The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-10-10
Mfssfnanp.
SATIRE UNDISGUIsED.

ole and RIDICULOUS race Ot people called pep
pie of,f5l5ioa, has lately appeared in London,
under the title Of &C The Fashionable World
Difplsyed," hy John Owen ;dedicatedto d.
Porteus, Lord Bifhop of London. It is I'M
doubtedly true, that the Satire is more pecu-
iiarly adapted to the meridian of London
but there is a fett of people even in the u.
States, who ape the manners ofthe " faihion-
able world"
The following, the fri chapter in this little
treatiie, explains the 6tuation. boundaries,
climate, ant: feafons of this initiated world
The end. chapt. defcribes It's government.
and laws: The srd. its religion and morality
the 18th. IFS education: the 5th. its manners
aud language; the 9th. its drefs and amufc-
nients the 18th. climates the happiness of
the people and the sth. explains the defects
OF the iyttem, snd propoies plans Of reform.
Observation-Disclosures Climate and Seajony.
Though do not undertake to write geographic
cal account of the Fashionable World, vet fhoud
thihk myfef highly culpable were to pats over this
intereiliug part OF the fubec wholly in ence. NV
readers mutt be- at the fame time cautioned, not to
form their expectations of the geography of Faihion
from that of other countries. The faa is that the
whole community whic!, fuRains this appellation
estenve as it is fcarcely be treated as having a.
NY peculiar or executive locality. The individuals whs
eompoe 1t are not, it is true, abfolute wanderers,
like the tribes Of Arabia, It they regular et-
tiers, like the cons: Cts at Botany Bay: but movea-
bic ard migratory to certain degree, and to
certain degree ffationary and permanent, they
live among the inhabitants of the parent country !;
neither abiolutely mixing with them, nor ye. ac-
traly feparated from them.
This Paradoxica nate of the people renders it not
little difficult to reduce their territory within the
rules of geographical Description. They have it is
true their deres and their circles but thefe terms
.,fa y b,,x T., .r I'm.
from that which geographers have Aligned them, that
they afford no frs of aifanee to the Typographical
inquirer is ISL prefume, this account, that in
all the improvements which have been made upon
the globe, nothing has been done towards fettlinp
the MERIDIAN Of Fathion; and though the Laplanl
ders, the Hottntots, and the Efquaux. have places
aligned them, notice is taken of the people
OF Faihon than if they either did not exit, or were
hot worthy Of being mentioned.
1 he only expeiieut, therefore, 20 which writer
IAN reiort. N this dearth Of geographical materials
is thai of Designating the territory of Fahion by the
ordinary names of thole places through which it paif.
es. And thiss, in faa, hritiy conformable to that
uiage which prevails in the language and commune
cation OF the people themfelves; for London, Tun-
bridge, Bath, Weymouth, &c. are, in their mouths,
names for little ellie than the lands and fociees of Fa
ion which they respectively contain.
? Now, the portion of each place to which Fafhion
lays claim, is neither definite as to its dmsnlons,
nor liked as TO its locality In London fmall pro-
portion of the whole Fashionable; in Bath the pro-
portion is greater: and in fome watering of
the latet creation, Fafhion puts in her demand for
nearly the whole. The locality Of its domains is al
10 contingent aud nutabie. Various circunina nces
concur in determining when portion of ground ial
become Fashionable, and when it mall ceafe to be
fueh The only rule Of any iteadinefs with which
am acquainted, and which chiefly relates to the me-
topohs. is that which prefcibes zvefera latitude
fool nde oE
ton) events OF very little monen. decide ali the
reh IT. for example, Duehefs, or the wife of iome
burgeois-gentilhomnie, who has purohafed the pri-
vlegrs of the order. houd open fuite of rooms for
elegant iociety many quarter, the foil is conf.
dered to receive fort of confederation by fuch cir
eumitauee; and indefinite portion of the vicinity
is added 10 the TERRITORY of Fahion IT, on the other
hand, a ihop be opened, ign hung out, or an,
fynpton OF builneis be iiewn, in quarter that has
hitherto been trager TO every found but the rat
ling OF carriages, the thunder of Knockers and the
vociferatinn of cnachnen and fsrvart= :, ten =,
one but the privileges of Faifsn are withdrawn ro,,
that place; and the whole range of buildings is ora.
duay given up to thoie who either needy snous
10 keep ihops, or vulgar enough to endure them
Now, 1t happens as conequence from this adoption
oi new Toll and ACKNOWLEDGMENT of old, that the ter
rtory OF Fihion is extremely irregular and interrupt
ed. traveller, dete rmiiied to purfuc it's winding,
would foon be involved in moR nlyferiou. laby-
Jyntn; ms track WOuld ne cTDiieG by portions Of
country which throw him repeatedly out of his beat
iniomuch that his Progrefs woeId refemble that OF
pa,uraif, who, in tracing the courfe If mineral
through the bowels of the earth encounters variou,
breaks and inerGe6aions and often finds the corr,f
ponding part, Of the fame Qratum unaccountsbl, fc
parated from each other.
IL would only be fatigping the reader to fay more
upon the typographical part of my fubje. 1t is oh.
vious from " hat has been sted that the regions of
Taihion, coniidered whole are rather numerous
thar compact and indeei flch difference of opinion
fubits among the people thtr!elyes upon the terri
tories which entitled that name that 10 CORE
Judgment can he pronounced upon q quefi:on Of 70
much controversy. Thus much, however, INV be
affirmed, that there IS earcely market town in the
Kingdom in which fo.ne portion of land is not inveG-
ed with Fashionable privileges and defgnated by
fuch terms as mark the with Of the inhabitants to have
it confdered as forming part and parcel of the demef
of Falhion
The climate Of Faillion is almoR entirely faaitious
and artificial and confsquently differs in many mate
rial retpeas from the natural temperature OF tho(e
REFLECTIVE places which its ursd tion extends
Though changes from heat to cold, and vice yerCa.
are very common among thefe people, yet heat NAV
be fad to be the prevailing character Of the climate
They appear to me to have but two feafons in the
year thele they cali, in conformity to common Ian
Euage rather than to jue calculations Winter and
Summer. OF hummer little is known for it leens
IN be rule among this people to difband and diff
Pete a. the approach Of it, and rly or re-unite
till the winter has fairly commenced. Though there
fore they exin lomshoyy or fon,e,Uh here dur;no ,b