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It is an excellent specimen of the sort of sole preferred by the fashionables of that day. The second

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cut exhibits a front view of a similarly made shoe: they were formed of leather, but generally the better classes wore them of rich velvet and silk, the various colors of which were exhibited in slashes at the toes, which were most sparingly covered by the velvet of which the shoe was composed. In the curious full-length portrait of the poetical Earl of Surrey, at Hampton Court, he is represented in shoes of red velvet, having bands of a darker tint placed across them diagonally, which bands are decorated with a row of gold ornaments.

During the reign of Edward VI., a sort of shoe with a pointed toe was worn, not unlike the modern one. It was of velvet generally with the upper classes; of leather with the poorer ones; the former indulged in a series of slashes over the upper leather, which the others had not. We give here two specimens of these shoes, from prints dated 1577 and 1588, and they will serve to show the sort of form

They were elaborately decorated with needlework and gold and silver thread.

During the reign of the first Charles, the bootswhich were made of fine Spanish leather, and were of a buff color-became very large and wide at the top. Indeed, they were so wide at times as to oblige the wearer to stride much in walking, a habit that was much ridiculed by the satirists of the day. There was a print published during this reign of a dandy in the height of fashion, whose legs are "incased in boot-hose tops tied about the middle of the calf, as long as a pair of shirt sleeves, double at the end like a ruff band; the top of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and turned down as low as his spurs, which jingled like the bells of a morrisdancer as he walked." These boots were made very long in the toe; thus, of this exquisite we are told, "the feet of his boots were two inches too long."

The boot-tops at this time were made wide, and were capable of being turned over beneath the knee, which they completely covered when they were uplifted. They were, of course, made of pliant leather to allow of this-"Spanish leather," according to Ben Jonson.

During the whole of the Commonwealth, large boot-tops of this kind were worn even by the Puri

adopted, as well as the varied way in which the slashes of the velvet appeared, and which altered with the wearer's taste. Philip Stubbes, the puritanical author of the "Anatomy of Abuses," 1588, declares that the fashionables then wore "corked shoes, puisnets, pantoffles, and slippers, some of them of black velvet, some of white, some of green, and some of yellow; some of Spanish leather, and some of English, stitched with silk and embroidered with gold and silver all over the foot with gewgaws innumerable." Rich and expensive shoe-ties were now brought into use, and large sums were lavished upon their decorations. John Taylor, the water poet, alludes to the extravagance of those who

"Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold,
And spangled garters worth a copy-hold."

The shoe-roses were made of lace, which was as beautiful, costly, and elaborate as that which composed the ruff for the neck, or ruffles for the wrist.

tans; they were, however, large only, and not decorated with costly lace. The shoes worn were generally particularly simple in their construction and form, and those who did not wish to be classed among the vain and frivolous took care to have their toes sharp at the point, as a distinction be tween themselves and the "graceless gallants," who generally wore theirs very broad.

With the restoration of Charles II. came the large French boot, in which the courtiers of "Louis le grand" always delighted to exhibit their legs. Of the amplitude of its tops, the wood-cut will give an idea; it is copied from one worn by a courtier of Charles's train, in the engravings illustrative of his coronation. The boot is decorated with lace all round the upper part, and that portion of the leg which the boot incases seems fitted easily with pliant leather: over the instep is a broad band of the same material, beneath which the spur was fastened: and the heel is high, and toe broad, of all the boots and shoes then fashionable.

With the great Revolution of 1688, and his majesty William III., came in the large jack-boot, and the high-quartered, high-heeled, and buckled shoe, which only expired at the end of the last century. Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick has one of these jackboots in his collection of armor at Goodrich Court, England. It is a remarkably fine specimen of these inconvenient things, and is as strait, and stiff, and formal as the most inveterate Dutchman could wish. The heel is very high, and the press upon the instep very great, and consequently injurious to the foot, and altogether detrimental to comfort. An immense piece of leather covers the instep, through which the spur is affixed, and to the back of the boot, just above the heel, is appended an iron rest for the spur. Such were the boots of cavalry and infantry, and in such cumbrous articles did they fight in the Low Countries, following the example of Charles XII. of Sweden, whose figure has become so identified with them, that the imagination cannot easily separate the sovereign from the boots in which he is so constantly painted, and of which a specimen may be seen in his full-length portrait preserved in the British Museum.

