huntsman. Caleb here was his nephew, and helped him as a boy with the dogs, and moreover is the grandest liar we have in these parts. He's sitting up with the horse, so we'll call him and make him give you a specimen, before we turn in. Caleb, these gentlemen want to hear about Uncle Jake's great Christmas fox-chase." "Lor me, Mar'se George, them ar' times done gone so long now, I most disremember all 'bout 'em." 'Why it's not six weeks since I caught you telling it to those New York gentlemen in the stable; let's have it now with out any variations." see if the ole man's still at it. Well, sirs, I rode roun' till near midday when suddenly I sees a dog cross the road befo' me, then a whole string comes along, and I sees Jumper Frolic Beauty, and the rest of them, you could 'most see through 'em they were so thin, and though they had their mouths open, and was tryin' to raise a bit of a fuss it warnt no manner o' use. "I knew Uncle Jake warnt far behind and presently sho' nuff there was a rustlin' in the wood, and he cum out right agin me, the miserablest sight you ever seed. He didn't 'pear to notice me much 'cept just to slip off his horse and to git on mine. I put the pone o' bread an' the meat in his pocket, an' he went lopin' off after the dogs on the colt. "There wur no show fur me but to git home with the mar' who looked as tho' she'd drop dead in her tracks. I dursn't fool with no mo' horses, an' jes' quietly sot up for Uncle Jake that night, but durn me if it warnt for nothin', two o' the hounds cum sneakin' in 'bout sundown, but that wur all. Next mornin', I went to ole mar'se, the jedge, and he an' the company with him thote it a mighty good joke, and the biggest kind of a crowd started out to look for the chase. There wur nothin' left to hear, an' it wur about eleven o'clock he struck right in agin the whole gang, and I wur with him, or no one would believe, gen'l'mens, what I tell you now for, fo' God sar, the fox wur walkin', the hounds were walkin', an' old Fake on the colt were walkin' all within twenty steps of one another. Lord! you should ha' seen the ole jedge, I thote he'd a bust hisself with laughin'. He sent for a wagon an' put the fox, the hounds, and ole Jake inter it, and had 'em druv home. That's jes' as true, gen'l'mens, as I'm a livin' man." 'Well, gen'l'mens, it wur some fifteen or twenty years befo' s'render, when I wur just a chap sorter helpin' roun' Uncle Jake, now the ole jedge, that is Mar'se George's pa, had been fooled ever so many times by an ole red fox in Carter's Mountain, not a great ways from yer, and got sorter mad with the dogs, an' ole Jake who loved dem ar' hounds jes' as if they'd bin folks, swore he'd cotch that fox if it took him the whole of Christmas week to do it in. The jedge had a big 'dinin' o' the quality on Christmas day, an' ole Jake he jest slipped off with the hounds 'bout day in the mornin' and struck that fox's trail right to onst. He'd got sorter used to de ole red, and knowed what line he'd take, fo' sho'. He never went far from home, but jes' kept gwine on roun' and roun', more like a grey fox. 'Bout dinner time I guv' over, as the plough mule on which I rode began to get kinder played out, but ole Uncle Jake had taken the best horse in the stable, and jes' pitched right on near the hounds, who were all the time on the trail and makin' a heap o' fuss. After dinner I took another horse and slipped out to see if I could hear anything o' the ole man, an' there sho' nuff the hounds were, travellin' roun' the mountain where they'd first found the fox. I soon cotched 'em, and kep' along with Uncle Jake till sundown, and when I began to talk 'bout gwine home fo' dark the ole man jes ripped and cussed, and said he'd stay wid dat ar fox till the new year, fo' he'd let him go. Well, genl'mens, I jes' thote he'd got may be a 'tickler' o' IN looking over a volume containing whiskey in his pocket, and was sorter up-newspapers of various dates, issued in pish on that account, so left him my fresh horse an' rode, or rather led, his'n home. In the morning when I went round to the stables and quarters, I didn't see no hounds, nor horse, nor yet no Uncle Jake. So, says I, I'll jes' put the saddle on the grey colt, and a pone o' corn bread and some meat in my pocket, and slip out and From The Leisure Hour. SOME FASHION-GLEANINGS, FROM 1744 London and several other large towns, I have found various scraps of fashion-gossip, and other notices of English social and domestic life, which carry me back to the middle of the eighteenth century, the scenes of which