of an old debt owing unto him for colours, is thus re- membered " — in a Latin distich, thus Englished : " The painter's name is Alan Strayler, who shall be received as a companion of the L 146 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. heavenly choir for ever." This MS., which abounds with curious drawings, of which we shall give-some other specimens, is now pre- served among the Cotton MSS., Nero D 7. During the troublesome period that succeeded the death of Henry V., until peace was again established by that of Richard III., it would appear as if the minds of the English nobility and gen- try sought relief in the invention of all that was absurd in apparel, as a coun- ter-excitement to the feverish spirit engendered by civil war. AH that was monstrous in the past was resuscitated, and its ugliness added to by the in- vention of the day, until ladies and gentlemen appear like mere carica- tures of humanity. To detail or de- pict one-half of their doings would be impossible in thrice the space I have to devote to the subject. It has been done, however, by a contemporary hand ; and any person who can obtain a sight of a very curious volume in the Harieian Collection, marked 2278, may see enough to convince him of the length to which the votaries of fashion now carried their whims. The volume is a small quarto, full of splendidly-coloured and richly-gilt illumina- tions, and is the very volume given to Henry VT., when he passed his Christmas at St. Edmundsbury, by William Curteis, who was then abbot of the monastery there. The volume is a life of St. Ed- mund, by the famous John Lydgate, written in tedious rhymes, for his Majesty's especial gratification. Specimens have been selected from the costume exhibited in this volume, for the use of those persons who may never see the original, and which will give a fair idea of that generally depicted. " Hommage aux dames !" let us consider the ladies first, who seem to have halft a fixed determination to render themselves the most conspicuous of the sexes, by the variety, size, and capacious form of their head-dresses. The group here engraved is exactly copied from the volume described, without the slightest attempt to correct it in any ^rticularj and well exhibits the fanciful variety indulged in by TOEK AND LANCASTEE. 147 the fair wearers. The most unpretending head-dress is that worn by the foremost of the group. The heart-shaped one of the lady to her left is of very common occur- rence ; which is also the case with the turban worn by the farthest figure of the group. The other lady, whose forehead is surmount- ed by a pointed eoiffwre, is by no means so ungraceful as many of her contemporaries. The dresses, it wiU be observed, are worn long and full, with sleeves wide, and tight at the wrist, or in the oppo- site extreme ; of both which fa- shions we see examples here. The ladies' gowns are trimmed with fur at the wrist, round the neck, and sometimes round the seam at the shoulders. Their waists are exceedingly short, giving a very long and ungainly appearance to the lower part of the figure, at the expense of a compressed look to the upper portion citated in the last century. The head-dresses of the ladies can, however, be but sUghtly understood from a single engraving ; they ex- ist in so many varieties, and appear to have been constantly on the change, while various patterns were adopted by various gentle- women; and a group of them collected together, on any great public occasion, must have presented a very singular assemblage of forms. A few more are ac- cordingly given of the most ordinary kind, all selected from the same manuscript. L 2 a fashion resus- 148 COSTUME IN EN&LAND. Fig. Us a horned coiffure, which may be said to be " strangely and fearfully made," and of a pattern that excited the ire of the sober- minded satirists of the day to an irrepressible pitch. The ladies were declared to carry about with them the outward and risible sign of the father of aU evil, proudly, triumphantly, and without shame ! Lydgate, the monk of Bury, the most celebrated poet of the day, set his never-wearied pen to the task of condemnation, and produced a ballad against them, A Ditty of Women's Sorns; the gist of the argument, and burden of every verse, being an announcement that "Beauty will show, though horns were away.'' He declares that " Clerkes record, by great authority. Horns were given to beasts for defence ; A thing contrary to feminity. To be made sturdy of resistance. But arch wives, eager in their violence, Pierce as tigers for to make affray, They have despite, and act against conscience. List not to pride, then horns cast away." He afterwards excuses himself to the ladies for what he considers a justifiable condemnation, quoting the example of Scripture cha- racters, his last verse alluding to the " Mother of Jesu, mirrour of chastity, In word or thought that never did offence, True exemplar of virginity. Head spring and well of perfect continence ; There was never clerk, by rhetoric nor science. Could all her virtues rehearse until this day; Noble princesses of meek benevolence, Take example of her — your horns oast away." Nothing, however, that could be said, sung, or written, appears to have had the effect of preventing these fashions from becoming uni- versal. The turban of fig. 2 is very frequently seen : it is of true oriental form, and certainly much less extravagant than some other head- dresses in its proportions. A simple roll of cloth, silk, or velvet, sometimes encircles the head, the hair being brought through its centre, and allowed to stream down the back, as in fig. 3. A front view of a forked head-dress, with its small hanging veil, is seen in fig. 4 ; and fig. 5 exhibits another variety of the same fashion, the points being curled inward over the forehead. TOEK AND LANCASTBB. 149 The dress of the gentlemen may be comprehended by an exami- nation of the figures here given, selected with a view to display the most ordinary and least whimsical and extravagant costume then worn. That of the gentleman with the dog varies but little from the fashion that had been adopted very long before, except in the cap, which is composed of a thick roU of stuff encircling the head Kke a turban, and styled a roundlet, having a quantity of cloth attached to its inner edge, which covers one side, while a broad band of the same material, secured to the other, hangs down to the ground, unless tucked in the girdle, or wound round the neck, when the end was pendent behind or in front. The cap is frequently seen sus- pended by this band at the back of the wearer when thrown off, and thus it was prevented from falling, which would appear to be the legitimate use and intention of the invention. The figure opposite has a similar cap, with its band hang- ing nearly to the ground ; his sleeves are remarkably wide, and cut into ornamental escallops ; the girdle confining the waist being re- markably low (in contradistinction to that adopted by the ladies), and which sometimes is seen encircling the hips, giving the body an exceedingly swollen and unpleasant appearance. The central figure behind exhibits the fashion, now xmiversal, of closely shaving the face and cropping the hair above the ears, giving an amount of mean- ness and harshness of feature to the effigies and delineations of the period very unpleasant to view. This gentleman wears the sleeves " shaped like a bagpipe," which come in for their fair share of monkish censure, as receptacles for theft, when worn by servants, and fashionables of questionable character, who haunted public places in the pursuit of what Falstaff calls their " vocation." There is no monumental efligy of the unfortunate Henry VI., who, loving retirement and religious seclusion, was denied their en- joyment living, and knew no rest even in the grave. His body was 150 COSTUME IN BNGIAND. conveyed from the Tower to St, Paxil's, and then buried at Chertsey, whence it was again removed to Windsor, to aUay the nneasiness of Srichard III., who was annoyed by the popular belief of miracles effected at his tomb. When Henry VII. wished to remove it to Westminster, it appears that it could not be found. Of the representations of this monarch, his queen and court, the best is that to be found in the Eoyal MS., 15 E 6, which depicts John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, presenting a volume of romances to the king and queen. It has been engraved by Strutt in his Segal Antiquities, and by Shaw in his Dresses and Decorations : the ta- pestry supposed to represent these illustrious personages, in St. Mary's Hall, at Coventry, also engraved in the latter work, is of a later date, probably of the time of Henry VII. In the Harleian MS. 2278, used for our examples of costume, there is a youthful re- presentation of Henry.* There is another and a very good full-length of this sovereign pre- served in Cotton MS., Julius E 4. The ma- nuscript contains a se- ries of full-length fi- gures of the English sovereigns, from the time of WiUiam the Conqueror to that of Henry VI., who is re- presented as a young man. The descriptive verses beneath each figure were written by Lydgate, and are brief historic memoranda of the events of each reign. The figures are aU ex- ceedingly weU drawn, and as they are all dressed in the fashion of the days of Henry * The painting formerly at Strawberry Hill, and supposed to represent the marriage of Henry witJi Margaret of Anjou, is certainly of a later date, if it does represent the marriage of Henry at aB, which is very problematical. It appears rather to be a German picture of the fifteenth century ; its subject, the Marriage of the Virgin Mary. TOEK AND LANCASTEE. 151 VI., they exhibit admirable examples of tingly costume in all its varieties. Two are here selected as specimens, and are intended for tings John and Richard II. The crown of John is aimUar to that upon the effigy of Henry IV. at Canterbury ; and he wears a collar decorated with that monarch's favourite esses. His short mantle is fastened by a rich jewelled brooch, and it is composed of a mixture of colours, red, blue, and purple, as if formed of varie- gated silk ; it has a purple lining, and is edged with a red border, the outer border being of gold embroidery. His jupon is deco- rated with the arms of France and England, quarterly, as upon the royal shield, and emblazoned heraldicaUy. His girdle is of massy jewelled work, the pendent ornament hanging to the knee. His hose are white, his shoes blue, with long pointed toes ; but the most singular part of the dress is his clogs, which have most enor- mously long toes, exceeding those of the shoes by some inches. Such clogs are frequent upon the feet of noblemen in the manuscript illuminations of this period. Eichard II. is represented in the round turban or cap now so fashionable, and which was adopted from the Italian berretino, to which he has appended the long hecca or streamer, of the same ma- terial, which hangs in large folds to his feet ; a better instance of this singular and preposterous costume coiild not be selected. The hoods of the Knights of the Garter are, however, stUl made in this fashion, but they are too small to be used as hoods, and are merely thrown across the shoulders. An engraving of one of these hoods, from Ashmole's History of the Order, wUl assist the reader in com- prehending that worn by the king. The tippet, or circlet of cloth surrounding the crown, hung loosely on one side of the head, as exhibited in the last cut given of gentlemen of the time of Henry YI. The hood and streamer is of purple, as is the undergarment of the king, which is just visible above the outer red jacket, which is edged with a light- brown fur ; the girdle is placed as usual round the hips, to the great detriment of personal appearance, as it looks singularly out of place; the hose is white, as are the shoes, which have acutely-pointed toes. Many of the figures in this curious MS. are in fldl armour; William the Conqueror is so represented, with the royal crown sur- rounding his helmet. Eufiis is also armed, but wears the knightly tabard, emblazoned with the royal arms, similar to the figure of Eichard III., which is engraved in this work. Stephen wears a long 152 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. blue gOTni, or dalmatic, covered with red flowers. Henry I. is dressed like the figure of Eichard II., engraved on p. 150, but his jacket is longer, and he wears a crown, and not the cap and long pendent scarf. Eichard I. has a close jupon and girdle, to which is appended a singularly oriental-looking short sword, and he wears a furred tippet round his shoulders. Henry II. wears a close emblazoned jupon, very short, but having exceedingly long and wide sleeves, lined with ermine, which hangs to his knees. Edward II. appears in a long purple gown edged with fur, of the same cut as that of Eichard 11., but reaching to his feet ; it is secured round his waist by a jewelled girdle ; he wears red shoes with pointed toes. Edward III. is in armour, over which is thrown a long purple mantle, lined with scarlet. Henry IV. is dressed much like his effigy at Canterbury, in a long blue dalmatic, and a light-purple mantle. Henry V. is armed, and wears an emblazoned surooat without sleeves, showing a loose coat of chain-mail beneath. Henry VI. is attired in a long, flowered, blue gown, and a long mantle. AH these sovereigns bear swords, WiUiam I. only carrying a sceptre. The details of the costume of this series of figures have been given here, not as guides to the^roper dress of each, because they are all in the costume of one period only, and that the most modern of the series ; but to show how greatly the costume of one period and one station — that of royalty, and which is generally considered as the most 'restricted — may be varied by the artist, and how very rich in authority this curious manuscript is to any one who wishes to study the royal costume of this period. Henry VT., of whom it was declared that he would have made a much better priest than king, was succeeded by a monarch the very reverse of him in taste and pursuits. Henry throughout life preserved the external traits of his contemplative mind and ascetic disposition ; his dress was invariably plain ; and we are told that he refused to wear the long-pointed shoes so commonly patronized by the nobility and gentry of his age. Edward IV., on the contrary, was gay and dissipated, a man of taste and elegance, fond of the frivolities, and ever ready to indulge in the pleasures proffered to one in so exalted a station ; he therefore gave no personal check to the dandyism of the day by his example. We have no monumental effigy of Edward. There is, however, a representation of this monarch seated upon his throne, with his queen and the young prince Edward, afterwards Edward V., and of whom this portrait is the only existing representation,* receiving * It is the authority from which Vertue engraved his portrait of this prince. TOEK AND LANOASTEE. 153 from Earl Eivers a copy of the Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers, which was translated by that earl ; and this illuinination occurs in the manuscript so presented, at present kept in the archbishop's li- brary at Lambeth. It has been engraved by Walpole as a frontis- piece to his Catalogue of Soyal and Nohle Authors of England; and also by Strutt, in his Begal Antiquities, who has there engraved another delineation from Eoyal MS. 15 E 4, which depicts a simi- lar book-presentation. The king is seated on his throne, attended by his brothers and officers of the court. There is also a curious portrait of him on panel in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries ; it was presented to them by Mr. Kerrich. It has been engraved for the original edition of the Paston Letters ; and it may be fairly presumed to be a likeness of the monarch, as it was probably exe- cuted shortly after his decease ; or if not before the reign of Henry VII., it bears marks of authenticity sufficient to warrant the belief that it was copied from a genuine and older portrait. The Eoyal MS. 15 E 4, just quoted, supplies ns with this cut of two figures, who are standing beside the throne of Edward, and are said to be the portraits of his brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. Clarence wears a long green gown, with loose sleeves, a close red hat, and foil bushy hair. The Duke of Gloucester is in the most fashionable dress of the day ; his red hat has a gold band and jewelled button to secure the stem of a feather placed at its back, which bends gracefully over the head. His crim- son jacket is furred with deep red, is ex- ceedingly short, and gathered in close folds behind ; the sleeves being as ex- tremely long. He wears the garter round his left leg ; his hose are blue ; and he has the fashionable long-pointed shoe, and clog or patten. The face certainly resembles that of Eichard III., in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries ; but this, of course, is the younger man. His dandy- ism is also an historic fact. In the Harleian MS., No. 372, is preserved a " Balad against excess in apparel, especially in the Clergy." It consists of six stanzas, the first two of which relate to the extravagance of the laity in their dress, and run as follows. It is supposed to have been 154 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. written late in the reign of Henry VI. composed in that of his successor. but it was most probably "Te proud gallants heartless, With your high caps witless, And your short gowns thriftless, HaTe brought this land in great ! "With your long peaked shoon. Therfore your thrifte* is almost done j And your long hair into your eyen Have brought this land to great pyne."'|' The two figures here en- graved are an illustration of the general costume of the period, which, capricious as ever, one day clothed the gentlemen in long gowns and wide sleeves, and the next arrayed them in tight short jackets, that scarcely reached the thigh. The latter fashion was the prevailing one, and is seen to advantage in both the figures here delineated. That to the left is copied from a curious painting which for- merly existed on the walls of the Hungerford Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral, but which is now de- stroyed ; it has been engraved in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. In tibie original painting he is not confronted by so pleasant a figure as the gentleman in our cut : he is holding argument with Death, in a fruitless endeavour to avert his power, by advising him to visit the sick and wretched, and leave himself untouched. Death, however, is not at all disposed to listen to the "Graceless gallant in all his luate and pride," as he terms him. As this figure was intended to " point a moral," we may be sure that he may be taken as a good specimen of a dandy of the period. He wears a tight jacket, very short, and confined at the waist by a narrow girdle, to which is appended a dagger. His * prosperity. + want. YOEK AND LANCASTEE. 155 sleeves are large, and open at the sides, to display the shirt heneath, which is loose, and projects from between the lacings of the opening. In some instances we find the sleeves slit immediately above and beneath the elbow, with a narrow piece of cloth to cover it, the whole being held together by wide lacing, leaving some inches' space be- tween each portion of the sleeve, which is padded at the shotdders with wadding, to give a broad appearance to the chest : these sleeves were, by a law of the third year of Edward's reign, prohibited to be worn by any yeoman or person under that degree, under a pe- nalty of six and eightpence, and twenty shillings fine for the taUor who manufactured them. The hat he wears, with the single feather, is one of common occurrence; and the profusion of hair, which we may also observe in the other figure, forms a striking and not un- pleasant contrast to the close crops of the previous reign. His tight hose are similar to the ancient chausses ; and his long-pointed toes, now called poulames, are as indicative of dandyism as the profusion of rings on his fingers. Against these poulaines the same law was levelled, and they were prohibited to all persons under the estate of a squire or gentleman, and they were not permitted to wear them more than two inches in length. Paradin speaks of them as being sometimes two feet long, and Monstrelet declares that boys wore them in 1467 an ell in length ; for they were all the rage in France, as well as in England. When these fashions had lost their attrac- tion, men ran into the opposite extreme, and obeyed the laws against pointed shoes by widening them across the toe to an absurd degree, similar to those worn by the other gentleman in our cut, copied from Royal MS. 15 E 2, dated 1482, and which may also be taken as a specimen of the male costume of the reign of Richard III., who came to the throne the following year. The back of this figure is worthy of notice, as it exhibits the way in which the doublet was closely plaited behind ; and which is invariably delineated with great care in pictures of this period, so that it appears to have been a characteristic fashion. The very grotesque effect produced by the costume of this period, when rendered by the unskilful hand of some of the ancient artists, whose drawing was awkward or defective, cannot fail to produce a smile, or raise a wonder that such things could be seriously deli- neated. Dr. Dibdin has noticed, in his Bibliographical Decameron, that " about 1460 began to prevail that peculiar style of art which may be considered as furnishing the models for the woodcuts with which the publications of foreign printers, in particular, were so pro- 156 COSrUMB IN ENGLAND. fiisely embellished."* And he gives some specimens from a romance History of Thebes, in the possession of E. V. Utterson, Esq., from which the two gentlemen here engraved are selected, without any attempt at improvement. The long thin legs of the figures contrast strangely with the exaggerated fullness of the doublet, which was worn short and loose at the waist, or se- cured there by a tie, of which these figures exhibit speci- mens ; and the indelicacy of its shortness was a loud subject of complaint with the moral- ists. The bad drawing of the legs is, after all, the only ex- aggeration in this delineation ; every other monstrosity being a grave matter of fact, as gravely set down by the pencil of the an- cient artist. The hat worn by the first of these figures is similar to one seen in our last cut, and is of a very common fashion. A group of hats is here given, to show the most ordinary varieties. The first has the long pendant twisted round the neck, and is of black cloth. The second has a jewelled band, and is turned up with white, being * In Wordsworth's Sxcur»ion is the following happy deaeription of these " wooden cuts Strange and uncouth ; dire faces, figures dire, Sharp-kneed, sharp elbowed, and lean-ankled too. With long and ghostly shanks, forms which once seen Can never be forgotten !" which applies exceedingly well to the figures engraved above, and the many woodcuts executed during the period alluded to. TOEK AND LANCASTEE. 157 very similar to that in fashion during the reign of Henry IV., en- graved and described on p. 138. The third is of a more simple con- struction, having a gUt band and buttons only. The fourth is a sugar-loaf-shaped erection of red cloth or velvet, which, with the bushy hair setting out from it and stretching on each side, gives the head the shape of a pyramid. The profusion of hair and the pecu- liarity of its form has been abeady noticed, and is as indicative of this period as any other portion of the figure. From the same MSS. which furnished the preceding cut, — the two magnificent volumes of Froissart's Chronicles (Harleian MSS. 4379- 80), — we obtain the two mounted knights here engraved, premising that no attempt has been made to improve the drawing of either " man or beast." The first, who is unarmed, rides upon a gaily trapped horse, whose mane and tail have been carefully trimmed, and whose accoutrements are in the most fashionable taste of the times. The saddle will be noticed as of very peculiar shape, and was con- structed to hold the rider firmly in his seat ; but this also rendered him peculiarly liable to injury when thrown from it by accident, or 158 COSTUME IN EN&IjAND. thrust from it in the lists, and instances are on record of several such. The gentleman's hat and feather is of the common form ; and he has the short jacket so fashionable at this time, but it has very wide hanging sleeves, which are thrown round the arm and across the right shoulder, to give freedom to that side. The entire costume may be received as a fair average example of that ordina- rily worn by the gentlemen of Edward IV.'s reign. Our second cut affords an admirable contrast to this hero of " the piping times of peace." Here we have a knight and his horse fully armed a Voutrance. The knight is encased in plate armour of the fashion of the day, with its acutely-pointed and strangely-shaped elbow-pieces, and long sollerets, after the form of the shoes then worn. The horse's head is protected by the chanfron; and movable plates of steel, termed a manefaire, cover the mane ; a burnished convex shield glitters on his breast, and richly embroidered cloths cover his chest and crupper. The horses in the tournament and war were sometimes as heavily armed as their riders ; and consider- ing the weight both had to carry, we might almost imagine them TOEK AND I.ANCASTEB. 159 to have been a more powerful race than now exist, or else that they were (as Congreve describes a Gothic building to be) — "By their own weight made steadfast and immovaWe." The steel casing in which a warrior at that time enclosed himself, and which was made as impervious as possible, would allow as much battering as is exhibited in stage-fighting, and might frequently be as much prolonged ; and this wiU. help us to understand the doughty deeds of the knights of romance, who are frequently described as fighting, like Falstafi", " three hours by Shrewsbury clock." "When once thrown, if his fall did not knock all sense out of him, the knight was perfectly at the mercy of his opponent, as it was impossible to rise without assistance, and the vanquisher had only the trouble of coolly choosing the best chink in the junctures of the armour to insert his sword or dagger. Independently of some such advantage as this, the armour of this era deserved the encomium of King James I., that " it was an admirable invention, as it hindered a man from being hurt himself, or of hurting others," owing to its general cumbrousness. The wide long sleeves now worn as ornamental appendages to the dress, having a central opening for the arm to pass through, are well 160 COSTTTME IN ENGLAND. exhibited in one of the figures on the preceding page, copied from Eoyal MS. 14i E 4, a copy of the French Chroniques d' Engleterre. It is one of the attendants at a royal feast, who is bringing in the nej or ship, a vessel for holding spices or Uquerirs used at table on great occasions, and made in the form of a ship. The other kind of sleeve, worn by the dandy at p. 154, is also seen upon the figure of a rustic musician, copied from Eoyal MS. 15 E 4. They are open at the side, to show the shirt beneath, and the opening is loosely drawn together by a lace. The cloth cap of this minstrel fits him easily, and his figure altogether does no discredit to a country festival. It should, however, be noticed, that the pipe and tabor was looked on by the regular minstrels as so contemptible, that one of them de- clares the encouragement given to this inelegant music marked a decadence in public taste and manners, which could only portend the end of the world, or the coming of Antichrist ! The wooden-legged beggar, here given, from Royal MS. 15 E 2, may serve as a sample of the plainest costume of the age. Long hair being no expense to him, he appears to rival a gentleman in the quantity he exhibits; independently of this, his dress is simplicity itself, and, like the crutch and cradle for his leg, more adapted for use than ornament. The ladies during the whole of this period ad- hered with an obstinate pertinacity to their abo- minable head-dresses, in spite of all that could be said by satirist, preacher, or moralist. Their horns became exalted, and shot forth more luxuriantly than ever ; witness the lady engraved on next page from Eoyal MS. 15 E 4, dated 1483. They were, however, generally superseded by the tall steeple- cap, as worn by the lady beside her, and which lin- gers even now among the peasantry of Normandy. The form of the dress is different from that worn in the reign pre- ceding, being open from the neck to the waist in front, and having a turn-over collar, generally of a dark colour, surrounding it. The gowns are frequently bordered with fur to a considerable depth, and are so capacious as to be^ generally carried over the arm in walking. Their great amplitude will be best seen by the cut on next page, from the manuscript History of Thebes, alluded to at p. 156. The lady is in this instance seated, and her dress is spread around her on all sides ; the tail steeple-cap is covered with a gauze veil which YOEK AND LANCASTBE. 161 partly shades the face ; and the arrangement of the open gown above the waist is very clearly depicted. The waist is bound by a very broad band, a fashionable feature frequently displayed in drawings of the fifteenth century. The cuffs of her sleeves are very wide, and reach to the base of the fingers. A very broad edge or band runs round her dress, the fashionable colour adopted for it was white ; dark-blue, or brown, was the common tint of the gown, and these broad edges were constantly worn. The lady's shoes are in this instance hidden, but in the other figures they are seen ; they were made with very long narrow-pointed toes, that sometimes peep forth like the sheath of a dagger. Among the middle classes, who could not afford the extravagant head-dresses indulged in by the axistocracy, we find a hood worn with projecting sides " like an ape's ears," having the old pendant tippet, or Ijripipe, attached, which hung down the back, and gave a pecuKarly grotesque appearance to the figure when viewed behind, as the reader may judge from this engraving. Monstrelet, in the fifty-third chapter 162 COSTUME IN ENSIiAND. of Ma Chronicles, relates a long and edifying story of a perambu- lating preaching friar, one Thomas Conecte by name, who commenced so determined a crus»de against the steeple head-dresses of the la- dies in France, that none dared appear in them in his presence, " ex- citing the little boys to torment and plague them, giving them cer- tain days of pardon for so doing, and which he said he had the power of granting." These young rascals were probably in no great need of so powerful an excitement to impudent mischief, and, stimulated by the circumstance, " endeavoured to pull down these monstrous head-dresses, so that the ladies were forced to seek shelter in places of safety j" and many were the tumults between the ladies' servants, the boys, and their other persecutors. In the end the holy father triumphed, and at a grand auto da fd he sacrificed all the head-gear that the ladies would bring, in a fire before his pulpit in the princi- pal square. "But this reform lasted not long," says the chronicler ; " for, like as snaUs, when any one passes by them, draw in their horns, and when all danger seems over put them forth again, so these ladies, shortly after the preacher had quitted their country, forgetful of his doctrine and abuse, began to resume their former head-dresses, and wore them even higher than before.'' The volumes of Froissart's Chronicles, which have already sup- plied us with specimens of the head-dresses of gentlemen, furnish us with the above examples of those worn by the ladies of this pe- riod. The first* and fourth are varieties of the horned head-dresses * A magnificent example of such a jewelled head-dress as this occurs in the full-length portrait of Margaret of Scotland, executed about 1482, and recently TOEK AND LANCASTEE. 163 of an earlier time, so fashionable throughout Europe. The central figures show the steeple-caps of dark cloth, and light ornamented silk or embroidery, also worn at this period. The second figure wears a dark gorget, closely pinned round her head, and entirely co- vering the breast. A contrast of tints seems to have been studied by the ladies in all instances : thus, when the black cap, gorget, col- lar, and cufis were worn, the gown was light in its tint ; and the use of black in giving brilliancy to other colours, seems to have been generally acknowledged and acted on. A plain country woman, with her distaff and spindle, is here given from Eoyal MS. 15 E 4. In the original this figure rises from the bowl of a flower, in the richly foliated border of one of the pages. She wears a rayeA or stripped gown of gay colours ; and her head is enveloped in a close hood or ker- chief. Her cuffs are turned over and plaited, like those worn by the fashionables of Eliza- beth's time. There is much simplicity in the entire figure. The short reign of Eichard III. presents no striking novelty in costume, unless we ex- cept the very general adoption of another fashion of head-dress for the ladies, of which an example is here given, from Mr. Waller's very accurate and beautiful work on Monumental Brasses. It is from the effigy of Lady Say, in Broxbourn Church, Hertford- „— ===^^3^) shire, a.d. 1473, the thirteenth ,^^^&^I_Z ^---^^ 1\ year of Edward IV-'s reign, about which time the fashion be- came usual, and throughout that of Eichard was pretty generally adopted. The gentlemen also had begun to wear the long gowns and soberer costume that distin- guished the reign of Henry VII., and of which a specimen is given on next page, from John Eous's pictorial history of Eichard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, now preserved among the Cottonian removed from Hampton Court to Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. It is very care- fully engraved in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations. M 2 164 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. MSS., Julius E 4. It represents the Earl in civil costume, iu which there is a great deal of simple elegance ; there is, however, a suffi- ciency of ornament to mark the station of the wearer, about ,the neck-band and jewels. The drawings in this manuscript are well worthy of attention. They are of quarto size, and are ex- ceedingly good in point of composition and draw- ing. Strutt's copies of them in his Morda Angel- Cynan are very unworthy of the originals. Eons was a chantry priest, at Guy's Cliff, near War- wick, to which he came about the beginning of Edward IV-'s reign, and resided there tiU that of Henry VII. He is remarkable as one of our earliest English antiquaries ; and his drawings, which are generally done in delicately executed brown tints, are of considerable merit and much simple beauty. The most curious representations of Bichard III. we possess are those now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries ; one of which, evi- dently by the same hand as that of Edward IV., already described, is exceedingly interesting for the strong and characteristic portrai- ture it exhibits. It has also been engraved in the Paston Letters, and appears fully to carry out the accounts left us of Richard by the old historians, who describe him as a restless spirit, always sheathing and unsheathing his dagger while in conversation, as if his mind would not allow quietude to his fingers ; a habit that would seem to be dis- played in the picture to which allusion is made, which represents him drawing a ring on and off the finger. The face would have de- lighted Lavater.* The figures of Eichard and his Queen — the " Lady Anne " of Shakespeare — are engraved on next page from another work by Jolin Eous, The Warwick Moll, preserved in the College of Arms. Ei- chard is represented fully armed in plate, over which he wears a tabard emblazoned with the royal arms. The arched crown is a no- velty, as our previous monarohs generally wore them open at top. Eous, who knew Eichard personally, has given him the high-shoul- dered inequality which he attributes to him in his History of Eng- * Lord Stafford possesaes another portrait closely resembling this one, which has been engraved as a frontispiece to Miss Halsted's lAfe of Siehard III. The some strongly marked and characteristic features appear in all of them. yOBK AND LANCASTER. 163 land. He says, " he was of low stature, small compressed features, with, his left shoulder higher than Lis right." The Countess of Des- mond, who had danced with him when young, described him as the handsomest man in the room except his brother the king. In this, as in many other characteristics of Richard, truth lies probably be- tween the opposite extremes of the good or bad report given ; it would, however, certainly appear, from all representations of him that have reached us, and may be considered authentic, that he was a man of hard feature and repulsive look in his latter years. It may surprise some of my readers to be told that Richard was remarkable for his love of splendid dresses, and that his favourite Buckingham was no whit behind him. I cannot here print the inventory of the king's dresses that exists in the Harleian MS., No. 433, and must content myself with a mere reference to a list, which, as Mr. Sharon Turner justly remarks, we should rather look for from the fop that annoyed Hotspur, than from the stem and warlike Richard III. The Queen Anne wears a gold caul and regal circlet, from whence hangs a large gauze veil, held out by wires, like that of Lady Say, on p. 163 ; and her mantle is crimson, with white lining, probably ermine or fur, the same garnishing the upper paxt of her gown, which is open on the sides ; and her sleeves have white cuffs, the colour of the gown being purple. 166 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. The ecclesiastical costume during the whole of this period does not appear to have undergone any change to warrant the necessity of giving cuts or descriptions, which may be better devoted to more important matters. A glance at amy of the plates in the works of Stothard, HoUis, Cotman, Waller, and others who have given plates of effigies and brasses, wUl display this, or a loot through the volumes of Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. The satirists of the day chiefly attack the clergy on the subject of their luxuriousness, and occa- sional fondness for the fashions and the fopperies of the laity. The magnificence of the vestments used in the church-service rivalled in splendour and costliness that of nobility or royalty ; but the higher clergy aped the nobles in the cut of their dress in private life, and their fondness for hawks and hounds. They wore daggers at their jewelled girdles, and cut their dresses at the edges into the leaves and " jags " so much condemned by the graver moralists. In Staun- ton's Visions of Fwrgatory, already quoted, he sees the bishops who had been proud and overbearing tormented with serpents, snakes, and other reptiles, to which the " jagges and dagges " of their vain- glorious clothing had been transformed for their punishment ; and the moths that bred in their superfluous clothing now became worms to torment them. The last four stanzas of the " Balad against ex- cess in Apparel, especially in the Clergy," alluded to p. 153, particu- larly speaks of their pride and voluptuousness. The author accuses them of wearing wide furred hoods, and advises them to make their gowns shorter, and the tonsure wider upon their crowns. Their gowns he also condemns because they were plaited, and censures them for wearing short stufied doublets, in imitation of the laity : — "Ye unhoty priestff full of presumption. With your wide furred hoods, void of discretion ; ITnto your own preaching of contrary condition, "Which causeth the people to have less devotion. "Advanced by simony in cities and towns. Make shorter your tails, and broader your crowns ; Leave your short stuff'd doublets, and your pleated gowns. And keep your own houses, and pass not your bounds. " Eeprove not other men ; I shall tell you why : Ye be so lewd yourself, there setteth no man you by.* It is but a shame that ye be called holy, i"or worse disposed people hveth not under the sky. * i.e. no man sets value on you. YOEK AND LANCA8TBE. 167 " First free yourselvesj who now to sin be bound : Leave sin and fear it j then may ye take in hand Others to reprove, and then I understand Ye may amend all others, and bring peace to the land,' The monumental effigy of William of Colchester, in Westminster Abbey, may be cited as a fine example of abbatial costume : he died in 1420. In Stothard's often quoted work will be found a coloured engraving of this figure. Hollis has engraved that of John Borew, Dean of Hereford, in Hereford Cathedral, who died in 1462 ; and it shows how very simply the dignitaries of the church were some- times attired, despite the constant censures of the laity. The full-length figure of Abbot Wethamstede, of St. Albans, is given above from the Eegister-book of that Abbey, and may have been the work of Alan Strayler already named on p. 145. He is simply attired in a long black gown with wide sleeves ; the cape, secured by 168 COSTUME IN ESeLAND. a jewelled brooch at the neck, reposes on the shoulders, and was drawn over the head when required. He wears the mitre, a pecu- liar dignity awarded to some few abbeys, and bears a richly deco- rated crozier in his right hand ; in his left is the royal charter he was instrumental in obtaining from Henry VI. There is a remarkably fine brass of this great man in the Abbey of St. Albans, which exhibits him in a more ornamental costume. We place beside him an en- graving from the brass of Isabel Hervey, Abbess of Elstow, Bedford- shire, remarkable as a rare example of an abbess in pontificalibus, bearing her crozier at her side ; she wears the barbe, or pleated neck- covering, which reaches above the chin, and was peculiar to the re- ligious women, though occasionally adopted by elderly ladies in private life. The Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., is generally represented in one. The long gown with loose sleeves of the abbess is precisely like that worn by the Abbot Wethamstede ; over this is thrown the capacious mantle, the head being covered by a cloth coverchief or hood. The simple efiect of the black dress and white barbe would be aided in its dignity by the elaborately de- ■corated crozier, emblematic of the power of its plainly-accoutred wearer. The dress of a plain parish priest may be seen in the first figure upon the cut here given, from the brass of John Islyngton, in Cley church, Norfolk, engraved in Cotman's series of brasses. He was vicar of Islington in that county, from 1393 to 1429. He is in the habit of a doctor of divinity, has a long gown edged with fur and wears a plain cap on his head. Priests are so generally repre- sented in their official dress, that this little figure possesses extra claims to notice. The ordinary costume of a priest habited for the altar may be seen in the second figure of the above cut, the Canon Laurence Lawe, TOEK AND LANCASTEH. 169 from an incised slab, dated 1440, in All Saints' Cliuroh, Derby. He wears the amess (a distinct article of dress from the amice), a hood of fur, worn by canons as a defence against the cold when officiating; it fitted on the shoulder like a capuce, and had long furred ends hanging down the front of the dress like a stole. It is very frequently seen in brasses of this period. The ordinary walking-dress of a monk of the time of Edward IV. is here given, from Eoyal MS. 14 E 4. His hood is thrown off; and the length of his pendant tippet would seem to confirm the objec- tions made by the satirists to the clergy's love of fashionable extra- vagance. The wide sleeves of the monk's gown are edged with fur, and he has thrust his hands into them for warmth. He wears an or- namental girdle, to which is attach- ed his purse ; bringing to memory a tale of the time of Henry VIII., in the collection known as Shake- speare's Jest-book, of " a certayne prieste that hadde his purse hang- ynge at his gyrdell, strutting out full of money." Such purses were formed of velvet, and had tassels of gold thread, the fr^jnework and clasps of metal gUt, or of silver, upon which were frequently in- scribed moral and reh^ous sentences. His writing materials are hung across his girdle, in front of the purse, consisting of a small ink-horn, and a long penner, or case, containing writing materials. In Shaw's Dresses and Decorations is engraved the penner which tradition affirms was left at Waddington Hall by Henry VI., during his wanderings in Yorkshire, after the fatal battle of Towton ; it is formed of leather, ornamented with patterns in relief. The gradual changes produced by civilization, and the division of labour, both of mind and body, consequent on it, disjoined the legal profession from the church, and gave its functionaries a distinct cos- tume, yet sufficiently clerical in appearance to distinguish its parent- age. Two examples have been selected for the engraving on next page ; the first from Stothard's Monvmental Effigies, supposed to 170 COSTTJMB IN ENGLAND. represent Sir Eichard de Wil- loughby, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in the eleventh year of Edward III., and therefore not too far removed from the early part of the period of which we are now treating to be inadmissible here as an interesting illus- tration of early legal costume.