The ladies’ costumes of the reign of Edward IV. were modifications of those worn in the reign of Henry VI., but they were very splendid and most extravagant. The fashion of wearing tails to the gowns fell into disuse, and in their room borders of velvet or fur were substituted. The gowns were exceedingly short-waisted, and the dress was cut very low at the neck. _The Steeple Head-dress_ (Fig. 11), nicknamed “the chimney pot,” came into use during this reign. It was conical or pyramidal in form, and was generally about three-quarters of an ell in height. It was placed on the head at an angle of about 45 degrees from the vertical, and in order to lessen the tension on the head, a kind of framework of wire netting was worn under it. To the apex was affixed a veil, often of fine texture, sometimes reaching to the ground. Another peculiar form of head-dress was known as the _Butterfly Head-dress_ (Fig. 8), introduced about 1470 A.D. It appears to have been a modification of the steeple head-dress, the cone being truncated, with wires arranged about it, to which wings of gauze veiling were affixed. With this head-dress the hair was worn tightly drawn back from the forehead. The ladies of the middle class did not adopt these extravagant fashions. They wore caps of cloth “with two wings at the side like apes’ ears.” By the sumptuary laws, wives of persons whose income was less than £40 a year were forbidden to wear girdles ornamented with gold and silver work, or any “corse of silk” made out of the realm, or any coverchief exceeding a certain price, or the furs of certain animals. [Illustration: PLATE 38.