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Extract from 'The East Anglian Observer' 7th August 1816

Seen and heard in Kings Lynn.

This busy town with its impressive sea-trade and beautiful waterfront properties attracts a number of visitors in the summer, some recognisable at once, on account of their fame, or notoriety! Making notes for my fashion column, last Saturday, I recognised Miss Meg Merrilies in her moorland garb, wearing a huge wrap-around shawl, covering her bony extremities. She had on a chip-hat, which almost left her head at times, in the bracing breeze.

Next, I beheld Miss Jacqueline Daw, mysterious in her chip-hat, covered in black silk. It never wavered in the wind! She appears to be a lady in compleat control of herself. I have heard whispers about the nature of her profession, which are both alarming and intriguing, and I am certain that 'Jacqueline Daw' is not her real name! Every time I have encountered her, she has been wearing long cotton mittens, which accentuate her height, and do nothing to soften her sharp features, with their complement of facial fluff . Her simple beige Norwich gown would seem adequate for the clement weather, but her shoulders were covered by a guileless camblet wrap. Silent and confidant, she strode ahead of Sir Archy Frobisher and his cronies, who seemed to look upon her as a figure of fun.

Juliana Waterman

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22

She appears
          Fully Clothed,
          a stale feline Whiff,
          the mffld voices of
          Sufferers In Her Skirts.
          She never Un-Dresses
          (this is the First Sign).

To be a lady
          of the External Type
          is to Exist only
          in the Gaps between Hat Dress Gloves
          which Items suggest
          a blur of organs (unnecessary
          to her Purpose).
          Such lady also has Omnipotent
          sight but no Gaze
          and a Cold Impersonal Touch to Tx pain.
          Does chaos Whir in the engine-of-her-Hat?

In compleat control
          woman and Machine
          sinew to Sinew
          start the current
          I-I-I-I-I
          snatch the first Thought that Leaps Up.

Of herself
          Not Inward,
          nor Possessive – Nothing to Possess
          (the 2nd sign).
          Unmoved
          by the
          Cease
                    less
          Sense
          prodding of the Others,
          ratcheted in a Dress
          with skills that Astonish
          yet Somehow seem familiar---

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