Westminster the barons and viscounts wore their parliament robes) the earls, marquesses and dukes wearing their robes of estate of crimson velvet “ furred with ermins, poudred according to their degrees.” 'This was also the case

of James I., and in S'elden's Titles of Honour illustrations show the baron and viscount

robes, the higher ranks in robes of estate.

James II.'s coronation, however, the baron

the velvet robes of estate (see illustration on p. 188 of Perkins's The Coronation Book, 1902, where the surcoat also appears to have a pointed collar edged with white and to be sleeveless). The colour. of these seems to have been crimson at first, some# times varying to purple. They' consisted of a long gown or surcoat with girdle, a mantle lined with ermine, a hood and a. tippet of ermine, the rows being as follows: for al duke 4, a marquess 55%, an earl 3, a Viscount ze, and a baron 2. 1 f Till late in the 18th century peers continued toattend the House of Lords in parliamentary robes, with the stars and ribbons ofwtheir orders, but robes are now .only worn in the Hourseof Lords, e.g. at the opening of parliament, on occasions when the sovereign gives his assent to bills by f' royal commission ” (when five or six peers on the government 'side appear in robes, and the lord chancellor also wears his peer's robe of scarlet ermine), and at the introduction of a newly created peer, when the new peer and his two introduce rs wear their parliamentary robes (over 'morning dress) during the ceremony of introduction only, The mover and seconder of the Address no longer wear robes, but uniform. On all the above occasions, and when the fpeers as a body attend church or some other ceremony, the parliamentary robe of scarlet cloth' is worn; in the present dayiit takes the form of a mantle openingfon the right shoulder, with a collar of “ ermine, ” and guarded with rows of ermine and gold lace round the right shoulder, varying in number according to the rank of the wearer. The modern coronation robes consist of a crimson velvet surcoat and a mantle with a tippet of ermine and with rows, of ermine as -in the parliamentary robes. The surcoat is no longer a gown, but a short sleeveless garment.,

For Scotland, anorder of James II. (1455) prescribed for earls “ mantles of brown granick colour" open before, lined andfaced in front, as far as the girdle, with white fur, and with hoods to match; for- the other lords of Parliament a red mantle lined with silk or fur, with a furred hood? while James l. (and VI.) in 1606 hadto issue an order restraining the Scotch peers from wearing velvet robes in parliament, and confining, them to those of scarlet cloth (Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. i. p. 147). The robes of the Scottish peers are now, of course, similar, to those of the others. The peeresses' robes at the coronation of Anne Boleyn are also described in the account mentioned above. The duchess of Norfolk, the train-bearer, was followed by “ladies being lords' wives " in scarlet robes furred with “ lettice, " while 'Wriothesley (loc. cit.) adds that the duchess was also in scarlet? The' order of the earl marshal for the regulation of the peeresses' robes at the coronation of James ll. (given in J. H. T. Perkins's The Coronation Book, 1902, pp. 202-5) shows that by then all peeresses wore the robes of state of crimson velvet, and minutely regulates all details, such as shape, orderings, length of train and width of the fur edging of the mantle. They have changed very little up to the present day. Robes of the Orders of Knighthood.-The history of the robes of the two oldest orders is given in great detail in Ashmole's Order of the Garter (London, 1672) and Anstis's Order of the Bath (London, 1725); see also G. F. Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter (London, 1841), p. l-lii. In each case the robes t~ the Coronation

d ed., 1672) the

in parliamentary

By the time of

and Viscount had

1 These are well described in the account of the openin of parliament by Henry VIII. in 1537 given in Wriothesley's (chronicle of England (Camden Soc., 1875, ed. W. Hamilton): 'f all erles marques and lordes, all in their Perliament robes of scarlett furred with white, and their hoodes about their neckes, which were forty in number; everie duke having fower barres of white fur alongest the right side of their robes, and everie earle having three bars, . . and everie lord two barres in likewise." t

= 2" After her followed ladies being lordes' wives, which had circotes of scarlet, with narrow sleeves, the breast all lettice, with barres of ponders according to their degrees, and over'that they had mantles of scarlet- furred, and every mantle had lettice about the necke like a neckerchief, likewise pondered, so that b the gguderings their degrees might be known. Then followed ladies ing knights' wives in gownes of scarlet."

