old as Phrygia. Hence then we think that-- [283] Pp. 322, 323. [284] De Re Rustica, lii. cap. xi. _Cloth of Tarsus_, _of Tars_, &c., was woven of fine goats’ hair and silk. But this web was in several colours, and always looked upon as very costly. The _Tarsus colour_ itself was, as we take it, some shade of purple differing from, and perhaps to some eyes more beautiful than, the Tyrian dye. The people of Tarsus no doubt got from their murex, a shell-fish of the class mollusca and purpurifera family to be found on their coast, their dyeing matter; and when it is borne in mind what changes are wrought in the animal itself by the food it eats, and what strong effects are made by slight variations in climate, even atmosphere, upon materials for colouring in the moments of application, we may easily understand how the difference arose between the two tints of purple. We are strengthened in our conjecture that not only was the cloth of Tarsus of a rare and costly kind, but its tint some shade of royal purple, from the fact that while noticing the robes worn on a grand public occasion by a king, Chaucer thus sketches the prince:-- The gret Emetrius, the king of Inde, Upon a stede bay, trapped in stele, Covered with cloth of gold diapred wele, Came riding like the god of armes Mars. His cote armure was of a cloth of Tars, Couched with perles, &c.[285] [285] Knightes Tale, Poems, ed. Nicolas, ii. 64-5. _Sky-blue_ was a liturgical colour everywhere in use for certain festivals throughout England, as we have shown in another place.[286] In the early inventories the name for that tint is “Indicus,” “Indus,” reminding us of our present _indigo_. In later lists it is called “Blodius,” not sanguinary, but blue. [286] Church of our Fathers, t. ii. p. 259. _Murrey_, or a reddish brown, is often specified; and a good specimen of the tint is given us, No. 709, p. 9. Old St. Paul’s, London, had several pieces of baudekin of this colour: “baudekynus murretus cum griffonibus datus pro anima. Alphonsi filii regis E.”[287]