But wisdom or folly--all comes from the East. These Venetian chopines were of Oriental origin. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, George Sandys, an old traveller, saw them on the feet of Turkish ladies; and here at Cluny are several examples of a patten made for the baths of Constantinople and Damascus. The Mohammedan patten, however, has nothing of the ugliness which marks the Venetian imitation. It is simply a good piece of cabinet-work, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Another patten of Venetian origin (46), decorated in a Moorish style, and evidently intended for gala days when the road was stainless and not a puddle to be seen, recalls the old-fashioned patten of our grandmothers. But perhaps the most curious pattens of all come from India. One pair are shaped like epaulettes, and richly ornamented with satin of various colours. Others are formed of soles made of wood, and mounted on stands, with a button between the great and second toe to keep it on the foot. This make is also found in Java. In some Indian specimens (47) there is a spring in the heel, which, communicating with a red lotus flower which acts as the maintaining button, causes it at every step the wearer makes to open its six lobes and display its corolla. -------------- IV. On the wax figures in Westminster Abbey, which can be seen by an order from the Dean, and which were said to have been carried at the funeral of the person dressed in their clothes, on Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of Marlborough the large-heeled shoes can be seen, but so covered with dust, that beyond being the colour of the dress, with a large round rosette fastened in the centre with a round button, nothing could be made of them. Shoes can also be seen in portraits, but seldom in a distinct form. Evelyn mentions shoes constantly in his diary. [Illustration: Printed and on Stone by George Waterston & Sons. Edinburgh.]