登陆注册
5169600000042

第42章

What a toilette Houndsditch's is! What rings and chains, what gold-headed canes and diamonds, what a tuft the rogue has got to his chin (the rogue! he will never spare himself any cheap enjoyment!) Little Houndsditch has a little cane with a gilt head and little mosaic ornaments--altogether an extra air.As for the lady, she is all the colours of the rainbow! she has a pink parasol, with a white lining, and a yellow bonnet, and an emerald green shawl, and a shot-silk pelisse; and drab boots and rhubarb-coloured gloves; and parti-coloured glass buttons, expanding from the size of a fourpenny-piece to a crown, glitter and twiddle all down the front of her gorgeous costume.I have said before, I like to look at 'the Peoples' on their gala days, they are so picturesquely and outrageously splendid and happy.

Yonder comes Captain Bull; spick and span, tight and trim; who travels for four or six months every year of his life; who does not commit himself by luxury of raiment or insolence of demeanour, but I think is as great a Snob as any man on board.Bull passes the season in London, sponging for dinners, and sleeping in a garret near his Club.Abroad, he has been everywhere; he knows the best wine at every inn in every capital in Europe;lives with the best English company there; has seen every palace and picture-gallery from Madrid to Stockholm;speaks an abominable little jargon of half-a-dozen languages--and knows nothing--nothing.Bull hunts tufts on the Continent, and is a sort of amateur courier.He will scrape acquaintance with old Carabas before they make Ostend; and will remind his lordship that he met him at Vienna twenty years ago, or gave him a glass of Schnapps up the Righi.We have said Bull knows nothing:

he knows the birth, arms, and pedigree of all the peerage, has poked his little eyes into every one of the carriages on board--their panels noted and their crests surveyed; he knows all the Continental stories of English scandal--how Count Towrowski ran off with Miss Baggs at Naples--how VERY thick Lady Smigsmag was with young Cornichon of the French Legation at Florence--the exact amount which Jack Deuceace won of Bob Greengoose at Baden--what it is that made the Staggs settle on the Continent: the sum for which the O'Goggarty estates are mortgaged, &c.If he can't catch a lord he will hook on to a baronet, or else the old wretch will catch hold of some beardless young stripling of fashion, and show him 'life' in various and amiable and inaccessible quarters.

Faugh! the old brute! If he has every one of the vices of the most boisterous youth, at least he is comforted by having no conscience.He is utterly stupid, but of a jovial turn, He believes himself to be quite a respectable member of society: but perhaps the only good action he ever did in his life is the involuntary one of giving an example to be avoided, and showing what an odious thing in the social picture is that figure of the debauched old man who passes through life rather a decorous Silenus, and dies some day in his garret, alone, unrepenting, and unnoted, save by his astonished heirs, who find that the dissolute old miser has left money behind him.See! he is up to old Carabas already! Itold you he would.

Yonder you see the old Lady Mary MacScrew, and those middle-aged young women her daughters; they are going to cheapen and haggle in Belgium and up the Rhine until they meet with a boarding-house where they can live upon less board-wages than her ladyship pays her footmen.But she will exact and receive considerable respect from the British Snobs located in the watering place which she selects for her summer residence, being the daughter of the Earl of Haggistoun.That broad-shouldered buck, with the great whiskers and the cleaned white kid-gloves, is Mr.Phelim Clancy of Poldoodystown: he calls himself Mr.

De Clancy; he endeavours to disguise his native brogue with the richest superposition of English; and if you play at billiards or ECARTE with him, the chances are that you will win the first game, and he the seven or eight games ensuing.

That overgrown lady with the four daughters, and the young dandy from the University, her son, is Mrs.Kewsy, the eminent barrister's lady, who would rather die than not be in the fashion.She has the 'Peerage' in her carpet-bag, you may be sure; but she is altogether cut out by Mrs.Quod, the attorney's wife, whose carriage, with the apparatus of rumbles, dickeys, and imperials, scarcely yields in splendour to the Marquis of Carabas's own travelling-chariot, and whose courier has even bigger whiskers and a larger morocco money-bag than the Marquis's own travelling gentleman.Remark her well: she is talking to Mr.Spout, the new Member for Jawborough, who is going out to inspect the operations of the Zollverein, and will put some very severe questions to Lord Palmerston next session upon England and her relations with the Prussian-blue trade, the Naples-soap trade, the German-tinder trade, &c.Spout will patronize King Leopold at Brussels; will write letters from abroad to the JAWBOROUGH INDEPENDENT; and in his quality of MEMBER DU PARLIAMONG BRITANNIQUE, will expect to be invited to a family dinner with every sovereign whose dominions he honours with a visit during his tour.

The next person is--but hark! the bell for shore is ringing, and, shaking Snook's hand cordially, we rush on to the pier, waving him a farewell as the noble black ship cuts keenly through the sunny azure waters, bearing away that cargo of Snobs outward bound.

