Windsor: the petticoat breeches in the next figure; and the trunk hose in that of a man with SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SIXTEENTH CENTURY. a falcon. The next figure represents another fashionable habit of this century. Soon after the accession of Henry VIII. the petticoats were laid aside, and trouses, or close hose, (trousers,) fitting close to the limbs, were adopted. The doublets were puffed out with wadding above the shoulders, and the trunk breeches were padded to imitate the corpulence of the sovereign Henry VIII.; and from a note written about the thirty-third year of Elizabeth, it appears that early in that reign seats were fitted up, rather SIXTEENTH CENTURY. hollowed out, to accommodate the nobles who were Istuffed with hair like woolsacks." 66 per Although our limits will not allow the description of the regal costumes of each century, that of Henry VIII. in the present must not be passed over. Many items of the wardrobe of this king are on record. Howell says that he wore, ordinarily, cloth hose, except there came from Spain, by great chance, a pair of silk stockings. King Edward, his son, was presented with a pair of the latter by Sir Thomas Gresham; but that stockings were not only in use, but haps knit in this country, seems placed beyond doubt by this authentic household record: “1533. 25 H. 8. 7 Sept.-Peyd for 4 peyr of knytthose, viiis.-1538. 30 H. 8. 3 Oct.-Two peyr of knytt-hose, is." Fifty years later, the stocking-loom was invented in England, but its ingenious originator was driven to France by neglect. In another account of Henry's wardrobe are mentioned a hat of green velvet, embroidered with green silk lace, and lined with sarsnet; and orange, yellow, and green velvet hats. Henry's favourite bonnet, and indeed that of the time, is shown in Holbein's well known portrait of the king. Gloves were not unknown; for Henry gave to one of the executors of his will, Sir Anthony Denney, a pair of gloves, and Queen Elizabeth gave to another of the same family, a pair of mittens *; * These were purchased at the earl of Arran's sale in 1759, the first for thirty-eight pounds seventeen shillings, the second for twenty-five pounds four shillings. and the anecdote of Sir Thomas More's receiving a present of a pair of gloves, with forty pounds in angels, is too well known for quotation. The materials of Henry's wardrobe, as cloth of gold, furs, silks, and velvets, were rich and expensive. Hall, the chronicler, tells us that when Henry and his queen rode to the Tower, previous to their coronation, his grace wore uppermost a robe of crimson velvet, furred with ermine; his jacket, or coat, of raised gold; the placard embroidered with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, great pearls," and other rich stones;" and a great baudric about his neck of large bolasses. queen wore embroidered white satin, her hair hanging down to her back, "bewteful and goodly to behold, and on her hedde a coronal, set with many rich orient stones." Henry was a tyrant even in taste, for he commanded his attendants and courtiers to poll their heads, and made laws to regulate the dresses of his subjects. Cloth of gold, or tissue, was reserved for the dukes and marquises; if of a purple colour, for the royal family. Silks and velvets were restricted to commoners of wealth or distinction; but embroidery was interdicted from all beneath an earl. The The pageantry of Henry's court was magnificently increased by his adding to the number of the yeomen of the guard, first established by Henry VII. upon the model of a somewhat similar band retained by Louis XI. of France. Their original number was fifty, which bluff Hal raised to six hundred, in white gaberdines and caps; they were archers, and distinguished themselves in the Battle of the Spurs. From this king it is thought that the yeomen derived the soubriquet of beef-eaters, through his trick upon the surfeit-sick abbot of Reading, when Henry, in the disguise of a yeoman, restored to the abbot his appetite for beef. Some have suggested buffetiers, from an old duty of guarding the beaufet, as an explanation of the nickname; but the first seems more probable. In Queen Elizabeth's time, a portion of the yeomen were mounted their serving the queen's dinner at Greenwich has been already referred to; and it may be added, that when King George III. dined in private at the queen's palace, the yeomen carried up the dishes. The bow falling into disuse, was replaced by the arquebus and partizan, and at the demise of William III. all the yeomen took the partizan, as now carried. : One hundred men, besides officers, form the band; of these eight are ushers, four hangers, and two bedgoers. The functions of the usher are well known; but it may not be so well remembered that the ancient services of the hangers and bedgoers was to hang with tapestry and fit up chambers for royalty, when princes travelled, or removed from palace to palace, and did not meet, at each stage, with the embellishments and comforts now made stationary, such as arras, canopies, bed-furniture, &c. Others were yeo men of the tent; and so late as 1743, when George II. was with the army in Germany, a corps of yeomen armed with carbines, kept ward around the royal tent. It is erroneously supposed that the present dress of the yeomen is that of the reign of Henry VIII.—which is disproved by the "white gaberdines and caps" just mentioned. The dress has continued unaltered since, at least, the reign of Charles II.; and in the pageants of our time these stalworth persons of the yeomen, with their embroidered tunics, red stockings, party-coloured shoe-bows, stiff white ruff, black velvet caps with circlet of red, blue, and white riband knots, are much admired. As the yeomen formed Henry's foot guard, so the corps of gentlemen pensioners, first formed by this king were his cavaliers in complete harness with the knightly lance. The equipment of the band was, from the first, gorgeous; their horses being apparelled and trapped in cloth of gold, silver, and goldsmith's work. They did faithful service during the parliamentary war. They bore, when on dismounted duty in the palace, an axe, which they retain to this day. Their original number was fifty, which Charles II. reduced to forty. The latest historical fact concerning the band occurs in 1745, when George II. issued the royal mandate for raising his standard on Finchley Common, an event admirably burlesqued in Hogarth's March to Finchley. The pensioners were then ordered to provide themselves with horses and equipment to attend his majesty to the field. Their uniform has varied with the times. In 1557, it was green cloth |