DOI issue:
January to June, 1847
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16544#0224
214
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
" You are surprised at our system." said Rafael, marking the
evident bewilderment of his friend. " Confess you would call it mean-
ness—my huxtering with yonder young fool. I call it simplicity.
Why throw away a shilling without need ? Our race never did. A
-shilliug is four men's bread : shall I disdain to defile my fingers by
holding them out relief in their necessity ? It is you who are mean—
you Normans—not we of the ancient race. You have your vulgar
measurement for great things and small. You call a thousand pounds
respectable, and a shekel despicable. Psha, my Codlingsby ! One is
as the other. I trade in pennies and in millions. I am above or
below neither."
They were passing through a second shop, smelling strongly of
cedar, and, in fact, piled up with bales of those pencils which the
young Hebrews are in the habit of vending through the streets. " I
have sold bundles and bundles of these," said Rafael. "My little
brother is now out with oranges in Piccadilly. I am bringing him up
than half that length—and fitted up with the simple taste of its
owner.
The carpet was of white velvet—(laid over several webs of Au-
busson, Ispahan, and Axminster, so that your foot gave no more sound
as it trod upon the yielding plain than the shadow did which followed
you)—of white velvet, painted with flowers, arabesques, and classic
figures, by Sir William Ross, J. M. Turner, R. A., Mrs. Mee, and
Paul Delaroche. The edges were wrought with seed-pearls, and
fringed with Valenciennes lace and bullion. The walls were hung
with cloth of silver, embroidered with gold figures, over which were
worked pomegranates, polyanthuses, and passion-flowers, in ruby,
amethyst, and smaragd. The drops of dew which the artificer had
sprinkled on the flowers were diamonds. The hangings were over-
hung by pictures yet more costly. Giorgione ihe gorgeous, Titian
the golden, Rosens the ruddy and pulpy (the Pan of Painting), some
of Murillo's beatified shepherdesses, who smile on you out of darkness
to be head of our house at Amsterdam. We all do it. I had myself like a star ; a few score first-class Leonardos, and fifty of the master-
to see Rothschild in Eaton Place, this.morning, about the Irish loan, pieces of the patron of Jolios and Leo, the Imperial genius of Ur-
of which I have taken three millions ; and as I wanted to walk, I; eino, covered the walls of the little chamber. Divans of carved
•carried the bag. ! amber covered with ermine went round the room, and in the midst
was a fountain, pattering and babbling with jets of double-distilled
otto of roses.
" Pipes, Goliath !" Rafael said gaily to a little negro with a
silver collar (he spoke to him in his native tongue of Dongola); "and
welcome to our snuggery, my Codlingsby. We are quieter here
than in the front of the house, and I wanted to show you a picture.
I'm proud of my pictures. That Leonardo came from Genoa,
and was a gift to our father from my cousin, Marshal Manasseh ;
that Murillo was pawned to my uncle by Marie Antoinette
before the flight to Varennes—the poor lady could not redeem the
pledge, you know, and the picture remains with us. As for the
Rafael, I suppose you are aware tbat he was one of our people.
But what are you gazing at ? 0 ! my sister—I forgot—Miriam !
this is the Lord Codlingsby."
She had been seated at an ivory piano-forte on a mother-of-pearl
music-stool, trying a sonata of Herz. She rose when thus apostro-
phised. Miriam de Mendoza rose and greeted the stranger.
The Talmud relates that Adam had two wives—Zillah the dark
beauty ; Eva the fair one- The ringlets of Zillah were black;
those of Eva were golden. The eyes of Zillah were night; those ot
Eva were morning. Codlingsby was fair—of the fair Saxon race of
Hengist and Horsa—they called him Miss Codlingsby at school •
but how much fairer was Miriam the Hebrew !
Her hair had that deep glowing tinge in it which has been the
delight of all painters, and which, therefore, the vulgar sneer at. It
was of burning auburn. Meandering over her fairest shoulders in
twenty thousand minute ringlets, it hung to her waist and below it.
