As she had no paint, I could put up with it;
but when she approached your cousin I could think of nothing but Death
taking hold of Hebe. The duchess is near eighty, very tall and lean.
She was dressed in a silk chemise, with very large sleeves, coming
half-way down her arm, a large cape, no stays, a black-velvet girdle
round her waist, some very rich lace in her chemise, round her neck, and
in her sleeves; but the lace was not sufficient to cover the upper part
of her neck, which old Time had harrowed; she had no cap on, but a
little gauze bonnet, which did not reach her ears, and tied under her
chin, her venerable white hairs in full view. The dress of old women and
young girls in this country is _detestable_, to speak in the French
style; the latter at the age of seven being clothed exactly like a woman
of twenty, and the former have such a fantastical appearance that I
cannot endure it. The old lady has all the vivacity of a young one. She
is the most learned woman in France; her house is the resort of all men
of literature, with whom she converses upon the most abstruse subjects.
She is of one of the most ancient, as well as the richest families in
the kingdom. She asked very archly when Dr. Franklin was going to
America. Upon being told, says she, "I have heard that he is a prophet
there;" alluding to that text of Scripture, "A prophet is not without
honor," etc. It was her husband who commanded the fleet which once
spread such terror in our country.

TO HER SISTER

LONDON, Friday, 24th July 1784.

_My Dear Sister_:

I am not a little surprised to find dress, unless upon public occasions,
so little regarded here. The gentlemen are very plainly dressed, and the
ladies much more so than with us. 'Tis true, you must put a hoop on and
have your hair dressed; but a common straw hat, no cap, with only a
ribbon upon the crown, is thought dress sufficient to go into company.
Muslins are much in taste; no silks but lutestrings worn; but send not
to London for any article you want: you may purchase anything you can
name much lower in Boston. I went yesterday into Cheapside to purchase a
few articles, but found everything higher than in Boston. Silks are in a
particular manner so; they say, when they are exported, there is a
drawback upon them, which makes them lower with us. Our country, alas,
our country! they are extravagant to astonishment in entertainments
compared with what Mr. Smith and Mr. Storer tell me of