"15, 16, and 17. When among strangers they elude inquiries respecting their peculiar language, calling it gibberish. Don't know of any person that can write it, or of any written specimen of it. "18. Their habits and customs in all places are peculiar. "19. Those who profess any religion represent it to be that of the Country in which they reside; but their description of it seldom goes beyond repeating the Lord's prayer; and, only few of them are capable of that. Instances of their attending any place for worship are very rare. "20. They marry, for the most part, by pledging to each other, without any ceremony. A few exceptions have occurred, when money was plentiful. "21. They do not teach their Children religion. "22 and 23. Not _one_ in a _thousand_ can read. "24 and 25. Some go into lodgings in London, Cambridge, &c., during the winter; but it is calculated three-fourths of them live out of doors in winter as in summer." [Illustration: Walking Costume. 1812.] [Illustration: Ladies' Head-Dress.] [Illustration: Nos. 1 and 2, 1811; No. 3, 1812; Nos. 4 and 5, 1813.] [Illustration: Nos. 1 and 2, 1814; Nos. 3 and 4, 1815.] CHAPTER XIII. Ladies' dresses -- The Dandizette -- Waltzing -- The Quadrille -- Almack's -- Women's education -- Women's work -- Women Soldiers and Sailors -- Female rowing match -- Female pedestrian -- Gretna Green Marriages -- Some curious marriages. For the limits of a book like this, I have spent enough time on the Roads, Streets, Country, and even Gipsies, so let me turn to the men and women of the time. _Place aux dames_ of course--so we will begin with the ladies first. And in the next few engravings which I give are culled specimens of women's dresses from 1811 to 1820. Of course there would be caricatures--some rather _outrée_, others very moderate--I give two of the _Dandizette_ or _Dandyess_ as she was indifferently called, one true, the other, as with her concomitants, perhaps, a trifle exaggerated--but not a great deal. Perhaps it is most so in "the Fashionables of 1816," where, I must own, the feathers in the bonnets, the large Muffs, and the short skirts are, doubtless, slightly in advance of the fashion, but it is an amusing picture, with no harm in it, and I give it. Of course, I cannot vouch for its truth, but the following little story is as I find it: "June 8, 1812. A young lady of rank and high Condition, in the warmth of her dancing heart, thus addressed her partner at the late Lord Mayor's ball.--'God bless you--take care and don't tread upon my muslin gown, for you see that I have nothing under it.'" And, when we look at a really sensible picture of a dance (Waltzing), I do not think it is very much exaggerated. Waltzing was considered by some as awfully wicked. It may be. Personally, my dancing days are over, but I never felt particularly sinful when waltzing--Mrs. Grundy is another name for nastiness. For instance, take two separate verses in the same paper:--