It is
probable, however, that men of high rank and public station may have
introduced the practice by way of releasing corporate bodies in large
towns from the burdensome ceremonies of public receptions; thus making
a compromise between their own dignity and the convenience of the
provincial public. Once introduced, and the arrangements upon the road
for meeting the wants of travellers once adapted to such a practice,
it would easily become universal. It is, however, very possible that
mere horror of the heats of daytime may have been the original ground
for it. The ancients appear to have shrunk from no hardship as so
trying and insufferable as that of heat. And in relation to that
subject, it is interesting to observe the way in which the ordinary
use of language has accommodated itself to that feeling. Our northern
way of expressing effeminacy, is derived chiefly from the hardships of
cold. He that shrinks from the trials and rough experience of real
life in any department, is described by the contemptuous prefix of
_chimney-corner_, as if shrinking from the cold which he would meet on
coming out into the open air amongst his fellow men. Thus, a
_chimney-corner_ politician for a mere speculator or unpractical
dreamer. But the very same indolent habit of aerial speculation, which
courts no test of real life and practice, is described by the ancients
under the term _umbraticus_, or seeking the cool shade, and shrinking
from the heat.
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