tice, in pursuit of some malefactor. But guess my surprise, when the
fellow told me, they were gentlemen a la chasse. They were in fact come
out from Paris, in this equipage, to take the diversion of
hare-hunting; that is, of shooting from behind a tree at the hares that
chanced to pass. Indeed, if they had nothing more in view, but to
destroy the game, this was a very effectual method; for the hares are
in such plenty in this neighbourhood, that I have seen a dozen
together, in the same field. I think this way of hunting, in a coach or
chariot, might be properly adopted at London, in favour of those
aldermen of the city, who are too unwieldy to follow the hounds a
horseback.

The French, however, with all their absurdities, preserve a certain
ascendancy over us, which is very disgraceful to our nation; and this
appears in nothing more than in the article of dress. We are contented
to be thought their apes in fashion; but, in fact, we are slaves to
their taylors, mantua-makers, barbers, and other tradesmen. One would
be apt to imagine that our own tradesmen had joined them in a
combination against us. When the natives of France come to London, they
appear in all public places, with cloaths made according to the fashion
of their own country, and this fashion is generally admired by the
English. Why, therefore, don't we follow it implicitly? No, we pique
ourselves upon a most ridiculous deviation from the very modes we
admire, and please ourselves with thinking this deviation is a mark of
our spirit and liberty. But, we have not spirit enough to persist in
this deviation, when we visit their country: otherwise, perhaps, they
would come to admire and follow our example: for, certainly, in point
of true taste, the fashions of both countries are equally absurd. At
present, the skirts of the English descend from the fifth rib to the
calf of the leg, and give the coat the form of a Jewish gaberdine; and
our hats seem to be modelled after that which Pistol wears upon the
stage. In France, the haunch buttons and pocketholes are within half a
foot of the coat's extremity: their hats look as if they had been pared
round the brims, and the crown is covered with a kind of cordage,
which, in my opinion, produces a very beggarly effect. In every other
circumstance of dress, male and female, the contrast between the two
nations, appears equally glaring. What is the consequence? when an
Englishman comes to Paris, he cannot appear until