appear with a reality and a vividness. which only hope may present itself to my readers. Then, as now, Paris reigned supreme, stitching on to her stays. I wonder if the a very queen of fashion, and the most prince took particular notice of the fair minute and intense interest is taken in | lady who did him so much honor. the doings of the court of that period. Here is a specimen: Dundee, September 13th, 1745. -The young chevalier is now in our neighborhood, and but far too well attended. The Government and King George want not friends among us. The whole army under the Pretender moved last Wednesday to Dunblane, and are daily growing in numbers. Lord Ogilvie is now at Montross, and has committed great outrages in this country, and is threatening also to visit Dunblane. I cannot say what the number of the armed rebels may amount to; some say four, others five, and others seven thousand. The Pretender makes himself very popular. He is dressed in a Highland garb of fine silk tartan, red velvet breeches, and a blue velvet bonnet, with gold lace round it and a large jewel of St. Andrew appended. He wears also a green ribbon, is above six foot, walks well and straight, and speaks the English or broad Scots very well. The next we have is from the London Gazette: June 17th, 1751, Lord Chamberlain's Office. -Orders for change of mourning for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on Sunday next, 23rd inst.-viz., the men to wear black, full-trimmed, plain or fringed linen. Black swords and buckles. Undress-Grey frocks. The ladies to wear black silk, fringed or plain linen, white gloves, black and white shoes, fans and tippets, white necklaces and earrings; no diamonds. Undress-White or grey lutestrings, tabbies or damasks. was a was Lutestrings, tabbies, and damasks! All names that have utterly vanished from the world of fashion. A "lutestring plain, stout silk; the name, by-the-bye, corrupted from lustring. A "tabby" was a kind of waved silk, usually watered, manufactured like taffeta, but thicker and stronger (the latter a fine, smooth, silken stuff, having usually a remarkably wavy lustre, imparted by pressure and heat, with the application of an acidulous fluid, to produce the effect called watering it was of all colors, and often striped with silver and gold). These two must have been very much what our moiré antiques and watered silks are. A "damask a heavy rich figured silk, with varied fig. ures, such as flowers set, evidently the And here is fashion on the other side: counterpart of our richest figured silks. Edinburgh, February 1st, 1746.— On Thurs-It seems rather odd that these three exday, at three in the morning, the Duke of Cessively rich materials should be ordered Cumberland arrived at the Abbey, not in the for undress, while plain black silk was for least fatigued. He went to bed and slept near state use. three hours, so that by eight he was busy with General Hawley and General Huske, and the rest of the principal officers, who all appeared in boots. His Highness had no time to go into Edinburgh all that day, and could scarce be persuaded to allow the ladies to be admitted for one hour; but at last he agreed to receive them at seven in the evening, and none to stay after eight. The ladies attended at the time appointed, very richly dressed. His Royal Highness received them very familiarly; saluted each of them. One, Miss Car, made a very fine appearance. At the top of her stays, on her breast, was a crown, well done in beugles, and underneath, in letters, "WILLIAM DUKE OF CUMBERLAND." On the right side of the crown was the word "Britain's," and on the left "Hero." Can you not imagine the agony of fright Miss Car or Kerr was in all that first day of February, 1746? I can. The "beugles" must have taken an immensity of Apparently at that period English ladies had a reputation for being good dressers; for read this: September 17, 1751. A fine doll is made by Mr. Church's daughter, in St. James's Street, with different dresses to cloath it, and is to be sent to the Czarina, to show the manner of dressing at present in fashion among the English ladies. We read the result of this doll's mission a month later. From Petersburgh we hear that the Czarina of Russia has of late taken such a fancy to the dress of the English ladies that she has desired to have dolls sent over from London completely attired in the various dresses now deshabil and riding habits. in fashion at Court and in the City, as also in Her Imperial Majesty intends to introduce the same at her Court; though it is feared some alterations