Pickwick Abroad; or, The Tour in France — page 95: what you’re looking at

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82 PICKWICK ASROAD. “ Hich-spirited fellows!” cried Mr. Pickwick, his philanthrops countenance beammg with delight. ‘for my part, 1 have no objec tion to join them for an hour or so. What do yousay, Winkle ?” ‘‘ With pleasure,” returned that gentleman; ‘* and as they lock up early, it would be as well to go soon.” | ‘‘ Immediately after dinner,” said Mr. Pickwick; and as the con- versation then languished for a few minutes, he took the opportunity of scrutinizing some of the various characters seated at the ¢able d’hote. Next to Mr. Winkle there was a tall, thin, dissipated-looking young} Englishman, with a very pale face, dull eyes, and languid air. Hel was dressed ina Newmarket kind of style; and, m spite of his evi-| dently debilitated state, there was a certain pretension about his ap-| pearance which at once indicated the rake as well as the vowé. On his nght hand was an old fat lady, with a very low gown and a very high turban, a very affected air and a very large appetite, very vulgar manners and a very great but very ineffectual affectation of gentility. This personage, as well as two milk-and-water-drinking and bread- and-butter-eating girls, her daughters, were evidently importations |) from the vicinity of Bow Church, Cheapside, London. Next to the} elder of the two young ladies just alluded to, sate a French gentleman! of sixty. His linen was the whitest ever seen—his shirt collar the highest ever worn—his coat was without a wrinkle—his three waist-. coats without a plait—his two watch-chains tastefully appended to his neck—hkis wrinkled countenance all smiles—his conversation all com- 7 pliments—and his attitudes all bows, nods, and shrugs. He spoke | English indifferently, but was evidently making the best use of his” slight acquaintance with our vernacular, to captivate the heart of the vulgar lady’s daughter, who smiled, lisped an occasional monosyllable, and blushed at stated intervals, as she eagerly listened to the welcome nonsense the French gentleman breathed in her ear. y Just beyond the French dandy, was seated an English clergyman,) who had a very seedy coat on his back, a very red flush on his coun-— tenance, and a very considerable number of oaths on the tip of his? tongue. He was supported on his right hand by a French officer of the guards or cwuzrassiers—a fine, well-whiskered, moustachioed personage, who drank like a fish, ate like an ogre, and was an ob- ject of unexceptionable attraction to three young ladies, who, with their mamma, were seated opposite to him, and were laughing very heartily at every word that issued from his lips—although he could not speak one syllable of English, and they were as innocent: of any intimacy with the French language as the babe unborn. In their, immediate vicinity were half a dozen young gentlemen from the Emerald Island, who had most probably agreed to sit together at the} table-d’ hote, talk as loudly as they could, utter as many vulgar jokes) as their imaginations might suggest, and render themselves as dis- agreeable as they possibly could do. ‘Two or three well-dressed and | well-behaved Englishmen, a quiet Scotchman, a deaf Welchman, and a couple of small boys with their father, afforded at the upper end of’ the table a sort of contrast or relief to the noisy Irishmen in their imme- diate neighbourhood. These were the most prominent characters which Mr. Pickwick r.marked in an assemblage of about fifty people. Eomicbooks.com