STAINED GLASS AT NORBURY MANOR HOUSE, 153 
fantastical and absurd, insomuch that it was even difficult to 
distinguish the one sex from the other. The men wore petticoats 
over their lower clothing ; their doublets were laced in front like 
a woman’s stays.” It will be seen that these remarks will apply 
to some of the dresses here figured. With regard to the probable 
date of these fragments, it may be remarked that they were pro- 
bably painted during the latter half of the century, although they 
give representations of dresses worn in the reign of Henry IV.,* 
and, in corroboration of this, we may mention that there is among 
the Harleian MSS. a little calendar of the year 1411, in whicha 
representation of Winter is given, corresponding in most of its 
details with that in our plate of January ; and those who wish to 
compare may do so by referring to Fairholt’s Costume in England, 
p- 138, in which a copy from this picture is engraved. 
We will now describe the Months in order. 
It will be seen that January being a very cold month 
generally, could be best impersonated by an elderly gentle- 
man clothed in a winter dress, consisting of a felt hat, with 
the brim turned down, underneath which he wears a close- 
fitting hood that envelopes the head and descends to his 
shoulders, forming a kind of cape, and, instead of the usual 
tunic, he wears a long gown, or robe, with richly embroidered 
cuffs and girdle, the edges of which robe are trimmed with 
fur; his legs are clothed in tight-fitting hose, and his feet are 
protected by shoes with buckles, with the addition of clogs; 
his chair, also, for greater warmth, is covered with a loose cloth, 
while he comforts his inner man with some kind of spiced wine 
which is being heated in a pipkin placed upon a three-legged 
pot suspended over the fire at which he warms his feet. One can 
scarcely imagine a better way of representing winter than we have 
here ; and there is some sentiment too, for the man is in the time 
of life when the forces of nature are low, and it requires all his 
ingenuity to keep them going at all—it is life’s winter with him, 
* Mr. James Fowler, F.S.A., whose valuable paper in the Archeologia we 
refer to below, suggests that these medallions are of the time of Henry VII. 
