The Portland daily press., 1880-06-25
DandieS.
Phases Social and Literary Dandyism.
London SATURDAY. Review i

London Saturday Review.l
Dandie like saints, are never much be-
loved byneir fellow. creatures. Like saints,
they havan ideal perfection of manner and
dress, an ideals are felt to be impairment
To be indy is to outrage the vanity of every
one whoas not the energy to be wakefully
attentive details of department and costume
The grt dandies of old days, Brummell,
Lauzumd the rest. were everywhere well
coined ,,cause they made themselves disa-
greeab to so many people. There is kind
of popuity which is acquired by an attitude
provolgly unpopular. Men and omen are
attract by the courage which despises and
disr egds their feelings. People whose mi
mute Iceptions and sense of their own merit
makehem detested, become notorious, and
conseently are sought after. A sage might
say tospiring boyhood, "Young man, be a
puppI In this respect, as in others more
impent, the prizes of the world are to the
impunt. Society truckles to people who can
eeonssntly display their conscious superiority.
Thery magnitude of their insolence and the
= alnsss of their importantly excite curiosity
andelcome analysis. People are anxious to
judjfor themselves as to whether conspicu-
disconnected fellow is in earnest and su-
pres fool, or whether he is quietly playing
par Thus the eccentricity of imperturbable
vary, vanity which declares itself in pecu-
Lay OF dress and manners, is rather good
induction 10 society. A famous living
stssman was remarkable for his canes and
wstcoats even before he was admired or
fan fnr 10 yuit al
vi to him only stepping stone, as it usually
iso young people OF high ambition and real
spngth OF character. They learn very early
iilife that to be remarked is the first thing
pcessary for success, and social success is OF
curse more readily attained than literary or
,olitical notoriety, and may lead on to those
higher prizes. It would probably be mistake
to suppose that "the higher dandyism" is en-
tirely matter of calculation The most dis
tinguished handles in the history of society
have been men OF great power and ambition
themselves not only because the distinction
gained by impairment perfection of dress was
necessary to their projects, but because thew
could not do anything by halves, and because
they were supremely vain. Vanity, a quality
much aecried, Is really necessary for some sorts
scarcely be any ambition. In the evolution of
character vanity first declares itself in the
child and the savage, and it clings to MANY
generals, statesmen and divines The eigan-
tic tailor's and jewellers bills of a son do not
usually make parents heart sing for Joy; but
these bills may, in rare cases, be more full of
promise and encouragement than any number
OF medals and frst-classes. It is dificult.
however, TO get parents and guardians to take
this hopeful view, and the young genius for
dandyism, like genius for the other arts, is too
oIten prosecuted by indignant and terrified
A young man is never more certain of social
success than at the moment when most other
young men never mention him without saving
that they would like to kick him." AS
Thackeray observed in the case of Pendennis,
tnat desire is the result of envy, and of con-
scious humiliation awakened in manly bosoms.
70 provoke people SO much is a token of supe-
rorlty, and prize of nonchalance Nor is IL
social dandyism alone which thus irritates the
rabble OF decent fellows. who have neither the
vanity, nor the impotence, nor the strength of
resolution to win distinction. Literary dandv-
ism is also excessively annoying to the rugged
hodmen OF letters, the rapid picturesque writ
ors, the half or quarter-educated persons who
crowd the press, and carry their farrago of ILL
assorted observations to an uncritical public.
these industrious persons detest the literary
dandy, the man who minds his periods, and re-
CARDS the cadence of his sentences, and shuns
stock illustrations and old quotations, as the
social dandy avoids dirty gloves and clumsy
boots. They howl at him as the little humor-
Gus street boys bully some small Etonian with
. tall hat and broad white collar, who has
lost himself in Seven Dials. This antagonism
naturally breeds more excess in literary dam
dyism, till the prose of some critics is as full of
musk or milleheurs as the handkerchief of a
popular preacher. Both parties are hardened
IN their ways; the rough-and-ready pressman
out his quotations from Macaulay's ESSAYS
more vigorously than of old. The prose of the
exquisite begins to die away in aromatic nom
sense, and his great genius tires itself to death
IN hunting for rare exotic adjectives.
There have been schools of literary dandv-
ism, there have been literary dandies, more TO-
bust than those of our time. Where we can
show nothing much better (if Mr. Arnold be-
longs to an earlier generation) than Mr.. Dow
den and Mr.. Pater, the great literary ages can
boast of Plato, CatuIlus, Ronsard, Pascal Hor-
ace Walpole, Sir Philip Sidney-nay. one
might add, Button and Machiavelli The two
last named may be recognized as literary dam
dies because they respected the mere details Of
their literary labor. They were not of the sect
that swears by tattered old slippers that toast
at the fire and ragged old jackets perfumed
with cigars. They arrayed themselves in fine
linen, ii not in purple, before they sat down to
describe the animal kingdom or give rules for
the conduct of the Prince. The other writer's,
whose names we have taken very much at
were handles in style, exquisites in literary
manners, precisions who turned away from
what was commonplace in thought. They
lived among slipshod WRITER'S or in ages when
all the world scribbled, or in times when style
was disregarded, or not invented, and they set
themselves to seek after grace and distinction.