Always use white, and the finest cambric, pocket-handkerchiefs: you can
thus neither take snuff, nor avoid using a considerable number; do not
regret the expense--the ladies will reward you with their approbation,
and you cannot be mistaken for an American. Whether you be male or
female, gentle reader, do not wear much jewellery--beware of being taken
for one of the swell-mob and the doubtfuls; but if you are a lady, and
wish for jewellery in the evening, choose between pearls and diamonds;
better have a few of these, and good, than whole caskets of topazes and
amethysts. If you are a gentleman, wear only two rings--one for your
lady-love, the other for your armorial bearings--if you have a gold
chain to your watch, keep it, but the less you show of it the better.
Avoid a foolish custom now springing up, of fastening the coat with a
couple of supplementary buttons, attached by a metallic link. This is
the trick of some scoundrel tailor, who sent home a coat too small for
the wearer, and thus persuaded him (he must have been an ass) to tie two
buttons together, and so make both ends meet. It will do very well for a
commercial gent, but not for a gentleman. We need hardly say, be not
fine on a Sunday: dress plainer then than usual, if you would maintain
your dignity; and be not ashamed of an old coat--only let it be clean,
_portez-le bien, soyez bien chausse, bien gante, bien coiffe et vous
n'aurez jamais l'air d'un bourgeois_. Above all things, whether you be
man, woman, or child, remember, that the more you approximate to
uniformity of colour for the whole of your dress, the better. Whether
you prefer white to black, blue to green, or brown to red, no matter.
Stick to the law of aesthetic unity--retain natural and undisguised
contour, breadth and mellowness of colour, ease and dignity of movement,
and you will approximate to perfection.

SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS: BEING A SEQUEL TO THE CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH
OPIUM-EATER.

PART I. CONCLUDED.

THE PALIMPSEST.

You know perhaps, masculine reader, better than I can tell you, what is
a _Palimpsest_. Possibly you have one in your own library. But yet, for
the sake of others who may _not_ know, or may have forgotten, suffer me
to explain it here: lest any female reader, who honours these papers
with her notice, should tax me with explaining it once too seldom; which
would be worse to bear than a simultaneous complaint from twelve proud
men, that I had explained it t