ost probably as were used by the Britons
anciently; and it is worthy of note that the South Sea cloths,
manufactured from the inner bark of trees, have the same stripes and
chequers, and indeed the identical patterns of the Welsh, and, as
supposed, of the ancient Britons. Linen was fine and beautiful; and if
it had not been so, the rich and varied embroidery with which it was
decorated would have set off a coarser material.

Furs of all sorts were in great request, and a mantle of regal hue,
lined throughout with vair or sable, and decorated with bands of gold
lace and flowers of the richest embroidery, interspersed with pearls,
clasped on the shoulder with the most precious gems, and looped, if
requisite, with golden tassels, was a garment at which a nobleman,
even of these days, need not look askance.

Robert Bloet, second bishop of Lincoln, made a present to Henry I. of
a cloak of exquisitely fine cloth, lined with black sables with white
spots, which cost a sum equivalent to L1500 of our money. The robes of
females of rank were always bordered with a belt of rich needlework;
their embroidered girdles were inlaid, or rather inwrought, with gold,
pearls, and precious stones, and from them was usually suspended a
large purse or pouch, on which the skill of the most accomplished
needlewomen was usually expended.

This rich and becoming mode of dress was gradually innovated upon
until caprice reigned paramount over the national wardrobe. For
"fashion is essentially caprice; and fashion in dress the caprice of
milliners and tailors, with whom _recherche_ and exaggeration supply
the place of education and principle." That this modern definition
applied as accurately to former times as these, an instance may
suffice to show. Richard I. had a cloak made, at enormous cost, with
precious and shining metals inlaid _in imitation of the heavenly
bodies_; and Henry V. wore, on a very memorable occasion, when Prince
of Wales, a mantle or gown of rich blue satin, full of small
eyelet-holes, as thickly as they could be put, and a needle hanging by
a silk thread _from every hole_.

The following incident, quoted from Miss Strickland's Life of
Berengaria, will show the esteem in which a rich, and especially a
furred garment was held. Richard I. quarrelled with the virtuous St.
Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, on the old ground of exacting a simoniacal
tribute on the installation of the prelate into his see. Willing to
evade the direct cha