CHAPTER XIV.
NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.—PART II.
“And the short French breeches make such a comelie vesture that, except it were a dog in a doublet, you shall not see anie so disguised as are my countriemen of England.”—Holinshed.
“Out from the Gadis to the eastern morne,
Not one but holds his native state forlorne.
When comelie striplings wish it were their chance
For Cenis’ distaffe to exchange their lance;
And weare curl’d periwigs, and chalk their face,
And still are poring on their pocket glasse;
Tyr’d with pinn’d ruffs, and fans, and partlet strips,
And buskes and verdingales about their hips:
And tread on corked stilts a prisoner’s pace.”
Bp. Joseph Hall.
“They brought in fashions strange and new,
With golden garments bright;
The farthingale and mighty ruff,
With gowns of rich delight.”
A Warning-Piece to England.
The queen (Anne Neville) of Richard III. seems to have been somewhat more regally accoutred than those of her royal predecessors to whom we referred in the last chapter. Among “the stuff delivered to the queen at her coronation are twenty-seven yards of white cloth of gold for a kirtle and train, and a mantle of the same, richly furred with ermine. This was the dress in which she rode in her litter from the Tower to the palace of Westminster. This was an age of long trains, and the length was regulated by the rank of the wearer; Anne, for her whole purple velvet suit, had fifty-six yards. From the entries of scarlet cloth given to the nobility for mantles on this occasion, we find that duchesses had thirteen yards, countesses ten, and baronesses eight.”
The costume of Henry VII.’s day differed little from that of Edward IV., except in the use of shirts bordered with lace and richly trimmed with ornamental needlework, which continued a long time in vogue amongst the nobility and gentry.
A slight inspection of the inventories of Henry VIII.’s apparel will convince us of a truth which we should otherwise, readily have guessed, viz., that no expense and no splendour were spared in the “swashing costume” of his day. Its general aspect is too familiar to us to require much comment. We may remark, however, that four several acts were passed in his reign for the reformation of apparel, and that all but the royal family were prohibited from wearing “any cloth of gold of purpure colour, or silk of the same colour,” upon pain of forfeiture of the same and £20 for every offence. Shirt bands and ruffles of gold were worn by the privileged, but none under the degree of knight were permitted to decorate their shirts with silk, gold, or silver. Henry VIII.’s “knitte gloves of silk” are particularly referred to, and also his “handkerchers” edged with gold, silver, or fine needlework. These handkerchiefs, wrought with gold and silver, were not uncommon in the after-times. In the ballad of George Barnwell, it is said of Milwood—
“A handkerchief she had,
All wrought with silk and gold,
Which she, to stay her trickling tears,
Before her eyes did hold.”
In the east these handkerchiefs are common, and it is still a favourite occupation of the Egyptian ladies to embroider them.