cut-away, impudent bonnet of the present
moment. Now, with regard to the actual origin of this same form of
bonnet, which has met with universal approbation, but which has no
really good qualities to recommend it, except those of portability and
warmth to the ears of the wearer--we make, with some regret, the
following assertion, upon the accuracy of which we stake our aesthetic
reputation. We were witnesses of the fact; any man in Paris, who had his
eyes about him, must have witnessed the same thing; we appeal to all the
_lions_ of the Bois, or the Boulevard des Italiens: these small bonnets,
and the peculiar mode of wearing them at the back of the head were first
introduced in Paris by a class of persons, to whom we cannot make any
more definite allusion than to say that their names must not be
mentioned. These people invented these bonnets, and wore them for nearly
six months before they were imitated; and then, the fashion being taken
up by the milliners, became general both in France and England. A
corresponding change in the cut of the upper portions of ladies' gowns,
and in the manner of putting on the shawl--that very cut and manner now
universally adopted--came from the same source, and at the same time.
These changes added greatly to female comfort, we admit; and they were
founded, mainly, on principles of good taste; but they had also other
causes, obvious to the aesthetician and the ethnologist, which we abstain
from noticing. Once more, having been eye-witnesses to the change, and
having at the time maliciously speculated within our own breasts as to
how long it would take for such a _mode_ to run the round of women's
heads--our anticipations having been fully realized--we pledge ourselves
to the accuracy of this statement.

Well, then, having thus run a-muck against bonnets, what reparation are
we to make to the fair sex, for abusing their taste and condemning their
practice? We will try to point out to them certain leading ideas, which
may bring them back to sounder principles, and make the covering of
their heads worthy of the beauty of their faces. And here, as in the
case of hats, the first thing to be aimed at must be, utility--the
second, ornament. Be it observed, too, that we are writing for the
latitude of England; because in this respect, as in most others, the
climate ought to decide upon the basis of national costume. Now an
Englishwoman, of whatever grade she may be, requires, when she goes out