an ordinary man. But she heeded them not, and thought, 'We should obey our father, come what may. Meanwhile, Green Robe journeyed through the wide world, purchasing, wherever he came, the most beautiful presents for his betrothed; doing good to all, ill to none, and giving to the poor whatsoever they asked of him. And Providence rewarded him; for when the three years were past, he was still alive and hearty. So he went to the circle of trees upon the lofty mountain, and he heard the loud noise, and the Tempter came, angered and vexed at seeing him, and threw him back his old robe, and demanded the green one. This the youth handed to him quite joyfully, and so became free again, and a rich man for ever. So he went home, dressed and cleaned himself, and set forth to see his betrothed. flict with levelled lances; and Diana with buskined When he came to the door, her father met him, and he announced himself as the bridegroom; but the old man did not know him again, and would not believe him. Then he went to his future bride, but neither she believed him. Then he asked her if she had still got half of his ring. She said 'Yes;' and fetched it and when he produced the other half, nals: it is entitled : and she saw how they matched, she was assured that he could be no other than the bridegroom. And when she saw what a goodly man he was, she became deeply enamoured of him, and straightways they were married. But the two sisters were so grieved that they had rejected such good fortune, that on the day of the wedding, the one hanged, and the other drowned herself; and at night, a loud knocking was heard at the house, and when the bridegroom arose, and opened the door, he saw the Tempter in his green robe, who said, 'At all events, I have now got two souls instead of your one.' MEDALS A KIND OF BOOKS. (For the London Journal.) We have, from our youth upwards, been addicted to the study of ancient medals. Ere the tail of our jacket exceeded a span in length, we were ever on the alert when we heard of the discovery of ancient treasure, and have often followed the plough, not as rural labourers, nor like the rooks to pick up the vermin so unceremoniously disturbed, but in the hope of seeing the plough-share bring to light some relic of the olden time. We confess our relationship to the Dry-as-dust family; and let those, who will, sneer at our endeavours to eke out information from mould and dust and cobwebs; we have often derived both pleasure and profit from our examinations. Our business is now with a description of antiquities second only to the statuary of the ancients, those images, before which as Addison remarks, the politest nations of modern times have bowed the knee. Need we add, that we mean the coins of the Greeks and Romans, those minute relics upon which we certainly have the correct representation of many statues by the first masters of antiquity. The noble figure of Neptune, on a large brass coin of Hadrianus, resting his foot on the prow of a vessel, is evidently copied from a statue of the time, as are also the figures of Jupiter Stator, the deity to whom Cicero appeals in his tremendous orations against Catiline. But first a few words on the coins, of the Greeks. Many obscure states struck coins and these are now almost their only remaining records. "When we compare," says Payne Knight, "the smallness and insignificance of many of these states, scarcely known to the historian or geographer, with the exquisite beauty, elegance, and costly refinement displayed in their money, the common drudge of retail traffic in the lowest stages of society, we must admit that there is scarcely any thing more, wonderful in the history of man." Of some Greek cities we have such an abundance of ancient coins that they are often sold at public sales for little more than their intrinsic value. The gold pieces of Carthage exist in great numbers, and although mostly of elegant fabric, bring but a trifle beyond the price of the metal of which they are composed. The coins of Sicily are common to excess, and of the most exquisite fabric; and the large silver medallions of Syracuse still remain in some numbers to delight the artist and the antiquary.* To enumerate the various emblems on the coins of the Greeks would occupy many volumes; plants, animals, weapons, armour, utensils, are given with surprising fidelity and spirit. Sicily displays her ear of barley and her fish; Carthage her palm-tree and horse; Corinth the Pegasus; Chios the Sphynx, and Athens her favourite badge, the bird of Minerva. In looking over a well arranged cabinet, we see the compositions of the first artists of antiquity: Hercules combats the lion and strangles Antæus; Bellerophon gives battle to the Chimera; the Dioscuri rush to the con * One of the most interesting coins of the Greeks is perhaps that of Catania When an eruption of Mount Etna destroyed that town, two young men bore off on their shoulders their aged parents to a place of safety: the act obtained for them divine honours in Sicily; and coins were struck with a representation of the brothers bearing their sacred burthens. Coæins l'ompey, when he vainly endeavoured to avenge his father, struck a coin with the head of his parent one side, and the type of the Catanian brothers on the other. denarius which once rattled in the money bags of the nummularius; it bears the word Judæa, and on it is pourtrayed the figure of that unhappy province weeping at the foot of a trophy. On the plains of France, where the bravest of Cæsar's legions earned their laurels, the same minute records are oftimes discovered; and in England the descendant of the hardy tribes who opposed the hosts of the dictator, frequently turns up the coins of the masters of the world the words JUDEA CAPTA have been carried where even our gazettes have not travelled. What a lesson to those who have the direction of a national coinage! Gibbon justly observes, that "if all our historians were lost to us, medals and inscriptions would alone record the travels of Hadrian." To be assured of the truth of this observation, let the reader turn to page 241, vol. I. of the work under notice. On the exquisite brass medallions of Antoninus Pius and of Commodus, we have many subjects of great beauty from the mythology of the ancients. We shall conclude our notice for the present by an extract from vol. 2, p. 137, relative to the coins of Carausius, the admiral of the Roman fleet, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. This man having betrayed his trust, went over with the whole fleet to Britain, where he established himself as emperor. The emperors being unable to cope with him, agreed, as we are told to allow him the sovereignty of the Island, but he was assassinated not long after by his friend Allectus. During his stay in this Island he struck a number of coins, the most remarkable of which are those with the legend PAX AUGGG. the three g's denoting the three augusti. The same is found on a few coins of Diocletian and Maximian, on which latter Mr. Ackerman offers the following remarks. Having reached thus far we shall take occasion to mention a work