the effects, and thirty men died during the five days' voyage to the hospitals." "The Medway brought down about 400 men from Inkermann. They lost nearly a third of them. They lay on the hard boards in the clothes they fought in. They tried to land them on the rough days, and in consequence two men out of a dozen in two boats, died on their way from the ship to the land, and the others mostly before a couple of hours." One writer observed, "All the men die who go into the hospital tents! I went to see that dwelling of death. They lay in a row on the cold wet sod, with their one blanket, perishing off a young life of wretchedness." "The men say when going to the trenches They would rather be shot by the Russians, than come back to die by inches.'" At one period, "the loss of the Allies from fatigue and sickness, in addition to those killed and wounded by the enemy, was estimated at nearly 1000 men per week; and that of the Russians far greater. The Turks, poor creatures, were decimated by dysentery, fevers, and by diarrhea; and died in Balaklava alone at the rate of 300 per diem. Their misery and sufferings were beyond all description;--the sick appeared to be attended by the sick, and the dying by the dying." One letter sent home says, " While you are struggling to collect tens and twenties of young recruits, fifties and hundreds of your old soldiers are dying here." Another writes, "Many a young gentleman would be for ever cured of his love of arms, if he could but see one day's fighting, and have one day's parade of the men who do it." It was stated by a gentleman at a public meeting, that of 500 French soldiers who left Versailles for the Crimea, amid general mourning and distress, about a year before the termination of the war, only three returned-most of them perished at the storming of the Malakoff. But the physical sufferings attendant on war, though horrifying in their intensity and amount, are not to be compared with its moral evils. In a letter written by a soldier in the hospital at Scutari, he says, "There are eight or nine rooms set apart for the women whose husbands are in the Crimea; and no one would believe the scandalous behaviour which they carry on with impunity. I have often gone to the room where most of the women belonging to the cavalry are, for the purpose of getting some shirts washed or mended; and on every occasion I have found them in a state of drunkenness, drinking with a lot of scheming fellows, who are lying about, afraid to join their regiments. The women of the infantry are ten times worse; they are dancing, singing, and drinking every night with strange men; any one is welcome if he will only pay for a bottle. They seem more like a set of devils let loose than the wives of English soldiers, who are suffering privations, and enduring the hardships of war in an enemy's country." How debasing must be the effect of war, to elicit such language as the following, used by an officer, in a letter to his friends at home:-"I never in my life experienced such a sublime sensation as in the moment of the charge. Some fellows talk of it as demoniac. I cannot depict my feelings when I returned. All my uniform, my hands, my very face, were bespattered with blood. It was that of the enemy! Grand idea! But my feelings-they were full of that exultation which it is impossible to describe. At least twelve Russians were sent out of the way of the war' by my good steel. What a thing to reflect on!" A dreadful thing, indeed, to reflect on in a sober hour. Another man, writing of the battle of Inkermann, (fought on "Sunday, Nov. 5,") says, "I felt more like a devil than a man-'twas truly awful, but I suppose it was necessary-we cut them down like sheep." Are such poor thoughtless creatures, if arrested by death, in a fit state for the enjoyment of " the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him?" The total number of human beings destroyed dur ing the war with Russia, has been estimated at about 700,000! "WHO SLEW ALL THESE?" is an awful inquiry. Upon whom does the responsibility rest of all this sin, and misery, and death? In a despotic government, the guilt of war may rest principally on the sovereign, or a few of the great men; but in a country like England, every one capable of serious thought may have some influence, either in promoting or restraining this shedding of man's blood. The responsibility does not rest on those alone who declare war, or those who wield the sword. All who encourage it by inflammatory articles in newspapers, by sermons or speeches, by talking in justification of it, attending reviews, and what are called consecrations of colours, by giving children a military education, or in any manner whatever fostering the military spirit, are more or less partakers in the crime. In some of these particulars women are especially guilty. Let no one who is thus involved in the crime, think that individual sin is lessened by following a multitude to do evil, and that he can thus evade condemnation. But in reply to the inquiry, "Who slew all these?" may each one apply to himself the solemn answer "THOU ART THE MAN!" and earnestly endeavour that in future his hands shall not participate in the shedding of blood. W. THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY AND SLAVERY. The