184 



ON TIGHT SHOES, 



putting those parts into prison which, as they 

 value their health, ought always to remain free ? 



No sooner are the external parts sent in 

 by the ligature of stays, than the internal 

 parts begin to suffer from the unnatural pres- 

 sure ; and then the heart, and lungs, and ad- 

 jacent vitals, robbed of their means of full ex- 

 pansion by this ugly, bad, and cruel process, no 

 longer can perform their duty as they once 

 were wont to do. In the mean time, health 

 sees closing in upon her a train of diseases, wan, 

 and hideous, and terrible to think of. Irregular 

 beatings of the heart, loss of appetite, loss of 

 health, and loss of sleep, are the certain con- 

 sequences, in a greater or a less degree, of cir- 

 cumventing the body with a pair of tight stays. 



Nature must and will be free. If you press 

 her on one part, she will protrude at another ; 

 and there she will cause a permanent deformity, 

 if you continue to torment her. 



In Prussia and in Italy, nothing can exceed 

 the horrible distortions brought upon the human 

 frame by the use of swaddling clothes. In these 

 countries may be seen the spine in every stage 

 of deformity that the most vivid imagination 

 can conceive, with a misshapen breast as a 



