EX LIBRIS
1751-1800
W. S. LEWIS

A
T R E A T I S E

ON THE

Principles of Hair-Dressing ;

IN WHICH

The Deformities of Modern Hair-dressing are pointed out, and an elegant and natural Plan recommended, upon Hogarth's immortal System of Beauty.

ILLUSTRATED BY

Examples from the Paintings of the most celebrated Artists, and confirmed by the Remarks of the most elegant and famed Poets of the different Ages, from the Thirteenth Century to the present Time.

BY WILLIAM BARKER,
HAIR-DRESSER,
No. 6, KING STREET, HOLBORN.

LONDON:

Printed by J. ROZEA, No. 91, Wardour-Street, Soho; and fold by J. BEW, No. 28, Paternoster Row, and T. Hookham, New Bond Street, Corner of Bruton Street.

## Advertisement.

HAIR-DRESSING is now become so generally in use, that it is prefumed an attempt to refrain the unwarrantable, because unnatural, innovations in the mode of dressing ladies' heads, will not prove unacceptable to the public.

British ladies are, and constantly have been famed for their natural beauty and comeliness; to have that beauty therefore obscured, instead of being set off to advantage, by the whim either of a few leading characters in the ton, or the ignorance of hair-dressers, would ill suit the idea of that duty which the Author of the following Treatise owes to the public in general, and to the ladies in particular.

Unaccustomed to literary pursuits, the Author begs leave to submit his performance to the consideration of the public, with that diffidence

657
7858

Yale
Lewis Walpole

iv ADVERTISEMENT.

diffidence which the novelty of his attempt
ought to dictate. Conscious of his inability as
a writer, he hopes he will meet with every
indulgence from his countrymen; and as he
has already received many flattering marks
of approbation from several persons of
distinction, he humbly prefumes his endeavours
to reform a vitiated taste in ornamenting the
persons of his fair countrywomen, will also
ensure him their patronage and encourage-
ment. For them chiefly is this publication
intended; if therefore he shall be honoured
with their approbation in the present attempt,
he will eſteem it an ample reward for all his
labour.

TO

TO HER GRACE

The Dutchefs of Devonſhire.

MADAM,

FROM a conviction that there is no person
so justly entitled to take the lead in
regulating the fashions as the Dutchefs of
Devonshire, I have been induced to inſcribe
the following Treatife to your Grace.

The honor which you have done me in
condefcending to countenance an attempt
to reform the preſent mode of drefſing the
hair, has filled me with the utmoſt gratitude.

That your Grace, adorned with every ac-
complifhment that Nature can beſtow, ſhould
recall the attention of the public to that ſim-
plicity and elegance which is congenial to
nature, and Nature is ever juſt in her ſug-
geſtions, can afford no ſurprize; but that you
by your example ſhould endeavour to ſtem the
torrent of vitiated taſte, is a proof at once
both

vi DEDICATION.

both of your title to prefide over the fashions
of this ifland, and of your being poſſeſſed of
that taſte which ought to give law in every al-
teration of them.

I am very ſenſible that various attempts
have been made by your Grace to introduce
the beautiful ſemblance of natural excellency;
but I am alſo aſſured, that a wifh not to be
ſingular, (though you diſcountenanced the
pertinacious eſſorts of others who were not ſo
good judges as yourſelf), has prevented your
Grace from perſevering in your own opinion.

Encouraged by your Grace's conſed cenſion
in patronizing the following Treatife, permit
me to aſſure you, that while I ſhall uſe every
effort to correct the falſe taſte of my fair
countrywomen, I ſhall eſtćem it my higheſt
honour to ſubſcribe myſelf,

Your Grace's moſt devoted, much obliged,
And very obedient humble Servant,

W. BARKER.

A

TREATISE, &c.

THE origin of hair-dressing in this country
is not of ſo late a date as the generality of
people imagine : hair-dressing has, indeed,
undergone various changes, nor was it till
lately ever brought into ſuch repute as to em-
ploy ſo great a number of proſeſſors. These
however now looking up to the French as the
ſtandard of excellence, have ſo far deviated
into formality and error, as to require the
ability of an adept to fet down ſome examples
before the prejudiced; left their bigotry in
adhering to the preſent cuſtom, may finally
overturn the uſe of the proſeſſion, and perhaps
render the name of a Hair-Dresser as
unknown

( 8 )

unknown as in the reign of Alfred the
Great.

In the reign of Henry the Fourth, the hair
was little attended to: those who had straight
hair had it cut short round the head, and those
whose hair curled, suffered it to grow as nature
directed, waving about the face, the neck, the
temples, and shoulders, in graceful variety;
and the head-dresses in the pictures of that
day not only do the highest honor to the artifts,
but give also the most graceful finish to the
female beauties. The fashion which the ladies
adopted in ornamenting or adjusting the hair
from that time to the days of Anna Bulleyne
underwent very little alteration, except from
the whim or caprice of the moment.

The men, on the contrary, must have
undergone a most teazing task in managing
their beards, and dressing them in a style of
which many eminent pictures are fully
descriptive.

A large flowing beard was esteemed the
greatest mark of masculine beauty. If the
beard

( 9 )

beard naturally curled, they divided it into
innumerable ringlets round the face. But if it
was straight, they twisted it by means of small
pieces of lead round the face, and supported
the weight by a chin cloth. In the morning,
the first care was to drefs the beard, which
they parted in the middle of the chin, the
curled beard resting on the cape of the under
doublet. This continued to the latter end of
Henry the VIIIth's reign, when the refor-
mation having made some progres, the
Protestants distinguished themselves from the
Romish church party by a purity of manners
and simplicity of drefs; and the beards of the
English, as well as their religion, underwent a
confiderable change.

The reformers thought it impious to concern
themselves about exterior decorations, and the
head and beard underwent once a-day a
single combing, while the reformed fathers of
the church were remarkable for beards grow-
ing to the girdle.

But when Mary came to the crown, and
the Romish Church again re-established her
ground,

( 10 )

ground, Philip of Spain brought with him
whiskers, and a small tuft of hair growing on
the chin; and this (tho' not followed by all)
was the reigning fashion as to beards, till
the end of the reign of Charles I.

The Puritans were divided as to the faith

The Puritans were divided as to the fashion
of their beards; some of them wearing no
whiskers at all, yet suffering the hair to grow
from the chin very long. They cut the
points square, so that the beard was not much
unlike a pantile; as Butler, the author of
Hudibras, very humorously describes it.
Charles the II. brought wigs into this country;
and the first perriwigs that were worn in
England, were full bottomed, compofed of
irregular and waving curls, and so very
whimsical and aftonifhing as to distinguish the
taste of a monarch remarkable for elegance
and refinement in every particular. These full
bottomed perriwigs indeed were not so airy
as those of the present day; but yet being more
consonant to Nature, and left formal, they
must be allowed to have poffeſſed a confident-
able share of grace and elegance. Tye wigs,
of all others, seem most becoming and graceful,

( II )

ful, more especially since the late alteration
they have undergone. Formerly tye wigs,
which have been worn by judges and counſel-
lors ever since the reign of Charles II. entirely
covered the ear; intimating perhaps the
propriety of avoiding law ſuits, as in many
inſtances Juitice may be faid to be deaf as well
as blind.

The ladies during the above reign, were
far from being ill judges of the art of adorn-
ing and dressing their heads. They adopted,
indeed, an irregularity, without a preciſion
of mode, and a ſtyle without a pofitive
ſystem; but the Head Drefs was generally
formed agreeably to the genuine contour or
turn of the features of the face.

The French uniformity of Hair D馀ing
was not then known in this country. As it
is obſervable, that the universal face of Na-
ture every where diſcovers an irregular and
variegated ſcene; so in painting and poetry,
variety and elegance, give character and
fame to the poffeffors. An uniformity of

B 2

taste

( 12 )

taste is therefore inadmissible; because, hair dressed in a formal style, may disfigure a beautiful woman, yet add a lustrance to a woman of a different complexion, to whom Nature has been niggardly in her endowments.

