capable of being easily carried if one wants to take it off; in
fact, its principles are those of freedom and comfort, and a cloak
realizes them all, just as much as an overcoat of the pattern
suggested by Mr. Huyshe violates them.

The knee-breeches are of course far too tight; any one who has worn
them for any length of time--any one, in fact, whose views on the
subject are not purely theoretical--will agree with me there; like
everything else in the dress, they are a great mistake. The
substitution of the jacket for the coat and waistcoat of the period
is a step in the right direction, which I am glad to see; it is,
however, far too tight over the hips for any possible comfort.
Whenever a jacket or doublet comes below the waist it should be
slit at each side. In the seventeenth century the skirt of the
jacket was sometimes laced on by points and tags, so that it could
be removed at will, sometimes it was merely left open at the sides:
in each case it exemplified what are always the true principles of
dress, I mean freedom and adaptability to circumstances.

Finally, as regards drawings of this kind, I would point out that
there is absolutely no limit at all to the amount of "passably
picturesque" costumes which can be either revived or invented for
us; but that unless a costume is founded on principles and
exemplified laws, it never can be of any real value to us in the
reform of dress. This particular drawing of Mr. Huyshe's, for
instance, proves absolutely nothing, except that our grandfathers
did not understand the proper laws of dress. There is not a single
rule of right costume which is not violated in it, for it gives us
stiffness, tightness and discomfort instead of comfort, freedom and
ease.