their hoods were small, and buttoned under the chin, like those of women, but set with gold, silver, and precious stones; their liripipes, or tippets, passed round their necks, and hanging down before, reached to the heels, and were jagged; they had also weeds of silk, which they denominated a paltock; their hose were of two or more colours, which they tied to their paltocks with white latchets, called herlots, without any breeches; their girdles were of gold and silver, some of them worth twenty marks; their shoes and pattens were snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards; those they called Crackowes, resembling devils' claws, and fastened to the knees with chains of gold and silver. Richard's consort, queen Anne, in troduced trains, and side saddles for the ladies; the former were of such length, as to induce public censure; and there were a tract written against them, denominated "Contra Caudas Dominarum.”

HENRY IV. This monarch is always represented with at hood. The usual figures of the poet Chaucer, who lived in these times, are dressed with the hood, the short coat, and pointed boots, and a knife in a case on one side of the breast. There is not much reliance to be placed on the prints with which Chaucer's Poems are decorated, else we should be inclined to adopt the dress of the wife of Bath for our purpose in this place, which consisted of a high crowned hat, and hood, short gown and petticoat, the hood flowing partly over her shoulders.

HENRY V. after the battle of Agincourt, arriving at Dover with his prisoners, was met at Blackheath on his approach to the metropolis by the lord mayor, with the aldermen, and craftsmen, clothed in red, with red and white hoods.

HENRY VI. as we are informed by Stow, in 1432, having been crowned king of France, returned to Eltham palace, and was met by the lord mayor, Sir John de Welles, the aldermen, and commonalty The lord mayor was robed in crimson velvet, a great furred velvet hat, a girdle of gold about his middle, and a jewel of gold about his neck, trailing behind him. His three huntsmen, habited in red spangled with silver, followed on stately coursers; then the adermen, in scarlet gowns and "sanguined" hoods. The commonalty were dressed in white gowns with scarlet hoods, with their cognizances embroidered on their sleeves.*

The

*It seems that, except in the instance of Sir John de Welles, who wore a hat in token of triumph, that the usual coverings were hoods; 4 B 2

for

The same historian informs us "for a monument of those late times, men may behold the glass windows of the mayor's court in the Guildhall, above the stairs. The mayor is there pictured, sitting in a habit party-coloured, and an hood on his head; his sword bearer before him with an hat, or cap of maintainance. The common clerk and other officers bareheaded, their hoods on their shoulders."

About the year 1467, the men began to clothe themselves shorter than ever, in a very unseemly and immodest manner: they also slit the sleeves of their robes and doublets, to dis play their "large, loose, and white shirts; the hair was worn so long that it became an incumbrance, not only to their faces, but to their eyes; they covered their heads with high bonnets of cloth, to the length of upwards of a quarter of an ell; knights and esquires wore sumptuous chains of gold. Even boys were dressed in silk, satin, or velvet doublets, and almost all, especially at court, had poulains or points at the toes of their shoes, upwards of a quarter of an ell long. Upon their doublets they wore large waddings, which they called mahoitres, to give a greater breadth of appearance to their shoulders; so that he who shortly clothed on one day, was habited on the morrow down to the ground.

The ladies forbore their trains, and substituted borders of skins, velvet or other materials, equally wide, and sometimes wider than a whole breadth of velvet Their heads were de corated with stuffed rolls in the shape of round bonnets, gradually diminishing, to the height of half or three-fourths of an ell, with loose kerchiefs or veils at the top, hanging down behind as low as the ground; their girdles of silk were larger than usual, with expensive clasps; and the collars or chains of gold, which hung round their necks, had greater variety and neatness than formerly.

EDWARD IV. The royal dress consisted of a long gown of

for we find that Thomas earl of Lancaster, gave at Christmas during the reign of Edward II. one hundred and fifty nine broad cloaths as liveries to such as served him, allowing to each skins sufficient to fur their

hoods.

Paradin, in his History of Lyons, informs us, "that the men of his time wore shoes with a point before, half a foot long; the richer and more eminent personages wore them a foot, and princes two feet long; the most ridiculous thing that ever was seen. When men became tired of these pointed shoes, which were called poulains, they adopted others in their stead, denominated duck-bills, having a bill or beak before, four or five fingers in length. Assuming afterwards a contrary fashion, they wore slippers so very broad in the front, as to exceed the measure of a good foot."

cloth

cloth of gold, blue upon satin, "emaylled" *, and lined with green satin; a doublet of blue satin, lined with Holland cloth; a demy gown of tawny velvet, lined with blue damask, &c. At this period velvets were from 8s. to 16s. per yard; the black cloths of gold, 40s.; velvet upon velvet, and white tissue cloth of gold, 40s.; cloth of gold broached upon satin, 24s.; and cloth of silver the same: damask was 8s. per yard; satins 6s. 10d. and 12s. ; camlets 30s. the piece; and sarsnets from 4s. to 4s 2d. †

In the third year of this reign, parliament applied to the sovereign on account of the excess of apparel; and a new act passed to promote a reform in this particular, the infringement of which was subjected to severe penalties to the king; among these were exceptions in favour of divers persons and estates: the mayor of London and his wife might wear the same array as knights bachelors, which was velvet or figured satin: the recorder and aldermen of London, and all the mayors and viscounts (sheriffs) of the cities, towns and boroughs of the realm, the mayors and bailiffs of the Cinque Ports, and the barons of the same, and the mayors and bailiffs of the shire towns, with their wives, to use the same apparel as esquires and gentlemen to the annual amount of 401., that is damask or satin. The penalty in the first of the above instances was 10 marks, in the second instance 100 pence.

