scarcely known to the wisdom of our ancestors, are a luxury now so
indispensable, that there is hardly a mechanic who has not his little
library: while a piano forte also has become as necessary to a
farm-house as a mangle or a frying-pan; and there are actually more
copies printed of "Cherry ripe," than of Tull's husbandry. Is not a
silver fork, moreover, an acknowledged necessary in every decent
establishment? while the barbarous Mussulman dispenses with knives and
forks altogether, and eats his meal, like a savage as he is, with his
fingers. Nor can it be deemed an objection to this hypothesis, that
the Turk, who rejects all the refinements of European civilization,
excepting only gunpowder, esteems four wives to be necessary to a
decent establishment; while the most clear-sighted Englishmen think
one more than enough for enjoyment. The difference is more formal than
real.

Henry the fourth of France had but one coach between himself and his
queen; whereas no respectable person can now dispense at the least
with a travelling chariot, a barouche, a cab, and a dennet.
Civilization, which received a temporary check during the
revolutionary war, has resumed its march in double-quick time since
the Continent has been opened. Champaigne and ices have now become
absolute necessaries at tables where a bottle of humble port and a
supernumerary pudding were esteemed luxuries, fit only for honouring
the more solemn rites of hospitality. I say nothing of heads of hair,
and false (I beg pardon--artificial) teeth; without which, at a
certain age, there is no appearing. A bald head, at the present day,
is as great an indecency as Humphrey Clinker's unmentionables; and a
dismantled mouth is an outrage on well-bred society. Then, again, how
necessary is a cigar and a meerschaum to a well-appointed man of
fashion, and how can a gentleman possibly show at Melton without at