VULGARITY.

Evening Star, Issue 4156, 23 June 1876, Page 4

VULGARITY.

{From, the World.) Thackeray, in his imbiortal work, defined, a snob as “one who, meanly 'thjngs- j -’’ andVthjis definition is nearly exhaustive. But it is of society that is, more intolerant of slight derelictions from its writtetr l4 wk than, of graver offences..;, To violate the convendyices is; unpardonable. “ Our viitues; liei in the inter-relation of the time;* 1 J iand a fine lady’s feelings would r be, more Outraged by a- country, eotffiin ' eating s at orange had seriously compromised her repuThe formidable " ‘ thoreasb I '' of vulgarity in v ; so:-ix; huge ;V, a -city as Bondoh j -is- - partljF accountedfor rapid- i; disßemination.' of -new.: ideas,;. wJMphj.v together ; jwith r the istence of great riches, : enables those people Who" purchase theih fdlIpW • in ; the. Wake’ of ‘any success as blindly as 2es mbutons de Panurge. Thus : 6vea the • Minton; tiles,'- which >bii t d 'short time ago were-So refreshing ah | innovation, have now by Itheix-nbiqul-|‘tous appearance become’ a nuisance to the eye. South Kensington art!, sunflowers and passion flowers, tertiary tones apd early English art-durnitard are rapidly .becoming eyesores.' It is a question whether the-beautiful Japanese artwill lorig maintain its preVent distinction, even if it does not fall a victim march : . of iWesterh' which hah already rained' those rivalled' fabrics an.d.combinations of Color :that delighted f fche bye in' Persian; Indian, 1 and Turkish' and has given place.of late to the talse and. hatbful ■hues’ of Sblferioo Und Mageuta. are , infljieijced too, - iju a great measure, by tHe newspaper and other advertisements,'' Which are dll steeped in vulgarity, as are the theatres apd the.printshops, and, thpi rrqiiway,, bookstalls } ;.but dbove r ail the .photograph ; shops, .froth vK&b/WinddWu.; kecoU kites femalesleer v*>t us> who-. would seem, in of : Mr Obillettb and his Society .for the Suppression, of .Yice, io. Wish 16 be naked. - <. - . r , One has but to run one’s eye over the advertising columns of a newspaper to read -bf lacTy-hOuSekeeperS, 5 lady*companions, and lady-helps. ; Even our valets are designated aour gentlemen beloW stairs, and we may soon ingJtouse. “ But sin, is worse -in-high places;, fronvthe example: it sots aUd thp w4riun ( t;, of pr,etogative it obtains. .a gentleman; and, by; myVbirlli;companionf-with a king; T a? king , Binb more. ,? '/ There is a fino inde-' pefid&me old wobdj, -; albeitwritten!: in ,a servile: era; and the only emendation thbfe thattr: two .centuries of experience 1 1?} is a king always as m uph;?. Nothing can bp in worse .taste than for gentle and' High-bred women,tp have to rise en masse , like charity chiftfbnP^ German princekin' designs,* uninvited, to enter their box atxfche (ppera i.or elsewhere. : What can be, more absurd than conseiwation in the nineteenth ■’centurityr.of forms and • ceremonies' that should, be Obsolete !. and tjmt it,should not bfe-permitted to a ; , private gentleman to approach his Sovereign in public without first', fonnmg*'' thg habits of: a flunkey! jWhafe-mQre preposterous than for those of the’ I softer . tOrhave to expose their necks .! and arms, and to encumber themselves ! with a perfectly useless and expensive ; tail appendage, , like a bird of paradise, ,| •on one of our genial March or April days, tf;,they wish" to do hornage’at a drawing : room, or, as it .is, now profanely called, a naked show I Her Majesty’s state-coach, which was only worthy of Mr Batty’s circus, has been at last abolished; Surely the jelics of : barbarism just named ought to be fble-, gated; to the same limbo.

•»< . In society proper it is 'difficult not to be Vulgar; those only have no excuse who, from birth and position, are launched on the surface and float tbeie.> They are naturally sought after, and are spared those ignoble ■Hfy-jby which, the ilLassured people, wfcp MVe struggled, toUhe'frbnt out of their proper sphere, contrive tp niafintairia precarious foothold. It •is fnainful,-to, think- of the amount of \ 'dirt these persons, often grown their social service, must have, swallowed in :their youth; the hatrkl, malice, and uncharit ablenSss they must. |l«ve survived; and .tlie thickness of their moral epidermis.Theseare they who delight to talk of their great friends and acquaintance, and who as completely ignbro their kith and kin and natural surrqundings as if they had no existence. conversation is flavored with anecdotes and sayings of influential potentates, whom they call by their Christian names or previous titles, imagining them to shed some vicarious lustre on their own patroymics. "Yet these are but some of the outward and visible signs of vulgarity, which we may laugh at and pass by. There remains the worst form—the innate vulgarity of the miud, as odious in its way as is the vice which Plato meant by " the lie in the soul." Long friction with tho world and knowledge of the social pulse may enable a man to conceal, so as to pass, with his fellows, this inveterate defect, but all "the rain in the sweet "heavens" can never entirely wash it out.

•; A for angling by saying that, frorn'constant habit, 60ener(|>*eel8 quite himself, unless Ke'a handling the rod. * < ' ••' ;