“Well! I have my beadle-beadles, I take, are inseparable from royal
blood-and my servants in liveries. After all (she tosses her head) what
can there be in beadles and liveries? Why! the commonest and vulgarest
people of New York have taken to liveries. If you chance to take an
elegant drive up the ‘Fifth Avenue,’ and meet a dashing equipage-say
with horses terribly caparisoned, a purloined crest on the
carriage-door, a sallow-faced footman covered up in a green coat, all
over big brass buttons, stuck up behind, and a whiskey-faced coachman
half-asleep in a great hammercloth, be sure it belongs to some snob who
has not a sentence of good English in his head. Yes! perhaps a
soap-chandler, an oil-dealer, or a candy-maker. Brainless people always
creep into plush-always! People of taste and learning, like me, only
are entitled to liveries and crests.” This Madame says, inviting her
guests to take seats at her banquet-table, at the head of which she
stands, the Judge on her right, Mr. Soloman on her left. Her china is
of the most elaborate description, embossed and gilt; her plate is of
pure silver, and massive; she has vases and candelabras of the same
metal; and her cutlery is of the most costly description. No house in
the country can boast a more exact taste in their selection. At each
plate a silver holder stands, bearing a bouquet of delicately-arranged
flowers. A trellise of choice flowers, interspersed here and there with
gorgeous bouquets in porcelain vases, range along the centre of the
table; which presents the appearance of a bed of fresh flowers
variegated with delicious fruits. Her guests are to her choicer than
her fruits; her fruits are choicer than her female wares. No
entertainment of this kind would be complete without Judge Sleepyhorn
and Mr. Soloman. They countenance vice in its most insidious form-they
foster crime; without crime their trade would be damaged. The one
cultivates, that the other may reap the harvest and maintain his
office.
“I see,” says Mr. Soloman, in reply to the old hostess, “not the
slightest objection to your being a princess-not the slightest! And, to
be frank about the matter, I know of no one who would better ornament
the position.”
“Your compliments are too liberally bestowed, Mr. Soloman.”
“Not at all! ’Pon my honor, now, there is a chance for you to bring
that thing about in a very short time. There is Grouski, the Polish
exile, a prince of pure blood. Grouski is poor, wants to get back to
Europe. He wants a wife, too. Grouski is a high old fellow-a most
celebrated man, fought like a hero for the freedom of his country; and
though an exile here, would be received with all the honors due to a
prince in either Italy, France or England.
“A very respectable gentleman, no doubt; but a prince of pure blood,
Mr. Soloman, is rather a scarce article these days.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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