Nature has, with a benevolence which marks all her works, so dispoſed the hair on the forehead (except in very singular cafés) as to project and obtain a situation near the eye-brows. Those who have natural curling hair amongst the lovely females of our island, endeavour, in compliance with Fashion, to make that great ornament of Nature ſtraight. The short curling hair on the forehead, seems to have been designed as a singular embellishment, which on no occasion ſhould be counteracted by any formal ſystem, where it is given; and as closely imitated as possible where it is with-held. Many females, whose fronts and shoulders are adorned with tresses, waving or curling naturally, which must rank them in the number of Nature's most beautiful works, by their own falſe taste, by purſuing fashion to the very extreme, or injudiciously adopting ſome

( 13 )

fome favourite mode of the dreſſer, render themselves highly ridiculous. If the hair is forced up in the front, and glued up, as it were, by the dreſſer, the curls, however managed by the moſt ſkilful hand, will only ſerve as appendages to a bald head; and the lady's head-dreſſs will provoke witticisms by no means favourable to female delicacy. For instance, if the hair-dreſſer complies with any eſtablished fashion, independent of taste and genius, the fame error which renders the formation of his toupee monſtrous, will also make its way to the curl, and render the whole head, to perſons of judgment, a very ridiculous picture. (See Hogarth's *ift plate to his Analysis of Beauty*.)

A professional man of taste will pay the minutenſt attention to the *formation* of the *forehead*, the natural growth of the hair, and the dispoſition of the features of the face.

Very few foreheads bear so nice an analogy to the features, as not to demand the care and affiſtance of a masterly dreſſer.

That

( 14 )

That forehead which projects over the eye-
brows, or which rifes in progression from the os
frontis, cannot be beautiful; nor is that fore-
head in proportion which is so low as to be
only marked by a small space between the
eye-brows and the first inflection of the hair
round the head. Of course, the former re-
quires a considerable quantity of hair, dispoſed
in that beautiful waving manner, so as to hide
that natural deformity; while the latter re-
quires to be dressed in the preſent mode,
which is certainly calculated in this case to
ſet off the perſon to the best advantage.

The preſent mode of forming the toupee is
the moſt unaccountable and ſtrange that ridi-
culous cuſtom ever introduced. In the forma-
tion even of the moſt left curl, the greatest at-
tention ſhould be paid to caſe, grace, and a
cloſe imitation of Nature; the contrary mode
of extending the hair to the utmoſt at the ſide
of the head, and dragging it from the face
backward in a ſtraight line, is not only ſtiff
and unnatural, but there is ſcarce one face in
a thousand that will bear ſuch a mode of
dressing.

Thofe

( 15 )

Thofe ladies whose foreheads are moſt beau-
tifully adorned, and that bear an harmonious
and happy symmetry with the form of their
faces, are moſt injured; as the fineſt face is
distorted into deformity, the oval is lengthened
to a rifiable ſtretch, and the real likenefs diſ-
guſed.

When the head is dressed in the preſent
taſte, and the toupee made in the Parifian
ſtyle, it forms a flat as even as the foundation
ſtone for the erection of an edifice, while it
prefents a diſagreeable angle to the eye.

In the preſent ſaſhion, that part of the front
which forms this aukward toupee, rifes more
than an inch and a half plain, whilſt the hair
on the ſides ſerves to form the toupee in a kind
of a mathematical proportion. Now this ad-
herence to a ſquare form, is wandering from
Nature; for inſtead of tending to embellifh, it
ſerves only to diſfigure her moſt perfect works:
and for the truth of this, I appeal to the opi-
nions and productions of the moſt eminent
artifts.

I ſhall

( 16 )

I shall now endeavour to treat of the other
parts of the head upon the fame invariable
principle of Nature.

Should a lady's under-jaw bone project
somewhat too far, then the hair should be
brought full half an inch below the ear on the
face, forming a wave or curl; but by no
means so as to exclude the ear from fight, as
the formation of that organ is equally beautiful
with any other of the female frame. In opposi-
tion to a natural and juft mode of dressing,
the operator, in compliance with a ridiculous
fashion, forms a line from the infertion of the
jaw bone below the ear, and carries his work
on in a direction that palls with its unifor-
mity. And the two curls so loaded, and ftif-
fly pafted, which employ the ftudious care of
most dressers, are so singular an instance
of the prevalence of bad tafte, that by that
mode, they obscure the beautiful necks of our
lovely countrywomen.

I am at a loss to represent these curls by any
natural allusion; if they resemble any thing,
it

( 17 )

it is the appearance of the head of the private
foldier, who when called upon guard, by
the management of a piece of leather, obtrud-
ed from the side of his head, exhibits fome-
thing extremely whimfical; with only this
difference, that his expedient is not half so
indelicate and offensive; the female curl be-
ing much flatter and broader. Uniformity of
the head-drefs, as well as the particular al-
luded to, may be justified in the army, on
many accounts. But why fuch a ridiculous
and unmeaning uniformity fhouid obtain a-
mong the ladies for five or fix years, without
regard to the circumftances I have mentioned,
I confefs, is beyond my comprehension.
What encreafes my aftonifhment on this head
is, that the ladies never had fuch opportu-
nities of improving in their ideas of natural
elegance in hair-dressing as at prefent; the
works of an Angelica Kauffman, Sir J. Rey-
nolds, Cipriani, &c. pointing out the quin-
tefcence of elegance in a ftyle diametrically
opposite to the depraved tafte of the prefent
day.—The things, or curls, above-mentioned,
(as they are falftly called) are only imprifoned
hair,

( 18 )

hair, clogged by the grease of pomatum, and
fmothered with a profusion of powder.

Pomatum and powder, when employed in
the hands of a man of tafte, who has a ge-
nius for fstyle, will confiderably augment the
beauty of the hair; but thefe two powerful
ingredients, in the hands of an ignorant or ne-
gligent dreffer, are like the pallet and pencil
in the hands of an unfkilful painter.

To farther illustratc this odious practice, I
fshall beg leave to make fome observations
concerning thefe things fo dreffed.—We might
fuppofe (did we not know the contrary) that
hair-dreffers were the greateft experimental
philofophers on earth, and that umbrella-
makers were uſeleſs. A lady's hair dreffed in
the prefent enormous ſtyle, would ſhelter her
ſhoulders from the heaviest rain or hail, and
ſecure her as effectually from cold, as bear's
greafe in Ruffia, or the tepid entrails of brutes
do the ladies of the Cape of Good Hope.
And this monſtrous cuſtom (to purfue the idea
of the umbrella) is rendered more unnatural
and

( 19 )

and ridiculous by the hair being dreffed very
low, and in a ſtrait line of excludion, fo form-
ed as totally to hide the ears; as if our mo-
dern ladies intended to rival the ancient Man-
darines of China, who cut off their ears as a
mark of dignity. Or, perhaps, this mode of
dressing might have been the invention of a
party of ladies who unfortunately had very
large ears.

Mr. Garrick, so univerſally admired for his
very extraordinary theatrical talents, cariaca-
tured this ludicrous and diſguſing mode of
drefs, about eight years ago, so effectually in
wearing a téte, which I made by his order,
fo prepoſterouſly fashionable, for the aſſumed
lady of Sir John Brute, that many of the fair
creation, who had been deaf to the voice of
reafon, and of Nature, were laughed out of
the abfurdity, and reduced the ſize of their
head-dreffes within the compafs of mo-
deration.

