The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-03-23
Money.

in aeriticism on Bulwer's celebrated COM
edy of g Money the Philadelphia Press
exhibits its truthful illustration of the
q reigning characters" of the present day,
as well of those of the day in which it was
written a1C sI Eef
Nineteen years have flown by, yet Bull
wer's comedy is just as applicable to the
present times as it was to those of 1870
nor is its aptitude confined TO the country
of its birth, for each character is individu-
allied in our midst and the worship of the
Golden Calf" which is the theme OF the au-
thor's satire, is year by year becomingmere
and more the popular religion. Drop the
knightly pretext, and we can place our fin
gers ON score of Sir John Yeseys, whose
aim. and end is the accumulation of money,
at all hazards and in any way (short of the
danger of deliberate pocket-picking), and
the marriage of their feminine responsible
ties to "good settlements caring LITTLE or
aothing concerning the merits of the intend
ed husband beyond his real estate or the ex-
tent of his balance in bank Georgiana
Yeseys can be found by the hundred. at any
fashionable watering place in the summer,
VI at w AsuittHSuu NHllSt OOnBTcSo 10 ScS-
sion; young ladies of Hthe first families /"
young ladies whose education has been thor
oughly " finished; who dress to perfection
in the most approved Partisan style; who
sing little, play little, polka divinely,
and have ali unlimited supply of small talk
and who are only deficient in one small por-
toa of feminine organization-heart-a
matter with which Upper Tendon should
have nothing to do, as its possession might
interfere with perspective advantages more
accessible by its absence. s-eH s-1
= Then, too, the political arena supplies us
with an unlimited number of Stouty aud
Gtossmores, coarse, vulgar, eager politicians,
and smooth, artistic finished spectators on
public credulity, each alike bent on one end
= f-aggradizement; each alike ready with
patriotism as plea for chicanery and pecu-
lation. - as aasaa z
Captaas Dudley Smooth (otherwise Smooth
the deadly has also myriad of prototypes
in those well-dresseG gentlemen who turn
up ut every corner, and who live by their
wits; men who handle the billiard cue and
faro packwith accomplished dexterity who
are adopts in the mysteries of euchre and
poker, and can palm the king at Ecarte
without fear of detection; men whose lexi-
cons are devoid of the word honesty men
who live on the fat of the land, and are
clothed in the extreme of fashion; men
who, like birds of prey, live on their fel-
low-citiZens.1 HN asa -F-sa-fa
Soft, insipid, human dolls of the Sir Fred
eriek stripe, too, we have in profusion at
every opera, ball, and party, and, thank
goodness also, after all this leaven of the
darker side of humanity, we have ullmany
an -4kfred Epeiyn and Clara Douglas to en-
tighten the picture, and redeem it from the
curse of Cain. True, we find not the quiet,
reflective, and highly sensitive student ON
the surface of this busy, everyday, money
making world. His home is not there, for
be has nothing in common with those who
lisp dollars in their babylon, and whose
waking thoughts and nightly dreams arc of
naught else, until death claims them as his
own. Nor shall we find the Clara DougLases
in the " best society,"" but in those quiet
hooks and corners-the homes of hearts
where wise men seek their wives, and the
mothers of their children.
Two more characters aDd the smile is
ended. Last though not least, comes the
buxom widow Lady Franktn-bright and
joyous, in the ripe maturity of a well spent
life, and her hypochondriac admirer, GraUes
the woman all sunshine, and the man all
shade-both liie-lilke portraits, yet admira-
BILE in their contrast-portraits whose living
| realities are to be found alike in our daily
walks and social converse. Yes, though
nineteen years have passed, and the comedy
of Money" was written for another hem
| isphere, and to suit the exigencies of a to-
tally different phase of society 10 our own
the satire is just as keen, polished, and ap-
| plcabe to US now as it was to those fol
whose instruction and reformation it wa:
penned.