Habits and men : with remnants of record touching the makers of both / by Dr. Doran.

  • Doran, Dr. (John), 1807-1878.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Habits and men : with remnants of record touching the makers of both / by Dr. Doran. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    127/436 (page 115)
    you, Sir, a French noise is agreeable to the air, and therefore not unagreeable, and therefore not prejudicial to the hear- mg; that is to say, to a person who has seen the world. The slave of Gallomania even finds comfort, when his own mistress rejects him, in the thought that 'twas a denial with a French tone of voice, so that 'twas agreeable ! and when she bids him a final adieu, he remarks to a friend, Do you see. Sir, how she leaves us ? she walks away with a French step. Such was the early allegiance rendered even in this countiy^to the authority of France in the matters of Mode, of that ever-variable queen, of whom a French writer himself has despairingly said, that she is the despot of ladies and fops; La mode est le tyxaoi des fennnes et des fats. But Paris is the focus of insiurection, and Fashion itself has had' to endure many a rebellious assault. Never was rebellion more determined than that carried on against towering plumes. In Paris, feathers and head-dress extended so outrage- ously, both in a vertical and a horizontal dii^ection, that a row of ladies in the pit stalls, or in the front row of the boxes, efi-ectuaily barred the spectacle fr^om an entire audience in the rear. The fashion was suppressed by a bmss, who was as weU known in the Paris theatres as the celebrated critical ti-unk-maker once was in our own gaUe- nes. The Swiss used to attend, armed with a pair of scissors • aiid when he found his view obstructed by the head-dresses m fro^t, he made a demonstration of cutting away all the superfluous portions of the head-dresses which interfered with his enjoyment. At first, the result was that the ladies made way for him, and he obtained a front place ; but over- come by his obstinate warfare they at length hauled down their top-knots, and by yielding defeated the Swiss ^for he never got a front place afterwards.