STAYS.

"Enviable Corset! that keeps within bounds,

And guards those precious charms."

Stays, like many other articles of dress, were first used in the reign of Henry 2d of France. They were called Stays, here, because they were said to stay the obtrusive charms of woman.

A curious edict was passed by the Emperor Joseph the Second, of law making notoriety, to restrain the use and fashion of stays; in the preamble it set forth, that they impaired the health, and impeded the growth of the fair sex; in all orphan houses, nunneries, and other places of public education, they were strictly forbidden, and young ladies still persisting in the fashion, were threatened with the loss of the customary indulgences and countenance which were bestowed on their class; thus they were made a sort of immorality. The College of Physicians also were enjoined to draw up a dissertation in support of the royal edict, which was distributed gratis. But what can a monarch do against fashion? The liberty of the corset was soon re-established in Austria in its full severity.

WOMEN'S BLACKS.

"Her lovely ankle cas'd in black."

This is the name of the common black worsted stockings, formerly an article of extensive consumption; they are now little made, because little worn. Black stockings were first introduced into England by Henrietta, daughter of Henry 4th of France, and queen of Charles the First. Charles was the first who wore black stockings in England; they were of silk, and Charles 2d seldom wore any other, as the old prints and paintings testify.

One of the greatest wholesale dealers in "women's blacks," in a manufacturing town, was celebrated for the largeness of his stock; his means enabled him to purchase all that were offered to him for sale, and it was his favourite article. He was an old-fashioned man, and while the servant maids were leaving them off, he was unconscious of the change, because he could not believe it; he insisted that household work could not be done in white cottons.-Offers of quantities were made to him at reduced prices. which he bought; his immense capital became locked up in his favourite women's blacks;" whenever their price in the market lowered, he could not make his mind up to be quite low enough; his warehouses were filled with them; when he determined to sell, the demand had wholly ceased; he could effect no sales; and, becoming bankrupt, he literally died of a broken-heart-from an excessive and unrequited attachment to women's blacks."

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COACHES.

"A coach, a coach! and let him who calleth of the coach, be the caller of it!", Crononotonthologos.

The use of coaches was introduced into England by Fitz Allan, Earl of Arundel, A. D. 1580, before which time Queen Elizabeth, on public occasions, rode behind her chamberlain, and she in her old age, according to Wilson, used reluctantly such an effeminate

conveyance.

They were at first drawn only by two horses, "but," says the same author, "the rest crept in by degrees, as men at first ventured to sea." It was Buckingham, the Favourite, who, about 1619, be

gan to have them drawn by six horses, which, as another historian says, was wondered at as a novelty, and imputed to him as mastering pride." Before that time, ladies chiefly rode on horseback, either single, on their palfreys, or double, behind some person, on a pillion. In the year 1672, at which period, throughout the kingdom, there was only six stage coaches constantly running, a pamphlet was written, and published, by Mr. John Cresset, of the Charterhouse, urging their suppression, and amongst other grave reasons given against their continuance, the author says, "These stage coaches make gentlemen come to London on every trivial occasion, which otherwise they would not do, but upon urgent necessity: nay, the convenience of the passage makes their wives often come up, who, rather than come such journeys on horseback, would stay at home. Then, when they come to town, they must presently be in the mode, get fine clothes, go to plays and treats, and, by these means, get such a habit of idleness and love of pleasure, as make them uneasy ever after."

HACKNEY COACHES.

Hackney coaches, as well as hackney horses, derive their appellation from the village of Hackney, which was, at a former period, of such great resort, that numbers of coaches and horses were in constant employ in carrying the citizens thither. It was in the year' 1634 that Captain Bayley first introduced these coaches, when a tolerable long ride might then be procured for the small sum of 4d.

SEDAN CHAIRS.

It was in the same year, 1634, that Sir Saunders Duncombe first introduced sedan chairs. Sir Saunders was a great traveller, and had seen these chairs at Sedan, where they were first invented.

SIDE SADDLES.

The Princess Ann of Bohemia was the first who introduced side saddles into England. It was in the year 1399; prior to which, ladies either rode on pillion, or astride like men.

