Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
They find their way into all classes. One cannot mingle much in society
here without meeting some bewhiskered, mysterious individual, who claims
to be of noble birth. Sometimes he palms himself off as a political
exile, sometimes he is travelling, and is so charmed with New York that
he makes it his headquarters, and sometimes he lets a few friends into
the secret of his rank, and begs that they will not reveal his true
title, as a little unpleasant affair, a mere social scandal in his own
country, made it necessary for him to absent himself for a while. He
hopes the matter will blow over in a few months, and then he will go
home. The fashionable New-Yorker, male or female, is powerless against
the charms of aristocracy. The "foreign nobleman" is welcomed
everywhere, feted, petted, and allowed almost any privilege he chooses to
claim--and he is far from being very modest in this respect; and by and
by he is found out to be an impostor, probably the valet of some
gentleman of rank in Europe. Then society holds up its hands in holy
horror, and vows it always did suspect him. The men in society are weak
enough in this respect; but the women are most frequently the victims.
Not long since, a handsome, well got up Englishman came to New York on a
brief visit. He called himself Lord Richard X---. Society received him
with open arms. Invitations were showered upon him. Brown's hands were
always full of cards for his Lordship. The women went wild over him,
especially since it was whispered that the young man was heir to a
property worth ever so many millions of pounds. In short, his Lordship
found himself so popular, and hints of his departure were received with
such disfavor by his new found friends, that he concluded to extend his
stay in New York indefinitely. He made a fine show, and his toilettes,
turnouts, and presents were magnificent. The men did not fancy him. He
was too haughty and uncivil, but the ladies found him intensely
agreeable. It was whispered by his male acquaintances that he was a good
hand at borrowing, and that he was remarkably lucky at cards and at the
races. One or two of the large faro banks of the city were certainly the
losers by his visits. The ladies, however, were indignant at such
stories. His Lordship was divine. All the women were crazy after him,
and any of them would have taken him at the first offer.
By and by the newspapers began to take notice of the young man, and
boldly asserted that there was no such name as Lord Richard X--- in the
British peerage. Society laughed at this, and declared that everybody
but ignorant newspaper men was aware that the published lists of titled
personages in England were notoriously incomplete.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account