THE vAGARIES OF FASHION.
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What freaks and fantasies that empress Of
dress, Fashion, occasionally cuts in at one time
concealing, and at another deforming, that most
beautiful and graceful Of all Natures works. the
female figure. A few years since, some lady Of
ton, who was shorn Of her fair proportions by an
unkind fortune or unlucky accident, invented the
hustle, 10 conceal all defects of figure below the
waist. Another unfortunate lady invented the
art Of padding the body of dress, until lean
and slab-sided demoiselles have as full aud we'll
turned busts as those most richly endowed by
dame Nature. A misshapen, round-shouldered
leader of dress brought mantias into use !;
whilst some other matron, in her grief over an
unsightly waist, started the vogue of carrying a
muf as large as a half bushe whenever lady
walks out. Thus it has been brought about,
that by one ultraism piled upon another in FASH
lonable dress, il has. become utterly impossible
for untutored eyes to learn ANYTHING Of lady's
figure, except it be to know how many inches
she stands in her shoes Alas, for the poor
bachelors! who have TO hunt up wife
amidst those heaps Of bran and cotton, satin and
velvet, fur and feathers! Why a man cant tell
whether he is waiting on one Of Pharaoh's lean
kind, or buxom lassic Of the plump Juno con-
fguration! And if you endeavored 10 touch one,
nothing less than mattrass-needle will reach
through the outer developments! And this is
all Fashion, Fashion


One Of the finest English poets informs us that
" matches are made 10 Heaven" And it is very
well that il is so, or we should be led to believe
in the old saw, that during the prevalence Of the
present fashions marrying is all lottery" Il