We hear also of ambassadors riding through towns on horses loosely shod with gold or silver, so that the horse-shoes lost on their passage might testify to their wealth and grandeur.

I shall quote some lines from a Polish poem in which the author describes in detail the costume of an eminent nobleman in the early part of this century:-- He was clad in the uniform of the palatinate: a doublet embroidered with gold, an overcoat of Tours silk ornamented with fringes, a belt of brocade from which hung a sword with a hilt of morocco.

At his neck glittered a clasp with diamonds.

His square white cap was surmounted by a magnificent plume, composed of tufts of herons' feathers.

It is only on festive occasions that such a rich bouquet, of which each feather costs a ducat, is put on.
The belt above mentioned was one of the most essential parts and the chief ornament of the old Polish national dress, and those manufactured at Sluck had especially a high reputation.