the middle of this reign. At this period, also, stockings of knitted silk, which were brought from abroad, were first used by Elizabeth, and from her they descended in quick transition to the ladies of the court. The shoes, that completed the costume, were made of English or Spanish leather, and sometimes of velvet embroidered with silk, or more commonly with gold and silver, in a variety of rich devices, and studded, moreover, with costly ornaments. The other articles, by which a fashionable lady's costume was completed, con-sisted of perfumed gloves, embroidered with gold and silver; a fan of ostrich or peacock's feathers and handle of gold; a small portable mirror, which she usually carried at her girdle when she FAN WITH JEWELLED HANDLE. land. According to Stow, in his Chronicle, the first coach was not introduced into England until 1555, although such a conveyance had been used on the Continent nearly a century earlier. One of the earliest, built in 1564, was fortunately for Elizabeth herself, otherwise it might have been crushed in the bud; for, as Taylor, the water-poet, informs us, "a coach was a strange monster in those days, and the sight of it put both horse and man into amazement. Some said it was a great crab-shell brought out of China; and some imagined it to be one of the pagan temples in which cannibals adored the devil." Even in the following reign, when coaches had become pretty general in the metropolis, they were so odious to the populace, that they were stigmatized as "hell-carts," and sometimes thrown over into the mud by the enraged porters and carmen. The first coach appears to have been little better than the covered waggons and horse-litters in which ladies of the highest rank had hitherto travelled when they were unable to ride on horseback, as it was a heavy, clumsy-looking box without springs, lined STATE COACH, TIME OF ELIZABETH -From Hofnagel's print of Nonsuch House. walked abroad, to rectify any disorder in her dress and ornaments; and a mask. This last article, which was used to preserve the complexion from sun, wind, and rain, was made of black velvet, and was so startling at its introduction, that many jeered at its grotesque appearance, while not a few were offended at the concealment which it favoured. To save the eyes, also, as well as the complexion, this mask was soon furnished with a pair of glass eyes, which, Stubbs informs us, glared full upon the beholder, like the saucer eyes of a devil. An array so rich and complicated, in such a variable climate as England, combined with the natural desire of displaying it, suggested a coach, and this appropriate vehicle was accordingly introduced into general use in Eng within and without with red cloth, fringed with silk of the same colour. Even at a funeral pace, such a car must have jolted so grievously in the rough streets and highways, as to have made a procession an act of penance; and therefore it is not wonderful if the Virgin Queen and her fair maidens were still to be found on horseback in the royal progresses. As for the costume of the nobles and gallants of Queen Elizabeth's days, a volume would scarcely suffice to describe it. This, however, ORDINARY COACH, TIME OF ELIZABETH. From Hofnagel's print of Nonsuch House. is the less to be regretted as it is so fully detailed by Shakspeare and his contemporaries, who, especially in comedy, draped their characters, of whatever country, in the clothing of England during the Elizabethan period. The head-covering, which, during the earlier part of her reign, was of the same varied form that it exhibited during the period of Edward VI. and Mary, at length settled into the high, steeple-crowned hat, which afterwards prevailed for nearly a century, until it was wholly abandoned to the Puritans. These coverings, at first, were not only made of wool or beaver, but also of taffety, silk, and velvet. In the male costume, the ruff was almost as conspicuous as in the female, and nearly of the same amplitude; and, in the pictures of the day, forms a pleasing accompaniment to the beard and mustachios with which it is surmounted. Next came the doublet, which at first was fitted closely to the body; but the same inclination for long waists which prevailed among the ladies, was adopted by the gentlemen-accordingly, towards the close of this period, their doublets had descended so low as to give them the slimness without the nimbleness of the wasp. Either to break this monotony of length also, or to become more conformed in shape to the sex whom they sought to emulate, the breast was padded with stuffing, so that this garment at length obtained the name of the peasecod-bellied doublet. The nether clothing, consisting of slops, breeches, or trunk-hose, was of various fashions, and adopted from different countries. Thus, there were what was called the Venetian hosen, reaching to the calf of the leg, and fastened by buttons or silken points; the French, the knee. Over all this was a cloak, fashioned according to the cut of France, Spain, or Holland, and sometimes bordered with glass bugles. The stockings were ornamented at the ankles COSTUMES, TIME OF ELIZABETH.! with clocks, while the feet were guarded by shoes of whatever colour the wearer fancied; or pantofles, that is, slippers without heels. In all this, we have given nothing more than the mere outline of a courtier or gentleman of the period of Elizabeth; the elaboration of ornament with which it was overlaid would be too difficult to describe. In an original portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, he is represented in a white satin doublet, "all embroidered," says Aubrey, in his Correspondence, "with rich pearls, and a mighty rich chain of great pearls about his neck"-being no doubt a dress which he wore on public occasions. The ropes and chains of pearl and gold round the hat or neck, the jewelled buttons, and fanciful devices of silken and golden embroidery, will be suggested by the remembrance of similar portraitures of the great ones of the period. A noble thus arrayed, usually went forth with nothing more than a few attendants, and a page or favourite servant to carry his rapier; while his ancestor, only a century earlier, had perhaps been wont to appear in public with no fewer than 100 well-armed retainers. But now he had nothing to fear beyond an attack of St. Nicholas' clerks, if they dared to attack a man of such worship; or a ruffle with some political rival, in which his own hand and weapon were COSTUMES, TIME OF ELIZABETH.