of the feudal castle, ran glittering in the open sunshine. Stately villas were built, with long gable roofs, grotesque carvings, and shining oriels, and were surrounded with the walks and terraces, the statuary and the fountains, of an Italian garden. The passion for color showed itself among the wealthier classes in a lavish magnificence and eccentricity of costume. The young dandy went "perfumed like a milliner," and often affected the fashions of Italy. In its luxury of delight in life and color, the nation bedecked itself "With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, With ruffs, and cuffs, and farthingales, and things; With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery." In spite of bitter protests from the Puritans and moralists at the extravagance and absurdity of the fashions, men put off their more sober garments to rustle in silks and satins, to sparkle with jewels; they were gorgeous in laces and velvets; they glittered with chains and brooches of gold; they gladly suffered themselves to be tormented by huge ruffs, stiff with the newly discovered vanity of starch. The same spirit showed itself in the costly banquets; in the showy pageants or street processions, with their elaborate scenery and allegorical characters; in the revels like those with which Queen Elizabeth was received at Kenilworth; in the spectacular entertainment of the mask, a performance in which poet, musician, and as we should say the stage manager, worked together to delight mind, eye, and ear. Milton has this splendor in mind when he writes: "There let Hymen oft appear In saffron robe, with taper clear, |