New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-08

stances TO exactly the same persons, H. per-
haps. to be expected, and may possibly go to
nrove the Brotberhood of Men, or the Unity
of the Race or the Genesis of the Species, OF
some other of those fine theories which every
thing does prove, nowadays, TO the entre
satisfaction of the theorists.
But surely there is no law OF necessary tiia'
condemns all the men in society INTO lD'er-
cbangeable clothes before they shall DO per-
mitted to 40 abroad to make their interchange-
able speeches. What if,-muses Timon, puinng
q wreath of smoke-what if Sir walter ha-
leigh should Unexpectedly arrive, dressed, Ike
his portrait, in under waistcoat Of satin, ana
doublet of velvet embroidered with pearls, with
full ruff, and pointed beard, and hair curled
off the forehead, and broad-brimmed hat
caught up with pearl and feather above MS
handsome facet Or Sir Francis Bacon, IN
scarlet dOublet and graceful velvet CLOAK,
blue-lined, with marvellous lace at throat ana
wrists1 Or the superb George Fillers, I'D
doublet and hose, slashed with satin and en-
broidered with gold, velvet girdle stiff with
Jewels, hat turned back with bunch of nodding
plumes, and scarlet boots trimmed with point
lace7 Or that best, good man." as Rochester
called him, Lord Dorset, in a suit OF clothes
of philamot brOcade, laced with silver and gold
lace, nine laces each as broad as ones hand,
the suit trimmed with scarlet ribbons; the
stockings of white silk over long scarlet ones,
the shoes, black, tied with scarlet bows, the
linen edged with Bruges lace, the gloves
adorned with scarlet ribbon. the hat turned mp
with a jewel worth Ct, 20Ol Or delightful Mr..
Samuel Pepys, in his fine camlett cloak with
"gold buttons, and silk suit that cost much
money, the first that ever he wore in his
"lifein Or any of the petit-mditres of the
eighteenth century in their square skirted coats
of brilliant hue, splendid with gold and silver
lace, their embroidered waistcOats, their silken
hose and jeweIed buckles, their lace ties and
fuffles
Why, if Dorset and Raleigh and Pepys and
the rest of them said only" All; so pleased to
" see you. Many happy returns of the day. Yes,
ga very disagreeable day, but your house is
always sunshiny. No; thanks; nothing at all.
" So many calls to make. Good morning.
which is exactly what Smith, Jones, Robinson,
and he, the fatuOus TImOn, did say, who cares
To be is greater than to do. Beauty is its
own excuse for being. They would have fur
nished q part of a superb pageant, and have
homored society in that office. Not that we
would quite Justify what Burton calls the
putting of thousand oaks and hundred
"Oxen into a suit of apparel, wearing whole
"manor on ones back" But as scarlet and
blue and crimson cost no more than black, and
plumed caps no more than the bideOus beaver
hat, economy does not bar the way to the re-
turn of the picturesque.
Certainly, neither sOmberness nor parsi-
41,n fniloF nf
tho ladies. Nay, Timon thinks that if he
might hint a fault, and hesitate dis
ike, it would be that ball costume is not
the fttest raiment for a sloppy January
day. But he concerns himself less with tex
ture and fashion than with the curious fact that
velvet and tulle, lace and silk, blue, green, red
yellow, indigo, white, and violet, were shown
against an unvarying background. And that
is bis second grievance. Every drawing-roOm
was so like every other drawing-room that
he moved all day in q nightmare vision of
not having finished his first CALL even when
he was honestly down at the bottom OF his
list. Struggling, despite the headache. to
DO statistical, the misanthroplc Innon would
presently remember that precisely three
houses seemed to- have been furnished
by their several mistresses, and that one humid
red and nincty-seyen were evidently deny
cred ready made by unimpeachable uphol-
sterers. Then he inquiries, with some bitter
ness, of the opposite sex, what hope New
York holds out of the SGtOn when her fashion
able women have not individuality enough to
recognize its preference as to carpets and cur
.ains. Conversation requires even more of
that admirable quality than chintz-chooslng'
Ideas do not put on uniform.
Without doubt, if the man Of fashion ever
used so questionable q tool as the pen, those
are the musings that he would set down. He
knows too well his own faulty and that of
his fellows to suppose either that any one of
them will forego his melancholy round of calls
on the first of January, 1878. But he
might hope change for the better from
the good sense--or the vacillatiOn-Of the
charming sex, and might look to find the
day frightened by the sight of drawing
room, here and there, which reflected its owner,
and not the modish uphosterer of the hour In
which aspiration, were the man of fashion to
make it known, he would be devoutly Joined
by the man of feeling. .. ....t~
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The culture of Rice is decidedly the most