COSTUMECOTTON. 



419 



elbows, in order to show the fineness of the shirts. 

 The dress of the two sexes could hardly be dis- 

 tinguished from each other ; men wore petticoats 

 over their lower clothing; the doublets were laced 

 in front like stays, over a stomacher ; and the 

 gowns were open in front to the girdle, and again 

 from the girdle to the ground. The women wore 

 gowns, enormous trains, and corsets over the 

 other dress ; and were particularly distinguished by 

 tvvo peculiarities, the horned and the steeple head- 

 dresses; the former consisting of two elevations 

 like a mitre worn edgewise, the other having only 

 one elevation, of a pyramidal or conical form, and 

 very high. Addison dates the existence of these 

 enormous head-dresses a century earlier, though 

 they probably appeared both in the fourteenth and 

 fifteenth centuries. He says, " I do not remember 

 in any part of my reading, that the head-dress 

 aspired to so great an extravagance as in the four- 

 teenth century ; when it was built up in a couple 

 of cones or spires, which stood so excessively high, 

 on each side of the head, that a woman, who was 

 but a pigmy without her head-dress, appeared like 

 a Colossus upon putting it on. Monsieur Paradin 

 says, that these old-fashioned fan t ages rose an ell 

 above the head ; that they were pointed like 

 steeples, and had long pieces of crape fastened to 

 the tops of them, which were curiously fringed, and 

 hung down their backs like streamers." 



In the sixteenth century, men wore gowns, bod- 

 dices, close pantaloons, boots coming up to the 

 middle of the thigh, cloaks, slashed doublets, pet- 

 ticoat breeches, and the remarkable trunk hose, 

 which were breeches sitting close to the leg, and 

 stuffed out enormously about the hips. The 

 women appeared in long boddices, with or without 

 skirts, and the famous farthingale, which was an 

 immense hooped petticoat; they also invented a 

 kind of doublet with high wings and puffed sleeves, 

 a costume in full fashion in the beginning of the 

 reign of Elizabeth. To give our readers a better 

 notion of the costume of this period, we will again 

 quote from Scott, who was extremely correct and 

 minutely accurate in his descriptions. Whom, then, 

 can we select, as a more worthy representative of 

 the fashions of the sixteenth century, than that re- 

 nowned cavalier Sir Piercie Shafton? His first 

 appearance is thus described: "He has a crimson 

 velvet bonnet, and long, brown hair falling down 

 under it, and a beard on his upper lip, and his chin 

 clean and close shaved, save a small patch on the 

 point of it, and a sky-blue jerkin slashed, and lined 

 with white satin, and trunk hose to suit." Again, 

 in speaking of his wardrobe, Sir Piercie gives the 

 following catalogue, which might drive a modern 

 dandy to despair. "My rich crimson silk doublet, 

 slashed out and lined with cloth of gold, which I 

 wore at the last revels, with baldric and trimmings 

 to correspond; also two pair of black silk slops, with 

 hanging garters of carnation silk ; also the flesh- 

 coloured silken doublet with the trimmings of fur, 

 in which I danced the salvage man at the Gray's 

 Inn mummery." " There are four suits of as pure 

 and elegant device as ever the fancy of a fair lady 

 doated upon, every one having a treble and appro- 

 priate change of ribbons, trimmings, and fringes, 

 which, in case of need, may, as it were, renew each 

 of them, and multiply the four into twelve. There 

 is also my sad-coloured riding suit, and three cut- 

 work shirts with falling bands," &c. Such were 

 the wonders of the wardrobe in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. The changes of dress since that time have 



been great. The subject is ample and amusing, as 

 connected with politics, literature, and religion, as 

 well as fashion, but we forbear to pursue it. 



COTTON (a.) The cotton-wool of commerce 

 is the delicately-soft down which surrounds the 

 seeds of a tree, or rather shrub, found in most of 

 the warmer latitudes of the earth, both in the old 

 and new world. Of the genus to which this tree 

 belongs there are at least nine or ten different spe- 

 cies, nearly resembling each other ; the most com- 

 mon is the Gossypium herbaceum. The cotton 

 plant is extensively cultivated in different parts of 

 the East Indies, in which countries it requires three 

 seasons to bring the seed to maturity. It is also 

 cultivated to a considerable extent in the Mogul 

 empire, in the kingdoms of Siam and Pegu, in 

 Sumatra, Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, Natolia, 

 Smyrna, and Aleppo: also, in Sierra Leone and 

 other parts of Africa ; particularly in Egypt, where, 

 within these few years past, a very superior quality 

 of cotton has been raised. The first imported into 

 this country from Egypt was in 1823, and it now 

 ranks in price and quality next to Sea-Island 

 cotton. The cotton plant is also cultivated in 

 Candia, Cyprus, Malta ; and attempts have recently 

 been made to cultivate it in Spain and the south of 

 France. It is grown in some parts of the Russian 

 empire : in Astracan, Orenburg, Levant, &c. But 

 the chief supply of the British market is from 

 South America, the East and West Indies, and 

 the southern states of the American union ; in 

 all of which countries it is cultivated to a great ex- 

 tent. 



The mode of cultivating the cotton plant de- 

 pends upon its being annual or perennial. In gen- 

 eral, the annual cotton-tree thrives best in a dry 

 gravelly soil ; it is also said to answer better in old 

 than in newly cultivated lands. An exposure to 

 the east, where the country is hilly, is considered 

 by some to be of importance. The planters gener- 

 ally commence preparing their lands in February, 

 and put in the seed during March and April. 

 Holes are made in rows, at the distance of from 

 seven to eight feet ; into each of these an indefinite 

 quantity of seed is laid, which in a short time be- 

 gins to germinate ; and as soon as the young plants 

 rise to the height of six or seven inches, they are 

 all, except two or three of the most vigorous, 

 pulled up by the roots. The surviving plants are 

 pruned twice before the month of August, so as to 

 keep them down to the height of about four feet. 

 This is absolutely necessary, as, when there is a 

 great abundance, the difficulty of gathering the 

 cotton is increased, without any addition to the 

 quantity. At first, great attention is requisite to 

 keep down the weeds and grass, which, if not eradi- 

 cated, would soon destroy the young plants. The 

 plant on its first appearance, and for a few weeks, 

 is extremely tender ; the slightest frost hurts or 

 kills it. When this happens, a new crop is usu- 

 ally sown, though with dubious success. Light 

 showery weather is said to be most favourable to 

 the plentifulness of the crop. The gathering sea- 

 son commences partially in August, but is general 

 in September and October, and continues when the 

 weather is fine and dry, till Christmas, as the pods 

 ripen and open gradually. On the coast of Guiana 

 and the Brazils, the perennial cotton-tree is almost 

 exclusively cultivated, and subjected to a different 

 mode of treatment. Throughout the United 

 States, the cotton-tree is an annual plant, and is 

 not cultivated north of latitude 35 ; but some 

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