Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-10
FOPS.


Harper's Magazine has an anecdote, intend.
cd TO be very witty and pungent, about n cer-
tain Western merchant and n fop'' with an
eye-glass. The fop, we are told, seated him
self at the table Of his hotel opposite the mer-
chant and two ladies with the latter, and lev
elled his glass first ut one and then at the other
lady Whereupon the merchant, from Ten
nesSee it was, seized q tumbler, and was, nc
cording to tho arbiter elegantiarium, who tells
the story, apparently on the point of throwing
the glass "at the scamp" but no. tho mcr-
chant, with exquisite humor, placed il to his
eye and stared ut "the fellow neither break
ing his skull nor kicking him from the table,
but so putting him out of countenance that he
retired amid general laughter. We alludc to
this little history, as in the columns of our news
papers generally there is no class of anecdotes
more eagerly paraded than these holding fops
up to contempt, and there are magazines, it
seems, that follow in the wake to procure ap-
plause for such tit-bits Of literature But let
US look at the fop in particular and fops in gen.
eral, and see with what justice they are held
up to ignominy.
To persons with weak eyes an eye-glass is an
agreeable and wholesome substitute for specta-
cles Suspended, 1T leaves the eye free to look
at OBJECTS requiring no examination, while it
may be put on and off instantly, as occasion re-
quires, Among gentlemen in Europe glance
through the eye-glass is not considered insulting
any more than gaze through a pair of spec
taeles, and, directed at lady, it is held to be
q compliment. Indeed, with persons who are
near-sighted, the use of it is habitual and it is
much better as q matter of taste, and for the
eye, too, than the use of spectacles. 1t is prob
able that g the fop" in question was a we'll
dressed gentleman, whose clothes were not cut
or cOlored like an undertaker's, and that he
sat down modestly, and, being near sighted,
gazed passingly through his glass at the ladies
opposite. 1t was no ill-breeding, then, nor
would it have been 80 considered if he had had
spectacles on or looked with his naked eye .
But not being Western it was received rs an
insult.
What we need In this country is more and not
fewer gentlemen called fops-men who dress
with taste, are scrupulOusly clean, wear eye
glasses if near-sghted, and use them as they
choose, do not chew tobacco and spit i'm other
peoples faces at hotels, theatres, railcars, and
steamboats,. "a fOp' is, in the United States,
universally well-bred. We have never known
an exception. Manners, with him, are study
until they become polished, and dress a pursuit
until it becomes an excellence. Most asSuredy
the South and West need fOps. Such men are
often models Of industry. If men of business,
they are accurate and to be relied on il artists
or literary men, eminent for their taste. No
man who ever lived was greater fop than
Washington. He ordered his clothes of his tai
extreme care. He was exact and elegant with
his horses, carringes, and all cognate details
He was therefore propOrtionally accurate in
other things. Had eye-g glasses been in fashion,
as his age increased, possibly he would have
sported one. and looked across table at the
women opposite. Pitt, Canning, the Duke of
Wellington, Charles Dickens, would all be con-
sidered fops by vulgar men.
Among the men TO whom England and the
civilized world owes much is Brummell, the
king OF fops. He found society outrageousy
dressed and be left it, so far as it could initiate
him, we'll dressed. He laid down rs a rule for
gentleman, fresh water and plenty of il, )"
when hardly a house knew the luxury of
bath. Indeed, 50 dirty and barbarous even
was New York recently, that the Clarendon
Hotel, not long since built, was the first hotel
which had bathing rooms in connection with
sleeping chambers; and the idea came from
fop, to our certain knowledge. We wish this
country no worse luck than the multiplication
OF fops-Of men who arc clean and elegant in
dress, mild in manners, eSchcwers Of filthy to-
bacco, gallant to the sex, and incapable of CON-
mitting an insult. Ii they abounded among
" the chiyalry," tobacco splitting and street
fighting would become incontinently obsolete.
IL they could be established in the Bowery and
Five Points, liquor bars and rows would be-
come unknown.-N. Y. T1June.