Ladies' Dress.

LADIES' DRESS .

BY AN ANTIQUARY AND A HACHEIJOR . T ~ AM quite aware that I am handling on a " burning question , " ancl one that J- even Bro . Kenning , with all bis " pluck " in such matters , might wish to be dealt with " gingerly " ancl gently in his magazine . But I assure my fair readers who might think that I was about to attack their tastes or their

dresses , their bonnets or their hats , their ulsters or their " coatees , " that I am perfectly innocent of any intentional offence or ignorant fault-finding ; and mine is only a little essay on a really recondite subject after all , ancl an essay of antiquarian facts and archaeological research . For just HOAV , as it seems to me , as we require varied food for the health of the body , and different books for the recreation of tbe mind , and many-coloured dresses to

delight the eye , so in our " Maga" we also need a little " variety" from month to month , for fear it should degenerate into a mere repository of past 6 A ents , scenes , and years , and fitted only for the perusal of those excellent "Dryasdusts , " who scorn the lighter ballast of poetry , romance , and "belles-lettres . " Like a man preparing for a "header" in the water , " courage , " and "beregoes ! " I was looking over an old book the other day , and I realized , perhaps more fully than I bad ever done before , "bow history repeats itself , " 6 A en in the fleeting fashions of this hour . If you look o \ er illuminated MSS ., or study old chronicles , or read those valuable Avorks , many of which

bringbefore us the dress and manners of " ye Englysbe peple , " even from Anglo-Saxon times ( for it is , perhaps , not Avell to go much further back ) , we see at once how each succeeding epoch is only a struggle , and a shifting of dress and decoration ( alike for men , be it noted , as for the " softer sex" ) , ancl that in tbe times of your Henry ancl Edward Plantagenet , your Edward and Richard of York , your Henries of Lancaster and Tudor , and through the reigns of Mary , Elizabethand James I ., the fashions and changes of dresses for the ladies are

, as many as they are to-day . Nay , more , the very gowns Ave see before us , tbe bead-dresses Ave admire or laugh at , are to be found in earlier days , ancl tbe great contest of "long" and " short" dresses or loose and tight robes has been going on through passing centuries as fiercely , as resolutely , and as loudl y as to-day . " Nations and thrones ancl reverent laivs have melted like a dream , " but tbe battle of tbe bonnets , and dresses , and head-gear continues . To some

more important than all else here , to others the epitome of folly , the height tbe height of inanity and extravagance . ' Even in the days of " William Rufus" complaint was made of the " tasteless extravagance of women ' s dresses . " Very amusing , is it not , to read , my masters ? In the " Roman cle la Rose , " written betAveen 1260 and 1304 , partly by " Guillaume de Lorris " and " Jehan cle Meung , " Ave have tbe followingdescription of a lad y ' s dress : —

Nulle robe n ' est si belle A dame ne a demoiselle , Pennne est plus cointe est plus miguotte En surquayne que en cottc . This is as much as to say : No robe is so handsome Tor wife or maid

, As that " sui-coat" which keeps her Tight and staid . The " surquayne " here mentioned is probably a long , tight " frock " or " overcoat , " something like those long ulsters or drab tight-fitting " coatees " Ave see fair ladies wearing to-day .