BETWEEN YOU AND ME.
“Here, Sir, you’ll find, by way of prologue,
A choice imbroglio. Philosophy
Gay in her gravity; and Poesy
Casting her spangles on the theme of dress.
Lik’st thou’t not, no merry Christmas to thee!”
Old Play.
It is remarked by Mr. T. C. Grattan, in his ‘Jacqueline of Holland,’ that the “suitableness of raiment and the becomingness of manners are links in the chain of social life, which harmonize with and beautify the whole. There is infinitely more wisdom,” he adds “in submitting to than in spurning those necessary concomitants of civilization, which, being artificial throughout, require the cement of elegance and refinement to polish, if it cannot lighten, the chain.” I offer this pinch of philosophy to those who like to be tempted by something didactic. I would not, for the world, however, have them believe that I shall repeat the temptation, or follow the example, in my illustrations of ‘Habits and Men.’ And when I say “Men,” I would imply man in its general sense,—a sense in which “woman” has the better and more perfect half; for, as the poet sings of Nature,—