登陆注册
5169600000017

第17章

GREAT CITY SNOBS

There is no disguising the fact that this series of papers is making a prodigious sensation among all classes in this Empire.Notes of admiration (!), of interrogation (?), of remonstrance, approval, or abuse, come pouring into MR.PUNCH'S box.We have been called to task for betraying the secrets of three different families of De Mogyns; no less than four Lady Scrapers have been discovered; and young gentlemen are quite shy of ordering half-a-pint of port and simpering over the QUARTERLY REVIEW at the Club, lest they should be mistaken for Sydney Scraper, Esq.'What CAN be your antipathy to Baker Street?' asks some fair remonstrant, evidently writing from that quarter.

'Why only attack the aristocratic Snobs?' says one 'estimable correspondent: 'are not the snobbish Snobs to have their turn?'--'Pitch into the University Snobs!'

writes an indignant gentleman (who spelt ELEGANT with two I's)--'Show up the Clerical Snob,' suggests another.--'Being at "Meurice's Hotel," Paris, some time since,'

some wag hints, 'I saw Lord B.leaning out of the window with his boots in his hand, and bawling out "GARCON, CIREZ-MOI CES BOTTES." Oughtn't he to be brought in among the Snobs?'

No; far from it.If his lordship's boots are dirty, it is because he is Lord B., and walks.There is nothing snobbish in having only one pair of boots, or a favourite pair; and certainly nothing snobbish in desiring to have them cleaned.Lord B., in so doing, performed a perfectly natural and gentlemanlike action; for which Iam so pleased with him that I have had him designed in a favourable and elegant attitude, and put at the head of this Chapter in the place of honour.No, we are not personal in these candid remarks.As Phidias took the pick of a score of beauties before he completed a Venus, so have we to examine, perhaps, a thousand Snobs, before one is expressed upon paper.

Great City Snobs are the next in the hierarchy, and ought to be considered.But here is a difficulty.The great City Snob is commonly most difficult of access.Unless you are a capitalist, you cannot visit him in the recesses of his bank parlour in Lombard Street.Unless you are a sprig of nobility there is little hope of seeing him at home.In a great City Snob firm there is generally one partner whose name is down for charities, and who frequents Exeter Hall; you may catch a glimpse of another (a scientific City Snob) at my Lord N----'s SOIREES, or the lectures of the London Institution; of a third (a City Snob of taste) at picture-auctions, at private views of exhibitions, or at the Opera or the Philharmonic.But intimacy is impossible, in most cases, with this grave, pompous, and awful being.

A mere gentleman may hope to sit at almost anybody's table--to take his place at my lord duke's in the country--to dance a quadrille at Buckingham Palace itself--(beloved Lady Wilhelmina Wagglewiggle! do you recollect the sensation we made at the ball of our late adored Sovereign Queen Caroline, at Brandenburg House, Hammersmith?) but the City Snob's doors are, for the most part, closed to him; and hence all that one knows of this great class is mostly from hearsay.

同类推荐
  • 冬夜集赋得寒漏

    冬夜集赋得寒漏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 词品

    词品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 游宦纪闻

    游宦纪闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 琴诀

    琴诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Aspern Papers

    The Aspern Papers

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 大乘广五蕴论

    大乘广五蕴论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 依楞严究竟事忏

    依楞严究竟事忏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 百变妖娆妃:笑若红颜

    百变妖娆妃:笑若红颜

    【原创作者社团『未央』出品】百变妖娆妃:笑若红颜简介:◆不是吧?她只不过在地摊上买了个1块钱的玉戒指,戴着玩玩而已,竟然就…穿越了时空?◆居然还成了丞相府的三小姐?还是庶出…哼!小女子报仇,一天都不能晚!等我闹个鸡飞狗跳吧...◆很不小心地打了一头色狼,却发现那色狼手中的戒指,正她在地摊上买的耶!是不是把那戒指骗回来,就可以回“家”啦?嘿嘿…她开始奸笑…却不知道就是这样一枚戒指,引来了她深埋的身世…
  • 重生之太子归来

    重生之太子归来

    他是唐王遗落民间的皇太子。他是为天地不容的绝世天才。他是被上苍诅咒的短命少年。他是——李长生。唐高宗十三年,盛唐再现,各路英雄豪杰群雄并起,一场新的风云即将上演。当太子归来,重返大唐,是醒掌天下权?还是醉躺美人乡?是折戟沉沙命陨消?还是风云涅槃长生传?在生命尽头的最后四年时间,在波诡云谲的长安城中,这位天才少年能否逆天改命,重掌天下大权呢?
  • 修仙

    修仙

    燕真重生归来,手持仙界第一神宝“江山社稷图”,开始了为所欲为的逆天之旅……回首这飘渺修仙路,太古重宝皆在囊中,妖娆美人在身侧,燕真从没有寂寞过。
  • 明伦汇编家范典母子部

    明伦汇编家范典母子部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 中国散文年度佳作

    中国散文年度佳作

    友人的散文放我案头已有一段时间,在为写序再次阅读的时候,每次都有新的感受,如今的散文的质地和精神是什么?艺术的高线和散文家存在的底线是什么?
  • 就这样过了一百年

    就这样过了一百年

    这是这本书告诉我们的一个简单的真相,虽然如此简单,但还是要通过这些文字,帮助我们追忆这些活过一百年的老人们的风雨历程,然后,我们才有可能真正得出这样一个简单而深刻的结论。人生就是经历和回忆。我们每个人都是这个世界的匆匆过客。即使是百年烟云,也一样会随风而去。很庆幸的是,这些文字、史料、采访都非常的客观,很少用形容词,文体都很朴实,一点点地按照时间记录了百年的个人琐事,还有家国大事和我们久违了情怀。
  • 来临

    来临

    天津港边一艘废弃的货轮装满了腐烂的尸体和行尸走肉,病毒迅速传播直至吞噬京城。主人公大宇当此之时挺身而出带领兄弟三人展开了剿灭满城行尸走肉的漫漫征途……
  • 重生:美人杀手惑天下

    重生:美人杀手惑天下

    【女强】美女杀手异世重生,看她玩转朝堂与江湖,魅惑天下!她是国家顶级杀手,拥有天生灵力,虽然表面看似天真无邪,但却心狠手辣,只是因为在一次执行任务中遭人暗算,竟然狗血般的穿越了,灵魂附身于北寻国皇后身上,只是,这个皇后,虽有着倾城之姿,但却是个草包,表面风光一片,实则无尽凄凉。后宫的女人处处欺辱她,就连皇上也对她白眼相看,她只是他们的棋子,她的四周全是算计。笑话,她堂堂一个国家顶级杀手,聪明如她,狠毒如她,怎么可能随人欺辱任人摆布?想要欺负她,算计她,那就要看他们有没有这个本事!她的人生格言,“人不犯我,我不犯人,人若犯我,必定斩草除根!”欺辱、阴谋、算计,看美女杀手穿越后如何应对如流!