regular succession of richly embroidered satin waistcoats, with flaps or pouches, almost resembling the shooting jackets of the present day; of finely wrought cambric frills, ruffles, and cravats ; of powdered periwigs, with stiff rows of curls, and a rose in the centre, resembling the knocker of a door; and of hats turned up in a triangular form. These, with variegated silk stockings; massive silver buckles to the shoes and knees for undress ; and for full dress, similar articles set with diamonds or rubies, had been the mode when Mr. Dormer was young, and still, in his esteem, were indispensable to the attire of a well-dressed gentleman. The whole was preserved and arranged with the most scrupulous neatness and care; and when, at stated periods, they were replaced with new ones, and transferred to the old French gardener, (a familypiece of some sixty years' standing,) they appeared almost as good as new, and sometimes caused the old man to be mistaken for his master; a mistake which he generally corrected with a shrug and a smile, expressive rather of satisfaction than of displeasure. Those, however, who made such a mistake, must have overlooked the absence of two appendages, without which Mr. Dormer was never seen abroad-his gold-headed cane, and his shockdog, whose silvery locks were every day washed and combed with as much care as was bestowed on the dressing of his master's wig. Such was the exterior of Mr. Dormer, an old-fashioned old gentleman of the by-gone century; and a very respectable old gentleman he was; and would have been looked upon, at least in the house of my Uncle Barnaby, with unmingled respect and admiration, as a genuine specimen of the old school, if he

would have been contented with adhering to his old preferences, without either enforcing them on others, to whom they were not agreeable or suitable, or dealing out his censures on those who followed another mode; but in both these particulars the old man was apt to display his weakness, and render himself obnoxious to those around him.

Modern female dress was, with him, a favourite topic of declamation; and it must be confessed that, at the time alluded to, the prevalent modes were sufficiently open to animadversion. Towards the close of the last century, the stiff, prim, whalebone bodice gave way to the more easy and graceful Grecian costume. The unsightly pyramid of powdered curls, feathers, furbelows, and lappets, was abolished; and the hair suffered to flow as nature had inclined it, or was confined only by a simple braid. But human nature is ever prone to extremes; and, in the commencement of the present century, the ladies in general adopted a mode of dress altogether inconsistent with health, delicacy, and propriety. Going as far as possible from the stiff, ample folds, of brocade in which their mothers had enveloped themselves, nothing was worn but muslin of a thin texture, and so scantily made up as neither to answer the purpose of warmth or decency. It was rather undress than dress. Poets, divines, physicians, moralists, and satirists, inveighed against the absurdity; but it had its day, and the evil cured itself. I look back, and recollect with satisfaction that the females of our families-both my sisters and my cousins-though they adopted the prevailing changes, as far as they were graceful and suitable, had too much good sense and good taste to follow

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all the vagaries of fashion, or to forfeit the character of well-dressed women. Miss Dormer-a young lady about their own age-was compelled by her father to adhere both in materials and fashion to the style of dress of her mother, who had been dead almost twenty years. Much to the mortification of this young lady, she still wore the rich flowered brocades and mantuas which every body else had, for years, consigned to some huge chest, as family relics, or had converted into chair covers, counterpanes, or curtains. It is to be feared that this compliance was not obtained without some family altercations, by no means consistent with the good feelings and good repute of an affectionate father and a dutiful daughter. It is a pity when parents are stiff and unreasonable in their requirements about trifles: it has the bad effect of weakening their influence in things of greater moment, as well as of exalting those trifles into matters of importance; and it fosters a spirit of opposition, and determination to run into the opposite extreme, the moment the unnatural restriction is taken off. This, I believe, was the case with Miss Dormer. After the death of her father, she was distinguished by as eager an adoption of the fashion as she had formerly been by a forced opposition to it; and by going abroad thinly clad, and in bleak weather, she brought on herself an illness from which she never recovered. But to return to the old gentleman, and his visit to my uncle.

Scarcely were the usual inquiries after health, etc., etc., got through, before Mr. Dormer poured forth a violent tirade against the dress of the ladies, placing it in most disparaging contrast with

that of ladies fifty or sixty years before, and denouncing it as one of the most fearful indications of national degeneracy, and of approaching national ruin. In the enthusiasm of his zeal, he forgot to inform the company that his displeasure was excited by the appearance of a carriage full of ladies, whom he had met on the way to my uncle's, attired in the very extreme of the fashion; nor did he observe that there were seven or eight females present who might have supposed his censures directed to them. My uncle endeavoured to soften down the matter, and exempt the present company from Mr. Dormer's remarks. "No," he replied, "they are all alike in the present day. Even my daughter would be just the same as the rest, if I would suffer her." This ill-timed remark painfully drew the attention of all present to the young lady, and added to the mortification already too heavily imposed upon her by her antiquated appearance. Mr. Kennedy, nowise loth to debate with his neighbour, began defending the modern style as most graceful and most natural, and the debate probably would have occupied the remainder of the evening; but my uncle, in pity to the company in general, and especially with a view to relieve Miss Dormer's embarrassment, asked her if she had been to see some beautiful specimens of glass work, then exhibiting in a neighbouring town. She had been, and had been much interested in the operations and experiments she witnessed. It gave her a more clear idea of the process than she had ever received before. The rest of the party also had been. My uncle had purchased several beautiful specimens, which were produced; and the subject bid fair to afford a little rational

and peaceable conversation: but, alas! it served the old gentleman with an occasion to start off against the modern innovations of machinery. He thought the present age was characterized by a presumptuous desire for knowledge and speculative inventions, some of which he considered absolutely sinful and profane, and others useless and injurious. Among the first, he particularized the attempts to travel by means of air-balloons-on which subject, it must be confessed, some schemes, sufficiently absurd, had been broached by Montgolfier and others—and vaccination, which was then just introduced to public notice. The old gentleman had never given in to the expedient, even of inoculation; but expressed satisfaction, and even pride, that both himself and his daughter bore on their countenances incontrovertible marks of the ravages of small-pox in its unmitigated form; and spoke with contempt of the arguments that had been employed by friends and physicians to induce him to have his only remaining child inoculated. He had lost several by the natural small-pox, and seemed to consider the preservation of her life as the reward of his own constancy; for, had she been inoculated she might have died, and was it worth while to hazard life for the sake of preserving beauty? Here the young lady seemed by no means to sympathize in her father's selfapprobation. He proceeded to speak of the new experiment as transcendently absurd, preposterous, and impious; and such as, if universally adopted, would infallibly bring the next generation of men, whoever might live to see it, to a level with the brutes of the field. Then, as to the modern advancements in machinery, they were fraught with