mild days we have remarked some light pelisses made of washing silk, of a shawl pattern.

The Henri quatre hat, the Carnarvon hat of velvet, and cottage bonuets of quilted satin or variegated straw, ornamented with willowgreen ribbands, are much worn; and the Re. gency hat seems to continue a lasting favourite; it is, however, now formed of lighter materials than those worn the two preceding months, and is generally made of sarsnet or satin, neatly quilted, of various colours, according to the dress they are worn with; the left side is relieved by a tasteful bow of ribband, and a light feather falls over the front. Shawls and spensers have differed but little since last month, which, though belonging to a bissextile year, and owing to the season of Leat, is but short, and has not made much variation in the rules of fashion; some sarsnet mantles have appeared; they are made to sit close to the waist, like a pelisse, and are trimmed at the bottom with a very broad black lace, they are generally of a willow or grass green, or of purple, lined with amber. A few tippets have appeared in carriages and at the Opera, of coloured crape, puckered over satin; they have an elegant appearance on the woman of high fashion, and they are so tastefully and artificially puckered, as to appear as if they were composed of small feathers.

trimmed with lace, and the points of the cymar trimmed with tassel fringe or beads. Sarsnets of various colours, with the Alibala and thicker sort of India muslins than those worn on evenings, are most prevalent at friendly meetings or social home parties: these sarsnets are generally ornamented with feather gymp, and the muslins with lace; and round the bottom of sarsnet gowns, both black and white lace is much worn, and set on rather full. Trains and demi-trains are now only seen in full dress.

Turbans and caps are more worn than they have been for the two preceding months: some of the turbans are quite a-la-Turque, and are very becoming to most faces; a row of simple curls only, is discovered beneath them, on each side the face. The Anne Bullen cap has again made its appearance, and is formed of lighter materials than formerly; being, instead of satin or velvet, of very fine lace, lined with coloured sarsuet, and edging of fine lace round the front, relieves the heavy row of beads, with which it stil continues to be ornamented. To these may be added the Arabian cap, made something in the Hulan form; ladies, however, who have very fine hair, content themselves with only a bardeau of jewels, bugles, or two rows of beads, or merely with a simple half-wreath of flowers, of garden daisies, or scarlet geranium, placed on the left side of the head.

The morning dresses, which are the only dresses now worn high, are laced up the front, With white dresses the most appropiate with a stomacher, over which the laring made and elegant ornament in jewellery are, varieof cordon, by which the colour of the gown is gated coloured gems, clegantly set in gold. diversified, is fancifully laced. Evening dresses Pearls and rubies, and pearls and amethysts are made rather shorter in the waist than for-intermixed, take place even of diamonds. merly, but still very plain. For full dress, Diamonds are becoming only to the majestic lace and crape aprons are much worn, and the brunette, whose sparkling eyes scintilate, in short sleeves of the gown are made of the same rivalry, with this most valuable and brilliant materials as the apron, as in Plate 2. The treasure of the earth. Regency trimming of puckered crape, down the front, sides, and round the bottom of evening dresses, has a very beautiful effect, when made to suit, and yet be contrary to the colour of the robe which it ornaments. Velvets, satins, and sarsuets, are most worn of an evening; but fise India muslins of almost a cobweb texture, are often seen on a great number of ladies, where there are large parties; they are worn with white satin bodies or cymars,

with Arcadian points, the muslins elegantly

The hair is dressed rather more from the face than it was last month, and at the same time more dishevelled; but when worn with the Arabian cap, which is formed of black velvet and satin, in alternate waves, it is much exposed, in profuse curls, on the right side, and the cap brought entirely over the left side of the face, and very low on the forehead: the same style is observed with the Agnes mob.

The half-boot laced behind, does not much

gain ground; it looks well in front, but an English lady is so exquisite a pattern of neatness, that she would be distressed if, those who followed her were not equally charmed with her appearance as those she migh chance to meet; and certainly the boot, by being laced behind, soon loses that tight ap pearance at the heel which is always so bccoming to a well-turned ancle.

Slippers of silk-coloured jean, and kid of various colours, are worn of an evening: but for morning walks the half-boot still comtinues the most genteel and fashionable wear.

The most prevailing colours are willow and grass green, ruby, jonquil, and Cinnebar brown.

THE MIRROR OF FASHION. In a series of Lellers from a Gentleman of rank and taste, to a Lady of Quality.

LETTER IX.

