To-morrow she a waving plume will try,
The emblem of all female levitie;
Now in her hat, then in her hair is drest,
Now of all fashions she thinks change the best."
On Puritanism becoming general the style of dress adopted by the so-called "Roundheads," as a contrast to that of the hated "Cavaliers," was stiff, prim, and formal to a degree; and during Cromwell's sway as Protector, small waists, stiff corsets, and very tight lacing again became the fashion; and Bulwer, who writes in 1653, in speaking of the young ladies of his day, says, "They strive all they possibly can by streight lacing themselves to attain unto a wand-like smallness of waist, never thinking themselves fine enough until they can span their waists." The annexed illustration, adapted by us from his work, The Artificial Changeling, represents a young lady who has achieved the desired tenuity. He also quotes from Hoechstetterus, who in his description of "Auspurge, the metropolis of Swevia," 1653 (meaning Augsburg, the capital of Suabia), "They are," saith he, describing the virgins of Auspurge, "slender, streight laced, with 'demisse' (sloping) shoulders, lest being grosse and well made they should be thought to have too athletique bodies." So throughout the length and breadth of Europe the use of tightly-laced corsets remained general.
Young English Lady of Fashion, 1653.
