indiscreetly familiar, to allow of liberties being taken with your
good-nature; all this is likely to happen with people of the same
rank with ourselves, unless we hold our mere acquaintance at a proper
distance, by a certain reserve. A woman may be gay, ingenuous,
perfectly amiable to her associates, and yet reserved. Avoid all
sudden intimacies, all needless secret-telling, all closeting about
nonsense, caballing, taking mutual liberties with each other in regard
to domestic arrangements; in short, beware of familiarity! The kind
of familiarity which is common in families, and amongst women of the
same classes in society, is that of an indiscriminate gossiping; an
interchange of thoughts without any effusion of the heart. Then an
unceremonious way of reproaching each other, for a real or supposed
neglect; a coarse manner of declaring your faults; a habit of jangling
on trifles; a habit of preferring your own whims or ease before that of
the persons about you; an indelicate way of breaking into each other’s
privacy. In short, doing everything that declares the total oblivion of
all politeness and decent manners.
This series of errors happens every day amongst brothers and sisters,
husbands and wives, and female acquaintances: and what are the
consequences? Distaste, disgust, everlasting quarrels, and perhaps
total rupture in the end!
I have seen many families bound together by the tenderest affection; I
have seen many hearts wrought into each other by the sweet amalgamation
of friendship; but with none did I ever find this delicious foretaste
of the society in Elysium, where a never-failing politeness was not
mingled in all their thoughts, words, and actions, to each other.
Deportment to superiors must ever carry with it that peculiar degree
of ceremony which their rank demands. No intimacy of intercourse with
them, no friendship and affection from them, ought ever to make us
forget the certain respect which their stations require. Thus, for a
mere gentlewoman to think of arrogating to herself the same homage of
courtesy that is paid to a lady of quality, or to deny the just tribute
of precedence, in every respect, to that lady, would be as absurd as
presumptuous. Yet we see it; and ridicule, from the higher circles,
is all she derives from her vain pretensions. By the same rule, every
woman of rank must yield due courtesy to those above her, in the just
gradation, according to their elevation in the scale of nobility. The
law of courts on this subject is soon understood, and, as a guide to
my young readers, who may not yet have been sufficiently informed, I
shall, beneath, give them a list of female titles, according to their
precedence in the march of hereditary and other honors. I shall begin
with the highest rank, as it is that which, in all public processions,
or in private parties, has the right of standing or moving first.
As the crown of the whole, I set down a Queen. Then Princesses. Then
follow, in regular order, Duchesses, Marchionesses, Countesses. The
Wives of the eldest sons of Marquisses. The Wives of the younger sons
of Dukes. Daughters of Dukes. Daughters of Marquisses. Viscountesses.
Wives of the Eldest sons of Earls. Daughters of Earls. Wives of the
younger sons of Marquisses. Baronesses. Wives of the eldest sons of
Viscounts. Daughters of Viscounts. Wives of the younger sons of Earls.
Wives of the eldest sons of Barons. Daughters of Barons. Wives of the
younger sons of Viscounts. Wives of the younger sons of Barons. Wives
of Baronets. Wives of Privy Counsellors. Commoners. Wives of Judges.
Wives of Knights of the Garter. Wives of Knights of the Bath. Wives of
Knights of the Thistle. Wives of Knights Bachelors. Wives of Generals.
Wives of Admirals. Wives of the eldest sons of Baronets. Daughters of
Knights, according to their fathers’ precedence. Wives of the younger
sons of Baronets. Wives of Esquires and Gentlemen. Daughters of
Esquires and Gentlemen. Wives of Citizens and Burgesses. The Wives of
Military and Naval Officers of course take precedence of each other in
correspondence with the rank of their husbands.
This scale, if every young lady would bear in mind and conform to it,
is a sufficient guide to the mere ceremony of precedence; and would
effectually prevent those dangerous disputes in ball-rooms about
places, and those rude jostlings in going in and out of assemblies,
which are not more disagreeable than ill-bred. It is the perfection
of fine breeding to know your place, to be acquainted with that of
others; and to fall gracefully into your station accordingly. While
the gentlewoman is content to move in the train of female honors,
the dignified decorum of step forms one graceful link in the chain
of society; but if she struggles to get before, strikes one to her
right, and the other to her left; treads down alike her equals and her
superiors, in her eagerness for pre-eminence; we fly from the shrew,
and declare her unworthy of fellowship with any class of well-ordered
females.
