Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II.: Or, The Rambles and Adventures of Bob Tallyho, Esq., and His Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall, Through the Metropolis; Exhibiting a Living Picture of Fashionable Characters, Manners, and Amusements in High and Low Life (1821)Badcock, John, active 1816-1830
General
Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II.: Or, The Rambles and Adventures of Bob Tallyho, Esq., and His Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall, Through the Metropolis; Exhibiting a Living Picture of Fashionable Characters, Manners, and Amusements in High and Low Life (1821)
Badcock, John, active 1816-1830
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
They dashed through the Park, not however without being saluted by many
of his fashionable friends, who rejoiced to see that the Honourable
Tom Dashall was again to be numbered among the votaries of Real Life in
London; while the young squire, whose visionary orbs appeared to be
in perpetual motion, dazzled with the splendid equipages of the moving
panorama, was absorbed in reflections somewhat similar to the following:
“No spot on earth to me is half so fair
As Hyde-Park Corner, or St. James's Square;
And Happiness has surely fix'd her seat
In Palace Yard, Pall Mall, or Downing Street:
Are hills, and dales, and valleys half so gay
As bright St. James's on a levee day?
What fierce ecstatic transports fire my soul,
To hear the drivers swear, the coaches roll;
The Courtier's compliment, the Ladies' clack,
The satins rustle, and the whalebone crack!”
CHAPTER IV
“Together let us beat this ample field
Try what the open, what the covert yield:
The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore
Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar;
Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rise.”
~~24~IT was half past five when the Hon. Tom Dashall, and his enraptured
cousin, reached the habitation of the former, who had taken care to
dispatch a groom, apprizing Mrs. Watson, the house-keeper, of his
intention to be at home by half past six to dinner; consequently all
was prepared for their reception. The style of elegance in which Tom
appeared to move, struck Tallyho at once with delight and astonishment,
as they entered the drawing-room; which was superbly and tastefully
fitted up, and commanded a cheerful view of Piccadilly. “Welcome, my
dear Bob!” said Tom to his cousin, “to all the delights of Town--come,
tell me what you think of its first appearance, only remember you
commence your studies of Life in London on a dull day; to-morrow you
will have more enlivening prospects before you.” “'Why in truth,”
replied Bob, “the rapidity of attraction is such, as at present to leave
no distinct impressions on my mind; all appears like enchantment, and
I am completely bewildered in a labyrinth of wonders, to which there
appears to be no end; but under your kind guidance and tuition I may
prove myself an apt scholar, in unravelling its intricacies.” By this
time they had approached the window.
“Aye, aye,” says Dashall, “we shall not be long, I see, without some
object to exercise your mind upon, and dispel the horrors.
“Oh for that Muse of fire, whose burning pen
Records the God-like deeds of valiant men!
Then might our humble, yet aspiring verse,
Our matchless hero's matchless deeds rehearse.”
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