Salmagundi; or, The whim-whams and opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, esq. [pseud.] and others. By William Irving, James Kirke Paulding and Washington Irving. Printed from the original ed., with a preface and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck.

160 SALMAGUNDI.
almost all of them there is a strange diversity in opinion as to
what constitutes is essence; and every different class, like the
pagan nations, adore it under a different form. In England,
for instance, an honest cit packs up himself, his family and his
style, in a buggy or tim-whisky, and rattles away on Sunday
with his fair partner blooming beside him, like an Eastern bride,
and two chubby children, squatting like Chinese images at his
feet. A baronet requires a chariot and pair; a lord must needs
have a barouche and four; but a duke-oh! a duke cannot
possibly lumber his style along under a coach and six, and half
a score of footmen into the bargain. In China a puissant Mandarin loads at least three elephants with style; and an overgrown
sheep at the Cape of Good Hope, trails along his tail and his
style on a wheelbarrow. In Egypt, or at Constantinople, style
consists in the quantity of fur and fine clothes a lady can put on
without danger of suffocation; here it is otherwise, and consists
in the quantity she can put off without the risk of freezing. A
Chinese lady is thought prodigal of her charms if she expose the
tip of her nose, or the ends of her fingers, to the ardent gaze of
bystanders; and I recollect that all Canton was in a buzz in
consequence of the great belle, Miss Nangfous, peeping out of
the window with her face uncovered I Here the style is to show
not only the face, but the neck, shoulders, etc.; and a lady
never presumes to hide them except when she is not at home,
and not sufficiently undressed to see company.
This style has ruined the peace and harmony of many a worthy household; for no sooner do they set up for style, but
instantly all the honest old comfortable sans cergmonie furniture
is discarded; and you stalk cautiously about, amongst the
uncomfortable splendor of Grecian chairs, Egyptian tables, Turkey carpets, and Etruscan vases. This vast improvement in fur