Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/181

Rh in its most bulky form, it is not to be supposed that the ladies confine their speculations and practices to muslin alone, nor to the poor linen draper's shops exclusively. Haberdasher's shops contain equal fascinations for the leading foible of the female mind, unchastened in the school of philosophy—dress! All-powerful dress, and the over adornment of nature's fairest work, leads even ladies to commit crimes which their own sempstresses would shudder to contemplate. Ladies of the highest surface-character have been known to rob shops repeatedly, and require the vigilance of the warehousemen as much as women in the humbler walks of life. Without ripping open old sores, or abrading the film which covers the wounded character of a certain fair one, we must be content with merely making the assertion, and asking credit for it from our readers. As this is almost the only instance in which we have shown any disposition to mealy mouthedness, we demand excuse.

Lace was the object of solicitude in the case just alluded to; and is the favourite article of purloinment with those who follow shop-lifting as a profession: the largest value being contained in the smallest space, admirably fits this article to claim the preference.