348 
pointed to some ladies, whose bosoms 
were exposed in a manner that I never 
saw before, except under the piazzas of 
Covent-Garden of an evening, or in some 
of the most nocturnal _ street-walkers. 
“¢ Surely (said I,) they are of no other de- 
scription, unless they are of a higher or- 
der of demireps, and kept by men of fa- 
shion.” 
“TI am very glad (said my friend) to 
hear those remarks from you; for coming 
from a stranger they bring the matter of 
female attire to.a proper test; as what- 
€ver appears indelicate to an unpreju- 
diced person, cannot be strictly decorous. 
-And I am afraid that, as the boxes con- 
tinue to fill, you will find sufficient rea- 
son to exclaim Fempora mutantur. 
“<< Tempora mutantur, indeed, (said I) et 
nos mutantur in illis.”. A change of this 
kind, and to this extent, (which fashion 
may indeed be termed @ la fille de joie,) 
I could hardly have credited, had I not 
seen it with my own eyes. I still howe- 
ver imagined that this was only an opera 
dress, intended, as it were, to keep the 
dancers in countenance, and as such, con- 
fined to our fashionable London belles of 
the haut ton. I could not conceive that 
a practice so repugnant to female delicacy 
could spread beyond the circle of fashion, 
and extend to domestic life. 
With this hope i left the opera, and on 
the next day went by appointment to 
dine with my sister, the widow of a wine- 
merchant in the city, whose three daugh- 
ters, children when I left them, were now 
grownup. As before I left England four 
used to be the family hour, I made some 
allowance for the difference of times, and 
thought I would stay till half an hour 
later hefore I made my appearance; at 
_which ume’l accordingly went, but found 
the ladies not yet returned from their 
morning visits. ‘They soon came in, how- 
ever, and beginning to apologize for not 
being in the way to receive me, as they 
had not expected me so soon, observed 
that nobody dined now before half past 
fiveor six. At the first sight of my nieces, 
i was very glad to find that, although 
they were neatly and handsomely dressed, 
there were no exposures, except of their 
pretty faces and their red elbows, which 
latter, as it excited no indelicate idea, I 
thought of little consequence, though I 
could not wonder at any thing beco- 
ining fashionable, which was se far fram 
being ornamental. It seemed, however, 
that,.considering me, not as a stranger, 
but as an uncle, they did not dress till af- 
Indelicacy of the Fashionable Attire of Females. [Jan. 1, 
ter dinner for the evening, when a large 
party being invited to meet me, they re- 
paired to their toilets before we adjourned 
to the drawing room, where at length I 
found them and several other ladies of 
‘different ages, all in the same state of un- 
dress I had observed at the opera, and 
even in more respects than I could have 
perceived there, as by means of modern 
invisible petticoats and transparent dra- 
pery, there were exposures below, as well 
as above. . 
My nieces retiring to their chambers 
as soon as the company dispersed, I 
could not help making afew remarks to 
my sister, upon what appeared so strange 
to me, and expressing my concern at it ; 
and I was glad to find that she entirely 
coincided in opinion with me. “ But 
why then, (said I,) do you suffer your 
daughters to appear as they have just 
done?” “ Alas! (replied she) what can 
I do? When this absurd fashion first 
came out, I congratulated myself that my 
girls were young,and hoped by the time 
they grew up, it would have had its run; 
or if not, determined, at least, that they 
should not enter into it. You see, howe- 
ver, it still continues; and when it became 
time for me to exert my power, though I 
did it in the gentlest manner, it produced 
only sullenness and discontent, as the’ 
young women of their acquaintance ral- 
lied them on their unfashionable modesty, 
and my eldest daughter at length told me, 
that, though she should certainly not dress 
in Ofposition to my commands, yet she 
must beg to decline going into company, 
unless she could do as others did. I was 
therefore at length obliged to comproimise 
matters, and stipulate that, to a. certain 
degree, they might conform to the fa- 
shion, but should by no means go to ex- 
tremities. And to this they kept for a 
few weeks, but by degrees came to a 
perfect level with the most forward and 
extravagant of their acquaintance, which 
I know not now how to: prevent. Nei- 
ther (continued she) is this indecorous ap- 
pearance the worst of the evil, as upon — 
many constitutions, I fear, it has a most 
serious and alarming effect, which many 
of the faculty have lately declared. For 
though they at all times and seasons go 
now with only one petticoat, yet in a 
morning their necks are closely covered 
‘up with cravats and shirts, all of which, 
without any intermediate gradation, are 
thrown offin the evening, when they have 
to encounter the alternate heat and 
draughts of air in a crowded drawing-room 
oF 
