338 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



" A russet stole was o'er her shoulders thrown, 

 A russet kirtle fenced the nipping air, 

 Twas simple russet, but it was her own." 



The Schoolmistress. 



And Rogers has introduced it with good effect in one of his most 

 charming poems : — 



" Mine be a cot beside the hill ; 



A bee-hive's hum shall soothe my ear; 

 A willowy brook that turns a mill 

 With many a fall shall linger near. 

 * * * * * 

 Around my ivied porch shall spring 



Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew, 

 And Lucy at her wheel shall sing 

 In russet gown and apron blue." 



A Wish. 

 In 1653 our forefathers sang: — 



" Our clothing is good sheepskin, 

 Gray russet for our wives ; 

 'Tis warmth and not gay clothing 

 That doth prolong our lives." 



Corydons Song, in Walton's 'Angler' 



And here, as in the following quotation from Percy's 

 ' Reliques,' it is evident that "russet" is the material, and 

 " gray " the colour of it : — 



" Then Bessy that was of bewtye soe bright, 

 All cladd in gray russett." 



The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green, I., 13, 14. 



It was also employed as good wearing material for a soldier's 

 doublet. Sir Walter Scott recognised this fact when he wrote : — 



" His skin was fair, his ringlets gold, 

 His bosom, when he sighed, 

 The russet doublet's rugged fold 

 Could scarce repel its pride." 



Marmion, Canto I., p. 37. 



Five-and-twenty years ago this same material, gray russet, or 

 something very like it, was affected by sportsmen in the South of 

 Kngland when partridge-shooting in September. Struck with its 



