"1. Everything which alters or disguises nature proceeds from a false taste.
"2. Everything which forces nature beyond its due bounds proceeds from a bad taste.
"3. Everything which eclipses the beauties or exposes the defects of nature proceeds from want of taste.
"4. Everything that constrains nature or hinders the freedom of action proceeds from a depraved taste.
"5. Everything which loads nature with superfluous ornaments proceeds from an affectation of taste.
"6. And everything which is out of character is certainly out of taste; and though the fashion can never influence taste, yet taste should always influence the fashion."
If in regard to these canons we consider the observations quoted on pp. 263, 264 anent the fashions of the present day, the conclusion is obvious.
Rules 1 and 4 have a particular bearing on health, and the results of breaking them are at once apparent after reading what has been said in this volume on the subject of tight-lacing (Chapter X.), and of the ill-usage which our feet receive (Chapter XIV.); but to take another example, let us see what results from the method of dressing the hair, in which "nature is altered" by the hair being forced in an upward direction, instead of being allowed to follow its natural tendency downwards.