which has been recently published and has received the approbation of our literary jour"A Descriptive Catalogue of Roman Coins from the earliest period of the Roman Coinage to the extinction of the Empire under Constantinus Paleologus, by J. Z. Akerman, F. S. A." This Catalogue which is comprised in two volumes octavo, contains a description of upwards of ten thousand coins, and is illustrated by numerous fac-simile engravings from the originals in the British Museum, and other public and private collections in this country and on the continent. It commences with the "As, a large piece of brass first issued in the time of the Roman kings." The account which Pliny gives of this money is not satisfactory, for he speaks of a sudden and considerable reduction in its weight, while pieces exist which show that the declension was gradual. Our information with respect to this early money is very limited, and we shall be glad to see an elaborate treatise on the subject. Next follow the coins denominated Consular: of these we have many hundreds and we have little doubt that the varieties enumerated by Mr. Akerman are susceptible of considerable augmentation; but here are enough for a moderate collector, all the rare and interesting coins being accurately described, and in many instances illustrated by plates. One or two of the most remarkable coins of this series we shall take occasion to introduce to our readers, more especially as there are no doubt many who consider the study of medals as unprofitable and unamusing. A coin of the family Emilia gives us a representation of the crowning of the youthful Egyptian king Ptolemy Epiphanes by the Roman Consul, Marcus Lepidus who is styled "tutor regis," (the king's guardian). Another coin of the same family bears the figure of an equestrian carrying a trophy, and has a legend which tells us that Marcus Lepidus at the age of fifteen had slain an enemy and saved the life of a citizen. Another coin of the family, commemorates the subjection of Aretas king of Arabia, by Emilius Scaurus. Others of the consular series bear numerous interesting records; on a denarius of the family Didia, we have the representation of a military punishment: on those of Tituria, the rape of the Sabines and the guilty Tarpeia receiving the just reward of her treachery; while on a coin of Mamilia, Ulysses is recognized by his faithful dog, a representation which, as a contemporary observes, proves that the study of Homer was popular at Rome. From the Consular, or family series, we pass to that of the Emperors, the portaits of which (to say nothing of the reverses), might furnish a day's amusement, and a subject for a week's study. (From the Second Part (just published) of Mr. D'Israeli The bald head, and crane-neck of the first Cæsar We have much to say on the portraits of the Of the reverses of the imperial coins we could say much; but must limit our notices to a few which we take from Mr. Ackerman's work. At page 146, vol. I. we find a coin described which records the only virtuous act of the monster Tiberius-his munificence to the cities of Asia which had suffered severely in the tremendous earthquake described so eloquently by Tacitus. Galba (page 172, vol. I.) registers (or rather the Senate registers for him) the circumstances which led to his succession, and Vespasian and Titus chronicle with a sententiousness peculiar to the latin language the destruction of Jerusalem; the simple words JUDA CAPTA" (Judæ captive) tell the sad history of that memorable siege. The scroll of the annalist has mouldered to dust, and time has erased many high sounding inscriptions; but the money of the Romans still exists to publish the fame which that mighty empire had acquired. In the vineyards of Italy, the peasant's spade turns up a "The coins of Maximianus and Diocletianus, with these types, deserve especial notice. We learn from history that these emperors recognized the title which Carausius had assumed; but we know at the same time that they were not enabled to depose and punish the usurper. Mionnet, either doubting the authenticity of coins of these princes with AUGGG., or passing them over through inadvertence, does not notice the types here described, although they are of considerable rarity. But we have no proof that they were struck by authority of Diocletianus and Maximianus; while on the other hand, there appear some grounds for believing that they were minted by the usurper himself. Many coins of Carausius bear AUGGG. and this is not surprising, for he would naturally publish the recognition of his titles by Diocletianus and his colleague: but those of the emperors, though very common with AUGGG., are of rare occurrence with AUGGG. Now it is somewhat singular, that the two coins in the British Museum with PAX AUGGG. are in fabric, exceedingly like the rude coins of Carausius; so much so, that they might, if it were not for the legends, by a careless observer be supposed to belong to that personage. Eakhel (see Doct. Num. Vet.) after quoting a coin with VIRTUS AUGGG., observes that it bears testimony to the truth of the account of the recognition of Carausius by Diocletianus and Maximianus; but he does not notice that on the Continent these coins are of great rarity, and even in England are of unfrequent occurrence; a circumstance certainly in favour of the supposition that they were minted by Carausius." ITALY. Junior's, "Revolutionary Epick.") Set the red sun, the silver moon upsprang, Than thine, Italia, rest, when on the hill TO CORRESPONDENTS. H. B. and the communication of our fair friend F. L. N. shall appear the first opportunity. INDICATOR of Scarborough is informed, that the articles he speaks of were suspended on account of the difficulty of finding matter sufficiently "piquant" · every week. But we are trying if we cannot revive them in some other shape. We shall be glad to see a specimen of SAMUEL SQUARE-ACRES' dreaming. His most finished poetical performance was the one he put into the hand of the little sleeping beggar. Entirely New History of England, for Schools and Private Familes, by Mr. Pinnock. This Day is published, price 6s. strongly and neatly bound and lettered. PINNOCK'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Invasion of Julina Cæsar to the Death of George the Third. With a Continuation to the present time, Questions for Examination, Notes, Chronological Tables, &c. Embellished with a Map of Europe, an emblematic steel-plate Title page, and Eighteen Wood Engravings illustrative of the most interesting Events in British History. London: Printed for John Cumberland, Cumberland Terrace, Camden New Town; Sold by T. Hurst, St. Paul's Church Yard; and all other Booksellers. In the Press, TALES FROM BRITISH HISTORY, intended principally for Young Readers. Embellished with Engravings from Original Designs, and from celebrated Patintings. BEAVER HATS.