The following Illustrations of Old Shoes are intended to preserve in an intelligible form what is fast crumbling into dust; and it has been my endeavour to collect the very best and most authentic specimens, as well as to show the variety of shapes and the excellence of the workmanship and design used by our ancestors. I have to thank Sir BERNARD BURKE; Sir ROBERT MENZIES, of that Ilk; Mrs BOURNE, of Breachoak; Mrs M’QUEEN, of Braxfield; and Messrs CASSELL & CO., for their kind assistance. PLATE I. This shoe is supposed to have belonged to the beautiful and unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots. Though remarkable for the smallness of its size, it is by no means a specimen of the elaborate workmanship of former days, being made of plain black satin; the simplicity of which, however, would in all probability be relieved by a diamond buckle to fasten, as was the fashion in olden times, the straps which were made to overlap each other across the instep. It is interesting and valuable to the antiquarian on account of its antiquity, and because of the rank and historical celebrity of its quondam wearer. [Illustration: I] PLATE II. Miss Langley, to whom this shoe belonged, lived in the reign of Charles II. Made of pale silk, most beautifully embroidered, the shoe may be considered as a _chef-d’œuvre_ in shoe manufacture of the times; while the lace, of an intricate pattern and delicate as a spider’s web, is very old and of much value. It is ornamented on the instep by a single pearl, and its _tout-ensemble_ is altogether pretty and graceful, and says much for the taste and dexterity of the shoemakers in the days of Charles II. [Illustration: II] PLATE III. Grace, only daughter of Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the House of Commons, and afterwards created Lord Grantley, married John Charles, Earl of Portsmouth. The shoe was found amongst the effects of the late Lady Menzies of Menzies, who had received it from her aunt, and was worn by the Countess of Portsmouth with fancy dress. It is made of pale silk striped with blue, and is richly embroidered in steel. The form and style is apparently that of the last century. The inside is beautifully finished, being lined with pale pink silk and white kid; while a welt of the latter, extending in height about half an inch from the sole upwards, and in length from instep to toe, thus prevented any danger of the splitting of the material of which the shoe was made. This practice has now, for some reason or other, become impossible to the modern shoemaker. The heel is very large, and the toe pointed. [Illustration: III] PLATE IV.