crowd of men in long, loose gowns or surcoats; a crowd of
ladies in long, loose gowns; both men and women hung with cloaks or
mantles of good stuffs and gay colours. A background of humbler
persons in homespun tunics with cloth or frieze hoods over their
heads. Here and there a fop--out of his date, a quarter-century
before his time--in a loose coat with pocket-holes in front and a
buttoned neck to his coat, his shoes very pointed and laced at the
sides, his hair long, curled, and bound by a fillet or encompassed
with a cap with an upturned brim.

[Illustration: {Two men of the time of Henry III.}]

The beginning of the coat was this: the surcoat, which up till now was
split at both sides from the shoulder to the hem, was now sewn up,
leaving only a wide armhole from the base of the ribs to the shoulder.
This surcoat was loose and easy, and was held in at the waist by a
belt. In due time a surcoat appeared which was slightly shaped to the
figure, was split up in front instead of at the sides, and in which
the armholes were smaller and the neck tighter, and fastened by two or
three buttons. In front of this surcoat two pocket-holes showed. This
surcoat was also fastened by a belt at the waist.

In common with the general feeling towards more elaborate clothes, the
shoes grew beyond their normal shape, and now, no longer conforming
to the shape of the foot, they became elongated at the toes, and stuck
out in a sharp point; this point was loose and soft, waiting for a
future day when men should make it still longer and stuff it with tow
and moss.

Of all the shapes of nature, no shape has been so marvellously
maltreated as the human foot. It has suffered as no other portion of
the body has suffered: it has endured exceeding length and exceeding
narrowness; it has been swelled into broad, club-like shapes; it has
been artificially raised from the ground, ended off square, pressed
into tight points, curved under, and finally, as to-day, placed in
hard, shining, tight leather boxes. All this has been done to one of
the most beautiful parts of the human anatomy by the votaries of
fashion, who have in turn been delighted to expose the curves of their
bodies, the round swelling of their hips, the beauties of their nether
limbs, the whiteness of their bosoms, the turn of their elbows and
arms, and the rotundity of their shoulders, but who have, for some
mysterious reasons, been for hundreds of years ashamed of the
nakednes