The policy of the tailor is as good as his philosophy, and has the same end in view, for Pennyboy exultingly says:— “I wonder gentlemen And men of means will not maintain themselves Fresher in wit, I mean in clothes, to the highest; For he that’s out of clothes is out of fashion; And out of fashion is out of countenance; And out of countenance is out of wit.” And the moral of all is, that if a man would prosper in the world, he should, at all events, not neglect his tailor. Of all the poets yet named, Ben Jonson is the only one who introduces a somewhat dishonest tailor, Nick Stuff, in ‘The New Inn;’ but Apollo was angry at the liberty, and visited the poet with the retributive damnation of the piece. Stuff is a “woman’s tailor;” we have none such now in England, except as makers of ladies’ riding habits. They are rare in France, but there are as many women’s tailors as female dressmakers in Vienna; and the latter often order the tailors to take measure for and cut out the dresses, which the female sewers then, to use a French term, _confection_. Nick Stuff used to attire his wife Pinnacia in all the new gowns he made; and in ever-changing and gallant bravery Pinnacia—but let her describe Nick’s ways of vanity after her own fashion:— “It is a foolish trick, madam, he has; For though he be your tailor, he is my beast; I may be bold with him, and tell his story. When he makes any fine garment will fit me, Or any rich thing that he thinks of price, Then must I put it on and be his ‘Countess,’ Before he carry it home unto the owners. A coach is hired and four horse; he runs In his velvet jacket thus, to Romford, Croydon, Hounslow, or Barnet.” Pinnacia proceeds to portray further excesses, but I think there must be some exaggeration in this; and _for_ this the poet was punished by the condemnation of his piece. The thing is as clear as logical deduction can make it. The ‘New Inn’ contained great reproach against the tailors: the ‘New Inn’ was hissed off the stage: _argal_, for a poet to speak reproachfully of tailors, is to bring down ruin upon his head! This deductive process is borrowed from Cardinal Wiseman; and if it be found defective, I beg to shield myself under that gentleman’s eminent authority. It _is_ something like accounting for Tenterden steeple by Goodwin Sands; but of course _I_ cannot help _that_. Let the candidate for the tiara look to it!