The Book of The Feet, A History of Boots and Shoes - Joseph Sparkes Hall (1847)

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PI I.
THE
KOOK OF THE FEET,

HISTORY OF BOOTS ATsD SHOES,
OF THE
FASHIOKS OF THE E6TPTIASS, BEBXBWS. PERSIANS. G&EEKS
AyO ROMAKS. AKD THE PSETAILIHG 8TTI.E THHOI'GHOIT EVKOrE
DCBISe THE MIDDLE AGES OOWK TO THE PRESENT PERIOD
;
AIÔ
HINTS TO LAST MAKERS
AND REMEDIES FOR CORNS.
ETC., ETC.
Di
.1.
SPARKKS JtAM,
PATENT ELASTIC BOOT IIAB.SR

TO HER MAIETT THE QCBKN,
THB OCEBX DOWAGER,

al'EEN OF THE BELGIANS.
AVD THE
jltconn etittim.
LONDON:
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL
& CO.
1^7
000
MKtDOtA, CAHN, AND

T.
SI,
MARY AXE,
CO,.
I-RINTKHS,
CITY,
>-
PREFACE,
In the following pages
have endeavoured to
some information respecting Boots and
give
Shoes in
all
The
ages.
illustrations
of the
fashions of the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks,
Romans,
rities,
are
and
all
and
taken from the highest autho-
I helieve
may be
relied
on
as his-
torical
1 have also given the result of
my experience,
derived from an intimate practical acquaintance
with
this
years,
and have endeavoured
that
department
for
twenty
to correct
much
was bad in form and material, and I
have not only found

past
of trade
and present
fault in
many instances
trust
witli
fashions, but have also enforced
and provided the remedy.

308, Regent Street.
HISTORY OF BOOTS & SHOES.

CHAPTER
I.
ON THE MOST ANCIKNT COYBRINJJS FOR THB FEKT.
F WE
investigate the
monuments of the
remotest nations of antiquity,

find that the earliest
we
shall
form of protection
for the feet, partook of the nature of sandals.
we
The most ancient representations
possess of scenes in ordinary
life,
are
and paintings of early
the sculptures
Egypt, and these the investigations of
tra-
velled scholars
have,
by
from most
modem
their descriptions
civilized countries
and dehneations, made
familiar to us, so that the habits
and manners, as well
as the costume of this ancient people, have been handed
down
to the present time,
by the work of
hands, with so vivid a truthfulness, that
their
we
own
feel
HISTORY OP BOOTS AND SHOES.
conversant with their domestic manners and customs,

as with those of
any modern nation
to
which the book
of the traveller
would introduce
us.
Not only do
to give us
an insight into
their pictured relics

their
mode
of
life,
remain
but a vast quantity of
kinds, from the tools of the

fabrics
to the
elegant
which once decorated the boudoir of the
ladies of
Memphis and Carnac

up
ago, are treasured
and
workmen,
articles of all
private, of this
With these
and other
it is
three thousand years
museums, both public
in the
materials,
fair
countries.
in no wise difficult to
carry our history of shoemaking back to the earliest

times,
and even
to look
upon the shoemaker
work, in the early days of Thothmes the
at his
who
third,
ascended the throne of Egypt, according to Wilkinson,
1495 years before Christ, and during whose
reign, the
first
Exodus of the
The
Israehtes occurred.
of our .plates contains a copy of this very curiour
painting, as
it
existed
upon the
walls of Thebes,
the Italian scholar Rossellini copied
work on Egypt.
upon low
The shoemakers
stools (real
it
when
for his great
are both seated
specimens of such
articles
may
HISTORY OF B00T3 AND SHOES.

be
seen
in the
British
Museum), and
3
are
both
busily employed, in the formation of the sandals then
usually
worn
workman
in Egypt, the first
is
piercing
with his awl the leather thong, at the side of the

sole,
through which the straps were passed, which
secured the sandal to the foot
his
him
fellow-workman
is
mode
of working which
indulged in at the present day.

a goodly row
attract
a low
equally busy, sewing
a shoe, and tightening the thong with his

primitive
is
one end of which rests upon the
sloping bench,
ground
before
is
Above
teeth,
occasionally
their
heads
is
of sandals, probably so placed, to
a passing customer
the shops in the East
being then, as now, entirely open and exposed to

every one
artists
knew
workmen
them
who
passed.
As the ancient Egyptian
nothing of perspective, the tools of the
that
lie
around, are here represented above
they bear in some instances a resemblance to
those used in the present day
ment, above the
man who
the
central instru-
pierces the tie of the sandal,
having the precise shape of the shoemakers awl

use, so very
unchanging are
articles of utihty.
still
in
In the
same manner, the semicircular knife used by the
HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
ancient Egyptians between 3,000 and 4,000 years

ago,
and
is
is
precisely similar to that of our
modem curriers,
thus represented in a painting at Thebes of that
The workman,
remote antiquity.
cuts the leather
it will
upon a sloping bench,
be noticed,
exactly like that
of the shoemaker already engraved.
The warmth and mildness of the

close
warm
shoe unnecessary
East, rendered a
and, indeed, in the
present day they partake there more of the character
of slippers,
shoes,
and the foot thus unconfined by tight
and always
free in its motion, retained its full
power and pUabUity
and the custom
still
retained
in the East, of holding a strap of leather, or other
substance between the toes,
Theban paintings
second to the hand.
is
represented in the
the foot thus becoming an useful
ttlSTOEYOF BOOTS AND SHOES.
Many
specimens of the shoes and sandals of the
ancient Egyptians,
may
WUkinsoUj in
museum.
and Customs" of
our
be seen in
his
national
work on the " Planners
this people says,
" Ladies, and men
of rank, paid great attention to the beauty of their

sandals
classes
but on some occasions, those of the middle
who were
in the habit of wearing them, pre-
and in
ferred walking barefooted;
religious
monies, the priests frequently took them
cere-
oflf
while
those
worn
performing their duties in the Temple."
The
sandals varied slightly in form
by the upper
classes,
and by women, were usually
pointed and turned up at the end, like our skaits, and

the Eastern
shppers of the
had a sharp
flat
present day.
point, others
Some
were nearly round.
They were made of a sort of woven or interlaced work,

of palm leaves
materials
and papyrus
sometimes
stalks,
of leather,
or other similar
and were
fre-
quently hned within with cloth, on which the figure

of a captive was painted
that humiliating position
being thought suitable to the enemies of their country,
whom they hated and
despised, an idea agreeing
perfectly with the expression
which so
in the hieroglyphic legends,
accompanying a king's
often occurs
name, where his valour and virtues are recorded on

the sculptures
tiles
" you have trodden the impure Gen-
under your powerful
The example
British
selected
Museum, beneath
feet."
for pi. 1, fig. 1, is in the
the sandal of a
Harsontiotf ; and the captive figure

feature
and costume, a Jew
it
is
miunmy
evidently,
of
from
thus becomes a curious
illustration of Scripture history.
Upon
two
fine
the
same
plate,
3 and 4 delineate
figs.
examples of sandals formed as above
scribed, of the leaf of the palm,
from Egypt by the
late
Mr.
Salt,
they were brought
consul general, and
formed part of the collection sold in London,

his death,
de-
and are now in the British Museum.
after
They
are very different to each other in their construction,
and are of that kind worn by the poorer

slices of the
palm
leaf,
classes
flat
which lap over each other in
the centre, form the sole of
fig. 2,
and a double band
of twisted leaves secures and strengthens the edge, a
thong of the strong
fibres of the
same plant
is aflfixed
and was secured round the
to eacli side of the instep,
The other
foot.
and has a
pad
(fig. 3,) is
softer look, it
to the foot,
more
must
elaborately platted,
in fact have been
as a
exceedingly light and agreeable in
the arid climate inhabited
by the people
for
whom
such sandals -were constructed, the knot at each side

to
which the thong was
affixed, still
The sandals with curved
toes,
remains.
alluded to above,
and which frequently appear upon Egyptian sculpture,

and generally upon the
are exhibited in the
Berlin
museum, one
feet of the superior classes,
woodcut here given
is
and in the
preserved of precisely similar
form, which has been engraved by Wilkinson, and
here copied, pi.
1, fig. 1.
is
It is particularly curious, as
shewing how such sandals were held upon the feet

the thong which crosses the instep being connected with
another, passing over the top of the foot and secured

to the sole,
between the great toe and that next to
80 that the sole
and yet
it
it,
was held firmly, however the foot moved,
allowed the sandal to be cast off at pleasure.
HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES,
Wilkinson says that "shoes or low boots, were

also
common
in Egypt, but these
believe to have
been of late date, and to have belonged to Greeks

for since
no persons are represented in the paintings
wearing them, except foreigners, we
may
conclude
they were not adopted by the Egyptians, at least in

a Pharaonic age.
They were of
leather, generally of
green colour, laced in front by thongs, which passed
through small loops on either side

pally used, as in Greece
One of the
4,
and
and were
Etruria,
princi-
by women."
close laced shoes is given in pi. 1, fig.
from a specimen in the British Museum
it
em-
braces the foot closely, and has a thong or two over the
instep, for
drawing
it
tightly over the foot,
like the half boot of the present
day
something
the sole and
upper leather are all in one piece, sewn up the back and
down
the front of the foot, a
practised in this country,
century.
mode
of construction
as late as the fourteenth
rilSTOEY OP BOOTS
AND SHOES.
The elegantly ornamented boot here

copied from a Theban painting, and
is
9
given,
is
worn by a gaily
dressed youth from one of the countries bordering
on Egypt
reaches very high, and
it
specimen of the
taste for decoration,
began to be displayed upon this
many
In Sacred Writ are
when Moses
which thus early
article
of apparel.
early notices of shoes,
exhorts the Jews to obedience (Deut.
chap. 29,) he exclaims

old
a remarkable
is
"your
clothes are not
waxen
upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy
foot."
In the Book of Ruth (chap. 4,3
we have a
curious instance of the important part performed
by
the shoe in the ancient days of Israel, in sealing any
important business
former time in
Israel,
"
Now
this
was the manner in
concerning redeeming, and con-
cerning changing, for to confirm
plucked
and
this
ofi"
his shoe,
and gave
was a testimony in
it
all
things
man
to his neighbour
Israel."
Ruth, and
all
the property of three other persons, are given over

to Boaz,
him
by the
act of the next kinsman,
who
his shoe in the presence of witnesses.
cient law compelled the eldest brother,
gives to
The anor nearest
10
kinsman by her
if
late
husband's
side, to
her husband died childless.
marry a widow,
The law of Moses
provided an alternative, easy in
itself,
with some degree of ignominy.
The woman was
but attended
in
public court to take off his shoe, spit before his face,
saying, "so shall
it
be done unto thatman that will not
build up his brother's house :"
and probably, the fact
of this refusal was stated in the genealogical registers

in connection with his
is
name which is probably what

;
meant by his " name shall be called in
Israel,
the
house of him that hath his shoe loosed." (Deut. 25.)
The Editor of Knight's
Pictoi'ial Bible,
who
notices
these curious laws, also adds that the use of the shoe
in the transactions with Boaz, are perfectly intelligible
the taking off the shoe,
quishment of the
right,
and the dissolution of the
obligation in the one instance,

other.
sion,
The shoe
nor
is this
is
idea
denoting the relin-
and
its
transfer in the
regarded as constituting posses-
unknown
to ourselves,
it
being
conveyed in the homely proverbial expression by
which one man
is
said
to
" stand in the shoes of
another," and the vulgar idea " of throwing an old
shoe after you for luck,"
temporal
gifts or
typical of a wish,
is
that
good fortune may follow you.
author last quoted
The
says, that even at the present time,
the use of the shoe as a token of right or occupancy
may be
and
however various and dissimilar the instances
may
seem
traced very extensively in the East
at first view, the leading idea
tected in
may be
band divorces his runaway
my
wife,
when
he usually
shpper, I have cast her off."
" Bedouins,"
hardt's
de-
Thus among the Bedouins, when a man
all.
permits his cousin to marry another, or
" she was
still
Sir F.
p. 65).
a hussays,
(Burck-
Henniker in
speaking of the difficulty he had in persuading the

natives to descend into the crocodile
mummy pits, in
consequence of some men having lost their lives there,

says
" our
guides, as if preparing for certain death,
took leave of their children
the father took the tur-
ban from his own head, and put

son
'
or
put him
a dead man's shoes.'
left at
"
it
upon
that of his
by giving him
his shoes,
In Western Asia,
shppers
in his place,
the door of an apartment, denote that the
master or mistress
on
is
engaged, and no one ventures
though the apart-
intrusion, not even a husband,
ment be
his wife's.
speaJdng of the
Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet,
termagants of Benares say,
domestic or other business

batants before the affair
is
duly settled, she cooUy
thrusts her shoe beneath her basket,
upon the
meaning
spot, to signify that she

to denote
"if
one of the com-
calls off
and
is
leaves both
not satisfied."
by leaving her shoe, that she kept
possession of the ground and the argument, during
her unavoidable absence.
From
all
these instances
employment
it
would appear that
of the shoe, may, in
some
this
respects, be
considered analagous to that which prevailed in the
middle ages, of giving a glove as a token of investiture
when bestowing
It should
lands and dignities.
be observed that the same Hebrew word
{naat) signifies both a sandal
and a shoe, although
always rendered shoe in our translation of the Old
Testament.
sis
Although the shoe
and other books of the
is
mentioned in Gene-
Bible, little concerning its
form or manufacture can be gleaned
that
it
was an

article of
may
common use among the ancient
infer
23, the
Israelites,
from the passage in Genesis, chap,
first
mention
"we
Ahraham makes oath
to
have of this
its
article,
we
xiv., v.
where
the King of Sodom " that he
wiU not take from a thread even

thus assuming
13
common
The Gibeonites (Joshua,
to a shoe-latchet,"
character.
ix., v.
old shoes and clouted (mended)
13),
upon
"came with
their feet"
the better to practice their deceit, and therefore they

said,
" our shoes
become old by reason of the
are
very long jovimey."

Isaiah
"walked three years naked and barefoot," he
went for
this
long period without shoes contrary to
the custom of the people, and as " a wonder unto
Egypt and Ethiopia."

That
is
it
became an
evident from the
article of
many
refinement and luxury
other notices given, and
the Jewish ladies seem to have been very particular
about their sandals, thus we are told in the
Apocryphal book of Judith, although Holofernes was

attracted
by the general richness of her dress and
personal ornaments, yet
it
was "her sandals ravished
14
and the bride
his eyes ;"
with the exclamation
with sandals,
The ancient
Solomon's Song
in
" How
prince's daughter
met
!"
bas-rehefs at PersepoUs,
urhood of Babylon, second only in
and
is
beautiful are thy feet
and the neightheir antiquity
interest to those of Egypt, furnish us with ex-
amples of the boots and shoes of the Persian kings,

their nobles,
as appears
and attendants
from historical,
in the days of Xerxes
iNo.
From
mens above.
derably
and Darius.
Xo.
1.
these sources
No.
and they were executed
as well as internal evidence,
we here
I,
No.
2.
select the three
now
above the ancle,
polis
by
in the British
Sir R.
speci-
a half-boot, reaching con-
is
and
it
is
attendant who has charge of a chariot,

lief
3.
worn by
upon a
the
bas-re-
Museum, brought from Perse
Ker Porter, by
whom
it
was
first
engraved and described in his interesting volumes of

travels in that district.
No.
2, also
from Persepobs,
;;
and engraved in the work
15
just quoted, delineates ano-
ther kind of boot or high shoe, reaching only to the
round which
ancle,
it is
secured by a band, and tied in
front in a knot, the two ends of the band hanging
beneath
it
this shoe is very
these figures,
upper
and
is
common upon the
generally
feet of
worn by soldiers or the
classes, the attendants or councillors
round the
throne of these early sovereigns frequently wear such

shoes.
No.
3, seen
the same rank of
upon the
life, is
here copied from a Persepo-
litan bas-relief representing

it is
feet of personages in
a soldier in
a remarkably interesting
clearly
dress,
shows the transition
full
costume
example, as
it
very
state of this article of
being something between a shoe and a sandal
in fact, a shoe
may be
considered as a covered sandal,
and in the instance before
"upper leather"
us, the part
consists of little
lacings of the sandals rendered
we now term
more than the
much
broader than
usual,
and fastened by buttons along the top of the
foot
the shoe
as the
is
thus rendered peculiarly flexible,
openings over the instep allow of the freest
movement.
Such were the forms of the
earliest shoes.
HISTORY or BOOTS AND SHOES.
16
Close boots reaching nearly to the knee where they
met by a wide
are
tliese sculptures,
and appearance
sacks.
that
trowser, are not
being precisely the same in shape

as those
Indeed, there
may
uncommon upon
is
worn by the modem Cos-
nothing in the way of boots
not be found upon the existing monuments
of early nations, precisely resembling the
The
little
the boots
figure
modern
ones.
here given might pass for a copy of
worn by one of jihe soldiers of King William
the Third's army, and would not be unworthy of
uncle
Toby
himself, yet
it is
carefuUy copied from
most ancient specimen of Etruscan sculpture, in the

possession of Inghtrami,
his
who
has
engraved
it
in
learned work the " Monument! Etruschi ;" the

HISTOKY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
original represents
an Augur, or
1/
Priest, wliose chief
duty was to report and explain supernatural signs.
With the ancient Greeks and Romans the coverings

for the feet
assumed their most elegant forms, yet in
no instance does the comfort of the wearer appear
to
hare been sacrificed, or the natural play of the foot

interfered with
that appears to have been especially
reserved for " march of intellect " days.

sandals,
Vegetable
termed Baxa, or Baxea, were worn by the
lower classes, and as a symbol of their humility, by

the philosophers and priests.
young priest
Apuleius describes a
as wearing sandals of palm, they
no doubt similar in construction

ones,
to the
were
Egyptian
which we have already given specimens,
of
and which were part of the required and characteristic

dress of the Egyptian priesthood.
sandals
Such vegetable
were, however, occasionally decorated with
ornaments to a considerable extent, and they then
became expensive.
variety
Baxearii
The making of them
was the business of a

;
and these with the
class of
Solearii,
in
aU
men
(or
their
called
makers
of the simplest kind of sandal worn, consisting of a

c
18
with
sole
little
more
to fasten
to the foot than a
it
strap across the instep), constituted a corporation or
coUege of Rome.
The
solea were generally worn
only, for lightness
by the higher
and convenience,
classes
in the house
the shoes (calceus) being worn out of doors.
Soccus was the intermediate covering for the
The
foot,
being something between the solea and the calceus,
it
was, in fact, precisely Hke the modern slipper, and
could be cast off at pleasure, as
and was secured by no
tie.
it
did not
fit
closely,
This, like the solea
and
crepida,
was worn by the lower
people
and hence, the comedians wore such cheap
and common coverings
classes
and country
for the feet, to contrast with
the Cothurnus or buskin of the tragedians, which
they assumed, as
and
stately attire.
trical
and
it
was adapted
to
be part of a grand
Hence the term apphed
to thea-
performers "brethren of the sock and buskin,"
as this distinction is both ancient
and
curious,
specimens, of both are here given from antique authorities.
is
The
side
and front view of the Sock, (Nos. 1,
copied from a painting of a buffoon,
2)
who is dancing
HISTOEY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
19
in loose yellow slippers, one of the commonest colours in
which the leather used for their construction was dyed.
xo.
^m
1.
No.
Such
slippers
were made to
No.
2.
3.
fit
both feet indifferently,
but the more finished boots and shoes were made

for
one foot only from the
nus,
(fig.
3)
It
was laced
always were,
down
leg,
and sometimes
as the boots
as far as the
of the ancients
the front, the object of such an
arrangement being to make them

as possible,
The Cothur-
was a boot of the highest kind, reaching
above the calf of the

knee.
earliest period.
fit
the leg as closely
and the skin of which they were made
was dyed purple, and other gay colours
the head
and paws of the wild animal were sometimes allowed

to
hang around the leg from the upper part of the
cothurnus, to which
example
is
it
formed a graceful addition
given upon our 2nd plate,
fig. 1,
which
an
it
20
aside-view of such an ornamented boot, decorated

all
over with a pattern like the Grecian volute.
The
cothurnus was of the ordinary
sole of the
thickness in general, but
it
was occasionally made
touch thicker by the insertion of shoes of cork, when
and thus the
the wearer wished to add to his height,
Athenian tragedians,
most
who assumed
this
had the
dignified of coverings for the feet,
made unusually
thick, in order that
it
boot as the
soles
might add to
the magnitude and dignity of their whole appearance.
The unchanging nature of a commodious fashion

capable of adoption by the lower classes,
illustrated
by
fig.
2, plate
2,
may
be well
which deUneates the
shoe or sandal worn by the rustics of ancient Rome.

