The Tiffin tribune. [volume] (Tiffin, Ohio) 1848-1859, 1857-11-27
The AntluultH of Hoopg.

/ ago, when Green Anue was reigning W
England, aud Swift and Bolingbroke,
Pope and Prior, Addison and Steele, wer,
fourishiug, there appeared paper in the
| Spectator, which seemed worthy Of being
referred to ia the present day, particular
! ly as Il discusses the question Of hoops
We subjoin the greater portion Of it foi
the benefit and sdidoation of the ladies'
! II is from the pen Of Addison.
Il is our custom, at Sir Roger de Gov.
erley's. upon the evening Of the post, 90
sit about a pot Of coffee, and hear the old
knight read Dyer's letters, which he does
with his spootacles upon his nose, and in
an audible voice, smiling very often at
these little strokes Of satire which are 50
frequent in the writings Of that author
[ afterwards communicated 10 the knight
such packages received under the quail.
hy Of Spectator. The following letter,
CHANGING 70 please him more than ordi-
nary, l shall present at his request;
Nc Speotator:--You have diverted the
town almost whole month at the expense
Of the country. Il is now high time that
you should give the country their revenge.
Since your Withdrawing from this place,
the fair sex have run into great extrava-
gan6e. Their petticoats, which began to
heave and swell before you left as, are
now blown up into a most enormous con
cave, aud rise every day more and more
In short, sir, since our women know
themselves to be out Of the eye Of Spec
tator, they will be kept within no com
pass. You praise them little too soon, foI
She modesty Of their head-dresses; for, as
the humor Of a si6k person is often driven
out of one limb into another, their super
fluffy Of ornament, instead Of being en-.
tirely banished, seems only fallen from
their heads upon their lower parts.
What they have lost in height they
make up in breadth, ard, contrary to the
rules of architecture, widen the founda.
tion at the same time they shorten tn,
suporstructure. But, as we do not hear
Of any particular use ia this pettiooat. ol
that il contains anything moro than whaI
was supposed TO be in those Of scsntie
make, we are wonderfully at loss abou
liz.
The women give out in, defence o.
these wide bottoms. that they are airy ant
very proper for the season; but this
look upon only to be a pretence aud
piece Of art, for it is we'll known that vi
have not had a more moderate summerthes
many years. Besides. would ask thes
tender-eonstituted ladies why they shoul,
require more cooling than their mother
before them? l find several speculative,
persons are Of the opinion that our SCI
has, of late years been very saucy, anC
that the hoop petticoat is made use of Il
keep us at a proper distance.
A female who is thus invested in whale
bone is sufficiently secured against tn,
approaches of an ill-bred fellow, VIII,
might as we'll think of Sir George Ether
ed se's way of making Glove in a tub,
see his play so called. act 4. scene q
who're Dufoy. Frenchman, is thrust int
a,tuB without a bottom, which he carrie
about the stage on his shoulders, his hea
coming through hole in the top, as i
the midst of so many hoops.
Among these various oonjectures ther
are men Of superstitious tempers VIII
look upon the hoop-pettiooat as a kind O
prodigy. Some win have il that it por
tends Che downfall Of this French King
(perhaps the appearance of the hoop pet
ticoai at this day portends the downfall o
the English Queen, J and observe that tn
farthingale appeared in England little
before the ruin Of the Spanish monarchy
viz: in 1853. Others are of opinion tina
it foretells bloodshed. and believe it o
the same representation as the tail of I
blasting star.
Should this fashion get among the or
binary people, our public ways would b
so crowded that wa should want street
room. Several congregations of the bes
fashion find themselves already muoI
straitened, and il the mode increase
wish it MAY not drive many ordinarl
women into meetings and oonventicles.
You know, sir, it is recorded of Alex
ander the Great, that in his Indian expe
dition he buried several suits of armor
which by his directions were made mucl
TOO big for any of his soldiers, in order l.
give posterity an extra idea of him, ant
make them believe he had commanded Al
army Of giants. am pursuaded that
ono Of the present petticoats happens t
be hung up in any repository Of curiosi
ties, il would lead into the same error th
generations that lie some removes from us
unless we can believe OUR posterity vii
think so disrespectfully OF their grea
graudmothers that they made themselye
moustrous to appear amiable.
When / survey this new fashioned 70
tunda in all its parts, | cannot but thin
Of the old philosopher, who, after havin
entered into an Egyptian temple, an
looked about for the idol of the place, q
length discovered little black monke
enshrined ia the midst Of it, upon whic
he could not forbear crying out, to tn
great scandal Of the worshippers, "Wha
magnificent place is here for such ri
, diculous inhabitantp'
Though you have taken a resolution j
: one Of your papers to avoid descending
) the particukrities Of dress, / believe 20
will no. think il below you on so extraol
dinary an occasion to unhoop the fair ser
and cure this questionable tyranny whic
has got among them. am apt to thin
thak thp- nettiooat will shrink Of its oW