Whips are perhaps a little beside the subject, though there are fashions with regard to them. Not long ago it was customary for the whip stick in connection with a smart turn-out to have a bend in it. In various parts of the East the camel driver carries in a graceful manner a red forked stick, and one of this form was used as a sceptre in ancient Egypt from 5000 B.C. downwards, so that we meet with a very interesting, if humble, survival of what was once a royal ornament. XXXII COLOUR IMPORTANCE OF COLOUR--INSTINCTIVE LOVE OF BRIGHT HUES--DESIRABILITY OF COLOURED CLOTHES AND GAY SCENES--COLOUR AND COMPLEXION It has been apparent throughout this book, as it is in everyday life, that colour plays a tremendous part. Not only has it often a great significance, but its presence or absence must also have a considerable effect upon the minds of the people at large. One cannot help thinking that if women were to dress as a whole in the same quiet, or let us say solemn, tints which are characteristic of men in their everyday life, how much we should lose. Yet that there is a craving for bright colours is shown in every direction, and that they are attractive to those who do not themselves have an opportunity of wearing them is also obvious. The High Church clergy in this country make use of the coloured vestments that had developed in the Roman Catholic Church previous to the Reformation, and which have been proclaimed illegal. The new universities vie with the older seats of learning in the colours which they choose for gowns and hoods. It is merely a question of expense which prevents the fancy-dress dance from being more common than it is. The pageants which have been held in various parts of this country, and the profits which have been made in many cases, bear out what we have said. Men, as shown by the red coats which they don for hunting and golfing, the colours in which they ride steeplechases or play hockey, or the dresses in which they bathe, seek as far as possible during their leisure hour pursuits to go back to bright array.