and putting suspicion to shame, that she be- nesses. -The coloured gentlemen of the comes glorious.-The widow of Bona-city of New-York petitioned the corporaparte has married an old and ugly Austrian tion for a place in the procession at the General. "Her fittest place were by Na-Grand Canal celebration; the modest repoleon's grave."- -Mr. Everett, American quest was not granted, there being no lack minister to Spain, fell violently in love with of colours on this occasion. A gentleKing Ferdinand at first sight, and made a man and lady of colour were willing to condeclaration of his passion. He did not "get descend so far as to open the Grand Ball in the bag." -Some gentleman threw a po-a Guinea double-shuffle; but their favour tato in the New-York theatre, which put was dispensed with, as it was feared that out another gentleman's eye; the latter has they would eclipse all the other dancers. not seen double since. N. B. He was not -The Editor of an American newspaan Irishman, but a Jonathan, and marvels per, speaking of our squadron in the Medithat the potato should have been sent to terranean, says, that he is "happy to learn him; had it been a pumpkin he would not that the ships and crews generally are in have been surprised.— -Mr. Stone, of the good health." Quere, to what diseases are Commercial, lost three subscribers for put- ships liable, and how are they doctored? ting on panoply "in the cause of honour, -The state of New-York turned another morality, and virtue"!!!The public lost political somerset, at which both parties all confidence in nine-tenths of the new rubbed their eyes, wondering "what the banking institutions.-The President of a d-l it could mean. certain bank lost his principle; the depositors of money also lost their principal. The difference in termination is a mere trifle. We would recommend to the friends of morality, who are regulating the morals of -A certain doctor lost a good patient by the theatre, to employ a portion of their bleeding him too profusely during the first zeal in redressing the wrongs which virtue year.- -A gentleman lost a good rattan by has suffered at the hands of those offenders unfortunately being out of the way when who have been preying on the pecuniary called upon to receive the present. N. B. distresses of the community. Perhaps they The present was to have been conferred ad can find fitter objects of indignation in men dorsum.A shocking attempt was made who have not paid the penalty of their crimes to extinguish “ Morality" during the late than in one solitary individual who has atotheatrical disturbances; it was actually ned, by the judgment of the law, for a solithreatened with murder; vide the commu-tary offence. The champions of morality nication of "Morality" in a daily paper. should show no partiality. -A Greek sea-captain was so rude as to The following resolution was passed by ble institution in our city)-that the philosopher of old, (Socrates) who said, "do as you will, you will repent," was a dunce, for we have all lived Bachelors to this day, and never repented. tell the commander of an Austrian brig to "fire and be d-d." He could not have been an Athenian, for Athenian politeness the "Bachelor's Club," (a highly respectais, or at least was, above such incivility. Quere-What is the Greek for d―n, in the sense here intended? Is it xalagaoua? -Some friends to decency, propriety and public order, gave practical proof of the sincerity of their professions by throwing apples, oranges and sand-bags at a defenceless actor. The "Cool Club," (who meet only in There is something chivalrous in warm weather), at their last meeting in such courage.- -Valuable present.-A August, passed the following resolutions: Vermont Editor has been presented with a 1st. That Diogenes was a fool, for when potato measuring nearly two feet in circum-Alexander begged him to crave a boon, he ference; it should be presented to Pat Ma- said, "stand from between me and the gee, the Irish Giant. The President of sun." the United States of America shook hands with a foreigner, on board of a steam-boat! The fact is attested by several credible wit 2nd. That Macbeth, was wiser than either Diogenes or Solomon, for he said, "I gin to be a' weary o' the sun." THEATRICAL. Ir gives us much pleasure to insert the following criticism: it is from the pen of a close observer and spirited writer. And when Tubal informs him of Antonio's losses, the horrid earnestness of the exclamation, “I thank God, I thank God.” MR. KEAN'S SHYLOCK. Mr. Kean made his fourth appearance on Friday the 11th inst. in the Merchant of only of Venice. Of his Shylock we cannot express ourselves in adequate terms-to be appreciated, it must be seen. It was in truth as Pope said of Macklin, "The very Jew That Shakspeare drew." But it is in vain to particularize: we will merely mention the court scene. The object for which he stood there was never lost sight of. The Duke harangued, Bassanio pleaded, Gratiano stormed; Shylock thought " his bond." His manner towards the latter was particularly fine. A common actor would have looked at him. Kean stood with his back to him, his eye fixed steadfastly on the object of his hatred, until he had finished; then turning round, its fullest extent, gazed on it with a fiendish he slowly drew forth the bond, opened it to exultation, and pointing to the seal, exclaims It could not be called acting-it was the thing itself; no trickery—no laying out for applause-no looking at the audience (as much as to say, was not that well done?") "Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, from