Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; London (England) -- Description and travel
stare disconsolately for next season out of all the windows. The very
man who goes about like an erect Turtle, between two boards
recommendatory of the Sixteen Shilling Trousers, is aware of himself as a
hollow mockery, and eats filberts while he leans his hinder shell against
a wall.
Among these tranquillising objects, it is my delight to walk and
meditate. Soothed by the repose around me, I wander insensibly to
considerable distances, and guide myself back by the stars. Thus, I
enjoy the contrast of a few still partially inhabited and busy spots
where all the lights are not fled, where all the garlands are not dead,
whence all but I have not departed. Then, does it appear to me that in
this age three things are clamorously required of Man in the
miscellaneous thoroughfares of the metropolis. Firstly, that he have his
boots cleaned. Secondly, that he eat a penny ice. Thirdly, that he get
himself photographed. Then do I speculate, What have those seam-worn
artists been who stand at the photograph doors in Greek caps, sample in
hand, and mysteriously salute the public—the female public with a
pressing tenderness—to come in and be ‘took’? What did they do with
their greasy blandishments, before the era of cheap photography? Of what
class were their previous victims, and how victimised? And how did they
get, and how did they pay for, that large collection of likenesses, all
purporting to have been taken inside, with the taking of none of which
had that establishment any more to do than with the taking of Delhi?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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