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our modern multitude and those of ancient times to a comparison of 

 the substantial comforts would be comparatively easy, were it not that 

 the standard of luxury and enjoyment is by no means a fixed one. We 

 admire the magnificence of the wealthy Etruscans, and form a high 

 opinion of their luxurious habits. Yet they had no sugar or tea ; and 

 milliners and dressmakers were almost unknown. We gaze with 

 interest on those lovely statues reclining on their couches, and praise 

 the artist for his skill. Yet those couches were not equal to our sofas, 

 with their delicious spring cushions. We, with our well-tempered 

 razors and scissors, wonder why beards were so common in a warm 

 country, and why the dying gladiator had not his hair properly trim- 

 med ere he came to the fight, until we remember that Sheffield is a 

 town of modern times, and that Roman cutlers thought more of arms 

 than articles for the toilet. We puzzle over the great varieties of 

 hair-dressing practised among the matrons and maidens of the impe- 

 rial city, and only find a clue in the almost total absence of anything 

 like good combs and brushes. We feel for the old senators who did 

 not know the value of a good tailor, and the warmth during winter of 

 a pair of breeches ; and for the classic females, whose chief clothing 

 was a petticoat and a sort of shepherd's plaid. We discuss the taste 

 that induced the Romans to personify in stone their great men as 

 naked heroes ; and while they clothed in- artistic drapery the Messa- 

 linas and Agrippinas, erected statues to the more noble and religious 

 matrons, representing them as Venus, carrying out the idea that love- 

 liness needs not the foreign aid of ornament, but is, when " unadorned 

 adornec! the most." We have in our own day many admirers of ancient 

 art, and many who would wish to copy it, yet few would venture to 

 place Prince Albert in the Royal Academy's exhibition as the Apollo 

 Belvedere, and Queen Victoria as the Venus de Medicis. 



We pity the ancients who did not know the luxury of Argand 

 burners, Siuumbra lamps, and gas in their streets and houses ; we 

 wonder how they got along without a better style of glass ; and yet, 

 when we look round upon the population of our colonies, we find the 

 Indian preferring a mocassin to a pair of brogues ; the Australian 

 using the trousers for a cloak, and not caring for more clothing. The 

 Canadian has to do without Parisian lamps ; our beaux are beginning 

 to despise the razor, and our belles at one period were little more than 

 half draped ; and the Highland soldier can yet do without his breeches : 

 nevertheless, these have their own enjoyments, and it would be presump- 

 tuous to say that they are not as great as those of the richest noble, 

 who has everything around him that wealth can buy. 



A comparison between the engineering powers of ancient and 



