head with streamers of blue riband. The montero caps of the men are frequently faced and ornamented with red or blue.

The women of Burgos, who, unlike the other Spanish peasants, are not in general handsome, do not improve their beauty by their coiffure, which is particularly ugly, and not unlike that worn by some of the Tartar tribes. They wear a black periwig, faced all round with the wool of a black lamb, ending behind in two long plaits, which hang half way to the ground.

In the neighbourhood of Irun the man's costume is a brown jacket, a small round hat, and sandals, or an old slipper tied on with a riband. Some of the inhabitants wear a handkerchief round the head, and over it a small cap, chocolate-coloured jackets and trousers are worn, while a red sash encircles the waist. The women's hair, which is of a beautiful black, is tied in long tresses.

In Bilbao the dress of the women is very becoming. It consists of a black silk petticoat, a black or a white jacket, and a large silk capuchon, the ends of which hang down in front like a shawl.

The ever-varying modes of France have long crept across the Pyrenees; French clothes, French fashions, and French colours, have quite superseded the ancient costume of the country among the higher classes.

Spain is famous in the annals of fashion for having invented two additions to dress, which have been worn, admired, and followed by most of the European nations we mean ruffs and fardingales. Most writers agree that to Spain they owe their birth, and certainly the inventive genius who first imagined them is worthy of renown.

In Montfaucon's "Monarchie Française," we find a portrait of Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. She is dressed according to the Spanish fashion, having married a king of Spain; she has a ruff, an embroidered robe ornamented with jewels, slashed sleeves, ruffles at the hands, and a splendid mantle; round her neck is a collar of jewels, and an immense ornament of precious stones hangs on her breast.

The general national costume of the Spanish ladies when en grande tenue, was formerly a petticoat of rich satin, embroidered in gold and colours; a jacket of velvet trimmed with jewels, the sleeves slashed and bordered with gold, and finished at the wrists with ruffles; a girdle, and cordelière of jewels. Frequently the robes were trimmed with ermine and the most costly furs, and were made of brocade or gold and silver tissue. The head-dresses were generally formed of jewels, and a veil was usually added to the coiffure, which gave it much grace and elegance.

THE TOILETTE IN PORTUGAL.

CHAPTER XXIV.

N this smiling and sunny land the common dress of the lower class of men is the cloak and large broadbrimmed hat so frequently met with in Spain. They have loose breeches and a coat, bound round the waist with a girdle of leather. The sleeves are tight, and open part of the way up the arm, so as to shew the shirt; the throat is uncovered.

Ornaments, such as gold and silver lace, and embroidery, are not allowed to be worn on the garments of the Portuguese; but the higher classes, when they do not follow the French fashions, pay no attention to these rules, but adorn their silk dresses with embroidery and precious stones.

The women among the peasantry seldom wear caps, but have a very becoming way

of dressing the hair, and tying it in a net of silk, not unlike a large purse, with a long tassel hanging down the back, and a bow on the forehead. This coiffure they call redecilla, and the men also frequently adopt it. Their gowns usually have a boddice, and short sleeves reaching the elbow, of a different material from the jupe; this boddice is made with a long pointed stomacher, and is cut round at the bosom. Beneath it is worn an under-dress, with long sleeves and a body, that fastens round the throat. White dresses are much worn, ornamented with coloured ribands.

The Portuguese ladies wear very large heavy ear-rings, and in their hair they are fond of placing quantities of precious stones, which are generally set in the form of butterflies and other insects. Sometimes feathers and coloured ribands are placed among their tresses. No young woman ever conceals her hair under a lace or muslin head-dress. Elderly ladies wear a cap shaped like a caul, of very fine clear muslin.

Their gowns, of which they sometimes wear two or three, one over the other, are richly embriodered; the upper one forms a long train, which sweeps along the ground, and is of black stuff. Their hoops are quite enormous, and their sleeves immensely wide. Instead of a girdle, they encircle their small waists with a string of relics; the ends hang to the ground, and have knots of diamonds in them. Their shoes

are of Spanish leather, without any heels, but when they go out they put on pattens, or silk sandals fastened with gold clasps, by which they are raised several inches from the ground. They wear paint, not only on the cheeks, but on the shoulders also.

It is said by many authors that the manners and customs of the Jews and Moors are still, to a certain degree, retained in this country. Perhaps from them they derive their love of jewels; even the fishwomen wear gold necklaces and bracelets. The women who sell fruit frequently wear boots instead of shoes or sandals, and black conical caps.

The higher orders of the Portuguese do not appear to admire gaudy colours; black is almost universally worn, ornamented with fringes of gold and colours.

In the Memoirs of Madame Junot are many amusing descriptions of the dress of the Portuguese court. A hoop was there considered an indispensable part of the toilette of Madame l'Ambassadrice; and she thus describes her dress, which was arranged according to the fashion of Portugal: "Je mis pardessus cette monstrueuse montagne dont j'étais flanquée de chaque côté, une belle robe de moire blanche brodée en lames d'or, et rattachée sur les côtés avec de gros glonds d'or, absolument comme aurait pu l'être une draperie de croisée. Je mis sur ma tête une toque avec six grandes plumes blanches retenues par une agrafe de diamants, et le fond de la toque était brodé avec des épis de diamants; j'en avais au cou, aux oreilles; et ainsi harnachée, je partis pour Quelus."

The same writer then describes the dress of the Princess of Brazil. Her gown was of white India