. The well-dressed woman: a study in the practical application to dress of the laws of health, art, and morals . 41). Thisgolden age of literature was the dark age of mo-rality so far as the court was concerned. It was atime of gastronomic indulgence, gross profanity,and unlimited folly in dress. The ruffs for theneck were stiffened by metal wires and by coloredstarch. These were so immense that a spoon twofeet long was necessary to convey food safely to themouth. The hair was colored in divers hues orwas shaved off to accommodate wigs of variouscolors. Children blessed with fine heads of hair
. The well-dressed woman: a study in the practical application to dress of the laws of health, art, and morals . 41). Thisgolden age of literature was the dark age of mo-rality so far as the court was concerned. It was atime of gastronomic indulgence, gross profanity,and unlimited folly in dress. The ruffs for theneck were stiffened by metal wires and by coloredstarch. These were so immense that a spoon twofeet long was necessary to convey food safely to themouth. The hair was colored in divers hues orwas shaved off to accommodate wigs of variouscolors. Children blessed with fine heads of hairwere lured away and shorn of their locks; even thegrave was invaded and the dead robbed. Thedespotism of Elizabeths rule and that of her suc-cessors culminated in revolution. The Puritans THE PEDIGREE OF THE CORSET. Ill made bitter warfare on devilish fashions. Noone can read the histoiy of those days withoutseeing that their opposition to the follies of dresswas a sincere protest of the conscience, not thebitterness of political rivalry. Green says of thePuritan : His life was orderly, methodical, sparing. Court i if Queen Elizabeth. of diet and of self indulgence. The new sobrietymarked itself even in his change of dress. Theloss of color and variety in costume reflected, nodoubt, ;i loss of color and variety in life itself;bat it was a loss compensated by solid gains. 112 THE WELL-DRESSED WOMAN. Greatest among these, perhaps, was the new con-ception of social equality. Their common call,their common brotherhood in Christ, annihilatedin the mind of the Puritans that overpoweringsense of social distinction which characterized theage of Elizabeth. The meanest peasant felt him-self ennobled as a child of God. The iconoclasm of the Puritans destroyed evenart, which to them breathed of vanity. The womenwere forbidden to wear lace, jewels, or braidedhair. Starch was denounced as devils shorn head and the high, stiff hat of thePuritan had not the picturesque effect of cur
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