old
gossip and close investigation, have alleged that Charles was long and
lanky, after he had ceased to be Baby Charles; that his nose was too
large, and, alas! apt to redden; that his eyes were vacillating; and his
mouth, the loosely hung mouth of a man who begins by being irresolute,
and ends by being obstinate.[45] Again, in the hands of a sitter, which
Van Dyck was supposed to paint with special care and elegance, it has
been argued that he copied always the same hand, probably his own, in
ignorance, or in defiance of the fact that hands have nearly as much and
as varying character as a painter can discover in faces. Though Van Dyck
painted many beautiful women, he did not excel in rendering them
beautiful on canvas, so that succeeding generations, in gazing on Van
Dyck's versions of Venitia, Lady Digby, and Dorothy Sydney--Waller's
Sacharissa,--have wondered how Sir Kenelm, Waller, and their
contemporaries, could find these ladies so beautiful.

Van Dyck certainly owed something of the charm of his pictures to the
dress of the period, with regard to which he received this credit that
'Van Dyck was the first painter who e'er put ladies' dress into a
careless romance.' But in reality never was costume better suited for a
painter like Van Dyck.

The hair in the men was allowed to flow to the shoulders or gathered in
a love knot, while the whiskers and beard formed a point. In the women
the hair was crisped in curls round the face. The ruff in men and women
had yielded to the broad, rich, falling collar, with deep scallops of
point lace. Vest and cloak were of the richest velvet or satin, or else,
on the breaking out of the civil war, men appeared in armour. The man's
hat was broad and flapping, usually turned up at one side, and having an
ostrich feather in the band; his long wide boots were of Spanish
leather, and he wore gauntlet gloves, and rich ruffles at his wrists.
The women wore hoods and mantles, short bodices, ample trains, and wide
sleeves terminating in loose ruffles at the elbow, which left half of
the arm bare. Pearl necklaces and bracelets, round feather fans, and
'knots of flowers,' were the almost universal ornaments of women.
Another ornament of both men and women, which belonged to the day, and
was very common in the quarters I have been referring to, was a
miniature enclosed in a small case of ivory or ebony, carved like a
rose, and worn on the left side in token of betrothal.[46] Van Dyck,
alon