The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray
page 76 of 214 (35%)
page 76 of 214 (35%)
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himself: that sneers you down all the rest of the world besides, and has
such an insufferable, admirable, stupid contempt for all people but his own--nay, for all sets but his own. 'Gwacious Gad' what stories about 'the Iwish' these young dandies accompanying King Richard must have had to tell, when they returned to Pall Mall, and smoked their cigars upon the steps of 'White's.' The Irish snobbishness developes itself not in pride so much as in servility and mean admirations, and trumpery imitations of their neighbours. And I wonder De Tocqueville and De Beaumont, and THE TIMES' Commissioner, did not explain the Snobbishness of Ireland as contrasted with our own. Ours is that of Richard's Norman Knights,--haughty, brutal stupid, and perfectly self-confident;--theirs, of the poor, wondering, kneeling, simple chieftains. They are on their knees still before English fashion--these simple, wild people; and indeed it is hard not to grin at some of their NAIVE exhibitions. Some years since, when a certain great orator was Lord Mayor of Dublin, he used to wear a red gown and a cocked hat, the splendour of which delighted him as much as a new curtain-ring in her nose or a string of glass-beads round her neck charms Queen Quasheeneboo. He used to pay visits to people in this dress; to appear at meetings hundreds of miles off, in the red velvet gown. And to hear the people crying 'Yes, me Lard!' and 'No, me Lard!' and to read the prodigious accounts of his Lordship in the papers: it seemed as if the people and he liked to be taken in by this twopenny splendour. Twopenny magnificence, indeed, exists all over Ireland, and may be considered as the great characteristic of the Snobbishness of that country. When Mrs. Mulholligan, the grocer's lady, retires to Kingstown, she has |
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