loaded with jewels, that she could scarcely walk. In a corner of the room stood some of the king's children, so stiffened out with brocade, velvet, furs, and jewelry, that they almost looked like fixtures. Great numbers of women were ranged in rows without the room, all ornamented with jewelry."

The bestowing of dresses is a mark of honor constantly practised in Persia, and is one of the most ancient customs of Eastern nations; it is mentioned both in sacred and profane history. We learn how great was the distinction of giving a coat that had been worn, by what is recorded of Jonathan's love for David. "And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David; and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle." (1 Samuel, xviii. 4.) And in Esther also (ch. vi. 7, 8), we read, "And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear."

The maidens of Yezd, a town situated near the Ghebers' "holy mountain," wear a head-dress composed of a light gold chain-work set with small pearls, with a thin gold plate hanging from the side, about the size of a crown-piece, on which is inscribed an Arabian prayer, thus described by Moore:

"A light golden chain-work round her hair,
Such as the maids of Yezd and Shiraz wear,
From which, on either side, gracefully hung
A golden amulet, in the Arab tongue
Engraven o'er, with some immortal line
From Holy Writ, or bard scarce less divine."

The females of Khorassan wear ear-rings of very large dimensions, with great quantities of turquoises suspended from them, for these stones are of but little valuo

"In that delightful province of the Sun,
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,
Where all the loveliest children of his beam,
Flow'rets and fruits, blush over every stream;
And, fairest of all streams, the Murga roves
Among Miron's bright palaces and groves."

We must not take leave of the fair sex of Persia without mentioning the Squadanus, or Bebees, the female descendants of Mohammed, who go about veiled, or rather with a long white robe thrown over the whole body, having netted orifices before the eyes and mouth.

"When Lalla Rookh rose in the morning, and her ladies came round her to assist in the adjustment of the bridal ornaments, they thought they had never seen her look half so beautiful. What she had lost of the bloom and radiance of her charms was more than made up by that intellectual expression, that soul in the eyes, which is worth all the rest of loveliness. When they had tinged her fingers with the henna leaf, and placed upon her

brow a small coronet of jewels of the shape worn by the ancient queens of Bucharia, they flung over her head the rose-colored bridal veil, and she proceeded to the barge that was to convey her across the lake." The ladies of Circassia sometimes appear abroad on horseback, riding like men, or on foot, but always veiled, not only with a muslin screen, through which at times a transient glimpse of a pretty face may be caught, but often with an impenetrable veil of black hair-cloth. They wear the same pelisses as the men, only that the sleeves, instead of being used as such, are tucked together and tied behind. They also wear, even in the house, huge Hessian boots made of velvet, and highly ornamented. They braid their hair, and let it hang in tresses down their shoulders; on the head they wear a large white turban, but a veil covers the face. The exhibition of beauty, in which so much of a woman's time is spent in more favored countries, is here unknown. A bride wears a rose-colored veil on her marriage-day.

Deep blue is the distinctive mark of mourning in this country.

"In that deep blue, melancholy dress Bokhara's maidens wear in mindfulness Of friends or kindred, dead or far away." The Turkomans are a warlike and handsome race. They wear the talpak, a square or conical black skull-cap of sheep-skin, which is about a foot in height, and much more becoming for a warrior than a turban. They are very partial to bright colors, and generally choose light red, green, or yellow for their flowing chumpkans, or pelisses. Long brown boots are universally worn.

To the ladies of this tribe belonged the beautiful and delicate Roxana, the bewitching queen of Alexander, that Peri of the East whose beauty, like the perfume of the rose, is remembered with pleasure long after the casket which enshrined it is mouldered in the dust. They wear a head-dress consisting of a lofty white turban, shaped like a military shako, but still higher, over which they throw a red or white scarf that falls in folds down to the waist. As these ladies are generally rather on a large scale, this head-dress becomes them.

They attach a variety of ornaments to their hair, which hangs in tresses over their shoulders. Unlike most other Eastern women, they do not consider a veil a necessary appendage to their dress. The rest of their costume consists of a long gown of a bright color, that reaches to the ankle, and conceals both it and the waist, those standard points of beauty with most nations.

And now we must say a few words of

"The maids, whom kings are proud to cull From fair Circassia's vales;"

they whose charms the historian from the earliest times has immortalized, and the poet sung. The

costume of these houris is simple, and not remarkable for beauty. It consists in a long loose gown of divers colors, tied about the waist with a sash. The hair is worn in tresses, which hang on each side of the face, surmounted by a black coif, over which is placed a white cloth, which passes under the chin, where it is tied in a bow.

