long flaps, colored stockings drawn up over the knee, lace ruffles, large shoe buckles, wigs with rows of stiff curls, three-cornered hats bound with gold-lace, and swords.
10. Towards the close of the eighteenth century this formal inconvenient style of dress was altered gradually; swords were left off; the hair which, in the early part of the reign of George the Third, was frizzed out, pomatumed and powdered, was dressed in a more natural manner; round hats came into fashion, and people began to look something like what they do now.
11. The reign of George the Second, which lasted thirty-three years, was on the whole rather a prosperous one, the greater part of it being spent in peace. There was no war for about twelve years, and during that time improvements were going on all over the country.
12. Most of the great towns were made larger, and new manufactories built, for the trade of England was increasing every year, and great quantities of manufactured goods were sent out to foreign countries; besides which, new roads were opened, waste lands cultivated, canals formed, and new harbors made for shipping, so that there was plenty of employment for the laboring people.
13. We had a good navy at this time, and the
