on, it is as justifiable to laugh at folly as it is reprehensible
to ridicule misfortune.

CHARLOTTE. Well, but, brother, positively I can't introduce you in these
clothes: why, your coat looks as if it were calculated for the vulgar
purpose of keeping yourself comfortable.

MANLY. This coat was my regimental coat in the late war. The public
tumults of our state have induced me to buckle on the sword in support
of that government which I once fought to establish. I can only say,
sister, that there was a time when this coat was respectable, and some
people even thought that those men who had endured so many winter
campaigns in the service of their country, without bread, clothing, or
pay, at least deserved that the poverty of their appearance should not
be ridiculed.

CHARLOTTE. We agree in opinion entirely, brother, though it would not
have done for me to have said it: it is the coat makes the man
respectable. In the time of the war, when we were almost frightened to
death, why, your coat was respectable, that is, fashionable; now another
kind of coat is fashionable, that is, respectable. And, pray, direct the
tailor to make yours the height of the fashion.

MANLY. Though it is of little consequence to me of what shape my coat
is, yet, as to the height of the fashion, there you will please to
excuse me, sister. You know my sentiments on that subject. I have often
lamented the advantage which the French have over us in that particular.
In Paris, the fashions have their dawnings, their routine, and
declensions, and depend as much upon the caprice of the day as in other
countries; but there every lady assumes a right to deviate from the
general _ton_ as far as will be of advantage to her own appearance. In
America, the cry is, What is the fashion? and we follow it
indiscriminately, because it is so.

CHARLOTTE. Therefore it is, that when large hoops are in fashion, we
often see many a plump girl lost in the immensity of a hoop-petticoat,
whose want of height and _en-bon-point_ would never have been remarked
in any other dress. When the high head-dress is the mode, how then do we
see a lofty cushion, with a profusion of gauze, feathers, and ribband,
supported by a face no bigger than an apple; whilst a broad, full-faced
lady, who really would have appeared tolerably handsome in a large
head-dress, looks with her smart chapeau as masculine as a soldier.

MANLY. But remember, my dear sister, and I wish all my fair count