Life, 1883-05-17 · page 3 of 16
Life — May 17, 1883 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine, May 17, 1883 The page contains a serialized fictional letter from London dated April 30, 1883, titled "Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me?" — a Macbeth reference signaling dramatic intrigue. The narrative describes high society gossip: a correspondent details scandal involving Lady Mount Ararat and assassination plots against the Russian Czar by Nihilists. The story references recent Russian revolutionary violence, a genuine historical concern in 1880s Europe. The satirical point appears to be mocking the breathless sensationalism of London's upper-class gossip culture—dramatizing trivial dinner-party talk about international terrorism and aristocratic scandals with Shakespearean flair. The accompanying illustration shows a fashionably dressed Victorian woman, likely depicting the gossiping correspondent or Lady Mount Ararat.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
oe) See oa SS a are , MAY 17th, 1883. O. 20. 1155 Broapway, New York. Published every Thursday, $5 a year in advance, postage free. Single copies, 10 cents. {87 Subscribers who do not receive their copies will please notify the office at once. IS THIS A DAGGER WHICH I SEE BEFORE ME? ‘Tue Tois GATHERING ABOUT OUR CORRESPONDENT. Hicu Lirk in Lonpon !! Do Extremes Meet ? Lonnon, April 30th, 1883. ERE I am in the full swim of London life. When I last wrote you I was in St. Quentin, the box and dag- ger which that toothless creature had given me. Laden with the money so un- expectedly advanced to me, I sought my landlord and called for my bill. He handed it to mewounduponaroller. Itwas as long as Leporello’s account of his master’s bonnes fortunes. The rascal charged me for undrunk champagne (which was more exasper- ating than being charged with “ unkissed kisses’’); for candles enough to have taken my soul comfortably through Purgatory ; for cabs, cigars, drinks and ser- vice. Never since the palmy deeds of the Tweéd ring had such a bill been devised. I paid it, and shook the dist of St. Quentin from my feet. “te Life here is very charming, though ever and anon that dagger comes before my eyes, and when I am ex- changing badinage with a Duchess or setting a Prince's table in a roar, a cold shiver runs down my back ; the flow of wit ceases as if the faucet had been turned off by a remorseless hand, Sydney Smith is transformed looking aghast at - into (Edipus the Tyrant, to the consternation of the people at dinner. This evening, at a small dinner at the Duke of Dumpshires, we were laughing over Lady Florence Dixie’s adventure, when Lady Mount Ararat (Her husband, by the way, is now playing in ‘‘Iolan- the” in America. ‘There is madness in the family; he would go on the stage, though he can neither act nor sing), one of the most charming women in London, said, looking straight at and through me with her beautiful eyes : “Dear me! I can imagine nothing more terrible than to be slashed with a dagger! With such a one as this, for instance !” she added, as she drew a little dag- ger from her hair, and handed it to me. The dagger was exactly like the one which I found in the head of my bed at St. Quentin. Around its hilt the same malevolent serpent twisted through the eye of the same grinning skull. “But the poor Czar; to be blown up with dyna- mite! ‘hat was terrible !” gasped the Duchess. “T wonder what the Nihilists have in store for the coronation of the present Czar?” naively inquired Lady Mount Ararat, still looking at and through me. “There will be absolutely no chance of the assassin escaping with his life !” “Not the slightest,” lisped the Honorable Percy Amarynth. “Yet there is no doubt but that the man is chosen, and that he is at this moment planning in what manner he is to do the deed !” “Tf he weakens in his purpose he is a dead man,” slowly muttered the old Duke. Every one seemed to be looking at me; the ladies arose to leave the room. When I sat down, after the last skirt had swept from the room, I perceived that the dagger ‘affixed Lady Mount Ararat’s dinner card to the table, and that on the card was scribbled “ Zo Russta immediately!" I instinctively filled a goblet with port of the vintage of 1812, and drained it ata swallow. The Duke looked at me aghast, and I saw that I had forfeited his esteem. ‘The other men sipped the priceless wine drop by drop as if to reproach me. But the Honorable Percy Amarynth came over to- wards me as the footman offered me a cigarette and a lighted candle. “You will supply the lung-power !" he said, with a smile, and with a toothless smile, which I had seen be- fore, and in the gloomy inn-parlor at St. Quentin ! I excused myself to the Duke ; tottered to a cab and drove to my lodgings. I have just sent by my valet to Amarynth the sum which he advanced to me at St. Quentin, with six per cent. interest up to date, comicbooks.com