doctrine of expediency obtains many advocates in the present day, as it has done in all ages, and now, as heretofore, leads into many and great inconsistencies. It may be safely assumed that whatever is right-that is, whatever is in accordance with the Divine will-will ultimately prove to have been expedient; but it always has been, and we believe it always will be the case, that where men decide upon acts and principles by their apparent expediency merely, without refering them to the test of the revealed will of the Almighty, they are very likely to prove injurious or defective, in either their immediate, their collateral, or their remote consequences. Our general government, many of our states, and very many of our people, in their political organizations and their religious societies, have been acting, for years, towards slavery, in accordance with the apprehended requirements of expediency; and almost every day affords some sorrowful evidence of its utter powerlessness to circumscribe, much less to suppress the evil. To trust the subjugation of the evil passions in the heart of man, or to attempt to destroy or control the fruits springing from those passions, by appealing to a criterion having no higher authority than human reason, must very generally lead to disappointment even in things that relate to this life only, and to still more direful consequences in those that relate to the life to come. When our Saviour sent forth his disciples to proclaim the truths of the gospel, he told them expressly they should be hated of all men for his name's sake, a consequence resulting from the doctrine they preached and the lives they led, which would appear to make the preaching of those doctrines, and their practical effects, highly inexpedient; but which it was nevertheless their duty and their highest interest to meet and to bear with patience and submission. And the promulgation of the truths of the gospel, and their application to the affairs of life, from that day to this, have brought upon the disciples of Christ, the true reformers of every age, the hatred and persecution of those who are determined to live in accordance with the desires of their unregenerate hearts; often subjecting them to banishment, imprisonment, and other cruel sufferings, which appeared completely to deprive them of the power to effect the end they aimed at, and to be in every point of view inexpedient. But those who have been faithful to their master, have not dared to give up their testimony to the Truth, or to compromise their convictions of the requisitions of the gospel of Christ, because others did not accord with them, or despised and rejected them for maintaining his religion in all its parts. We have been led to these reflections by the course recently pursued by "The Publishing Committee" of "The American Tract Society" in relation to the subject of slavery. This society has the control of a very large amount of funds, and its publications are perhaps more extensive than almost any other in the country. The committee has just put forth an address to the friends of the society, in which they say: "At the last anniversary, it was regarded by many as both feasible and desirable that, without at all intrenching on the political relations of slavery, certain moral duties growing out of its existence, or moral evils and practical immoralities deplored by all evangelical Christians, and found occasionally or frequently accompanying it, should be discussed in our publications; and this without losing sight of our original and governing principle in the society's first organization, that its publication shall be 'calculated to receive the approbation of all evangelical Christians.' And the confidence was expressed that the executive committee would, in their action respecting this matter, exercise such wisdom as would promote the usefulness of the society throughout our whole country?" There was no little interest manifested by the public in relation to the decision of the society on the subject, and a general expression of the approval of the course adopted followed its announcement. The committee now say: "The publishing committee had, at the time of their last anniversary, a treatise on the Duties of Masters under their consideration. It was composed of articles before issued by brethren of various evangelical denominations at the south, and was supposed to meet the views that are presented in the resolutions of that anniversary. "Since the preparation of this treatise, one of the authors, from whose addresses or tracts it was compiled, has been removed by death. Two others of these brethren, honoured and influential, known as true friends of the society, have judged it expedient, in the enkindled and excited state of feeling awakened both north and south upon the various relations of this topic, that those writings of their own, which were to form a prominent portion of the treatise, should be issued with a northern imprint. They have accordingly interdicted our further use of the matter thus supplied. "But in addition, from all quarters of our southern field, we have received, and from the tried and fast friends of the society, expressions the most unanimous and decided, that any publication of our press bearing upon the topic of slavery, even