* He wears a plain gown, with a close collar, which is but- toned down the front, and has wide sleeves, displaying the tighter ones of the under- clothing, with their rows of buttons from the elbow to the hand, which is partly covered by them ; Ms waist, Kke that of Chaucer's sergeant-at-law, is " Girt with a ceint of sUk with bars small." The second figure is that of Sir "William Gascoyne, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, immortalized by Shakespeare, and the older his- torians, as the judge who punished Prince Hal, afterwards the great Henry V. He died 1419, and is buried in Harwood Church, York- shire, and our copy is made from the effigy given by G-ough from that tomb ; "flie principal variation in costume from the other effigy being the addition of a long mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, and a close-fitting hood instead of the coif or small cap ; and which is said by some writers to be commemoraJ)ed in the small circular piece of black silk still placed in the centre of the judge's wig. In the time of Edward III., the justices of the King's Bench were allowed liveries by the king of cloth and silk, and fur for their hoods of budge and minever.f In the eleventh of Eichard II., the justices had for their summer robes each ten ells of long green cloth : the chief justices having twenty-four ells of green taffeta extra. In the twenty-second of Henry VI., John Fray, then Chief Baron of the * One of the earliest examples of legal dress is the figure of Robert Grrym- bald, a judge of the time of Henry II., on his seal, engraved in Dugdale's Ori- gmes Jwidiciales. ■\ Budge is lambskin, with the wool dressed outward. Minever is the sKn of the ermine, an article only worn by noblemen. TOEK AND LANCA8TEE. 171 Exoliequer, had allowed to Mm for Ms winter robes against Christ- mas ten ells of violet in-grain, one for of thirty-two bellies of min- ever pure for Ms hood, another fur of a hundred and twenty bellies of minever gross,* and seven tires of silk ; and for Ms summer robe, against Whitsuntide, ten ells of long green cloth, and half-a-piece of green tartarin. The other barons of the same court had for their summer robes each of them ten ells of violet in grain, with one fur of a hundred and twenty bellies of minever gross, and another fur of thirty-two bellies of minever pure for their hoods, and likewise two pieces of silk, each of seven tires ; from which it appears that the colour of the judge's robes was not constantly the same, but green seems for a considerable time to have prevailed. Sir John Portescue, in his De Laudihus AnglicB, written about this time, speaking of the formality of making a judge, says, " He shaU henceforward from time to time change his habit in some points ; for being a sergeant-at-the-law, he is clothed in a long priest-like robe, with a furred cape about his shoulders, and thereupon a hood with two labels (such as doctors of the law wear in certain univer- sities with their coif) ; but being made a justice, instead of Ms hood he must wear a cloak closed upon his right shoulder, all the other ornaments of a sergeant stiU remaining, saving that Ms vesture shall not be particoloured as a sergeant's may, and his cape furred with minever, whereas the sergeant's cape is ever furred with white lamb- skin." The costume of a medical practitioner in the fifteenth century is here given from a curious picture of the interior of a doctor's study, in Eoyal MS. 15 E 2 (engraved in the Archaeologi- cal Alhwm, p. 88). A surgeon and physician are represented in the original; they are both dressed alike : we copy the figure of the latter. He wears a close dark cap with a narrow edge, a furred cape, and long dark gown edged with fur, which he holds up in walking. It is not drawn in at the waist, but hangs loosely from the shoul- ders to the ground. Such an outward semblance of gravity as long and ample draperies afford, has ever been coveted by the learned professions, and is stiU. re- tained on public occasions. The military costume of the reigns of Henry IV. and V. had ar- * The finer parts of the fur being used for the hood, the coarser for trimtnings; 172 COSTUME IN BN&LAND. rived at a perfection of richness and beauty unsurpassed by that worn at any other period. The effigies of those knights remaining to us whose prowess "stirred the nations," and achieved immortality for themselves and honour for their father- land, are worthy examplet of the heroes of chivalry, supplying all that the paint- er can wish to possess in the way of material for his re- suscitation of the days that saw their noble achieve- ments. In the collection of rubbings from brasses, pre- served in the British Mu- seum, is the figure of a knight in plate-armour, here given. No memorandum of its history is attached, but it affords a good example of the solid-looking oaseof steel in which a warrior enclosed himself during the reign of Henry IV. It is the brass of Sir John Drayton, who died October 3, 1411, and is buried in the church at Dorchester, Oxfordshire, the family taking its name from the neighbouring village of Drayton. Gough, in his Sepulchral Monvments, vol. i. p. 201, describes this as " a brass figure, in close-pointed helmet, a collar of S8 on a strap buckled round his neck, and fastened by a trefoil fibula ; he wears round shoulder-pieces, escallops at the elbows, and sword-belt stud- ded with trefoils sHpt, mail fringe to his armour, and two plates fall- ing from the middle of it ; a sword and dagger, and on the sword- hilt are I.S. entwined ;* under his head a helmet, surmounted by a * The first and last letters of tlie sacred monogram I. H. S. "The ancient prac- tice of placing the monogram on the scabbard,- and of studiously forming the hilt into a cross, was intended as a profession that the wearer trusted not to his own arm for victory, and also served to remind him that his sword should never be unsheathed except in a righteous cause." — Addington's Dorchester GImrch. TOBK AND LANCASTEE. 173 Saracen's head ; his legs are gone, as is the figure of his wife." The brasses of Geoffrey Fransham, 1414, Sir William Calthorpe, 1420, John Brooke, 1426, John Norwich, 1428, afford specimens of the same style of armour, and may be consulted in Cotman's work on the Norfolk and Suffolk Brasses with advantage to the artist. The collar of SS, worn by Sir John Drayton, was the favourite badge of Henry IV., as noticed p. 136, and is engraved on a larger scale beside the figure. The bascinet is without a vizor, and the gorget is of solid plate, near which circular palettes are placed for extra protection over the gussets of the armpits ; they are sometimes in the form of a shield, emblazoned with a coat-of-arms ; the elbow- pieces are of small dimensions and acutely pointed. From the waist to the hips flexible plates, termed taces or tasseis, surround the body, the ends of the under-tunic of chaiu-maU appearing beneath. The sword (erroneously placed on the right side) is suspended from the waist by the belt previously described ; his dagger is on the opposite side. The legs, if completed, would be precisely like those of Sir Thomas Cawne, p. 130, with the same overlapping soUerets on the feet. The head of the knight rests on his tUting-helmet, which was worn over the bascinet in the tournament, and it was sur- mounted by his crest. In this instance it is a Saracen's head, from which hangs the cointoise, a scarf of cloth or silk, which took the place of the older kerchief of plesaunce ; its jagged and leaf-shaped edges, and tasselled terminations, are still famihar to us in the man- tlings of modern heraldic crests. The staple by which it was affix- ed to the breast of the knight may be seen in front of it ; and the pillow of the armed knight of the middle ages is generally formed of this defence, so peculiarly characteristic of its owner. The full-length figure of Robert Chamberlain, esquire to Henry v., is engraved on next page the same size as the original drawing in the Eegister-book of St. Albans, already alluded to. The date, 1417, is placed behind the figure of the knight in the original MS., which was probably the date of that donation to the Abbey which secured him a place in the volume. He is putting up a prayer to heaven in the conventional form of a scroll, which is received by a hand from the clouds. The costume is very curious and valuable, as it depicts many novelties, as well as the lingering remains of older fashions : the bascinet rises to a point, upon which is placed a hollow tube, to receive the panache, or group of feathers, which now nodded gracefully above the head of the warfior. The vizor bears some re- semblance to that worn in the reign of Richard II. ; while the ca- mail carries us back to the days of the Black Prince. The body of 174 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the knight is entirely covered by a tight- fitting jupon, embroi- dered all over with fo- liated ornaments, the chain-mail worn be- neath appearing below it. A girdle crosses the hips, having a jewelled centre, enamelled with the letter % in the midst; his sword and dagger are affixed to it. The armonr of the legs, like that of the arms, is of solid plate, dove- tailed at the junctures. The long-toed soUe- rets, and extravagant- ly large rowelled spurs, are equally character- istic of this period. The armour about this time was often ornamented with rich chasing round the edges of the gloves, the the elbow and knee-pieces, as well as at the junctures of the various parts ; and its general effect was that of gorgeous security. Nothing, for instance, can be more beautiful than the effigy of the Earl of Westmoreland, in Staindrop Church, Durham, or that of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in Wingfield Church, Suffolk, as given by Stothard. The one on the next page, selected as a favourable example, is copied from Mr. Hollis's etching of the effigy of Sir Humphrey Stafford, who died 1450, and is buried in Bromsgrove Church, Worcestershire. A rich jewelled wreath, called an orle, now surrounds the bascinet, which is pointed at the summit ; Sir Humphrey wears the collar of SS, and is literally " Caaed from head to foot in panoply of steel." By comparing this figure with that of Sir Thomas Cawne, engraved TOEK AND LANCASTBE. 175 in tie last chapter, the distinctiTe variations of the two epochs wiU at once he detected (such as the absence of the camail, etc.), and thus save much unnecessary verbosity.* Long and wide sleeves are sometimes worn over the armour, upon which they are fastened at the shoulder, their edges being frequently cut into the shape of leaves or escallops. The pride of the English army, at this period, were the archers and cross-bowmen. To expa- tiate upon them or their deeds would be a work of supererogation. They were much cared for by our monarchs. Henry V. ordered the she- riffs of several counties to procure feathers from the wings of geese for his archers, plucking six feathers from each goose. Swan-feathers were also in request. In the fine old ballad of Chevy Chase, mention is made of the death of Sir Hugh Montgomery, and it is said of the archer who struck him : " The swan-featherB that his arrow bore With his heart's hlood were wet." Their arrows, "a cloth yard long," were of the ordinary standard, and their power of flight very great. The cross- bow was powerful enough to send the " quarrel " — as their ar- rows were termed — a distance of forty rods. The most interesting figures of these bow- men with which I am acquainted are the two here given from Wille- * The effigy of Sir !Richard Vernon, in Tong Church, Shropshire, may he cited as another very fine example of the military costume of the period. It has been engraved and coloured after the original effigy, by Mr. Shaw, in his beautiful work on Dress and Decorations. 176 COSTUMB IN ENGLAND. min's Mbnumens Franfais InSdits. The archers are clothed in jazerine jackets, — a species of defence so named from the Italian ffhiazermo, owing, says Meyriok, to its resemblance to a clinker- built boat ; it is mentioned as early as the latter part of the thir- teenth century, and was formed of overlapping pieces of steel, fast- ened by one edge upon canvas, which was coated over with velvet or cloth, and sometimes ornamented with brass. One of the figures above delineated carries his bow over his shoulder, and has sus- pended from his waist a moulinei, and pulley for winding up his bow. This operation the other is performing by fixing one foot in the sort of stirrup at the bottom, and applying the wheels and lever to the string of the bow, and so winding it upward by the handle placed at its top. The Koyal MS. 15 E 4 (Chroniques d' Engleterre), supplies us with the second group of archers, some using the long bow; they all wear jazerine jackets : the third figure has a camaU, and chain-mail jacket on beneath. In the original they are besieging a town, and having taken their places, have arranged their arrows for shooting, by sticking them into the ground at their side. The arrows were carried in quivers of the ordinary form appended to the girdle, or else in a deep square receptacle, such as that hanging from the waist of the centre figure, and which holds the smaller arrows shot from the cross-bow, which he is now winding up. The archers were ge- nerally protected by large shields or pavisers, which were pointed at bottom, and convex, reaching to a man's shoulders, behind which they were well secured, when the pointed end was affixed in the earth YORK AND LANCA8TEB. 177 before them. A large wooden oblong shield, called a tahas, was also used for the same purpose. The helmets they wear are those termed salades, which became the usual protection for soldiers about the reign of Henry VI. They sometimes cover the head and eyes, as shown in figures 1 and 2, or else hare movable visors, one of which is engraved here, fig. 4 ; and in fig. 3 we see the visor lifted. The specimen is in Goodrich Court ; and has been engraved in Skelton's Illustrations of the Ancient Arms and Armour there. A novel shield was also introduced at this period; a specimen of which is here engraved from the same work. It is of square form ; " it is a mean or middle weapon," says Giacomo di Grassi, in the English edition of 1594, "be- tween the buckler and the round target ; some persons holding it on the thigh, and others with the arm drawn back close to the breast ;" but he recommends its being held at arm's length, so that one angle be elevated just above the sight. A very fine example of the armour of this period is to be seen in the effigy of Eichard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in the Beau- champ Chapel, St. Mary's Church, Warwick. His will is dated 1435 ; and the Chapel of our Lady, or Beauchamp Chapel, was com- menced 1442, and finished 1465. The late Charles Stothard found that the figure was movable, and engraved in his Effigies both sides ; and they are the most valuable example of an armed warrior of the period we possess. The back in particular is unique; and Mr. Eempe justly remarks that " the view of the figure about the shoulders is N 178 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. remarably fine, and must be of Uie highest value to the historical painter for its boldness and truth." In the margin of the splendid MS. already quoted, Eoyal 15 E 4, is the figure of a knight, engraved on next page, fully armed in all points, but wanting the helmet. The pauld/rons, which give pro- tection to the shoulders, are large ; the elbow-pieces project with hooked points, like a lion's claw. The gauntlets have overlapping plates, instead of fingers. To the taasets which cover the hips, tuilles (so termed from their resemblance to the tUes of a house) are himg, which cover the upper part of the cuissea, and which was a novelty introduced during the reign of Henry V. This figure in the original MS. holds a very high standard, a portion of the staff (which is like a spear) only being here given ; it is embroidered with the figure of St. George and the Dragon, and the motto, " Honi soit," etc. The word anime is painted on the shield, which is of un- common shape ; to it is appended the guige or strap by which it was secured round the wearer's shoulders. YOEZ AND LANCASTEE. 179 The fashion has been already noticed which at this time prevailed, of wearing a tabard over the armour, richly emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the knight. The figure of Kichard III., en- graved on p. 165, affords a specimen ; and many others may be foimd in the plates of Cotman, Stothard, Gough, HoUis, and Waller. Ano- ther example is added above, from a painted window in East Herling church, Norfolk, executed between 1461 and 1480, and which repre- sents Sir Eobert Wingfleld, in complete armour, kneeling at his de- votions. It is unnecessary here to enter into a detailed description of his suit, which will be sufficiently visible to the eye ; the collar of suns and roses he wears was the favourite badge of Edward IV., and was given by him as a mark of honour to his adherents. The entire body of the tabard, it will be noticed, is fiUed with the arms of the knight, uninterrupted by the juncture of the waist ; the sort of wing which covers the arm was also devoted to the same display of heraldry on a smaller scale. The groups of arms engraved on next page have been selected so that they may give a fair general idea of the offensive weapons of the period. Fig. 1 of the first group is a mace of the time of Henry v., and which was much used by the cavalry from the reign of n2 180 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Edward II. AU heavy-armed men were supplied with them during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; they were hung at the saddle- bow, and used to break the armour of an opponent, and destroy him by the blow, or else afford passage for a sword ; in lieu of them they sometimes had a horseman's hammer, or short battle-axe. Pig. 2 is the hand-cannon of the earliest form, with the touch-hole at top : these cannons are the originals of our modern musquetry. Fig. 3 is a hand-gun and bat- tle-axe united, with the next improvement, a pan at the side of the touch-hole, to prevent the escape of the pow- der. Fig. 4 is the guis- arme, a most deadly weapon, used very com- monly by" foot-soldiers in attacks on cavalry, its scythe and spear being horribly efficient in such encounters. Fig. 5 is a bill of the time of Hen- ry VI. ; fig. 6, one of the reign of Edward TV. ; and fig. 7, one of that of Eichard III., having a hook at the side to seize the bridle of a horse. These last three figures clearly show the variety of form that oc- curred in these imple- ments during these pe- riods. Fig. 1, in the second group, gives us the form of the large two-handed sword of the time of Hichard III., when it received some improve- ments not visible in fig. 2, which delineates that YOEK AND LANCA8TBE. 181 in use in tHe previous reign of his brother, Edward IV. Di Grassi must again supply us with a description of how they were used. He says the swordsmen always struck edge blows downward, " fetching a full circle with exceeding great swiftness, staying themselves upon one foot;" the hand towards the enemy taking fast hold of the handle near the cross, while the other was fixed near the ponmiel. Meyriok adds, that these swords were so well poised as to excite astonishment on trying the ease with which they may be wielded. Their power is noted in the old romance of Sir Degrevant, where a warrior is spoken of, who " With Ilia two-hande sworde He made sucli paye, That syxty lay on the field." Pig. 3 is an ordinary sword, for the better contrasting of the re- lative sizes, the two-handed sword being as long in the blade alone as the other one was in its entire length, and this was the general standard. Our ancestors were not particular in keeping them bright. They often note the contrary. Thus, in the romance of Sichard Cosv/r de lAon, we are told "The Englishmen defended them well With good swords of brown steel." And in Davie's Oeste of Alexander, written in 1312, the hero wishes "That I were armed well; And had my sword of brown steel. Many an head wold I cleave." Fig. 4 is a horseman's hammer of the time of Edward IV., the handle of steel, and perforated to receive a cord, usually wound aroimd the wrist, to prevent its being beaten out of the hand ; it has a pick on one side for penetrating armour. Fig. 5 is a mace of iron, of the time of Edward IV., with a pike at its end for thrust- ing. Fig. 6 is a ranseur of the time of Edward IV., distinguished from the partisan, fig. 7, by having a sharper point and side-prbjeot- ing blades. Fig. 8 is a spetum of the time of Eichard III., distin- guished from the ranseur by having its lateral blades bow-like, and sharp in the concave curve. 182 t Cu&ors. Civili war, with all its attendant horrors, being happily terminated, and an vinion of the rival houses of Yort and Lancaster effected by the marriage of Henry VII. with his queen, Elizabeth, — the king devoted his attention chiefly to the fiUing of his coffers, and the ef- fectual subjugation of the nobles to the crown. Mean, crafty, and rapacious, no opportunity was lost by him for the fuU employment of any means by which these ends might be attained ; and his chosen satellites, Empson and Dudley, carried out his wishes or commands so thoroughly, that their decapitation on Tower-hiU, in the second year of the reign of his son, was welcomed as an act of necessary justice by men of all classes. Thus intent on the acquisition of wealth and power, and naturally of a reserved and crafty disposition, Henry's court was at no period either a gay or a brilliant one ; nor do we find this monarch .displaying anything gorgeous in personal decoration in the portraits stiU remaining of him. The effigy on his tomb at Westminster is habited in a simple furred gown and cap ; veiy similar, and in no degree more kingly, than that rendered fa- miliar to the eye in portraits of the great Erasmus. A sobriety of costume was almost consequent to these regal tastes ; and we find, accordingly, little to note in the way of absurd extravagances, which, at this period, do not appear to have been indulged in by the great majority : exquisites there were, and will be, in all ages and times, and so we find some in those days expensive enough in their costume to excite the ire of the sober-minded ; though the general complaint was, that a feminine taste reigned among the lords of the creation ; and certainly, when we find them putting on ' stomachers ' and ' pet- tioottes,'* we may indeed begin to doubt the sex of the wearers. * The 'stomachers' were coverings for the breast, of cloth, velvet, or sili over which the doublet was laced. The 'petticottes,' according to the genuine THE TUDOBS. 183 The first of the figures here engraved is an excellent sample of a dandy of this period, and oconrs among the illuminations in the copy of the Romance of the Rose, among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, forming No. 4425 of that collection, of which this volume is a distinguished gem. His short doublet, with its preposterously long sleeves ; his close- fitting vest, low in the neck and displaying the shirt above ; the tight hose and broadtoed toes, are all characteristic of a gay youth of Henry the Seventh's time.* His hair is long, and flows over his shovilders in a profusion of curls, which where then as much en- couraged by the beaux as the moustachios and beard were carefiiUy era- dicated. A smaU cap or coif covers the upper part of the head, over which is worn a hat which might rival that of Chaucer's Wife of Bath, which he declares to have been as broad as a buckler or target. An enormous plume of variegated feathers adorns this obtrusive article of costume, the stem of each feather being ornamented with rows of pearls or jewels. These plumed hats are frequently depicted slung behind the back of the wearer, and the head covered only by the small coif. The square cap (an article of head-dress peculiar to this period, when it first came into fashion) is seen on the companion-figure of our cut, copied from Harleian MS. 19 C 8, which was executed in 1496, as appears from the date given at its close. It is a fair specimen of the general form of dress adopted by the gentlemen of the age ; and the signification of the word, were short or little coats, distinguished as such &om the longer outward garments. * MedwaU, in his Interlude of Nature, written before 1500, describes a dandy of that day in his character of Pride. He wears a scarlet bonnet, a profusion of hair, a doublet laced over a satin stomacher ; a short gown with wide sleeves hanging down, having in them cloth enough for a boy's doublet and coat ; and a dagger in his girdle. A page is employed to carry his sword after him. 184 COSTUME IN BNatAND. most fastidious could find little to complaiu of in its sober gravity. A long gown with wide sleeveg. fastened by a girdle or narrow scarf at the waist, lined with a darker cloth, and open from the neck to the waist, falling over the shoulders and displaying the inner rest, gives a staid and dignified appearance to the figure, not unbecoming the most philosophical. If any^mament was adopted, it appears to have been confined to the under^garments, which" are sometimes em- broidered ; the shirt^at the collar and-wrists, where it now caught the eye, was also frequently decorated with needlework. ■ An embroidered vest of ^he fashjpn last described is worn by the first gentlemanr^ our second cut of male costume. The pattern is in the most approved taste of the age ; and it is not uncommon to see the gown of gentt«aen^gmbroidered with these large flowered and foliated ornaments, which sometimes remind one of those worn by a Chinese mandarin. The hat is without feathers ; but that worn by the second figure has a profusion of them, and is slung over the back in the way just alluded to, the head being covered by the smaller skuU-cap, with its narrow up- turned brim ; the purse at the girdle, and the variegated breeches, which now began to form a se- parate article from the long hose, as worn by the compa- nion-figure, will be noticed; as well as the very broad-toed, clumsy-looking shoes, which now became equally fashionable. The first figure is copied from a paint- ing in distemper, on the walls of Winchester cathedral, executed in 1489, by order of Prior Silkstede. The second, from the exquisite illuminations of the Somance of the Sose, already alluded to. The illuminations in this volume may be justly considered as triumphs in this particular branch of art. Nothing can exceed their brilliancy and beauty ; and many of the figures are executed with a delicacy and finish that is quite extraordinary, and which rivals the famous THE TUD0B8. 185 miniatures of Oliver. The public, and artistB in general, who only- know ancient illuminations by the copies they see in our various books, can have no idea of the merit of the originals as works of art, or of the oombiued vigour, elegance, and beauty of colouring displayed by these ancient artists, whoseyflames are unrecorded. Their works have afforded much genuins'^d valuable information during the progress of this volume ; and ii^ q/uoting, almost for the last time, a manuscript as an authority for c)»stume, it is but just to give this parting tribute to their merit. Twomiore specimens are here given from this charming volume, and engravfed of the same size as the originals. The one delineates a gentleman with a close hat, and a gold band and buckle, and it affords an excellent example of the long pendent streamer of cloth aiBxed to it. His dagger and purse, those invariable appendages to a gentleman, are hung at his girdle. The art of the goldsmith was frequently brought into play in the 186 COSTUME IN ENaiAND. decoration of these articles. This figure is principally remarkable for its simplicity, and may be received as the type of a gentlemsta imspoUed by the foppery of extravagance. The female figure is Poverty herself, as described in this allegory under the form of a wretched beggar in a ragged gown and cloak, a coarse shaggy cap, in the band of which is thrust a spoon ; the beggar's dish, her only wealth, is held by a string in the hand, and these articles were some- times made with a movable hd, which was continually clattered to attract the attention of the charitable ; whence it became a charac- teristic description of a talkative person, to say, " His tongue moves like a beggar's clap-dish." The unchanging nature of poverty might enable us, unfortunately, to match .this poqr beggar's dress in the present day, particularly in Ireland ; but the ever-changing tide of fashionable luxuriance has re-clothed the gentleman in very many garbs since the days of the ancient artists who executed these figures. The dress of a lady in 1485, the event- ful year which dethroned Richard III. and placed Henry on the throne, may be seen in the curious effigy of Isabella Cheyne in Bhck- ling church, Norfolk, and which, singularly enough, has not been included in Cotman'a series of the brasses of that county. Her head-dress resembles that worn by the Lady Anne represented on p. 165, and a close caul of ornamental embroidery * is fitted to the head beneath. Her necklace, formed of pendent jewels, is remarkable as a very early specimen of this decorative ornament, which is here exceedingly massive and beautiful. The col- lar of the gown and the wide cuffs of the sleeves are of fur, the gown being low in the breast and short in the waist, where it is con- fined by a girdle, the end of which reaches nearly to her feet, which are enveloped in the the loose folds of her wide gown. The group of ladies on the next page, se- lected from an illumination in Eoyal MS. 16 F 2 (containing the poems of the Duke of * The cauls are sometimes seen in the drawings of MSS. without the gauze reU; they are generally coloured and gilt as if they were formed of sUk or gold embroidery, and are frequently decorated with precious stones. THE TUDOES. 187 Orleans, and which was probably executed for King Henry VII.), gives us a good idea of the fair sex of the early part of the reign, after the gauze veil waa dis- carded, with the cap as worn by Isabella Cheyne, and the warm cloth hood taken in its place; this was folded back from the face over the head, and lay in thick plaits behind ; its edges were cut, and em- broidered with coloured or gold threads, and small aiguil- lettes were hung at its sides, as delineated in our cut. The gown is open from the neck to the waist behind, and is laced together; no girdle is worn, but it is gathered to a jewelled brooch.* The amplitude of the sleeves, and the multipli- city of ponderous folds which encircle the fair wearer, the unpliable hood hanging in stiff heavy plaits around the neck and down the back, give great heaviness to the figure. The gown was held up beneath the arm in walking ; and it was sometimes entirely open behind, the train being caught up and secured to the waist, where the brooch is seen in the foreground figure of our cut. During the remainder of the reign of Henry VII. the ladies ap- pear to have devoted their attention principally to their head-dresses, no remarkable change or novelty occurring in any other part of the dress, which generally consisted of a full gown, not inconveniently long or trailing, with wide sleeves confined at the wrist, or hanging loose and easy, according to the taste of the wearer. They wore their gowns close round the neck, or open from the waist, displaying the stomacher, across which they were laced ; the waist being con- fined by a girdle, with a long chain and pendent ornament hanging from its central clasps in front, after the old and approved fashion so long in vogue, and of which many instances have already been given. Unmarried ladies generally wore their hair hanging down * An old satire of this era, printed in Dyce's STcelton, i. p. 46, particularly mentions this fashion " of womenkind laced behind," which is declared to be " so like the fiend," or his Satanic majesty himself! Satixists thus generally overshoot their mark. 188 COSTUME IH ENGLAJfD. the back, — a fashion universally adopted at nuptials, if not in use at other times. Close cauls of gold network occasionally confine the hair, similar to those worn during the reigns of Henry IV. and V. ; and sometimes conical caps are seen, perfectly Greek in form, and very probably adopted from some " maid of Athens " in the olden time. From the East also the turbans may have been imported ; worn sometimes plain, and sometimes crossed by bands of pearls and jewels meeting on their summits. There is, however, in all these changes nothing to offend good taste or disgust the eye ; the homed head-dresses, that so stirred the wrath of the censurers, have for ever disappeared, and the steeple cap has followed ; the mere lappets remaining, and, growing a little more ample, encircling the neck of the fair wearer in its close warm folds : a quality that recommended it so much to the elderly members of the fair sex, that we do not find it discarded for may a long year, and at last only giving place to the still closer and warmer hood that became so general in the reign of Elizabeth. The most striking novelty in head-dress, and which gave a pecu- liar feature to the latter part of the reign, was the adoption of the diamond- shaped hood, of which two examples are here given. The foremost figure, hold- ing the book, is Margaret, Countess of Hichmond, and mother of Henry Vii.; and it is copied from a portrait of this lady, for- merly belonging to Dr. An- drew Giffard, and now in the British Museum. The stiff rigidity of the entire dress, and its thoroughly conventual appearance, is a characteristic feature of the costume worn by the aged ladies of the day, who not unfrequentiy ended life in a nunnery, as lady-abbesses, or even as mere sisters, to the no small emolument of the Church. The gorget, or wimple, worn by the Countess, covers the neck, and reaches half- way to the elbow : it is deeply plaited round the bottom. The an- gular head-dress is perfectly white, bending its harsh corners over the head, the sides stiffly reposing on the shoulders ; a long white veil hanging from it behind. The other example is obtained from THE TtTDOES. 189 Holbein's portrait of Henry's queen, Elizabeth of York, and is of a more ornamental kind, though still sufficiently harsh and ugly. It is lined with ermine, and decorated with jewels and embroidery ; and although apparently inconvenient in shape, retained an ascen- dency in the world of fashion for more than half a century. The original picture is in the collection at Hampton Court. " Bluff Eng Hal " is so well known from Holbein's portraits, that it would be perfectly unnecessary to detail his costume, or des- cant on his general appearance. The same remark may apply to the other monarchs of his line, each of whom are " old familiar faces " in the memory of all, and are readily accessible to the artist by laying out a few shillings at any print-shop. The space hitherto devoted to the description of the monarch's costume will henceforward be devoted to the less-known dresses worn by the nobility, the middle classes, and the commonalty. As general pictorial encyclopaedias of costume for this reign, I may refer to the celebrated pictures now exhibited at Hampton Court, and representing the embarkation of Henry at Dover, May 31, 1540, to meet Francis I. in " the Field of the Cloth of Gold," between Guisnes and Ardres, in the June of that year. Both these sovereigns were at that time young and gay, loving display ; and all the pomp they and their retainers could muster was lavishly exhibited on this occasion. The old chronicler Hall, who was present at this famous meeting, has left us a dazzling detail of the gorgeous scene, in which cloth-of-gold and cloth-of- silver, velvets and jewellery, become almost contemptible by their very profusion. " Henry," he says, " was apparelled in a garment of cloth-of-silver of damask, ribbed with a cloth-of-gold, as thick as might be ; the garment was large and plaited very thick, of such shape and making as was marvellous to behold ;" the horse he rode having, according to the same authority, " a marvellous vesture, the trapper being of fine gold in bullion, curiously wrought." Such was the insane desire to outshine each other felt by the English and French nobility present on this memorable occasion, that they mort- gaged and sold their estates to gratify their vanity, and changed their extravagantly-splendid dresses twice a day during the meeting: "Today the French, AH clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods. Shone down the English; and tomorrow they Made Britain, India : every man that stood Showed lite a mine. Theii dwarfish pages were As cheruhims, all gilt; the madams too, ITot used to toil, did almost sweat to bear The pride upon them." 190 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. An exceedingly interesting series of bas-reliefs, five in number, exist at !Rouen, devoted to this celebrated event. They are chiselled beneath the windows of a side-gallery in the courtyard of that mag- nificent erection — the far-famed Hotel du Bourgtheroulde. They are worthily lithographed by Nodier, in that portion of his magni- ficent work, the Voyage Pittoresque dans I'an- cienne France, devoted to Normandy; but they may be now best studied in the casts exhibited in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. The Eouen bas-reliefs display the nobles in the feathered hat, already described in the previous reign ; their dresses being little else than a series of puffs and slashes, which, com- ing into fashion at this time, was carried to an absurd extent by the nobility and gentry. A specimen of costume from these sculptures is here given, aad will very clearly show the peculiarities which render the words of Sir Thomas Lovel, in Shakspeare's play of Memry YIIL, particularly pointed, when he declares our courtiers should " Leave these renmants Of fool and feather, that they got in France, renouncing clean The faith they have in tennis and tall stockings. Short blistered breeches, and those types of travel." A marked difference in costume occurred at the commencement ot the sixteenth century ; one of the innovations being hose fitting close to the leg, having the upper portion from the knee, or the middle of the thighs, slashed, puffed, and embroidered distinct from the lower ; the upper portion being termed hose, and the lower stocking. In modern phraseology we have retained the latter word, and have er- roneously applied the term hose to the same articles of apparel, but which, in fact, became ultimately breeches ; " a pair of hose " being the word used in describing the capacious puffed garments that of- ficiated in the place of the more modern articles at this time.* The large wide sleeves, also now worn, were attached to the shoulders of the vest of both sexes, and were separate and distinct articles of ap- parel, being sometimes of another colour : in the wardrobe accounts * See also woodcut on p. 159, for an early form of hose like the modem breeches. THE TTJDOBS. 191 of the period, mention is frequently made of " pairs of sleeves." (See Gl0SS(W7/.) The annexed engraving is an excellent example of male costume, and is copied from a figure on one of the columns of the Ware Chantry (dated 1532) in Boxgrove church, Sussex. The various por- tions of the dress are covered with slashes, to show the under-cloth- ing of silt or fine linen ; the sleeves are cut into strips and were generally of dififerent colours, a fashion originating among the Swiss, and adopted by the Court of France, from whence it travelled to England. Its origin is curiously told in a rare little hook by Henry Peacham, entitled. The Truth of our Times, 1638 : " At what time the Duke of Burgundy received his overthrow (at Nancy in 1477), and the Swiss recovered their li- berty, he entered the field in all the state and pomp he could possibly devise. He brought with him aU his plate and jewels ; all his tents were of silk, of several colours,* which, the battle being ended, being all torn to pieces by the Swiss soldiers, of a part of one colour they made them doublets, of the rest of the colours breeches, stockings, and caps, returning home in that habit ; so ever in remembrance of that famous victory by them achieved, and their liberty recovered, even to this day they go still in their party-colours," and which he further says " consist of doublets and breeches, drawn out with huge puffs of taffatee or linen, and their stockings, (like the knaves of our cards,) party-coloured of red and yellow, and other colours." The drawings of Hans Holbein, and the engravings of the German masters, will furnish striking examples of the fasldon ; and visitors to Rome may still see it in wear by the soi-disant Swiss Guards of the Papal Coiirt. * In M. Jubinal's Ta/pisseHes anciemies de France is engraved tlie curious emblematic tapestry wliicli once lined the Duke's tent, who was killed in this battle. It confirms Peacham's narrative of the splendour of his encampment, an account of which he obtained in the low Countries from a Swiss o£Bcer. 192 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Holbein's portrait of the Earl of Surrey, at Hampton Court, has been here engraved, as affording a fine example of the usual costame of the nobility and gentry during Henry's reign. The Earl is entire- ly arrayed in scarlet, of different depths of tint, and wears a short doublet, open in front, displaying his shirt, which is white, orna- mented with black embroidery, as also are the ruffles. It is fastened round his waist by a girdle, to which his dagger, in a richly gilt case, is appended. His jerkin is made preposterously broad at the shoulders, and very wide in the sleeves, which are gathered, and puffed and slashed in the first fashion ; the dress altogether hav- ing a strange contradictory look of heaviness and lightness, occasioned by the superabundant breadth and exceeding shortness of these articles, contrasting curiously with the tight stocking and small flat cap, which eventually displaced the broad hat and its enormous circle of feathers, worn at the early part of the reign. It wUl be observed that the hair is now altered in fashion, being cut very close.* The shoes are also scarlet, and probably of velvet, crossed by bands of a darker tint, and enriched with jewels. He wears the hragetto, an article of dress that, sin- gularly enough, was adopted throughout Europe at this period, both in civil and military costume (and to which I can but barely allude), and continued in use for more than a century. * This fashion, so completely contrasting with the pride of hirsute display at the early part of the reign, was an imitation of the French court custom ; in- troduced hy Francis I. in 1521, according to Mezeray, who says it was in conse- quence of an accident which happened to that sovereign as he was amusing him- self besieging the Count de St. Pol's house with snow-balls. This childish sport was brought to an abrupt termination by some one throwing a firebrand at the King's head, which grievously wounded him, and obliged the hair to be cut off. As short hair was at this time worn by the Swiss and Italians, the King found it convenient to make the fashion general, and all France copied the mode, which continued until the reign of Louis XIII. THE TUDOES. 193 Noble ladies and gentlewomen dressed much as usual, the chief novelty being in the head-tire. The two specimens here engraved wUl show in what the changes principally consisted. The elder figure, to the left, is copied from Jffolbein's portrait of Catherine of Arragon, as en- graved by Houbraken in 1743, when the ori- ginal was in the pos- session of Horace Walpole. It is exceed- ingly plain, and exhi- bits the ordinary head- dress of the elderly ladies of that period, being merely a close un- ornamented hood. Wide sleeves, and a gown with a train, would complete the dress of this figure. Her successful rival, Anne Bul- len, has afforded us the other example ; her head-dress shows us the way in which the diamond-shaped one of the previous reign had been modified, and rendered more elegant and portable. Kerchiefs appear to have been folded about the head at this time, one end hanging over the shoulders, and presenting sometimes a mere mass of confusion, not so easily understood as this of Anne. If we ima- gine the lower part of Anne's dress, and the sleeves similar to those worn by Queen Catherine Psirr, the subject of our next cut, we shall obtain an idea of her entire costume. The very interesting portrait (on the next page) of the seventh and last wife of " the rose without a thorn,"* is at Glendon Hall, in Northamptonshire. The queen wears a simple but elegant head- dress of richly ornamented goldsmith's work ; her waist is long and slender, and is encircled by a chain of cameos hanging nearly to her feet, and having a tassel at its end ; such girdles continued very fashionable until the beginning of the next century. Her sleeves are of the remarkable form now usually adopted ; exceedingly tight at the shoulder, and having a wide border of fiir, displaying a large under-sleeve richly decorated, slashed and puffed to the wrist, where * This flattering title was applied to Henry when he first ascended the throne, liy a people sickened by the avaricious rule of his parent, and overjoyed to wel- come a young and gallant sovereign ru his place. It was stamped upon his coin as a compliment ; he converted it into a bitter satire. O 194 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. it is bounded by a ruffle. These singular sleeves are at once indi- cative of this period of English female costume ; and the por- traits, by -Holbein, of Mary and Elizabeth when princesses, now in Hampton Court,, exhibit them wearing such. The open gown, and therichly- wrought petticoat, are embroidered in cloth-of-gold, the entire dress being of regal splendour. An example of the ordinary costume of a country lady of the early part of the reign of Henry VIII. is given (Fig. 1.) from the brassofDorotheaPeekham, dated 1512, in the church of Wrotham, Kent. It is the dress of the latter part of the reign of Henry VII., but that the old fashions lingered longest in the country may be easily seen by a glance at the coRec- Kg. 1. tions of brasses by Cotman and others. The hood is of the angular form, with long lappets; the gown is close fitting in the body and the sleeves, but ample from the waist downward, completely hiding the feet, which, in- deed, were seldom seen at all. The girdle is very long, reaching to the ankles, and is held round the waist by a large buckle not drawn tight- ly round it, but merely slung there easily, as they were sometimes worn in the time of Richard II. The conventual form of dress, adopted by elderly ladies in their widowhood has been already noticed in THE TUDOES. 195 the figure of the Countess of Eiohmond (p. 188) ; and in Fig. 2 we have a full-length example in the hrass of Elizaheth Porte, 1516, in the church at Etwall, Derbyshire. She wears a close hood, which falls round the shoulders, and beneath it the frontlet or forehead- cloth; the pleated barbe hangs from the face, and the long mourn- ing mantle is held across the breast by tasseled cords, which pass through the studs on each side of it ; and which are sometimes richly decorated or enchased. There is much simple dignity in the dress, and it is exceedingly appropriate to the wearer. As a specimen of the or- dinary costume of the peo- ple during Henry's reign, two figures are here select- ed from the painting repre- senting the siege of Bou- logne.formerly atCowdray, Sussex.