VESTMENTS IN USE IN TILE its general bearing, what has been said of the vestments in use in Western Christendom, and particularly in reference to their use during the first eight centuries of our era, with comparatively slight modifications, is also applicable to the official vestments of the church in the East, - the chief distinctions between the vestments of the East and the West, in addition to such as may in a great degree be traced to the influences of climate and to certain local associations, being a closer adherence in the former than in the latter to the earliest usages. The Greek Church also, being very tenacious in planeta ; the omopItoriort, with the pall ; and the orarion, with the orarium and its successor the stole.

The habits worn during the Middle Ages by the monastic orders may be briefly described as follows : - Botedictincs. - Gown or cassock of black, white, or russet cloth, with white or black fur, and black cape and hood. Cluniacs. - Habit entirely black.

Cistereians. - White cassock with cape and small hood ; over this when in the church a white gown, when abroad a black gown. Carthusians. - Habit entirely white, except black cloak. Augustines. - Black cassock under white full-sleeved tunic ; over all, black cloak and hood ; square black cap.

Preemonstratensians, White Canons. - Cassock and tunic, long cloak and hood, and round cap, - all of them white.

Gabertines. - Monks. - Black cassock and hood, and white cloak lined with lamb's wool. Nuns. - Black tunic, cloak, and hood, the last lined with lamb's wool.

Dominicans, or " Black Friars." - Same habit as that worn by the Augustine monks.

Franciscans, -or "Grey Friars." - Loose and long grey cassock girded with a cord ; hood or cowl and cloak of the same.

Carmelites, or " White Friars." - Habit white throughout ; but from about 1240 to about 1290, their cloaks were party-coloured, white and red.

Austin Friars, or "Eremites." - 'White cassock girded with a leather thong, with short tunic and hood ; and over these, long, black gown with wide sleeves and hood.

Crossed (" Crutelted") Friars. - Blue habit, with plain red cross. Maturines, or " Trinitarian Friars." - Habit entirely white, with eight-pointed cross of red and blue.

The monastic garment named "scapulary," the exact character of which has not been decidedly determined, appears to have been a short super-tunic, sleeveless, but having a hood or cowl.

In the Middle Ages, professors or doctors and bachelors of divinity, and graduates of the universities above the rank of bachelor in the faculties of arts and law, in addition to the customary costume of their time and station, in connection with their academic rank wore long flowing gowns having slits at the sides for their arms to pass through, with large capes or tippets and hoods, the latter having pendant streamers, these capes and hoods in many instances forming parts of the same article of dress. Graduates of the highest rank also wore round caps, pointed in the crown, and of a dark colour. In the 15th century, when distinctions appear first to have been introduced into the costumes of masters and bachelors of arts, the gowns of the latter were shorter than those of masters, and had full sleeves reaching to the wrists and pointed at the back. The capes and hoods of bachelors also were bordered with white fur or wool. By various peculiarities of form, colour, and lining, the gowns, capes, and hoods of graduates of all the higher ranks certainly were distinguished ; but in the comparatively rare examples of monumental effigies represented in academic habit, which almost without exception are destitute of colour, these distinctions are not shown in any regular or marked and decided manner. Throughout the last two hundred years, if not for a still longer period, the academic habits of the University of Oxford have retained their forms unaltered. They may generally be classified in two groups - ecclesiastical and civil. The gowns of the former, worn by all graduates in both divinity and arts, and also by all members on the foundation of any college, have loose sleeves, are destitute of collars and gathered in in small plaits at the back, and bear a general resemblance to what is known of the more ancient habits, the sleeves of the masters' gowns still having slits (now cut horizontally, instead of vertically) for the passage of the arms. On the other hand, the gowns of graduates in law and the other faculties, and of undergraduates who are not on the foundation of any college, besides being of less ample proportions, have falling collars and closer sleeves, which latter in the undergraduates' gowns have dwindled into mere strips ; and they evidently derive their origin from parts of the ordinary dress of civilians in the 16th and 17th centuries. The gowns of graduates of the University of Cambridge for the most part are the same as those worn in the sister university ; but at Cambridge the undergraduates, not being on the foundation, of almost every college have a gown appropriated to their own college. The hoods of their degrees worn by graduates in the faculties of divinity and arts are distinguished as follows : - D.D., Oxford scarlet cloth, lined with black silk ; Cambridge, scarlet cloth, lined with lilac blossom or pink silk , M.A., Oxford, black, lined with cherry-colour or crimson ; Cambridge, black, lined with white ; Dublin, lined with blue ; Durham, lined with purple ; London, lined with brown. B.A. hoods are black and bordered with white fur.

