the palest Ceylou ruby, the ends enriched by a variegated border: this is a beautiful article for a demi-saison costume, and is suited to every age. A very few chinchilla muffs seem now to portend the quick exit of that comfortable part of a lady's dress, which is, indeed, only adapted to the most rigorous time of the winter. The Ciudad Rodrigo cap of crimson velvet, trimmed with gold lace, and pelisse or spenser of the same, have appeared on a few ladies who are seldom seen in the streets of the metropolis without a carriage; and all these conspicuous kind of dresses are by no means calculated for walking. Plain black beaver riding hats, quilted satin cottage bounets, and small velvet hats of various forms, are most universal for out door costume; the Regency hat still continues in favour; and is now rendered much more becoming by a feather falling over in front. The gowns are made much in the same style as last month, only that high dresses seem more than ever discarded; even for domestic parties, or home attire, many ladies have entirely thrown them aside. Embroidery on all gowns seems very prevalent; on those which are formed of expensive and costly materials for the evening, the embroidery is frequently of gold or silver; trains or demi trains, are very general, except at balls, where fancy seems again to exert her influence; at one lately given by a person of distinction, a young lady appeared in the fancy dress of a shepherdess from the mountains in Switzerland; her light dancing shoes were made to look like the wooden sabots worn by those charming mountaineers; the peasant's cross was of fine pearls; while the simple flowers on her head were composed of different coloured jewels. We cannot but repeat, that we wish to see these fancy balls prevail in England; general fashion cannot become all features alike; then every female would have an opportunity of adopting whatever style of dress which would best set off her person: every one would be enchanted with a spectacle, where every woman would seem an enchantress. Coloured crapes over white satin are much worn on an evening: Merino crape and plain 101 sarsuet yet hold their pre-eminence at the dinner party, trimmed with lace, beads, or ribbon according to the taste and fancy of the wearer; but the trimming most in requisition is a kind of chain gimp composed of dark chenille, intermixed with small white beads. Caps are not much worn except for matrons; we have observed one of alternate waves of black velvet, and amber coloured satin, extremely becoming; and which we believe is of Parisian construction; an elegant tiara, very little raised, forms the front; and on the left side is worn, in the present Parisian mode, an half wreath of rich yeilow ranunculus s ́ though flowers are not quite so much worn as they were last month, we hope to see them renovate with the coming spring, as they are the sweetest and most appropriate ornament to the fairest flowers of creation. Bandeaux, either of jewels, bugles or polished steel are worn extremely low on the forehead, almost d-la-Belisaire: the ladies wish to remind us that, "The Ged of Love a bandeau wears." Pearls and amethysts intermingled, topazes of the deepest Brazilian dye, and elegantly wrought necklaces of the purest sterling gold, seem the most favourite ornaments in the jewellery line, at present; but in nothing does the fashion vary so much as in this most expensive article of female dress. The hair is drest in the same style as last mouth. The most dashing half boot is now made of very fine black cloth, and made to lace behind, sitting as close as possible to the leg; the side seams are ornamented with gold; and the top trimmed round with a gold fringe. Italian slippers of various colours continue to be worn of an evening. The prevailing colours are fawn colour, purple, amber, coquelicot, and pale ruby. Few new articles in furniture have made their appearance within these six weeks; but the chandeliers of sale rooms are most in requisition, made of an highly burnished composition, representing Or Moulu, with diamond cut ornaments fancifully suspended: these form a much more brilliant appearance than when the chandelier was entirely made of diamond cut glass. Antique Roman urns of gold or silver, form the chief center ornament || paid his vows, was of as flimsy a nature; and on the supper tables of the noble and opulent. India Muslins, we understand, are again coming much into wear; and for the information of our Fashionable Readers, we have observed, at the house of MILLARD, in the City, some of the choicest productions of the East Indies from the Company's recent Sale of Bengal Muslius, &c. Their beauty is exquisite, and from the extreme low prices that house (which for, many years has been the principal mart of the Company's goods) is selling them at, it is evident the Honourable Company can have but little export trade. THE MIRROR OF FASHION. In a series of Letters from a Gentleman of rank and taste, to a Lady of Quality. LETTER VIII. As certain magicians, in days of fairyism, led the fair, whose hearts they thought by vanity to beguile, through warehouses filled with the gorgeous manufactures of magnifi. cence, I have conducted your Ladyship from loom to loom, devised by the skilful artificer for the adornment of the rich. But, as I am no necromancer, to cast a gleam over your sight, and steal your heart by the delusion of your eyes; nor you a prey to be caught by the cards of vanity, let them be never so curiously woven in its glittering snare; after shewing you a few more stuffs for baronial pomp, I shall next conduct your Ladyship into the well-stored rooms of yeomen industry; or, what might perhaps disgust a less inquisitive researcher into the progress of the arts, to the groaning chests of laborious poverty. Gazatum, a fine species of woven silk, of the same fabric as the modern gauze, received its name from the famed city of Palestine, Gaza, whence the yet more renowned Samson bore away the ponderous gates. I will not affirm