CURIOUS FOOT-GEAR.
"A tasteful slipper is my soul's delight."
--_Milman's "Fazio."_
A well-shaped foot has been considered from the earliest times one of
Nature's kindest gifts, and sober history and fairy lore have combined
to give us many interesting particulars respecting this portion of the
human anatomy. The similarity of the foot-gear of both sexes makes it
impossible to treat the matter separately, and as the subject is
practically inexhaustible, I propose only to illustrate the most curious
and notable examples.
One of the finest collection of shoes in the world is that at the Cluny
Museum, Paris, formed by the eminent French engraver, the late Jules
Jacquemart. This was enlarged by the purchase of the collection of Baron
Schvitter. The Queen of Italy has also acquired a large number of
historical boots and shoes; and to Mr. Joseph Box, another enthusiastic
collector, I am indebted for some of the drawings used for illustrating
this article.
A quaint story is told in a rare book, entitled "The Delightful,
Princely, and Entertaining History of the Gentle Craft of Crispin, the
Patron Saint of Shoe Makers, and his Brother Crispianus." According to
this authority, they were the two sons of the King of Logia (Kent), and
lived in the city of Durovenum, otherwise Canterbury, or the Court of
the Kentish men. Having embraced Christianity, during the Roman
invasion, they were in considerable danger, and at their mother's
instigation, to conceal their identity, adopted humble attire, and
devoted themselves to the modest craft of shoemaking, under the auspices
of a shoemaker at Faversham, to whom they bound themselves for seven
years. This industrious citizen appears to have received the appointment
of shoemaker to the Court of Maximinus, whose daughter Ursula fell in
love with Crispin. After removing the usual obstacles (which, even in
those remote times, seem to have obstructed the paths of those who had
fallen under the sway of Cupid), this energetic lady engaged the
services of a neighbouring friar, and cut the gordian knot by marrying
her faithful adorer.
When primitive man first conceived the idea of producing some
contrivance to defend himself from cold, sharp stones, or the heated
sand of the desert, his first effort was to fasten to the bottom of his
feet soles of bark, wood, or raw hide, which were followed, in due
course, by more elaborately made sandals of tanned leather. These were
fastened in various ways, but generally by two leathern straps, one
round the instep, while the other passed between the first and second
toes. Egyptian sandals were sometimes prolonged to a sharp point, and
occasionally were made of papyrus, or some flexible material; but the
commoner kinds were, as a rule, of wood or leather. Often they had
painted upon them the effigy of the wearer's enemy, who was thus
literally trodden underfoot. Owing to their proximity, the habits and
customs of the Egyptians and Jews were in many respects similar. The
same Hebrew word denotes both a sandal and a shoe; and it has been
concluded that shoes were probably confined to the upper classes, while
sandals were used by those compelled to work; and slaves went
barefoot.
It will be seen from the sketches of Grecian and Roman shoes that they
eventually became an elaborate article of dress, bound to the foot and
leg with lacings, and ornamented in different ways. The senators had
boots of black leather, with a crest of gold or silver on the top of the
foot; and soldiers wore iron shoes, heavily spiked, in a similar manner
to those now used for cricket, so as to give the wearers a better hold
when scaling walls in the attack of fortified places. An iron boot was
also used for torturing Christians. As an instance of the luxury so
characteristic of the age, it is stated that Roman soldiers often had
the spikes on their shoes made of gold. According to the testimony of
Seneca, Julius Caesar wore shoes of the precious metal, a fashion
emulated by Cardinal Wolsey many centuries after; and Severus was fond
of covering his with jewels, to attract the attention of the people as
he walked through the streets. The Emperor Aurelian forbade men to wear
red, yellow, white, or green shoes, reserving these colours for women;
and different shapes were prescribed by legal enactments to be worn for
the easy distinguishment of various trades and professions. In the reign
of Domitian, the stalls of shoemakers in the public streets were so
numerous as to necessitate an edict for their removal.
[Illustration: FOOT-GEAR OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.]
Our own ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, wore shoes of raw cow-hide,
reaching to the ankles; and the hair turned outward. Those used by
ecclesiastics were a kind of sandal fastened with bands of leather round
the instep. The Norman half-boots had soles of wood, while the uppers
were of a more pliable material. Those worn by the Crusaders were of
chain, and later of plate armour. Very pointed toes were in fashion
during the Middle Ages, and these were carried to such a ridiculous
length that the dignitaries of the Church considered it necessary to
preach against the practice. However, this did not result in its
abolition, for we find the courtiers of the day improved upon the
prevailing mode by stuffing their shoes, and twisting them into the
shape of a ram's horn; the point of which was attached to the knee by a
chain. The common people were permitted by law to wear "the pykes on
their shoon" half-a-foot, rich citizens a foot, while nobles and princes
had theirs two-and-a-half feet long.
