was introduced in that of James, the First, the fashion was then, probably, undergoing that change, which ultimately superseded the anelace. This obvious circumstance, probably, in this instance, sharpened the powers of satire.

With this remark I must, in the language of the Queensbury Motto (which has often forcibly presented itself to me in the neighbouring Church of Ambresbury (20),* cry" Forward! and, with alacrity, hasten to my remarks on

The Hose

of John Halle. For the perusal of the etymologist I extract the following lines from the page of Minshieu: "Hose. Brit. Hosan. Belg. Onderkousse ex onder, i. e. sub, infra, et Kousse, à Gall. Chausse bas, de chausses, i. e. low hose, or stockings: haut de chausses, i. e. high hose. Teut. Knie hosen. Angl. Knee hosen. Ital. Cálze, Calcétte. Hisp. Port. Midias, Calças. Lat. Caliga quidam à Xaλàw, i. e. laxo quia laxa, vel à calce, the heele, vel si placet à Xaλkɛía, i. e. ex ære facta."

Hose-garters. Belg.Kousse-band. Teut. Hosen-band."

66

Hosier: one that maketh or selleth Hose or Stockings. Belg. Kousse-maecker. Teut. Hosen-macher. Gall. Chaussetier."

I have been thus extended in my quotation with reference to future remarks.

66

It is also observed of the word Hose, in the Gazophylacium Anglicanum," that “it may *The ancient and correct name of this town. E. D.

perhaps be drawn from the Ital. Huose, highshooes."

The word, hose, in different æras, has been differently applied. By the Anglo-Saxons I have little doubt, that its meaning was restricted to the article of dress, denominated by us-the stockings; a pair of which would have been called by them (in the plural number)—a pair of hosen. The Normans, on their arrival, introduced the chausses, an article of dress, which covered both the leg, and thigh; and, in fact, we must regard these as the proto-type of the modern pantaloons. To this dress the native inhabitants of this Isle also attached the name of hose, or hosen; but, let it be understood, the same appellative was continued to be given to the stocking.

Strutt gives us the following amusing story of the vanity of William, the Second, which he has culled from the "De Gestis Regum Anglorum" of William of Malmesbury, but, whether it applies to the short hose, that is, the stockings, or to the high hose, that is, the chausses, it is impossible to say, as the term "caligas" in the original is applicable to, and, indeed, by the Romans, was used for, either. Their value, however, and the more general fashion of the Normans, may sanction the conclusion, that the article of dress in question was the chausses. Now for the tale-" The stockings," (says Strutt,) "worn by the Norman Nobility, must have been a very expensive part of their habit, if we may be allowed to draw any inference from the example of William Rufus, who dis

dained to wear a pair of less value than a mark, which was nearly equal to ten pounds of the present money. His chamberlain, says Malmesbury, brought him one morning a new pair of stockings; but when he was told that they cost only three shillings, he was exceedingly angry, and commanded the officer to purchase a pair for him worth a mark. The chamberlain, adds the historian, brought him a pair inferior in quality to the former, and declaring that they cost a mark, the King was perfectly satisfied with them."* I have thus given the story as told by Strutt, but on referring to the original work of Malmesbury, I find his account to be so much more racy, that I cannot refrain from its transcript. In speaking of this King, says Malmesbury, "Vestium suarum pretium in immensum extolli volebat, dedignans si quis alleuiasset. denique cùm quodam mane calciaretur, nouas caligas interrogauit cubicularium quanti constitissent, cùm ille respondisset tres solidos. indignabundus & fremens, fili ait meretricis, ex quo habet rex caligas tam exilis pretij, vade & affer mihi emptas marca argenti. Iuit ille, & multo viliores afferens, quanti precepisset emptas, emētitus est. Atqui inquit rex istæ regiæ conueniunt maiestati. Ita cubicularius ex eo pretio vestimentorū eius pro voluntate numerabat, multa perinde suis vtilitatibus nundinatus."†

William of Malmesbury (21) lived in those

* Strutt on 66

Dresses, &c.," Vol. 1, p. 104.

+ Willielmus Malmesburiensis de Willielmo Secundo. Lib. iiij. p. 69.

days. "In all his historical works," (says Henry,) "which are written in a Latin style more pure than that of any of his contemporaries, he discovers great diligence, much good sense, and a sacred regard to truth, accompanied with uncommon modesty. I do not,' says Malmesbury, set a very high value on the applause of my contemporaries, which I hardly expect; but I hope that when both favour and malevolence are dead, I shall obtain from posterity the character of an industrious, though not of an eloquent historian.'"* I doubt not the correctness of this story of William Rufus; who, like many a modern spendthrift, (but with a better responding treasury,) was discontented, save with high prices. Malmesbury has related the tale as a faithful historian; yet he could not but have deprecated, as, gentle reader, we all must, that unking-like expletive, "fili meretricis," which, probably, never before, nor since, the time of Rufus, issued from royal lips.

The same story is well told in verse by the old poetic historian, Robert of Glocester. The verses, as here given, are divested of their obsolete orthography:

"As his chamberlein him brought as he arose one day, The morrow for to wear, a pair of hose of sey,

very

He ask'd what they cost him.
Fy a dibles! quoth the king.
A king wear any cloth, but what should cost much more;
Buy a pair of a mark, or you shall rue it sore!

Three shillings, the other said.
Who says so vile a deed?

A worse pair full enough the other sith him brought,
And said they cost a mark, and therefore so were bought;
A bel amy, quoth the king, these are now well bought;
In this manner serve thou me, or thou shalt serve me not."

Henry's "Hist. of Britain," Vol. 6, p. 137.

Chaucer, in his description of the "Wif of Bathe," clearly applies the term hose to the stocking she, he says,

was a worthy woman all hire live,

Housbondes at the chirche dore (22) had she had five."

And, in describing her dress, he adds thus of her hosen, or stockings :

"Hire hosen weren of fine scarlet rede,
Ful streite yteyed."

Such hosen, or stockings, were of cloth in the earlier ages, and of this material, doubtlessly, were the "fine scarlet rede" hosen of this mettlesome widow, whose face was "bold," and "fair and rede of hew."

In the Gent. Mag. of 1782, is a controversy as to the exact period of the introduction of knit hose, or worsted stockings. It is a matter de laná caprina, as to this question; and it sufficeth me to say, that, as stockings were known by the appellation of the hose, or hosen, in the earlier times of the Saxons, so also were they thus denominated in the much later days of Henry, the Eighth. In the "Household and Privy Purse Accounts of the Lestranges of Hunstanton, from A.D. 1519 to A.D. 1578," (Archæologia, vol. 25, p. 411,) are the following items:

'pd. for ij yerds of Rybband for Garters for my Mr. viijd.”

Now we must draw the conclusion, that these garters were intended to be used with the short