PECULIAR DRESSES.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 51, 4 March 1864, Page 5

PECULIAR DRE SS ES .

(From tlie SalvtUtaij Ilivicib.^ There is no point of contrast between English rind' Continental manners that would strike a passing traveller more forcibly than the difference of practice that prevails, with respect to peculiar dresses. Abroad, the whole tone of feeling is in harmony with a system of. uniforms. A man who has got an oflice, or a military rank; or belongs to any special class, is proud of it, fft y d fs' not at all ashamed to let other people sec that Itt is proud. And if the custom of his country allows him at the same time to advertise this position to all beholders, and to set off the graces ,of his person in bright colours, he seizes the opportunity With rtvidity.- Nothing seems to him more natural than that d irian who. is in any way distinguished from bis neighbours should be delighted with the fact, and he would as soon think of wearing rt mask to hide his features as of attempting to' conceal this very amiable and thoroughly human weakness. The result is that everybody who can on any pretext get into a peculiar dress does so", and. shows it off on every possible occasion. The passion extends even down to the schoolboys, and under its influence they do that which any one familiar witli schoolboy nature in England Y^oiild at once pronounce to be impossible. They wear the nniform voluntarily, during their holidays at home, which tbey are made to wear compulsorily while they are at school. No one can imagine anJEnglish schoolboy strutting about in a school uniform in the holidays — unless, of course, he Was a charity-boy. That wholesome fear of sisterly ridicule, upon which the ])uke of Wellington used to rely to sGcttre the bravery of raw young officers on their first field, would speedily blight any budding taste for gold, braid; and buttons. That a French schoolboy delights in these adornments, and that his sisters do not make his life a burthen to him on account of them, marks the enormous interval that separates the popular instincts of the two nations npon this subject. It shows itself decidedly in the haste with which an English officer in the army or navy gets out of liis uniform as soon as ever his duty will allow him to to so. The three gallant sailors who were taken up for a row with the police after dinner at Kio Janiero, and whose supposed wrongs nearely involved us in a war, were' victims to the national taste. If the party had been foreigners, the midshipman would never have been driven to point inarticulately to his buttons in order to establish his naval rank. The two officers would have been probably in full-dress uniform, and the chaplain, whose conduct was described as so uproarious, would probably have been compelled by the decencies of a cassock to abstain from poking fun at surly sentries. But an English officer is no sooner on leave then he hastens to make himself as little like an officer as possible : and an English clergyman is no sooner on his travels than he "revels in that, sense of freedom from starch, both moral and physical, which is conferred by a black tie. lt is curious that this aversion to the insignia of their profession would show itself with such peculiar force with men who are more than any others proud of it. Neither civilians nor laymen have any reason to complain that officers or clergymen, as a body, display any want of appreciation of the dignity of their vocation. Rather, the prouder they are of it, the more anxious they are to avoid parading it. The cause lies deep in the peculiarities of the national character. The self-esteem common to all human beings takes, in Englishmen, a form strangely different from that which it exhibits in eveiy other European race. It is more mature and more self-conscious, and therefore more disciplined and more concealed. The self-esteem of most foreigners is the self-esteem of children. They are vain out of the abundance of their hearts, and they make no attempt to impede its issue from their mouths. They do not fear moral nakedness. They are perfectly satisfied to lay bare to every spectator the workings of the vanity by which their conduct is guided, and which causes them vexation or rejoicing. Or rather, their vanity operates as the spring of their actions unconsciously to themselves, and it does not occur to them to inquire whether there is anything in the process which spectators might be inclined to ridicule. An Englihhman's selfesteem is a more self-reflective and vigilant quality. It knows its own nakedness, and is very much ashamed. It shrinks from the idea, that any stranger should be able to trace in any external sign a proof of the self-com-placency which he is really cherishing. Most of all, desiring above all things to be really conspicuous, he is sensitively afraid of the suspicion that he is trying to be so. Perhaps there is no more decisive index of