It is
formed of a skin turned over the
foot,
and
secured by thongs passing through the sides, and

over the toe, crossing each other over the instep, and
Any person
familiar
with the prints of PineUi, pictures of the
modem
models
of the
secured firmly round the ancle.
brigands of
the
Abruzzi,
or
latter worthies in terra-cotta to
the
be met with in most
curiosity shops, will at once recognise those they
wear
HISTOKT OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

as being of the
same form.
modem Rome "will
visited
also
The
paratively
ones, they were
to have seen
traverse the
Highlander,
by
Irish,
and the com-
both wore similar
formed of the skin of the cow or
on them, and were held on the
deer, with the hair

feet
who has
who
and the older
modem
traveller
remember
them on the feet of the peasantry

Pontine marshes
21
They were the simplest and
leather thongs.
warmest kind of foot-covering to be obtained when

every
man was
his
own shoemaker.
There was a form of shoe worn at this early time

in
which the toes were
which an example
entirely uncovered,
given in pi. 2,
is
fig. 3.
copied from a marble foot in the British
IS a
fits
The
is
Museum.
made of a
pliable leather,
was considered
mark of rusticity
foot, or
It
closely to the foot, for it
This shoe appears to be
which
and of
which
to
fitted in
wear shoes larger than the
a loose and slovenly manner.
toes in this instance are left perfectly free
upper leather
is
secured round the ancle by a
while a thong, ornamented by a stud in
its
the
tie,
centre,
passing over the instep, and between the great and
22
second
secured to the sole in the manner of a
toe, is
In order that the ancle-bone should not be
sandal.
pressed on or
incommoded
in walking, the leather is
sloped away, and rises around
back of the
it
to a point at the
leg.
None but such
as
had served the
office
of Edile
were allowed to wear shoes of a red colour, which
we may
therefore infer to have been as favorite color
for shoes, as
appears to have been
it
Hebrews, and as
Roman
it
is
stUl in
Western Asia.
of the foot.
The
on the top
The Emperor Aurelian forbade men
wear
red, yellow, white, or green shoes,
them
to
be worn by
women
to
their shoes, a fact
the
the
Senators wore shoes or buskins of a black
colour, with a crescent of gold or silver
forbade
among
women
only,
to
permitting
and Heliogabalus
wear gold or precious stones in
which
will aid us in
sort of decoration indulged
in
understanding
by the earhest
Hebrew women, of whose example Judith may be

quoted as an instance, to which we have already
referred.
The Roman
soldiers generally
wore a simple form

of sandal
4,
23
similar to the example given in pi.
and which
is
2, fig.
a solea fastened by thongs, yet ihej,
in the progress of riches
and luxury, went with the
times and merged into foppery, so that Philopoemon,

in
recommending
soldiers to give
more
attention to
their warlike accoutrements than to their

dress, advises
and
sandals,
them
to
and more
be
less nice
common
about their shoes
careful in observing that their
greaves were kept bright and fitted well to their legs.
WTien about to attack a
hill-fort
or go on rugged
marches, they wore a sandal shod with spikes similar

to that in pi. 2., fig. 5,
soles covered
fig.
6,
and
at other times they
with large clumsy
which e::^bits the
nails like
sole of a
Roman
had
those of
soldier's
sandal covered with naUs, and which was discovered

in
London some few years ago
it is
copied from an
engraving in the Arch geological Album, and the shoe
shows the length of these
itself
which forms
nails
and the way in which the upper leather was
fig. 7,
constructed of the sandal
form, like those of the
Persepolitan figures already alluded to.
and Romans used shoes of
this
The Greeks
kind as frequently aa
HISTORY OF BOOTS AXU SHOES.
24
the early Persians, and in
fig. 7,
we have an example
of such a combination of sandal and shoe as they
wore, the upper leather being cut into a series of

thongs, through which passes a broad band of leather,
which turns not inelegantly round the upper part of

the foot,
and
is
secured by passing
the ancle and above
The Roman
distinct
wearer.
it,
where
it is
many times round

buckled or
tied.
shoes then had various names, and were
badges of the position in society held by the
The
Solea,
longed to the lower
Crepida, Pero, and Soccus, beclasses, the labourers
the Caliga was principally
worn by
and
soldiers,
rustics,
and the
Cothurnus, by tragedians, hunters, and horseman, as

well as by the nobles of the countrj'.
The
latter
kind of boot in form and colour as we
have already hinted was indicative of rank or
office.
Those worn by senators we have noticed, and
it
a joke in ancient
Rome
against
was
men who owed respect
solely to the accident of birth or fortune that his
nobihty was in his heels.
The boots
of the emperors
were frequently richly decorated, and the patterns

still
existing
upon marble
statues
show
that they were
Tl.l.
HISTORY OF BOOTS AXD SHOES.
/O
ornamented in the most elaborate manner.
men from
speci-
the noble statue of Hadrian in the British
of our plate, and
impos-
iMuseum, forms
fig. 8,
sible to conceive
any thing of the kind more elegant
and
tasteful in its decorations.
were
it is
Real gems and gold
employed by some of the Roman Emperors to
decorate their boots, and HeUogabalus wore exquisite
cameos on his boots and shoes.

kind of boot of the same make as
fully
Fig. 9, is a lower
fig.3,
but beauti-
Hope,
vrore shoes
ornamented.
The Grecian
ladies according to
or half-boots laced before and lined with the fur of
animals of the cat, tribe whose muzzles or claws
hung down from the
top.
Ocrea was the name this boot got amongst the Ro-
mans;
"Ocreas verdente
which
Dryden,
puella" (Juv.
ridiculously
enough,
vi
sat.)
translated
" Spanish leather boots," a term of his own time

forced to do service sixteen hundred years before.
The barbarous nations with whom the Romans held

war,
are
upon the
bas-rehefs of their conquerors,
represented in close shoes or half-boots.
Thus the
26
Dacians wear the shoe represented in
fig.
0,
which
laced across the instep and was secured around the

ancle with a
band and ornamental button or stud. The
Gauls wear the shoe given below, of the same form as

that
worn by our
made
his descent
native ancestors
upon the
when
Julius Csesar
British Islands,
27
CHAPTER
II.
THE HISTOEY OF BOOTS AND SHOES IN EN'GLAXB.
EFOKE
tlie
arrival of the Saxons,
have transmitted to us
many
who
valuable
manuscripts abounding in various delineations
of their dress
shall not find
tion where
it,
much
it is o\ir
and manners, we
to
engage the atten-
present object to direct
the history of the coverings for the
feet.
There
is,
however,
the rude skin shoes
worn by the
the country people of
Rome was
adopted in this country in the
little
doubt that
native Irish
and
the simple protection
Shoes
earliest times.
of this material are found in aU nations half civilised
and the ease with which they are formed by merely

covering the sole with the hide of an animal, and
securing
ensuring
it
by a thong, must have had the
its
general use.
efiect
of
Naked feet would, however.
niSTOUY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
28
be preferred in
fine weather,
and when shoes were
worn, they were generally of a close

adapted to our climate
warm
the most antique representa-
tions of the Gaulish native chiefs as given
sculpture,
kind,
on Roman
and which may be taken as general repre-
sentations of British chiefs,
may be
received as good
authorities, their resemblance to each other being so
striking as to
draw from Caesar a remark
The Saxon
own
their
to that efiect.
figures as given in the drawings
by
hands, to be seen in manuscripts in most
of our public libraries, display the costume of this
people from the ninth century downwards
and the
minute way in which every portion of the dress
is
given, afford us clear examples of their boots and
shoes.
According to Strutt, high shoes reaching
ueaily to the middle of the legs,

lacing in the front,
and which may
and fastened by
also be properly
considered as a species of half boots, were in use in

this
country as early as the tenth century
and the
only apparent difference between the high shoes of

the ancients and the moderns, seems to have been
that the former laced close
down
to the toes,
and the
HISTOET OF BOOTS AXD SHOES.
They appear
latter to the instep only.
29
in general to
have been made of leather, and vere usually fastened

beneath the ancles with a thong, which passed through
a fold
the upper part of the leather, encompass-
upon
ing the heel, and which was tied upon the instep
This
method of securing the shoe upon the foot was

both for ease and conve-
certainly well contrived
nience.
Three specimens of shoes are here given
No.
Xo.
1.
from Saxon drawings.
and curious,
it is
No.
2.
The
copied from " the
or book of St. Cuthbert,
now
3.
the most ancient
first is
Durham book,"
preserved
among
the
Cottonian manuscripts in the British ^Museum, and
ia
beUeved to have been executed as early as the seventh

century by the hands of Eadfreid, afterwards Bishop
of Lindisfame,
who
died in 721.
It
partakes of the
nature of shoe and sandal, and with the exception of

the
buttons
down
the
front
is
precisely like the
30
Persepolitan sandal, already engraved and described
Roman
as well as like the
same model, and
curious to see
how all are formed
one fashion.
after this
No. 2,
it is
ones constructed on the
is
copied from Strutt's complete view of the
dress and habits of the people of England, pi, 29,

fig. 16,
M.S.,
and which he obtained from the Harleian
No. 603.
It
very clearly shows the form of the
Saxon shoe, and the long

tied.
strings
Fig. 3, delineates the
by which
it
was
most ordinary kind of
shoe worn, with the opening to the toes already alluded

for lacing
to,
it.
But
little
variety is observable in
the form of this article of dress

it
is
among the Saxons,
usually delineated as a sohd black mass, just as
the last figure has been here engraved, with a white

line
down
the centre to
as generally without
or half-boot, are
by
it,
show the opening,
but, quite
and these two forms of shoe
far the
most commonly met with,
and are depicted upon the
feet of noble
and royal
personages as well as upon those of the lower

Strutt,
class.
remarks that wooden shoes are mentioned
in the records of this era, but considers
it
probable

that they
because the soles were
so called
-were
31
formed of wood, while the upper parts were formed

of some more pliant material
soles
were
at this time
exalted rank
Italy, the
shoes with wooden
worn by persons of the most
thus, the shoes of Bernard, king of
grandson of Charlemagne, are thus described
by an Itahan
writer, as they
"The shoes"
says he,
were found in his tomb.
"which covered his
remaining to this day, the
soles
feet, are
of wood and
the
upper parts of red leather, laced together with thongs

they were so closely
fitted to the feet that the
order
of the toes, terminating in a point at the great toe
might
easily
be discovered
so that the shoe belong-
ing to the right foot could not be put upon the
nor that of the
imcommon
left
to gild
of the nobility.
upon the
right."
It
left,
was not
and otherwise ornament the shoes
Eginhart, describes the shoes
worn
by Charlemagne on great occasions, as set with jewels.
The Normans wore boots and shoes of equal

simplicity, rustics are frequently represented with
half
boot plain in form, fitting close to the foot,
but wide at the ancle, like
fig.l,
of the group here
;;
32
given,
only
that in
this
consisting of a studded
Fig.
part.
ornament
an
band surrounds the upper
Fig.
1.
instance
Fig. 3.
2.
Such boots were much used by the Normans,
and are frequently mentioned by the ancient historians

they do not appear to have been confined to any particular classes of the people, but
of
all
were worn by persons
ranks and conditions, as well of the clergy as of
the laity, especially
The boots
when they rode on
horseback.
delineated in their drawings are very short,
rarely reaching higher than the middle of the legs
they were sometimes slightly ornamented, but the boots
and shoes of
all
personages represented in the famous
tapestry of Bayeux, are of the same simple form of
construction
and
this celebrated early piece of needle-
work was beheved
to
have been worked by the wife
of the Conqueror, to commemorate his invasion of
England and the
battle of Hastings.
Another form
Norman shoe may be
of
more enriched than the

ornament adopted
seen in
last,
in the
is
and
which
fig. 2,
it is
is
curious that the
form of the straps of a
sandal, studded with dots throughout.
ginal the shoe
33
In the
ori-
coloured with a thin tint of black,
is
these bands being a soUd black, with white or gilded
and
lines
fig. 3, is
Another example of a decorated shoe,
dots.
given from a
MS.
of the eleventh century, in
the British ^Museum, and shows the kind which be-
came fashionable when the Xormans firmly
settled in
England, began to indulge in luxurious clothing.
These shoes were most probably embroidered.
"
We
are assured
by the
says Strutt, "that the

boots,
was given
son
but they are
early
Norman
cognomen curta
historians,"
ocrea, or short
to Robert, the Conqueror's eldest

entirely
silent
respecting
the
reason for such an appellation being particularly

applied to him.
It
could not have arisen from his
having introduced the custom of wearing short boots

into this country,
among
for they
were certainly in use
the Saxons long before his birth
conjecture of
my
own,
to hazard a
should rather say he was
nisTony of boots and shoes.
34
the
first
among
the
Normans who wore
short boots,
and derived the cognomen by way of contempt, from

his
own countrymen,
for having so far complied with
the manners of the Anglo-Saxons.
It
was not long
however, supposing this to be the case, before his
example was generally followed."

of the
Normans appear
The short boots
at times to
fit
quite close
to the legs ; in other instances they are represented
more
loose
and open
and though the materials of
which they were composed are not particularized by

the ancient writers,
to
we may reasonably suppose them
have been made of leather
at least
it is
certain
that about this time a sort of leathern boots, called
Bazans, were in fashion
but they appear to have
been chiefly confined to the clergy.
"Among the various innovations,"

" made
in dress
century, none
continues Strutt,
by the Normans during the
twelftlv
met with more marked and more
de-
served disapprobation than that of lengthening the

toes of the shoes,
sharp point.
first
and bringing them forward
to
In the reign of Rufus, this custom was
introduced
and according
to Orderic Vitalis,
by

a
man who had
35
distorted feet, in order to conceal his
deformity," but he adds, " the fashion was no sooner
broached, than
all
those
who were fond
thought proper to foUow
made by
tail.
and the shoes were
the shoemakers in the form of a scorpion's
These shoes were called Pigacue, and were
adopted by persons of every
Soon
it
of novelty
after,
class,
a courtier, whose
proved upon the
idea
first
both rich and poor.
name was
Robert, im-
by fiUing the vacant part
of the shoe with tow, and twisting it round in the form
of a ram's horn
admiration.
the nobility
was
It
:
this ridiculous fashion excited
was followed by the greater part of
and the author, for his happy invention,
honoured with
horned.
much
the
cognomen Cornardus
or
The long pointed shoes were vehemently
inveighed against by the clergy, and strictly forbidden

to be
worn by the
religious orders.
So
far as
we can
judge from the drawings executed in the twelfth centuiy the fashion of wearing long-pointed shoes did
not long maintain
its
ground.
It
was, however, after-
wards revived, and even carried to a more preposterous extent
36
specimen of the shoes that were worn at this
and which
period,
writers,
is
so excited the ire of the
Stephen
stable of Chester, in the reign of
original the knight
spur
is
The
monkish
here given from the seal of Richard, con-
is
in the
on horseback, the stirrup and
therefore seen in our cut.

eflBgies
of our early soverigns are generally
represented in shoes decorated with bands across, as

if in
imitation of sandals.
black, as nearly
this
country
fashionable
worn by
The shoes
are.
among
all
of
earlier shoes in
Henry
II. are green,
Those of Richard are also striped
and such
royalty
are seldom coloured
aU the examples of
with bands of gold.
with gold
They
richly decorated shoes
became
the nobility, and were generally
over Europe.
tomb of Henry the Sixth of
Sicily,
Thus, when the
who
died in 1197,
was opened in the cathedral of Palermo, on the
feet
3/
of the dead monarch were discovered costly shoes,

,
whose upper part was of cloth of gold, embroidered

with pearls, the sole being of cork, covered with the
same cloth of gold.

