374 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



what like our shoes, and was tied above with latchets or strings ; and 

 the sale-i or slipper, which covered only the sole of the foot, and was 

 fastened with leathern thongs. The calceus was always worn along 

 with the toga when a person went abroad ; slippers were put on dur- 

 ing a journey and at feasts, but it was reckoned effeminate to appear 

 in public with them. Black shoes were worn by the citizens of ordi- 

 nary rank, and white ones by the women. Red shoes were some- 

 times worn by the ladies, and purple ones by the coxcombs of the 

 other sex. Red shoes were put on by the chief magistrates of Rome 

 on days of ceremony and triumph. The shoes of senators, patricians, 

 and their children, had a crescent upon them, which served for a 

 buckle ; these were called calcei lunati. 



In the ninth and tenth centuries the greatest princes of Europe 

 wore wooden shoes, or the upper part of leather and the sole of wood. 

 In the reign of William Rufus, a great beau, Robert, surnamed the 

 Horned, used shoes with long sharp points, stuffed with tow, and 

 twisted like a ram's horn. It is said the clergy, being highly offended, 

 declaimed against the long pointed shoes with great vehemence. 

 The points, however, continued to increase, till in the reign of Rich- 

 ard II. they were of so enormous a length that they were tied to the 

 knees with chains sometimes of gold, sometimes of silver. The upper 

 parts of these shoes in Chaucer's time were cut in imitation of a church 

 window. The long pointed shoes were called crackowes; and con- 

 tinued in fashion for three centuries, in spite of the bulls of popes, the 

 decrees of councils, and the declamations of the clergy. At length 

 the parliament of England interposed by an act, A. D. 1463, pro- 

 hibiting the use of shoes or boots with pikes exceeding two inches in 

 length, and prohibiting all shoemakers from making shoes or boots 

 with longer pikes under severe penalties. But even this was not 

 sufficient ; it was necessary to denounce the dreadful sentence of ex- 

 communication against all who wore shoes or boots with points longer 

 than two inches. The present fashion of shoes was introduced in 

 1633 ; the buckle was not used till 1670. 



In Norway they use shoes of a particular construction, consisting 

 of two pieces, and without heels ; in which the upper leather fits close 

 to the foot, the sole being joined to it by many plaits or folds. The 

 shoes or slippers of the Japanese, as we are informed by Professor 

 Thunberg, are made of rice straw woven, but sometimes, for people 

 of distinction, of fine slips of ratan. The shoe consists of a sole with- 

 out upper leather or hind piece ; forwards it is crossed by a strap of 

 the thickness of one's finger, which is lined with linen ; from the tip 

 of the shoe to the strap a cylindrical string is carried, which passes 

 between the great and second toe, and keeps the shoe fast on the foot. 

 As these shoes have no hind piece, they make a noise when people 

 walk in *hem like slippers. When the Japanese travel, their shoei 



