The case is very hard; and I fear, the plea she is advised to make, from the similitude of a man who is in duress, will not prevail. But though I despair of remedy as to the mother, the law gives the child his choice of his father where the birth is thus legally ambiguous.
"To Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
"The humble Petition of the Company of Linendrapers residing within the Liberty of Westminster;
"Showeth—That there has of late prevailed among the ladies so great an affectation of nakedness, that they have not only left the bosom wholly bare, but lowered their stays some inches below the former mode.[61]
"That in particular, Mrs. Arabella Overdo has not the least appearance of linen, and our best customers show but little above the small of their backs.
"That by this means, your petitioners are in danger of losing the advantage of covering a ninth part of every woman of quality in Great Britain.
"Your petitioners humbly offer the premises to your indulgence's consideration, and shall ever, &c."
Before I answer this petition, I am inclined to examine the offenders myself.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] This mode, which originated in the reign of King Charles II., is shown in Sir Peter Lely's ladies; but Walpole says that Vandyck's habits are those of the times, but Lely's are fantastic dresses. The prevalence and dislike of this fashion occasioned in 1678 the publication of a book translated from the French by Edward Cooke, under the following title, "A Just and Reasonable Reprehension of Naked Breasts and Shoulders, written by a grave and learned Papist."
Half a century after the Tatler, the "moulting of their clothes" by ladies was again the subject of comment by the moral essayist. There are several papers on the subject in the World (Nos. 6, 21, 169, &c.), in which it is remarked that it was the fashion to undress to go abroad, and to dress when at home and not seeing company.