Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/361

 advises: "Never permit the sanctity of a drawing-room to be violated by a boot." The women of the period never wore boots, but light high-heeled shoes. Suitability of dress had not occurred to our great-grandmothers. They went out in November fogs and bleak January days clad in light delicate muslins and cambrics. Even the universal pelisse which was necessary for warmth was often made of azure blue sarcenet or flame coloured silk, while large Leghorn straw bonnets with blue ribbon bows and white feathers surmounted all. These bonnets grew steadily in size, till in 1827 they were as large as umbrellas.

The necessity for suitable dress had not yet arrived. No woman in this society was called upon to work, and she had no independence. Marriage was the one and only career open to the lady of the early nineteenth century. "Women regarded themselves and spoke of themselves as inferior to men in understanding as they were in bodily strength." They considered independence unfeminine; they were conscious of their dependence on others and grateful for support. "Women," says a female writer of the period, "are something like