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for, according to the laws of France, the crime of which he was accufed came under that defcription: and in being fo pointedly harsh to him, his majelty meant to make the moft lawful ufe of his authority, and at the fame time fuch as the queen's honour imperiously prescribed.

This exertion of power was certainly unmerited, and its confequences have fufficiently proved that it was no less impolitic. It was humbling unneceffarily a powerful and numerous family, whofe rank, alliances,

refpectability, and fervices, deferved. confideration; it was alienating the first noblemen of the kingdom, and alarming every body; it was, in fhort, preparing and facilitating the revolu tion, by awaking ideas of defpotifm which the reign of Louis XVI. had buried in oblivion, and by exciting a general defire of feeing the royal authority limited. The unfortunate affair of the cardinal de Rohan is not lefs connected with the hiftory of the revolution than with that of the Baftille.

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CURIOUS EXTRACTS.

From Strutt's View of the Dress, The Horned Head-Drefs of the Ladies in the Fifteenth Century. ABOUT this time (fifteenth century) a prepofterous kind of head-drefs made its appearance among the fair-fex, diftinguished by the appellation of "the Horned Head-Drefs," which is feverely reprobated by John de Meun, in his poem called the Co. dicil: he fpeaks to this effect: " If I "dare fay it, without making them, (that is the ladies,) angry, I should "dispraife their hofing, their velture, "their girding, their head dreffes, "their hoods thrown back, with their horns elevated and brought forward, as if it were to wound us. I know not whether they call them gallorfes or brackets, that prop up the "horns, which they think are fo "handfome; but of this I am certain, "that Saint Elizabeth obtained not paradife by the wearing of fuch trumpery." He then proceeds to deride the exceffive width of thefe head-dreffes, and fpeaks of the quan. tity of fine linen that was used to decorate them, with much difapproba tion.

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c. of the People of England, Vol. II.

The knight, who has already fur. nifhed us fo largely with felections*, calls in, upon this occafion, the authority of an "holy bifhop," who, declaiming from the pulpit againft the fashionable foibles of the fair fex, accufes them of being marvellously arrayed in divers quaint manners, and particularly with high horns. The prelate then gravely, with more zeal perchance than learning, attributes the caule of the deluge to the pride and difguifing of the women, who, he tells us, were thereby led aftray into the paths of vice: but, refuming the former fubject, he compares the ladies of his day to horned fnails, to harts, and to unicorns; declaring that, by fuch unnatural adjatments, they mocked God; and proceeds to relate a story of a gentlewoman, who came to a feaft, having her head fo ftrangely attired with long pins, that her head-drefs refembled a gibbet; "and fo," adds he, "The was fcorned by all the company, "who ridiculed her tafte, and faid, fhe carried a gallows upon her " "head." All the remonftrances from

the

*From a work in MS. compiled towards the conclufion of the fourteenth century, for the ufeof three young ladies, daughters of a knight in Normandy; in the Harleian Library at the British Museum, marked 1761.

the pulpit, the admonitions from the moral writers, and the fatirical reflections of the poets, were not sufficiently powerful to conquer the prevalency of this fashion, or at least, not very haftily; for the horned head. drefs maintained its ground nearly two centuries. Lidgate, the monk of Bury, who lived in the reign of Henry the Sixth, has written a long ballad upon this fubject; and he therein endeavours to perfuade the ladies to lay afide their horns, which, he infifts upon, are no addition to their beauty; for beauty, adds he, will fhow itself, though the horns be caft away. He uses also another ar gument, namely, the example of the Virgin Mary, who never fubmitted to any fuch difguifement.

At the commencement of the fifteenth century, this fpecies of headdrefs was extended to a prepofterous fize. We learn, that, when Ifabel of Bavaria, the vain and luxurious confort of Charles the Sixth of France, kept her court at Vincennes, it was neceffary to make all the doors in the palace higher and wider, to admit the head-dreffes of the queen and her la dies. Indeed, it is by no means wonderful, that large coiffures fhould have continued long in fashion, especially among the women of high rank, when it is confidered, that they admitted of a proportionable variety of ornaments, and afforded an opportunity for the ladies of difplaying their tafte to greater advantage than a fmaller compafs would admit of.

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fhionable one he thus defcribes : "The ladies ornamented their heads “with certain rolls of linen, pointed "like fteeples, generally half, and "fometimes three quarters, of an "ell in height These were called by fome, great butterflies, from having two long wings on each fide refembling thofe of that infect. The high cap was covered with a fine piece of lawn hanging down to the ground, the greater part of which was tucked under the arm. The ladies of a middle rank wore caps of cloth, confifting of feveral breadths or bands, twisted round the head, with two wings on the fide like affes' ears; others, again, of a higher condition, wore caps of black velvet, half a yard high, which in thefe days would appear very ftrange and unfeemly. " It "is no eafy matter," continues the author, "to give a proper defcription "in writing of the different fashions "in the dreffes of the ladies ;" and he refers the readers to the ancient tapeftry and painted glass, in which they may fee them more perfectly reprefented; to thefe he might have added the illuminated manufcripts, wherein they are frequently enough to be met with.

