Portraits of Children of the MobilityLeigh, Percival
General
Portraits of Children of the Mobility
Leigh, Percival
Caricatures and cartoons -- Great Britain; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- Pictorial works
The horrid scene which we have profaned our pen in describing suggests
a few reflections which it may behove our readers to consider. In the
first place, with reference to the coarse practice of boxing among the
Children of the Mobility, we think it decidedly objectionable. It tends
to eradicate from their minds all those fears and susceptibilities
with regard to personal safety, by means of which, alone, they are
manageable; and to replace them with those unamiable qualities which
render them, when grown up, offensive to the genteel and the delicate.
It also enables them to repay any little playfulness in which a
_distingué_ youth may happen to indulge with them, such as tilting off
their caps, or knocking their marbles out of the ring, with rude and
painful blows. The frightful violence, too, which their street broils
do to the ears and eyes of any of the superior classes who may have the
misfortune to witness them, ladies for instance, in their carriages,
is such, that we are shocked to think of it. Some people say that it is
best to let them have their quarrels out, as they express it, that they
may be prevented from bearing malice. We hear, too, a great deal
about the danger of stabbing becoming prevalent, were pugilism
discountenanced, among the lower orders. Still, being beaten about with
great hard knuckles, is very horrid; and the knife, if more sanguinary
than the fist, is decidedly more romantic and _piquant_.
But what shall we say of the Children of the Nobility learning,
at public schools, to emulate the boys of the street, transforming
themselves from innocent and interesting lambs, into ferocious
bull-dogs, if we may use so strong a metaphor, and making one another
perfect frights? What must be the feelings of their Mammas?
PLATE IV. The Family Of Mr. And Mrs. Blenkinsop
Among the Mobility, the Blenkinsops are what in the more elevated
ranks would be termed, _parvenus_. Two generations back they were very
respectable people; but a series of misfortunes, commencing with the
failure of Messrs. Flykite and Co. which occurred some years ago, has
reduced them to their present position. We shall not dwell on the steps
of their descent. Tales of distress, unless they are invested with a
certain _je ne sais quoi_, which gives them an air of elegance, are
extremely uninteresting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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