LUXURY IN OLDEN TIMES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 53, 3 March 1900, Page 7 (Supplement)

LUXURY IN OLDEN TIMES.

EXTRAVAGANCE NOT PECULIAR TO THIS AGE.

-Somebody has made the-assertion that the luxury of the present times is to.be blamed for all the troubles to which mankind is heir, and that for this reason it is necessary to return to the simpl4 customs of the "good old. times." Mme. Fashion laughs at such philosophy and deductions, for Mme. Fashion may be young and may be renewed every season, or several times in one season, yet she is as old as the world stands.

Certainly, luxury has reached?' 'the height of development in these days. Fortunes are expended by fashionable women for jewellery alone, not to speak of costumes, silk hosiery, dainty lingerie, and other requisites of fashtSnable female attire. This holds true of republican America as well as of the courts of Europe, where the dresses for functions of State are almost concealed by the loads of jewellery. If the Dowager Empress of Russia, Maria Feodorowna, appears in the national costume at a State function she looks like a figure . from' the .Arabian Nights, with the myriads of jewels and precious stones she 'wears.

IN THE "GOOD OLD TIME."

But the "good old times." If one understands how to follow fashion through the course of history," he or she will discover that the time of yore was not any simpler than the present one. Cleopatra dissolved a pearl of immense value in vinegar to drink the queer solution for the beautifying of her complexion. The fashionable women of Rome in its empire days wore on their white tunics purple ornaments set with gold. The latter was,rolled out of the solid lump and cut into the forms prescribed by fashion. Pearls were as common as blackberries, so that old Pliny feels called upon to say that the Roman matron of his day "walked upon pearls," 'Which seems to indicate that these costly ornaments were worn'not only on the tunics but also on the sandals and on the lowest hem of the dress.

And furnishings and fittings of the houses were in keeping with the luxury In dress. Rugs of the finest lambs' wool, woven into exquisite patterns and dyed in many colours, were particularly in style, and some of them cost fabulous prices. The seats of the chairs were framed from polished turtle backs and covered with hand embroidered pillows. Images of ivory and silver, candelabra, tripods, imci other furniture of gold and precious metal ornamented the rooms. Rich canopies were placed at the banquets above the heads of those who feasted. Flowers ■were another expression of luxury. Slaves strewed flowers and petals upon the floors of polished marble and upon the divans, and crowned each guest with roses bound With silken fibre.

The description of the costume and the comfort of a rich woman in ancient Pompeii reads like a symphony in gold and precious stones. A table of jasper .and sapphire bears a mirror of polished steel, surrounded by gold and silver boxes con* taining perfumes, soap, and cosmetics. Through the subdued light of the apartment glow the colours of the frescoes, Whose inimitable enamel defies the cehtur* ies. Oriental rugs cover the floor and silken draperies embroidered with golden arabesques serve instead of doorri. The particular business of one of the female slaves is to take care of the jewellery of her mistress, the bracelets and rings of Inassive gold, the beautiful cameo-studded clasps for the fastenings of the toga, and the purple belt with its costly jewels.

The carriages which were used by the rich in Pompeii were decorated with artistic relief work and drawn by Parthenlan horses of rare breed. The dress of such a noble Pornpeian consisted of a purple tunic, and the fibula with which it Was fastened around the waist shone with emeralds. Around his neck he wore a Kolden chain, ending at the middle of the breast in a snake head, from, whose mouth his seal was suspended. The wide sleeves of his tunic were ornamented with golden fringe. His golden belt, of the finest work' mahShip, served instead of a pocket to carry kerchief, purse, and tablets.

; Descriptions of positively incredible lUxUry come from the chronicles of old Byfcantium. The throne of Emperor Romanes and Empress Augusta Zoe, about the year 1028, was guarded by two lions of pure gold which, moved by some mechanical contrivance, rose, roared, and laid down again. Before the throne was a golden plane tree.in the branches of which numerous artificial birds of gold and jewels perched.

; The palaces and houses of the rich and the nobility were on a commensurate fecale. Wonderful marble structures and magnificent gardens stretched down to the sea. Stairways of jasper and alabaster led to the shore. The magnificence of Linderhof and Herrenehiemsee, the famous castles of the insane Ludwig 11. of Bavaria, pales in comparison with the traditions of those ancient times. •"

! CRUSADES BRING LUXURY. ■ In ancient Germany the simplicity of life and habits remained longest, until in-crc-asing trade brought growing luxury. The crusades carried thousands across the feea into the splendid Orient, whence luxiiry soon found its 'way into the countries of Europe.