-1, From Isaac Oliver's portrait of Sir Philip Sidney. 2, From a figure by Gaspard Rutz. 3, From Strutt. which were either wide and loose, or close and tight, ending below the knee in one or more rolls, called cannons; and Gallic hose, that were of large amplitude, but reached no farther than Vor II. 11, From Harding's Series of Historical Portraits. 2, From a print by Gaspard Rutz. 3, From Vertue's print of Elizabeth's progress to Hunsdon House. 4, From Titian. 5, From a paint ing by Mark Gerrard. 189 to be his chief sureties. In the costume of a nobleman or gentleman, towards the close of this period, we must not forget his weapons. which sometimes Italians were invited to London, where they gave lessons in the practice of rapier and dagger. The consequence of this change in the science and weapons of single combat was, that he who had learned the choicest hits, was so confident in his superiority, as to be "sudden and quick in quarrel" with the less initiated; but in process of time, when a knowledge of these weapons was more widely diffused, the dangerous effects of a rapier-thrust made duellists more forbearing then ever. Besides making sure of the advantage of superior skill, a quarrelsome person sometimes wore two rapiers in one sheath, which he could use in both hands at once with fatal dexterity; and sometimes he went forth with a weapon longer by an inch or two than that of any ordinary antagonist. At length, these rapiers increased so unfairly in longitude, and were productive of such mischievous consequences, that Elizabeth was obliged to interfere. Accordingly, discreet citizens were stationed at each city gate, who measured the rapiers of those who passed RAPIERS AND DAGGER, 1IME OF ELIZABETH.-Meyrick's Ancient Armour. were a rapier and dagger, the former used for assault, and the latter for parry and defence. These weapons had now in a great measure superseded the broadsword and buckler, as well as the style of fence, which had chiefly depended upon mere strength; and, such was the recognized superiority of the rapier, that the skilful use of it now formed an important part of a finished education. The chief schools for this purpose were in Italy, whose people then, as now, were the most skilful fencers in Europe; and 1 3 1. ARMOUR FOR THE TOURNAMENT, A.D. 1490. armour of the period. Our first specimen is a suit of tilting armour, which was generally heavier and more complete than even that used in actual battle. The helmet, which was now flat-topped instead of being rounded, was so completely guarded in front, that the wonder is how, in such by, and broke down to the standard of three feet every blade that exceeded it, by which the chances of quarrel were reduced to a wholesome uniformity, and the spirit of quarrel itself abated. If this rapier-poking, as it was contemptuously called, was but a poor prosaic substitute for the chivalrous combats which it superseded, we shall do well to give a parting glance at the defensive the effigy in brass of Sir Thomas Peyton at Iselham, date 1488. 11 and 2, From the collection at Goodrich Court. 3, From a close iron prison, the wearer could either see or | pose. In granting permission to lay out a new breathe. One peculiarity of the foregoing speci-road in the weald of Kent, that formed an im portant thoroughfare to London, we are told, that "many other common ways in the said weald of Kent be so deep and noyous, by wearing and course of water and other occasions, that people cannot have their carriages or passages by horses, upon or by the same, but to their great pains, peril, and jeopardy." Nor in approaching London was the case in several instances amended, for the suburban districts, as yet only villages separated from the city by fields, gardens, and a sprinkling of cottages, were connected with the city by a highway often left in grievous disrepair through the negligence of the inhabitants. Such was the case even with that great artery of London, now called the Strand, leading from London to what was then the village of Charing. Frequented though it was, and necessary for the comfort of the city, yet this highway in the time of Henry VIII. was described in the statute as "very noyous and foul, and many places thereof very jeopardous to all people passing and repassing as well on horseback as on foot, both in winter and in summer, by night and by day." Holborn was little better, being described by the complaint of its inhabitants to the king, as so men is, that the plates of the left arm are so ample, that in doubling it for the management of the bridle, they assumed the form and served the purposes of a shield. Such, we find from one of his effigies, was a favourite kind of defence in the armour worn by Warwick, "the king-maker," whose left-arm-brace, when so closed, formed a complete buckler. It was not singular if an angry disputant of