* The male figure is dressed in a plain doublet, hose puffed to the knees, tight-fitting stockings, a small close cap, and narrow collar round the neck. The female wears a close hood, and her face is partially covered by a muffler, an in- convenient and unnecessary article, that became fashionable now, and which lingered among the elders of the fem^e community until the reign of Charles I.f The sleeves and front of the dress is slashed and puffed, and the long girdle is held up by the hand. U we imagine these ornamental parts of the lady's dress away, and the pendent strip of cloth removed from the shoulders of the male figure, we shall have the costume of the commonalty in its simplest and most * This interesting old mansion, filled with antique furniture, curious historical paintings, and ancient manuscripts, was reduced to ruin by fire in 1793. For- tunately the most interesting of the paintings had been engraved and published by the Society of Antiquaries. f It mil be remembered as a very essential part of Falstaff's disguise as the "fat woman of Brentford;" and a disquisition on this article of dress, accom- panied by several engravings, will be found in Douce's IllustratUms of Shake- speare^ A sumptuary law of James II. of Scotland ordains ; " That na woman cum to the kirk, nor mercat, with her face mussaled, that scho may nocht be kend, under the pane of escheit of the curchie" (forfeiture of the muffler). o2 196 COSTUME IN EUaXAND. usual form. The ordinary dress of a plain countryman at this pe- riod is well described in Armin's Nest of Ninnies, who narrates an anecdote of a simple Shropshire man, the uncle of Will Somers, King Henry VIII.'s kind-hearted and favourite jester, who paid his nephew a visit at court : he was " a plain old man of threescore years ; with a buttoned cap ;* a lockram falling band,+ coarse but clean ; a russet coat ; a white belt of a horse-hide, right horse-collar white leather; a close round breech of russet sheep's wool, with a long stock of white kersey, and a high shoe with yellow buckles." In the History of Chester (8vo, 1815) is published the following curious extract from the corporation records : " 32 Henry VIII., Henry Gee, Mayor. — To distinguish the head-dresses of married women from unmarried, no unmarried woman to wear white or other coloured caps ; and no woman to wear any hat, unless she rides or goes abroad into the country (except sick or aged persons), on pain of 3«. U." In the thirty-third year of his reign, Henry passed a sumptuary law regulating the apparel of each member of the community, and which would appear to have exerted some influence over their usual mode of dressing, as it involved some consequences to the wearer, such as obliging him to keep always ready a horse and armour for the wars, provided his apparel displayed any costly article forbidden to all but those persons of a liberal income, sufficient to maintain the necessary equipment for battle ; and this was enforced by a heavy fine, which in those days of constant pillage was no doubt care- fully sought after by the jackals of a sovereign who probably got through more wealth than any other English king. The ladies were also efiectually reached by the same law, through their husbands ; for it was enacted, that " if any temporal person of full age, whose wife not being divorced, nor willingly absenting herself from him, doth wear any gown or petticoat of silk, or any velvet in her kirtle, or in any lining or part of her gown (other than in cuffes and pur- fles),J or any French hood§ or bonnet of velvet with any habili- ment, paste, or edge of gold, pearl, or stone, or any chain of gold about her neck, or upon any of her apparel ; have not found and * The flaps, tliat fell over the eais, turned up and secured by a button. f A marrow collar of coarse linen, turned down round the neck. X Edgings or borders. Yelvet gowns and martens' fur were prohibited to all persons but those possessed of 200 marks per annum; the fur of black genet was confined to the royal family, and that of sables to nobles above the raik of a viscount. § See cut of Anne Bullen, p. 193. THE TUDOES. 197 kept a light horse fumisliecl, except he have been otherwise charged by the statute to find horse or gelding, shall lose 101. eyery three months while he has so neglected." The hindrance to trade, and trouble given to official personages by these ridiculous laws, is well illustrated in a letter from Eichard Onslow, Recorder of London, February, 1565, given in EUis's Original Letters, vol. ii. He describes an interview he had with the civic tailors, who were puzzled to know whether they might " line a slop- hose not cut in panes, with a lining of cotton stitched to the slop, over and besydes the linen lining straight to the leg." This weighty legal quibble was solemnly thought over by the Eecorder, and he says : " Upon consideration of the words of the proclamation, I an- swered them all, that I thought surely they could not : and that any loose lining not straight to the leg was not permitted, but for the lining of panes only ; and that the whole upper stock being in our •slop uncut could not, be said to be in panes, wherewith they departed satisfied." It is difficult now to realize the absurdity of such an interview and the solemn trifiing with legal opinion, wasting the time of the Eecorder of London in this way. That it was wasted is .proved by the continuation of his letter, for he says, the tailors came after a time again " and declared that, for as much as they have refused to line the slop so, their customers have gone from them to other hosiers dwelling without Temple-bar," who having the law in- terpreted in their favour " have so lyned the slop." Hence the difficulty of the city magnate and the tailors, which induces him to write to higher state authority about that dehcate ques- tion, the legal lining of the citizens' breeches I The dress worn at this period pretty accu- rately defined the class and station of the wearer — persons in the middle rank of life generally dressing with much simplicity ; in- deed, the gentry and higher classes, towards the end of this reign, would appear to have indulged in display only on great occasions ; and the extravagancies of the field of cloth-of- gold became mere matter of history. The engraving, of the effigy of Laurence Colston, who died 1550, from an incised stone slab to his memory, in Eolleston Church, Staf- fordshire, displays the ordinary dress of a gentleman, with the long gown, ungirdled at 198 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the waist, and its hanging sleeves, entirely concealing the under- dress. The dress of the commonalty is given from the print of the pro- gress of Edward VI. from the Tower, through the City to Westminster, on the day of his coronation, from the paint- ing formerly at Cowdray. The female dresses are very plain : a hood or cloth cap, with a border hanging round the neck, is worn by the foremost figure, and a gown with a close collar and tight sleeves, with a small puff at the shoulders. The other fe- male wears a cap, something after the fashion of the one immortalized by its constant appearance on the head of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scotsj and known to all persons as her cap. An open gown displays the neck, which was covered by the partlet, an article similar to the modern habit-shirt, and which lingered longest, as most comfortable fashions do, among the old ladies. The male figure is dressed in a plain jerkin, doublet, and hose, and wears a flat cloth cap on his head, of the fashion usual with citizens, and which was ultimately known as ' the City fiat cap :' it is the ' statute-cap ' of Shakespeare, so called because they were strictly enjoined to be worn, by the 13th of EHzabeth, cap. 19, for the encouragement of the home ma- nufacture ; the law being, that " if any person above sis years of age (except maidens, ladies, gentlewomen, nobles, knights, gentle- men of twenty marks by year in lands, and their heirs, and such as have "borne office of worship) have not worn upon the Sunday and holyday (except it be in the time of his travell out of the city, town, or hamlet, where he dwelleth) upon his head one cap of wool, knit, tHcked, and dressed in England, and only dressed and finished by some of the trade of cappers, shall be fined 3«. id. for each day's transgression." The portraits of Edward VI. render this cap perfectly familiar to us, and it may be stiU seen upon the heads of " the Blue-coat boys," as the scholars in his foundation of Christchurch are called ; indeed, their costume has come down to us, with some few exceptions, from THE TUDOES. 199 the period of its institution ; the long blue gown, buckled round the waist, being the ordinary dress of a grave citizen of that time.* The manners of the age, too, were iafluenced by the gravity and thoughtfulness of the youthful king, who possessed a mind far above his years, and whose untimely death produced an incalculable amount of evil to the nation. With such a king, and an all-absorb- ing thirst for knowledge on subjects of the gravest import felt by the community at large, the frivolities of fashion had but little claim on their attention, and plain, serviceable clothing appears to have been that usually adopted by the great mass ; while a richer quality, and a sparing amount of ornament, denoted the higher rank of the wearer. The prices of wearing apparel in England at this period may be gathered from the bill of expenses of the famous Peter Martyr and Bernardus Ochin, in 1547, who were invited to this country from Basle by Archbishop Cranmer. The original biU is in the Ashmo- lean Museum ; it has been printed in the Arckmologia, volume xxi., from whence the following few extracts have been obtained : — s. d. Payd for two payer of hose for Bernardinus and Petrua Martyr . 11 4 Pd. for a payer of netlier stocks for their servant 2 Pd. for three payer of shooe for them and their servant 2 4 Pd. for two nyght cappes of vellvet for them 8 Pd. for two round cappes for them 6 Pd. for two payer of tunbrydg' knyves for them . 2 8 Pd. for two payer garters of sylke rybamd 2 6 Por ryband for a gyrdyll for Petrus Martyr 12 For two payer of glovys for them 10 It was not until after the accession of Elizabeth that any striking change in costume occurred. Mary was too ftdly occupied ia what she considered to be religious duties, to trouble herself much about the trifles of the toilet : having, to her entire satisfaction, considered " Blood and fire and desolation A godly thorough reformation,'' she set about the work with a zeal worthy of a better cause, and fully succeeded in earning herself an immortality the very reverse of that usually desired by her sex. During her awful reign the minds of all parties were too fuUy occupied to study fashions, and a * See examples in Herbert's 'B.Utory of the Twelve great Lively Companies of London, Burgon's Ufe of Gresham, or the many portraits and effigies of citizens still existing in our metropoUtan churches; particularly St. Saviour's, Southwark ; St. Helen's, Bishopsgate ; and St. Andrew's, Undershaft. 200 COBT0ME IN ENffLAND. great simplicity is visible in all contemporary representations of persons and events. The woodcuts in the original edition of Eox's Martyrology, which depict many an event in this reign, wiU fully display the extreme simplicity that now appeared in the dresses of all classes of the community ; and the portraits of Mary and her husband, as painted by Sir Antonio More, her court painter, exhibit little traces of the splendour that characterize those of her father, or her sister Elizabeth. She, indeed, was most stringent in her notions about apparel .in general, and by enactments (1 and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 2) declared, " If any man born within the queen's dominions (except it be the sonne and heir apparent of a knight, or the sonne of one of higher degree ; or such as may dispend xx pounds by year, in lands, offices, fees, or other yerely revenues for term of life ; or be worth two hundreth pounds in goods, or have been head- officer in any citie, borough, or towne corporate ; or be the queene's servant in ordinarie, and wearing her liverie) have wome any man- ner of sUie, in or upon his hat, bonet, nightcap,* girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or apurlethers, shall lose ten pounds for each day's of- fence. And if any person knowing any servant of his to offend herein, have not (within fourteen days next after such knowledge) put him out of service, if he were no apprentice or hired servant ;t and if he were, then if he have not put him away at the end of his time, or if having put him away therefore, he have retained him again within one year next after the offence, he shall forfeit one hundred pounds."J I quote these sumptuary laws as much, or more, for the purpose of detailing the minutiae of dress in these times, as for the display of ignorant despotism they evince ; none of the framers of these sapient enactments imagining, any more than the clamorous satirists, that the excess in apparel, which they declare would clothe manj- poor families, would, if restrained, never be ap- plied to such purposes, while the demand by the wealthy for such superabundance clothed and fed many a workman who would else have starved. Mr. HolHa's work on Monumentdl JEffigies has furnished me with the originals for the out engraved on next page, which delineates effigies of Margaret and Elizabeth, wives of Sir John Talbot (who * Nightcaps during tliis reign, and until the Protectorate, were ricHy wrought with lace and embroidery, and formed of costly materials. The portraits of the nobility of the age are frequently depicted in them, and the copies given by Lodge afford many examples of their appearance. f That is, engaged tor a stipulated time. J Lambarde's Mirenarcha, or Office of Justice of Peace, 1599. THE TTTDOES. 201 died in 1550), who are buried in Bromsgrove Church, Worcester- sliire. They are exceedingly interesting examples of a style of cos- tume that completely disap- peared in the ensuing reign, after retaining its ascendency for more than half a century. The diamond-shaped head- dress worn by the first lady may be considered as the latest form of that peculiar fashion ; the hair beneath is secured by bands or ribbons ; the gown is low in the neck displaying the partlet, with its embroidered border, and the gold chains so fashionable with the upper classes at this time ; it is secured at the waist by a loosely-fitting girdle, and is held up in front by jewelled bands passing round the loins, displaying the petticoat beneath; the sleeves are wide, showing the pleated and pufied under-ones, with the ruffle encircling the wrist. A crimson mantle envelopes the back part of the figure, falling over the shoulders and hanging to the feet ; and the entire dress is inte- resting for its display of the modification and variation adopted since its first introduction to fashionable society, as we see it worn by Queen Catherine Parr, in the cut p. 194. The companion-figure wears her hair parted in front, from the centre, in the simplest manner, and she has a close-fitting-cap of dark-cloth, or velvet, enriched with a border of gold lace and rows of gilt beads ; it takes the shape of the head, and was frequently worn with a point descending to the centre of the forehead. A long gown, with a turn-over collar, envelopes the entire figure; it is open in front down the entire length, being secured by ties at re- gular intervals, and having no girdle at the waist ; small pufis are on the shoulders, from whence descend long hanging sleeves, through which the arm was never placed, ornamented by diagonal stripes, reaching to the knee. Euffles decorate the wrist ; but the entire dress is exceedingly, not to say unbecomingly, plain. 202 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. The ordinary costume of men in the middle ranks may be seen in this full-length portrait of John Haywood, which is affixed to his Parable of the Spider and the Flie, 1556. He was one of the earliest of our dra- matic poets, and the personal friend of Sir Thomas More, by whom he was in- troduced to King Henry VIII., and his daughter the Princess, afterwards Queen Mary, by the former of whom he was held in much esteem ; and so much va- lued by the latter, that he was often, after she came to the throne, admitted to the honour of audience, even at the time she lay languishing on her death- bed. His portrait is a capital example of the grave dress of the period, and is precisely that which was worn by the citizens and merchantmen of London. Their flat cap surmounts his head, a coif made to tie beneath the chin com- pletely envelopes the hair, and he wears the long furred gown with hanging sleeves, so constantly seen upon all classes at this time, and which varied only in the better character of cloth and expensiveness of its fur-trimmings when worn by the wealthy. His gloves and dagger denote the gentleman, and in no degree disturb the gravity of his general appearance. In 1558, the lion-hearted Elizabeth ascended the throne. She dressed, of course, as her sister had dressed before her, and so did the ladies of her oaurt ; but the Queen, who could gather upwards of two thousand dresses of aU nations for her wardrobe, and highly resent the conduct of an over-zealous divine for preaching against excess in apparel before her and her court in St. Paul's, was not the lady to remain clothed like her grandmother. We not only find a total change, therefore, iu the female costume during her reign, but a superabundance of finery. We never think of her termagant ma- jesty, as Walpole truly observes, without picturing a sharp-eyed lady with a hook-nose, red hair loaded with jewels, an enormous ruflf, a vaster farthingale, and a bushel of pearls bestrewed over the entire figure. " It seems," says Mr. Planch^, " an act of superero- gation to describe the personal costume of ' Good Queen Bess ;' her great ruff rises up indignantly at the bare idea of being unknown or THE TUDOES. 203 forgotten. Her jewelled stomacher is piqiied to the extreme, and her portentous petticoats strut out with tenfold importance at the slight insinuated against their virgin mistress, who lived but for con- quest, and thought infinitely less of bringing a sister-queen to the block than of failing to make an impression on a gentleman usher." Of a truth, the tiger-blood of Henry VIII. was too apparent in the female members of his family. The costume of a lady and a country- woman has been select- ed, by way of giving a fair notion of that ge- nerally worn about the middle of Elizabeth's reign. The lady has been copied from the print by Vertue, repre- senting the Progress of Elizabeth to Hunsdon House ; and it is sup- posed to represent Lady Hunsdon. The female beside her is copied from a brass, dated 1596, in the col- lection published by Cotman. Both figures require httle in the way of explanation, and will be clearly understood by the allusions to the various articles of apparel worn at this time, which I shall quote from the works of contemporary writers. The most notorious of the satirists of the day was Philip Stubbes, whja published his Ana- tomie of Abuses in 1583, and gave therein a luminous account of the excesses reigning in England at that time ; not, however, without highly colouring the picture with his own puritanical feeling. Thus, he declares, " No people in the world is so curious in new fangles as they of England bee ;" and laments, according to the fashion of all grumblers at apparel, time out of mind, that it is impossible to know " who is noble, who is worshipful, who is a gentleman, who is not," because all persons dress indiscriminately in " sUks, velvets, satens, damaskes, taffeties, and suche like, notwithstanding that they be both base by birthe, meane by estate, and servile by calling ; and this," he adds, with due solemnity, " I count a greate confusion, and a general disorder : God be merciful unto us." 204 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. But let US listen while lie descends into particulars. He is justly- indignant at the paintiag of ladies' faees that now became usual ; and, after some pages of argument, he speaks of their hair, "which of force must be curled, frisled, and crisped, laid out in wreathes land borders, from one ear to another. And, lest it should fall down, it is under-propped with forks, wires, and I cannot tell what, rather like grim, stern monsters than chaste Christian matrons. At their haire, thus wreathed and crested, are hanged bugles, ouches, rings, gold, silver, glasses, and such other chUdish gewgawes." Bad as all this is declared to be, he expresses his utter horror at the still worse custom of wearing false hair, and dyeing it " of what colour they •list."* Then comes a tirade agaiust French hoods, hats, caps, ker- chiefs, " and suche like ;" of silk, velvet, and taffety, which even mer- chants' wives " will not sticke to goe in every day," with close caps beneath of gold and silver tissue ; and, worse than all, " they are so far bewitched as they are not ashamed to make holes in their ears, whereat they hang rings, and other jewels of gold and precious stones ;" but this, he says, " isnot so much frequented amongst wo- men as men." But the zeal.of Master Philip absolutely boils over when he speaks of the great ruffs worn by the ladies ; and " the devil's liquor, I raean jstarche," /with which they strengthen these " pillars of pride." His rage increases when he considers, that " beyond all this they have a further fetche, nothyng inferiour to the rest, as, namely, three or four degrees of minor ruffes, placed gradatim one beneath another, and all under the maister devil ruffe! !" each of them, " every way pleated and crested fuU curiously, god wot. Then, last of all, they are either clogged with gold, silver, or silk lace of stately price, wrought all over with needle worke, speckeled and sparkeled here and there with the sunne, moone, and starres, and many other an- tiques strange to beholdw Some are wrought with open work downe to the midst of the ruffe and further ; some with close work, some with ' purled lace so closed, and other gewgawes, so fastened, as the ruffe is the least part of itself." In those days, when umbrellas were unused, much did it delight these saints to see the ladies caught in ' * It was the fashion to dye it yellow at tMa time in compliment to the Queen, whose hair was of that colour. Her Majesty, as well as her great rival, Mary Queen of Scots, patronized wigs. Elizabeth had eighty attires of false hair at a time. Maay had many sent to her while in captivity at lochleven, and after her retreat to Carlisle she received "ung paqu^ de perruques de cheveux." It is recorded that her attendant Mary Seton was particularly ingenious in dis- playing them to advantage, and that her Majesty changed them every other day. THE TTTDOBS. 205 a shower ; for " then their great ruffes strike sayle, and flutter like dishecloutes " about the necks of the wearers, the poor " drowned rattes " they so religiously detested. This accident was sometimes prevented by the use of " supportasses or under-props of wire, covered with gold thread, silver, or silk," which held out the pleats of the ruff as exhibited in our cut, copied from a Dutch engra- ving of this period. The ladies' high head-dress, with a bow and feather, just peeps above its grand circumfe- rence. Stubbes goes on to say, they also wore " doublettes and jerkins, as men have here, buttoned up the breast, and made with wings, welts, and pini- ons on the shoulder polntes, as mannes apparell is for all the world.* Their gownes be no lesse famous then the reste ; for some are of silk, some of velvet, some of gro- grame, some of taffatie, some of scarlet, and some of fine cloth, of X, XX, or xl shillynges a yard." To add to the extravagance, they are overlaid with lace two or three fingers broad, or else edged with velvet six fingers broad, with sleeves hanging to the ground, or " cast over their shoulders like cowe tailes." Then they have equally costly gown and kirtles, " so that when they have all these goodly robes upon them, women seem to be the smallest part of themselves, not natural! women, but artificial women ; not women of fleshe and blood, but rather puppits or mawmets, consisting of rags and clouts compact together." Not having the space that Stubbes allowed himself, I cannot do more than allude to the gaily-coloured silk, worsted, or cloth stock- ings he descants upon. The corked shoes, pantofles and slippers, black, white, green, and yellow, covered with gold and silver em- broidery; the scarfs, the velvet masks, the scented gloves, with " the devil's spectacles," their looking-glasses, carried with them at the girdle wherever they go. * Biding-habits of the time of Elizabeth are described in a similar manner in Gtoddaid's Mastiff Whelp, a collection of satires. " To see Morilla in her coach to ride, "With her long locke of hair upon one side ; With hat and feather, worn in swaggering guise i With buttoned boddice, skirted doublet-wise; Unmaskt, and sit i' the booth without a fan : Speake, could you judge her less than be some man?" 206 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. In The Boohe of Sobin Conscience is a description of a proud lady's dress ; she says " I will goe JTOcked and in a French hood, I will hare my fine cassockes and my round verdingale." Another lady speaks of her powers in painting her face, of her chains of pearl and gold, her red sili hat ; and further declares : " I will have my pomanders of most sweet smell : Also my chains of gold to hang about my neck^ And my 'broidered hair while I at home dwell. Stomachers of gold hecometh me well." In 1579 the Queen gaTe her " command " to the lord chancellor and privy-council to prevent certain excesses in apparel ; and it was ordered hy them that after the 21st of Pebruary in that year, " no person shall use or weare such excessive long clokes, being in com- mon sight monstrous, as now of late are beginning to be used, and before two yeares past hath not been used in this realme. Neither also shoulde any person use or weare such great and excessive ruffes, in or about the uppermost part of their neckes, as had not been used before two yeares past ; but that all persons shoulde, in modest and semely sort, leave off such fonde, disguised, and monstrous manner of attyring themselves, as both was unsupportable for charges, and undecent to be wome." The womanish spleen of the latter part of this manifesto, where the Queen's jealousy of any rivalry in extravagance of costume peeps forth very plainly, contrasts rather ridiculously with the lawyer-like exactitude in which the position of the offending ruffs is mentioned. The figure beside the lady in the engraving at p. 203 is a plain countrywoman of the time, with a simple ruff and unpretending petticoats. However, we are told that the country was at this time going rapidly to ruin, and simple innocence for ever put to flight by the inundation of London fashions. Listen to the lamentations of two old gossips in their chimney-corner, as given by William War- ner in Albion's Englcmd : " When we were maids (quoth one of them), "Was no such new-found pride. Then wore they shoes of ease, now of An inch-hroad-corked high. Black kersey stockings, worsted now. Yea, silk of youthful' st dye : Garters of list, but now of sUk, Some edged deep with gold; With costlier toys, for coarser times. Than used perhaps of old. THE TUDOES. 207 " Fringed and embroidered petticoats Now beg. But beard you named, Till now of late, busks, periwigs. Masks, plumes of feathers, framed ; Supporters, postures, farthingales. Above the loins to wear ? That be she ne'er so slender, yet She cross-like seems four square." They continue in strong terms to reprobate grey-headed wives who wear " youthful borrowed hair," condemn starch, and are highly in- dignant at the girls who will dress before the looking-glass, when they were obliged to be content with getting now and then a peep in " a tub or paU. of water clear," when they were young. The kneeling figures here engraved, and which are co- pied from the tomb of Sir Koger Manwood, 1592, in St. Stephen's church, near Can- terbury, will give us fair ex- amples of the male and female costume of the latter part of Elizabeth's reign. The lady wears the French hood, be- neath which her hair is tightly secured. Herruff and gown are simply decorated, and precisely in form like that of the young man behind her, except that his gown has a long hanging sleeve. The sim- plicity of both dresses is cer- tainly such that even Stubbes might complacently contemplate them. In the old play called The Cobbler's Prophesie, 1594, Venus, speak- ing to her man, Nicholas Newfangle, alludes to the capricious vanity of the ladies. The first line is a comment on the Colour of their hair, which Elizabeth had made fashionable, as it was the natural tint of her own. " Today her own hair best becomes, which yellow is as gold, A periwig's better for tomorrow, blacker to behold; Today in piunps and cheveril gloves, to walke she will be bolde. Tomorrow cufFes and countenance, for feare of catching cold. Now is she barefaced to be seen, straight on her muffler goes j Now is she hufft up to the crowne, straight musled to the nose." 208 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Perhaps as pretty a specimen of the dress of a country lady at the end of this reign as could be given, is that here engraved from the brass of Cicely Page, who " dyed ye xiith daye of March, anno 1598," and is buried in Bray Church, Buckingham- shire. Her plain hat, ruff, and open-breasted gown, with the neatness of her whole attire, might not be unbecoming of " sweet Anri R Page " herself, the immortalized of Shake- speare, whose surname she bears, and near whose resi- dence, and that of the " merry wives of Windsor," she had her home and her last resting- place. As a work of art this littlebrass is exceedingly good, the drapery well cast, and the drawing commendable. Now let us see what the gentlemen were doing all this time. Philip Stubbes has "anatomized" them as well as the ladies; and most efficiently has he wield- ed his lancet, and cut them up in a very work- manlike manner, 'from the crown of their heads to the soles of their feet. His satire will illustrate the points of costume exhibited in the above engraving ; but I may just mention the autho- rities from which the figures are derived. The gentleman without the cloak is taken from the woodcut frontispiece to Tlte Booh of Falconrie or Hawking, published in 1575 ; the out representing EHzabeth and attendants enjoying that sport. The second figure is Lord Howard THE TUrOES. 209 of E£Sngham, from the picture published by the Society of Anti- quaries, representing Elizabeth's progress to Hunsdon House. The great ruffs of the gentlemen are condemned sufficiently, but the horror of it, in Stubbes's eyes, is, that " every pesant has his stately bandes and monstrous ruffes, how costly soever they be." Then the shirts of all who can find money to purchase them by fair or foul means, " are wrought throughout with needlework of sUke, and such like, and curiously stitched with open seame, and many other knacks besides, more than I can describe : in so much as I have heard of shirtes that have cost some ten shillings, some twentie, some fortie, some five pound, some twentie nobles, and (which is horrible to heare) some ten pounde a peece ; yea the meanest shirt that com- monly is worn of any does cost a croune, or a noble at least, and yet this is scarcely thought fine enough for the simplest person that is." The long-breasted doublets then come in for their share of cen- sure : they were an Italian fashion, and are seen on the figure en- graved on the preceding page ; they fitted the body tightly, and were carried down to a long peak in front, from whence they obtained the name of " peascod-bellied " doublets, and they were stuffed or "bombasted" to the required shape.* Then their "hosen," or breeches, are " of sundrie natures; some be called French hose, some Gallic, and some Venetian." The French hose are very round or narrow, and gathered into a series of puffs round the thigh. The " Gaily hosen are made very large and wide, reachyng down to the knees only, with three or four guardes a peece laid down along either hose. ■ And the Venetian hosen, they reach beneath the knee to the gartering place of the legge, where they are tied finely with silke pointes or some such like, and laid on also with rows of lace or gardes, as the other before." This varied origin of different parts of dress and consequent mixture of style was a fertile source of adverse com- ment. The whimsical traveller, Coryat, in his Crudities, observes : — " We weare most fantastical fashions than any nation under the sun doth, the French only excepted ; which hath given occasion to the Venetian, and other Italians, to brand the Englishman with a notable mark of levity, by painting him stark naked, with a pair of shears in his hand, making his fashion of attire according to the vain con- * This " shotten-bellied doublet," as it was also sometimes called, appears to have gone out of fashion toward the end of the century ; for Morley, in his In- troihiotion to MuHch, 1697, says of the ancient modes of that science, that they " may hereafter come in request, as the shotten-bellied doublet and the great breeches." P 210 COSTtTMB IN ENOLAND. oeption of Lis brain-sick head, not to comeliness and decorum." The fond- ness of the English for adopting new- fashions, had long before this been sa- tirized, and Andrew Borde, in his In- trodMction to Knowledge (temp. Henry VIII.) has given the quaint cut here copied (which seems to have been de- rived from that alluded to by Coryat), with the following satirical verses : "I Eun an Englisliman and naked I stand here. Musings in my mynde, what rayment I shall were, For now I will were this, and now I will were that, Now I win were I cannot tell what." The fine full-length portrait of Sir William Eussell, one of the most distinguished of Elizabeth's courtiers, from the print published in Mr. Harding's series of Historical Portraits, is an excellent specimen of the dress of a nobleman. He wears an immense ruff, a richly ornamented " peascod-bellied doublet," quilted or stuffed, and apparently constructed of rich black silk, the point of the waist hanging over the sword-belt. It is co- vered with slashes, and one large one at the arms shows the rich lining of figured lace beneath. The opening at the sleeves has a row of large ornamen- tal buttons on one side, and loops on the other. He wears the Venetian hose, slashed like the doublet; his stockings are of the finest black yarn,* and his shoes of white leather. The enormously wide breeches are shown in the figure engraved from the Book of Mamlcing (copied on p. 208), and were much objected to by the sa- tirists of the day ; Douce quotes a ballad which condemns them in the usual strong terms, and all those folks who * Peaeham tells us that these "long stockings without garters, then was the Earl of Leicester's fashion, and theirs who had the handsomest leg." He also THE TUDOES. 211 "Fumyshe forthe their pryde; With woole, with £axe, with hair also, To make their bryohes wyde." It is among tlie Harleian MSS., and entitled "A lamentable com- plaint of the countrymen for the loss of their cattelle's tails," which were used for stuflmg such breeches. The best description of those articles of apparel is, however, in Thynne's poetical Debate between Pride cmd Lowliness, typified under the form of a pair of cloth breeches of homely form, and a pair of newly-fashioned velvet ones. The former " were but of cloth, withouten pride And stitche, nor gard upon them was to seene ; Of cloth, I say, both upper stock and neather, Paned,* and single lined next to the thie ; Light for the wear, meete for all sort of weather." While the other "was all of velvet very fine; The neather stockes of pure Granada silke. Such as came never upon legges of myne. Their color clear contrary unto mylke. " This breech was paned in the fairest wise. And with right satten very costly lined ; Bmbrodered, according to the guise. With golden lace full craftely engined."-)' Stubbes also tells us that the nether-stocks were " curiously knitte with open seames doune the legge, with quirkes and clocks about the ankles, and sometyme interlaced with gold and sUver threads, as is wonderful to beholde." Then they wore cloaks of the richest ma- terial, covered with lace and embroidery ; corked shoes, pantofles, or slippers, ornamented to the utmost of their means ; and this ex- travagance was anxiously followed by men of all classes. In Thynne's poem, just quoted, we have a description of a tailor, who appears in " A faire black coat of cloth withouten sleeve. And buttoned the shoulder round about; Of xxa. a yard, as I beleeve. And layd upon with parchment lace withoute. speaks of " the wide saucy sleeve that would be in every dish before their master, with buttons aa big as tablemen ;" similar to the " men " now used for draughts. * Quilted and stitched across diagonally, so that they resembled the lozenge- shaped panes of the old lattice- windows. f invented. p 2 212 COSTtTME IN BNGLAND. " His doublet was of sattin very fine, And it was cut and stitched very thick ; Of silke it had a costly enterlyne :* His shirt had bandes and ruff of pure cambrick. " His upper stockes of silken grogeraine. And to his hippes they sate full close and trym. And laced very costly every pane : Their lyning was of sattin, as I wyn. "His neather stockes of silke accordingly; A velvet girdle round about his waist." In Hall's Satires, 1598, is the description of a gallant " all trapped in the new found bravery," with a bonnet which he brags is worked by the nuns of Cadiz, at the conquest of which town he pretends to have been present. " His hair, French-like, stares on his ftighted head. One lock, amazon-like, disheveled; As if he meant to wear a native cord. If chance his fates should hi"! that bane afford.+ All British bare upon the bristled skin. Close notched is his beard, both lips and chin; His linen collar labyrinthian set, Whose thousand double turnings never met ; J His sleeves half hid with elbow-pinionings. As if he meant to fly with linen wings. But when I look and cast mine eyes below, "What monster meets mine eyes in human show ? So slender waist with such an abbot's loin Did never sober nature sure conjoin."§ * lining. •j* An allusion to the fashionable foreign love-lock, which the satirist declares reminds him of the Ttatiue cord of the hangman, which this gallant may one day wear. { The fashion of wearing rufis of fine lawn or cambric, set into intricate plaits by means of an implement called a poking-stick, has been before noticed: to set these ruffs required no mean degree of skill in the operator. The effeminacy of a man's ruff being carefully plaited is well ridiculed in the Nice Valour of Beau- mont and Fletcher : " For how ridiculous wer't to have death come And take a fellow pinn'd up like his mistress ! About his neck a ruff, like a pinch'd lantern Which schoolboys make in winter." § Alluding to the slender waist, sometimes confined by stays, and the wide trunk-hose of preposterous dimensions, which swelled out beneath, and of which the portraits of Baleigh give us examples. THE TtTDOES. 213 Hall, in the sixth satire of his fourth book, again notices the effe- minacy of the dandies, who wish to " Wear curl'd periwigB, and chalk their face, And still are poring on their pocket glass. 'Tir'd* with pinn'd ruffs, and fans, and partletf strips. And busks;); and Terdiagales§ about their hips; And tread on corked stilts || a prisoner's pace." In S. Rowland's curious tract. The Letting of EJwmovn-s blood in the Sead Vaine, first published in 1600, the 26th Epigram gives us a good picture of a gallant : " Behold a most accomplish'd caTalier, That the world's ape of fashions doth appear. Walking the streets bis humours to disclose, In the French doublet and the German hose : The muffes, cloake, Spanish hat, Toledo blade, Italian rufie, a shoe right Flemish made ; Like lord of misrule, when he comes he'le revel, And lye for wagers, with the lying'st devil." And in his 8th Epigram he speaks of " Sir Kevell, furnisht out with fashion, From dish-croun'd hat, unto the shoes square toe ;" and the fashion of others who delight in affecting the mihtary, so that their " Boots, and spurs, and legs do never part." In his 33rd Epigram he laughs at a dandy : " How cock-taile proud he doth his head advance ! How rare his spurs doth ring the morris-dance !" It was the fashion at this time to wear gilded spurs, with rowels of large size and fantastic shape, which clanked and rang as the gal- lants walked, like the beUs which morris-dancers fastened to their * attired. ■f A partlet was a neckerchief, gorget, or loose collar of a doublet. J Busks are pieces of wood or whalebone, worn down the front of women's stays to keep them straight; we have already noticed the men's custom of some- times wearing stays. § This we may conjecture to allude to the stuffed trunk-hose, which set out from the waist like a lady's farthingale. II A kind of high shoe, called a moyle : " Mulleus, a shoe with a high sole, which kings and noblemen use to weare, now common among nice fellowes." — Juniu^s Nomenclator, by Fleming, 1585. 214 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. ankles. " I had spurs of mine own before," says Fungoso, in Every Man in his Swrnowr ; "but tliey were not ginglers." The collection of Lord Londes- borough furnishes us with a curious specimen of one of these spurs, with the gingle attached to the rowel to " discourse most eloquent music" as its owner walked. The wardrobe of a country gen- tleman is thus given from a will dated 1573, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in Brayley and Brit- ton's Grraphic Illusirator : — "I give unto my brother Mr. WiUiam Sheney my best black gown, garded and faced with velvet, and my velvet cap ; also I wiU unto my brother Thomas Marcal my new shepe coloured gowne, garded with velvet and faced with cony ; also I give unto my son Tyble my shorte gown, faced with wolf (skin), and laid with BOlements lace ; also I give unto my brother Cowper my other shorte gown, faced with foxe ; also I give unto Thomas Walker my night gown, faced with cony, with one lace also, and my ready (ruddy) coloured hose ; also I give unto my man Thomas Swaine my doublet of canvas that Forde made me, and my new gas- kyns that Forde made me ; also I give unto John Wyldinge a cas- sock of shepes color,- edged with ponts skins ; also I give unto John Woodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas, and my hose with fryze bryches; also I give unto Strowde my irize jerkin with silke buttons ; also I give Symonde Bis- shoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkyn, with stone but- tons; also I give to Adam Ashame my hose with the frendge (fringe), and lined with crane-coloured sUk : which gifts I will to be deli- vered immediately after my The soberer costume of the time may be seen in the THE TUDOES. 215 woodcut ;* the figures represent two celebrated men of the period, — Tarlton the famous actor, and Banks the proprietor and exhibitor of a learned horse, which astonished all Europe by its pranks ; but travelling too far south, the Italians, believing it possessed by an evil spirit, and its master in league with the devil, burnt the unfortunate pair as sorcerers. The figure of Banks is copied from the woodcut in the title-page of a pamphlet entitled Maroccus JExtaticus ; or Banks's Bay Horse in a Trance, 1595. The figure of Tarlton, with his pipe and tabor, occurs in Harleian MS. No. 3885, and represents him, we are told : " "Wlien he in pleasaunt wise, The counterfet expreste Of clouiie,f with cote of russet hew. And sturtops with the reste." Sturtops was the name given to the boots reaching to the ankle and laced at the side, or fastened, as Tarlton's are, by a leather strap. He wears a plain cap of cloth, a close-fitting doublet, fastened round the waist by a girdle, from whence hangs his pouch ; and long trousers. These two figures may be taken as average examples of the ordinary costume of countrymen J and townsmen at this period. Banks's hat is of a fashion introduced in the early part of Elizabeth's time, and which eventually superseded caps altogether. Stubbes, speaking of the hats worn in 1593, says, " Sometimes they use them sharpe on the orowne, pearking upp like the spere or shaft of a steeple, standyng a quarter of a yard above the crowne of their heads, some more, some lesse, as please the fantasies of their incon- stant mindes. Othersome be flat and broad in the crown, like the battlements of a house. Another sort have round crownes, some- times with one kind of band, sometimes with another, now white, now black, now russet, now red, now greene, now yellow, now this, now that, never content with one colour or fashion two days to an end. And as the fashions be rare and strange, so is the stufi" whereof * In Marlowe's play of JEdward II., 1598, a poor scholar is described as dressed in "a black coat and a little band, A velvet-caped cloak, fac'd before with serge." f countryman. J In Bobert Greene's romance, Ciceronis Amor, 1597, a shepherd is described with his " bag and bottle by his side," attired in " a cloake of gray :" "A russet jacket, sleeves red. A blew bonnet on his head." 216 COSTUME IN BNatAND. their hats he made divers also ; for some are of sUk, some of velvet, some of taffetie, some of sarcenet, some of wool, and, whiche is more curious, some of a certain kind of fine haire ; these they call hever hattes, of xx, xxx, or xl shUlinges price, fetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sort of other vanities doe come besides."