For the purpose of the present article the terms " early European " and " mediaeval " may be considered to apply to the period ranging from the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain to the accession of the Stuarts to the throne of Great Britain - that is, from about the close of the first quarter of the 5th century to the commencement of the 17th century ; and the latter term, " mediaeval," may date the commencement of its application from the establishment of his Anglo-Saxon dynasty by Egbert at the opening of the 9th century.

A prolonged period of total darkness having passed away, at first, and for a considerable time, in addition to written descriptions and indirect notices which frequently are far from being intelligible, and to such actual relics as originally were deposited with the remains of the dead without any view either to monumental commemoration or to historical illustration, the authorities are restricted to the illuminated compositions which so happily are associated with early MSS. After a while, the earliest seals and some ivory carvings lend such aid as may lie within the compass of their power Next follow those invaluable illustrators of costume, monumental effigies of every class, with which may be allied figures represented in architectural sculpture and painting, upon seals also and coins. Actual relics throughout the era of monumental effigies gradually increase in both number and variety, until at length the ages of personal portraiture, properly so called, are duly reached. It will be borne in mind that ulna some years after the close of the 15th century, defensive armour occupied a most important position in what strictly ryas the "costume" of the men of the higher classes, whose effigies, with rare exceptions only, appear sculptured, en-graven, or painted in their armour, precisely as the men themselves had been armed and equipped when in life. In the Middle Ages in Europe, costume, considered as dress distinct and distinguished from armour, was affected in no slight degree by the prevailing character of the armour of each successive period, so long as a defensive equipment of any kind continued to be generally adopted. Dresses that had been devised expressly to be worn, some of them under defences of mail or plate, and others over them, suggested much in the way of garments that never would have any direct connection with armour. Again, when not armed, nobles, knights, and men-at-arms naturally would adopt such loose and flowing garments as would combine the greatest degree of ease with a dignified aspect; and their example in this respect would be certain to be very widely followed. The feudal system, also, powerfully aided by the heraldic sentiment that at once grew up in the feudal era and gave to it its tone and colour, exercised a powerful influence upon the costume of the various classes who, under varying conditions, were dependent upon a common feudal superior. And this influence, while adapting itself in matters of detail to personal considerations, in its general bearing acted with uniform effect upon the entire community. Of the extravagance of so many of the diverse costumes that followed each other in rapid succession during the 14th and 15th centuries, much may be directly traced to the development of heraldry in those ages, and to the enthusiastic delight in armorial devices and insignia then universally prevalent. The singular resemblance in many marked particulars between the dresses of the two sexes, observable in the Middle Ages, undoubtedly was stimulated by the science and art of the contemporary heralds ; as the strange and often wildly fantastic crests and the mantlings displayed upon their helms and basinets by the one sex were parodied, and sometimes were fairly outdone, by the equally strange and no less wildly fanciful head-gear adopted by the other sex, with a view either to conceal or to enhance the natural glory of their hair. Mediaeval costume, once more, would experience both changes and modifications arising out of the introduction of fresh manufactures, and necessarily resulting from the constantly expanding range of the foreign commercial relations of different countries. Costume, moreover, would be certain to be attracted by the progressive phases of national civilization, culture, and refinement, even though it might not consistently keep pace with them. Fashion, too, always arbitrary and often inexplicable, would not fail to do its work effectually, under the diversified conditions and aspects of advancing centuries, among races by whom to costume it is assigned, not merely to clothe the persons of both sexes, but also to display and adorn the human figure.

It will be observed that, in all countries among civilized races, in the degree that climate is more temperate, in that same degree is costume more liable to changes and fluctuations, and more completely under the sway of fashion. In regions that are very hot or very cold, fashion, however quaint and eccentric, is long-lived and tenacious of its hold, so that the costume of one generation for the most part is reflected in that of its successor. In like manner, costume, and especially in its general character, is comparatively permanent among mountaineers. The history of costume, it must be added, approximately complete and explicit as it may be, can contain but little more than scant notices of the unavoidably simple or even rude attire of a considerable proportion of the laborious population in every country And at every period.

Subjugation by the Romans in the first centuries of the Christian era naturally was followed by a general conformity among the conquered populations to the costume of their more civilized as well as more powerful rulers, so that after a while Roman dress may be considered to have become European. And, as Rome herself through her Eastern connections had yielded in no slight degree to Oriental influences in matters connected with costume, so also Roman influence in the West carried with it much that was strongly marked with the characteristics of the East. This singular association also in after times derived fresh impulses, as well in peaceful costume as in armour and other military matters, through the direct agency of the crusades, acting in concert with an artistic current flowing westwards continually in the Middle Ages from Byzantium.