ART. XIV.-On the Modes of Living and Thinking about the Middle of last Century.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE REFLECTOR.

In the two first numbers of the Athenæum, (a work the discontinuance of which some of your readers have possibly regretted), a comparison was given between the manners and opinions prevalent in the beginning of the eighteenth and of the nineteenth centuries, in which the representations of the earlier period were chiefly drawn from the periodical papers of the time, the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, under the persuasion, that such writ ings afford the most correct view of the existing state of society. It happens, somewhat singularly, that nearly at the intermediate point, namely, from 1751 to 1756, a little cluster of periodical works written upon a similar plan appeared, which, having survived the oblivion to which many of their competitors have been doomed, present suitable materials for a comparison of the like kind brought down to the distance of somewhat more than half a century from the present time. This is a period, it is true, within the full recollection of many now living; but to many more its domestic history is a tale of other times," and its manners in various respects must seem quite antiquated. It may be truly asserted, that changes in the state of the kingdom, external and internal, have taken place since that date, more strik. ing in several points than in any half-century upon record. The year 1756 was the commencement of a war, inauspicious and disgraceful at its outset, but in its progress more glorious and successful than any within the range of British history; and its termination left this island higher in the scale of nations than it had ever before stood, and in that train of rapid advance in interior improvement which untoward events have only temporarily impeded. In the mean time, a new reign had commenced, with all the novelty of views usual on such an event. Such alterations of circumstances could not fail of producing correspondent changes in modes and manners; and it may be presumed, that they will be as explicitly marked in a comparison of which one part is taken from the periodical works alluded to, as in the pa rallel to which the predecessors of those papers contributed.

The characters of these works are, indeed, considerably diversified. The first in date, the Rambler, of which Dr. Johnson was almost the sole writer, is a set of grave papers, in a finished style of composition, consisting chiefly of moral and critical es

says,

says, allegories, and tales, interspersed, indeed; with portraitures of character, and adventures in common life, but of which the former are derived rather from a closet and theoretical view of mankind, than from an actual survey of society; and the latter betray the very limited knowledge of the world to which the author's situation confined him: Justly, therefore, as the Rambler is admired, it is only incidentally that it can afford the requisite information concerning the peculiarities of the time.

Not very different is the character of the Adventurer, edited, and about half written, by Dr. Hawkesworth, and to which also Dr. Johnson was no small contributor. It possesses, indeed, more variety, and some of its stories in modern life are read with interest. But its pictures of manners, when attempted, want ease and freedom, and indicate a writer who surveyed society at a distance, rather than mingled with it.

The World, on the other hand, edited by Moore, a man who lived in town-society, and supported by the contributions of several persons not less known in the fashionable than in the lite rary circles, abounds with draughts of the reigning follies and foibles drawn from actual observation, and pourtrayed with equal liveliness and fidelity. Moore's own part, indeed, is chiefly dis tinguished by a perpetual vein of irony that masks the truth of representation, and is often tiresome and extravagant; but upon the whole, the World appears to me to possess more of the true character of a periodical publication than any of its modern rivals.

The Connoisseur was principally written by two young collegians, initiated into gay life both in town and country, but not introduced into the best company. It is accordingly charac terized by a vivacity of manner, approaching to pertness, and by lively and natural descriptions of such scenes as might occur to an academic familiarized with London. Its strain of thought is light and superficial; but it may be trusted as good authority for the manners and opinions that then floated upon the surface of common society.

From these various sources I have attempted to collect and arrange such facts relative to the modes of living and thinking about the middle of last century, as may serve for a comparison with those of the present period, which, I would hope, may not be destitute either of entertainment or utility.

Though dress is one of the most prominent circumstances in the fashions of the times, yet its vicissitudes are of no great importance in the estimate of national manners; for its sole principle being variety, it is continually fluctuating from one extreme to another, little affected by feelings of taste or propriety. It may, however, be remarked, from the authority of the World and the Connoisseur,

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Connoisseur, that about the year 1754, the ladies were distin, guished by a very free exposure of their persons both above and below, at the same time that they disfigured the shape by enor, mous hoops and square stiff stays, and wore patches near the left eye. This would make what we should consider as a very fantastical combination; and if there be such a thing as justness of taste in the affair of dress, the modern modes, planned upon a picturesque principle and the imitation of Greek models, may boast a great superiority in point of elegance to those of any former age in this country. To adapt dress to the outline of the human form, instead of disguising it by every kind of monstrous deviation from the proportions of nature, is certainly the dictate of genuine taste. Decency, however, is a separate consideration, and may be either observed or violated upon either system.

With respect to men's dress, we find that the era of swords, bag-wigs and full suits, for gentlemen, and of flowing perukes and fine waistcoats with a broad gold lace for respectable citizens, was still subsisting. Laced hats were likewise a frequent orna. ment for the heads of those who wished to inspire respect in the vulgar. An advocate for external distinctions of rank will la ment that the relics of these splendours are now only to be met with at court, and in the costume of parish beadles.

