THE PETITION OF THE LADIES at COURT, Intended to be Presented to The HOUSE of LORDS: AGAINST The Pride and Luxury of the City Dames, &c.  
Sheweth,  
THat the Ladies at Court, and generally all those who have the Honour to appear at Court( truly sensible of the unmannerly and too saucy Imitations( nay Outvyings) of the City Dames) do humbly supplicate your Lordships, to repair those Breaches in the Ancient and commendable Fences wherein their Glories were formerly Circumscribed.  
For although in all preceding times it hath been the accustomend practise throughout the whole World, that the Courts of sovereign Princes are the places wherein their Magnificence ought to shine, and from the splendour and Obscurity of the Court, Foreign Princes or their ambassadors, measure the Force or Weakness of Kingdoms: And that 'tis certain, that the most necessary Pomp of the Court consists in the Ornament and Gracefulness of the Ladies, which do compose and make up the most Essential Beauty and Gallantry thereof.  
Nevertheless it is so come to pass( may it please your Lordships) to the general prejudice of the whole Kingdom, and of the said Ladies, that such things wherewith they ought to adorn themselves, and which alone, and they only, and of Right ought to wear, are so enhanced by the bold Usurpations and insolent practices of the City Dames, that 'tis become Impossible for the aforesaid Ladies( considering the vast expenses that their Husbands, Themselves, Children and Servants are obliged unto in the Services of their Majesties, and for the Renown of the Kingdom) to appear( with that Magnificence as they ought) on the more Solemn and Festival Dayes( when the Honour and Grandeur of their Majesties should be most apparent) in Habits equal to the City Dames, when they are, or account themselves but meanly clad.  
And by these prejudicial and confident Designs, the City Dames, by a kind of Reputation they get( by making use of the Reputation of the Courtiers) are introduced and admitted at Balls and plays, so shiningly and magnificently Habited, and with such studied and affencted Dresses( the better to counterfeit Ladies of Honour and Quality) that they seem to bid defiance to all the Court, and almost to compare even with the Queen her self.  
And since the Divertisements at Balls and plays, permit not a partiticular Examination of the Conditions of All Persons who at such Times and Places do appear, yet the next day we are  told, That such a one who attracted the eyes of the whole Court( by a gallant and well composed Dress, and perhaps striven for the place too, which only glanced or little observed then the Dutchesses and other truly Honourable Ladies) was a Merchants, or perhaps a brokers Wife, or Daughter: By which means much occasion of Laughter is given at Court, and a just Envy to the said Court Ladies, to find themselves so much excelled by these affencted Puppets, in such curious-and Exceeding Rich Attires; in whose esteem Gold and Silver are so low, that they, forsooth, vainly adorn their Nurses or their Servants with them, and impudently prattle, if the Silks or Stuffs they wear, are not of a very rare Lustre, or exceeding Dear, that such are fit, or will serve well enough for the Court Ladies, and not good enough for themselves: But if any Manufactures extraordinary Glorious happen to be brought into the Realm, they must and will first have them( cost what they will) and do raise the prizes of such Manufactures so excessively, that the said Court Ladies ▪ are not( but with some prejudice) able to attain.  
The aforesaid Citts do the same in all the Ornaments of the Sex, and are arrived to such an Excess of Ambition,( the more to seem like Ladies of Quality) that of late they confidently keep their Footmen in coloured Liveries: Whereas their Predecessors were honestly contented to keep a short-hair'd Apprentice or two, to wipe their shoes and make'em shine( which was the chief part of their former Gallantry) and to stalk before their Mistresses, with their Books under Arm, in a tame Look and modest svit to Church: But now, forsooth, you shall have them say on all, and on the least occasions, Where's my Foot-man? or, I'll sand my Foot-man with the Things; and Madam such a one's Foot-man; and talk loudly in these Fashions, that they may be the more Regarded: 'Tis said, that between Aldgate and temple-bar, there are near two thousand of such Livery'd Foot-men, which does much derogate from the Honour of the Court, and from that care which your Lordships ought to have of the ladies thereof.  
So that, may it please your Lordships to consider the Premises, and since some of you have, or may have the knowledge of the expenses wherein the Honour and Condition of the Court Ladies are necessary engaged, together with the Ill consequences of the Irregular Ambition of the said Citts, to the great Damage of the King and Kingdom, in the abatements of the splendour of the Court:  
And further to consider, how many bankrupts( not to say Cuckolds) are hereby made, and by the excessive Gallantry of their Wives, who keep the Purse, as also the vast Profusion of Money in paying so Dearly for our Ornaments, and the Insupportable confusion of Conditions, which in this Irregularity cannot be discerned.  
May it therefore please your Lordships to Order and Enact such Laws, as may timely and needfully suppress all such their intolerable and Insolent Practices for the time to come; and by so Doing,  
You shall Particularly, Nobly, and Generously Oblige, Most Honourable Lords, Your Humble Servants, The ladies at Court, &c.   

Sold by R. J. 1681.