-Superfine qualities 16s. eqaul to those charged 17s. 6d. and 21s.; second qualities, 12s. (a very superior Hat); PATENT EXTRA LIGHT BEAVER HATS, in 100 different shapes, 21s. the best that can possibly be made; newly invented Light Summer Hats, black or drab, 12s., 34 ounces weight; Youths' Hats and Caps in great variety; also Travelling, Fishing, and Shooting Hats and Caps, Livery and Opera Hats, good qualities, at the lowest prices possible. The Nobility, Gentry, and Public are respectfully solicited to compare the above Hats with those made by pretended manufacturers; the difference in make, shape, and quality must be plainly seen. JOHN PERRING, Maker and Inventor of Light Hats, 85, Strand, corner of Cecil-street. 22 23 24 47 Subject. Menageries, Vol. I. Vegetable Substances, Vol. I. Insect Architecture. Pursuit of Knowledge, Vol. I. Insect Transformations Pursuit of Knowledge, Vol. II. Paris, Vol. I. Historical Parallels. Vol. I. Insect Miscellanies. Pompeii, Vol. II. Paris, Vol. 11. Vegetable Substances, Vol. II. British Museum. — Egyptian An. tiquities, Vol. I. Pompeii, Vol. II. Habits of Birds. British Museum.-Elgin Marbles, Vol. I. Vegetable Substances, Vol. III. British Museum.—Elgin Marbles Vol. II. Faculties of Birds, Part I. London:-CHARLES KNIGHT, 22, Ludgate Street. Just Published, Part 4 of This work appears in numbers every Saturday, Price Fourpence; and in monthly parts, containing 36 pages of music, sewed in a wrapper, price 18. 6d. The principle which has been so extensively applied in Literature and the Graphic Art, of producing works at the lowest possible point of cheapness without any abandonment of the qualities by which the popular knowledge and taste may be advanced, has yet a wide field for its employment in the department of Music. This most delightful of the arts was never so generally cultivated in this country as at the present moment. The Pianoforte, especially contributes to the recreation and enjoyment of thousands of families throughout the United Kingdom, and in our colonial possessions. And yet the publications by which this taste ought to be kept up and improved, are sold at a price which, in many cases, amounts to a prohibition. The design of the Musical Library' is to afford the same advantage to amateurs in music that the lovers of literature are deriving from the cheap publications for the advancement of real knowledge that are now distributed through every part of the Empire, and are placed within the reach of persons of every condition. It is proposed to publish a Collection of Music, both vocal and instrumental, by the best masters, ancient and modern the ancient in a state adapted to the improved condition of our musical instruments; and the modern the best, and only the best, that the continent of Europe and our own country can supply. We shall revive and put into an inviting form the compositions of the older classical masters, now only known to a few connoisseurs, keeping in mind the saying of a famous French modiste, nothing is so new as that which is forgotten.' At the same time, it will be our further object to naturalize the confessedly good productions of the newest foreign composers, especially of the German masters, by the republication, sometimes with English words, of their best vocal compositions; and also by publishing movements, or extracts, complete in themselves, from such of their instrumental works as are of a length unsuited to the Musical Library. It is also our design, occasionally, to engage composers of the first eminence to supply us with new compositions; and we shall never neglect an opportninty of giving currency to such productions of real genins as may be offered to us by those who have no means of securing extensive circulation to them, and who might be deterred from publishing them on their own account. We thus hope to spread widely a taste for what is excellent in the various departments of the art, and render the best compositions available to the purposes of private society. In the execution of our plan we shall ceadily keep in view the great principle, that excellence and theapness are not incompatible. The bent of civilization is to make good things cheap.' In the prosecntion of these objects, which we may not unjustly consider likely to advance our national enjoyments, a weekly Number containing eight music-folio pages is devoted either to Vocal or Instrumental Music, so that these two classes of compositions may be separately bound. It would involve great prac. stical difficulties to attempt to make every Number complete in itself; but as the intervals of publication between each Number are very short, little inconveniences will be experienced. Each Part, however, will be complete in itself, except under very peculiar circumstances. Also, price бd., sewed in a wrapper, to be continued monthly, SUPPLEMENT TO THE MUSICAL LIBRARY, No. 4. This Supplementary Work may be purchased independently of the Musical Library, which will be complete in itself; but it will form a valuable addition to that publication. It consists of twelve folio pages of letter-press, comprising musical news, oreign and domestic; Reviews of important new musical publications: with memoirs of the Lives, and remarks upon the works, of eminent Composers, and especially of the authors whose productions are published in the Musical Library.' PENNY MAGAZINE Of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.] Just Published, Part XXVI. price 6d. In order that the volumes might in future contain the numbers of an entire year, the first volume closed with the supplement published December 31, 1832, and is published with a title and index, bound in cloth, price 6s. The second volume was published on January 1, 1834, price 7s. 6d. The two volumes are embellished with 483 engravings on wood. THE PENNY CYCLOPEDIA Of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Just Published, Part XVII., price 9d. This work has now been published, with invariable regularity, since Jan. 1833; and the great circulation which it has attained is the best proof of the confidence of the public in the accuracy and completeness of its information. In the commencement of such an undertaking, the Editors, bearing in mind the difficulty of securing at once an efficient body of contributors, recommended to the Committee only to attempt the publica tion of six numbers in each month. Their present stock of materials, and their reliance upon their numerous coadjutors, founded upon ample experience, have induced them to desire that the work should proceed at a quicker rate. In this they feel satisfied that they only second the wishes of the great body of its purchasers. The Committee have therefore to announce the following arrangements: 1. That the First Volume of the Penny Cyclopædia-containing eleven parts-was concluded on the 30th of November; and published on that day, handsomely bound in cloth, let. tered at 7s. 6d. 2. That, commencing with December, two numbers of the work will be published regularly every week without supplements, so that sometimes eight, and sometimes ten numbers will appear in each calendar month. 3. That on the 1st of January, 1834, part 12 was published, price 9d. and the monthly parts will be regularly continued at that price. 