153. Conformity;
Dress
Cards, dress, and dancing, however, all found their advocates in
Dr. Johnson, who inculcated, upon principle, the cultivation of
those arts, which many a moralist thinks himself bound to reject,
and many a Christian holds unfit to be practised. "No person
(said he one day) goes under-dressed till he thinks himself of
consequence enough to forbear carrying the badge of his rank upon
his back." And in answer to the arguments urged by Puritans,
Quakers, &c. against showy decorations of the human figure, I
once heard him exclaim, "Oh, let us not be found when our Master
calls us, ripping the lace off our waistcoats, but the spirit of
our contention from our souls and our tongues! Let us all
conform in outward customs, which are of no consequence, to the
manners of those whom we live among, and despise such paltry
distinctions. Alas, Sir (continued he), a man who cannot get to
heaven in a green coat, will not find his way thither the sooner
in a grey one."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
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1,753. Appearances; Dress;
Wealth
"The most striking effect of riches is the splendour of dress,
which every man has observed to enforce respect, and facilitate
reception."
(from the fictional "Tim Ranger")
Johnson: Idler #62 (June 23, 1759)
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