The deference we pay to superiors, our inferiors will refund to
us; and therefore, if we wish to maintain “that proud submission,
that dignified obedience,” which binds the subject, through various
gradations, to the sovereign, we must teach our untractable spirits to
bend to the cogent reasons and salutary ordinances of high authority.
Women in every country have a greater influence than men choose to
confess.
“Men’s earliest words are taught them from her lips.”
Though haughtiness of mind will not allow them always to acknowledge
the truth, yet we see the proof in its effects; and, in consequence,
must exhort women, by yielding their deference to the laws of honorary
precedence, to teach men to obey them; and rather to emulate such
distinctions, than seek to pull down the possessors to the level of the
common herd.
CONCLUSION.
“Can comeliness of form, or shape, or air,
With comeliness of words or deeds compare?
No! those at first th’ unwary heart may gain,
But these, these only, can the heart retain.”
GAY.
When so much has been said of the body and its accoutrements, I cannot
but subjoin a few words on the intelligence which animates the frame,
and of the organ which imparts its meaning.
Connected speech is granted to mankind alone. Parrots may prate, and
monkeys chatter; but it is only to the reasonable being that power of
combining ideas, expressing their import, and uttering, in audible
sounds, in all its various gradations, the language of sense and
judgment, of love and resentment, is awarded as a gift, that gives us a
proud and undeniable superiority to all the rest of the creation.
To employ this faculty well and gracefully, is one grand object of
education. The mere organ itself, as to sound, is like a musical
instrument, to be modulated with elegance, or struck with the
disorderly nerve of coarseness and vulgarity.
I must add to what has been said before on the subject, that excessive
rapidity of speaking is, in general, even with a clear enunciation,
very disagreeable; but, when it is accompanied with a shrill voice,
the effect is inexpressibly discordant and hideous. The first orator
the heathen world ever knew, so far remedied the natural defects of
his speech, (and they were most embarrassing,) as to become the most
easy and persuasive of speakers. In like manner, when a young woman
finds any difficulty or inelegance in her organs, she ought to pay the
strictest attention to rectify the fault.
Should she have too quick or encumbered an articulation, she ought
to read with extreme slowness for several hours in the day, and even
pay attention, in speaking, to check the rapidity or confusion of her
utterance. By similar antidotal means, she must attack a propensity
of talking in a high key. Better err in the opposite extreme,
while she is prosecuting her cure, as the voice will gradually and
imperceptibly attain its most harmonious pitch, than, by at first
attempting the medium, most likely retain too much of the screaming
key. A clear articulation, a tempered intonation, and in a moderate
key, are essentials in the voice of an accomplished female. Her
graceful peculiarities must be the gift of nature, or the effect of
cultivated taste. Fine judgment and delicate sensibility are the best
schoolmistresses on this subject. Indeed, where, in relation to man or
woman, shall we find that an improved understanding, and enlightened
mind, and a refined taste, are not the best polishers of manners, and
in all respects the most efficient handmaids of the Muses?
Let me, then, in one short sentence, in one tender adieu, my fair
readers and endeared friends! enforce upon your minds, that if Beauty
be woman’s weapon, it must be feathered by the Graces, pointed by the
eye of Discretion, and shot by the hand of Virtue!
Look, then, my sweet pupils, not merely to your mirrors, when you would
decorate yourselves for conquest, but consult the _speculum_, which
will reflect your hearts and minds. Remember that it is the affections
of a sensible and reasonable soul you hope to subdue, and seek for arms
likely to carry the fortress.
He that is worthy, must love corresponding excellence. Which of you
all would wish to marry a man merely for the color of his eye, or
the shape of his leg? Think not then worse of him than you would do
of yourselves; and hope not to satisfy his better wishes with the
possession of a merely handsome wife.