During the Plantagenet period it was usual to wear two shoes of
different colours, and they were often slashed on the upper surface, to
show the bright hose beneath. These were superseded by a large, padded
shoe, gored over the foot with coloured material, a fashion imported
from Italy, and exaggerated as much as the pointed shoe had been.
Buskins were high boots, made of splendid tissue, and worn by the
nobility and gentry during the Middle Ages, generally on occasions of
State. They were also largely adopted by players of tragedy. They
covered the knee, and were tied just below. The sock, or low shoe, on
the other hand, was the emblem of comedy.
One of the greatest follies ever introduced was the chopine, a sort of
stilt which increased the height of the wearer. These were first used in
Persia, but appeared in Venice about the Sixteenth Century, and their
use was encouraged by jealous husbands in the hope of keeping their
wives at home. This desire, however, was not realised, as the ladies
went out as usual, and required rather more support than hitherto.
Chopines were very ornate, and the length determined the rank of the
wearer, the noblest dames having them half-a-yard high. Shakespeare
refers to them when he makes Hamlet say:--"Your ladyship is nearer
heaven than when I saw you last by the altitude of a chopine." He also
alludes to the general use of shoes for the left and right foot, when he
speaks of a man:---
"Standing in slippers which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet."
[Illustration: GREEK AND ROMAN SHOES.]
The exercise of the gentle craft of shoemaking was for a long time
carried on in monastic institutions, and increased the revenues of the
clergy. Richard, the first Abbot of St. Albans, objected to canons and
priests of his era associating themselves with tanners and shoemakers,
not one of whom, in his opinion, ought to be made a bishop or an abbot.
It is said, however, that Pope John, elected in 1316, was the son of a
shoemaker at Cahors; and in the description of Absalom, the Parish
Clerk, Chaucer tells us, "the upper leathers of his shoes were carved to
resemble the windows of St. Paul's Cathedral," which inclines one to
believe in their priestly origin.
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON AND NORMAN SHOES.]
[Illustration: MEDIAEVAL SHOES.]
From various sources, we have descriptions of royal shoes. Richard
C[oe]ur de Lion had his boots striped with gold; those of his brother
John were spotted with gold in circles. Henry III. had his boots
chequered with golden lines, and every square enriched with a lion. In
the splendid Court of Edward III., the royal shoes were elaborately
embroidered. The coronation shoes of Richard III. were covered with
crimson tissue cloth of gold. Henry VIII. is described as wearing
square-toed shoes, which were slashed with coloured silk, and exposed a
portion of the foot. Some worn by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth, of
brocaded silk, are remarkably clumsy in appearance, and have lappets
which fasten over the instep. They form a striking contrast to those
used by the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots (now in the possession of
Sir James William Drummond), which are of kid, embroidered with coloured
silks; the toes are somewhat squarer, but in other respects resemble
those in fashion at the present day.
[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BOOTS.]
[Illustration: SHOE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.]
[Illustration: SHOE WORN BY CHARLES I.]
[Illustration: A. CHOPINE; B, BUSKIN; C, PEAKED SHOE; D, TUDOR SHOE.]
[Illustration: MILITARY BOOTS AND SPURS USED AT THE BATTLE OF NASEBY.]
In speaking of curious foot-gear, the under covering of the leg and
pedal extremities must be briefly referred to. Ancient works on costume
frequently mention hose, socks, and stockings, which were made of
woollen cloth, leather, or linen, and held in place by cross-bands of
the material twisted to a little below the knee, either in close rolls,
like the hay-bands of the modern ostler, or crossing each other
sandal-wise, as they are now worn in some districts of Europe,
particularly in Russia and Spain. Cloth stockings, embroidered with
gold, are among the articles of dress ordered by Henry III. for his
sister Isabel; and of a woman mentioned in the "Canterbury Tales," it
is said: "Hire hosen weren of fine scarlet redde, ful streite yteyed
(tied), and shoon full moist (supple) and newe."
[Illustration: ANCIENT SHOES--A, B, C, D, E, EGYPTIAN; F, PERSIAN; G, H,
GREEK; I, J, K, L, PHRYGIAN AND DACIAN.]
In the reign of Henry VII. clocks on stockings are discernible; and the
Poet Laureate of this king, describing the dress of the hostess of an
inn, gives an indication of how boots were cleaned:
"She hobbles as she goes,
With her blanket hose,
Her shoone smeared with _tallow_."