Africa, Afia and America, have produced
men and women of a complexion ſomewhat

C 2

difſimilar

( 20 )

diffimilar to the people of Europe. It is
foreign to my purpose whether the curled
hair of a Negro is beautiful or not. That is
so fingularly curled, that by it, Providence has
thought proper to distinguish that species of
blacks. I will, however, only ask this simple
question, Whether an Indian, nearly of
the same complexion, would not think his
pride hurt, if his long flowing hair was obliged
to be cracked? *

Craping hair may be used in some trifling
instances, but is surely a great deformity in
general. When it is considered that the crap-
ing of the hair is the greatest destruction to
that fine ornament of the head, it is to be hoped
that ladies will abstain from a practice, which
eventually must deprive them of this fine em-
bellishment.

The hair naturally odorns with an in-
expresstible number of charms, the neck and
shoulders; but if the points are broke, and
the

* Ladies improperly call hair craped which is put
into papers for better curling.

( 21 )

the attenuated delicacy of the growth inter-
rupted by the frequent tortures which it un-
dergoes in craping, the most lovely hair must
in time fall a sacrifice to this destructive cus-
tom.—It must be curled round and open to
look natural.

Indeed, this practice of craping is now on
the decline; and it is sincerely to be hoped it
will be entirely abolished.

That trifle called a Cap, which was the
prevailing fashion for some time, is ornament-
ed on each side with variety of a very laugh-
able nature :—the feathers of a cock's tail!
which the barn doors of every farm furnish
in plenty; and those of the splendid oftrich,
are, by the exquisite taste of modern fashion,
placed in a feeming rivalship: and this cap,
so very finely adorned, and placed at the two
extremities of the triangular points, adds to
this very singular deformity, a kind of horns;
we mean not Cornucopia, (horns of plenty)
but merely to hint that the ladies seem to
mean it as a fatire on their husbands, or as a
kind

( 22 )

kind of emblem, that they were members
of the Cuckolds-Club. But surely, if this plea-
fantry be allowable in married ladies, young
candidates for matrimonial honour, should pay
every possible attention to preserve the beau-
tiful symmetry of Nature.

Amongst the fair sex, an affectation of ap-
pearing tall has been very prevalent for a
length of time, which seems to justify the en-
ormity of the head-drefs; but ladies should
confider that very few higher then five feet
seven are graceful. The combined powers of
Art and Nature cannot give elegance and cafe
to a very tall woman; therefore, ladies who
are unhappily inclined to exceed the graceful,
should be very cautious how the head-drefs
is dispofed. Little women, who fall below
the graceful standard, when they attempt
to rife (glorious ambition!) to the envied
height of a fitter beauty, should also be guid-
ed by caution; for a high head-drefs renders
their figure very laughable; they look like
diminutive beings in the hold of an enchant-
ed castle; the two great necromancers, heel
and cushion guarding the door.

If

( 23 )

If it is the ambition of my fair country-
women to imitate the French ladies, I sincere-
ly wish they would defift from the purfuit of
what it is impoffible to attain. The French
ladies being in general of a dark complexion,
are very similar to each other when dressed
for public appearance; for the fashion of
wearing their rouge is fyftematical; and that
fashion, when it does alter, alters always
with a very remarkable variety. From a lit-
tle below the eye, there is fometimes drawn
a red streak to the lower temple, and another
streak in a femicircular form to the other
line. If the eye-brows are not naturally
dark, they make them fo; and unlefs ladies
have very striking perfonal singularities, it is
difficult to diftinguifh them afunder: their
manners too fo widely differing from the re-
serve of the English, renders imitation in that
particular as burlefque and ridiculous as in
the article of drefs. Sometimes the French
ladies, like the pallid Italian women of the
Opera, put on rouge of the highest colour in
the form of a perfect circle, without fhading
it off at all; this is done to give a fire to the
eye,

( 24 )

eye, which they think adds a spirit to conversation, and a force to the art of ogling.

But English ladies fet a value upon the characters of chafity, modefty, and virtue, to which the married ladies of France claim no pretenfions; nay, the very fuppoſition would be an infult to them; I infer therefore upon the whole, that the females of our island can never affect a ſimilarity to the French ladies, with propriety, either in drefs or manners, till our morals and our notions are totally changed. From theſe observations, the folly and abfurdity of making the women of France the ſtandard and model of Head-drefs, will, I prefume, be obvious to the candid and unprejudiced of both ſexes.—Befide,

Although from the ſimilarity of complexion which prevails in France, there may be ſome pleas for uniformity in any particular fashion, yet in this metropolis, where complexions are ſo various, and where there is ſuch a mixture of different nations, diſtinguished more or leſs by a variety of feature, there is a neceſſity for varying the mode of dressing hair, and for adopting

( 25 )

adopting that mode, not only to the complexions, but alſo to the respective features of each individual.

Justice, however, induces me to obſerve, that we are indebted to the French ladies, in a great meaſure, for one of the fineſt ornaments, as a powder to the hair, that this century ever produced. It is matter of little importance whether a Doctor of the Sorbonne or an Abbé firſt diſcloſed this brown powder to a Princes, or her waiting woman; and we are much more indebted to the Queen, for introducing the fashion of wearing a kind of orange coloured powder, which, by an artificial light, looks like what is vulgarly called red hair, but which has a very good effect in an ſ Assembly, if the lady's complexion ſhould be bad. On the heads of ſome fine women, it has a quite contrary effect, as powder of ſuch an hue, even with the affiſtance of rouge on her cheeks, muſt give her face a livid caſt, and her neck muſt appear as if painted a dead white.

D

The

( 26 )

The Queen of France has also discovered the utmost tafte by discountenancing the stiff, starch, and unnatural mode of craping the hair, and torturing it into an infinity of fide curls, as also by adopting the graceful ease which once distinguished the head-dresses of the ladies of this country. Strange, however, as it may appear, it is an uncontroversible fact, that no sooner had the French queen discarded the ABSURD mode of hair-dressing, than the English ladies renounced for once their usual predilection for French fashion, and now adhere to the ridiculous mode which the Queen is endeavouring to abolish. With respect to the use of rouge also, the above personage is introducing a more natural mode of laying it on the face, instead of the broad femicular streaks which the French ladies have so long practised.

It cannot be determined with precision what coloured powder should be used in general. That particular should therefore be left to the judgment of the dresster, if a man of tafte. White powder is regaining its general use, and promises to be the universally adopted tafte: but

( 27 )

but the use of white powder in the extreme is an error that a nice distinguishing tafte for elegance can never altogether adopt, because the colour of the powder must ever be governed by the prevailing tints of the person's complexion. A brown beauty, and a fair beauty, should not use the same coloured powder;—the reason must be self-evident. Ladies who take exercise, and have the lovely glow of health in their cheeks, however fair and beautiful the complexion may be, should not use white powder alone, as the effect ever must be, that the light acting on white without absorbing one ray, the reflected rays cast a shade on the face that discolours the real complexion, and gives it the semblance of a dusky brown. On the contrary, a lady who leads a sedentary life, and is little exposed to the air, will have rather a languid aspect; a very little brown mixed with white powder, will therefore give great assistance to such a complexion, enliven the appearance of the eyes and face, and animate the whole form. There is a coloured hair (I mean the yellow, vulgarly called red, of a more than common bright tinge) to which a deep brown or chocolate

D 2

colate

( 28 )

colate powder gives the happiest cast, infinitely
furpassing the grey powder, and faving the
trouble and expence of staining the hair by
advertised nostrums of a mineral, poisonous,
defstructive effect, which are generally applied
by persons wholly ignorant of the nature and
quality of hair. This powder, judiciously ap-
plied, has the fame happy effect on flaxen and
grey hair, with this difference as to the latter,
that it must be used in its pure state, not low-
ered by the least mixture of white.

The preparation I use will change the co-
lour of grey and yellow hair to a dark brown,
and is of a quality entirely innocent.

