AN OLD SUBSCRIBER says – “I fear you will be almost tired of the subject, but I would fain say a word or two in the tight-lacing controversy. Permit me to observe that, so far from small waists being “fashionable,” as SCHOOLMISTRESS and some others affirm, you would not find one waist in a hundred under twenty inches among the upper ten thousand. Whether they are the fashion in the middle classes I can’t say, as I know nothing of them, but the present style of dress is so totally unsuited to long, slender waists that every contrivance has to be resorted to when ladies are thin in order to make their skirts sit smoothly as well. Some of the tight-lacers cry out, when their opponents speak if the beauties of a natural figure, ‘Dress up the Venus de Medici in a modern gown, and see how clumsy she would look!’ Of course she would, and no one with any sense could expect a marble figure to look well in soft clothes. Reverse the problem; dress a woman in stone draperies, and you will at once perceive how absurd is such a comparison. If it is really wished to try the respective merits of nature and art, let a woman be found whose stature corresponds as nearly as possible with that of the Venus. Let her then be dressed by a first-rate Parisienne, or, better still, a good tailor, and then we shall know who is right. If some of your correspondents would give the dimensions of their chests as well as their waists, we should be able to form a better estimate of their figures. Round the shoulders should be just double the size of the waist. To those who wish for perfectly-fitting stays, I would observe that the best French makers always make the stays two inches smaller than the natural size, and advise their customers not to draw them together at first, as the stays give after a month’s wear.”