74

CLOTHING.

Since the first publication of the preceding 1 remarks, very im-portant changes have taken place in the dress of our fair country-women, which afford the strongest proofs of their good sense andtaste. The shape is no longer distorted, nor is growth check-ed and the vital functions impeded by a whalebone press. Easy,safe, and graceful motion in a flat-heeled shoe has completely abol-ished the awkwardness and danger of former attempts to totterabout, as it were upon stilts. In a word, a becoming regard tohealth, simplicity, and elegance, seems now to have more influenceover female fashions than absurdity, caprice, or the desire of con-cealing any personal deformity.

I wisli I could pay my own sex the same compliment which the 'ladies have so well deserved. But an affectation of what is calledmilitary smartness seems to have converted their whole apparelinto a system of bandages. The hat is as tight as if it was intend-ed for a helmet, and to defy the fury of a hurricane. Its form al-so being by no means suited to the natural shape of the head, itmust be worn for a considerable time with very painful and une-qual pressure, before it can be made to fit its new block. Theneck is bolstered vip and swathed with the most unnatural stiff-ness. Easy motion without, and free circulation within, are alikeobstructed. Blotches and eruptions in the face, head-achs, apo-plexies, and sudden deaths, may Vie often traced to this cause ; andif we view its effects in another light, we shall not be surprised atany inconsistency in the language or conduct of persons who takeso much pains to suspend all intercourse between the head and theheart.

The close pressure of the other articles of dress is equally re-prehensible. Narrow sleeves are a great check upon the muscularexercise of the arms. The waistcoat in its present fashionableform, may be very properly termed a strait one ; and, no doubt, isin many instances an indication of some mental derangement.The wrists and knees, but more particularly the latter, are bracedwith ligatures, or tight buttoning ; and the legs, which require theutmost freedom of motion, are screwed into leathern cases, as if toconvey an idea that the wearer is sometimes mounted on horse-back. To complete the whole, and in order that the feet may bekept in as tight a press as the head, when shoes are to be worn, theshape of the foot, and the easy expansion of the toes are never con-sulted, but fashion regulates the form of the shoe, sometimes square-toed, more frequently pointed, and always sure to produce crampsand corns, the keen,"the sensible announcers of every change ofthe weather. I have so long employed serious argument uponthese subjects in vain, that I am now accustomed to view themwith pleasantry ; and when I meet witli such figures, disguised,and rendered truly awkward both in their motions and appearance,I cannot help thinking with Shaksfeare, "that some of Nature'sjourneymen had made them and not made them well ; they imitatehumanity so abominably !"

many cases, where the powers of medicino had been tried in vain, I have cured thepatient by recommending thick shoes, a flannel waistcoat and drawers, a pair of under-stocking, or a flannel petticoat, to be worn during the cold season at least. Wherewarmer clothing is wanted, I would recommend the fleecy hosiery to be worn nextthe skin