There are very few heads of hair which do
not require the aid of colouring, as well as
enriching. Pomade and powder are the best
materials for that purpose I know of, and have
hitherto been so approved; none better having
been yet discovered; but the profusion with
which these articles, valuable in themselves,
is too frequently used, is productive of as in-
jurious effects as the inordinate application of
rouge. When ladies, defirous of the appear-
ance

( 29 )

ance of a florid complexion, and out of hu-
mour with Nature for having been rather un-
kind in that particular, first begin the use of
that imaginary ornament, they apply it with
a sparing hand; but daily habit, and the love
of admiration tempting them by degrees to
enlarge the portion, those articles, which ap-
plied with discretion would tend to embellish,
are laid on in such profusion, and particularly
the rouge, that the beholder turns afide, the
eye declining to encounter so glaring an
object.

Since I am upon the subject of colouring the
hair, I presume I may introduce, without the
imputation of vanity, a very elegant Poetical
Addreſs, with which I was honoured, as Mrs.
Siddons's hair-dresser, by a gentleman well
known in the politeſt circles, and which has
an immediate reference to that Lady.

POEM.

( 30 )

P O E M.

THOU ever welcome to th' expecting fair,
Select adorner of Califta's hair,
Say, what rash fancy, what prefumptuous taſte
Guided thy hand, and urg'd thee to lay waſte
Nature's high ſinſhed work ? to trample down
The comely tinge of ornamental brown,
By Providence deſign'd with apteſt grace
To flow luxuriant round th' enchanting face ?
Why blight ſuch friendly wreaths, and in their ſtead
Tinge the ſoft ſurface with diſguſting red ?
Perchance compaſſion prompted the diſguſe,
To veil her beauty from exploring eyes;
Left, like the ſun, inſuſerably bright,
It blaze too ſerely on the trembling fight;
Left her unclouded charms reſſiſtles prove,
And admiration ripen into love.
True—ſhe is form'd to ſpurn inferior arts,
And needs not drefs to captivate our hearts;
With powers moſt various bleſs'd—deſert moſt rare;
Proud attributes, beyond a mortal's ſhare !
—Has ſhe not beauty, such as might diſpenſe
With other gifts, nor aſk the charm of ſenſe ?
Viſtorious beauty, fearful to behold;
That melts the ſtern, and animates the cold !
—Has ſhe not ſenſe to deck the coarſeſt face,
And lend deformity a novel grace ?

—Talents

( 31 )

—Talents the giddy and the grave to draw,
Delight the gay, yet hold the wife in awe ?
—A voice by whose ſoft melody impreſſ'd
Congenial forrow thrills the rudeſt breast ?
—A countenance that ſpeaks, that can impart
Each tranſient paſſion of the lab'ring heart;
The pangs of fear, the blifs of hope expound,
And ſhew the mind without the aid of ſound ?
—If then, intent to ſhield us from alarms,
From ſkill ſo ſplendid, ſuch o'erpow'ring charms,
In pity to man's frailty thou wert led
To ſtain her lovely locks with ſurious red;
Thanks, many thanks are due! But if conceit
Tempted thy hand to render more compleat
That which before was perfect—kifs the rod,
And ceaſe to mar the wond'rous works of God.
To the bright firmament direct thine eye,
And mark the radiance of the gaudy ſky;
Behold on earth the beauteous tints that deck
The tulip's leaf, the peacock's glittering neck;
In ocean's glaſſy bed, and fertile cells,
Seek lucid ſcales and variegated ſhells;
Then bend your head ſubmiſſive, and avow
Nature's a better colouriſt than thou.
—And, O ye fair! be cautious whom ye truſt;
The taſte of hair-dreſſers is ſeldom juſt.
Did ye the little tricks of art deride,
And take unerring Nature for your guide;
So many of your ſex would not in vain
Of ſlighted vows and languid ſwains complain!

The

( 32 )

The gentleman with his wonted candour
will indulge me on this occasion, I hope, in
making a few remarks.

Artificial lights, and those benevolent rays
that the fun affords, are distinct. The black,
the brown, and the auburn, at a distance are
amazingly altered by artificial light and shade.
A dark brown head of hair, powdered with
white, which in the instance referred to is
really the cafe, and in point to what the gen-
tleman alludes to, would, by the most judicious
mixture in powdering, cast a light blue shade
or grey colour on the hair and the appearance
of the face, and produce the semblance of dead
brown, or a bad fallow complexion. And
notwithstanding a brown powder was greatly
preferable to white, yet as that colour would
have also been liable to many exceptions, I
preferred the orange-coloured powder, as the
brown would have given the hair too fable a
shade:—the gentleman in his very elegant
poem mistakes orange colour for red. He
was not aware that my mode of dressing tends
principally to the fetting off the features of the
face, and the hue of the complexion; and that
my

( 33 )

my curling also, as well as powdering hair, are
governed not by fashion, but by the formation
of the face and neck, the colour of the skin,
and the lights, whether natural or artificial,
by which the face and neck are to be viewed.
The hair, in an artificial light, is only to be
confidered as a mean to give a fine colour to
the complexion by such shade and light as the
stage affords, which will, in every possible in-
tance, alter the face and natural colour of the
complexion.—This may be demonstrated by
the absolute necessity which stage performers
are under of using colour on their faces; and
it is evident, that young men, who perform
old characters, by a judicious application of
white and red, and a few black lines drawn
with Indian ink, often wear the appearance
on the stage of eighty or ninety; and are al-
together so much altered, that their most inti-
mate friends do not know them.

The colour of the powder must, in my opinion, vary as the situation of the head-drels may demand. This yellow hair, so disagreeable to the gentleman alluded to, was in the days of the most eminent poets esteemed the first or-

E


nament

( 34 )

nament of beauty. Among our own country-
men, Spencer and Shakespeare, both pay the
highest compliment to the golden locks of the
toasts of their day; the two great beauties
celebrated for diffurbing the peace of the
world, Helen of Troy, and Cleopatra of
Egypt, had both yellow hair; and I heard a
lady of great literary reputation remark, that
when Rome was in all its grandeur, the Ro-
man ladies powdered with gold duft.

A root from Otaheite of the fame orange
colour, was prefented as a very rare and va-
luable gift by Captain Cook to some ladies,
being recommended as the fame with that
used by the copper coloured gentry of that
climate for powdering their hair. It should
feem that Nature dictated this coloured root,
when reduced to powder, as most becoming
their complexion, which never varies in either
fex.

The want of mixing with people of other
climates, excludes them from all opportunity
of imbibing any maxims, or adopting any
modes.

( 35 )

modes in drefs, but thofe to which they have
been invariably accuftomed.

A lady of the highest rank in Otaheite, and
of the most elegant form, would difguft her
gigantic lover, and caft a gloom on the tender
tête a tête, fshould he find the tawny lady
with white powder in her fine flowing hair,
rendering her complexion a dead black in his
eye. If ſhe had been ſo deficient in tafte and
decoration of her perſon, his fancy would na-
turally rove from the diſguſting ſcene to beau-
ties whose treſſes, adorned with the orange
coloured powder, muſt caſt a fairer ſhade on
their faces; and this comparifon would certain-
ly make againſt the lady, though a Princeſs;
and the lover would judge naturally and de-
termine juſtly.

These affertions may be incontestibly
proved and rendered ſelf-evident by common
observation. If a lady, whose complexion is
very indifferent, ſhould catch the rays of
yellow light breaking from a cloud in change-
able weather, the ſkin would appear for the
tranſitory moment clear and fair.—On the

E 2

contrary,

( 36 )

contrary, when the sky is on the ground,
the sky clear, the rays white, and the re-
flected rays white also, they will produce a
tint unfavourable even to the finest com-
plexion.