同类推荐
  • 春暮思平泉杂咏二十

    春暮思平泉杂咏二十

    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。
  • 晚春

    晚春

    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。
  • Penelope's Irish Experiences

    Penelope's Irish Experiences

    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。
  • 雪关和尚语录

    雪关和尚语录

    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。
  • 广成集

    广成集

    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
  • 星寂仙元

    星寂仙元

    未来世界,基因裂变,为求进化,修元永生!穿越到一千多年以后,在一个强者为尊的世界,秦枫却成为了一个基因裂变失败、无法修元、还是一个大家族的反贼之子,更不曾想坠入炼狱……幸好体内逆天灵钟开道,暗黑灼心,末法修仙,执掌命轮!身为未来地球上唯一的修仙者,还有逆天灵钟无限转化丹药,什么天才妖孽,什么大能转世?什么高等圣灵……在我面前,通通都是浮云!灵徒,真人,真君,尊者,元尊,元将,玄将,天将,法王,灵王……(后续未完。)
  • 揪住你不放(中篇)

    揪住你不放(中篇)

    胡增官,编辑、记者,福建连江人,1964年出生,现在武夷山市新闻中心任职。在全国上百家报刊发表各类文学作品百万字后,2004年开始小说创作,已在《十月》《福建文学》《时代文学》《厦门文学》《青海湖》《延河》等发表中短篇小说若干,有作品被《中篇小说选刊》转载。已出版小说集《活得比蟑螂复杂》、散文集《阳光碎片》等。福建省作协会员,中国散文诗学会会员。苏阿芳的女儿过几天出嫁。她这个女儿不省心,挑挑拣拣到了三十挂零才谈拢一个,敲定完婚日子。了却心头的事,苏阿芳该高兴才是,苏阿芳愣是高兴不起来,她撂下这头心事,高高挑起那头的心事。
  • 爱你,以神之名

    爱你,以神之名

    十三年前,一场大火让她变成孤儿。十三年后,她又意外获得了神族Queen的能力和神的青睐。是巧合还是另有隐情?十三年前逆光一族吸血鬼王的离开让一切成谜,十三年后,鬼王带着她失散的哥哥重新回到大家的视线中,身份却已经对调。她的真实身份,又究竟是什么?
  • 甜妻逆袭,99次心动

    甜妻逆袭,99次心动

    【暴甜宠文】“你需要一个靠山,站在你面前就有一个,我”某女浅浅一笑,直接调戏犀利男神,“我允许你做我的靠山,但是你不会成为我人生的主宰!”三流摄影师陈笑重生归来,这一世,她不再混沌人生,她的能力上线了。重启黑客模式,切断仇家东边电网系统,声东击西黑客攻防西边集团大厦,拿到对方爆点资料,她化身地狱而来的恶灵回来复仇,激情上演限时追凶。与此同时,男神护她入怀,对渣男冷笑,“我一个人给她全部的爱,你,混!”某宝不乐意的抱住陈笑的大腿撒娇加卖萌,“麻麻,刚才打粑粑电话,一个女人接的。”陈笑问,“说了什么。”某宝回答,“你的电话不在服务区”文风甜爽!节奏快!男主腹黑清冷,女主机智聪慧
  • 重生之星空巨蚊

    重生之星空巨蚊

    一只拥有大学生灵魂的吸血蚊子,为了复仇,从弱小到强大,一步一步自‘地球’这颗不起眼的生命行星,强势崛起于全宇宙的故事!文艺版:重生孑孓,奋斗自强,终羽化为恐怖巨蚊。从此纵横寰宇,遨游那茫茫宇宙星空!热血版:懦弱的宇宙生物们!我正在用我的口器,吸食你们母星的地心营养。你们,又能拿我怎样?逗比版:嫌弃我恶心?讨厌我吸血?还想一巴掌拍死我?给老子等着,总有一天,老子一脚踩塌你家房子!日更2章6000+字,不定时爆发!拜求各位书友的收藏推荐支持,谢谢!第一粉丝裙:433842923,第二粉丝裙:466122798
  • 大明宝藏

    大明宝藏

    清州府捕快班头白天童从香香酒馆里出来,觉得脑袋有点发沉。今儿晚上喝得不多啊,也就有三两酒,怎么就头重脚轻了呢?在平日,我白天童可有一斤的酒量。正想着,忽觉脑后“嗖”地扫来一阵风,“不好!”白天童想躲却没躲利索,那棒子正好砸在他后脑勺上,他当时就晕了过去。不知过了多长时间,白天童慢慢地苏醒过来,只见眼前漆黑一片,不知道身在何方。等他的眼睛适应了黑暗,才看清这是一间陈设华丽的卧室,身前坐着一个人,背对着自己。白天童起身上前,“喂,这是什么地方?你是谁?”那个人没有言语。白天童伸手扒拉了他一下,那人就僵直地倒下了。
  • 沉睡千年的爱

    沉睡千年的爱

    因了他梦中的召唤,她从千年之后赶来,只为他心心念念的那份爱,只为那千年前未圆的那份情缘。
  • 让学生自信自强的故事

    让学生自信自强的故事

    迷失记忆的老人,音乐在我掌上,购买上帝的男,享受生命的春光,爱的故事,虚职实爱,卡罗尔的天才,看见世界的时候,一个美丽的故事,最好的年龄。
  • 武炼仙尊

    武炼仙尊

    携带仙尊道法,穿越异界,勇战四方。让敌人恐惧,让天地颤抖,让日月臣服。新书《雪谷寒》已发布!
  • 凤临天下:邪王的倾世宠妃

    凤临天下:邪王的倾世宠妃

    (新书已发:《倾城医妃:冷情王爷请入榻》希望大家支持)大婚当日,她被人所掳,未婚夫一纸休书,让她成为整个澜沧大陆的笑话。不堪受辱,自尽而亡。再度睁眼,迎来的是二十一世纪的军火女王,一身暗器出神入化,举止投足间风云万变,性格更是狂傲至极。她跨越千年而来,只为找到心中最初的那份执念。一曲琴萧合奏,至此天下相随!三段痴缠绝恋,三生痴情守候,他能否换回她的情定三生!