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head-dress should be made of wool, knit, thicked, and dressed in Britain. She also made a decree to limit the size of the ruffs and swords worn by her courtiers, to the standard she considered fitting for subjects to assume; and, fearful that so arbitrary a law might be in some way or other evaded by the votaries of fashion, she appointed officers, whose sole duty it was to break every man's sword exceeding the limited length, and clip all the ruffs whose size infringed upon her regal

ordinance.

Although these arbitrary laws caused some slight troubles at first, among gallants who could not brook the shortening of their cherished weapons, still no serious consequences ensued, and on the whole the English have ever borne the attacks made upon their dress with becoming sang froid.

Elizabeth, too, busied herself in arranging the costume usually worn in the inns of court, and particularized the shapes and colours of the garments, and the embroideries she considered befitting so grave an assembly.

Under Elizabeth's successor, a serious debate took place in Parliament, concerning the enormous size of verdingales; and some years afterwards laws were passed to put a stop to patching and painting.

The Turks, despotic in every thing, will not allow the Grecian ladies the poor privilege of wearing petticoats of the length that fashion in their country has declared to be proper and fitting; they have officers whose duty it is to nibble off as much of the jupe as ventures to extend beyond the length fixed by their barbarous masters.

The Turks also have laws by which none but their

own august persons are allowed to wear yellow slippers; and, while their haughty brows were encircled with turbans of the finest and brightest-coloured muslins, with silks of the richest dyes, or with shawls of the gayest tints and most delicate texture, their Grecian subjects were condemned to wear dark cotton caps, as a mark of their servitude; the Armenians, too, they oblige to appear in ridiculous-looking, balloon-shaped cappas; and the crouching Jews look doubly miserable when forced to bend to the Turkish law, which only permits their heads to be covered with brimless caps, much resembling inverted flowerpots.

These despots have, however, themselves been, within the last few years, constrained to bend to the decree of Sultan Mamhoud, who ordered that a red cloth fez, or military cap, should be worn by the followers of the faithful, instead of the lofty calpac, or ample turban. This law was, however, received with the most determined and indignant remonstrance and opposition, and so obnoxious to the Turkish feelings was this new-fashioned head-dress, that the discontented party set fire to the houses of those who were favourable to the change; and, though the Sultan's wishes passed into a law, his subjects are still highly disgusted with their forced adoption of any coiffure in the place of the turban so long worn by their forefathers.

Besides the many decrees made by our monarchs concerning dress, a particular costume was arranged by Charles the Second and his council, for the nobility to appear in, and one in which great extravagance of gold, silver, lace, and jewels, was not necessary;

for during this reign, in England, the immense sums lavished upon dress and ornaments were almost incalculable.

Gustavus of Sweden also invented, or at least ordered, a court habiliment, in which all who wished to be admitted to his presence, both men and women, were obliged to appear, and Buonaparte followed his example, to the no small disgust of his officers, and to the despair and anger of les belles Françaises. Even during the Revolution, when blood, murder, and misery, were spread over devoted France, when the

prisons echoed with the groans of the unfortunate victims of political despotism,-when the scaffolds were crowded with the dead and the dying,—dress was not forgotten, and stormy were the debates on this important subject held in the National Con

vention!

In various countries of Europe sumptuary laws have at different times been enacted, to restrain extravagance in apparel. In Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, the legislature frequently found it necessary to interfere, and for this reason, probably, the national costume still remains in full force among the peasantry, who hitherto have resisted the approach of Fashion, and her handmaids, Caprice and Vanity.

While on this subject we must not omit to mention the peculiar privileges relating to dress, belonging to the family of Andrea Doria. When, owing to the luxury and profusion which characterized the Genoese of his day, the senate found it absolutely necessary to check the growing evil, and forbade the wearing of jewels and brocade, the patriot admiral, doubtless to shew his country's sense of the services he had

rendered to it, was allowed to expend what sums he pleased upon the adornment of his person; and this privilege was afterwards extended to his family.

Woman is defined by an ancient writer to be, an "animal that delights in finery;" and it is to be feared the annals of dress in every land, the most savage as well as the most civilized, will but prove the truth of the assertion. Certain it is that the peacock, in all its pride, does not glitter in more various and gaudy trappings than does a modern woman of fashion.

But while thus speaking of woman's love of finery, which appears from the most ancient writers to have belonged to her since the world began, we must not omit to mention that man also was, and in most countries still is, as much devoted to this passion as the fair sex. Though in these days, at least in most civilized nations, it is considered effeminate for men to adorn their persons with trinkets and embroidered garments, still those who peruse the "Book of Costume" will find that, however extravagant women have been in these respects, men have equalled, if not surpassed, them in profusion and magnificence. Among savage nations, to this day, the warriors deck their persons with all the finery they can procure, with feathers, shells, beads, and paint; while their wives are often obliged to content themselves with their blanket covering, and but few ornaments.

In Exodus we read of the "jewels of silver, and jewels of gold," borrowed by the Israelites from the Egyptians. In Isaiah, also, we find a long account of the varieties of female apparel in the time of the Prophet.

Having thus pointed out to our readers the anti

quity of the Toilette, we will speak of Fashion, who, "sole arbitress of dress," with the caprice for which she is so celebrated, has enacted, that what is the proper standard for attire in one country, and at one time, shall be equally the contrary in other climes, and at other periods.

Of all nations, the two that pay the most devoted attention to the decrees of Fashion, in the size, shape, and colour of every trifle relating to the Toilette, are the English and the French; and it seems a reflection worthy the consideration of the philosopher, why these two (we may truly say the most enlightened nations of the world) should, of all others, be the most determined and devoted followers of this feather and flowerdecked goddess.

COSMETICS.

Among the numerous inventions for the improvement of beauty, painting the neck and arms with white, the cheeks with red, the eyelids with black, and the fingers with rose colour, is, perhaps, the most ancient. Almost every nation of the world, men as well as women, whatever complexion Nature may have bestowed upon them, have, at one time or another, followed this baneful fashion. In the second Book of Kings, we read, "Jezebel painted her face, and tired her head;" and in the East the custom remains in full force to this day. The Turkish and Arabian women especially devote much time to colouring their eyelids and the tips of their fingers; but, in England, rouge and enamel powders are alone employed for beautifying the complexion, and rendering it clear and transparent.

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