ancle,
and were fastened with a
of a buckle.
11 98,
These shoes reached to the

Httle button instead
His queen Constance,
had upon her
who
feet shoes also of cloth
which were fastened with leather straps
died in
of gold,
tied in knots,
and on the upper part of them were two openings,
wrought with embroidery, which showed that they
had been once adorned with jewels.

mented with
at this
gold,
Boots orna-
and embroidered in elegant patterns
time became often worn.
King John of
England orders in one instance four pair of womens'

boots, one of
and the
in
them
to be embroidered with circles
effigy of the
succeeding monarch,
Westminster Abbey,
is chiefly
splendour of the boots he wears

over
remarkable for the
they are crossed
by golden bands, thus forming a
series
diamond-shaped spaces, each one of which

with a figure of a Lion, the royal
One of
these splendid shoes
is
Henry HI.,
all
of
is filled
arms of England.
engraved in pi.
3, fig.
38
The shape of the
may
sole of the shoes, at this time,
be seen from the cut here given of one found in
a tomb of the period, and called that of St. Swithin,

in Winchester cathedral.
The shoe
engraved in
is
Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, and the person who

discovered
it
in the
tomb thus
describes
it
He
says,
" The legs of the wearer were enclosed in leathern

boots or gaiters sewed with neatness, the thread was
still
to
be seen.
rather worn,
The
soles
were small and round,
and of what would be
gant shape at present

narrow, and were
it
have in
made and
fitted to
each foot.
soles,
with a pencil from the original
my
an
ele-
pointed at the toe and very
have sent the pattern of one of the

tracing
called
possession."
drawn by
itself,
which
Gough engraves the shoe
of the natural size in his work, the measurements
being ten inches in length from toe to heel, and three
39
inches across the broadest part of the instep.
It will
be seen that they are as perfectly "right and left," as
any boots of the present day

shown,
As these boots are
we have
but as
this is a fashion of the
ah-eady
most remote antiquity.
at least as old as the time of John,
Shakspere's description in his dramatised history of

that sovereign, of the tailor,
who, eager to acquaint
his friend, the smith, of the prodigies the skies
just exhibited,
and whom Hubert saw
" Standing in slippers which
Had
is strictly
had
fialsely
accurate
thrust
liis
upon contrary
nimble haste
feet."
yet half a century ago, this pas-
sage was adjudged to be one of the
many
Shakspere's ignorance or carelessness.
proofs of
Dr. Johnson,
ignorant himself of the truth in this point, but yet

like all critics,
determined to pass his verdict, makes
himself supremely absurd, by saying in a note to

this passage,
with ridiculous solemnity, " Shakspere
seems to have confounded the man's shoes with his

gloves.
He
that is frighted or hurried
hand into the wrong
may put
his
glove, but either shoe will equally
HISTORY OF BOOTS AKB SHOES.
40
admit either
The author seems
foot.
to be disturbed
by the disorder which he describes."

In the "Art Union," a journal devoted to the fine
arts, are
of notices of the. various forms of
series
boots and shoes in this country, by F.

F.S.A., from which
we may borrow
W.
Fairholt,
the description of
the elegant coverings for the feet in use in the reigns
of the three
leg, or
the
shoes buttoned
Norman shoe
up the
I.
and
centre, or secured
hke
in the second figure of the first cut
given in this chapter, were
Edward
Boots buttoned up the
Edwards.
first
II.
common
in the days of
The splendid reign of the third
Edward, says Mr. Fairholt, extending over half a century of national greatness, was remarkable for the
variety
costume
and luxury,
;
and
this
as well as the elegance of its
may
be considered as the most
glorious era in the annals of
the trade of
" the gentle
shoemaking was
craft," as
anciently termed.
Shoes and boots of the most sumptuous description

are
now
to
sculptures,
be met with in contemporary paintings,
and Uluminated manuscripts.
The boot
and shoe here engraved from the Arundel M.S.,
ÂI
PIS

No. 83, executed about 1339 (plate
fine
3, fig.
41
2 and 3) are
examples of the extent to which the tasteful orna-
ment of
these articles of dress
was
carried.
They
remind one of the boots "fretted with gold" and

embroidered in
circles
mentioned by John.
greatest variety of pattern
and the
colour were aimed at by the
as well as
4,
5,
and
may
how happy an
effect
judge, from the examples just given,
from the three

6,
richest contrasts of
maker and inventor of
shoes at this period, and with

the reader
The
also engraved in pi. 3, Nos.
and which are copied from Smirke's
copies of the paintings,
the walls of St.
which formerly existed on
Stephen's Chapel at Westminster,
and which drawings now decorate the walls of the

meeting room of the Society of Antiquaries.
impossible to conceive any shoe
sign than
fig. 4,
personage, and
of our plate.
it
It is
exquisite in de-
worn by a
brings forcibly to
windows, and other

period
more
It is
mind
royal
the rose
details of the architecture of this
but for beauty of pattern and splendour of
effect this
Enghsh shoe of the middle ages
is
" beyond
HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SUOES,
42
all
Greek, beyond
all
Roman
fame," for their sandals
and shoes have not half " the glory of regality con-
The
tained in this one specimen."
the same plate

in
effect,
is
fifth
figure in-
simpler in design but not less striking
being coloured (as the previous one
is) solid
black, the red hose adding considerably to its
No.
6, is still
more peculiar and
is
cut
all
eflFect.
over into a
geometric pattern, and with a fondness for quaint display in dress peculiar to those times, the
left
shoe
is
black and the stocking blue, the other leg of the same
and a white
figure being clothed in a black stocking
shoe.
The form of
worn by persons of
elaborate ornament.
this latter
all classes,
one
is
that usually
of course omitting the
The shoe was cut very low over
the instep, the heel being entirely covered,
fastened
and a band
by a small buckle or button passing round
the ancle secured
it
to the foot.
The boots and shoes worn during the fourteenth

century, were of peculiar form,
and the
toes
which
were lengthened to a point, turned inward or outward

according to the taste of the wearer.
In the reign

of Richard
it
II.,
they became immensely long, so that
was asserted they were chained
wearer, in order to allow
ease
and freedom.
who
43
It
him
to
to the
knee of the
walk about with
was of course only the
nobility
and
could thus inconvenience themselves,
might have been adopted by them as a distinction

stiU very pointed toes
were worn by
afford to be fashionable.
all
who
The cut here given
it
could
exhibits
the sole of a shoe of this period, from an actual spe-
cimen in the possession of C. Roach Smith, F.S.A.
and was discovered in the neighbourhood of Whitefriars, in
digging deep xmder ground into what must
have originally been a receptacle for rubbish,
among
which these old shoes had been thrown, and they are
probably the only things of the kind
now
in exist,
ence.
Two
specimens of boots of the time of Edward
IV., are here given to
show
their general
form
at that
44
The
period.
15, E.
G,
and
turned toe
and thus
is
of lighter leather,
which
it
may be
considered as the pro-
The other boot from a print dated 1515,
totype.
more
curious, the top of the boot
and the
instep,
of black leather, with a long up-
bears a resemblance to the top-boots of a
later age, of
is
is
copied from the Royal M.S., No.
the top of the boot
it
first is
is
drawn together by
the leg, so that
turned
down
centre opens from the top, to the
entire
and
is
it
this point to the
laces or ties across
bears considerable resemblance in
Cothurnus of the ancients.
Fashion ran at this time from one extreme to the

other,
and the shoes which were
at
one time as

lengthy at the toe as to be inconvenient,
as absurdly broad,
and
it
45
now became
was made the subject of
sumptuary laws to restrain both extremes.
Thus
Edward IV. enacted that any shoemaker who made for

unprivileged persons (the nobility being exempted)
any shoes or boots, the toes of which exceeded two

nches in length, should
forfeit
twenty
shillings,
one
noble to be paid to the king, another to the cordwainers of London, and the third to the chamber of
London.
toes,
This only had the effect of widening the
and Paradin says that they were then so very
broad as to exceed the measure of a good

continued until the reign of Mary,
who by
foot.
This
a proclama-
tion prohibited their being worn wider at the toe than

six inches.
No.
We
1.
No.
2.
have here engraved two specimens of these
46
broad toed shoes of the time of Henry VIII.
No.
1 is
copied from the monumental effigy of Katharine, the

wife of Sir
Thomas Babynton, who
1543, and
died
buried in Morley church, near Derby.
is
an
excellent specimen of the sort of sole preferred
by
is
The second cut
the fashionables of that day.
made shoe
a front \'iew of a similarly
formed of
leather,
It
exhibits
they were
but generally the better classes
wore them of rich velvet and
silk,
the various colours
of which were exhibited in slashes at the toes, which
were most sparingly covered by the velvet of which the

shoe was composed.
In the
portrait of the poetical Earl of
Court,
he
ha\'ing
bands of a darker
is
diagonally,
represented in
curious
full-length
Surrey, at
shoes of
Hampton
red
velvet,
tint placed across
them
which bands are decorated with a row
of gold ornaments.
During the reign of Edward VI. a
sort of shoe with
a pointed toe was worn, not unlike the

It
was of
leather,
velvet generally with the
with the poorer ones
modern
upper
classes
one.
;
of
the former indulged in
a series of slashes over the upper leather, which

the others
had
not.
We
.47
give here tvo specimens of
these shoes from prints dated 1577
and 1588, and
they will serve to show the sort of form adopted, as

well as the varied
velvet appeared,
taste.
way
in
which the slashes of the
and which
altered with the wearers
Philip Stubbes, the puritanical author of the
" Anatomy of Abuses," 1588 declares that the fashionables then
wore "corked shoes, puisnets, pantof&es,
and shppers, some of them of black

white,
velvet,
some of green, and some of yeUow
some of
some of
Spanish leather, and some of English, stitched with

silk
and embroidered with gold and
foot with
gew-gaw8 innumerable."
pensive shoe-ties were

large
silver all over the
now brought
sums were lavished upon
Rich and exinto use,
their
and
decorations.
48
John Taylor, the water Poet,

ance of those
"
who
Wear a farm in
And
alludes to the extravag-
shoe-strings edged with gold,
spangled garters worth a copy-hold."
The shoe-roses were made of lace, which was as beautiful, costly,
and
elaborate, as that
which composed
the ruff for the neck, or ruffles for the wrist.
They
were elaborately decorated with needlework and gold
and
silver thread.
During the reign of the
first
Charles, the boots
(which were made of fine Spanish leather, and were

of a buff colour) became very large and wide at the
top.
Indeed, they were so wide at times, as to obhge
the wearer to stride
was much
ridiculed
much
by the
in walking, a habit that
satirists of the day.
was a print published during
this
in the height of fashion whose legs are
" incased in
boot-hose tops tied about the middle of the
long as a pair of shirt sleeves,

like a ruff"
band
There
reign of a dandy)
calf,
as
double at the end
the top of his boots very large.
HISTOBYOF BOOTS AND SHOES.

fringed with lace, and turned
which jingled
walked."
like the
down
49
as low as his spunj,
beUs of a morris-dancer as he
These boots were made very long in the
toe, thus, of this exquisite
we are
told,
"the feet of his
hoots were two inches too long."
The boot tops
at this time
were made wide, and
were capable of being turned over beneath the knee,
which they completely covered when they were uplifted.
They were of course made of
allow of this,
" Spanish
pliant leather to
leather," according to Ben.
Jonson.
During the whole of the Commonwealth large boot

tops of this kind were
worn even by the
Puritans*,
they were, however, large only, and not decorated witli
50
The shoes worn were
costly lace.
larly simple in their construction
who
did not wish to be classed
frivolous,
point,
generally particu-
and form, and those
among
the vain and
took care to have their toes sharp at the
between themselves and the
as a distinction
" graceless gallants," who generally wore theirs very

broad.
With the
restoration of Charles II.
came the
large
French boot, in which the courtiers of " Louis

grand;" always
dehghted to exhibit their
the amplitude of
idea,
it
is
its
tops,
le
Of
legs.
the woodcut wUl give an
copied from one worn by a courtier of
Charles's Train, in the engravings illustrative of his
The boot
Coronation.
round the upper
part,
decorated with lace
all
and that portion of the
leg
is
which the boot encases, seems

pliant leather
same
over the instep
material, beneath
and the heel
is
is
easily
fitted
with
a broad band of the
which the spur was fastened
high, and toe broad, of
the
boots
fig. 7,
of our
all
and shoes then fashionable.
boot of the end of
third plate,
and
is
tliis
reign,
forms
copied from a pair which hang up
51
in Sliottesbrooke Church, Berkshire, above a tomb, in
accordance with the old custom, of burying a knight
with his martial equipments over his grave, originally

consisting of his shield, sword, gloves,
the boots being a later and
The
pair
and spurs,
more absurd introduction.
which we are now describing, are formed of
fine buff leather,
the tops are red,
and so are the
heels, which are very high, the toes being cut exceed-
ingly square.
With
WiUiam
the great Revolution of

III.
came
688, and his ^Majesty
in the large jack boot,
and the
high quartered, high heeled, and buckled shoe, which

Sir
only expired at the end of the last century.
Samuel Rush ileyrick, has one of these jack

in his collection of armour, at
it
boots,
Goodrich Court
and
has been engraved in his work on ancient arms
and armour, from which

It is
it
is
copied in pi.
a remarkably fine specimen of these inconvenient
things,
and
is
as strait,
and
stiff,-
and formal
most inveterate Dutchman could wish.

will
3, fig. 8.
be perceived
is
The heel
it
very high, and the press upon
the instep very great,

^
as the
auJ consequently injurious
X
ii2
and altogether detrimeutal
to the foot,
An immense
piece
of leather
through which the spur
the boot, just above the heel,
infantry,
fight in the
instep,
and
to the
back of
appended an iron
rest
Such were the boots of our cavalry
for the spur.
and
is
the
covers
is affixed,
comfort.
to
and in such cumbrous
did they
articles
low countries, following the example of
Charles XII. of Sweden, whose figure has become so

identified with
easily
them, that the
separate the
which he
is
specimen
may be
Sovereign from
so constantly painted,
the
boots
in
and of which a
seen in his full length portrait pre-
served in the British
one
imagination cannot
Museum.
boot was worn by civihans,

last described, the leg
less
rigid than the
taking more of the natural
shape, and the tops being smaller, of a more pliant

kind, and sometimes slightly ornamented round the
edges.
We
have here two examples of Ladies' shoes, as
worn during the period of which we

The
first figure,
are discussing.
copied from Vol. 67, of the "Gentle-
mans Magazine," shows
the "peculiar shape
of the

s iioe,
as well as the clog beneath
53
these clogs were
merely single pieces of stout leather, which were
fastened beneath the heel and instep,
and appear
to be only extra hindrances in walking, which must
materially have destroyed any

original shoe
The second
of
little
wovdd have allowed the foot to
figure
is
copied from the
"Hone's Every Day Book,"
says,
" This was
Queen Mary." Holme,

minutely
difi'use
up a shoe
in his
author
for the top of the
foot;*
'
the
King William, and
'Academy of Armoury,'
on the gentle
in the instep,
ladies' sufierings.
volume
and that
craft
the form of a pair of wedges, which

raise
first
retain.
the fashion that beautified
feet of the fair, in the r.ign of
is
phancy which the
when
he engraves
he says
it is
'
is
to
too straight
and thus compassionates
Shoemakers love to put
ladies
in their stocks, but these wedges, like merciful jus-
.54
upon complaint,
ticcs
them.
soon do ease and deliver
If the eye turns to
cunning of the workman's

if
to the cut of
with the line of beauty adapted by the
the sole,
foot
the cut
skill,
to stilt the female
the reader behold that association, let wonder
master in coat armour, should
cease, that a venerable
bend
his quarterings, to the qxiartering of a ladies'
shoe,
and forgetful of heraldic forms, condescend
from
his high estate to the use of similitudes,"
This shape, once firmly estabUshed, was the pre-
vaiUng one during the reigns of George

9,
10, 11,
different
forms and
persons
figs.
of pi. 3, will fully display
the
style,
adopted by the fashionables
They always wore red
of that day.
all
13,
12,
and II.
I.
who pretended
heels, at least
to gentility.
The
fronts
of the gentlemen's shoes were very high, and

gala days, or
The
silk,
buckles.
heel,
occasions, a buff shoe
was worn.
appear to have preferred sUk or velvet
ladies
to leather
blue
showy
on
thus
and
fig.
it
is
0,
Fig. 11, is of
and a red
entirely
made of
a figured
bright red heels, and silver
has
rose for a
brown
tie
leather,
with a red
above the instep. Fig. 1 2,
HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOEg.

is
55
altogether red, in a pattern of different strengths
of tint
the
tie
and heels being deepest in colour.
Her Majesty's grand Bal Costum^, given during the

past year,
century
revived
ago
and
a night the fashion
for
the
author
of
of a
pages,
these
was then under the necessity of hunting up the
few-
remaining makers of "wooden heels in order to furnish the correct shoe, to complete the costume
many
of the most distinguished
of
who
individuals,
figured on that occasion.
The making of the high heeled shoe, was