The unrivalled excellence of the manufactures of Cashmere is attributed to certain properties in the water of that country, for, though great pains have been taken to manufacture similar shawls at Patna, Agra, and Lahore, they never have the delicate texture and softness of those of Cashmere. Sir A. Burnes, in the description of his journey through the vale of Cashmere, says, "Our approach to the Mohammedan countries became evident daily, and showed itself in nothing more than the costume of the women, many of whom we now met veiled. One girl whom we saw on the road had a canopy of red cloth erected over her on horseback, which had a ludicrous appearance. It seemed to be a framework of wood; but, as the cloth concealed everything as well as the countenance of the fair lady, I did not discover the contrivance. The costume of the unveiled portion of the sex had likewise undergone a change. They wore wide blue trowsers, tied tightly at the ankle, and which taper down and have a graceful appearance. A narrow web of cloth, sixty yards long, is sometimes used in a single pair, for one fold falls upon the other."

Over the hair, which is worn in a single braid, they place a cap generally of a crimson color, to the

back of which is attached a triangular curtain of the same stuff, which falls upon the shoulders and conceals much of the hair; round the lower edge of the cap is folded a shawl or piece of cotton or woolen cloth, which gives it much the appearance of a turban.

PATRIOTIC STANZAS.

BY J. J. BAKER.

WHEN, grieved, we see the nation's mind Heaving, tumultuous, unconfined,

By angry passions driven

"Tis sweet to think of God's great might, When he dispelled chaotic night,

And spread the vault of heaven.

Or as the seaman, terrified,
Beholds the raging, foaming tide,

His sails by tempests riven-
Yet trusts, submitting to His will,
Whose power the elements can still,
And lay the ocean even.

Thus, when the sea of civil life Rages with storms and windy strife, And dark the heavens frownThen God walks forth upon the sea, As once of old on Galilee,

And treads the billows down.

He who gave the seas their bound,
And measured all their depths profound,
Hath said: "Thus far, proud wave;
No farther shall thy rage proceed;
Back to thy parent depths recede,
And other countries lave."

He speaks-submissive to his word
The waves respond in sweet accord,
And murmur a retreat;
Glancing in light, their amber tides
Obedient flow where'er he guides,
Or glass beneath his feet.

The prayers of patriots shall prevail,

And for their country's good avail

Beyond the common fate:

Their country's woes their themes of prayer,

What burdens to the throne they bear!

And how importunate!

*God of our fathers," oft they cry,

"If other good thou dost deny, Yet this one blessing give: Disunion from our land dispel : Her brood of foul disturbers quell, And let our country live!"

The Sage whose patriotic fire
Can only with his life expire,
Doth thus devoutly pray;
And shall not the pure incense rise,
And pierce the portals of the skies,
From the pure heart of CLAY?

WITH the ancient Greeks and Romans the coverings for the feet assumed their most elegant forms, yet in no instance does the comfort of the wearer appear to have been sacrificed, or the natural play of the foot interfered with-that appears to have been especially reserved for "march of intellect" days. Vegetable sandals, termed Baxa, or Baxea, were worn by the lower classes, and, as a symbol of their humility, by the philosophers and priests. Apuleius describes a young priest as wearing sandals of palm; they were, no doubt, similar in construction to the Egyptian ones of which we have already given specimens, and which were part of the required and characteristic dress of the Egyptian priesthood. Such vegetable sandals were, however, occasionally decorated with ornaments to a considerable extent, and they then became expensive. The making of them in all their variety was the business of a class of men called Baxearii; and these, with the Solearii-or makers of the simplest kind of sandal worn, consisting of a sole with little more to fasten it to the foot than a strap across the instep-constituted a corporation or college of Rome.

The solea were generally worn by the higher classes only, for lightness and convenience, in the house; the shoes (calceus) being worn out of doors. The Soccus was the intermediate covering for the foot, being something between the solea and the calceus; it was, in fact, precisely like the modern slipper, and could be cast off at pleasure, as it did not fit closely, and was secured by no tie. This, like the solea and crepida, was worn by the lower classes and country people; and hence, the comedians wore such cheap and common coverings for the feet, to contrast with the Cothurnus or buskin of the tragedians, which they assumed, as it was adapted to be part of a grand and stately attire. Hence the term applied to theatrical performers, "Brethren of the sock and buskin;" and, as this distinction is both ancient and curious, specimens of both are here given from antique authorities. The side and front view of the sock below is copied from a painting of a buffoon, who is dancing in loose yellow slippers, one of the commonest colors in which the leather used for their construction was dyed. Such slippers were made to fit both feet indifferently, but the more finished boots and shoes were made for one foot only from the earliest period. The Cothurnus, the centre figure, was a boot of the highest kind, reaching above the calf of the leg, and sometimes as far as the knee. It was laced as the

boots of the ancients always were, down the front, the object of such an arrangement being to make

them fit the leg as closely as possible, and the skin of which they were made was dyed purple, and other gay colors; the head and paws of the wild animal were sometimes allowed to hang around the leg from the upper part of the Cothurnus, to which it formed a graceful addition.

