DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0186
142 op CHARACTER. [lECT. VI.
changed, but their appendages may be, and accord-
ingly have been, almost ad infinitum. For insrance
i—The absence, or superfluity of the hair of the
beard, and that of the head, the different forms into
which it is curled, twisted, or plaited, and the in-
numerable ornaments to which mankind have had,
and still have, recourse, for an addition of (supposed)
elegance, contribute very much to diversity of cha-
racter.
It was, certainly, a pleasant as well as curious
work, composed by one Dr. Bulwer in the last
century, which he called " Anihi opo-Metamorphosis ;
Man transformed, or the Artificial Changeling y
wherein he shews what a strange variety of shapes
and dresses mankind have adopted, in the different-
ages and nations of the world. Even during our
own time, we may remember no small difference in
the same person, occasioned by that variety of fa-
shion which has appeared among us. If we extend
our thoughts a few generations, we find the hair worn
almost plain, and whiskers in vogue; afterwards,
enormous bushes of black hair, succeeded by equally
enormous bushes of white ; not to mention innumer-
able revolutions in other parts of dress, from long to
short, and from short to long; each pleading some
kind of elegance, or taste, to recommend it,—each
alternately justly exploded.
Not that every new mode of dress, or of de-
coration, is thought elegant at first; but, after
the eye has been sufficiently accustomed to it, we
commend it. In fact, the force of custom is
inere-
changed, but their appendages may be, and accord-
ingly have been, almost ad infinitum. For insrance
i—The absence, or superfluity of the hair of the
beard, and that of the head, the different forms into
which it is curled, twisted, or plaited, and the in-
numerable ornaments to which mankind have had,
and still have, recourse, for an addition of (supposed)
elegance, contribute very much to diversity of cha-
racter.
It was, certainly, a pleasant as well as curious
work, composed by one Dr. Bulwer in the last
century, which he called " Anihi opo-Metamorphosis ;
Man transformed, or the Artificial Changeling y
wherein he shews what a strange variety of shapes
and dresses mankind have adopted, in the different-
ages and nations of the world. Even during our
own time, we may remember no small difference in
the same person, occasioned by that variety of fa-
shion which has appeared among us. If we extend
our thoughts a few generations, we find the hair worn
almost plain, and whiskers in vogue; afterwards,
enormous bushes of black hair, succeeded by equally
enormous bushes of white ; not to mention innumer-
able revolutions in other parts of dress, from long to
short, and from short to long; each pleading some
kind of elegance, or taste, to recommend it,—each
alternately justly exploded.
Not that every new mode of dress, or of de-
coration, is thought elegant at first; but, after
the eye has been sufficiently accustomed to it, we
commend it. In fact, the force of custom is
inere-