and, gentle reader, I have reason to believe, that it yet survives the wreck of time.

A curious, and strictly, clouted shoe is, to this day, to be seen in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford; and, here, I must beg leave to quote the following letter, relative to it, from the celebrated Tom Hearne, the Oxford Antiquary, to Browne Willis. This letter, also, developes the customary use of the girdle as a general carrier.

"Mr. Prince told me you wanted some account of the Buckinghamshire Shoe in the Bodleian Repository. You have seen it more than once, and heard the account of it. However, for better satisfaction, I shall repeat the story, viz. that the shoe is vastly large, made up of about a thousand pieces of leather. It belonged to John Bigg, who was formerly clerk to Judge Mayne, one of the judges, that gave sentence upon K. Charles the First. He lived at Dinton in a cave under ground, had been a man of tolerable wealth, was looked upon as a pretty good scholar, and of no contemptible parts. Upon the Restoration he grew melancholy, betook himself to a recluse life, made all his other cloaths in the same manner as the shoe, lived by begging, but never asked for any thing but leather (which he would immediately nail to his cloaths), yet kept three bottles, that hung at his girdle, viz. one for strong beer, another for small beer, and the third for milk, which liquors used to be given, and brought to him, notwithstanding he never asked for them.

This shoe hath often put me in mind of the Roman Campagi, or military shoes of the inferior soldiers, which were made much in the same manner; excepting this, that the upper parts were uncovered, just like the more ancient shoes called crepide. The Emperors, likewise, wore much the same, but finer, and then they were styled Regii Campagi. The Tzanga (called by Codinus rákia) were worn by none but the Emperors, and they reached to the middle of the leg, and had on them the figure of the Eagle. These were rather later than the Campagi, tho' as to the form in other respects not much different. We have draughts of each on old

monuments.

"Oxon, Feb. 12, 1712-13."*

As connected with the subject I will now proceed to add a few words on the fastenings of the shoe. The Hebrews used the ligature; and, with that people, the shoe-latchet was held so vile, and contemptible, as to be made the subject of valueless comparison; thus Abraham affirms to the King of Sodom the oath which he had made to the Lord by the customary mode of lifting up the hand towards Heaven: "I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord," (says he,) "that I will not take from a thread, even to a shoe-latchet." ↑ And, in the New Testament, John, the Baptist, declares: "there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."†

"Letters by Eminent Persons, &c.," 2 vols. 8vo. 1812. Letter XCII.

From the illuminated MSS. of the Saxons, and Normans, little information is to be derived as to the fastening of the shoe. It appears, in general, to be high in the quarter, and to sit close without any adventitious aid; but I have reason to think, that strings were, usually, attached to the heel behind; and, being brought around the instep, were fastened in the front. The mode, by which the shoe was held on the foot, during the middle-ages, is involved in much obscurity, as it is not developed in the extant illuminations; it may have been by means of strings in the manner before stated, or, perhaps, by a strap, and small side buckle. In humble life the high shoe, or half-boot, was, there is reason to suppose, laced, as in modern days; but, by the introduction of the buckle, we at last emerge into day-light, yet, still, it is remarkable, that its earliest origin is involved in obscurity. Howe, the continuator of Stow's "Annales," informs us, that buckles were brought in about the beginning (or somewhat before) of the reign of Elizabeth, when "the gentlemen" (says he) "wore them either of silver, or copper gilt, whilst the common people wore them of copper only." Planche says, on the other hand, "Buckles for shoes are mentioned as early as the reign of Edward IV., but they were most likely used to fasten the strap, that crossed the instep on one side of the shoe, and must have been exceeding small, as they do not appear in any illumination, or effigy. The earliest date we have heard assigned to the shoe-buckle, properly so called, is 1680."*

* History of British Costume, p. 305.

The Statute (25) passed in the first year of Richard, the Third, 1583, (a century before the foregoing date,) for the purpose of restricting the importation of many articles; and, thereby, to encourage the home manufacture, includes expressly shoe-buckles; yet this (which I much doubt) may allude alone to the small side buckle. In the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth it is, however, certain, that the full buckle, in the front of the foot, was in vogue; but, towards the close of the reign of the latter, it was superseded, amongst the higher classes, by the rose, and this fashion, in the following reign of James, the First, was carried to a great excess both as to its size and costliness. The shoes of the excellent Prince Henry, his son, (as appears from his portrait in Drayton's "Poly Olbion,") are half covered by them. You must not, however, suppose, gentle reader, that the mind of this amiable Prince was lost in effeminacy. Although he has these huge roses in his shoes, he is depicted as tilting with his lance; and it is said by Granger, that " He was employed in this exercise, when the French Ambassador came to take his leave of him, and asked him, if he had any commands to France. Tell your master,' said the Prince, how you left me engaged.' Providence ordained, that he should not sit on the Throne. This bright Star of Albion rose, but not to arrive at meridian splendour; his days were prematurely closed, and the happy auspices of the nation were, early, doomed to be changed for scenes of desolation-and miseryand woe.

The fashion of the rose continued

into the succeeding reign of Charles, the First ; and, in the celebrated family picture, by Vandyke, at Wilton, it is seen, as it were, in full bloom, and of great circumference, covering the instep of Philip, Earl of Pembroke, and others of the male part of his family. This renowned picture (an excellent engraving of which, by Baron, 1740, is now before me) is, from its many full-length figures, a rich treat to the student of costume. Towards the close of that reign, and during the ensuing inter-regnum of the Commonwealth, the rose dwindled, and, gradually, subsided to the simple bow; and this, in its turn, yielded, in the reign of William, the Third, to the revived use of the buckle; which came to be generally, and fully, established in the time of Queen Anne, and continued in fashion, as I believe, without intermission, (except as to the, occasionally, varied size,) from that time, until within the remembrance of the present generation. The buckle now seems, amongst all classes, to be, generally, supplanted again by the more convenient shoe-tye, and long may it hold its reign. The venerable gentlemen of the olden time are, however, yet to be met with, whose polished, and round-toed, shoes are still adorned with the neat, and silver, buckle. In the retrospect of their days they fondly cherish the memory of the past, and think no times so good, and so wise, as those of the days of their youth. Long may they enjoy their opinions, and their silver buckles!

The shoe has given birth to a metaphorical proverb often resorted to, but the origin of which