It is supposed that hose or stockings of silk were unknown in this
country before the middle of the 16th century. A pair of Spanish silk
hose was presented by Sir Thomas Gresham to Edward VI., his father never
having worn any but those made of cloth. In the reign of good Queen
Bess, nether socks or stockings were of silk, jarnsey, worsted crewel,
or the finest yarn, thread, or cloth, and were of all colours,
"cunningly knit and curiously indented in every point, with querks,
clocks, open seams, and everything else accordingly." Planche states, in
the third year of Elizabeth, Mistress Montague, the Queen's silk-woman,
presented Her Majesty with a pair of black silk knit stockings, made in
England; and from that time she wore no others, in the laudable desire
to encourage their home manufacture by her own example. The Queen's
patronage, and the invention, in 1599, of a weaving frame, by William
Lee, Master of Arts, and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, gave a
great impetus tus to the stocking trade, which has been carried on with
considerable success ever since, particularly in the Midland counties of
England.
Spurs can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period, which is quite far
enough for this purpose. They had no rowels, but were made with a simple
point like a goad, and were fastened with leathers. Early in the 15th
century spurs were screwed on to a steel shoe, instead of being fastened
with straps. They were long in the neck, and the spikes of the rowels of
formidable dimensions. From a sketch of a spur worn at the Battle of
Naseby, in the reign of Charles I., it will be seen that, as progress
was made in armour and military gear, considerable attention was paid to
this portion of the soldier's outfit; indeed, it was more elaborate in
design than is now considered necessary. From a very early period spurs
have been used by both sexes.
A curious custom was in vogue at the beginning of the present century
for ladies to make their own indoor shoes. This fashion was inaugurated
by Queen Charlotte, who was particularly deft in handling a beautiful
set of shoemaker's tools, mounted in silver, with ivory handles.
Tradesmen bitterly complained that worktables in boudoirs were strewn
with the implements of their craft; but, like many other feminine fads,
it soon passed away. About this period clogs were also used. These were
made of wood, and served as a protection to shoes out of doors. A
similar contrivance, with the addition of an iron ring, leather strap
and toe-cap, is still sometimes worn by farm servants, and is called a
patten. Another form of clog, consisting of a laced leather boot with
wooden sole, is extensively used by the working classes in the North of
England, and the sabot, a wooden shoe, is the ordinary foot-gear of
peasants on the Continent.
It is well known that Chinese women of high rank deform their feet by
compressing them in such a manner that it is afterwards almost
impossible to walk; and in Davis' interesting description of the Empire
of China, he relates that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns
his post, the people accompany him from his home to the gates of the
city, where his boots are drawn off with great ceremony, and are
afterwards preserved in the Hall of Justice.
In Japan a peculiar wooden sandal, having a separate compartment for the
great toe, is in common use. Straw slippers are also worn, and a
traveller starting on a journey will strap a supply on his back, so that
he may have new shoes in case of need. They are lefts and rights, and
only cost a halfpenny the pair. Here one never finds those deformities
of the feet so common in China, and even in our own country. A graceful
carriage depends so much upon the shoes worn. Heavy and stiff ones
oblige the wearer to plant the foot solidly at every step. If the toes
are very pointed it is at the sacrifice of elasticity, and if the heels
are too high the muscles in the ball of the foot are little used.
Orientals indicate reverence by uncovering their feet, and do so on all
occasions when Western nations would remove their hats. Their heads,
being generally shaven, are always covered, and are surmounted by a
head-dress which could not be replaced without considerable trouble;
while for the feet they have loose slippers, with a single sole, made of
coloured morocco or embroidered silk, which are easily thrown off. Few
things inspire them with greater disgust than for anyone to enter their
rooms with shoes on. They think such conduct an insult to themselves and
a pollution to their apartment; and it is considered the height of
irreverence to enter a church, mosque, or a temple without removing
them. Even classical heathenism affords instances of this usage. The
Roman women were obliged to go barefoot in the Temple of Vesta; the same
rule existed in that of Diana, at Crete; and those who prayed in the
Temple of Jupiter also followed this custom.
In the East, the public removal of the sandal or shoe, and the giving it
to another, accompanied by certain words, signifies a transfer of
authority or relinquishing possession. We are told in the case of Ruth
and Boaz, when her kinsman gave up his right to marry her, in favour of
her second husband, "he drew off his shoe." Among the Bedouins, when a
man permits his cousin to marry another, or divorces his runaway spouse,
he generally says, "She was my slipper; I have cast her off." Again,
when shoes are left at the door of an apartment, they denote that the
master or mistress is engaged, and even a husband does not venture into
a wife's room while he sees the slippers on the threshold. The idea is
not altogether unknown among ourselves, as it is expressed in the homely
proverb, "to stand in another man's shoes;" or when we speak of coming
into a future inheritance as stepping into a "dead man's shoe." Also in
flinging the slipper after a departing bride, signifying that the father
transfers his authority to the husband.