he has,
after a refusal by justices to commit for trial, insisted on continuing
the prosecution); or where a defamatory libel is successfully justified,
or where prosecutions in respect of merchandise marks or corrupt
practices at elections have failed. (W. F. C.)

COSTUME (through the Fr. _costume_, from Ital. _costume_, Late Lat.
_costuma_, a contracted form of Lat. _consuetudinem_, acc. of
_consuetudo_, custom, habit, manner, &c.), dress or clothing, especially
the distinctive clothing worn at different periods by different peoples
or different classes of people. The word appears in English in the 18th
century, and was first applied to the correct representation, in
literature and art, of the manners, dress, furniture and general
surroundings of the scene represented. By the early part of the 19th
century it became restricted to the fashion or style of personal
apparel, including the head-dresses, jewelry and the like.

The subject of clothing is far wider than appears at first sight. To the
average man there is a distinction between clothing and ornament, the
first being regarded as that covering which satisfies the claims of
modesty, the second as those appendages which satisfy the aesthetic
sense. This distinction, however, does not exist for science, and indeed
the first definition involves a fallacy of which it will be as well to
dispose forthwith.

Modesty is not innate in man, and its conventional nature is easily seen
from a consideration of the different ideas held by different races on
this subject. With Mahommedan peoples it is sufficient for a woman to
cover her face; the Chinese women would think it extremely indecent to
show their artificially compressed feet, and it is even improper to
mention them to a woman; in Sumatra and Celebes the wild tribes consider
the exposure of the knee immodest; in central Asia the finger-tips, and
in Samoa the navel are similarly regarded. In Tahiti and Tonga clothing
might be discarded without offence, provided the individual were
tattooed; and among the Caribs a woman might leave the hut without her
girdle but not unpainted. Similarly, in Alaska, women felt great shame
when seen without the plugs they carried in their lips. Europeans are
considered indelicate in many ways by other races, and a remark of
Peschel[1] is to the point: "Were a pious Mussulman of Ferghana to be
present at our balls and see the bare shoulders of our wives and
daughters, and the s