The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-01-21

CT Human w tSl4CSs PcIIkttS MS W.
seryation, with extended view, to sur
vey mankind from China to Peru"
and, during that memorable excur-
sion. he minutely examined the diff
felent classes and conditions of the
human race, and gathered materials
for the composition of one of the
most remarkable, humiliating and dis
couraging pictures of human folly,
madness, misery aud crime, that the
English language possesses. Ho-
garth, too, having the vast metrOp-
oils of Great Britain around him,
drew inspiration from the manners,
customs, tastes and fashions Of its
heterogeneous population, and define
ated as warning to future times the
career of the giddy, the vain, the
tickle and the false. The satirist,
whether poet or painter, has, since the
arts were invented, ever deemed the
frivolities of fashion" an appropri-
ate subject of ridicuie; but his ex-
positions have benefited only people
of sense, and not those for whose
amelioration his wholesome expos
ures and excavations were intended,
for the disease of fools are mostly in
durable. Our age, though more pro-
life Of the spawn of fools, knaves
and criminals of every grade and
compl .xion, of every age, sex and ma
ton. than any that has preceded
it, is yet as well supplied with moral
physicians and surgeons as were
the epochs Of Augustus Caesar, Louis
the Fourteenth of France, Queen
Anne or George the Third of Eng
land. The generation that furnished
is, 4.,ll -
of Vanity Fair, can scarcely avoid
blushing at its depravity and foolish
ness; and, though for the sake of our
common humanity, we feel panied at
Thackery's severity, we must acquit
him of malice, and acknowledge that
his pictures of life and structures on
fashion are clever, graphic and just
The aim OF satire is ITO shoot folly
as it hies;' and, though the owl and
the hawk which fall victims to the
uuerring skill of the maTksman, may
charge him with insensibility, yet
their arrant depravity of character
will furnish adequate cause In any
court Of equity for an honorable nc :
quittal. Certain periodical 8, pros-
ututed in the interest OF folly,
knavery, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, cry aloud
against the injustice and heartiess
ness of the master satirist, and exert
their puny might to render his ami
madVersions innOcuous. They would
fain incite US to believe that he is a
bitter spirited, bad hearted disap-
pointed man. at war, like Ishmael,
with his species, and delightiDg In the
spectacle of human Stiffness and
wretchedness, and in the infection of
pain. So far is this accusation from
being true, that, in most instances.
authentic biographies of celebrated
satirists represent hem as men of the
most genial natures, and animated
with motives sinserely directed to
mans social, physical, mental and
moral improvement. Young declares
"'Tis not folly not to seorn fool;
and any man of good sense who has
ever contemplated an individual OF
that widely-seattered numerous and
despicable family without feeling the
sentiment of condensed contempt,
may boast of his charity, but cannot
shield his sense of justice from I'M
parchment.
The passion for display aud for friv-
olous pleasures and avocations, seems
to be inherent in the human breast
u
among the people, both savage and
civilized. The superiority OF the lat
ter over the former In that respect, is
merely in the mode and quality of os !
tentation, the quantity in both being
equally extravagant. / have seen at
St Augustine's Bay, In the island Of
Madagascar, men of the beda
noade," who, to the tyrannous ca
prices of fashion, sacrificed an eye
and who, spear In hand, proudly
strutted the quarterback Of our frig
ate, their heads covered Will
an old dilapidated stove pipe
beaver hat, their dusky, naked
shoulders adorned with naval officers
cast-off epaulettes, and their waists
yelled and protected with a scan
piece Of dirty cotton cloth. The
were the Beau Brummels among tb,
Malagases; they were owners Of flock;
and herds, big9e de n1qa, not fsle
1Han, and gave tone to the bon ton o.
the male population of the island
The Flora McFlimseys were equal
destitute IN wal drobe, equally aristo
cratic on account of social position
and equally ridiculous in persona
ornamentation. Our Floras woult
sacrifice the fee simple of their soul
salvation for set OF paste diamonds
the others would do the same for
sailors brass jacket button.
'' IT'S true, and pity tits that tits true,
One toucn OF nature makes the Who'll
world kim" ffsss
In the streets of Canton, China,
have seen a sexagenarian votary {
fashion hobbling like our wome
tr0nbled with the distemper charac
terized as the Grecian Bend, only tia
Chinese belle" was compelled {
use, from the smallness of her fee
two walking canes to aid her locomC
ton: and her tresses, plated int
something resembling the shape, siz
and length OF cows caudle append
age, was really more agreeable oil
ieet to look At, than the chlgnons an
water falls of civilization; because !
eomponents were furnished by nj
turc and devoid Of the disgustlI
auimalcua that are said to germlna
and swarm among the hlameuts
the artificial head dress our ladies' {
tentatiously display. A Chine
: JeaR is an object no less ridicl
lous He has a similar passion II
exterior adornment to that whiC
consumes our own tops, coxcomb
and beaUT," and is similarly frlv
lous in his pursuits and anus
ments; his customary pastime al
employment being sauntering, diva
ling, Irritation, or the chill
ish enjoyment of kite-fying TT
Chinese women Of ton have n
vet attained to the fashionable felici
of the Sorosis;" but it is presum
that when Chingfung and Chouton
who are the authorized agents Of t