may appear here ere the dolls can be con pletely rigged out, or at least before they can This surely must have been an ancesreach Petersburgh, one moon being sufficient tress of the great champion of English to give a turn to fashion. industry, Lady Bective. It is so annoyThat terrible woman, Elizabeth Pe-ing not to know her name. Whoever she trovna, was just then in the zenith of her was, the noble countess brought high inpower. It is difficult to imagine her oc- fluence to her aid; for see the announcecupying herself with anything so harmless ment: as foreign fashions. True, she did found a University and an Academy of Art, two clean spots in the vast blot of which her character consisted. December 29, 1763. The ribbon manufacturers of Spitalfields are busy making up a quantity of fine ribbons of proper colors and curious devices to be ready against the marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Augusta. Here is another exceedingly interesting announcement: July, 1745. We hear an academy will soon be established at the Court end of the town (London) to teach young gentlemen to curl and paper up their hair in order to qualify them for posts in the Army. It may be meant for a joke, but it is inserted between two paragraphs which certainly have no "joke" about them. I note invariably, however, that the humor of a hundred years ago, if it is not so broad as to be coarse and even worse, is so carefully wrapped up that we cannot without much consideration discover it. June 24, 1764. — When a certain great Minister of State took his leave of some persons of distinction he did it in a fustian frock, and not à la mode de Paris, which puts them a little out of humor, they deeming it a mark of contempt, and therefore returned the visit in the same manner. lately sold twenty pairs of stockings at a guinea A stocking manufacturer at Doncaster, who each pair, has got a commission from some of the nobility for six pairs at six pounds each pair, which he has undertaken to execute. To so great perfection is that branch of British industry arrived. Rather a long price, is it not? Another paragraph says: June, 1766. We hear Her Royal Highness Princess Caroline Matilda has particularly requested that her wedding cloaths and Her Royal Highness's other dresses shall be made of the manufacturers of England. Poor ill-fated princess! I find close by she died broken-hearted nineteen years the account of that marriage, which, until later in the Castle of Lille, brought her only wretchedness and misery. October 2, 1766. — Last night between seven and eight Her Royal Highness the Princess Caroline Matilda, youngest sister of our most gracious Sovereign, was married by proxy to the King of Denmark, His Royal Highness the Duke of York standing proxy for His Danish Majesty. the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Council The ceremony was performed by Chamber of St. James's. This morning about half after six the Queen of Denmark set out from Carlton House, attended by Lady Mary Boothby, Count Bothman, and several other persons of distinction, in three coaches-andsix and two post-chaises, escorted by a party of Horse Guards and a numerous train of attendants, for Harwich, to embark on board the yacht for Rotterdam, from whence Her Majesty will proceed to Denmark. Their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York and Gloucester, Prince Henry, and the Princess of Brunswick were at Carlton House between five and six in the morning to take leave of their royal sister, which was very affecting on all sides, and the Queen of Denmark shed tears when getting into the coach. I do not wonder at it. What a forlorn marriage! What an ordeal, to go all alone, at least without any of her own kith and kin, into a foreign country and among strangers to meet a husband who had not land of her birth! Small wonder that she taken the trouble to fetch her from the shed tears on getting into the coach. In 1767 we find two very amusing letters from a lady and gentleman of fashion. Though rather long, they are both so laughable that I must give them in full. does not, by-the-bye, say what ship) brought home with him a skeleton of one of their hands, which measures sixteen inches from the joint of the wrist to the fingers' ends, and every way large in proportion. Their children are are adorned with bracelets of gold. They do not inter their dead, but by a preparation eat off their flesh and hang the bones in a box up a tree, many of which were seen and might have been brought away easily. And here is the reply to the letter: October, 1767.