"THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER'S SUMPTUARY LAW.
LTO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—The Bishop of 'Rochester has a weightier authority than Hans Andersen's tales for his attack on the satin shoes of confirmation-candidates. In Mr. Stephen's life of St. Chrysostom, we are told that, "The particular make of shoes worn by the fashionable young ladies and gentlemen of the day seems to have excited his special indignation." "To put silk threads into your boots, how disgraceful, how ridiculous ! Ships are built, sailors hired, pilots appointed, the sails are spread, the sea -crossed, wife, children, and home left behind, the country of the barbarian entered, and the life of the merchant exposed to a thousand perils, in order that, after it all, you may trick-out the leather of your boots with these silken threads. What form of madness can be worse P He who ought to bend his thoughts Heavenwards, casts them down upon his shoes instead. His -chief care, as he walks delicately through the Forum, is to avoid soiling his boots with mire or dust. Will you let your soul grovel in the mire while you are taking care of your boots P You -laugh wh'en I say these words, but I rather weep for your folly.'
—I am, Sir, &c., A. CARR.
[If the Bishop had only followed St. Chrysostom's example in deprecating the vanities of dress, who would have assailed -him P Did St. Chrysostom threaten to refuse confirmation to those who dressed in a manner he disapproved P—En. Spectator.]
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