Excerpt:
The portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, who was considered an authority on matters of the toilet, and whose taste for elegance of apparel had been cultivated to a high degree during her residence at the French Court is given. There is a subtlety and charm about it which is wanting in the costume of her cousin Elizabeth, and it may be considered a fair type of what was worn by a gentlewoman of that period. The full skirt appears to fall in easy folds, and the basqued bodice, with tight sleeves, is closely moulded to the figure and surmounted by an elaborately-constructed ruff of muslin and lace.
[Illustration: 19TH CENTURY. BALL DRESS, 1809.]
To the great regret of antiquarians, the wardrobes of our ancient kings, formerly kept at the Tower, were by the order of James I. distributed. At no period was the costume of Britain more picturesque than in the middle of the seventeenth....
