The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-09-08
From Chamberss Journal %
THE INAPPLlcATl0N Of CIRCLES.

From Chambers's Journal. %
THE lNAPPLlcATloN or CIRCLES.
AS the round globe on which we live may be
called sort of solid circle, made up of an in
fnity of other circles-composed of earth and
water-within and upon each other, so the in
habitants of the said globe are similarly con-
stituted of innumerable circles, likewise.
1t is the title which society has agreed to be-
stow upon its own multitudinous phases and is
the very happiest, perhaps, which could posi-
bly, have been selected for that purpose. No
other term could express, at once, completeness
rhomboids, parallelograms, might indeed sug-
gest the compactness of these sets of the human
family with equal accuracy, but could never be-
stow such an idea of independence. One side
at least of such figures could coincide with,
could be applied to- as Euclid has it, the side
of another figure, and SO amalgamate with it,
which the things that they were intended to
typify never can. Circles on the other hand,
can but touch one another in one point--which
itself has no parts or magnitude-and the re-
suit even then is only friction and disagree
ment. When the big wheel of a carriage, for
instance, happens to catch the little wheel
which only happens in general overturns and
the ike---no fusion of any kind takes place,
but rather the reverse. Circles can cut one
another, it is true, but that does not make the
adaptation of their name, to social life, by any
means less opposite. at all events, the term is
universally acknowledged, and may be taken
for granted. As '.the great world represents
in some mouths, not the universe or its inhab-
itants, but certain small quantity of individ-
uals dwelling in an inextensve district Of Lon
don, SO "the Circles" pure and simple, is some
times put for the creme de la creme of the divers
cliques of the human family. We once knew
young gentleman refuse to ask for beer assa
dinner party, because it was thing not done
ain the Circles "a curious method of ex-
pressing no less curious state of artificial
restraint.
Every Circle of society is bounded by line
of its own, supposititious like the equator, but
not less distinctly defined; and as each of the
countless stars of the armament shares, doubt
less, the impression of the author of The PHI
rality Of Worlds, that there are no stars-with
anything in them-besides ITSELF 20 each Cir
Gle ignores its fellows, and ludicrously imagines
its own particular centre TO be the centre Of all
other systems whatsoever. There is, however,
one exception to this rule, the Best Circles,
which are hankered after by the denizens of al
most every other sphere.
Within their charmed round it is far more
only are the blest indwelers of that retreat most
superciliously scornfnl-as il is their undoubted
privilege to be-of any wouldbe photographer
of its likeness, but every little hangeron to the
extreme edge of its circumference, every gross
est atom longing to Fly up from its native earth
to so elevated sphere, is prone to take up the
cudgels, and hector in its defence, as though
by such course it intimated its own connee-
ton with it. You've never been there your
SELF" would be the malicious sarcasm cast upon
any man who should attempt to describe the
material of the moon, even though he should
conGne himself to reproducing the established
theories of green cheese and moonshine and
the Best Circles are not unlike the moon in
some respects. There is mild, subdued, and
almost religious light about them, which is Dor
rowed from the great Sun of Etiquette. They
form no catherine wheels of brilliant dissipa-
ton, as the Radicals would have us believe,
but give forth fine, steady, rose-colored light,
very overpowering, and yet attractive to the
British eye. Conversation, in the Best Circles,
is carried on in a better fashion than in many
more intellectual ones. Nobody has particular
/" views" to enforce nobody can get hold of
the universal button-hole of q company, and
bore them with an unlimited supply of dreary
information. If there is not so much thinking
in the Best Circles, as is usual with the major
ity of the human family, the people who COM
pose them are at least all of the same way of
thinking. There is, therefore, no rancorous
abuse, no antagonistic obstinancy; no any
thing, in short, which interferes with the pleas
ant flow of conversational life. The stream
may be sluggish and somewhat shallow, and
even not unmixed with very fair allowance of
mud, but there is no bootless conflict with the
stones, and no lashers " or eddies, in which
~ L u
tribes delight to be whirled round and round
without an object Although it is the fashion
of most novelists to place the beauideal of their
Gentleman in the Best Circles, he is not often,
to be found there in the flesh. The Gallant is
there, no doubt but not the Knight. In scarce
ly any other Circles, indeed, are the chivalrous
and selfdenying elements less strong, while the
enthusiasm is, almost without exception, of the
"early-pea" description, forced, and with very
little flavor. Politeness, however, there imi-
tates 80 many virtues and fills their places, to
all outward appearance, 30 well-the necessity
for the use of the genuine articles being also
exceedingly rare, that they are scarcely missed.
In particular, from the consciousness that they
interfere with the amenities of social life, which
are cultivated in the Best Circles to great pei.
lection, Egotism, and even Sel6shness, are com
PEELED to hide their more repulsive features
victory which is elsewhere often unattainable
by the highest convictions,
Our young friend, who went without his
favorite liquor. out Of Difference to this body,
performed . very saperanous act of selfdenisl.
The native inhabitants of the Best Circles are
the very last TO become victims to mere formu-
lei; they may give QUITO the vulgar q very en-
code of regulations, and fence about
their own approaches with the most ridiculous
but they themselves are the freest
people under the sun. mp
ncWhile, indeed, the full-dressed and uncom.
forfaR3e sncbs are struggling upon their tiptoes
to ret glimpse over the enchanted pale, the |
uobs are loungihg within It at their ease, in |
dressing gown and slippers. The very few ar |
tifcial folks one meets among them, careful