period, and he will become infenfibly master of that fynchronisms which is fo effential to British hiftory.

This catalogue is chiefly compiled from the collections of the Hon. Horace Walpole, James West, Efquire, and Sir William Mufgrave. Mr. Weft's collection confifts of three and twenty volumes in folio, and includes the ten volumes which belonged to the late Mr. Nicholls, F. R. S. whence the late Mr. Jofeph Ames, fecretary to the Society of Antiquaries, compiled his catalogue of 2000, which he published in 1748. But, however copious, it is ftill defective. I have reafon to hope, fays the Author, that gentlemen who have opportunity will enquire after, and bring to light, many portraits that have hitherto lain in obfcurity: it can be confidered as a biographical hiftory therefore in a very limited fenfe, for it is the history of scarce any perfor whofe print is not extant, and thefe, by the Author's confeffion, are many; fome of whom, he fays, have filled important employments.

As far as it goes, the work is excellent, and has done much towards reducing biography to a system.

The Author, who abounds with curious remarks, obferves, that though he has been particularly careful with refpect to dates, there are feeming contradictions, occafioned by the different customs of our chronologifts, fome of whom begin the year with the firft of Jan. and others with the 25th of March, fo that it is not unusual to find that the fame person died on the fame day of the month for two years fucceffively he adds, among other abfurdities which refulted from these different computations, there were two Eafters in 1677, the first on the 25th of April, the fecond on the 22d of March following; and that there were three dates affixed to three state-papers which were publifhed in one week his majesty's fpeech, dated 1732-3, the addrefs of the lords, dated 1732, and the addrefs of the commons, dated 1733.

The Author, in the conclufion of his preface, obferves, that the collector of prints may farther improve himself in the knowledge of perfonal hiftory from tombs and cenotaphs, and from engraved coins and medals. In Speed's Chronicle, fays he, are medals of as many of the Roman emperors as had any concern with Britain; a confiderable number of coins of the Saxon, Danish, and Anglo-Saxon kings; and a complete series of coins and feals from William the Conqueror to James the Firft, cut in wood with great exactnefs, from the originals in the -Cotton Collection, by Chriftopher Switzer. In the old and new editions of Camden's Britannia, are various coins from the fame collection. Mr. Evelyn has published a book of medals in folio; Vertue has engraved an elegant volume in quarto of the medals of the famous Simon; Dr. Ducarel has published a cu

rious book of coins of our ancient kings; and Mr. Folkes a collection from the Conqueft, in fixty-one plates. There are alfo feveral plates in Dr. Hickes's Thefaurus; a large one in Mr. Thorefby's Mufeum; and a great variety of medals ftruck in the reigns of William and Mary, Anne, and George the Firft, engraved for the Continuation of Rapin's Hiftory. Some of our English coins were engraved by Francis Perry; and there are many engravings in Mr, Snelling's Treatifes of the Gold, Silver, and Copper Coinage of England.'

The Author's plan will appear from the following Extract:

All portraits of fuch perfons as flourished before the end of the reign of Henry the Seventh, are thrown into one article. In the fucceeding reigns, they are ranged in the following order:

Clafs I. Kings, queens, princes, princeffes, &c. of the royal family.

Clafs II. Great officers of state, and of the household.

• Class III. Peers, ranked according to their precedence, and fuch commoners as have titles of peerage; namely, fons of dukes, &c. and Irish nobility.

Clafs IV. Archbishops and bishops, dignitaries of the church, and inferior clergymen. To this clafs are fubjoined the nonconforming divines, and priests of the church of Rome.

Clafs V. Commoners who have borne great employments; namely, fecretaries of ftate, privy-counfellers, ambaffadors, and fuch members of the houfe of commons as do not fall under other claffes.

• Clafs VI. Men of the robe; including chancellors, judges, and all lawyers.

navy.

Clafs VII. Men of the fword; all officers of the army and

Clafs VIII. Sons of peers without titles, baronets, knights, ordinary gentlemen, and those who have enjoyed inferior civil employments.

Clafs IX. Phyficians, poets, and other ingenious perfons, who have diftinguifhed themfelves by their writings.

Class X. Painters, artificers, mechanics, and all of inferior profeffions, not included in the other claffes.

Clafs XI. Ladies, and others, of the female fex, according to their rank, &c.

Class XII. Perfons of both fexes, chiefly of the lowest order of the people, remarkable from only one circumstance in their lives; namely, fuch as lived to a great age, deformed perfons, convicts, &c.

The following particulars have been obferved:

1. To dmit fuch foreigners as have been naturalized, or have enjoy.d any place of dignity, or office, and alfo fuch REV. Sept. 1;69.

P

foreign

foreign artifts as have met with employment under the British government.

2. To place the perfons in that reign, in which they were at the highest pitch of honour or preferment, if statesmen, or peers; or in which they may be fuppofed to have been in the full vigour of their understanding, if men of letters. But if the painter or engraver has given the date when a portrait was taken, or the age of a perfon may with any probability be concluded from the reprefentation of him, then to place it in that period in which it refembled him moft.

3. If a perfon has been eminent in feveral reigns, or in different characters or employments, to place the defcriptions of the prints of him in the feveral reigns and claffes, or to refer from one reign and clafs to another.

6

4. To mention, after the English heads, at the end of each reign, 1. Such foreign princes as were allied to the royal family. 2. Foreign princes, and others, who have been knights of the garter. 3. Foreign princes, who have vifited this kingdom. 4. Amballadors and envoys, who have refided here. 5. Foreigners, who have been fojourners at either of our univerfities. 6. Foreigners, who have been Fellows of the Royal Society. 7. Travellers of eminence, who have been in England. Lastly, Such as do not fall under the above divifions.'

