Page images
PDF
EPUB

Here figured in all his glory Mr. Earthstopper Brush Fivebars, who was pronounced, upon some occasion, by George Grainger to resemble nothing but a lump of animated mangel-wurzel garnished with gilt spurs. It has been said by Helvetius, that if men had only horses' hoofs instead of hands, a man would have no more ideas than a horse. Mr. Earthstopper Brush Fivebars, having lived more than half his life upon horseback and the remainder in the stable, could not be expected to have a much more extended range of imagination. Being asked on the occasion of a recent steeple-chase, whether he was going to the "course au clocher," he had taken "clocher" for the name of the village where the race was to come off, and, mounting his horse, he had ridden round to all the barrières, inquiring of people if they could tell him the road to Clocher.

By the side of Mr. Fivebars stood his promising young friend and imitator, Bob Tracy, who, having now completed his university education, had come over to Paris for one fortnight in the middle of summer, as if on purpose to be able to say that he had had the benefit of foreign travel, before subsiding into holy orders in a country parish for the rest of his life. He had brought in his pocket the

last new caricature of the day, which, being classical in its allusion, had particularly tickled his fancy. It represented Louis Philippe as Philip of Macedon, and the Duc d'Orleans, as Alexander; around the king's head were displayed on a banner the names of Jemappes and Valmy, while Alexander was weeping that his father Philip would leave him no more worlds to conquer.

Next came the celebrated beauty, Madame La Motte, to whom a French wit was making love in

a corner.

“Ah! que la vie me pèse!" said the Frenchman; que je voudrais bien mourir !"

[ocr errors]

66

"Comment mourir ?" inquired the lady.

"Comme l'alouette," replied the Frenchman, sur la motte.'

[ocr errors]

There was a young Spaniard present, who was so exceedingly active a person that he could not remain still in his seat for two minutes together. He was always getting up to exhibit some absurd piece of agility or other. He could imitate excellently well a dog running after his tail; showed how an English sailor could run up a rope-ladder on board ship; and concluded his performances by a regular imitation of a Spanish bull-fight, in which

he took by turns the part of the bull, the matadore, and the ladies who bestowed on them their applause.

Miss Barbara Scraggs was also present on this occasion, having been sent over the water by her prudent and honourable mamma, to get her out of the way of the Kilkenny cat. Miss Barbara, to amuse her mind during the long uncertainty of her protracted love affair, had taken up, while in London, the study of the slang dictionary. She could now talk Whitechapel with as great ease and fluency as Mr. Fivebars or Bob Tracy himself. She defended her favourite pursuit with great ingenuity and great enthusiasm, observing that other young ladies learnt German, Italian, and Spanish, and she really did not see why she should not learn Whitechapel, if it pleased her, instead; and she accordingly kept on talking rather clever and very broad nonsense with Bob Tracy in a corner.

Tracy knew Fitz-Waterton, having lately met him at the University during his stay there; and this excuse was made available, as it is too often by fickle and fair young ladies, for a downright flirtation with the common friend. Under the pretence of talking over Fitz-Waterton, Tracy and Barbara

Scraggs soon began making love to each other, and from making love to each other, they got on by degrees to quizzing and laughing at the poor Kilkenny cat, in his absence.

Tracy narrated that a man in town, in allusion to Fitz-Waterton's mongrel sort of claim to move in the society of which he had constituted himself a member, had called him " that hybrid Irish gentleman"-which Fitz-Waterton, with his Irish ear, taking "hybrid" for "high-bred," had repeated all over London as a great compliment to himself. To which anecdote Miss Barbara added another, not less cutting in its way:-that Fitz-Waterton, on his late return from Paris, had assured her he had smuggled over "a vast quantity of eau de Cologne water;" and that he had talked about going to a "soirée" before dinner.

In another part of the salon, calembourgs and charades were the order of the day. Most of these had a political tendency; and it was only when some happy point told well against the arbitrary Louis Philippe, that the eye of young Boivin glistened with any interest.

The morning which succeeded the insurrection of Lamarque's funeral had been signalized by

proclaiming Paris in a state of siege, and the establishment of martial law in the capital. As it was thought that this rash and too despotic measure might eventually upset ministers on the opening of the Chambers, the construction of a new administration was already talked about as a thing inevitable. The embarrassment, likewise, in which the king had been placed only a month or two back, on the event of Casimir Perier's decease, had given occasion to a great many similar witticisms; and every name, which afforded an opportunity of a "double entente," had been converted, by the ingenuity of the Parisian punsters, into a calembourg. It had been said, that the king was unwilling to appear in the streets, through a dread of assassination, and Marshal Maison had also been named as one of the most probable successors of M. Perier. Hence it was said "Que de peur d'être tué, le roi serait trop content de conduire le gouvernement à la maison."

"Louis Philippe est un grand architect à Versailles," said another, in allusion to his splendid improvements in that palace; "mais à Paris, il ne sait pas faire même un petit cabinet."

Another individual cited it as a mark of Napo

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »