It destroys before its time, as Mr.Say complains, whatever it lays its hands on."Any thing which a person has provided himself with, to serve some useful purpose, is preserved as long as possible, its consumption is gradual.An object of luxury is of no use from the moment it ceases to gratify either the senses, or the vanity, of its possessor.It is destroyed, at least in greater part, before having ceased to exist, and without having supplied any real want; -- luxury has in abhorrence every profitable expense."The expenditure occasioned by this desire falls on all classes of society.
To supply it takes a large portion of the revenue of what are called the middle classes, of those who have difficulty to prove their claim to be so ranked, of those who are comfortable in the lower classes, and even of those who have difficulty in procuring absolute necessaries."In all classes," says Mr.Storch, "the desire of show (le luxe d'estentation)has been able to identify itself with whatever serves the comfort or the conveniences of life.It is this which borders with a narrow lace the head dress of the country girl, and gives to her whole attire colors and a shape foreign to its utility." (99)I should wish to apply, to the expenditure occasioned by the passion of vanity, the term luxury.Though that word has properly a wider signification, it is perhaps the one that comes nearest to mark the thing we speak of.
It is somewhat difficult to define precisely how far the limits of luxury, so understood, extend.It is a point which, probably, different people would fix differently.Whatever amount of pleasure any thing gives, that is entirely distinct from its rarity, or any association with that circumstance, certainly is not luxury.There is a pleasure in the sight of certain shapes and colors, and arrangements of them, which is quite independent of their cost; there is a fitness, also, in the texture of certain fabrics, to preserve from the extremes of heat and cold, to add to the beauties of feature or form, and to correct their defects, that, of itself, gives pleasure; there are pleasures, too, which the mind creates to itself, out of the associations of these.We feel pleasure, in a cold day, in looking at a person well wrapped up in warm furs, as in a hot day, in seeing that one has no lack of dean linen.A nobleman of a right mind experiences gratification from seeing the clean sheets and warm blankets of the peasant, as well as when he enters and looks round his own sedulously arranged chamber.It is this feeling we experience when we say that such a house, or dress, has an air of comfort about it.The term has properly reference to the sensual, and to the benevolent, not to the selfish feelings.The sight of statues, paintings, flowers, is also capable of affording a high degree of gratification to many minds.The degree of pleasure thus experienced is different in different individuals, and it is scarcely possible to ascertain what its exact amount is in any one; hence the difficulty, in most cases, of determining what is, or is not, luxury.Mr.Storch, in a chapter of his system from which I have already quoted, observes: "All the ornaments which decorate the apartments of the rich, that gilt work, those sculptures which art and taste seem to have formed solely to delight the mind, are nothing but a sort of magical characters, presenting every where this inscription: Admire the extent of my riches." Vanity, there can be little doubt, is the predominating feeling prompting to the construction of such apartments; it is not, however, the only one.Well executed statues, even elegant gilding, have certainly something in themselves pleasing to the eye, and to the mind, of the beholder, whether owner or guest.The larger part of the gratification derived is drawn probably in most cases from vanity, and we occasionally meet with a character whose pleasures are altogether those of ostentation; like Pope's prodigal, Not for himself he sees, or hears, or eats, Artists must choose his pictures, music, meats;He buys for Topham drawings and designs, For Pembroke, statues, dirty gods, and coins;Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne alone, And books for Mead, and butterflies for Sloane.
But, in most cases, real enjoyment mixes largely with mere vanity, in every expenditure of the sort.
