all
that beautiful variety of plaids, and checked patterns, which are so
commonly used; those in wool for winter wear are truly delightful; while
for summer use, the trouser recommends itself to our untiring favour by
the multiplicity of soft light substances which are every where
employed. The trouser is to the pantaloon as the foraging cap is to the
hat--good for all kinds of use, and likely to remain so for an
indefinite period; good for all ranks and for all ages. One canon,
however, should be laid down as to the cut:--no pockets should be
tolerated on any account whatever: they make a man look like a Yankee.
'Tis the most slovenly custom on earth to keep your hands in your
pockets--you deserve to have them sewed in if you indulge in it. And
therefore, to avoid this disagreeable penalty, have your pockets sewed
up.

The next step downwards in the scale of dress brings us to the basis,
foundation, and understanding of mankind--we mean boots and shoes; and
here, being approvers of both "men and women's concise recti," as old
Joe used to say, we must give a word of advice to both sexes; and ye who
groan under the torments of corns, ("bunions" is a nasty word, we always
think of onions when we hear it,) attend to our dictum. If any thing
imperatively demands that utility should be consulted before ornament in
its construction, it is the covering of the foot; whoever goes hunting
in a dancing-pump is a fool, and whoever dances in a shooting-shoe is a
clodhopper. There can be no doubt that the human mind speedily adopted
normal rules of design when first the idea of protecting the foot was
started in the world--and, on the whole, less absurdity has been
evidenced in the pedal integuments than in most other matters of dress.
The old tragic buskin, and the comic sock, the military sandal,
_caliga_, and boot, all did their duty excellently in ancient times: we
have not a word of reproach for them--and their successors in the middle
ages acquitted themselves of their duties in a tolerably satisfactory
manner, though not without some curious flights of fancy. Thus the cross
gartering of the Saxon buskin, boots, or gaiter, or whatever else it
might have been, looks to us truly absurd and uncomfortable, judging
from the caricatured figures of ancient MSS.; but the peaked and tied-up
points of the 14th century, when the toe was fastened to the knee,
strikes us as the _ne plus ultra_ of human folly. How Richard II.'s
courtiers m