Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/281

Rh a cap of this kind cost £40 at the very least. It also varied considerably. "There is no such variable thing in Nature as a Lady's head-dress," says Addison. "Within my own memory I have known it rise and fall above 30 degrees. About ten years ago it shot up to a very great height, insomuch that the Female Part of our Species were much taller than men."

Bodices were laced open in front, showing tight stays made of "Black Tabby Stitched lined with Flannel," and worn very low, with "tuckers" or "modesty pieces" round the top. They had elbow sleeves and frilled skirts, at the back of which a piece of drapery was bunched into panniers, while in front hung an apron. These skirts grew wider and wider at the hips, till the ever-observant Spectator felt bound to draw attention to them: "The petticoats, which began to heave and swell before you left us, are now blown up into a most enormous concave and rise every day more and more." False hips in 1709 soon gave way to a hoop or mild compressible whalebone frame-work under the skirt or petticoat. These petticoats were numerous and variable, made of rich material; we hear of black Russell petticoats flowered, of ash colour silk quilted petticoats, of scarlet and gold