Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/85

1485.] often furred, and of the turn-over sort, coming to a point in front, and disclosing a vest, or stomacher, of a different colour to the robe. Women of the lowest estate, serving women, says one writer, put fur not only on their collars, but on the bottom of their dress, which fell about their heels, and was dragged in the mire.

In Edward IV.'s reign the toes of shoes were longer than ever, and the doublets, or tunics, shorter than ever. Only lords were allowed by law to wear these "indecently short dresses;" but the law was ignored freely, and even boys wore short, rich doublets of silk, velvet, or satin, and tremendously long toes, now called poulaines. The caps of cloth assumed very much the shape of hats; and the hair was not only worn long, but brought down upon the forehead into the eyes. All gentlemen wore chains of gold of the most sumptuous kind. Large jack or top boots began to be worn; occasionally robes bound at the waist, and sweeping the ground, in strong contrast to the short doublets.

But of all the head-dresses ever introduced in the wildest vagaries of fashion, those of the ladies of this reign were the most preposterous. The horns now rose up from the cap or bonnet, enclosing it from behind, and roaring their lofty points into the air, like those of some wild bison.



These were covered with some richly-patterned silk or velvet. Others had round tower-like bonnets, with battlemented tops, and huge transparent shades enclosing the face, and running to a point half a yard before and behind them. Others had conical frames half a yard high set upon their heads, covered with lace or velvet. These had frequently a large wing on each side, like those of butterflies; and from the top fell a piece of fine lawn, often quite to the ground. These preposterous caps became so much the rage, that the peasant women of Normandy, especially in the Boccage, still wear them, where they tower aloft in the markets, white as snow, and with their butterfly wings generally tied over the front.

"Thus," says Planché, "the evanescent caprice of some high-born fair has given a national costume to the paysannes of Normandy, who have reverently copied, for nearly four centuries, the head-dress worn by their mothers before them." Paradin says that the ladies would probably have built their bonnets still higher, but that a famous monk, Thomas Conecte, came to Paris, and preaching in the Church of St. Geneviève for nine successive days against them, produced such effect that the ladies threw off their steeple caps, and many of them not only their horns but their tails and other vanities, and made a bonfire of them. But he adds, "The women that, like snails in affright, had drawn in their horns, shot them out again as soon as the danger was over." Some had this steeple frame set on the back of their heads in such a way that it is difficult to imagine how it was supported there.



In the costumes of the short reign of Richard III. the gentlemen appear again in top-boots, with spurs, and enormous long toes. They have the long tight hose, which are fastened to the doublet with laces or points, as they were called; and we are told that the poor boy, Edward V., when in the Tower, convinced that his