his entrance to his exit he was perfecThou but offend'st the lungs to speak so loud." tion. Shylock, unlike most of Kean's cha- have been heard at the farthest part of the The opening of that parchment might racters, has no adventitious circumstances house. There was fine acting too in the to set it off-no regal pomp-none of the unwilling and cautious manner in which paraphernalia of greatness-he stands alone he let it pass from his hands to that of the amid the haughty Venetians, a degraded" learned doctor," and the trembling eagerold man; and in the hands of a common ness he evinces in seizing it whenPortia enperformer is so. From the time of Shak- treats that it may be torn, as if apprehensive speare to that of Macklin, this was general- of the mere possibility of such an event— ly performed by the lowest comedian in the company, and sunk into a mere buffoon --and it requires power of the highest order to make him what Kean made him-the very soul of the play. In his first scene he was principally the cold calculating Jew, till aroused by the interrogatories of the Christian Antonio Shy. Three thousand ducats-'tis a good round sum; "When-when it is paid, according to the tenor." This character was the foundation of Mr. Kean's fame; it was this in which he first made his appearance before a London audience. It is said by many that Mr. Kean is at the head of a mode of acting, which they denominate the Kean School; we know not where that school is to be found: he stands alone, secure and towering in the consciousness and beauty of transcendent genius-servile imitators he may have, who will perhaps be able to compass a few of his peculiarities-his manner of starting, of striking his hands together, and so on; but intensity of passion and power is not to be caught by imitation. As a tragedian, with the exception perhaps of Macready, there is no living PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. The first scene in the third act, with Tu-man fit to be compared with him. bal, was as fine a display of histrionic talent as can possibly be conceived. Few will forget his look-the pointing of his fore-finger, as if his daughter's corse were actually before him, and his manner of pronouncing the word "dead" Shy. I would that my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! &c. JAMES G. BROOKS, C. Editor and Proprietor, No. 4 Wall-street, New-York. J. SEYMOUR, printer, 49 John-street. AND Phi Beta Kappa Repository. FIDE AC FIDUCIA. NEW-YORK, DECEMBER 3, 1825. No. 15. LITERARY. ENGLISH AND FRENCH TABLE D'HOTE. "Dinner now waited on the board All complaisant and debonair, Swift. VOL. I. near the pig" this might have a double meaning, but I was content to take it literally. A noise was now made by the drawing in of chairs, and we fell too, very much in earnest, at our meal; the waiter conveyed each request to be helped to any particular dish, otherwise the two principal carvers sent the food round, and helped themselves in turn. The parson's ambition led him to the top of the table, but he was punished for it, his right hand neighbour being deaf, and his left hand one keeping up a conversation with his lawyer on law business, in a low tone of voice, during the whole time of dinner. A number of the frequenters of this house must either have been men of business, or "LET us go to an English ordinary," said must have been engaged to the theatres, as a reverend clergyman to me one day; “I they quitted table a quarter of an hour like," continued he, "to see the honest after the introduction of the dessert: of the countenances of the most thinking people in sixteen present, four distinct parties of two the world, and to hear my mother tongue; or three made up a round dozen, who spoke I like also, occasionally, to feed on plain to their own party only; two gentlemen food, fish and butcher's meat, without a sinnever uttered one word whilst I remained, gle ragout, fricassée or other made dish, but and only one (a dentist) smiled: this he did all wholesome simplicity." I complied with very frequently, and was evidently looking my friend's wish, and we sat down to gravy out for customers, but he could not make soups, a plain boiled turbot, and a piece of the conversation general in spite of his teeth: roast beef; there were other dishes of meat this was my left-hand neighbour. My a l'Anglaise, which we will pass over, all right-hand man dealt in monosyllables duwas decent and fairly cooked, the room was ring dinner-time, but came out in the shape crowded, and sixteen, exclusively of my of politics, and addressed his discourse to friend and myself, sat down to one table. me half an hour after dinner: in proportion At my entrance to the room I made a as he gained confidence and acquaintance, circular bow, which was only answered by he improved in matter and in manner, and I a country gentleman near me, and I took had to regret that an engagement, which I one of the lowest places at the board, no- could not put off, forced me to lose his sociebody offering either to promote me, or to ty, which I enjoyed for two hours. Just as change place with me; the eating party I was about to retire, I motioned the clergydropped in irregularly, some very leisurely, man to accompany me; but he chose to reand others in a great hurry for fear of being main, and he afterwards informed me that too late; there was much scuffle at the he was just getting comfortable as I went hanging up of hats, and some emulation as away, that the deaf man retired five minutes to getting good places, some of which (the after me; and the lawyer and his client