The sole of the Cothurnus was of the ordinary thickness in general; but it was occasionally made much thicker by the insertion of slices of cork, when the wearer wished to add to his height, and thus the Athenian tragedians, who assumed this boot as the most dignified of coverings for the feet, had the soles made unusually thick, in order that it might add to the magnitude and dignity of their whole appearance.

The shoe or sandal worn by the rustics of ancient Rome was formed of a skin turned over the foot, and secured by thongs passing through the sides, and over the toe, crossing each other over the instep, and secured firmly round the ankle. Any person familiar with the prints of Pinelli, pictures of the modern brigands of the Abruzzi, or the models of the latter worthies in terra-cotta to be met with in most curiosity shops, will at once recognize those they wear as being of the same form. The traveller who has visited modern Rome will also remember to have seen them on the feet of the peasantry who traverse the Pontine marshes; and the older Irish, and the comparatively modern Highlander, both wore similar ones; they were formed of the skin of the cow or deer, with the hair on them, and were held on the feet by leather thongs. They were the simplest and warmest kind of foot-covering to be obtained when every man was his own shoemaker.

There was a form of shoe worn at this early time in which the toes were entirely uncovered. This shoe appears to be made of a pliable leather, which fits closely to the foot; for it was considered as a mark of rusticity to wear shoes larger than the foot,

or which fitted in a loose and slovenly manner. The toes in this instance are left perfectly free; the upper leather is secured round the ankle by a tie, while a thong, ornamented by a stud in its centre, passing over the instep, and between the great and second toe, is secured to the sole in the manner of a sandal. In order that the ankle-bone should not be pressed on or incommoded in walking, the leather is sloped away, and rises around it to a point at the back of the leg.

None but such as had served the office of Edile were allowed to wear shoes of a red color, which we may therefore infer to have been as favorite a color for shoes as it appears to have been among the Hebrews, and as it is still in Western Asia. The Roman Senators wore shoes or buskins of a black color, with a crescent of gold or silver on the top of the foot. The Emperor Aurelian forbade men to wear red, yellow, white, or green shoes, permitting them to be worn by women only, and Heliogabalus forbade women to wear gold or precious stones in their shoes, a fact which will aid us in understanding the sort of decoration indulged in by the earliest Hebrew women, of whose example Judith may be quoted as an instance, to which we have already referred.

The Roman soldiers generally wore a simple form of sandal, which was a solea fastened by thongs, yet they, in the progress of riches and luxury, went with the times and merged into foppery, so that Philopoemon, in recommending soldiers to give more attention to their warlike accoutrements than to their common dress, advises them to be less nice about their shoes and sandals, and more careful in observing that their greaves were kept bright and fitted well to their legs. When about to attack a hill-fort or go on rugged marches, they wore a sandal shod with spikes, and at other times they had soles covered with large clumsy nails. The Greeks and Romans used shoes of this kind as frequently as the early Persians, and wore a combination of sandal and shoe, the upper leather being cut into a series of thongs, through which passed a broad band of leather, which turned not inelegantly round the upper part of the foot, and was secured by passing many times round the ankle and above it, where it was buckled or tied.

The Roman shoes then had various names, and were distinct badges of the position in society held by the wearer. The Solea, Crepida, Pero, and Soccus belonged to the lower classes, the laborers and rustics; the Caliga was principally worn by soldiers; and the Cothurnus by tragedians, hunters, and horsemen, as well as by the nobles of the country.

The latter kind of boot in form and color, as we have already hinted, was indicative of rank or office. Those worn by senators we have noticed, and it was a joke in ancient Rome against men who owed respect solely to the accident of birth or fortune that his nobility was in his heels. The boots of the emVOL. XLV.-14

perors were frequently richly decorated, and the patterns still existing upon marble statues show that they were ornamented in the most elaborate manner. A specimen from the noble statue of Hadrian is in the British Museum, and it is impossible to conceive anything of the kind more elegant and tasteful in its decorations. Real gems and gold were employed by some of the Roman emperors to decorate their boots, and Heliogabalus wore exquisite cameos on his boots and shoes.

The Grecian ladies, according to Hope, wore shoes or half boots laced before and lined with the fur of animals of the cat tribe, whose muzzles or claws hung down from the top.

The barbarous nations with whom the Romans held war are, upon the bas-reliefs of their conquerors, represented in close shoes or half-boots. The Gauls wear the shoe given below, of the same form as that worn by native Britons when Julius Cæsar made his descent upon the British Islands.