This observation was made perhaps before
the cause of it was ever philosophically ex-
plained. It is very common for ladies to ex-
claim, “Lard, how horribly I look today!
I protest I am as yellow as saffron! Well, I
declare, I am quite a hag!” Diffusion will
frequently effect the change, but ninety-nine
times in a hundred ladies are deceived.
Every trait of beauty is the fame as on the
preceding day when she admired herself; so
that I would recommend to ladies not to suffer
their tempers to be soured by imaginary
grievances, nor to vent their spleen on Betty
or Sukey; but consider the true cause of this
feeling change of complexion, which is the
state and colour of the atmosphere; for these
circumstances govern the whole.

Hence it is, that when Lady A. has paid
a visit to a celebrated beauty Lady B. under
the

( 37 )

the disadvantages of a gloomy dusky atmo-
sphere, she fees her to appearance, transformed
as it were; and even if she has no share of
envy in her composition, will exclaim on a
visit to another female acquaintance;—“Lard!
“Lady B. has a horrid complexion.—If she is
a beauty, Heavens defend me from such!—
Surely the men are mad.” Lady A. how-
ever is even with her traducing vifitant. Ano-
ther lady, known to both parties, calls on
Lady B. and as in our climate the atmosphere
changes sometimes thrice in an hour, she fees
her friend under the advantages of a clear sky,
and an altered light, and is of opinion she
never saw her look more charming. The
two visiting ladies met under these diametri-
cally opposite impressions; the first infits that
if the second lady’s compliments are just, Lady
B. must have been indebted to pearl powder
and rouge for that astonishing change in her
complexion.

I am perfuaded that a skilful hair-dresser,
who has influence enough with his employers
to be left to his own taste in dressing, might
by

( 38 )

by perfevering application, equal, in his way,
the very best sculptors and painters. Though
the pencil and the colour in the hand of an
Appelles could do wonders, and give to ina-
nimate figures the most admirable grace and
elegance, yet the master of his profession as
a hair-dresser, has almost an equal chance
with the finest artist. If it is affirmed that fan-
cy and genius, combined with art, are effen-
tial to complete the painter; it may be pre-
fumed, that without taste and genius, the
dresser will rather disfigure than adorn Na-
ture's loveliest works.

When I introduce, by way of illustrating my
ideas, those celebrated artists amongst the
painters and sculptors, I hope it will not be
imputed to a motive of vanity; as my real in-
tention is to show the esteem in which I hold
them, to acknowledge them as models in the
line of my profession; in which, if I am al-
lowed any merit, it is my glory to confess, that
while my opinion of natural beauty has been
formed upon the best models, it has also
been confirmed from the study of their pro-
ductions. I regret that our modern artists,
who

( 39 )

who excel in the line of portrait, have not al-
ways the fame advantages with those of pre-
ceding centuries, such as the fine flowing
curl, the exquisite divifications and winding laby-
rinths, copious, yet natural. I regret, also,
that such is the prevalence of reigning fashion,
that the most eminent artists can no longer
hold those natural beauties of the ancients as
objects of imitation; and that few, very few
are to be found, who nobly spurn the idea of
being confined within these trammels of the
mode, which we wish to explode.

The artist who delineated the beauties in
the reign of Charles II. whose works are at
Windsor, was unfortunately, in some degree,
in the fame predicament with regard to fol-
lowing ridiculous custom, and propellerous
fashion, as many artists and hair-dressers are
at present. It was then the fashion to dres
without powder of any colour, because the
king's complexion being f Schwarthy, and his hair
black, the ladies of that day, in compliment
to his majesty's large black wig, wore their
hair combed out in a style much resembling
the

( 40 )

the king's full bottom, with five small curls,
twisted into the form of corkcrews down the
forehead, stiff and unnatural, so that the face
in these pictures of that time, looks like a
cherry-cheek'd apple enveloped in a black
bush.

About the reign of Henry VIII. many fine
pieces were executed by Holbein. The ma-
trons heads were dressed in a style somewhat
resembling the prefent French taste, but much
lower, and without any cushion. The veil,
pinned in the middle of the peak, which pro-
jected from the forehead, was very graceful,
if we may trust to the painters of that day, or
to the dres of queen Catherine in the play of
Henry VIIIth. The young ladies, how-
ever, whose hair curled naturally, suffered
the curls to spread about the temples and
forehead, luxuriantly wild; fhading, cover-
ing, or difcloſing the beauties of the temples
and the forehead, as motion, wind, or chance
directed; and their heads on canvas are, to
this hour, beautiful ſtandards of elegance and
perfection.

The

( 41 )

The finest painter on earth, from Raphael
to Reynolds, could not produce a good picture
of the most lovely woman in nature, with her
hair dressed in the prefent ſtyle. They might,
and doubtles would give a striking likenefs
indeed, but of what? of deformity. Nature
abhors ſtraight lines, as the great Hogarth juſtly
remarks in his admirable Analyſis of Beauty.

This is the very idea we mean to explode;
and to juſtify the preceding obſervation, it is
remarkable that the ſtatue of Venus de Mé-
dicis, that exulting model of perſection, stands
in an inclining poſture.

The ladies of ſome late centuries were con-
vinced of the effect of natural, eafy, and ele-
gant modes; inſomuch, that thofe who had
fine long hair that was diſinclined to curl, ma-
naged it with ſuch judgment, that notwith-
standing their body drefſes were as stiff and
aukward as armour, their hair remained a fine
ornament to their perſons. It was cuſtomatic
with the unmarried ladies negligently to throw
their hair in different divifions over their
fshoulders,

( 42 )

shoulders, whilft each lock round the head
was ornamented in the winter with ribbons,
and in the fummer with flowers of variegated
hue; whofe beauties, when faded, gave place
to new ones, and thofe dispoſed by the hand
of Grace and Nature, ravilhed the eyes, en-
livened the fancy, charmed the ſenſe, and
tempted the pencil of the artift.

Since thofe days, the Englifh ladies have
arrived to great perſection in dreffing their bo-
dies; they have ſtudied eafe, and they have
in ſome degree ſucceeded.

However, their bracing the body with
whalebone, the hoop, and high-heel'd ſhoes,
are remains of barbarifm, originally introdu-
ced by age and uglineſs, to veil deformities.
For theſe monſters of gothic origin, accord ex-
actly with the ſtiff paſted uniform head-dreſs,
which the preſent taſte has introduced. No
figure, however ridiculouſly cariacatured, can
be more offenſive to the eye, or more palpa-
bly ludicrous than a lovely female, braced in
her body with whalebone or cane, extended
from hip to hip, raſed on ſtilts, above the ſize
of

( 43 )

of a Patagonian, when above all, ſhe places
the cuſhion, paſte and powder.

The head, as it comes out of the hands of
a modern modiſh hair-dreſſer, exhibits a form
as void of natural proportion, as of elegance;
the top reſembling a dead flat, till covered
with the cap already deſcribed, a balloon hat,
or ſome other appendage of ſaſhionable folly.
The ſides form a kind of ſquare trencher, not
only hiding the ears, but covering the greater
part of the cheek, as if in imitation of the
mode of whiskers, which the males ſeem-
ed to have declined, when the fair ſex
adopted this extraneous ſaſhion. To finiſh
the cariacature, are two things called curls, and
a compound of powder and pomatum, blended
in ſuch profuſion as to require the prop of
iron ſkewers to ſuſtain the ponderous mafs,
while they obliterate every trace of hair, and
in ſhort, eraſe every ſtamp of Nature. The
other two things of the fame compoſition, are
not indeed ſupported as the former, but ſuſ-
fered to dangle at large, and not only in-
commode the fair object, but veil the beau-
ties of the neck and boſom.

F 2

What

( 44 )

What a fight is this!—Hogarth in his huumourous frontispiece to the Analysis, has marked the absurdity of upright figures. He directed himself to modellers, to statuaries, and to painters; and the English ladies should attend to his lessons, if they mean to attain to elegance of drefs and deportment. The ladies of the northern parts of Europe fit principally on chairs, and are instructed to fit upright. In this situation the hips and shoulderbones are in an unnatural position, prominent and offensive, and their primness and restraint are evident to the most vulgar eye.