Cumberfome and Extravagant Dresses of the Men, Temp. Hen. IV.

Henry the Fourth, foon after his acceffion to the throne, revived the fumptuary ftatutes of Edward the Third; but, if they had then been. ftrenuously carried into execution, A foreign author* fpeaks of the Thomas Occliff, who wrote in the horned head-drefs, as it was worn at reign of that monarch, would not Lyons, in the following manner: "It have had the occafion of complaint "confifted of a mixture of woollen which he exhibits against the extra"cloth and filk, with two horns re- vagance of drefs exiftent in his time. fembling turrets, and was cut and This poet, after enumerating many "pinked after the fashion of a Ger- things requiring amendment, comes "man hood, or crifped like the bel- to the fubject of apparel: "and this,' ley of a calf." But at the time of fays he, "in my thinking, is an evil, his writing, this attire feems to have to fee one walking in gownes of been upon the decline; the more fa-"fcarlet twelve yards wide, with

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Paradin, Hift. de Lyons, p. 271. Thefe fashions were in ufe A. D. 1461,

fleeves

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fleeves reaching to the ground, and "lined with fur, worth twenty pounds, 66 or more; at the fame time, if he "had only been master of what he paid for, he would not have had enough to have lined á hood.". He then proceeds to condemn the pride of the lower claffes of the people, for imitating the fafhions and extravagances of the rich : " and cer"tainly," fays he, "the great lords are to blame, if I dare fay fo much, "to permit their dependants to imi"tate them in their drefs. In form "er time, perfons of rank were known "by their apparel; but, at present, "it is very difficult to diftinguish the "nobleman from one of low degree." He then confiders the "foule wafte "of cloth" attendant upon thefe luxurious fashions, and affures us, that no less than a yard of broad cloth was expended for one man's tippet. Returning to his former argument, that noblemen ought not to encourage their fervants in the ufage of fuch extravagant dreffes, he fays, "If the "mafter fhould ftumble as he walks, "how can his fervant afford him any

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affiftance, while both his hands "have full employment in holding up "the long fleeves with which his arms

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are encumbered *?" He then adds, that the taylors must foon shape "their garments in the open field, "for want of room to cut them in "their own houfes ; because that man "is beft refpected who bears upon his "back, at one time, the greateft quantity of cloth and of fur."

From the following obfervation the reader may, perchance, fufpect the reformift of loving his belly more than

*

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we have little need of brooms in "the land to fweep away the filth "from the ftrect, because the fide"Alceves of pennylefs grooms will

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gather it up, if it fhould be either "wet or dry." He then addreffes himself, by apoftrophe, to his country, and advifes a reformation of all thefe abuses: his fatirical conclufion, however, I hope, is inapplicable to any time but his own. "If," fays he, 166 a. man of abilities, meanly clad, "fhould feek accefs to the prefence "of a nobleman, he would be denied 66 on the account of his clothing; but, on the contrary, a man who, by flattery and the meaneft fervi"lity, can procure himfelf the moft "fashionable apparel, he fhall be re"ceived with great honour.”

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Trunk Breeches, or Slops-the Vardingale.

The next remarkable innovation

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They are thus defcribed by another author: Maxime togatorum cum profundis et latis manicis, vocatis vulgariter pokys, ad modum bagpipe formatis: wearing gowns with deep wide fleeves, commonly called pokys, fhaped like a bagpipe, and worn indifferently both by fervants and mafters. They are- alfo rightly denominated devil's. receptacles, recertacula dæmoniorum reé dici; for, whatever could be ftolen, was popped into them. Some were fo long and wide that they reached to the feet, others to the knees, and were full of flits. As the fervants were bringing up pottage and fauces, or any other liquors, thofe fleeves would go into them, and have the first tafte. And all they could procure was spent to clothe their uncurable carcafes with thofe pokys or fleeves, while the rest of their habit was fhort. Vita Ric. II. p. 172.

extenfion of her hips, inquired if that
fhape was peculiar to the women of
England: to which the lady replied,
that the English women did not dif-
fer in fhape from thofe of other coun-
tries; and, by explaining to her the
nature of the dress, convinced the
Sultanefs, that she and her compa-
nions were not really fo deformed as
they appeared to be.

Anecdote of Sir Philip Calthrop and
John Drakes.