Before the arrival of the Saxons, who have transmitted many valuable manuscripts abounding in various delineations of their dress and manners, wo shall not find much to engage the attention where it is our present object to direct it, the history of the coverings for the feet. There is, however, little doubt that the rude skin shoes worn by the native Irish and the country people of Rome was the simple protection adopted in this country in the earliest times. Shoes of this material are found in all nations half civilized, and the ease with which they are formed by merely covering the sole with the hide of an animal, and securing it by a thong, must have had the effect of insuring its general use. Naked feet would, however, be preferred in fine weather, and when shoes were worn, they were generally of a close, warm kind, adapted to the climate; the most antique representations of the Gaulish native chiefs, as given on Roman sculpture, and which may be taken as general representations of British chiefs, may be received as good authorities, their resemblance to each other being so striking as to draw from Cæsar a remark to that effect.

The Saxon figures as given in the drawings by their own hands, to be seen in manuscripts in most of English public libraries, display the costume of this people from the ninth century downwards; and the minute way in which every portion of the dress is given affords us clear examples of their boots and shoes. According to Strutt, high shoes reaching nearly to the middle of the legs, and fastened by lacing in the front, and which may also be properly

considered as a species of half boots, were in use in this country as early as the tenth century; and the only apparent difference between the high shoes of the ancients and the moderns seems to have been that the former laced close down to the toes, and the latter to the instep only. They appear in general to have been made of leather, and were usually fastened beneath the ankles with a thong, which passed through a fold upon the upper part of the leather, encompassing the heel, and which was tied upon the instep. This method of securing the shoe upon the foot was certainly well contrived both for ease and convenience. Three specimens of shoes are here given from Saxon drawings:

in the records of this era, but considers it probable that they were so called because the soles were formed of wood, while the upper parts were formed of some more pliant material: shoes with wooden soles were at this time worn by persons of the most exalted rank; thus, the shoes of Bernard, King of Italy, the grandson of Charlemagne, are thus described by an Italian writer, as they were found in his tomb:

"The shoes," says he, "which covered his feet are remaining to this day, the soles of wood and the upper parts of red leather, laced together with thongs: they were so closely fitted to the feet that the order of the toes, terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered; so that the shoe belonging to the right foot could not be put upon the left, nor that of the left upon the right." It was not uncommon to gild and otherwise ornament the shoes of the nobility. Eginhart describes the shoes worn by Charlemagne on great occasions as set with jewels.

The Normans wore boots and shoes of equal simplicity, rustics are frequently represented with a half boot plain in form, fitting close to the foot, but wide at the ankle, like the first of the group here given, only that in this instance an ornament, consisting of a studded band, surrounds the upper part.

The first is the most ancient and curious; it is copied from "the Durham book," or book of St. Cuthbert, now preserved among the Cottonian manuscripts in the British Museum, and is believed to have been executed as early as the seventh century by the hands of Eadfried, afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died in 721. It partakes of the nature of shoe and sandal, and, with the exception of the buttons down the front, is precisely like the Persepolitan sandal, already engraved and described, as well as like the Roman ones constructed on the same model, and it is curious to see how all are formed after this one fashion.

The second is copied from Strutt's complete view of the dress and habits of the people of England, plate 29, fig. 16, and which he obtained from the Harleian MS., No. 603. It very clearly shows the form of the Saxon shoe, and the long strings by which it was tied. The third figure delineates the most ordinary kind of shoe worn, with the opening to the toes already alluded to, for lacing it. But little variety is observable in the form of this article of dress among the Saxons; it is usually delineated as a solid black mass, just as the last figure has been here engraved, with a white line down the centre to show the opening, but quite as generally without it, and these two forms of shoe, or half boot, are by far the most commonly met with, and are depicted upon the feet of noble and royal personages as well as upon those of the lower class.

Strutt remarks that wooden shoes are mentioned

googl

Such boots were much used by the Normans, and are frequently mentioned by the ancient historians; they do not appear to have been confined to any particular classes of the people, but were worn by persons of all ranks and conditions, as well of the clergy as of the laity, especially when they rode on horseback. The boots delineated in their drawings are very short, rarely reaching higher than the middle of the legs; they were sometimes slightly ornamented; but the boots and shoes of all personages represented in the famous tapestry of Bayeux are of the same simple form of construction; and this celebrated early piece of needlework was believed to have been worked by the wife of the Conqueror, to commemorate his invasion of England and the battle of Hastings. Another form of Norman shoe may be seen in the second figure, which is more enriched than the last; and it is curious that the ornament adopted is in the form of the straps of a sandal, studded with dots throughout. In the original, the shoe is colored with a thin tint of black, these bands being a solid black, with white or gilded lines and dots. Another example of a decorated shoe, as seen in the right-hand figure of the above group, is given from a MS. of the eleventh century, in the British Museum, and shows the kind