The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-10-11
Dandies and Fops.

On the interesting theme Of ''dandies and
fops, the London Spectator has this to saw.
Everybody wishes to appear well-dressej .
Il Is the safeguard OF society, and all Radical.
: can Go with their reforms will be to prevent
people from appearing nice Pascal was a.
big dandy as any Of them, though the
cantIng world has chosen to forget his six
] horses only to remember Port Royal; and
Rance, that tiger of austerty, was another
brother OF the order before he went
to La Trappe. But we must distinguish be-
tween foppishness and dandyism. Foppish-
ness is desire to please others by the cul-
| tivation of outward graces; dandyism
is rather a desire to please ones self Dan
/ dyisM is special form Of vanity of one
( race, the English, who surpasS all the world
/ in the power of being themselves. The
/ Frenchman may shine as fop, but he is
| far too sympathetic to be a dandy. He may
put on dandyism, and give himself every
morning his little disgusted air, but it will be
only as he puts on a garment The distress
ing thing is that the English themselves do
not know what treasure they possess i'm
this manifestation of character They have
been stupidity unjust 10 their dandes, and
their Carlyle, in his book on clothes, where
in he processes 10 treat OF this species, has
only built up a huge monument 10 his own
splenetic ignorance. He drew a fashion
plate with the drunken pencil Of Hogarth,
and cried out Behold dandyism II
was not even its caricature. In certain
sense the clothes have nothing to do with il;
it is the man inside
Lord Spencer in rags was a dandy, and
Brummel one day in a freak set the fashion
of wearing napless coats by having his own
scraped with glass. The next day half the
coats ip London were being treated in the
same way. He introduced glove, aud peo-
Pile raved OF its beautiful fit, which showed
the very outline Of the nails beneath but
his superlative dandyism was not in the fit
it was in the fact that he had the glove
made by five different artists, one for each
finger and one for the thumb Byron knew
what he was about when he said that he
would rather be Brummel than Napoleon
Brummel had all the requisit gifts Of nature
for his great vocation-elegance and pleas
ing face as a matter of course, with an in
tense sang froid that nothing could dis
or disturb, aud above all q
quick intelligence free from the gen
ius that spoiled many another dan
dy OF that glorious epoch. This last
disturbing quality gave Sheridan his SUI
Of wit, and his passion, both
fatal to perfect equilibrium Of manner, and
il made Byron a dandy only for one mo-
nent, but something else the next. Brum-
mel was dandy at all times.
Dlndyism introduces the antique calm in
he midst of of modern agitation
,ut the calm of the ancients came from the
harmony Of the faculties and from the torco
f a life freely developed, while the calm OF
andyism is the reTose Of q mind which has
made the tour of many ideas, which is too
isgusted for animation. Brummel was al
7ays like this His faultless dressing and
he cold languor OF his manners distinguish
i him as boy at E,on, and he was known
) " Buck Brummel :" the name of Dan
y" had yet to be. No other boy had such
lauence on the school, except, perhaps,
gorge Canning, and his was an influence
f a totally different order. On leaving
xford, Brummel went into the Tenth
Lusslrs commanded by the Prince OF
Eales, afterwards George ", aud was
aturaly at once taken to the stuffed bos-
N of that prince of fops. He possessed
hat the Prince must have esteemed most
all human things-''youth, brought out
ITO strong relief by the surety and cool
ass of man who had seen life and knew
lat he was its master; the finest aud the
rongest mixture Of imTertinence and OF
,spcct the genius Of dressing, protected
Y power Of repartee that was never
ithout wit
Women who, like priests, are always on
10 side of force, sounded with vermilion
ps the fanfare Of their admiration for
they were the trumpets Of his
ory, but they remained that and nothing
Sc. And here is the originality Of the
-eat EaClishman. lie was not what the
orld calls a libertine. In n country like
ugland it was ',piquanW to sec man,
I'd such q young man, who combined in
mself every conventional and every natu-
i charm, furnishing women for their pre-
ntions by abnegations Of this sort. Brum-
el was a sultan without n handkerchief
I'd yet his influence over women was extra
binary. A Duchess,was overheard telling
n daughter to pay particular attention To
n attitude, gestures and speech, If by
iance Brummel should deign to speak 70
r. She was right; his notice was fame,
r he never did common thing. Thus ho
we up dancing almost at the outset of his
reer. He simply stayed few minutes at
e door Of ballroom, took the whole
ing in at a glance, Judged j. with a word,
ID disappeared, thus applying the famous
inciple of dandyism, "in society never 60
It'll you have produced your effect, the
oment it is produced vanish"