ter here; you look like a doll. You, colonel, are as solemn as if you were the great Pompey; and you, Mendor, as if you were king Midas. Count, I don't advise you to dance a waltz with that harlequin air. Duchess! for heaven's sake before you think of entering, take off at least three layers of your rouge; and in order to breathe a moment, let your maid slacken the lace of your stays. And you, Clara, who seem scarcely able to stand in that vice which you call a shoe, and which seems purposely constructed to put your feet to torture, learn from me that Nature gave us two feet to walk upon." (To be continued.) THE MIRROR OF FASHION. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM A GENTLEMAN OF RANK AND TASTE TO A LADY OF QUALITY. Selected from La Belle Assemblee.) LETTER XII. AFTER having so long entertained your Ladyship with the graces and excesses of fashion exhibited by our ancestors of the fourteenth century, I shall not, in this letter, detain you long on the coffures and mantles of the succeeding era. This epistle is only meant as a kind of vestibule to the palace which is to present you to the wardrobes of the bright Elizabeth Woodville, and the bewitching Jane Shore, when they arrayed their forms for royal conquest. In those days of gallantry, in love and arms, the dress of the men bespoke them the servitors of both sovereigns. Their habits were a mixture of martial with peaceful: they wore the warlike habergeon, but it was rendered gay by golden rings, and curious cyphers of ladies' names; and the embroidered scarf clasping the glittering sword, the splendor, more than the use of the weapon, was apparent. The steeled helmet gave place to the ermined bonnet; and where the frowning crest heretofore overhung the soldier's brows, a plume of ostrich or of heron, nodded over the hero's amorous eyes. Perhaps I should give you a tolerably just idea of the garb in which the royal Edward went a wooing, by saying that it was not much unlike the costume in which our stage generally dresses its Pages of quality. The stage, as it is now ordered, under the fashion-learned eye of Mr. Kemble, is a kind of visible history of the fashions, not only of this country, but of the sister kingdoms. Before his time, our dramatic Henries and Edwards appeared in bag-wigs, swords, and fullbottomed coats. Macbeth addressed his warlike Scots, in the dress of a macaroni. Cato, in the costume of St. James's, harangued the Senate of Rome : and Coriolanus, in a suit of velyet and blue satin, marched at the head of an army of barbarians to attack his native and ungrateful city! Admirable must have been the acting which could have put to silence ridiculous ideas of such absurd association; and admirable it was, Nature spoke in the voice and action of Garrick. We lost the habit of the actor himself, in the personification of the character; and nought was present to us but Macbeth, Hamlet, or Lear. Great as Mr. Kemble is, it is not the sublime mountain we look upon, but a fabric reared by art; a structure like the pyramids of Egypt. In the reigns of Edward the Fourth and his immediate successor, a heavier embroidery and brocade was assumed than that adopted by the ladies in the preceding century. The under garment swelled out gradually from the bottom of the waist to the lowest hem of the petticoat, in the form of a bell. It was usually stiffened with buckram or whalebone; and over it was spread the velvet, silk, or satin coat of many colors. This coat displayed the chief grandeur of the dress. It was often composed of cloth of gold, curiously wrought in silks and jewellery, and from it behind devolved the floating length of train, fringed and bordered with netting work and splendid tassels. The front of the superb petticoat was often clasped with precious stones, even from the girdle to the toe. the little foot, surmounted on a huge high heel, presented it There self, cased in embroidery, and sparkling like a pretty star beneath its cloud of garments. The lovely wearer's head was adorned with coiffure of pearls, covering the whole tete, so as to entirely exclude the least appearance of hair; and the pearls of the cap coming quite forward, and round the pretty face, even to the tip of the chin, the body's vissage had the effect of a picture set in pearls. Over all that, matrons generally wore a prodigious ample and long veil, usually of cyprus-gauze, sometimes plain, and of one color, and at other times wrought with gold. It stood over the head, stiffened a little with wire, and then being clasped under the chin with a costly broach, devolved down the shoulders, and over the figure, like a light mist playing round the whole form, shading, but not obscuring it. In my next I will give you the detail of Anne Bullen's wedding robes, and meanwhile shall subscribe myself my Urania's faithful PARIS. (To be continued.) FOR THE POLYANTHOS. THE MORAL CENSOR....No. XIX. MR. CENSOR, Tam teneor dono, quam si dimittar onustus. "I thank you as much as if I did”. In other words, HOR. IPIST. 