off; but the elbows were cold, it looked comfortless, and the more close shielding out-door dresses resumed their station: this mantle, called the Badajoz cloak, and the Pilgrim's hat and long mantle of fine kerseymere, are now again very universal, and the present pelisse, in compliance with ancient custom, which renders velvet very outre at this season of the year, is made of sarsuet, and furs are no more to be seen; unless they are round a pelerine of satin to suit the colour of the dress they are worn with, and this bordering is then generally of swansdown: the Parisian method of wearing the hat and feather, or bonnet and flowers entirely of one colour, is much adopted. The bonnets are in various forms, but the sempstress bonnet takes place of the cottage; it ties under the chin with long and broad strings, which crossing under the chin are brought to the summit of the crown, where they tie and form a bow: these bonnets are a close and convenient shade to the face for walking; the crowns of all morning bonnets are made much more high and spiral, than they have been for some years. The Yeoman's hat, Regency hat, and French college cap, are yet much worn. The mode of dressing the hair has not been much altered for some months; some ladies, but very few, become it, draw the hair entirely away from the face, and bring it, in the Chinese style, to a raised knot on the summit of the head, which is ornamented with a wreath of grouped flowers. White satin caps are worn with green ornaments; leaves without flowers, such as oak without acorns, geranium without the blossom, deadly night-shade with its green berry, and the trefoil or sham rock made of silk and green foil, did not expire with St. Patrick's day, but is still worn by some of our Eng'ish as well as Hibernian ladies. The make of the gowns, frocks, and slips have varied but little within these last three mouths; only that in full dress the robe is made rather lower in the back than formerly; the frocks in sarsnet have a small fullness; in muslin or leno they are made quite plain : trains and demi trains are only worn when the dresses are made of sarsnet, crape, or gossamer satin; muslin and leno frocks still con tinue to be made a walking or dancing length, and are trimmed round the bottom with lace. High morning dresses continue to be made to lace up the front of the bust with cordon of various colours, to suit the robe, over a stomacher of the same material as the gown: the only dinner dress which is made high is that of the Grey Nuns; a simple and elegant attire, consisting of French grey sarsnet or satin, trimmed round the bottom, sleeves, and down the front with two rows of narrow black velvet and buttons of jet; over this a large rosary and cross of Egyptian rosewood, ebony, or ivory stained of a bright black, is an indispensible ornament, the cross descending below the girdle: if any cap is worn with this, it is the Agnes mob, but the hair elegantly dishevelled, without any ornament, is the most generai with this costume. White crapes embroidered with silver and bright coloured sarsuets, such as Bur. goudy, rose colour, and Maria Louisa blue, are in universal fayour for evening parties; the Maria Louisa blue is a dye of peculiar eclat, between the bright cerulean and the Clarence blue sarsuet and satin gowns of these colours are trimmed with Regency crape trimming, pearls, bugles, white or coloured beads, according to the taste of the wearer; but fine India muslins are invariably trimmed with lace of almot a cobweb texture, and in profusion. Jewellery is much worn; and the Opera, the grand midnight rout and gala present sometimes a complete blaze of splendour ; especially in the variegated coloured gems, which, with the white dresses, will ever be unrivalled favou rites; a new article in cornelian has also been introduced, which from the difficulty attending its attainment, makes some necklaces of that article of immense value; each bead of the necklace and bracelets is as large as a sparrow's egg; and is half a bright red and half white cornelian. Diamonds with black dresses, black velvet college caps, or small elegant hats, turned up in front, with a large diamond crescent, and white gossamer feathers falling over the left side, are yet prevalent as an Opera head-dress: bandeaux also of diamonds, set in close clusters, form a rich and ghttering ornament on very dark hair, while pearls and emeralds intermingled with the bright chesnut tresses, rubies, amethysts, and sapphires with the flaxen curls of la belle blonde, form together, at a public spectacle, a most brilliant and enchanting coup-d'œil. Solitaire necklaces, with suspended crosses, generally of diamonds, pearls, or topaz, are much worn; the rich dark topaz should never be thrown aside; in vain the pink and pale topaz were brought forward to rival it; the orange-coloured topaz has regained its former pre-eminence; it is becoming to all complexions. Half-boots continue to be worn in the morning, and are more prevalent in cloth than kid, those of French grey, fringed and laced with the same colour, are now most in requisition. Our fair countrywomen have entirely exploded the sandal for the more elegant light Italian slipper, for full and half-dress: the colours of these slippers are various; for full-dress chiefly white kid, pink or white