THE WEEKLY REHEARSAL.

Its

THIS was the fifth newspaper established in Boston. The first number of it was published on Monday, September 27, 1731, " by J. Draper, for the author." * author was JEREMY [or Jeremiah] GRIDLEY, a young man of fine literary acquirements. "For the first six weeks, mottoes in Latin, from the classics, were inserted after the title," and every succeeding paper had a new motto. "For the first six months, with very few exceptions, a moral or entertaining essay was weekly published, which usually filled more than half the paper."† These were mostly original, and were supposed to be the productions of Gridley alone. The following modest introductory article fills the entire first page of the first paper:

There is nothing of greater disservice to any writer, than to appear in public under too forward and sanguine an expectation: For either he must elevate himself to the fondness of his reader's fancy, or both of them are respectively dissatisfied, — the reader by a disappointment, and the writer by a cold reception. To prevent therefore any incon

* In most of the newspapers printed in the early part of the last century, the word "author" was used to designate the editor or publisher. All communications are addressed "To the author of the Courant,". To the author of the Rehearsal," &c.

Thomas's History of Printing.

venience of this nature, I shall here enter into the design of the present undertaking, and delineate the idea I would have every reader conceive of it.

manners.

As to the reasons that have engaged me in it, several I find have been assigned, all which I leave in the same uncertainty and suspense, since there is no necessity of declaring upon motives, where the production is to be useful or entertaining. And to be so as far as possible is the professed intention of this paper; an intention that takes in a wide extent and variety of subjects. For what is there either in Art, or Nature, or History, not to be accommodated in this view? The minutest things, when set in a due light, and represented in apt words, will divert, and the greatest are entertaining of themselves. The nature of this design then is confined to no particular argument, and in fact will be circumscribed by nothing but discretion, duty, and good These are the fences and boundaries I would think myself obliged never to transgress; for however uneasy a dissolute and licentious pen might be under these limitations, yet without them there is certainly no real pleasure in any action of life, and with them there is room for the widest range of thought, and the freest excursions of fancy. Room enough, every one will be ready to admit, but where shall we find the powers to traverse and cultivate it? Where the man equal to it? This is a hard, unnecessary question. I need not go very far to say where he is not, neither is there any need of proceeding farther to show where he is. For without any pretensions to genius, or universal capacity, an indifferent hand may be allowed, once in seven days, to publish a Rehearsal, and perhaps to entertain. A Rehearsal, what can we suppose it, but in the general course to be derivative? and what an infinity of sources have we to derive from? The ancient are yet living, and many of these later ages will forever live with them. They are too pure to displease, too numerous to fail us. And is it impossible for an industrious hand to give them a different course? May he not be useful to the public, by directing them where they will be valued, and where otherwise perhaps they would not have been enjoyed? This is all the vanity that can be imputed to the publisher of a Rehearsal; for as the paper takes its name, the readers should form their opinion from the general design. I am well aware of the exceeding and almost insuperable difficulty of being an original in this knowing and polite age; for besides the fertile comprehensive genius that Nature must bestow, how many other qualities are requisite to form a good and just writer? Easiness of mind and a competent fortune are indispensably necessary; for how can wit and humor be employed by a man in want? How can the arrangement of ideas be attended to by

him whose affairs are in confusion? Travel and the most refined conversation are to be added to these accomplishments: And beyond these, it were easy to select many others, that enter the character of an original author, and discountenance those who want them from any pretences to it. I would therefore decline this path, and presume no farther than Mr. Locke has suggested every man may, without any the least imputation of vanity. "Since no one (says that great author) sees all, and we generally have different prospects of the same things, according to our different positions to it,—it is not incongruous to think, nor beneath any man to try, whether another may not have notions of things, which have escaped him, and which his reason would make use of, if they come into his mind." These views and attributes we apprehend things in, are infinitely diversified by the particular circumstances of persons. And there is, I am persuaded, scarce any man of the least observation and remark, who has not been entertained with appropriate cast of thought, and turn of humor, even where he least expected it. Should I ever, therefore, even venture beyond the limits of a Rehearsal, this would be my plea and vindication: and should I fail in the attempt, what a great pleasure and obligation would it be, for some of my better readers to imitate the example of the Oxford scholar, who, although he had acquired an excellent hand at music, yet afterwards, falling into melancholy, grew averse to it, and would not be prevailed upon by his friends to touch it. They had but one way to excite him, and that, for some unskillful hand to take his violin and scrape upon it. He would then immediately snatch it from him, and in a kind of resentment, give it the utmost elegance of sound and harmony.

