"THE GUILD OF PLAIN DRESSERS."
[TO THE EDITOR Op THE SPEOTATOR,1
Sin,—You may be interested in learning that in a West-- Midland diocese an attempt has been made to revive the Sump- tuary laws and to set up a standard of dress. Our Bishop's wife (if I may be permitted to call so exalted a personage by so- common a term) is comparatively young, and is therefore no- stranger to the feeling which pervades the female clerical mind that religious or quasi-religious meetings are apt opportunities for- the display of dross. Mrs. A, whose father has a house in town, likes to show that her marriage with a clergyman has not cut her off from the world of fashion ; and Mrs. B listens with far greater profit to the dear bishop's eloquence when she is conscious that her own bonnet is of the latest mode. These things are well known throughout the diocese, and have mot with a merited rebuke from the lady at the palace, who knows the incomes of the clergy- and hates all minor forms of ostentation. Hitherto her rebukes have been conveyed only in the shape of audible remarks upon, Mrs. A's ridiculous grandeur, or upon the length of Mrs. B's millinery bill compared with the poverty of her husband's benefice but it is whispered in the Close that more stringent measures are soon to be adopted. We are guilty of no breach of confidence in divulging the fact that a sumptuary law of the following character has formed a subject of discussion. The Bishop's wife is to be sole arbiter of fashion within the diocese, the exclusive right of wearing purple and fine linen belongs to her; the dress of the wives of the capitular and diocesan clergy will be regulated according to scale ; the wives of Canons and Rectors with £1,000 a year will be permitted to wear silks and satins ; those of Vicars, rep and merino ; while for the wives of Curates a neat and inex- pensive costume will be devised by a Committee of Taste, of which the ladies'-maids at the palace and deanery shall be ex-officio members.—' am, Sir, &c., BENE NATUS, MODERATE DOCTUS, MALE VEsTITUS.
Previous page
