THE STORY OF COSTUMES 



the problem now became one of finding a new collar 

 that would be dignified and stiff without the forbid- 

 den starch "or other alchemy/' for so the pragmatics 

 read. 



A clever Madrid tailor finally appeared one day 

 before the king with a wide-spreading construction 

 he had made of cardboard, covered with silk on its 

 inner surface and with cloth on the outer. The card- 

 board had been ironed and shellacked to give it a per- 

 manent shape. The new collar looked well and it 

 was certainly an economical neck-gear, so Philip, 

 well pleased at his subject's ingenuity, ordered some 

 from the happy tailor for himself and his brother. 



"But alas!" says an authority on Spanish history, 

 "the pragmatics had forbidden 'any sort of alchemy' 

 to make collars stiff, and moreover, the Inquisition 

 was soon told by its spies that some secret incantations, 

 needing the use of mysterious smoking pots and heated 

 machines turned by handles, were being performed by 

 the tailor in the Calle Mayor." 



Here was trouble indeed for this humble maker of 

 fashions. He was haled before the dread tribunal, and 

 was most lucky, as he thought, to escape with having 

 his stock and implements burnt before his door. 



It is needless to say that the President of the Inqui- 

 sition was severely censured when the matter came to the 

 king's attention, and the tailor once more set to work. 



His new creations were promptly called "gollilas" 

 and were worn at once by the men of the royal family 

 and their many courtiers. 



'Thenceforward," continues Hume, "all Spain, 



