The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-11-25
OUR GALLANTS.

"Ouida" says. in one Of her marvellous books
that SO entrance us with their wit and wis
dom-and wiokedness- that the femme galante
of the passing century has escaped perpetual
ton. The true type of the day has not been
portrayed by the poet, dramatist or satirist,
to be handed down as her predecessors OF
each succeeding agehavebeen, to the enduring
ridieule of mankind. Horace has told us OF
the fair athlete-seekels Of his day. Boccacio
has given an immortality of ridieule to the
danes OF the Decamerone; Moliere has pill
loried for all time the powdered coquettes of
his time: Count Grammont has be-
queathed to amorous history the fair
and frail beauties Of the court at
Windsor-Miss Stuart Miss Warmiuster,
Lady Chesterfield and Miss Churchill. the
heroine of the most exquisite episode in
amorous history. But no one has drawn the
true type Of the nineteenth century, for that
frivolous and fragile fagot of impulses called
Frou-Frou' is by no means the true femme
galante. who has been feature Of every age
since the days of Helen Of Troy, an! the fatal
judgment of Ida
If this be true of the femme gaianfe it is
equally true of her male companion. the
route We do not use this word in the
sense in which it has come TO be used
in this day, but in that sense which has
been handed down 10 us in the traditions of
the days when the roue had an actual exist
ence-in the sense Of lover Of the sex. who
lived solely for his gallantries. and who. with
a true appreciation of nobIesse obtige. would
no more fail to kiss tho barmad than to
make love to the countess.
1t is quite certain that bot1 Of these charae-
ters have been missed In contemporary litera-
ture, but are they features of the age in
which we live as they have been of all the
centuries Of the world that have preceded us?
Have they not disappeared entirely from the
world, or do people pursue the gra,tde passion
now rs they did in other times2
Bulwer says that q man never aecompHshes
anything in life until woman has ceased to
be an object with him. 1t seems to us that
the world has arrived at the age which CORE
spends to that the novelist declares the indi-
vidual must reach in order to attain something
more than the conquest of virgin fancy.
1t Is bent on colder projects on more ma
terial things. and 1t has no time for dalliance.
Even with the young, the philosopher of the
day spends his leisure counting his money
instead Of listening TO Aspasia, or in talking
cent per cent to young Midas instead of COM
hitting himself to the inefable egotsm of
trying to instruct Lais In the art Of retaining
her lovers.
The gallant Of our day Is the young fellow
who can draw his check and have 1t honored
on sight, and not the one who draws his
sword Oh the same provocation and settles
old scores at it's point. All things are sadly
in this matter of paying debts. To
be chic now one must draw his check book
with that abandon with which the young
blades of the time of Louis XIII drew their
cmretets. These, too, are the men who stand
for the m0tsqmetdires Of Fontenoy, to whom
the command was given, when all
The other regiments had been annihiated,
En- duaM! Les gants glaces." Charged white
l1ids-and who, when they had reached mus
ket range, halted and DOTTED their caps to the
English to draw their fire. saying "Vols lcs
premieres, Messieurs les Angiais" you fire
irst, Messieurs Englishmen. But that was
but little more than q century ago, still they
we're true lovers, as in the older days-men
who would rescue a ladys glove from the
Jaws of q lion. This was the typical roue of
hat day, and it was the type of hero, but
now that term Is one of reproach, and Is
suggestive of incontinent pastors, who,
while they preach the steep and thorny
Ways to heaven, themselves the primrose
paths Of dalliance tread" or of silent and hid
len betrayals followed by suits for breach of
promise. The lover of the day Is not the gay
nj ho I,,l Lor
'r at best practical fellow, hunting help
meet in a sensible way, unpossessed by any of
hatsweet insanity that should control the true
Indeed, we have no lover, for this
elbow cannot be called one. How can we
iken him to Grammont, Buckingham, Ham
lton, Jacob Hall or the Duke of York, of the
merry days of Windsor? In what respect Is
ne like unto the heroes Of Smol-
ct and Fielding? It Is fortunate that
ne has none Of their vices, and the world
Is better off for that; but he lacks also their
devotion to the sex, and is incapable of the
heroical love that came Of 1t. After these
came the Byronic era Of black dogs and big
,ollars-of tragic mannerisms and funereal
airs. The type was different but it was not
less marked than was that of the Grammonts
and Sir Percie STATIONS, who had preceded
them. After this came the Pelham age, which
took the world by storm little less
than half century ago. The ambition of
this type Of beau was to make all
men despise him, and all women love
him. His ideal was poodle, but a
poodle with a lions strength in reserve. He
died of a "rose in aromatic pain," but
knocked down prize fighter with as much
and as little exertion as he would
light his cigar. He finally got to be a bore.
though, and has died out, and no successor
has, as yet, arisen from his ashes. Beauty is
nc longer "a privilege Of nature" as Plato
defined it, and woman, ''loyely woman" is
consigned to the "demnition bow-bows'
That portion of mankind that is not absorbed
in money making, is playing base ball.