though of southern authorship, and carefully kept within the terms of the resolutions of the anniversary, could have no other result than precipitating the entire withdrawal of the south from co-operation with the society. The new works would find no gate of access; and the separation would henceforth exclude even our older issues, by flinging over them the suspicion of their origin from a quarter presumed to have become hostile to the interest of the south. Of those accredited issues, the siftings of a rich evangelical literature in our own and in European lands-books on which God's Spirit has put his evident and gracious approval-it seemed a sad necessity to be compelled to clog in any way the circulation. "From Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, from Alabama, Louisiana, and. Tennessee, we hear but one testimony, as borne by state branches and auxiliaries, by the society's officers, general agents, superintendents, and colporteurs, by ecclesiastical bodies, and by the religious press. Over the south we have now a virtual suspension of collections; and if the present distrust and alienation but remain, there must speedily ensue a withdrawal of colporteurs and distribution throughout our southern field. We must surrender all the southern and south-western states. To proceed, is thus to palsy one whole side of our institution.” The inexpediency of maintaining the requisitions of the gospel in relation to the duties of slave-holders towards their helpless and despised slaves, is still further set forth in the following extract: "For the successful maintenance of the past, and the happy expansion of the future influence of the society, we have relied on the sympathies, prayers, gifts, and co-operation of our, brethren in the south as in the north. If the evangelical Christians, resident in any portion of our wide country, give not their confidence, aid, and personal influence, our agents and our tracts, our collectors ånd our volumes are alike denied access. We have received from churches and from individuals, from men in all the strength and fervour of their best years, and from Christians arranging their worldly affairs in prospect of death, among our southern brethren, a generous and hearty support in the former years of our history. With equal fidelity to donors and testators at the north or at the south, the conductors of the society have aimed to dispense, far and near, their respective contributions, for the best interests alike of our common country and our common Christianity. "The publishing committee therefore voted with entire unanimity to arrest the issue of the work that had been before them, confidentially believing that their action in the premises would commend itself to the society under the phases which the subject has assumed; and the executive committee united in sustaining this as the only present action conservative of all the interests, and just to all the parties involved." We cannot believe it to be "for the best interest alike of our common country," though it may be for "the best interest of a common" profession of Christianity, to shrink from maintaining the truths of the gospel, because men who are setting them at naught say they will close their ears against them, and withhold their money from aiding in publishing them. Upon the same principle the Mormons might buy off all protests against their abominations, and raise an effectual barrier against the diffusion of Christian doctrines among them.-Philadelphia Friend. "A solitary blessing few can find Our joys with those we love are intertwined; But scatters roses to adorn his own."-Hannah More. THE BRITISH FRIEND has been registered at the General THE BRITISH FRIEND. GLASGOW, 11TH MONTH 2D, 1857. FRIENDS TRAVELLING IN THE MINISTRY.-At London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting, held on the 30th of 9th Month, THOMAS CHALK returned the endorsement of the certificate granted to himself and wife to visit Ireland. ROBERT ALLSOP informed friends that his wife and he had now completed the religious engagement for which the Quarterly Meeting had, by its endorsement, liberated them, viz.-to accompany ELIZA P. GURNEY in her religious visit to France, Germany, and Piedmont; all of which had been peacefully accomplished. In the Women's Meeting, and at its request, CHRISTINE ALLSOP gave a more detailed account of their travels, and those religious services, private and public, in which they had shared. creatures, as such, we ought ever to be willing to share and to sympathize; seeking, in prayer, that the Lord's power to heal, preserve, and bless might he manifested. That, guarding themselves, on principle, from being misunderstood, Friends might be in their places in attending meetings, stemming antipathies, condemning the anti-Christian cry for vengeance on a semi-barbarian soldiery, evincing a true interest for British India, and stipulating how their monies should be applied. ELIZA SESSIONS having been liberated by the Monthly Meeting of Gloucester and Nailsworth, is engaged in holding meetings with persons not professing with Friends, chiefly in the forest of Dean. At York Monthly Meeting, held at Thirsk, on the 14th of 10th Month, JAMES BACKHOUSE, of York, returned the minute liberating him for religious