(at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth) was the trunk breeches or flops, which were gradually fwelled to an enormous fize: these breeches, we are told, were ftuffed out with rags, wool, tow, or hair, and fometimes, indeed, with articles of a more cumbrous nature, if the ftory related by Holingfhed be founded upon fact; wherein a man is faid to have exhibited the whole of his bed and table furniture, taken from those extensive receptacles. The ladies alfo, on their parts, extended their garments from The propenfity of perfons of low the hips with foxes' tails and bum-rolls, eftate to imitate the fashions of thofe as they are called; but, finding that, above them, has been adverted to feby fuch moderation, they could keep veral times in the courfe of this chapno pace with the vast protuberance of ter; and now, by way of conclufion, the trunk flops, they introduced the I fhall add a fhort ftory from Camgreat and stately vardingales, or far- den, in which this propenfity is very dingales, which fuperfeded all formed properly ridiculed. "I will tell you," inventions, and gave them the power fays the venerable antiquary, "how of appearing as large as they pleafed. "Sir Philip Calthrop purged John The vardingale afforded the ladies "Drakes, the fhoemaker of Nor-. a great opportunity of difplaying "wich, in the time of Henry the their jewels, and the other ornamen- "Eighth, of the proud humour which tal parts of their dress, to the utmost "our people have to be of the genadvantage, and, for that reafon, Itleman's cut.-This knight bought prefume, obtained the fuperiority" on a time as much fine French over the clofe habits and the more "tawny cloth as fhould make him a fimple imitations of Nature; and "gown, and fent it to his taylor's to what, indeed, was the court-dress very "be made. John Drakes, a shoelately, but the wardingale differently "maker, of that town, coming to the modified, being compreffed before and "faid taylor's, and feeing the knight's behind, and proportionably extended "gown-cloth lying there, and liking at the fides? Bulwer, to whom I have "it well, caufed the taylor to buy feveral times had occafion to refer, gives us the following anecdote relative to this unnatural habit -When Sir Peter Wych was ambaffador to the Grand Seignor from King James the Firft, his lady was with him at Conftantinople; and the Sultancfs, taylor to take measure of his gown, having heard much of her, defired to "he perceived the like gown cloth fee her; whereupon, Lady Wych, lying there, and afked the taylor accompanied with her waiting women, whofe it was. "It belongs," quoth all of them neatly dreffed in their "the taylor, " to John Drakes, who great vardingales, which was the "will have it made in the felf fame court dress of the English ladies of "fashion that yours is made of."that time, waited upon her Highness. "Well," faid the knight, " in good The Sultanefs received her with great "time be it: I will have mine as full respect; but, wondering much at the of cuts as thy fhears can make it.?

for him as much of the fame cloth, "at the like price, to the fame intent; "and, further, he bad him make it "in the fame fashion that the knight "would have his made of. Not long "after, the knight coming to the

"" It fhall be done," faid the
"taylor. Whereupon, because the
"time drew near, he made hafte to
"finifh both their garments. John
"Drakes had no time to go to the
"taylor's till Christmas-day, for fer-
❝ving of his customers, when he had
"hoped to have worn his gown; per-
"ceiving the fame to be full of cuts,
"he began to fwear at the taylor for
"making his gown after that fort.
"I have done nothing," quoth the
"taylor, "but what you bad me;
"for, as Sir Philip Calthrop's gown
"is, even fo have I made yours.".
"By my latcher," quoth John
66 Drakes, "I will never wear a gen-
"tleman's fashion again.*"

Minstrels and Players. Minstrels and players were formerly retainers in the houses of the nobility: they were the livery and badges of the mafter to whom they belonged; and, under that fanction, travelling from place to place, exhibited their performances for hire. In the reign of Queen Mary, a remonfrance from the privy council was prefented to the lord prefident of the north, ftating," that certain lewd," that is, diffolute or ignorant, "perfons, "to the number of fix or feven in a "company, naming themselves to be "the fervants of Sir Francis Lake, "and wearing his livery, or badge, 66 upon their fleeves, have wandered "about thefe north parts, reprefent"ing certain plays and interludes, re"flecting on her Majesty and King Philip, and the formalities of the "mals."

-Thefe, according to Warton, were " family minitrels, or players, who were conítantly diftin"guished by their mafter's livery, or "badge." In confequence of the above remonstrance, Sir Francis Lake was enjoined to correct his fervants fo offending.

-

Ed. Mag. Jan. 1800.

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In former times, fays an author who wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, "a nobleman's house was a commonwealthe in itselfe; but fince "the reteining of thefe caterpillers," meaning the vagrant players, "the "credite of noblemen hath decaied, "and they are thought to be covet"ous, by permitting their fervants, "which cannot live of themselves, "and whome, for neernefs, they will "not maintain, to live at the devo

tion or almes of other men, paffing "from countrie to countrie, from one "gentleman's houfe to another, of"fering their fervice; which is a kind "of beggarie; who, indeede, to "fpeake more trulie, are become beg

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gers for their fervants: for, com"monlie the good will men beare to "their lordes makes them drawe the

66

ftringes of their purses to extend "their liberalities to them, where "otherwife they would not."

Under the appellation of minstrels, no doubt, was included all fuch perfons as ftudied mufic profeffionally, and performed for pay. It feems certain, that fome peculiar kind of drefs was generally adopted by thefe melodious itinerants; and, from feeing them frequently depicted in habits altogether different from thofe in common ufage, I am led to conclude that, in addition to their mufical talents, they often exhibited certain tricks of buffoonery, to which the quaintnefs of their drefs was accommodated; we may then confider them as a kind of mimics; and probably they were the primitive introducers of the strange difguifements that make up the medley of a modern mafquerade; and, by fuch a double exhibition, the exertions of a fingle minftrel might afford no fmall degree of merriment to minds unprepared for any fuperior fpecies of entertainment, We frequently find them in company with other drolls, whofe performanF

*Camden's Remains, page 198."

or

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