of the seventeenth century, in a white satin doublet, all embroidered with rich pearls about his neck. The writer, who saw this portrait at Mr. Raleigh's, at Downton says, "The old servants have told me, that the pearls were near as big as the painted ones. I heard my cousin Witney say that he saw him in the Tower. He had a velvet cap laced, and a rich gown and trunk hose."

The changes of costume in the seventeenth century, were not so much in habits as in fashions of the same habits. The male dress was chiefly a variation of the rich style brought into England by Philip on his marriage about fifty years previously; as the close ruff, the doublet which fitted exactly and stiffly under the chin, and the short Spanish cloak. Under James I. this habit was chiefly worn of black, with large trunk hose, a Spanish rapier, and a hat with a lofty conical crown, and a band of twisted silk, frequently decorated with jewels. The chief singularity was the trunk breeches, which continued in high fashion throughout this and the succeeding reign. In court dresses, especially those of men, the extravagance was such as no succeeding times have attempted to emulate: King James, amongst other weaknesses, having a childish admiration of what, in the parlance of the time, was called bravery, or draining the coffers of his nobles for the most frivolous purposes. His favourites could scarcely satisfy his demands upon them for splendour and

variety in their personal decorations; and the common phrase of "a man's wearing his estate upon his back," hyperbolical as it sounds in modern ears, could scarcely be called an exaggeration at a time when a court suit of the Duke of Buckingham's was estimated at eighty thousand pounds *. Rainbow ruffs were one of the glories of the female dress in this reign; as we gather from a sermon preached at Whitehall, before the king, on Twelfth Day, 1607—8; the text being from Proverbs, xxxi. 14.-" She is like a merchant's ship, she bringeth food from afar;" and the grand object of the preacher's discourse was to trace the points of resemblance between a woman and a ship, as the following extract will show: "But of all qualities, a woman must not have one quality of a ship, and that is too much rigging;" and then the preacher proceeds to censure "her French, her Spanish,

*The furniture and internal decorations of this period were also very splendid." Foreign artists of considerable eminence were employed to paint walls, staircases, and ceilings with figures and arabesques, and collections of pictures began to be formed. Fine carving and gilding were bestowed on various articles of furniture; and with such profusion were the richest materials brought into use, that state-beds of gold and silver tissue, embroidered velvet, or silk damask fringed with gold; silk carpets from Persia; toilets covered with ornamental pieces of dressing plate; tables of massy silver richly embossed with figures; and enormous cabinets elaborately carved in ebony, became the familiar ornaments of the principal mansions.”—Miss Aikin's Memoirs of Charles I.

and her foolish fashions, her plumes, her fannes, and a silken vizard, with a ruff like a sail, yea, a ruff like a rainbow, with a feather in her cap like a flag in her top, to tell which way the wind will blow."

The beards and whiskers of the male sex had become universal in the reign of Elizabeth, when the former were sometimes worn trimmed to a point hanging down at the division of the ruff. By the time of Charles I., however, the hair was worn longer, and the mouth stood in the centre of a triangle formed by the moustaches and pointed beard; as was witnessed a few years since upon opening the coffin of Charles I. at Windsor, when the severed head of the king was found with the pointed beard perfect-the shape of the face was a long oval—many of the teeth remained-the hair was thick at the back of the head, and in appearance nearly blackthat of the beard being of a redder brown The dress of a whole length portrait of Charles is thus described: he wore a falling band, green doublet, the armpits towards the shoulder wide and slacked; zig-zag turned up ruffles; very long green breeches (like a Dutchman's) tied far below the knee, with long yellow ribands, red stockings, green shoe-roses, and a short red cloak lined with blue, with a star on the shoul

* Charles is said to have worn earrings at his execution.

der*. By the broad seal of Charles II. date 1653, it appears that the king wore long hair and whiskers; and from prints of the same date, that he sometimes wore a large cravat, and at other times a long falling band, with tassels: his ruffles were large, his doublet short, his boots were also short, with large tops, his hair long, with a lock on the right side much longer than the rest. Black stockings were first introduced into England by Henrietta, queen of Charles I.: he was the first male who wore black silk stockings in England, and Charles II. seldom wore any other.

The ruff was worn some time after the accession of Charles I. but it had almost universally given place to the falling band, and collars of rich point-lace, large and hanging down on the shoulders, held by a cord and tassel at the neck, when Vandyck was in England, as numerous portraits painted by him testify. The principal habits were vests and cloaks of velvet, or silk

*The prevalence of foreign fashions about this period is shown in the following lines, from a comedy by Ben Jonson, acted in the year 1631, enumerating the ele gancies of a beau of that age:

I would put on
The Savoy chain,-about my neck the ruff,
The cuffs of Flanders: then the Naples hat,

With the Rome hat-band and the Florentine agate,
The Milan sword, the cloak of Genoa, set
With Brabant buttons, all my given pieces;
My gloves the natives of Madrid.

damask, short trousered breeches, terminating

in stuffed rolls and

fringes, and very rich

boots, with large projecting lace tops, under the calf of the leg; the points which formerly hung about the waist being now dangling at the knees, as in the annexed figure, which also shows the broad and feathered hat of the same period. The succeeding figure is in the breeches, doublet, cloak, and turneddown laced shirtcollar. The female dresses were rather elegant than splendid, and were characterised sometimes by a sort of gorget ruff, standing up about the neck like a fan, and sometimes by a falling ruff,

equal

of very rich lace, hanging over the shoulders. Gowns with close bodies and tight sleeves were also worn; the hair was, in general, most gracefully curled, with a plain braiding, or a few