were then in fo much difgrace, that they were denied all kinds of ornament; and even the beautics bellowed by nature were confidered as criminal difadvantages to the fair poffeffors, and fufficient motives to induce every Chriftian to fhun their company; becaufe it was, impoffible to be in it without finning.

But as the human paffions, like fprings, fly the more violently in the oppofite direction, the more forcibly they have been bent, the Refloration was no fooner brought about, than all this public enthusiasm vanifhed, and elegance of drefs and levity of manners foou became more the fashion than flovenlinefs and puritanifm had been before. Pleafure became the univerfal object, and the pleasure of love took the lead of all others; but beauty unconnected with virtue was the object of this love; it was therefor void of honour or morality, in confequence of which, female virtue, robbed of its reward, became lefs inflexible, and a total degeneracy of manners enfued.

In every country where drefs is under the direction of tafte and judgment, it is fo contrived as neither altogether to conceal, nor altogether to difcover, the beauties of the female form. This general rule, however, has not been without exceptions; in every country enthufiaftic priests, antiquated prudes, and women outrageoufly virtuous, have muffled themfelves like Egyptian mummies, and exclaimed in the bitterness of their hearts against the nakednefs of the reft of the world; while, on the other hand, women of lefs rigid principles, and those abandoned to proflitution, throwing afide all decency, feemed to wish that the whole female toilet were reduced to the original fig-leaf: fome nations, too, are lefs delicate in this refpect than others; the Italians and French have ever been remarkably fo, while the Spanish have fallen into the oppofite extreme. At Venice,

In the

the ladies in the beginning of the 16th century dreffed in fuch light thin ftuffs, that not only the fhape of the body, but even the colour of the skin,might eafily be feen through them. The late approaches, therefore, to this drefs, are not new. The French ladies are in the fame predicament, only that, more light and fantallic, they have flown with greater rapidity from one fashion to another. fourteenth century, they appeared half naked at public affemblies, and in the public walks dreffed fo much like the men, that they could hardly be diftinguished from them but by the voice and complexion; fuch have long been the modes of dreffing in Italy and France, as to endeavour to fhow every charm which can with any tolerable degree of decency be difplayed. While in Spain, where the fpirit of chivalry is hardly yet extin guifhed, and where the women, confequently, itill retain a little of the romantic dignity which was annexed to it, fo far from fhowing their nakednefs, they hardly as yet condefcended even to fhow their faces to the other fex.

Though the French have now, and in their republican ftate, as well as during the monarchy, taken the lead in all the fantastic fripperies of fashion, it would feem that the Italians were formerly not lefs noted for it. Petrarch deferibing their drefs in his time, fays; "Who can behold the fhoes with pointed toes, so long that they will reach to the knee, headdreffes with wings to them, the hair put into a tail, the foreheads of the men furrowed with those ivory needles, with which the women faltened their hair, and their ftomachs fqueezed by machines of iron ?" The pointed fhoes and machines of iron were more unnatural, and confequently more ridiculous, than any fantastic fashion which has appeared in this fantaftic age.

As the ornamental part of drefs is
evidently

evidently meant to heighten the beauties of nature, nothing can be more evident than that it fhould always coincide with her defigns, wherever the is not defective or luxuriant. Such we prefume are the ideas of the true tafle, but fuch, however, have not always been thofe adopted by the leaders of fashions. Toward the beginning of the 17th century, it feems to have been the prevailing opinion, that nature had made the female waift greatly too large; to remedy which, the tiffeft ftays were laced on in the tightest manner, left the young ladies fhould become clumfy, or grow crooked. Toward the middle of the century, it began to be discovered, that befide the uneafinefs of fuch a fituation, it fiequently produced the very effects it was intended to prevent; phyficians and philofophers now declaimed against stays, and they were by many laid afide with fuch abhorrence that the fashion took quite a different turn; we difcovered that our mothers had been all in the wrong, and that nature had not made the female waift nearly fo large as it ought to have been, but the ladies fupplied this defect fo well with clothes, that about forty years ago, every woman, young and old, had the appearance of being big with child. In the courfe of a few years, however, fmall waifts were again introduced, and it being ftill a difputed point what the proper fize of a waift ought to be, our belles feem of late agreed to compromife the matter by having no waift at all.

