something like the frock, by turning back the skirts. Remains of this
process may be seen in the buttons which, without serving any useful
purpose, still continue to decorate the coat-tails in many military
uniforms, and in servants' liveries, and in those which, without being
so remarkable, still adhere to the tails of an ordinary dress-coat. This
arrangement may be noticed very distinctly in the well-known portraits
of Charles XII. of Sweden, in which the white livery is seen buttoned
back upon the blue cloth which forms the outer side of the coat skirts.

The tail-coat is certainly the worst of the two, whether for utility or
for appearance; and so thought George IV., whose opinion, however, in
matters of taste, was not in general good for much. This king, in his
latter days, carried his aversion to it so far as to banish it entirely
from his back, and from his presence for a time, during which he, and
the persons immediately about him, wore a kind of frock coat in evening
dress. But the public did not follow the royal lead, and the
swallow-tails still flutter behind the wearer of an evening coat.

Waistcoats do not call for much reprobation, except in the matter of the
already-mentioned white triangle, in which they err in company with the
coats. But a good long waistcoat, buttoned up to the throat, is a very
useful and unexceptionable piece of attire. A few years ago, people wore
them of all kinds of color, and of all kinds of stuffs, silks, and
velvet; now, however, black is your only wear, with perhaps an
occasional license to assume the white waistcoat, which was once
associated with that exceedingly frivolous and now evanescent party who
were called 'Young England.'

Trousers are so sensible and convenient a portion of attire that little
can be said against them. It is a form of covering for the legs well
fitted for the inhabitants of a cold and variable climate, and hardly
differs from what may be seen on the figures of the Gauls on Trajan's
Column, and other monuments of antiquity. In practical convenience, they
far surpass their shorter rivals, which also require continuation by
stockings to complete the purpose of clothing the leg. Buttons at the
knee are a great nuisance, and probably were what chiefly contributed to
the melancholy determination of a certain gentleman in the last century,
who found his existence insupportable, and put an end to it with his own
hand. Life, he said, was made up of nothing