How would an eastern lady, or a fair Circassian stare at the unnatural figures, were they to view a room of English ladies at tea? How would they, in their turn, view the eastern lady or Circassian? It would not be a very flattering gaze on the part of the infidel; but that of aftonishment and wonder.—The ladies of Italy stand as models of general imitation. Common dancing-masters ruin the deportment of our ladies in general. These pedestrian artists teach their pupils to walk in curved

( 45 )

curved lines; but being totally ignorant of action, they know nothing of directing the inclined motion of the neck, which adds amazing grace to a well dressed head, varies the beautiful tints which illuminate the complexion, and by acting in concert with every concomitant motion, affords an enchanting illustration of finished elegance. I know of no manner more worthy of imitation in this particular, than that of Mrs. Abington, whose style of drefs and deportment in characters of rank, such as Lady Betty Modish, Millamant, &c. may be deemed a perfect display of ease and elegance, infomuch that the actrefs is lost in the accomplished women.

The ladies of this country are certainly under infinite obligations to Mrs. Abington for introducing that species of drefs consonant to every idea of natural elegance, in which the body is left to that freedom so congenial to common sense, as needed only to be seen to be admired; and which conveyed such conviction of its propriety, as at once, and I hope for ever banished the stiff and unnatural drefs which confined our grandmothers, as if they

( 46 )

they had been placed in the stocks; who
possibly in introducing the steel stays, and
stiff hoop, borrowed the idea from seeing their
husbands so often cloathed in armour, when
accoutred for the field.—

The dancers and actresses on the Italian
stage, justify the foregoing observations. The
ladies of Italy, as well as the gentlemen,
frequent the fields in that benign climate;
and, under the comfortable shade of a wide
branching tree, take their various repafts,
mostly reclining on the fragant verdure.—The
human form in infancy acquires by this custom
an ease and natural elegance that our mode
must inevitably prevent; yet in a degree the
English ladies might, by studying Nature,
avail themselves of that dignity which is pecu-
liar to their country, and in which they rival
the universe! To follow fashion in dres is so
palpable an absurdity as to admit of no apo-
logy—one woman in a thousand does not be-
come an established fashion. It may be ob-
jected, “that people of condition must follow
fashions—It would be absurd to be singular—
that it would betray vanity, affectation, &c.”

To

( 47 )

To this I answer, any lady may approach the
fashion, nay, may excel in it, and yet confult
elegance, taste, and Nature.—Good sense,
guided by taste, will go further in attaining
perfection in dres and behaviour, than the af-
sistance of the most adroit milliners or hair-
dresseurs under the fun!—A beautiful outside
needs little ornament; but when that is neces-
sary, it should always tend to illustrate, not
disguise the symmetry of those proportions
which constitute beauty:—indeed old ladies
are affixed in their persons by those very
modes which the young and beautiful should
most carefully shun. The present taste in
dres, and a profusion of powder and pomade,
are such obvious advantages to grey hairs and
formality of look, that it is to be presumed
antiquity will never alter that mode, for its
own sake. The stiff stays and hoop also hide
the debilities and deformities of age; and
when age is in the cafe, they may be allowed.
The cafe is reversed when we consider the
lovely Hebe of eighteen, whom Nature is
luxuriantly labouring to crown with a profusion
of gifts, such as the animated cheek dimpled
with smiles, the sparkling eye beaming with joy,
—the

( 48 )

—the residence of a million of charms; and
the neck with that highest finish, the hair; then
the chafte hand of tafte, guided by judgment,
should be employed, to check its wild-
nefs, and conduct with elegance each waving
lock into that maze of irregular charms it is so
prompt of itself to form, when inclined to curl.
—To guide, not alter Nature, is the buſineſs
of a hair-dresser.

Suffer me to digreſs a little from the main
object of my Treatife to confider what beauty
is; what a fine or exquifite tafte would pro-
nounce ſuch, and pafs ſome remarks on its
effectſ.—It is impoffible to confine tafte, or re-
duce its laws to a ſystem—Fops and triflers of
our ſex, in the gaiety of their hearts, may
praise thoſe of the other, who, like themselves,
are liable to adopt the worst, and moſt ridi-
culous fashions.—To an eye inclined to ſurvey
the beauties of the female frame, the age that
affords opportunites for accurate obſervations,
is between the years of fifteen and twenty;
then the muſcles gradually, and almoſt imper-
ceptibly ſwell, and the form undergoes the
moſt advantageous alterations which the drefs
ſhould

ſhould

( 49 )

ſhould be adapted to improve. The robes
young ladies ſhould wear, if tafte was consult-
ed, would be directly oppofite to thoſe adopt-
ed by ſaſhion. They ſhould be ſo made as
to diſplay the ſhape, the ſtays ſhould be very
little indebted to whalebone, the boſom
ſhould be elegantly attired, and the neck
adorned only by the hair, which, dreffed in
an exact imitation of what is beautiful in Na-
ture, and elegantly diſpoſed, muſt have a full
and charming effect:—But if a fine young wo-
man, whoſe form is thus rifing to the grace-
ful, and whoſe face, neck, arms, and hands,
are now modelled to the fight by the elegant
finish of indulgent Nature, ſhould neglect to
ſtudy a neceſsary deportment, her beauty
will little avail her.—All our great artiſts in
painting very juſtly reprobate upright figures;
and when they draw fancy pieces, a female
is generally the ſubject—Obſerve then, that
the moſt beautiful of their pieces are drawn
in an inclining poſture—if in a chair, which is
an aukward ſituation, the neck is drawn in-
clining to ſome object, the hair flowing in
irregular curls, and the arms depicted with
a ſtudied careleſſneſs ſo as to diſplay their fine

G

ſhape

( 50 )

shape and turn, and unfold to the fight the
graces of the hand and fingers. Reclining on
a sopha reading, is the most lovely attitude :
but indeed, women of taste, who study ele-
gance, will add inimitable grace to the most
trivial gesture, as these ladies know that no
movement in a straight line can be elegant.—
Shakespeare, who had the deepest penetra-
tion, and saw clearly into Nature, has fum-
med up all the charms of beauty in two
words,

INFINITE VARIETY.

Speaking of the power of Cleopatra's beau-
ty over Anthony, he says,

"Nor Custom stale
Her Infinite Variety."

The bulk and proportion of objects are go-
verned by fitneſs and propriety; conſequently
the injudicious hair-dreſſer muſt form a pro-
digy to excite univerſal laughter, ſhould he
dreſſ a lady of an elegant ſhape and form in
the fame ſtile with one whole figure rather
borders on what the French term—the “ En
bon

( 51 )

bon point.” All the ſenſes delight in variety,
and the eye is as much offended and tired of
being fixed to a point, as the ear is diſgusted
with one continued note. That great maſter
of drawing, Hogarth, ſays, it was once the
fashion to have two curls of equal ſize placed
at the fame heighth cloſe upon the forehead,
which he remarks, took its rife from the love-
ly effect of curls falling loosely over the face.
What would that maſter have ſaid, had he
ſeen an instance of a fine head of hair elegantly
dreſſed, (if it had ever been the fashion
in his time) adorning the neck with ringlets,
ſubject to a waving line, from the deportment
of a fine woman perfectly miſtraſs of elegant
action ? To give my readers an idea of his
ſystem, I ſhall make uſe of his own words.—
“ But the hair of the head is another very
obvious instance, which being deſigned chiefly
as an ornament, proves more or leſs so, accord-
ing to the form it naturally takes, or is put
in by art.—The moſt amiable in itſelf is the
flowing curl; and the many waving and
contrasted turns of locks naturally inter-
mingling, ravish the eye with the pleafure of
the purſuit, eſpecially when they are put in