service in Scotland, &c. He at the same time obtained a minute to hold public meetings, chiefly within the compass of his own Monthly Meeting. Since our last, SARAH SQUIRE and SARAH TATHAM have been engaged visiting families within the compass of Pardshaw and Cockermouth Meetings. BALBY MONTHLY MEETING is to be held, in future, on the second Fifth-day in each month, throughout ANNE GARDNER, of Aberdeen, was also at the Quarterly Meeting, with the certificate granted by her Monthly Meeting to visit our public and private | the year. schools, &c. She had previously been at the two schools at Darlington; also at Sibford, Hertford, Croydon, Stoke Newington, and Epping. MARIANNE BAYES, accompanied by her husband, THOMAS BAYES, attended Westmoreland Quarterly Meeting, at Kendal, on the 1st of 10th Month, and proceeded to visit the meetings in Swarthmore Monthly Meeting. JOSEPH BEVAN BRAITHWAITE attended Durham Quarterly Meeting, held at Darlington on Third-day, the 6th of 10th Month, and subsequently visited Newcastle Monthly Meeting, agreeably to his certificate. He was at Sunderland on First-day morning, the 11th, and had a public meeting in the evening. He afterwards attended York Monthly Meeting, held at Thirsk, on the 14th, and proceeded homeward, having, on his way, at Manchester, a Meeting chiefly for young Friends on the 16th. At the same Quarterly Meeting, SUSAN HOWLAND and LYDIA CONGDON were present, having completed a visit to Friends of Darlington Monthly Meeting. They have since visited Friends in their families, in Guisbro' Monthly Meeting, and attended Newcastle Monthly Meeting, held at Shields, on the 14th of 10th Month. Durham Quarterly Meeting was unusually large; and was held to comfort. The only business which might be deemed of an extraordinary character, was the consideration of the way in which Friends would be best satisfied, to aid the subscription now making for the relief of distress resulting from mutinies in the Anglo-Indian army. It was agreed that, as an incentive of military ardour, as a manifestation of sympathy in the soldiers' defeats and distresses we had no share. In the sufferings of our fellow INDIANA YEARLY MEETING.-An attentive correspondent informs that this assembly convened at Richmond, on Fifth-day, the 1st instant, and was largely attended. Of the large number of representatives, only nine were absent. Certificates and minutes were read for the following ministers from other Yearly Meetings, viz.: ROBERT and SARAH LINDSEY, PRISCILLA GREEN, and MARY NICHOLSON, from England; JOHN MEADER, ELI and SYBIL JONES, and CHARLES COFFIN, from New England; WILLIAM H. CHASE, from New York; and JOSEPH BROWN, from Canada West. Epistles addressed to Indiana Yearly Meeting from London and Dublin, and from all the American Yearly Meetings, except Philadelphia, were read; also the London General Epistle; and a Committee was appointed, as usual, to prepare answers to the former. After a sitting of four hours, the meeting adjourned until ten o'clock, Sixth-day morning. We hope to receive an account of the subsequent proceedings in time for our next number.— Friends' Review, of 10th Month 10th, 1857. THE INDIAN MUTINIES-THE FAST, AND WARLIKE SERMONS.-We have but little space left us in which to allude to these topics. The fall of Delhi, if confirmed by subsequent intelligence, will, it is generally expected, be a prelude to the entire suppression of the Indian mutinies. Who does not wish, for humanity's sake, that such may be the case, and that the fearful blood-shedding on all sides may speedily and happily cease? But, alas! one form of atrocity, it is to be feared, will, for a time at least, only be substituted for another. We shall have our hearts still saddened by the details of the ruthless doings of the British soldiery; and of these, not all that is perpetrated will ever be known. ters of robbery, rapine, and blood; as is well and unanswerably depicted by William Howitt, in his English in India, which we recommend to our reader's notice at the present time. Doubtless we have, as a nation, abundant cause for deep humiliation; and like the Babylonish king of old, have need "to break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of our tranquility." But this is a work not to be done merely by the royal ap cally the poor man is the sufferer, seeing he is deprived of his daily wage on that day, and, consequently, stinted in the supply of his daily bread; a loss this, which will not, we suspect, be atoned for by the Indian Fund Subscription. Truly this is no feature of the acceptable fast to the Lord, as described by the prophet; neither to "smite with the fist of wickedness. