Does the comparison seem far-fetched; and is it not well to make the
contrast, if it may lead, however slightly, to a consideration of our
own deformities? We believe that the time is coming when a great
modification in the dress of our younger men will be adopted, if only
for health and economy; it will come with the revival, or more general
practice, of such games as singlestick, wrestling, and the like, and
with an improved system of physical education. It sounds little better
than a mockery to speak of deeds of valour and personal prowess, whilst
we submit to confine our limbs in garments that cramp the frame and
resist every healthy movement of the body. We must not go farther into
the question in these pages, but we may ask--were there as many
narrow-shouldered, weak-chested, delicate men, in the days when every
gentleman knew how to use a sword?[60]
The extravagances and vagaries of modern costume (for which we can find
no precedent in the comparative ignorance and barbarism of the middle
ages) lead to the conviction that there must be a great change, if only
as a question of health. Travellers who have been in Spain, notice with
surprise that the men are wrapt literally 'up to their eyes,' in their
cloaks, whilst the women walk abroad in the bitter wind with only a lace
veil over their heads and shoulders; but the disproportionate amount of
clothing that modern society compels men and women to wear in the same
room seems equally absurd.
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