satin; for half dress they are of different colours in kid, jean, and chagrin silk. THE MIRROR OF FASHION. In a series of Letters from a Gentleman of rank and taste, to a Lady of Quality. LETTER X. HAVING displayed before the eyes of your Ladyship the various treasures of the AngloNorman looms, it may be requisite to inform you that variety was not less prevalent in the fourteenth century than in that of our own extravagant age. So great was the excess with which all ranks of persons conformed to the various changes of fashion, that the Kings of England deemed it a case of policy to check the caprice and expence of the public, by a direct law against the universality of costly habits. As a specimen, my dear Urania, of the wisdom of our forefathers on this subject,|| I shall present you with the copy of an old parchment which as been several hundred years in the iron chest of my family; and was originally copied from the statute signed by the hand of Edward IV. himself. This act was declared and established in the third year of the reign of the above monarch, and is as follows: "No knight, under the estate of a lord, nor ́his wife, shall wear auy sort of cloth of gold, nor any kind of corsets (stomachers) worked with gold, nor any for cf sables, under the penalty of twenty marks, to be paid to the King. The children of lords are excepted in this prohibiton. "No bachelor knight, nor his wife, shall wear any cloth of velvet upon velvet, under the forfeiture of twenty marks to the King. The knights of the garter and their wives are herein excepted. "No person under the degree of a lord, shall wear any cloth of a purple colour, under the penalty of ten pounds. "No esquire, nor gentleman under the rank of a knight, nor their wives, shall wear any | velvet, figured satin, nor any counterfeit cloth of silk, nor any wrought corsets, under the penalty of ten marks. The sons of lords, with their wives and daughters, and esquires for the King's body, with their wives, are exceptd in this clause. "No esquire nor gentleman, nor any other man or woman, under the rank aforesaid, shall wear any damask or satin, under the penalty of one hundred pence. There is a long exception to this clause, including do mestic esquires, sergeants, officers of the King's household, yeomen of the crown, yeomen of the King's chamber, esquires, and gentlemen possessing the yearly value of one hundred pounds. "Remember that the seneschal (the high steward), chamberlain, treasurer, comptroller of the King's household, his carver, and knights for his lady, and their wives, may wear fars of sables and ermines; and the Mayors of London and their wives may wear the same array as the bachelor-knight and their wives; the Aldermen and Recorder of London, and all the mayors and sheriff's of the cities and coun ties of the said realm, and their wives, may use the same apparel as esquires and gentlemen having possessions to the annual amount of forty pounds. "No mau, not having the yearly value of forty pounds, shall wear any fur of martens, or of pure grey, or of pure minevar; nor shall the wife, the son, the daughter, or the servant of such a man; nor shall any widow of less possession, wear a girdle ornamented with gold or with silver; nor any corset of silk made out of the realm; nor any coverchief, exceeding the value of three shillings the square, under the penalty of five marks. "No man, unless he be possessed of the yearly income of forty shillings, shall wear fustian-bustion, or fustian of Naples, nor scarlet, nor cloth in grain, nor any furs, but of black or white lambs, under the forfeiture of forty shillings. "No yeoman, nor any other person under the degree of yeoman, shail wear is the ap parel for his body any bolsters, nor stuffing of wool, cotton, or caddis, in his doublet; but a lining only, according to the same, under the penalty of six shillings and eight pence. "No knight, under the rank of a lord, esquire, or gentleman, nor any other person, shall wear any gown, jacket, or cloak, that is not long enough, when he stands upright, to cover his hips, even to the kuce, under the penalty of twenty shillings. And if any tailor shall make such short gowns, jackets, cluaks, or doublets, stuffed, or otherwise contrary to the act, the same shall be forfeited!" an as you will, in this country, you now always see man as he is.-But let us return to our statute. "No servant of husbandry, nor common labourer, nor servant of an artificer, shall wear in their garments any cloth not exceeding the price of two shillings the broad yard. Their wives shall be restricted to the same; and they shall not wear any coverchief (or shawl) of more value than twelve pence the square. It is also ordained that the servants and la. bourers aforesaid, shall not wear any hosen, close or open, beyond the price of fourteenpence the pair. Neither shall their wives wear any girdles garnished with silver, under the penalty of fortypence. "No person of whatever estate, degree, or condition, shall wear any cloth of gold, or silk of purple col ur, except the King, the Queen, and the royal family of the royal blood. "No person under the estate of a duke, shall wear any cloth of tissue, under the forfeiture of forty marks. “Embroidered apparel, broached or guarded with gold or silver, or goldsmith's work, is prohibited to all