he neck,
and when the hoops came into fashion and were worn high up near the
waist, the basque or flounce at the bottom of the jerkin was made
long, and pleated full to the top of the hooped petticoat.

The plainer fashion of this was a gown buttoned high--up to the
ruff--and opened from the waist to the feet to show a full petticoat
of rich material; this was the general wear of the more sober-minded.

Sometimes a cape was worn over the head and shoulders, not a shaped
cape, but a plain, oblong piece of stuff. The ladies sometimes wore
the shaped cape, with the high collar that the men wore. The French
hood with a short liripipe was worn by country ladies; this covered
the hair, showing nothing but a neat parting in front.

The openwork lace bonnet, of the shape so well known by the portraits
of Queen Mary of Scotland, is not possible to exactly describe in
writing; one variety of it may be seen in the line drawing given. It
is made of cambric and cut lace sewn on to wires bent into the shape
required.

[Illustration: {Two women of the time of Elizabeth}]

In such a time of extravagance in fashion the additions one may make
to any form of dress in the way of ribbons, bows, sewn pearls, cuts,
slashes, and puffs are without number, and I can only give the
structure on which such ornamental fripperies can be placed. The hair,
for example, can be dressed with pearls, rings of gold, strings of
pearls, feathers, or glass ornaments. Men and women wore monstrous
earrings, but curiously enough this fashion was more common to men
than women. Hats were interchangeable, more especially the trim hat
with a feather, in shape like those worn by the Yeoman of the Guard,
but smaller.

The shoulder pinions of the jerkins were puffed, slashed, and
beribboned in every way. The wing sleeves, open from the shoulder all
the way down, were so long sometimes as to reach the ground, and were
left hanging in front, or thrown back over the shoulders, the better
to display the rich under-sleeve.

The ladies' shoes were cork-soled, high-heeled, and round-toed. The
girdles were of every stuff, from gold cord, curiously knotted, to
twisted silk; from these hung looking-glasses, and in them were stuck
the embroidered and scented gloves.

Ladies went masked about the streets and in the theatres, or if they
wished to be unconventional, they sat in the playing booths unmasked,
their painted faces exposed to the public gaze.

The shoes with