of a poor little garment that
has hardly any grown-up friends to say any thing for it; and which, when
it left school, either went into a manufactory, or was sent to sea--we
mean the jacket. In warm weather, for a country walk, for a ride, for a
game at billiards or cricket, even for shooting, (_experto crede_)--a
jacket is a capital contrivance; while for a sail, whether down the Thames
or up the Mediterranean, it is indispensable. We do not appreciate the
jacket as we ought, or rather we do not remember the good service it did
us at Eton and Harrow--when the limbs were free and supple, and when their
full activity was called into constant play, who would have thought of a
coat? It was only when we began to fancy ourselves men, and to think that
our claims to virility lay in the skirts of our coats, that we discarded
the jacket. 'Twas an ungrateful proceeding:--school friendships ought not
to be broken--and we recommend you, courteous reader, some day or other to
lay your dignity aside for a while, and indulge in the innocent freedom of
a jacket: you will get through any work you have on hand twice as quickly.
The beaux of Queen Elizabeth's and King Jamie's courts wore nothing else
but jackets, you know, with their short mantles hanging in the most
_degage_ manner from the shoulders:--and truly we do not see why a man in
a well-cut jacket, properly decorated, should not be entitled to as much
admiration in his civil capacity, as when he has the honour to hold her
Majesty's commission in the Tenth, and avails himself of that privilege to
disturb the equanimity of the beauty and fashion of England. Much may be
said upon all sides in this matter: the jacket would now be deemed too
familiar without a sword and sabretache; the frock might be considered as
slovenly; about the _habit-de-cour_ there can be no dispute; as for the
dress-coat, it ought to be sent to Monmouth Street; waistcoats should be
given to your valet. Speedily judge for yourself, tasty reader; but let us
have a garment calculated for real use, and real ornament; no pretence, no
sham; a fine manly figure, and a covering worthy of it, _voila la chose
essentielle!_

To criticize a gown is always a more pleasing task than to waste one's
patience upon a coat; and, independently of this, the aesthetician has to
lay aside nearly all terms of reprobation, in alluding to the habiliments
of ladies of the present day. Women have never wandered into so many
absurdities