and the utility of such a
dress; what a complete protection from cold, and, if necessary, from
wet! Even in summer, the hood would keep off the sun's beams much more
effectually than any bonnet; it would be light, warm, portable--useable
at pleasure, always ornamental, always becoming. These hoods would be of
service, whether for a walk or for a journey in a carriage; they would
not need to be disentangled from the person like bonnets; they would
merely have to be thrown back; they never could get spoiled by crushing;
they never would need cumbrous boxes to be carried in; and, what is
worthy of consideration, their cost might always be suited to the means
of the wearer. They would admit of any kind of ornament that would not
destroy their principle of utility;--for ornament ceases to be ornament
when it negatives the purpose of the object to which it is applied--it
becomes in such a case a mere excrescence: they might be edged and lined
with any, the most sumptuous or the plainest materials: they might be
attached round the neck by rich cords of gold and jewelled clasps; or
they might be fastened with simple ribands. Thus, in spring time, a
young and high-born damsel might wear her hood and tippet of
light-coloured silk or brocade, edged with ermine or swan's-down, and
attached with silver cords and clasps of pearl--while the noble matron
might wear the same of crimson or purple velvet, edged with sable, and
attached with golden cords and diamonds. The peasant's wife and daughter
might use hoods of black, blue, or grey woollen cloth, lined with grey
linen, edged with plain riband, and fastened with a simple button. How
much better, how much more rational, how much more becoming, such
head-dresses as these, than the gay but useless ribands, feathers, and
chapeaux of the one class, or the misshapen, uncomfortable,
untidy-looking bonnets of the other! According to the present system, it
is almost impossible to infer the rank of a lady from her external
costume--many a milliner's girl has passed for a duchess before
now--whereas by the adoption of articles of dress, founded on principles
like those of the hood, some decisive marks of distinction might be
obtained. Thus the rich furs and the jewels, or the gold brocade of the
princess, might indeed be imitated by the merchant's wife--who at the
present day is nearly her equal in wealth--the representative of
political power in, what is called, a constitutional government; but