I HAVE often been surprised, that among the many descriptions which
ingenious writers have given of places and people comparatively
insignificant, no complete and systematic account has yet been written of
the Fashionable World. It is true, that our poets and caricaturists have
honoured this people with a great share of their notice, and many
particulars, not a little edifying, have been made known, through the
medium of their admirable publications. It is also true, that our
prose-writers have occasionally cast a very pertinent glance over this
fairy ground. Some of these latter have even gone so far, as to write
absolute treatises upon certain parts of the Fashionable character. Mrs.
More, for example, has delineated the religion, and Lord Chesterfield the
morals, of this singular people with the greatest exactness and
precision. Nor would it be just to overlook the very acceptable labours
of those writers who, in their Court-calendars and Court-almanacks, bring
us acquainted, from time to time, with the modes of dress which prevail
in the Fashionable World, and the names of its most distinguished
inhabitants. But after all that has been done, towards exhibiting the
manners, and unfolding the character, of this splendid community, much
remains to be done: for though certain details have been well enough
handled, yet I repeat, that a complete and systematic account of the
Fashionable World, is still a desideratum in Cosmography.
I am far from pretending to either the ability or the design of supplying
this deficiency. The utmost that I propose to myself, is to bring more
particulars into a group, than former writers have done; and to exhibit
an outline, upon which others of more enlarged experience may improve.
It seems to me of great importance to the interests of society, that its
members should be known to each other: and of this I am persuaded, that
if there be one description of people, the knowledge of whose genuine
character would be more edifying to mankind than another, it is—the
people of Fashion.