470 



CORSET. 



combined with a proper attention to diet and exer- 

 cise. Tims many ladies, who dread the disfignre- 

 inent produced by ol>esity, inul constantly wear the 

 most unyielding and uncomfortable corsets, leail an 

 entirely inactive life, and indulge in rich and luxu- 

 rious food. I'nder such circumstances, it is vain to 

 hope that beauty of figure can lie maintained by cor- 

 sets, or that they can effect any oilier purpose than 

 that of cramping and restraining the movements, and 

 causing discomfort to the wearer. On the other 

 hand, proper exercise, and abstinence from all but 

 the simplest fowl, would enable the corset to per- 

 form its part to the greatest advantage. 



There is another error, in relation to corsets, as 

 prejudicial as it is general, and calling for the serious 

 attention of all those concerned in the education of 

 young ladies This error is the belief that girls just 

 approaching their majority should be constantly kept 

 under the influence of corsets, in order to form their 

 figures. They are therefore subjected to a discipline 

 or strict lacing, at a period when, of all others, its 

 tendency is to produce the most extensive mischief. 

 At this time, all the organs of the body are in a state 

 of energetic augmentation ; and interference with the 

 proper expansion of any one set is productive of per- 

 manent injury to the whole. So far from making a 

 fine form, the tendency is directly the reverse, since 

 the restraint of the corsets detrimentally interferes 

 with the perfection of the frame. The muscles, be- 

 ing compressed and held inactive, neither acquire 

 their due size nor strength ; and a stiff, awkward car- 

 riage, with a thin, flat, ungraceful, inelegant person, is 

 the too frequent result of such injudicious treatment. 

 The corset of a girl, from her twelfth or fifteenth year 

 till her twenty-first, should be nothing more than a 

 cotton jacket, made so as rather to brace her shoul- 

 ders back, but without improper compression of the 

 arm-pits, and devoid of all stiffening, but what is 

 proper to the material of which it is made. At this 

 age, slight imperfections of form, or inelegances of 

 movement, are especially within the control of well- 

 directed exercise and appropriate diet : force is utter- 

 ly unavailing, and can have no other tendency than 

 tliat of causing injury. 



We may conclude what we have to say on the use 

 of the corset, by imbodying the whole in a few plain, 

 general rules: 1st. Corsets should be made of 

 smooth, soft, elastic materials. 2d. They should be 

 accurately fitted and modified to suit the peculiarities 

 of figure of each wearer. 3d. No other stiffening 

 should be used but that of quilting or padding ; the 

 bones, steel, &c., should be left to the deformed or 

 diseased, for whom they were originally intended. 

 4lh. Corsets should never be drawn so tight as to 

 impede regular, natural breathing, as, under all cir- 

 cumstances, the improvement of figure is insufficient 

 to compensate for the air of awkward restraint caus- 

 ed by such lacing. 5th. They should never be worn, 

 either loosely or tightly, during the hour appropriat- 

 ed to sleep, as, by impeding respiration, and accum- 

 ulating the heat of the system improperly, they inva- 

 riably injure. 6th. The corset for young persons 

 should be of the simplest character, and worn in the 

 lightest and easiest manner, allowing their lungs full 

 play, and giving the form its fullest opportunity for 

 expansion. 



At this remote period, it is impossible for us to say 

 whether the corset, in some form, might not have 

 belonged to the complex toilet of the ancient Israel- 

 itish ladies. We find the prophet Isaiah, in chap, iii., 

 inveighing against their numerous and useless decora- 

 tions " the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about 

 their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like 

 the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the 

 mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, 



and the hea.l-hands, and the tablets, and the ear- 

 rings, the rings and nose jewels, the changeable suit! 

 of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the 

 crisping-pins, the glasses, and the Cue linen, and the 

 hoods, and the vails." This catalogue, at least, shows 

 that the disposition evinced by the fair sex to adorn 

 their persons, and render them more attractive, is 

 not of modern origin, l>ut most probably originated 

 with our great mother Eve. The earliest and most 

 delightful record we have of a contrivance like the 

 corset, among Ethnic writers, is Homer's account of 

 the girdle, or cestus, of Venus, mother of the l.oves 

 and (I races which even the haughty Juno is fabled 

 to have borrowed, in order to make a more profound 

 impression upon her ratlin- unmanageable husband, 

 Jupiter. This girdle was invested by the poet with 

 magical qualities, which rendered the wearer irresisti- 

 bly fascinating : 



" In this was every art and every charm 

 To win the wisest, and the coldest warm t 



Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, 

 The kind deceit, the still reviving fire. 

 Persuasive speech, and more persuasive siclis, 

 Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eye?." 



POPE, Iliad, book xiv., line 247, &c. 



This, after all, we are persuaded, was nothing but 

 such a corset as we have described in the beginning, 

 worn by an elegant form, to which it was accurately 

 adapted. Even Venus herself could not look other- 

 wise than awkward and repulsive in one of the ar- 

 madillo, shell-like machines, which are sold as fash- 

 ionable, without regard to their inelegance. Thecos- 

 j tnme of the ancient Greek ladies was, in every par- 

 I ticular, opposed to stiffness or personal restraint ; and 

 we find that the cestns, or girdle, to gather the flow- 

 ing redundance of their robes around the waist, was 

 considered sufficient for the display of their enchant- 

 ing forms. The Roman ladies were great adepts in 

 the mysteries of the toilet, though not possessed of 

 the grace and elegance of the Grecian beauties. We 

 find among them rudiments of the corset, in the 

 bandages which they wore around the chest, for the 

 purpose of preserving the shape of the bosom, and 

 displaying it to advantage. They were commonly 

 made of woollen or linen cloth, and are alluded to, 

 in several instances, by the poets. Thus, in Terence, 

 we find Chwrea saying to his servant, concerning an 

 unknown beauty who attracted his attention " This 

 girl has nothing in common with ours, whom their 

 mothers force to stoop, and make them bind their 

 bosoms with bandages, in order to appear more 

 slender" (Hand simili.t virgo est virginum nostrarum, 

 quas matres student demissis humeris, vi?icto pectore 

 ut gracilce nienf). TER., Eun. 



A writer in the French Dictionary of Medical 

 Sciences, in an article on corsets, which the reader 

 may compare with the present, states that the whale- 

 bone corset, dividing the female form into two parts, 

 is a relic of the ancient German costume., which is 

 still to be seen in some pictures of celebrated mas- 

 ters. We are not, however, prepared to retract our 

 opinion, that such contrivances were first resorted to 

 in cases of deformity ; for, on inquiry, we find that 

 the German females, as described by the Roman 

 writers, wore dresses tight to the person, though no 

 mention is made of artificial contrivances to give it a 

 peculiar form. The dress of both sexes was similar, 

 consisting of a sagum or cloak clasped at the throat, 

 and a vest or tunic which fitted tightly, and showed 

 all the form. Tegumen fuit sagum, fibula si defuis- 

 set, spina ccnfcrtum ; locvpletissimi distingw-bantur 

 veste, non fluxa, sed stricta, ac pene singula membra 

 exprimente : idem feminis kabittis quiet viris. H. 

 AUBAMUS, De Morih. etc. omn. Gent. It might prove 

 interesting to inquire into the influence which the 

 costume of the mailed knights, during the age of 