4. That on the 1st of September, 1834, the second volume, containing eight ninepenny parts will be published, bound uniformly with vol. I. at 7s. 6d.; and that the future vols. will be completed every eight months. GALLERY OF PORTRAITS. Just published, No. 27, containing Portraits and Memoirs of VAUBAN, GOETHE, and WILLIAM III. Each number, published monthly, consists of Three Portraits, with accompanying Biographical Memoirs, occupying upon an average twenty-four pages of letterpress. The size of the work is Imperial Octavo. The price of each number is Half-a-Crown. The third volume is now completed, which, as also the two preceding volumes,each containing eight numbers, with twentyfour portraits and memoirs, may now be had, price 1. is. each, bound in fancy cloth, and lettered, with gilt tops. The contents of the third volume are as follows:-Erskine, Dollond, John Hunter, Petrarch, Burke, Henry IV., Bentley, Kepler, Hale, Franklin, Schwartz, Barrow, D'Alembert, Hogarth, Galileo, Rembrandt, Dryden, La Perouse, Cranmer, Tasao, Ben Jonson, Canova, Chaucer, Sobieski. A few proofs of the plates contained in the first three vols. (72 portraits) have been struck off, on imperial folio, and may now be had, either bound or in a Patent Leaf-Holder, price six guineas. LONDON JOURNAL. TO ASSIST THE ENQUIRING, ANIMATE THE STRUGGLING, AND SYMPATHIZE WITH ALL. WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1834. ENGLISH AND FRENCH PEMALES. BRITISH COSTUME. As Mr. Planché's curious and entertaining book on British Costume, and the following letter from a correspondent on the dress and gait of British ladies, happened to come into our hands at the same time, and led us to devote our principal article this week to such matters, we may as well introduce the letter in this place. The writer is very unmerciful on the ribbons, plumes, and other enormities of the present mode of dress, and having torn these to pieces, proceeds to rend away veils and gowns, and fall plumb down upon the pretty feet of the wearers, and their mode of walking: but when our fair readers see what he says of their faces, and call to mind how Momus found fault with the steps of Venus herself, we trust they will forgive his fury for the sake of his love, and consider whether so fond an indignation does not contain something worth their reflection. FRENCH LADIES VERSUS ENGLISH. To the Editor of the London Journal. It is Mrs. Gore, I think, in one of her late novels, who says, that ninety-nine English women out of a hundred, dress infinitely worse than as many French; but that the hundredth dresses with a neatness, eiegance, and propriety, which is not to be parallelled on the other side of the channel. On my relating this to a fair relation of mine, she replied, “Very true,only I never saw that hundredth."-Nor has any one else. Without exception, the English women wear the prettiest faces and the ugliest dresses of any in the known world. A Hottentot hangs her sheep skin caross on her shoulders with more effect,-and it is from what I see every day of my life that I come to this conclusion. I was the other day at a large shop at the west end of the town, where, if any where, we may expect to meet with favourable specimens of our countrywomen. Not a bit of it. There were a couple of French ladies there dressed smartly and tidily, one in blue and the other in rose-coloured silk, with snug little scutty bonnets guiltless of tawdry ribbons or dingy plumes; and great was their astonishment at beholding the nondescript figures which ever and anon passed by. First came gliding out of her carriage with a languishing air, a young Miss all ringlets down to the knees-feathers drooping on one side of her bonnet, flowers on the other, and an immense Brussels veil (or some such trash) hanging behind; her gown pinned to her back like rags on a Guy Fawkes; a large warming-pan of a watch, secured round her neck by as many chains, gold, silver, and pinchbeck, as an Italian brigand;-with divers other articles, as handkerchiefs, boas, &c., which however costly and beautiful individually, formed all together an unbecoming and cook-maidish whole. Then came the old ladies-but I give them up as too far gone in their evil ways of dressing to hope for amelioration. Ditto for the widows in their hideous black bonnets, with a foot and a half of black crape tacked to each side like wings to a paper kite-the horned caps of Edward the confessor are nothing to them. The French damsels alluded to above, eyed one or two of these machines (they can go by no other name) with considerable attention, as if doubting the sanity of the wearer. 'One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead," says Pope's Narcissa. I might address a similar question to English widows, 64 One would not, sure, be frightful when one mourns." I looked from one end to the other of the crowded shop, in hopes of finding some happy lady to retrieve the honour of her country-but in vain. All wore the same ugly garment more akin to a night-shift than a gown; the same warming-pan watch and chains; the same fly-flapping bonnet with bunches of ugly ribbons. Altogether they formed an awkward contrast to the "tight, reg'lar built French craft," as Matthews's Tom Piper calls them. This time, howSPARROW, PRINTER, CRANE-COURT No. 17. ever, it was the English who were "rigged so rum." And then their walk! Oh quondam Indicator! quondam Tatler! quondam and present lover of all that is good and graceful! could you not "indicate" to our English ladies the way to walk? In what absurd book was it that I read the other day that French women walked ill, because from the want of trottoirs in France, they get a habit of "picking" with one foot which gave a jerking air to the gait. The aristocratic noodle! whose female relations shuffle about on smooth pavements till they forget how to walk at all! I would not have them cross my grass-plat for the world. They would decapitate the very dasies. How infinitely superior is the French woman's brisk springy step (albeit caused by a most plebeian and un-English want of cause-ways), to the languid sauntering gait of most English dames! Nature teaches the one-the drill-sergeant can do nothing with the other. I wonder how they walked in the days of Charles II. Surely Nell Gwynne and my Lady Castlemaine walked well-and if they did, they walked differently from what they do now. I hope that some good creature like the London Journalist, who believes in the improveability of all things, will take up this subject. A word from him would set English ladies upon trying, at least, to improve both in dressing and walking. There are models enough-look at the French, the Spanish, dressing well than we, and yet they beat us hollow. the Italians. They have not better opportunities for Why can't we have a basquina or mantilla, as well as any one else? Let us endeavour. Above all, let no one suppose that the writer of these desultory remarks is in the least deficient in love and duty to his fair countrywomen. If he offends any of them, they must imagine that it has been caused by excess of zeal for their interests. Bless their bonnie faces! if we could screw English heads on French figures, what women