Is it unreasonable to expect those who undertake the charge of children to acquaint themselves with at least an elementary knowledge of the construction and functions of the human body? The ignorance of the average nursemaid is appalling; and though a board school education may have acquainted her with the mysteries of the First Book of Euclid, or the rudiments of music, the curriculum rarely includes the simplest instruction on the healthy training of children; and, in consequence, the high rate of infant mortality in this country is a national disgrace. CHAPTER IX. FANCY COSTUME OF VARIOUS PERIODS. "The dome, where pleasure holds her midnight reign, Here richly decked, admits the gorgeous train; Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare." During the Roman occupation of Britain, many sports and pastimes, with their appropriate costumes, were introduced into this country from Southern Europe and the East, and at a very early period mummings were popular with the people. These were primitive masquerades, where the actors, if we may judge from antique illuminations, generally mimicked the brute creation rather than human beings. They often appeared between the courses at banquets, and on important occasions elaborate pageants were arranged. Ships filled with mariners were sometimes introduced, or towers garrisoned with armed men, while the actors portrayed some allegorical lesson or historical incident. A well-known event intimately connected with masking was the narrow escape from death by fire of Charles VI. of France, on January 29th, 1392. The king, with eleven of his knights, for the amusement of the Court, dressed like savages, in tight-fitting garments of linen covered with flax, and were dancing before the Queen and the Duchess de Berri, when the Duc d'Orléans with a torch accidentally ignited the inflammable costume of a masker, who was chained to four others. The Duchess protected the King by wrapping him in the train of her mantle, but four persons died in great agony. Edward III. issued an ordinance against vagrants who exhibited scandalous masquerades in low ale-houses, and directed that such persons should be whipped out of London. The Feast of Fools was one of the most singular of these exhibitions. It somewhat resembled the Roman Saturnalia, and was enacted at Christmas. In England the celebration of this festival does not appear to have been attended with the same excesses as were commonly practised on the Continent, but it was nevertheless a season of licence, in which order and discipline were reversed. The churl was elected to represent the Pope; the buffoon was made a cardinal; and the lowest of the mob assumed for the time being the garb of the priesthood, and took possession of churches, where they parodied every part of the sacred service, and sang masses composed of obscene songs.