By this time your Ladyship must be pretty well wearied with your circuit through the manufactories of our ancestors. In consideration of the patience with which you have endured bale after bale of rich stuffs being opened before you, without one being offered to your acceptance, I presume to lay at your feet, with this letter, a packet of the finest furs Russia can produce, and while I beg that you will permit them to shade the fairest form in nature from the inclemencies of our own climate, I will proceed to shew in what ample request they were with the dames of the thirteenth century.

Their winter robes and mantles were constantly lined or faced with skins of value proportioned to the wealth and rank of the wearer. The poor wore sheep's and lamb's skins of the growth of our own hills and vallies, and the rich sent for their pelisses to the northern regions of Norway, Moscovy, and Lapland. The furs of sables, ermines, squirrels, and martens, were in most esteem; but we find that noblemen did not disdain to repel the cold by weli ned mautles of beavers, foxes, cats, rabbits, goats, and bears. The furs, or pelures (as they are named by our early writers), which composed the winter gar

ments, or trimmed the state-robes of our highest nobisty, were designated by the ames of grossair, minevair, pennevair, and sometimes mercly vair. These authors assure us that "the pelure most esteemed amongst them, was the skin of an auimal of the squirrel kind, called vair, whose back was of a bluish grey, resembling the colour of some doves. Its belly was white. It was divided into large || and small pieces, and for that reason, accordingly as the pelisse is composed of the large or the small, sewed together, it is called grossvair, or minevair." Some writers assert that this vair is not of the squirrel race, but was no other than the Pontic mouse; and derived its name from varius, on account of its brown back and white belly.

Your Ladyship will find in the packet of furs which I presume to present you, a pelisse lined and faced with the skin that was called vair by our ancestors. It was sent from Moscow to me by the Count K; and, he informs me, is equal in estimation in that country with the ermine. People in England call it sometimes the grey ermiue, and others Russian squirrel skin ; but the real name of it is the jerboa. The little animal to whom it belongs is a native of the most eastern and southern parts of the Russian dominions, and is in size and shape something like a squirrel, but far more elegant in its form, and has an eye of the most piercing brightness. It is not confined to the empire of Moscovy, but it is also to be found amongst the rocky and sandy regions of other Asiatic countries; and in Holy Writ we read of it under the appellation of Sophionum, which our translators have transformed into the word coney.

With such comfortable decorations did our reasonable ancestors adorn their winter habilaments, whilst their summer apparel sparkled in all the gorgeous magnificence of precious stones and embroidery, which latter appendage they denominated painting with the needle. So eminently sumptuous in materials and workmanship were these Auglo Norman habits, hat Innocent IV. Pontiff of that name, on seeing some of them on the backs of certain nobles visiting his court, exclaimed, “O England, thou garden of delights, thou art truly an inexhaustible fountain of riches! from thy

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abundance much may be exacted to embellish great magnitude, such as emeralds, sapphires, the wardrobes of the Vatican!"

To set this splendour of array in a clearer light, I need only introduce your Ladyship as a spectatress at the solemnization of the marriage of Alexander HI. of Scotland, with Princess Margaret, the sister of our Henry HI. Mathew Paris shall be the herald of the pageant, and thus he speaks :-"There were great abundance of people of all ranks, multitudes of the nobility of England, France, and Scotland, with crowds of Knights and military Officers, the whole of them pompously adorned with garments of silk, and so transformed with excess of ornaments that it would be impossible to describe their dresses without being tiresome to the reader, though it would excite bis astonishment. Upwards of one thousand Knights, on the part of the King of England, attended the nuptials in vestments of silk, curiously wrought in embroidery; and thes vestments on the morrow were laid aside, and the same Knights appeared in new robes of still more magnificent decoration. The nobles of Scotland and of France did not fall a whit below those of England in their show and parade. The Barons and the Knights were habited in robes of divers colours; sometimes they appeared in green, sometimes in blue, then again in grey, and afterwards in scarlet, varying the colours according to their fancies, or the wills of the ladies to whom they had dedicated their amorous vows. Their breasts were adorned with fibule, or broaches of gold; and their shoulders with precious stones of

jacinths, pearls, rubies, and other rich ornaments. The ladies who attended had rings of gold, set with topaz stones and diamonds, upon their fingers; their heads were adorned with elegant crests or garlands; and their wimples were composed of the richest stuffs, embroidered with pure gold, and embellished with the rarest jewellery."

