PRE-EASTER PHILOSOPHY.
Reading edition
A Few Reflections, Pertinent and Impertinent, on the Subject of Clothes, Their Cost, and the Consequences of Sartorial Splendor.
Dwellers in huts and marble halls— From shepherdess up to queen— Cared little for bonnets, and less for shawls, And nothing for crinoline. But now simplicity's not the rage, And it's funny to think how cold The dress they wore in the Golden Age Would seem in the Age of Gold.
Henry S. Leigh—The Two Ages.
Nothing is thought rare Which is not new, and follow'd; yet we know That what was worn some twenty years ago Comes into grace again.
Beaumont and Fletcher—Prologue to the Noble Gentleman.
Dress drains our cellar dry, And keeps our larder lean; puts out our fires, And introduces hunger, frost, and wo. Where peace and hospitality might reign.
Cowper—The Task. Bk. II.
He that is proud of the rustling of his silks, like a madman, laughs at the rattling of his fetters. For indeed, Clothes ought to be our remembrancers of our lost innocency.
Fuller—The Holy and Profane States.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, And entertain some score or two of tailors, To study fashions to adorn my body: Since I am crept in favor with myself, I will maintain it with some little cost.
Richard III. Act I. Sc. 2.
So tedious is this day, As is the night before some festival To an impatient child, that hath new robes, And may not wear them.
Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 2.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 3.
The glass of fashion and the mold of form, The observ'd of all observers.
Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1.
Their clothes are after such a pagan cut too, That, sure, they've worn out Christendom.
Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. 3.
You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments.
King Lear. Act III. Sc. 6.
He is only fantastical that is not in fashion.
Burton—Anatomy of Melancholy.
And as the French we conquer'd once, Now gives us laws for pantaloons, The length of breeches and the gathers, Port-cannons, periwigs, and feathers.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto III.
Thy clothes are all the soul thou hast.
Beaumont and Fletcher—Honest Man's Fortune. Act V. Sc. 3.
A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat; A careless shoe-string, in whose tie I see a wild civility— Do more bewitch me than when art Is too precise in every part.
Robert Herrick—Delight in Disorder.
Fashion—a word which knaves and fools may use, Their knavery and folly to excuse.
Churchill—Rosciad.
As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.
Colley Cibber—Love's Last Shift.
Who seems most hideous when adorned the most.
Ariosto—Orlando Furioso. XX. 116.
I see that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 148.
Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my deary, kiss me! and be quiet.
Lady M.W. Montagu—Summary of Lord Littelton's Advice.