The New York herald., 1851-10-02
The New Coat me In EurODe,
LECTURE ON DLooMERIsM IN ENGLAND, by

Or Monday evening, September Is, Mrs. C. H.
Dexter delivered lecture on Bloomerism, in the
Literary Institution, John street, ti,zroy square,
London, immortslized as the locality where the
Chartist Convention held its sederunt. The lady
having publicly announced that she " would crafty
her friends and admirers by appearing, on this oc
casion, in the In 0dern female costume, an immense
crowd was attracted to the place, which speedily
became filed almost to suffocation. consde rable
number Of females of the middle class were present,
mary Of them evincing their sympathy with "the
on the platform, but the male element preponde-
rated in the audience. The price Of ad mission was
twopence to " the hail" andthreepence to the gal
lery; but so great was the rush when the doors
men stationed to collect the half pence, and hund
reds gained access without payment.
AT halcpast eight, Mrs. Dexter, lady about
thirty-fye years of age, made her appearance on
the platform, habited in the bloomer costume. She
was received with slight manifestations Of applause.
Hell attire which was wholly composed Of black
satin, consisted OF jacket ordinarily worn by la
dies in walking dress, a skirt below that scarcely
reaching down to the knee, and pair Of exceeding
ly wide trousers, tied Mt the ankle. She proceeded
at once with her lecture, which she CON menced by
advertng to slight degree of difficulty and embsr.
rassment she felt In appearing publicly to advocate
a change Of female costume. She felt that there
was something wrong in the state of ,hings which
rendered it necessary for woman to appear in pub
lie to vindicate such q change Yet, that the fe-
male dress me within the especial province Of fe
males, no reasonable being would dispute. Not
withstanding, it was certain that the mass of the
people, and especially the female sex, were, in most
cases. so completely under the trammels Of fashion,
that any deviation from the prevailing mode was
regarded with suspicion. No improvement, how
ever undeniable, was sure Of adoption; and no alb
surdity. however glaring was sure to be rejected.
Fashion, in the article Of dress, had most power
among those nations which arrogated to themselves
high degree Of civilization, In own country, at
period, no lady was considered in full dress who
had not castle piled some twenty inches high upon
hor hen 4 arntba lad taA IN
have their natural circumference expandedby hoops,
so contrived that IL required much man@uvering on
their parts to pass ordinary doorway. (Laugh-
ter) 1t had been reserved to the English tion 70
carry to the extreme of absurdity custom by
which thousands OF the loveest Of natures 10 yely
works were annually m assacred. She referred, OF
course, to the Internal contrivance Of tight stays
CLEAR, hesr.) She Mrs. Dexter) lifted up her
voice against that as the pre-. eminent and deadly
evil incident to the present system Of female COS
tune. She acknowledged TO authority which sought
to prevent her from devatng from the usual style
of dress to such extent rs she thought desirable
on the grounds of health, convenience and comfort
(Applsuse.) On that matter she insisted on the
right to judge for herself and for those who do
manded from her an implicit submission to the va
gsries of fashion, she had no respect. Many Of the
most remarkable revolutions in fashion had beer in
troduced to conceal defects in the human form; and
there had been those whose pride was to ape their
superors even to the extent Of initiating their de-
fofmities. She contended that she was at liberty
to adopt what die sne pleased, provided II Of
fercd no violence to health or modesty IL her
costume satisfied those conditions, she demanded
to be left at perfect liberty to consult her own
taste in the matter Of decoration. and her own feel
ings with regard to convenience and comfort. Zap
plause She had long felt the incon veniencs arising
from long petticoat, yet she never thought OF
one lady across the Atlantic had actually walked
abroad in trousers, to the amusement Of fastidious
fault finders. Let her remind her audience Of a
common exhibitions lsdy's dress on n rainy day
Wa q mn VIZ u0 nan nrua W 0QV her
more trouble than baby. (Laughter) IL that
was not pitiable and ludicrous spectacle, she
(Mis Dexter) was much mistaken. The long pet
tsosts too, were equally incon7enient in fine as in
dirty weather. When lady, on beautiful sum
mers day, attired herself in adress Of rich material
she forgot that the pavement would be wiped with
Il as II traled magnfcently along, enveloped in
clouds of dust. What, she would ask, prevented
women enjoying the vigorous exercise Of their
limbs Let ladies ask their wardrobes, and they
would find an answer. Women, from time imme-
mortal, had been cheated out of many sweet sum
mer's ramble in the open country. Was not a
woman able to get over stile without the care and
assistsnce Of her husband or her lover (Laugh.
ter) There was elasticity 1ough in her oonstitu-
tion irene we'd lnughtef); but she was the slave to
the foolish, and too general impression that there
was something Of valgarty in the gentler sex de-.
pending on their own resources She Mrs. Dex-
teri would not forgive herself if she did
not divert again to the practice Of tight
lscipg. Human beings must have been under some
kind OF infatuaton when they adopted that fashion.
Woman was not sent into this working world merely
to be admired as an image, but to perform an
honorable and holy part The carly education
Of both sexes principally devolved en- her. The
happiness OF the human family was greatly depen.
! dent on the right ful6lment Of q womau's srduous
Duties. tIesr, bcsr) She (Mrs Dcxtor) be-
! lisved that nature would eventually assert hor
supremacy in this matter. Beauty, when un
adorned, Is adorned the most y and she d moi
/ desrnir Of seeing form Of dress adopted in thi,
country which would not injure health and enfceble
/ intellect. Only conceive Venus held up to tht
/ admiration Of man supported by clips Of whalcbone
i (Laughttr.l Men of taste and genius could neve
have formed their conceptions Of beauty from sucl
mockery Of well developed form. Half the womeI
! Of fashion were more or less doformed. Dcformity
indead, was almost the peculiarly OF the civilized
| portion Of mankind. The Greek women Of tn,
| present day wore trousers, and the Italian womer
| sttifed then felves In short pettcoats She Mrs
| DeSteil believed much mischief had arisen from
Tie habit q bliody following the practices Of ever
I the meet polished nations OF antiquity. We hsc
/ almost always limited cur inquiries in matters o
Taste 90 the sncent Greeks, and their inferior im
tators, the Romans. With respect TO the
charge CT novelty brought against the new