THE 



"Item, the xxiiij dave of Novembre my lorde paied to Larken, to by 

 him a gown of coton russet . . ." 



Again, in the 'Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York,' 

 queen of Henry VII., is the entry (p. 104) : — 



" March 1503. Itm. payed to Cristofe Ascue for v yerdes of cotton 

 russet of him bought by Nicholas Sadler for the Quene's choare 

 at vj d the yerd ij s vj d." 



And in the 'Household Book of Lord William Howard' 

 (p. 291):- 



" 1633 Nov 9. For one yearde of russett Jean's fustian." 



That the material known as " russet" and "russetting" was 

 of a gray colour may be inferred from many illustrations of the 

 use of the word. 



Skelton, in his satire upon the Alewife of Leatherhead, 

 Eleanor Rummynge, describes her as — 



" Footed like a plane, 

 Legged like a crane, 

 In her furred flocket 

 And gray russet rocket, 

 Her hood of Lincoln green, 

 It had been hers I ween 

 More than forty year." 



Thus Sir Walter Scott, in the ballad of ' Alice Brand ' : — 



" If fall and vair no more I wear, 

 Nor thou the crimson sheen, 

 As warm we'll say is the russet gray 

 As gay the forest green." 



Lady of the Lake, Canto iv., stz. 12. 



This was the ordinary clothing material at one time amongst 

 the English peasantry :— 



" And for the better credit of the world, 

 In their fresh russets everyone doth go." 



Drayton, Eclogue ix. 



Shenstone, in one of his poems, written in 1714, in imitation 

 of Spenser, has : — 



ZOOLOGIST. — SEPT. 1893. 2 D 



