foundation in truth as the late entertaining account of Sir John
Herschel's discoveries in the moon. Fictions of this kind are, however,
not uncommon, and ought not, perhaps, to be condemned with too much
severity; but we are not sure that we can exercise the same indulgence
in regard to the attempt, which seems to be made to mislead the public
as to the substance of the work before us, and its pretended German
original. Both purport, as we have seen, to be upon the subject of
Clothes, or dress. _Clothes, their Origin and Influence_, is the title
of the supposed German treatise of Professor Teufelsdrockh and the
rather odd name of _Sartor Resartus_--the Tailor Patched--which the
present Editor has affixed to his pretended commentary, seems to look
the same way. But though there is a good deal of remark throughout the
work in a half-serious, half-comic style upon dress, it seems to be in
reality a treatise upon the great science of Things in General, which
Teufelsdrockh, is supposed to have professed at the university of
Nobody-knows-where. Now, without intending to adopt a too rigid standard
of morals, we own that we doubt a little the propriety of offering to
the public a treatise on Things in General, under the name and in the
form of an Essay on Dress. For ourselves, advanced as we unfortunately
are in the journey of life, far beyond the period when dress is
practically a matter of interest, we have no hesitation in saying,
that the real subject of the work is to us more attractive than the
ostensible one. But this is probably not the case with the mass of
readers. To the younger portion of the community, which constitutes
everywhere the very great majority, the subject of dress is one of
intense and paramount importance. An author who treats it appeals, like
the poet, to the young men end maddens--_virginibus puerisque_--and
calls upon them, by all the motives which habitually operate most
strongly upon their feelings, to buy his book. When, after opening their
purses for this purpose, they have carried home the work in triumph,
expecting to find in it some particular instruction in regard to the
tying of their neckcloths, or the cut of their corsets, and meet with
nothing better than a dissertation on Things in General, they
will--to use the mildest term--not be in very good humor. If the last
improvements in legislation, which we have made in this country, should
have found their way to England, the author, we think