Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

4o' Of the vanity ofcoff yAnd6raneapparell. lies. For whereas the calling of the womankind tieth them to keepe the chiefe part oftheir refidenceat home,imitating the fnaile which carieth her houle vpon her backe ; contra - riwife hauing fpcnt a great part of the day in drefiing of themfelues in their rich andcoyly attire,they haue now no power to flay at home, but needs they mutt goe abrode to (hew their brauerie, as thinking their coflly appareil and vainc fafhions not worth the wearing, vnleffe they might be feene often,and much admired. And to fay truth, fuch are aswell abrode as at home, feeing by their habit they haue made themfeluesvnfit for any hufwifely dutie; for neither may theycome neere thole places which require their chiefe refidence, for foiling oftheir clothes, neither are they able to flirre themfelues more then images,for the performing of any lwfineffe.Yea to that height ofpride is the world come, that euerie pettie gentlewoman skorneth to be feene in any fuch hufewifelie imployments, whereas in ancient times, Pimp. princes and quecnes thought it their chicle glory, as we may fee in the example ofSalomons mother. §. Seïd. 23. And as this pride of apparell is a caufe of much (inne in That this ex- refpeel of themfelues that vie it; fo alto in regard ofothers, cef'eeau¡eth whether weter privateperionsor the whole common - many yid, both wealth. For what greatcr caufe I pray you is there of bribing to primate per- and extorfion, fraud and coufonage,opprefling of the poore remm on - to the by cruel! landlords, whilefl vnmeafurablie they encreafe weals!). their fines and inhance their rents, yea of wrongs and iniu- ries, rapine and violence, theft and facriledge, then this ex- ces in cofUUyapparel,men being refolued to run any defperat and wicked courfe, rather then they will want meanesto maintain this pride. Neither doth this exces in apparel bring leffe mifchiefe to the whole common - wealththen to privat perlons. For firfl,it ouerthroweth all order of ciuill focietie, whileft there is in the outwardhabit no diflin6lion of de- grees ; but the fuperiour and inferiour, the mailer and the . feruant, the maid and miflriffe, the nobleman and gentle- man, and the gentleman and farmer goe all alike ; fo as by the outward habite they cannot poflìblic bec difcerned the one from the other.Againe,it is the chicle caufe of the decay of