A boot was worn by civilians, less rigid than the one last described, the leg taking more of the natural shape, and the tops being smaller, of a more pliant kind, and sometimes slightly ornamented round the edges.

We have here two examples of ladies' shoes, as worn during the period of which we are discussing. The first figure, copied from vol. 67 of the "Gentle

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man's Magazine," shows the peculiar shape of the shoe, as well as the clog beneath; these clogs were merely single pieces of stout leather, which were fastened beneath the heel and instep, and appear to be only extra hindrances in walking, which must materially have destroyed any little pliancy which the original shoe would have allowed the foot to retain. The second figure is copied from the first volume of "Hone's Everyday Book," and that author says, "This was the fashion that beautified the feet of the fair in the reign of King William and Queen Mary." Holme, in his "Academy of Armory," is minutely diffuse on the gentle craft: he engraves the form of a pair of wedges, which, he says, "is to raise up a shoe in the instep, when it is too straight for the top of the foot ;" and thus compassionates ladies' sufferings: "Shoemakers love to put ladies in their stocks, but these wedges, like merciful justices upon complaint, soon do ease and deliver them. If the eye turns to the cut-to the

cut of the sole, with the line of beauty adapted by the cunning of the workman's skill, to stilt the female foot: if the reader behold that association, let wonder cease, that a venerable master in coat armor should bend his quarterings to the quartering of a ladies' shoe, and, forgetful of heraldic forms, condescend from his high estate to the use of similitudes."

This shape, once firmly established, was the prevailing one during the reigns of George I. and II. They always wore red heels, at least all persons who pretended to gentility. The fronts of the gentlemen's shoes were very high, and, on gala days, or showy occasions, a buff shoe was worn. The ladies appear to have preferred silk or velvet to leather.

The making of the high-heeled shoe was, at all times, a matter of great judgment and nicety of operation; the position required to be given to the heel, the aptitude of the eye and hand, necessary to the cutting down of the wood; the sewing in of the cover, kid, stuff, silk, or satin, as it might be; the getting in and securing the wood or "block;" the bracing the cover round the block; and the beautifully defined stitching, which went from corner to corner, all round the heel part, demanding altogether the cleverness of firstrate ability.

The shoes became lower in the quarters during the reign of George III., and the heel was made less clumsy. As fashion varied, larger or smaller buckles were used, and the heel was thrust farther beneath the foot until about 1780, when the shoe took the form here delineated, and which is copied

from Mr. Fairholt's notes in the "Art Union," already alluded to.

From the same source, we borrow the following notices by the same writer: "About 1790, a change in the fashion of ladies' shoes occurred. They were made very flat and low in the heel, in reality more like a slipper than a shoe. This engraving, copied from a real specimen, will show the peculiarity of

its make; the low quarters, the diminutive heel, and the plaited ribbon and small tie in front, in place of the buckle, which began to be occasionally discontinued. The Duchess of York, at this time, was remarkable for the smallness of her foot, and a colored print, of the exact size of the duchess's shoe,' was published by Fores, in 1791. It measures five and three-quarter inches in length; the breadth of the sole being only one and three-quarter inch. It is made of green silk, ornamented with

gold stars; is bound with scarlet silk; the heel is scarlet, and the shape is similar to the one engraved above, except that the heel is exactly in the modern style." Models of this fairy shoe were made of china, as ornaments for the chimney, or drawingroom table, with Cupids hovering around it.

Shoes of the old fashion, with high heels and buckles, appear in prints of the early part of 1800; but buckles became unfashionable, and shoe-strings eventually triumphed, although less costly and elegant in their construction. The Prince of Wales was petitioned by the alarmed buckle-makers to discard his new-fashioned strings, and take again to buckles, by way of bolstering up their trade; but the fate of these articles was sealed, and the prince's good-natured compliance with their wishes did little to prevent their downfall. The buckles worn at the end of 1700 were generally exceedingly small, and so continued until they were finally disused.