Beauty of person will ever be found a dead letter, unless it be
animated with beauty of mind. “For ’tis the mind that makes the body
rich.” We must, then, not only cultivate the shape, the complexion, the
air, the attire, the manners, but most assiduously must our attention
be devoted to teach “the young idea how to shoot,” and to fashion the
unfolding mind to judgment and virtue. By such culture, it will not be
merely the charming girl, the captivating woman we shall present to
the world, but the dutiful daughter, affectionate sister, tender wife,
judicious mother, faithful friend, and amiable acquaintance.
Let these, then, be fair images which will form themselves on the
models drawn by my not inexperienced pen! Let me see Beauty, whose soul
is virtue, approach me with the chastened step of Modesty; and, ere
she advances from behind the heavenly cloud that envelops her, I shall
behold Love, and all the graces, hovering in air to adorn and attend
her charms.
This may be thy picture, lovely daughter of Albion! Make thyself, then
worthy of the likeness, and thou wilt fulfil the fondest wish of thine
unknown friend.
APPENDIX.
ON THE USE OF CORSETS.
The following pages are abridged by an eminent English physician from
an Essay on the Use of Corsets, by Soemmerring, the German physiologist:
Fashion lives on novelty, and we have on this account much charity for
its wanderings and eccentricities. Bonnets, with a snout as long as an
elephant’s proboscis, or a margin as broad as a Winchester bushel, are
merely ridiculous. Shoulders that look like wings, and sleeves as wide
as a petticoat, we think are not particularly graceful; but they have
at least the merit of being airy, and we take no offence. We cannot,
however, extend our indulgence to the compressed waist, which is the
rage at present. We know that as often as the waist is lengthened to
its natural limits, this tendency to abridge its diameter appears; and
we confess we are puzzled to account for the fact; for surely it is
strange, that a permanent prepossession should exist in favor of a mode
of dress which is at once ugly, unnatural, and pernicious. Were fashion
under the guidance of taste, the principles of drapery in painting
and sculpture would never be lost sight of in its changes. The clothes
that cover us may be disposed in an infinite variety of forms, without
violating those rules which the artist is careful to observe. The true
form of the body ought to be disclosed to the eye, without the shape
being exhibited in all its minutiæ, as in the dress of a harlequin;
but in no case should the natural proportions (supposing the figure to
be good) be changed. Ask the sculptor what he thinks of a fashionable
waist, pinched till it rivals the lady’s neck in tenuity, and he will
tell you it is monstrous. Consult the physician, and you will learn
that this is one of those follies in which no female can long indulge
with impunity; for health, and even life, are often sacrificed to it.
Corsets are used partly as a warm covering to the chest, and partly to
furnish a convenient attachment to other parts of the female dress.
This is all proper and correct; but to these uses fashion superadds
others, originating in fantastical notions of beauty. Corsets are
employed to modify the shape, to render the chest as small below, and
as broad above, as possible, and to increase the elevation, fulness,
and prominence of the bosom. To show how this affects the condition of
the body, we must begin by giving a short description of the thorax or
chest, which is the subject of this artificial compression.
Every one who has seen a skeleton, knows that the chest consists
of a cavity protected by a curious frame-work of bones. These are,
1st, the back-bone, (consisting of _vertebræ_, or short bones jointed
into one another,) which sustains the whole upper part of the trunk;
2d, the breast-bone, about seven or eight inches long, and composed
of three pieces; and 3dly, the ribs, of which there are generally
twentyfour. The twelve ribs on each side are all fixed to the back-bone
behind; seven of these, the seven uppermost, are also attached to the
breast-bone before, and are, therefore, called _true ribs_. The eighth
rib has its end turned up, and rests on the seventh; the ninth rests
in the same way on the eighth; but the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
are not connected with one another in front at all. The fore extremity
of each rib consists not of bone, but of an elastic substance called
cartilage. The elasticity of this substance, combined with the oblique
position of the ribs, constitutes a beautiful provision, in consequence
of which the chest enlarges and contracts its volume, to afford free
play to the lungs.
We now wish to call attention to the form of this cavity, which, as
we have seen, is surrounded and protected by the back-bone, ribs, and
breast-bone, and is called the _thorax_, or chest. The uppermost pair
of ribs, which lie just at the bottom of the neck, are very short;
the next pair is rather longer; the third longer still; and thus they
go on increasing in length to the seventh pair, or last _true_ ribs,
after which the length diminishes, but without materially contracting
the size of the cavity, because the false ribs only go round a part of
the body. Hence the chest has a sort of conical shape, or it may be
compared to the bee-hives used in this country, the narrow or pointed
end being next the neck, and the broad end undermost. The natural form
of the thorax, in short, is just the reverse of the fashionable shape
of the waist. The latter is narrow below, and wide above; the former is
narrow above, and wide below.
