the whiskered
'petit-maitres' of Hyde-Park shall begin to transport their adorable
persons to this new world on a summer's trip, they will be astonished not
a little to be stared at on landing through opera-glasses by counterparts
of themselves; exact to the last hair of the moustache. 'Werily,' will be
their ejaculation, 'hit his wery great presumption in these wulgar
democrats to himitate us Henglish in this way-ah!' Every easterly wind
blows in a fleet laden with cargoes of folly, and every outward-bound
vessel bears an order for fresh importations of absurdity, of which
milliners and tailors are the shippers, and flirts and fops the
consignees. So far has this mimicking spirit proceeded, that we regard
neither climate nor season. Were some accident to delay for a few months
our advices from Europe, I question not but our fashionable ladies would
adopt in mid-winter the same form and materials for their dresses which
the Parisian damsels sported on the Boulevards beneath the scorching
dog-star. The changeful and chilly atmosphere of our sea-board differs
widely from the genial airs of 'La belle France,' and to adopt their
fashions in detail is about as wise and tasteful in us as it would be for
the negro panting beneath the line to wrap himself in the furs of Siberia,
and substitute for his refreshing palm-juice the usquebaugh of the
Highlands. Who would not laugh himself into a pleurisy to see the dandies
of Timbuctoo stalking along in solemn gravity beneath their torrid sun,
encumbered with a Russian fur-cloak, or a Lapland 'whip' on a snow-sledge,
driving his canine four-in-hand, with a Turkish turban and Grecian robe
folded carelessly around him? Yet wherein do we greatly differ in _our_
absurdities! Again: we profess to have lopped from our democratic tree the
old-world customs of hereditary title and patrimonial honor. _We_ are no
respecters of persons. _We_ have no reverence for ancestral virtues, and
the lustre that shines only by reflection has no charms for _us_. _We_
respect no grandees but 'nature's noblemen.' _We_ look through the
glittering atmosphere of place, and title, and factitious distinction, at
the man himself. The artificer of his own fortunes we hail as a brother.
He who possesses superior abilities or unblemished integrity, _we_ honor,
though his hands be on the plough; and he who is imbecile or dishonest,
_we_ despise, though his brow be encircled by a coronet. All noble,
consistent, rational