The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. TitmarshThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. Titmarsh
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Christmas stories, English
Then besides the young French buck, whom we will willingly suppose
harmless, you see specimens of the French raff, who goes aux eaux:
gambler, speculator, sentimentalist, duellist, travelling with madame
his wife, at whom other raffs nod and wink familiarly. This rogue is
much more picturesque and civilized than the similar person in our own
country: whose manners betray the stable; who never reads anything but
Bell's Life; and who is much more at ease in conversing with a groom
than with his employer. Here come Mr. Boucher and Mr. Fowler: better to
gamble for a score of nights with honest Monsieur Lenoir, than to sit
down in private once with those gentlemen. But we have said that their
profession is going down, and the number of Greeks daily diminishes.
They are travelling with Mr. Bloundell, who was a gentleman once, and
still retains about him some faint odor of that time of bloom; and
Bloundell has put himself on young Lord Talboys, and is trying to get
some money out of that young nobleman. But the English youth of the
present day is a wide-awake youth, and male or female artifices are
expended pretty much in vain on our young travelling companion.
Who come yonder? Those two fellows whom we met at the table-d'hote at
the "Hotel de Russie" the other day: gentlemen of splendid costume, and
yet questionable appearances, the eldest of whom called for the list of
wines, and cried out loud enough for all the company to hear, "Lafite,
six florins. 'Arry, shall we have some Lafite? You don't mind? No more
do I then. I say, waiter, let's 'ave a pint of ordinaire." Truth is
stranger than fiction. You good fellow, wherever you are, why did
you ask 'Arry to 'ave that pint of ordinaire in the presence of your
obedient servant? How could he do otherwise than chronicle the speech?
And see: here is a lady who is doubly desirous to be put into print, who
encourages it and invites it. It appears that on Lankin's first arrival
at Noirbourg with his travelling companion, a certain sensation was
created in the little society by the rumor that an emissary of the
famous Mr. Punch had arrived in the place; and, as we were smoking the
cigar of peace on the lawn after dinner, looking on at the benevolent,
pretty scene, Mrs. Hopkins, Miss Hopkins, and the excellent head of the
family, walked many times up and down before us; eyed us severely face
to face, and then walking away, shot back fierce glances at us in the
Parthian manner; and at length, at the third or fourth turn, and when
we could not but overhear so fine a voice, Mrs. Hopkins looks at us
steadily, and says, "I'm sure he may put ME in if he likes: I don't
mind."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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