bighest) seemed to be assumed as a matter turned round to him, and beckoning up my of right; I detected one arch looking man neighbour, whom I had just left, they formplacing himself in such a manner as to ed a party of four, commenced hard drinkprove, to me, that he had no choice in a neighbour, but much preference as to a dish; another studiously avoided a carving epicure of sun burnt complexion, feasting on a young Dining on the Boulevards, one day, I perceived an seat, and a third whispered to a stock bro-pig; his neighbour being asked what he would be helpker, whom I knew by sight, "I shall sit ed to, replied-Un cochon roti comme monsieur. ing, got into general conversation, and mencement of the repast; the female part kept it up in the utmost harmony and hilar- of our circle gave a great charm to the eveity until midnignt. "You lost a most pleas- ning; a thousand obliging and complimenant evening," concluded he. "I dare say I tary things were said to them by utter strandid," replied I: "but, in the first instance, gers, but in that tone of urbanity and reI was engaged; and in the second, I could, spect, that they could not be mistaken, and not wait so long a while for the commence- they were accordingly received with smiles ment of a pleasant evening as you, consider- and pretty answers, as the incense of suaviing the loss of time as one of the greatest ty due to the superiority of women's charms; losses a man can experience in this brief one of the ladies was actually witty, and anand uncertain life." I had forgotten to re- other had manners so pleasing, that I felt mark, that those who left the table previous nothing short of warm friendship for her, to me, quitted it as if they were in an En- and involuntary regret when I quitted the glish coffee-house*; and one person a (North presence of one who put me in such good-huAmerican) put on his hat before he left the mour with myself. The dinner was a very room; he was followed by a Newfoundland lengthy one, but did not appear so, and the dog, which had slept upon my feet during party broke up in less than an hour after dinner-time, and when I patted his head the dessert came on the table: there was licked my hand in return; to tell the truth, great variety in the conversation, in which he seemed to be one of the kindest creatures the French author introduced a work of his in company. My reverend friend proposed own, and read some very pleasing extracts; to me on the following day, to go to a fa- very little wine was drunk, except by the mous beef-steak house, much frequented by general, the parson, and myself. The first the English, but I had not a beef-steak ap-had been in England, and my friend always petite that day, and, moreover, I had not allowanced himself to a bottle of claret and the time to wait for a sociable conclusion to a plain, long, dull dinner, such as that of the day before; I therefore engaged the clergyman to accompany me to a French table d'hote, where I occasionally dined, and which was mostly frequented by professional men and half-pay officers of a certain rank. one glass of Madeira during dinner. Before we separated, the general expressed a wish that we should meet again, to which I was as much inclined as the brave veteran, and have enjoyed his society very frequently since. On many other occasions I have met at this table d'hote with many well-bred and Our number was twenty, all at the same well-informed persons of both sexes, and table; four ladies ornamented and improved never in one solitary instance, had to blush the party; ten gentlemen were decorated, for the vulgarity of any one present. There and the other four were habited in black, is a general polish in the circle, all extenand seemed to be authors and medical men. Each entering person gave the inclination and smile of good breeding to the circle; the ladies were handed in with the greatest politeness-the entire circle rose to receive them, and after they had the seats of preeminence offered to them, the rest of the company vied in humility as to placing their neighbours above themselves; great attention was paid to a general officer, and he received it with becoming gratitude and dignity, and, addressing the clergyman in broken English, he requested him to sit on his right hand, then beckoning me a place near my countryman, but I preferred taking the general's left hand, which attention he felt and repaid tenfold. sive as it is, formed by les habitués of the house, and there is a species of external kindliness and cheerful civility, which lights up the countenances of those who dine in public, in happy contrast with the cold independence and secure deportment of the majority of our countrymen. There is no pride exhibited towards an attendant at the bar, nor is there any mortal sin in saying a gallant thing to a female met by chance at the open table of a pension, or at a restaurateur's; indeed, the former is of great advantage to the travelling gentleman. Many of these boarding-houses or tables, are kept by officers' widows, and by reduced nobility and gentry, the person presiding is not unfrequently highly accomplished, and always Our dinner consisted of two courses, ad-obliging and well-bred. mirably cooked; but the only plain dishes were the bouilli and a roasted turkey; the others were tossed up to the best advantage, and pleased me prodigiously. The conversation became general almost at the com *Travelled and well-bred gentlemen comply with the customs of those countries to which they travel, but stubborn John Bull is above all this, and there is nothing which annoys the