consisted of a mantle, surcoat and hood. The. robes of the Garter were originally of blue woollen stuff, the surcoat and hood "being powdered' with' garters=embroidered~ in -silk and gold. In the time of Henry VI; the mantle was first made of velvet, and between the time of 'Elizabeth and of Charles I. itseems to have been sometimes purple in colour. 'The surcoat varied in colour from year to year; in the reign of the founder alone, e.g., it was' first blue, then black (possibly as a sign of mourning for the plague), then “ Sanguine in grain.” The hood was made of the same material as thesurcoat, and when hats began to be worn, was carried hanging over the shoulder. The number of garters embroidered on the .surcoat and hood came to be fixed by rank, but “after Henry VI. the surcoat seems to havevbeen made of plain velvet. Robeswere sometimes granted to ladies in the early days (see Beltz, p. ccxxi., for a list of those ladies), in.which case the robe and hood were of the colour of the surcoatworn by the knights that year, and powdered with garters. The last ladyto receive the robes was Margaret, countess of Richmond, in 1488. At the present day the mantle is of dark. blue velvet, of the same colour as the ribbon, lined with this talfeta, and with the star embroidered on the left shoulder, the hood and surcoat of crimson velvet lined with white tatfeta, and with these are worna doublet and trunk hose of white satin and a plumed hat (see Lawrence-Archer, The Orders of Chivalry, p. 1o6). 1 *

The robes worn by the knights of the Bath created at the Coronation ofHenry IV.' were green with furred hoods, and 'a white silk cord hanging from the left shoulder? In the various accounts of later creations of knights of the Bath quoted by Anstis, thetcostumeworn before the ceremonial bath seems to have been a priest-like garment of russet or grey, with a girdle and hood; after the bath, was put on a red surcoat and mantle, the latter with a lace of white silk, from which hung a pair of white gloves; and the final costume was a blue (later a purple) velvet or satin gown, with hood furred with miniver (later lined with sarcenet), and the white cord hanging from the shoulder, until it should be removed by the sovereign or a lady for some deed of valour. The mantle in the present day is of crimson velvet lined fwith white over a white satin under-coat and trunk-hose, and~, a plumed hat and white boots with red tops are worn. The mantle of the Thistle is of dark green velvet over surcoat, &c., of cloth of silver; that of St Patrick azure, with doublet and trunk-hose of white satin; that 'of St Michael and St George of Sairon blue satin lined with scarlet; and that of the Star of India of light blue satin lined with white.

House of Commons.-The speaker of the House of Commons wears on state occasions a black damask robe with gold lace and a full-bottomed wig; in the House itself he wears a black silk robe with train and a full-bottomed wig. The clerks at the table wear barristers' gowns and wigs.

ludicial and Forensic Robes.eIt is frequently stated that judicial robes had their origin in the dressof ecclesiastics. But though ecclesiastics in early days frequently acted as judges, and though, as Fortescue says, the serjeant's long robe was “ ad instar sacerdotis, ” judicial robes more probably arose from the ordinary Civilian dress of the early 14th century. The chief argument for the ecclesiastical origin has been found in the coif (tena, birretum album), a cap of white linen or silk, tied under the chin, and described by Fortescue as “ the principal or chief insignment and habit wherewith sergeants-at-law at their creation are decked, ” which is said to have been used by ecclesiastics to hide the tonsure when in court. This view is disposed of by Pulling (The .Order of the Coif, London, 1884). More probably the coif was a head-dress in common use in the 13th century, which survived as the distinguishing mark of men of law! As such it is found in a wardrobe-roll of 3 “ Longues cottes vertes a estroictes manches fourres de menever, et chaperons pareil fourres de menever, en guise de prelats; et avoient les dits chevaliers sur la senestre espaule ung double cordeau de so e blanche a blanche houppettes pendans " (Froissart). 4 Mr Oswald Barron, in The Ancestor, vols. v. (p. IO5) and vii.

(pf IO8 seq., plate xii.), has given reproductions of figures from MSS.