WALKING STICKS.

Walking sticks were first introduced into fashion by the effeminate Henry 2d of France, but did not become a requisite appendage to the gentlemen of fashion in England till the year 1655, at which time they were formed with an indented head, in order to afford a more easy pressure of the hand which they supported. Ingenuity, which in matters of fashion is for ever on the alert, now crowned it with the addition of the round and hollow top, which sometimes contained nutmeg or ginger, to warm the stomach of the valetudinarian, and sometimes sugar candy for the asthmatic; but snuff soon after coming into universal use among the bon ton of society, the cavity was exclusively appropriated to its reception; and the meeting of two friends was invariably marked, after the first salutation, by the unscrewing of the tops of their walking sticks.

TILBURY.

So called from Mr. Tilbury, the coach-maker of Mount Street, Berkeley Square.

STANHOPE.

So called from being infroduced into the beau monde by the Hon. Mr. Stanhope.

DENNET.

A vehicle which derives its name from the inventor, whose name was Dennet.

TANDEM.

This equipage derives its name from the Latin words tan dem, i. e. at length; one horse preceding the other. It is a cognomen somewhat far-fetched, but it is accounted for by saying, it is of University origin.

USE OF MAHOGANY IN ENGLAND.

Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician, in the latter end of last, and beginning of the present century, had a brother, a West India captain, who brought over some planks of mahogany as ballast. As the doctor was then building him a house, in King Street, Covent Garden, his brother thought they might be of service to him. But the carpenters finding the wood too hard for their tools, it was laid aside for a time as useless. Soon after, Mrs. Gibbons wanted a candlebox; the doctor called on his cabinet-maker (Wollaston, in Long Acre), to make him one of some wood that lay in his garden. Wollaston also complained that it was too hard. The doctor said he must get stronger tools. The candle-box was made and approved; insomuch that the doctor then insisted on having a bureau made of the same wood, which was accordingly done; and the fine colour, polish, &c. were so pleasing, that he invited all his friends to come and see it, and among them the Duchess of Buckingham.

Her Grace begged some of the same wood of Dr. Gibbons, and employed Wollaston to make her a bureau also: on which the fame of mahogany and Mr. Wollaston was much raised, and things of this sort became general.

Holinshead, who wrote in the time of Queen Elizabeth, says, "all the furniture and utensils (even) were of wood, and that the people slept on straw pallets with a log of wood for a pillow."

D'OYLEYS.

These dessert napkins take their term from a very respectable warehouseman of the name of D'Oyley, whose family of the same name had resided in the great old house next to Hodsoll, the banker's, from the time of Queen Anne. This house, built by Inigo Jones, which makes a prominent feature in the old engraved views of the Strand, having a covered up and-down entrance which projected to the carriage way, was pulled down about 1782, on the site of which was erected the house now occupied in the same business.

BOAT'S PAINTER.

At the trial of a smuggler in Sussex, some time ago, it was deposed by a witness, that there was nothing in the boat but the tubs and the painter. Upon which the counsel, whose duty it was to cross-examine the witness, got up and said-" You say there was nothing in the boat but the tubs and the painter; I wish to know what became of him, did he run away." (Here there was great

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laughing.) It was then explained to the learned counsel, that the painter mentioned was nothing but a rope!

The rope which is coiled up in the boat, and which is constantly employed in hawling, &c. is called the boat's painter, because, from its being saturated with tar, and its continual friction against the boat, the latter becomes daubed or painted, with the adhesive or greasy matter with which the rope is covered.

HAMMER-CLOTH.

This covering to the coachman's seat or box, is derived from the German hammer, which implies a coat, or covering.

ATTORNEY.

In the time of our Saxon ancestors, states a work entitled Saxon Anomalies, the freemen in every shire met twice a year, under the precedency of the Shire Reeve, or Sheriff, and this meeting was called the Sheriff's torn. By degrees the freemen declined giving their personal attendance, and a freeman who did not attend, carried with him the proxies of such of his friends as could not appear: he who actually went to the Sheriff's torn, was said, according to the old Saxon, to go "at the torn," and hence came the word attorney, which signified, one that went to the torn for others, carrying with him a power to act, or vote for those who employed him.