1. 18 "NOT having need of your services, I can dispense with the obligation you are willing to impose.". He is happy who can refuse a favor with a good grace, and wisely discover the treacherous evil that most commonly lurks under the veil of a proffered advantage. «Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," said the wise Laocoon. Had the infatuated Trojans shut their gates against the Grecian present, the melancholy epitaph of "Troja fuit" would not have been inscribed on the ruins of their city, by their perfidious conquerors. 4 recollect that a few months ago, an unguarded modern Trojan was introduced to your readers, by the name of Peter Pilgarlick. He, it seems, soon fell a victim to sanguine hopes and an unsuspecting temper. Your correspondent Dan Spondee, still labors, I understand, under a fatal propensity to accept every offer that is made to him, with undiscriminating avidity; and though, in the main, he lack neither sense nor honesty, he is but ill calculated to deport himself with propriety, to earn his subsistence with reputation, or to procure the esteem and confidence of his acquaintance or the public. The candid mind will willingly make allowances for peculiarity of situations and circumstances. But, I believe, every thinking man will join me in opinion, that no person will ever become rich and respectable, unless he learn to appreciate with critical acumen, the nature and tendency of tendered services and gifts, and acquire fortitude to "thank you as much as if he did,"-when he cannot account for a disposition to oblige, on the ground of an expectation in the benefactor to receive something directly or indirectly, in fair reciprocity, as the consideration of the proffered kindness. I have often been censured for the apparent over-caution and illiberality of this opinion. But why? If my future services may be made valuable to my neighbor, I can have no objection to his availing himself of them in an honorable manner, as a proper and equitable return for some present advantage which I receive from his hands. On such terms, although I discover them by my own sagacity or judicious observation, I do not hesitate to accept his present, and to " thank him into the bargain." But how frequently are the weak and unguarded laid under obligations, in their strictest sense, by the selfish and artful! Demands which enslave for life, in the most odious thraldom, have been contracted without consideration, and enforced without mercy. The disguise of humanity has allured thousands to destruction; hypocrisy and cunning, under the mask of friendship, have often consigned their victims to the pistol, the halter, and the mad-house. When I first went to India, about thirty years since, I possessed a plentiful stock of prudence and experience. The acquisition of them was at the cost of my home. Folly and thoughtlessness, by early plunging me in ruin, made me a grey-beard at five and twenty. I awoke from a long and turbulent delirium, and found myself stripped of all but my better principles, which had survived the general wreck of fortune and reputation; and which, strong as they were, I scarcely knew I possessed during the noisy tempest of riot and debauchery which raged in the soul-distracting morning of my days. A small landed property yet remained. This I disposed of, and after paying a number of debts to those who could least afford to lose the amount of them, with the remaining sum, one hundred pounds, I embarked for India. While on my passage, I had leisure to reflect on my past life, to read good and useful books, to think and reason with precision and correctness; to see and applaud the propriety of the measure I had taken, and to confirm my sentiments and resolutions by the sanction and approbation of a calm and matured judgement. When a stranger first sets his foot on a Calcutta ghaut, he finds a most courteous reception. He is an object of consequence, and of curious enquiry to every native, from the little chatta-wala," to the big-bellied banyan.† But his first serious salutation is from one of a middle order of beings, with a long lean figure, and an aspect expressive of continual solicitude; no one, I believe, will be unable to guess the character to which I now direct his attention. His name is often terrible to those who accept his services, "and thank him too." As for me, the purser of the ship in which I sailed having often cautioned me against placing confidence in sircars, I return Chata wala a boy who carries the large parasol or umbrella. Note in our last number, p. 319. + Big-bellied Banyan. It is a fact, that in India, a man's wealth may be fairly estimated by the quantity of his flesh. The poor native of that country looks poor; for his food, his lodging, and all about him, are poor. But the wealthy man eats his rice and pilau highly seasoned. He banquets on savory dishes, and, pardon the expression, blows himself out into most portly dimensions. |