* These hats were frequently decorated with feathers, and bands formed of gold and silver lace, and ornamented with jewellery. Thomas Lodge, in his Wit'a Miserie, 1596, speaks of the extrava- gance in dress that had begun to characterize the hitherto plain country folks. " The plowman, that in times past was contented in russet, must now a dales have his doublet of the fashion with wide cuts, his garters of fine silk of Granada to meet his Sis on Sunday. The farmer, that was contented in times past with his russet frock and mockado sleeves, now sells a cow against Easter to buy him silken geere for his credit." A stiU more lucid description of a countryman's dress. is given by the same author in his JSuphues golden Legacie, 1592. He is in " his holiday suit marvellous seemly, in a russet jacket, welted with the same, and faced with red worsted, having a pair of blue camblet sleeves, bound at the wrists with four yellow laces, closed before very richly with a dozen of pewter but- tons. His hose of grey kersey, with a large slop barred all across the pocket-holes with three fair guards, stitched on either side with red thread. His stock was of the same, sewed close to his breech, and for to beautify his hose he had trust himself round with a dozen of new thread points in medly colors ; his bonnet was green, whereon stood a copper brooch with the picture of St. Denis ; and to want nothing that might make him amorous in his old days, he had a fair shirtbarid of white lockeram, whipt over with Coventry blue of no small cost." The large trunk-hose, now in fashion, appear to have been ori- ginally indicative of boorishness, and to have been worn for that reason by the famous comedian whose figure we have just given : they are alluded to in Rowland's Letting of Humours hhod in, the Head Vaine, Epigram 31 : "When Tarlton clown'd it in a pleasant vaine, And with conceits cKd good opinions gaine Upon the stage, his merry humor's shop, Clownes knew the clowne by his great clownish slop. * This is the earliest notice ot the re-introduction of the beaver hat we have. Stubbea published the first edition of his Anatomy of Abuses in 1680. They were worn in the middle ages. — See Glossary under Sead-dress. THE T0DOBS. 217 But now th' are gull'dj for present fashion eayes Picke Tarlton*8 part gentlemen's breeches playes : In every streete, where any gallant goes, The swaggering slop is Tarlton's clownish hose." They were again ridiculed in the following passage of Wright's Passions of the Mmde, 1601 : " Sometimes I have seen Tarlton play the clowne, and use no other breeches than such sloppes or slivings as now many gentlemen weare ; they are almost capable of a bushel of wheate, and if they be of sackcloth, they would serve to carry mawlt to the mill. This absurd, clownish, and unseemely attire only by custome now is not misliked, but rather approved." These trunk-hose were stuffed with wool, and sometimes with bran, to make them of a most preposterous size. In Harleian MS., No. 980, is the follow-, ing : — " Memorandum, that over the seats in the parliament house there were certain holes, some two inches square, in the walls; in which were placed posts, to uphold a scaffold round about the house within, for them to sit upon who used the wearing of great breeches, stuffed with hair like wool- sacks ; which fashion being left the eighth year of Elizabeth, the scaffolds were taken down, and never since put up." Bulwer, in his Artificiall Changeling, 1653, gives the accompanying repre- sentation of them : saying : — " At the time when the fashion came up of wearing trunk-hose, some young men used so to stuffe them with rags, and other like things, that yon might find some that used such inventions to extend them in compasse, with as great eagernesse as the women did take to weare great and stately verdingales, for this was the same affectation, being a kind of verdingale breeches." He then goes on to tell of a gallant, in whose immense hose a small hole was torn by a nail of the chair he sat upon, so that as he turned and bowed to pay his court to the ladies, the bran poured forth as from a mill that was grinding, without his perceiving it, till half the cargo was unladen on the floor. Ben Jenson, in his E'very Man out of his Sumour, 1599, gives a very good epitome of the ordinary dress of a gentleman, as consist- ing of "a murrey French hat," with a cable hatband of "massy goldsmith's work," the brim decorated with gold twist and spangles, " an Italian network band," a thick-laced satin doublet embroidered 218 COSTUME IN BNQLAND. with pearls, an embossed girdle, a wrought shirt, Spanish leather boots with ruffles round the tops, and silver spurs. The many portraits of distinguished persons living in this reign will amply furnish all who consult them with varied and minute examples of fashions, to which I cannot even allude. Clerical costume during the reign of Henry VII., who was a good Catholic and a liberal benefactor to his church, remained exactly as it has already been described in our previous notices. The church, unused to the fluctuations of fashion, richly endowed, and firmly established, admitted of no change in a costume which it had adopted with a mystic reference to its tenets, and to which it added nothing but splendour of decoration as it increased in wealth and power. During the early part of the reign of his son and successor, while Wolsey retained his ascendency, this did not decrease ; the clergy holding, in many instances, the most influential oflBces in the state, whether at home or abroad, as councillors or ambassadors. Perhaps at no period of its history in this country did it enjoy more temporal advantages than on the eve of its fall. The progress of the opinions of the followers of Wicilifi' and the other early reformers served but to increase its power ; and the murmurs of irreverence and oppo- sition (which were sometimes forced from good Catholics) offered a pretext for the rigorous exercise of laws against heresy — precluding all liberty of thought and expression of private opinion, and placing the lives of all who dissented from its tenets at its disposal. The death of Wolsey was the death of this power, which was undermined by the actions of those who wielded it. Their love of secular fashions and amusements, when abroad, contributed in no mean degree to break down the barriers of exclusiveness they so evidently wished to preserve, and increased the complaints against their luxury in ap- parel which had been heard since the days of Chaucer, and had by this time forced itself on the notice of the superiors of the church, who, in a synod or council of the province of Canterbury, held in St. Paul's in February, 1487, condemned their imitation of the laity in their dress when not absolutely officiating, and allowing their hair to grow so long as to completely conceal the tonsure. This censure of the convocation was followed by a pastoral letter from the pri- mate, in which the clergy were solemnly charged not to wear Hri- pipes, or hoods of silk, nor gowns open in front, nor embroidered girdles, nor daggers ; and to keep their hair always so short that everybody might see their ears.* * Wilkins, Concilia. THE TTJD0E8. 219 The Reformation produced a change in the costume of the clergy, and deprived it of its symbolical meaning and consequent form, dis- carding all that was peculiarly the feature of the Church of Eome. This change would appear, however, to have gone on gradually with the rejection of the many observances and ceremonies held by that church, from an examination of the little that remains to us, by which we may endeavour to fix the alterations of a fluctuating period. The woodcut title-page to Cranmer's Bible, printed in 1539, which is said to have been designed by Holbein, is an excellent authority for the costume of the period ; in one of its divisions Henry is seen on his throne, giving these bibles to Cranmer and Cromwell for dis- tribution among the people. Cranmer and his two attendant chap- lains are habited in long white gowns to the feet, over which are worn plain white surplices, reaching to the calf of the leg, and hav- ing full sleeves,* a black scarf (apparently adapted from the stole) gathered in folds round the neck, hanging down at each side of the breast, and reaching a little be- low the waist. The portrait of Cranmer, in the BritishMuseum, may be cited as a good example of the costume of a church dig- nitary at this period, as well as the not uncommon portraits of /)rS^«ll«^5lirj\^wAN the reformers of his time, one of which has been here selected as a fair sample of the rest. It is copied from a rare portrait, by J. Savage, of Hugh Latimer, who was burned 16th October. 1555. And the portrait is at once characteristic of the man and the scholar. He wears upon his head a cap, which would appear to have been a great favourite with the learned in general, for we constantly find it in portraits of clerical characters and stu- dents. The flaps fall round the neck, and are fixed above the eyes in front, although they most commonly appear without the one over * The Rev. J. Jebb, in his work on the Choral Service of the Church, when speaking of clerical costume, p. 219, says, " From a comparison of the various 220 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the forehead ; and spread above it, much like the " city flat-cap " already described. A close cassock of dark stuff envelopes the body, and it is open in front, d,isplaying at the neck the edge of the shirt beneath, which in other portraits is more distinctly shown,* with its embroidered border and narrow falling collar. A leather girdle, or surcingle, encircles the waist, from which hangs a book bound expressly for a scholar's use, the leather covering being al- lowed to hang some length beyond the boards which it covered, when it was gathered in a knot or ball, which, being tucked under the girdle, allowed of convenient carriage, and constant reference at all suitable opportunities.f On his breast repose his spectacles, which at this period were of large size, and rested upon the cheeks and nose, without any side- bars to secure them close to the head. He wears also a ftJl black gown open from the shoulders, and having wide white sleeves with black cuffs, much resembling, in every- thing but ruffles at the wrist, the gowns still worn by our bishops. The various articles of a bishop's dress wiU be best understood from the accom- panying cut, copied, with the necessary elu- cidations, from Palmer's Origines IMwr- gic(B, the costume having been partly taken from the portrait of Bishop Pox. No. 1 is the scarf or stole ; 2, the chimere ; 3, the rochette ; and 4, the cassock or undergar- ment. The antiquity of the scarf has been already illustrated ; the distinction between that and the stole of the !Roman church appears to be, that the latter is a flat decorated band, while the for- dresses of the Primitive Ckurcli with those of £.oiiie, it appears that the ten- dency of the "Western Church has been to curtaU the flowing vestments of the East, and make up for what they want in majesty, by the frippery and effemi- nate addition of lace, etc. The long English surplice, reaching to the ground, with flowing sleeves, is acknowledged by one of thei]* own ritualists (Dr. Bock) to be more primitive than the short sleeveless garment of Home." If the reader will be at the trouble to examine the cuts on p. 46, he will see that this opinion is quite borne out by the facts of the case. * That of John Jewel, bishop of Salisbury, who died 1572, may be cited as an example. f A cxirious specimen of such a volume may be seen among the books exhi- bited in the cases of the King's Library in the British Museum. THE TUDOES. 221 mer is a plain black folded scarf. Of the chimere Dr. Hody says, that in the time of Edward VI. it was worn of a scarlet coloni by our bishops, like the doctor's dress at Oxford, and placed over the rochette, which in the time of Queen Elizabeth was changed for the black satin chimere, worn at present {History of Convocations, p. 141). The chimere seems to resemble the garment worn by bishops during the middle ages, and called mantellmn ; which was a sort of cope, with apertures for the arms to pass through. The name of chimere is probably derived from the Italian zimarra, which is described as "vesta talare de' sacerdoti et de' chierici" (Ortografia JEndelopeAica Italiana, Venezia, 1826). The rochet has no doubt been very anciently used by the bishops in the western church; during the middle ages it was their ordinary garment in public, under the name of an alb, which seems to be also the origin of the surplice. The inferior clergy were accustomed to wear the alb in divine service, as we find by the council of Narbonne, a.d. 589, which forbid them to take it ofi" until the liturgy was ended. Pro- bably in after-ages it was thought advisable to make a distinction between the dresses which the superior clergy wore at the liturgy, and then a difference was made in the sleeves : and from the twelfth century the name of surplice was introduced. During the middle ages the bishops very frequently wore the surplice with a cope, and above the rochette. The word rochette is not of great antiquity, and perhaps cannot be traced back further than the thirteenth cen- tury. The chief difference between this garment and the surplice formerly was, that its sleeves were narrower than those of the latter; for we do not perceive, in any of the ancient pictures of English bishops, those very wide and full lawn sleeves which are now worn. The cassock or under-garment is black,* and was commonly worn beneath the academical gown by clergymen, until the reign of George II., as a distinctive dress in ordinary Ufe; it was then shortened to the knee ; it is not peculiarly clerical, as it is worn in many instances by the under-graduate students in Spanish univer- sities. This, then, like the cap and gown, may be considered as a coUegiate dress, although Du Cange supposes that the square cap of the universities was formerly that part of the amice which covered the head, and afterwards became separated from it.f The group of figures on next page are selected from the drawing * Dr. Hody says, that in the reign of Henry ¥111. our bishops wore a scarlet garment under the rochette. ■)• For the derivation of the finnxh. The accession of King James I. interfered in no degree with the costume of the country. That monarch had, in fact, more luxuries to conform to than introduce ; yet it had perhaps been well for the country if he had in this matter interfered more, and in graver ones less ; as his ruling desire to be considered the "British Solomon," a character posterity has laughed away from him, did infinitely more mischief by the solenm foolery of inundating the land with pedantic jargon, than all the tailors and mflliners of Prance could have done, had they come over in a body, shears in hand, to trim awkward En- glishmen into shapes the most preposterous that fashion could invent. James's cowardice, among his other failings, made it a matter of solicitude with him to guard his person, at all times unwieldy, with quilted and padded clothing, so that it might be ever dagger-proof. It was so far fortunate, for a man of his idle turn, that he needed no innovation of a striking kind to indulge in this costume ; for the stuffed and padded dresses that had become fashionable in the reign of EHzabeth continued to be worn in all their full-blown importance ; the sumptuary laws, which had always proved singularly ineflBcient, were all, with one exception, repealed in the beginning of this reign ; and this single exception soon sharing the fate of the rest, laws of this kind have ever been deemed too contemptible and impolitic to be again introduced into the British code. A Jewell for Gentrie appeared in 1614, in the shape of a goodly volume devoted to hunting and other fashionable methods of killing time ; and it was decorated with a fuU-length figure of James and attendants hawking, from which the following copy of his Majesty was executed. " The great, round, abominable breech," as the sati- rists term it, now tapered down to the knee, and was slashed all over, and covered with lace and embroidery. Stays were sometimes worn beneath the long-waisted doublets of the gentlemen, to keep THE STUAET8. 235 tliem straight, and confine the waist.* The king's hat is of the new- est and most improved fa- shion, and not much unlike those worn but a few years ago; it has a feather at its side, and it was not uncom- mon to decorate the stems of these feathers with jewels, or to insert a group of them in a diamond ornament worn in the centre of the hat; and hatbands, richly decorated with valuable stones, were also frequently seen; or a single pearl was hung from a centre ornament that secured the upturned brim. Dekker, in his Seven Dead- h/ Sinnes of London, 1606, says : " An Englishman's suit is like a traitor's body that hath been hanged, drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places : the collar of his doublet and the belly in France ; the wing and narrow sleeve in Italy ; the short waist hangs over a Dutch botcher's stall in Utrich ; his huge sloppes speakes Spanish ; Polonia gives him the bootes ; the blocke for his head alters faster than the felt- maker can fit him, and thereupon we are called in soome blockheads. And thus we, that mocke every nation for keeping one fashion, yet Bteale patches from every one of them to piece out our pride, are now laughing-stocks to them, because their cut so scurvily becomes us." And in Greene's Farewell to Folh/, 1591, he says : " I have seen an English gentlemen so diffused in his suits, — his doublet being for the weare of Castile, his hose for Venise, his hat for France, his cloak for Germanic, — that he seemed no way to be an Englishman but by the face." In Marston's comedy What yov, Will, 1607, a serving-man thus enumerates a gentleman's wardrobe : " A cloak lined with rich taf- * Sir Walter Baleigh, who combined an excess of dandyism with a mind im- measurably superior to that of the majority of fashionables, is delineated in a waist that might excite the enty of the most stanch advocate for this baneful fashion. (See Lodge's Fortraits.) 236 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. feta, a white satin suit, the jerkin covered with gold lace, a chain of pearl, a gilt rapier in an embroidered hanger, pearl-coloured silk stockings, and a pair of massive sUver spurs." The taste for pure- white dresses of silk velvet or cloth was prevalent at this time. Ho- race Walpole had at Straw^jerry Hill a full-length portrait of Lord Falkland entirely dressed in white; and at Lullingstone, Kent, is still preserved a full-length of Sir G. Hart, 1600, who is also en- tirely in white, even to his shoes, the only bit of colour in his cos- tume being their red heels. The fashionable novelties of dress are again given by Dekker in his OulVs Horn-hook, 1609, in a passage where the simplicity of old times is contrasted with the new : " There was then neither the Spanish slop, nor the skipper's galligaskins ; the Danish sleeving, sagging down Kke a "Welsh wallet, the Italian's close strosser, nor the French standing collar; your treble-quadruple-dedalian ruffs, nor your stiff-necked rabatos, that have more arches for pride to row tinder than can stand under five London bridges, durst not then set themselves out in print ; for the patent for starch could by no means be signed. Fashions then was counted a disease, and horses died of it." Henry Fitzgeffery, in his satirical Notes from Black Fryers, 1617, describing the visitors to that favourite place of amusement, asks — " KnoVat thou yon world of fasliions now comes in. In turlde colours carved to the skin; Mounted Polonianly till he reeles,* That scorns so much plain dealing at his heeleg. His boote speaks Spanish to his Scottish spurs ; His sute cut Trenohly, rounde bestucke with burres ; Pure Holland is his shirt, which, proudly faire. Seems to outface his doublet everywhere His hajre like to your Moores or Irish lookes; His chiefest dyet Indian mixed dockes.f What country May-game might wee this suppose ? Sure one would think a Bomaa, by his nose. No ! in his habit better understand, Hee is of England, by his yellow band." And he elsewhere describes a " spruse coxcombe," " That never walkes without his looking-glasse In a tobacco-box or diall set, That he may privately conferre with it. How his band iumpeth with his peccadiUy, * i. e. on high-heeled shoes. f Tolpcco. THE STTTAETS. 237 Wlietlier his band-strings balance equally, Which way his feather wags. He'll have an attractive lace, And whalebone bodies, for the better grace." The fondness of ladies for painting their faces and exposing their breasts, was severely reprimanded by the divines and satirists in the early part of the seventeenth century. Dr. John Hall, in an appen- dix to his small volume against long hair, disconrses'in unmeasured terms on " the vanities and exorbitances of many women, in painting, patching, spotting, and blotting themselves," declaring it to be " the badge of an harlot ; rotten posts are painted, and gilded nutmegs are usually the worst." The portraits of noble ladies, in the reign of James, some of which may be seen in Nicholl's account of the Progresses of that monarch, will suflSciently show how obtrusively immodest the fashion of exposing the naked breast had become. While a ruffe, or band of immoderate size stretched forth from the neck, the front of the dress was cut away immediately beneath it nearly to the waist, which made the fashion more noticeable, as all the other part of the bust was over-oloathed, while the bosom was perfectly bare. The fuU-length portraits of the Earl and Countess of Somerset, for ever rendered infamous by their connection with the murder of Sir Thomas Over- bury, and which are here en- graved from the rare contem- porary print, wiU well dis- play the points that marked the costume of the nobility about the middle of James's reign. The Earl's hat and Tuff are unpretending and ^ilain; but his doublet exhi- bits the effect of tight-lacing, while his trunk-hose, richly embroidered, strut out con- spicuously beneath. His gar- ters, which at this peried took the form of a sash tied in a bow at the side of the leg, have rich point-lace ends ; and his equally gor- geous shoe-roses call to mind the lament in Friar Bacon's Pro- phesie, 1604: 238 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. " When roses in the gardens grew, And not in ribbons on a shoe : "Now ribbon-roses take such place, That garden-roses want their grace." Jewels were sometimes worn in the ears of the gentlemen, who fre- quently cherished a long look of hair, which was allowed to hang upon the bosom, and was termed a "love-lock." The countess wears a rich lace cap, of the fashion which Mary Queen of Scots most frequently patronized ; it is ornamented by a rich jewel, placed in the centre of the forehead ; a double row of necklaces with pendants ; and a ruff of point lace, which, unlike the ruffs of the preceding reign, stands up without underprops, being stiffened with starch, which was used of various colours, according to the taste of the fair wearers. Yellow was the fashionable tint, and Mrs. Anne Turner, who was executed for poisoning Overbury, and who was a starcher of ruffs, and an intimate friend of the countess, always patronized the fashion as long as she was able, and appeared at the gallows in a ruff of the approved colour ;* but her eagerness in displaying this taste acted contrary to her last wishes, and the fashion incurred an odium therefrom sufficient to banish yellow starch from the toilet of the fair. The hanging sleeves that decorate the arms of the countess are sufficiently inconvenient and cumbrous with embroidery ; but what are they to the wheel farthingale within which she is imprisoned? If we look at the engraving which appears on p. 203, we shall there find that the variation in this article of female attire, since the death of Elizabeth, has only added an extra degree of rigidity and discom- fort to the ugliest of all fashions, and which, being originally in- vented to conceal the illicit amours of a princess of Spain, and hav- ing nothing either in character or appearance to recommend it, was adopted with the singular perversion of taste that sometimes wel- comes monstrous novelties by every lady rich enough to afford one. The principal variation from the figure alluded to, consists in the row of pleats that surround the waist, and the embroidered band down the centre, which continues round the bottom of the dress. The incised brass to the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Bampfield, 1615, in Shorwell Church, Isle of Wight, affords us a good illustra- tion of the easier costume adopted by ladies when the rigidly-laced body and wheel-farthingale, as worn by the Countess of Essex, was discarded. The light head-veil of the time of Elizabeth is worn, as * Stubbes says starch was made of "divers colors and hues, white, red, blue, purple, and the liie ;" and " goose-green starch " is mentioned by Ben Jonson. THE STtTAKTS. 239 well as the point-lace ruflf; the jerkin, which excited the anger of Stubbes (see p. 205), is seen; and the long hanging sleeves, and elegant wristband. The large open gown calls to mind Falstaff's complaint (1 Hen. IV. iii. 3), " My skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown," words which are well illustrated by the ample robe which encases the en- tire figure, and exhibits a gene- ral ease more agreeable to the eye than the representations of ladies we have seen since the accession of Elizabeth. In S. Rowland's LooTce to it, for I'll stabhe ye, 1604, a satiri- cal poem, which threatens "the stab " to all evil-doers, is the following character of " the proud gentlewoman :"— " You whom the devil (pride's father) doth perswade To paint your face, and mende the worke God made ; " You with the hood, the falling band, and ruffe. The monoky- waste, the breeching like a beare; The perriwig, the maske, the fonne, the muffe. The bodkin and the bussard in your haire : You velvet-cambricke-silken-feather'd toy. That with your pride do all the world annoy, rie stabbe yee." The dress of the old woman in the Cohler of Canierhv/ry, 1608, is thus detailed : — " Her apparell was after the elder geere. Her cassock aged some fifty yeere ; Gray it was, and long beforne. The wool from the threads was wome : A thrumbe hat had she of red. Like a bushell on her head. Her kercher hung from under her cap. With a taile like a fiip-fiap. Her sleeves blew, her traine behind With silver hookes was tucked I find; Her shoes broad, and forked before." 240 COSTUMB IN ENGIAND. Eandle Holme, the Chester herald, in his very curious Academy of Arms, 1682, has given the small figure of a yeoman of this pe- riod, here engraved of the same size, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the cut of Banks, on p. 214, and which he thus describes : " He beareth or, a yeoman or countryman, or a freeholder of the country, a staff ia his right hand proper. This habit (as to their inner garments) yeomen usually did wear in King James his time, viz. narrow-brimmed hats with fiat crowns, doublets with large wings and short skirts, and girdles about their waists, trunk breeches, with hosen drawn up to the thighs, and gartered under the knees." In the curious old comedy called JAngua, or the' Combat of the Tongue and, the Five Senses for Superiority (first edition, 1607), a whimsical account is given by one of the characters of the articles comprising a fashionable lady's dress, and the length of time neces- sarily occupied in arranging all in order. He says, "Five hours ago I set a dozen maids to attire a boy like a nice gentlewoman ; but there is such doing with their looking-glasses, pinning, unpinning, setting, unsetting, formings, and conformings, painting blew vains and cheeks ; such stir with sticks and combs, cascanets, dressings, purles, falles, squares, buskes, bodies, scarfs, necklaces, carcanets, rebatoes, borders, tires, fans, palisadoes, puffs, ruffs, cuffs, muffs, pusles, fusles, partlets, frislets, bandlets, fillets, croslets, pendulets, amulets, annulets, bracelets, and so many lets,* that yet she is scarce drest to the girdle ; and now there's such calling for fardingales, kirtlets, busk-points, shoe-ties, etc., that seven pedlers' shops — ^nay, all Sturbridge fair — will scarce furnish her : a ship is sooner rigged by far than a gentlewoman made ready." * Hindrances : the legal phraseology is still " without let or hindrance." The idea of the above speech seems to be borrowed from Heywood's interlude of The ^our F*8, in which the pedlar exclaims : " Forsothe, women hare many lets, And they be masked in many nets ; As frontlets, fillets, partlets, and bracelets; And then their bonnets and their poynettes. By these lets and nets, the let is such That spede is small when hast is much." Most of these articles are enumerated in Lyl/s Midas, 1592 : "Hoods, frontlets, wires, cauls, curling-irons, perriwigs, bodkins, fillets, hair, laces, ribbons, rolls, knot-striags, glasses, etc," THE ST0AEIS. 241 In Fitzgeffeiy's Satyres, 1617, are some severe remarks on the improvements in personal appearance attempted by " mincing ma- dams," and the effect upon lovers, who " Pine at yova pencill and conspiring glasa, Tour cxirles, purles, perriwigs, your whalebone wheelea, Tliat shelter all defects from head to heelea." And he afterwards complains of those men who desire "To strut in purple or rich scarlet dye, With sUver barrea begarded thriftily; To set in print the haire ; character the face ; Or dye in graiue the ruffe for visage grace ; To clog the eare with plummets; clog the wrists With buste-points, ribbons, or rebato twists. From barbers tyranny to save a locke. His mistris wanton fingers to provoke. As if a frounced pounced pate could not As much braine cover as a Stoike out. Tell me precisely what availea it weare A bongrace bonnet, eyebrow shorter haire ; A circumcized ruff." The cut here given displays the female costume at the close of the reign of James I. It is copied from one of the figures at the side of the tomb of John Harpur, in Swarkestone Church, Derby- shire. He died in 1622 ; and this figure exhibits his young daughter. Her farthingale appears to have again gone back to the more convenient form of that article of attire as displayed during the reign of Elizabeth, but is still less in- convenient than that ; as it became older, it gradually approached the form of a loose gown, the ordinary female dress of the succeed- ing reign. She wears a tight boddice with a long waist, a small ruff, and wide sleeves, to which are affixed pendent ones. Her hair is combed back in a roll over the forehead, and she wears a small hood or coif, with a frontlet. These frontlets were sometimes allowed to hang down the back, but were as frequently turned over the head, B 242 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. as this lady wears hers, or broiight forward to shade the face, ac- cording to the taste of the wearer. They came into fashion during the reign of Henry VIII., and went out in that of James I.; so that this figure may be considered as exhibiting the latest form of that and the farthingale. These frontlets were sometimes embroi- dered and ornamented with precious stones, and were consequently of considerable value. In Ellis's Letters we meet with an item in the time of Henry VIII. : " Payed for a frontlet in a wager to my lady Margaret, 4Z." The works of popular authors of this reign, as our quotations al- ready show, abound with allusions to the prevailing fopperies, of which it will be manifestly impossible to narrate a tithe here. John Taylor, the water-poet, alludes to the reckless extravagance of those who " Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged witli gold. And spangled garters worth a copyhold; A hose and doublet which a lordship cost ; . A gaudy cloak, three manors' price almost; A beaver baud and feather for the head. Priced at the church's tithe, the poor man's bread." In The TovMg Gallant's Whirligig, 1629, a fop is described with " The estridge* on his head with beaver rare. Upon his hands a Spanish scent to weare, Hair's curled, ears pierced, with Bristows f brave and bright Bought for true diamonds in his false sight; All are perfumed, and as for him 't is meete His body's clad i' th' silkworm's winding sheet." And Samuel Rowlands, in one of his rare and curious tracts, A Pair of Spy-Krtaves, speaking of the "Koaring Boys " of his time, says that "What our neat fantastics newest hatch, That at the second hand he's sure to catch. If it be feather time, he wears a feather, A golden hatband or a silver either ; "Waisted like to some dwarfe or coated ape, As if of monster's misbegotten shape He were engendered, and, rejecting nature, "Were new cut out and stitcht the taylor's creature ; An elbow cloake, because wide hose and garters May be apparent in the lower quarters. His cabbage ruffe, of the outrageous size, Starched in colour to beholders' eyes." * Ostrich feather. + Bristol was at this time celebrated for paste diamonds. THE STUAET8. 243 The affectation of expensive costume is well ridiculed by the same author in the following short story : — "A giddy gallant that beyond the seas Sought fashions out, his idle pate to please. In traTcUing did meet upon the way A fellow that was suited richly gay; No lease than crimson velvet did him grace. All garded and re-garded with gold lace. His hat was feather'd like a ladle's fan, "Which made the gallant think him some great man. And vayl'd unto him with a meek salute. In reverence of his gilded velvet sute. * Sir,' (quoth the man) ' your worship doth not know "What you have done, to wrong your credit so ; This is the bewle in Dutch, in English plain The rascal hangman, whom all men disdain; I saw him t'other day on Costle-green, Hang four as proper men as e'er were seen.' " Henry Peacham in his Truth of our limes, 1638, has one of the usual laments, so long indulged in by moralists, over the folly of seeking foreign fashions ; the passage is worth quoting for the cu- rious information it contains. " I have much wondered," he says, " why our English above other nations should ao much doat upon new fashions, but more I wonder at our want o£ wit that we cannot invent them ourselves ; but when one is growne stale run presently over into France, to seeke a new, making that noble and flourishing kingdom the magazine of our fooleries : and for this purpose many of our tailors lie leger* there, and ladies post over their gentlemen ushers, to accoutre them and themselves as you see. Hence came your slashed doublets (as if the wearers were cut out to be carbon- ado'd upon the coales) and your haJf-shirts, pickadHlies (now out of request), your long breeches narrow towards the knees like a pair of smith's bellows, the spangled garters pendent to the shooe, your perfumed perrukes or periwigs, to show us that lost hair may be had again for money ; with a thousand such fooleries unknown to our manly forefathers." These exaggerations in costume became considerably tamed down by the Puritanism of feeling, and the soberness of manners, conse- quent to the troubles that visited England in the reign of Charles I. To expatiate on the elegance and simplicity of a costume immorta- lized by the pencil of Vandyke, would here be a labour of super- • i.e. Resident, like ambassadors at foreign courts. e2 244 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. erogation ; his works, too, are so numerous and accessible, at least under the form of engravings, that it will be unnecessary to do more than mention them, and narrate from other and less available sources the more remarkable varieties of costume that occur during this unfortunate period of our history. These figures may be taken as average types of the ordinary dresses of persons in the middle classes of society. The young man wears flow- ing hair ; a plain " falling band," aa the coUar was termed when of this fa- shion ; a doublet of a form like that still worn by Thames watermen, gather- ed at the waist, with wide sleeves and plain white linen cuffs. His trunk- hose are wide, and are in the Dutch fashion ; they are ornamented at the knee with rows of puffed ribbons, the garters being tied at the sides in a large bow. His shoe-roses and hat are both extravagantly large ; independently of that, the dress is simple and elegant, and the most picturesque worn by gentlemen for a very long time previous. The print from which it is copied is dated 1645. The indefatigable Hollar has sup- plied the figure of the lady, and it occurs among the female costume in his Ornatu^ Muliehris AngU'canus, bearing date 1645 ; a most useful series to the artist, as he has delineated, with the very acme of fidelity and carefulness, the costume of every grade in society. This figure is The Gentlewoman of the series ; her hair is combed back over her forehead and gathered in close roUs behind, while at the sides it is allowed to flow freely. A long boddice, laced in front, incases the upper part of the figure ; a white satin petticoat flows to the ground, which is fully displayed, as the dark open gown is gathered up at the waist. Her sleeves are wide and short, with a deep white lawn cuff turned back to the elbow ; and she wears long white leather gloves. Prynne in one of his tracts* gives a curious retrospective glance at the fashions of the palmy days of Charles I. He asks,. " May * Tyrcmts and Froteetors set forth in their Colours, 4to. 16S4 THE STTJAETS. 245 we not well remember the English court-ladies' paintings, their patchings, their crispings, their caps and feathers, the cocking of their beavers, their stilettoes, their manhke apparel, their slashed sleeves, their jetting, their strutting, -their leg making, with the rest of their antique apparel and postures." The cut engraved below wUl be useful to show the difference which ten years made in the female dress of the reign of Charles ; and are each respectively illustrative of the costume toward the be- ginning and end of that period. The first figure is that of Anne Stotevill, 1631, and is copied from her effigy on her tomb in West- minster Abbey. She wears a large pleated ruff of the old fashion ; a gown open down the entire front, which is ornamented with a row of buttons and clasps ; the sleeve worn by this lady was, according to Kandle Holme, called the virago sleeve, and it is tied in at the elbow ; she has a close French hood, from which descends a long coverchief, which falls like a mantle behind her back, and is pinned up on each shoulder. The seoond.figure is copied from the recum- bent effigy of Dorothy Strutt, 1641, in Whalley church, Essex. The long coverchief is here worn by this lady ; but the hair, unoon- fined by the close hood, flows more freely on the shoulders. The ruff is discarded; and a kerchief covers the entire bust, fitting closely round the neck, and opening at the breast, showing a little of the gown and undergarment; the waist is tightly puUed in, but the 246 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. gown sets out very fully all round, like a Dutchwoman's petticoat, and an apron is worn with a plain border ; the sleeves of the gown are slightly wide at top, but are tight at the wrist, where they finish in the cuff of lace. This lady was the wife of a knight, and is an instance of the plainness of costume now prevalent, and which the many engravings by Hollar and other artists of the period also show. A fashion was, however, introduced in this reign that met with just reprehension at the hands of the satirists : it was that of patching the face. Bulwer, in his Artificial Changer ling, 1650, first alludes to it. "Our ladies," he says, " have lately enter- tained a vaine custom of spotting their faces out of an affectation of a mole, to set off their beauty, such as Venus had ; and it is well if one black patch will serve to make their faces remarkable, for some fill their visages full of them, varied into all manner of shapes and figures :'' some of which he depicts on a lady's face, which is here copied from his woodcut, and it is a very curious specimen of fashionable absurdity. A coach, with a coachman and two horses with postilions, appears on her forehead ; both sides of her face have crescents upon them ; a star is on one side of her month, and a plain circular patch on her chin. These mnst not be considered as pictorial exaggerations, for they are noticed by other writers : thus, in Wit Restored, a poem printed 1658, we are told of a lady, that— " Her patches are of every cut, For pimples and for scars; Here's all the wandering planets' signs, And some of the fixed stars. Already gummed, to make them stick. They need no other sky." And the author of Qod's Voice against Pride in Apparel, 1683, declares that the black patches remind him of plague-spots, " and methinks the mourning coach and horses, all in black, and plying in their foreheads, stands ready harnessed to whirl them to Ache- ron." In a preliminary poem " on painted and spotted faces " to a tract THE STTJAETS. 247 called.^ Wonder of Wonders, or a Metamorphosis of Fair Faces into Foul Visages ; cm inveetiee against hlach-spotted faces, by B. Smith (temp. James I.), are the following curious lines descriptire of the shapes of patches, then spoken of as a recent introduction : — "And yet the figures emblematic are, "WMch our she-wantons so delight to weare. The Coach and 'horses with the hurrying wheels. Show both their giddy brains and gadding heels; The Cross and Crosslets in one face combined, Demonstrate the cross humours of their mind; The Bias of the bowls doth let us see, They'll play at rubbers, and the mistresse be ; The Smgs do in them the black art display, That spirits in their circles raise and lay ; But, oh ! the sable Starrs that you descry Benights their day, and speaks the dark'ned sky. The several Moons that in their faces range. Eclipse proud Proteus in his various change ; The long Slash and the short, report the skars. Their skirmishes have gaiu'd in Cupid's wars. For those, that into patches chp the Crown 'T is time to take such pride and treason down." The fashion continued in vogue for a long time ; for in the Ladies' Dictioncory, 1694, we are told, " they had no doubt a room in the chronicles among the prodigies and monstrous beasts, had they been born with moons, stars, crosses, and lozenges upon their cheeks, especially had they brought into the world with them a coach and horses !" The very curious representation in the next page of a first-rate ex- quisite is copied from a very rare broadside, printed in 1646, and styled The Picture of an English Antiche, with a List of his ridicu- lous JECabits and apish Gestures. The engraving is a well-exeouted copperplate, and the description beneath is a brief recapitulation of his costume : from which we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of ribbon on one side, and a feather on the other, his face spotted with patches, two love-locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his bosom, and are tied at the ends with silk ribbon in bows.* His beard on the upper lip encompassing his mouth ; his band or collar edged with lace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring ; a * These love-locks continued long in fashion, and sometimes reached to the waist. They were bitterly denounced by the Puritans. Prynne wrote a book against them, which he entitled the Unloveliness of Lovelocks ; and Hall, in 1654, printed another On the Loathsomeness of Long Sair. 248 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. tight vest, partly open and short in the skirts, between which and his breeches his shirt protruded. His cloak was carried over his arm. His breeches were ornamented by "many dozen of points at the knees, and above them, on either side, were two great bunches of ribbon of several colours." His legs were incased in " boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the calf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a ruff-band ; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and turned down as low as his spurres, which jingled like the bells of a morrice-dan- eer as he walked ;" the "feet of his boots were two inch- es too long." In his right hand he carried a stick, which he " played with" as he "straddled" along the streets "singing." The large boots came in for a full share of ridicule. Dekker, in his Chill's Horn- hook, alludes to them " that cozen the world with a gilt spur and a ruffled* boot ;" and he adds, " Let it be thy prudence to have the tops of them wide as the fliouth of a wallet, and those with fringed boot hose Over them, to hang down to thy ankles : doves are accounted innocent and loving creatures ; thou, in observing this fashion, shalt seem to be a rough-footed dove, and be held as inno- cent." The term 'innocent' was at this time applied to idiots. The " straddling " was necessary : in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Mamov/r, one of the characters tells us, " One of the rowels of my silver spurs catehed hold of the ruffle of my boot, which, being Spanish leather, and subject to tear, overthrows me !" They there- fore "walked wide " to prevent accidents. The Eoundheads were a very different kind of people ; they ob- tained that name from the more worthless Cavaliers, from the crop- THE STT7AETS. ping of their hair, which they did ao closely, that their heads looked sufficiently spherical, except where the rotundity was marred by their ears, which stood out ia bold relief from the nakedness around them.* The figures here given of Puritans are ob- tained from contempo- rary sources : that of the ipale from a print dated 1649 ; that of the female from one of 1646. Both figures speak clearly for themselves ; and their utter simplicity renders a detailed description un- necessary. This display of plainness, however, was anything but a type of innate modesty, as those persons were no whit less vain of their want of adornment than the gaUants were of their finery, as it served to point out the wearer for a distinction among his fellows. Thus everything worn by the Puritans became meanly and ridicu- lously plain ; and the short-cut hair, thin features, and little plain Geneva bands, were marks by which they were known.f In The JRunvp Songs is a very curious poem, entitled The way to woo a zealous Lady, written and published in ridicule of this class of the community, which is valuable for the detail it gives of the costume of Cavaliers and Puritans. A fashionably-attired gentleman de- scribes his visit to woo a Puritan lady, and he says — * A song, printed in 1641, entitled The Character of a Eoundhead, thus com- mences — " What creature's this, with his short hairs, His little band, and huge long ears. That this new faith hath foundedp The Puritans were never such. The saints themselves had ne'er so much ; — Oh, such a knave's a Eoundhead !" f As late as 1684 they are thus noticed in Southeme's play. The Disappoint- ment : — " The zealous of the land. With little hair, and little or no band." 250 COSTUME IN BSTGIiAND. " She told me that I was too much profane, And not devout, neither in speech nor gesture; And I could not one word answer again, Nor had not so much grace to call her sister ; !For ever something did offend her there. Either my broad beard, hat, or my long hair. " My band was broad, my 'parel was not plain. My points and girdle made the greatest show ; My sword was odious, and my belt was vain, My Spanish shoes were out too broad at toe ; My stockings light, my garters tied too long, My gloves perfumed, and had a scent too strong. "I left my pure mistress for a space. And to a snip-snap barber straight went I ; I cut my hair, and did my corps uncase Of 'parel's pride that did offend the eye ; My high-crown'd hat, my little beard also. My pecked band, my shoes were sharp at toe. " Gone was my sword, my belt was laid aside. And I transformed both in looks and speech; My 'parel plain, my cloak was void of pride. My little skirts, my metamorphos'd breech. My stockings black, my garters were tied shorter. My gloves no scent; thus marcht I to her porter." The sequel of the tale is soon told : he is admitted, and most favour- ably received by the lady. From a passage in Jasper Mayne's City Match, 1639, it appears to have been customary with the Puritans to work religious sen- tences upon articles of apparel. " Nay, sir, she is a Puritan at her needle too : She works religious petticoats; for flowers She'll make church histories ; besides, My smock-sleeves have such holy embroideries. And are so learned, that I fear in time All my apparel will be quoted by Some pure instructor."