French more than to see him enter a coffee-house, with his hat on, and pass the dame Comptoir without the bow of courtesy. Economy will point out this mode of living as very desirable, and a lesson may be taken daily of much utility to the inexperihis intention of seeing the world; the conenced person, who is only just entered on tact of foreign manners will improve the home stock of integrity and good-will, and the voyageur on life's current will gain an ease in manner, added to amusement and instruction. The mingling of female socie ty in these assemblages is to me delightful, it is a balm to the man who passes many solitary hours, it sweetens the cup, and gives a zest and piquancy (if I may use the term,) which adds a relish to the repast, and is to the drawing-room, half-an-hour before dinner-time, like a number of beautiful flowers giving odour to the apartment, and relieving the eye amidst heavy furniture and pictures of sameness; the presence of the fair creates a perpetual sunshine; for, as Morris inimitably says in one of his masterly ed their religion. Custom must approve of fashion. Nothing but what is so approved can be tolerated,-fashion, unless tolerated by custom, is put beyond the pale of adoption, made liable to pains and penalties, and finally driven into obscurity. Thus the heretical attempts made by presumptuous individuals of the supreme bon ton to launch a mode have been many; but in spite of every effort, if custom have withheld her patronage, it has perished in neglect. Lady Arcot, just arrived from India, with all the notoriety of wealth and the sanguine hope of a fashionable of the first water, endeavoured to introduce palanquins for visiting or shopping in a London summer, by no means a bad scheme; many stood and admired her equipage, but the thing would not take. On the other hand, a noble lord, a few years ago, cut off the skirts of his coat, and, outre as he appeared, the fashion was universally adopted; the rage for shorn garments spread like a pestilence, and did not cease until another fashion, perhaps equally extravagant, "pushed it from its stool." Fashion has numerous attendants in her temple every sort Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners, Jugglers, and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics, messengers too that go up and down the whole range of her empire with unwearying activity, and search out novelties, to satisfy her insatiable demands. Her extremest votaries are nearly always in the ranks of weak intellect, while every fool of a particular THE PHILOSOPHY OF FASHION. It will, perchance, set some readers in a puzzle to discover what connexion can exist between fashion and philosophy, especially those who are apt to confound terms, and imagine that philosophy can only be applied in the vulgar sense. That so profound a word should be used to designate any of the follies of society, may appear a little anomalous. Most have heard of the fashionable philosophy of modern times, which, after all, is a complete misnomer, if philosophy be to be used but in one sense. Carp not, gentle-class in life is a certain devotee. How demen, at terms; two and two do not always make four, in spite of Cocker—at least, if political economists know any thing at all, and many a seeming contradiction may be resolved into a consistent whole. "Old improbabilities," says a late writer, "are become modern probabilities,” and the philosophy of fashion may be comprehended in an analysis of the prominent characteristics of a numerous sect of the community :-marry, proceed we then analytically. grading is this devotion of mankind to a reasonless phantom; yet how mysterious in its origin! Youth with its generous sympathies catches the contagion, and the aged, in spite of experience, are as much wedded to it as the young. A great portion of the cold heartlessness of the many, is owing to the practice of duplicity and insincerity instilled by fashionable manners, arising from the constant efforts of men to appear what they are not, and to hide under a glozing To catch "the Cynthia of the minute," courtesy envy, hatred," and all uncharita-to depict the ever-shifting Proteus univer-bleness." An air of fashion borne by many sally worshipped by the most ardent of vota- honourable individuals, it must be granted, ries, to define with fidelity its multiform sets off the innate good principles they postransmutations, and the flickering hues that sess; such would scout fashion if she made sparkle around the idol coming and going like them hypocrites-they are what they seem, the ebb and flow of the ocean, would be a vain they mean all they say-they may be trusttask for pen and pencil united. Some paint- ed. But how few is the number of such as ers complete a picture by only delineating confer honour upon fashion, not fashion upon the striking parts in a bold manner, and them! Yet all must more or less adopt a flinging into undefined shadow those to which portion of it to pass current in the world with, their art is unequal-thus by bold and pro- -as in taking our necessary food we must minent outlines the original is easily recog- ever swallow some portion of a deleterious nised. This must be our stratagem, we poison. The wise must therefore follow must hit off a sketchy draught, and leave the fashion at a sober distance, while its intoxifilling up to imagination, that best of finish-cated disciples press close on its heels, and ers. Custom, then is styled "the law of try to hug themselves in its harlequin gar fools." and fashior man be truly denomi ments There is no obiect on earth so va |