A light blue velvet fillet clasped with a diamond aigrette, (valued at
two hundred thousand tomauns, and bought from Lieutenant
Vicovich, who had received it from Dost Mahomed,) with a simple
bird of paradise formed her headgear. A sea-green cymar with short
| 'Si^^^^^^fejMM o^^V^KSH^^^^fc sleeves, displayed her exquisitely moulded arms to perfection, and was
~ ------ " - Lj/ffl-'^-^&^^^Hffljyj^^Sg'^^^^^^^^ fastened by a girdle of emeralds over a yellow satin frock. Pink
~_ __W --- gauze trowsers spangled with silver, and slippers of the same colour
jgfp---- /'_ d J^^^^^^Z~^£^~~===^=^ ' as the band which elapsed her ringlets (but so covered with pearls
gSL.^ r---^^'j^S^SS^^S^^^^^^^^^^_^=^E=~~ that the original hue of the charming little papoosh disappeared
---7 _— entirely) completed her costume. She had three necklaces on, each of
«^ "^_J^^^^^=^^i^^^gs=_ which would have dowered a Princess—her fingers glistened with rings
~ — to their rosy tips, and priceless bracelets, bangles, and armlets wound
round an arm that was whiter than the ivory grand piano on which
"You Bhould have seen the astonishment of Lauda Latymer, the jt leaned
Archbishop of Croydon's daughter, as she was passing to St. Ben- , Ag MlEIAM DE Mendoza greeted the stranger, turning upon him
net's. Kmghtsbr.oge, and as she fancied she recognised in the man who the solema welcome of her eyes, Codlingsbv swooned almost in the
was crying old cloches the gentleman with whom she had talked at brightness of her beauty. It was well she spoke j the sweet kind
the C..dnt de Saint Aolaire's the night before." Someching like a voice rest0red him to consciousness. Muttering a few words of
blush rlu-hed over the pale features of Mendoza as he menti med the incoherent recognition, he sank upon a sandal-wood settee, as Goliath,
Lady Laud as name. " Come on," said he. They passed through the liule 6laV6i brought ar0matic coffee in cups of opal, and alabaster
various warehouses-the orange room, the sealing-wax room, the six- ; spittoons? and pipe8 of the fragrant Gibelly.
hladed-kmfe department, and finally came to an old baize door. ; « M lord>8 ■ is ol<> said MlKIAM with a smile, remarking the
Rafael opened the baize do ,r by some secret contrivance, and they j bewilderment of her guest—who in truth forgot to smoke—and
were in a black passage, wuh a curtain at the end. taki a thousalld pound note from a bundle on the piano, she
He clapped his hands ; the curtain at the end of the passage drew Uljhted it at the and proceeded t0 re-ulume the extinguished
back, and a flood of golden light streamed on the Hebrew and his chibjuk of LoKI, Codlingsby.
visitor.
CHAP. XXIV
s-sized apartm<
is not above a hundred yards long, and this chamber was not more of " A Gent'einan
important to those who wish to be considered gentlemen.
Have your portrait painted for the Academy, and for four months
fhey entered a moderate-sized apartment—indeed, Holywell Street you will be universally looked upon (in the Catalogue) as the picture
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
" You are surprised at our system." said Rafael, marking the
evident bewilderment of his friend. " Confess you would call it mean-
ness—my huxtering with yonder young fool. I call it simplicity.
Why throw away a shilling without need ? Our race never did. A
-shilliug is four men's bread : shall I disdain to defile my fingers by
holding them out relief in their necessity ? It is you who are mean—
you Normans—not we of the ancient race. You have your vulgar
measurement for great things and small. You call a thousand pounds
respectable, and a shekel despicable. Psha, my Codlingsby ! One is
as the other. I trade in pennies and in millions. I am above or
below neither."
They were passing through a second shop, smelling strongly of
cedar, and, in fact, piled up with bales of those pencils which the
young Hebrews are in the habit of vending through the streets. " I
have sold bundles and bundles of these," said Rafael. "My little
brother is now out with oranges in Piccadilly. I am bringing him up
than half that length—and fitted up with the simple taste of its
owner.
The carpet was of white velvet—(laid over several webs of Au-
busson, Ispahan, and Axminster, so that your foot gave no more sound
as it trod upon the yielding plain than the shadow did which followed
you)—of white velvet, painted with flowers, arabesques, and classic
figures, by Sir William Ross, J. M. Turner, R. A., Mrs. Mee, and
Paul Delaroche. The edges were wrought with seed-pearls, and
fringed with Valenciennes lace and bullion. The walls were hung
with cloth of silver, embroidered with gold figures, over which were
worked pomegranates, polyanthuses, and passion-flowers, in ruby,
amethyst, and smaragd. The drops of dew which the artificer had
sprinkled on the flowers were diamonds. The hangings were over-
hung by pictures yet more costly. Giorgione ihe gorgeous, Titian
the golden, Rosens the ruddy and pulpy (the Pan of Painting), some
of Murillo's beatified shepherdesses, who smile on you out of darkness
to be head of our house at Amsterdam. We all do it. I had myself like a star ; a few score first-class Leonardos, and fifty of the master-
to see Rothschild in Eaton Place, this.morning, about the Irish loan, pieces of the patron of Jolios and Leo, the Imperial genius of Ur-
of which I have taken three millions ; and as I wanted to walk, I; eino, covered the walls of the little chamber. Divans of carved
•carried the bag. ! amber covered with ermine went round the room, and in the midst
was a fountain, pattering and babbling with jets of double-distilled
otto of roses.
