102 TUSCAN HATS. 



being exposed to the fumes of sulphur from one to three days, 

 in the same case in which they were bleached. The disco- 

 lored straws are then taken out with a needle and scissors, 

 and the vacancies supplied by others. The hats are polished 

 with little pieces of boxwood in the form of a shuttle, with 

 which they rub them always in the same direction, and a 

 long hot iron of about 151bs. weight is employed for the cal- 

 endering process. 



It is by the number of the rows of plait that the fineness of 

 a hat is known, is it not 1 ? 



MRS. F. 



Yes; you will always see a pencil figure in the bottom of 

 a Leghorn hat, which denotes its quality. 



HENRIETTA. 



What becomes of the inferior straw hats! 



They are generally dyed black, and worn by the country- 

 women themselves. The women about Florence wear round 

 black hats with bunches of feathers in them; and I confess 

 the effect was rather curious to my eyes, when the washer- 

 woman who called for our clothes, entered the room drest in 

 a round black hat with three feathers: it was probably these 

 round black hats which made me fancy that the Florentines 

 resemble the Welsh women in their appearance; added to 

 which they are short and -rather stout, with clear florid com- 

 plexions, and well looking. But before we finish the subject 

 of Tuscan hats, I must tell you that there is a manufactory 

 of them in England, where they are produced little inferior in 

 quality to the originals. 



HENRIETTA. 



Oh! where, aunt? 



MRS. F. 



In the village of Benenden, in Kent, where it has been 