I
at
all
times a matter of great judgment and nicety of

operation
the position required to be given to the
heel, the aptitude of the eye
the cutting
down
of the
and hand, necessary
wood
the sewing in of the
cover, kid, stuff, silk, or satin, as
getting in
bracing the cover round the block
comer,
all
it
might be
and securing the wood or " block
fully defined stitching,
to
and the
the
;" the
beauti-
which went from comer to
round the heel part, demanding altogether
the cleverness of first rate abihty.
The shoes became lower
in the quarters during the
.'t6
reign of Georgelll. and the heel was
As fashion
Aaricd,
made less clumsy.
larger or smaller buckles
were
used, and the heel was thrust farther beneath the

foot until about
780,
when
here delineated, and which
the shoe took the form
is
copied from Mr. Fair-
holt's notes in the Art Union, already alluded to.
From
notices
the same source,
by the same
we borrow
the following
"About 1/90, a change
writer.
in the fashion of ladies' shoes occurred.
made very
like a
and low
in the heel, in reality
real specimen, will
more
This engraving, copied
shpper than a shoe.
from a
make
flat
They were
show
the peculiarity of
its
the low quarters, the diminutive heel, and
the plaited ribbon and small
tie in front,
in place of
the buckle which began to be occasionally discon-
The Duchess of York,
tinued.
at
was
time,
this
remarkable for the smaUness of her foot, and a

coloured print of
shoe," was
measures 5
ornamented
silk
the exact size
pubhshed
by
\\
inch.
It
"with gold stars
the heel
\a scarlet
of the Duchess's
Fores,
inches in length
being only
sole
in
1791.
the breadth of
the
is
made of green
silk,
is
bound with
and the shape
is
modem
style
"
Models of
scarlet
similar to
the one engraved above, except that the heel

in the
It
is
exactly
shoe
this fairy
were made of China, as ornaments for the chimney,

or
drawing room
around
with
table,
cupids
hovering
it.
Shoes of the old fashion, with high heels and

buckles, appear in prints of the early part of 1800,
but Buckles became unfashionable, and shoe strings

eventually triumphed, although less costly and ele-
gant in their
construction.
Tlie Prince
of Wales
was petitioned by the alarmed buckle makers, to

discard his
to buckles,
new fashioned
by way of
strings,
bolstering
the fate of these articles
was
up
sealed,
and take again

their trade
but
and the Prince's
HISTORY OK BOOTS AND SHOES.
58
good-natured compliance with their wishes, did

to prevent their downfall.
The buckles worn
little
at the
end of 1700, were generally exceedingly small, and

BO continued until they were finally disused.
Early in the reign of George
III., the close fitting
gentleman's boot became general

for the leg
being
left
the material used
leather,
the flesh side
brown and the grain blackened, and kept
to
In currying this sort of leather for the
the sight.
boot leg,
was termed grain
it
went, in the lower part, through an inge-
nious process of contraction, to give
it
the heel of the wearer might go into
it
again the easier
life;
so that
and come out
the boot, at the same time,
when
on,
catching snugly round the small of the leg, in a sort

of stocking
fit.
After this appeared the " Hessian," a boot
worn
over the tight fitting pantaloon, the up-peaking front
bearing a sUk
tassel.
This boot was introduced from
Germany, about
Austrian boot,
Rees, in his Art and Mystery of the
789, and sometimes was called the
Cordwainer, published 1813 says, " the form at
was odious, as the
close boot
was then
in wear,
first
but
"
niSTOKY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

like
many
pitied,
and
fashions, at first
at last
part,
it
was then
adopted."
The top-boot was worn

III.,
frightful,
59
early in the reign of George
and took the fulness of the Hessian in
its
lower
and on the introduction of the " Wellington
the same fulness was retained.
To
describe the last-named boot were useless,
become par
excellence, the
common
WELLINGTON.
has
boot, and is per-
haps as universally known as the fame of the

guished hero
it
distin-
60
CHAPTER
III.
ON THE MORE MODERN FORMS OF FOREIGN BOOTS
AND SHOES.
PON
X^
examining the
critically
various
forms assumed by the coverings for the

feet
we
adopted by the nations around
shall find that they
degree modified
us,
were in no small
by the
circumstances
with which they were surrounded, or the

necessities
of the climate they inhabited-
Thus the northern nations enswathed

in skins,
and used the same material
binding the whole in
warm
folds
their legs
for the shoes,
about
the thongs being fastened to them in the
represented in pi. 4,
fig. 1,
and which
is
the
manner
copied from
a full length figure of a Russian boor, in 1768.
sandal of a Russian lady of the same period

in the
same
plate fig. 2,
leg,
is
The
given
and the men of Friesland
at

the
same time, wore sandals or shoes of a similar
constructiou, the
common
close leathern shoe

in use in the
our
61
plate,
woman
and
people generally wearing a

clog,
something hke those
middle ages, one delineated in
and
is
represented on the feet of a country
in the curious series of
engraved in
of
fig. 3,
JefFery's
costumes of Finland,
collection of the dresses
different nations, published in 1757,
of
and which were
copied from some very rare prints, at least a century

earlier in point of date.
given in
fig.
it is
Another female's shoe
a low shpper-like shoe, and
is
is se-
cured by a band across the instep, having an orna-
mental clasp,
like a brooch, to secure it
of the foot,
was probably, a coarsely made piece of
it
on
jewellery, with glass or cheap stones set
eacii >iJe
around
it
as the people of this country at that time were fond
of such showy decorations, and particularly upon their
The noblemen and
shoes.
theirs
with ornaments and jewels
surface of
ladies always
all
over the upper
which we give two specimens
in fig. 5
former upon the foot of a nobleman, the
that of a
matron of the upper
classes.
decorated
latter
It will
and
upon
be seen
62
and must have been very
that both are very elegaut
showy wear.
The boots of
be seen in
mon
to
chiefly
a Hungarian gentleman, in
fig. 7,
700,
may
of plate 4, and such boots were com-
Bohemia
at the
same period.
They
are
remarkable for the way in which they are cut
upward from the middle of

and then
the thigh to the knee,
curl over in front of the leg.
Tartarian lady of 1577,
is
exhibited
by John
Wiegel, the engraver of Nuremburg, in his work on

dress, in the boots
delineated in
remarkable for the sole
to
fig. 8.
They
which they are
are
afiixed,
and which was, no doubt, formed of some strong substance, probably
Avitli
metallic
hooks
to assist the
wearer in walking a mountainous country where

frosts
abound.
Descending towards the south, we shall find a

lighter sort of shoe in use,
and one partaking more
of the character of a slipper, used more as a protection for the sole of the foot in walking,
.
article of
warmth.
in the East,
than as an
Thus the shoes generally used
scarcely do
more than cover the
toes,
63
use, the natives hardly
ever allow
from constant
vet,
rhem
to slip
from the
The learned author of
feet.
he notes to Knight's Pictorial Bible, speaking from

of these articles, says,
personal observation
common
shoe in Turkey or Arabia
irith quarters,
except that
longed toe turned up.

iiave ears,
it
No
^lioe
;ias
our sUpper
has a sharp and proshoes in Western Asia
and they are generally of coloured
red or yellow morocco in

.ireen
is like
shagreen in Persia.
In the latter country, the
or slipper in general use (having no quarters),
a very high heel
or even boots
call
but with this exception, the
have more than a
" pumps,") which
When
water freely.
used,
an inner
>ole, is
AX
leather,
Turkey and Arabia, and
No
heels in these countries are generally flat.
we
"The
worn
wet weather imbibes the
the shoe without quarters
slipper, witli quarters,
inside,
But in
is
but without a
and the outer one alone
on entering a house.
his inner
in
shoes
(hke what
single sole,
Persia,
is
thrown
instead of
shoe of leather, they use a worsted sock.
Those shoes that have quarters are usually
without any inner covering for the foot.
worn
The pea-
64
santry and the
nomade
tribes usually
wear a rude sandal or shoe of

those
who
their
go barefoot, or
own manufacture
possess a pair of red leather or other shoes,
seldom wear them except on holiday occasions, so

that they last a long time, if not so long as
the Maltese, with
whom
among
a pair of shoes endures for
several generations, being, even on holiday occasions
more frequently
hand than worn on
carried in the
the feet.
The boots
struction
and material
as the shoes
form may be compared
to
They
are of capacious
and the general
to
near the knee.
breadth, except
whose boots generally
and are mostly of a
that of the buskin, the
height varying from the mid-leg
Persians,
same con-
are generally of the
fit
close
among
to
the
the leg,
sort of russia leather, uncoloured
whereas those of other people

of red and yellow morocco.
are, like
There
the slipper,
is also
a boot or
shoe for walking in frosty weather, which differs from

the
common one
tips,
only in having under the heel iron
which, being partly bent vertically with a jagged
edge, give a hold on the
and
ice,
which prevents
slipping,
are particularly useful in ascending or descending

fhe frozen mountain paths
of boot
worn by Tartarian
The shoes of the Oriental

;
gold,, silver,
and
real or imitated.
silk,
and perhaps
fig.
explain themselves
rendering
ladies are
given in
fig. 8.
sometimes highly
set
with jewels,
Examples of such decorated shoes
given in plate 4,
ently
ladies, as
of the sort
the covering part being wrought with
ornamented
are
reminding us
65
detailed
d and 10, and will
suffici-
to the eye of the
reader,
description
The
unnecessary.
shoes of noblemen are of precisely similar construction.
In China, the boots and. shoes
worn
as
cut.
men
at the toe,
and sometimes upturned.
give a specimen of both in the subjoined
They are no doubt easy
Not
are
clumsy and inelegant as in any country.
They are broad
We
of the
wood-
to wear.
so are the ladies' shoes, for they only are
allowed the privilege of discomfort, fashion having
66
in this country declared in favour of small feet,
the prejudice of the people having gone with

feet of all ladies of
in early
life,
ment, that their growth
is
in so straight a confine-
retarded,
more than three or four inches
By
the utmost torment
and they are not
in length
from the
the smallness of the foot the
rank or high breeding of the lady
life
the
it,
decent rank in society are cramped
by being placed
toe to the heel.
and
is
is
decided on, and
endured by the
girls in early
to ensure themselves this distinction in rank
the
lower classes of females not being allowed to torture

themselves in the same manner.
The Chinese poets
frequently indulge in panegyrics on the beauty of
members of the body, and none of
these crippled
their heroines are considered perfect without excessively small feet,
by them " the
when they
little
golden
are affectionately
termed
It is needless
lilies."
to
say that the tortures of early youth are succeeded by

a crippled maturity, a Chinese lady of high birth
being scarcely able to walk without assistance.
specimen of such a foot and shoe

fig.
11.
is
given in plate 3,
These shoes are generally made of
silk
and
manner
embroidered in the most beautiful

flowers
and ornaments, in coloured
of gold and
A piece
silver.
67
with
and threads
silk
of stout silk
is
generally
attached to the heel for the convenience of pulling
up
the shoe.
Having bestowed some attention on ancient Egypt,
we may
briefly allude to the shoes of
as given in Lane's
work devoted
manners and customs of the
modem
to the history of the
modem
Egyptians.
They, like the Persian ones, have an up-tumed
may with
off.
equal ease
Yet a shoe
is
also
times,
be drawn on
toe,
and
and thrown
worn with a high instep and
high in the heel, which will be best understood by

the first figure in the accompanying cut.
The Turkish
very probably
known
in
ladies of the sixteenth century,
much
earUer,
wore a very high shoe
Europe by the name of a " chopine."
the voyages
and
and
travels of
In
N. de Nicholay Dau-
phinoys. Seigneur D' ArfreviUe, Valet de
Chambre and
68
Geographer
to the
King of France, printed
at Lyons,
1568, one of the ladies of the Grand Seigneur's Seraglio, is
represented in apair of chopines, of which we copy
one in plate
This fashion spread in Europe
3, fig. 12.
in the early part of the seventeenth century,
alluded to by Hamlet, in Act 2, Scene 2,

exclaims, "
I
saw you
which
Your ladyship
last,
by the
and
nearer heaven than
is
altitude
it is
when he
when
of a chopine," by
would appear that something of the kind
it
was known
where
in England,
it
may have been
in-
troduced from Venice, as the ladies there wore them

of the most exaggerated
1611, says, "There
dities,"
Coryat, in his " Cni-
size.
is
one thing used of the
Venetian women, and some others dweUing in the

cities
and towns subject
not to be observed
in Christendom"
was new
East
'
'
to
to signiory of Venice, that is
(I think)
the
reader must remember that
Coryat, but a
which
is
so
thing
common
it
fashion in the
common in Venice that no woman
whatsoever goeth without
abroad
amongst any other women
made
leather of sundry colours
it,
of
;
either in her house or
wood and covered with
some with white, some red^
PI
4-.
some
chapiney which they
It is called a
yellow.
Many
never wear under their shoes.

curiously painted
fairly gilt
it is
so
acme of them
a pity this foolish custom
of these are
have also seen
uncomely a thing, in
and exterminated out of the
69
my
opinion, that
not clean banished
is
There are
city.
many
of these chapineys of a great height, even half a yard

high, which
maketh many of
very short, seem
we have
in England.
among them,
is,
much
that
taller
their
women
than the
that are
tallest
Also, I have heard
it
women
observed
by how much the nobler a woman
by 80 much the higher are her chapineys.
their
All
gentlewomen, and most of their wives and
widows that
are of
ported either by
any wealth, are
men
or women,
assisted
and sup-
when they walk

They
abroad, to the end they might not
fall.
borne up most commonly by the
arm, otherwise
they might quickly take a
fall."
left
In Donee's
are
Illus-
trations of Shakspeare, a wood-cut of such a chapiney,
or choppine,
is
given,
which
is
here copied, and
it is
an excellent example of the thing, shoeing the decoration which
was
at times
bestowed on
it.
70
Douce quotes some curious
1648,
particulars
" Raymond's Voyage
fashion, in
through
of this
Italy,"
and the following curious account of the
chopine occurs
"This place (Venice)
quented by the walking may-poles
women, they wear
is
much
fre-
mean the
their coats half too long for their
(which are
bodies, being
mounted on
their chippeens
as high as a
man's
they wâlke betweene two
leg),
handmaids, majestically dehberating of every step

they take."
Howel
also says of the Venetian -vômen,
" They are low and of small

which makes them to
stature for the
raise their bodies
most
part,
upon high

shoes, called chapins,
wMch
that the Venetian ladies
gave
71
me occasion
to say
were made of three things,
one part of them was wood, meaning their chapins,

another part was their apparel, and the third part
was a woman.
The senate hath often endeavoured
to
take away the wearing of those high shoes, but all
women
are so passionately delighted with this
of state, that no law can wean

adds, that
them from
" some have supposed
it.
kind
Douce
that the jealousy of
Itahan husbands gave rise to the invention of the

chopine," and quotes a story from a French author
to
shew
their dislike to
that " the
first
ladies
an alteration
who
he also says,
rejected the use of the
chopine, were the daughters of the
Doge Dominico
Contareno, about the year 1670.'*
The chopine,
or
some kind of high shoe, was occasionally used
in
England.
Bulwer, in his "Artificial Changeling," p.
550, complains of this fashion as a monstrous affectation,
and says that
his country
women
the Venetian and Persian ladies.
therein imitated
In Sandy's
travels,
1615, there is a figure of a Turkish lady with chopines,
and
it
is
not improbable that the Venetians might
72
have borrowed them from the Greek islands in the

Archipelago.
We know
that something similar
Xenophon
amongst the ancient Greeks.
in use
was
in
CEcouomics, mentions the wife of Ischomachus as
They
wearing high shoes, for increasing her stature.

are
still
worn by the women in many parts of Turkey,
but more particularly at Aleppo."
Donee's notice of
their antiquity is curiously corroborated
by the
disco-
very in the tombs of Ancient Egypt, of such shoes,
they are formed of a stout sole of wood, to which
is
four round props, raising the wearer a foot in
aflfixed
height, specimens were
among
the collections of Mr.
our Consul in Egypt, from which some of the
Salt,
choicest Egyptian antiquities in our national collection
were obtained.
that they were
The other remark of Donee's,
probably derived from the
islands of the Archipelago, is confirmed
that high-soled boots
by the
ladies there, to raise their stature,
upon
boots
by the
fact
and shoes were much coveted
when chopines had long been disused

aoled
Greek
delineated in pi. 4,
fig.
and were worn

thus the high13,
are found
the feet of " a young lady of Argentiera," one of
HIST#RY OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

these islands, in a print dated
700
73
and, in another
of the same date, giving the costume of a lady of the
neighbouring island of Naxis, the shoe shown in

14, is
fig.
worn.
Of the modern European nations with

have been most in contact
Spain,
whom we
France, and the
Netherlands, their boots and shoes have so nearly
liesembled our own, as to render a detailed description

Indeed, as France has been tacitly
rcely necessary.
submitted to as the arbiter elegantiarum in

ters of dress,
much has been
Pig.
aU.
mat-
derived from thence.
Pig
2.
There was, however, a French shoe that we do

not ever appear to have adopted
in the
quarters,
was no covering
foot
beyond
it.
and ended
was made low
it
instep
at the
for the heel or the sides
The fashion spread
ihere
of the
to Venice
and
the figure of a Venetian lady of 1750, has supplied
us with the specimen in
pi. 4,
rig.
15.
HISTORY OF BOOTS AKD SHOES.
74
The sabots of France,
is
another peculiarity which
never adopted,, and which our peasantry have
we
always looked on with great distaste; and
it
hecame
popularly said of William III., that he had saved
They
us from popery, slavery, and wooden shoes.
enough
are generally clumsy
bad
are generally
fit,
made
of others
of
list,
iness to the foot,
made
ever,
that
like
in
which give warmth and steadsmall
wooden shoe
its
about
fashion
fringes
1790,
and pointed
generally painted black
sabot, being totally unadorned,
toe,
the ordinary
and the color of the
In the cut here given, both are introduced.
wood.
Fig.
how-
is,
Normandy, and elsewhere, much
which came into
is
and
improved by the introduction
with an imitation of
and which
their large size,
is
the ordinary
shoe
fig.
the
2,
extra-
ordinary or genteel one.
And now, having
in the pursuit of our history of
boots and shoes,

" travelled the wide world
let
us not dismiss the subject,
all
over,
"
without a parting
glance at the sister Island, and look at the "Brogues"

f
Ireland; which upon the authority of Mr. and
"Îrs.
their
our attention.
S. C. Hall, especially deserve
work on
this article,
Ireland,
its
It
but for the
4, fig. 16,
and say
shoe, of the Irish peasantry differs
construction, from
country.
the shoe
of
any other
was formerly made of untanned
last
century at
The
tanned leather.
In
they engrave the figure of
which we copy, plate
" The brogue, or

in
/O
stronger than what
least, it
has been made of
leather of the uppers
is
hide,
much
is
used in the strongest shoes
being made of cow hide dressed for the pui-pose, and

it
never had an inside lining, like the ordinary shoe
the sole leather
is
The process of making the brogue,

ent from that of shoemaking
the work, except the
bear
analogy.
little
mon by
certainly differ-
and the
tools
used in
The
knife,
awl, though used in

is
much
larger
The regular brogue was
and double pomp.
com-
than the
by the shoemaker, and unlike
bend and form.