Early in the reign of George III., the close-fitting gentleman's boot became general; the material used for the leg was termed grain leather, the flesh side being left brown and the grain blackened, and kept to the sight. In currying this sort of leather for

the boot-leg, it went, in the lower part, through an ingenious process of contraction, to give it life; 80 that the heel of the wearer might go into it and come out again the easier; the boot, at the same time, when on, catching snugly round the small of the leg, in a sort of stocking-fit.

After this appeared the "Hessian," a boot worn over the tight-fitting pantaloon, the up-peaking front bearing a silk tassel. This boot was introduced from Germany, about 1789, and sometimes was called the Austrian boot. Rees, in his "Art and Mystery of the Cordwainer," published 1813, says, "the form at first was odious, as the close boot was then in wear; but like many fashions, at first frightful, it was then pitied, and at last adopted."

The top-boot was worn early in the reign of George III., and took the fulness of the Hessian in its lower part, and, on the introduction of the "Wellington," the same fulness was retained.

To describe the last-named boot were useless; it has become, par excellence, the common boot, and is perhaps as universally known as the fame of the distinguished hero, Wellington.

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"WELL, Aunt Tabitha," said Mrs. Carver, as she seated herself in a comfortable rocking-chair before the ruddy fire-"well, Aunt Tabitha, I've just been in to see Mrs. Lincoln, the new minister's wife."

"Do tell," said Aunt Tabitha. "But do take off your things. It don't look sociable to set with 'em on."

"No, thank you; I can stop only a few minutes. As I was saying, I have been to call on the new minister's wife; and, to confess the truth, I was downright disappointed in her. Call her handsome? Why, she cannot hold a candle to Lizzie here, nor to either of my daughters-Lucretia, in an especial manner."

"But you know," said Aunt Tabitha, " that handsome is that handsome does."

"Well, I didn't see that there was anything so very genteel in her manners; nothing, at least, that was particularly overpowering. Before I called, I expected that I should feel myself to be a mere cipher in her presence-a perfect nonentity, as you may say I had heard her cried up so by Mrs. Page. But I can tell you that I not only lived under it, but didn't feel a mite more put down than I do this minute. I might have remembered that Mrs. Page is one of them kind of women that always thinks there must be something marvellous about the

squire's wife, the doctor's wife, and, above all, the minister's wife; and I believe, as much as I believe I am alive, that, if Mrs. Lincoln should go to meeting next Sunday with her husband's boot on her head, instead of a bonnet, the same as I once heard a certain woman did, because somebody made her believe 'twas the fashion in Boston-she and her five daughters would appear out the Sunday afterward in the same ridiculous style."

"We all have our failin's and weaknesses," said Aunt Tabitha, "and Miss Page, of course, has hern; but, accordin' to my mind, it is better to think too well of our feller-critters than not well enough; and, if you and I and others have such inquiring minds as al'ays to be searchin' into our neighbor's conduct and affairs, it is better to hunt up their good qualities than their bad ones."

"To hunt up the good qualities of those it has been my fortune to have for neighbors would, in a general way, be like hunting for a needle in a haymow. The truth is, with the exception of you, and Lizzie, and Paul, there isn't a person in the whole parish I have any great opinion of. As for Mrs. Lincoln, if she is to be held up as a pattern for the female part of the parish to follow, I, for one, shall take good care not to follow the pattern."

"Well now, Miss Carver," said Aunt Tabitha, "I

kind o' mistrust that I shall like Miss Lincoln rightdown well; for I 'm al'ays tickled to death-in my element, as 'twere-when I come across a woman of good edication that 's free and sociable, and ain't starched up. For my part, I think 'tis the greatest sign of a real lady in the world when a woman, who is somethin', is able to make them that have no great pretensions-such as you and I, Miss Carverfeel easy and at home, as 'twere."

"I don't know what you call great pretensions," said Mrs. Carver. "I calculate that Ezekiel Carver's wife can hold her head as high as any other woman in the parish, let the other be who she will. I except neither the doctor's wife nor the minister's wife."

