RIGHTS AND LEFTS.

Rights and lefts are only "an old, old, very old" fashion revived. The shoes of Bernard, king of Italy, found in his tomb, were right and left; the soles were of wood, the upper part red leather, laced with thongs, and they fitted so closely, that the order of the toes. terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered. It is remarkable that, as in the present age, both shoes and slippers were worn shaped after the right and left foot. Shakspeare describes his smith as

"Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet."

And Scot, in his Discoverie of Witchcraft observes, "that he who receiveth a mischance, will consider whether he put not on his shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot.*

GLOVES.

Casaubon is of opinion, that Gloves were worn by the Chaldeans, because the word here mentioned is in the Talmud Lexicon explained, "the clothing of the hand." But it must be confessed, all this is mere conjecture; and the Chaldean Paraphrast may have taken an unallowable liberty with his version. Let us then be content to begin with Xenophon, who gives a clear and distinct account of gloves. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, he gives us a proof of their effeminacy; that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands against the cold with thick gloves. Homer, speaking of Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with "gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns." Varro, an ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Romans. In lib. 2, cap. 35, De re Rustica, he says, that olives gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with gloves.

Athenæus speaks of a celebrated glutton, who always came to table with gloves on his hands, that he might be able to handle and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company. Strutt thinks gloves were not used in England till the tenth century, and then only by persons of rank and the clergy, and that they were not used by ladies until the latter end of the thirteenth century.

NIGHTCAPS.

Before we proceed to Hats and Caps, we will say something about the origin of that most unseemly and ungraceful thing, a Man's Nightcap. In former times, a hood was attached to the sleeping habiliment, somewhat similar to a monk's cowl, until

* Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his times.

Henry II. of France, whose forte was the study of personal convenience and ease, introduced the present nightcap. The middle and lower orders were forbidden to wear velvet or brocade ones, so that those classes had them originally made of woollen cloth.

PANTALOONS.

Pantaloons, and Port Canons, were some of the fantastic fashions wherein we aped the French-and is derived from Pantaleon or Pantaloon, in the pantomime.

MILITARY UNIFORMS,

Military Uniforms were first introduced by Louis XIV., and immediately after by the English. 、

LIVERIES.

Liveries originated in our British ancestors clothing their vassals in uniform, to distinguish families; as they painted arms and symbols on their clothes and arms for the same purpose.

SERGEANT'S COIF.

The Sergeant's Coif was originally an iron scull-cap, worn by knights under their helmets. Blackstone says it was introduced before 1253, "to hide the tonsor of such renegado clerks as chose to remain as advocates in the secular courts, notwithstanding their prohibition by canon."

FLANNEL SHIRTS.

Flannel was first used in Boston as a dress next the skin, by Lord Percy's regiment, which was encamped on the Common, in October 1774. There was hardly flannel enough then in the whole town for that one regiment. Some time after Lord Percy had begun with flannel shirting, Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) published a pamphlet in America, assuming to have discovered this practice. He might, perhaps, have suggested the use of it to Lord Percy. Flannel has not been in general use till within the last half century.

BEDS.

Beds, now such indispensable pieces of furniture, were to the Greeks and Romans articles of great luxury. When they exchanged the leaves and skins of beasts, on which their heroic ancestors reposed, for mattresses and feather-beds, the bedsteads were made sometimes of ivory, sometimes of ebony, sometimes of

cedar, and sometimes of silver. It would be difficult now-a-days, in the middle ranks of life, to find beds such as our ancestors slept on, not only with their wives and their children, but with their dogs and their friends; an invitation to such a couch was then considered the strongest proof of affection and confidence that could be given.

BLANKETS.

It has been said that in 1340, one Thomas Blanket, and some other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms in their own houses for weaving those woollen cloths, which have ever since been called Blankets; but this is doubtful, as the word Blanketum occurs in Du Cange, in the sense of an under-waistcoat of woollen, in which it appears that people slept without a shirt.

HATS AND CAPS.

The introduction of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen, and from that time they began to take place of the hoods or chaperons that had been used till then. When the cap was of velvet, they called it mortier-when of wool, simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights, were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the head-dress of the clergy and graduates, churchmen, and members of universities; students in law, physic, &c., as well as graduates, wear square caps in most universities. Doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps given them in assuming the doctorate. Pasquier says, that the giving the cap to students in the universities, was to denote that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their slaves, in the ceremony of making them free. The cap is also used as a mark of infamy in Italy. The Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap at Lucca, and by an orange one in France. Formerly those who had been bankrupts, were obliged ever after to wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any future commerce.