-To the Printer of the "St. James's Chronicle:". Sir, It hath often been observed that we English people are re-five feet high at two years old, and their women markable for extremities—that is, that we are remarkable for acting in opposition to those wise maxims which tell us, In medio tutissimus ibis, or In medio consistet vertus. Though an Englishman, I have candor enough to acknowledge the truth of the accusation, and I think it was never more exemplified than at present Just a proof that travellers see strange by my countrywomen in the enormous size of things, and geese at home believe them. their heads. It is not very long since this part I find, on looking into the subject, that of their sweet bodies used to be bound so tight the Patagonians average five feet ten, but and so amazingly snug that they appeared like are known to reach six feet four. Not a pin's head on the top of a knitting-needle. more extraordinary in height than the EnBut now they have so far exceeded the goldenglishmen we are accustomed to see every mean in the contrary extremity that our fine day. ladies remind me of an apple stuck on the top of a small skewer. If I am not mistaken the head of the Venus de Medicis measures about one-tenth of her whole body. This, therefore, we may very justly conclude to be the just proportion. In proportion, therefore, as a lady deviates in her appearance from that standard, the nearer she approaches to our idea of a monster. How then is it possible that a fine lady can imagine herself agreeable in the eyes of a spectator when her head makes a full fourth of her whole body? I often frequent the playhouse, and between the acts am wont to regale myself with contemplating the charms of my fair countrywomen; but really their heads of late have become so enormous that, in order to behold them without disgust, I find myself under the necessity of imagining them to be so many Patagonians, and consequently that the feet of those in the boxes are on a level with the floor of the orchestra. This I find to be a much more tolerable idea than to suppose them to be dwarfs, with giants' heads. Pray, sir, inform these fair ladies that without proportion there can be no beauty, and that an oyster-wench in puris naturalibus is a much more desirable object than a brocaded monster. But, cries her ladyship, it is the fashion. Fie! fie my good lady, I expected a more rational answer. Ought a woman of your understanding to be led into manifest absurdity by a parcel of foolish ridiculous female coxcombs and French friseurs? — I am, Sir, yours, October 14, 1767.- Sir,-In your paper of Saturday I read a letter of criticism on the present taste of the ladies' head-dresses. I cannot help thinking it severe and indeed. scurrilous to compare the fairest of the creation to monsters. Insufferable! it is an impertinence not to be forgiven by the injured sex. I must confess the extravagance of the present mode is ridiculous in a great degree and really ought to be corrected; but then, in a more gentle manner than your correspondent has done. We women, you know, are generally deemed weak; if this argument is allowed, our little foibles should be overlooked; and I think I may with justice vindicate my own sex, by saying they are not half so absurd in their dress as the men, who are supposed to have sense superior to us, consequently should not rush into such extremes. I am sure they deviate from their great sense when they make themselves such enormous figures as they do at present. What is there on earth that has a more ridiculous appearance than a powdered beau? I would advise your satirical friend to compare a lady's and a gentleman's head together, then let him say which object is the most worthy of ridicule; if he speaks candidly, I am apt to think the verdict will be given in favor of the lady. For my part, I can compare a fine gentleman's head to nothing better than a round-cut yew-tree in a white-frosty morning. I could wish these very (would-be) wise beings did not make themselves appear such very great dolls by finding fault with those who are so very much more perfect than themselves. — I am, Sir, your friend, Leonora.