2 MAY 1931, Page 19

A Hundred Years Ago

THE "SPECTATOR," APRIL, 30TH, 1831.

TIGHT LACING.

A young woman named Harris, residing at Stepney, died of apoplexy on Sunday evening. A surgeon named Pattre stated to the jury, which sat on the body on Tuesday, that her death was entirely owing to her stays being too tight-laced. It appears that Miss Harris had eaten an enormous meal of roast beef and spinach, and drank some ale ; that she was standing, about eight o'clock in the evening, admiring the brightness of the moon from the front door of her mother's house, when she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh mamma I " and fell backward lifeless. We would rather give the beef and ale the credit of the cause of this melancholy catastrophe, than the stays.