there would be—surely ! To enter properly into this subject, however trifling it may appear (as indeed is the case with almost every subject so called) would be to open a wide field of investigation into morals, laws, climates, &c. Perhaps climate alone, by reason of the variety of habits it generates in consequence of its various heats, colds, and other influences, will ever present an entire similarity of manners, whatever may be the approximation of opinion; but taking for granted, as is not unreasonable, that the progress of knowledge and intercourse will not be without its effect in bringing the customs of civilized countries nearer to one another, and that each will be for availing itself of what is best and pleasantest amongst its neighbours, it becomes worth any body's while to consider in what respect it is advisable or otherwise to modify the behaviour or manners accordingly. We can say little, from personal experience, how the case may be in the present instance with regard to French manners. have a great opinion of Mrs. Gore, both as a general observer, and one that particularly understands what is charming in her own sex. On the other hand, from books, and from a readiness to be pleased with those who wish to please, and even from merely having passed through France in our way from another country, we have got a strong impression, that the "hundreth" French woman, as well as the hundreth Englishwoman, nay, the hundreth Italian, that is to say, the one that carries the requisite graces, the beau ideal, of any country to its height, is likely to be so charming a person, in dress and every thing else, to her own countrymen, that what Mrs. Gore says of the perfectly dressing Englishwoman, is pre cisely the same thing that would be said of the perfectly dressing Frenchwoman by the French, and of her Italian counterpart by the Italians. It is impossible, We PRICE THREE HALFPENCE. unless we are haif-foreigners, or unless our own nation is altogether of an inferior grade (and then perhaps our prejudices and irritation would render it equally so) to get rid of some one point of national preference in forming judgments of this kind. Our friend the old Crony, we see, for all his connoisseurship and crony-ism, his regard for a certain piquancy of perfection in the French dress and walk, and his wish that his fair countrywomen would "take steps" after their fashion, cannot get rid of the preference in which he was brought up for the beauty of the English countenance. We have a similar feeling in favour even of a certain subjected manner, a bending gentleness, (how shall we term it?) in the bearing of the sweetest of our countrywomen, not exactly connected with decision of step nor perhaps with variety of harmony: for all pleasures run into one another, if they are of a right sort, and the ground of them true. Look at the paintings of the French, and you will find, in like manner, that their ideal of a face, let them try to universalize it as they can, is a French one; and so it is with the Spanish and Italian The merry paintings, and with the Greek statues. African girls shriek with horror when they first look upon a white traveller. Their notion of a beautiful complexion is a skin shining like Warren's blacking. It is proper to understand, in any question, great or small, the premises from which we set out, the point which is required. In the dress and walk of females, as in all other matters in which they are concerned, the point of perfection, we conceive, is that which shall give us the best possible idea of perfect womanhood. We are not to consider the dress by itself, nor the walk by itself, but as the dress and the walk of the best and pleasantest woman, and how far therefore it does her justice. This produces the consideration of what we look upon as a perfect female; people will vary in their opinions on this head; and hence even so easy a looking question as the one before us, becomes invested into difficulties. The opinion will depend greatly on the temperament as well as the understanding of the judge. Our correspondent for instance, is evidently a lively fellow, old or young; and given a good deal rather to the material than to the spiritual; and hence his notion of perfection tends towards a union of the trim and the lively, the impulsive, and yet withal to the selfpossessed. He is one, we conceive, who would "have no nonsense," as the phrase is, in his opinion of the possible or desirable; and who is in no danger of the perils, either of sentimentality or sentiment; either of an affected refinement of feeling, or any very serious perception of any sort. He is not for bringing into the walks of publicity, male or female, the notions of sequestered imaginations, nor to have women glancing and bashful like fawns. He is for having all things tight and convenient as a dressing-case; "neat as imported ;" polished, piquant, well-packed, and with no more flowers upon it than serve to give a hint of the smart pungency within, like a bottle of attar of roses, or fleur d'epine. We do not quarrel with him. Chacun a son gout. Every man to his taste. Nay, his taste is our own, as far as concerns the improvement of female manners in ordinary. We do think that the general style of female English dressing and walking would be benefitted by an inoculation of that which we conceive him to recommend. We have no predilection in favour of shuffling, and shouldering, and lounging, of a mere moving onwards of the feet, and an absence of all grace and self-possession. We can easily believe, that the French women surpass the English in this respect, because their climate is livelier; and themselves better taught and respected. People may start at that last word, but there is no doubt that the general run of French females are better taught, and therefore more respected than the same number of English. They read more, they converse more, they are on more equal terms with the other sex (as they ought to be), and hence the other sex have more value for their opinions, aye, and for their persons; for the more sensible a woman is, supposing her not to be masculine, the more attractive she is, in her proportionate power to entertain. But whether it is that we are English, or fonder of poetry, in its higher sense, than of vers de societe, or the poetry of polite life, we cannot help feeling a prejudice in favour of Mrs. Gore's notion about the "hundreth" Englishwoman; though perhaps the "hundreth" Frenchwoman, if we could see her, or the hundredth Italian or Spanish woman, would surpass all others, by dint of combining the sort of private manner which we have in our eye, with some exquisite implication of a fitness for general intercourse, which we have never jet met with. Meantime, we repeat, that we give up to our correspondent's vituperations the gait of English females in general, and their dress also; though it is a little hard in him to praise the smallness of the French bonnet at the expense of the largeness of the English, Sweetly she goes, like the bright peacock; strait Petrarch, speaking of Laura, does not venture upon these primeval