LADY-FISHERS AND DRESS. 11s 
sophers as exercising a powerful effect in moulding the national 
character, and I am quite satisfied that if English men and 
women, and those living in town as well as in the country, were 
to adopt a dress allowing greater freedom and play to the 
limbs and muscles, and (so far as men are concerned) would 
discard, once and for all, chimneypot hats, frock coats, leg bags 
—I use the term literally, not in a slangy sense—and the other 
paraphernalia of the bandbox, there would be a marked 
advance in the manliness and ‘ robustness’ of the race. 
Women who shoot or fish should never hesitate to wear a 
dress suitable for the purpose ; long skirts are not only con- 
stantly in the way, but often prove a source of real danger to 
the wearer. The same remark holds still more true in regard 
to long riding habits, and if the readers of these lines had seen 
as many accidents, and hair-breadth escapes from accidents, in 
the hunting field, as I have, owing to long skirts, they would 
join in the outcry which ought, in the name of common sense, 
to be raised against them. However, I am glad to see that 
there is some improvement of late years in this respect also. 
In arranging a lady’s fishing dress, next to the short skirts 
thick boots more or less waterproof are the most impor- 
tant item, having regard both to protection and comfort; but 
this is precisely the point on which the male adviser finds the 
greatest difficulty in procuring a favourable hearing for his 
views. Simply on the score of ‘prettiness’ it cannot be said 
that a stout double-soled shooting or fishing -boot is as killing 
as a Queen Anne slipper, Louis Quatorze shoe, or a pair of 
dainty do¢tines, expressly designed to set off and emphasise 
the delicate arch of the instep, whilst displaying the toot and 
ankle in a position which, if not quite natural, is at least ex- 
ceedingly picturesque. 
The flower she touched on, dipp’d and rose, 
And turned to look again. 
But, my dear lady readers—if I should be so favoured as to 
have any—do not let it be forgotten that there is ‘a beauty of 
fitness,’ and that where really rough work has to be done ‘ ease 
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