Beau Brummell and His Times
- ISBN-10
- 1230198318
- ISBN-13
- 9781230198316
- Pages
- 38
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2013-09
- Publisher
- Theclassics.Us
- Author
- Roger Boutet De Monvel
Description
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV About 1822, six years after Brummell had left England, Chateaubriand was able to say, "The dandy betrays the proud independence of his character by keeping his hat on his head, lounging upon a sofa, and stretching out his boots in the faces of ladies seated in admiration before him. He rides with a stick, which he carries like a wax taper, paying no attention to the horse which he happens to find between his legs. . . . It is said that he can hardly know whether he exists, whether the world is about him, whether it contains ladies, or whether he should greet his neighbour."1 It is thus obvious that Brummell's success had borne its fruit, and that his example had been unexpectedly triumphant. There was, 1 Chateaubriand, Mdmoires d'Outre-Tombe, ed. Bire, vol. iv. p. 246. moreover, no one else to serve as a model. While handsome George was reigning in Brighton, the Revolutionists in France had driven out the decent people. Most of these dmigrds met once more in London, but wretched was their condition. Povertystricken and dying of hunger, they were obliged first of all to find some means of earning their living, and the cheerfulness with which all these noblemen set to work is well known. Some, like M. de Caumont, set up as bookbinders; others became coal merchants, like M. de Chavannes; others, again, dancing masters, like the Chevalier de Payen.1 They snapped their fingers at fortune; and though constantly obliged to go without supper, they used to meet every evening to dance "to the violin of an assessor of the Parliament Court of Brittany."2 Notwithstanding their cheerfulness, their lives were very secluded, and they were in no position to set the tone of Society. When the Court of France had been destroyed and its members...
