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Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"The Newcomes"

As I am a swell, and have a servant, J. J. and I
breakfast at our lodgings. I wish you could see Terribile our attendant,
and Ottavia our old woman! You will see both of them on the canvas one
day. When he hasn't blacked our boots and has got our breakfast,
Terribile the valet-de-chambre becomes Terribile the model. He has
figured on a hundred canvases ere this, and almost ever since he was
born. All his family were models. His mother having been a Venus, is now
a Witch of Endor. His father is in the patriarchal line: he has himself
done the cherubs, the shepherd-boys, and now is a grown man, and ready as
a warrior, a pifferaro, a capuchin, or what you will.
"After the coffee and the Cafe Greco we all go to the Life Academy. After
the Life Academy, those who belong to the world dress and go out to
tea-parties just as if we were in London. Those who are not in society
have plenty of fun of their own--and better fun than the tea-party fun
too. Jack Screwby has a night once a week, sardines and ham for supper,
and a cask of Marsala in the corner.


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