Of the taste in building and furniture, we have various inti. mations in these papers. In a number of the World written by Whitehead, we are informed, that "a few years ago every thing was Gothic-houses, beds, book-cases, and couches, were all copied from some parts or other of our old cathedrals." A change, however, had then taken place, by which all was trans, formed to the Chinese style; 66 66 or," says he, as it is sometimes more modestly expressed, partly in the Chinese manner." So universally was this taste spread, that "every gate to a cow-yard was in T's and Z's, and every hovel for cows had bells hanging at the corners." Relics of this mode in pagodas and pavilions, and palings so contrived as to keep no animal of moderate bulk out or in, still occasionally meet the eye. It was, however, too exotic to last; but our native Gothic, by the efforts of antiqua ries and men of taste, has maintained its ground, and acquired almost a classic dignity, so as to hold divided sway with the Gre cian. At the same time, our intimate connection with India has introduced the varanda, under which, in latitude 52, we may imagine ourselves sheltered from the rays of a tropical sun, while our windows down to the floor admit every passing breeze. Such is the sway of fashion!

The natural taste in gardening had been fully established at the period to which we are reverting, but with the extravagance usually attending a novelty. To contrast as much as possible the

straight

straight walks and alleys of our ancestors, every thing was made serpentine, and it was a great triumph of art to keep you winding for a quarter of an hour through the labyrinth of a shrubbery, without advancing fifty yards. Walls were thrown down, and ha-ha's contrived,

By whose miraculous assistance

You gain a prospect two fields distance.

The varieties obtained in extensive grounds were copied in mi niature; and Walpole informs us, in a paper of the World, that "there is not a citizen who does not take more pains to torture his acre and half into irregularities, than he formerly would have employed to make it as formal as his cravat." This extreme has been gradually refined away, and the truly natural style is at present adopted with a perfection that appears scarcely to admit of improvement.

One reason why real nature was less understood at that time, must have been the comparative infrequency of tours of curiosity in the wild and picturesque parts of the kingdom. There is not in all these papers a hint of excursions to the Lakes of Westmoreland, or to the romantic scenes of Wales and Scotland. It may seem still more extraordinary, that the whole system of sea. bathing, and residence during the summer months at maritime watering places, is posterior to this time; for though "the season of · universal migration" is mentioned, yet the only places of fashionable resort enumerated are Bath, Tunbridge, Epsom, Cheltenham, and Scarborough. Perhaps no age or country can exhibit so remarkable a change in domestic life within so short a period, as the fashion of spending the summer and autumnal months at the sea-side has occasioned among us, in all ranks from the peer to the tradesman, accompanied by as striking a transformation of the fishing villages round the coast into groups of lodginghouses and hotels, with all their appendages of rooms, vice, and imposition.

We shall be induced either to smile or wonder, by finding a heavy complaint in 1754 of the monstrous size of London, the buildings of which are said to have prodigiously increased within the last thirty years. The complaint, however, is as early as the time of Elizabeth; and it has been continually re-echoed by politicians, who, from the simile of a head too big for the body, have foretold some dreadful catastrophe to the state from this dis proportion. But if it was well-founded fifty years ago, what must it be now, when every year exhibits new streets, places, and squares, and makes a visible progress in connecting all the adjacent villages with the metropolis, and when on every side so much new is presented that we are at a loss to find what can be reckoned

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reckoned old? Yet the evils here apprehended from such an in crease have not taken place. The police of London is at least. as good as at any former period, and it has certainly become more healthy.

The country boxes of the citizens are a source of much ridi cule in these papers, especially in the Connoisseur, which at present would be inapplicable. The name of boxes, implied a minuteness of scale and plan, suited to the purpose of occasional retirement for two or three days in the week, while the town. house was the principal mansion; and their fantastic decorations corresponded with the ideas of persons who studied rural scenery in the tea-gardens about London. Hence their serpentine ditches and Chinese bridges; their temples

With many a bell and tawdry rag on,

And crested with a sprawling dragon;

and their profusion of leaden gods, "squabby Cupids, and clum sy Graces," manufactured at Hyde-park-corner. At present, the numerous villas round the Capital are the, family residences of those who possess only counting-houses or offices in town, and are fitted up with all the conveniences and elegancies of the best modern style.

The public amusements of the metropolis do not seem to have undergone much change in the course of half a century. At the commencement of this period, Garrick was in his prime, and the theatre, in consequence, would be the place for rational entertainment; for the theatres were not then too spacious to admit of the full enjoyment of what was passing on the stage. Pantomimes and spectacles were, however, then, as now, occasionally resorted to, to administer gratification to the eye as well as to the ear. The Connoisseur has an ironical paper on the question "whether the stage might not be made to be more conducive to virtue and morality?" in which it is recommended to the composers of pantomimes, instead of ransacking the Pantheon for their subjects, to take them from "some old garland, moral ballad, or penny history-book ;" and he specifies Patient Grizzle, The Children in the Wood, and The Wolf and Little Red Riding-hood, as very fit stories for moral pantomimes. I will not assert that this suggestion has really given the hint to some of our modern dramatic composers, but it is curious to observe the coincidence between seriousness and raillery in the course of vicissitude.

Lord Chesterfield, in one of his witty papers in the World, congratulates his polite cotemporaries on the revival of “that most rational entertainment" the Italian Opera, and brings seve ral arguments to prove its innocence, which are founded chiefly on its insipidity. The greatly increased taste for music, and that fastidiousness