Sumptuary Laws of Former Days.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 173, 9 October 1886, Page 4

Sumptuary Laws of Former Days.

Some of the French Sovereigns did their utmost to combat the natural tendency of fcheir subjects to vanity and display, whether on the table or the per?oo. Charles VI , a prince of the house of Valoie, iesued a peremptory edict—" Let no man presume to treat with more than a soup and two dinhes !" Earlier still, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, Philip the Fair (notorious as the persecutor of the Knights Templars) also attempted to regulate his subjects' expenses even to the minutest detail. JN'ot only was the number of dishes restricted, both at fasts and feasts, but lest the law should be in any way evaded, each dieh was limited to one kind of meat only. The king's supervision also extended' to the wardrobes of his subjects. No duke count, or baron was to have more tnan four robes a year, the came number being permitted to their wives. Prelates and knights for the most part were limited to two, while every woruan, whither single or married, who?e annual income did not amount to the sum of 2,000 livres was allowed but one I Imagine her Grace the Duchess or my Lady Countess of our own day submitting to have the number of her dressss limited by law I But not only the number, even the very cut colour, trimming, and price of these garments were arranged by royal decrees. Only persons of a certain rank were en. titled to wear cloaks trimmed with fur, and the breadth cf these borders, together with the quality of the fur or ermine, was to vary according to the different classes of nobility. The use of fur has indeed only become general within the last few centuries. It ■was not worn by the refined nations of antiquity, but as luxury gained ground in more modern times, princes began to make use of it for lining their tents. In the days of Philip the Fair, the size of a cape, the length of a lady's train was also determined by the rank of the wearer. Lined velvet caps were permitted only to kings, princes, and knights Their cloaks were of scarlet or violet cloth, while tho3e of meaner rank went clad in garments of more sobre hue. At times the sumptuary laws were very ptrictly enforced, and we hear of occasional instances in which overdressed ladies and gentlemen were seized at a ball and carried off to priaon for setting the royal commands ar defiance. But of all classes of society the citizens suffered most from the harassing, if necessary, restrictions. Their comfortp, as well as their superfluities, were suppressed by the jealous vigilance of the law. Not only were they and their households forbidden the privilege of wearing furs, jewels, or "crowns of gold and silver," but nc citizenss wife was allowed to use the primitive two-wheeled vehicle which later developed into the most comfortable coach or carriage. She must ride behind her husband on the same horse when she did not go afoot ; nor might she be lighted home through the streets at night with waxen torches in emulation of her betters. Doubt* less in the reign of Philip the Fair the different classes of society strove to tread upon each other's heels, much ac they do now, and these apparently pretty restrictions were devised to meet the occasion. It is fair to say, however, that the King himself set an example of moderation and frugality. In these days the Royal family wore gold and jewels but sparingly, and showed a praiseworthy simplicity in the furnishing and decoration of the Royal table. But neither example nor precept served to check the extravagance of our neighbours over the water. Luxury increased among them, and in the time of Henry IV. — the once simple, hardy King of Navarre — the taste for dress had reached an absurd height. The wearing apparel of this period waa profusely decorated with gold, silver, and jewels ; and it is recorded of the King's favourite, G-abrielle d'Estrbes, that when fully dreaeed she was co encumbered with finery that ehe could neither move or stand ! One is reminded ©f a Frsnch Court of later date, and of the new made Empress Josephine staggering under the magnificence of the splendid train which her unwilling gist ers-in -law so negligently supported "The Argosy."