ew artists
were equal to the task, and, consequently, having to attend so many
customers, ladies were often obliged to have their hair dressed the day
before, and sit up all night that the coiffure might remain perfect? Or
how long is it since ladies at Court used to move about like human
balloons, with gowns hooped out to such an extent that it was a work of
labour and dexterity to get in and out of a carriage; trains, &c., to
match? Hundreds of people, now living, can not only remember these
things, but can remember also the outcry with which the proposal of
change was received. Delicacy, indeed! I should be glad to know what our
worthy grandmammas would think of the delicacy of the present generation
of ladies, could they but see them going about with nothing but an
oyster-shell bonnet stuck at the back of their heads! Take another
remnant of barbarism, handed down to us in the shape of powder. Masters
have taken care of themselves, and got rid of the abomination; so have
upper servants; but so wedded are some people to the habit, that they
still continue to pay a poll-tax of 1l. 3s. 6d. for the pleasure
of powdering and plastering their footmen's heads, as if they had just
escaped from a flour-mill and passed a greasy hand over their hair: will
any one deny, that the money spent in the tax would promote "John's"
comfort and cleanliness much more, if expended in good baths, brown
Windsor, and small-tooth combs.

Pardon me, reader, I feel that there is no analogy between a Bloomer and
a small-tooth comb; it is from following out the principle of recording
the reflections which what I saw gave rise to, that I have thus wandered
back to the old country; with your permission, we are again at
Rochester, and the Bloomer has gone out of sight round the corner.

The shades of evening having closed in upon me, I retired to roost. My
head was snugly bedded in my pillow; I was in that charmingly doubtful
state in which thoughts and dreams have become imperceptibly blended.
Suddenly there was a trumpet-blast, loud as a thunder-clap, followed by
bells ringing as rapidly as those of the churches in Malta; as these
died away, the hum of human voices and the tread of human feet along the
passages followed, and then all was once more hushed in silence. I
turned over, gave the clothes an extra jerk, and again sought the land
of dreams. Vain and delusive hope!--trains seemed starting or arriving
every half-hour, and the whole night wa