The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1914-01-02
SLOvENS
They Had a Fine Contempt For
Personal Appearance.
GENIUS IN UNCOUTH ATTIRE.

Old limo CAB Driver-Dr. johnson
Was Grotesque, and "OId Fitz" Out.
ragged All the SartorlrI Conventions.
II is surprising how outrageously
careless Of their personal appearance
many famous men have been. Genius
may or may not be allied to madness.
but II has certainly very often been
linked with an utter disregard for
clothes and cleanly habits.
1t is said Of Turner, the great land.
scape painter. that his hands were "the
smallest and dirtiest hands on record"
Perhaps that Is an exaggeration, but
he was certainly very slovenly In his
dress He wore a black swallowtail
dress coat, very much In need OF a
clothesbrush vigorously used. and In
the warmest as well as In the coolest
weather he wore round his throat
sort OF wrap or muller, which he
would unloose. letting the ends dangle
down In front and dip into the colors
of his palette. He always worked
either with his old hat on his head or
with this same large muller over his
head. His appearance was more like
that Of an old time coachman than Of
a famous Royal Academlcian. for he
was short and stout with a red and
blotchy face.
DR.. Johnson's slovenliness has al
most passed into a proverb. There are
many contemporary accounts of his
turning out Of his house I'm Bolt court
with his wig back to front and his
stockings down. When Boswell visited
him at Inner Temple lane he records:
His brown suit Of clothes looked very
rusty; he had on little. old shriveled,
unpowdered wig. which was too small
for his head bis shirt neck and the
knees Of his breeches were loose. his
black worsted stockings III drawn up.
and by way Of slippers he had on a
pair OF unbuckled shoes" When 1t Is
added that this great man was con
stantly twitching, gruntlng, shaking
his head, putting his cheeks and blink
Ing his eyes, II must be admitted that
his appearance was not only uncOuth
but grotesque.
Thomas Carlyle, coming OF Il peasant
race, never conformed to society garb.
He was always the inspired peasant
He would sometimes go out In his
old dressing gown. over which he but.
toned big coat, gray with age When
he was left alone I'm the house he de-
lighted In swiling his tlagstones with
pals Of water. and many a distin-
guished friend found him thus en-
gagged with kind of smock on and
his bushy hair all tousled. He went
about all the summer among the high.
est aristocracy in frieze jacket which
was part OF an old dressing gown. All
the cabmen and bus drivers Chelsea
way knew him. One said. "He may
wear queer at but what would yer
give for the 'eadpiece inside Of it,
1t would not be seemly to describe
Tennyson as slovenly In any real
sense He was a singularly noble
looking man, but he did not care jot
what he wore. His old slouch hat had
seen unnumbered years and napped
about at all angles, and the Inverness
cape which he invariably wore was
about as old as his hat People who
met him without knowing his immense
distinction would have regarded him
as rather quaint character, and a
tailor's cutter would not have assessed
him ut half dollar. all told.
This is a description Of the daily ap
pearance OF Edward Fitzgerald, the
immortal translator Of "The Rubaiyat'
of Omar Khayyam: Struggling gray
hair and slovenly In dress, wearing an
ancient, battered. black banded, shiny
edged tall hat. round which he would
I'm wintry weather tie handkerchief
to keep II In place; his clothes OF
baggy blue cloth. as though he were
seafarer: his trousers short and his
shoes low. exhibiting length OF white
or gray stockings. With an unstarch'
ed shirt front, high. crumpled, standup
collar, a big black silk tie In careless
bow: In cold weather trailing green
and black and gray plaid shawl. In hot
weather even walking barefoot with
his boots slung to stick" Surely
"Old Fitz." as Tennyson called him,
took the cake for slovenliness OF all
the mortals!-Pearson's Weekly.