Nor was there anything unreasonably fantastical in making such
speculations all but realities. Bantam lived, as we know, in St. James's
Square--that very effective enclosure, with its solemn house and rich
deep greenery, that recall our own Fitzroy. No. 14 was his house, and
this, it was ascertained, was the actual residence of the living M.C. How
bold, therefore, of Boz to send up Sam to the very Square! Everyone,
too, knew Mrs. Craddock's house in the Circus--at least it was one of
two. It was No. 15 or 16, because at the time there were only a couple
in the middle which were let in lodgings, the rest being private houses.
This was fairly reasonable. But how accurate was Boz! No doubt he had
some friends who were quartered in lodgings there.
I scarcely hoped to find the scene of the footmen's "swarry" tracked out,
but so it was. On leaving Queen Square in company with Mr. Smauker to
repair to the scene of the festivity, Sam and his friend set off walking
"towards High Street," then "turned down a bye-street," and would "soon
be there." This bye-street was one turning out of Queen Square at the
corner next Bantam's house; and a few doors down we find a rather shabby-
looking "public" with a swinging sign, on which is inscribed "The
Beaufort Arms"--a two-storied, three-windowed house. This, in the book,
is called a "greengrocer's shop," and is firmly believed to be the scene
of "the Swarry" on the substantial ground that the Bath footmen used to
assemble here regularly as at their club. The change from a public to a
greengrocer's scarcely affects the point. The uniforms of these
gentlemen's gentlemen were really splendid, as we learn from the
text--rich plushes, velvets, gold lace, canes, &c. There is no
exaggeration in this, for natives of Bath have assured me they can recall
similar displays at the fashionable church--of Sundays--when these noble
creatures, arrayed gorgeously as "generals," were ranged in lines outside
"waiting their missuses," _pace_ Mr. John Smauker. At the greengrocer's,
where the Bath footmen had their "swarry," the favourite drink was "cold
srub and water," or "gin and water sweet;" also "S'rub punch," a West
Indian, drink, has now altogether disappeared. It sounds strange to
learn that a fashionable footman should consult "a copper timepiece which
dwelt at the bottom of a deep watch-pocket, and was raised to the surface
by means of a black string with a copper key." A _copper_ watch seems
extraordinary, though we have now those of gun metal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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