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down The cry for "Vengeance," it is true, has somewhat cooled down since we last wrote; and it has been satisfactory to observe at public meetings, both south and north, the vengeful feeling deprecated alike by ministers of state and men of lesser note. Among others, a learned sheriff, in one of our Scottish cities, at a meeting in aid of the Indian Relief Fund, very seasonably and pointedly denounced the cry for ven-pointment of a day of fasting—a day on which practigeance as both unseemly and unchristian, and quoted the Scripture declaration-"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." "Justice" is now the phrase to indicate the kind of punishment to be meted out to the rebellious Sepoys. But if we may judge from the sneering terms applied by a number of the public papers, to the proclamation of Lord Canning, the Governor-general of India, the spirit of vengeance is far more manifest than that of justice. Even in our own city the proclamation has been contemptuously treated, as puling, sentimental, and “ Quaker-like" All honour, say we, to Lord Canning, for the moderation of his official deliverance; assuredly believing, as we do, that the more that commendable feature pervades the measures to be adopted for the re-establishment of order and tranquility in our Indian empire, the more effective and permanently in its tone. beneficial will be the results. Since our last issue, too, we have had a national fast and day of humiliation. By royal "command" the people assembled for religious exercises; prayer for the success of the queen's forces in putting down the Indian rebellion, being a prescribed part of the service. Inasmuch as the church, by law established, is the creature of the state, and derives its support from the emoluments provided by the state, it is but natural that the Established clergy should support and sanction-that we say not sanctify-the doings of the state; but that Protestant dissenters, and those of them who, in an especial manner, profess to be separate from "worldly churches," should acquiesce in the royal mandate on such an cccasion, seems to us, we confess, not more inconsistent than it is matter of astonishment and regret. Then as to the tenor of the Fast-day sermons that have come under our notice, whether we look at what was delivered from the stall of the archbishop or bishop; by the popular preacher at the Crystal Palace, to his auditory of three and twenty thousand, and down to the service in the humblest dissenting chapel, how painful is the consideration, that-with a few honourable and praiseworthy exceptions, we cheerfully admit-these discourses should be so warlike, so deplorably wanting in the peace-breathing, the Christian spirit, which the gospel of Jesus enjoins. The revengeful feeling, it is true. is generally disavowed; but, then, how much is said about the awarding of "justice"—that we must have that, at all hazards, is reiterated abundantly. Such a plea, on our part, however, comes with but a sorry grace, when we take into view what has ever been the nature of the British rule in India. Is not that written in charac his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,” &c. (Isa. lviii. 4-8). Not to dwell further upon the discrepancy between the fast appointed by royalty, and that which is acceptable to the Lord, we may observe in conclusion, that Friends, as a Society, have ever declined the observance of days of human appointment, whether by civil or ecclesiastical authority; and we think it only due to the consistent Dissenters of other denominations, to acknowledge our belief that many among them are one in principle with Friends in this respect, although they do not carry out their convictions, by keeping open their places of business-though were this the case, we feel assured the cause of religious freedom would be greatly promoted. Hence we desire to encourage all to faithfulness-our own members in particular—in that line of duty which consistency to principle would dictate. So would the humble, the self-denying disciples of a once crucified but risen Lord, be strengthened of Him to stand for the honour of His name, who was given of the Father to "be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." DRESS REFORM-SLAVERY OF FASHION.-Among the last recorded sayings of the Son of God, are those which he addressed to his disciple Peter, after the latter had declared his love for his Lord, and received a command to feed his sheep. "Verily I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst; but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not." We apprehend that the fore part of the declaration signified, that in his youth, Peter had been governed very much by his own unsubjugated will; and the latter part, that when he grew old, he would become subject to another-to Christ, as his Lord and Master, who would thenceforward "gird and carry him whither," of his own will, he would not incline to go; and in this simply figurative language, we have a striking representation of Peter's conversion, and change of service. We believe it may be safely affirmed, that Peter, in his youth, was an exact type of the human family; few, if any, acting otherwise in early life, than girding themselves and walking whither they will. Unhappily, far from an equal number can be supposed participaters in Peter's experience, when he became old. True it is, that all witness another to "gird them;" but, alas, it is seldom the same as in Peter's case. Making profession of the same name, and of serving the same Master, it is to be feared the number is lamentably small of such as submit unreservedly to His yoke and girding. Besides, the power of the Lord Jesus, whom we are to understand by the word "another" in our text, there are other powers which obtain the ascendency over mankind, and these are enumerated in Scripture as three-"the world, the