Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-07-29
From die Richmond Compiler.
CARICATURES.

From he Richmond Compiler.
cARIcATUREs.
"TIo shoot the foli,es, living as they rise "
The satirist lashes the folies OF men,
Juvenal chastises their vices with scor-
pions but for minor peccudiiloes OF IA
shlonable folly, satire has in her armory
some lighter and more playful weapons.
Ofa.l these fashionable follies, ex:esses
in dress are the most common, as well rs
ridiculous. Every giddy girl, whose head
turns upon ribbands and laces every idle
youth who has no taste for rational amuse-
ment, becomes votary OF dress. No mat
ter how ridiculous The fashion may be, it
is followed. No matter how inconvenient
in restraining the easy play OF the muscles;
nay, however calculated to injure the or
gans of life, the reigning fashion finds per-
sons enough to initiate it. The real uses
OF clothing are forgotten. 1t is not to serve
the purposes of the ig-leaf Of Eve nor to
cover our bodies from the weather, that we
wear our clothes. Ii is mol to set off in the
most becoming manner the happy forms
which nature has given to some of US; but
it is to distort our shapes, and reduce us to
he appearance of monkies, that many Of
our dresses are admirably calculated. The
more variable the fashion, the better tor
Ii csc who have nothing else to employ
them. The more eccentric, even to the
extent of being ridiculous, the more agree
able TO those who have no other way to
distinguish themselves than by the cut OF
thercoat or of their panlaloons.
The reigning buck of the present day is
a Dandy.-We are not sufficiently &C.
quainted with this species, by our own OBJ
servation. No perfect specimens have ap-
peared among US ; though now and then
we have seen some strange bucks, who
have approached in few particulars the
character of the monster. Their panta-
looms are not so full, nor their waists so
narrow, as to entitle them to the name of
full grown Dandy. They seem to be in
The fashionable world, what some poiltl-
Clans are said u be, neither, fish, flesh, nor
fcul. London is the true region OF the
species. individuals are sometimes met
with in New York and Philadelphia; in
Richmond, never in perfection.
What we know of Dandy, is mostly
by description. He may be defined to be
fashionable sort of monkey, whose waist
s drawn into the span Of hand by the aid
o. corsets; and whose pantaloons are made
of two sack bags sewed together al the
hip. Put on his head hat OF the shape OF
truncated sugar loaf turned bottom up
wards, give him pair OF false hips and
pair of false calves, and the monster Is
complete. Certainly nc sight is more rol-
culous than this and yet men are found
ridiculous enough 10 degrade themselves IN
tbs manner. The fashion, however, cam
not last. A new change OF dress would
Danish the whole species. But satire is not
wanting to accelerate their extInctIon.-l
They have been lashed in paragraphs,
lampooned in verse, ridiculed on the stage,
and caricatured in print shops. a few ca
ricatures of this description have been
handed to US, and though they have not
much merit, yet brief description OF them
may serve to occupy leisure moment Of
these hard times.
No. 1.-THE .Afr,ghted Far'ners.-A
male and female dandy (or the females too
have embraced the wasp waist and the IN
verted bonneO are represented arm in
arm, in The streets, passing in review be-
tore two countrymen. You may know the
Hero by his conical hat the hair shooting
beneath it 10 shocks, the dapper waist, the
coat tapering almost TO point behind, the
fall-aowing ribbed nose pantaloons and
high heeled shoes. His companion has al
SO waist which you may almost grasp with
your hand and her bonnet resembles
fat gourd standing on the top of the head.
At this strange spe ctacIe, one OF the farmers