Arbiter elegantiarum

We had many books to teach us our more important duties, and to settle opinions in philosophy or politicks ; but an Arbiter Elegantiarum, a judge of propriety, was yet wanting, who should survey the track of daily conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, which teaze the passer, though they do not wound him.

in his inmost heart he desired to be something more than a mere arbiter elegantiarum, to be consulted on the wearing of a jewel, or the knotting of a necktie, or the conduct of a cane.

Modernism had been brought from the court of Hārūn ar-Rashīd by Ziryāb, the Persian singer who became an arbiter elegantiarum in the provincial capital of al-Andalus.