I should doubtless please you, bedizened in this way; I see that you
wear the stupid gewgaws which it is the fashion to wear.

AR. We should always agree with the majority, and never cause ourselves
to be stared at. Extremes shock, and a wise man should do with his
clothes as with his speech; avoid too much affectation, and without
being in too great a hurry, follow whatever change custom introduces. I
do not think that we should act like those people who always exaggerate
the fashion, and who are annoyed that another should go further than
themselves in the extremes which they affect; but I maintain that it is
wrong, for whatever reasons, obstinately to eschew what every one
observes; that it would be better to be counted among the fools than to
be the only wise person, in opposition to every one else.

SGAN. That smacks of the old man who, in order to impose upon the world,
covers his grey hairs with a black wig.

AR. It is strange that you should be so careful always to fling my age
in my face, and that I should continually find you blaming my dress as
well as my cheerfulness. One would imagine that old age ought to think
of nothing but death, since it is condemned to give up all enjoyment;
and that it is not attended by enough ugliness of its own, but must
needs be slovenly and crabbed.

SGAN. However that may be, I am resolved to stick to my way of dress. In
spite of the fashion, I like my cap so that my head may be comfortably
sheltered beneath it; a good long doublet buttoned close, as it should
be,

[Footnote: The young dandies in the beginning of the reign of Louis