"I say so, too. Mr. Carver is a purty nice sort of a man in most things-equal to the gineral run, I should say."

"The general run! What am I to understand by that, Aunt Tabitha?"

"Why, jest as I say. Mr. Carver, in my opinion, is on a par with the rest of the neighbors; and, take 'em all in all, they are real good neighbors. They ain't parfect, and we don't expect parfection in this world."

"Well, I must say, if my husband is to be placed on a level with every poor, mean fellow in the place, that he has got down to a pretty low notch. One thing is certain, and that is, he pays the highest tax of anybody in the parish, and has always held some kind of office ever since we were married. Sometimes he has been first selectman, sometimes constable, sometimes deacon, sometimes captain, sometimes one thing, and sometimes another."

Aunt Tabitha smiled, but did not speak. There was something in the smile which did not suit Mrs. Carver, though to Lizzie it appeared quite a commonplace kind of smile.

"I don't know what I am to understand by your laughing at what I say," said Mrs. Carver, reddening. "If there is any hidden meaning in it-anything which you would meanly insinuate, yet have not the courage to speak out, I say 'tis false; for, if ever there was a zealous, wide-awake man, that man is Ezekiel Carver."

"Well, I guess nobody disputed it. I'm sure I don't."

"What did you laugh for, then, when I was enumerating the responsible offices he has filled ?"

"Oh, nothin' in particular-nothin', only some nonsense that popped into my head."

"You needn't try to make me believe you were not laughing at anything in particular; for that is what you nor any other living person can do, if you should try till you were blind. Nothing in particular! I know what you were thinking of; but there isn't a word of truth in it. What if he did fall off of his horse coming home from training last fall? -it was because the horse stumbled; for Ezekiel Carver never allows himself to drink anything

stronger than tea and coffee. You wouldn't believe such a scandalous story, if you didn't owe him a grudge."

"Land o' massy, Miss Carver! what should I owe him a grudge for?"

"You pretend you don't know, do you?"

"I sartainly don't."

"Well, it is as plain as the nose in your face, I should think."

"Well, that 's purty plain to be seen, I'll allow; but, large as it is, I can't smell out why I should owe Mr. Carver a grudge."

"Why, when we were girls, he happened to take a fancy to me instead of you."

"You think that's the reason, then, do you? Well, all I can say is, you are mistaken; for I never seed the day that I'd 'ave had Zeke Carver, if he'd been made of Guinea goold."

"I've heard of sour grapes before to-day. He was above your reach, Ezekiel Carver was, and the whole parish ought to be thankful that he was. A pretty deacon's wife you would have made!"

"About as purty as the gineral run, I mistrust. But there, Miss Carver, we won't quarrel about it." "You needn't be afraid. You are too mean for me to quarrel with."

Without taking any notice of this last remark, Aunt Tabitha turned to Lizzie, and asked her if Paul, before he went out, told her where he was going?

"He said," replied Lizzie, "that he and a number of young men were going to meet at Franklin Hall this evening, to decide whom to vote for for town officers and representatives next year."

"Oh," said Aunt Tabitha, "they are holdin' a kind of a corkus, then."

"Do tell if there's a caucus this evening?" said Mrs. Carver. "I don't believe that Mr. Carver knew a word about it."

"None, except some of the young men were going to meet," said Lizzie. "There, that is Paul's step; they 've got through in good season."

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Paul, the next moment, entered, with a smiling countenance. He shook hands with Mrs. Carver, and appeared quite glad to see her.

"You have been holding a caucus this evening, I understand?" said she, rather gloomily.

"Yes; a few of us young men, just out of our time,' thought we would assert our dignity by meeting together, and agreeing whom to vote for at next town-meeting; for several have been talked of who are so grossly ignorant that they would be a disgrace to the place; and we found that, by combining together, we could turn the scale in favor of those who are better qualified."

"It appears to me," said Mrs. Carver, "that, for such youngsters, you are taking rather too much upon you."

Perhaps so; though your husband is not of your opinion."

"Why?"

