The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-03
FAMOUS LITERARY DAND1Es.
Costumes Adopted by Noted Writers
In England.
From the Philadelphia Press.)

From the Philadelphia Press)
Eccentrioities OF costume are proverb
| ally associated with the bluesto king, bu
the lives of literary men show more ex
| travagance of garb thsn has been recoide,
OF women who courted literary fame. Take
for instance, the youthful Disrae!i. who re-
tanned something of his Oriental opensi J
Tor lavish personal adoi nment, even in tis
! old age. The young novelist and confirmed
dandy, when he first appeared In the 70
litical arena. wore coat of slate colo:et
| velvet. lined with bright satin; pu pie
trousers decorated with a gold band dowr
| the outside seam; scarlet waisttoit, .olt
lace rutfies failing to the tips of his fin
gers and white gloves with numerous rings
on the outside of them. His black : air
curled and plentifully oiled, hung in ring
lets, brushing his olive cheeks and reach
ing to his shoulders.
| When he arose for the first time in the
House of Commons and made that famous
attempt to answer O'Connell an uproar was
Immediately excited by the new members
costume and provoked continuous mani
festations by his bombastic mannar and
eXtravagant rhetoric He was dressed in
a bottle green coat with bright satin lining,
collarless white waistcoat, having enor-
nous gold chains and seals displayed across
IT, History does not record the hue Of his
unmentionables, but inasmuch as he &C.
clared publicly that he never possessed a
pair of green trousers in his life it is GER
tain that they were not of that color at
least He was shouted down, but lot until
he utteyed that memorable prophecy. con-
scious of his own power: THE time will
come when you shall hear me-"
Second only to Dlsraeli as a literary
dandy is Bulwer-Lytton. Tennyson ad-
dressed him in those indignant verses in
Punch" as You handbook" and summed
up all his biting scorn in the descriptive
line, THE padded man that wears the
stays" Bulwer-Lytton' son, Owen Mere
dith," was fastidious dresser, but not a
dandy. He scandalized and affronted some
of the Indian Princes during his term as
Viceroy by receiving certain OF their cere-
monial visits en- dishabille. Having dis
carded his coat on account of the heat. he
continued to transact viceregal business
in his shirt sleeves.
Dickens was in some degree the success
sor OF Disraeli as an extravagant dresser.
He had strange taste for elaborate waist
coats OF glazing design and velvet coats.
He wore massive chains and seals and an
inordinate number of rings. One aston
ished diarist describes the first sight Of the
eminent novelist, Who was sitting at a
table in a public restaurant. Dickens,
whose abundant hair reeked of thy in
comparable oil, Macassar," drew a comb
from his pocket, and proceeded nonchal-
antly to comb his beard. A large group
OF young men, like George Augustus Sala,
modelled their clothing and manners on
those Of Dickens, worse exemplar they
could scarcely have had. And yet Addison.
of whom We are accustomed to think as
the pink Of propriety, has entries in his
diary such as Rose and washed my hands,
MI mi
have been written by the unspeakable
Svengali.
Kenrick. in that libelous criticism which
provoked Goldsmith'si unfortunate attempt
to thrash him. spoke of the poets vanity
Of his ridiculous person" In the days Of
Goldsmith's prosperity he was certainly ad-
dicted to very conspicuous dress. His
tailcr's bill remains-alas! unpaid-to re-
mind US OF his plum -colored coat, while
his scarlet cloak. the badge of his ronnec-
ton with the healing art, was Haunted in
the society OF Burke, Johnson Garrick, and
the members of the Literary Club. Gibbon
fat and pudgy, with his nose almost hidden
by his cheeks, is said also to have been ad-
dicted to admiring his figure in the mirror
He dressed like young dandy and cut
capers like dancing master.
But whatever might be said Of the au-
thor of THE Deserted Village" or the
great historian on the score Of vanity,
they never reached the egregious heights
attained by Ambrose Phillips. that "seri-
GUS and dreary idyllic cockney," as Thack-
cry called him. He was a neat dresser
and very vain," We are told in the Percy
anecdotes, and this illustrative story is
related:
In a conversation between Phillips, Con-
greve, and Swift the discourse turned on
the personal appearance OF julius Caesar.
Now, for my part said Phillips, II
should take him to have been of lean
make, pale complexion, extremely neat In
dress and five feet seven inches in height"
This happened to be an exact description
of Phillips himself. Swift, whose under
standing of good breeding caused him
never 20 interrupt any speaker in con-
versation while his health remained good,
waited until the poet had finished and
said. And l Mr.. Phillips should take
Caesar to have been plump man, Just
five feet five inches high, not very neat
ly dressed. In a black gown with pudding
sleeves" That is a piece of irony as
clever as any of Swift's collOquial speci-
mems.
1t is long jump to Robert Louis Ste
vereon, whose Spanish cloak, dress coat.
flannel shirt. peppsrand- suit trousers and
patent leather shoes convulsed an infor-
NAL evening party in Edinburgh. The
velvet jacket and loose trousers of the
typical Bohemian artist never lost favor
with Stevenson. 1t is not necessary to
speak of Walt Whitman's long familiar
clothes of grey homespun and the shabby
soft grey hat James Russell Lowell when
attending Whitmans funeral. was the
primmest of modern gentlemen. yet. he
too. had become for time victim of the
sartorial manifestation that accompanied
the romantic fever.