MIRRORS.

The first mirrors were made of metal. Cicero carries the origin of them up to Esculapius: Moses, too, makes mention of them. It was in the time of Pompey that the first mirrors were made of silver at Rome. Pliny mentions a brilliant stone, probably talc, thin slices of which being fixed upon bright metal, reflected objects with great perfection. The first mirrors of glass appeared in Europe at the latter end of the Crusades.

SPENCERS.

This article of dress originated with the late Lord Spencer, His lordship, when Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, being out a hunting, had, in the act of leaping a fence, the misfortune to have one of the skirts of his coat torn off; upon which his lordship tore off the other, observing, that to have but one left was like a pig with one ear! Some inventive genius took the hint, and having made some of these half-coats, out of compliment to his lordship, gave them the significant cognomen of Spencer!

WIGS.

Wigs were first worn by the Romans, to hide baldness or deformity of the head; those of the Roman ladies were fastened upon a caul of goat skin. Periwigs commenced with their Emperors; they were awkwardly made of hair, painted and glued together.

The year 1529 is deemed the epoch of the introduction of periwigs into France; yet it is certain that têtes were in use here a century before. Fosbroke says, "that strange deformity, the Judge's wig, first appears as a general genteel fashion in the seventeenth century." Archbishop Tillotson was the first bishop who wore a wig, which then was not unlike the natural hair, and worn

without powder. Among the Curiosa Cantabrigiensia, it may be recorded that Charles II., who as his worthy friend, the Earl of Rochester, remarked,

"Never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one,"

sent a letter to the University of Cambridge, forbidding the members to wear periwigs, smoke tobacco, and read their sermons!

HAIR-POWDER.

The powdering of the hair took its rise from some of the ballad singers, at the fair of St. Germaine, whitening their heads to make themselves appear ridiculous; this was in the year 1614. It was first taxed in England, 1795.

FANS, &c.

Fans, muffs, masks, &c., and false hair, were first devised by the harlots in Italy, and from France in 1572.

STAYS.

Stays, like many other articles of dress, were first used in the reign of Henry II. of France. They were called Stays here, because they were said to stay the obtrusive charms of woman.

S

A curious edict was passed by the Emperor Joseph II., of lawmaking notoriety, to restrain the use and fashion of stays; in the preamble it set forth, that they impaired the health and impeded the growth of the fair sex; in all orphan-houses, nunneries, and other places of public education, they were strictly forbidden, and young ladies still persisting in the fashion, were threatened with the loss of the customary indulgences and countenance which were bestowed on their class; thus they were made a sort of immorality. The College of Physicians also were enjoined to draw up a dissertation in support of the royal edict, which was distributed gratis. But what can a monarch do against fashion? The liberty of the corset was soon re-established in Austria in its full severity.

WOMEN'S BLACKS.

This is the name of the common black worsted stockings, formerly an article of extensive consumption; they are now little made, because little worn. Black stockings were first introduced into England by Henrietta, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and queen of Charles I. Charles was the first who wore black stockings in England; they were of silk, and Charles II. seldom wore any other, as the old prints and paintings testify.

One of the greatest wholesale dealers in "women's blacks,” in a manufacturing town, was celebrated for the largeness of his stock; his means enabled him to purchase all that were offered to him for sale, and it was his favourite article. He was an oldfashioned man, and while the servant-maids were leaving them off, he was unconscious of the change, because he could not believe it; he insisted that household work could not be done in white cottons. -Offers of quantities were made to him at reduced prices, which he bought; his immense capital became locked up in his favourite "women's blacks;" whenever their price in the market lowered, he could not make his mind up to be quite low enough; his warehouses were filled with them. When he determined to sell, the demand had wholly ceased; he could effect no sales; and, becoming bankrupt, he literally died of a broken-heart-from an excessive and unrequited attachment to "women's blacks."

COACHES.

The introduction of coaches into England, is ascribed by Stow to William Boonew, a Dutchman; most accounts agree from Germany, but the precise date, except the sixteenth century, is uncertain. There was no coach-box; the coachman rode on a saddle, as postilions do now. Strutt informs us, in his Manners and Customs of the English, vol. ii. p. 90, that Walter Ripon in 1555 made a coach for the Earl of Rutland, which was the first ever made in England; and in 1564, the same Walter made the