Dandy Varieties (1835)

• Posted by mgr on April 24th, 2008 filed in Zeitdokumente
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All young men of fashion seem infected with the spirit of dandyism ; that is, they show, by their adoption of a certain style of dress, the importance with which they treat the subject. There is every variety of the genus dandy; the effeminate dandy, who faints at the sight of port, and goes into convulsions at the smell of cheese ; the boisterous dandy, who drives four-in-hand, horsewhips his groom, and uses his lungs and muscles to the annoyance of the timid ; the silly dandy, who lisps out his words, as if their utterance gave him inexpressible pain, and does not seem to possess so much as the shadow of an idea ; the sentimental dandy, who writes sugar-plum verses in the “Keepsake,” and fancies himself in love with every pretty woman who asks him to write in her album ; the pedantic dandy, who makes use of quotations which others have sought for him, and wishes to be considered a miracle of learning among those who are better informed than himself; the vulgar dandy, who cultivates his whiskers to a preposterous size, drinks porter in the original pewter, and patronises pugilists ; the facetious dandy, who every night manufactures jokes for the next day’s expenditure, studies the most effective way of saying a good thing, and is perfectly convinced that he is a wit ; arid there are many others of less importance, but all lay claim to some peculiar feature by which they may be known. I resolved to be none of these. I would always dress in good taste, as a gentleman should ; but dress, I determined, should become with me a secondary consideration. I would, as much as possible, be independent of fashion. I would deny its supremacy, and throw off its influence.

Quoted from: Anonymous: Mephistophiles in England; or, The Confessions of a Prime Minister. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835: 213.

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