The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-26
SOME OF TIE OLD FOOTWEAR STYLES Earliest Examples Kept In Brit
 ish Museum FIRST HIGH HEELS WORN Were Worn in the Seventeenth Cen tury-Knd of Stilt Also Used to Add Hesht--5oots of Past
 Were Elegant.
FIRST HIGH HEELS WORN
From the Ladies' Field.

From the Ladies' Field.
 The making of footgear has played an important part In all ages of the worlds history, and many are the authors who al different times have written about the origin development and history of the coverings for the feet and the changes such coverings have undergone In fashion shape and material. The earliest exam pies of footwear preserved may be found in the Egyptian department Of the British Museum in the sandals and shoes of rushes and leather of beautiful work manship. It is a far cry from this period to that of the Romans examples or whose shoes and sandals, excayated in tho streets of old London. may now be seen In the Guildhall museum; these show evidence of great skill and art.
 Dame Fashion appears to have been as busy in the medieval times as now, for pointed or broad toes were then so ex- travagant in length and shape as to re- quire a padding of moss or wood to keep them in shape. and to call forth, In the time of Queen Mary, a royal proclafna- ton to prohibit the toes of shoes to be worn wider than six inches.
 Apropos of the Crackowe. peaked shoe of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, which had to be stuffed and turned and then fastened to the knee to enable the
 
 tain that It's origin is to be found in the medieval horrors of witchcraft, for writer on Bavarian superstition says: AS the twelfth hour struck came the witch but she could do nothing against the ser want who had taken the precaution to have shoes with points upward" Again Duke of Anjou is said to have intro duced them as means of hiding bunion on his foot. Similar boots from the Pun rnof hat may have been designed to prevent kick ing up the dust of those hot countries The long peaked shoe was in France called the "chaussure a poulafne' from the resemblance of the point to the prov of ship. After all 1t is generally what our eyes are accustomed to that we come to look upon as right; the broad shoes of Henry WITS time look clumsy to us, so did plain skirts look skimpy after the reign of the crinoline.
 Tn the sixteenth century John Taylor, the water poet, speaks of the extrava- gance of men of fashion who
 Wear farm in shoestrings edged with
 gold,
 And spangled garters worth a copy-hold
 The moral of which Is that 1t Is use less to try and stamp the present-day Gas some Puritanical souls try to dol as being the continuation of extravaganza in dress.
 Origin of the High Heel.
 During the reign of Charles I and Charles II ladies shoes reached a high point of elegance and beauty, both in workmanship and fine material. The beau- tiful illustration, found in Ladies Old Fashioned Shoes of shoe worn by 8. beauty of Charles Is time says much for the taste of the taste of the shoe- makers of those days. This shoe is made of pale silk, with lace as delicate as a spiders web The fashion of high heeled shoes of extravagant character dates back to the seventeenth century; it was introduced to add to the height of the figure, and Madame ,Pompadour, who was not very tall, adopted it as means of improving her appearance; the fashion quickly followed
 Another method of adding to the height was adopted by the ladies of Venice, though the custom Is regarded as orig inally of eastern origin. This was known as the Chopine, which was a kind of stilt, made of wood and leather, which often reached absurd heights. Raymond, in his Italian Journey" in 164S, says shoes were elevated as high as a mans leg" and Evelyn quaintly describes the ridic-
 
 ladies of the period attempting to crawl out of their gondolas. The custom neces- stated the wearers having the assistance of either gallants or servants to aid them while walking. An epidemic of unem- ployed must surely have followed the passing of the Chopine. This custom was introduced into England in 1870, and 1t is said that when Charles I met his future Queen, Henrietta Maria, at Dover, he cast his eyes toward her (she seeming higher than report was-reaching his shouider), which she, perceiving, showed him her shoes. saying. .Sir I stand upon mine own feet, have no help of art: thus high l am and am neither higher nor
 EIlzabethan Shoes.
 The shoes of the time of Queen Eliza beth, that ardent lover of all beautiful and costly attire, were extremely hand some. specimen Of this period the property of Lord Brownlow, shows a shoe of white satin embroidered with silk and metal wire, the colors being green. blue. pink and yellow. There are extant soma superb relics of Queen Anne's day and also of the reigns of the Georges. A lady's shoe of this time is of pale green damask, figured with white and crimson flowers and foliage; the latchets are small, and kept in place by a silver stud, hall marked, having the head of George TIL, the lion passant and the date of 1795
 No article of dress Is so intimately as- sociated with wearers personality as the shoe, a fact borne in on one when visit ing the Musee de Cluny which is rich in examples of old-fashioned boots and shoes. Here it may be seen that the shoe typical of Louis XVIs reign was banished by the makers of the republic with their admiration for Greek and Ro- man liberty Though again the republic gives way to the empire, specimen of the Empress Josephine's shoes points to the bourgeois character of the imperial court.
 Many are the curious customs relating to footwear In Russia the wives, as part of the wedding festivities, remove their husbands boots in order to show their subjection to him. But while the bride dutifully takes off her lord and masters with the charming inconsistency of her sex. hits him on the head with one of them to show that she Is really not one whit his inferior. The author of tho Heritage of Dress tells us that the Hebrew word for shoe and wife is said to be identical and Bedouin form of di- vorce is "She is my slipper I have cast her off" Throwing of old shoes at we'd dings, and in olden times after anyone starting on journey dn those days risky business), Is supposed to bring luck. though 1t Is difficult to determine what particular form the luck was to take. Some shoes, apparently, were regarded as a special talisman, for Ben Jonson wrote: after you" So that doubtless Kemp was looked upon as a lucky person.
 There is French story of an old wom- an who on seeing the carriage of the