images; but still he shews how much he thought of the beauty of a woman's steps! Laura too was a Frenchwoman, not an Italian, and probably had a different kind of walk. Petrarch, expresses the moral graces of it. Non era l' audar suo cosa mortale, Her walk was like no mortal thing, but shap'd In English poetry the lover speaks with the usual enthusiasm of his mistress's eyes and lips, &c., but he scarcely ever mentions her walk. The fact is remarkable, and the reason too obvious. The walk is not worth mention. Italian and (we believe) Spanish poetry abound with the reverse. Milton, deeply imbued with the Italian, as well as with his own perceptions of beauty as a great poet, did not forget, in his description of Eve, to say, that Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, This moving and gesticulating beauty was not when it is recollected that the latter are copied from English; at least she is not the Englishwoman of our France, and that our fair countrywomen were ridiculed on their first visit there after the war, for the very reverse appearance. But it is to the spirit of our mode of dressing and walking, that we object; and both are unfit either for the private or public "walk" of life, because both are alike untaught and unpleasing,-alike indicative of minds not properly cultivated, and of habitual feelings that do not care to be agreeable. The walk is asaunter or shuffle, and the 'dress a lump. Or if not a lump throughout, it is a lump at both ends, with a horrible pinch in the middle. A tight-laced Englishwoman is almost invariably a most painful sight; because her notion of being charming is confined to three inches of ill-used ribs and liver; while her head is either grossly ignorant of the harm she is doing herself, or her heart more deplorably careless of the consequences to her offspring. Are we of opinion then, that the dress and walk of Englishwomen would be bettered, generally speaking, by taking the advice of our correspondent? Most certainly we are; and for this reason; that there is some sense of grace, at all events, in the attire and bearing of the females of the continent; some evidence of mind, and some testimony to the proper claims of the person; whereas, the only idea in the heads of the majority with us is that of being in fashion merely because it is the fashion, or of dressing in a manner to shew how much they can afford. This is partly owing, no doubt, to our being a commercial people, and also to the struggles which every body has been making for the last forty years to seem richer than they are, some for the sake of concealing how they have decreased in means, and others to shew how they have risen; but a nation may be commercial, and yet have a true taste. The Florentines had it, when they were at once the leaders of trade and of the fine arts, in the time of Lorenzo de Medicis. It is to our fine arts and our increasing knowledge that we ourselves must look to improvement even in dress, in default of being impelled to it by greater liveliness of spirit, or a more convenient climate. We shall then learn to oppose even the climate better, and to furnish it with the grace and colour which it wants. In France, the better temperature of the atmosphere, as well as intellectual and moral causes, impels people to a livelier and happier way of walking. They have no reason to look as if they were uncomfortable. In the South of Europe, where everything respires animal sensibility, and love and music divide the time with business, the most unaffected people acquire an apparent consciousness and spring in the gait, which in England would be thought ostentatious. It gave no such idea to the days. Mrs. Hutchinson perhaps might have been such a woman; or the ladies of the Bridgewater family, for whom he wrote his Comus. In Virgil, Oneas is not aware that his mother Venus has been speaking with him in the guise of a wod-nymph, till she begins to move away: the "divinity" then become apparent. Et vera incessû patuit dea. And by her walk the Queen of Love is known. The women of Spain, and Spanish America, are celebrated throughout the world for the elegance of their walking, and for the way in which they carry their veil or mantilla, as alluded to by our correspondent. Knowing it only from books, we cannot say precisely in what the beauty of their walk consists; but we take it to be something between stateliness and vivacity,-between a consciousness of their being admired, and that grace which is natural to any human being who is well made, till art or diffidence spoils it. It is the perfection, we doubt not, of animal elegance. We have an English doubt, whether we should not require an addition or modification of something, not indeed diffident, but perhaps not quite so confident,--something which to the perfection of animal elegance, should add that of intellectual and moral refinement, and a security from the chances of coarseness and violence. But all these are matters of breeding and bringing up,—aye, of "birth, parentage, and education," and we should be grateful when we can get any one of them. Better have even a good walk than nothing, for there is some refinement in it, and moral refinement too, though we may not always think the epithet very applicable to the possessor. Good walking and good dressing, truly so called, are alike valuable, only inasmuch as they afford some external evidence, however slight, of a disposition to orderliness and harmony in the mind within,-of shapelness and grace in the habitual movements of the soul. We must postpone our remarks on existing male costume till next week, recommending the reader's attention meanwhile to the following extract from Mr. Planché's volume, a book, we suspect, that will be read wherever hat or bonnet is thought of; and that, we take it, is a pretty wide sphere, even in very serious countries. MALE AND FEMALE COSTUME. FROM THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE SECOND TO THAT OF GEORGE THE THIRD INCLUSIVE. (Taken from Mr. Planche's History of British Costume from the Earliest Periods,-published by the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, and illustrated with one hundred and thirty-six wood-cuts.) REIGN OF CHARLES THE SECOND. With the restoration of the house of Stuart, Fashion also regained the throne, from which she had been driven by the stern and puritanical republicans, and, like the merry monarch" with whom she returned, many were the mad pranks she played in the delirium of her joy, many the excesses she committed. Taste and elegance were abandoned for extravagance and folly; and the male costume, which, in the time of Charles I. had reached the highest point of picturesque splendour, degenerated and declined from this moment, and expired in the square coat, cockedhat, full-bottomed wig, and jack-boots of the following century. The birth of these odious articles may be traced to Charles the Second's reign; at the commencement of which a few fantastical additions to the Vandyke costume injured but did not totally destroy it. The doublet was made exceedingly short, open in front, without any under