Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/109

Rh women seem to have been as much the slaves of fashion in those old days as we are to-day. In their long peaked shoes they went to church, but their devotions were seriously disturbed thereby:—

The clergy were not above wearing these long peaked shoes themselves; so the fashion passed unrebuked for a time. The gorgeous tunics worn by the nobles came from the East, with jewelled girdle and dagger, more for ornament than for use, and over this lavish costume hung a splendid mantle, literally shining with gold thread—a fine-weather garment, one would suppose, and wholly unsuited to our gloomy English skies and torrents of autumnal rain. They had no umbrellas or parasols, for which reason, perhaps, they wore somewhat elaborate headgear. While the men wore their hair long and carefully curled, the ladies mostly gathered theirs up into nets of gold thread, or plaited it with gold wire to make it stand out more stiffly under the bright kerchief