a broad frill, and plainer make, for the evening. The neck clothes are six in number, including the different patterns worn in muslin; they must be highly starched, and according to the patterns sent in black silk; this knot or tie is universally worn, bows being completely exploded; the stiffness occasioned by the starch, precludes the necessity of a stiffener; the collars of the shirts must be stiffened so as to remain erect against the cheek. You have also two silk handkerchiefs of the most fashionable sort; they should be tied in a similar knot to the white ones, and spread very much over the bosom; it would be advisable to wear one of the accompanying stiffeners with these ; they are of course only for morning wear. As respects the boots, the one pair are plain Jockey boots, in which fashion does not much vary. With respect to the other, care must be taken to push them down so as to form in large and small wrinkles, all round the small and calf of the leg; they are made for the purpose, of very soft and pliable leather. As my friends in London considered it unnecessary to describe the hat, (having sent me one as a pattern) I have, for your government, given the dimensions, which will enable you to have one made, as much like it as possible. By calling on Messrs. Brown & Tunis, you may see a black stock, which will shew you the manner in whieh the cravats are tied. P. S. You will oblige me by shewing this letter to your friends and others interested in the fashions. Dimensions of the hat, 7 inches head, 7 3-4 deep, 1 3-4, brim, 1 3-4 bill. X. CLASSICAL HAIR-DRESSING. As the humble servants of the public, it becomes our weekly task to communicate whatever may improve or adorn the inside or outside of the heads of our readers. In performing this duty, it is with pleasure that we are enabled to gratify the fashionables and dandies of this vicinity, by the following agreeable and important intelligence. "G. Saunders, intends to remain a short time in Boston, and invites gentlemen of the city to an inspection and trial of his celebrated mode of arranging the hair, so as to suit the physiognomy of the countenance, and to produce that perfect and classic effect which has so long been a desideratum in the circles of taste and fashion." The prospect of attaining to this "classical perfection" in the cut of their hair, will, we doubt not, bring many a shoal of country beaux to wait upon this distinguished stranger. We can easily fancy ourselves meeting some young farmer, returning from Boston, arrayed with his oaken staff, and homespun frock; but displaying beneath his discoloured and misshapen chip, a few stray powdered locks, which Adonis might envy, ready curled and clipped for the next village ball. Far be it from us to impeach the talents of our polite neighbour, whose experience and skill have drawn many a ninepence from our slender purses. As the unassuming foreigner confines his attention to the scientific principles of the art, he will scarcely interfere with those, who in every town wield the scissors with such adroitness. We would therefore urge it upon all, who, being poorly furnished within, have the more to do for the outside of the brain, to resort to this court of the graces, and learn the mysteries of the barber's profession. Some, indeed, are opposed to all cutting, and assert that the many soft heads and thin sculls, found among the moderns, are to be ascribed to this unnatural practice. Many nations, also, have regarded the hair as sacred, and cut it only in times of great affliction. But the weight of testimony is decidedly in favour of our present mode. The old Egyptians did it, and their skulls were thicker, according to Rollin, than those of any other people. Every civilized tribe imitated them. In the ninth century, by a special edict, the Greek emperor commanded all his subjects to have their heads shaved. The Pope, five centuries after, forbade all long-haired Christians to enter any sacred place, or fill any ecclesiastical office. About the same time, a celebrated preacher denounced excommunication and eternal destruction against all who persisted in wearing their hair of such a heathenish length. It was a sin not to be atoned, but by an immediate removal of the accursed thing, and a large donation to the treasury of St. Peter, in token of repentance. From that time to the present, the public opinion has concurred with his holiness of Rome. But the methods of hair-dressing have been ever varying. "Who shall decide, when barbers disagree?" One man's crop stands like a shoe-brush, thick, and stiff, and long; another's like a bunch of carrots, or in ridges, as if worn by the weather; another's like a negro's head, curled and frizzled all over. One "sports a pair of formidable whiskers ;" another " hoists a broad mainsail to the wind" from the top of his forehead; another hangs an enormous bag in the rear, to guard the back of his brain from injuries; another, like the good old puritans of Connecticut, covers the head with half of a hollow pumpkin-shell, and shears off every lock which strays beyond that boundary. To prevent this lawless diversity, we would send all our fashionable beaux to this "London professor of classical perfection in hair-dressing." We might offer some