the single
is
hammer, pinchers, and
those operators,
largest used
generally of an inferior description.
in the
of two sorts,
The former
consisted
76
of the sole and uppers only
sewed between the

gave
in
it
sole
the latter had a welt
and upper
leather,
which
a stouter appearance and stronger consistency
modern
times, the brogue
his manufacture to the shoe
an inner
in
sole,
maker has
assimilated
by sewing the welt on
and then attaching the outer
sole to
it,
In the process of making the
shoe fashion.
regular brogue, there formerly were neither hemp,
wax, nor
all
used by the workmen, the sewing
bristles,
being performed with a thong, made of horsehide,
prepared for the purpose."

of this article
shoe
and
it
is
is
Thus the construction
quite different to that of the English
made and
stitched without a last,
the upper leather and side being secured,

together
it is
by sewing
then turned inside out, and for the
time put upon the
last,
a smooth iron surface,
and being well

it is
fitted to it
placed before the
dry and harden.
" The heel of the brogue
what
'jumps,' tanner's
they caU
first
is
fire
made
by
to
of
shavings stuck
together with a kind of paste, and pressed hard and

dried,
either before the fire or in the sun.
This,
HISTOKT OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
when properly
dried, is cut to the
"tl
of the heel
size
and sewed down with the thong, and then corered

with a top piece of yery thin sole leather, fastened on
with deal or sally pegs
and in
one particular
this
they had to boast over the shoemakers, in the neatness of execution.
taken
bing
off the last,
it
When
the brogue
they give
it
is
ready to be
the last finish by rub-
over with a woollen rag saturated in tallow,
and then the brogue
worn
is
considered
fit
for sale.
brogue
is
is filled
up with a sap of hay or straw.
larger than the foot,
The
and the space
They
are
considered by the country people more durable for

field
labour, being less liable to rip in the sewing
than
if
put together with
hemp and wax
and being
cheaper than shoes, are in more general use, although

there are few people, particularly females,
afford
who do not keep
it,
day wear.
who can
shoes for Sunday or holy-
The brogue makers pride themselves
in
the antiquity of theb trade; and boast over the shoe-
makers,
whom
they consider only a spurious graft
on their most noble art."
HISTORY OF BOOTS
78
A.ND SHOES.
Sir Walter Scott, in his "Minstrelsy of tlie Scottish
Border," has noticed a peculiarity in the
make
of the
"original" shoes of that country, in the notes to the

ballad of the
" Souters," or shoemakers of
Selkirk,
vrho achieved immortality in song, by their bravery

sovereign,
in aiding their
field of
Flodden
made by
James
he says " the
the souters
single soled shoon,"
were a sort of
of Selkirk,
brogues, with a single thin sole

self
IV., in the fatal
the purchaser him-
performing the further operation of sewing on
another of thick leather.

state
The rude and imperfect
of this manufacture, sufficiently evinces the
antiquity of the craft.
tom observed
Four or five
He
notices
at conferring the
bristles,
" a singular cus-
freedom of the burgh.
such as are used by shoe-makers
are attached to the seal of the Burgess ticket.
new-made burgess must dip
in his wine,
The
and pass
through his mouth, in token of respect for the souters of Selkirk.
dispensed with."
This ceremony
And when
is
on no account
Sir Walter afterwards
adds in a note that he has " himself the honour to be
HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES

^ souter of Selkirk,"
zest that
would give
we may
79
feel the
additional
to the chorus of their old trade
song,
*'
Up wi' the Souters of Selkirk,
And down wi' the Earl of Home
And up wi' a' the braw lads,
That sew the single soled shoon.''
80
CHAPTER
IV.
COMMENCEMENT OP THE TRADE.
S^
"^
^^ 11^^
r^,<^
'
in
question became a separate means of obtain-
fL
what period of the world the trade
ing a liveUhood,
say.
At
their
own
first,
it
is
now
impossible to
no doubt, every one made
shoes
the mere wrapping
up of
^~ the foot in a piece of flexible skin being
(jj\
^
'
matter of
little
Rosseline,
whom we
difficulty,
but according to
quoted in a former
chapter, shoemakers' shops existed in
Egypt
at a very
early period.
That
trade,
it
became, however, in a very early age a
we may
infer
from the
fact of it
injunction of the Jewish social system,

one, no matter
what
his
being an
that every
rank or wealth, should be
compelled to acquire the means of self-support by
an aquaintance with some act or other, the better

secure himself against the adverse vicissitudes of
to
life

(See note on
Mark
vi.
This obligation
III.)
in Pictorial Bible, Vol.
r. 3,
reason for
naturally affords
belief in a -variety of professions,
constant requisition,
its
81
may
and the shoe, from
therefore,
be supposed
to have given rise to one of the earliest.
In one of the Greek dramatic writings allusion
made
to the daily
earnings of the shoemaker
in the far-famed anecdote
is
and
of Apelles exposing to
pubUc scrutiny some master-piece of
his painting,
the criticism of the cobbler, about the form or disposition
of the latchet or
as in the other
calling
case,
of the shoe, implies,
a distinctive character
in the
wages as a
regiilar
the one receives his daily
acknowledged workman
proficiency in his art,
the
tie
and the
detects at
other,
from
his
once an error in
imitation.
The
streets of
Fosbrooke
tells
Rome
in the reign of Domitian.
us in his "Dictionan* of Antiquities
were at one time so fdled with

{cobbler
naming
being the usual way

the
profession)
issue an order to clear
that
cobbler's
among
them away, probably
"
stalls
writers
the emperor
a.s
had
to
of
to
some
82
ambitious situation
less
places of the
w ith
St.
Anianus, a contemporary
Alban Butler writes in
brothers
Crispianus,
and
his Lives of
and Crispin and

have
martyrs,
repute of belonging to the trade
and have
patrons,
its
as
narrow and bye-
the
was a shoemaker;
the Saints,
known
St.
city.
Mark,
to
cathoHc countries
and though there
any
religious observance of the
the
name
of Crispin
is
still
day in
stiU.
they are
all
is
no longer
this
kingdom,
placed in the church
calendar against the 25th of October
maker has
days yet in
fete
their
the well
his traditions
and the shoe-
and his usages con-
nected with the time.
The law of England formerly not only took
cogni-
zance of the quality of the leather which the shoe-
maker wrought
stitches that
into his goods, but of the
number of
he furnished. In one of the small towns
in the north of England, the custom of gauging shoes
brought to market was prevalent until
lately,
and the
gauger had legal authority to take away any shoe
which had not the proper number of

liis
measure he used the breadth of
his
stitches.
As
thumb, which
was meant
for an inch.
unpleasant retrospection
This, therefore,
King and
the
ment making enactments concerning the

leather
83
is
his parlia-
quality of the
and scrutinizing even the number of
The trade
ments,
viz.
trade,
the
may
be
divided
stitches.
London and
as at present conducted in
other large towns
not an
into
two depart-
the bespoke and the ready-made, or sale
of these ranks as chief on account of
first
the superiority of the

the most general and
article,
is
although the
latter is
patronized by the bulk of the
population.
lady or gentleman requiring boots or shoes,
pays a
is
visit to
a respectable shop, and the measure
taken, either
order
is
by the master or the chcker
entered in the order-book, and the
named when they
are to be ready.
parture of the customer, the
first
time
After the de-
business
a pair of lasts adapted to the feet
the
the
is
to select
measure
then appUed to the length and circumference, and

suitable
number
name,
in the
general form and proportions,
of the last entered in a
Sec.
is
if
the
column opposite the
HISTORY OF BOOTS
84
The next business

and, presuming
care
is
to
it
cut the pattern in paper,
is to
be a lady's boot, the greatest
neither
back nor pitching too much forwardthe
taken in seeing that
dropping
A.XD SHOES.
it
stands well
goloshes round the side, the leather toe-caps, or whatever the form
has
its
may
be, of the
pattern cut also in paper, for
on the correctness of these
The linen
little
and the morocco, patent
to the binder.
Great care
is
working up the boot-leg true
be
lace, button, or elastic, the
spoil the
depends on
whole
fitting the
an union, therefore, of
stitutes a
on
needle closes the
leather, or cordovan,
this state it is given
binder has
affair
more,
it
if it
in her
perhaps,
the workmanship,
skill in these
The
exacted
and
to the pattern,
work than
good boot-binder.
to the closer,
cut to form the
now required and
in
to
matters.
cloth,
added for the goloshing, and in
power
much depends
linings are then cut true to this pattern
the cashmere, prunella, or

outside,
lower part of the boot
two points con-
leg
is
next passed
who, with the awl instead of the

seams of the golosh, and then
having lasted the boot, attaches the leather by means
row of stabbing round the edge thoroughly
j a neat
through the leg and

secure,
85
its
This
lining.
the neatest, and also the
method of getting up a good
is
the most
most expensive
boot-leg.
This boot-leg, which has been twice sent out from

the shop,
the
now comes
maker who
in to be again
handed orer
to
receives the lasts, together with the
leather soles, insoles, welts stiffnings,
shank
and other
the work, not
Uttle matters essential to
omitting, if the master
knows
his business, or con-
siders the comfort of his customers, a

felt, to insert
good piece of
between the in-sole and out-sole, to pre-
vent the intolerable nuisance of creaking

this,
pieces,
neglect
and besides the music (the fillings, which are
bits
of leather pasted between the soles, and which the
workman
is
obliged to put in to
you get lumps,
after
make
a level sole),
a Uttle wear, at the bottom of
the tread, which give great pain
and often produce
corns and callosities on the soles of the feet.

It
would be tedious
to the reader to describe the
various manipulations of the
workman
pair of boots, if he accomplishes his
in
making a
work
in the
86
course of a day, he does well
on the
last
that
all
is
and keeping the boots
during the night to dry and get sohd,
is
required of him before bringing them to the
shop.
If
he has attended to
of tread
instructions for width
thickness of fore-part
height of heel
his
all his
left
work clean, there
thinness of waist
no pegs sticking up, and kept

is
every probability of the lady
being pleased, the Master pleased. Clicker pleased-
Workman
inadvertently or
minute
But should
pleased.
matters before mentioned, the
returned, and the whole
Few
have failed
either
through carelessness, in one of the
ladies are
boots
are
must be gone over again.
aware of the
many
little
points re-
quired to produce a good article with precision of

fit
but
artiste,
rect
fit
them consider before they
let
that
the
trouble to
the
first
second
failure
time,
them perhaps
may
ensure a
and give
for life
try another
little
no
cor-
further
patience at
the proper time, would often save a world of annoy-
ance in running from one shop to another only to find

out that
all
were pretty much
alike.
HISTORY Of BOOTS AND SHOES.
87
In describing the other department, and by far

the most general in large towns,
trade,
may
it
at first
be supposed
may
bespoke system
all
maa comes into market
if
\(dth a
a brogue
Bamy
entirely avoided, as a
barrow fuU of brogues
and every one helps himself, there
and
the evils of the
be avoided, according to
O'Reirdon, in Ireland they are
in tie case,
the ready-made
is
no measuring
too long, he claps a
is
wiso of straw in the toe.
There
whc
is
sell
then.
a large class of persons in London, &c.,
boots and shoes, but do not manufacture
The
greater part of those persons
more how a boot or shoe
is
know no
made, than the boots
ani shoes can be said to possess such knowledge.

Taese articles are principally made in the country or
the Eastern part of the metropolis, and sent
sale
perhaps a hundred dozen pairs are
one pair of
who will
lasts
up
for
made on
the makers of course have no idea
be the purchasers, or of the form of the feet
of the parties
who may wear them
their object being merely the sale
Persons
may
nor do they
care,
and the money.
occasionally purchase a pair of these
88
articles
is
no
which
will suit
them
rule without an exception
stance there are perhaps
but for one -such in-
the contrary
fifty to
some may prove good, others

less,
tolerably well, as there
while
be perhaps worth-
will
and though some persons may be
satisfied,
most
people will have abundant cause to regret having

risked a purchase.
'^
In the
cheap women's trade'
there
deception practised, so that cheap
word for what

est
is
is
also
much
only ano;her
at last proves to be, perhaps, the dear-
part of the
expenditure for wearing
female's
apparel.
The cause of the

ascribed to one
people's
evil
of those
own affairs which
here indicated
many
are
ters
and
workmen
do not see in
the
misconceptions of
so often
and
fest in the conduct of individuals
must be
quarrelling
bhnded and
made maniMas-
classes.
with
eadi other,
blinding-,
system
of their reprisals what must finally be the result;

the
employer in
some
of the effect of his curtailments

as ignorant as to the
must be
cases
;
%norant
and the journeyman
method he takes
to protect
him-

against such injustice.
self
It
is
89
the
thus that
woman's shoemaker, more than any other
class in
the trade, has found himself lowered within
the last
of society
workman, deteriorated
twenty-five or thirty years, in the
and
his abilities also, as a
scale
own proper
the master at the same time losing his
position, through the inferiority of those

sells,
and the pubUc in
of the nation
ter
differences ensue, fresh
old ones finding they
move about and
The mas-
journeyman exacts too
curtails, or the
he
general, as weU. as the character
in a sense, injured.
itself,
articles
men
are employed,
must do something
struggle
much,
and the
for a living,
on as they can, and
ulti-
mately in their despair, turn a sort of master for

themselves.
Here however, as these parties have no
shop to expose their goods

those
who
the trade
may
have,
now
in,
they must seU to
and thus finding shop purchasers,
new complexion.
takes a
be readily told
the journeyman
The
issue
now becomes
the competitor in a closer sense than ever with his

fellow
journeyman
widens, the work
and as the cheapening system
still
gets
worse and worse done,
HISTORY OF BOOTS
90
A.ND SHOES.
and money bulk, not money worth, becomes the only
London
standard in the business,
is at
present the
chief seat for the manufacture of these sale
women's
shoes and boots, though various establishments of

the same nature are growing up day by day through-
out the country.
What the penny and two-penny paid
shirts are to the hapless needle- woman, the
four-penny
and six-penny paid slipper are to the poor sadly miscalled ladies shoe-maker.
nected with the

other places,
day.
evil,
as
too,
con-
London journeyman, and those
is still
Leather,
The
it is
in
taking a worse phase day after
weU known,
as with
aU other
commodities, can be more profitably purchased in

large than in small quantities,
and hence the master
returns in part to his old character

gets ready his
own
manufactured by
materials,
whom
he
now
and gives these
again
to be
he pleases, as was formerly
the only difference being, that his cuttings
the case
out are
now
in manifold pairs for a chance sale,
not as before, to a separate measure.
There
is
and
now
the workman; he must do
too,
no other option
this
work, and at the very lowest wages, or starve.
for
He may
it
is
true, considerably slight the
indeed he must do so to
and
live at all,
And
and only dependance.
his last
91
found to retrograde, and the
fair
articles
this is
now
thus an art
is
face of our social
progress to become spotted with these deeply to be
much
lamented blemishes, the source of as
national
demerit and weakness, as they are of far-spread individual misery.
The Northampton, Daventry, and Wellingborough

wholesale manufacture of the man's shoe and boot,
may be
and
traced to the same cause,
of the like bad result.
is
as productive
The system has grown in
these places to a portentous bulk,
and that too in
the short space of about a quarter of a century.
We
see at the present the goods of these places in the
shop windows of almost every town in the kingdom,

ticketed
up
being in
at so
many
much
cases
the pair
much
less
the prices charged
than what some
masters pay to the better qualified journeyman for

the mere
making of
wealthier and
more
similar looking articles.
tasteful class of
consumers
The
still
continue, however, to prefer bespeaking (or to have

their
measure taken
for),
their
and boots,
shoes
than to run the risk of any of these chance bargains
and
thus, so far, the trade maintains a cer-
tain degree of respectability,

to both the
which
aUke
is
beneficial
employer and the employed.
The Enghsh boot and shoe about
thirty
years
since, was, generally speaking, the first article of its
kind in the world, and so there was nothing
to
apprehend while the master's price was good and

the workman's wages were
good
also
an evident
decline, however, took place in the character
of our
The Spectator of the loth Dec.
workmanship.
1838, thus notices the absence of style in our boots
and
"
shoes,
tinguishing
travellers
while
A clumsy
mark
boot was
get their feet neatly fitted
all at
lately
of a true Englishman abroad

in
dis-
now
France,
home, who regard personal appearance,
prefer French Boots,
and the predilection of the
sex for shoes of Paris manufacture
This competition has had the

the
till
home made
article
but
is
notorious."
efiiect
still it is
fair
of improving
easier
to
bawl
for prohibiting duties than to beat the foreign work-
men
An
out of the market.
named James
intelligent
Devlin, an experienced
literary turn, has
put forth a
little
93
cordwainer,
workman, of a
book on the boot
and shoe trade of France, recommending to his brethren

of the craft the adoption of the French method which
he describes with technical minuteness, and denouncing in his strictures on the character of English
upper leathers, the hurried and careless process of

the tanner and currier
what Mr. Devlin says on the
subject of leather, accounts for the difference between
a French boot that draws on like a glove,
and an
ordinary English one that confines the foot as in a

vice,
If
and hangs about the leg
we look
we
that used for the soles,

so
good
as that
still
ter is, that formerly it
however, that a
firoiM
shall find the article not
more pertinent
was not so
to the mat-
confident
am
raw hides and skins themselves
the ability of the working currier

this, let
change might be obtained as well
firom the nature of our
proof of
dog.
which the French boot maker can
purchase, and what,
as
like a
to the nature of our leather, excepting
me
and
instance the superior quality
in
f^'
94
our own jockey, or top-boot legs
workable
so clear, so soft,
No
country can equal the British currier in
this particular,
nor in the white leather, for the tops
why
of these boots
The reason
obvious
is
his inferiority in other articles

:
England,
not now, was
if
some years ago, the only jockey-boot na-
tion âr excellence
and hence,
among
the competition
us
so far our superiority
being so
extensive
to urge to the highest progressive perfection
that perfection always meeting

the greater
Another
boot
and
so handsomely grained, and so exquisitely
drated.
at least
commands
fact
to
department,
its
as
and
proper reward in
for orders.
be
to, is
that in the
inferior
manner of
attended
we have an
blocking, or the turning the front piece of our WelUng-
ton boot
we
in this
are far behind our neighbours.
Take up one of our boot-fronts so prepared, and

compare
Bordeaux
it
is
with a front coming from France (the

the best), and the diflference
How
ible as lamentable.
forced
is
the other.
the one
The
stiff,
and how
firsts
how
is
as percept-
dead, and
easy, moist,
and
how
elastic,
to one unskilled in the opera-
HISTOKY OF BOOTS AKD SHOES.

