Dorothea Herbert

Teenage girls and the craze for beauty haven't changed much in 200 years if this extract from the earlier, happier days is anything to go by: "Every Night we were wrapd up like Pomatum Sticks in greasy brown Paper, and I'm sure if any Stranger had seen us at Night they would have taken She, Fanny and I for three Egyptian Mummies ready Embalmd -- Our Hands, Faces and Chests were compleatly cover'd with Tallow and Brown Paper, made into various sorts of Ointments -- Our Arms were Suspended in the Air by strong Ropes fastend to the Tester of the Bed -- Our feet tied to the Valance to stretch our Legs and Make us grow tall, or to prevent our kicking and plunging in the Night by which we might have rubbd off the Precious Ointments that coverd us --- to divert our Agonies, which never let us sleep till near Morning, we got into a Way of telling Stories in Bed, And the laughter they excited, was the only thing that saved us from sinking under Excruciating Torments as real Martyrs to Beauty!"… (mehr)