words of condolence to our fairest readers, who are not thus previleged, did we not find them already provided with the two most essential articles of a head-dress, "beau-catchers and Cupid's nests." "Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, "And mighty hearts are held in slender chains; XI. SHORT JACKETS. "I study to be brief," says Horace," and I become obscure." Thus did this laughing satirist of antiquity, pass sentence in advance on the short jackets of modern times and coupling them with the idea of obscurity. For in Rome, luxurious as she was, and inventive of every graceful decoration of feature and person; in Greece, the land where the images of the body and the images of the mind were equally chaste and classical, no man would dare to appear in public, in one of those economical, indecent, curtailed apologies for a coat, which are daily to be seen in the streets of Charleston. Dress was become of such importance among the Romans, that the period of manhood was marked by an investment with the toga. But we moderns, especially in America, are not free unless we can do as we please. Who cares what another man thinks of his dress? Who cares par ticularly what a lady thinks? It is for slaves to be observant of appearances and regardful of decorum. We, the sovereign people, have a right to consult ourselves in every thing, and nobody else. This is certainly very true, and it is a pity that our fashions--for taste and liberty are always the same--it is a great pity that the people of antiquity had not adopted our costume. How venerable would Priam have appeared, asking the body of Hector, if, instead of a long flowing robe, sweeping the earth in humility, and held submissively over his head, to shield his sorrows from the conqueror of his son, he had worn a gingham jacket in the costume of these days. Why did it not occur to the sculptor of antiquity, to throw a graceful garment of this kind over Hercules and the Apollo Belvidera. Why did not Canova thus array our own Washington? Why indeed are the tail-ors encouraged in making tails to the coats, which, if they could be got rid of, why ex vi termini the tail-ors would go too? Until this desirable result shall be obtained, which we think will occur very soon, we recommend short jackets to be worn in the public streets, by all gentlemen of fortune, taste, literary repu tation, professional characters, courteous manners, and industrious habits: a short jacket, being, in our opinion, conclusive evidence of the possession of one or all of these qualities. [Union. Philadelphia.] "I lov'd you for your cupboard, dear "I woo'd you for your cash." OLD SONG. ONE day last week, a handsome young widow went before a magistrate, and accused a certain gentleman of various and manifold misdemeanours. Women are always eloquent when in love or in affliction; we shall suffer her to tell her own story. "If your honour will allow me, I'll begin with the day I first saw this man, and tell you all the circumstan ces. Six months ago, sir, (two months after my poor, dear husband died,) he came to my house and took boarding. He had then just arrived from Connecticut, from which place he brought neither trunks, book, money, nor politeness. His hat contained his wardrobe, (one shirt) his pocket, his library, (one old spelling, book,) his purse, six brass farthings, (all the rest of his brass was in his face,) his politeness was, nobody knew where. Such were his hopes and his accomplishments; yet I allowed him to have board, expecting to be paid from the profits of a school, which he said he meant to establish; but he soon gave up his notion of schoolkeeping, for that of love-making, and began to practise his wiles on my too susceptible heart. He said that his father was a rich man, but that he had quarrelled with him on account of a girl, whom he wished him to marry, contrary to his inclinations, which induced him to leave home. His story was plausible, and, I candidly acknowledge, that, all at once, he gained my affections; and after he had secured my heart, he handled my cash till he was master of all I possessed. Every day new coats were coming from the tailor's; new boots and new shoes from the shoemaker's; new shirts from the seamstress; new hats from the hatter's; new stockings from the dry goods-store-all were paid for by me, and I was to have himself and his fortune in return; for every time he wanted money, he swore I was to be his wife, and that he would marry me as soon as himself and his father were reconciled. He went on in this way, till he left me without a cent, and coming to me the other day for twenty dollars, abused me because I had it not to give him, and said that he would never marry me, as I was false as I was fair. I told him, with tears in my eyes, that I had no money, or he should have it. He then fell into a violent rage, broke my looking-glass, tumblers and tea-pots, and swore that I wanted to deceive him. This was his return for all my kindness! I then said that if he would pay me all he owed for money borrowed, and for board, he might go where he pleased. He answered, that he had paid me in kisses on my old lips more than all was worth; and, God knows, I would rather have one dollar than all his kisses, for he has left me |