Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 - 1839), Friday 10 February 1837, page 4


DEVIATIONS FROM NATURE.

DRESS.

( Concluded from our last.)

Though an improved taste has long rejected this coarse vestment, we still impede the cir-culation of the blood, and the play of the muscles by tight braces, cravats, and stocks. The im-

mediate effect of these injudicious appliances is much inconvenience; the remote result is a diminution of the general strength and health. But all the errors of the male sex sink Tuto insignificance, when tom pared 'With one to which the fair are liable. We need hardly say that we allude to the'-great corset monstrosity. In the construction of theltuman chest, nature has provided ample room fV ^several'-important vfaoera, too funotfoM of «Moa canooite w aajr

degree disturbed without a wrong being inflicted upon the whole system. Here reside the heart, the lungs, the liver, and the stomach. Fine ladies may affect to shut their mind's eye to the existence of such things ; but the daintiest of their emotions depend upon the right state of those very viscera, without which they could no more think, speak, and act, than they could cast languishing looks without eyes, or meit our hearts by witching minstrelsy without a tongue and fingers. In the natural state, the external figure at this place tapers gently downwards. The waist of the Venus de Medici is of that fonri, and its perfect elegance is never chal-lenged. But the women of the ordinary world have set np for themselves a different standard of beauty. A fine waist, in their estimation, is one which tapèrs rapidlv below the arms, and is not above two thirds of the natural girth. It must also be strictly round, ^although the waist of nature verges upon the oval. In order to reduce themselves to the desired shape and space, almost all the unmarried, and not a few of those who are otherwise, brace themselves in a greater or less degree with corsets, which, no doubt, produce the requisite roundness and slendcrncss, but at the expense of all the in-fernal organs upon which health depends. The false ribs arc pressed inwards ; the respiratory and circulatory systems are crushed and thrust out of their proper place; the alimentary system is deranged ; and even upon the exterior of the person, deformities of the most glaring kind, such as humped shoulders and curved spines, are produced. Custom, to a certain extent, enables the victim to endure the inconvenience; there arc even some who feel so little trouble

from it, as to deny that any harm ensues from tight lacing. But a violation so great cannot be otherwise than mischievous. We have seen

a young lady's sash which measured exactly twenty two inches, showing that the chest to which it was applied had been reduced to a diameter (allowing for clothes) of little more, perhaps, than seven inches. All who are avvaie of the internal organs at that part, know very well, that it ia impossible for them to exist in

their natural condition within so small a space. Bruised, impeded, and disordered, they must of course be, and accordingly cannot fail to become a source of dreadful suffering to the wretched being who outrages them. Palpitations, flush-ings, dyspepsia, determination of blood to the head, and consumption, are among the evils which physicians enumerate as flowing from this sacrifice to vanity. Another of a moral kind is acknowledged to be of by no means in-

frequent occurrence: in order to soothe the painful sensations produced by the constraint, spirituous liquors and cordials are resorted to, and thus habits of the most degrading nature are formed. Another evil still, respecting which a hint may be sufficient, is the unfitting of the system for the duties of a mother. How many domestic afflictions, which arc submitted to in a spirit of resignation, as the unavoidable decrees of Providence ; how many of the saddest scenes which this world ever presents-gentle and tender girls pining away under the eyes of hopeless parents-beloved wives torn from the arms of husbands and children, jit tho very moment when prolonged life was"most need-ful ; must be owing to a cause too trivial and unworthy to be mentioned in the same sen-tence with its so dire effects ! No doubt, it is well to submit meekly to such afflictions ; but while they are ascribed in all humility to a Providence, which is upon the whole only an-other term for Mercy and Justice, let us not be blind to the fact that they accrue through violations committed by ourselves upon laws established by Providence for our happiness, and might have been avoided by a different course of conduct. If it had been decreed that the human waist cannot be habitually com-pressed, without deranging the vital organs, and consequently producing, in some instances, death, an observance of the law-for which there can be no other source than the Highestseems, in our humble apprehension, to be as much demanded as that pious resignation which all will allow to be the spirit in which the actual results of the law, if violated, ought to be re-

ceived.

