Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-08-28
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the N. Y. Mirror.
WILLIS'S LETTERS,
NUMBER SEVEN.

with you, hope. with me, III EhBiahu
there has been little sign Of it, except the
very elegant white hat from Beebc y Cos
ter, which with the continuance OF the
present weather, is not likely to fulfil its
destiny. 1t is too cold for white hat or
trowscrs, and half the men in the streets OF
London have worn oycrcoals through
these two weeks of july. /, for one, 90
about in double nanneIs. and keep fire
for my companion in my solitary room
not sorry to have an excuse for profltng
by its proiitableness.
And, talking Of hats, suppose | cater
for our drcssy friends, by sending you
letter on the present mcar0bles OF the
thorough bred men of LondonI They
will regret to know, for one thing, that,
whitc crauats, at dinner and evening par
ties are as indispensable as they we're ff-
teen years ago,-quite as few people, as
then, looking tolerably in them, or know
ing how to tic them. dncd out in one,
yesterday, and, Gin forgot it in the con-
versaton of a newly celebrated authoress
who sat on my left, } felt as if | had cX-
changed cravats with one Of the foutmen.
For man who wears the whole of his
beard, they are becoming, and therefore
look well on foreigners in London, but the
English still persist in clean mouths and
chins, and wear high shr-colIars, which
with the white cravats, arc eXecrable.
Hats are no longer carried into the
drawing-room at parties, but delivered to
servant below stairs, who tickets them,
aud gives the owners numbers by which
they are to be called for. IIat-making
is curiously deteriorated in Eng Land -
The best dressed men wear abomInably
Unlocking ones, both as to shape and
quality. am chcrishng my black Bee
be s. Costar very carefully, but what
with being caught every day in the rain,
and knocked about in hacks and omni.
buses, shall soon want another, and |
commission you 10 send me, from abo-
riginaI America, a hat to wear in highly
civilized London! And | should certain
ly send home for American clothes, were
my wardrobe deficient You would hard
ly get clerk in Pearl street to wear the
scant, wasted, tight-sIeeved coat
worn by the mounted dandy in Hyde
Park, Jennings should set up a branch
Of his Broadway shop in London, and send
out that one Of his many cutters who
makes your coat as large as yoH rant it
merice never done, | believe, until the
advent of Carpenter, IN Philadelphia.
If Englshman were not by so much the
finest figures of men in the world they
would certainly pass for the most i'll
dressed, 1t is strange how they stick to
their defective fashions. Twelve years
ago marveled at the scant coats, scant
waiscoats and tight-loggcd trousers of
Englishmcn, and they are worn just so,
now. Happily this conversation is a
type Of their character, and they are just
as true to their friendships. | doubt
whether there is another country in the
world where the stranger goes back, at
ter years Of absence, and finds his vel
come SO completely unaltered please
not to smile at my premises and deduc-
tionS.)
fancy that the eXravagonces of canes
and fanny cravats of expensive satln
which prevailed in America the last year
or two, were borrowed by US from the
French, and never" obtGined in England
AT least | see no sign of them now. A
gentleman, to be sure, has always gnced
of an umbrella, in this climate, and few
people are to be seen without one, any
day in the year; but, if he carries a stick
it is short, common twig of white wood,
that costs shilling, and no such thing as
a cane is now seen in an evening party.
doubt also whether our late fashion of
long hair is not copied from the French,
or exclusively American. You can hard |
ly see a young man in Broadway whose
head Is not skirted by a single hem, a.
round the neck, made by the curling tongs
of the hair-dresscr, but this eifeminacy
would be looked on as rather "tigerish"
in London Short hair, with very short
whisker, both very much brushed, is still
the fashion here as it was years ago,
though see impcrials (Which your coun-
try readers may require explaining as a
mH on lie wdr lip becoming prevalent
among the most dashng ofthe street dan
dies.
| breakfatod, or rather Iunched, this
morning, at very celebrated table, with
some very charming and celebrated peo-
pie. One of the guests was Morcr the
author Of "IIalji Baba," a writer who
delights me exceedingly in a book, and
whose lips and manners are as graphic as
his pen. He is stout bald man, hale
and rudy, perfectly at his case IN all soci-
ETY. and ready to supply the topic, or listen
as the occasion calls for eithcr. This is a
kind of man, by the way, much priced in
London-whoIIy unrecosnized (as TO val
ue) in America, ! have often picked out
one of the kind in New York and smiled
inwardy to see how his gold passed for
copper-but it is of no use to hurry civil
ization. Our society, to use a homeIy
figure, is pudding as well mixed as that
of England, only EngIand's pudding is
quite baked, ours only haT like to
taste England occasionally, till ours is
done.
had little talk with Morier on cop
wright. ! told HIM that the English nov
Dlists, spite of out Injustice To Them wer.