durable, may be believed from the testimony of Plutarch, who, in his life of Alexander, says, that the Greeks found in the treasury of the kings of Persia a large quantity of purple cloth, which was as beautiful as when first made, though it was one hundred and ninety years old.

Among the Greeks, dyeing appears to have been little practised or known; but the Romans bestowed much pains and expense upon this art, and, in the public games, the different parties were known by the colours of their garments. Virgil alludes to this celebrated dye in the "Eneid," when he says:

"Each leader shining in his Tyrian vest."

HEAD-DRESSES.

Perhaps the most ancient head-dress that we find mentioned in history is the tiara. that it was in the form of a tower.

Strabo informs us
But it appears, by

the remarks of many other authors, to have had various shapes. Among the Persians, the king alone was permitted to wear it erect and straight, the priests and lords of the country being obliged to bend it down in front. Xenophon tells us that it was frequently encompassed with the diadem, and often had a half moon embroidered on it. The tiara is seen carved upon ancient medals, and Servius calls it a Phrygian cap. The kings and heroes of Homer and Virgil wore this head-dress:

"This royal robe and this tiara wore
Old Priam."

THE VEIL.

The veil, that ancient and graceful covering for the head, which has been, and still is, worn by almost every nation of the world, is generally, in Europe, composed of lace or gauze. This "transparent shade” is the most beautiful part of the costume of a bride, and, in the words of the poets, "adds another charm to the loveliness it seems to hide." Homer frequently mentions the veil, as a part of the attire of the Grecian and Trojan ladies. Of Helen, he says:

"O'er her fair face a snowy veil she threw,
And, softly sighing, from the loom withdrew."

In the "Odyssey," too, we find that, in those days, queens and ladies of rank wove them for themselves. Among Eastern nations, to the present day, the veil is very different from what it is with us. It is formed of large sheets of different materials, which, falling over the head, hang down to the feet, and, being held in folds in front, thus envelope the whole person. Ladies of distinction have them of silk, women of inferior grade of linen or cotton. Ruth's veil, mentioned in the Scriptures, was most probably of the latter material. The Turkish women make them of horse-hair; so that they are transparent from within, but opaque without.

THE CAUL.

A caul is a very ancient head-dress; it is mentioned in the Bible, and by most old writers; it was usually made of net-work, of gold, or silk, and enclosed

all the hair. Some were set with jewels, and were very heavy and of great value. In the time of Virgil, cauls were much worn:

"Her head with ringlets of her hair is crowned,

And in a golden caul the curls are bound."

And also in Homer:

"Her hair's fair ornaments, the braids that bound,

The net that held them, and the wreath that crowned.”

THE PIN.

Among the rich and beautiful accessories to a lady's toilette, we must not omit to mention one which, however insignificant in itself, adds greatly to the proper arrangement of the dress, I mean that useful little implement, the pin. Before it was known in its present form, its place was supplied by pins of pointed wood or thorns, which materials, though rude and uncivilised, were in common use among our ancestors. The modern pin is said to owe its birth to Germany; and some of my readers will, perhaps, be surprised to hear that eighteen, some even say twenty-five, workmen assist in its formation.

PERFUMES.

Perfumes must not be forgotten in this little treatise on dress. They are of very ancient origin, and the Hebrews and Eastern nations, it is said, constantly used them, before the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with their value. Moses, in Exodus, gives

an account of an anointing oil and a perfume, the former composed of myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil; the latter of sweet spices and frankincense, both of which were to be used in the tabernacle. All kinds of fragrant and powerful perfumes were used by the ancients for embalming, and they are mentioned in various parts of the Old Testament, as being known to, and used by, the Hebrews. They were afterwards much esteemed by the Greeks and Romans, who imported the most precious from Syria and India. Perfumes were used in their sacrifices to the gods, and also at their feasts, to give an agreeable scent to their garments and apartments. We often read, too, in the old poets, that

In the camp of Darius, Alexander found, among the other treasures of which he became master, quantities of rich perfumes and precious ointments.

The love of odours of all kinds soon spread over the world, and Pliny laments their being allowed even in the Roman camp, where the eagles, standards, and ensigns, were perfumed, "as if to reward them for conquering the world." Nero is said to have expended on the funeral pile of his wife more incense than the scented groves of Arabia could produce in a whole year.

The fair ladies of our own day perfume their garments and apartments with the odours which are extracted from flowers and herbs, more frequently than with the scented and odoriferous drugs formerly used. The attar of roses, the sweetest, the most precious of

D

all perfumes comes from the East, and the fête held in its honour in those countries is thus beautifully described by Moore :

"But never yet, by night or day,
In dew of spring or summer ray,
Did the sweet valley look so gay
As now it shines, all love and light,
Visions by day and feasts by night!
A happier smile illumes each brow,

With quicker spread each heart uncloses,
And all is ecstasy-for now

The valley holds its feast of roses!"

THE FAN.

Fans, which in some countries may almost be considered as a part of the costume, so necessary do they appear to the fashionables of both sexes, must not be forgotten. The use of them was first introduced amongst us from the East, where the hot climate renders them almost indispensable. In the Greek church, a fan is put into the hands of the deacons, in the ceremony of their ordination, in allusion to a part of their office in that church, which is to keep the flies off the priests during the celebration of the sacrament.

In Japan, where neither men nor women wear hats, except as a protection against rain, a fan is to be seen in the hand or the girdle of every inhabitant. Soldiers and priests even are never without them. In that country, they serve a great many dif ferent purposes. Visitors receive the dainties offered them, upon their fans; the beggar, imploring charity, holds out his fan for the alms his prayers may obtain. According to Siebold, the fan here serves the dandy