BUTTONS AND CLASPS. 347 



far as is known, buttons and hooks belong only to advanced 

 civilisation. The simplest garment is, of coarse, a cloth of 

 some material wrapped round the waist, and, as we see in the 

 wonderful Egyptian paintings which have survived their 

 painters some three thousand years, the simple fold can retain 

 its grasp round the loins, even through the exertions of a long 

 day's work. 



I was always at a loss, when looking at these drawings, to 

 understand how a single fold could retain so simple a garment 

 in its place, but when I made my first visit to the Hammam 

 Turkish Bath in Jermyn Street the mystery was at once solved. 

 The " check," as it is there called, is long enough to pass about 

 once and a half round the waist of an ordinary man. One 

 end of it is placed on the left side, so as to bring the lower 

 edge on a level with the knee. It is held by the left hand 

 until the right hand passes it round the waist. It is then turned 

 over in a broad single fold, and will remain in position for 

 hours, the left leg having free scope between the two ends, and 

 yet not being needlessly exposed. 



Next to the simple fold comes the tie, which is in use all 

 over the world. The chief object of a good Tie is that it 

 should retain its hold as long as needed, be loosened with a 

 touch in necessity, and, as a matter of consequence, should 

 never "jam." 



Still, even the best of ties are liable to objection. I once 

 heard an argument on the subject of ties and buckles with 

 regard to shoes. The speakers were both Derbyshire men, 

 and their phraseology was somewhat obscure. However, both 

 stuck to his own principles, one saying that "when a shee-uew 

 is boo-oo-oockled, it's boo-oo-ookled ; " and the other assert- 

 ing, in equally strong terms, that " when it's tee-ee-eed, it's 

 tee-ee-eeu. 



The buckle was here asserting its supremacy in civilisation 

 over the tie, and was palpably right. Any one, so rose the 

 argument, can tie two strings together, but the structure of the 

 buckle is too complicated to be understood, much less invented, 

 by any uncivilised being. 



NEXT come, in natural order, the Button and the Clasp, 

 each being identical in principle. In the case of the former 