The revolution of the breafts and fhoulders have not been lefs confpicuous than those of the waist; about the beginning of the century, it was highly indecent to be naked two

OF

inches below the neck; about the middle of it, fhe was dreffed in the highest taste, who fhowed the greater part of her breafts and fhoulders; fome years afterward, every female of condition was muffled up to the chin; of late years that mode was discarded, and naked breafts began again to appear, and ftill remain fo, though not to fo great a degree as three or four years ago. As in all countries, women have been particularly folicitous about the ornament and drefs of their heads, fo in ours these have been an object of so much attention, that the materials employed, and the variations produced by th m, are beyond our power to defcribe; we fhall only, therefore, obferve in general, that the head-drefs which immediately preceded the prefent, had a near refemblance to that which was used by the ladies of ancient Rome, and confifted of fo much wool, falfe hair, pomatum, pafte, quills, combs, pins, curls, ribbons, laces, and other ma terials, that the head of a lady in full drefs, when ftanding, was fomething more than one-third of the length of her whole figure. This has given way by flow degrees to the total reduction of the head, and the abfolute difappearance of all hair, except on the forehead, and that forms part of a wig. It would be endless to recount all the gradations from heads extremely high to extremely low, and from a vast quantity and length of hair to none at all.

Upon the whole; whatever we may think of the varieties of female drefs, and their eccentricities, we fhall not have much to pride ourselves upon if we contraft the varieties of the male drefs, which has been in all ages fully as much fubject to the caprice of fashion.

Kent, who had two fons, arrived almoft to the age of manhood, and had each a new fuit of clothes, made of

the

the fame cloth, and trimmed alike in every thing, faving for diftinction fake, that the eldest had gold buttons, and the youngeft but filver; for which he bore his brother fuch a grudge and hatred (for nothing elfe could be affigned as the caufe of it) that he barbarously murdered him in his bed, as he lay fleeping by him. He clove his head and brains afunder with a cleaver, and not fatisfied with that inhumanity, gave him feven or eight ftabs to the heart with a fliletto; and having finished that bloody fcene, went next away to his father's bed-fide and told him of it, rather pleafing himfelf with the difmal tragedy he had acted, than difcovering any remorfe or forrow. He was immediately apprehended, committed to Maid one jail, condemned at the aflizes following, and executed accordingly.

Sir Humphry Tufton.

About the middle of the 16th century, we find him engaged in a fuit in the Star Chamber, against Mr Chriftopher Nevil, fon to the Earl of Abergavenny, for a riot; the circumftances of this affair, worthy in itself of ridicule, are but fparingly detailed, and do little credit to the difcretion of one, or the honefty of the other parties. Mifs Margaret M. rley had been, it appears, known to Mr Nevil prior to her marriage with Sir Humphry; he had even gone fo far as to make certain overtures, which not being confidered of an honourable caft, were by her, as they deserved, rejected; thefe, however, he renewed, after her union with that baronet; fhe accordingly made her hufband acquaiuted with the views of Mr Nevil, and that he had folicited her chastity as well before marriage, as fince. Defirous of punifhing this flagrant offence, he caufed Lady Tufton to write letters to Mr Nevil, by which fhe gave him hopes of her favours, and appointed one

night a place of meeting, but the lover was met, not by his mistress well inclined, as he hoped to find her, but by Sir Humphry himfelf with a friend: they had put on the difguife of female habits for the occafion : Nevil himfelf happened to be attended in the fame way, and a quarrel enfued; which got the better is not known: but the vindictive husband became profecutor for what he termed a riot, and in this fenfe it was admitted by the defendant; but on the folicitation of the lady's chastity he demurred, which was thought good by the court, although the inducement was confidered as an aggravation of the offence, and the bill was allowed in oppofition to one brought againft him by Sir Nevil.

Isle of Thanet.