* It will be gathered from these remarks, that the dresses of the various classes of the community presented a considerable mixture, for each followed the bent of their own inclination during this dis- * In Beaumont and Fletcher's Custom, of the Gowntry, KutUio says— " Having a mistress, sure you should not be Without a neat historical shirt." THE STtTAETS. 251 tracted period of our history. When Cromwell obtained the ascen- dency, the fashion of plain attire was paramount : an attention to dress never troubled a mind intent on statecraft. Sir Philip War- wick's description of him, as he observed him in the House of Par- liament before he had become an important man, is valuable for the truthfulness and minutiae of its details. He says : " The first time that ever I took notice of him was in the beginning of the Parlia- ment held in November, 1640, when I vainly thought myself a courtly young gentleman ; for we courtiers valued ourselves much upon our good clothes. I came one morning into the house well clad, and perceived a geqtleman speaking, whom I knew not, very ordinarily apparelled, for it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed to have been made by an ill country tailor ; his linen was plain, and not very clean ; and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band, which was not much larger than his collar; his hat was without a hatband ; his stature was of a good size ; his sword stuck close to his side." The appearance of such men, and their rapid accession to power, must not a little have astonished the " courtly young gentlemen " who " valued themselves much upon their good clothes," the only thing worth notice about them, and which they were probably right in valuing, destitute as they generally were of other qualities. The gloomy puritanism that overshadowed the land for a time, and pent up the natural cheerfulness of the heart — which could rail at a Mayipole as a " stinking idol," and frown down all innocent festivities as sinful — was occasionally rebelled against by some few daring spirits, who would wear their hair above an inch in length, and collars brdad enough to cover their shoulders, well trimmed with lace. Strutt notices, that, in 1652, John Owen, Dean of Christ Church and Vice-chancellor of Oxford, dressed in " powdered hair, snake-bone bandsttings, a lawn band, a large set of ribbons pointed at the knees, Spanish leather boots with large lawn tops, and his hat most curiously cockedj" or turned up at the side. There were many others who stiU kept up the Cavalier fashions and festivities, and were ever ready to exclaim with Shakespeare's Sir Toby Belch, " What, dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale P"* The ordinary female dress of the humbler classes is well iUus- * In tte Mercurius FoUticus, No. 603 (Feb. 1660), one Paul Joliffe ia adver- tised as an escaped murderer ; and his dress is described as a " grey suit and jip- pocoat; his suit trimmed with black ribbons and silver twist." He was by "profession a joiner." 232 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. trated in tke out here introduced ; both figures are copied from en- gravings executed in the earlier days of the Protectorate. The first has been parti- ally preserved to our own days in the dresses of some parish schoolchildren. There is a touch of the gro- tesque in the pious plainness of both fi- gures, which must na- turally have been pro- vocative to irreverent mirth with the Cava- liers. The fashions of the later years of the Protectorate may be illus- trated by a reference to the cut here engraved, and which is copied from the monumental efiigies of Hyaciathand Elizabeth Sacheverel, 1657,inMorley Church, Derbyshire. The grave dress of the elderly gen- tleman was that af- fected by the merchant and gentleman of the time; the long open gown with hanging sleeves, buttoned from the shoulder; the plain falling band, close skuU-cap, tight vest, and fuU breeches, sparingly ornamented round the knee, be- speak the Quaker-Kke quietude of the well-to- do, who in this age made no outward dis- play of wealth, leaving that for their sons, who balanced all in the THE STUAETS. 253 next reign, by a lavish show of lace, ribbons, and " foreign frippery.'' The lady is plain as a heavy-cut dress can make her ; rigid and pon- derous-looking in the fashionable close hood and band, and ample gown, having nothing like fashionable frivolity about her ; one can hardly imagine a laugh to come forth from beneath her close cap, or the possibility of the gravest dance in such an unwieldy mass of clothes. The fashion of the day must have had a reaction on the mind, and have constantly toned down all thoughts to a dull level gloom. No small impetus was given to the restoration of Charles II. by the desire of the people to rid themselves of this gloom that over- shadowed "merrie England;" and when the master-mind of his party had ceased to exist, and bequeathed his temporal power to his amiable son, the excellent Eiohard Cromwell, the perfect imbecility of the rest was glaringly apparent, and Charles was allowed to enter the kingdom amidst the most unrestrained joy, while Eichard Crom- well gladly retired into the privacy of country life.* The Enghsh were never remarkable for great gaiety. The old foreign traveller's description, " they amused themselves sadly " (that is, seriously or discreetly) " after their country's fashion," is as happy a phrase as could well be conceived. But their long pent-up spirits now found full vent, and a degree of reckless gaiety and debauchery found its way into the kingdom, with a sovereign whose patronage of every- thing bad and vicious has obtained for him the title of the "Merry Monarch ;" and thus established the fact, that to encourage a nation's vice is to obtain a privilege of exemption from its censure. The gross profligacy 6f the times, as narrated by contemporary writers, is scarcely to be conceived as existing in a land professedly Chris- tian, and under a king for whom the title of " Most sacred Majesty " was coined.f The courtiers and monarch flooded the land with new fashions, the extravagant character of which may be seen from a glance at OgUby's book, detailing the ceremonies of his co- ronation, in which engravings are given of the entire procession, * He appears to have been totally forgotten, and to have preserved a rigid se- clusion. He lived to see the Stuarts expelled the kingdom; and made his last public appearance, when an old man of eighty, during the reign of Anne, as a witness in the law-courts of Westminster Hall. He was taien over the Houses of Parliament ; and while in the House of Lords, he was asked how long it was since he was last there. " I have never entered here," said the old man, pointing to the throne, " since I sat in that seat," ■ f As Chai'les increased in wickedness, the writers of the day appear to have increased in flattery. As late as 1682, when the country was on the brink of ruin, and the king steeped to the lips in infamy (the accounts of his private life. 254 COSTUME IN ENOLAND. and from whence the cut engraved below, of a nobleman and his footman, has been obtained. The fashions were those of France, where Charles had so long resided, and in which the vain courtiers of their vain master, Louis-le-Grand, delighted to display them- selves. Enormous periwigs were now first introduced, of a size that flings into the shade any modern judge's wig, how- ever monstrous ; and it be- came the mark of a man of ton to be seen combing them in the Mall, or at the theatre. The hat was worn with a broad brim, upon which reposed a heap of feathers ; a falling band of richest lace enveloped the neck ; the short cloak (usu- ally slung loosely across the shoulders, or carried on the arm) was edged deep with gold lace, as also was the doublet, which was long and straight, swelling outward from the waist. Wide "petticoat- breeches " pu£fed forth beneath, ornamented with rows of ribbons above the knees, and deep lace ruffles beneath them. The servant of the gentleman in the cut is equally richly dressed ; for they im- bibed the universal feeling, and shared in the general recklessness. Charles himself had sometimes scarcely a decent cloak to wear, as his servants stole them to seU, and thus obtain their wages.* Eandle Holme, the Chester herald, noted some of the variations of costume in his own time, and his note-book, preserved in the Bri- tish Museum, enables me to give some curious details of male oos- and the scenes at court, as given by Pepys and Evelyn, being almost astounding), a song in bis praise was sung at the Mayor's dinner in GhiildhaJl, declaring him to be a king " In whom all the graces are jointly combined, Whom God as a pattern has sent to mankind." * Waller the poet, in a letter to St. Evremond, tells him how the king had im- expectedly dropped in on the previous night to a party at Eochester's, where he was present, exclaiming, " How the devil have I got here ! the knaves have sold every cloak iu the wardrobe !" To which the earl replied, " Those knaves are fools ; that is a part of dress which, for their own sakes, your Majesty ought never to be without." THE STUAETS. 255 tmne, with facsimiles of the pen-drawings which accompany them. The first is dated the "latter end of 1658," and is described as a " short-waisted doublet and petticoat-breeches, the lining lower than the breeches tied above the knee, ribbons up to the pocket-holes half the breadth of the breeches, then ribbons all about waistband, and shirt hanging out." This was a new French fashion at this time, and seems to have attracted Holme's attention ; in the follow- ing year he notes a variety in it, " this first came to Chester with Mr. William Eavenscroft, who came out of France, and so to Ches- ter, in Sept. 1658." He illustrates it by the second drawing, and de- scribes it as " long stirrop hose, two yards wide at the top, with points through several eyelet holes, made fast to the petticoat-breeches; a single row of pointed ribbon hangs at bottom of the breeches." And he gives a third .variety, dated August, 1659, as "the said large stirrup hose tied to the breeches, and another pair of hose drawn over them to the calf of the leg, and so turned down;" sometimes the up- per part of the hose was worn "bagging over the garter." Of the ribbon so extensively used he says they were "first at breeches' knees, then at the waist, then at the hands, next about the neck." Such is the description of the first adventof a fashion that afterwards became universal in England after the restoration of the king. The dresses worn in the early part of the reign by the quieter country gentlefolks may be seen in the cut here engraved ; it is 256 COSTUMB IN ENGLAND. copied from the tomb of Jonatlias Saoteverell, and Elizabeth his wife, dated 1662, in Morley Church, near Derby. The gentleman wears a plain cap with a white border, a large collar, cloak, and doublet of equally modest pretensions ; and his lady might vie with a Quakeress in plainness, the long black veil she wears being almost monastic, and partially concealing the small black hood beneath, which was tied under the chin, and was one of the principal pecu- liarities in female costume during the time of CromweU; They were, no doubt, good, sincere, unpretending kind of people, who " Shook their heads at folks in london," and kept the even tenour of their way with a firm resistance of new fashions and " French kickshaws." The ladies of the court are so well known by the paintings of Lely, that their elegant and graceful costume need only be alluded to here. Mr. Planche has happily described it in a few words : " A studied neghgenoe, an elegant d^shabiUe, is the prevailing character of the costume in which they are nearly all represented ; their glossy ring- lets escaping from a simple bandeau of pearls, or adorned by a single rose, fall in graceful profusion upon snowy necks, unveiled by even the transparent lawn of the band or the partlet ; and the fair round arm, bare to the elbow, reclines upon the voluptuous satin petticoat, while the gown of the same rich ma- terial piles up its voluminous train to the background." It is but just, how- ever, to notice that it is chiefly in the paintings of this artist that this ease and elegance in female costume is vi- sible ; and it was to his taste, as it was to that of a later artist. Sir Joshua Eeynolds, that we are indebted for the freedom which characterized their treatment of the rigid and sometimes ungraceful costumes before them. A specimen of female dress about the middle of this reign is here given from a matter-of-fact source, but probably a more rigidly correct one. It forms one of the figures upon the needle-worked frame of a looking-glass, traditionally said to have belonged to the best of Charles's beauties, Nell Gwynne, once preserved by T. Bayliss, Esq., F.S.A., among his other inter- THE STTTAETS. 257 eating curiosities, at Pryor's Bani, FiiUiam. The taste for these frames and baskets was great at this time, and fair ladies frequently amused themselves in their construction, and probably the good- hearted NeUy herself may have fabricated this figure. In the ori- ginal the lady's petticoat is blue ; her gown is red, the sleeves are turned up with white and secured by a bow ; she wears a plain col- lar, and her hair is decorated with pink bows, and falls in rich clus- ters on her neck. There is a spice of the Puritan rigidity in this costume which belongs to the earlier half of Charles's reign. The ladies' hair was curled and arranged with the greatest art, and they frequently set it off with "heart-breakers," or artificial curls, and sometimes it was arranged at the sides of the head on wires. Eandle Holme, in his curious volume on heraldry, gives the accompanying figure of a lady, with " a pair of locks and curls," which he tells us were "in great fashion about the year 1670." He says, " they axe false locks, set on wyres, to make them stand at a distance from the head ; as the fardingales made their clothes stand out in Queen Elizabeth's reign." Sometimes a string of pearls, or an ornament of ribbon, was worn on the head ; and in the latter part of this reign hoods of various kinds were in fashion. About the same time patching and painting the face became more common ; and the bosom was so exposed that a book was published, entitled A Just and Seasonable Reprehension of Naked Breasts and Shoulders, with a preface by Eichard Baxter.* Pepys, in his Diary, has given many curious particulars relating to dress.f He notes down his wearing apparel with all the gusto of * The length to which these worthy divines carried their exhortations and similes may be guessed at by the following passage in a curious little book called ^Ehiglcmd^s Yanity ; or the Yoice of God against the monstrous sin of Fride in Dress and Apparel, 1683. The writer asks, — " Ladies, shall I send you to the Eoyal Exchimge, where a greater than an angel has kept open shop for these sixteen hundred years and more, and has incomparably the best choice of every- thing you can ask for ? And because he sells the best pennyworths, himself de- scends to call, What do you lack ? wliat do you huy 1 and advises you to buy of him. lord, hast thou any mantoes for ladies, made after thine own f^hion, which shall cover aU their naked shoulders, and breast, and necks, and adorn them aU over ? Where are they ? Revelations iii. 18 brings them forth. There they are, ladies; and cheap too, at your own price, and will wear for ever; and with this good property, that they thoroughly prevent the shame of your naked- ness from appearing ; and if you stoutly pass away, and take them not with you, if there be a God in heaven, you'll pass naked into hell to all eternity !" + Pepys was Secretary to the Admiralty, and so moved in first-rate society, and was frequently at court. s 258 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. vanity. His " white svdt, with, silver lace to the coat ;" his " camlet cloak, with gold buttons ;" his "jackanapes coat, with silver but- tons;" are mentioned along with items of the gravest kind. In March, 1662, he Writes : " By-and-by comes la belle Pierce to see my wife, and bring her a pair of perukes of hair, as the fashion is for ladies to wear, which are pretty, and of my wife's own hair." Next month he says : " Went with my wife to the New Exchange to buy her some things ; where we saw some new-fashion petticoats of sarsnet, with a black, broad lace, printed round the bottom, and before, very handsome." In the same month he says : "I saw the king in the park, now out of mourning, in a suit laced with gold and silver, which it is said was out of fashion." In 1663 he sees the king riding there, with the queen, in " a white laced waistcoat and a crimson short petticoat, and her hair dressed a, la negligence, mighty pretty." Under October 30th, of the same year, he writes : " 43Z. worse than I was last month ; but it hath chiefly arisen from my laying out in clothes for myself and wife : viz. for her about 12^., and for myself about 55 Z., or thereabouts, having made mySelf a velvet cloak, two new cloth skirts, black, plain both ; a new shag gown, trimmed with gold buttons and twist ; with a new hat, and silk tops for my legs ; two periwigs, one whereof cost me 3Z., and the other 40«. I have worn neither yet, but I will begin next month, God willing." Under Nov. 30 he writes : "Put on my best black suit, trimmed with scarlet ribbons, very neat, with my cloak Uned with velvet, and a new beaver, which altogether is very noble." Under May 14, 1664, he writes : " To church, it being Whit- Sunday ; my wife very fine in a new yellow bird's-eye hood, as the fashion is now." On June 1 : " After dinner I put on my new ca- melot suit, the best that ever I wore in my life^ the suit costing me above 24?." June 11, he notes : " Walking in the gallery at White- hall, I find the ladies of honour dressed in their riding garbs, with coats and doublets with deep skirts, just for all the world like mine, and their doublets buttoned up the breast, with periwigs and with hats ; so that, only for a long petticoat dragging under their men's coats, nobody would take them for women in any point whatever ; which was an odd sight, and a sight that did not please me." The dangers of periwig-wearers in 1665, when the Great Plague was raging, are narrated in another entry on the 3rd of September in that year : " Put on my coloured cloth suit, and my new periwig, bought a good while since, but durst not wear it, because the plague was in Westminster when I bought it ; and it is a wonder what,will THB STTTAETS. 259 be the fashion after the plague is done, as to periwigs, for nobody will dare to buy any hair, for fear that it had been cut off the heads of people dead with the plague." These periwigs were excessively disliied by the clergy, who inveighed against them in their sermons: in the curious little book quoted in .the note on p. 257, the author, speaking of the fops, and " the charges they are at for their poles," says : " Our ancestors were wiser than we, who kept this tax in their pockets, which helpt to maintain their tables; and would hardly have eaten a orum, had they found but an hair in their dish ; while we are curling and powdering up ten thousand, that fly into our mouths all dinner, and cannot make a meal in peace for them." But, s Granger tells us : " It was observed that a periwig procured many persons a respect, and even veneration, which they were strangers to before, and to which they had not the least claim from their per- sonal merit. The judges and physicians, who thoroughly under- stood this magic of the wig, gave it all the advantage of length as well as size." October 8, 1666, Pepys writes : " The king hath yesterday in coun- cil declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes, which he will never alter;" and on the 15th of the same month he says: " This day the king begun to put on his vest, and I did see several persons of the House of Lords, and Commons too, great courtiers, who are in it ; being a long cassock close to the body, of long cloth, and pinked with white sUk under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruf- fled with white ribbon, like a pigeon's leg ; and upon the whole I wish the king may keep it, for it is a very fine and hand- some garment."* The cut of Charles II. and acourtier,here given, is copied from the fron- tispiece to The Cov/r- tier's Calling, and de- picts the plainer costume * Charles altered the trimming of this dress very soon ; for, under October 17, Pepys says, "The court is full of vests; only my Lord St. Albans not pinked, but plain black ; and they say the king says, the pinking upon white makes them look too much like magpies, and hath bespoken one of plain velvet," s 2 260 COSTUME IN BNGLAND. adopted at the close of the reign. The hair is, in fact, the only ex- travagance about it, and one can scarcely imagine the volatUe Charles in so stiff and grave a dress. Toward the end of his reign it became stiU plainer; and the doublet and vest were worn considerably longer, the first reaching beyond the knees, the other little shorter. The series of engravings delineat- ing the funeral procession of General Monk, in 1670, give us some very fine examples of the peculiarities of gentlemen's dress ; and two figures, here engraved, are selected as among the best of the specimens there af- forded, and which are more useful for all artistic purposes than many pages of extract and description. During the brief and unhappy reign of his brother, the same fashion pre- vailed, and gentlemen appeared in little low hats, with a bow at the side, like those worn by yeomen of the guard; long coats and waistcoats, with rows of buttons down the front; breeches moderately wide, reaching to the knee; close stockings, and high-heeled, shoes, with roses or buckles. The expense of a gentleman's dress at this time was considerable, as may be seen by the following biU for a suit made for Louise de Querouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, to appear in a masque at WhitehaU, in 1672 f*— £. B. d, "Tor making a dove-oolor'd and silk ibrooade coat, EMngrave breeches and cannons, the coat lined "with white lutestring, and interlined with camblett; the breeches lined with lutestring, and lutestring drawers, seamed all over with a scarlet and sil- ver lace ; sleeves and caimons whipt and laced with a scarlet and silver lace and a point lace; trimmed with a, scarlet figured, and plain sattin ribbon, and scarlet and sUver twist . 2 Canvas, buckram, silk, thread, galloon and shamey pockets . . 11 6 For fine camblet to interline the coat 060 For silver thread for button-holes 030 For 6 dozen of scarlet and silver veUam buttons 110 * This and other documents connected with the festivities are in the posses- sion of the author of this Volume. THE STtTAETS. 261 Si. s. d. For i dozen of breast buttons 006 For 10 yards of rich brocade at 28s. per yard 14 For 8 yards of lutestring to line the coatj breeches, and drawers, at 8s. per yard 340 For a pair of silk stockings 12 For an embroidered belt and garters 3 15 For 36 yards of scarlet figured ribbon, at 18d. per yard .... 2 14 For 36 yards of second aattin, at 5d.. per yard 15 For 75 yards of scarlet and silver twist 15 For 22 yards of scarlet and silver veUam lace,, for coat and can- nons, at 18s. per yard 19 16 For 4 yards J of narrow lace for button-holes 12 9 For 1 piece of scarlet 1 12 For a black beaver hat 2 10 For a scarlet and silver edging to the hat 1 10 For 36 yards of scarlet taffaty ribbon 18 Totallis ... 59 15 9." The dress of a gentleman at the end of the present period will be well illustrated by the fine full-length effigy, in Winchester Cathedral, of John Clobery, who died 1687. His wig is ample, and is sur- mounted by a hunting-cap, the origin of those still worn by jockeys ; . his loose neck-oloth falls over his coat, which is closely buttoned to the ohiUf and is- richly embroidered over aU the seams with gold lace; the cuffs are large, and are also covered with the same or- nament ; a sash is tied round the waist ; he wears gloves with large fringed topsj and tall jack-boots. There is a squareness and rigidity throughout the figure, which, would appa- rently disarm the most fastidious of faidt- finders, who had complained, with the author of 1683, quoted' in the note, p. 257, " That in wearing Dutch hats with French feathers, French doublets with collars after the cus- tom of Spain, Turkish coats, Spanish hose, Italian cloaks, Venetian rapiers, with such-lite: we had likewise stolen the vices and ex- cesses of these countries, which we did imitate natural." Of the ladies' dress, during the same short reign, it may be said that simpUcity was its chief characteristic, and that it varied in no degree from that worn during the latter part of the previous reign. 262 C0STT7ME IN ENatAND. The ordinary dresses of the eoniinonalty were of simpler fashion. Thus,' in the comedy called The Factious Citizen, 1685, a fop from the west-end cif LcVndon is thus told how to disguise himself as a steady citizen : " Off with your clothes, your sword, wig, and hat ; put yourself nimbly into a black suit of grogram below the knees, a broad skirted doublet, a girdle about the middle, and a short black cloak squirted- down before with black taffity ; a broad brim'd hat, with a great twisted hat-band, with a rose at the end of it. Tour hair is slink enough, and of the precise cut, without your periwig." The female citizens are described in " green aprons and grogaram gowns or petticoats, with little rings upon their foreheads, a strait hood, and a narrow diminutive colverteen pinner, that makes them look so saint-like." But when dressed in Sunday finery they aped their betters. One is described as "perfumed with rose-cakes, a flaunting tower on her head, and all those shining pimples in her face hidden under black patches ; a yeUow hood, and a vizard to keep herself unknown.'' The dignitaries of the Church, as well as its other members, had come to a definite arrangement in their costume as a Protestant clergy, before the commencement of the present period, while Eliza- beth still sat upon the throne ', and there remains little to say on this head during the entire reign of the Stuarts, because, once fixed, it became little liable to the changes that capricious fashion occa- sioned in secular habits i thus we find the same dresses displayed by the dergy in the reign of Charles II. as were worn at the accession of James I., the exceptions to so general a remark being merely the shape of a cap or band, which varied a little in course of years. Yet during the reign of James, and, in fact, from the time of the Eefor- mation, a growing dislike was felt bj- the generality of persons to any garments showily constructed, like those of the Church of Borne; and a popular song, describing the visit of James I. to St. Paul's, in March, 1620, sneers at "The priests in their copes, like so many popes.'' Archbishop Laud, on the contrary, was a strenuous advocate for the external pomp of the Church; and to his love of this clerical display may be traced one reason for the strong opposition he met with ; and the distinctive simplicity of modettt clerical costume may be said to date from the Great Revolution, when the last traces of gaudy ap- parel left the Anglican Church, which had lingered there from the Eomish one. . As a fine example of the costume of a dignitary of the Church THE STTTAETS. 263 just previous to this period, the brass of Samuel Harsnett, Arch- bishop of York, who died in 1631, and is buried in Chigwell Church, Essex, is here copied from Mr. Waller's engraving. There are many points in which this effigy is curious : the square-cut beard is, as Eandle Holme tells us, "the hroai or eathed/ral hea/rd, so called because bishops and grave men of the Church anciently did wear such beards." The mitre of the bishop is of a bowed form ; and the head of the crozier is ornamented by a simple rose. A very elegant cope covers the rest of the dress, but it is free of any figures of saints, or inscriptions ; a flowing arabesque of flowers and leaves occupying the entire surface. Be- neath this appears the chimere, and under that the roohette, slightly ornamented round the top and bottom. The Eev. John Jebb, in that chapter of his work on the Choral Service devoted to a con- sideration of the ornaments of the Church, says, " The cope or vestment has now fallen into almost total disuse, being retained only at Westminster Abbey at coronations, when all the prebendaries are vested in copes, as well as the prelates who then officiate. The ancient copes, used till some time in the last century, still exist at Durham ; and at Westminster, as tradition informs us, they were used till about the same time. We have sufficient evidence from documents, that not only in cathe- drals, but also in the university colleges, etc., they were in common use till at least the Great Bebellion." Mr. Jebb quotes as autho- rities: "Archbishop Cranmer, at the consecration of a bishop in 1550, wore mitre and cope, and the assistant bishops had copes and pastoral staves (Life, b.ii. chap. 24). There were copes in Lambeth Chapel ever since the Reformation (Laud's Trouhles, p. 310). They were worn on some occasions by all present, as in Queen Elizabeth's Chapel on St. George's day, and in certain colleges. In 1564 (Par- ker's Life, b. ii. chap. 26) they were worn by the officials and the assistant priests at Canterbury on communion-days. Archbishop AVilliams furnished the chapel of Lincoln College with copes (Life). Ift Laud's Troubles, etc., p. 33, they are mentioned as being in use at Winchester, and at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. Also they were ordered for the Prince's Chapel, in Spain, by James I. (Heylin's 264 COSTUME IN ENaiiAND. Laud, b. ii. chap. 1) ; and by Cbarles I. for the Chapel Eoyal in Edinburgh [Id. b. ii. part 2)." Although the cope be an ancient gar- ment, it is plain that its sumptuous modifloation and showiness was the invention of after-times, and originated in that plethora of power and riches which afficted the Catholic Church, and which made its common use at all times objectionable in the eyes of all who loved simplicity where it should most be seen. The Puritans, — on the downfall of monarchy and the established church, — ^under the sanction of " The quacks of government, wlio sate At the unregarded helm of state," — discarded everything peculiar to clerical costume; and their preachers appeared in plain doublets and cloaks with small Geneva bands, and were as loud in their denunciation of any fashion for the clergy as the witty Bishop Corbet has made his Distracted Puritan, who ex- claims: — " Boldly I preach, hate a cross, hate a surplice, Mitres, copes, alid rochets !" which were looked upon as " marks of the Beast," to be especially avoided. Their beards were trimmed as close as their hair; the divines of the Church of England had, as we have noticed, previ- ously worn theirs large and trimmed square. Granger, in his Sio- graphical Dictionary, has recorded the saying of the Rev. John More, of Norwich, one of the worthiest clergymen of the reign of Elizabeth, who wore the longest and largest beard of any English- man of his time, — that he always allowed his beard to be thus long, " that no act of his life might be unworthy of the gravity of his appearance;" which Granger declares to be "the best reason that could be given ;" adding, " I wish as good a reason could always have been assigned for wearing the longest hair, and the longest or largest wig." It must not, however, be understood that the fashion of the day was quite unattended to by the religious community ; for many di- vines became reconciled to long hair and lace collars, although of the puritanic party. The two figures engraved on the next page are copied from A Pious and ^Reasonable Persieasive to the Sonnes of Zion, printed in the year 1646 : the figure to the left being described as " a godly Dissenting brother," while the one to the right is " a godly brother of the Presbyterian way j" the aim of the author being to convince them, by the arguments brought, forward in his pamph- let, to meet and shake hands in as friendly a manner as he has here THE STTJAETS. 265 pictured them. These figures are valuable for the idea they give of the generally approved costume, which seems to hit " propriety " exceedingly well, having just enough straightness and primness to satisfy the Puritan, with a little piquant touch of the fashion, to gild the pill with those who wished not to look too singular and unlike the rest of the world. The Dissenter's dress is in no degree diflGerent from the plain ordinary one of a gen- tleman of Charles I.'s reign. The Presbyterian is dressed in boots that are in the ex- treme of fashionable incon- venience, and his breeches are ornamented with rows of points that would not dis- grace an exquisite ; his dark cloak, tight vest, and narrow cuffs, how- ever, endeavour to compensate for this ; while the narrow plain band that surrounds his neck is what no " saint " of the day could object to; and the close black skull-cap of velvet would satisfy the " triers " mentioned in Hudibras, who, judging by " Black caps underlaid with wtite', Give certain guess at inward light." A writer in the Universal Magazine for 1779, speaking of the dis- like the more rigid Puritans had to long hair, which " was frequently declaimed against from the pulpit, and in the days of Cromwell was considered as a subject of disgrace," adds : " The gloomy emigrants who fled from England and other parts, about that period, to seek in the wilds of America a retreat where they might worship God ac- cording to their consciences, among other whimsical tenets carried to their new settlements an antipathy agaiost long hair ; and when they became strong enough to publish a* code of laws, we find the following curious article as a part of it: 'It is a circumstance uni- versally acknowledged, that the custom of Wearing long hair, after the manner of immoral persons and of the savage Indians, can only have been introduced into England but in sacrilegious contempt of the express command of God, who declares that it is a shameftd practice for any man who has the least care for his soul to wear long; 266 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. Lair. As ttis abomination excites tlie indignation of all pious per- sons, we, tke magistrates, in our ^eal for the purity of tlie faith, do expressly and authentically declare, that we condemn the impious custom of letting the hair grow, — a custom which we look upon to be very indecent and dishonest, which horribly disguiles men, and is offen^ve to modest and sober persons, inasmuch as it corrupts good manners. We therefore, being justly incensed against this scandalous custom, do desire, advise, and earnestly request all the elders of our continent zealously to show their aversion to this odious practice ; to exert aU their power to put a stop to it, and es- pecially to take care that the members of their churches be not in- fected with it ; in order that those persons who, notwithstanding these rigorous prohibitions and the means of correction that shall be used on this account, shall stiQ persist in this custom, shall have both God and man at the same time against them.' " At a later period of Cromwell's rule we find that long hair gradu- ally began to make its appearance among the clergy, one or two of the most eminent wore it so constantly, in spite of the doubts and dislikings of those enthusiasts who gave vent to suspicions of the soundness of the opinions of those who indulged the growth of it. I have noticed, in page 251, the fashionable exterior of John Owen, Dean of Christ Church in 1652, when Puritanism was at its height ; and during Cromwell's reign most of the divines became reconciled to hair (as they were immediately after to wigs) ; Cromwell himself, in his latest portraits, — the profile, for instance, — wears it as long as it would grow, though he had lost it from the brow. So does Ludlow, the chief of the Independents. The costume of a bishop about the middle of the reign of Charles II. is here given from a print of that time. The cap he wears is something similar to that worn by Latimer (as en- graved on p. 219); and it will help us to understand how the present caps worn at our universities originated. It will be perceived, by com- paring these two cuts, that the cap worn by the bishop here is THE STTTAETS. 267 squarer and flatter than that worn by Latimer : it hangs over the forehead in a broader fashion, while that part which surrounds the back of the head fits still more closely ; the laxity of the upper por- tion, and its increased width, would naturally suggest the insertion of something to stiffen and hold it out, so as to prevent its falling too low upon the face ; and hence came the square top of the aca- demic cap, which now appears to be an useless addition, the under portion or skull-cap to which it is affixed inclosing the head as tightly as the Puritanic relvet one. The figure in front of the bishop gives us the ordinary dress of a clergyman from a print dated 1680. It requires little explanation ; the broad-brimmed hat, with its low crown, was then not a mark of humility, as it might now be considered, but was the fashionable hat, as worn by the gentry, although the clergy and the Quakers have generally affected "broad-brims," as having less vanity in their expansiveness. His flowing peruke is also in the first fashion ; for, indeed, the clergy of Charles II.'s time were not remarkable for a dislike to secular dandyisms. "Wood has related an anecdote of one, which, while it shows the foppery of the clergyman, shows a greater degree of right thinking in Charles II. on this subject than one would be inclined to expect from a king who placed four-and-twenty fiddlers in the Chapel Eoyal, to perform the Church-service instead of the organist.* He says that "ITathaniel Vincent, D.D., chaplain in ordinary to the king, preached before him at Newmarket, in a long periwig and hoUand sleeves, according to the then fashion for gentlemen : and that his Majesty was so offended at it, that he com- manded the Duke of Monmouth, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, to see the statutes concerning decency of apparel put in execution, which was done accordingly." The remainder of the dress worn by the clergyman of our cut, it will be perceived, varies but little from that now worn ; the narrow band has, in its progress toward the days of our own century, dege- nerated into " two little bibs " beneath the chin.f The gown worn is the academic gown ; the sleeves are not full to the wrist, but * This originated Tom D'Urfey's song of " Four-and-twenty Kddlers all of a row." f " The hands, though of no ancient origin, not perhaps in their present forjn dating higher than the Eestoration (as used in the English Church), are nulhing more than a modification of the collar conunon to all classes in former times. They are still worn by lawyers, and by clergymen always, but often by parish clerks, and ought to be by all graduates at least in the universities. Formerly imdorgraduatc members also wore them, as do the scholars of some colleges still, Winchester for example." — Mev. J. J'ebb. 268 COSTTTME IN ENGLAND. tighten midway from that to the elbow ; white cuffs surround the hands, and a large cassock beneath the gown is fastened round the waist; the whole dress is of black, and gives the "true effigy" of a clergyman of those days, when it was usual for the Church to dis- tinguish its members by a costume not confined within its walls only, and only worn while officiating in its service, but in which it was usual for them constantly to appear. Colonel Blood, when he made an attempt at stealing the crown from the Tower, wore the dress of a clergyman ; and when he visited the keepers of the crown- jewels, always left them "with a canonical benediction:" and this he did as well to disarm suspicion of his purpose, as to be enabled to conceal his precious prize in the folds of his gown as he passed the warders at the gates. " The gentlemen of the long robe," as lawyers are sometimes called, had become pretty well fixed' in their costume at the end of the Stuart dynasty. They had, however, not reached that quiet solem- nity of dress for which they are conspicuous, without some stringent rules, which had been applied as curbs to their fashionable propen- sities for some long time. Thus we are told : " In the 32d of Henry VIII. an order was made in the Inner Temple, that the gentlemen of that company should reform themselves in their cut or disguised apparel, and not wear long heards ; and that the treasurer of that court should confer with the other treasurers of court for an uniform reformation, and to know the justices' opinion therein. In Lincoln's Inn, by an order made in the 23d of Henry VIII., none were to wear cut or pansied hose or breeches, or pansied doublet, on pain of expulsion; and all persons were to be put out of commons during the time they wore beards^. " The grievance of long beards was not yet removed. An order was made in the Middle Temple, that no fellow of that house should wear his beard- above three weeks'^ growth, upon pain of forfeiting 20s. " In the third and fourth of Philip and Mary, the following orders were agreed upon to be observed in all the four inns of court, viz. That none of the companions,, except knights or benchers, should wear in their doublets or hose any light colours, except scarlet and crimson, nor wear any upper velvet cap, or any scarf, or wings in their gowns, white jerkins, buskins, or velvet shoes, double cuffs on their shirts, feathers or ribbons on their caps, on pain of forfeiting 3«. 4c?., and for the second offence, of expulsion ; nor should wear their study gowns in the City any farther than Fleet Bridge or Holborn Bridge, nor might they wear them as far as the Savoy, upon like pains as those afore-mentioned. THE STUABTS, 269 " In the Middle Temple an order was made, in the fonrth or fifth of the same reign, that none of that society should wear great breeches in their hose, after the Dutch, Spanish, or Almain (Ger- man) fashion, or lawn upon their caps, or cut doublets, on pain of forfeiting Ss. 4d., and for the second offence the offender to be ex- pelled."* The figures of lawyers here given are selected from Hol- lar's engraving of the coro- nation procession of Eing Charles II. in 1660. The seated figure is one of the justices of the King's Bench (the barons of the Exchequer are similarly habited) : the close coif and fiat cap look much like those worn by dignitaries of the Church; but the modest flow of hair beneath shrinks into insigni- ficance before the modern wig, which reached the bar and pulpit during this reign, and has never been relinquished by either, the law dignitaries still preserv- ing it in the fullest and gravest amplitude. The collar, a plain square piece of lawn, is, with the peculiarities above spoken of, the only great difference to be detected in the costume of this figure and that worn at the present time. His companion also wears a gown, which is still the official dreSs of many public officers. He is " the king's solicitor," and he wears the ordinary broad-brimmed hat and plain collar of the day ; his long gown, richly ornamented with gold lace and buttons, preserves an ancient feature of dress — the useless hanging sleeve — which may still be seen on official costume, as well as upon that of the universities. His gloves are richly fringed round the top ; and the entire dress has rather a comfortable and costly look, without sacrificing any convenience in the amplitude of trailing gowns and heavy fur trimmings. " The gentlemen of the faculty " may also claim a little of our at- tention ; for towards the end of the period of which we are now speaking they were not distinguished by any great peculiarity of costume, the graver cut and colour of their dresses being, with their gold-headed canes, their chief mark of distinction. It wiE be seen, * Herbert's Sistory oftlie Inns of Court, 270 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. however, by a glance at tlie cut, that they adopted a very grave cos- tume previous to the Eestoration. The originals from which they are copied occur upon the title-page of a rare satirical pamphlet of 1641, bearing the title of A Breame, or Newes from Sell, with a relation of the great God Plwto suddenly falling sick hy reason of this present Parliament ; in which the " old gentleman " is depict- ed iU in bed, with a wrought nightcap upon his head, and a fire beneath his bed, at- tended by three learned physicians, two of whom we have the honour of intro- ducing here as good examples of their profession. One wears a close cap ; the other, a puritanical-looking hat : the latter gentleman dressed, or rather enveloped, in a loose gown, gathered round the neck, and thence flowing to the feet as unconfined as a poet's fancy. His collar and cuffs are scrupulously plain ; his beard and mousta- ehios are trimmed in the fashion immortalized by Charles I.'s adop- tion. His companion's face is similarly decorated, though the up- turned moustachios give him rather a military expression, as if the amputation of a limb would in no wise concern him. His ruff is closely plaited, and so are his ruffles ;' his wide open gown displays the doublet and long dress beneath ; and, altogether, he looks a fit precursor to the undertaker. A dress nearly as grave, and very si- milar, was worn by merchants and citizens at this time. In the Lord Mayor's pageant for 1664, one of the characters in an emblematic show was " habited like a grave citizen, according to the ancient manner, in trunk-hose, stockings ty'd cross above and below the knee, a sattin doublet, close coat gathered at the waist, a set ruffe about his neck, ruff cuffs about his wrist, a broad-brim'd hat, a large oypresse hat-band, gold girdle and gloves hung thereon, rings on his fingers, and a seal ring on his thumb ; a blew linsey- wolsey apron wrapt about his middle." It wiU be scarcely fair to dismiss these citizens without a few words on a class known as "the liverymen," who wore, and still wear, a distinguishing dress. The two figures engraved on next page THE STtTAETS. 