CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



velvet or gold, embroidered and tasselled. The 

 young Greeks are the handsomest race in Europe ; 

 their long hair falls over their shoulders from 

 under the cap ; their embroidered jackets, vests, 

 and buskins, their arms mounted with silver and 

 even jewels, and their white kilts, compose, on 

 the whole, one of the most graceful and becoming 

 costumes in the world. 



The costume of the Greek female closely re- 

 sembles that of the Turks. She wears loose 

 trousers of fine calico, embroidered with flowers, 

 a closely fitting vest, a jewelled zone about the 

 waist, and a long-sleeved gown, flowing off loosely 

 behind, or a veil covering the body; and some- 

 times a rich pelisse trimmed with fur. Jewellery 

 is worn to excess ; and bracelets of gems, or 

 strings of gold coins round the arm and neck, 

 across the forehead, and in the hair, which the 

 younger girls let fall down their backs and over 

 their brows and cheeks. Little caps, similar to 

 those of the men, are also worn by the females, 

 studded with coins, but worn on one side of the 

 crown, the girls wearing in them flowers, and 

 the matrons, heron-plumes or jewels. The young 

 women often dye their hair auburn, and the old 

 ladies red, with which colour the nails are also 

 tinged. The females walk abroad in a robe of 

 red or blue cloth, and an ample muslin veil. 



The dress of modern Europe, and, we may add, 

 that of civilised America, differs little in essentials. 

 With few exceptions, it is well fitted for an active, 

 hard-working, city-dwelling people ; it has little 

 cumbrous or unnecessary about it, and if not 

 always so graceful or picturesque as could be 

 wished, it is free at least from the reproach of 

 ' barbaric pomp and ornament.' Climate, business 

 vocations, and conventional usages, require it to 

 be somewhat precise ; but this precision can never 

 become ridiculous unless through what the gay 

 world denominates fashion. The usual notions 

 concerning flowing or classical costume are tradi- 

 tionary and irrational ; for if there be anything 

 'divine 'in the hurnan form, the less that any 

 costume cumbers, and conceals it consistently 

 with comfort and decorum the more becoming 

 must it of necessity be. We devote the remain- 

 ing pages to the history and development of 



BRITISH COSTUME. 



Partly from a wider acquaintance with other 

 countries, partly from 

 the introduction of new 

 pursuits and vocations, 

 and partly from caprice 

 and fashion, the cos- 

 tume of our country has 

 undergone many changes 

 in the course of ages. 

 Among the Southern 

 Britons, at the time when 

 Julius Caesar landed in 

 the country (55 B.C.), the 

 arts connected with cloth- 

 .-.- ing had made some ad- 

 vance ; but in the more 

 r northern parts, the prac- 

 tice of living half-naked, 

 p. with painted and tattooed 



bodies, was common, 

 and, notwithstanding the severity of climate, re- 



790 



mained till a much later period. Such fanciful de 

 orations are supposed to have given name to the 

 nation oiPicts (from the Latin word^V/z, painted) ; 

 corresponding to their Celtic designation of 

 cruithne. 



The usual Roman dress, in the latter period of 

 the Empire, consisted of a tunic, or loose upper 

 garment, with a dress for the lower limbs, called 

 braccce j hence the modern term breeches. Over 

 all was occasionally worn by the higher classes 

 the toga, or mantle. It is believed that these 

 Roman costumes were generally copied by the 

 greater number of British, at least among the more 

 opulent classes. In the dress of the women, how- 

 ever, there was but little change. They appear in 

 two tunics, the one reaching to the ankles, the 

 other having short sleeves, and reaching about 

 half-way down the thigh : in other words, they 

 resemble a round gown, or bedgown and petti- 

 coat, though the latter, distinct from a body and 

 sleeves, is not considered to be ancient. This 

 tunic was called in British gwn; hence our word 

 gown, of which we still see specimens of short 

 dimensions worn by women of the humbler classes 

 in England, Scotland, and Wales. 



Anglo-Saxon and Danish Periods. 



The Anglo-Saxon and Danish periods of Eng- 

 lish history are marked by new peculiarities in 

 costume. Soon after the departure of the Romans 

 and the arrival of the Saxons in 449, fashions of 

 apparel were introduced from Northern Germany, 

 which were copied by the Romanised British, and 

 continued with no material change for several 

 centuries. 



The most important improvement in the ordi- 

 nary dress of the people was the introduction of 

 the shirt, a linen garment worn next the skin, for 

 which we are indebted to the Saxon invaders. 

 The common dress of the eighth century con- 

 sisted, as we find, of linen shirts ; tunics, or a 

 kind of surcoat ; cloaks fastened on the breast 

 or shoulders with brooches ; short drawers met 

 by hose, over which were worn bands of cloth, 

 linen, or leather, in diagonal crossings. Leathern 

 sandals were worn by the early Anglo-Saxons ; 

 but afterwards the shoe became common : it was 

 very simple, and well contrived for comfort, being 

 opened down the instep, and there, by a thong 

 passed through holes on each side of the slit, 

 drawn tight round the feet like a purse. A felt 

 or woollen cap, called haet (hence our modern 

 word hat), was worn by the higher class of Anglo- 

 Saxons ; but it is generally believed that the serfs 

 or lower orders were without any other covering 

 for the head than what nature had given them. 



Although Sir Walter Scott disclaims pretension 

 to complete accuracy in the costume of the char- 

 acters in his historical romances, the following por- 

 trait of Gurth, the Saxon swine-herd, in Ivanhoe, 

 is nearly correct : ' His garment was of the 

 simplest form imaginable, being a close jacket 

 with sleeves, composed of the tanned skin of some 

 animal, on which the hair had been originally left, 

 but which had been worn off in so many places 

 that it would have been difficult to distinguish 

 from the patches that remained to what creature 

 the fur had belonged. This primeval vestment 

 reached from the throat to the knee, and served at 

 once all the purposes of body-clothing. There was 

 no wider opening at the collar than was necessary to 



