Chronicles of Fashion, from the Time of Elizabeth to the Early part of the Nineteenth Century
Elizabeth Stone. London: Richard Bentley, 1845
Two volumes gilt morocco extra by Bayntun, with approximately 100 extra plates, 8vo, (good).
—————————————————————
“Fashion, who had found a haven and a home in the Court of Charles the Second, fled from its precincts during the occupation of his successors, the stern and unattractive William and Mary, the homely and indolent Anne, and the heavy and uninteresting German Elector. They had not any of them a spark of that brilliancy whose coruscations in the chambers of Whitehall had dazzled the eyes of beholders, and almost blinded them to the real nature of the orgies carried on within. We have seen that virtuous and irreproachable as Mary’s personal character was, she won none to her circle; she beguiled none of the votarists of the very questionable code of manners of her uncle’s and father’s day to imitate the purity and propriety of her own. It was not because she was virtuous, but because she was cold and repulsive, that Fashion fled away.”
-opening paragraph of Volume 2
Ouch.
