RELATION BETWEEN IDEAS AND COSTUMES. 63 



and independence of personal conduct, is not a phenome- 

 non of to-day only, we may see alike in the appearance ol 

 Franklin at the French court in plain clothes, and in the 

 white hats worn by the last generation of radicals. Origi- 

 nality of nature is sure to show itself in more ways than 

 one. The mention of George Fox's suit of leather, or 

 Pestalozzi's school name, "Harry Oddity," will at once 

 suggest the remembrance that men who have in great 

 things diverged from the beaten track, have frequently 

 done so in small things likewise. Minor ilhistrations of 

 this truth may be gathered in almost every circle. We 

 believe that whoever will number up his reforming and 

 rationalist acquaintances, will find among them more than 

 the usual proportion of those who in dress or behaviour 

 exhibit some degree of what the world calls eccentricity. 



If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics 

 or religion, are commonly revolutionists in custom also, 

 it is not less a fact that those whose office it is to uphold 

 established arrangements in State and Church, are also 

 those who most adhere to the social forms and obser- 

 vances bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices 

 elsewhere extinct still linger about the headquarters of 

 government. The monarch still gives assent to Acts of 

 Parliament in the old French of the Normans ; and Nor- 

 man French terms are still used in law. Wigs, such as 

 those we see depicted in old portraits, may yet be found 

 on the heads of judges and barristers. The Beefeaters 

 at the Tower wear the costume of Henry YHth's body- 

 guard. The University dress of the present year varies 

 but little from that worn soon after the Reformation. 

 The claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, lace shirt frills, 

 rufiies, white silk stockings, and buckled shoes, which 

 once formed the usual attire of a gentleman, still survive 

 as the court-dress. And it need scarcely be said that at 

 levees and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies are prescribed 



