Even wise Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, who wrote epistles about the ancients, and instead of going to a ball, sat at home and read Sophocles, exclaims to her sister—"Surely your heroic spirit will prefer a beau's hand in Brussels lace to a stubborn Scævola without an arm."
Plate LXXXIV.
John Law, the Paris Banker, Author of the Mississippi Scheme, 1671-1729.—In cravat of Point de France, between 1708-20. Painted by Belle. National Portrait Gallery.
Photo by Walker and Cockerell.
To face page 352.
In the middle of the nineteenth century it was the fashion that no young lady should wear lace previous to her marriage. In the reign of George II. etiquette was different, for we find the Duchess of Portland presenting Mrs. Montague, then a girl, with a lace head and ruffles.
Wrathfully do the satirists of the day rail against the expense of
"The powder, patches, and the pins,
The ribbon, jewels, and the rings,