One of the first vices the unhappy wretch acquired in this abode of
frivolity was that of SMOKING. Some of the dandies of the Club, such as
the Marquis of Macabaw, Lord Doodeen, and fellows of that high order,
are in the habit of indulging in this propensity upstairs in the
billiard-rooms of the 'Sarcophagus'--and, partly to make their
acquaintance, partly from a natural aptitude for crime, Sackville Maine
followed them, and became an adept in the odious custom. Where it is
introduced into a family I need not say how sad the consequences
are, both to the furniture and the morals. Sackville smoked in his
dining-room at home, and caused an agony to his wife and mother-in-law
which I do not venture to describe.
He then became a professed BILLIARD-PLAYER, wasting hours upon hours
at that amusement; betting freely, playing tolerably, losing awfully to
Captain Spot and Col. Cannon. He played matches of a hundred games with
these gentlemen, and would not only continue until four or five o'clock
in the morning at this work, but would be found at the Club of a
forenoon, indulging himself to the detriment of his business, the ruin
of his health, and the neglect of his wife.
From billiards to whist is but a step--and when a man gets to whist and
five pounds on a rubber, my opinion is, that it is all up with him. How
was the coal business to go on, and the connection of the firm to be
kept up, and the senior partner always at the card-table?
Consorting now with genteel persons and Pall Mall bucks, Sackville
became ashamed of his snug little residence in Kennington Oval, and
transported his family to Pimlico, where, though Mrs. Chuff, his
mother-in-law, was at first happy, as the quarter was elegant and
near her Sovereign, poor little Laura and the children found a woful
difference. Where were her friends who came in with their work of a
morning?--At Kennington and in the vicinity of Clapham. 'Where were her
children's little playmates?--On Kennington Common. The great thundering
carriages that roared up and down the drab-coloured streets of the
new quarter, contained no friends for the sociable little Laura.
The children that paced the squares, attended by a BONNE or a prim
governess, were not like those happy ones that flew kites, or played
hop-scotch, on the well-beloved old Common. And ah! what a difference at
Church too!--between St. Benedict's of Pimlico, with open seats, service
in sing-song--tapers--albs--surplices--garlands and processions, and
the honest old ways of Kennington! The footmen, too, attending St.
Benedict's were so splendid and enormous, that James, Mrs. Chuff's boy,
trembled amongst them, and said he would give warning rather than carry
the books to that church any more.
The furnishing of the house was not done without expense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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