waistcoat, and displaying a rich shirt, which bulged out from it over the waist-band of the loose breeches, which, as well as the large full sleeves, were exceedingly ornamented with points and ribands. Beneath the knee hung long drooping lace ruffles, and the falling collar of lace, with a high crowned hat and plume of feathers, still preserved some of its old gallant cavalier character; but the fashions of the court of Louis XIV. of France soon found their way across the water to "White Hall Stairs;" and the servile imitation of the courtiers of the Grande Monarque gave rise to that absurd and detestable monstrosity, a periwig. His majesty, it appears, when a little boy, had remarkably beautiful hair, which hung in long waving curls upon his shoulders, and the courtiers, out of compliment to their young sovereign, had heads of false hair made to imitate his natural locks, which obtained the name of perukes. When the king grew up, he returned the compliment by adopting the article himself, and the perruke or peruke speedily lodged upon the heads and shoulders of all the gentlemen of England, under the corrupted appellation of a periwig.* "Misfortunes never come single," says the Proverb; so extraordinary a head-dress as the periwig demanded a different covering to the high crowned hat or broadleafed Spanish Sombrero. Down went the crowns, and up went the brims at the side; a row of feathers was placed round it in lieu of the chivalric plume, and the first approach was made to the cocked hats of the eighteenth century. * JAMES II. AND WILLIAM III. The two brief reigns of James II. and William III. are distinguished by scarcely any novelty in the civil costume. The periwig became more monstrous, and it was the fashion of the beaux to comb their perukes publicly, for which purpose large combs of ivory or tortoise shell, curiously chased and ornamented, were carried in the pocket as constantly as the snuff-box, which had latterly also become an indispensable appendage to a fine gentleman. At court, in the mall, and in the boxes of the theatre, a gallant of these days combed his peruke during a con versation or flirtation with the same air that a modern The full exquisite would twirl his moustachios. bottomed wig was worn by the learned professions, and those who affected particular gravity. Farquhar, in his comedy of 'Love and a Bottle,' written in 1698, remarks that "a full wig" is imagined as "infallible a token of wit as the laurel." The broad brims of the hats were now frequently turned up on two sides; they were ornamented by several feathers placed round them, or by bows of ribands. To turn up the brim or flap of the hat, was, in the language of that day, to cock it, and each gallant cocked his hat according to his own fancy, or after the style of some leader of fashion. One mode was called after the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, the Monmouth cock. * THE FEMALE COSTUME remained unaltered during the reign of James II.; but some Dutch fashions appear to have followed the court of William and Mary. The bosom, which had been for some years past indelicately exposed, was again consigned to the guardianship of the jealous and formal stomacher. The elegant full sleeve of the gown was replaced by a tight one, with a cuff above the elbow, in imitation of the coats of the gentlemen, from beneath which fell a profusion of lace in the shape of ruffles or lappets; and a long glove in the portrait of Queen Mary by Visscher, completes the envelopement of the arm in satin, lace, and leather. The hair, which had hitherto been permitted to fall in natural ringlets on the shoulders and seldom burthened with more ornaments than a jewel or a flower, was now combed up from the forehead like a rising billow, and surmounted by piles of ribands and lace, disposed in regular and alternate tiers, or the ribands were formed into high Holme spells it "perawicke." A letter was written by Charles II to the University of Cambridge forbidding the members to wear periwigs, smoke tobacco, and read their sermons! stiffened bows, like the late fashionable coiffure à la Giraffe, and covered or not, as it might happen, by a lace scarf or veil, that streamed down each side of the pinnacle. Farquhar, in his comedy of "Love in a Bottle," mentions the "high top-knots;" and Swift, "the pinners edged with colberteen," as the lace streamers were called. The fan in its modern, or what would now be termed "old fashioned" shape is seen in the hands of the Dutchess of Portsmouth and Queen Mary, having superseded its picturesque predecessor during the reign of Charles II. Square-cut coats and long flapped waistcoats, with pockets in them, the latter meeting the stockings, still drawn up over the knee so highly as to entirely conceal the breeches, but gartered below it; large hanging cuffs and lace ruffles; the skirts of the coat stiffened out with wire or buckram, from between which peeped the hilt of the sword, deprived of the broad and splendid belt in which it swung in the preceeding reigns; blue or scarlet silk stockings, with blue or silver clocks; lace neckcloths; square-toed short-quartered shoes, with high red heels and small buckles; very long and formally curled perukes, black riding-wigs, bag-wigs, and night-cap-wigs; small three-cornered hats, laced with gold or silver galloon, and sometimes trimmed with feathers, composed the habit of the noblemen and gentlemen during the reigns of Queen Anne and GEORGE I., (1714—27.) Minuter fashions were, of course, continually arising In ties. His hats for men of the faculties of law and physic do but just turn up to give a little life to their sagacity; his military hats glare full in the face; and he has prepared a familiar easy cock for all good companions between the above mentioned extremes.* THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. (1727-60), produced no alteration in the general character of the dress; but to the catalogue of wigs we find added the tye wig and the bob-wig, the latter sometimes worn without powder. The ramilie tail was followed by the pig-tail, which appears in prints of this reign as early as 1745, and some young men wore their own hair dressed and profusely powdered. In the Rambler, No. 109, dated 1751, is a letter from a young nobleman, who says his mother "would rather follow him to the grave than see him sneak about with dirty shoes and blotted figures, hair unpowdered, and a hat uncocked;" and in 1753, the Adventurer, No. 101, contains a description of the gradual metamorphosis of a green horn into blood. "I cut off my hair, and procured a brown bob periwig of Wilding, of the same colour, with a single row of curls just round the bottom, which I wore very nicely curled, and without powder. My hat, which had been cocked with great exactness in an equilateral triangle, I discarded, and purchased one of a more fashionable size, the fore corner of which projected nearly two inches further than those on each side, and was moulded into the shape of a spout." The fashion, however, soon changed, for we find he afterwards altered his hat by : considerably elevating and