anxiety, the probable duration of their relations' lives. And yet all
these follow the corpse to the grave, with white handkerchiefs, mourning
habits, slouched hats, and dangling hat-bands. Mourning garments,
therefore, frequently make men pretend to be what they are not. But no
true or consistent Christian can exhibit an outward appearance to the
world, which his inward feelings do not justify.

It is not contended here by the Quakers, that because a man becomes
occasionally a hypocrite, this is a sufficient objection against any
system; for a man may be an Atheist even in a Quaker's garb. Nor is it
insinuated, that individuals do not sometimes feel in their hearts, the
sorrow which they purpose to signify by their clothing. But it is
asserted to be true, that men who use mourning habits as they are
generally used, do not wear them for those deceased persons only whom
they loved, and abstain from the use of them where they had no esteem,
but that they wear them promiscuously on all the occasions which have
been dictated by fashion. Mourning habits therefore, in consequence of a
long system of etiquette, have become, in the opinion of the Quakers,
but little better than _disguised pomp_, or _fashionable forms_.

I shall endeavour to throw some light upon this position of the Quakers,
by looking into the practice of the world.

In the first place, there are seasons there, when full mourning, and
seasons when only half mourning, is to be worn. Thus the habit is
changed, and for no other reason, than that of conformity with the laws
of fashion. The length of this time also, or season of mourning, is made
to depend upon the scale of men's affinity to the deceased; though
nothing can be more obvious, than that men's affection for the living,
and that their sorrow for them when dead, cannot be measured by this