"guilty of the eccentricity" of wearing himself the dress which he
proposes for general adoption by others. There is something so
naive and so amusing about this last passage in Mr. Huyshe's letter
that I am really in doubt whether I am not doing him a wrong in
regarding him as having any serious, or sincere, views on the
question of a possible reform in dress; still, as irrespective of
any attitude of Mr. Huyshe's in the matter, the subject is in
itself an interesting one, I think it is worth continuing,
particularly as I have myself worn this late eighteenth-century
dress many times, both in public and in private, and so may claim
to have a very positive right to speak on its comfort and
suitability. The particular form of the dress I wore was very
similar to that given in Mr. Godwin's handbook, from a print of
Northcote's, and had a certain elegance and grace about it which
was very charming; still, I gave it up for these reasons:- After a
further consideration of the laws of dress I saw that a doublet is
a far simpler and easier garment than a coat and waistcoat, and, if
buttoned from the shoulder, far warmer also, and that tails have no
place in costume, except on some Darwinian theory of heredity; from
absolute experience in the matter I found that the excessive
tightness of knee-breeches is not really comfortable if one wears
them constantly; and, in fact, I satisfied myself that the dress is
not one founded on any real principles. The broad-brimmed hat and
loose cloak, which, as my object was not, of course, historical
accuracy but modern ease, I had always worn with the costume in
question, I have still retained, and find them most comfortable.

Well, although Mr. Huyshe has no real experience of the dress he
proposes, he gives us a drawing of it, which he labels, somewhat
prematurely, "An ideal dress." An ideal dress of course it is not;