G 2

motion

( 52 )

motion by a gentle breeze.”—Poets, as well
as painters, have described the wanton ring-
lets waving in the wind. The effect of these
waving ringlets was never more conspicuous
or more admired than in the instance of Mrs.
Crawford on the first night’s representation of
the character of Zenobia. Her mode of head-
drels formed on a plan easy, negligent, and
unrefrained, displayed the features, and in-
deed the whole form to such advantage as
to fix the attention, and command the ap-
plause of several eminent artists who afforded
a function to the judgment and skill of the
dresser in thus imitating the grand model—
Nature. Should hair-dressers alone be igno-
rant of this beautiful effect?—A hair-dresser of
taste, who has a genius for his profession, must
observe that the waving line, or line of beauty,
will constantly vary, and not only add to the
loveliness of the object, but tend also in a
great degree to establish his own reputation.—
The dressier has greatly the advantage of the
statuary or the painter; for the marble, how-
ever finely polished, however elegantly and
naturally compleated, is but a statue still.—
The painter, though an Apelles, leaves you
only

( 53 )

only a figure without motion; nor can all his
tints, his dyes, and his touches, make that
picture move. But when life and motion are
added to the painter's beauty and the sculpt-
tor's grace, surely then the artist is invited to
make the most splendid display of his taste
and judgment; and though his work will de-
cay like the most compact pofey culled with
judgment and arranged with taste, yet he
will have the satisfaction of a temporary fame,
and may boast that he has not exhibited mon-
sters to the world.

As I have treated at large on the beauty of
an intricate or labyrinthian mode of dressing,
fome may imagine that I mean to recommend
as beautiful, the fashion of craping hair, or ex-
hibit as a standard of beauty the head of an
African black. On the contrary, I only wish
to recommend a close and exact imitation of
NATURE under all her possible variety, and
to explode the least formality or adherence to
any established fashion or custom which mi-
litates against that great all-pervading power.
An elegant woman with an indifferent face,
fupposing her hair well-dressed, will keep
the

( 54 )

the mind and the eye constantly employed
in following the numberless turns the head
and face are capable of through the power of
expression. How soon does a face wanting
expression and variety grow infidel, though
ever so pretty?—A head therefore dressed in
the style of deformity which I have described,
not having these advantages with the rest of
the body in motion or situation, must be difficult
the eye of the beholder.

The serpentine line recommended by Ho-
garth, should be the standing criterion on
which dressers ought to establish their first
principles; as by its waving and winding at
the same time in different tracks, the eye is
conducted in a pleasing manner along the
continuity of the charming variety.

The language of eminent artists to their pupils on their first entrance, runs thus—"Vary your situations by all the ways that can be conceived!" This rule stands good with respect to those who are employed in adjusting the human hair to the features, complexion, style of the face, &c.—In short, the art of com-
pelling well, is the art of varying well—The more
the

( 55 )

the dress varies, if the space or contents of
the face will admit of it, the more he must
consequently add luster to its beauty: Na-
ture in shells, flowers, &c. affords an infinite
variety of elegant hints for this purpose. And
it is said, that the "original of the Corinthian
capital was taken from nothing more than
from some dock leaves growing up against a
basket."

It is an indisputable fact, that no living
creatures are capable of moving in such varied
and graceful directions as the human species.
But from a strange notion which custom has
adopted, we seldom see instances of per-
fection (not perhaps once in a century) except
on the stage.

A gentleman or lady, as finely accomplished
as good company and modern dancing-masters
can possibly make them, will, on a first ap-
pearance, be as aukward as the village boor
before his lordly landlord. Refraint would
confine them in trammels, and they could
not even represent their own characters.—A
mode of curtseying, has, for many years, been
adopted,

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adopted, highly injurious to female grace and
beauty. If a fine curtsey confits in nothing
more than being erect in figure at a time of
finking and rifing, a dancing bear, lead about
the streets for show, must be allowed to make
as good a curtsey as any person. It is neces-
fary in bowing and curtseying, to let the hair
have fair play; for an exact famenefs will de-
ftroy every defirable effect. An inclination
of the head and neck should accompany curt-
feying, or common addrefs.—Shakeſpeare
feems to have recommended this ornamental
manner of bowing in a deſcription of Cleo-
patra's waiting women :

“ And made their bends adorings.”

He muſt have been no indifferent judge of
grace, who firſt invented, or improved the mi-
nuet in dancing; as it contains a great variety
of movements in ſerpentine lines: but as they
generally move ſo flow as to tire the eye, and
expoſe the leaſt defect, a keen obſerver will
often notice diſguſtful ſneers from ſome part
of the ſpectators.—Shakeſpeare's idea of the
beauty

( 57 )

beauty of dancing, gives us a perfect image
of real excellence.

Florizel, in transport at the fight of his Per-
dita's uncommon grace and elegance, pays the
object of his adoration the following beauti-
ful compliment, under the character of a
ruſtic :

“ Whate'er you do,
Still betters what is done.—
Whene'er you dance, like a smooth wave
By gentle winds heav'd up, so move you
To the music's dulcet breathed,
That I could wifh the motion were perpetual.”

In Shakeſpeare's time, pomatum, cuſhions,
and hair pins were unknown. Perdita, here-
fore, muſt have had ornaments about her head
of a diffimilar nature to any in vogue at pre-
ſent.

I am very apprehenſive that Florizel would
never have loft his heart, or left a palace for
a ſheep-ſhearing, had his Perdita's hair been

H

dreffed

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dressed by the hands of either a Parifian, or
London operator; perhaps it might be well if
young ladies would benefit by this remark.
Milton, in his admirable description of Eve
when in Paradise, dwells with feeming rapture
on the HAIR of that exquisite beauty before
the fall:

> " She as a veil down to the slender waist,
> Her unadorned golden tresses wore
> Diffevell'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd
> As the vine curls her tendrils."

—And continuing his rapturous description,
concludes with such an eulogy on the mother
of all mankind, as Eve alone could merit, and
Milton alone could write:

> "Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
> In every gesture dignity and love."

If Deformity had established a school, and
wished to make converts to Falfehood, as the
ancient disciples of Plato and Socrates did to
establish

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establish Truth, and the physical and moral
beauties of Nature; the monster could not
have employed fitter agents than dancing-
masters, and modern hair-dressers. The
writhings of an infant, when in play with its
mother, crowing and chuckling, whilst the
parent refits its approaches, and alternately
draws it with the most cordial embraces to the
bosom, and again repeats the same action, is
a scene to a susceptible mind, of all others the
most beautiful. Our eyes are wholly en-
gaged; they follow the winding and waving
lines of beauty and grace, the heart catches
the enchantment, and warms into rapture.

Is it not astonishing, that in a few years af-
ter, when the infant approaches by flow de-
grees to maturity, the parent should first com-
mit the care of his external deportment to a
dancing-after? the consequence of which is,
that if the youth goes into a polite affem-
bly, he inevitably becomes the ridicule of
the whole company.—Should your ion or
daughter recline in an easy or in an elegant at-
titude,

H 2

( 60 )

titude, this cutter of capers would reprimand them instantly, and place them in a situation exactly resembling the upright, stiff-necked pedestrian figure of Harry VIII.

As the motion of the head, and confequently the hair, is concerned in dancing, I shall on this occasion, take the liberty to prefent the reader with an extract from the *Analysis of Beauty*.

Speaking of country-dancing, the author fays, “The lines which a number of people together form in country or figure-dancing, make a delightful play upon the eye; especially when the whole figure is to be seen at one view, as at the play-house from the gallery. The beauty of this kind of myftic dancing, as the poets term it, depends upon moving in a compofed variety of lines, chiefly serpentine, governed by principles of intricacy, &c. The dances of barbarians are always reprefented without theſe movements, being only compoſed of wild skipping, jumping, and turning round, or running backward and forward, with

( 61 )

with convulfive ſhrugs, and diſtorted geſtures. One of the moſt pleafing movements in country-dancing, and which anſwers to all the principles of varying at once, is what they call the *Hay*; the figure of it altogether is a cypher of S's, or a number of serpentine lines, interlacing, or intervolving each other.”

