was often decked with ribbons, flowers and jewels. When the hair dresser had finished his labours, it was left untouched for weeks. How the poor ladies slept with such a burthen goodness knows! When the structure was taken down washes were used to kill the vermin. My earliest picture of this fashion, dated 1770, shows "The Boarding School Hair Dresser" finishing, after the labour perhaps of hours, his preposterous task, dooming the poor girl, I am sure, to many a headache, in sustaining such a burthen. Of course such a structure required a corresponding hat to cover it, one of such is seen on the wall. There are other pictures dated 1780, 1785 and 1788 illustrating the same hideous fashion. A much simpler and more natural fashion of dressing the hair had prevailed through the reigns of George I and II, but this was counterbalanced by the re-introduction of hooped petticoats or crinolines, which had been cast aside ever since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These dreadful garments

Stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale,

as Pope wrote, are often represented by Hogarth in his pictures. Here is one, dated 1740, giving a good idea of their monstrous dimensions, and how the ladies managed to slip their hoops in order to move about a room. This fashion seems to have survived until 1771, for here is a lady of that date who has united in herself the two atrocities, the lofty headdress and the hooped petticoat.

Yet, in spite of all these hideous fashions, youth, and grace, and beauty shine out in many a contemporary portrait. I show an interesting group, the family of Mr. West. Many of you will remember the romantic history of Benjamin West, the painter. Born in the backwoods of North America, of Quaker parents, he early showed.

remarkable abilities as an artist, was sent to Europe by some kind friends ten years before the American War of Independence broke out, and spent the rest of his long life in England. He was much employed by George III and others to paint large historical pictures, which are all forgotten. His father and brother came from America to see him when he was high in favour at Court, and he was inspired to paint this most interesting family group. Mrs. West, who looks so sweet in her quaint costume, was also of the Quaker persuasion.

By way of contrast, here is another famous painter of the time at work, Cosway, the fop, who was always attired in full court costume when engaged with his sitters. His lady sitter is in the height of the fashion of 1788, with an enormous puffed-out headdress. When these immense heads of hair went out of fashion, it became the fashion to decorate the head with a bunch of ostrich feathers, and it was usual to open the top of the sedan chair to let the ladies' heads out. This fashion survived until 1830, or the end of George the Fourth's reign.

We now turn to the men. The stern Puritans of the Commonwealth wore their own hair. Charles II brought

:

over from France wigs and immorality. When the hair of Louis XIV, le Grande Monarque, turned grey, his obsequious courtiers, both male and female, began to powder their hair, apeing royalty. He became bald also, and took to wigs then the gentlemen all wore wigs, like their monarch. This hideous fashion soon spread throughout England, indeed, all the art of dress culminated in the wig. For many years immense wigs were worn, the commonest and heaviest being of horse-hair, curled, but the finest were made of women's long hair, which became a valuable commodity. Such wigs were worth fifteen to forty guineas, and became tempting prizes for thieves.

These great wigs were, of course, very heavy and heating, so that the hat was little worn, and the head was shaved, or kept close-cropped, to fit the wig. In Pepys' Diary we read much of the trouble he had with his wigs. Here is one item. "May 31. Had Sarah to comb my head clean, which I found so foul with powdering and other troubles (that is, vermin) that I am resolved to try how I can keep my head dry without powder."

Really, it speaks very badly for the lack of sturdy independence and intelligence in those days, that our forefathers endured for a century and a half this monstrous fashion. Not to have the wig in perfect curl and well greased was unendurable. Then there were many kinds of wigs, and they were chosen to suit your profession, rank, and complexion. There was the fullbottomed wig, the black riding wig, the bag wig, the fair wig, the bob wig, and many others, and you had only to put on a different wig to pass for a perfect stranger.

Here you see the doctor's wig, a most imposing and impressive article. And here is the clergyman's wig, quite distinct, as you see. In this French picture (1780) you see at once where the English of the time got all their fashions in wigs. The gentleman with the bag wig carries also a huge muff, a fashion which was adopted by the English doctors. It kept their hands warm for feeling pulses, they said. Here are some particularly interesting pictures (1770-1789) which enable you to realise the great variety of wigs worn by the gentlemen, the huge bonnets and hats worn by the ladies, and the curious details of contemporary furniture-the chairs, pictures, mantelpieces, all so stiff, and wanting artistic grace. All the wigs were carefully powdered, and the few who had the courage to wear their own hair had it curled, greased, and

powdered to look like a periwig, so that most houses of any pretension had a small room set apart, called "the powdering closet. The person to be powdered put his head out between two curtains, and thus received the powder on his wig without injury to his clothes.

Here is a different mode, portrayed in 1774. My lord, carefully enveloped in a dust wrapper, is receiving the powder on his wig, which his valet is puffing on to it, whilst my lady is selecting her laces, and the French cook is reading the bill of fare for dinner.

But the lowest depth had not yet been reached. To the wig was added the monstrous pigtail, and this fashion also came from France. Here is a picture of a French barrack-room (1780), where the hairdressers are adjusting the officers' pigtails. And here, a year or two later, it is in England. Here is an interesting picture, dated 1786, representing George III and his plain little queen, in a draper's shop at Windsor. The king wears a brown scratch wig, such as was still worn by the old folks when I was a boy. The snuff-box was also much used sixty years ago. Wigs and snuff-boxes have both, happily, disappeared.

But we have said enough on the fashions. Suppose we turn now to the recreations of our forefathers. These were not very numerous, and were much the same from one generation to another, though they make a brave show in the words of an old poet :

I tell of festivals and fairs, and plays

Of merriment and mirth, and bonfire blaze;

I tell of Christmas mummings, New Year's Day,

Of Twelfth Night king and queen, and children's play.

I tell of valentines, and true love's knots,

Of omens, cunning men, and drawing lots;

I tell of maypoles, fairies, wassails, wakes,

Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes.