"When the dinner hour arrives, after these sprightly and heroic gentlemen have '_slain their thousands, and ten thousands_,' according to their own account, in the field, with as little _winking and blinking_ as Major Sturgeon himself, they then attire themselves in order to enjoy the pleasures of the table, and, however deranged they may afterwards be by convivial excess, they march or _stagger_ away to _the Rooms_, as circumstances may determine, and entertain the Ladies with _elegant_ and _decent_ gallantry." [Illustration: The Prince's Bow "Monstrous like the Prince! The very bow, demme!"] [Illustration: Tight Lacing.--1788. "These tight Stays will be the death of me!"] About this time flourished that curious being, the "_Macaroni_," but most of his portraits are evidently such gross caricatures, that I have not cared to reproduce them. I have been compelled to draw upon the satirical prints of the period, as a future historian would take the pictures from _Punch_, if he wanted to hit the passing folly of the day; but we must not forget that the satirical prints of the last century, did not their spiriting so gently as our modern caricaturists, but exaggerated in every way, in facial expression, and in costume. The following brace of _Macaronis_ is taken from a print of the "_Mock Duel, or a trip to Flanders_," 26th May, 1789: and, although the costume is scrupulously correct, yet one can hardly help thinking that the designer of the wig, which was typical of the genus, has somewhat "drawn upon his imagination for his facts." The name _Macaroni_ was applied, in derision, to those youths who had made the _Grand Tour_, and were fond, on their return, of shewing off their superior graces, and extolling the polished manners, and superior civilization, of the countries they had visited. In those days you were nothing unless classical. Modern languages were rarely taught, Science was all but unknown, Latin and Greek were the chief branches of education, and rich men were keen collectors of everything classical, marble statues and busts, bronzes, and coins--so Italy was naturally the bourne of these travelled youths, and John Bull, who then was, in the aggregate, a very stay-at-home animal, derided them, when they came back, with the epithet _Macaroni_, an elegant title derived from the popular Italian dish. The home-keeping youths imitated their brethren as well as they could, but it was at a very humble distance, and their dress, though partially modelled on that of their confrères, was much exaggerated, and did not display such simplicity or good taste.--John Bull had a name ready for him; a home-manufactured Macaroni was "a Jessamy." These _Jessamies_ were, like the modern _Mashers_, effeminate, and comparatively harmless beings--entirely taken up with the contemplation of their external appearance, and the attempted subjugation of the other sex.