spair and agony of the unfortunate gallant may easily be imagined.

The other anecdote refers to the period when the law was in force against wearing

bags stuffed in their sacks," and describes a person before a court of justice, who, charged by the judges with being habited contrary to the statute, convinced them that the stuffing was not composed of any prohibited article, inasmuch as it consisted merely of a pair of sheets, two tablecloths, ten napkins, four shirts, a brush, a glass, a comb, and a nightcap! Well, indeed, did these wonderful sacks deserve their name of trunk hose!

In those days carpet-bags would have been quite a superfluity.

The sugar-loaf, or steeple hats, at this time much worn, were as useless as absurd. They rose into a high cone, and had a very narrow brim. Powder now, also, came into fashion, as we find from the works of John Bulwer, who gives many particulars about dress, and mentions jessamine butter as a favourite ointment for the hair. After describing other things, he says: "Our gallants' witty noddles are put into such a pure witty trim, the dislocations of every hair so exactly set, the whole bush so curiously candied, and (what is most prodigious) the natural jet of some of them so exalted into a perfect azure, that their familiar friends have much to do to own their faces; for by their powdered heads you would take them to be mealmen."

Mr. Peck, the antiquarian, informs us that he had a whole-length portrait of Charles in the following dress. He wore" a falling band, a short green doublet, the arm-part towards the shoulders wide and slashed,

zigzag, turned-up ruffles, very long green breeches, tied far below the knee with long yellow ribbons, red stockings, great shoe-roses, and a short red cloak, lined with blue, with a star on the shoulder."

This may be considered the usual costume of

gentlemen of that time, with the addition of thin, flimsy, Spanish leather boots. Some gallants, however, wore doublets and hose, richly slashed with satin, and laced with gold; a cloak of rich velvet, lined with satin, a belt or girdle of velvet, embroidered in gold and jewels, a black beaver hat, adorned with a plume of ostrich-feathers, and coloured boots, trimmed with point lace.

The ladies of this period wore their hair low on the forehead, and parted in ringlets, or else

curled like a peruke, or braided in a knot on the top of the head. 66 Why do they adorn themselves," says Burton, "with so many colours of herbs, fictitious flowers, curious needle-workes, quaint devices, sweetsmelling odours; with those inestimable riches of precious stones, pearls, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, &c.? Why do they crown themselves with gold and silver, use coronets and tires of several fashions, deck themselves with pendants, bracelets, ear-rings, chains, girdles, rings, pins, spangles, embroideries, shadows, rebatoes, versicolor ribands? Why do they make such glorious shows with their scarfs, feathers, fans, masks,

furs, laces, tiffanies, ruffs, falls, calls, cuffs, damasks, velvets, tinsels, cloths of gold, and silver tissue?" "It is hard," continues the same writer, to derive the abominable pedigree of cobweb lawn, yellow-starched ruffs, which so much disfigured our nation, and render them so ridiculous and fantastical."

Another fashion was forked shoes, almost as long again as the feet, not a little to the hinderance of the action of the foot; and not only so, but they proved an impediment to reverential devotions; for, as a contemporary writer notes, "one's boots and shoes are so long snouted, that we can hardly kneel in God's house."

Contrary to the custom of the preceding age, ladies now wore their gowns very long, with trains behind, and the shoulders quite bare. "Is there any thing," says Cowley, more common than to see our ladies of quality wear such high shoes as they cannot walk in without one to lead them; and a gown as long again as their body, so that they cannot stir across the room without a page or two to hold it up?"

The peaked bodies to gowns were generally worn very long and open, the two sides laced together in front, so as to shew the satin boddice underneath. The point usually terminated with a bow of riband. The sleeves were tight, or else open and hanging, and broad bands of lace were worn round the arm and round the bust. Ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, and indeed every description of jewels, were were now in fashion; also broad-brimmed hats, with feathers, in opposition, probably, to the narrow brims worn by the gentlemen.

Some idea may be formed of the lavish profusion

in dress during this reign by the following account of Villiers, duke of Buckingham. "It was common with him," says Oldys, in his "Life of Raleigh," "at an ordinary dancing, to have his clothes trimmed with great diamond buttons, and to have diamond hatbands, cockades, and ear-rings, to be yoked with great and manifold ropes and knots of pearl, in short, to be manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in jewels; insomuch that, on going to Paris in 1625, he had twentyfive suits of clothes made, the richest that embroidery, lace, velvet, gold, and gems could contribute; one of which was a white uncut velvet, set all over, both suit and cloak, with diamonds, valued at 80,000l., besides a great feather, stuck all over with diamonds, as were also his girdle, sword, hatband, and spurs."

In the time of Oliver Cromwell, who was always very frugal in his attire, and despised the vain follies of the age, dress underwent a great change. The Lord Protector himself was generally habited in black cloth or velvet, with a scarf round his waist to support his sword; trunk hose, long boots, and a grey hat with a silver clasp; or else a doublet, cloak, and hose of coarse cloth, turned up with velvet, and stockings of grey worsted, that reached over the knees, and met the hose. In all the portraits of him the hair is simply arranged, without curls, but rather long behind.

These grave and quiet habiliments, despoiled of puffings, slashings, ribands, gold, and jewels, did not, however, please the taste of all his followers. Sir Thomas Fairfax, for instance, often wore a buff coat highly ornamented with silver, open sleeves, slashed with white satin, trunk hose trimmed with costly

Flanders' lace, and russet leather boots. To this was added a breastplate of highly-polished steel, partly concealed by a falling collar of broad and costly lace, and a sash of silk and gold.

In those days, however strange it may appear, the military garb was frequently assumed with other rich attire, and it was a common thing to see steel corselets and breastplates overshadowed by lace and embroidery. Dark and quiet colours were, however, the fashion, particularly buff and brown, and the high-crowned beaver and drooping feather still continued in use. An old author asserts that "short cloaks, short hair, short bands, and long visages," were often observed in the portraits of the day. In a print of a fashionable man of the year 1652, we find the brim of the hat extending horizontally, and the feather drooping so much over the left side that it seems as though falling off. The hair is very long, the ruffles double and full, the doublet reaches to the waist, the trunk-hose are puffed at the knees like bladders, the boots are very short, with tops as broad as the brim of the hat, and an enormous sword is suspended to his side by a rich belt across the shoulders. Some authors distinctly assert that men wore patches at this time, but we find no instance of this in any old painting.

Mr. Benlowe has in his work two prints of ladies in the same year (1652). The hair of one is combed like a wig in front, the back hair braided, and fastened in a knot; her neck is covered with a handkerchief richly ornamented with deep lace, and her cuffs are trimmed the same; her sleeves are slashed with fine linen or silk, and her fan is large. The other has a sable tippet, and a large muff, which en