"'And I dined in them,' says the other. 'Only think!'
"'Oh!' answered Mrs. Hampden, 'it really puts me out of spirits.'"
Both ladies were dressed for a party at Cumberland House, and ill at ease in the costume prescribed by etiquette.
About 1770 the sleeves of the ladies' dresses were tight on the upper arm, where they suddenly became very large, and, drooping at the elbow, they terminated in rich fringes of lace ruffles. A few years later the sleeves expanded from the shoulders till they became a succession of constantly enlarging ruffles and lappets, and again, before 1780, they became tight throughout, with small cuffs and no lace at the elbows, when they were worn with long gloves.
Our history of English lace is now drawing to a close; but, before quitting the subject, we must, however, make some allusion to the custom prevalent here, as in all countries, of using lace as a decoration to grave-clothes. In the chapter devoted to Greece, we have mentioned how much lace is still taken from the tombs of the Ionian Islands, washed, mended, or, more often, as a proof of its authenticity, sold in a most disgusting state to the purchaser. The custom was prevalent at Malta, as the lines of Beaumont and Fletcher testify:—
"In her best habit, as the custom is,
You know, in Malta, with all ceremonies,
She's buried in the family monument,
I' the temple of St. John."[[1080]]
At Palermo you may see the mummies thus adorned in the celebrated catacombs of the Capuchin convent.[[1081]]