The ifle of Thanet, from whence this noble family takes its titles, is fituate in the north part of Kent, and is celebrated for being the door through which arts, fcience, and divine knowledge came into this happy ifland. The Britons called it Richborough Ifle, from its vicinity to the city of that name. The Saxons denominated it Thanet, from a word in their language which fignifies fire; conjectured to have been fo named from the many beacons erected in it, to give warning againft the common enemy. The extent of the island is about eleven miles from east to west, and nine from north to fouth. It contains ten parishes, and had formerly as many churches, though now only feven remain. The foil, in general, is fterile, and through the good management of its occupiers, produces fuch crops of grain in favourable feafons, as are fcarcely to be equalled, cultivated in every part with corn or garden ftuff, but contains little wood. "Nor muft I forget," (fays Camden) "what redounds to the efpecial praife of the inhabitants, particularly of thofe who live near the

ports

ports of Margate, Ramfgate, and Broadftairs, they are exceflively in duftrious, getting their living like amphibious animals, both by fea and land, making the most of both elements, being both fishermen and ploughmen, foldiers and failors: the fame perfons that guide a plough in the field, fteering the helm at fea. In the different feafons of the year they make nets, catch cod, herrings, whitings, mackarel, &c. make trading voyages, manure their lands with fea-weeds, plough, fow, harrow, reap, and fore their corn, expert in both profeffions, and fo carrying on the round of labour. They are likewife very active in recovering loft goods from fhipwrecked veffels."

Thanet Houfe.

Thanet House in Alderfgate-ftreet, in the parish of St Botolph, London, was built by the most eminent architect of his time in England, Inigo Jones, who ftudied in Italy under the famous Andrea Palladio, and was the town refidence of the family of Tha

net.

It was a magnificent old houfe of the Ionic order, an edifice, fay the London hiftorians, that deferves a better fituation, and greater care for preferving it from the injuries of time: but the politeness of the town is fo far removed from hence, that it is hardly poffible this fabric fhould be kept, or admired as it ought. It is uncertain when they quitted this manfion for another in Great Ruffel ftreet, but it must have been fome time before the year 1681, for it was then in poffeffion of Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, who had hired or purchafed it for the purpofe of living in the city, to inflame the minds of the citizens, among whom he used to boaft he could raife 10,000 brifk boys by the holding up of his finger. It was from this house he was committed to the Tower, and upon his papers being fearched, was found the draft of an affociation to exclude the

Duke of York from the throne, and other meafures highly treasonable. He alfo attempted to get into the magiftracy, but being difappointed in his views, and terrified at the apprehenfions left the confpiracy he had entered into against his prince, fhould be detected, he fled in 1683 to Holland, where he foon died of the gout. It has fince been a tavern, and has undergone various fortunes, until in 1750 it was converted into a lyingin-hofpital, a most humane inftitution, fupported by voluntary contribution. [It has fince been a general difpenfary.] Of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Mr Pennant relates, "That when he was in power he urged the Dutch war with uncommon animofity, and always concluded his fpeeches with delenda eft Carthago. When he fled to Holland he was fo fearful of being given up, that he folicited to be made a burgher of Amfterdam, in order to fecure his perfon: the magiftracy conferred on him the privilege, with thefe remarkable words; A noftra Carthagine nondum deleta falutem accipe.

Female Sheriffs and Juftices.

Nicholas, Earl of Thanet, was fucceeded by his next brother, John, the fourth Earl, born on August 7, 1638. He alfo fucceeded his mother Margaret, Countefs of Thanet, as baron of Clifford, Weftmoreland, and Vefcey, who by her laft will bearing date the 19th of June 1675, gave the York hire and Weftmoreland eftates to this John, her fecond fon, for life : her ladyfhip departed this life on Auguft 14th following, and he became poffeffed of thofe eftates, with the hereditary fheriffdoms of Weltmoreland and Cumberland; for it frequently happened in thofe hereditary fheriffdoms, that female heireffes became poffeffed of them, and were confequently fheriffs of thofe districts; for there are feveral inftances of women bearing that office, as may be feen in molt of the treatifes in which

that