tion,
seem to be baked, rather than gently moulded,
when
into the position
-wet,
catch
it
it
has received
by top and toe and pull
back, and lo
at
once
and though you may
its
it
crabbed beauty
French front
it
again
can never
Now, do the
nay, more, you need
two extremities, force
and then
by a
letting
little
still
it
it
go again, lay
it
until
like
not pull
no
it
be straight,
on your board, and
application of the hand,
as well as ever
it
will nearly look
puckerings, no looseness, and
possessing the requisite curve.
Nothing can be more

tures
it
gone
is
tenderly, but with fuU force apply your strength
to the
as
and then
press, push, or contract
be made to look the same as before.

to the
ever so tenderly
into something of its original form, stiU
it
95
to the point than these stric-
on the EngUsh leather and English blocking,
compared with the French,
for the last seven years
have in every order, where calf-skiu fronts have been
required, used Bordeaux leather,

elastic,
it
was not only
and durable, but in addition
derived firom
making up a good
soft,
to the pleasure
article,
it
was
as
96
cheap as the English in the end, as we never had to

put in a new front or repair cracks and breakages, a
constant source of trouble and expense, incidental to
the
EngUsh
It
fronts.
was no uncommon
having bought the best
case a few years since, after

article
the trade could pro-
duce in calf leather, after paying an extravagantly

high price, and making up the
possible
manner,
to
find after
article in
the best
six or eight times
wearing a decided crack across the bend of the

I
have tried every expedient on those occasions
could think of to prevent

suggestions from
to
foot,
my
it,
and acted on numerous
foreman, and workmen, and
all
no purpose: not unfrequently ihe "mostunkindest
cut of all,"
laid the
man,
has
been from the currier, who has
blame by turn onthe blocker,
even the featheri^ has
had
to
clicker,
bear
its
boot-
share of
the blame.
This inferiority of calf-skin, has not only been the

fault
and disgrace of the British tanner and currier

The feather
is
the edge of the insole.

but his loss to an enormous amount,
it,
day, however,
now opens upon him.
it is
has been
" a great fact ;" a brighter
slow to admit
but
he
97
Dr. Tumbull, after patient and repeated experi-
ments on the science of tanning, has discovered the

true cause of
all this
to him
hardness and breaking
the tanners and the public owe a debt of gratitude,
which they
will
his invention.
both best discharge by patronising

I
have had an opportunity of per-
sonally inspecting his process at Bermondsey, from
beginning to end, and
am
enabled though his kind-
ness to convey the following information respecting

his
improved process of tanning
"The
skins of the animals are composed of two
chief parts
epidermis.
the corium or cutis, and the cuticle or
The former, which
is
the true skin,
is
tissue of delicate fibres crossing each other in all di-
rections,
more thickly interwoven towards the surface
than in the deeper parts of the skin.
It is
pervaded
by a great number of conical channels, the small extremities of
of the skin.
which terminate
at the external surface
These channels, which are placed ob-
98
liquely, contain nerves, secretory vessels,
and
cellular
membranes.
" The cuticle or exterior covering,
homy membrane,
an insensible
is
composed of several layers of
cells,
devoid of blood vessels.
" The process of tanning consists in the combination

of the gelatinous substance of which the skin
cipally
composed, and the tonic
is
acid, or tanning.
prin-
The
gelatinous substance in skins, and the tannic acid,
having a strong chemical

hide or skin
nin
is
is
each other, the
affinity for
converted into leather whenever tan-
brought into contact with the gelatinous tissue
or fibre.
"The slowness of
the process in tanning leather,
and the imperfect manner in which

been accomphshed,
arises
from the
it
has hitherto
difficulty in bring-
ing the tannin or tannic acid into contact with the

gelatinous tissue, or fibre of the skins
and although,
of late years, considerable modifications of the old
method of tanning have been introduced,

sisting in the
employment of new
chiefly con-
materials,
appUcation of hydrostatic pressure
and the
yet the result
upon the whole has been merely
99
to effect a saving of
the time consumed in tanning, and a consequent re-
duction of the price, without any improvement in the
quahty of the
has given
leather,
rise to
but rather the reverse.
This
a strong prejudice in the minds of
persons connected with the leather trade, against

leather tanned
by any quick
The
process.
difficulty
of bringing the tannin, or tannic acid, immediately
and
effectually into contact
with the gelatinous fibre
of the skin, arises from several causes, which
it
may
be useful to enumerate.
"In
preparing the skins and hides for the tan-pit,
they are steeped for a considerable time in a solution

of lime to remove the hair and epidermis.
In
this
process, the skin imbibes a considerable quantity of
lime,
which has the
effect of either
removing from
the hide, or skin, a portion of the gelatinous substance in the form of soluble gelatine, or, of altering
the gelatinous fibre, so as to render
speedily
and
effectually
or tannic acid,
it
incapable of
combining with the tannin
and the pores of the skin are so im-
pregnated with lime, as to prevent the tanning prin-
100
from operating
ciple
freely, or
reaching the heart of
the skins.
"The great object
to be obtained, therefore,
is
to find
out some means of removing these obstructions, and

antagonist principles, and of bringing about a speedy
and
effectual
skins,
combination of the
fibre
of the hides or
and the tanning matter, and thus produce in a
short space of time leather superior in weight, quality,
and
object of
culties,
durability,
my
to
any yet produced.
improvements,
and obstructions,
is
to
either
remove these
The
diffi-
by extracting the
lime with which hides and skins are impregnated in
the process of removing the hair, without the use of

lime,
by means not
hitherto attempted."
The old plan of using lime, by which, no doubt,

skin was injured to an extent
we never
the
before sup-
posed, and the consequent process in the tan-yard of
pureing, as
animals
it
is
termed, by means of the dung of
a process
the most filthy and disgusting,
one wovdd have thought, that couldbe imagined
way to Dr.
dust"
gives
Turnbull's discovery of " sugar and saw-
this simple
and dehcate preparation, we are

told is
the
more
and " you may drink
effectual,
workmen, "for
10
is
it
any
for
fit
it,"
say
table in
the
land."
The new method
to prepare
is
sugar and water, and saw-dust
it
mixture
of
maybe of any other
substance containing sacharine matter, such as beetroot, potatoes, turnips,
honey, &c., the action of the
sugar and pyroxalic, or
wood
the skins are rendered

tannic acid
fit
spirit, is
to receive
so rapid that
and imbibe the
and thus the operation of tanning
leather thus produced

finer quality
is
of
considerably heavier, and of
than any leather produced by the present
method of tanning.
lime
is
This method of removing the
immense importance,
the leather in weight
and
as
it
not only improves
durability, but enables the
tanner to produce a superior article in a

space of time, and at a
tofore.
is
The
perfectly accomplished in a very short time.
much
less
much
less
expense than here-
Attempts have been made to remove the
lime by a preparation called grainer, which
composed of the dung of animals
this
is
mainly
being of a
strong alkaline nature necessarily destroys a consider-
102
able portion of the gelatinous matter in the operation
of extracting the
is
hme
same time much injury
at the
done to the texture of the skin by
its
rapid action
in causing decomposition, and destroying the grain

side of the skin, especially in
obvious, however, that the
hme
in any quantity,
hide or skin
and
is to
summer.
moment
its effect
It
must be
the skin imbibes
and influence on the
a considerable extent permanent
destructive.
The advantages of the new method appear

first,
a great additional weight of leather, especially
in calf skins
soft
to be,
and
second, leather of
much
not liable to crack or strain
derable diminution in the expense
tanning
is
better quahty,
third, a consi-
and fourth, the
effected in one quarter of the time
consumed
by the present mode of tanning.

These improvements
will, it is needless to say,
of immense importance to our
now
to
home manufacture, and
that the true principles of tanning skins
be understood,
gradually
which
is
suggest
the
name
many
comes
other improvements will
themselves.
given to
prove
it
The Rouel
by the Doctor,
leather,
is cer-
HISTORY OF BOOT; AM; SHOES.
produced in England,
tainly the best article ever
speak
now
of calf skin,) and
works up
than the French, without
finer
dubbing, or
its
103
its
(I
as fine or even
accompaniment of
impost of 30 per cent.
In Queen Elizabeth's time, Parhament busied itself
much
in matters of
" leather and prunella
;''
nume-
rous enactments being made, especially in reference

to the former.
letter to
Lord Treasurer Burleigh,
by W. Fleetwood, Recorder of London, explains the

opposition of the tanners to some enactments against
them
all,
" the one
lymyng (an old
for
grievance, after
He says, " All
this lyming), the other raisyng."
the excellencie and conning of a tanner consisteth in

skilfull
making of
must be many and

another.
his
owes
severall
(lyes)
number of
My
such
rules to be observed in tanning,
who conveyed
whome nowe
from
Lo, there be
the few which tanners did ever conceive,

the parliament,
lether
at proscribed hours, or else
the lether will be utterly spoiled.

infinite
thev
surelie
The time of changing of the
one owes must be timed
an
and one stronger than
much
less
their information
of
do by experiens knowe not
to
104
be
skilfull.' '
A conclusion which many of good Queen
Victoria's, as well as
Queen Bess's
subjects,
rived at, after parUamentary evidence

in matters
which
have
and enactment,
history, experience, and, philosophy
have long since taught us flourish beat by being

alone.
ar-
let
105
CHAPTER
V.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN FEET, ETC.
HERE
nothing more beautifu
is
than the structure of the
human
foot," says Sir Charles Bell, " nor
perhaps any demonstration which
would lead a well-educated person

to desire to
than that of the foot.

all
The
know more
of anatomy
foot has in its structure
the fine appliances you see in a building.
first
place, there is an arch in whatever way
the foot
looking
down upon
it
we
In the
you regard
perceive
several
bones coming round the astralagos, and forming an

If we look at
entire circle of surfaces in the contact.
the profile of the foot, an arch

the posterior part
rior
bv the
is
is still
formed by the
ball of the great toe,
manifest, of which
heel,
and
and the ante-
in the front
we
106
find in that direction a transverse arch
stead of standing as might be
bone,
so that, in-
imagined on a solid
we stand upon an arch composed
of a series of
by the most curious provision
bones, which are united
for the elasticity of the foot
hence,
if
we jump from
height directly upon the heel, a severe shock

not so
if
we
alight
there an elasticity
upon the
is
formed
the weight of the body
is
is felt
ball of the great toe, for
whole
in the
thrown upon
foot,
this arch,
and
and
the shock avoided."
Another writer on the " diseases of the
feet," thus
alludes to the beauty and perfection of the

foot in its natural state
human
" The matchless forms of sculptured beauty which

the destroying
hand
of time
has
us in the works
left
of the mighty masters of the classic time, exhibit to
us the finest specimens of what the foot would be

if
allowed
"
We
manner
its free
are
in
and uninterrupted
immediately struck with the admirable
which
it is
organized, both for the sup-
port of the frame and for motion
power of
action.
action, its form,
seem
its
all to
flexibility, its
have been the
HISTORY OF BOOTS AKD SHOES,
10/
most perfect human
result of the examination of the
"We see that there have been no
models.
coverings, nocompression, no
must have been
and
natural
that the
healthful action of every muscle, tendon,
joint
and bone, was
There
is
no
firm and elastic
free,
artificial
restraints, that the gait
stiffness,
the sole of the foot
proper functions
we
and expressed.
fully studied
no contraction of the
to the toes
heel, or
are given
their
see that only the sandal has
been worn merely to cover and protect the integu-
ment under the broad and expanded

been
no
ligatures,
cramping compresses
no
foot, there
unyielding
all
is
alike
have
bandages, no
free,
healthful,
natural.
"We
well can comprehend, on examining them, how
the Macedonian Phalanx or the
Roman
formed
We
its
long day's march.
thousand Greeks pursued
their daily
Legion, per-
can see
how
ten
wearying course
through the destroying climate of Asia, marching

firmly,
manfully,
mountain
"
We
alike across
the arid sand, the
pass, or the flinty plain.
are almost led to the wish to see the
European
108
soldier similarly prepared for his
toilsome march,
unencumbered by the unyielding shoe, which sometimes becomes in the day a source of greater annoy-
He would
ance than of comfort to him.

to
undertake fatigue and privations for which he
now
totally
command
tread,
a firm
upon such
making
now
a plan.
is
find an elastic
over his muscular system
He would
be capable of
charge upon the enemy with greater
steadiness,
He would
unprepared.
follow
is
be enabled
and enabled
less capable
to bear the
of resisting.
shock which he
In this respect we
should do well to imitate the native soldier of India,
who, under the EngUsh banner, has followed a CUve,

a Hastings, or a Keane,
when
the British soldier has
almost sunk from the insuperable

attend wearing
accustomed
all
to
parts of the dress he has been
do
climate in which he
which
difficulties
in England,
is
forgetful
of the
placed."
For upwards of twenty years as a bootmaker,
made
the feet
many thousand
tion.
my
study, and during
have
that period
pairs of feet have received
my
atten-
have observed with minute care the cast
from the antique
and
am
as well as
" the
have witnessed,
much
modem instances,"
much
obliged to admit, that
109
'
of the pain I
of the distortion of the toes,
the corns on the top of the feet, the bunion on the

side, the callosities
beneath, and the growing in of
the nails between, are attributable to the shoemaker.
The
feet, with
disease
proper treatment, might be as free from
and pain as the hands,
their
structure and
adaptation to the wants and comfort of man, as
have seen,
most
is
and
Thirty-six bones
perfect.
we
been given by the Creator to
thirty-six joints, have
form one of these members, and yet man cramps,

cabins,
and confines
his beautiful
anangement of one
hundred and forty-four bones and
joints; together
with muscles, elastic cartilage, lubricating oily

veins
and
arteries, into
a pair of shoes or boots, which,
instead of protecting from injury, produces
painful as well as permanent results.
the most
Many volumes
have been written on the cause of corns, and
been
my
gaining
at
lot to
much
fluid,
it
has
wade through many of them, without
for
my
pains.
have therefore arrived
the conclusion notwithstanding
all
that has been
110
said to the contrary, that corns are in all cases the

result of pressure.
am
confirmed in this opinion by
one of the most respectable Chiropodists of the pre-
who has had a
sent day (Mr. Durlacher,) a gentleman
considerable experience in the treatment of corns and
bunions.
He
says,
" Pressure and
friction are
unques-
tionably the predisposing causes of corns, although, in
some
instances, they are erroneously
supposed to be
Improperly made shoes invariably pro-
hereditary.
duce pressure upon the integuments of the toes and
prominent parts of the
feet, to
which
is
opposed a
corresponding resistance from the bone immediately

beneath, in consequence of which the vessels of the
dermis are compressed between them, become injured,

congested, and, after a time, hypertrophied.
"When
corns are produced by friction and sUght
pressure, they are the result of the shoes being too
large
and the
leather hard, so that,
of the foot, the
little toe,
by the extension
or any prominent part,
constantly being rubbed and compressed
by
its
is
own
action.
" This may continue on and
off for
months, or even

any inconvenience
yeafs, before
is
progressively, the cuticle increases,
Ill
experienced, but,
and
is
either de-
tached from the dermis by serum being poured out
between them, similar to a
new
common
covering produced, or the
bUster,
and a
epidermis thickens
into layers adhering to each other."
Chiropodists have been in the habit of classifying
corns into
1
Hard
2.
Soft corns.
3.
Bleeding corns.
And
these classes have
varieties,
and
corns.
but
it is
been subdivided into many
enough, in a treatise on the
feet
their covering, to allude to the cause of torment,
generally as a hard substance and a soft one, press-
ing into the foot, as the

describes
it,
"clavus dura"
The approach
know, commences
Roman name
of a corn, as
emphatically
small tack.
all
who
ever felt
with a shght inflamatory
on the prominent part of the Httle toe
it
smart
then comes on
the excessive burning, the throbbing, the stabbing
"a
httle longer, yet a httle
longer;" and then the
112
point of the tack begins to enter, the outer skin
membrane becomes
penetrated, the next
and, from the deUcate "net
work" of the
sum, an increased quantity of secretion

out
gradually a substance
and with a sharp
point,
is
inflamed,
rete
is
mucopoured
formed, hard, homy,
is
that descends deeper and
deeper into the foot, until not unfrequently it reaches
and enters the blood
vessels
and very
joints them-
selves.
must be
All attempts at cure
of the com.
It
has been usual to salve and plaster
and cut the head of

or no success
this tack, generally with little
call it
pedum," a name given

and how absurd
directed to the point
a thorn in the foot, " spina

to it
by some practitioners
this palliative treatment appears
every one knows that the thorn must immediately be

extracted,
and
if
we
delay,
great pain
quence, and soon nature expels
it
is
the conse-
herself.
Some balsams and tinctures have been much spoken

of by the older writers on the different excrescences,
but modern practice has very judiciously excluded
them, from their insufficiency to produce any good
The
effect.
radical cure
is
113
more dependant upon
surgical than medical means.
" Although
nearly
have devoted (says Mr. Durlacher,)
years
thirty
and have
investigation,
experience
to
the
tried various chemical
and
practical
other remedial agents, yet I have never been able to

discover any certain cure for corns.
men
are found bold
enough in
Nevertheless,
ignorance and
their
presumption, to assert, by pubhc advertisement, that

they
an
possess
thoroughly
infallible
eradicating
nostrum,
corns
and
capable
others
of
who
pretend to extract them, seek to aid their trickery
and charlatanry by exhibiting small
spiculae as the
roots of the corns they hare extracted, although
it
is
a positive fact from the structure of the skin, that
such an assertion must be
false,
and the whole pro-
ceeding the veriest imposition imaginable."
The
reader,
must by
this time,
have arrived at the
conclusion, that the whole mischief
is to
be laid upon
the covering of the feet, and not on the feet themselves.
the
In some instances
feet, are
it
may
be admitted that
pecuharly exposed to injury from the
114
delicacy of the skin
some persons
to corns, the
ally predisposed
are constitution-
slightest friction or
pressure heing sufficient to cause irritation, or, as in
some
com
cases, to develope a
that has
some time
been lying dormant.
The
given in
illustrations
former
chapters
of
fashions, will sufficently prove the cause of distortion
of the feet, and the result of this infliction of pain

for the sake of fashion has
been a plentiful harvest
of corns.
Every one
pressure
is
who
has corns knows and feels that
the cause
"no one knows
the shoe pinches than he
persons
know why
it
who wears
better
where
Yet few
it."
hurts, or are aware
how
the
remedy should be apphed.

