,
it is she who would have adorned your Ornaments, Ladies; and have dressed out
Dress
itself, in a sumptuous Outr�� of Terms, and new Cut of Phrase. I agree indeed with the Countess, that some Tokens or Markings, such as those that
Dress
supplies, are requisite for distinguishing the several Orders and Subordinations of People in a Community; but I am sorry to find that these same Markings or Tokens should, very nearly, engross the whole of the Things intended to be signified. If you take the full-bottomed Wig from a Judge, what will become of his Wisdom? or Lawn and Sattin from Bishops, what would become of their Sanctity? or, should Monarchs be deprived of their Crowns and Regalia, I doubt it would be a fearful Abridgment of Majesty.
I also agree with Lady
Cribbage
that the Qualities of the Mind are worn on the outward Habit. But, pray ye, what Sort of internal Qualities do those external Habits exhibit? even every Species of Affectation, Folly and Vanity that is conceivable. The whole futile Soul of a Female seems to have forsaken its frail Mansion and to float upon the Surface of her Attire. In the long Labours of the Toilette, where so much Pains, Time, and Treasure is expended on an elaborate Externity, does not a Woman as good as confess that the whole of her Value lies where the whole of her Care is bestowed?
Now, in all these Operations, Female Vanity proposes to excite the same Sensations in others, that it feels in and for itself, on the pleasing Contemplation of its own Image. Ah misdeeming and pitiable Objects! while ye pass along, or sit exalted in your imaginary Pre-eminence, some of your Sex behold you with an Eye of Contempt, others with an Eye of Envy, and all with an Eye of Malevolence, inquisitive after your Miscarriages, and desirous of publishing and magnifying the smallest of your Failings.
Men, indeed, behold you with an Eye of Pleasure, because they draw an Inference from your Vanity that flatters their own. They contemplate you as dressing at them. They consider the Labours of your Toilette as a Confession of
desiring to be desired;
as an Advance on your Part, and a Kind of Challenge for them to approach and capitulate.
I own that Beauty, as Miss
Trinket
has observed, may occasionally derive a Sort of Accession from
Dress,
like a Diamond encased in precious Metal. But how much more generally do we observe conceited Ugliness and Deformity deriving additional Darkness from the Lustre that surrounds it, like a Turnip or Toadstool encircled by Gems.
