Ladies' Dress.

In the reign of King Edward I . a lady ' s dress is thus described by a writer : — " She Avore a robe or turtle made hi gh in the neck , with long tight sleeves ancl a train , over which was generally seen another vestment , the surcoat , supci-tunic , or cyclas , without sleeves , and as long in the skirt as the gown itself , and sometimes hold up by one hand to keep it out of the way of the feet . To these two garments Avere addedas occasion requiredtbe mantle

, , fastened on tbe shoulders by cords and tassels . " As regards head-dress , in the illuminated MSS . ( tempore of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ) , for instance , the hair of married women is generally gathered up behind into a caul of golden network , over which is worn a veil , or a round flowing cap , or a low head-dress-, Avbile unmarried AVO men are generally represented with "flowing ringlets , " or a simple garland of flowers , or fillets of gold or silk

or pearls . In the Royal MS ., 15 , D 2 , British Museum , you can see ( tempore Edward I ) ., four different sorts of head-dresses . In the Sloane MS ., 3983 , you still have the amusing likeness of a lady with a gorget aud a long trailing robe . The gorget was a species of wimple , wrapped two or three times round the neck ancl fastened with a quantity of pins or catches , and it AA as wound as high as

the ears on either side of the face . A contemporary poet exclaims— " I have often thought in my heart that when I have seen a lady so closely tied up that her neck cloth was nailed to her chin , or that she hacl pins worked into the flesh . " He also ( very improperly ) compares the ladies of his time to " peacocks and magpies ; " "for the pies , ' . ' he says , " naturall y bear feathers of various colours , so the ladies delight in strange habits ancl diversity of ornaments . The pies have long tails that trail in the dirt , and the ladies made them tails a thousand times longer than those of peacocks ancl pies . "

' Tight-lacing , ot which we haA r e beard so much , is also an old habit of the " dear creatures . " In tbe first poem of " Syr Launfal , " about 1300 , Ave hear of ladies , "lacies moult estreitment , " "very tightly or straitl y laced ; " and the Lady Triamore of tbe romance is said to be "clothed in purple pall , with gentyll body and middle small ; " or , as it is elseAvhere expressed , that a lad y wears a splendid girdle " of beaten gold , embellished with emeralds and rubiesabout her middle small . "

, As regards tbe material of the dresses of those days , Ave hear of " Indian sendel , " probably "light blue silk ; " " sarcenet , " or "sarannecet , " generally of a red , purple , or golden colour ; gauze , called " gazzatum , " ancl said to have come ori ginally from "Gaza ; " ancl "brunetta" or "burnetta , " whatever it may have been , is forbidden b y the " Concilium Bordense , " 1375 : " Brunettam nigram , gazzatum , et alium quemcunqne panuum notabiliter delicatuni

interdicimus universi "— " We entirel y interdict black brunetta and gauze and every other sort of stuff notabl y delicate . " Very silly of the Council , as if it had nothing better to do ! It was so likel y to be obeyed by the women ! We also hear of Tyretaine or Tiretaine , a tartan , in Latin Tiretanus , supposed to represent the crimson or dark red of T yre , ancl is specially mentioned by Jehan cle Menng . Eobbes faites par grand devises , De beaux clraps de soies et de laines , De scarlate cte Tiretaine .

Eobes made most fashionably Of silks and nioiisseline de laine , 0 £ scarlet of Tyre and the like , I have seen worn over and over again . Have I not then been as good as my word ? Is it not true that there is " nothing new under tbe sun ? " ancl that the very fashions Ave wonder at , or admire , or smile at , or complain of to-day , are onl y the reproduction , in "a cycle , " of older dresses ancl the like fashions even centuries a ° -o ? "