With very low bodices, and very high waists, came very scanty clothing, with an absence of petticoat, a fashion which left very little of the form to the imagination. I do not say that our English Belles went to the extent of some of their French sisters, of having their muslin dresses put on damp--and holding them tight to their figures till they dried--so as absolutely to mould them to their form, or that they ever discarded stockings, and went to balls with bare feet, and only wearing sandals, having on but the lightest of classical clothing--but their clothes were of the scantiest, and we shall find that, as year succeeded year, this fashion developed, if one can call diminution of clothing, development. Men made fun of it, _vide_ the following from the _Times_, 12th August, 1794:--"Amongst prudent papas, the favourite toast at this time is 'The present fashion of our wives and daughters,' viz. _No Waste_." There was a very pretty song, called "Shepherds, I have lost my love, Have you seen my Anna?"--and this was parodied as follows--the music being the same as the original song:-- [Song: SHEPHERDS, I HAVE LOST MY WAIST. Shep-herds, I have lost my waist, Have you seen my bo - - dy? Sac - ri - ficed to mo-dern taste, I'm quite a hod - dy dod - - dy. For fashion I that part for - sook Where sages place the bel - - - ly; 'Tis gone, and I have not a nook For cheesecake, tart, or jel - ly.] "Never shall I see it more, Till, common sense returning, My body to my legs restore, Then I shall cease from mourning, Folly and fashion do prevail To such extremes among the fair, A woman's only top and tail, The body's banish'd God knows where!' [Illustration: A Scarecrow--1793.] [Illustration: Shepherds! I have lost my waist.--1794.] [Illustration: Following the Fashion.] [Illustration: Following the Fashion.] That a fashion may become one person, and not another, is peculiarly exemplified by the two following pictures by Gillray, 9th December, 1794, both called "Following the Fashion:"-- "St. James's giving the Ton, | "Cheapside aping the Mode, a Soul without a Body. | a Body without a Soul." * * * * * The tax on Hair powder was much objected to; people had been used, for a long time, to grease, and powder their hair and wigs; and, when the duty of a Guinea per head was passed, many left off using it. The illustration "Leaving off Powder, or a Frugal family saving a Guinea," was doubtless the fact in many a family. The man, in the coloured engraving, with his "crop," to our eyes does not look so singular, as the lady, with her "fausse chevelure" unpowdered looks so bad, that, no wonder, ladies reverted to their own locks, as we see in future illustrations. So also shall we see the "Cap" of the period, the length of which is most amusingly portrayed.