"We are thinking of him for one of the representatives; and, when Sam Barton and I called to consult with him about it this evening, he didn't appear to be at all opposed to it."

"Well," said Mrs. Carver, "I always said that you were one of the most discriminating young men in the village. There isn't one in a hundred that would have had the discernment to know that Mr. Carver was a mite better fitted for the office than forty others."

"I am much obliged to you for your good opinion," said Paul; "but I believe I am not the one who first thought of him, and, therefore, am not entitled to your praise on that account. To confess the truth, I had been using what little influence I had in favor of Mr. Fabens; but Aunt Tabitha heard me mention it, and told me that there was no man in the whole town so well qualified for the office as Mr. Carver, and, on investigation, I soon found that she was right."

"Well," said Mrs. Carver, "I always knew that your aunt was the best woman in the world, and had the quickest discernment. I was saying the other day to Mr. Carver, if all the women in the place were like Aunt Tabitha, 'twould be a heaven

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on earth, as 'twere. So good in sickness, and so charitable to the poor! And Mr. Carver agreed with me. Says I, 'Aunt Tabitha isn't one of those kind of women that 's always seeking out people's failings.' 'No, indeed,' says he; and I don't know of but one woman in this place, or any other, that is equal to her in that respect.' Says I, 'Who is that?' 'If you must know,' says he, 'tis Sukey Carver.' Then I laughed, and says I, Tis, of course, nothing more than manners to except the present company.' Then he laughed, too, and winked in his sly way-the same as he always does when he feels pretty crank-and says he, 'To be sure it isn't, Sukey.' I can tell you, Aunt Tabitha, it did my heart and soul good to hear him praise you; for you are my chosen friend, as 'twere. There, if the clock ain't striking nine! I'd no thought it was so late. Well, it isn't to be wondered at, for Aunt Tabitha and the rest of you are so agreeable that I always, when I'm with you, forget to count time. I meant to have called on Dorcas Low a few minutes; but it is too late now. Good-night, and pleasant dreams to you all! La, Paul, you needn't be at the trouble of seeing mo home; though, come to look out, it is a little darker than I thought it was."

ARCHERY.

"Better to sweat in fields for health unbought,

Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught;

The wise for cure on exercise depend

God never made His work for man to mend."-Dryden.

"We deem it great pittie to suffer this excellente exercise to go to decay amongst us."-ASCHAM.

Ir is a well-known and generally admitted fact that a considerable part of that delicacy of constitution which is unhappily too prevalent among our fair countrywomen, arises from the sedentary nature of most of their occupations and accomplishments. Half the evils "flesh is heir to" originate in want of muscular exertion, and of that stirring and exhilarating exercise which gives a healthy circulation to the blood. The occupations of women, from girlhood upwards, lying within a limited sphere, are too apt to incline them to a species of semi-indolence, to induce a preference for sedentary amusements, and either from inadvertence, or from ignorance of the functions and nature of their bodies, they often neglect to take that amount of regular exercise which is vitally necessary to the maintenance of health. Hence it soon results that the circulation becomes languid, the blood is not properly purified, and the muscles become flaccid and weakened. To remedy this, and also with a view to render the form graceful and flexible, various calisthenic exercises have been introduced

into the education of young girls; and these, if judiciously conducted, are to a certain extent productive of good; but far better is the practice, in the open air, of games requiring skill, attention, and activity; these exhilarate the spirits, exercise the muscles, circulate and purify the blood, and give a healthy tone to the system.

It is our present intention to dwell on but one of those exercises which furnish the best antidote to the sedentary life of females of all ages-archerywhich from its eminent gracefulness, from its being adapted to every age, and every degree of strength -for, by altering the strength of the bows, it may be practised from childhood to "green old age;" from its occupying both the eye and mind, and awakening and stimulating the faculties, as well as bringing into exercise the muscles of the legs, arms, chest, and body, cannot be too highly recommended. Roger Ascham, tutor to Queen Elizabeth, says of it, "It is an exercise most holsome for the bodye, and a pastyme most honeste for the minde: of all others the best, not only because it increase th

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