om any
window of the house but trees; those which were near being cut into
all sorts of unnatural forms, and those which were beyond the garden
growing so thickly as entirely to shut out the rays of the sun from the
ground below."

"I should like to see that place, grandmamma," said Lucy.

"You would see little, my child," replied the old lady, "of what it was
seventy years ago. I am told that it is altogether changed. But if the
place was gloomy and stiff without, it was worse within, where the four
old ladies ordered and arranged everything. I can tell you how they
passed their days. They all breakfasted either in their own
dressing-rooms or in bed, being waited upon by their own maids."

"Why did they do that, grandmamma?" asked Henry.

"I will tell you, my dear," answered the old lady. "At that time, when
I was a little girl, and knew those ladies, people dressed in that
stiff troublesome way which you may have seen in old pictures.

"The ladies wore, in the first place, very stiff stays; and those who
thought much of being smart, had them laced as tight as they could well
bear. Added to these stays, they wore hoops or petticoats well
stiffened with whalebone. Some of these hoops were of the form of a
bell with the mouth downwards--these were the least ugly; others were
made to stand out on each side from the waist, I am afraid to say how
far; but those made for grand occasions were nearly as wide as your arm
would be, if it were extended on one side as far as it would go. Over
these hoops came the petticoats and gowns, which were made of the
richest silk--for a gown in those days would have cost thirty or forty
pounds. Then there was always a petticoat and a train; and these, in
full dress, were trimmed with the same silk in plaits and flounces,
pinked and puckered, and I know not what else. The sleeves were made
short and tight, with long lace trebled ruffles at the elbows; and
there were peaked stomachers pinned with immense care to the peaked
whalebone stays. It was quite a business to put on these dresses, and
must have been quite a pain to walk in the high-heeled silk shoes and
brilliant buckles with which they were always seen. They also wore
watches, and equipages, and small lace mob caps, under which the hair
was drawn up stiff and tight, and as smooth as if it had been gummed."

"Oh, I am glad I did not live then!" said Lucy, fetching a deep breath;
"yet it is very pleasant to hear these stories of p