health, and finding it impossible to change his opinion, suggested an expedient, which had the desired effect: he placed a cross on his ducal coronet. The old man's piety got the better of his pride, and he resumed his cap to testify his respect to the cross.

In Evelyn's "Diary" we find the following amusing description of the dress of the Venetians: "It was now Ascension Weeke, and the great Mart or Faire of the whole yeare was now kept, every body at liberty and jollie. The noblemen stalking with their ladys on choppines; these are high-heel'd shoes, particularly affected by these proude dames, or, as some say, invented to keepe them at home, it being very difficult to walke with them; whence one being asked how he liked the Venetian dames, replied, that they were mezzo carne, mezzo legno, half flesh, half wood, and he would have none of them. The truth is, their garb is very odd, as seeming allwayes in masquerade; their other habits also totally different from all nations. They weare very long crisped haire, of severall strakes and colours, which they make so by a wash, dischevelling it on the brims of a brocade hat that has no head, but an hole to put out their heads by; they drie them in the sunn, as one may see them at their windows. In their tire they set silk flowers and sparkling stones, their peticoates coming from their very arme-pits, so that they are neere three quarters and an half apron; their sleeves are made exceeding wide, under which their shift sleeves as wide, and commonly tucked up to the shoulder, shewing their naked armes, thro' false sleeves of tiffany, girt with a bracelet or two, with knots of points richly tagged about their shoulders and other places of their body,

which they usually cover with a kind of yellow vaile of lawne very transparent. Thus attir'd they set their hands on the heads of two matron-like servants or old women, to support them, who are mumbling their beades. 'Tis ridiculous to see how these ladys crawle in and out of their gondolas by reason of their choppines, and what dwarfs they appeare when taken down from their wooden scaffolds; of these I saw near thirty together, stalking halfe as high again as the rest of the world, for the citizens may not weare choppines, but cover their bodies and faces with a vaile of a certaine glittering taffeta or lustrèe, out of which they now and then dart a glaunce of their eye, the whole face being otherwise entirely hid with it. To the corners of these virgin-vailes hang broad but flat tossells of curious point de Venize. The married women go in black vailes. The nobility weare the same colour, but of fine cloth lin'd with taffeta in summer, with fur of the bellies of squirrels in the winter, which all put on at a certaine day, girt with a girdle emboss'd with silver; the vest not much different from what our Bachelors of Arts weare in Oxford, and a hood of cloth made like a sack, cast over their left shoulder, and a round cloth black cap fring'd with wool which is not so comely; they also weare their collar open, to shew the diamond button of the stock of their shirt. I have never seen pearle for colour and bignesse comparable to what the ladys weare, most of the noble families being very rich in jewels, especialy pearles, which are always left to the son or brother who is destined to marry, which the eldest seldome do. The Doge's vest is of crimson velvet; the Procurator's, &c. of damasc, very stately."

The costume of the Doge's lady is represented in the accompanying engraving.

The inhabitants of the skirts of the Apennines differ much from those of the valleys. The women, according to Lady Morgan, resemble the peasantry of Wales: "Tight in their dress, and universally wearing little, round, black beaver hats with high crowns, and a stiff plume of black feathers. Their gala dress is principally characterised by a profusion of ribbons floating from their shoulders, their waists, and their sleeves. The beaver hat is then replaced by combs and bodkins; and at all times their necks are encircled with pearl and coral-usually an heir-loom of many generations' descent, but occasionally the purchase of years of labour, and the most rigid economy."

Of Bologna the same author says: "The costume appears to belong to other ages. Spangled fans, silver combs, coral necklaces, and every sort of gaudy finery, are as indispensable to the toilette of the Bolognese peasant as to that of the same class in other Italian provinces. The French toilette prevailed in Bologna among the higher classes nearly a century ago. The females of the lower ranks still wear the becoming zendada, a scarf or veil, which falls from the head, and which they drape prettily enough round their shoulders. Their hair is ingeniously plaited, and set off with showy combs or bodkins; and coral, mock or real, is abundantly and universally worn."

The women of Lombardy are remarkable for the tawdriness of their ornaments, and for the large black and gold German fans which they parade on festivals in the streets of Turin; yet many of both sexes go bare-legged, and some even bare-footed. A love for costly personal decorations of gold and silver is very general the peasantry vest all their savings in valuable ornaments. The younger females display much classic taste in the braiding of their luxuriant tresses, which are sometimes confined by a shining comb, and sometimes fastened by a glittering bodkin; even the elder dames wear a square linen veil, not ungracefully disposed, which forms a great contrast to their tattered petticoats and bare legs. Bright and gaudy colours are much admired.

In the "Notes of a Wanderer" we read: "In Genoa the women were all gracefully dressed, without bonnets, wearing merely a white muslin scarf, fastened to the crown of the head by its centre, and the ends. hanging down over the shoulders."

Gray, in his "Germany," says of the women of Genoa: "The painted linen veil which they wear, called mezzaro, is not unbecoming, though it resembles a flowered gown thrown over the head and hooded."

From Lady Morgan's account of Genoa we take the following: "The women's heads are ornamented by a quantity of silver bodkins, forming a sort of coronet or star at the back, and confining a profusion of plaited tresses. Many of the elder women wear square linen veils, embroidered and trimmed with coarse lace. Dresses are here considered as heir-looms. Many silken vest and quilted boddice, many a chain of gold and of coral, purchased in the days of Genoa's prosperity, still remain to deceive the eye with the appearance of rural and commercial wealth. The shops at Genoa display a profusion of gold and silver filagree work, clasps, rings, ear-rings, chains, combs of coral, and even of costly gems, all destined for the peasantry. The nobility were, in the latter times of the republic, prohibited from wearing such sumptuous ornaments; and the lower classes are still, as formerly, the sole purchasers of the old-fashioned jewellery of the Genoese goldsmiths. The fullest dress allowed to the ladies by the sumptuary laws was a black velvet, trimmed with coloured ribbons and point lace. The women of Genoa are covered, even on working days, with gold and silver ornaments; on holydays they add a profusion of pearl and coral to their ordinary decorations, and a female peasant, when making her marriage trousseau, thinks seven or eight hundred francs a very moderate price for a necklace or chain."

From Veryard's "Travels in Italy in 1682," we