The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-06-06
THE DUDE.
Not Pound In the Rsnna of the EnEIsnd
Of Victoria.

LONDON Lug,
Your account Of the dude, that newest
social type in New York life, has been read
with interest In England, and has Set come
OF US thinking how far any creature cores
pondiug TO II can be discovered among the
fauna Of contemporary England. So far
onr researches have been rewarded by no
success. The name is unknown here, and
the thing seems to exist only sporadically.
There are individuals answering exactly to
YOUR description, possessing all the specific
characters OF the dude as well intellectual
"a external, who, II transplanted TO Fifth
avenue, would doubtless be uHdistinguish'
liable from the specimens observed there
But our naturalists have not taken note OF
the species rs species; We possess no
name for it, and its very existence might
have remained unnoticed but Tor your
careful and instructive account. 1t would
be interesting 10 inquire what are the
causes which have developed into large
and well marked class peculiarities which
here occur only in isolated individual;
Int ia perhaps more profitable TO throw to.
pether some remarks on other social types
which have latterly become conspicuous In
England, so rs to direct the attention oil
American observers 10 them, with the
view OF ssceItainiDg how far they exist
west OF the Atlantic, aud whether ike most
American species oil animals and plants,
they present, along with q general resem.
blance to the Old World species, certain
distinctive features Of their ow due to the
conditions OF Transatlantic life.
The first OF these types, and the only one
which has received special name, Ia the
masher. He resembles your dude in being
characterized chiefly by his dress, but ia
unlike him in the style and aspects Of that
dress. Q1ietness. which would seem to be
the mote" OF the dude, ia absent in the
masher. His dress is pronounced, calculat'
ed not to escape but TO attract attention.
In some specimens 1t goes the length OF be-
coming what is called loud" in others ii
is no more than up 10 the top OF the fashion.
| In all the chief elements OF masculine attire,
and particularly in the tight frock coat, this
character appears, but the specially distiuc.
tive point is the collar, which the masher
wears low but erect, and enclosing his neck
ali round with 40 perceptible aperture in
front. He may also be recognized by his
stick, and by the fact that he is usually
to be seen with sometbiug in his mouth,
either q Cigafet or tOOluplck, Ut une emu
Of his usually double. headed) stick. Re
| Is observed to the best advantage in Hyde
Park, on the footpaths which border the
riding and driving roads Of Rotten Row,
where he stands leaning on the ratings and
watches the fashionable world pass by him
in carriages or on horseback. His name
has excited much controversy. Some ex-
plain It as expressing his power Of reducing
others 10 pulp by his superior chic, but
this is far too obvious to be true. Another
school connects it with the French verb
which means to chew, referring to his habit
Of keeping something between his lips,
while others again trace the word to the
gypsy language, that last desperate resort
to 'bsitls etymologists. Although he is
commonly treated as perfectly new APP
pearance, doubt whether he Is not rather
to be regarded as revival OF the dandy"
OF the last generation, Of whom, as the
readers oil "Sartor Resartus" will recollect,
Bulwer's Pelham was taken as a type, Just
as the dandy himself recalls the "buck" or
"blood" Of last century.