ges down to the ninth century. These modifications increased
afterwards to such an extent that, towards the fourteenth century, the
original type had altogether disappeared.

[Illustration: Figs. 400 and 401.--Gallo-Roman Costumes.--From Bas-reliefs
discovered in Paris in 1711 underneath the Choir of Notre-Dame.]

It was quite natural that men living in a temperate climate, and bearing
arms only when in the service of the State, should be satisfied with
garments which they could wear without wrapping themselves up too closely.
The northern nations, on the contrary, had early learned to protect
themselves against the severity of the climate in which they lived. Thus
the garments known by them as _braies_, and by the Parthians as
_sarabara_, doubtless gave origin to those which have been respectively
called by us _chausses, haut-de-chausses, trousses, gregues, culottes,
pantalons_, &c. These wandering people had other reasons for preferring
the short and close-fitting garments to those which were long and full,
and these were their innate pugnacity, which forced them ever to be under
arms, their habit of dwelling in forests and thickets, their love of the
chase, and their custom of wearing armour.

The ancient Greeks and Romans always went bareheaded in the towns; but in
the country, in order to protect themselves from the direct rays of the
sun, they wore hats much resembling our round hats, made of felt, plaited
rushes, or straw. Other European nations of the same period also went
bareheaded, or wore caps made of skins of animals, having no regularity of
style, and with the shape of which we are but little acquainted.

Shoes, and head-dresses of a definite style, belong to a much more modern
period, as also do the many varieties of female dress, which have been
known at all times and in all countries under the general name of _robes_.
The girdle was only used occasionally, and its adoption depended on
circumstances; the women used it in the same way as the men, for in those
days it was never attached to the dress. The great difference in modern
female costume consists in the fact of the girdle being part of the dress,
thus giving a long or short waist, according to the requirements of
fashion. In the same manner, a complete revolution took place in men's
dress according as loose or tight, long or short sleeves were introduced.

We shall commence our historical sketch from the fifth century, at which
period we can tra