The lower part of the thorax is also much more compressible, and of
course more easily injured by ligatures than the upper. In the upper
part, the bones form a complete circle; and, from the small obliquity
of the ribs, this circle presents a great power of resistance to
external pressure. But the last five ribs, called the false ribs,
besides being placed more obliquely, become weaker as they decrease
in length, and having no support in front, their power of resisting
external pressure is probably six times less than that of the true
ribs. Hence ligatures applied to this part of the body may contract the
natural size of the cavity perhaps one half. Nature, in this instance,
has entrusted the belle with a discretionary power, guarding against
its abuse, however, by severe penalties. If she chooses to _brave the
consequences_, she may always, with the help of lace and cord, produce
a great change on this part of her person.
From the great care nature has bestowed to strengthen the outer shell
of the thorax, and to combine mobility with strength, we may judge of
the importance of the organs within, and of the value of free motion
to their healthy action. It is a further proof of this, as Soemmerring
observes, that the ribs are the first part of the bony frame-work which
nature forms; for, in the unborn child, no other bones except those
of the ear are so perfect. The _contents_ of the thorax are,--first,
the heart, which is the centre of the circulating system, and which,
for the sake of its metaphorical offices, every lady must be anxious
to keep from injury;--next, the lungs, which occupy by far the largest
space, and of the delicacy of whose operations every one may judge.
There are, besides, either within the thorax, or in juxtaposition with
it, the stomach, liver, and kidneys, with the œsophagus, the trachea,
or windpipe, part of the intestines, and many nerves, all intimately
connected with the vital powers. Most of these organs are not only of
primary importance in themselves, but, through the nerves, arteries,
&c., their influence extends to the head, and the remotest parts of
the limbs, so that when they are injured, _health is poisoned at its
source_, and the mischief always travels to other parts of the system.
Imagine, now, what is the consequence of applying compression, by
corsets of some unyielding material, to a cavity enclosing so many
delicate organs, whose free action is essential to health. First, the
lowest part of the shell of the thorax yields most; the false ribs, and
the lower true ribs, are pressed inwards; the whole viscera in this
part of the body, including part of the intestines, are squeezed close
together and forced upwards; and, as the pressure is continued above,
they are forced higher still. If the lacing is carried further, the
breast-bone is raised, and sometimes bent; the collar-bone protrudes
its inner extremity; and the shoulder-blades are forced backwards.
The under part of the lungs is pressed together, and the entrance
of the blood into it hindered; the abdominal viscera, being least
protected, suffer severely; the stomach is compressed, its distention
prevented, and its situation and form changed, giving rise to imperfect
digestion; the blood is forced up to the head, where it generates
various complaints; the liver has its shape altered, and its functions
obstructed; the bones having their natural motions constrained,
distortion ensues, and the high shoulder, the twisted spine, or
breast-bone, begins at last to manifest itself through the integuments
and the clothes.
Another effect of tight corsets, says the essayist, is, that those
who have been long so closely laced, become at last unable to hold
themselves erect, or move with comfort without them, but, as is very
justly said, _fall together_, in consequence of the natural form
and position of the ribs being altered. The muscles of the back are
weakened and crippled, and cannot maintain themselves in their natural
position for any length of time. The spine, too, no longer accustomed
to bear the destined weight of the body, bends and sinks down. Where
tight lacing is practised, young women, from fifteen to twenty years
of age, are found so dependent upon their corsets, that they faint
whenever they lay them aside, and therefore are obliged to have
themselves laced before going to sleep. For as soon as the thorax and
abdomen are relaxed, by being deprived of their usual support, the
blood rushing downwards, in consequence of the diminished resistance
to its motion, empties the vessels of the head, and thus occasions
fainting.
