wn is the story of Sir Philip Calthrop and John Drakes the
shoemaker of Norwich, who tried to ape the fashion, that I must here
allude to this ancestor of mine who was the first of the dandies of
note, among persons not of the royal blood. The story itself, retold
in every history of costume, is to this effect: Drakes, the
shoemaker, seeing that the county talked of Sir Philip's clothes,
ordered a gown from the same tailor. This reached the ears of Sir
Philip, who then ordered his gown to be cut as full of slashes as the
shears could make it. The ruin of cloth so staggered the shoemaker
that he vowed to keep to his own humble fashion in future. No doubt
Sir Philip's slashes were cunningly embroidered round, and the gown
made rich and sparkling with the device of seed pearls so much in use.
This man's son, also Sir Philip, married Amy, daughter of Sir William
Boleyn, of Blickling, Norfolk. She was aunt to Queen Anne Boleyn.

THE WOMEN

One cannot call to mind pictures of this time without, in the first
instance, seeing the form of Henry rise up sharply before us followed
by his company of wives. The fat, uxorious giant comes straight to the
front of the picture, he dominates the age pictorially; and, as a
fitting background, one sees the six women who were sacrificed on the
political altar to pander to his vanity. Katherine of Aragon--the fine
and noble lady--a tool of political desires, cast off after Henry had
searched his precious conscience, after eighteen years of married
life, to find that he had scruples as to the spirituality of the
marriage. Anne Boleyn, tainted with the life of the Court, a pitiful
figure in spite of all her odious crimes; how often must a ghost, in a
black satin nightdress edged with black velvet, have haunted the royal
dreams. And the rest of them, clustered round the vain king, while in
the background the great figures of the time loom hugely as they play
with the crowned puppets.

[Illustration: {Eight stages in the evolution of the hood}]

The note of the time, as we look at it with our eyes keen on the
picture, is the final evolution of the hood. Bit by bit, inch by
inch, the plain fabric has become enriched, each succeeding step in an
elaboration of the simple form; the border next to the face is turned
back, then the hood is lined with fine stuff and the turnover shows
this to advantage; then the sides are split and the back is made more
full; then a tag is sewn on to the sides