" A host
of other bewitching forms led my young fancy captive by turns, as my eye
travelled round the magic circle of delight: some were, I found, of
that yielding spirit, which can pity the young heart's fond desire; with
others had secured honourable protection: and if his companion's report
was to be credited, there were very few among the enchanting spirits
before yet with whom that happiness which springs from virtuous pure
affection was to be anticipated. If was no place to moralize, but, to
you who know my buoyancy of spirit, and susceptibility of mind, I must
confess, the reflection produced a momentary pang of the keenest misery.
[Illustration: page205]
THE ROYAL SALOON.
Visit of Heartly, Lionise, and Transit--Description of the
Place--Sketches of Character--The Gambling Parsons--Horse
Chaunting, a true Anecdote--Bang and her Friends--Moll Raffle
and the Marquis W.--The Play Man--The Touter--The Half-pay
Officer--Charles Rattle, Esq.--Life of a modern Roue-B------
the Tailor--The Subject--Jarvey and Brooks the Dissector--
"Kill him when you want him"
~205~~ After the opera, Bob Transit proposed an adjournment to the Royal
Saloon, in Piccadilly, a place of fashionable resort (said Bob) for
shell-fish and sharks, Greeks and pigeons, Cyprians and citizens,
noble and ignoble--in short, a mighty rendezvous, where every variety
of character is to be found, from the finished sharper to the finished
gentleman; a scene pregnant with subject for the pencil of the humorist,
and full of the richest materials for the close observer of men and
manners.
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