The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-12-15


Fashions move in cycles, but it is as difficult to
calculate the period of time which it takes for a
certain kind Of dress to complete its orbit rs it is
for astronomers to account, by any known, lawsfor
the perturbations of some of the remoter planets.
We are indebted to the Empress EUGENIE for re-
turn to crinoline, or rather to hooped-skrts in all
that magnifcence ofamplitude which delighted our
great grand-mother5. Those vouminous folds
brought with them "reminiscences of the DAYS of
Queen ANNE and the two first GEORGES They
recall to US the humorous description which ADD
son gave of the mock trial of the fashionable enor-
nifty in his days; with what difficulty specimen
OF the offending article was brought into court,
and how, from the extraordinary dimensions of the
article in question, the presiding officer was puz-
zied to know in what manner to dispose of it
after it was introduced. They recall the days
OF cooked hats and sedan chairs; of emascuated
Opera singers and the glories and intrigues of
RANEIAGH; and Spring Gardens of evening routs
and morning receptions
Up stairs and down stairs
And in nv lady's chamber;
and of certain popular pamphlet, translated from
the French, 'giving directions for painting and
the use OF cosmetics and the secret of putting on
patches IN an.artful manner, showing the effect of
thelr Inherent arrangement, with instructions how
Ito place them about the eye in such manner as to
give dlsdain, an amorous languish, or a cunning
glance" A curious work, if it ever had anv ex-
ltence exceptin the imagination of the advertiser
though 1t must be confessed, that our coquettes
have managed quite successfully to perform all the
fnot viii
structons. 1t was against hoped dresses that
ADDISON shot his most satiricaI shafts; but he did
not carry on the war alone. There were poets
who occasionally managed to say good thing in
rhyme on the same subject. One of them thus
lmpertinently hints to a bridegroom on his we'd
ding night
THUS finished in TASTE while on her you gaze
You may take the dear charmer for life
But never undress her, for out of her stays,
GU will find you have lost half your wife"
IN the above ''palpable hit" there is an approx
lmaton to the style of vers6calion, and the sharp
biting wit of that cured darling, of the fashion,
able coteries of later period-ANAoREoN MOORE.
Mems apparel has been subject to fewer fluctuations
ofstye. and there Psychological reasons, which
we need not give, why this should be So There
formerly worn by the latter VIII ich have departed,
perhaps, never again to return. Wigs, for in
stance, and those monstrous structures of artii-
cial hair work that, curled or fizzled rose tower
ing above the head o. the woman of fashion and
added two additional feet to her natural sta
ture. The Commode, as this species OF couture was
called, did not survive the reign of the first
GEORGE, but the bag wig was commonly worn by
men of rank and station until the stormy times of
the French Revolution, when its use was brought
into discredit and it finally ppeared-being
carried off in the guillotine basket with the head
that wore it. We have referred to crinoline-
simply because it denotes the latest recurrence to
astyie of dress which was in vogue rather more
than century ago, and because it nav be taken
as fair illustration Of the protean changes which
female apparel Is constantly undergoing-stre-
"newed,' as GOETHE has it, Through endless
'births." We have another reason. HoGARrH.
in immortalizng the follies and the fashions of his
day. in that remarkable series of pictures which
have come down to us under the general title of
"INarriGge Ia mode, Whilst portraying the woman
of quality in all that amplitude of skirt with which
we ourselves have become so familiar. also adds
as her constant attendant a little NEGRO
page. One Of these sable attendants ar
rayed in loose-fowing Turkish trowsers, and
with turban v,i lis head occupies a conspicuous
position in the famous breakfast scene, where the
Countess is first discovered listening to the iatter
ing compliments OF the man who subsequently be-
comes her husbands murderer and her own be.
trayer. A negro page in those days was regarded
as the Indispensable adjunct of the hoped dress.
We have had for several years the latter and in
Paris, which has long given the law to Europe
and to ourselves in all matters appertaining to
fashionable life, the former has at length made his
appearance. The little s'black-a-moor'' has
resumed his old place, as complemsntal to crino-
line, and the scarcity Of young Africans in the