Yes, his old clothes, and it was one of these he actually wore on that parade in which the old story has it that he wore nothing at all. Please dispel that old falsehood. He did not fool himself that he was wearing brilliant new clothes although actually naked. What he wore, the last of his old clothes, was a torn, patched, worn-out old raincoat given him by a street vendor in exchange for a good new one. He thought it a better garment than all the others he had ever worn to symbolise his great initiatives of office. Those other clothes, the military uniform, the track suit, the mortarboard and gown, the tweed and boots, all went into his closet and stayed there after each of these initiatives failed in turn. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, says the preacher. The Emperor’s last set of old clothes testified to his acceptance of this old truth.