COSTUME OF THE LADIES IN THE TIME OF THE PLANTAGENETS.
The ladies' costume may be seen to advantage in the annexed engraving from the Sloane MSS., No. 3983. A wimple or gorget is wrapped round the neck, and is fastened by pins at the sides of the face, which are covered above the ears; a gown of capacious size, unconfined at the waist and loose in the sleeves, trails far behind in the dirt. The under-garment, which is darker, has sleeves that fit closely; and it appears to be turned over, and pinned up round the bottom. The unnecessary amount of stuff that was used in ladies' robes rendered them obnoxious to the satirists of that period.
In Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, published by the Percy Society, there is one of the fourteenth century, which is so curious an instance of monkish satire, and is so apt an illustration of the cut before us, that I cannot resist presenting it to my readers. It runs thus:—
"Of a Proud Woman.—I have heard of a proud woman who wore a white dress with a long train, which, trailing behind her, raised a dust as far as the altar and the crucifix. But, as she left the church, and lifted up her train on account of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a devil laughing; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the devil said, "A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her train up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt: and that is why I was laughing."
CORPULENT MAN. NOTTINGHAM, 1819.
November 10.—Death of Mr. Henry Bucknall, confectioner, Chandlers-lane, aged forty-nine. He was excessively corpulent, weighing more than twenty-five stone, and died very suddenly, immediately after eating a hearty breakfast. In Lord Howe's memorable engagement, on the 1st of June, 1794, he had served as a marine on board the Brunswick. His interment, at St. Mary's New Burial-ground, on the 14th, drew together a large concourse of spectators. The coffin was of enormous size, and nearly equalled the body in weight. It was made of excellent oak, was 6 feet 8 inches in length, and 2 feet 11 inches across the breast; the bottom was 2½ inches thick, the sides 1½, and the lid 1. The whole, including the body, considerably exceeded five hundred-weight.