· Grosvenor Square. ary A couple of nice, pleasant, complimenttell which gets the best of the argument letters, are they not? I really cannot - both are somewhat too fluent to be very effective; a dozen words, terse and strictly to the point, would have been better. As an example, a man once said to a young lady, a distinguished-looking girl, do who was accustomed to plenty of admira- | thing ye have overlooked. Ye canna deny tion, and had at times as keen a tongue as what's written in the guid book, 'The any one I know, “I don't like the way you devil goes about like a roaring lion seekyour hair." The girl looked him coolly ing whom he may devour.' And when I up and down, from head to feet, and back see ye fechtin' him Sabbath after Sabagain. "I should be very sorry if you bath, bangin' the pulpit, and shaking your did," she remarked quietly. Of course fist at him, says I to mysel: Sandy, man, there was a general laugh, and of course it's odds but some day ye'll catch the deil he left that young woman alone for the napping, and then the minister will thank future. H. V. P. you for that day's work." So Sandy remained unconvinced, and continued his hunting exploits with such zeal, that the black cats of his neighborhood had need of all their "nine lives" to elude his persistent pursuit. From Chambers' Journal. By "fools" we do not mean the general class of persons indicated by the word, but that smaller class of the community commonly called "parish fools" or "naturals." Those unfortunates, without being habitually or necessarily insane, usually labor under some hallucination, which overshadows their lives, and causes them, when under its influence, to indulge in such freaks and fancies as are peculiar to the lunatic; though, when freed from the cloud obscuring their mental vision, they act very much like their neighbors. Now, the minister was in the habit of killing a mart," or fat ox, at Hallowmas, for the consumption of his family during the winter. The beef was salted, and the hide sold at the nearest town. That important functionary who in Scotland is termed the "minister's man was usually intrusted with the disposal of the skin; and on this particular occasion had departed with his burden somewhat late in the evening. But the night was fine, and he trudged along the road for some miles with no thought save the speedy fulfilment of his errand. Presently he heard approaching the sound of footsteps, and a voice, which he recognized as that of Sandy Macintosh, singing, "We'll gang nae mair a-roving sae late into the night." The opportunity for playing a trick was irresistible; and resolving to give Sandy a fright, the minister's man wrapped the hide about him, taking care that the horns should stand up on his head. Thus equipped, he crouched along the dike-side till the fool made his appearance round the bend of the road, then uttering an unearthly yell, sprang from his hidingplace right in his path. But he reckoned without his host, when he thought to terrify Sandy. That individual only recognized in the apparition before him but another form assumed by the enemy; and with a shout of defiance, rushed on the foe, and struck him a resounding blow with his staff. Whack! whack! the blows rained hard and fast on the shoulders of the unlucky joker, who, unable to bear the pain any longer, and too terrified to discover himself to the enraged fool, managed to wriggle unperceived out of his hirsute covering and scramble over the dike, where he lay hidden, scarcely daring to breathe. Such was Sandy Macintosh, who flourished in the beginning of the century. A native of one of the northern parishes of Caithness, he was as well known for twenty miles round as the kirk steeple. The swiftest runner and the most trustworthy messenger in the place, Sandy was kept in constant employment, and numbered among his patrons both the laird and the minister. The peculiar delusion under which he labored was a conviction that he had been born for the express purpose of slaying his Satanic Majesty, and many were the wild-goose chases embarked in by Sandy to annihilate the arch enemy; for he recognized him so he averred under all shapes and forms, such as a crow, a hare, or a black cat; and when started in pursuit of the foe, would follow up the trail for hours, nay, sometimes for days. In vain the minister whom Sandy accounted his particular friend-strove to convince him that the enemy of mankind was a spirit, and as such invisible. No argument, however telling, had any effect on Sandy. He listened respectfully, it is true, as he always did, to everything, how ever trivial, uttered by his friend; but when the reverend gentleman paused for Sandy was very much astonished when lack of breath, the fool invariably re- he observed the total collapse of the foe. marked, with a sagacious nod: "Weel, He probably anticipated a severe strug minister, ye ken best; though there's aegle, and was surprised at his easy victory. |