271 are copied from a charter of tlie Leather-sellers' Company, in the time of James I. They wear "the city flat cap," small niffs, and long gowns trimmed with fur, having hanging sleeves. Any one conversant with the livery gown still worn will see that it has altered little or no- thing in its progress toward our own time. The most curious point in the costume here depicted is the parti- coloured hood, which is thrown over the right shoul- der, and is fastened across the breast : it is the last re- lic of the ancient hood, with its pendent "tippet," that came into fashion about the time of Henry VI. (see p. 151). They are stUI worn by the Enighta of the Garter, and are also used in the investiture and swearing-in of the members of some civic companies. The roundlet or cap was to cover the head ; the skirts appended to it to fall behind, and keep the neck warm ; while the tippet was wound about the neck to secure the cap when thrown off: this, of course, was its original intention, hence it was termed a casting-hood ; it had ceased to be used, and to be made large enough to be useful, long before the time of which we now speak. The livery of London were anciently distinguished by a peculia- rity of costume, and its colour denoted the company to which the wearer belonged. No mention of these " liveries " occurs, however, before the time of Edward I. When that king rode in procession through Lsndon in 1329, after his marriage at Canterbury, six hun- dred of the citizens of London rode with the rest, in one livery of red and white, with the cognisances of their mysteries (or trades) embroidered on their sleeves. The members of Chaucer's Canter- bury Pilgrims who were tradesmen of London, he describes as " Clothed in a livery Of a solenuie and greate fraternity." Thus, the Grocers' Company, in 1414, were distinguished by a livery of scarlet and green, which was fourteen years afterwards changed to scarlet and black. The Leather-sellers, engraved above. 273 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. wear gowns of black cloth, trimmed with fur ; the hood being red and black, or parti-coloured, as before mentioned ; the cap of dark cloth. It was usual with the members of each company to provide them- selves once a year with a suit of livery, which was purchased by the wardens, who had a deposit of one penny when it was ordered, forty pence more when it was bought, and the balance when it was deli- vered. ' It was usual for the Lord Mayor to have a distinct livery of his own colours ; and any member of the same company wishing for it for his own wear, might obtain it by sending the mayor a sum of money in a purse (which must at the least be twenty shilKngs), with his name, as "a benevolence," or part payment, for which the Mayor delivered to hiTn four yards of cloth for a gown " of his own livery," which previous to 1516 was generally " rayed " or striped.* The military costume of the Stuart period is chiefly remarkable for the gradual abandonment of heavy plate-armour ; as if the really ingenious remark of James I. had been felt universally, and for which we must refer the reader to p. 159, merely noticing here the fact of its gradual disuse in the field, and the consequent lightness and freedom imparted to the soldier. It became usual to wear only the back and breast plates, with overlapping tuilles dependent from it to protect the thighs, and helmets for the head. The arms were sometimes encased in armour, and occasionally entire armour was worn ; but the carabineers' bullets were now so formidable, owing to im- provements in fire-arms, that armour was no longer a safeguard ; and during the reign of Eing Charles I., it was not uncommon for soldiers to appear in the field in a strong buff coat, whose thickness prevented the cut of a sword, over which a cuirass and gorget was worn, a helmet for the head, and stout leather boots. The fine full-length effigy of Sir Denner Strutt, 1641, from his tomb in Whalley Church, Essex, will fully illustrate the armour of the period as worn by officers in the field. The upper half of the body is completely armed, but the lower part is * See more on this subject in Herbert's Mistory of the JAvery Companies. THE STtTAETS. 273 not BO, as the back of the figure and the thighs, which would, in fact, be defended by the position of riding, could need no other pro- tection in the field. The front of the thigh is covered, and the en- tire leg from the knee. A broad sword-belt passes across the chest, and the plain fashionable collar and long hair repose peacefiiUy on the armed shoulders. The sort of helmets now generally adopted may be seen in the accompanying group, selected from Skelton's engravings of some in the collection of Sir S. E. Meyrick. Fig. 1, of the time of Charles I., shows how closely the face was occasionally guarded ; the cheeks being covered by side-pieces, a perforated visor may be drawn down to cove* the face ; it is here represented lifted, with the umbrU, which is something like the peak of a cap. Fig. 2 is a pot-helmet of the time of Cromwell, with a fluted ornament over the top, and a receptacle for a feather in front. It has a broad rim, and cheek- pieces on each side, to which straps were affixed for fastening it be- neath the chin. Fig. 3 represents a helmet worn by the harquebu- siers in 1645, to the umbril of which is affixed a triple bar, which protects the face, and is by no means so heavy and confining as the visor, which was at this period generally discarded. Sometimes helmets were worn with a single bar only down the centre of the face, which could be pushed up at pleasure, and was held firm when down by a screw over the forehead ; flexible ear-pieces protected the cheeks, and overlapping plates covered the back of the neck. The full-length portrait engraved on the following page is copied from W. D. Fellowes' Historical Sketches of Charles I., Cromwell, Charles II., and the Principal Personages of that Period. It re- presents Ferdinand Lord Fairfax, the father of the more celebrated Parliamentary general, who also served in the same cause, and was appointed general for the county of York. The only articles of ar- mour he wears appear to be the cuirass and gauntlets. His bufi' coat and sleeves are apparently ornamented by embroidery, with the 274 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. addition of rows of small puffs sur- rounding the sleeve ; his breeches ap- pear to be also of buff leather from their rigidity ; large boots, with wide tops, encase his legs and feet ; the tops are turned down and ornamented with lace. He bears the truncheon of a com- mander, and a very long but narrow sword by his side, hanging to a belt passing across his breast. The pride of the ancient English army, " the bowmen," had ceased to be its strong hope by this time. These men, according to Sir 8. B. Meyriek, " were taught to shoot at butts* or tar- get ; and the length of the bow depend- ed on the height of the archer. In the true proportion of the human figure, it is found that the distance from the top of the middle finger of one hand to that of the other, when at the utmost extension, equals that from the crown of the head to "the soles of the feet. Now if such be the length of the bowstring, and the shaft half that size (the regular standard), a man of six feet high would use a cloth-yard arrow.i" " It is well known that the long-boW had been so skilfully used by the English archers as to obtain for them the character of pre- eminence ; and as the practice of shooting was enjoined as a pas- time, they acquired such unerring certainty and rapidity of shot, as to hold fire-arms in the utmost contempt."J Toward the end of Elizabeth's reign they had lost their import- ance, and fire-arms received much attention. Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, says : " In the beginning of * Butts were mounds of earth, with a mark in the centre, set up in the fields for practitioners. Newington-butts, a parish ia Southwark, takes its name &om the butts there erected. ■f- In one of the old ballads of Eobin Hood, we are told of that famous out- law, — " Then Eobin took his bow in hand. Made of a trusty tree, An arrow of a cloth-yard long Unto the head drew he." And thus the ballad-maker and graver historian agree. J Illustrations of Ancient Arms and Armour. THE STtTAETS. 275 the seventeenth century the word ' artillery ' was used in a much more extensive sense, and comprehended long-bows, cross-bows, slur-bows, and stone-bows ; also scorpions, rams, and catapults, which the writer (in Gesta Grayorum, 1594) tella us were formerly used. He then names the fire-arms as follows : Cannons, basilisks, culve- rins, jakers, faulcons, minions, fowlers, chambers, harquebussea, ca- livers, petronils, pistols, and dags. ' This,' says he, ' is the artillerie which is now in the most estimation, and they are divided into great ordinance, and into shot or guns ;' which proves that the use of fire-arms had then in a great measure superseded the practice of archery." Infantry, in the time of James I., principally consisted of pike- men and musketeers. " In the time of Charles I. great reliance was placed on the pikeman, whose formidable weapon was eighteen feet in length ; for Ward, in his Animadversions of Warre, says : ' So long as the pikes stand firme, although the shot should be routed, yet it cannot be said the field is won ; for the whole strength of an army consists in the pikes.' His armour was termed a corselet. An indispensable appointment of a pikeman was a straight sword to de- fend himself from cavalry, when he had planted his pike opposite a horse's breast ; and the want of this essential weapon is pointed out in a satirical poem, called Peter's Banquet, written in 1645, — " ' Some thirty corselets in the rear, That had no rapier, but a spear.'" The figures of a pikeman and musketeer, here engraved, are co- pied from a print dated 1645. The first agrees well with the foregoing description. The musketeer carries his heavy musket on his shoul- der, holding in the same hand his musket-rest; for the weapon, in its original form, was too cumbrous to hold while pointing at the enemy, without such assist- ance : so each soldier carried one, which had a sharp point at bottom, that it might be stuck in the ground when the piece was to be let off. T 2 276 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. The cavalry at this time consisted of four corps : 1. Lancers, who were armed rather carefully in a steel cap, gorget, breast and back plates, with pauldrons, rere and vambraees, and gaunt- lets ; their weapons being a lance, sword, and pistols. 2. Cuirassiers, so termed from the cuirass worn over the buff coat, whose weapons were sword and pistols. 3. Harquebussiers, similarly habited and armed, but hav- ing the addition of a harque- bus. 4. Dragoons, who wore buff coats with deep skirts, and open helmets, which sometimes had overlapping plates to protect the cheeks. The cut of a dragoon above is copied from a print bearing date 1645. Sir Samuel Meyrick has given their history thus : " Dragoons, acdording to Pere Daniel, were first raised in the year 1600 by the Mareachal de Brisao. In the times of Charles I. they were clad as above described. In 1632 they had in England short muskets, which were hung at their backs by a strap reaching nearly to their whole length ; in 1645 they had a much shorter piece, called a dragon, as in other countries, hooked on a swivel to a belt over the left shoul- der, and under the right arm ; and in 1649 a caliver. Besides iheae offensive arms was a sword attached to a waistbelt, from which also were suspended the powder-flask, touch-box, bullet-bag, etc." In the group of arms, engraved on next page, fig. 1 is a dragon of the early part of James I.'s reign. Fig. 2 a wheel-lock caliver of the same date : the wheel-lock was a contrivance for obtaining sparks by the sudden revolving of the wheel, acted on by the trigger, against a piece of pyrites (native sulphuret of iron) fixed in the cock, and brought down against it. During the time of Charles I., how- ever, the flint-lock or fire-look was introduced from Spain, where it was invented. Kg. 3 is the wheel-lock petronel of the same period, so called because it was fired from the chest (poUrine). Pig. 4 shows the clumsy-looking "pocket wheel-lock dag " of the days of Elizabeth ; fig. 5 the long wheel-lock pistol. It wiU not be neces- sary to do more than notice during the reign of Charles II. \h& fusil, a lighter fire-lock than the musket, from which our fusiliers obtained THE STUAETS. 277' their name ; and the introduction of the bayonet, which received its name from the place of its invention, Bayonrie, from whence it rapidly spread all over Eu- rope. It was originally a dagger with a wooden hilt, that could be pushed or screwed into the mouth of a gun, as shown in fig. 6 ; consequently the gun was useless as a fire-arm while the bayonet was thus in- serted ; and it was not un- til our English soldiers, servingunder "William III. in Flanders, felt the heavy fire of the opposing French from hayonnetted guns, while their own were powerless and stopped up by the weapons they had screwed into their muzzles for a charge, that they learned how to combine the full efficacy of both weapons at once. By turning to page 228, the costume of the yeomen of the guard to Henry VIII. may be seen ; as a contrast, exhibiting the general changes of the times, one of King Charles II.'s yeomen of the guard has been here copied from Hollar's print of his coronation. The little flat cap has been changed to a high hat and feathers ; the jacket is considerably shorter, and his petticoat-breeches are in the fashionable style of the age. He carries a partisan in his right hand, and a sword by his side. It will be perceived that the dresses now worn by yeomen of the guard, as they 278 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. may be seen at the Tower, or at court on state occasions, more nearly approaches the original costume. By the end of the present period various regiments of the British army had been formed, whose names are still familiar. Thus the Life Guards were embodied in 1681 by Charles, in imitation of the French "gardes du corps," originally consisting of gentlemen of family who had been conspicuous for their loyalty in the previous civil wars. The Coldstream were embodied at that town by General Monk, in 1660, and thence obtained their name. But as this is not the necessary place for a detail of such memoranda, which are fully treated on in the lately published histories, of the British regiments, I must refer the reader to these sources. 279 ^mi^ of ^&axQt i^& ^uaxiii. Charles II. may be said to have given the death-blow to exagge- ration in male costume, when he put on " solemnly/ " — as Evelyn in- forms us — a long close vest of dark cloth, with a determination never to alter it. This determination, of course, Charles kept no better than fifty other determinations of a graver and more important kind. Yet, if the reader will turn to the cut given in p. 259, of Charles and a courtier thus habited, he will see in their costume the originals of the long-skirted angular coats of the reign of William III., which have descended to us with many variatioijs, yet preserv- ing their real character intact, in spite of their " taking all shapes and bearing many names." The ribbons, lace, feathers, and finery of the beaux who came over with Charles at his restoration, and who must surely have astonished the sober-dressed English of the day with their full-blown fooleries, obtained the ascendant during the intoxication of joy that succeeded the gloomy reign of the rigid stiff-starched Puritans ; and every man outdid his neighbour in extravagance, in order to show his perfect freedom from former restraints. A little reflection soon brought aU to their senses. The "merry monarch" and his friends carried their " merriment " so far, that the disgrace and impoverishment of the state injured the land as much as their example injured the morals. With a more sober looking at the calamities of the country, which the Plague, the Great Fire, and ill government had made necessary, men seemed to have gradually quieted down, and dropped one ribbon or yard of lace after another from their dress, until they could walk about, and attend to their business or their politics, without having their thoughts too entirely engrossed by the coats they happened to have on, or the ornaments with which they were bedecked. The 280 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. brief reign of James (that unfortunate blot in the history of our country) was, like that of his father, too anxious a time with the majority, who thought less of the peruke they should wear than of the safety of their own heads, which were always in danger. " The hempen cravat " of Judge Jefferies was, in good truth, a sorry sub- stitute for a laced neckcloth ; and every man lived in fear of this new fashion being presented to him for his own wearing. Had William III. been a sovereign of Charles II.'s temperament, another outburst of national extravagance might have succeeded the gloom of the years preceding ; but he was a cold, formal, unfashion- able man of business, and the most fitting of all persons to encou- rage a solemnity of costume and manner ; hence his court was never remarkable for glitter or gaiety ; and the blessings we enjoy by the expulsion of the Stuarts come to us consolidated by his well-ar- ranged and eiFeotive service to the country which so gladly received him. Hence we had no cabinet councils on lace and embroidery ; no royal new-fashioned coats solemnly put on ; but every man's right well considered and secured, and the lost honour of the country nobly vindicated. Very stiff and solemn looked our great-grandfathers in these days; very frigid and stately the fair dames, single and married, that formed the court of "William's equally cold and unfashionable queen. But warm hearts existed under those stiff stays ; and generous old En- glish kindliness of feeling was enwrapped in all this broadcloth and buckram, awkward though it appear to our eyes, and which was worth aU the flutter of the court of Charles II. We cannot asso- ciate the idea of youth and loveliness with those square-cut coats and high-heeled shoes ; but we should remember that they sat easily on the wearers, who knew no other costume, and to whom they came as fitly and naturally as our dresses do to us ; and which (let it al- ways be remembered) are doomed to the same amount of ridicule from our posterity that we occasionally lavish on our ancestry. The figures engraved on next page give us the costume of the no- bility and gentry of the day. The hat of the gentleman is edged with gold lace, and the low crown concealed by the feathers which surround it ; the coat, which was generally decorated with lace and embroidery down the edges and seams and around the pockets, has sleeves ending in enormous cuffs, ornamented with stripes, the fa- vourite tint for the coat being claret-colour. His neckcloth is worn very long, having pendent ends of rich Brussels lace ; an enormous peruke (the most extravagant feature of male costume at this time) flowing upon his shoulders. These mountains of hair were worn by WILLIAM III. — GEOEGE II. 281 all who could afford them ; and a gentleman AideaTovtred to distinguish himself by the largeness of his wig, in the same way that a Chinese lady displays caste by the small- ness of her foot. Misson, in his Travels in ^England, 1697, speaks of the beaux who frequented our public places. He describes them somewhat contempt- uously as " creatures com- pounded of a periwig; and a coat laden with powder as white as a miller's, a face be- smeared with snuff and a few affected airs." He adds, " They are exactly like Molifere's ' Marquises,' and want nothing but that title, which they would assume in any other country but England." Tom Brown, in his Letters Jrom the Dead to the Idving, speaks of one whose periwig "was large enough to have loaded a camel, and he bestowed upon it at least a bushel of powder ;" he adds, that his long lace cravat "was most agreeably discoloured with snuff from top to bottom." To take snuff and offer a box gracefully was one part of a beau's education. There is a curious wood- cut of a full blown exquisite thus employed, on the title-page of a rare pam- phlet of four leaves, published in 1703, called The Beau's Catechism; which is here copied. He is accused in the text of having " more Periwig than Man," with " the necessary additions of Vigo Snuff," and his employment in the theatre is de- fined to be " to chat an hour with a mask in a side box, then whip behind the scenes, bow to a fool in the pit, take snuff, and talk to the actresses." In Baker's comedy, Hampstead Heath (published 1706), a song describing "the Beau's character," gives him these peculiar features : — 282 COSTUME IN ENGIiAND. "A wig that's full. An empty skull, A box of burgamot." To comb these monstrous perukes in public was the delight of the dandies, -who carried about with them elegant combs for the pur- pose ; and the theatre, coffee-house, or park, was the scene of their performances in this way. That those harmless beings should have some such occupation for their time is surely reasonable enough ; but these bushels of hair look very odd upon the heads of such men as Duke Sohomberg, General Ginckle, and others of William's soldiers ; it flows over their steel breastplates as if in search of the velvet upon which it would more fittingly repose ; but young and old, militaty or civil, joined in a crusade against natural hair, and ruthlessly cropped it for the very opposite reason which actuated the Puritans : the latter could never get it short enough ; the former could never get enough of it, and so preferred wigs. Of course much was written and spoken against those articles when they first appeared, and increased in magnitude upon the shoulders ; but who dare debate the becoming gravity of the fashion, seeing that heads of the church and the law perseveringly retain them, when all other classes have long since consigned them to disuse ? What arguments might be adduced to prove " there's wisdom in the wig," it will not be our place here to inquire ; but a zealous perruquier of those days, anxious to uphold even their utility, hired his sign-painter to depict, with due pathos and expression of attitude and face, Absalom hanging by his hair in the tree, and David weeping beneath, as he exclaimed, "O Absalom ! Absalom! O Absalom, my son ! If thou hadst worn a periwig. Thou hadst not been undone!" The lady in the engraving last given wears a remarkably heavy head-dress, which succeeded the elegant flow of ringlets in which the beauties of Charles II.'s court luxuriated. Certainly this was a change for the worse ; the hair was now combed upward from the forehead, and surmounted by rows of lace and ribbons ; a kerohiet or lace scarf being thrown over all, and hanging nearly to the waist; stiff stays, tightly laced over the stomacher, and very long in the waist, became fashionable ; and to so great an extent was this per- nicious fashion carried, that a lady's body from the shoulders to the hip looked like the letter V. This becomes very striking in the prints of the period, where the figures are drawn upon a small scale. Here are three ladies copied in fac-simUe from Sutton NichoUs' WILLIAM III. — GEOEGB II. 283 View of Hampton Court ; and the exaggeration, as it now appears to US, was a plain every-day sight, seriously and faithfully delineated. The thinness of the waist appeared still more striking by the sudden fullness of the gown round that part of the body, where it was gathered in folds, as well as down the entire front, which opened to display the rich petticoat beneath, and small apron deeply fringed with lace ; the gown streaming on the ground behind. That the ladies' gowns "were a yard too long for their legs " is noted by D'Urfey. Jewelled brooches were used by the richer classes, to secure the central opening of the gown at the waist, and also to gather the fold down its sides ; and the sleeves were sometimes similarly orna- mented. Daring the early part of the reign the sleeves were short, reaching but a few inches below the shoulder, and edged with lace, beneath which puffed forth the full rich lawn sleeve of the under- garment, edged with rows of lace to the elbow. After a time the sleeve became tight, hke those of the gentleman's coat, with an up- turned cuff reaching to the elbow, from whence flowed a profusion of lace in the shape of lappets or ruffles. All this finery and for- mality gave the ladies a stiff appearance, that contrasts most un- pleasantly with the beautiful, because simple, costume of the fair dames of Eing Charles the Second's court. One cannot conceive a Nell Gwynne existing in such strait lacing, or of the possibility of anybody being otherwise than as Lady Grace describes them in the old comedy — " a leetle dissipated — soberly .'" The ordinary walking dress of ladies, at the close of-this century, is seen in the first figure of our cut on next page, whose dress is en- tirely enriched by furbelows, which now became greatly the fashion. The black silk scarf and petticoat is covered with them ; the gown of dark silk being drawn up in a heap behind, that the petticoat be seen clearly. Frequently portions of male costume were adopted, particularly for riding and hunting ; but sometimes as a walking- dress, as in our second figure, whose ample train sweeps the ground. A man's jacket, cravat, and kced hat are here adopted as well as the male mode of wearing the hat beneath the arm. The ladies sometimes hung a light rapier at the girdle, so that they might be addressed in the words of the poet : " Sii', or Madam, choose you whetlier You are one or both together." 284,- COSTUME IN ENGLAND. TMs affectation of male costume was objected to as early as the reiga of Elizabeth, by Stubbes (see p. 205), and helped to confuse Sir Eoger de Coverley (see p. 293), and was re-introduced for a short time a few years ago, when waistcoats and silk jackets were " the height of taste." But we must not dismiss the ladies without considering their head-dresses a little more in detail, particularly as they are remarkable enough to deserve it. The reader must, then, first allow me to direct his at- tention to the " tower," which surmounts the head of fig. 1 ; for by that name it was some- times designated.* Eows of lace, stuck bolt upright over the forehead, shoot upward, one over the other, in a suc- cession of plaits, diminishing in width as they rise, while long streaming lappets hang over the shoulders from the * Its proper native name is fowtange, wliicli it obtained at the court of Louis XIV., where it was first introduced by Mademoiselle Fontange. WILLIAM III. — GEOEGE II. 285 head, tlie hair on which is combed upward as a sort of support to this structure, which was also called — as if in strong opposition to truth — " a commode."* Fig. 2 gires us a side view of a similar head- dress, two stories lower than the preceding, but still sufficiently ob- trusive : it is backed by dark-coloured ribbons ; and the hair in front and at the sides is arranged in short close curls ; like the tawre, or bull's forehead, mentioned by Eandle Holme. Fig. 3 displays a close cap, very similar to those still worn by the lower classes, and which now first appears among the middle ones. Fig. 4 gives us the hood with which the ladies enveloped their heads when they wore no commode ; it was secured to the summit of the hair, and thence spread upon the shoulders, to which it was affixed. Both the latter examples are obtained from E.omain de Hooge's prints of the land- ing of King William, his coronation-procession, etc. The same prints will furnish us with good examples of the cos- tume of the commonalty. — " An honest man close buttoned to the chin " has been accordingly selected for the reader's inspection. His broad-brimmed hat, plain collar or falling band, his ca- pacious-pocketed coat wrap- ping him to the knees, his equally commodious cloak, and high-heeled, long-toed shoes, speak for themselves. The country lass beside him is from a print in MSmoires, etc., par un Voyageur en Angle- terre, by Henry Misson, printed in 1697, where it re- presents a milkmaid on May- day, dressed in her best. She wears a plain hat, the brims slightly turned upward ; a hood very similar to the one last described, a laced bodice, small sleeves with * It is alluded to in a song of the period printed in D'TJrfey's Wit and Mirth, entitled The Young Maid's Portion, and which, in four lines, gives a good idea of a fashionable lady ; "My high commode, my damask gown. My laced shoes of Spanish leather ; A silver bodkin in my head. And a dainty plume of feather." 286 COSTUME IN ENG-LAND. cuffs, beneath whieli the linen under-sleeve with its narrow frill ap- pears ; a gay bunch of ribbons at her waist secures her apron, and smart bows her high-heeled sharp-pointed shoes. She is altogether a neat girl enough, with a good deal of the prevailing Dutch for- mality of costume that was the fashion with all classes at this time. If the reader would wish to see more of the dresses of the ordi- nary and poorer classes, let him consult Mauron's Cries of London, engraved by Tempest, where he will find abundance, and of the best kind. The summer and winter costume of a gentleman at this period may be seen in the accompanying cut. The first figure wears the enormous powdered wig, the long-skirted coat, with its rows of but- tons down the front, having small pocket-holes without flaps, im- mense cuffs edged with lace, and a gay shoulder-knot. The sleeves of his shirt are very fuU at the wrist, which is garnished with a ruffle. The gloves held in the left hand have wide tops edged.with lace ; he carries beneath his arm his broad-brimmed hat, for in summer it was seldom permitted to disarrange the wig ; his cravat is long and edged with lace, his sword-belt and girdle (the gayest part of male cos- tume at this time) of gold lace and embroidery.* His waistcoat * The author of Tlie Ladies' Dictionmy, 1694, assures us that not a young fellow but would spend "forty or threescore pound a year for periwigs;" and he adds, "with the woman's hair we have put on her art ; tricking up ourselves into as delicate starch'd up a posture as she. Some of us have gotten the bodice on to make us look slender, and pretty, and the Mpieene sleeves doing well for both the he and the site. The sleeve-strings are tied with the same curiosity, and the William; hi. — aEOEGB ii. 287 reaches to his knees, over which his long stockings are rolled, and his shoes are very high in the heel. The same words may describe the figure beside him, except that he is extra clothed for winter with a cloak, tighter sleeves, and a small muff to keep his hands warm, which is hung round his neck by a ribbon, and ornamented with a bunch of them in various colours. In a ballad describing the fair upon the Thames during the great frost iti 1683-4, mention is made of " A spark of the bar witli his cane and his muff;" and no young dandy of these days appeared in winter without such an article. The accession of a Queen to the throne of England, on the death of the great "William, in no material degree effected a change in the national costume. Anne was naturally of too retiring a disposition to strike out novelty or an obtrusive originality in costume, and too entirely in the power of her favourite, Sarah Duchess of Marl- borough ; and the Duchess was too much given to state intrigue to trouble herself in the matter. Hence the ladies dressed precisely as before, adding or abstracting minor decorations which did not materially affect their tout ensemble. Yet her Majesty was strict in enjoining a proper decorum in the dress of her household and officers. She would often, we are told, notice the dress of her domestics of either sex, and remark whether a periwig or the lining of a coat were appropriate. She once sent for Lord Bolingbroke in haste ; and he gave immedi- ate attendance in a ramUie, or tie, instead of a full-bottomed wig, which so offended her Ma- jesty, that she exclaimed, "I suppose his lordship will come to court the next time in his nightcap." The cut here given depicts the general costume of this pe- riod. The lady wears a low coiffure with falling lappets; her bodice is stiff and laced valet de chamhre that cannot knit the knot h la mode is kicked away as a bungler in his trade and profession. The ribbon at the hilt of the sword is security against its being drawn. Our swords lie dangling on our thighs, with the same luxury as our wigs (of the same length) sport themselves on our breasts." 288 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. dovm the front ; a small laced apron is placed over a flounced petti- coat, for the display of which her gown is gathered in folds behind her. The gentleman wears a flowing powdered peruke, and a laced coat cut close to the neck, without an overturning collar, and he carries his hat beneath his arm. The figure behind is a country girl, from a print dated 1711. She wears a low cap, turned up over the forehead in humble imitation of the oommode, a short loose- sleeved gown tucked round the waist, a stifi" pair of stays, and an apron over her petticoat. Long-quartered high-heeled shoes complete her dress, which is remarkably unobtrusive. D'Urfey's large collection of ballads, entitled Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melanclioly, contain many allusions to dress. Thus a gentlewoman of the middle class is described in a watered camlet gown and a scarlet coat laced with gold. A new gown with golden flowers, a spotted petticoat fringed with knotted thread, lace shoes and sUk hose are mentioned, as well as the fact that wearing apparel was " oft perfumed." The Spectator and many other serial works note or satirize varia- tions of fashion; indeed, the above-named pleasant collection of papers contains an admirable running comment upon the taste of the day in such matters from March, 1710, when its publication commenced, until December, 1714, thus carrying us through the entire reign. Beginning with No. 16, we are told by Addison, in the character of the Spectator, " I have received a letter, desiring me to be very sa- tirical upon the little muff that is now in fashion ; another informs me of a pair of silver garters, buckled below the knee, that have been lately seen at the Eainbow Coffee-house in Elect Street ; a third sends me a heavy complaint against fringed gloves." He then pro- ceeds to warn his correspondents that he does not intend to " sink the dignity of this my paper with reflections upon red heels* and topknots." Yet he declares he thinks seriously of establishing an officer to be called the " Censor of Small Wares," to report on these things ; because he says. " To speak truly, the young people of both sexes are so wonderfully apt to shoot out into long swords or sweep- * Aa early as March, 1709, we find the Censor of Great Britain, Isaac Bicker- staff, Esq., issuing the following imperative mandate :— " The Censor having ob- served that there are fine wrought ladies' shoes and slippers put out to view at a great shoemaker's shop towards St. James's end of Pall-mall, which create irre- gular thoughts and desires in the youth of this realm ; the said shopkeeper is required to take in these eyesores, or show cause the next court-day why he continues to expose the same ; and he is required to be prepared particularly to answer to the slippers with green lace and blue heels." WILLIAM III. — GBOEGE II. 289 ing- trains, bushy head-dresses or full-bottomed periwigs,* with se- veral other encumbrances of dress, that they stand in need of being pruned very frequently, lest they should be oppressed with ornaments, and overrun with the luxuriancy of their habits." But in June, 1711, he devotes an entire number (98) to the subject of ladies' head-dresses, commencing with a declaration, " that there is not so variable a thing in nature," adding, " within my own memory I have known it rise and fall above thirty degrees. About ten years ago it shot up to a very great height, insomuch that the female part of our species were much taller than the men.f I remember several ladies that were once very near seven feet high, that at present want some inches of five ;"J but he surmises that they are only "at pre- sent like trees new lopped and trimmed, that will certainly sprout up and flourish with greater heads thau before ;" a fear which ulti- mately became awfully verified : for the high commode did again come into fashion after fifteen years' discontinuance, — and Swift, when dining with Sir Thomas Hanmer, observed the Duchess of Grafton with this ungraceful Babel head-dress ; " she looked," he said, " like a mad woman." But the startUng novelty was the hoop- petticoat, which the good Sir Roger de Coverley alludes to in July 1711, when describing his family pictures, in his own inimitable manner : " You see, sir, my great-great-grandmother has on the new- fashioned petticoat, except that the modern is gathered at the waist; my grandmother appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas * The expensive character of these mountains of hair has been ab:eady noted It may be more clearly comprehended by " The Honble. Sir John Newton's Bill " from his wig-maker, dated December 27, 1712, now in the possession of the author, which is as follows : — £. s. d. " For a long full-bottom peri*ig 12 For a periwig made up again, and some new hair in it . 3 10 For 3 pound of powder 016 IB 11 b." f An allusion to the ^commode' already described, which made some wags de- clare that the town ladies " carried Bow-steeple on their heads." J The contrast may be seen in the cut on p. 284 with that on p. 290, and is thus noted in The Art of Dress, a poem, 1717 : — " Much ribbon was in use in days of yore. Of ells each top-knot had at least a score ; Now custom has retrench'd that old excess, And fix'd on female brows a frugal dress ; For your new Pinners even sink below The frizzled foretop of a modem beau." IT 290 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. the ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart." The " large drum " of Sir Eoger was the farthingale of the time of James I., a good specimen of which is to be found in the figure of the Duchess of Somerset in that portion of this volume devoted to the Stuart dynasty. The "new-fashioned petticoat" is engraved here: it widens gradually from the waist "to the ground ; the gow being looped up round the body in front, and falling in loose folds behind. A writer in the WeeMy Jov/mcd of 1718 says : " Nothing can be imagined more unnatural, and consequently less agreeable. When a slender virgin stands upon a basis so exorbitantly wide, she re- sembles a funnel, a figure of no great elegancy ; and I have seen many fine ladies of a low stature, who, when they sail in their hoops about an apartment, look like children in go-carts." In No. 129 of the Spectator is described " an adventure which happened in a country church upon the frontiers of Cornwall," which happily characterizes the absurdities of the new fashion ; it runs thusj " As we were in the midst of service, a lady, who is the chief womair~o£ the place, and had passed the winter at London with her husband, entered the congregation in a little head-dress ■ and a hooped petticoat. The people, who were wonderfully startled at such a sight, all of them rose up. Some stared at the prodigious bottom, and some at the little top, of this strange dress. In the meantime the lady of the manor filled the a/rea of the ohwrch, and walked up to the pew with an unspeakable satisfaction, amidst the whispers, conjectures, and astonishments of the whole congregation."* * In 'So. 272 is the following " advertisement," dated " from the parish vestry, WILLIAM III. — GEOiGB II. 291 All this is related by " a Lawyer of the Middle Temple," who de- tails his fashionable obserTations as he goes the western circuit ; and he found as he got further from town "the petticoat grew scantier and scantier, and about threescore miles from London was so very unfashionable that a woman might walk in it without any manner of inconvenience." Among the gentlemen he notices the same want ol modern taste ; and in Cornwall he declares, " we fancied ourselves in Charles II. 's reign, the people having made little variations in their dress since that time. The smartest of the country squires appear still in the Monmouth cock ;* and when they go a-wooing (whether they have any post in the militia or not) they generally put on a red coat." He is, however, surprised to meet with a man of mode who had " accoutred himself in a night-cap wig, a coat with long pockets and slit sleeves, and a pair of high scollop shoes." He ends by declaring the northern circuit to be still more trnfashion- able: "I have heard in particular,"" he says, " that the Steenkirkf arrived but two months ago, and that there are several commodes in those parts which are worth taking a journey thither to see." The ordinary costume of the gentlemen of the day is here given from an engraving of the period : a general description of the style has been so admirably condensed by Mr. Planch^, in his British Costvme, that it leaves nothing to wish. He says, " Square-cut coats and long-flapped waist- coats with pockets in them, the latter meeting the stockings, still drawn up over the knee so high as entirely to conceal the breeches, but gartered below it ; large hanging cuffs and lace ruffles ; the skirts of the coat stiffened out with wire or buck- ram, from between which peeped the hilt January 9, 1711-12 : — All ladies who come to cliurcli in the new fashioned hoods ave desired to be there before divine service begins, lest they divert the attention of the congregation." * A fashion of hat so called from its patronage by the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, who was executed.in the reign of James II. f The Steenkirk was a kind of military cravat of black silk, probably first worn at the battle of Steenkirk, fought August 2, 1692, or named in honour of that event, as the Blenheim and Eamilie wigs were. IT 2 292 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. of the sword, deprived of the broad and splendid belt in which it swung in the preceding reigns ; blue or scarlet silk stockings with gold or silver clocks ; lace neckcloths ; square-toed short- quartered shoes, with high red heels and small buckles : very long and for- mally curled perukes, black riding-wigs, bag-wigs, and night-cap wigs ; small three-cornered hats laced with gold or silver galloon, and sometimes trimmed with feathers, composed the habit of the noblemen and gentlemen during the reigns of Queen Anne and George I." In the prologue to D'Urfey's comedy. The French Coquet, that author, speaking of French foppery, says — " In apish modes they naturally shine, Which we ape after them to malse us fine : The late hlue feather was charmante divine; Next, then, the slouching sledo, and our huge button. And now our coats, flank broad, like shoulder mutton ; Faced with fine colours, scarlet, green, and sky. With sleeves so large, they'll give us wings to fly; Next year I hope they'll cover nails and all, • And every button like a tennis-ball." Malcolm, in his Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London in the Eighteenth Century, has noted many advertisements of losses, in the public papers of the reign of Anne, descriptive of various ar- ticles of dress. One issued in 1703 gives a whole-length portrait of the dress of a youth in the middle rank of life ; " he is of a fair com- plexion, light-brown lank hair, having on a dark-brown frieze coat, double-breasted on each side, with black buttons and button-holes ; a light drugget waistcoat, red shag breeches striped with black stripes, and black stockings." He says, " The ladies must have ex- hibited a wonderful appearance in 1709 : behold one equipped in a black silk petticoat, with a red and white calico border, cherry- co- loured stays trimmed with blue and silver, a red and dove-coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees, a yellow satin apron trimmed with white Persian (sUk), and muslin head-cloths , with crow-foot edging, double ruffles with fine edging, a black-silk furbelowed scarf, and a spotted hood ! Such were the clothes advertised as stolen in the Postboy of Nov. 15." Bickerstaff notices, in 1710, the extreme nakedness of the ladies' breasts, and casually mentions the beau's pearl-coloured stockings and red-topped shoes, fringed gloves, large wigs, and feathers in the hat. A lady's riding-dress was advertised in the Spectator of June 2, 1711 : " Of blue camlet, well laced with silver ; being a coat, waistcoat, petticoat, hat and feather," which WILLIAM III. — GBOEGE II. 293 fully excuses Sir Roger de Coverley, when, upon looting at the hat, coat, and waistcoat of the young sporting lady, he was about to call her sir, but luckily casting his eye-lower, he saw the petticoat be- neath, and addressed her as madam. The vulgar taste of the day, which covered the ladies' gowns with " large trees," as mentioned above, or equally large bunches of flowers, is apparent in the enume- ration of a certain Mrs. Beale's losses in 1712, of " a green silk knit waistcoat, with gold and silver flowers all over it, and about fourteen yards of gold and silver thieJc lace on it, and a petticoat of rich strong flowered satin red and white, all in great flowers or leaves, and scar- let flowers, with black specks brocaded in, raised high, like velvet or shag ;" from all which it appears, that to overlay satin with gold lace and extravagantly -sized flowers, and load the figure with all the obtrusive finery possible, was the chief end of dressing at this time.* The loss of Mr. John Osheal in 1714 gives Us a few items of a gen- tleman's wardrobe : he was robbed of " a scarlet cloth suit, laced with broad gold lace, lined and faced with blue ; a fine cinnamon cloth suit, with plate buttons, the waistcoat fringed with a sUk fringe of the same colour; and a rich yellow flowered satin morning-gown, lined with a cherry-coloured satin, with a pocket on the right side." The first George was stUI less inclined to the freaks of fashion than Anne ; indeed from the days of Charles II. until the accession of George III., we find little court encouragement given to dress. George I., naturally heavy, had imported two excessively ugly Ger- man mistresses, who were neither young nor gay, and one (the Coun- tess of Platen, afterwards created Countess of Darlington) was so unrestrained by form as never to encumber herself with stays ! If these tastes, or want of tastes, effected anything in the tone of the prevailing fashions, it was only by instiUing a Quaker-like solemnity of cut into them. Noble says, " There was not much variation in dress during this reign. The king was advanced in years, and sel- dom mixed with his subjects ; and the act which precluded the granting of honours to foreigners prevented many German gentle- men from visiting England. There was no queen in England ; and the ladies who accompanied his Majesty were neither by birth, pro- priety of conduct, age, nor beauty, qualified to make any impression on prevailing modes. The peace with Eranoe caused more inter- course between the two countries than had subsisted for many years, * How cheaply tlie poor could dreas at the same period may be gathered from an entry in the parish accounts of Sprowston, Norfolk, 1719 : — " Paid for clading of the Widow Bernard with a gown, petecoat, bodice, hose, shoes, apron, and sto- macher, £0. 