34 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for war and liable to become burdens on the community, were 

 put to death. Gold and silver wer*e excluded, and the coinage was 

 of iron. As far as possible the whole nation was fed alike. That 

 the system was effectual in accomplishing the object that Lycur- 

 gus had in view, is probably true. It succeeded just as persecu- 

 tion succeeds when it is thorough and implacable. A half-hearted 

 system of persecution not only fails in its object, but invariably 

 advances the cause against which it is directed. If, for instance, 

 we could kill all those who oppose us in our efforts to make mat- 

 ters accord with our own way of thinking, we should undoubtedly 

 be triumphantly successful ; but if we only killed a few of them, it 

 would not be long before the number of the remainder would be 

 so augmented that they would kill us. 



Nowhere has the inefficacy of sumptuary laws been more 

 thoroughly demonstrated than in Rome. There the dress, the 

 food, the furniture of the houses, were attempted to be regulated 

 by law after law, which were either openly or secretly disobeyed, 

 and which eventually disappeared from the statute-books. The 

 cost of entertainments was limited ; the number of guests a person 

 might have at his house was restricted. No woman was allowed 

 to have more than half an ounce of gold, or to wear a dress of 

 more than one color, or to ride in a carriage. In France, during 

 the Celtic period, a law was passed that women should drink 

 water only. In 1188 or thereabout no person was allowed to wear 

 garments of vair, gray, zibeline, or scarlet color. No laced or 

 slashed garments were allowed, and no one could have more than 

 two courses at meals. In 1328 scarlet was only permitted to be 

 worn by princes, knights, and women of high rank. The use of 

 silver plate was prohibited except to certain high dignitaries ; and 

 women were frequently sent to prison in forties, fifties, and sixties 

 at a time for wearing clothes above their rank. Even as late as 

 the seventeenth century gold, as an ornament on carriages, build- 

 ings, and gloves, was prohibited. 



In England, during the reign of Edward IV, cloth of gold or 

 silk of a purple color was prohibited to all but members of the 

 royal family. Lords were allowed to wear velvet, knights satin, 

 and esquires and gentlemen camelet. None but noblemen were 

 allowed to wear woolen clothes made out of England, or fur of 

 sables, and no laborer, servant, or artificer might wear any cloth 

 which cost more than two shillings a yard. In the year 1336 an 

 act of Parliament was passed which I quote in full, as showing to 

 what extremes law can go in the way of interfering with the 

 interior life of the citizens : 



" "Whereas heretofore, through the excessive and over-many 

 sorts of costly meats which the people of this Realm have used 

 more than elsewhere, many mischiefs have happened to the 



