The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-07-17
" VANITY FAIR"

FANiII rAihs
That burly old gentleman, Squire BULL, seems
to have invited the World to his Great Fair as
the Dervise, in the Spectator, did Shacabac to
his feast-for the purpose of making jest of
his guest, especially BROTHER JONATHAN. His
politeness is exemplifed by odious COMPARE
sons, and his hospitality by charging double for
every thing. That great Chorypheus of the
civilized world, the London Times, and that
wholesale vender of jokes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent the London Punch, vie with each other;
and the COOL sly malgnty of the Times, is beau
tifully contrasted with the dull jokes extrava-
CANT praise, and forced wit of Punch, who, con-
sidering he is the organ of the associated wit of
all England, appears hard put to it to sustain his
reputation as the Worlds Jester at the Worlds
Great Fair.
This was, however, to be expected, ms, gene
rally speaking, there is nothing so dull tiresome,
and harlkssing, as professional joker, who is
always laboring in his calling, and never opens
his mouth but with the avowed object OF excit-
ing laugh The mountain always in labor
will sometimes bring forth mouse, and the
over cultivated soil becomes exhausted at last
Wit is a rare commodity. 1t is not put up in
bales like cotton, nor in crates and casks like
crockery and hardware. 1t is not an instrument
for common every day use 1t has fine edge,
and if kept perpe ualy on the grindstone, the
edge will soon wear off, and leave it like dull
razor, without edge or point This seems the
case with Punch, who is such an old jester that
he is at loss for new subjects, and when he
finds them, at still greater loss for new jokes.
!, The Punch of the old puppet show is the dull
est fellow in the world, for he does nothing but
knock down poor Judy; and he of the Worlds
Fair, is initiating his original by peting PRINCE
ALBERT, QUEEN VICTORIA, and BROTHER JON
ATTAIN with his worn out crab-stick. Every
| day his Jokes become more far-fetched, his puns
more clumsy and wire.drawn, his wit more in
tensely studied, and his satire more iudscrimi-
nately dull He is evidently nearly exhausted,
and though he flashes out occasionally, it Is
the last effort of the expiring candle, and the
world now continues to laugh merely from the
habit.
II is, think, much to be regretted that the
Americans suffered themselves TO be drawn into
this scheme for administering to the interests
and vanity of England, and that our govern
ment lent itself to this object by giving its ex
press sanction. They should have known from
past experience, that they would only encounte
host Of prejudces, jealousies, and antipathies
they should have anticipated only comparisons
to their disadvantage; and that being measured
by the European standard of seli-sufhciency
they would be degraded below the common
level of superannuated actions, merely because
they brought with them no time pieces that
would go hundred years without winding up
no books so elegantly bound as to be too fine
for use and none of those elaborate trinkets
and gewgaws which show that human labor and
ingenuity may be prostituted to the purposes Of
vanity and ostentation, instead of utility and
happiness. They should have known that their
great products, which feed and clothe so large
a portion of the human race, would make nc
| figure among the frippery of the Worlds Great
Fair, and contented themselves with sending
out Massa GREELEY ns a specimen of transat
lantic philanthropy, with two or three runawa,
negroes to keep him in countcnance.
This disposition to deprecixte the products o
American art and industry, which is genera
characteristic of the British press, is accompa
MED by another equally notorious, that Of cor
responding propensity to self exaltation. Thu
London Morning Chronicle observes very com
placently that I" the contributions of the princi
pal English manufactures, may, on the whole
be considered highly satisfactory, uphodng il
an eminent degree, the traditonary superiority
Of this country" The London Times speaks
Of the :" oasis in the desolate psAirie appropriated
to the reception Of the numerous consignment
expected from the United States" forgetting
To refer to the fact that the mechanics of thu
United States have too much employment a
home, and are too we'll paid, TO be under tn,