Sometimes a shoe
is
too
large,
often too small,
very often too short, but generally the wrong shape
The
altogether.
fault is not so
much
in the shoes
themselves, as in the lasts from which they are made,

there the cause
my
study for
The best
is
to be found,
many
and there
it
has been
years to apply the remedy.
materials
may have been used for sole and

upper leather
been put
the
in, till
115
most exquisite closing and stabbing
the
work "looked like
print ;" the
workmanship may have been " first rate," but deficient

in the
primary and most essential part
the
suitable
form of the last on which the article was to be moulded

the boot or shoe
would not be a
suitable or comfort-
and the unfortimate wearer
able covering for the foot,
again finds that he has put his feet into " the shoe-
maker's stocks."
Every one who wishes
be comfortably fitted
to
should have a pair of lasts made expressly for his

use
experience has taught me, and doubtless
other masters
work
own
many
who have had much to do with bespoke
for tender or peculiar feet, that
to this to secure a
good
fit
no plan
is
equal
and save inconvenience and
disappointment for the future.
The length and the width

but the judgment of fitting
is
the true
A
it
but
not
is
now every day afi'airs,
another thing, and here
skill.
last fitted
may
are
if fitting
it
up
to the length
and width may do or
may do by chance
be anything,
it is
or
fail
of necessity,
a skilful adaptation of
116
the last to the true form and requirements of the foot

generally.
The
outlines
1,
2,
and bearing of three
would be comfortably
3,
will
shew the
direction
different feet, neither of
length and width
fitted if the
were the only points attended to
which
for No.
we
re-
quire a straight formed last with an equal proportion
of
wood on each
No.
side the centre line.
2,
requires
considerable fulness of the inside joint, to allow for a
bunion
rest in
will
the great toe requires a bed for the ball to
the waist must be very hollow, else the quarter
bag; while No. 3 requires a wide
great thickness of wood, for the toes
with corns.
flat
tread
and
which are covered
Many
persons have an idea that right and
are comparatively
and
117
modern
left
shoe
invention, but the illusions
illustrations to the contrary, in pp.
prove this: straight lasts are
38
43
dis-
modem
decidedly a
invention, and notwithstanding what many persons
say to the contrary, are decidedly inferior to a well-
formed right and
The great
evil
left pair
has been that aU right and
left lasts,
of late have been crooked. It was thought in abandon-
ing the straight last with
its faults,
could be secured in rights

extreme,
as
is
and
generally the
that a perfect
lefts,
case in fashion,
opposite was adopted, and a twisted right
made the matter

It
that
still
was thought nothing could be right and
left
left
but
which took a decided turn, and the consequence
ugly twist
inward, where no wood was
on the outside, where the toes with

liability
to injury
made with an
required,
all their
and
tenderness
have required thickness and
breadth, nothing has been

I
and
the
worse.
has been that for years lastd have been
and
fit
and from one
left.
have pointed out this fault to last makers a thou-
118
sand times
have stood by them
have seen the part
room
to be left
where, of
all
cruelly sliced
at their woi'k,
things
oflF,
and
wished the
or rasped
away
the consequence to the unfortunate wearer of a shoe
made on
or boot
that last
must have been
months
of torture.
Some workmen however, have at last seen
the error
they have aU along been committing, and adopted the
improved form, wondering how
it
was never thought
of before.
No.
represents a sketch of the foot
and the
sole

usually formed to
straight, sxiitable
The
No. 2 a well-fonned
fit it.
and
more
far
at the part
which was the chief thing
of the foot was not at
left
it
was
and
than the pair made for them, the
room having been given
outside, yet
sole,
elegant.
straight last has often been a better right
left for certain feet
and
119
and although the hollow
all fitted,
was easy
most wanted,
and the quartor gaped
on the other hand the right
deficient
on the outside and having
nothing for the second, third, and
little toe,
they were
cramped together and the congequencea were immediate pain, a
and a
soft
All this
hard
com on
the joints of the
little
toe
one between the others.
may be avoided
the form of the
feet
should
be taken in outline on a sheet of paper, and the pro-
minent toes noted down

after a pair of lasts
at the time,
made
and immediately
suitable in every
way.
But instead of this, hxmdreds of shoemakers in the

country have been making
all
their
lifetime firom
some old misshapen pieces of wood, that perhaps had

done
service to their fathers
been patched and altered to
and grandfathers, and
suit the
wants of a whole
120
parish
even
where we have
in town,
last
makers
at
our elbow, we have been far from doing what we ought

in this matter, instead of fitting the foot to the shoe,
the business of the tradesman certainly

his last
so correctly that
is to
the shoe should
shape
the
fit
foot.
Petrarch
is
said to have nearly
lamed himself from
the attempts he made, and the pinching he under-
went, to display to his Laura a neat foot.

this
Cases of
kind are frequently met with every day, where
made
every sacrifice
is
over the foot
may be
for this end,

tolerated,
quences ensue for a time

place
is
and pinching
all
and no bad conse-
but the pinching
at
one
the point which ought immediately to be
" reformed altogether."

It is
extremely amusing to witness, on the other
side, the care
shoes
made
some
easy
old gentlemen take to get their
while the Petrarch of the present
day orders his boots
bootmaker that
'em.
The
if
to be smart,
and threatens
his
he can get into them, he won't have
old gentleman of experience
and wisdom
comes with two pairs of thick lamb's-wool stockings
HISTOKY OF BOOTS
on,
which
says,
his friend
121
A.ND SHOES.
who accompanies him waggishly
are
" His youthful hos well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank;'
he looks knowingly in return and whispers, that he

put on two pairs of the thickest stockings he had,
on purpose to deceive the shoemaker.

In the early English translation of
Tonnes,"
is this
who has been
passage
"
If
**
Lazarillo de
you bid a shoemaker
thirty years at his trade
make a new
pair of shoes with broad toes, high in the instep,
he must pare your
tight about the heel,
he pleases you "
sly,
and
feet before
but sarcastic allusion to
the imperfect fitting of the shoemaker,
and an ad-
mission of the pride of the wearer.
Ladies and Gentlemen, and even children should
have their
own
lasts,
and correctly made

It
and be sure they are
carefully
to the feet.
would, however, be expecting too
much that
for
a single pair of shoes or boots a shoemaker or boot-
maker should make

free of charge
for his customer a pair of lasts,
as prices are
now, he would be a con-

122
siderable loser
the customer
might never favor him
with another order, he seeks a cheaper shop
abroad or
man
on which a
skilful
work-
cost at least four or five shillings, are left
hands perfectly
my own
For
own
lasts
has been employed for perhaps a whole day, and
which
his
The
dies.
goes
lasts
personal comfort
in silver,
numbers of our
would weigh
which have been carefully made,
against their weight
cheap
on
useless.
nobility
my
in a scale
and consider them

and gentry,
in effect,
do the same, and to a much greater amount, for their

personal comfort, in matters of the teeth, eyes, chest,
hair,
hands and
little
more
Then why not a
ears.
liberality, to those
little sacrifice,
important members
the feet.
No
at
such remuneration, however, as
would be expected
five
have hinted
or six shillings generally
would remunerate the maker of a pair of

and the
better the
fit
lasts,
the greater satisfaction to
both parties.
We
period
have
;
now
many
seen the fashions from the earliest
of the shoes from their form and
ma-

terial
must have been comfortable
Henry Till, wood engraving

class,
and
123
the broad shoe of
was one of that
p. 45,
the slashed specimens in p. 47, sufficiently
show where the shoe pinched

was sought and obtained
the fashions
in 1577,
and how
relief
even the very worst of aU
might have been made comparatively
comfortable had due attention been paid to the form

of the lasts.
The Poet Gay gives a

and
if
the value I attach to
weight in
am
silver, I
on
caution
my
this matter,
lasts
be
their
free to confess Gay's lines are
worth their weight in gold.

" Let firm well
hammer'd
soles protect
Through freezing snows and

Should the big
Each stone
last
will
rains
thy feet.
and soaking
sleet.
extend the shoe too wide.
wrench the unwary step aside
The sudden tarn may
stretch the swelling vein.
The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle
sprain
And, when too short the modest shoes are worn,

Yoall judge the seasons hy your shooting com."
124
CHAPTER
VI.
THE POETRY OF THE FEET, ETC.
,T
is
much
to
be lamented that any form
of boot or shoe should have
human
with the beauty of the

its
The
elastic tread.
tiquity
all
show
interfered
foot
and
sculptures of an-
great
symmetry and
beauty of form, whether in the male or

n^-k'i
I
j'
female foot:
the plump,
rounded, and
truly natural shape of the
feet of the
Venus de Medicis has excited the admiration of every

one who ever looked at that beautiful statue.
Poets in
of the "
all
ages have been lavish in their praises
human foot
divine,"
and a volume of
The
in-
breaks forth " How beautiful on
the
might be made on the poetry of the

spired Isaiah
extracts
mountains are the
feet of
him
feet.
that bringeth
glad
"

Kitto says, in his remarks
tidings."
"When
ness
tlie
the person
on
125
this passage,
very eminent for rank or holi-
is
mention of the
than any other
feet rather
part of the person denotes the respect or reverence
of the speaker
and then,
also,
an epithet of praise or
distinction is given to the feet, of which, as the
most
popular instance, the "golden feet" of the Burmese
monarch forming the
named by
calls
by which he
is
usually
his subjects.
Homer pays homage

he
title
"the
in the Iliad to Thetis,
silver-footed
whom
queen."
Bathus, in the Tenth IdyUium of Theocritus, exclaims
" Charming Bombyce, you
How
lovely, fair,
my numbers
and beautiful your
greet,
feet
While Paris, in making choice of the
many
beautiful
virgins brought before him, pays particular attention

to their pedal attractions
" Their gait he marked as gracefully they moved,
And round
their feet his eye sagacious roved."

126
Ben Jonson describes a

was
his mistress
whose
lover
affection for
so great that he
" would adore the shoe
And
slipper
was
left off,
and kiss
it
too."
and again
"
And where
she went the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous

Butler, too, has the
his
foot."
same springing up of flowers
in
"Hudibras"
" Where'er you tread, your foot shall set
The primrose and the
violet."
In an anonymous volume of poems, printed in

1653, the writer being contemporary with Butler,
we
find the following beautiful sentiment

"
How her feet
tempt
how
soft
and
light she treads,
Fearing to wake the flowers from their heds:
Yet from their sweet green pillows every where
They
start
and gaze about to see
Look how
^c
my fair.
*
that pretty modest columbine
Hangs down
its
head
to view those feet of thine
HISTORY OF BOOTS AKD SHOES.
127
See the fond motion of the strawberrie
we go
Creeping on earth
The
The knot
To
makes
lovely violet
Unwilling yet
kisse
my
faire
after too,
dear to part with you
and the
grass
my
along with thee
daisies catch thy toes
ones feet before she goes."
Shakspear, in "Troilus and Cressida," describes
Diomede walking
" Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait
'
He
rises
on the toe
In aspiration
lifts
that spirit of his,
him from the earth!"
again
" Shore's wife hath a pretty foot"
and his graphic description of a free-natured woman

" nay, her foot speaks"
Old Herrick, who seems to have had the
finest
perception of the delicate and charming, thus compli-
ments Mrs. Snsana Southwood

" Her pretty feet
Like smiles did creep,
A little
As
if
out and then
they started at bo-peep
Did soon draw
in
agun"
"
128
intimation of the hvely character
It is the exquisite
of the inward spirit,
shown
in the active
movements
of the feet, which Sir John Suckling has imitated in
Wedding
his Ballad of the
" Her
Like
feet
little
beneath her petticoat
mice
As if they
and
stole in
out,
feared the light
But oh, she dances such a way,
No
sun upon an Easter day
Is half 80 fine a sight
Very beautiful
our old poets
the words
are given entire in Wilson's
" Cheerful Ayres
for three Voices,"
any harm
beautiful
frame
to
from one of
also is the following,
so
who
could do
part of the
human
"
Doe not
Naked
feare to put thy feet
in the river sweet,
Think not newt nor
leech, nor toade,
Will bite thy foot where thou hast trode."
These pretty allusions

tiplied to a great extent
to pretty feet
;
they
will,
might be mul-
however,
suffice

to
show the homage paid by
useful
I
true poets to these
and beautiful members.
come now
and will,
to the
more
to the best of
practical part of the subject,
my
ability,
the Ladies respecting boots
day.
all
am
say a few words to
and shoes of the present
of opinion that the best coverings for the
feet are boots, not only
do they look neat and
the general and gradual support they give

feet
129
all
but
tidy,
over the
and ankles induces strength, and gives tone
the veins
and muscles
shoes,
to
on the contrary, and
especially long quartered ones, require a great effort
from the muscles

applied tires
to
be kept on, and this when long
and weakens.
The
lace
and button
boots usually worn, need not be described, they are
very good and suitable to most feet and,
and
lasted properly, generally give
tisfaction.
The
lacing, the tag
coming
off,
sa-
and un-
the button breaking, or
the holes soon wearing
other httle annoyances, have
rienced as bores by thousands
kind of boot.
cut well
comfort and
trouble, however, of lacing
the shank hurting
many
if
all
out,
and
been expe-
who have worn
that

HISTORY OF BOOTS A.ND SHOES.
130
About ten years since
I first
thought of an Elastic
Boot, that might possibly remedy in a great measure

all
these
minor
and combine many advantages
evils,
never possessed by any former boot.

ever, sure that
am not, how-
an Elastic Boot was not known
at a
very early period in England.
The following passage from Chaucer seems to favour

the idea
"
Of Shoon and Boot'es new and
Look
And
at least
faire,
thou have a paire,
that they
fit
so fetously, (properly)
That these rude men may utterly

Marvel, sith they
What
loss to
sit
so plain,
How
they come on and off again."
this
boot could have been,
we
are
now
at a
know, and unfortunately the paintings and
sculptures of antiquity are not suflSciently clear in

these
little
matters of texture and material, to gain
any information: no such Boot has however been
known
in our time, or
My first
many
centuries before.
experiments were a
facture of elastic materials
was
failure, as the
manu-
not so perfect as they
HI8TOKT OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

are at the present period,
131
and the necessary
elasticity
cotdd not be gained in any material I could meet

with.
The
difficulty
was
so elastic that the boot
to get
an India Rubber Web
would go on and
not so soft and yielding as that

again to
its original
it
off,
and yet
would not return
form^my object being not only
that
That these rude men may
utterly
ilarvel, sith they sit so plain.
How
they come on and
cfF again."
but that they shovdd "sit plain," and "fit fetously,"

as well after they
were on.
After several experiments in wire and India rubber

I
succeeded in getting the exact elasticity required,
and subsequent improvements

manship have combined
most perfect thing of
its
to
in materials
make
kind.
and work-
the Elastic Boot the
132
I
am
indebted to the Countess of Blessington, and
Lady Charlotte Bacon

and suggestions
for its
for
some of the
earliest hints
improvement, also to Mrs. S.
C. Hall, the Baroness de Calabrella, and other ladies

of literary fame
who were among
the
first to
patronize
One of my earliest customers,
the invention.
Lady
of great originality of thought and expression
induced
me
to
make
it
an
first
article of universal sale
by
saying,
" These boots
are the comfort of
my
were only to give them a sounding name,
call
them lasy
boots
and turn
it
if
life,
if
you
you Uke
into GreeJc,
all
world will buy them and you'll make your
the
for-
tune."
For
many
years I have scarcely
kind of boots but the

fortune.
am
elastic
but, I have not
happy, however,
contributed to the comfort of
made any
if in
my
other
made
any way
have
fellow creatures, or
been instrumental in afibrding employment to
my
own countrymen.
Her Majesty has been pleased
tion with the
to
honour the inven-
most marked and continued patronage

it
my
has been
privilege for
some years
to
133
make
boots
who
reads
of this kind for Her Majesty, and no one

the court circular, or
habits of walking
is
and
acquainted with Her Majesty's

exercise in the
" the road
it
air,
elastic over
doubt the superior claims of the

other kind of boots;
open
can
every
has been well remarked
to health is a foot path."
The materials
for
making
ladies'
various, the best of course have
boots have been
been those which
combine strength with a thin deUcate texture
for
strong double, or cork sole boots, cloth, kerseymere,

or cashmere
silk, satin,
silk
back
The
for single sole,
or dress boots,
and an improved prunella, with a
is
twilled
best.
neatest, firmest,
have ever used

I
summer
is
and the
coolest material I
a silk web, called stocking-net
this
have had woven in black and colours, and as
readily
movdds
to the
form of the
made up without seams,

Her
it is
foot,
it
and can be
a favourite material with
Majesty, and the most distinguished ladies of her
court this boot would appear to be the veritable "boote

:
newe and
faire" of old Chaucer's time, so
thoroughly
134
light,
and graceful
elastic,
The leather
or goat skin,
goat,
is
and durable
boots
it
leather,
is
a pretty foot.
more
answers admirably, and as
the
calf-skin,
it
is
is
ladies
requires no
and the upper part of the
kept clean and tidy.
is
from a
tensive patronage
class
something softer even than the
leather
the
the Pannus-corium,
or Leather Cloth, this invention has
has
delicate
and golashes of
for the little toecaps
material best adapted for such
it
suffi-
is
commonly called jjoên^,
Some ladies, however, cannot bear any
As
morocco
is
being the skin of the
and being made of
cleaning, always looks well,
boot
^kid
naturally finer and
also very suitable,
to
which when properly dressed,
enamel or varnish
strong
it is
best adapted for ladies boots
ciently strong
young
as
met with very ex-
whose
feet require
softest leather.
resembles the finest leather in appearance, and
many of the
and not having
best properties of the usual cordovan,

like it to be
does not draw the
feet, its
bility, therefore, at
of those persons
tanned and curried,
pecidiar softness
once commends
who have
it
and
it
plia-
to the notice
corns and tender
feet.
135
One very important thing

that the golashes
to
and toecaps of
be attended
all
to,
boots shoiUd
above or below the joint of the great toe
is,
come
very
fre-
quently the edge of the leather comes at the very

worst part of the foot, and strange enough, sometimes
we
a hard seam put exactly on the corn, and
see
running across the bunion.

the boot or shoe being
all,
frequently a secret
and the
If
no leather be put
made
entirely of
enemy lurks between the
lining, in the
at
stuflF,
outside
shape of a leather side lining
weeks pass on perhaps without your being aware of

its
presence, at last from the heat and perspiration of
the feet, this side lining becomes as hard as horn,
and great pain
is
the consequence.
Shortly after the elastic boot was brought out,
made a
made
little
improvement in shoes, which are now
either wholly or partially elastic
suited for ladies

rise
whose
they are well
feet swell, or
whose insteps
veiy suddenly, as they accommodate themselves
to those changes.
shoes
may
all
Morocco, prunella, and leather
be made comfortable by attending to
the instructions contained in the previous chapter on
the proper forms of
lasts.
136
The
mode
elastic clog is
another improvement on the old
of fastening with straps, huckles,
on
clogs
this
and buttons
principle are put on and taken
off with-
out any trouble or fastening, and by a very simple
aiTangement of a plush back,

is
all
chafing of the boot
avoided and great firmness secured,
without a
chance of their slopping.

