"Mitra did signifie a certaine attire for women's heads, as a coife or such like."
For further illustration see Virgil's Æneid, lib. iv. l. 216.:
"Mæoniâ mentum mitrâ crinemque madentem."
Again, lib. ix. l. 616.:
"Et tunicæ manicas et habent redimicula mitræ."
During the ennobling of the clergy by the Roman emperors, in the seventh and eighth centuries, a crown was found necessary, and anciently cardinals wore mitres; but, at the council of Lyons, in 1245, they were appointed to wear hats.
Blowen.
The Episcopal Mitre (Vol. iii., p. 62.).—An Inquirer will find much curious matter respecting the mitre, collected both from classical writers and antiquaries, in Explications de plusieurs Textes difficiles de l'Ecriture par le R. P. Dom. [Martin], 4to., à Paris, 1730. To any one ambitious of learnedly occupying some six or seven columns of "Notes and Queries" the ample foot references are very tempting; I content myself with transcribing two or three of the entries in the index:
"Mitre des anciens, leur nature, et leur forme; était la marque du Sacerdoce; se portait ordinairement à la tête, et quelquefois aux mains. Forme des mitres dans leur origine, et dans les tems postérieurs," &c.
This dissertation, which is illustrated by several plates, will repay for the time spent in reading it. I presume Inquirer is acquainted with Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, where he will find something.