第 20 节
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两块 更新:2021-02-18 22:15 字数:9322
on the foredeck in a travelling costume checked all over;
and in little lacquer…tip pod jean boots; and a shirt
embroidered with pink boa…constrictors。 'What is it that
gives travelling Snobs such a marvellous propensity to
rush into a costume? Why should a man not travel in a
coat; &c。? but think proper to dress himself like a
harlequin in mourning? See; even young Aldermanbury; the
tallow…merchant; who has just stepped on board; has got a
travelling…dress gaping all over with pockets; and little
Tom Tapeworm; the lawyer's clerk out of the City; who has
but three weeks' leave; turns out in gaiters and a bran…
new shooting…jacket; and must let the moustaches grow on
his little sniffy upper lip; forsooth!
Pompey Hicks is giving elaborate directions to his
servant; and asking loudly; 'Davis; where's the dwessing…
case?' and 'Davis; you'd best take the pistol…case into
the cabin。' Little Pompey travels with a dressing…case;
and without a beard: whom he is going to shoot with his
pistols; who on earth can tell? and what he is to do with
his servant but wait upon him; I am at a loss to
conjecture。
Look at honest Nathan Houndsditch and his lady; and their
little son。 What a noble air of blazing contentment
illuminates the features of those Snobs of Eastern race!
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
languagesand knows nothingnothing。 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 boardtheir panels noted and their crests
surveyed; he knows all the Continental stories of English
scandalhow Count Towrowski ran off with Miss Baggs at
Napleshow VERY thick Lady Smigsmag was with young
Cornichon of the French Legation at Florencethe exact
amount which Jack Deuceace won of Bob Greengoose at
Badenwhat 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! I
told 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 isbut 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。
CHAPTER XXII
CONTINENTAL SNOBBERY CONTINUED
We are accustomed to laugh at the French for their
braggadocio propensities; and intolerable vanity about La
France; la gloire; l'Empereur; and the like; and yet I
think in my heart that the British Snob; for conceit and
self…sufficiency and braggartism in his way; is without a
parallel。 There is always something uneasy in a
Frenchman's conceit。 He brags with so much fury;
shrieking; and gesticulation; yells out so loudly that
the Francais is at the head of civilization; the centre
of thought; &c。; that one can't but see the poor fellow
has a lurking doubt in his own mind that he is not the
wonder he professes to be。
About the British Snob; on the contrary; there is
commonly no noise; no bluster; but the calmness of
profound conviction。 We are better than all the world;
we don't question the opinion at all; it's an axiom。 And
when a Frenchman bellows out; 'LA FRANCE; MONSIEUR; LA
FRANCE EST A LA TETE DU MONDE CIVILISE!' we laugh good…
naturedly at the frantic poor devil。 WE are the first
chop of the world: we know the fact so well in our secret
hearts that a claim set up elsewhere is simply ludicrous。
My dear brother reader; say; as a man of honour; if you
are not of this opinion? Do you think a Frenchman your
equal? You don'tyou gallant British Snobyou know you
don't: no more; perhaps; does the Snob your humble
servant; brother。
And I am inclined to think it is this conviction; and the
consequent bearing of the Englishman towards the
foreigner whom he condescends to visit; this confidence
of superiority which holds up the head of the owner of
every English hat…box from Sicily to St。 Petersburg; that
makes us so magnificently hated throughout Europe as we
are; thismore than all our little victories; and of
which many Frenchmen and Spaniards have never heardthis
amazing and indomitable insular pride; which animates my
lord in his travelling…carriage as wel