Punch (99.1890)

^September 27, 1890.] PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHAR1VAKI. 145

MODERN TYPES.

(By Mr. Punch's Own Type Wriier.)
•No. XIX.—THE SERVANT OF SOCIETY.
The Servant of Society is one who, having in early life abdicated
Lj T claim to independent thought or action, is content to attach
imself to the skirts and coat-tails of the great, and to exist for a
■ aS time as a mere appendage in mansions selected by the unerring
ttstinet of a professional tuft-hunter. It is as common a mistake
c suppose that all tuft-hunters are necessarily of lowly birth and
.1 interior social position, as it is to believe them all to be offensive
banner and shallow in artifice. The coarse but honest Snob still
tl -fP9 exists, and here and there he thrusts and pushes in the old
, miliar way; but more often than not the upstart who has won
9 WaJ to wealth and consideration finds himself to his own surprise
jj3rted and fawned upon by those whose boots his abilities would have
an f to hlaok, and his disposition prompted him to lick. Noble
portsmen are proud to be seen in his company, aristocratic guinea-
<tt (.are constantly in his picket in the congenial society of the
IjihT man's purse, art willingly reproduces his features, journalism
Mtrasiastieally commemorates his adventures, and even Royalty
a e9 n°t thrust away a votary whose ministrations are as acceptable
p they are readily performed. "Without much effort on his own
anH he is raised to pinnacles which he imagined impossible of access,
soon learns to look down with a contempt that might spring of
0 °lent lineage and assured merit, upon the hungry crowd whose
y is that of the daughter of the horse-leech,

takes little or no active part. At the same time it mnst be admitted
that he holds a gun fairly straight, and does not disgrace himseli
when the necessity of slaughtering a friend's pheasants interrupts
for a few hours the rehearsals of private theatricals, in company
with the friend's wife. Certainly he is not a fool. He gauges with
great accuracy his own capacities, and carefully limits his ambition
to those smaller desires which, since they exact no vaulting power, are
never likely to bring about a fall on the other side. _ The objectc
of his admiration are mean; and since he meanly admires them, he
comes quite naturally under the Thackerayan definition of a Snob.

Whilst he is still a year or two on the fair side of thirty, it may
happen that a turn of the political wheel will bring into high office a
statesman who is quite willing to be served by those who are able to
make themselves useful to him, without exacting from them solidity
either of character or of attainments. "With him the Servant of
Society, with an instinct that does credit to his discernment, will
have established friendly relations. The politician was first amused
and then impressed by his versatility; now, having the opportunity,
he offers to him the position of Assistant Private Secretary (unpaid),
and it is scarcely necessary to say that the young man accepts it
with a gratitude which proves that he believes his patron capable of
conferring further favours. From this time forward he begins to
abandon the merely frivolous air that has hitherto distinguished him.
He lays in a mixed stock of solemnity, mystery, and importance, and
occasionally awes the friends of his flippant days by assuming the
reticent look and the shake of the head of one who is marked ofi
from common mortals by the possession of secrets the revelation oi
which might, perhaps, imperil the peace of the world. In country-

Ordimi *i6 £enlline Servant of Society is of a different stamp. | houses, in London "drawing-rooms* and at Clubs, where he had

ComrTptl 7 u-^Af0?-^ rly' and,of a l iniuni.------—, hitherto been mentioned with a laugh ae

SeSffi*£? wh'ch both dlffer3 ?rdm .aad re" !i I I ll ■ 1 H!l I Hill "Little So-and-So." he comes to be talked of

sesseH =f general character in being pos- • ^MilBr^ 'ijililll Inlllilii as "So-and-So-of course you know him-

*nd at onoe °Vhe attrlbu;es of modesty 'iljj !!.'' ■WI H ! Lord Blank's Private Secretary." Thus hc-

W W °fi jIom±?n early_age he will II1 , fl 1 becomes quite a personage. But he is far from

after lif j d l°T Te 1Luallfcle,s which m j 1 abandoning the rule of Servant of Society.

suborH „%.re hlm dumbly celebrated in i ^MBUlgg-^ 1 Indeed, he only enlarges and slorifies the

W tv,j^ats Positions. At school he will have / I, ' scope of his ministrations, without in any wav

t,)al),v good i ortune to be attached as fag ji j I m HMf 7^ ceasing to cultivate those smaller trifles which

ls an „ f v-I who ,ooeLuPled an, important place ! II f HffiliP \ '; '! :!!'' f I stood him in such good stead at the outset of

^ere n»f ete; and whose condescending smiles i;| j j i ^||§gf|& L> ,j his career. He now has the satisfaction of

■othpsn-.n*y.?n ob;>ect of greater ambition M l flKlLv ^ j I 1 I j! seeing many of those who desire anything

!l1tho, ;r 7 than the approval of the school JEE^iJ , I ■ that a Cabinet Minister can give, cringme t,

wsidiiVf^lv *or • he performed with much II Ml!!1 .^^^Hlfe I I 11' IJ one whom thev despise, and who rejoices ii
fo shin various duties of a fag, happy U},'1: ''^^■H^»T : h the knowledge that he can afford to patronist

peoiriiB„f j11'!™"31 hi8 companions as the WilS: ^^^^KKfflMM^ I IS them, and perhaps crush them by obtaining

iaX?1 gfe_atboy's favours. To play MMMKB I6mM&s, \ , I for them that which they want,

is (at th rfchout Mourring universal dislike JHf| i ' ' iWKHBSW--'' W4\ When, in the course of a few years, Lord
Pushes itV?0 le*y easy task, but he accom- §§fflHMiK j' iV Blank's party ceaees to direct the government

*PtituH» W r dlsoretlon and Wlth a natural fFflMMMMBlM IS of the country, his Assistant Private Secretary

envy that manT maturer jackals might §||^H^HH|f§fi||iiffiM|a 11 f°llows him into the cold shade of adversity
At't-ho „ c ABH^^^^^H^^HHIrCm M'^ili and opposition, and stands by him with exem-

*rom i'.u afs ot seventeen he is withdrawn flffiillTO plary usefulness and fidelity. But, though

Lfp« him * marked disinclination ^H^H: 'IIIMHMliMTO ! ' , he is often pressed, he never contests'a

,,..miltrom ? military career, and he is | MB^|||HBBP^pwV\'if,ilil| constituency, feeling, perhaps, that it is im-

possible to serve both Society and the Caucus.
In time his name becomes the common property of all Society journals
—his biography is published in one, his discreet service is extolled in
another, while a third goes so far as to hint that, if the truth were
known, it would be found that the various departments of the State
could not possibly carry on their affairs without his enlightened
counsel. He adopts an antique fashion of dress, in order to empha-
sise his personality. He wears a stock, and a very wide- brimmed
hat, and carries a bunch of seals dangling from a fob.

At forty-five he marries the daughter of a powerful Peer, and,
shortly afterwards, insures so much of the favour of Royalty as to be
spoken of as a persona grata at Court. Henceforward his services
are often employed in delicate negotiations, which may necessitate
the climbing of many back-stairs. On such occasions, and after it
has been announced in the papers that "Mr. So-and-so was the
bearer of an important communication " from one great person to
another, it is his custom to show himself in his Clubs and in crowded
haunts, so that he may eDjoy the pleasure of being pointed out,
digito prcetereuntium, and of catching the whispers of those who
nudge one another as they mention his name.

Finally, it will be rumoured that he has been collecting materials
for the Memoirs which he proposes shortly to publish. But though
he never disclaims the intention, and is even understood, on_ more
than one occasion, to allude in conversation to the precise period of
his life to which his writing has then brought him, it is quite certain
that he will never carry out the intention, or bring out the book. At
the age of sixty he will still be a young man, with a gay style of
banter peculiarly his own. Towards the end of his life he will often
talk darkly of great events in which he has played a part, and of
extraordinary services which only he could have performed; and
when he dies, the country will be called upon to mourn for one
who has saved it from social degradation, and from political disaster.

fluently sent to pass a year or two upon
ejr ^pntinent of Europe, in order that he may first of all pass the
stat na^on. ^or *ne Diplomatic Service, and subsequently foil foreign
jn t8smen with their own weapons, and in their own language. Return-
how se°ures his nomination, and faces the Examiners. Providence,
and «fr' reaerves him for lower things. The Examiners triumph,
Posit' care.er 01 the Servant of Society begins in earnest. The
g^ition of his parents secures for him an entrance into good houses.
can.13 a ?0UI1S man °f Rreat tact and of small accomplishments. He
leajWarole a song, aid a great lady to organise a social festivity,
t(jg7,a. cotillon, order a dinner, and help to eat it, act in amateur
Jjj ri°als, and recommend French novels to inquiring matrons.
fre Pinners are always easy, and his conversation has that spice of
3War°m which renders it specially acceptable in the boudoirs of the
social experience of a few years makes plain to him that, in

therpf a^ers. the serious person goe3 down before the trifler. He
ceii*.ore cultivates flippancy as a fine art, and becomes noted for a
pepam cheap cynicism, which he sprinkles like a quasi-intellectual
const 17eT tbe strong meat of risky conversation. Moreover, he is
avoid • ■ self-satisfied, and self-possessed. Yet he manages to
•fcann ^1VU1£ offence by occasionally assuming a gentle humility of
he stneJ-' ^° which he almost succeeds in imparting a natural air, and
may J|al°U3ly refrains from saying or doing anything which, since it
°ein» * Se other men to provoke him, may possibly result in his
*lst h jj t0 Pretend that he himself has been ruffled. Yet it
about- added that he is always thoroughly harmless. He flutters
in tn Enumerable dovecots, without ever fluttering those who dwell
6verv^n and' *u 00urse °f time, he comes to be known and accepted
triisvvpi as a useful man. As might be supposed, he is never ob-
him '. JFS&P^Y- The rough pursuits of the merely athletic repel
it n0t bas the knack of assuming an interest where he feels
> and is able to prattle quite pleasantly about sports in which he