Both Strutt and some other writers on the subject of costume appear to be puzzled by the _colouring_ of the earlier illuminators, principally, however, with respect to the colour of the hair and beard, but also in regard to the various details of costume. They remark the curious circumstance of the hair and beard being painted _blue_. "In representations of old men this might be considered only to indicate _grey hair_; but even the flowing locks of Eve are painted blue in one MS., and the heads of youth and age exhibit the same cerulean tint." Strutt argues from this that some art of tinting or dyeing was practised. A writer who quotes Strutt says: "The hair being painted sometimes _green_ and _orange_ is in favour of this argument, but such instances are very rare, and may have arisen from the idleness of the illuminator, who daubed it, perhaps, with the nearest colour at hand." This, however, was not in the least so. The explanation is, as any _educated_ artist knows (artists are not _all_ educated), that with the old illuminator _the decoration of the page_ was his first consideration--rightly so; and the colour of the hair and beard, together with the precise tint of the gown, would incline to either blue, red, or yellow, accordingly as the exigencies of the general colour scheme demanded. This fact should always be kept in mind in considering the colour of any illuminated MS. This colouring is amusingly parodied by Mr. Punch in his book of British costumes (1860). He gives a fragment of a love song, "commonly believed to have been written by King Vortigern, who was inveigled into marriage with the daughter of old Hengist":-- "Rowena is my ladye-love, Her robe itte is a gunna; Shee wears blewe haire her ears above, O is shee notte a stunna!" He adds: "Critics disagree as to the meaning of the word 'stunna,' but we incline, ourselves, to think it was a bit of Saxon slang, and from the context we imagine it was used by way of compliment." [Illustration: "TREUTHE'S PILGRYME ATTE PLOW." _From the MS. R. 3, 14 in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge._] A development of the super-tunic was the surcoat, which was worn by either sex during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It assumed a variety of forms, and was either a long loose outer garment, variously shaped and sleeveless, or, as during the reign of Richard II., was a shorter, closely-fitting jacket or coat with sleeves, and usually trimmed with miniver or other fur.