Some difference of opinion has existed as to the period at which the word "stays" was first used to indicate an article of dress of the nature of the corset or bodice. It is evident that the term must have been perfectly familiar long anterior to 1713, as constant use is made of it in the letters we have just given. Gay, who wrote about 1720, also avails himself of it in The Toilette—
"I own her taper form is made to please,
Yet if you saw her unconfined by stays!"
The word "boddice," or "bodice," was not unfrequently spelt bodies by old authors, amongst whom may be mentioned Ben Jonson, who wrote about 1600, and mentions
"The whalebone man
That quilts the bodies I have leave to span."