flesh, and the devil." Without asserting the existence of "another" power, because it may be only the same under a different guise; yet whether the same or not, seeing there be lords many and gods many, there may in truth be said to be a power which usurps as wide and tyraunical a dominion as either of the three described by the inspired penman--we mean FASHION, whose yoke, by almost universal consent, is allowed to be the opposite of the description which Christ has given of his. "My yoke," saith he, "is easy, and my burden is light." How unsufferably galling and oppressive the slavery of FASHION, let her most devoted victims attest. Not in one direction alone does the tyrant hurry on her abject votaries; but she must rule supreme in almost every matter, though probably she manifests her sway most obviously in DRESS. In view of this subject, may we not exclaim, Pity for slaves! We have been led into this train of reflection, from the perusal of an article on the subject of "Dress Reforin," which we met with in a leading religious and political journal, and which we here copy, commending it to the especial notice of such members of our Society as seem anxious to come under the bondage which other professors so feelingly deplore. Surely it is a lamentable consideration, that in this, the second half of the nineteenth century, almost the whole Christian world should yet be asking, "WHEREWITHAL SHALL WE BE CLOTHED?" And surely a Society, whose principles, in regard to dress, have exempted its members from so pitiable a condition as our extract exhibits, would do well thankfully to prize her means of preservation. Occasionally individuals among us are heard to expatiate with commendation on the simplicity of the attire now generally worn, and seem to think it better in this respect, and more becoming than that adopted by consistent Friends. Before allowing themselves, however, to be carried away with their admiration of this feature in general attire, it is well to remember that this simplicity is but an accident-a merely temporary shift-not adopted from any rational, much less any idea of scriptural propriety, but solely because it chances to be the fashion of the day. Change, change, change, is the dominant cry; and tired of extravagancy and absurdity, or whatever else may have had its hour, what credit is there in occasionally assuming something plain and simple? Let the admiration of this simplicity be ever so great while it is in use, it is, notwithstanding, immediately and recklessly abandoned the moment some other new thing" is introduced. The article, which we quote below, refers, as will be seen, to the means adopting in America for getting rid of the tyranny of fashion in dress. From our hearts we pity her victims, and know not that we can desire better for them, and for all who are anxious for similar disenthralment, than that they would adopt the apostle's exhortation-"Be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." DRESS REFORM. The follies of fashion are becoming unendurable. Female costume has again become a topic on which gallantry is best shown by words of friendly counsel or protest. When ladies themselves denounce the increasing extravagances of fashion, and appeal for help in vain. to the sterner sex, that appeal ought not to be made "The inordinate love of dress," says Eleanor, in a recent letter in the Times, addressed to her "Sisters and Countrywomen," "has risen to such a height, and has spread so widely through all classes, that it can fortunes are impaired and small ones wasted in the no longer be called a weakness-it is a sin." Large endeavour to keep pace with the demands of fashion. "Ladies who used to dress handsomely on thirty pounds a-year," we are told by the writer of an excellent article on "Female Dress in 1857, in the current number of the Westminster Review, now find that sum insufficient for their gowns alone; and middleclass young ladies, who have hitherto been satisfied with twenty pounds a-year, are now driven to their wit's end to keep up with the mode at all; and they have recourse to cheap showy silks that will not last, which makes the dress a costly one after all. . . . . or light gauzy materials requiring a style of petticoat This year, 1857, will be a mortifying or disastrous one in the family history of too many households. The cost of dress has become so disproportionate to other items of expenditure as to create serious diffihitherto been able to provide their wives and daughculty in the homes of men of business, who have ters with whatever was needful to a moderate complacency. The rich silks of the day, under their various names, of which every lady thinks one, at least, absolutely necessary, cannot be had for a wife or daughter with the prodigious trimmings that are equally indispensable, under a less sum then would maintain a country clergyman, or half-pay officer and his family." The results of all this extravagance are "exhausted credit, debt, secret gambling in one shape or another, and even theft in the form of a great spread of shoplifting, and the purchase of stolen evidently well-versed in the subject, and qualified by goods." Such is the general testimony of a writer her sex to speak with authority. We are wont to ridicule the fashions of bygone days |