illiam Jingle, Coachmaker and Chairmaker
to the Liberty of Westminster.

"To Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire, Censor of Great Britain.

"Showeth,--That upon the late invention of Mrs. Catherine
Cross-stitch, Mantua-maker, the petticoats of ladies were too wide
for entering into any coach or chair, which was in use before the
said invention.

"That, for the service of the said ladies, your petitioner has
built a round chair, in the form of a lantern, six yards and a half
in circumference, with a stool in the centre of it; the said
vehicle being so contrived, as to receive the passenger by opening
in two in the middle, and closing mathematically when she is
seated.

"That your petitioner has also invented a coach for the reception
of one lady only, who is to be let in at the top.

"That the said coach has been tried by a lady's woman in one of
these full petticoats, who was let down from a balcony and drawn up
again by pullies to the great satisfaction of her lady, and all who
beheld her.

"Your petitioner therefore most humbly prays, that for the
encouragement of ingenuity and useful inventions, he may be heard
before you pass sentence upon the petticoats aforesaid. And your
petitioner, &c.,"

Addison, in No. 116, proceeds to try the question:--

"The Court being prepared for proceeding on the cause of the
petticoat, I gave orders to bring in a criminal, who was taken up
as she went out of the puppet-show about three nights ago, and was
now standing in the street with a great concourse of people about
her. Word was brought me that she had endeavoured twice or thrice
to come in, but could not do it by reason of her petticoat, which
was too large for the entrance of my house, though I had ordered
both the folding doors to be thrown open for its reception. The
garment having been taken off, the accused, by a committee of
matrons, was at length brought in, and 'dilated' so as to show it
in its utmost circumference, but my great hall was too narrow for
the experiment; for before it was half unfolded it described so
immoderate a circle, that the lower part of it brushed upon my face
as I sat in the chair of judicature. I finally ordered the vest,
which stood before us, to be drawn up by a pulley to the top of my
great hall, and afterwa