th hair. Many
satirical rhymes were written upon them; amongst others, "A lamentable
complaint of the poore Countrye Men agaynst great hose, for the loss
of their cattelles tales." In which occur these:--

"What hurt, what damage doth ensue,
And fall upon the poore,
For want of wool and flaxe, of late,
Whych monstrous hose devoure.

"But haire hath so possess'd, of late,
The bryche of every knave,
That no one beast, nor horse can tell,
Whiche way his taile to save."

Henry VIII. had received a few pairs of silk stockings from Spain, but
knitted silk ones were not known until the second year of Elizabeth,
when her silk-woman, Mrs. Montague, presented to Her Majesty a pair of
black knit silk stockings, for a new-year's gift, with which she was
so much pleased that she desired to know if the donor could not help
her to any more, to which Mrs. Montague answered, "I made them
carefully on purpose for your Majestie; and seeing they please you so
well, I will presently set more in hand." "Do so (said the Queen), for
I like silk stockings so well, that I will not henceforth wear any
more cloth hose." These shortly became common; though even over so
simple an article as a stocking, Fashion asserted her supremacy, and
at a subsequent period they were two yards wide at the top, and made
fast to the "petticoat breeches," by means of strings through eyelet
holes.

But Elizabeth's predilection for rich attire is well known, and if the
costume of her day was fantastic, it was still magnificent. A suit
trimmed with sables was considered the richest dress worn by men; and
so expensive was this fur, that, it is said a thousand ducats were
sometimes given for "a face of sables." It was towards the close of
her reign that the celebrated Gabrielle d'Estrees wore on a festive
occasion a dress of black satin, so ornamented with pearls and
precious stones, that she could scarcely move under its weight. She
had a handkerchief, for the embroidering of which she engaged to pay
1900 crowns. And such it was said was the influence of her example in
Paris, that the ladies ornamented even their shoes with jewels.

Yet even this costly magnificence was afterwards surpassed by that of
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with whom it was common, even at an
ordinary dancing, to have his clothes trimmed with great diamond
buttons, and to have diamond hatbands, cockades, and earrings, to be
yoked with great and man