ht her pupils the art of
starching cambric, and the art of folding, cutting, and pinching ruffs
at five pounds a head, and the art of making starch, at the price of
one pound.

First, the lady put on her underpropper of wire and holland, and then
she would place with a great nicety her ruff of lace, or linen, or
cambric. One must understand that the ruff may be great or small, that
only the very fashionable wore such a ruff as required an
underpropper, and that the starched circular ruff would stand by
itself without the other appliance.

[Illustration: {Twelve types of head-dress and collar or ruff for
women}]

Before the advent of the heavily-jewelled and embroidered stomacher,
and the enormous spread of skirt, the dress was a modification of that
worn by the ladies in the time of Henry VIII. First, a gown cut square
across the bosom and low over the shoulders, full sleeves ending in
bands of cambric over the hands (these sleeves slit to show puffs of
cambric from the elbow to the wrist), the skirt full and long, but
without any train; the whole fitted well to the figure as far as
the waist, and very stiff in front. Over this a second gown, generally
of plain material, split above in a V-shape, split below at the waist,
and cut away to show the under-gown. The sleeves of this gown were
wide, and were turned back or cut away just by the elbow. Both gowns
were laced up the back. This second gown had, as a rule, a high,
standing collar, which was lined with some rich silk or with lace.

[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF ELIZABETH (1558-1603)]

[Illustration: {Four women of the time of Elizabeth}]

This shape gave way to a more exaggerated form, and finally to many
varieties of exaggeration. The lady might wear a jerkin like in shape
to a man's, except that often it was cut low and square over the
bosom, and was not stuffed quite so much in front; every variety of
rich material was used for this jerkin, and the sleeves were as varied
as were the man's, split and tied with ribbons. False sleeves
attached at the shoulders, and left to hang loose, puffed, slashed all
over, with or without bands of cambric or lace at the wrists; these
bands sometimes were frills, sometimes stiffened and turned back. No
person except royalty might wear crimson except in under-garments, and
the middle class were not allowed to wear velvet except for sleeves.

This jerkin was sometimes worn buttoned up, like a man's, to t