The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-22
FASHIONS IN ELIZABETH's DAY

Never More Fantastic or Costly-The
 Queens Extravagance Initiated by
 Courtiers and the Upper Classes.
 Never was the infatuation for dress and the vagaries of fashion greater than in the Elizabetke Il age. We weare more phantasticall fashions" says writer early in the next reign, ''than any Nation under the sunne doth, the Frenh onely excepted The lite rature of the century teens with refer ence, satire and ridicule of the prevail ing taste in dress. Queen Elizabeth reveled in gorgeous apparel and dis play of jeWelry and in 8 luxurious adornment of her apartments. Her wardrobe was largely supplied from her New Years gifts, and is said to have contained three thousand dresses at her death. The weakness of the maiden queen for personal admiration was no- torious. To take advantage of this, was, as in Raleigh's case, to rise in her good graces. Du Maurier says: "I heard from my father that at every au- dience he had with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hun dred times to display her hands, which indeed were very beautiful and very white.'' Melville, the ambassador from Mary Queen of Scots, writes in asimilar strain. He says she had clothes of eve- ny kind English, French, Italian, etc., which she changed daily.
 'sShe asked me which of them became her best? I answered in my judgment the Italian dress, which answer I found pleased her we'll for she delighted to show her golden colored hair, wearing a caul and bonnet, as they do in Italy. Her hair, rather reddish than yellow, curled in appearance naturally"
 Her apparel was the envy of the court who followed her extravaganza in the profusion and display of farth- ingales, ruffs, stomachers, feathers and tires. The shoes worn by Raleigh as ne rode by "the English Cleopatra in silver arrnor were valued by Drexelius at 66O0 gold pieces. The Puritans and moralists of the time, as well as the sa- tirists, fiercely assailed the outland- ish costumes and useless waste of wealth in the inordinate passion for display and gayety. In Henry VIII. s reign the "Supplicacyon for the Beg gers" complains that of the misery of the time:
 ssthe pryncypall cause herof is their costly apparell and specially their manyfolde and diverse chaunges of fasshyons whiche the man, and special ly the woman, muste Weare upon bothe headde and bodye. Sometyme cappe, sometyme hoode; nowe the Frenshe fasshyon, nowe the Spanyshe fasshyon; then the Italyan fasshyon, and then the Myllen fasshyon; then so that there is moo ende of consumynge of substance, and that vaynely and all to please the provide folyshe man and womens fan tasye."
 Thomas Dekker fercely inveighs against the fashions in his Seven Deadly Sins of London"
 "Women," he says, twill not be be- hind men in any newfangled fashions. If men get up the French standing col lars. women will have the French standing collars too. If Doublets with little thick skirts, women are thick skirted too"
 ''The starched gallant" the fashion mongering boy"-the flop or ''masher'' of the period-is the individual who meets with the most scathing satire and abuse from the moralists, dramatists, wits and satirists of the Elizabethan period. He was always meat and trimly dressed, fresh as bridegroom; and his chin new reaped.
 He was perfumed like a milliner, and 'twfxt his finger and thumb he tried a pouncet box" This walking frippery placed a mirror in his hat, put Jewels