Punch (16.1849)

134

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

Mr. Pips his Diary.

Tuesday, March 21th, 1849. This Day to the Ring in Hyde Park for I bepowdered Pates do offend me, for I think the Fashion an uncleanly
a Walk to get me an Appetite, and look at the fine Polks and People of \ one ; and after all, I wonder how their _ Masters and Mistresses can
Fashion riding in their Carriages, which it do much delight me to ' delight in dressing them out so much like Mountebanks. Did note
behold. But, good lack! what a strange Notion of the Pleasure of a divers Noble Lords and Gentlemen of the House of Commons whom I
Drive; with the Carriages in a close Line jammed all together, and did know either by Sight or from the Caricatures in the Shop-Windows,
sometimes comin°: to a dead stop like the Omnibuses in Fleet Street of I From four to five o'Clock around the Ring and up and down by the
an Afternoon, and seldom moving on faster than Mourning Coaches at Serpentine to make my Observations. Methought how jolly these fine
a Funeral. Did see many mighty pretty young Ladies : and one sitting ; People must be, and how happy they looked compared to a Beggar-Boy
in a Landau with a Coronet on the Panel, upon whom I did smile, but j whom I did spy squatting on the Grass: yet no doubt many oi
perceiving that she did turn up her Nose at me, I did look glum; how- jthem have Troubles enough, and some may be even short of Cash to

beit, another comely Damsel that I smiled at' did blush and simper, j pay for their Vanities. After that, to the Corner, by the Powder
which gave me Joy. It was as good as a Play to watch the young Ma» iine, nigh to Kensington Gardens, to see the_ Company alight from
Guardsmen, with' their Tufts and Mustaches,'riding straight-legged, their Carriages, and take an Inventory of the Ladies' Dresses, whereof

and them and the other Bucks taking off then- Hats and kissing their i to furnish an Account to my Wife. Then away Home at half-past five, and
Hands to the charming Belles as they passed them by. But it was J so to Dinner off a Shoulder of Mutton and Onion-sauce, which my Wife
rarer still to behold a Snob that strove to do the same sort of Thing, ; doth make exceeding Well, and my Dinner did content me much; and
and was much laughed at for his Pains. Then what sport to observe j thereupon I did promise my Wife a new Bonnet,_ the Like whereof I had
the fat Coachmen, in their Wigs, something like Bishops', sitting on , seen on a Countess in the Park, and so both in great Good Humour,
their Boxes, and the Footmen behind with their parti-coloured Liveries ! and very loving all the Evening.

of drab and green, and red and yellow _ Plush, and gold-laced Hats, j -

Shoulderknots and Cockades, bearing their Canes, and their Noses to '.."L,m
the Sky, holding their heads as high as Peacocks for Pride in their "tg&JSM

Prhppery and plump Calves These; Fellows are as fine as Court Cards, | ^S^atyS &efe 2

ana full as Ridiculous, and they do divert me in the Extreme: only then- -Saturday, mIsch »ut,