your imagination--there was
a distinction that was not great enough to be a difference.

The gowns were loose and flowing, and were gathered in at the waist by
a girdle, or, rather, a belt, the tongue of which hung down in front;
but as the end of the reign approached, the gowns were shaped a little
more to the figure.

A lady might possess such clothes as these: the gowns I have mentioned
above, the sleeves of which were tight all the way from the shoulder
to the wrist, or were loose and cut short just below the elbow,
showing the tight sleeves of the under-gown.

Shoes very elaborately embroidered and pointed at the toes.

A rich cloak made oblong in shape and very ample in cut.

A shaped mantle with strings to hold it together over the shoulders.

[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF HENRY III. (1216-1272)

This will show how very slight were the changes in woman's dress; a
plain cloak, a plain gown, and a wimple over the head.]

For the head a wimple made of white linen or perhaps of silk; this
she would put above her head, leaving the neck bare.

A long belt for her waist, and, if she were a great lady, a pair of
gloves to wear or stick into her belt.

THE COUNTRY FOLK

From the Conquest to the reign of Edward I.

[Illustration: {A countryman}]

Until the present day the countryman has dressed in a manner most
fitted to his surroundings; now the billycock hat, a devil-derived
offspring from a Greek source, the Sunday suit of shiny black with
purple trousers, the satin tie of Cambridge blue, and the stiff shirt,
have almost robbed the peasant of his poetical appearance.

Civilization seems to have arrived at our villages with a pocketful of
petty religious differences, a bagful of public-houses, a bundle of
penny and halfpenny papers full of stories to show the fascination of
crime and--these Sunday clothes.

The week's workdays still show a sense of the picturesque in
corduroys and jerseys or blue shirts, but the landscape is blotted
with men wearing out old Sunday clothes, so that the painter of rural
scenes with rural characters must either lie or go abroad.

As for the countrywoman, she, I am thankful to say, still retains a
sense of duty and beauty, and, except on Sunday, remains more or less
respectably clad. Chivalry prevents one from saying more.

[Illustration: {A countryman}]

In the old days--from the Conquest until the end of the thirteenth
century--the peasan