What has been hitherto said, considers this paper only in the essay kind and a speculative view; which is but one half the design. For it is intended to be a narrative of whatever shall occur in Commerce in the Civil or Learned World, as far as it deserves our attention, and comes within notice. It will be the endeavor of the publisher to procure the best intelligence, and to digest it in the most suitable method. He would aim to give this sheet all the variety and aspects it is capable of receiving; for, upon looking over a list of the subscribers, he finds names of every quality, and presumes there are tastes of every degree to be pleased. He owns himself under indelible obligations to the gentlemen that have advanced and favored the design, and would not question their continuance, till it deserves their disesteem, and becomes an opiate, by having too great an infusion of the poppy.

Some of the essays in the succeeding numbers of the Rehearsal are written with ease and sprightliness, and

are good specimens of the kind of writing that was made popular by the influence of the Tattler, Guardian, and Spectator. It is not, however, always easy to distinguish the original pieces from those that are selected. Many of them bear so near a resemblance in style and structure to those of Stecle and Addison, as to lead the reader, at first view, to think he has seen them before. Here is a part of a paper on the prevailing fashions, which seemed familiar to the ear when first read, but I am not able to decide upon its originality :

wear.

The love of novelty is the parent of Fashion, and as the fancy sickens with one image, it longs for another. This is the cause of the continued revolutions of habit and behavior, and why we are so industrious in pursuing the change. This makes Fashion so universally followed, and is the true reason why the awkwardest people are as fond of this folly as the genteelest, who give a grace to every thing they "Tis plain that every novelty is not beauty, and that it requires great elegance of taste and truth of judgement to determine the modes of dress; that every one should consult the particular turn of their own manner in their choice, and be well convinced of its propriety before they ventured to set the world an example. But, as this is very seldom found, I shall content myself with recommending it only, and make the present entertainment a mere register of the fashions that are, by turns, in vogue, with a hint or two at the characters of the inventers.

I shall not busy myself with the ladies' shoes and stockings at all; but I can't so easily pass over the Hoop, when 'tis in my way, and therefore I must beg pardon of my fair readers, if I begin my attack here. 'Tis now some years since this remarkable fashion made a figure in the world, and from its first beginning divided the public opinion as to its convenience and beauty. For my part, I was always willing to indulge it, under some restrictions: that is to say, if 'tis not a rival to the dome of St. Paul's, to incumber the way, or a tub for the residence of a new Diogenes: if it does not eclipse too much beauty above, or discover too much below. In short, I am for living in peace, and I am afraid a fine lady, with too much liberty in this particular, would render my own imagination an enemy to my repose.

The Farthingale, according to several paintings, and even history

itself, is as old as Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory, though 'tis impossible it had its original in the same manner with the Hoop and was worn as universally; but the prudes of our days revived it in stark opposition to that fashion, and boasted that while they were in that circle they were secure from temptation; nay some of them have presumed to say it gave them all the chastity of that heroic Princess, who died as she had lived, a Virgin, after so many years of trial.

The Stay is a part of modern dress that I have an invincible aversion to, as giving a stiffness to the whole frame, which is void of all grace, and an enemy to beauty; but as I would not offend the ladies by absolutely condemning what they are fond of, I'll recall my censure, and only observe that this female armor is changing mode continually, and favors or distresses the enemy according to the humor of the wearer; sometimes the Stomacher almost rises to the chin, and a Modesty-Bit serves the purpose of a ruff; at other times 'tis so complaisant as not to reach half way, and the Modesty is but a transparent show to the beauties underneath; the first may give passion too great a license, and the last may be an injury to nature; for which reason I recommend a medium. Coquettes are the encouragers of one and Prudes of the other.

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I have no objections to make to the Tippet; it may be made an elegant and beautiful ornament. In winter the sable is wonderfully graceful and a fine help to the complexion; in summer the colors and compositions are to be adapted with judgement, neither dull without fancy, nor gaudy without beauty. I have seen too many of the last, but, as I believe them to be the first trial of a child's genius in such performances, I only give this hint for their amendment.

As the Breast Knot allows a good deal of ingenuity in the delicate choice of colors and disposition of figure, I think it may be indulged, but very sparingly, and rather with a negligence than the least affectation. It seems there is a fashion even in the colors of ribands, and I have observed a beautiful purple to be lately the general mode; but 'tis not the beauty of the color that recommends it so much as the symbol it is said to bear.

I come now to the Head-Dress, the very highest point of female elegance; and here I find such a variety of modes, such a medley of decoration, that 'tis hard to know where to fix; lace and cambrick, gauze and fringe, feathers and ribands, create such a confusion, occasion such frequent changes, that it defies art, judgement, or taste, to recommend them to any standard, or reduce them to any order. That ornament of the hair, which is styled the Horns, and has been in vogue