I do not conceive (continues the writer), that the attorney has any right to call himself a Solicitor, but where he has business in a court of equity. If he chose to act more upon the principle of equity、 than law, let him be a solicitor by all means, but not otherwise, for law and equity are very different things; neither of them very good, as overwhelmed with forms and technicalities; but upon the whole, equity is surely the best, if it were but for the name of the thing.

TAILOR.

"Men three parts made by tailors and by barbers.”

A tailor now means a maker of clothes, whereas its origin is the French word tailler, to cut, or cut out, whence it appears the trade of clothes making was divided into a great many branches, such as planner, cutter-out, sewer, &c. or that every body originally made his own clothes, and merely employed the tailor to give him the most fashionable outlines of a suit.

STATIONER.

The application of the word Stationer has undergone a singular change. Originally it meant nothing but a tradesman of any kind, who had become stationary, in opposition to the usual mode of ancient tradesmen, who travelled about with packs. But the most remarkable anomaly is, that there are, and have long been, a set of men who go from house to house, and from time to time, selling what are now called stationary articles, so that they have justly acquired the name of "flying stationers." Dismounted cavalry (horsemen a foot), form quite a parallel case with these gentry.

APOTHECARY.

"Salts are in all his steps, manna in his eye,

In every gesture colycinth and rhubarb."

The character of an apothecary is so legibly imprinted on his

front, that all his efforts to conceal it are useless. There is a bustling importance about him which did not belong to the fraternity of former times. It is said by a waggish writer, that the apothecary of former times was a very humble being, and carried his drugs about with him in an earthenware vessel; and from a-pot-he-carries, was derived the cognomen of Apothecary. This, however, the modern sons of Galen would spurn, and would inform you that they receive their appellation from Apothecarius, an ancient and eminent compounder of drugs.

BROKER.

A broker is a double-tongued rogue; he saith to the seller, sell, for thine article is going down in the market; he goeth to the buyer, and saith, buy, for the article thou dealest in will surely rise. A broker is thus defined by the learned Trollope-" He is one who steppeth in between two men making a bargain, and plundereth both."

MEN MILLINERS.

"As spruce as a man milliner."

In former times, the ancient sisterhood of Tire Women, or Dressers, served only in the shops where ladies purchased thair gew-gaws; but when the Milaners, or persons from Milan, in Italy, first introduced their fashions into this country (and from whence the term Milliner is derived), it is supposed they also furnished us with the idea of employing the male sex for the vending of various articles of millinery, as is the custom in that country. The impropriety of employing young vigorous men to serve female customers must be evident to every considerate person; especially, since so many fine blooming females are thus consigned to idleness and temptation. But, no, what lady would purchase her bandeaus, ribbons, and gloves, from the hands of a young woman, when the shop contains a young man? The ancient fraternity of Tire Women became totally extinct about 1765; but now, what head can be dressed without the assistance of a smart male hair-dresser, or what female bedecked without the flirting and nothingness of the man-milliner?

GROCER.

This term as applied to the venders of sugar, treacle, spices, &c. originally meant nothing more than a dealer by the groce, or in the gross, but which is now applied peculiarly to those who deal in the above articles. There are several other trades which bear a name, the limit or cause of which is now no more.

Another writer says-the term Grocer was originally employed to distinguish a dealer in goods in gross quantities, in opposition to the mere retailer; though now extended to all, who deal in either way, in the "mystery of grocery," a term in this instance, by the bye, rather oddly applied. The more ancient designation, however, of this fraternity, was that of the "Pepperers," on account of pepper being the principle article in which the grocer dealt. The fraternity were first incorporated as Grocers by a charter from Edward 3d, in 1345, which was renewed and confirmed by several succeeding monarchs. A pepperer was still, however, not unfrequently a distinct business, and continued so till as late a period as 1559. In that year a quantity of pepper having been taken in a Spanish carrack, was purchased from the queen at a good price, by certain ex