He would feel some symptoms of alarm. He would
begin to think that the truth of the Quaker-arguments was unfolding
itself, and that what appeared to him to have been an innocent
amusement, at the first, might possibly be capable of being carried out
of the bounds of innocence by such and similar accompaniments. He could
not conceive, if he had any accurate knowledge of the human heart, that
such an extraordinary attention to dress and the decoration of the
person, or such a critical examination of these with a view of
procuring admiration, could produce any other fruits than conceit and
affectation, or vanity and pride. Nor could he conceive that all these
preparations, all this previous talk, all this previous consultation,
about the fashions, added to the employment itself of the decoration of
the person, could tend to any thing else than to degrade the mind, and
to render it light and frivolous. He would be obliged to acknowledge
also, that minds, accustomed to take so deep an interest in the fashions
and vanities of the world, would not only loath, but be disqualified for
serious reflection. But if he were to acknowledge, that these
preparations and accompaniments had on any one occasion a natural
tendency to produce these effects, he could not but consider these
preparations, if made once a month, as likely to become in time
systematic nurseries for frivolous and affected characters.
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