18s. 6d." 394 COSTUME IN BNflLAND. but SO little as to be scarcely worth notice.'' A general idea of London groups may be formed from the following account of a com- pany of all sorts assembled in '' The Folly," a floating music-room and house of entertainment on the Thames, opposite Somerset House : " At the north end were a parcel of brawny fellows with mantles about their shoulders, and blew caps upon their heads. Next to them sate a company of clownish-look'd fellows, with leathern breeches and hobnailed shoes. Just about the organ, which stood in the south-east part of the room, stood a vast many dapper sparks, with huge powdered perukes, red-heel'd shoes, laced cravats, and brocade wasteooats, intermingled, like a chessboard, with men in dark long habits, whose red faces were cover'd with large broad- brim'd hats."* Dr. John Harris, afterwards bishop of Llandaff, published in 1715 a Treatise upon the Modes, or a Farewell to French Kicks ; the prin- cipal end of which was to prove the folly of copying French fashions. He saya, " We cannot but esteem it an ill choice to give up our lau- rels in exchange for a broad-brimmed hat; or to receive dictates, which are the effects of conquering valour, from men whom it was once, and that so lately, in our power to extirpate."t He has no quarrel with those who adopt the French coats made " in their late mourning for the Dauphin, which were open from the wrist to the elbow, and wide in the waist to a great extreme, and unusually long," and which he says was " a fashion afterwards very much encouraged in Britain ;" but he is fully prepared to assert that the modification , of the article, and sometimes its disfigurement, is all the credit due to them: "Let us therefore allow them the reputation of the shoulder-knot ; of the beads which are fastened to the ends of their cravats, to correct tie stubbornness of their muslin ; of ten thousand kinds of buttons ; of the soldier's and the jockey's sleeve ; the two sorts of pockets — ^the long pocket, with a plain or indented flap — the cross-pocket, with the round, or the trefoil, or scollop flap ; of * " A Second Tale of a Tub ; or, the History of Robert Powell, the Puppet Showman." London, 1715. f The author of this queer book is so thoroughly a John BuU, that he disputes everything with the French, and will not allow of their work being cheaper (the ordinary excuse for its purchase). He says: "Let a Briton invent some fashion at London, and it be afterwards imitated at Paris. I will engage, before it be brought to any tolerable perfection, that the Frenchman shall devour, in small prick'd (sour) wines and frogs, as much as the work would be worth at London." And, in the same spirit of detraction, he says of the ladies of France : " According to the humour of the dress which they follow at present, there cannot in painting be a better likeness of a Magdalen than a French lady in a state of compunction." WILLIAM III. — GEOEGB II. 295 the diflferent magnitude of pleats, which differ also from time to time in number, but always agree in the mystic efficacy of an un- equal number." The beau of 1727 is described in Mists Jownal as dressed in " a fine linen shirt, the ruffles and bosom of Mechlin lace ; a small wig, with an enormous queu^, or tail ; his coat well garnished with lace ; black velvet breeches ; red heels to his shoes, and gold clocks to his stockings : his hat beneath his arm, a sword by his side, and himself well scented!" The accompanying engraving shows the gentleman's dress of the middle of the reign, and is copied from one of the prints after Heart, satirically illustrative of the South Sea bubble, 1720. The seated figure is intended for a thoughtless exquisite, lolling on two chairs, with a snuff-box in one hand and a tasselled cane in the other :* the heavy cut of the whole dress, with its ample folds, large pockets, and' wide cuffs, recall Harris's descrip- tion just quoted. The other ffgure, of a calculating shareholder, is dressed similarly, except that his coat is larger and does not fit so smartly as the other, who has it buttoned tightly at the waist, in accordance with the custom of the day ; and the coat was so cut that it rather hung over the buttons', spreading from the neck in an * In the Ladies' Dictionary, 1699, is a description of a man of fashion which well accords with the iigui-e engraved. He has " one leg upon a chair in a rest- ing posture, though indeed it is only to show you that he has new Ficards, a-la- mode de France; that is, new shoes of the French fashion. I do not mean their wooden ones worn by the country peassmts, hut such as tread the spacious waits of Versailles." 296 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. oval opening to the waist, which showed the lace frill or cravat be- neath. " George II. reviewed the Guards in 1727, habited in grey cloth faced with purple, with a purple feather in his hat : and the three eldest princesses ' went to £.ichmond in riding habits with hats and feathers ajiiperiwiffs.' "* The ladies still laced as tightly as ever. Noble teUs us that Made- moiselle Pantine, a mistress of Marshal Saxe, infested us with that stiffened case which injured and destroyed the fine natural symmetry of the female form. Their hoops were as ugly and inconvenient as ever ; Spanish broad cloth, trimmed with gold lace, was still in use for ladies' dresses, and scarfs greatly furbelowed were worn from the duchess to the peasant, as were riding-hoods on horseback. The mask continued in use until the following reign. The great variety of costume worn by ladies at this time, when every one dressed only as pleased herself, is amusingly ridiculed in the London Magazine for October 1732, describing the introduction of a young lady from the country to a party of fashionables : " Her lady aunt was dressed in a robe-de-chambre ; on her right sate a married lady, in a close habit resembling a weed; and next her a widow out of her first year, in a sarsnet hood and a loose round gown. On her left sat an elderly lady in a riding-hood, and another in a short cloak and apron ; and next these appeared an agreeable young crea- ture, in a hat exactly resembling what is worn by the old women in the north, with some abatement in the dimensions ; and another in a velvet cap, with the black flap let down to her shoulders, of the same make with one of our Newcastle carriers. Before we broke up, there arrived two ladies out of a hack, who had just been airing ; the first had her hair tucked up under a laced beaver and feather ; and the second had an upright plume, with her hair dangling to her waist ; and, in short, the head-dresses, with the peaks, lappets, and round- ings, and the several habits, with the sleeves, robings, plates, lacings, embroideries, and other ornaments, were so various in their cut and shape that my niece imagined she was in an assembly of the wives and daughters of the foreign ministers then resident in town ; and when their language undeceived her, as readily concluded her aunt had appointed a solemn masquerade, with a general exception to all visors." The reign of George II. passed away as quietly as that of his pre- decessor. The general character of dress was but slightly changed. The ladies piqued themselves upon excessive simplicity ; indeed " the * "Wliitehall Evening Post, August 17, 1727. WILtlAM III. — GEOEGB II. 297 pride that apes humility " was scarcely ever more conspicuous. The whole taste of the day was mock-pastoral ; each beau was a Corydon, each lady a Sylvia ; and the absurdities of a court masque, where milkmaids sported their diamonds, and shepherds carried golden crooks, was borne into private life, and an external display of country innocence adopted only to gloss over London vice. In a poem printed in 1731, entitled The Metamorphosis of the Town, or a View of the Present Fashions, the author imagines an elderly country gentleman, who had not seen London for forty years, seated in the Mall, and thus remarking to a gentleman beside him : " ' Look, yonder cornea a pleasant crew, "With high-crown'd hats, long aprons too j Good pretty girls, I vow and swear — But wherefore do they hide their ware ?' '"Warel'what d'ye meanp what is't you tell?' — 'Why, don't they eggs and butter sell?' — 'Alas ! no ! you've mistaken quite : She on the left hand, dress'd in white, Is Lady C , her spouse a knight j But for the other lovely three, They all right honourables be.' " The old gentleman can scarcely credit all this, and he thinks he discovers some discrepancy ; for soon after he exclaims — " ' Look, they accost some round-ear'd caps, Straw, lined with green, their Mayday hats. Now, sir, I'm sure you ciuinot fail To own these carry milking-pail; Their hats are iiatted on the crown. To shew the weight that pressed them down.' " But he is quickly undeceived by his friend, who informs him that " these ladies all belong to court," and begs his attention to the lords and noblemen who are proud to join their company. The country gentleman exclaims : — " ' Lords, call you them ? stay, let me view ! Well made if nature had her due : Nay, take my word, and handsome too. But sure the taylor wi-ong'd them both When to that suit he cut his cloath. What straitness on the skirts appears ! The neck is raia'd up to the ears ; Which to the flattest shoulders give A rising fulness. As I live ! The hair of one is tied behind ! 298 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. And platted like a womajildnd ! ! While t'ofljer carries on his back, In silken bag a monstrous pack : But pray, what's that much like a -whip. Which with the air does waVring skip From side to side, and hip to hip ?' " To whicli he receives for answer : — " ' Sir, do not look so fierce and big, It is a modish pigtail wig.' " Pig. 2 of the cut here in- troduced depicts the Eamilie wig,* copied from Hogarth's Modern Midnight Conversa- tion. The tail is plaited in the taste of the Swiss female peasantry, having a black tie at the top, and another at the bottom. The wig is not flowing at the sides, but con- sists only of a bushy heap of well -powdered hair. The reader who would see a more absurd specimen of these ori- ginal pigtails would do well to. look at Hogarth's print, Taste in High Life in the Tear 1742, in which the old dandy wears one (intended for Lord Portmore in the dress he wore at court on his return from Prance). The hat of fig. 2 gives us the plainest form of cocking then adopted. Pig. 1 is the extreme of fashion, and is worn by the dissipated husband, in Ho- garth's immortal Marriage a-la-Mode. It is edged with deep gold lace, and surrounded by feathers. It is the evident descendant of the feathered Prench hat of Louis le Grand, modified by a modern taste .t Pig- 3 shows us a plainer and more decisively cocked hat, which was in fashion in the year 1745, and the bag-wig beneath it. Pig. 4 is a clergyman's hat of the same date, from Hogarth. Its plain broad brim is not upturned, or cocked in any way ; a broad band of twisted black cloth surrounds it, fastened in a bow at the * Named from the battle fought on the 23rd May, 1708, about which time the wig was invented by some enterprising maker, and immediately became the height of fashion. The particular turn given to the brim of the hat worn with this wig was known as t]ie Bamilie cock. \ See p. 254, where a cut of these hats is given. WILLIAM III. — GBOEGB II. 299 side. The large Kevenliuller hat* is depicted in fig. 5 : it is of ex- travagant proportions, and was generally patronized by military men, or bullies about town — the Mohocks, Bloods, and other " gen- tlemen blackguards." By the cock of the hat the man who wore it was known ; and they varied from the modest broad brim of the clergy and countrymen, to the slightly upturned hat of the country gentleman or citizen, or the more decidedly fashionable cock of fig. 2, as worn by merchantmen and well-to-do would-be-fashionable Londoners ; reaching the hon ton in figs. 1 and 3, and the decidedly obtrusive a-la-militawe in fig. 5. In the same way were ladies known by their hoods, and their colour was typical of the fair wearer's politics, and so were the patches of their face ; for a writer of the day describes the unpleasant discovery made by a lady at a ball in a nobleman's house, who had in her hurry placed a patch on the Whig side of her face, when she was a stanch Tory, and wished so to appear. Of hoods and their meanings, see The Spectator, No. 265 ; and the works of Hogarth may be cited as afibrding fine ex- amples of costume in all its varieties at this period.f The group here engraved is copied from the frontispiece to a book published by E. Curll, the immortalized of Pope's Dunciacl, and en- titled The School of Venus, or the Lady's Miscellany, 1739. It is a * " When Anna ruled, and Kevenhuller fought. The hat its title from the Hero caught." The Art of Dressing the Hair, 1770. f The escape of Lord Nithsdale from the Tower in 1715, aided by the heroism of his wifr, was principally effected by the laige riding-hoods then worn, and one of which he put on with a female's cloak and dress, and was allowed to pass, be- 300 COSTTTME IN ENGLAND. view of the Mall, with St. James's Palace and Marlborough House in the background, and the figures now submitted to the reader oc- cupy the most prominent place. The contrast in the male costume is good, and the elderly gentleman walking with the ladies wears the large cocked hat, full-bottomed tie-wig, laced cravat with long ends, and, in fact, the dress of the twenty preceding years. Not so the younger gentleman who confronts the party. His wig is exceed- ingly small, and so is his hat; his cravat is small, and his shirt-front frilled ; his coat-collar turns over in a broad fold, strongly contrast- ing with the total want of collar in the previous fashions ; the cuffs of his coat are made to reach above the elbow, and are not very wide at the wrist. The striking difference between those worn by the elder gentleman will be at once detected. The body of the coat fits tightly, but the skirts are very long and ample, and reach to the calf of the leg, reminding us of the words of a satirist of the day, who declares that he never sees one of these exquisites cross the road on a muddy day without wishing to exclaim, " Dear sir, do, pray, pin up your petticoats ! " The elder of the two ladies wears a plain silk gown, with a double border, a black hood and scarf, with tas- sels at the ends. The same are worn by the younger lady, whose stomacher is laced down the front, and she has a fringed white apron before her gown. It is said of Beau Nash, the celebrated master of the ceremonies and "king of Bath," that he had the strongest aver-, sion to a white apron, and absolutely excluded all who ventured to appear at the assembly dressed in that manner. " I have known him on a ball-night strip even the Duchess of Q — , and throw her apron at one of the hinder benches among the ladies' women, observ- ing that none but Abigails appeared in white aprons." — Goldsmith's lAfe of Nash, 1762. The cut of male and female costume, on next page, is copied from prints after Gravelot, dated 1744 : they are excellent specimens of the costume of that period, showing the variation made in the five years which passed since our last example. It will be noticed that the gentleman's coat is still very wide in the skirt,* hut the cuffs and hat have returned to the older fashion, the wig remaining smaller. The extravagant quaintnesses of 1739 had been by this ing mistaken for hia ■wife. Such riding-hoods were thence called NitJisdales, and continued to be worn afterwards, but principally by elderly women. The old woman who deludes the country girl in the first plate of Hogarth's Harlot's Progress wears one; and the lady engraved on p. 306 has one upon her head. * The skirts were made to stand out stiffly by lining them with coarse thick canvas or buckram. WILLIAM III. — GEOEGB II. 301 time abandoned. By contrasting tHese figures with the cuts given of dresses worn during Anne's reign, the chief variations made during thirty years will be im- mediately perceived. The gen- tleman's wig flows not on the shoulders ; the cuflfs of his coat are larger, and reach to the el- bow ; the coat is not laced, and the waistcoat has a plain band of lace only ; the stockings are drawn over the knee. The lady is dressed in the milkmaid taste, with a tiny hat, a plain gown open in front, a long muslin apron reaching to the ground, wearing a hoop so formed that it allows the gown to curve gra- dually from the waist down- ward, in a more graceful manner than that engraved on p. 290. One of these hoops may be seen lying in the corner of Hogarth's picture, The Death of the Earl, in Marriage a-la-Mode. Another is still more plainly depicted in plate 7 of the Industry and Idleness series. In a word, all who would be well acquainted with the costume of the day, in its general or minor features, would do well to study Hogarth. Certainly if the ladies had determined to do their best to excite the wrath of all satirists, no- thing could better serve the purpose than the adoption of this obtrusive article of dress. Writers of all kinds, and of all X/?J7i-A\ degrees of reputation, agreed to ridicule it, and many not over delicately. Gay took up the subject, and in a poem, entitled The Soop Petticoat, declared its origin to be an il- licit amour, and its ground of popularity the convenience with which it hid the conse- quences. On the other side, " some polite defenders of the late convex cupula hoops have ob- 302 COSTUME IN ENGLAND. served in their favour, that they served to keep men at a proper distance, and a lady within that circle seemed to govern in a spa- cious verge sacred to herself." In 1741 a writer in the London Ma- gazine says, "the ladies have found some inconvenience surely in the circular hoops, that they have chang'd it to that extensive oblong form they now wear." The cut on the preceding page, copied from a print dated 1746, will give a perfect idea of those hoops which spread at the sides, and occasioned wicked caricaturists to declare they made a lady look like a donkey carrying its panniers, and to substantiate the charge by a back view of the animal so accoutred, contrasted by a lady dressed in her side-hoop. There is a curious print, called The Review, published at this time, from which we select a figure, as a good specimen of this fashion. The print exhibits the inconvenience of the hoop petticoat in a variety of ways, and how to remedy it. One of the most inge- nious, is that of a coach with a move- able roof, and a frame and pullies to drop the ladies in from the top, to avoid discomposing the hoop, which necessarily attended their entrance by the door. They were formed of whale- bone ; and their wearers doubled them round in front, or lifted them up on each side, when they entered a door or a carriage. The reader who will look at the painting upon the screen behind the superannuated dandy in Hogarth's Taste a-la- Mode, will see the painful cramming of a lady in a sedan chair : " To conceive kow she looks, you must call to your mind The lady you've seen in the lobster confined." Indeed, the necessary space to give an idea of freedom to the figure of a lady was considerable ; for they were now not only the better, but the larger, half of creation, and half-a-dozen men might be accommodated in the space occupied by a single lady. The hoop in the preceding engraving stretches the dress out at the sides, where it rises from the ground, and allows the small-pointed high-heeled shoe to be seen. The reader who would wish to see what these shoes were like, may turn to Hone's Every-day Booh, vol. i. col. 516, where one of the time of William and Mary is engraved ; or to vol. ii. cols. 1635-6, where will be found an admirable specimen of an WILLIAM III. — GEOEGE II. 303 ancient shoe and clog. The shoe is of white kid leather, goloshed with black velvet ; and there are marks of stitches by which orna- ments have been afBsed to it. Its clog is simply a straight piece of stout lea- ther, inserted in the under- leather at the toe, and at- tached to the heel. But a still more curious example is here engraved. The shoe is of embroidered silk, with a thin sole of leather, and an enormous heel. The clog is of leather, ornamented by coloured sUk threads worked upon it with a needle, the tie being of embroidered silk similar to the shoe : they were fastened by buckles of silver, en- riched by precious stones. The reader cannot faU to notice the in- genious manner in which it is made to fit the raised shoe : the hol- low beneath the instep being so thickened and stuffed in the clog that it forms a strong support for the foot, which it fits so tightly that it is next to impossible to lose it in walking, it being by many degrees less liable to that accident than the modern clog or patten.* About 1740, another ugly no- velty was introduced in the sacque, a wide loose gown open in front, and which hung free of the body from the shoulders to the ground, being gathered in great folds over the hooped pet- ticoat. The hair was trimmed close round the face, which was encircled with curls, one or two falling behind, and surmounted by a little cap similar to that im- mortalized by Mary Queen of Scots. The lady in the cut here given wears such a cap ; and her loose gown, or saoque, is negligently brought over the hoop. The * Pattens date their origin to the reign of Anne; cloge, as we have already shown, are of considerable antiquity. 304 COSTUME IN ENGLAND, gentleinan's dress requires no comment, as the reader will perceive how little it varies from that worn in 1744, this print delineating the fashions of 1750, which continued to be worn during the latter end of the reign of George II. About 1752, the capuchin, a hood for the ladies, was introduced, which obtained its name from its resemblance to the hood of a friar, as it hung down the back when not in use as a head-covering ; but the various articles worn about this period by the ladies are well enumerated in the following Receipt for Modern Dress, published in 1753:— " Hang a small bugle cap on, as big as a crown. Snout it off with a flower, imlgo diet, a pompoon ; Let your powder be grey, and braid up your hair Like the mane of a colt to be sold at a fair. A short pair of jumps, half an ell &om your chin^ To make you appear like one just lying-in; Before, for your breast, pin a stomacher bib on, Hagout it with cutlets of silver and ribbon. Your neck and your 'shoulders both naked should be. Was it not for Vandyke, blown with cheraux-de-frize. Let your gown be a sack, blue, yellow, or green. And frizzle your elbows with ruffles sixteen; Furl off your lawn apron with flounces in rows, Puff and pucker up knots on your arms and your toes; Make your petticoats short, that a hoop eight yards wide May decently show how your garters are tied. With fringes of knotting your dicky cabod. On slippers of velvet, set gold & la dcmbe; But mount on French heels when you go to a ball — 'Tis the fashion t .^H^# and sells aU sorts of boots, shoes, slippers, spatterdashes, double and single channelled pumps, rich quUted shoes, clogs, and turned pumps, of the neatest work and genteelest fashion." From the same source we obtain the form of boot worn by horsemen, ready spurred for riding (fig. 101) ; it is ex- ceedingly stiff and ugly, and it is not uncommon to find the tops of light leather, the leg and foot being blacked as usual with the viscid blacking then in use, which gave no polish, and which was to be dispensed at every street-corner by shoeblacks ready to clean the dirty shoes of beaux, — a very necessary operation in those days of bad pavements and worse sewerage. The works of Hogarth abound with good examples S- lOi. 100. 394 Gt088ABY, [BOO Fig. 102. of the boots and shoes of the reign of George II. and the early part of the reign of George III. To enumerate each print would be use- less ; and no one who would know ought of costume at this period, either in the general mass or in detail, can lose time in looking over the whole of the works of the most thoroughly English painter, and the most original one, this country ever produced. For the conve- nience of immediate reference, and as a sample of the rest, we have engraved a pair of lady's shoes from his Ha/rlot's Frogress (fig. 102). They are supposed to be turned out of the trunk of the unfortunate woman in her dying moments by the old nurse, who is too intent on an early share of what little plunder there is to be pro- cured to attend to her dying charge. They are in the first fashion, with high tops and formidable heels, made to walk, but not to run in. Goldsmith in his Essays, 1759, describes his cousin Hannah in " a gown of cambrick, cut short before in order to discover a high-heeled shoe which was buckled almost at the toe." Lawrence Whyte, in 1742, tells us they were then most fashionable if small. " The harness buckle of the shoe, In days of yore would make us two." In order to assist the reader in comprehending the shapes of shoes worn during the latter end of the eighteenth century, figs. 103 to 106 have been selected from prints published between the years 1774 and 1780. The buckles became more richly orna- mented, and were frequently de- Fig. 103. 104. 105. 106. coratedwith jewels: the nobility- wore diamonds, the plebeians paste. An early instance of this costly fashion is given in an inventory of King James II.'s wardrobe at his death, in which a pair of diamond shoe-buckles are valued at 3,000 livres (about £125). The buckles worn by the Hon. John Spencer at his marriage in the early part of the eighteenth century were said to be worth £30,000. The shoes, when of silk and satin, were ornamented with flowers and embroidery, like the second one in our cut. Sometimes a close row of pleats cover the instep, as in fig. 105 ; and at other times a small rose is visible, as in fig. 106. Fig. 107,' drawn from the original shoe, will show their form more clearly. It is of Fig. 107. t,iue figured silk ; the heel is thrust forward BOO] 395 Vig. 108. in an unnattiral way. This fashion of driving the heel beneath the inBtep became more prevalent as the heels became lower; and fig. 108, of a fashionable and expensive make, will Ulnstrate this remark. It was probably executed about the year 1780. It is richly decorated in needlework. About 1790, a change in the fashion of ladies' shoes occurred. They were made very flat and low in the heel — in reality, more like a slipper than a shoe. Fig. 109 will show the peculiarity of the make : the low quarters, the diminished heel, and the pleated riband and small tie in front, in place of the buckle, which was now occasionally discontinued. The Duchess of York was remark- able for the smallness of her foot, and a coloured print of " the exact size of the Duchess's shoe " was published by Fores in 1791. It measures 5|- inches in length, the breadth of sole across the in- step If inches. It is made of green silk, ornamented with gold stars ; is bound with scarlet silk, and has a scarlet heel ; the shape is similar to the one last engraved, except that the heel is exactly in the modern style. Shoes of the old fashion, with high heels and buckles, appear in the prints of the early part of 1800. But buckles became unfashion- able, and shoestrings eventually triumphed, although less costly Fig. 109. and elegant in construction. The Prince of Wales was petitioned by the alarmed buckle-makers to discard his new-fashioned strings, and take again to buckles, by way of bolstering up their trade ; but the fate of these articles was sealed, and the Prince's compliance with their wishes did little to prevent their downfall. The cut here given, of the shoes generally worn at the commencement of the pre- sent century by ladies (fig. 110) and gentlemen, shows the very small buckle that was usually seen upon the feet of gentlemen (fig. Ill) just previous to their final disuse. We may dismiss the subject with a very few re- marks, as the present century does not come within the province of description. But there is one boot which certainl}' claims some respect, as it belonged to another century and has still retained a place in Fig. 110. Fig. 112. 396 GLOSSAET. [BOU this, encasing the legs of many an honest farmer, as it is likely to clothe and protect many more. The top-boot, once the delight of the " bucks and bloods " of the latter half of the eighteenth century, is the article to which we allude. A pride was felt in its bright po- lished leg and its snowy top, over which much time and trouble were lavished, as well as some few execrations, by the cleaner. Fig. 112 was copied from a print of 1775, and it differs in no particular from that stUl worn, except that the leg of the huntsman boasts one of more elegance and finish. These boots did not sometimes reach above the calf. A specimen may be seen of such on page 326. BOUCHE. The indent at the top of a shield to admit a lance, which rested there, without hindering the soldier of the protection afforded by his shield to the lower part of the face or neck. BOTJCHETTE. The large buckle used for fastening the lower part of the breastplate (the placard or demi-placate) to the upper one. It may be seen in the cut of B.ichard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, p. 178. BOUGE. A term sometimes used for the Vottlge : see that word. BOURDON. A walking staff; a pilgrim's staff. Then- ancient form may be seen in the engravings of staffs carried by pilgrims, here given. Fig. 113 is shod with iron, and is copied from the romance of the Four Sons Aymon, in the Hoyal Library at Paris (No. 7182), exe- cuted in the fourteenth century. Fig. 114 is from the JRoman i! Alexand/re, in the same collection (No. 7190). On the external walls of the H&tel Cluny, at Paris, the pilgrim's bourdon and cockle-shells are sculptured ; and the arms of the old Norman family of Bourdonnaye is azure, three bourdons proper, as it is engraved in the fol- lowing cut (fig. 115), and which are of a precisely similar form. The pUgrim's bourdon is thus described by Piers Plowman : — "Apparailed as a paynim In pilgrim's wise; He bar a liurdoum y-bounde With a broad liste, In a \ritliwynde wjse T-wounden aboute." Such a bourdon is engraved in the ArcTuBologia, vol. xxxi., and it sometimes had tied to it, as a Kg. 113. Fig. 115. BRA] aiossAET. 397 badge of travel, a thin wand or hazel from some noted holy site which the pilgrim had visited. BOTTEDOUNASS. A light halbert, hollow in the handle, and carried on state occasions. BOURSE. The bag appended to a wig. " Your bourse seems to be as well fashioned as those that are made by the dresser for the King's pages." The Sival Modes, a comedy, 1727. BRACELET. An ornament for the wrist. For their early form see Aemilla. With the Britons, Romans, and Saxons they were common, but less in use during the middle ages. They became more common toward the end of the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth were often particularly splendid. In the following one they are repeatedly named, and were given as love-tokens, and worn by men. " Given earrings we will wear, Bracelets of our lovers' hair, Whioli they on our arms shall twist, With our names carved on oui* wrist." Beaumont and Fletcher's CwpicHa Revenge. " Where is your 'larum watch, your Turkeis rings, Muake-com£ts, hraeelets, and such idle things P" Hutton's Follies Anatomie, 1619. " I would put amber bracelets on thy wrists, Crownets of pearle about thy naked ai-ms." Barnfield's Affectionate Shepherd, 1594. BRACER. A guard for the arm, used by archers to prevent the friction of the bowstring on the coat. Thus, in the Prologue to the Canterhwry Tales, the yeoman has " Upon his arm a gay hracer!' It was made like a glove with a long leather top, covering the fore- arm nearly to the elbow, and of considerable strength and thickness. BRACES. Straps passing over the shoulders for keeping up the trousers ; originally called suspenders and gallowses. BRANC. A linen vestment, similar to a rochet, worn by women over their other clothing. (Strutt, after Charpentier.) BRAND. A sword. 398 GiossAET. [BBA " With this brand bumjshed so bright." BEAJiirDENBUEGS. The ornamental facings to the breast of an oflSoer's coat ; so termed from the place where the fashion origi- nated. BEANDETJM. A valuable stuff (probably of silk) in use in the middle ages. BEA8SAET. Plate-armour for the upper part of the arm, reaching from the shoulder to the elbow ; sometimes in a single piece, as in the cut on p. 130 ; and sometimes in a series of overlap- ping plates, as in that oa p. 172. BEE AST-KNOT. A bow of ribbon worn in front of a lady's stomacher. BEEASTPLATE. The various forms of this miUtary defence have already been so fully described and delineated in the course of this volume, that it is unnecessary to do more than refer the reader to the cuts at the close of each of the periods into which the historic part of this work is divided. BEEECHES. The hracem of the Celtic and barbaric nations, al- luded to by classic writers. For notices of their early form see p. 11. They were not worn by the Eomans. The Saxon breeches are noticed on p. 41 ; they were generally tight to the body, but occa- sionally wide like the modem trousers, of which specimens are given on pp. 48, 71. They were thus worn by the Normans, see p. 63 ; or chequered and tighter, as on pp. 67, 68. They were worn by rus- tics loose and tied up to the kuee, as may be seen in Strutt's Dresses, pi. 53. During the Plantageliet period the long garments hid them from view, and hose, or tight ohausses, completely encased the legs, as seen on p. 100. The knight arming, on p. 133, shows "the brech " of the same period, and the mode of tying it to the shirt. " My ireche be nott yet welle up tyed, I had such hast to runue away." 23 Coventry Mystery. During the reign of Henry YIII. they became puffed and widened at top, as seen on the figure of the Earl of Surrey, p. 193 ; and be- came, during the next three reigns, dissevered in name from the hose, one of the terms originally applied to them, and afterwards BEE] GLOSSARY. 399 exclusively, to the long stocking. Their varieties of form and fashion are fully noted in our history of that period. They are thus enu- merated in one of Valerius's songs in Heywood's Sape of Lucrece, 1638 :— " The Spaniard loves his ancient slopj The Lombard his Tenetian; And some lite hreeohless women go — The Euss, the Turk, the Grrecian, The thrifty Frenchman wears small waist ; The Dutch his belly boasteth ; The Englishmai^ is for them all, And for each fashion coasteth." Hutton, in his Follies Anatomie, 1619, mentions a man as " rayling on cloakebag breeches;" and Peirce Penniless, 1592, says " they are bombasted like beer-barrels ;" and in the Betvmi from Parnassus, 1606, we are told, " There is no fool to the satin fool, the velvet fool, the perfumed fool ; and therefore the witty tailors of this age put them, under colour of kindness, into a pair of cloth bags :" and in Sam Alley, 1611, act iv. sc. 1, " his breeches must be pleated as if he had thirty pockets." Holinshed blames men at this time for spending most money on this article of dress, which was sometimes very elegantly out and embroidered. A specimen is here given (fig. 116) from Elstracke's rare portrait of Henry Lord Darnley, husband to Mary Queen of Soots. " I cannot endure these round breeches, I am ready to swoon at them," says Lucida in Field's play, A Woman is a Weathercoch, 1612. The breeches of the reign of Charles I. were not thus bombasted, but were loose to the -pj j^j^g knee, where they ended in a fringe or row of ribbons, as in the out on p. 248. So they continued during the Commonwealth : see cuts,, pp. 252, 265. With the Eestoration came the French petticoat-breeches, engraved and described p. 254. Eandle Holme, the Chester herald, in some brief notices of dress preserved among the Harleian MSS., and numbered 4375, has sketched various specimens engraved on p. 255, which are most va- luable in fixing dates, as Holme notes and describes them as he saw them worn. Towards the end of the reign of Charles the pet- ticoat-breeches were discarded, and they bore more resemblance to those worn during the reign of Henry VIII. (see cut of the Earl of Surrey, p. 192, and that of gentlemen teipp. Charles II., p. 259) : 400 GLOSSAKT. [BEl but they got gradually tighter until WiUiam III. introduced the plain tight knee-Tjreeches, stiU worn as oourt-dresB. Examples of those in general wear after this period are furnished by the outs in the body of this book, and need no further mention here. BEICHETTES. Another term for tasses and oulettes, forming together a safeguard round the hips, and appended to the waist of an armed man. BEIDGWATEE. A name for a kind of broad-cloth, manufac- tured in that town, and mentioned in an act of the 4th Edward YI. BEISTOL-EED. A favourite colour for garments in the six- teenth century ; " at Brystowe is the best water to dye red." Hor- manni Vulgcma, 1530. Eleanor Rummyn is described by Skelton in " a kyrtel of Brystow red," and in Barclay's fourth Eclogue we read : — " London hath scarlet, and Bristowe pleasant red." BEOCADE. A stout silken stuff with vaiiegated pattern, much used during the seventeisnth and eighteenth centuries for the dresses of both sexes. In the Harleian Library, 6271, is an inventory of Charles II. 's wardrobe, in which is mentioned, "white and gold brocade at two pounds three and sixpence per yaj"d ; and colure-du- prince brocade at two pounds three shillings per yard." BEOCAT is the original term for brocade, which appears to have been a very rich stuff. Thus Strutt, in his Dress and Sahits, says it was composed of silk interwoven with threads of gold and silver. We read of a clerical vestment, in an old inventory cited by Du Cange, which was brocaded with gold upon a red ground, and en- riched with the representations of lions and other animals. Brocade seems to have been exceedingly rare upon the Continent even in the fourteenth century ; and probably it was not known at all in Eng- land as early as the thirteenth. BEOELLA. A coaj-se kind of cloth used for the ordinary dresses of countrymen and the monastic clergy in the middle ages. BEOIGNE. Body-armour for a soldier. See Beuht. BEOOCH. A critical disquisition, with illustrative cuts, on An- glo-Saxon brooches has already been given in p. 32 of this volume. An additional specimen, engraved on p. 34 measures Ij inches across. BEO] GLOSSAET. 401 the central cross being formed of blue and red stones, and the casing of gold. These cu-cular fibulse were used to fasten the cloak or mantle pver the breast ; the pin was affixed beneath, and was smaller than those on the Irish specimens engraved on the same page, not reaching beyond the circle of the brooch. Some splendid examples of these ornaments, discovered in Eentish barrows, may be seen in the works on Saxon Antiquities quoted on p. 36, coloured in imi- tation of the originals. One in particular, now in the possession of the Rev. W. Vallance, of Maidstone, is a magnificent specimen of art. It measures nearly 2| inches across, and is inlaid with co- loured stones and filled with filagree work of the most delicate and beautiful description, auguring a very high state of art among the jewellers of that period : and bracelets, rings, and jewels of beaten or twisted gold, are continually mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon poems. Other fine examples may be seen in the volume descrip- tive of the Faussett collection of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities now in the possession of J. Mayer, F.S.A., of Liver- pool. Among them is one noble example found at King- ston-down, near Canterbury, the largest ever yet discovered and fully described in the note on p. 32 of the present volume. In ^sArchasological Album, p. 206, is given the ■^S- ^^'- accompanying woodcut (fig. 117) of the gold shell of a very magnificent Saxon fibula, in the possession of Mr. Fitch, of Ipswich, which was found at Sutton, near Woodbridge in Sufiblk, by a labourer wl^ilst ploughing. When first discovered, it was studded with stones or coloured glass orna- ments, the centre of a red colour, the four large circles blue, and the smaller pieces filled with green and various colours. The man who found it regarded it as valuable only for the gold, and deprived it of these ornaments. Our out is of the actual size. The Norman brooch was more like an ornamental open circle of jewels and stones, with a central pin ; and its name hrooch is derived from this aiticle, and its resemblance to a spit (Fr. hroche). Such a brooch may be seen, as worn by Queen Berengaria, in our cut, p. 82. They were much used to close the opening in front of the dress, as there exhi- bited, and continued in use to a comparatively modem period. 2d 402 GLOSSAEY. [BEO " A broche she bare in her low collar. As broad as is the boss of a buckler." Chaucer's Millet's Tale. "A broche of gold and azure, In which a ruby set was, like an herte, Creseide him gave, and stucke it on his sherfce." Clumcer's TroiVus amd Creseide. They are eliiefly remarkable for the quaint and curious inscrip- tions engraved upon them. Two spe- cimens are here given. Kg. 118 is a very singular brooch, belonging to Mr. Warne, of Blandford, Dorset- shire, and was probably executed in the fourteenth century. It is formed ^S- 118- like the letter A, and reminds us of the words of Chaucer, who describes his prioress as wearing " A broche of gold ful shene, On which was first y-wretten a crouned .4, And after, a/mor vincit omnia." Canterbury/ Tales, 1. 160, On the front the inscription seems to be : ij< lO fas amee e doz de AMEE. The second, formerly in the collection of Mr. Crofton Croker, has on one side the sa- lutation to the Virgin, avb ma- EiA GE. ; and on the other, lEsvs NAZAEENVs, the latter word partly running down the central pin. They are both of silver gilt, and are engraved of the size of the originals. In the Battle of Troy, a romance of the fourteenth century, the knights in the court^ of Lycomedes offer the ladies " broche and ring " in order to discover Achilles, who, they feel sure, will reject both for " shield and spere." In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they were commonly worn by all persons of rank and substance, and were of great va- riety and beauty. Holbein designed several for Henry VIIL in most exquisite taste ; his drawings are still preserved in the British Museum (Sloane MS. 5308). They were placed not only about the body, but worn in the hats and caps of both sexes. (See p. 235.) Barclay, in his Eclogues (temp. Henry VIII.) notices a countryman who had "lerned to go mannerly in London," as having Fig. 119. BUG] GLOssAEr. 403 "High on his bonet etucke a fayre broche of tin." These tin brooches have been frequently found in the Thames, and are often inscribed with moral sentences, or figures of Saints ; they were sometimes worn to indicate the performance of pilgrim- ages to favourite shrines, like that of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Seagul, boasting of the riches of Virginia, in the play of Eastwa/rd Hoe, 1605, says that the people there stick rubies and diamonds " in their children's caps, as commonly as our children wear saffron-gilt broches and groats with holes in them." Leather brooches for hats are mentioned by Dekker in his Sati/romastix, 1602. BETJNSWICES. Close out-door habits for ladies, introduced from Germany about 1750. The upper portion was made with lap- pels open, and a collar like a man's coat. See out, p. 324. BRUNY. Breastplate, cuirass ; from Sax. birne, Teut. brunia, or old Fr. brunie, says Ellis, in his notes to the following passage of the romance of Alexander : " The kyng of Mantona, and his knyghtis, Beth y-armed ready to fyghte, In bruny of steel, and rich weeds." And a king is described as receiving so severe a blow with a spear, that " Throughout the brvmy creopeth the egge."* BEYE. Breeches. Sloane MS. 2593. " Wrennok shot a full great shot, And he shot not too hye; Throw the sanchothis of his hri/h It touched neyther thye." Wrights Songs and Carols, 1836. BUCKLER. A small shield, much used by swordsmen in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to ward a blow. It varied in size, and was sometimes very small, like the one here given (fig. 121) from the romance of The Four Sons of Aymon, in the Kg. 120. 121. jj^y^j Library at Paris (No. 7182), which is being used by an armed knight in the Hsts, as he fights with an opponent, both being armed with swords. It was used not * Throughout the breastplate the point appears. 2d2 404 aLOSSAEY. [BUG so much for a shield as for a warder to catch the blow of an adver- sary. The Wife of Bath is described by Chaucer in a hat "As broad as is a hucMer or a targe." The targe or target was not very different, tbe principal distinction being, according to Meyrick, in the handle which extended across it to the outer circumference, as exhibited in fig. 120, from a MS. in the Eoyal Library, British Museum, No. 20 D 6 (fourteenth cen- tury). In the romance of IRng Alexander, we are told he had " Fiftene thoueande of foot laddea. That sword and buctelers hadde; Axes, speres, forkis, and slynges, And aJle stalworthe gadelynges."* They were commonly used for exercise by the apprentices of Lon- don; and sword-and-buckler play was enjoined by the higher powers. Stow informs us that the young Londoners, on holidays, were permitted thus to exercise themselves before their masters' doors, and on Sundays after evening prayer. Folly, one of the characters in the old Morality, The Worlde and the Childe, printed \tj Wynkyn de Worde, 1522, among his other accomplishments, says, " a curyous buckler player I am." And in 2%e Downfall of Mohert Earl of Suntingdon, 1601, one of the cha- racters exclaims, " Had I a sword and huckler here, You should aby these questions dear." The buckler of the time of Henry VIII. is engraved on p. 228 ; and we must refer to that page for further notices. It was usual for serving-men and retainers of noble families to carry swords and bucklers when in attendance upon them. See also p. 233. BUCKLES. So great a variety of these articles for fastening all parts of the dress occur upon the monuments of the middle ages, tliat it is obviously impossible to enumerate or engrave their many varieties. Upon the sword-belt of the knights some very fine examples occur in Cotman, Stothard, HoUis, Waller, and Fisher's brasses, as well as in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. The original Fig. 122. shoe-buckle, as exhibited by the first-named * Literally ' strong vagabonds ;' the term used as wc now should use the phrase ' stout rascals.' BUF] GLOSSARY. 