that the garments which that hero stripped off the young bravoes of that country were of the same light texture, but certainly the faith of the fair Philistine to whom he || henceforward I hope that no man will trust to his strength, when beauty decks her wiles in the seductive guise of Gaza! The largest fly is caught in the slightest web. Lake was the appellation of a fine kind of lisen worn by princes and ladies, but denied to persons of lower degrees; and to the clergy as an indulgence too soft for the austerity of their profession. It was almost the same as the lawn and cambric of our days. Bambaz, or Bambiæ, being nothing else than the fine stuff which you ladies now wear under the name of bombazeen, I need not describe it further. Besides this funeral garment, our ancestors had other manufactures for mourning weeds, called Moretus and Burneta. The first was a fine cloth of the most sable hue and appearance, being of the deadest black. The last, which the French ca!! brunette, was a stuff of the most delicate texture; and so soft and lustrous, (although its colour was either black, grey, or brown,) that Chaucer celebrates it as the "bright brunette." Boquerannus, called in France bougran, and with us buckram, was, wonderful to relate, once a fine thin cloth, so highly esteemed in the thirteenth century that it ranked with the ichest silks. See how the transitory tenure of sublunary graudeur is eveu felt by inanimate nature! Who would have guessed that the descendant of the gorgeous buckram which decorated the martial breasts of the knights of the Conqueror's court, and heaved on the snowy bosoms of their ladies, should, in these our degenerate days, be debased to do the office of lining the skirts of coats, to stiffen out some country bumpkin's cravat, and to lie neglected and despised on the board of a dirty village taylor! An ancient author tells of certain ladies habited in vests of buckram, found beneath their girdles, abounding with folds, and sewed together with sumptuous workmanship; to which he afterwards adds, "they wore tunics made in a wonderful man. uer with buckram." We have now seen the various costly fabrics of which was formed the garments of the Baron and his dame. Your Ladyship must condescend to behold with me the humbler manu factures which composed the covering of the citizen and the serf. Camlet, or camelot, and which the French call camelin, of old times was made of camel's hair, and from that circumstance derived its name. It was originally manufactured in Asia, and first brought by pilgrims into Europe. An imitation was attempted in the thirteenth century by certain weavers in France, who substituted goats hair for that of the camel. Joinville tells us of the cameline de Cambray, and the cameline d'Amiens, two different manufactures of this useful stuff. Marbre was a species of cloth consisting of various coloured worsted, interwoven with such art as to make it resemble a veined mar ble; from which likeness it took its name. It was chiefly worn by pages, and by the gaiety of its hues had a very lively effect. Checkeratus, or, as we fiud it in Chaucer, chekelaton, was a stuff in chequer-work, not much unlike the plaid of Scotland. The lowest species of it is now imitated in the checked shirts of our sailors; and, about fifty years ago, was seen in the aprons of our household damsels. Since those good days your beds are made in cambric petticoats, and your floors scoured by maids in velvet spensers! Fustanum, or fustian, was, what it is at this period, a strong cloth made of cottou; and priests, as well as the lower ranks, wore it in vests, tunics, and surtouts. Russetum, or what country dames would call good honest russet, is spoken of by the oldest Anglo-Norman writers. It was despised by the wealthy and luxurious; but the Princess, Tiretanus, or Tyretoine, as the French express it, was a sort of woollen cloth, originally manufactured on the Continent. It was of various degrees of fineness and value, and according to the coarseness or delicacy of its texture was purchased by the lord or the labourer. Its name is doubtless derived from its colour being usually scarlet, which was considered the hue of the far-famed Tyrian dye; and Du Cange describes the finest stuffs of Tyretaine to be still more like the splendid manufacture of Tyre, saying that the scarlet woollen was often blended with superb interlacings of gold, and embroidery of flowers, with men and beasts in curious needle-work. Frisius, or frieze, was a cloth of very inferior quality, but well calculated for warmth and comfort; and, accordingly we find it the universal habit amongst pilgrims, mechanics, husbandmen, and day-labourers of every description. It may be considered as the very reverse › of all that is costly; and on this idea, the gallant Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, when devoted by his own merits and the power of love to be the husband of Mary, the widow of the King of France, and the sister of Henry VIII. of England, addressed to himself and bis royal consort, these lines: "Cloth of frise be not too bold, That thou art match'd with cloth of gold; That thou art match'd with cloth of frise!" yes, scroll after scroll on the fashions of our Henrys, Marys, and Elizabeths, shall salute, or persecute her eyes, from her ever devoted, Thus sung Brandon to his queen! And thus would Urania be addressed by as fond a lover, as faithful a husband, if she would deign to in all her glory, was not fairer than the vil-award that last precious title to her persevering lage damsel in rosset gown, and round-eared || correspondent!-Till she smiles the gracious coif! Its fabric was coarse, but warm, and not too stubborn to deny play to the easy shape of simple nature. Some orders of the clergy shared its use with the lower ranks of the laity; and to render it more conformable to the unornamented usage of monastic life, its colour was generally of that sad dusty grey which has now amongst us the appropriate pame of russet. (To be continued.) PARIS. |