persons below the dignity of a duke, a marquis, an earl, or a knight of the garter." So far the royal mandate against extravagance in apparel! But, it has been said in our times, "there is no act of parliament that a man may not drive a coach and six Your Ladyship will perceive by the two foregoing articles, that our forefathers of the aristocracy were so jealous of the advantage of a fine shape, that when they had it not naturally, they applied to the aid of bolsters and stuffing to supply the deficiency of nature, and to prevent the plebeian ranks from invading their art of adding a cubit to their stature, or a pair of broad shoulders on a really meagre frame, they turned the science of shape-patch-through!" and, in like manner, the beaux ing into a privilege of Parliament; and woe to the poor caitif who ever presumed to make in it a breach! That these absolute lords, but made up men, might display their manufactured muscles to fair view, you perceive they were alone permitted to parade in short doublets. An Apollo of heaven's own chisseling was made to hide its beautiful properties, if it belonged to a yeoman, under a long tunic and an ample robe; while the poor quilted manikin, with a coroneted brow, was hailed from the tailor's hands, in a close doublet and sham skirts, as the very pe: fection of the buman form divine! What strange perversion! But we will not exclaim; we will rather cougratulate ourselves that a nobleman would now be as much ashamed of patching his figure as patching his character; and that see and belles of former ages found a path to conduct them to vanity fair. However, satire slipped in to aid regal prerogative, and the shafts of wit were showered upon the persevering fopperies of our grandfathers and greatgrandmothers. There is yet extant a little poem in the French language (but you must go to the Harlean library to see it), in which the author (a poet of the thirteenth century), compares the ladies of his time to magpies. He thus proceeds :-" The pies, from nature, bear feathers of various colours; so our ladies delight in diversity of ornaments; the pics have long tails that trail in the dirt; so the ladies make their tails a thousand times longer and more gaudy than those of pi s or of peacocks."-What an ungallant son of the Muses! If the fair daughters of Parnassus had served him right, he should have shared the fate of Orpheus, and lost his head for his pains Were I to compare the ladies of the nineteenth century to a bird, in which would my Urania expect me to aflix my comparison?-not to one only; for we have not sweet songstresses whose melodious notes declare them sisters to the nightingale? Have we not tender maidens whose soft sighs whisper, "we sprung from the turtle's nest." And, loveliest Urania, have we not thy beauteous self, who, like the heaven-descented Halcyon, brings the gift of happiness wherever thou alightest! In the course of my researches into the mysteries of antiquity, I found great pleasure in the perusal of a packet of letters in manuscript, bound together in the form of a missal, and which were addressed by a brave old knight of Normandy to his three daughters. They contain excellent advice on the regula tion of female manuers in the conduct of life; and set forth some curious remarks on the sub jects I am now upon:-"Fair daughters," he says, "I pray you that ye be not the first to take new shapes and guises of array, of women of strange countries." He then censures the fashion of wearing superfluous quantities of furs and trimmings, and adds, "the use of great purfiles and slit coats was first introduced by wanton women, and was afterwards most incontinently adopted by the princesses and ladies of England." Extravagance in qauntity as well as quality, of the contents of a lady's wardrobe, meets with a severe rebuke from our venerable knight, who thus warns his daughters : The "A certain baron lost, by death, the lady of his heart and bed, and being in great grief went to a holy bermit to console himself with news of her blessed state in Paradise. anchorite led the mourning husband into his chapel, and told him to pray, and the state of his deceased wife would surely he revealed. The baron obeyed, and in the midst of his prostrations fell into a profound sleep. A dream or vision presented itself before his eyes, and he beheld the soul of his lady weighed in a balance, with an angel standing in one scale and the devil in the other. In the scale with her were placed all her good works; and in the opposite scale sat the fiend, surrounded with her evil works, and with them lay all her fine clothing. The devil then said to the angel:-This woman had ten divers gowns, and as many coats; and you well know that a smaller number would have been sufficient for every thing necessary; and with the value of one of these gowns or coats, no less than fifty poor men might have been clothed and kept from cold, sickness, and perishing saying, the foul fiend gathered together all her gay garments, with her jewels, and lo! the rings which her lovers had given to her, and cast them into the sinking side of the balance with her evil works, which instantly struck to the ground!-The angel saw the decision of justice, and spreading his bright wings, flew far upward, whilst the riches and the lady dropped with the devil into the lake of eternal fire!"