405 of the series in his plate from the brass of Eobert Attelath at Lynn, who died 1376, is copied (fig. 122). The more modern dia- mond and silver buckles have been noticed elsewhere. Evelyn, in his Tyrannus, or the Modes, notices the later introduction of the shoe-buckle, where he remarks : — " I like the noble buskin for the leg, and the bowcle better than the formal rose." BUCKLING-COMBS. Small combs used to secure the curls which were turned under and termed buckles, worn by ladies in the last century : — " Their locks, permitted to grow unusually long, were restrained from falling in a fleece over the back and bosom by small buchling-comhs." — Train's Sistory of the Buehanites. BTICKEAM. A cloth stifiened with gum. Falstaff's notice of the " men in buckram " is familiar to all. It became common to notice bombast in writing or speaking as " buckram phrases." The original buckram, according to Strutt, was " a fine thin cloth " which ranked with the richest silks, and was termed hougra/nhj the French (Lat. bogueramus). BUDGE. Lambskin with the wool dressed outwards. It is still used for the trimming of the gowns of the City livery, and is often mentioned by writers of the Elizabethan and Stuart eras, as well as by Chaucer. See Buenbt. Budge Eow, London, was so named, according to Stow, "of budge fur and of the skinners dwelling there." It was the ordinary fur worn as trimming to the citizens' robes ; and the Usurer, in Eowland's Letting of Humor's blood in the head/vein, " wears "His jacket faced ^vitll moth-eaten budge.^' BUFF-COAT. A leathern outer-garment, made exceedingly strong and unyielding, and sometimes an eighth of an inch thick, exclusive of the lining. They were much used by the soldiers in the civil wars. Captains in "buff-jerkins plated o'er with massy silver lace " are mentioned in Dekker's Night's Conjuring, 1607. One is engraved in Skelton's Arms and Armour, pi. 41. Some which belonged to Cromwell's, soldiers are preserved in Rochester Cathedral ; and the full-length of Lord Fairfax, p. 274, represents him in such a protection. BUFFIN. A coarse cloth in use for the gowns of the middle classes in the time of Elizabeth. In the comedy of Eastward Jffoe, 1605, the ambitious Girtred, sneering at her sisters, says : — " Do you wear your quoif with a London licket, your stamel petticoat 406 GL0S8AEY. [BUF ■with two guards, the litffin gown with the tufttaffety cape and the velvet lace. I must be a lady, and I will be a lady." And Mas- singer, in his City Madam, 1659, makes one of his characters ex- claim in horror, — " My young ladies in luffin gowns and green aprons ! Tear them off!" They in the end became eharaeteristio of elderly countrywomen, BUFFONT. A projecting covering of gauze or linen for a lady's breast, much worn about 1750 (see p. 324, and cut p. 327). BUGLES. Glass beads used to decorate the hair and dress. Stubbes, speaking of the ladies of his own period, says : — "At their hair, thus wreathed and crested, are hung bugles ; I dare not say, babies." They are also mentioned in Ben Jonson's Baa-tholomew Fair. The hair of Elizabeth and the ladies of her court are loaded with bugles, beads, and jewellery, — a fashion that continued during the reign of James I. ; and I need do no more than refer to the many fine portraits of those periods for specimens. BULWAUKS. The puffed and slashed decorations at the knees, originally worn by the Swiss soldiery, and adopted by the gallants of the court of Henry VII., as seen in the cuts p. 190-1. They are mentioned in Wynkyn de Worde's Treatyse of a Galavmt. " AJl these new iuhoar^es they wear at their knees.'' BURDASH. The fringed sash worn round the waist by gentle- men (see cut p. 261). "A modern beau," in the prologue to Cof- fey's opera, I%e Female Parson, 1730, is described "With snuff-box, powder'd wig, and arms a-Mmbo, Cane, ruffles, sword-knot, hvrdash, hat and feather, Perfumes, fine essence, brought from Lard know whither." BURBL. Coarse cloth of a brown colour (Ritson). " A curtel of burel " is mentioned in a ballad against the Scots of the time of Edward II., printed in Eitson's Ancient Songs. See also Piers Plowman's Vision. BUEGOIGNE. The first part of the dress for the head next the hair. Mundiis Muliehris, 1690. BUEGONET. A helmet made at the close of the fifteenth cen- tury, and so named from the Burgundians, who invented it. They fitted more closely than any in previous use ; and may be seen in the cut on p. 225. BUENET. (Fr. brunette.) Cloth of a brown colour. BUS] GLOSSARY. 407 "A hwmette cote hung there withal, T-furrid with no miniveere ; But with a furre rough of hair Of lamb skynnes, hevy and black." Chaucer : Homaunt of the Rose, 1. 226. BUEEE. A broad ring of iron behind the place made for the hand on the tilting-spear ; which burre is brought to the rest when the tilter is about to charge, serving both to secure and balance it. (Meyrick.) BUSK. Minshieu explains a busk to be a part of dress " made of wood or whalebone, a plated or quilted thing to keep the body straight." It may have obtained its name from having originally been made of wood. The word as well as the article is still in use. Busk-points, or the tag of the lace which secured the end of the busk, are frequently mentioned by our early dramatic writers. BUSKINS. High boots, such as are worn by the countrywoman on p. 91. They were of splendid material in the middle ages, when used by the nobility and gentry. They were worn by kings on their coronation, and on occasions of state. Bishops wore them when celebrating mass, and a prayer was used when putting them on, " that the feet might be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace." The buskins of Bishop Wainflete, founder of Mag- dalen College, Oxford, are still preserved there. Monsieur Lenoir (MusSe des Monumens Franfais) has engraved and described a magnificent pair found upon the body of Abbot Ingon on opening his saroopha- gus in the Abbey of St. Germain des Pr^s. One of them is copied, fig. 123. He says : — " They were '^' of dark violet- coloured sUk, ornamented with a variety of elegant designs in polygonal shapes, upon which were worked greyhounds and birds in gold. They were fastened at top and bottom by a silk running twist of the same colour, made like the laces of the present day." They were worn by travellers in the middle ages and by country-folks generally. In the wardrobe accounts of Elizabeth of York, consort to Henry VII., are entries in January 1503 for bus- kins provided for the Queen's journey into Wales ; and similar wardrobe accounts of Henry VIII. mention velvet buskins, as well as Spanish leather buskins. BUSTIAN. A coarse cloth, "probably the same as fustian.' — 408 GLOSSAEY. [BUT Malliwell's Dictionary. In tlie inventory of church goods at Tun- stead, Norfolk (6 Edward VI.), mention is made of " a white vest- ment of hustyan," valued at two shillings. BUTTONS. The frequent mention of buttons in the course of this volume, and the examples engraved of the profusion worn upon the dress, render it unnecessary to do more here than briefly aUude to their form and pattern. They are generally set at regular inter- vals down the front of the gown or the sleeves, and sometimes so close as to touch. In the brass of Eobert Attelath, in Cotman's series, they are set two and two down the entire length of his gown. Two curious specimens of bronze buttons made in the fourteenth ceniSiry and dredged up from the bottom of the Thames are here engraved. Fig. 124 is a half-sphere, such as are usually seen in monumental figures (see p. 100). Fig. 125 is pyramidal, each facet being decorated with a trefoil. Upon the effigy of Gower, iu St. Sa- viour's, Southwark, the poet wears the large but- tons engraved fig. 126. They are depressed in the centre : and siioh appear upon the children of Lady Montacute, in Oxford Cathedral ; the lady herself wearing an embossed button of simple design, engraved fig. 127. Amicia, wife of William Lord Fitzwarine, in Wantage Church, Berkshire, has the front of her cotehardie secured by a row of large buttons, as in fig. 128. Buttons were not so frequent towards the end of the fifteenth century, when laces and points were used to hold together the various portions of the dress. They were large and generally covered with silk during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. " Four dozen buttons of gold, in every one a seed-pearl," was one of the new year's gifts presented, 1577, to Queen Elizabeth by the Lady Mary Grey. Peaeham tells us they were " as big as tablemen [draughtsmen], or the lesser sort of Sandwich turnips." Buttons of diamond are mentioned in Patient Orissell, 1603. Those worn by John Clobery, whose effigy is engraved p. 261, are delineated fig. 129, and are apparently of silk, worked over a wooden substructure, the usual mode of manufacture adopted. Silk buttons continued to be worn until the reign of George III. Metal buttons and horn ones were also in use. Fig. 130, of the time GAL] GIOSSAET. 409 of Charles I., lias a face of silver, tlie body being blue glazed. Hut- ton, in his History of Birmingham, says : — " We well remember the long coats of our grandfathers, covered with half a gross of high tops, and the cloaks of our grandmothers, ornamented with a horn button nearly the size of a crown-piece, a watch, or a John-apple, curiously wrought, as having passed through the Birmingham press." George III. amused himself at one period with their construction, and was satirized accordingly in a work entitled The Button-Maker's Jest-Booh. The shanks were made of catgut, as in fig. 131 ; and the body of this button is wood, the face formed of a thin piece of brass plate affixed to it ; it was the regulation-button of the navy ninety years ago. Buttons were made sometimes like a picture, the back of the button being dark, upon which, in various degrees of relief, were placed, in ivory or bone, trees, figures, and flowers ; some I have seen an inch and three-quarters across. Others were arranged in elegant patterns in white metal upon a gilt ground, and an immense variety, of most tasteful form, may be seen still on old court-suits. Sometimes they were made of mother-of-pearl or ivory cut into forms on the surface or edges by the workman, the centres being embellished with patterns in gilt metal. Double buttons, for the cloak, may be seen in Brayley's Qra/phic Illustrator, Sleeve- buttons and shirt-buttons of similar construction, and of many fan- ciful forms, were also manufactured, as in fig. 132. The heads of military heroes were placed on them, as William, Duke of Bruns- wick, the Duke of Cumberland, etc. The button of the Blue-coat boys has the bust of Edward VI. ; and, indeed, it may be said that the livery -button of the present day assumes the place of the hadge of the middle ages ; and thus, as Crofton Croker has felicitously ob- served, " buttons are the medals of heraldry." CADDIS. Worsted, such as is now termed cruell, used for the ornament of the dresses of servants and the lower classes in the six- teenth century. Caddis garters are mentioned by writers of that er^ as worn by countryfolks. CAFFA. A rich silk stuff. In the Privy Purse JSjcpenses of Senry VIII. mention is made of " eighteen yards of white caffa for the Eing's grace," which is valued at £6. 7s. 9d. Cavendish, in his Life of Wolsey, mentions, " rich stuff of silks in whole pieces, of all colours, of velvet, satin, damask, caffa, taffetas, grograin, sarsenet, etc." CALABEEEE. Cloth of Calabria.— 410 GLOSSARY. [CAL "His collar splayed, and furred with ermyn, caldbrere, or satin." 25 Coventry Mystery. CALASH. A bonnet for the head, first introduced 1765, and the invention of the Duchess of Bedford. See p. 323. CALICO. A cotton stuff, originally manufactured at CaJicut, in India. In Dekker's play of The Honest Whore, part i.', 1604, George, a haberdasher's apprentice, " a notable voluble-tongued villain," exclaims, — " I can fit you, gentlemen, with fine callicoes too for your doublets ; the only sweet fashion now, most delicate and courtly : a meek gentle callico, cut upon two double affable taffatas : ah, most neat, feat, and unmatchable !" CALIMANGO. A glazed linen stuff. CALIVEE. A light kind of musket, or harquebus, fired without a rest ; introduced in the reign of Elizabeth. It derived its name from the calibre, or width of its bore. Edmund Yorke, during this reign, writes : — " Before the battle of Mounguntur, the princes of the religion caused several thousand harquebusses to be made, all of one calibre, which was called Sarquehuse de calibre de Monsieur le Prince; so I think some man, not understanding French, brought hither the name of the height of the bullet of the piece, which word calibre is yet continued with our good canonniers." — Maitland's Hist, of London. CALLOT, CALOTTE. A plain coif or skull-cap. (Nares.) It was made sometimes of leather. CAMAIL. The tippet of mail appended to the helmet. See pp. 130, 174. In a letter of James, Earl of Perth, sent from Home, in 1695, he speaks of the Pope as wearing " a crimson velvet camail, or short cloak to his shoulder." CAMBE.IC. A thin kind of fine linen, introduced during the reign of Elizabeth, used for handkerchiefs, ruffs, collars, and shirts. See p. 212. It obtains its name from Cambrai, in France, where it was first manufactured. CAMISADO. A loose garment like a shirt. CAMISE, or CAMISIA. The shirt. See p. 80. CAMLET. A mixed stuff of wool and sUk, used for gowns, CAN] GLOSSAEY. 411 temp. Elizabeth and James I., and mentioned by writers of that era. It was originally manufactured of the hair of the camel, and from thence its name is derived. It is classed among the "rich silks and stuffs " in the Somam, de la Rose, v. 21867. Some etymo- logists say it was named from the river Camlet, in Montgomery- shire, where its manufacture in this country first began. It was much worn a3 warm outer clothing in the last century. Swift men- tions " one that has been a parson ; he wears a blue camblet cloak trimmed with black'' (Account of Curll). It was an expensive fa- bric, but of lasting wear. CAMMAKA. A kind of cloth (see Spel- manni Qlnssarmm, pp. 88, 97). In the time of Edward III. they made the church vest- ments of this material. " In kyrtyl of eammaka kynge am I clad." 17 Coventry Mystery, and CHossa/ry by Halliwell. CAMPAINE. A narrow-kind of lace (Mun- dus Muliebris, 1690). A wig called a ' cam- paign-wig' was introduced /rom France about 1712. It was plain, and close-fitting. CANE. " A cane, garnished with sylver and gilte, with astronomic upon it. A cane, gar- nished with golde, havinge a perfume in the toppe, under that a diall, with a pair of twitchers (tweezers P), and a pair of compasses of golde, and a foot-rule of golde, a knife, and a file the haft of golde, with a whetstone tipped with golde," are enumerated in the MS. inventory of the contents of the Eoyal Palace at Green- wich, temp. Henry VIII. (Harleian MS. 1412.) There is a portrait of Henry with a cane richly mounted as above described; and in his Privy Purse expenses the gift to him of " a cane-staff" is recorded. We engrave two specimens, fig. 133, from a brass in Salis- bury Cathedral, to Edward Guest, Bishop of Eochester, 1578 ; fig. 134, from a portrait of Sir G. Hart, dated 1587, at LuUingstone, Kent. Both are richly de- corated with metal-work gilt, and have spiked ferules to give firm hold in walking. Canes became fashionable during the reign of I Fig. 133. 134. 412 GLOSSAET. [CAN Charles II., and were worn by gentlemen with a large bunch of rib- bons appended to their tops, as shown in the cut under the word Walking-Sticks. CANIONS. A French fashion for the decoration of the knee, explained in old dictionaries as " ornement qu'on portoit autrefois au-dessous du genou." They are noted among the dresses in Hen- slowe's diary for his theatre ; thus, under April, 1598, he disburses £6. 8s. for a " bugeU doblett and a payer of paned hoee.of bugell panes drawne out with cloth of silver and canyons to the same ;" and he elsewhere notes " a pair of round hose of panes of silk, laid with silver lace and canons of cloth of silver." They were rolls of stuff which termiuated the breeches or hose at the knee Fig. 135. (gg_ I35jj and are constantly seen in portraits of Henry III. of Trance and his court. Stubbes, in his animadversions on French hose, notes them as " cut and drawn out with costly orna- ments, with cantons adjoined reaching beneath the knees," and con- demns his countrymen for adopting such Gallic fashions. CANIPLE. A small knife or dagger. CANVAS. A coarse cloth. " Striped canvass for doublets " is mentioned by Dekker in 1611. CAP. See Head-Deessbs. CAPA. An external hooded robe or mantle. CAPE. The upper part of the coat or cloak, turned over upon the shoiilders. They are entered as separate articles of dress in a wardrohe inventory of Henry VIII. (Harl. MS. 2284), quoted by Strutt. Half a yard of purple cloth-of-gold baudkyn is allowed to make a cape to a gown of baudkyn for the king ; and a Spanish cape of crimson satin, embroidered aU over with Venice gold tissue, and lined with crimson velvet, having five pair of large aglets of gold, is named as the queen's gift. CAPPELINE. A small skull-cap of iron, worn by archers in the middle ages. See cut, p. 176. CAPUTIUM, A short hooded cloak, similar to the Aemilausa. The word is more legitimately applied to the hood upon the cope, mantle, scapular, or mozetta. CAE.] GLOSSAEY. 413 CAPTJCHIIir. A hooded cloak worn by ladies in the last cen- tury, and so called from its resemblance to that worn by capuchin friars. Gray, in his Long Story, speaks of his lady visitors dressed " with bonnet blue, and capuchine and aprons long." CAEAVAN. A bonnet in fashion about 1765, thus described in the Unvuersal Magazine of that year : — " It consists of whalebone formed in large rounds, which at a touch throws down over the face a blind of white sarsenet." CAEBINE, or CAEABEN. A gun with a wide bore, first used in the reign of Elizabeth. CAECANET. " A carcanet seems to have been a necklace set with stones, or strung with pearls," say the notes to Dodsley's Plays, vol. viii. p. 347. " In a pleasant conceited comedy, 3bw a mam, may choose a good wife from a had," is named " A wencli's cm-kanet That had two letters for her name in pearl." It is derived from the old French word ca/rcan, whose diminutive was ca/rcanet. See Cotgrave, voce Carcau. Carcanets are frequently mentioned by our ancient dramatists. " Gives Hit" jewels, bracelets, carcanets^' C^nthia*s Revels. "Your carTcanets, That did adorn your neck of equal value." Massmger's City Madam. See also the notes to the CoTnedy of Mrrors, act iii. scene 1. Erom the passage also quoted in Dodsley, from Marston's Antonio and Mellida — " Curl'd hairs hung full of sparkling carcoMets,'' it seems that the word was not confined to a necklace, but applied to the jewels or wreaths of stones, in form like those worn about the neck, which were at this period commonly entwined in a lady's hair (see fig. 182). " I'll clasp thy neck where should be set A rich and orient carcanet." Bandolph. "Accept this carkanet; My grandame on her death-bed gave it me." Solimon and Ferseda, 1599. 414 GLOSSAET. [CAE CARDINAL. A cloak like a cardinal's mozetta, which became fashionable with ladies about 1760. See cut, p. 306. CAREIAGES. Appendages to the sword-belt, in which the sword was hung (see cut, p. 208). Another of a different form is appended to the girdle of fig. 116, p. 399. In Samlet the effemi- nate courtier Osrick tells the prince, " the ca/rriages, my lord, are the hangers." (See the latter word.) CASHMBEE. A delicate cotton stuff, named from the country whence it was first imported to Europe. CASQUE (JV.). Ahehnet. "The very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt." Skakspea/ref — Senry V, CASQUETEL. A smaU open hehnet of a light kind, without beaver or visor, having a projecting umbril, and flexible plates to cover the neck behind. (Fig. 136.) CASSOCK. A long loose coat, or gown; ^g- 136. worn by both sexes ; thus Tibet Talkapace, in the old comedy of Ralph JSoister Doister, says : — "We shall go in our French hoods every day. In our silke cassocJcSj I warrant you, fresh and gay.*' "A caped cassock much like a player's govm" is mentioned in Barnsley's Pride and Ahtise of Women (circa 1550) ; and in Barnefield's Combat between Conscience and Covetoiis- ness, 1598, mention is made of one " clad in a cassock like an usurer." "A cassock," says Steevens, " signifies a horseman's loose coat, and is used in that sense by the writers of the age of Shakspeare. It likewise ap- pears to have been part of the dress of rus- tics." See note to All's Well that ends Well, act iv. scene 3. In a broadside of the time of Charles I., preserved in the print- room of the British Museum, depicting the Cries of London, is a figure of a hackney-coachman dressed in a cassock as described above, and which is here engraved (fig. 137). In me old comedy of Lingua, 1 ed. 1607, Communis Sensus is de- Fig. 137. CUA] GL0S8AEY. 415 scribed as "a grate man in a black velvet cassock, like a counsellor," while Memory is an old decrepit man in a black velvet cassock. It appears to be the same article as that called a vest, in the time of Charles II., by Eandle Holme (see Vbst), and seen upon the later costume of that period engraved in the historical part of this work. The cassock of the clergy resembled what Holme calls " the tunick of the laity." " An old stradling usurer, clad in a damaske cassock, edged with fox-fiirr," is mentioned in Nash's Pierce Fennilesse, 1592. Bishop Earle, in his Miorocosmography, 1628, characterizes " a vulgar-spirited man " as " one that thinks the gravest cassock the best scholar." And in EjUigrew's Parson's Wedding, 1663, the captain declares of the parson, that "he was so poor and despicable, when I relieved him, he could not avow his caUing for want of a cassock." See also p. 220. CASTOE. The beaver. The name was hence applied to beaver hats. CATGUT. A coarse cloth formed of thick cord, woven widely and used in the last century for lining and stiffening dress, particu- larly the skirts and sleeves of a coat. CAUL. A close-fitting cap. Network enclosing the hair (see pp. 96, 144). The Soldan's daughter, in the romance of the King of Tars (fourteenth century,) is described " In cloth of rich purple paUe, And on her head a comely calle^^ " These glittering caules of golden plate, Wherwith their heads are richly decked. Make them to seem an angel's mate In judgment of the simple sect." Fleascmt Quizes for wpsta/yt Newfangled Gentlewomen, 1596, Peaoham, in his Tmth of our Times, speaks of the era of Elizabeth, when " maides wore cawles of golde, now quite out of use ;" this was in 1638. CEINTUEE. (Fr.) A girdle. A sash for the waist.— " Girt with a ceint of silk mth barres small." ChoMcer. CBNDAL. A silken stuff used for the dress of nobles in the middle ages. It was of costly manufacture, and much esteemed. The flag appended to a knight's lance was made of it. 416 GLOSSAET. [CEE CEEEBEEEroM, ■) An iron skull-cap for the head of a f^T^ CEEYELLIEEE, j soldier. It is represented in fig. 138 from Eoyal MSS. 2 B 7 (temp. Edw. I.). The flexible gor- get of mail is in this instance fastened to it. Fig. 138. CEETYL. Akirtle, atunic. • "He shot thro' Ma grene certyl, his heart he clef in two." Mitson's Ancient Songs, p. 151. CHAINS. Neck-chains were occasionally worn during the middle ages by knights and gentlemen ; and to them was afterwards appended the livery badges of royalty and nobility. In the sixteenth century gentlemen ushers and stewards used generally to wear gold chains as badges of office. Thus in Twelfth-Night, Malvolio is scorn- fully bade by Sir Toby Belch : — " Go ! rub your chain with crumbs ;" and in Massinger's New Way to Pay Old Dehts, the steward ad- jures the servants, " By this staif of office that commands you. This chain and double ruff, symbols of power." In Middleton's Mad World my Masters, 1608, Sir Bounteous Pro- gress, an old rich knight, exclaims : — " Eun, sirrah, call in my chief gentleman in the chain of gold." Chains were frequently bequeathed in wiUs, and from the manner in which they are often described — ^for example, " a chain of gold of the old manner, with the name of God in each part," anno 1397 ; " a chain of gold with white enamel," anno 1537; " a chain of gold with a lion of gold, set with diamonds," anno 1485; "a chain of gold with water flowers," anno 1490, etc., an idea may be formed of their workmanship and value. Sir Thomas 'Parr, father- in-law of Henry VIII., left by his will, dated in 1517, to his son William his great chain of gold, worth £140, which had been given to him by that monarch, and which, allow- ing for its workmanship, must have weighed more than two pounds troy. — Sir S. Nicolas. The chains worn by the nobility and gentry exhibited all that variety of design for which the old goldsmiths were famous. Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII. at Lee Priory, Kent, represents that sovereign wearing a rich jewel sus- pended by a long chain, every other link being formed like the letter H (fig. 139). The portraits of our nobility, from this period to the death of James I., generally give fine Fig- 139- samples of goldsmith's work in chains, rings, and jewels. CHA] GLOSSAET. 417 Peacham, writing in 1638, says of the days of Elizabeth : — " Chains of gold were then of lords, knights, and gentlemen, commonly worn ; but a chain of gold now (to so high a rate is gold raised) is as much as some of them are worth." CHAISEL (O. Fr.). An upper garment. In the tale of the Old Wise Man and his Wife, in the Seven Sages, we read — " She had on a pilche of pris, And a chaisel thereon I wis." The term was also used to denote a kind of fine linen of which under- garments were made ; thus in the Roman d'Alexand/re the Queen Olimpias is described in " chaysel smoh " and in Atis and PapMlion " un chemis de chaisil " is named. CHAPE (or BOUTEEOLLE), the plate of silver or iron at the point of the scabbard of a sword, dagger, or knife sheath. " Her knives were yeJio/pSd not "with brass, But all with silver wrought full clene and well.'' Chaucer. CHAPEAU-BEAS (Fr.). A hat made to fold, and carry beneath the arm by beaux who feared to derange their wigs. CHAPELLE-DE-FEE (Fr.). The iron hehnets used by knights in the twelfth century. See pp. 118, 125, fig. 3. CHAPEEOON (sometimes spelt Shapperoone), properly Chape- ron ; a French hood worn by both sexes ; but exclusively used to denote the ladies' head-dress, temp. Elizabeth and James I. Dek- ker, in his Dreame, 1620, speaks of vain females as — " Gay, gaudy worms, who spend a yeaa- of noons, In trussing up their fronts with chaperoones And powdered hair." CHAPLET. A circular wreath of flowers or jewels for the head. Chaplets of flowers were worn by brides at marriages, and by both sexes during the middle ages on occasions of festivity (see p. 110). When Charles VIII. made his entry into Naples, the ladies of that city placed upon his head a chaplet of violets. These wreaths of flowers were so universally used, that several fiefs were held by a quit-rent of roses. The chaplets of jewels are thus noticed in the Lay of Sir Launfal : — 2 E 418 GiossABT. [CHiar*" " Their heads were dight well with all, Everyoh had on a jolyf coronal, With sixty gemmes and mo." CHASTONS. Breeches of mail used by knights in the thir- teenth century ; and occasionally worn until the sixteenth. CHASUBLE. An ecclesiastical outer garment. See pp. 44, 46, 70, and 144 ; the more modern ' cope ' is derived from it. See p. 222. CHATJSSES (Fr.). The tight coverings for the legs and body, reaching to the waist, in use by the Normans. CHEKLATON. Chaucer, in his Sime of Sir Thopas, describes that knight in a robe of chechelatoun ; and Tyrwhitt, in ia note, con- siders it identical with the cyclas (see that word). Strutt, however, believes it to be the same as checldratus, a cloth used by the Nor- mans, of chequer-work curiously wrought. CHEMISE. A shirt ; an under-garment. See Camise, Smock. CHENILLE. An open edging for ladies' dress, of silk thread corded, and of the pattern annexed, fig. 140. It obtains its name from its resemblance _. ^^ to the convolutions of a hairy caterpillar ; the Che- nille of France. OHEVEEILL. Kid leather (see p. 207). Two dozen points of cheverelle are mentioned in the Coventry Mysteries, No. 25. CHEVESAILE (Fr.). A necklace. " About her necke of gentle entaile. Was set the riche chevesaile. In which there was full gi'eat plenty Of stones clear and fair to see." Chaucer : Homwtmt of the Hose. CHIMEEE. A black satin dress with lawn sleeves, worn by Protestant bishops (see p. 220). CHIN-CLOAE. A short cloak buttoning close round the neck. CHIN-CLOTH. A sort of muffler worn by ladies in the time ot Charles I., and shown in Hollar's print of Winter. CHINTZ. Printed India cotton. CLO] GLOSSARY. 419 CHITTEELING. The old name for the frill down the breast of a shirt. CHOPA. A loose upper-garment of the super-tunic kind. It appears to have been a night-gown for women. — Strutt. CHOPINE. A high shoe. See p. 386. CHOUX. " The great round boss or bundle of hair, worn at the back of the head, and resembling a cabbage, from whence the French gave it that name." — Mimdus Muliebris, 1690, in which the following lines occur : — " Behind the noddle every baggage Wears bundle ehoux, in English cabbage." CIECLET. A band for the forehead. The knightly orle. CLASP. A fastening for the dress or girdle. Very fine ex- amples of these ornamental works of the middle ages may be seen in the brasses and effigies of that period, as given by Stothard, Cot- man, Waller, etc. CLOAK. This outer garment is of great antiqtiity, and occurs so frequently in our illustrations that its shape may be at once com- prehended during all periods. Indeed, it changed little in form, and may be said to have presented no other variety than that of being long or short, ornamental or useful, until the reign of Henry VIII. or Mary, when they were guarded with lace and formed of the richest materials. " My rich cloak loaded with pearl " is mentioned by one of the characters in Patient Gfrissell, 1603. " Here is a cloak cost fifty pound, vrffe. Which I can sell for thirty when I ha' seene All London in't, and Loudon has seen me." Ben Jonson : The Devil is an Ass. " 'T is an heire got. Since his father's death, into a cloalc of gold. Outshines the sun." The Behellim, a Tragedy by Eawlin, 1640. All pretenders to gentility were careful to wear them. In Eow- land's Krume of Hearts, 1613, one of the knaves exclaims, that people think, " Because we walk in jerkins and in hose. Without an upper garment, cloalc, or gown, We must be tapsters running up and down." 2e2 420 QLOSSAEY. [CLO -. In the reign of Charles I. a shorter cloak was indicative of a fashionable. "I learn to dance already and wear short cloaks" says Timothy, a city gull, who desires to be a gallant, in Mayne's City Match, 1639. The shape of these cloaks may be seen in the^ cut, p. 265 ; for those of Charles II. see p. 254 ; and of William III., pp. 285 and 286. CLOCKS "are the gores of a ruff, the laying in of the cloth to make it round, the plaites." — Randle Sohne. It was also applied to the ornament on stockings ; and during the fifteenth century to that upon hoods, as seen in our cut, p. 187. CLOGS. A protection for the soles of the shoes. See Boots, and the cuts on pp. 150, 153. CLOUTS. Napkins ; kerchiefs. The poor couiitry-women de- scribed by Thynne (temp. Eliz.) appear " With homely clouts y-knit upon their head. Simple, yet white as thing so coarse might he," The Debate between Fride and Lowliness. CLUB. An implement in use by warriors in the early ages. The war-mace may be considered as an improvement upon it. The Welsh knight engraved p. 76 carries one ; and the combatants in the duels or trials by battle during the middle ages were originally re- stricted to their use. See Baston. COAT. A man's upper garment, first mentioned by that name in the fifteenth century. The modern gentleman's coat may be said to take its origin from the vest, or long outer garment, worn toward the end of the reign of Charles II. See cuts, pp. 259, 260. During the reign of his brother it became universally adopted ; and in that of William III. was the national garb. It was frequently covered on all the seams with gold lace. Brigadier Levison, on the 6th of August, 1691, having pursued Brigadier Carrol ffom Nenagh toward Limerick, is said, in a diary of the siege of Limerick, printed in Dublin, 1692, to have taken all his baggage, " amongst which were two rich coats of long Anthony Carrol's, one valued at eighty pounds, the other at forty guineas." It does not appear to have been cut away at the sides tiU the reign of George III. ; previously it was turned over, obviously for convenience, and so worn by soldiers with the ends secured to a button. COCEBB.S. High-laoed boots worn by countrymen, and men- tioned in Fiers Flowman, and by writers until the reign of Charles I. COI] GL08SAEY. 421 See out, p. 91. They were Ledgers' or ploughmen's boots, made of rude materials, sometimes of untamied leather. Bishop Hall, in his Satires, has the line — " And his patch'd cockers now despised been." The term is still used in the North of England for gaiters or leg- gings, and even for coarse stockings without feet used as gaiters. — Way's Promptormm. COGNISANCE. The badge of a noble family worn by adhe- rents and retainers. The tabard emblazoned with the arms of the tnight is sometimes so called — " !K!niglits in their comsantCf Clad for the nones." Fiers Flovyma/^s Creed. COGWARE. A coarse narrow cloth like frieze, used by the lower classes in the sixteenth century. COIF. A close hood for the head, see p. 122 and p. 222 for a notice of those worn by the legal fraternity. See also Quoif. COIF-DE-FEE. ) The hood of mail worn by knights in COIF-DE-MAILLES.Jthe twelfth century. See p. 125, fig. 1. COIFFETTE (Fr.). A skull-cap of iron worn by soldiers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was originally in form like the cervelliere, and eventually like the bascinet. COIFFDEE (Fr.). The head-dress of a lady. COINTOISE, or QUINTISE, were so named from the quaint manner in which these garments were cut, and was used in the sense of elegance. Chaucer, in his translation of the Romance of the Rose, describes one of the characters thus : — " Wrought was his robe in strange guise. And al to slyttered* for guentyse" For notices of such cut and dagged dress, see p. 108. The pendent scarf to the head of ladies was also called a cointoise, of which a specimen is engraved p. 96. They were affixed to the jousting- helmet of knights, and were worn plain, or cut into various forms on their edges, being the origin of the heraldic mantling. Two * cut to slits. 422 aLossAEY. [COL specimens are here given. Fig. 142 is of the most ancient form, and is taken from the tomb of Aylmer de Valence, in Westminster Abbey. They are said to have been invented to cover the helmet, and prevent its get- ting overheatedby the sun. Fig. 141 is of the more modem form, and will be at onoe Fig. 141. 142. recognized as the one which forms so elegant an addition to coat armour on seals of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is of the later date, its edges are cut in the form of leaves, and it has tas- selled terminations. A cointoise very similar is seen upon the tUt- ing-helmet of Sir John Drayton, engraved p. 172. COLBERTEEN, Colhertain, or Qolhertiene, a kind of open lace with a square ground. — Handle Holme. It is described in the Fop DioUona/ry, 1690, as " a lace resembling network of the fabrick of Monsieur Colbert, Superintendant of the French King's Manu- factures." Dean Swift, in hia Baucis and Philemon, 1708, has, " Instead of home-spun coifs were seen Good pinneis edged with colherteen." C0LET-M0NT6S {Fr.). A high coUar in imitation of the Ehza- bethan ruff worn at the close of the last century. In a satirical poem on dress, published 1777, and entitled Venus attiring the Oraces, we read — ■ " Tour colei-Tnont^s don't reach, to your chin." COLLAR. A defence of mail or plate for the neck. The upper part of a coat or cloak. "A standing collar to keep his neat band clean," is mentioned in the comedy of Sam' Alley, 1611. The fashion is also alluded to in Rowland's Knave of Hearts, 1611 : — " let us have standing collars in the fashion ; AH are become a stiff-necked generation." Collars were worn by knights and gentlemen as the badges of ad- herence to particular families. An instance is given on p. 140 ; and for more iuformation on this subject, see the Gentleman's Magazine for 1842-3, WiUement'a 'Regal Heraldry, Berry's Fncyclopiedia He- raldica. These collars were ornamented with the badges and mot- toes of the donors. The investiture by a collar and a pair of spurs was the creation of an esquire in the middle ages. COM] atOSSAET. 423 COLLEEET. A small collar worn close around the neck in the time of William and Mary, and seen in the cut on p. 284. COLOBIUM. A secular dress adopted as a church-vestment at a very early period ; see p. 46. COMB. Combs of ivory and bone are occasionally found in the early barrows of the British and Saxon eras. They are generally very large in those of the latter period, and do not appear to have been worn in the hair. One is engraved in Douglas's Nenia, and another, precisely similar, was in the Museum of C. E. Smith; it measured seven inches in length, but, as it was imperfect, its original length would be ten. The teeth were cut from a single piece of bone, upon which were affixed, by studs, two thin pieces of ivory slightly ornamented, to strengthen the upperpartabove the teeth, and form a hold for the hand. In the middle ages these combs were much decorated. In Strutt's Dresses omA Sabits, pi. 91, is represented a lady at her toilet using a comb with double teeth. " He waketh all the night, and all the day He combetli his looks brode, and made him gay." Chaucer : Miller's Tale. An ancient comb, found in the ruins of Ickelton Nunnery, Cam- bridgeshire, is engraved in the 15th volume of the ArcTusologia ; it is nearly perfect, and has double teeth, the upper ones wider and larger than the lower. In the centre, on one side, is carved a row of ladies sitting in the open air, and listening to a friar preaching ; on the other, a group of gentlemen and ladies arc gathering flowers in a garden, with a fountain in its centre. The figures, in the cos- tume of the time of Edward III., are rudely executed ; and the frag- ment of a similar comb, engraved above, probably as old as the time of Edward I., is a much finer example of the workmanship of that day. On one side a lady appears to be about to raise a suppliant lover ; on the other, a lady is playing on the regals or hand-organ. The cut is half the size of the original. The public exhibition of Fig. 143. 421 SLOSSART. [COM combs has been noticed in what has been said of beard-combs, temp. Elizabeth ; but the large peruke brought them into full use. The favoured courtiers of Louis XIV. (who introduced the fashion) used their silver pocket-combs, as well to keep their wigs in order as also to scratch against the door of the royal chamber, to announce that they were waiting for permission to enter. In act i. sc. 3 of KiUi- grew's Parson's Wedding, 1663, the stage-direction for a group of fashionable gentlemen is " they comb their heads and talk." To this passage is appended a long note on the custom, in the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. xi. p. 467, noticing the prevalence of the custom, which continued until the reign of Queen Anne, and giving the following among other quotations in illustration of it : — " But as when vizard mask appears in pit. Straight every man, who thinks himself a "wit, Perks up ; and managing his conib with grace, With his white wig sets off his nut-brown face." Drydeti^s Prologue to Almcmzor and Al-maMde. " The gentlemen stay but to comb, madam, and wiU wait on you." — Congr eve's Way of the World. " He looked again and sighed, and set his cravat-string and sighed again, and combed his periwig, sighed a third time, and then took snuff, I guess to show the white- ness of his hand." — The Fortune Sunters, 1689. The distinction between the fashionables of city and country is well pointed out in the next quotation, from the epilogue to the Wrangling Lovers, 1677:— " How we rejoiced to see 'em in our pit ! What difference, methought, there was Betwixt a country gallant and a wit. When you did order periwig with comh, They only used four fingers and a thumb." " Combing the peruke, at the time when men of fashion wore large wigs, was even at public places an act of gallantry. The combs for this purpose were of a very large size, of ivory or tor- toiseshell, curiously chased and ornamented, and were carried in the pockets as constantly as the snuff-box at court ; on the Mall and in the boxes gentlemen conversed and combed their perukes. There is now in being a fine picture, by the elder Laroon, of John Duke of Marlborough at his levee, in which his grace is represented dressed in a scarlet suit, with large white satin cuffs, and a very long white peruke, which he combs ; while his valet, who stands behind him, adjusts the curls after the comb has passed through them." — Sir John Hawkins' History of Music, vol. iv. p. 447, ifote. In Wycher- COE] GLOSSAET. 425 ley's Love in a Wood, 1673, is the following dialogue : — "If she has smugg'd herself up for me, let me prune and flounce my peruque a little for her, there 's ne'er a young fellow in the town but will do as much for a meer stranger in a playhouse." — Sam. "A wit's wig has the privilege of being uncomb'd in the very playhouse, or in the presence." — JDap. "But not in the presence of his mistress! 'tis a greater neglect of her than of himself ; pray lend me ycmr comb" — Ran. " I would not have men of wit and courage make use of every fop's arts to keep or gaia a mistress." — Dwp. " But don't you see every day, though a man have ne'er so much wit and courage, his mistress will revert to those fops that wear and comb peruques well." COMMODE. The tall head-dress in use temp. William and Mary, of which specimens are engraved on p. 284. " A Commode is a frame of wire, two or three stories high, fitted for the head, or co- vered with tifiany or other thin silks ; being now completed into the whole head-dress." — Ladies' Dictionary/, 1694. The popular ballads of that period frequently mention them. In Durfey's collection, called Wit and Mirth, etc., are several notices. Two are selected. " On my liead a huge commode sat sticking, Which made me shew as tall again." "The coy laas drest up in her best commode and top-knot." CONFIDENTS. Small curls worn near the ears. — Mundus Mu- liebris, 1690. COPE. An ecclesiastical garment, see pp. 114, 232. Its true form when spread flat is that of an exact semicircle, without sleeves, but furnished with a hood, and it is fastened across the breast by a morse, or clasp. Copes were often decorated with embroidery and jewels. In the thirteenth century they became the most costly and splendid of all ecclesiastical vestments. COPOTAIN. A high conical hat. See cut, p. 235. COEDON (Fr.). A large tasseUed string of a mantle. COEDOVAN. A fine Spanish leather, so named from Corduba, the original place of its manufacture. Chaucer, in his Sime of Sir Thopas, says — " His shoes they were of cordewane." COEDUASOY. A thick silk woven over a coarse thread. 426 [OOB, rig. 144. COEIUM. A leathern body-armour, form- ed of overlapping scales or leaves. The nations of antiquity (particularly the Daoians) used armour of a similar construction ; and it may be seen upon Roman soldiers on the column of Trajan. It was in use in this country until the reign of Edward I. Sir S. E>. Meyriek has given the figure of a foot-soldier of that period in his Ancient Arms and Armour, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, here copied (fig. 144). He wears a leathern corium, the flaps of which are of difierent cplours. His hood and sleeves are of chain maU. On his legs are chausses of treUised work; from the colouring of the ori- ginal, the studs appear to be of steel and the bandages of leather. COENET. The laoe lappet, as seen in cut, p. 281. In Mimdus Muliebris, 1690, it is described as "the upper ^mwej- dangling about the cheeks like hounds' ears." Fig. 145. COEONEL. The upper part of a jousting-lance, con- structed to unhorse, but not to wound, a knight. Fig. 145 is from the Triumphs of the Emperor Masdmilicm, 1511. Fig. 146 from Skelton's Ancient Armour. The term was also applied to the knight's orle. (See p. 418.) COEONET. The crown of the nobility. It originally appears to have been a circlet or garland, worn merely as an ornament, as by the foremost of Eiohard the Second's uncle's on p. 110. In this form, when ornamented with precious stones, it was termed a circle. It was not used by knights before the reign of Edward III., and then in- discriminately by princes, dukes, earls, or knights. See Introduction to Stothard's Mowu,m,ental Effigies; and Chaucer, Knight's Tale : — " A wreath of gold aim gret, of huge weight, Upon his head he set, full of stones bright. Of fine rubys and clere diamants." " For round environ her coronet "Was full of rich stones afret." SomoMce of Hie Sose, 3203. Fig. 146. COT] QLOSSABT. 427 . CORSES. " Corses and girdles of silt " are mentioned by Strutt in his Dress and Mahits, pt. v. c. 1. " Corses of silk and sattin " also occur in tlie wardrobe accounts of Edward IV. ; they were woven or plaited silk baldricks, girdles, ribbons, fillets, or head-bands. — Sir H. Nicolas. COESET (Fr.). A tight-fitting under-dress or stay for the body, used by ladies. A bodice or waist-coat. COESLET. A light body armour, as its derivative (corse) im- plies. It was chiefly worn by pikemen; and Meyrick says, " They were thence termed corselets. It is seen upon the figure on p. 275. Sometimes (we are told by the author just quoted) the word was used to express the entire suit, under the term of a corselet fiir- nished or complete, which included the headpiece and gorget, as weU. as the tasses which covered the thighs, as seen upon the full- length of Sir D. Strutt, p. 272. COTE. A woman's gown. See WiUiam de Lorris, in the Somcmce of the Hose. The word cote there mentioned is translated by Chaucer courtepy and hirtel, the same wide outer part of the dress of his own day. In the MS. 6829, Eoyal Lib. Paris, is the ac- companying representation of a lady un- dressing in illustration of the passage, " I have taken off my cote." It is of a red co- lour, and that and the white under-gar- ments are clearly defined, the broad-toed shoes are also curious. The drawing is of the fifteenth century. The term was also used for a man's gown. Thus in Piers Plowman s Vision we read : — " Thy beat cote Haukyn Hath manj moles and spots." COTE-AEMOUE. A name applied to the tabard by Chaucer and others. COTE-HABDIE. A tight-fitting gown. See pp. 96, 99, 100. The tunic of men, buttoned down the front and reaching to the thigh. Kg. 147. COTTA. A short surplice, either with or without sleeves. 428 GLOSSARY. [COT COTTOlSr. A stuff originally manufactured in the East, but con- structed in this country at an early period. See Ure's Dictionary ef Manwfactures, etc. COTJETEPT {Teut.). A short cloak or gown. Tyrwhitt ex- plains the dress of the clerk in the Prologue to the Canterhwry Tales, " Ful threadbare was his overest c