s, in their caps of
sky-blue cloth, with the garter embroidered on the front
in gold and silver; men of the Halberdiers, in their
long red coats, as bluff Harry left them, with their
ruffs and velvet flat-caps. Perhaps the King's Majesty
himself is going to St. James's as we pass.'

_The Four Georges._

[Illustration: {A man of the time of George I.}]

[Illustration: {A woman of the time of George I.}]

We find ourselves, very willingly, discussing the shoes of the King of
France with a crowd of powdered beaux; those shoes the dandyism of
which has never been surpassed, the heels, if you please, painted by
Vandermeulen with scenes from Rhenish victories! Or we go to the
toy-shops in Fleet Street, where we may make assignations or buy us a
mask, where loaded dice are slyly handed over the counter.
Everywhere--the beau. He rides the world like a cock-horse, or like Og
the giant rode the Ark of Noah, steering it with his feet, getting his
washing for nothing, and his meals passed up to him out by the
chimney. Here is the old soldier begging in his tattered coat of red;
here is a suspicious-looking character with a black patch over his
eye; here the whalebone hoop of a petticoat takes up the way, and
above the monstrous hoop is the tight bodice, and out of that comes
the shoulders supporting the radiant Molly--patches, powder, paint,
and smiles. Here a woman passes in a Nithsdale hood, covering her from
head to foot--this great cloak with a piquant history of
prison-breaking; here, with a clatter of high red heels, the beau, the
everlasting beau, in gold lace, wide cuffs, full skirts, swinging
cane. A scene of flashing colours. The coats embroidered with flowers
and butterflies, the cuffs a mass of fine sewing, the three-cornered
hats cocked at a jaunty angle, the stockings rolled above the knee.
Wigs in three divisions of loops at the back pass by, wigs in long
queues, wigs in back and side bobs. Lacquer-hilted swords, paste
buckles, gold and silver snuff-boxes flashing in the sun, which
struggles through the mass of swinging signs.

[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF GEORGE I. (1714-1727)

The buckles on the shoes are now much larger; the stockings are
loosely rolled above the knee. The great periwig is going out, and
the looped and curled wig, very white with powder, is in fashion.]

[Illustration: {A hat; coat tails; a wig}]

There is a curious sameness about the clean-sh