19 MAY 1900, Page 16

MRS. DELAY.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR-1

Sur,—In your interesting notice of Mrs. Delany in the Spectator of April 28th you quote her words written in 1776, Nightgowns are worn without hoops," with the query, "Is it reasonable to infer that once people went to bed in crinolines?" In the first half of the eighteenth century, and probably later, " nightgown " was the term used for "evening dress." I have found it so in "The Letters of Lady Jane Coke."—I am, Sir, (Mrs.) M. FiTzSrmoN. St. Michael's Lodge, Devonport.