observes it is, in fact, next to impossible he should infringe it, unless nature should have enlarged his sphere of vision by subtending the angle laterally. As to their hair, they who suppose the present fashion derived its origin from the mane of a Shetland poney, labour under an error. It is of much higher antiquity; and was so prevalent in the time of David, that we read of Absalom's having two hundred shekels of hair cut off at one time, and he was admitted to be one of the most finished gentlemen of his day. "According to Plutarch, Alcibiades was a fine specimen of dress-a sort of leader of the haut ton in Athens-an exquisite ! Like the dandies of our own day, he affected foreign manners; and had, in short, transplanted into his carriage all the folly of his age, native and exotic. We find that the Persian spy who was sent to reconnoitre the Spartans, reported them to be adornizing their persons and combing their hair do not, however, suspect me of supposing, for one moment, that Thermopyla was defended by DANDIES! "This species seems to have flourished and declined as the opinion of some leading character was favourable or otherwise to the elementary accomplishments that distinguish it. Plato was favourable to the system, and in his commonwealth recommends the establishment of dancing schools, the very hot-beds of the dandy, an art as necessary to his existence as is the sunbeam to that of the cucumber. Cicero, on the contrary, ridicules the practice, and de 6 clares that nemo saltat sobrius! Who shall decide when doctors disagree? That this fashion annoyed Horace, we may infer from his censure of it. Juvenal ridicules them continually; Ovid absolutely introduces a dandy shewing off. Chlamydemque ut pendeat apte, Collocat ut limbus totum appareat aurum. "To come nearer our own day, we find, in Richard the Second's time, the toes of the dandies were so elevated, that the interference of the legislature was found necessary to prevent their kicking each others eyes out. Some care of the person is, however, absolutely praiseworthy; and as taste claims exclusively the direction of this feeling, we need not wonder that there is some degree of uncertainty, among the votaries of so fickle a divinity. "The Greeks, not those of the present day, derived the fashion from Egypt, the Romans from Greece, and the importation of this fastidious commodity has in later ages been reciprocal: this traffic, it is true, is principally confined to minds of an inferior class, at least, I never remember to have known a man of acknowledged abilities, who suffered himself to be cast, at will, into any mould his taylor might think proper, and changed from one to another, as rapidly as the signal boards of a telegraph. The despotism of fashion is principally exercised over those who have little chance of being otherwise distinguished. "All that is left to a mind naturally imbe cile, is to become obtrusively ridiculous. By this means only, it can enjoy the pleasure of notoriety; and as far as their different capacities are calculated for enjoyment, the pleasure is the same in the monarch who is applauded for his prowess, and the fool that he keeps for his amusement. Applause is the object of a dandy; it is to be sought in dress, and thence arises the importance of studying his appearance. For this, he voluntarily submits to have his form distorted by artificial pressure. Latitude and longitude are to him of more consequence when applied to his coat, than to the orb upon which he exists. His belt, like that of a planet, is a very principal distinction, from the unfashionable canaille with which he is surrounded. It was in agitation at Oxford, I hear, to issue a coinage with the impress of a dandy on one side, and, on the reverse, the hunting-belt and a pair of stays, with an inscription, O Corydon, Corydon, quæ te dementia cepit ! The scheme, however, failed, on account of the die-sinker's having completely obscured the countenance by the shirt-collar. The idea originated with the present Lord 's chaplain, a very profound fellow, I assure you; for, his acquirements are buried, like the husbandman's gold, so cunningly, he could not find it himself; whose cap and gown go so far to make a gentleman, as a pair of wings would to make an angel :-a clerical cormorant, who gets a degree stuck in the front of his name, like the man in the moon, for being at work on a Sunday! "That mature dandy Doctor is dead, and some mischievous fellow has published a character of him, from which I give you an extract: To see him crossing the collegegreen always gave me the idea of a Dutch lugger dismasted. He was,' continues his biographer, a sort of word hunting genius, who, like the fellow that Boethius tells us of, winnowed the wheat with his fingers, and had the chaff given him for his pains. In short, Doctor had as much power over the alphabet as the Spanish magician had over the infernal spirits, when he marshalled them in alphabetical order, and then dismissed them, having bottled up their ring-leader.' "The very antipodes of the dandy tribethe cool assassin, Colonel has, I have great satisfaction in announcing, departed from this island, to seek a grander theatre for the display of his magnificent exploits. Charles the XIIth was not more hardened than this rascal; the drawing of a cork, or the explosion of a mine, were the same to him; the fall of a mighty monarch from his throne, or that of a mandarin from the chimney-piece, affected him equally. I believe he would have shrunk no more from the convulsion of an earthquake than from the trembling of a shape of blanc-mange on the supper-table. Murder was familiar to him: it is sufficient for a stylish fellow to have killed his man; I believe this ruffian had signed the passports of a dozen! He would have thrust his sword through the heart of a man with as little compunction as an author dashes his pen through a superfluous participle! "Congratulate me, my lord: I have begun to study man. The task is less arduous, and more amusing, than I expected. "I am always "Your lordship's most obliged, To Lady Augusta Kingston. "I am sadly at fault;-do you think I started too much game? or were my hounds bad? or am I no longer so expert a shot?--My birds have flown away;-how, read : "I started the Nabob at full cry, as you advised, and was rapidly gaining on him. Nothing would do with him but Lady Jane; and poor, dear, dull. disagreeable Miss Wodehouse, (admire the alliteration,) was beginning to look exceedingly blank on the matter. You know me well enough to be aware, that envy always acts as a whet on my appetite; and the Nabob and I became better friends than ever; and poor Margaret read us every-day lectures on common-sense, decorum, punctilio, and the whole host of the bores, without ceasing. I quizzed her, and the Nabob laughed; and you know how much depends on the discovery of the means to make man laugh continually. |