he
hair was turned up under a gold caul.

[Illustration]

Towards the year 1300, the ladies' dress fell under the animadversion of
the malevolent writers of that day. The robe is represented as having had
tight sleeves and a train, over which was worn a surcoat and mantle, with
cords and tassels. "The ladies," says a poet of the thirteenth century,
"were like peacocks and magpies; for the pies bear feathers of various
colors, which Nature gives them; so the ladies love strange habits, and a
variety of ornaments. The pies have long tails, that trail in the mud; so
the ladies make their tails a thousand times longer than those of peacocks
and pies."

The pictures of the ladies of that time certainly present us with no very
elegant specimens of their fashions. Their gowns or tunics are so immensely
long, that the fair dames are obliged to hold them up, to enable them to
move; whilst a sweeping train trails after them; and over the head and
round the neck is a variety of, or substitute for, the wimple, which is
termed a _gorget_. It enclosed the cheeks and chin, and fell upon the
bosom, giving the wearer very much the appearance of suffering from
sore-throat or toothache.

When this head-dress was not worn, a caul of net-work, called a _crespine_,
often replaced it, and for many years it continued to be a favorite
coiffure.

The writers of this time speak of tight lacing, and of ladies with small
waists.

In the next reign, an apron is first met with, tied behind with a ribbon.
The sleeves of the robe, and the petticoat, are trimmed with a border of
embroidery; rich bracelets are also frequently seen; but, notwithstanding
all the splendor of the costume, the gorget still envelops the neck.

* * * * *

SONNET.--WINTER.

BY LEWIS GRAHAM, M.D.

Stern Winter comes with frowns and frosty smiles,
The angry clouds in stormy squadrons fly,
While winds, in raging tones, to winds reply;
Old Boreas reigns, and like a wizard, piles,
Where'er he pleases, with his gusty breath,
The heaps of snow on mountain, hill, or heath,
In strangest shapes, with curious sport and wild;
But soon the sun will come with gentle rays,
To kiss him while with fiercest storms he plays,
And make him mild and quiet as a child.
Though now the bleak wind-king so boisterous seems,
And drives the tempest madly o'er the plain,
He smiles in Spring-time soft as April rain,
In