Ruffles, when worn.
—At what time did the fashion of wearing ruffles come in? and when did it go out?
Many persons living at the present time remember their being generally worn in respectable, and occasionally in what may be called minor life.
The clergy did not wear them.
So general was their use in the early part of the reign of George III., that the Rev. William Cole, of Milton, in the account of his Journey to France, in 1765, says he was taken for an English clergyman because he did not wear them, and in consequence addressed "M. l'Abbé."
Dr. John Ash.
—I should feel exceedingly obliged by information respecting the birth-place and early history of Dr. John Ash, formerly an eminent physician practising in Birmingham, and the founder of the General Hospital in that town. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford; his doctor's degree was taken in 1764. He died at Brompton, Knightsbridge, in 1798. Every available source has been searched in vain for information on this subject. It is required for literary purposes.
F. RUSSELL.