The fashion of light lacing obviously owes its origin to a desire on the part of the ladies to attract admiration. It is of little importance to point out that they are quite wrong in their calculations as to the effect, and that the other sex, so far from admiring a waist of extreme tenuity, shudder at it as something unnatural, and inconsistent with true beauty. Without robard to this fact, though it is in itself suf-ficient to settle the question, we would press upon the guilty parlies, and all interested in their welfare, that tight lacing is a practise which cannot be long persisted in without tlie most disastrous consequences. It is painful to reflect that parents, so far from discouraging the practice, as often enforce it upon their children. We have heard of a young lady whose mother stood over her every morning, with the engine of torture in her hand, and notwithstanding many remonstrative tears, obliged her to submit to be laced so tightly as almost to stop the power of breathing. Park's account of the Moorish mothers, who forcibly cram their daughters with kouskous, in order to make them fat, supplies the parallel we can recollect for this atrocious conduct ; the result of which is, that the unfortunate victim is now severely afflicted with asthma, and has fallen into a state of low health. As a general rule, it cannot be too strongly impressed upon those who have the care of young persons, that all clothing should sit lightly upon the figure, so as to allow of the full play of every part of the system. In consequence of having been accustumed, from our earliest years, to see constraints put upon nature both in ourselves and others, we are apt to form the conclusion that natural life is one thing and artificial life another ; that there is no reconciling the two; and that human nature has at length given a kind of consent to submit to the latter only. But human naturels the same at the commencement of every new generation, and as much is now required to produce a complete perversion of it as at any earlier period of the world's history. Pointed shoes might be worn for centuries, without saving a single corn at the last. Waists might Le tightened for ages, and still the hearts or pretty maidens would require as wide a space to sport in as ever. Na-ture holds out against every attempt to alter her stated features, and requires as implicit an obe-dience to her dictates from us as from the patriarchs. Again, then, we would say, let dress be accommodated to the structure and

organic functions of the body. Individuals may occasionally feel some inconvenience in the attention which they will attract by following the fashions dictated by nature ; but they will in the end reap a rich reward in preserved health and spirits, while the scoffers, perhaps, are en-during the penance due to a different course

of conduct.

On Friday the 3d instant, the Deputa-tion from Norfolk Plains waited by ap-pointment, on His Excellency, at Go-vernment Cottage, Launceston, and pre-sented the following Address :

lb Hi» Excellency Sir John Franklin, Knight, Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Orders Knight of the Greek Order of the Redeemer ; a Captain in His Majesty 8 Royal Navy¡ ana Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Van Diemen's Land, and'its Dependencies.

The -Land and Householders of the District of Norfolk Plains and'its vicinity, in public meeting assembled, beg leave to approach your Excellency with their sincere congratulations on your arrival in'this Colony, as the King's Re-presentative.

Actuated as they are, by-sentiments of attach-ment and 'loyalty to His Majesty's person and Government, they would feel it to be their duty, on such an occasion, to receive with respect ai.d welcome tho representation of their Sovereign; in this instance they are influenced also by feel-ings of high regard and esteem for your Excel-lency's name and character.

MStinguisAcd* at these are, by the eminent

bervicec you imve performed, and the energetic zeal and perseverance with which you have con-ducted the most arduous undertakings, they cannot but hail with joy and satisfaction your Excellency's accession to the Government of this Colony; and hi offering to your Excel-lency their warmest congratulations on your presence among them, they beg to assure your Excellency of their most cordial support ana co-operation in the beneficial Administration they confidently anticipate at your Excellency's

hands.

In conclusion, they beg to offer their most respectful wishes 'for your Excellency's, and Lady Franklin and family's welfare and happi

To which His Excellency was pleased to make the following Reply ;

Government. Cottage, Launceston,

3d February 1837. GENTLEMEN,

I beg to return you my warmest thanks for this very kind Address, congratulating me on my arrival in this Colony, and my assumption of the charge of the Government.

I am much fortified when undertaking this task, by the assurances which I continue to re-ceive daily, that I possess the respect and confi-dence of the community, over whose welfare I have been appointed by our Gracious Sove-reign to watch ; and among such assurances, be persuaded, gentlemen, that I very highly esti-mate those which proceed from you.

It will be the study of my whole heart, while I remain among you, to endeavour to retain the good will thus frankly extended to my supposed, though as yet untried, good intentions ; and with your co-operation and advice, which I hope the gentlemen of this Colony will always favour me with when they see occasion, I shall trust with confidence, that at least the character of these intentions will never be doubted.

(Signed) JOHN FRANKLIN. To Alfred Horne, Esq. and the

Gentlemen presenting the Ad-dress from the Land and Householders of the District of Norfolk Plains and its vi-cinity.