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Citizen of the World
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General SummaryONE of Oliver Goldsmith’s earliest contributions to literature was The Citizen of the World, a series of letters purporting to be addressed by a Chinese philosopher resident in London to his Eastern friends. The letters first appeared in the columns of a newspaper. Goldsmith collected and published them in 1762, but apparently did not have enough confidence in his literary abilities to put his name on the title-page. The book reached a third edition in 1774. The idea of writing it may have been suggested to Goldsmith by the Persian Letters of Montesquieu, the French philosophical historian, who, in the guise of letters composed by two Persian gentlemen traveling in Europe, had satirized the social, political, and ecclesiastical follies of his day. Montesquieu’s work, which came out in 1721, really began the criticism by French philosophes of the abuses in Church and State under the Old Régime. Goldsmith’s purpose may not have been quite so serious, though beneath his flow of humor and light badinage may often be detected an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the England of the eighteenth century.
CHAPTER XVI
Goldsmith’s England1
79. Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies2
To make a fine gentleman, several trades are required, but
chiefly a barber; you have undoubtedly heard of the Jewish
champion,3 whose strength lay in his hair: one would think
that the English were for placing all wisdom there. To appear
wise, nothing more is requisite here than for a man to borrow
hair from the heads of all his neighbors, and clap it like a bush
on his own: the distributors of law and physic stick on such
quantities, that it is almost impossible even in idea to distinguish
between the head and the hair.
Those whom I have been now describing affect the gravity of
the lion; those I am going to describe more resemble the pert
vivacity of smaller animals. The barber, who is still master of
the ceremonies, cuts their hair close to the crown; and then
with a composition of meal and hog’s lard, plasters the whole
in such a manner as to make it impossible to distinguish whether
the patient wears a cap or a plaster; but to make the picture
more perfectly striking, conceive the tail of some beast, a grayhound’s
tail, or a pig’s tail for instance, appended to the back
of the head, and reaching down to that place where tails in
other animals are generally seen to begin; thus betailed and
bepowdered, the man of taste fancies he improves in beauty,
dresses up his hard-featured face in smiles, and attempts to look
hideously tender. Thus equipped, he is qualified to make love,
and hopes for success more from the powder on the outside of
his head than the sentiments within.
Yet when I consider what sort of a creature the fine lady is, to
whom he is supposed to pay his addresses, it is not strange to
find him thus equipped in order to please. She is herself every
whit as fond of powder, and tails, and hog’s lard as he: to speak
my secret sentiments, most reverend Fum Hoam,1 the ladies
here are horridly ugly; I can hardly endure the sight of them;
they no way resemble the beauties of China: the Europeans
have a quite different idea of beauty from us; when I reflect
on the small-footed perfections of an Eastern beauty, how is it
possible I should have eyes for a woman whose feet are ten
inches long. I shall never forget the beauties of my native city
of Nanfew. How very broad their faces; how very short their
noses; how very little their eyes; how very thin their lips;
how very black their teeth; the snow on the tops of Bao is not
fairer than their cheeks; and their eyebrows are small as the
line by the pencil of Quamsi. Here a lady with such perfections
would be frightful; Dutch and Chinese beauties indeed
have some resemblance, but English women are entirely different;
red cheeks, big eyes, and teeth of a most odious whiteness
are not only seen here, but wished for; and then they have
such masculine feet as actually serve some for walking!
Yet uncivil as nature has been, they seem resolved to outdo
her in unkindness; they use white powder, blue powder, and
black powder for their hair, and a red powder for the face on
some particular occasions.
They like to have the face of various colors, as among the
Tartars of Koreki, frequently sticking on, with spittle, little
black patches on every part of it, except on the tip of the nose,
which I have never seen with a patch. You’ll have a better
idea of their manners of placing these spots, when I have finished
a map of an English face patched up to the fashion, which
shall shortly be sent to increase your curious collection of paintings,
medals, and monsters.
But what surprises more than all the rest, is, what I have
just now been credibly informed by one of this country: "Most
ladies here," says he, "have two faces; one face to sleep in, and
another to show in company; the first is generally reserved for
the husband and family at home, the other put on to please
strangers abroad; the family face is often indifferent enough,
but the outdoor one looks something better; this is always made
at the toilet, where the looking-glass and toad-eater sit in council
and settle the complexions of the day."
1 Oliver Goldsmith, , edited by Austin Dobson. 2 vols.
London, 1900. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd.
2 Goldsmith, , vol. i, pp. 24#8211;26.
3 Samson.
1 Goldsmith took this name from the title of a work Chinese Tales; or the Wonderful
Adventures of the Mandarine Fum Hoam, translated from the French and published
in 1725.
Contents:
Chicago: Austin Dobson, ed., "Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies," Citizen of the World in Readings in Modern European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: D.C. Heath, 1926), 170–171. Original Sources, accessed April 26, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1PNL1PVF7DZ7R5A.
MLA: . "Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies." Citizen of the World, edited by Austin Dobson, Vol. i, in Readings in Modern European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, D.C. Heath, 1926, pp. 170–171. Original Sources. 26 Apr. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1PNL1PVF7DZ7R5A.
Harvard: (ed.), 'Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies' in Citizen of the World. cited in 1926, Readings in Modern European History, ed. , D.C. Heath, Boston, pp.170–171. Original Sources, retrieved 26 April 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1PNL1PVF7DZ7R5A.
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