Such were the gala dresses of our old-fashioned ancestors. Will our new costumes vie with them? I think you will agree with me that, splendid as was the fete we enjoyed together at the palace of our graceful Prince Regent, its magnificence could not be compared to this given by the King of Scots. In short, while our male nobility habit themselves, even on gala days, in the plain unadorned fashion of he present times, no assembly could look but half furnished. The ladies may glitter in all that can decorate and dazzle, but the gentlemen must ever remain but dull parts of the show. I am no advocate for foppery, but I think it essential to the maintenance of a due difference between stations, that a nobleman should not be dressed like his butler; and more magnificent clothing would promote industry, and be beneficial to trade.

In my next I shall enter into details from the archives of the tailors, mautua-makers, and milliners of the departed brilliant days of the Norman race; and meanwhile, when seated at your toilette, let its graceful duties remind you of the zeal and obedience of your

MONTHLY MISCELLANY,

PARIS.

INCLUDING VARIETIES, CRITICAL, LITERARY, AND HISTORICAL.

school, and so far, indeed, it was an imitation of the old school, inasmuch as Shakespeare has scarcely written a play from which the House of Morville has not taken something. Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet are here brayed into the same mortar, and not merely the incidents, but even the language and words, were as liberally borrowed. But the main fault of the piece was its vapid and insipid bombast, alternately losing itself in the clouds, and then creeping even below the worm on the earth. The audience received it with disapprobation, which we must confess to have been well merited. Whilst the House of Morville was tumbling to pieces within the house, a house in Exeterstreet fell down without; and, between them both, we believe the audience were well satisfied when they got home quietly to their beds.

PANTHEON.

This theatre opened on Thursday, March 5. The pit was well filled, and the boxes rather brilliantly than numerously attended. The performance gave great satisfaction The appearance of the house was extremely elegant and fascinating. We understand the receipts of the house were £700.

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and body which was the great failure of Hopner's Venus. The legs, however, are gracefully and naturally bent, and the proportions in the extremities are correctly observed. The figure is fleshy, without being muscular, and delicate without any loss of just dignity and beauty. The proportions of the body and the joints are not correct in an anatomical point of view. But we will venture to say, that Mrs. Ansley has displayed more knowledge of the art than any female painter since the time of Angelica Kauffman. The colouring is suited to the subject, but is rather too heavy-It should have been more in masses, and have had some prominent point,

No. 121. Chevy Chace, E. Bird.-This is a composition of great feeling and sentiment— It possesses at the same time the highest degree of novelty, and many of the first excellencies of art. The subject of the composition is comprehended in the following stanzas:"Next day did many widows come

Their husbands to bewail;
They wash'd their wounds in briny tears,
Yet ail would not prevail.

Their bodies bath'd in purple gore,

With them they bore away,
And kiss'd them dead a thousand times,
When they were clad in clay."

THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. (Concluded from Page 105.) We have many examples of battle pieces, Venus borne on the Waves in her Shell, by Mrs. in which have been depicted the conflict and ANSLEY.-There is something extremely violence of war; but we scarcely know whether poetical in the conception of this subject; it we have one composition in which is repredoes not however arrive at that excellence in sented the solemn and melancholy scene of a the line of art of which it was capable. When- Day after the Battle, in which the wounded ever the figure of Venus is brought before our are borne off by their mourning relatives; eyes, the mind is naturally carried back to a the dead are discovered by their friends, and contemplation of the Greek models; to those all the feelings of domestic affections are let wonderful examples of art, which have been loose, as they expatiate over the melancholy left us by the industry of Prasitiles, and the stage of victory on one side, and defeat on the graceful labour of Phidias. The Greeks em- other. The picture, therefore, has the two bodied in their Venus all the perfection of great recommendations of novelty and nature. which the human frame was capable. A kind The groupe, in which a man is seen opening of geometrical symmetry, joined to an ani the helmet of a dead soldier, and discovering mated movement and lively grace, produced him to be a brother, is very affecting. The what is called in art, that ideal beauty, which relatives are gathered around him, and the exists in the imagination of every cultivated characters of each countenance are depicted mind, though it is not found in any single ob- with great pathos and truth. The conception ject in nature; being rather a thing of inven- of this picture does great credit to the Artist; tion than reality. Mrs. Ausley's Venus wants the drawing is extremely correct, and the that just and proportionate union of the headcolouring is that of a master. The picture ex