Ladies should always have a pair of these clogs
ready to
slip
on
in dirty weather
as they wonderfully save the boots

after having
and
worn the
elastic
boot for some days and found the great support
how
gives to the ankles,
frequently that serious disease
would
like,
home
turning
boots, the
golashes,
is
it
varicose veins
advisable
is
please,
no one
to
throw
off the
then found in the clogs or
you put them on over your thin ordinary
and taking them
in
immediately on re_
after a dirty walk,
remedy
and prevents
and thus protected, you may
boots,
walk
nor
undue
easily it remedies
swelling and enlargement of the veins
it
on the
off
it.
where you
on your return home,
finest carpet
soihng or injuring
'go
without a chance of
history of boots and shoes
137
children's boots and shoes.

The
attention of every
mother should be given
the state of her child's feet

pain, distortion,
little
how much
to
subsequent
and lameness might be spared
if
consideration were given in time to the child's
shoes and boots.
As a
and width be given
all will
seen to frequently, as
If shoes
are
general rule,
if
proper length
be well, but, this must be
little feet
soon grow larger.
worn, they should be easy across
the toes and of a good form in the sole, hollow and
arched at the waist, and snug at the heel
if
boots,
then the elastic the same as ladies.

If the ankles are weak, a surgeon should be consulted without delay, I have benefited
by making an
it affords,
elastic lace boot,
many
children
which from the support
compressing the muscles of the
foot,
and by
bearing well up by means of a spring under the arch
of the foot has prevented lameness, and restored the

feet
and ankles
to their natural form.
gentlemen's boots and shoes.

The foregoing remarks
on ladies boots, apply
equally to gentlemen's half boots, the same materials
138
being used for dress or sumraer walking
they need
therefore only to be refered to in their proper place,
and the remarks and

will
convey
that
all
illustrations, pp. 115, 116, 117,
necessary to
is
per shape and true principles of

length, straightness of form,
know
of the prosufficient
fitting,
and the room
in the
right place being the chief points to be attended
Shoes are now very
little
or other being the general wear
author of " the Shoemaker,"
booted people
at present, says the
we
so are the French
to.
worn boots of some kind
are emphatically a
and the Aipericans
the fashion goes onward with the great progress of

civilization, it is as it
applied to his
own
of the
booted
ivell
coincidence at
were
far
very sign.
Greeks,
has
a somewhat singular
though doubtless he meant
sort of stiff leg covering as a pro-
tection necessary to the warriors of
and bearing no
Homer
famous countrymen the epithet
first sight,
no more than some
its
whom
he sang,
likeness to the gay delicate boot of
later times.
The fame of the English

altogether
new
in this
way
is
not, however,
though from what the present gene-
must have observed since the introduction of
ration
the Wellington,
it
139
may be
it
\Ve were,
seen otherwise.
appears, a booted people before or at least were so
considered.
"I
will
my countrymen"
amaze
letting
them know on
my
Gondemar,
said
James
Spanish ambassador, to the court of

return that
all
I.
" by
London
is
booted and apparently ready to walk out of town."
The
certainly is
reflection
curious
the old Poets,
Heroes, were booted, and the Hero of Waterloo has
own
given as proud a distinction to our
boot.
But,
then people in past days when they had their boots on
were thought to look prepared for a journey, whereas,

boot
at present the
the slipper.
We
is
almost as domestic a thing as
go to the
ball
room
in
it,
the theatre,
the houses of parliament, and even royalty itself
approached in the boot
The Wellington
manly thing of
its
is
is
!"
unquestionably the most gentle-
kind, and aU the attempts of the
Bluchers, Alberts, Clarences, Cambridges, and such

like,
to rival
it
most signally
fail
its
well
known
character for style, wear, and facility of repair has
stamped
it
the boot of the present day.
140
good Wellington boot of the
softest calf leather,
the sole moderately thick, the waist hollow and well

arched, firm and yet flexible, cut to go on without
dragging
all
your might with boot hooks, and made
with an intermediate sole of
felt to
the best boot for general
is
prevent creaking,
wear
that
can
be
made.
The varnished
handsome
made with
article
class,
now brought
it is
and our boot
and
is
is
generally
mo-
to a great state of
closers are the
matter of fancy-closing,
the
in
of the same
a tongue, the legs being of coloured
rocco leather
perfection
or patent leather Wellington
most perfect
and stabbing in
Europe.
For many years
this
department of the trade has
been quite distinct from shoe making or boot making

originally closing,
and even
ladies'
making the
boot, shoe,
and slipper,
and childrens' shoes, was the work of
one individual, now they are separate branches, and

the closer has not only risen in this country, but his
work
for
is
its
universally celebrated from this circumstance,
strength and beauty.
Perhaps nothing in the
way
of -workmanship
stabbing
knees,
is
equal to what
141
termed blind
is
the leather held between the workman's
pierced with a small pointed awl, which he
is
holds together with the flax or silken thread that
foUow in
his right
boot
and
leg,
the bristle,
hand
his left
in the dark, in
and
is
to
on the inside of the
an instant sends through
receives through the
the point of the right hand one
same
the thread
the stitch formed, quickly another hole
is
little
hole
drawn
is
made, and
the same operation repeated.
Nothing in the way of sewing or stitching can equal

this
bhnd
stabbing, one half of which
dark, the skill being acquired
is
done in the
by constant
practice
and the extreme deUcacy of the touch ; from 20 to 30

stitches
have been done to the inch in this way, and
in prize
work as many as 60, every
stitch
being
clear,
sharply defined, and beautifully regular.
The Elastic Boot for Gentlemen, is

and easy
article
it
a light
does not encumber the leg, and
unlike the half-and-half clarence with its valve of folded

leather
and
all
kinds of holes and contrivances
it fits
142
the ankle like a stocking, and readily yields and elasticates to every
The
motion of the
feet
and
legs.
cut represents an elastic boot with a golosh of
leather all round, the upper part being cloth, silk,

prunella, cashmere, kid, or the silk stocking net
material generally determining the kind of boot

to be,
and the thickness of the
sole.
When
it is
the
it is
re-
quired that the elastic boot should have the appearance

of a Wellington,
and
all,
made
entirely of leather, spring
and thus made when on the
appearance of
instep
it is
when
it,
the
as
no join
is
foot has every
ever detected above the
trowsers accidentally rise a
little
higher than the wearerof a would-be-Wellington sometimes wishes them.

Travellers
find these boots great
comforts, they

take up very
little
room
143
in the portmanteau, are soon
cleaned, and are on and
off in
an instant,
if
made
of
pateat leather they need only a wipe with an old silk
handkerchief.
No
boot hooks are ever required, the best hooks
being nature's own, the fingers, and the only boot

jack ever wanted
is
the toe of one boot appUed to the
heel of the other.
Dress Pumps
they are generally

be cut to
sit
are almost the only shoes
made of patent
and
if
is,
properly made,
for wear.
holes and
sits
vamp comes
It laces
however, a very useful

is
the best shoe for walking,
up
in front with three or four
well above the joint and never hurts,

little
toes
if it
by
were not for
the seam across the instep, girding and
at that
article,
snug about the quarters and heel, the
seams or pressure, the
difficult to
and shoiQd
well at the quarters.
The Oxonion Shoe

and
leather,
now worn,
making
it
get the shoe on, and the frequent breaking
part from the strain
it
undergoes, no shoe
could be better.
I
have, however, effected a great improvement in
144
it,
which remedies the
dom
in putting on,
evil at once,
gives great free-
and entirely prevents the breaking
of the seam and vamp,
this
improvement would, how-
ever, be hardly intelligible
from description, and must
therefore, be seen to be understood properly.
and strong wear,
shooting,
suitable,
and
it is
it
For
wiU be found extremely
perhaps the best of
all
shoes for
young gentlemen.
Stockings
^washing
more of comfort to the
feet
the feet,
&c.,
much
depends on the stockings
than people are aware of ; nothing can be worse than a

stocking too large or one too small, the more
case
is its
largeness,
and when
I see
common
a cotton or thread
stocking tucked under at the toe and by the perspiration of the foot
and the
tread,
become quite hard and
compact, a hard ridge of a seam pressing on the toes,
which shew the marks produced by the pressure

over the surface, I wonder
how
all
persons can expect
comfort.
The
best stocking for general
of lamb's wool,
vigonia,
wear are those made
and Shetland
knit,
the
pedestrian well knows the difference on a long day's
145
walk between a cotton or linen stocking and one of

wool, he
knows
damp and
chilly
with the moisture of the
whereas the latter enables

his foot
blisters,
becomes hard,
that the former soon
from the
him
foot,
to bear fatigue, defends
friction of the shoe, secures
and in every way ministers
to
it
his
from
com-
fort.
Persons, however,
may indulge
most elegant of
all
coverings for the
but at the same time far more comfortable than
either cotton or linen, if the best silk
too
exercise
stocking, ladies will not only
in a silk
find this the

feet,
who do not use much
expensive
then
a thick
spun
is
silk
considered
is
good
substitute.
The frequent change of the stockings conduces
much
to comfort,
or tender
feet,
and they should, in cases of corns
be worn inside-out
even the
little
seam of a stocking has aggravated in a great measure

a corn just appearing, which but for that pressure
might soon have been got

Let the feet be bathed
in tepid or cold water.
rid of.
at least three
For some years
times a
I
week
was in the
146
habit of
Cooper.
feet,
making easy shoes
for the late Sir Astlcy
That eminent surgeon never cramped his
nor wore shoes that would give him pain
but
one thing, however, he habitually accustomed himself

to,
and that was
to
soon as he arose,
immerse his
feet in cold water as
and use a rough towel
freely
afterwards.
In the coldest day of winter he was to be seen

without a great coat, with
silk stockings
on
his legs
and short breeches, traversing the court of the Hospital or sitting in his carriage.
The sponge should be applied

between the
toes,
round the
nails,
to the feet,
and
which should be
cut just to a level with the toe-end, and then a good
rubbing
all
Cologne to
over with
Ban de
a dry towel, a little
finish off with,
and you
feel quite
another
creature.
Every care should be taken that the insensible

perspiration of the feet should be encouraged and
allowed to pass off freely.
Dr. Wilson in
tical Treatise on Healthy Skin, says, "
To
his Pracarrive at
something hke an estimate of the value of the perspi-
147
ratory system, in relation to the rest of the organism,

I
counted the perspiratory pores on the pahn of the
hand, and found 3,528 to the square inch (on the
Now
heel where the ridges are coarser 2,268)7
of these pores being the
each
aperture of a httle tube of
about a quarter of an inch long,
it
follows that in a
square inch of skin there exists a length of tube equal

to
882
inches, or
73|
feet.
Surely, such an
amount
of drainage as 73 feet in every square inch of skin,
assuming
is
this to be the average for the
whole body
something wonderful, and the thought naturally
intrudes itself what
This
is
if this
drainage were obstructed ?"
too often the case, improper shoes and
waterproof materials, not only

evaporation
of the
skin,
but
check
eventually
diseases of the feet in the worst
much conduces
the
form
state,
produce
nothing so
to general comfort, as the
ankles being in a healthy
natural
feet
and few things
and
tell
upon the manners and temper more than constant

pain and irratibihty of the extremities.
The fashions of boots and shoes have met with

their share of
our attention and research, the errors of
148
form and make

dies have
liave
been pointed out,
been suggested,
it
now
tlie ])est
reme-
only remains for us
to adhere as closely to natures' laws as possible.
Art
may do much but even Miss Kilmansegg's " precious

leg " of pure gold
more precious
was but a poor substitute for her
lost one.
" Peace and ease, and slumber
She tum'd, and
rolled,
With a tumult
A common case
As have
too
that
would not
toss'd,
settle
indeed with such,
little,
or think too much,
Of the precious and

Gold
lost,
and tumbled and
glittering metal.
she saw at her golden foot,
The Peer whose
tree
had an olden
root.
The proud, the great, the learned to boot

The handsome, the
The man
The man who
And
gay, and the witty
of science, of arms, of art,
the
deals but at pleasure's mart,
man who
deals in the City."
APPENDIX.
(1)
old
Many
are the hints thrown out t)y
herbalists in their quaint
some of our
language as to the
powers of some of our indigenous herbs.
One which
has certainly some slight influence on corns, and
is
great favourite amongst the popular writers on corns,

is
the
common
herb, which
house-leek, the sedum murale.
is
This
found growing on the tops of old
garden-walls and upon the roofs of houses, has a leaf
of considerable thickness owing to the large quantity

of cellular tissue between
in
whose
interstices
is
its
upper and lower lamina,
found
considerable juice,
which abounds with hydrochloric acid
uncombined
state.
Owing, doubtless,
in a free
to
and
the pre-
sence of the acid the juice acts upon the indiirated
mass softening and destroying the
surface, but leaving
the lower parts as great a source of mischief as ever, and
sometimes converting the
com
mass than
{The Diseases of the Feet,
Quarto.)
it
was
before.
into a
more hardened
APPENDIX.
(2)
says
" There
is
another way of disposing of a corn,"
Mr. Erasmus Wilson, "which
habit of recommending to
my friends
have been in the

it isefifectual,
Have
obviates the necessity for the use of the knife.
some common
and
sticking-plaster spread on buff leather
and
cut a piece sufficiently large to cover the corn
skin around, and have a hole punched in the middle
Now
of exactly the size of the summit of the com.

take some
common
soda of the oil-shops, and
it into a paste, with about half its
make
bulk of soap
fill
the hole in the plaster with this paste, and cover
it
Let this be done at
with a piece of sticking-plaster.
bed-time, and in the morning remove the plaster, and
wash the corn with warm water.
If this operation be
repeated every second, third, or fourth day, for a

short time, the corn will be removed.
caution required to be used
and
pre-
avoid causing pain
so long as any tenderness occasioned by the
remedy
corn
is to
The only
is
lasts, it
must not be repeated.
When
the
reduced within reasonable bounds by either of
the above modes, or
when
has not yet
to
risen
it is
only threatening, and
the height of being a sore
APPENDIX.
annoyance, the best of all remedies
a piece of soft
is
buff leather, spread with soap plaster,
and pierced in
the centre with a hole exactly the size of the summit

of the
com."
(3) It is usually the
viously to cutting them
the following
serve instead.
custom
As this is not always convenient,
method of rendering the com
com, and
with the oiled
a strip of oiled silk
and apply
rather larger, wet the leather

it
soft will
Procure a strip of wash leather, of size
sufficient to cover the
then cover
to soak the corns pre-
silk,
it
which
the leather from becoming dry.
Keep
to the
com,
will prevent
this
on for
a few days, wetting the leather two or three times a

day.
This will render the
may be
com so
soft that the razor
applied without causing pain.
T3
1000
H25
Hall,
Dseph Sparkes
The book of the feet
fiMGfetWN%'
i^HHrri.
PLEASE
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The Book of The Feet, A History of Boots and Shoes - Joseph Sparkes Hall (1847)

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PASC

KOOK OF THE FEET,

HINTS TO LAST MAKERS

AND REMEDIES FOR CORNS.

PATENT ELASTIC BOOT IIAB.SR

THB OCEBX DOWAGER,

MKtDOtA, CAHN, AND

some information respecting Boots and

fashions of the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks,

taken from the highest autho-

1 have also given the result of

derived from an intimate practical acquaintance

and have endeavoured

was bad in form and material, and I

have not only found

fashions, but have also enforced

and provided the remedy.

HISTORY OF BOOTS & SHOES.

ON THE MOST ANCIKNT COYBRINJJS FOR THB FEKT.

remotest nations of antiquity,

for the feet, partook of the nature of sandals.

The most ancient representations

possess of scenes in ordinary

and paintings of early

Egypt, and these the investigations of

and dehneations, made

familiar to us, so that the habits

and manners, as well

as the costume of this ancient people, have been handed

to the present time,

hands, with so vivid a truthfulness, that

HISTORY OP BOOTS AND SHOES.

conversant with their domestic manners and customs,

any modern nation

which the book

their pictured relics

but a vast quantity of

kinds, from the tools of the

which once decorated the boudoir of the

Memphis and Carnac

ago, are treasured

three thousand years

museums, both public

carry our history of shoemaking back to the earliest

upon the shoemaker

work, in the early days of Thothmes the

ascended the throne of Egypt, according to Wilkinson,

1495 years before Christ, and during whose

of our .plates contains a copy of this very curiour

the Italian scholar Rossellini copied

for his great

are both seated

HISTORY OF B00T3 AND SHOES.

busily employed, in the formation of the sandals then

in Egypt, the first

with his awl the leather thong, at the side of the

through which the straps were passed, which

secured the sandal to the foot

indulged in at the present day.

equally busy, sewing

a shoe, and tightening the thong with his

one end of which rests upon the

of sandals, probably so placed, to