TIGHT STAYS, AND CRAVATS. 181 



to be uncovered in these days of observation 

 and improvement, certainly the throat of man 

 has the best claim to exemption from the 

 punishment which it undergoes at present. 



However, we are not quite so outrageous 

 now-a-days in some things as we were when I 

 was a lad. I remember well the time when 

 cravats of enormous height and thickness were 

 all the go. 'Twas said that these jugular bol- 

 sters came into fashion on account of some un- 

 sightly rosebuds having made their appearance 

 a little below the ears of a royal dandy. This 

 may have been scandal for aught I know to the 

 contrary ; but certain it is, that the new inven- 

 tion spread like wildfire, ancl warmed the 

 throats of all in high life. A connexion of 

 ours placed so much stress upon the necessity 

 of it, that he never considered himself suf- 

 ficiently well dressed until he had circumvented 

 his neck with seven cravats, — only two less 

 in number than the aqueous folds which sur- 

 rounded the body of Eurydice, when she was in 

 the realms below, where 



" Novies Styx interfusa coercet : 



" Fate had fast bound her 



With Styx nine times round her." 



