changeable were the coiffures that it would be tedious to our readers to offer more than this general description of them. Capes falling but a short way beyond the shoulders, and faced with fringe or velvet, were also worn. The costume of the gentlewomen during the seventeenth century, if the sombre garbs of the Roundhead families be excepted, consisted of an upper gown, which comprised a bodice and short skirt, the former being open over a laced stomacher, and the latter divided anteriorly, and its sides drawn back and looped up behind; a petticoat or under-dress, of expensive material, reaching to the ground; a yellow starched neckerchief, overspreading the shoulders and terminating on the bosom in two pointed ends; and a high crowned hat, beneath which long ringlets escaped and flowed down the back. The peasant girls or female farm servants had plain dresses, falling to the ankles, and usually tight sleeves and aprons. The bodices of some were open to the waist, but the stomachers, although laced, were of a very inferior kind, and the starched neckerchiefs were wanting. The gentlemen of the Fylde were influenced in their choice of garments according as their sympathies were with the King or Parliament, but there can be little question that in a locality so staunchly loyal as our own, the picturesque garb of the Cavaliers would predominate over the affectedly modest and plain attire of the partizans of Cromwell. The existence on the soil of such men as Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Thomas Singleton of Staining Hall, Thomas Hesketh of Mains Hall, who laid down their lives in the service of the crown, and numbers of others, who drew the sword in the cause of the throneless monarch, are fair evidence that the above conjecture is not hazarded without good reason. A doublet of silk, satin, or velvet, with large wide sleeves slashed up the front; a collar covered by a band of rich point lace, with Vandyke edging; a short cloak, thrown on one shoulder; short trousers, fringed and reaching to the wide tops of the high boots; a broad-leaved Flemish beaver hat, with a plume of feathers and band; and a sword belt and rapier, constituted the full costume of a Cavalier. Instead of the velvet doublet, a buff coat, richly laced, and encircled by a broad silk or satin scarf, fastened in a bow, was substituted when the inhabitants were under the excitement produced by actual war, in which so many took part. The hair, it should be mentioned, was worn long by the Cavaliers, and closely cropped by the Roundheads, whose dress offers no special features to our notice.