The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-07-18
patented and authorized by the law of nature and

patented and authorized BY the law Of nature and
the Law Of God.
such an aristocraey We must inevitably have in
New York; but the preliminary movements and
motions in the process Of its formation are curious
and interesting enough. Snobbery seems to be The
green gooseberry, which, in its riper cd state is
destined to give forth the wine of pure blooded
aristocracy-not as in London, confined by the
necessities of the to single and small class,
easily analysed and grasped by the essayist and the
painter of society. Here it pervades all ranks all
classes, and all professions. The essence of snob-
berry, in all times and places, is, trying to be
what one is not What bombast is in literature
rant in acting, overcharged dra wing and color in
painting, trombones and opheiclydes in music, and
stained windows, dsmask sofas, and red silk tasse,
in eigion-snobbery is in society. The frog who
tried to swell herself to the size of her bovine vis
ter, was an intense snob; and, like many Of our
snobs of U nion Square, and elsewhere, "bu,ted"
in the effort Puseyism which apes the fanta st sails
OF Catholicism without daring to embra,e its aus
tere charities and solemn determination, is
mitigated snobbery. Gingerbread Eve story free
stone houses, with brick ends and bass wood back
sides, painfully snobbish almost as much so as
The oVer-dressed, rude, loudtalking people who in
habit them. The carriages owned by mechanics
sons, with baronial quarterngs and ducal coronets
upon the panels and the platings of the harness,
and with a couple of miserable wretches sweltering
IN broadcloth surtouts with six capes and standing
ollars, buttoned up to the chin, with the thermome-
er at 92 in the shade splendid illustr atoms of
nobbery. Parties got up by pasteboard false pre-
ences, and through we'll paid ntercesson wit Sex
on Brown, and which are advertised in the penny
papers as having cost many thou sand dollars
for flowers and sugar candy, the very hot-beds
of snobbery, where it grows and hourishes luxu-
iantly as onions in Weathersfeld, or cabbages in
Undertook.
But the arena where snobbery finds its greatest
freedom, and enjoys its most unrestricted develope
ment, is the summer watering places. In town, the
silent influence of the really refined and educated
classes and the lynx vigia Of the independ-
PRESS which siezs upon and tears in sport every
absurd and ludcrous development of life and So
ciety, exercise strong restraining influence, and
snobbery sneaks steslthily about what it has
to do, and only holds up its head for an hour or
two, while safely locked in the gaslight privacy
of its gilded and over. furnished drawing rooms.
At the watering places it takes free scope, and
irdulges with IMMUNITY in every absurd freak
Of extravaganza and folly which medocrity,
goaded to madness by the ihor of ambi-
ton, can conceive and give birth to. The antics
the pleasureless and exhausting designations, the
questionable morals and unquestionable manners,
which reign at our summer watering places, the
convulsive struggles Of rival families and lotteries
to surpass each other in the Of their
datiOns, the furniture Of their rooms the extrava
gance Of their equipages, and the glazing vulgarity
Of their dress, the audacious freedom of Manners
the firtatons, the intrigues, the gambling, the de-
bauchery, which form the monotonous elements Of
life at these fashionable resorts, if truly written,
would make a volume of unequalled interest and
value to the student Of social economy, and would
form contribution to practical philosophy of in
calculable worth If We to have real,
veritabe, respectable, and dignifed aristocracy in
this city, in this country, snobbery be ex-
tirpated, and its disciples cut off, root and branch.
They are in every sense, public nuisance, and
such ought to be abated The only simple and eff
fectull way of performing this most necessary work
Is by exposing the ridiculous pretensions of which
this class is wholly formed, and showing it up ex-
actiy as it is When this is lone, snobbery will
disappear and will make room for some more valua-
bic and important element Of our social deveope-
ment.