The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-02-02

L
ners In New York.
Fashionable society IN New York 10 very IN
erestIng study and so is picked onions. We
nave had The pleasure of observing the bedw monde |
Of New York, for many years, and under various |
ohases 1t has not escaped the calamites Of tickle
fortune and a changeiul age. We have sympa-
hzed with our leaders Of ton in many trying
hour. Over the cotemporaneous fall of pork and
palaces, we have often dropped a tear and heavy
disasters to molasses and manageable daughters,
have frequently wrung from our tender breast the
plying sigh Many revolution In fashion and
SC the fancles," 1t has been our lot to witness.
Where now are the flfgamtes-the New York
Chesterfeldso seven, or eight, or ten short years
age? Where now the charming dolls that used to
flutter along Broadway, and run up such bills at
Smiths and Dimity's? Where now that delight
full world of fashion which breathed its duness on
the summer air when the census was last taken,
and the modest polka as yet warmed only the ig
noble blood OF robust damsels and sturdy village
SWANS ! Alas 'deep In the bosom" Of the bauk-
rupt act that world lies "burled"
Since the reverses Of thirty SIX, as that not yet
forgotten period styled poets and pckpockets,
fashionable society in New York has been almost
completely re-cast Industrious grocers have again
become indolent geurmands; the narrow streets
down town, where dry goods merchants "most do
congregate," have furnished fresh batch of
oracles of taste; and the fashionable fa,sbourgs
once more rejoice in an entirely new spawn of
amusing impertlnence and conceited ignorance,
with the usual allowance of snub noses, horney
digits, and abom,nable furniture, procured, like
the showman's monster, at can incredible ex-
pense." Once more, then, we bask in the full sun
shine of New York fashionable life The new
regime is in full blast. Very raw, very verdant,
and very uncomfortable, you may see them at
the Opera, making desperate efforts to look "the
thing" and, alas not doing 1t! There they give
"fancy balls y and struttlng about IN the tawdry
hired vestments which probably the night before
futtered amid the orgies ola Questionable" brothel,
they lay the flattering JUNCTION to their souls
that they eclipse all creation, and are
certain of being immortalized IN the ''Noodle
Journal" by no less reporter than the most dis
tlngulshed of the "milk-sops of our time" Mean
while, the few moblesse that yet remain to remind
us of the last generation, fearful OF contact with
the vulgar herd that has succeeded them, curl up
their noses at the whole world, distribute tracts.
and deluge their splendid prisons with the newest
patent dlsinfecting fluid. Thus do the Smithsons
of the past fade away before the Smlthsons of the
present. But let not these decaylng parvenues
dread the extinction of their dynasty. The "set''
which Smith, and Jones, and Johnson, founded
ten or twenty years ago, lmay perish amid the
wreck of sugar and the crush of stocks; but snob.
dom never dies. New Smiths and Joneses take
the places Of the defunct ard dlddled.
Even from the tomb, the voice Of snobdom cries,
Even In our ashes live their wonted fres
But a new element is soon to be infused into
New York fashionable life. We confess, that
subdued and sober is our Imagination 1t is abso-
lutely dazzled by the contemplation of the probable
effect which the gold IN California is destined to
exercise upon fashionable society and fashionable
manners in New York. Everybody is aware that
the entrfe to fashionable life IN this most fashion
able metropolis, is regulated, determined and con-
oled, by the result of the inquiry, not as to what
a man is, but as to what he has, Mr.. John Nc
Flunkey, with a clean linen jacket, and apron Of
Irreproachable purity, may be, at Sweeney's, che
raEer, sans pew ct sans reproche, but altogether
unfit for Mrs. Plgron's drawing-room in Four
teenth street. Yet Mr.. John McFlunkey, IN un.
disputed possession of his maternal uncles legacy
OF ten thousand dollars year. and attlred in a
Partisan "sack," with his Celtic whlskers tho
roughly Dyed is perfectly at liberty to shoulder
Miss Laura Clementina Angelica Pigiron to DR..
Potts fashionable church next Sunday morning.
Now, such being the admirable pecuniary basis on
which fashion reposes in New York, 1t is not diff
cult to foresee the revolution which IS approach
ing few short months will introduce amongst
us the millionaires of the Pacific coast
Already, in imagination, we behold the new
heroic race-more glorious far than they of
Thebes and Illlum-returning In more than regal
spendor from the land Of gold AS their imperiai
barges, all gllttering with the virgin metal, are
seen proudly floating past Governors Island, all
New York shouts welcome Major General Sand
ford's division is marshalled on the Battery and
amid the of artillery, and the deafenlng cheers
of ten thousand voices, chanting an ode, " COM
posed expressly for the occasion" by the warrior
bard, General George p. Morris, the civic autho-
rites receive the illustnous visters. All Broad
way is lined by delighted thousands. As the pro-
cession slowly moves along, the favorltes of Nam.
mon, In gorgeous attire, and their very faces ra-
diant with ga glossy souri," scatter handfuls of
golden coin among the thronging multltudes. Il
seems as If the streets are paved with gold, and
that the dazzling visions of the Arabian Nights
are more than realized.
"Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo such magnihoenoe
Equall'd in ell their gores, to enshrine
Belus or Scraps, their gods, or seat
Their Kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
In wealth and luxury"
But it is Of the influence of the fine gold of Cali
fornia on the world of fashion that we proposed
TO speak. Pray, what is to become of Mrs. Abra-
ham Soapsuds, whose drawing. room was crowd
ed last night with the elite of Peckslp and Cedar,
when the accomplished lady Of Mr.. John Brown,
late of San Francisco, throws open her palaeso
on AurIferous Terrace, Golden Square Soap.
suds 49, it true, good for two hundred thousand;
but Brown is worth three mlllons! Oh you
nc edn't hint that Brown handed you delicious
plate of boiled mutton and turnips at Sweeney's,
two twelve months ago! The mother of Soapsuds
washed for the bucks of the last generation; and
you know, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for