houlders
with a brooch. They wore nothing on their heads, but displayed their
hair fastened in a graceful knot at the neck.

They wove thin stuffs for summer wear, and felted heavy druggets for
winter; the latter were said to be prepared with vinegar, and "were
so tough that they would turn the stroke of a sword." Some of their
clothes are described as "woven of gaudy colors and making a show."
They were versed in the art of using alternate colors in the warp and
woof so as to bring out the pattern of stripes and squares. Diodorus
says of some of their patterns that the cloth was covered with an
infinite number of little squares and lines, "as if it had been
sprinkled with flowers," or was striped with cross bars, giving a
checkered effect. The colors most in vogue were red and crimson; "such
honest colors," says the Roman writer, "as a person had no cause to
blame, nor the world a reason to cry out upon." Such were the fabrics
with which the more civilized of the British women arrayed themselves,
and the workmanship of which speaks volumes for their makers'
industry and skill. The women were inordinately fond of ornaments,
and had a plentiful supply from which to select. Their attire was
not complete unless it included necklaces, bracelets, strings of
bright beads,--made of glass or a substance resembling Egyptian
porcelain,--and that which was regarded as the crowning ornament of
every woman of wealth--a torque of gold, or else a collar of the same
metal. A ring was at first worn on the middle finger, but later it
alone was left bare, all the other fingers being loaded with rings.

Among the more primitive of the peoples of Britain, skins continued
to be worn, if, as among the Picts, clothing were not dispensed with
altogether. The women of these fierce tribes were too proud of the
intricate devices in brilliant colors with which their bodies were
tattooed to hide them in any way. These, so Professor Elton is
inclined to think, were the people who introduced bronze into Britain.
They made continual and fierce attacks on their Celtic neighbors and
carried off their women into captivity. And it was because of these
attacks that the Anglo-Saxons were invited into Britain to champion
the cause of the people, after the departure of the Romans had left
the Britons to their own resources.

A period of peculiar interest and uncertainty was that of the Roman
occupancy of the country, with its veneer of civilization and the