The tenth and eleventh clauses of this act are curious; the first contains a singular exception:

"X. No knight, under the rank of a lord, esquire, or other gentleman, nor any other person, shall wear any gown, jacket, or clock, that is not long enough, when he stands upright, to cover his privities and his buttocks, under the penalty of 20 shillings; and if any taylor shall make such short gowns, jackets, cloaks, doublets, stuffed, or otherwise contrary to this act, the same shall be forfeited."

"XI. No knight, under the estate of a lord, esquire, or gentle man, nor any other person, shall wear any shoes or boots, having pikes or points exceeding the length of two inches, under the for feiture of 40 pence; and every shoemaker, who shall make pikes for shoes or boots beyond the length stated in this statute, shall forfeit for every offence the sum of 40 pence.'

This penalty was enlarged next year, when it was ordained, "that no shoemaker nor cobler (cordwainer) in London or within three miles of the same, shall make, or cause to be

* Emaylled signifies studded, also fastened with buckles, rings, &c. See Junius, under Mail, which he defines Orbiculus, Hamus, Fibula.

Harl. MSS. 4780.

made, any shoes, galoches, or buskins, with poleyns exceeding the length of two inches, under the forfeiture of 20s."

The succeeding year, according to Stow, "It was proclaimed throughout England, that the beaks or pikes of shoes or boots, should not exceed two inches, upon pain of cursing by the clergy, and forfeiting 20 shillings, one noble to the king, another to the cordwainers of London, and the third to the chamber of London." *

These regulations were repeated as often as occasion required; but the turbulent times which succeeded in the reigns of EDWARD V and RICHARD III. furnish little matter for our purpose.

HENRY VII. According to Stow, the use of square bonnets, worn by noblemen, gentlemen, citizens and others, took place in this reign.

At the close of the fifteenth century, dress was not only fantastical, but absurd; it was difficult to distinguish the sexes. Petticoats were worn over their lower covering by the men; their doublets had all the appearance of women's stays, and stomachers laced before; their gowns were open in front to the girdle, and again from the girdle to the ground, on which they were sufficiently long to trail. Their sleeves were sometimes strait; but nearly divided at the elbows, to display the shirt; sometimes they were loose and wide, reaching intirely to the wrists.

HENRY VIII. The dress of the king and the nobles, in the beginning of this reign, was not unlike that worn by the yeoman of the guard at present. Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting, relates that" Anne Bolen wore yellow mourning for Catharine of Arragon." The same circumstance is related in Hall's Chronicle, with the addition of Henry's wearing white mourning for the unfortunate Anne Bolen. "Crimson," says Mr. Granger, "would have been a much more suitable colour."

It appears that variety of apparel began to take place during Henry's reign. Before the first book of Andrew Borde's "Introduction of Knowledge," &c. in which he characterizes an Englishman, is a wooden print of a naked man, with a piece of cloth hanging on his right arm, and a pair of sheers in his left hand; under which are the following lines: "I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here, Musing in my mynde what rayment I shall were: For now I will were thys, and now I will were that, And now I will were, I cannot tell what," &c.

Soon after the accession of this monarch the masculine petticoats were expelled, and in their stead trausers, or close` hose, fitted to the limbs, took place. The breeches to which they were connected, exhibited an artificial protuberance, gross and indecent, which formed a part of dress, from the prince to the peasant. The fashion originated in France, and, ridiculous to add, absolutely served for the purpose of a pin-cushion. To make up for the straitness of the hose, they bombasted," as Bulwer in his "Pedigree of the English Gallant," expresses it, "their doublets, and puffed them out above the shoulders, so that they were exceedingly cumbersome. The ladies followed the example of the gentlemen, and invented a kind of doublet with high wings and puffed sleeves, which continued in full fashion till the reign of Elizabeth.

Another innovation during this reign was the trunk breeches or slops, which swelled out to an enormous size, and were stuffed out with rags, wool, tow or hair. Holingshed tells a curious story, said to be founded on fact. "A prisoner appearing before a judge to answer an accusation against him, at the time that the law prohibited wearing baise stuffed into the breeches, was told that he wore his breeches contrary to the law: he began to excuse himself of the offence, and endeavouring by little and little to discharge himself of that which he did wear within them, he drew out of his breeches a pair of sheets, two table cloths, ten napkins, four shirts, a brush, a glass, and a comb, night caps, and other things of use, saying, (all the hall being strewed with this furniture) your highness may understand, that because I have no safer a store-house, these pockets do serve me for a room to lay up my goods in, and though it be a straight prison, yet it is a storehouse big enough for them, for I have many things more of value yet within it.' And so his discharge was accepted and well laughed at; and they commanded him that he should not alter the furniture of his storehouse, but that he should rid the hall of his stuff, and keep them as it pleased him." *

A writer of this period, satyrizing the enormity of dress, writes, "that men's servants, to whom the fashion of their masters descend with their clothes, have such pleytes upon theyr brestes, and ruffles upon theyr sleeves above theyr elbows, that, yfe theyr master or themselves hade never so great neede, they could not shoote one shote to hurte theyr enemyes, tyll they had caste of theyr cotes, or cut of theyr sleeves."

Over the seats in the Parliament House were holes two inches square in the wall, in which were posts supporting a scaffold round the rooms, for the use of those who wore great breeches, stuffed with hair, like woolsacks. The scaffolds continued till the reign of Elizabeth, when they were taken down, the fashion having for a long time subsided.— Harl. MSS. No. 950.

Towards