been sent in boxes, stratified with ice, by which mode they are preserved for a considerable period At a still previous time, the fish were carried by land to Newcastle, and there cured and shipped for London, where they are to this day called Newcastle Salmon. STILTON CHEESE. The late duke of Northumberland, and suite, passing through Stilton, on their way to the north, stopped at the Crown to take luncheon and change horses. On his grace (at that period earl Percy) inquiring of the landlord if he had any good cheese, one of the description now in vogue was placed on the table, which his lordship was so much pleased with, that he purchased half a dozen of the same, which the landlord had by him. The praise which his lordship bestowed on the cheese to all his friends and acquaintance, brought numerous applications to the landlord for similar ones, and consequently brought the cheese into great vogue, insomuch, that at last, he found his cheese trade as productive as his inn. Although the cheese is denominated by the name of Stilton, which is merely from the circumstance previously named, yet it is made in the vicinity of Melton Mowbray, and other parts of Leicestershire. NATIVE OYSTERS. "The herring loves the merry moon-light, But the oyster loves the dredging song, Oysters are conceitedly said to be in season in every month of the year that has an R in its name, beginning with September, and ending with April; but the season in many places extends from August to May. Almost every city has its favourite oyster bank. In London the Colchester and Milton oysters are held in most esteem. Edinburgh has her "Whispered Pandores," and latterly, "Aberdour oysters ;" and Dublin, the "Carlingford" and "Powldoodies of Burran." For the convenience of obtaining a ready supply of oysters, they are often transported from their original beds, and laid down on proper places of the coast, but these exiles are seldom found in such perfection as those which are called nativesthat is, such as have never been rudely torn from their native homes, and sent on voyages of profit. RED HERRINGS. In a curious old pamphlet, entitled "Lenten Stuffe," the author says, "the discovery of red herrings was owing to accident, by a fisherman having hung some in his cabin, where, what with his firing and smoaking, or smoaky firing, in that his narrow lobby (house), his herrings, which were as white as whalebone when he hung them up, now looked as red as a boiled lobster." 1 In the year 1745, when the Scots rebellion threatened most formidably, Herring, then archbishop of York, resolved, in case of extremity, to take arms himself, and oppose the rebels. His avowing his intention, gave occasion to orator Henley to nick-name him a Red-Herring! BREAD AND BUTTER. Bread and butter, &c. superceded Kychen grosse, or dripping, for breakfast, between the reigns of Edward 4th and Elizabeth.Bread and cheese is mentioned as a commou viand by Diogenes Laertius. SECTION XII. LUXURIES, ARTICLES OF DRESS, TRADES, SHOES AND BOOTS. "For when the restless Greeks sate down So many years before Troy town, And were renown'd, as Homer writes, To whom the honour of the invention belongs, has never yet been satisfactorily ascertained by the Crispins of ancient or of modern times. That the Jews had them in use, appears from many passages of their history. "Over Edom," said the royal Psalmist, 66 will I cast out my shoe." Pliny, the Roman historian, attributes the invention to M. Tychius, resident somewhere in Boetia; but he does not specify either time or place with sufficient certainty. It is beyond all doubt that they were introduced into Greece at a very early period. Apollo was always represented as wearing sandals, and was thence sometimes called Sandilarius. That the Greeks wore boots long before the days of Homer, has been proved from several passages in the Iliad. In the very first book, Chryses, in his pathetic appeal to King Agamemnon and his army to restore his daughter, addresses them thus "Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-booted Greeks." Among the Romans, a good shoemaker was held in very high estimation; and the profession was held by them to be inalienable, as the profession of a priest is among ourselves. "While boots and shoes are worn, their names shall be RIGHTS AND LEFTS. Rights and lefts are only " an old, old, very old," fashion revived. The shoes of Bernard, king of Italy, found in his tomb, were right and left; the soles were of wood, the upper part red leather, laced with thongs, and they fitted so closely, that the order of the toes, terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered.* It is remarkable that, as in the present age, both shoes and slippers were worn shaped after the right and left foot. Shakspeare describes his smith as "Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet. And Scott, in his "Discoverie of Witchcraft," observes, "that he who receiveth a mischance, will consider whether he put not on his shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot."+ GLOVES. Cassaubon is of opinion, that Gloves were worn by the Chaldeans, because the word here mentioned is in the Talmud Lexicon explained, "the clothing of the hand." But it must be confessed, all this is mere conjecture; and the Chaldean Paraphrast may have taken an unallowable liberty with his version. Let us then be content to begin with Zenophon, who gives a clear and distinct account of gloves. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, he gives us a proof of their effeminacy; that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands against the cold with thick gloves. Homer, speaking of Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with " gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns." Varro, an ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Romans. In lib. 2. cap. 35. De re Rustica, he says, that olives gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with gloves. Athenaeus speaks of a celebrated glutton, who always came to table with gloves on his hands, that he might be able to handle and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company. NIGHT CAPS. "Such Night-caps as cover'd our Milton divine, And enabled his brain in such numbers to shine." Before we proceed to Hats and Caps, we will say something about the origin of that most unseemly and ungraceful thing,-a Man's Night Cap. In former times a hood was attached to the sleeping habiliment, somewhat similar to a monk's cowl, until Henry 2d of France, whose forte was the study of personal convenience and ease, introduced the present night-cap. The middle and lower orders were forbidden to wear velvet or brocade ones, so that those classes had them originally made of woollen cloth. PANTALOONS. "For as the French, we conquer'd once, Hudibras. Pantaloons, and Port Canons, were some of the fantastic fashions wherein we aped the French-and is derived from Pantaleon or Pantaloon, in the pantomime.‡ Fosebroke Dict. Antiq. + Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his times. See Pantaloon. MILITARY UNIFORMS. Military Uniforms were first introduced by Louis the Fourteenth, and immediately after by the English. LIVERIES. Liveries originated in our British ancestors cloathing their vassals in uniform, to distinguish families; as they painted arms and symbols on their clothes and arms for the same purpose. SERJEANT'S COIF. The Serjeant's Coif was originally an iron-scull-cap, worn by knights under their helmets. Blackstone says it was introduced before 1253, "to hide the tonsor of such renegado clerks, as chose to remain as advocates in the secular courts, notwithstanding their prohibition by canon." FLANNEL SHIRTS. Flannel was first used in Boston, as a dress next the skin, by Lord Percy's regiment, which was encamped on the Common in October 1774. There was hardly flannel enough then in the whole town for that one regiment. Some time after Lord Percy had begun with flannel shirting, Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) published a pamphlet in America, assuming to have discovered this practice. He might, perhaps, have suggested the use of it to Lord Percy. Flannel has not been in general use till within some thirty years. BLANKETS. In 1340, one Thomas Blanket, and some other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms in their own houses for weaving those woollen cloths, which have ever since been called Blankets. The introduction of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of Charles 7th into Rouen, and from that time they began to take place of the hoods or chaperons, that had been used till then. When the cap was of velvet, they called it mortier-when of wool, simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights, were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the head dress of the clergy and graduates, churchmen and members of universities, students in law, physic, &c. and, as well as graduates, wear square caps in most universities. Doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps given them in assuming the doctorate. Pasquier says, that the giving the cap to students in the universities, was to denote that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their slaves, in the ceremony of making them free. The cap is also used as a mark of infamy in Italy. The Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap at Lucca, and by an orange one in France. Formerly those who had been bankrupts were obliged ever after to wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any future commerce. SPENCERS. This article of dress originated with the late Lord Spenser. His lordship, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, being out a hunting, had, in the act of leaping a fence, the misfortune to have one of the skirts of his coat torn off; upon which his lordship tore off the other, observing, that to have but one left was like a pig with one ear! Some inventive genius took the hint, and having made some of these halfcoats, out of compliment to his lordship, gave to them the significant cognomen of Spencer! Wigs were first worn by the Romans, to hide baldness, or deformity of the head; those of the Roman ladies were fastened upon a caul of goat skin. Perriwigs commenced with their Emperors; they were aukwardly made of hair, painted and glued together. The year 1529 is deemed the epoch of the introduction of perriwigs into France; yet it is certain that tetes were in use here a century before. Fosbroke says, "that strange deformity, the Judge's wig, first appears as a general genteel fashion in the seventeenth century." Archbishop Tillotson was the first prelate who wore a wig, which then was not unlike the natural hair, and worn without powder. Among the Curiosa Cantabrigiensia, it may be recorded, that our "most religious and gracious king," as he was called in the liturgy, Charles the Second, who, as his worthy friend, the Earl of Rochester, remarked, * "Never said a foolish thing, sent a letter to the University of Cambridge, forbidding the members to wear perriwigs, smoke tobacco, and read their sermons! It is needless to remark, that tobacco has not yet made its exit in fumo, and that perriwigs still continue to adorn the heads of houses! HAIR-POWDER. The powdering of the hair took its rise from some of the ballad singers, at the fair of St. Germaine, whitening their heads to make themselves appear ridiculous; this was in the year 1614. It was first taxed in England, 1795. FANS, &c. Fans, muffs, masks, &c. and false hair, were first devised by the harlots in Italy, and from France in 1572. Lyson's Environs, |