Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries — John Shaqi
Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
"We now ascended a pair of stairs, which brought us into an
old-fashioned room, where a gaudy crowd of odoriferous _Tom-Essences_
were walking backwards and forwards with their hats in their hands,
not daring to convert them to their intended use, lest it should put
the foretops of their wigs into some disorder. We squeezed through
till we got to the end of the room, where, at a small table, we sat
down, and observed that it was as great a rarity to hear anybody call
for a dish of _Politician's porridge_, or any other liquor, as it is
to hear a beau call for a pipe of tobacco; their whole exercise being
to charge and discharge their nostrils, and keep the curls of their
periwigs in their proper order. The clashing of their snush-box lids,
in opening and shutting, made more noise than their tongues. Bows and
cringes of the newest mode were here exchanged, 'twixt friend and
friend, with wonderful exactness. They made a humming like so many
hornets in a country chimney, not with their talking, but with their
whispering over their new _Minuets_ and _Bories_, with their hands in
their pockets, if only freed from their snush-box. We now began to be
thoughtful of a pipe of tobacco; whereupon we ventured to call for
some instruments of evaporation, which were accordingly brought us,
but with such a kind of unwillingness, as if they would much rather
have been rid of our company; for their tables were so very neat, and
shined with rubbing, like the upper-leathers of an alderman's shoes,
and as brown as the top of a country housewife's cupboard. The floor
was as clean swept as a Sir Courtly's dining-room, which made us look
round, to see if there were no orders hung up to impose the forfeiture
of so much Mop-money upon any person that should spit out of the
chimney-corner. Notwithstanding we wanted an example to encourage us
in our porterly rudeness, we ordered them to light the wax-candle, by
which we ignified our pipes and blew about our whiffs; at which
several Sir Foplins drew their faces into as many peevish wrinkles, as
the beaux at the Bow-street Coffee-house, near Covent-garden did, when
the gentleman in masquerade came in amongst them, with his
oyster-barrel muff and turnip-buttons, to ridicule their fopperies."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account