Men's dress was very much as in our time, the trousers were somewhat tighter, the coat collars higher, the waistcoats were worn more open, and there was somewhat more than a _soupçon_ of stays. Hair was worn long and artificially curled, and no one but a cavalry man, or a blackleg, wore a moustache. The neckcloths or "stocks," as they were called, must have been veritable instruments of torture, being lined with slips of whalebone, and coming tight under the chin; a rivulet or rather river of satin flowed over the shirt, and was fastened by two pins connected by a chain. But, if any one wants the man's costume of William the Fourth's reign he will find it in the very familiar engravings by "Phiz," to _Pickwick_ and _Nicholas Nickleby_. Elderly gentlemen still wore knee breeches and silk stockings, with gaiters for outdoor wear, and among them the pigtail was still to be found; nay, I recollect two old gentlemen who wore them, as I also remember some middle-aged men wearing the very handsome Hessian boot. The Spanish cloak came in about 1834, and in the following advertisement we see its size and price, together with the prices of other clothes. _Times_, November 19, 1834-- "Spanish cloak of superfine blue cloth, a complete circle of 9-1/2 yards, £4 4_s._; Opera ditto, £2 2_s._; boy's ditto, £1 1_s_; camlet ditto, 11_s._; boy's ditto, 12_s._ Fashionable Petersham great coat, bound, £2 2_s._; Saxon frock coat, faced silk, £2 10_s._; an elegant suit of superfine cloth, complete, £4 4_s._; the very best that is made, £4 15_s._; suit of livery, £3 3_s._ Contract prices:--Two suits per year, £6 6_s._; extra fine quality, the very best, £7 7_s._; three suits, £10 17_s._; ditto, £12 5_s._; four suits, £14 6_s._; ditto, £15 18_s._; the old to be returned. Stout cloth winter trousers, 13_s._ 6_d._" Respecting education in England at this time, Count Edouard de Melfort, who wrote his _Impressions of England_ in 1836, says-- "Even in the lowest classes in England it is difficult to find a person who does not know how to read or write. There is scarcely any village, however insignificant, which has not its 'National School;' and, without meaning any offence to other countries, I think I may assert that the education of the people in England is superior to that of any other."