During the thirteenth century the first silk merchants came from Tuscany and Lombardy to Paris. Even to-day the name of the street where they lived is Rue dcs Lombards. Venice- furnished plumes, jewels, rugs, and other, magnificent products of the Orient.

King Wengeslaus of Bohemia had a garment made in 1367, which cost not less than £8,000 of money of the present day. The members of the rich Italian families Of Medici and Borgia were also exceedingly ostentatious. OtUllahOdi Medici wore in 1469, on the occasion of a tournament in Florence, a costume which cost £3,000. Lucretia * Borgia's dower oil the decasion of her marriage with Alfonso of Este contained 200 chemises, of which each one cost a hundred ducats,' Charles the Bold of Burgundy, that heroic giantvowh* ed coats Upon 'Which the verses of Kis favourite poets were embroidered in diamonds. Each one of these poetical garments was worth a fortune, the chronicler speaking of 200,000 ducats as the cost Of each coat. Upon his campaigns the Duke carried not less than 400 boxes filled with articles of ; his wardrobe. King. Amadeus VI. of Savoy was another ostentatious monarch.

The silk stockings did not come into vogue until the period of Queen Elizabeth of Eng-land. It is reported of her that, She wore the first silken hosiery knitted By hand. Queen Bess,' of glorious memory, by the way, was an, example of female vanity,,as is proved by the, fact that "she. hW not ieW than.3,ooo dresses of various degrees of magnificence. The amount of jewellery worn by a fashionable woman of those days is almost incredible when it is borne in mind that a full-fledged court, costume was of such wetgM that it could stand upright if the fair wearei'..was iiot inside of it.1. The bridal dress of Maria of Medici'was ornaftiented with 32,000 pearls and 3,000 diamonds. To this embarrassment of riches must be added the pearls and jewels around neck and wrists and worn in the Coiffure.

Catherine of Medici and her son, Henry 111. of France, were other examples of extreme luxury, the French King- appearing in 157G at the court of Blois in a coat which was ornamented with a, thousand yards of costly Mechlin lace.

LAWS AGAINST EXTRAVAGANCE

In mediaeval times city fathers found, quite frequently, occasion to promulgate ordinances against extreme luxury of the citizens in matters of dress and festivals. The different classes of citizens had to conform not only to municipal laws regarding the material and ornamentation of their attire, but also the number of courses at their feasts. Thus an old London ordinance provided that citizens who were members of the various guilds must not use more than twenty-five yards of material for their trunk-breeches, and must stuff the latter with chaff in order to secure a "well-rounded" appearance. The number of sermons directed against "the devil of fashion" in those days was legion. But dress, banquets, and furniture were not the only objects of sumptuary laws. About the middle of the seventeenth century the tulip became known in Germany, and a scientist named Gesner gives the flrst description of this flower. First only the yellow variety was known, and then other colours were produced by crossing. The Dutch, particularly the citizens of Harlem, produced the most wonderful varieties of this flower and obtained enorrhous prices for them.

FABULOUS PRICES FOR TULIPS. In 1634 the trade in tulips assumed a peculiar turn. It degenerated into a sort of a game of chance, so that in 1G73 the authorities felt called upon to interfere and to issue edicts against extravagance in tulips,as they formerly had.against trains and laces. This interference would seem to be justified if one reads that in 1606 a single flower of this sort, called the Viceroi, was paid for with two cargoes of wheat, four cargoes of rye, four fat oxen, eight fat hogs, twelve fat sheep, two casks of wine, four barrels of beer, two tony of butter, 1,000 pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothing, and a silver tankard. Another bulb, the Semper Augustus, was paid for with 4,000 gold guilders and a coach with a double team of horses. In Harlem the tulip craze reached its height in the decade from 1630-'4O, when a price of 13.000 gold guilders —about £l,Soo—is recorded for a single bulb.

August the Strong, the ostentatious elector of Saxony and King of Poland, paid for the diamonds of his court dress 2,000,000 thaler, or about £300,000, and the buttons on the coronation robe of the first King of Prussia are reported to have cost 150,000 ducats.

This and much more may be related of the luxury of the great of the earth in the simple "good old time." But is not luxury, though it may have assumed less abnormal forms among .the great, now more universally practised than formerly?

Madame Fashion smiles: "This is an entirely different question."