CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
a triumph of foresight and taste as well as wealth that there appears to have been no lack of rich toilettes; and no account of ball or masquerade, dinner or breakfast, or other entertainment seems to have been complete without a more or less detailed reference to the dresses of the ladies and their cavaliers. The demand for wearing apparel soon created a source of supply; enterprising stewards and stewardesses of the ships, and even the captains themselves, took to bringing out "investments" of clothing and household goods. The arrival and date of sale of these investments were notified to all residents, at first by a messenger who carried the notice from house to house, in later days by an advertisement in the Calcutta Gazette, which brought fashionable society flocking to the sale-room. One of these advertisements is a fair sample of all:—
"Thursday, July 15, 1784. Fresh Europe goods for sale. Messrs. Baxter and Ord most respectfully beg leave to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen they have purchased the investment of Captain Johnson of the Berrington, consisting of the following elegant assortment of goods, which are of the latest fashions, and the highest perfection, having, left England so late as February last."
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