Page:Autobiography of William Love, P.C..pdf/22

22 than real. From the time when the first Breeks were made till now, the fair sex—"the weaker vessel,"—as they are sometimes erroneously called, will "wear the Breeks." Mrs Socrates, of immortal memory, has been held up as the great representative woman—she was a heroine who wore the Breeks, and no mistake. Why do the writers for the "Waverley" not agitate for a monument to that good lady, that representative woman? What a monster Burns was to write on such a subject thus:—

Methinks I hear the sweet voices of the "Waverley" ladies exclaim, O the brute! we could "scratch his eyes out." Public opinion and fashion are two great powers—more powerful than steam, in their own way. Public opinion declared itself against the breeks usurpation, and was on the eve of crushing it, when another heroine appeared—General Bloomer—and contested the field, and the battle cry, "the rights of women," was loudly beard amidst the strife. After a severe contest, matters were compromised on the footing that the ladies should be allowed to wear feminine breeks, to be called after their leader, "Bloomers." Public opinion, however,