In youth, while the blood is hot and the perspiration free, it is less necessary to cover the body with a great quantity of clothes; but, in the decline of life, when the skin becomes rigid and the humours more cool, the clothing should be increased. Many diseases in the latter period of life proceed from a defect of perspiration: these may, in some measure, be prevented by a suitable addition to the clothing, or by wearing such as are better calculated for promoting the discharge from the skin, as clothes made of cotton, flannel, &c.
The clothing ought likewise to be suited to the season of the year. Clothing may be warm enough for summer, which is by no means sufficient for winter. The greatest caution, however, is necessary in making these changes. We ought neither to put off our winter clothes too soon, nor to wear our summer ones too long. In this country, the winter often sets in very early with great rigour, and we have frequently cold weather even after the commencement of the summer months. It would likewise be prudent not to make the change all at once, but to do it gradually; and indeed the changes of apparel in this climate ought to be very inconsiderable, especially among those who have passed the meridian of life[[37]].
Clothes often become hurtful by their being made subservient to the purposes of pride or vanity. Mankind in all ages seem to have considered clothes in this view; accordingly their fashion and figure have been continually varying, with very little regard either to health, the climate, or conveniency: a farthingale, for example, may be very necessary in hot southern climates, but surely nothing can be more ridiculous in the cold regions of the north.
Even the human shape is often attempted to be mended by dress, and those who know no better believe that mankind would be monsters without its assistance. All attempts of this nature are highly pernicious. The most destructive of them in this country is that of squeezing the stomach and bowels into as narrow a compass as possible, to procure, what is falsely called, a fine shape[[38]]. By this practice the action of the stomach and bowels, the motion of the heart and lungs, and almost all the vital functions, are obstructed. Hence proceed indigestions, syncopes, or fainting fits, coughs, consumptions of the lungs, and other complaints so common among females.
The feet likewise often suffer by pressure. How a small foot came to be reckoned genteel, I will not pretend to say; but certain it is, that this notion has made many persons lame. Almost nine-tenths of mankind are troubled with corns: a disease that is seldom or never occasioned but by strait shoes. Corns are not only very troublesome, but by rendering people unable to walk, they may likewise be considered as the remote cause of other diseases[[39]].
The size and figure of the shoe ought certainly to be adapted to the foot. In children the feet are as well shaped as the hands, and the motion of the toes as free and easy as that of the fingers; yet few persons in the advanced periods of life are able to make any use of their toes. They are generally, by narrow shoes, squeezed all of a heap, and often laid over one another in such a manner as to be rendered altogether incapable of motion. Nor is the high heel less hurtful than the narrow toe. A lady may seem taller for walking on her tiptoes, but she will never walk well in this manner. It strains her joints, distorts her limbs, makes her stoop, and utterly destroys all her ease and gracefulness of motion: it is entirely owing to shoes with high heels and narrow toes, that not one female in ten can be said to walk well.
In fixing on the clothes, due care should be taken to avoid all tight bandages. Garters, buckles, &c. when drawn too tight, not only prevent the free motion and use of the parts about which they are bound, but likewise obstruct the circulation of the blood, which prevents the equal nourishment and growth of these parts, and occasions various diseases. Tight bandages about the neck, as stocks, cravats, necklaces, &c. are extremely dangerous. They obstruct the blood in its course from the brain, by which means head-achs, vertigoes, apoplexies, and other fatal diseases are often occasioned.
The perfection of dress is to be easy and clean. Nothing can be more ridiculous, than for any one to make himself a slave to fine clothes. Such a one, and many such there are, would rather remain as fixt as a statue from morning till night, than discompose a single hair or alter the position of a pin. Were we to recommend any particular pattern for dress, it would be that which is worn by the people called Quakers. They are always neat, clean, and often elegant, without any thing superfluous. What others lay out upon tawdry laces, ruffles, and ribands, they bestow upon superior cleanliness. Finery is only the affectation of dress, and very often covers a great deal of dirt.
We shall only add, with regard to clothing, that it ought not only to be suited to the climate, the season of the year, and the period of life; but likewise to the temperature and constitution. Robust persons are able to endure either cold or heat better than the delicate; consequently may be less attentive to their clothing. But the precise quantity of clothes necessary for any person cannot be determined by reasoning. It is entirely a matter of experience, and every man is the best judge for himself what quantity of clothes is necessary to keep him warm[[40]].