"no paint could imitate?" But when the Athenian manners came to be more polished, greater indulgence was given to the ladies in drefs and ornament. They confumed the whole morning at the toilette; employing paint, and every drug for cleaning and whitening the fkin: they laid red even upon their lips, and took great care of their teeth: their hair, made up in buckles with a hot iron, was perfumed and spread upon the shoulders: their drefs was elegant, and artfully contrived to set off a fine fhape. Such is the influence of appetite for dress: vanity could not be the fole motive, as married ladies were never feen in public *. We learn from St Gregory, that women in his time dreffed the head extremely high, environing it with many treffes of false hair, difpofed in knots and buckles, fo as to refemble a regular fortification. Jofephus reports, that the Jewish ladies powdered their hair with gold duft; a fashion that Iwas carried from Afia to Rome. The firft * Young women in Athens appeared frequently in public, but always by themfelves. In feftivals, facrifices, &c. they made part of the fhow, crowned with flowers, chanting hymns, and dancing in knots. writer who mentions white powder for the hair, the fame we ufe at prefent, is L'Etoile, in his journal for the year 1593. He relates, that nuns walked the streets of Paris curled and powdered. That fashion fpread by degrees through Europe. For many years after the civil wars in France, it was a fashion in Paris to wear boots and fpurs with a long fword: a gentleman was not in full drefs without thefe accouttrements. The fword continues an article of drefs, though it diftinguishes not a gentleman from his valet. To fhow that a tafte for drefs and ornament is deeply rooted in human nature, favages difplay that taste upon the body, having no covering to difplay it upon. Seldom is a child of a savage left to nature: it is deprived of a testicle, a finger, a tooth; or its fkin is engraved with figures. Clothing hath no flight influence, even with refpect to morals. I venture to affirm, at the hazard of being thought paradoxical, that nakedness is more friendly to chastity than covering. Adultery is unknown among favages, even in hot climates where they have fcarce any covering. Drefs gives play to the imagination, which pictures to itself many fecret beauties which vanifh when rendered familiar by fight: if a lady accidentally difcover half a leg, imagination is inftantly inflamed; tho' an actress appearing in breeches is beheld with indifference: a naked Venus makes not fuch an impreffion as when a garter only is difcovered. Cleannefs is an article in external appearance. Whether cleanliness be inherent in the nature of man, or only a refinement of polished nations, may at firft appear doubtful. What pleads for the former is, that cleannefs is remarkable in feveral nations which have made little progress in the arts of life. The favages of the Caribbee iflands, once a numerous tribe, were remarked by writers as neat and cleanly. In the island Ctaheite, or King George's ifland, both fexes are cleanly they bathe frequently, never eat nor drink without wafhing before and after, and their garments, as well as their perfons, are kept free of fpot or blemish. Ammianus Marcellinus, defcribing the Gauls, fays, that they were cleanly; and that even the poorest women were never feen with dirty garments. The negroes, partiVOL. I. cularly Sf cularly thofe of Ardrah in the flave-coaft, have a fcrupulous regard to cleannefs. They wash morning and evening, and perfume themfelves with aromatic herbs. In the city of Benin, women are employed to keep the ftreets clean; and in that respect they are not outdone by the Dutch. In Corca, people mourn three years for the death of their parents; during which time they never wash. Dirtinefs must appear difmal to that people, aз to us But inftances are no lefs numerous that favour the other fide of the queftion. Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the Huns, that they wore a coat till it fell to pieces with dirt and rottennefs. Plan Carpin, who visited the Tartars anno 1246, fays, "That they never wash face nor hands "that they never clean a difh, a pot, nor a garment; that, like fwine, they make "food of every thing, not excepting the "vermin that crawl on them." The prefent people of Kamfkatka answer to that defcription in every article. The nafti Many animals are remarkable for cleannefs. Beavers are fo, and fo are cats. This must be natural. Though a taste for cleannefs is not remarkable in dogs, yet, like men, they learn to be cleanly. nefs nefs of North-American favages, in their food, in their cabins, and in their garments, paffes all conception. As they never change their garments till they fall to rags, nor ever think of washing them, they are eat up with vermin. The Efquimaux, and many other tribes, are equally nafty. As cleanness requires attention and induftry, the cleanness of some savages must be the work of nature, and the dirtinefs of others must proceed from indolence counteracting nature. In fact, cleanness is agreeable to all, and naftiness disagreeable: no perfon prefers dirt; and even those who are the moft accustomed to it are pleased with a cleanly appearance in others. It is true, that a tafte for cleannefs, like that for order, for fymmetry, for congruity, is extremely faint during its infancy among favages. Its strongest antagonist is indolence, which favages indulge to excefs: the great fatigue they undergo in hunting, makes them fond of eafe at home; and dirtinefs, when once habitual, is not eafily conquered. cleanness improves gradually with manners, and makes a figure in every induftrious nation. Nor is a tafte for clean But nefs |