this period should, like the Duke of Northumberland, offer to fight out his quarrel in his shirt,' rather than enjoy the protection of such a horse-load of harness. Neither would the matter have been greatly amended by substituting, for the panoply of chivalrous pageantry, that of hot battle and hand-to-hand struggle, more especially if the duels were to be maintained to the death. In this case, the bulging, rounded breastplate piece, the ridgy platework rising from arms and shoulders, the fluted form of the principal parts of the armour, the apron of chain-work, the voluminous defences of plate and mail behind, to make a dishonourable blow in that quarter impossible-all this must have given the wearer the stiffness and unwieldiness of movement, as well as the scaly appearance of a tortoise or armadillo. Upon such pro-"noyous, and so full of sloughs and other intections, even the heavy sword with which Sir Thomas Peyton is furnished could have made but little impression; and the work of the combatants must have been more like that of two smiths at the anvil, than the trial of two noble knights adjusting a punctilio of honour. Perhaps one of the wisest sayings of James I. was that in which he commended such unwieldy armour, as it pre-into the metropolitan mass by that progress of vented a man from doing any injury as well as from receiving any. In all these additions to the original load of armed knighthood, we perceive the multiplication of defences against gunpowder, until they were all found equally useless, and therefore thrown aside. This will be especially seen in the figure of a demi-lancer of the period, where the rounded corslet and ample cuisses are constructed more in reference to the bullet than sword or arrow, and where the armour descends only to the knee, to allow the wearer more free-tinctly understood, without a reference to the acdom in walking. In passing from the home-life of the peasantry and nobles to that of the middle classes, it is in the cities they are chiefly to be sought, and especially in London, the great type and exemplar of the mercantile towns of England. During the reign of Henry VIII., an active stir had commenced for the reparation of streets and highways in and about the metropolis; and the necessity for such improvement is fully evidenced by the words of the royal statute which was enacted for the pur1 See vol. ii. p. 41. cumbrances, that ofttimes many of your subjects riding through the said street and way, be in jeopardy of hurt, and have almost perished." But this work of paving appears to have gone on, by which miry highways were converted into comfortable streets; and, as a necessary consequence, village after village began to be absorbed London expansion which has been going onward to the present hour. During the long reign of Elizabeth, London, as was to be expected, had a principal share in the increasing prosperity. This was manifested not only in its greater extension, but the filling up of many of those blanks by which streets and lanes had presented little more than a half-civic, half-rural character. But the extent to which it had attained during her reign can scarcely be dis companying plan. Here we perceive, that the Strand was built on both sides with the mansions of the nobility, so that Westminster was joined to London. We also find Holborn gradually advancing onward towards St. Giles'-in-the-Fields. In the same manner, while Aldersgate Street had made considerable progress, Goswell Street was but a country road, and Islington a village at some distance from town; and though Moorfields remain clear up to London wall, yet Bishopsgate has extended far beyond the walls towards Shoreditch and Houndsditch. Whitechapel is already reached, and buildings are beginning to extend | Street extending to St. George's Church. But it beyond the Tower as far as East Smithfield. is impossible to convey a clear idea of the extent Crossing London bridge, or passing by one of the of London at this period to any one unacquainted numerous wherries with which the river is peo- with the modern metropolis, unless he compares pled, we find the beautiful church of St. Mary the plan here given with that of the London of Overies already surrounded by houses; the bear- the present day. garden and theatre at Bankside; and the High The stately temples with which London was adorned at this period-the palaces of the nobles, especially on the banks of the Thames, with their gardens terminated at the river by a wharf, at which was anchored the family barge, and its fleet of attendant wherries-these, with Westminster Abbey, and Old St. Paul's Church, we must for the present pass by, to contemplate the condition of the middle classes, who had mainly created all this prosperity, and who were now rapidly becoming the chief estate, as well as principal strength of the realm. On entering the streets. the visitor from the 30. Savoy Palace. 31. Somerset Place. 32. Durham House. 33. St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. 34. Star Chamber. 35. Westminster Hall. 36. Parliament House. 37. Bull-baiting Ring. 39. The Tabard Inn. country found himself all at once in a murky atmosphere, not merely from the cloudiness of sky over-head, but the architecture of the houses, where each successive story rose broader and broader, until the buildings on the opposite sides of the way almost closed upon each other at the top. These timber buildings are still to be seen, not only in the old towns of the Continent, but also in a few streets and lanes of our own cities that have resisted the march of modern improvement. It was not wonderful if, from the closeness of these houses and their smallness com |