“From 1760 to about 1770,” says Soemmerring, “it was the fashion in
Berlin and other parts of Germany, and also in Holland a few years
ago, to apply corsets to children. This practice fell into disuse,
in consequence of its being observed, that children who did not wear
corsets grew up straight, while those who were treated with this
extraordinary care, got by it a high shoulder or a hunch. Many families
might be named, in which parental fondness selected the handsomest of
several boys to put in corsets, and the result was, that these alone
were hunched. The deformity was attributed at first to the improper
mode of applying the corsets, till it was discovered that no child
thus invested, grew up straight, not to mention the risk of consumption
and rupture which were likewise incurred by using them. I, for my part,
affirm, that I do not know any woman who, by tight lacing, (that is,
by artificial means,) has obtained ‘a fine figure,’ in whom I could
not, by accurate examination, point out either a high shoulder, oblique
compressed ribs, a lateral incurvation of the spine in the form of
an italic _S_, or some other distortion. I have had opportunities of
verifying this opinion among ladies of high condition, who, as models
of fine form, were brought forward for the purpose of putting me to
silence.”
Young ladies in course of time hope to become wives, and wives to
become mothers. Even in this last stage, few females have the courage
to resist a practice which is in general use, though to them it is
trebly injurious. But it is sufficient to glance at this branch of
the subject, on which, for obvious reasons, we cannot follow our
medical instructer. It is lamentable, however, that mothers who have
themselves experienced the bitter fruits of tight lacing, still permit
their daughters to indulge in it. There is, in truth, no tyranny like
the tyranny of fashion. “I have found mothers of discernment and
experience,” says Soemmerring, “who predicted that in their 25th year,
a hunch would inevitably be the lot of their daughters, whom they
nevertheless allowed to wear corsets, because they were afraid to make
their children singular.”
But it is time to speak of the diseases produced by the passion for
_slender waists_. “One is astonished,” says Soemmerring, “at the number
of diseases which corsets occasion. Those I have subjoined rest on the
authority of the most eminent physicians. Tight lacing produces--
“Headach, giddiness, tendency to fainting, pain in the eyes, pain
and ringing in the ears, bleeding at the nose, shortness of breath,
spitting of blood, consumption, derangement of the circulation,
palpitation of the heart, water in the chest, loss of appetite,
squeamishness, eructations, vomiting of blood, depraved digestion,
flatulence, diarrhœa, colic pains, induration of the liver, dropsy, and
rupture. It is also followed by melancholy, hysteria, and many diseases
peculiar to the female constitution, which it is not necessary to
enumerate in detail.”
But the injury does not fall merely on the inward structure of the
body, but also on its outward beauty, and on the temper and feelings
with which that beauty is associated. Beauty is in reality but another
name for that expression of countenance which is the index of sound
health, intelligence, good feelings, and peace of mind. All are aware,
that uneasy feelings, existing habitually in the breast, speedily
exhibit their signature on the countenance; and that bitter thoughts,
or a bad temper, spoil the human face divine of its grace. But it
is not so generally known that irksome or painful sensations, though
merely of a physical nature, by a law equally certain, rob the temper
of its sweetness, and, as a consequence, the countenance of the more
ethereal and better part of its beauty. Pope attributes the rudeness
of a person usually bland and polished, to the circumstance, that “he
had not dined;” in other words, his stomach was in bad order. But there
are many other physical pains besides hunger that sour the temper; and,
for our part, if we found ourselves sitting at dinner with a man whose
body was girt on all sides by board and bone, like the north pole by
thick-ribbed ice, we should no more expect to find grace, politeness,
amenity, vivacity, and good-humor, in such a companion, than in
Prometheus with a vulture battening on his vitals, or in Cerberus,
whose task is to growl all day long in his chains.
ON THE LADIES’ PASSION FOR LEVELLING ALL DISTINCTION OF DRESS.
Foreigners observe that there are no ladies in the world more
beautiful, or more ill-dressed, than those of England. Our countrywomen
have been compared to those pictures, where the face is the work of
a Raphael, but the draperies thrown out by some empty pretender,
destitute of taste, and entirely unacquainted with design.
If I were a poet, I might observe on this occasion, that so much
beauty, set off with all the advantages of dress, would be too powerful
an antagonist for the opposite sex; and therefore it was wisely ordered
that our ladies should want taste, lest their admirers should entirely
want reason.