66 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



nothing whatever in this invention to ofifend the most sensi- 

 tive equestrienne, nothing to hurt the proper feelings of the 

 most modest. If preferred, the skirt may be provided on 

 each side with a sUt, extending down from the knees, so as 

 to enable the wearer to readily use the skirt when wearing 

 breeches or riding boots. That such an enterprising firm as 

 Messrs. Redfern, of Paris, should have secured the patent 

 rights for France, speaks volumes in favour of Mr. Shingle- 

 ton's really admirable invention. 



Except for summer wear in early morning or in the 

 country, and in the case of young girls, when grey is per- 

 missible, the habit should be made of some dark cloth. In 

 the hunting-field, on which subject I am not touching in this 

 volume, some ladies who *' go " don pink, those patronising 

 the Duke of Beaufort's wearing the becoming livery of the 

 Badminton Hunt, than which nothing is more becoming. 

 Diagonal ribbed cloths are much in vogue for skirts. Stout 

 figures tone down the appearance of too great solidity and 

 rotundity by wearing an adaptation of the military tunic. 

 The long jacket-body, depicted in Mr. Shingleton's sketch 

 of the " Zenith," is well suited to full figures. Waistcoats 

 are all the rage, — blue bird's-eye, plush-leather with pearl 

 buttons, kersey, corduroy, nankeen, etc., in endless variety, 

 and are very much in evidence, as are shirt fronts, high 

 collars, silk ties with sporting-pin a la cavaliere. Braiding or 

 ornamentation is bad form ; no frilling, no streamers are 

 admissible; everything, to be in good taste, ought to be of 

 the very best, without one inch of superfluous material, — 

 severely simple. 



In the Park, except for young ladies just entering on their 

 teens, or children, the tall silk hat is de rigueur. The 

 present prevailing *' chimney-pot" or "stove-pipe" model, 

 shaped something like the tompion of a gun, is an unbecom- 