The Author has executed this plan with an accuracy and precifion that fhew great reading, diligence, judgment, and taste. He has not defcribed the drefles of the portraits in his catalogue, but he has generally, made fome remarks on the dreffes of the times, at the end of the feveral reigns; thefe, as they are very curious, we have extracted for the entertainment of our Readers:

In the reign of Richard II. the peaks, or tops, of fhoes and boots were worn of fo enormous a length, that they were tied to the knees. A law was made in the fame reign, to limit them to two inches. The variety of drefies worn in the reign of Henry the Eighth, may be concluded from the print of the naked Englishman, holding a piece of cloth, and a pair of fhears, in Borde's Introduction to Knowledge. The drefs of the king and the nobles, in the beginning of this reign, was not unlike that worn by the yeomen of the guard at prefent. This was probably aped by inferior perfons. It is recorded, "that Anne Bolen wore yellow mourning for Catharine of Arragon."

The reign of Mary was the era of ruffs and farthingales, as they were firft brought hither from Spain. Howel tells us, in his Letters, that the Spanish word for a farthingale literally tranflated, figuifies cover-infant, as if it was intended to conceal

pregnancy.

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!

pregnancy. It is perhaps of more honourable extraction, and might fignify cover-infanta.

In this age the very neck was generally concealed; the arms were covered quite to the wrifts; the petticoats were worn long,. and the head-gear, or coifure, clofe; to which was fometimes faftened a light veil, which fell down behind, as if intended occafionally to conceal even the face.

The beard extended and expanded itself more during the fhort reigns of Edward VI. and Alary, than from the Conqueft to that period.'

The English, in the reign of Elizabeth, cut the hair clofe on the middle of the head, but fuffered it to grow on either fide.

The large jutting coat became quite out of fashion in this reign, and a coat was worn refembling a waittcoat.

The men's ruffs. were generally of a moderate fize, the women's bore a proportion to their farthingales, which were

enormous.

We are informed, that fome beaux had actually introduced long fwords and high ruffs, which approached the royal ftandard. This roufed the jealoufy of the queen, who appointed officers to break every man's fword, and to clip all ruffs, which were beyond a certain length.

The breeches, or to speak more properly, drawers, fell far short of the knees, and the defect was fupplied with long hofe, the tops of which were faftened under the drawers.

William, Earl of Pembroke, was the first who wore knit ftockings in England, which were introduced in this reign. They were prefented to him by William Rider, an apprentice near London-bridge, who happened to fee a pair brought from Mantua, at an Italian merchant's in the city, and made a pair exactly like them.

Edward Vere, the feventeenth earl of Oxford, was the firft that introduced embroidered gloves and perfumes into England, which he brought from Italy. He prefented the queen with a pair of perfumed gloves, and her portrait was painted with them upon her hands.

At this period was worn a hat of a fingular form, which refembled a clofe-ftool pan with a broad brim.

As the queen left no lefs than three thoufand different habits in her wardrobe when he died, and was poffeffed of the dreffes of all countries, it is fomewhat ftrange that there is fuch a uniformity of drefs in her portraits, and that the fhould take a in being loaded with ornaments.'

this time the ftays, or bodd:ce, were worn long waifted.' enry Vere, the gallant Earl of Oxford, was the first man that appeared at court, in the reign of James, with

a hat and white feather; which was fometimes worn by the king himself.

The long love-lock feems to have been firft in fashion among the beaux in this reign, who fometimes ftuck flowers in their ears.

• William, Earl of Pembroke, a man far from an effeminate character, is reprefented with ear-rings.

James appears to have left the beard in much the same state as he found it.

The cloak, a drefs of great antiquity, was more worn in this, than in any of the preceding reigns. It continued to be in fashion after the restoration of Charles II.

It is well known that James I. used to hunt in a ruff and trowfers.

• We learn from Sir Thomas Overbury, that yellow stockings were worn by fome of the ordinary gentlemen in the country.

Silk garters, puffed in a large knot, were worn below the knees, and knots, or roses, in the shoes.

The ruff and farthingale ftill continued to be worn. Yellow ftarch for ruffs, firft invented by the French, and adapted to the fallow complexions of that people, was introduced by Mrs. Turner, a phyfician's widow, who had a principal hand in poifoning Sir Thomas Overbury. This vain and infamous woman, who went to be hanged in a ruff of that colour, helped to fupport the fashion, as long as fhe was able. It began to decline. upon her execution.

The ladies, like thofe of Spain, were banished from court, during the reign of James, which was, perhaps, a reason why drefs underwent very little alteration during that period.

It appears from portraits, that long coats were worn by boys, till they were feven or eight years of age. We are told by Dean Fell, that the famous Dr. Hammond was in long coats, when he was fent to Eton fchool.

When James came to the crown, there was in the wardrobe, in the Tower, a great variety of dreffes of our ancient kings; which, to the regret of antiquaries, were foon given away and difperfed. Such a collection must have been of much greater use to the ftudious in venerable antiquity, than a review of the "ragged regiment" in Westminster Abbey.'

In the reign of Charles the First, the hat continued to be worn with much fuch a fort of crown as that defcribed in the reign of Elizabeth; but the brim was extended to a reasonable breadth. Hats inclining to a cone, a figure very ill adapted to the human head, occur in the portraits of this time.

The hair was worn low on the forehead, and generally unparted: fome wore it very long, others of a moderate length.