Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-30
The History OF Carriers.

Lord Salisbury's loan to the Frame
work knitters' company and the spec
iiic aliusiOn to neither stocksr are of
great archaeological in .erest in estub-
fishing the difference existing between
hosen and what are, in modern mar
lance, termed stockings-that is to saw,
encasements of the lower ley and foot,
terminating at or slightly above the
knee, and secured there by a iigature or
garter. Such stockings were, as regards
their form, somewhat uncommon AT
the accession of Elizabeth; and the
pair Of long Spanish silk stockings
presented TO Edward VI. were, in ali
probability, what we should call
tights" encircllng the thighs, and
reaching to and joined TO the
trunks Such are the long silk
hose, worn IA combinations of
trunks by Henry III, in his full.
length portrait by Cloust, now in the
museum Of the Louvre. Every wear.
however, from 1560-when Queen
Bess first patronized silk stockings
the trunks of Ven.is.
men grew longer aud wider
even to the "bomba stedr stage. There
was slight reaction in favor of tights,
or very long stockings and short
trunks, introduce by that eliminate
dandy, Henri Ill. OF France, who
positively copied in his attire the
"hats.dechaussesn formerly worn. as
we learn from a curious passage n one
of Heloise's letters to Abelnrd, bv
ladies but the absurd fashion set by
Henri III. was OF very brief duration.
and by the time of the accession of
Henri Nv. the age of "tightsn had com.
pleteiy passed away, and gentlemen
appeared in breeches wide or tight
and "nether stocks" or stockings oar.
tered at the knee. 1t must be die.
tinctly understood that until the he.
ginning of the sixteenth century
those" We're garments completely row
erlpg the lower limbs from the waist
10 the toes, and the period when The
hose were separated from the neither
stocks or stockings, analogously called
by the French "basn or understocks
is plainly marked by the invept0ry of
the effects OF Anne Nycolson of Kirhv
Kendall. who died in the reign ~
Henry WIZ, and " no left "a payre of
hoose and shonen-or shoes-worth
sixteen pence, and "a payre of
hoose and payre of stokks of
'N'N- ~ etN'ho vi IOpSnH
were the .'nether stocksr of Phjlin
Stubbes, and they would resemble y
pair OF ladies' stockings us worn at tho
present time. The distinction he.
tween hose and neither stocks, or stock.
ings. being clearly established, The
fabulous nature OF the legend of the
Countess OF Salisbury dropping her
garter while dancing with Edward
III. becomes all the more apparent.
The countess probably wore "hosa,n
and had consequently had no garter to
drop, unless, indeed, for mere coouet-
ry's sake she wore 'crlss crossr lipa-
lures of silk round her lower limbs
and went 'cross-gartered" like Malyo.
lilo in the play, The garter, for which
Creek equivalents are given in
the lexIcons We're not lig
atures worn horizonta ly, but
"criss-cross" ones. When garters as
they are understood by the moderns
first came into use is not known; and
hs necessity is the mother OF invention
the bands which some psychologists
ailego TO be 50 injurious to health are
probably of the same date as the hose
which they kept up. Propriety for.
bids any inquiry into the precis.
means employed by Queen Elizabeth
'or preventing the black silk stock Kings
Knitted for her by Mrs. Montague from
alliDg about her royal heels; but Ii
nay be permissible to remark that In
he reign Of her successor, James
wore for their garter, small
ilk sasb&s, which We're edged with |
ich point lace, and were ed In large |
'ows III the knee.