It is true that the King has of recent years opened Parliament in person, and glimpses may have been had of him in his state robes by a privileged few, but surely some opportunity should be found of having more pageants which are real and where there is no need for any make-believe. Besides having the advantages which we have urged would accrue from the bringing of a little more colour into our lives, such meetings would also have a practical result, and be exceedingly good for trade. It is obvious that certain costumes, particularly the gay peasant dresses of the Continent, suit the style, complexion, and colouring of those who wear them. In races like our own, where we have all kinds of stages between the very fair blonde and the very dark brunette, the question of the choice of colours from an artistic point of view is important. There is also the question of surroundings to be considered, though nowadays it is not every one who can afford the time, as the late Mrs. Haweis did, to visit the rooms in which she was invited to spend an evening, so that the colours of her costume might be arranged to harmonize with her temporary surroundings. XXXIII PATTERNS ANCIENT DESIGNS--CHECKS AND TARTANS--PARTI-COLOURED CLOTHES--EVOLUTION OF ORNAMENTATION The subject of patterns is a very wide one, and we shall content ourselves with mentioning a few to show how these have survived. When speaking of studs, we had occasion to mention the swastika or fylfot, which is probably the earliest known symbol. It is the forerunner of the cross, and it occurs on ecclesiastical vestments as well as civil clothes, and the well-known key pattern was derived from it. On Plate VII, Figure F, it may be seen on the shoulder of the Romano-Egyptian man, and its use seems to be almost universal. The pine pattern which we see on shawls is of Eastern origin, and it is said that it originally was taken from a map of some rivers in Cashmere. Checks and plaids are among the commonest of our present-day designs, and the Gauls and those of our forerunners, who flourished at the time of Cæsar, wore breeches of chequered patterns. In fact, the very name of breeches is derived from "breac," which means striped or spotted, and in Gaelic also signifies the trout, which is speckled. Usually the ancient breeches showed a number of colours, in which, according to Diodorus, red predominated. Queen Boadicea wore a tunic apparently of plaid, the colours of which had a mixture of blue, red, and yellow. The real shepherd's plaid of Scotland is of a plainer character, being merely black and white, but it is in the special tartans of the Scotch clans that we find the system of coloured lines and squares carried to great perfection.