that one of their fuits might almost furnish out an haberdasher's fhop. THE fame extravagance appears in the fashions of breeches; fome of which defcend quite to the heels, and others do not even reach the knees; of the lat ter fort, fome are alfo fo narrow, and fo thin, as will fcarcely hide what nature and modefty enjoin us to conceal; whilst of the former, some are so large and fpacious, that they might, in neceffity, ferve for a fail to a little fhip. Add to this, that rich people frequently load them with fuch plenty of gold, filver and gems, that it is fcarce poffible to diftinguish even the leaft pattern of the original stuff they are made of. ALSO a like motley mixture of fancy is to be feen in the ftockings; not only in the colours, and stuff of their materials, but likewife in the manner of wearing them; fome garter them above the knee, others below it: one takes the greatest care ima tight, as not the ginable that they are drawn up fo leaft wrinkle may be feen; whilft another, to fhew an air of negligence, fuffers them to fall down almoft about his heels; whilft a third wears two or three pairs of different colours, one upon another; and that they may be the easier difcerned, rolls them and ties them up at different heights, enriching each one of these several ftages with different knots of ribbon, in such a manner, that you might well take him, him, with his legs thus adorned, for a Mercury † juft ready to fet out upon his flight, to execute the commands of his father Jupiter. NAY, not even the coverings of the feet are beneath our taking notice of, as objects worthy of curiosity in hell. In the first rank may be seen thofe facred flippers of the popes, embellished with gold embroidery; which were, whilft in this world, an object of the veneration of kings and princes, and of the greatest lords, who have reckoned it as the highest honour, if these most holy fathers would allow them only to kifs them with the moft profound respect. Next to these holy flippers come the fandals, fhoes, and other foot-dreffes of empreffes, of queens, and princeffes; and laftly, of our ladies of the prefent time, which are no less brilliant or magnificent. In the fashion of thefe laft there is one thing, no doubt very edifying, to be remarked; which is, that from a due confideration and refpect, a reverential regard to the earth, our common mother, and from the fear they are under of over-burdening her, they touch her only with the small tip of the foot; all the reft of the body leaning only on one heel of wood H 6 very The poets having given to Mercury the office. of meffenger to the gods, have also bestowed wings on him, which he fixes to his feet whenever he has any meffage to execute on earth. : very light, thin, and peaked, which only, as it were, grazes along her furface. There alfo you fee another kind, called pattens, which are made for the fake of certain women, who, thinking themselves too fhort, have had the ingenuity to find out a fecret for doing what appeared impoffible to the Saviour of the world; I mean, the adding five or fix, and even fometimes ten or twelve inches, to their little height, by giving that addition to their foot-attire. This folly, which they had on earth, has alfo followed them to the infernal regions; where, mounted upon this kind of ftilts, they still divert those who see them walking in this manner. THE fame pleasure it is to fee the Chinese ladies, hopping about and waddling like magpies or waterwagtails, who, to have their feet of a furprifing lit tleness, cause them to be broke and bent back in tendereft infancy; a folly, for which, at every step they take, they pay the tribute of a fevere and Imart. ing penance; but which, however, does not hinder their imitating, in this respect, their foolish mothers, as foon as ever they themselves become fuch. In another place you may see others, who having in this world been foolish enough to wear fhoes intirely cut down before, give way to the fame extravagance, when they get below ftairs: indeed they alledge in vindication of it befides, that this way of being fhod appears to them a very handsome fashion, that it is alfo a very useful and convenient one, on the the account of tempering and cooling, in fome meafure, the burning heat of the infernal gout, which they are tormented with from time to time. Others, on the contrary, who have improved upon the fashions of their times, wear them with latches of fuch an height, as almoft cover half their legs, and which they adorn with great tufts of roses, which give them greatly the appearance of rough-footed pigeons. Laftly, you fhall fee fome, who, although they were never on horseback in their lives, or ever took any journey, but this to hell, yet always wore on earth, and still continue to do the fame in hell, a large pair of jack-boots, adorned with long fpurs, which, frequently entangling with their legs as they are walking, trip them up, and fometimes bring them, with their nofes, to the ground. Now I demand of you, if entertainments as comical as thefe, and which in hell coft but the trouble of looking at, must not afford an infinite pleafure? and if there is any thing here upon earth that can be compared with it? BUT now, after having run through, and given an exact account, as we have done, of every thing which hell contains of the grand, agreeable, curious, and amufing, let us go on to enquire into its form of government, its conftitution, and the good order which is kept in it. This will be the subject of my third and laft part. THE |