floating in the air; had long hair covered with a rich bonnet, bracelets, chains of gold, and precious ftones: they painted their faces, and mixed artificial hair with that of nature. As authors are filent about the women, they probably made no figure in that kingdom, being fhut up, as at present, in feraglios. Very different was the cafe of Athenian ladies, after polygamy was banished from Greece. They confumed the whole morning at the toilette; employing paint, and every drug for cleaning and whitening the skin: 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 drefs: vanity could not be the fole motive, as married ladies were never feen in public *. We learn from St Gregory, that women in his

* 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.

time dreffed the head extremely high; environing it with many treffes of falfe hair, disposed in knots and buckles, so as to refemble a regular fortification. Jofephus reports, that the Jewish ladies powdered their hair with gold duft; a fashion that was carried from Afia to Rome. The firft writer who mentions white powder for the hair, the fame we use 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 these accoutrements. The fword continues an article of drefs, tho' it diftinguishes not a gentleman from his valet. To fhow that a taste for drefs and ornament is deeply rooted in human nature, favages display that taste upon the body, having no covering to difplay it upon. Seldom is a child left to nature it is deprived of a tefticle, a finger, a tooth; or its skin is engraved with figures.

Cloathing hath no flight influence, even

with respect 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, that vanish when rendered, familiar by fight: if a lady accidentally discover 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.

ap

firft

· Cleannefs is an article in external pearance. Whether cleanlinefs be inherent in the nature of man, or only a refinement of polished nations, may at fight appear doubtful. What pleads for the former is, that cleannefs is remarkable in feveral nations, that have made, little progrefs 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 illand Otakeitë, “or King George's island, both fexes are cleanly they bathe frequently, never eat nor drink

I

drink without washing 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 pooreft women were never seen with dirty garments. The negroes, particularly thofe of Ardrah in the slave-coast, have a fcrupulous regard to cleannefs. They wash morning and evening, and perfume themselves with aromatic herbs. In the city of Benin, women are employ'd to keep the streets clean; and in that respect they are not outdone by the Dutch. In Corea, people mourn three years for the death of their parents; during which time they never wash. Dirtinefs must appear difmal to that people, as to us *. But instances are no lefs numerous that favour the other fide of the question. Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the Huns, that they wore a coat till it fell to pieces with dirt and rottennefs. Plan Carpin, who vifited the Tartars anno 1246, fays,

* Many animals are remarkable for cleannefs. Beavers are fo, and so are cats. This must be natural. Tho' a tafte for cleannefs is not remarkable." in dogs, yet like men they learn to be cleanly.

"That they never wafh face nor hands "that they never clean a dish, a pot, nor

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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 nefs of North-American favages, in their food, in their cabins, and in their gar ments, 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 cleannefs of fome favages must be the work of nature; and the dirtinefs of others muft proceed from indolence counteracting nature. In fact, cleanness is agreeable to all; and naftinefs difagreeable: no perfon prefers dirt; and even those who are the most accustomed to 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 in

dulge