shortening the fore corner of it till "it no longer resembled a spout, but the corner of a minced-pye." There is the military cock, and the mercantile cock; Those are the Gawkies. Others do not above shortly after this date, and the French revolution in day, if not so picturesque as that of Charles the First's time, would at least have comfort and durability to recommend it; and an Englishman, instead of being caricatured, as of yore, with a pair of sheers in his hand as uncertain what fashion to adopt, might remain contented, and described as "An honest man close buttoned to the chin, Broad cloth without, and a warm heart within." * In attempting to describe the COSTUME OF THE LADIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH we fling ourselves upon the generosity of those of the 1789, completed the downfall of the three-cornered The wig was likewise doomed to feel the influence of the French Revolution. During the latter half of the eighteenth century it had gradually diminished in size, and the practice of frizzing, plastering, and powdering the hair till it was at least as ugly as a wig, has even now some faithful followers. In 1772, a most macaw-like toupée and a portentous tail distinguished a maccaroni (vide print, entitled Maccaroni's Courtship, published Feb. 1, 1772); but the republican spirit of the Parisians revived the classical coiffure of Rome, and a "tête à la Brutus" put to flight the "ailes de pigeon" of the ancient regime. The bag still clings to the collar of the courtier, though the wig and even the powder has been gradually dispensed with, and a solitary pigtail is now and then seen reclining on an elderly gentleman's shoulder, as if only to remind us "That such things were, And were most dear to us." The square-cut coat and long flapped waistcoat of the reign of queen Anne and the first two Georges, underwent an alteration about the middle of the reign of their successor. The skirts were unstiffened, the waists shortened, and the art of the present court suit introduced. Cloth became the general material for the coat, and velvet, silk, satin, and embroidery were reserved for court dresses, or waistcoats and breeches only. The latter were, from the close of George the Second's reign, worn over the stockings, as at present, and fastened first by buckles and afterwards by strings. The shoes were worn with longer quarters and larger buckles. The lace cravat was abandoned about 1735, and a black riband worn round the neck tied in a large bow in front. To this succeeded white cambric stocks, buckled behind; and to them (about 1789) the modern muslin cravat, in which it was, at one time, the fashion to bury the chin. About the same period the shirt collar appeared and the ruffle vanished. The coat was made up with lapels and a tail, being cut square in front above the hips as well as the waistcoat, which, deprived of its flaps, was soon made as ridiculously short as it had previously been unnecessarily long. Pantaloons and Hessian boots were introduced about the same period: but from this time the fashions are in the recollection of most of our readers. Short boots and loose; trowsers the result of the visit of the Cossacks to London, have, together with frock coats, rendered our costume more convenient and less formal; and could we exchange the heavy and tasteless beaver hat for some light and more elegant head-covering, the dress of the present *For this and several other interesting facts concerning the fashion of the long reign of George III., we are indebted to the notes and conversation of a highly esteemed octogenarian, whose veracity is as unquestionable as his memory is extrordi nary. + In 1777, the buckles on the coat and the buckles in the shoes were worn of an enormous size, and occasioned the production of a caricature, called Buckles and Buttons, or I'm the thing, deme! A beau with steel buttons dazzling a lady, is the subject of another caricature of the same year. This must not be confounded with the solitaire which was a black riband worn loosely round the neck almost like an order of knighthood. Vide portraits of Buffon, published by the Society of the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE, (1702-1714) was brief as it was "happy and glorious." dress of the ladies during the greater part of her short and gentle sway resembled, in its general features, that of the time of James II. and William II. The tower or commode was still worn, and the gowns and petticoats flounced and furbelowed so that every part of the garment was "in curl," and a lady of fashion "looked like one of those animals," says the Spectator," which in the country we call a Friezland hen." But, in 1711, we find Mr. Addison remarking, that "the whole sex is now dwarfed and shrunk into a race of beauties that seems almost another species. I remember several ladies who were once very near seven feet high, and at present want some inches of five. How they came to be thus curtailed I cannot learn: whether the whole sex be at present under any penance which we know nothing of, or whether they have cast their headdresses in order to surprise us with something in that kind which shall be entirely new; though I find most are of opinion they are at present like trees lopped and pruned that will entirely sprout out and flourish with greater heads than before." He confesses himself, however, highly pleased with the coiffure then in fashion, which, as may be seen from the later portraits of Queen Anne, was of a natural and consequently elegant description; the hair clustering in curls down the back of the neck; and though hair-powder was worn by some, her Majesty's chesnut ringlets are unsullied by that abominable composition. The praise the essayist lavishes upon the ladies heads he is shortly, however, obliged to qualify by his reprobation of a new fashion that had sprung up a few months later. This was an introduction of the true heiress and successor of the fardingale-the enormous, inconvenient, and ridiculous hoop. Sir Roger de Coverley's picture gallery, his gandmother is said to have on "the new-fashioned petticoat except that the modern is gathered at the waist. The old lady was evidently in the wheel fardingale which projected all round, for the knight adds—“My grandmother appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as if they were in a gocart;" the whale-bone petticoat, on its first introduction, representing a triangular rather than a hooped appearance. In the months of July in that year, we find that it was swollen out to an enormous size, so that what the ladies had lost in height, they made up in breadth; and a correspondent, speaking of the fashionable country ladies at sixty miles dietance from London, says, they can absolutely walk in their hooped petticoats without inconvenience. Hoods of various colours were worn by ladies & the opera in 1711-12, and cherry-colour was the prevailing fashion of the latter year. Scarlet stockings were worn by fashionable belles, and the practice of taking snuff is mentioned in No. 344 of the Spec, tator as one that fine ladies had lately fallen into, |