the- strength of this instinct than Site horr.or which every Englishman has lest any of his female relations should do' anything which might lay her open ; to that suspicion. Sisters of Mercy, merely as such, are certainly popdar iri this country. The enthusiasm with' Whiclr the'g're'fit services of Miss Nightingale" have heen acknowledged is a recognition 6n the part of a. practical people, that there was fl great void, to', fill, and ..that it iimplied great moral and g're'at intellectual merit to fill it as well as she : did. So long, as 6ther claims are not neglected, nothing is so sure to procure respect for a woman, from people of all sorts of character, as the knowledge that slid devotes her time to some portion <at least of the duties which belong to a Sister of Mercy's* vocation. So strong and general is the feeling that some employment of the kind forms part of the education of well brought-np girls ih almost every respectable' family. But m spitfe of all this popular prepossession, there is nO'htyman'behig for whom .-the average Englishman feeltf a ! m*pre insuperable aversion than for a Sister of Mercy in a peculiar dress. No doubt, his patience in this respect has been sorely tried. A few years ago, some parts of the metropolis were beset with devout virgins, swathed in huge folds of ginger-col'oi'a-ed flannel, and strangely bedizened with othe^ devices', calculated to make them as conspicuous as possible ; aiid. simple -minded citizens were required to believe that this eccentric masquerade was a nece^ry condition of the due performance of works Of mercy. The same folly, with various modifications, tras repeated in various parts of the kingdom ; and the 1 impression has unhappily, in consequence, become" general among Englishmen, that organised sisterhoods are only contrivances' for the exhibition of feminine vanity in a more pretention's, but certainly not in a more fascinating for'rrt fhan tha* with which we are ordinarily familiar. There is no doubt that the same feeling has operated strongly to the prejudice of many clergy- j men, who in other respects are more to be ad- j mired for their zeal. Much of the dissension with which the Chnreh of England has been troubled in recent yesr's has arisen from tlie j mania' Which has prevailed among a portion of the clergy for dressing themselves up. It is hopeless to perstiad'e the mass of Englishmen that people who delight; in dressing | themselves up can be actuated by atay but the most despicable motives. It is all very wellto tell them that a bright green chasuble h symbolical of charity, or that an embroidered maniple i's an emblem of pure thoughts. To the end of the chapter, the average English mind will put no 1 other interpretation upon the restoration of aric'ei'dqtal vestments than that the priest likes decking' liimself out in ga'tidy colours, and showing them off where they can be btst'seen. It may be taken as ari axiom that any religions oi' philanthropic movement which requires that ihe actors in it should array themselves in n peculaif garb is in Eifgterrd certain to fall. The approach .of Lord Mayor's Day reminds us of another 'c'fos-s of peculiar dresses whose unpopularity it require no recondite reasoning to explain. The system oi what is called Court dress in England is one of the most Cilrions moral pheuomena of the age. For all people who have to take part in any public cerenrorifej Its prescriptions arc an inevitable bondage— a law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not. Bnt the curious thing is thai ffitrf flic immufabilitv is of modern date, and has cfe'pt over us without any evident cause— certainly not from any peculiar beauty or fitness in the garments which are required to be worn. Tt is always desirable,- in investigating, any institution which makes its appearance in various forms, to discover, if possible, in what the essence of ii consists r for then it. is possible to reason about its origin' and uses Without being distracted by the divers shapes that it takes. We think that every patient inquirer, who has duly meditated upon the great institution of Court dress, will agree that its essence consists in the display of the human calf. This is the only point of resemblance by which all Court dresses can be classified under a single heading, The coat may vary indefinitely in form ov colour. The waistcoat may be grave or gay. floricuitural , dr , unobtrusive. The breeches may be left for shape, and almost for fabric, to the tailor's taste. There, is only one sine qua von, oiily Otoe condition, at the absence of which a Lord Chamberlain would go into a fit and the gentlemen Ushers be carried off kicking ; and that is, that there must be no attempt to conceal the outline of the shin-bone. This view of the essential character of the Court dress is confirmed by that curious compromise which is observed when it is desired to pay due respect to the presence of Royalty without going through the inordinate "trouble of dressing exactly like a footman. In such case? the lerUum quid is adopted of dressing in ordinary evening dress with this single "modification, that the trousers are made to fit close, like tights, round the lower part of the leg. Nothing could prove more conclusively in what, according to English ideas, the true homage of Royalty involved in wearing a Court dress essentially consists. AW nations have their peculiar customs ; and in all ages it has been customary to uncover some part of tbe body as a mark of respect. 'Fhe European takes off his hat ; the Eastern pulls his shoes from his feet ; the medhcval knight ung-loves his hand. By a development of the same usage, though an odd one, the Englishman of the nineteenth century acknowledges the presence of his Sovereign by disclosing the outline of his calves. No doubt it seems quite natural to those who are to the manner born ; and when they hear in Church that some members are born to honour and some to dishonour, they must think with reverence of the marvellous dispensation that has exalted their calves so high.