" Pipes, Goliath !" Rafael said gaily to a little negro with a
silver collar (he spoke to him in his native tongue of Dongola); "and
welcome to our snuggery, my Codlingsby. We are quieter here
than in the front of the house, and I wanted to show you a picture.
I'm proud of my pictures. That Leonardo came from Genoa,
and was a gift to our father from my cousin, Marshal Manasseh ;
that Murillo was pawned to my uncle by Marie Antoinette
before the flight to Varennes—the poor lady could not redeem the
pledge, you know, and the picture remains with us. As for the
Rafael, I suppose you are aware tbat he was one of our people.
But what are you gazing at ? 0 ! my sister—I forgot—Miriam !
this is the Lord Codlingsby."
She had been seated at an ivory piano-forte on a mother-of-pearl
music-stool, trying a sonata of Herz. She rose when thus apostro-
phised. Miriam de Mendoza rose and greeted the stranger.
The Talmud relates that Adam had two wives—Zillah the dark
beauty ; Eva the fair one- The ringlets of Zillah were black;
those of Eva were golden. The eyes of Zillah were night; those ot
Eva were morning. Codlingsby was fair—of the fair Saxon race of
Hengist and Horsa—they called him Miss Codlingsby at school •
but how much fairer was Miriam the Hebrew !
Her hair had that deep glowing tinge in it which has been the
delight of all painters, and which, therefore, the vulgar sneer at. It
was of burning auburn. Meandering over her fairest shoulders in
twenty thousand minute ringlets, it hung to her waist and below it.
A light blue velvet fillet clasped with a diamond aigrette, (valued at
two hundred thousand tomauns, and bought from Lieutenant
Vicovich, who had received it from Dost Mahomed,) with a simple
bird of paradise formed her headgear. A sea-green cymar with short
| 'Si^^^^^^fejMM o^^V^KSH^^^^fc sleeves, displayed her exquisitely moulded arms to perfection, and was
~ ------ " - Lj/ffl-'^-^&^^^Hffljyj^^Sg'^^^^^^^^ fastened by a girdle of emeralds over a yellow satin frock. Pink
~_ __W --- gauze trowsers spangled with silver, and slippers of the same colour
jgfp---- /'_ d J^^^^^^Z~^£^~~===^=^ ' as the band which elapsed her ringlets (but so covered with pearls
gSL.^ r---^^'j^S^SS^^S^^^^^^^^^^_^=^E=~~ that the original hue of the charming little papoosh disappeared
---7 _— entirely) completed her costume. She had three necklaces on, each of
«^ "^_J^^^^^=^^i^^^gs=_ which would have dowered a Princess—her fingers glistened with rings
~ — to their rosy tips, and priceless bracelets, bangles, and armlets wound
round an arm that was whiter than the ivory grand piano on which
"You Bhould have seen the astonishment of Lauda Latymer, the jt leaned
Archbishop of Croydon's daughter, as she was passing to St. Ben- , Ag MlEIAM DE Mendoza greeted the stranger, turning upon him
net's. Kmghtsbr.oge, and as she fancied she recognised in the man who the solema welcome of her eyes, Codlingsbv swooned almost in the
was crying old cloches the gentleman with whom she had talked at brightness of her beauty. It was well she spoke j the sweet kind
the C..dnt de Saint Aolaire's the night before." Someching like a voice rest0red him to consciousness. Muttering a few words of
blush rlu-hed over the pale features of Mendoza as he menti med the incoherent recognition, he sank upon a sandal-wood settee, as Goliath,
Lady Laud as name. " Come on," said he. They passed through the liule 6laV6i brought ar0matic coffee in cups of opal, and alabaster
various warehouses-the orange room, the sealing-wax room, the six- ; spittoons? and pipe8 of the fragrant Gibelly.
hladed-kmfe department, and finally came to an old baize door. ; « M lord>8 ■ is ol<> said MlKIAM with a smile, remarking the
Rafael opened the baize do ,r by some secret contrivance, and they j bewilderment of her guest—who in truth forgot to smoke—and
were in a black passage, wuh a curtain at the end. taki a thousalld pound note from a bundle on the piano, she
He clapped his hands ; the curtain at the end of the passage drew Uljhted it at the and proceeded t0 re-ulume the extinguished
back, and a flood of golden light streamed on the Hebrew and his chibjuk of LoKI, Codlingsby.
visitor.
CHAP. XXIV
s-sized apartm<
is not above a hundred yards long, and this chamber was not more of " A Gent'einan
important to those who wish to be considered gentlemen.
Have your portrait painted for the Academy, and for four months
fhey entered a moderate-sized apartment—indeed, Holywell Street you will be universally looked upon (in the Catalogue) as the picture