ived in our own; and for secular adornment the
embroiderer is often called upon to work a garland, to enwreathe the
form of a pretty woman, to lie on her shoulders and encircle her
waist.

The greatest loss to the art is that men as a rule have ceased to
individualize themselves, or their position or office by dress,[473]
and have left entirely to the women the pleasure and duty of making
themselves as lovely and conspicuous as their circumstances will
permit. The same linen and broadcloth are cut in the same shapes, of
which the only merit is that they are said to be comfortable, and
whose highest aim is to be spotless and unwrinkled; these show the
altered conditions of the highly civilized man, and woman too, for he
has long left behind him the idea of dazzling the female eye or heart
by the attraction of colour. This applies only to European costume at
home or in the colonies. The East still retains its pleasure in
gorgeous combinations, in which man enfolds his person, and shows how
beautiful he can make himself when thus clothed, in accordance with
the classical axioms, as to how much of the human form should be
revealed, and how much concealed.

The principle on which the ancients embroidered their garments was
like that of the Indians, the large surfaces plain, or covered with
quiet diapers or spots, the rich ornaments being reserved for the
borders, the girdles and the scarves. Their garments hung loose from
the shoulders or girdle; whether long or short they clung to the
figure or fluttered in the wind. The long flowing robes to the feet
veiled the form completely, and were only thrown off for the battle or
the chase, or in the struggles for victory in the races and games.
Dress, in the supreme reign of beauty, was intended to flow around, or
to conceal, but never to _disguise_, the human frame it enclosed.

Homer thus describes Juno's toilet before calling on Jupiter:--

"Around her next a heavenly mantle flow'd,
That rich with Pallas' labour'd colours glow'd;
Large clasps of gold the foldings gather'd round;
A golden zone her swelling bosom bound."

Iliad, xiv. v. 207.

The Greeks certainly wore delicate and tasteful embroidery on their
garments, frequently finished with splendid borders, while the large
space between was dotted with stars or some simple pattern. We learn
this from the paintings on Greek fictile vases. In the British Museum
the