Milton, too, in his Paradife Loft, deſcribing the angels dancing about the facred hill, pictures the whole idea in theſe words:

> “Mystical dance!
> —— mazes intricate
> Eccentric; intervolv'd, yet regular,
> Then moſt, when moſt irregular they seem.”

The Italian dancers, and thofe who are moſt celebrated for action on the English ſtage, are the beſt models for ſuch as with to diſtinguifh themſelves from the vulgar. If it be ſuppoſed by any, that mere ſentimental acquirements can effect all that may be expeſted towards attaining excellence of eafe and

( 62 )

and gracefulneſs of deportment, experience entirely contradicts so ill founded a ſuppofition. Sedentary men, and thofe of the other ſex, whose genius have led them to the ſtudy of letters, and the improvement of the mind, have generally been found remarkably deficient in thofe graces that recommend the exterior form to the eye. Indeed, without ſome ſentiment or paſſion to guide the various motions of the body, a well carved *Pagod* would be of as much importance as a human being.

Dignity of deportment, without ſenſibility of countenance, the influence of the paſſions, or the direction of a rational principle aiming at a particular end, would have no other effect on the eye of the beholder, than the ſtatue of Sir Cloudeſtly Shovel, in Westminſter-Abby.

That peculiar grace called Dignity of Deportment, or the awfully ſublime, is display ed in a ſtyle singularly pictureſque by Mrs. Yates, in thofe characters that ſeem more particularly adapted to her genius; ſuch as Mandane,

( 63 )

dane, Medea, the Dutcheſs of Braganza, &c. In the ſublime of tragedy, her manner, both of declamation and deportment, has long commanded boundleſs applaſe. Having had the honour of being appointed to drefs that lady on the firſt performance of the laſt mentioned character, I made it my buſineſs to confult the firſt artiſts, and minutely to ſurvey the moſt beautiful paintings and prints that I could find. Impreſſed with ideas fuggeſted by the former, and examples exhibited by the latter, I proceeded totally regardleſs of any eſtablished mode or ſaſhion, and conforming myſelf to Nature and Character alone, I ſucceeded, in effect, beyond my moſt ſanguine wishes. The ſtyle and manner of drefs not only attracted the whole circle of ladies, but was honoured by the ſanction of a Dutcheſs of the firſt rank, and moſt exquiſite taſte, who was pleafed to make it an object of imitation.

Stage action is neceſſarily carried to an ex treme that by no means is authorised, as an object

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object of imitation in private life, in any rank
whatever. Yet almost the whole of stage ac-
tion should be a guide to those who wish to
excel in these fine accomplishments of grace
and elegance. Occasions do not frequently
occur to draw forth such violence of action as
we generally see used and applauded on the
theatres: and surely it would be the height
of ridicule to see a young lady, smitten with
the charms of Mrs. Abington's acting, carrying
her Lady Betty Modish into the parlour or
dining room; or to see another lady of a dif-
ferent cast, enraptured with Mrs. Siddons in the
tragic muse, giving her friends Belvidera at
second hand, on the most trifling occasions
that could possibly happen in a family; yet
every young lady should have about her a por-
tion of the excellencies which each of those
favourites of the muses so eminently poffefs.

To observe, and to emulate, are distinct
operations of the mind; and the distinction,
or medium to be attended to, is what we call
Taste, tho' universally allowed to be subject
to no partial definition.

Some

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Some there are of the fair sex who mistake
carelessness for ease; as do many of the other,
impudence for spirit; therefore to prevent any
young lady from falling into so great an error,
as to affect a more than ordinary carelessness,
or negligence in her manner and style of ac-
tion, let her remember that ease and grace
disdain carelessness and inattention. Imitation
is attended with numberless disadvantages
to those who are emulous to copy from any
real or supposed excellence which they see in
another; that is, if they attempt to imitate any
particular grace or action, without a corre-
spondent deportment to guide the whole.—
How difficult this is, I submit to the judgment
of any discerning reader, who will reflect,
that motions guided by reason and sentiment,
must vary in every individual.

Every lady should establish a style of her
own, not governed by fashion or prejudice,
but as the result of her own observation and
experience; adjusting every ornament, every
part of her dres, as well as regulating her
action.

I

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action or motion to her size, complexion, and
relative capabilities to others of her sex, whe-
ther superior or inferior in natural grace and
beauty. The languishing look, inclined po-
ture of the neck, the head resting on the hand,
the fingers intercepting the labyrinths of the
fine treffes of the temples, is a fight uncom-
monly enchanting in a truly lovely woman—
But should a little lady with a dusky com-
plexion, small grey eyes, a little out on the
left shoulder, and black straight hair, attempt
to place herself in such an attitude, it must
have so rifible an effect, that an expiring fana-
tic could not restrain an extorted burft of
laughter.

The picture of Una, painted by Angelica Kauffman, is an exquisite and masterly drawing; there the hair is beautiful, the closest imitation of Nature being observed, and the fillet discloses a fall of hair that seems to call for the hand of a judicious dresser only to add still a higher grace to the lovely form, which the painter had taken such uncommon pains to render engaging.

Having

( 67 )

Having pointed out the absurdities, and illuf-
trated the beauties of my profession to the
best of my ability, by references to the pro-
ductions of the most celebrated artists and
writers, I will endeavour to hint at some of
the caufes at least to which we may impute
the prevalence of ridiculous custom, in a point
of the greatest importance to female beauty.

The general deviation from the graces of
Nature, of elegance and of ease so apparent in
the reigning mode of head-drels, is, I apprehend,
in a great measure to be attributed to
penury, which for some time past has induced
many ladies to encourage the attempts of
waiting-women, or lacquies, to supplant the
dresser in an office upon the due performance
of which depends the highest embellishment
of their persons.

Every manual operation is governed by
fome leading principle, and requires expe-
rience to be brought to any degree of perfe-
tion. The great natural beauty of the hair is
its tendency to curl; but the imitative beauties

I 2

are

( 68 )

are the effects of the operator's art. Now the
first thing recommended to a Tyro or novice
in the art of hair-dressing, or even in the
common framing of perukes, is to avoid by a
certain manner of curling, the cramping of
the hair—a circumstance with which these sub-
stitutes for dressers being wholly unacquainted,
fuch dabblers must of course frustrate the
very design of rendering the hair instrumental
to ornament; and thus by perverting it from
the intention of Nature, they disguise rather
than embellish the features of the lovely ob-
ject.

Nay, farther, having no fixed principle, and
being as wholly unacquainted with art as with
Nature, the conjunctive effects of which must
be studied by the skilful dresser, they proceed
at random, and taking a superficial glance of
one mode, and a transient sketch of another,
produce figures grotesque even beyond caria-
cature. As the devices of idleness or ignorance
in the profession, the use of two most de-
structive implements have been introduced,
called crimping irons and steel combs, which
are

Yale LWS

( 69 )

are ever attended with pernicious effects, and
contribute as much to injure the hair as to dis-
figure the person. Such being the plain and
evident result of a practice at present so pre-
valent, can it be wondered that those ve-
ry forms which were once simply elegant,
should degenerate into scare-crows, or that
those very means which were designed for
ornamenting them, should not only produce
the contrary effect, but also make them a blot
in the fair Creation ?

If the art of hair-dressing was duly pa-
tronized, and bunglers, whether professors,
waiting-women, or lacquiers, were rejected,
a system on evident principles of Reason, as
well as confirmed by the testimony of the
most eminent artists, might be formed; and
which would exclude such a wretched imitation
of Nature.

To effect this grand purpose is the design
of these pages, which if they conduce in any
degree to rescue Nature's most finished works
from the ravages of false taste and ridiculous
fashion,