-More of the knight anon, from your PARIS. So MONTHLY MISCELLANY, INCLUDING VARIETIES, CRITICAL, LITERARY, AND HISTORICAL. LYCEUM. SONS OF ERIN-A new Comedy has been produced at this theatre, under the title of the Sons of Erin, or Modern Sentiment. It is ascribed to the pen of an Irish lady, nice to Mr. Sheridan, and is written with the laudable purpose of extirpating prejudices against the sister country. The dialogue of the piece, next to its amiable tendency, was its best recommendation. It was chaste, vigorous, and brisk; occasionally luxuriant, and overflowing with sentiment; but, on the whole, it was better than the language of most modern Comedies. This play has been received, deservedly, with great applause, and continues to be acted to crowded houses. plundering, buried the body; if, on the contrary, he missed his aim, or the person, though wounded, attempted to escape, he gave the signal to a dog which he had trained, and which SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY.-Sir Samuel Romilly's own account of his origin and introduction of his family into England:-I was born and educated and have passed my whole life in England, with the exception of a short inter-effectually prevented that design. The num val which was spent in visiting foreign coun tries. My father too was born and educated in England, and spent his whole life in it. My grandfather, it is true, was not an Englishman by birth, but he was an Englishman by choice. He was born the heir to a considerable lauded estate at Montpellier, in the south of France. His ancestors had early imbibed and adopted the principles and doctrines of the reformed religion, and he had been educated himself in that religious faith. He had the misfortune to live soon after the time when the Edict of Nantes-the great Toleration Act of the Protestants of France, was revoked by Louis XIV. and he found himself exposed to all the vexa. tions and persecutions of a bigotted and tyrannical Government, for worshipping God in the manner which he believed was most acceptable to him. He determined to free himself from this bondage; he abandoned his property, he tore himself from his connections, and sought an asylum in this land of liberty, where he had to support himself only by his own exertions. He embarked himself in trade; be educated his sous to useful trades; and he was contented at his death, to leave them, instead of his original patrimony, no other inheritance than the habits of industry he had given them, the example of his own virtuous life,-an hercditary detestation of tyranny and injustice,-and an ardent zeal in the cause of civil and religious freedom. To him I owe it, among other inestimable blessings, that I am an Englishman. DEPRAVITY.—A peasant, of the name of J. Angley, was lately convicted at Mentz, along with a woman with whom he cohabited, of having murdered ten persons during eigh teen months. . It appeared, by the evidence, that the criminal was a wood cutter, and resided six miles from the city; being idle, and desirous of subsisting without labour, he determined to rob all single travellers who passed through a neighbouring wood; for this purpose he used to conceal himself in a high tree, and take deliberate aim at his victim if he fell, he descended to finish his work, and after No. XXXI. Vol. V.-N. S : || ber of persons who had suddenly disappeared while passing through the wood, gave rise to suspicions, and led to the apprehension of Angley and the woman, both of whom, struck with remorse, made a full confession of their guilt. Angley and the woman were executed, and the dog was shot by order of the Magis trates. ANECDOTE OF THE FRENCH POLICE.-A merchant of high respectability in Bourdeaux had occasion to visit the metropolis upon commercial business, carrying with him bills and money to a very large amount. On his arrival at the gates of Paris, a genteel looking man opened the door of his carriage, and addressed him to this effect:-" Sir, I have been waiting upon you for some time; according to my notes you were to arrive at this hour; and your person, your carriage, and your portmanteau, exactly answering the description I hold in my hand, you will permit me to have the honour of conducting you to Monsieur De Sartine." The gentleman, astonished and alarmed at this interruption, and still more so at bearing the name of the Lieutenant of Police mentioned, demanded to know what Monsieur De Sartine wanted with bim; adding at the same time, that he never had committed any offence against the laws, and that he could have no right to interrupt or detain him. The messenger declared himself perfectly ignorant of the cause of the detention; stating at the same time, that when he had conducted him to Mons. De Sartine, be should have executed his orders, which were merely ministerial. After some further explanations, the gentleman permitted the officer to conduct him to the hotel of the Lieutenant of Police. Mons. De Sartine received him with great politeness; and after requesting him to be seated, to his great astonishment he described his portmanteau, and told him the exact sum in bills and specie which he had brought with him to Paris, and where he was to lodge, his usual time of going to bed, and a number of other circumstances, which the gentleman had conEe |