re is now no frequenting of taverns and "free and easies"
by gentlemen, at the "Magpie and Stump" and such places, nor do persons
of means take up their residence at houses like the "George and Vulture"
in the City. No galleried inns (though one still lingers on in Holborn),
are there, at which travellers put up: there were then nearly a dozen, in
the Borough and elsewhere. There are no coaches on the great roads, no
guards and bulky drivers; no gigs with hoods, called "cabs," with the
driver's seat next his fare; no "hackney coaches," no "Hampstead stages,"
no "Stanhopes" or "guillotined cabriolets"--whatever they were--or "mail-
carts," the "pwettiest thing" driven by gentlemen. And there are no
"sedan chairs" to take Mrs. Dowler home. There are no "poke" or "coal-
scuttle" bonnets, such as the Miss Wardles wore; no knee-breeches and
gaiters; no "tights," with silk stockings and pumps for evening wear; no
big low-crowned hats, no striped vests for valets, and, above all, no
gorgeous "uniforms," light blue, crimson, and gold, or "orange plush,"
such as were worn by the Bath gentlemen's gentlemen. "Thunder and
lightning" shirt buttons, "mosaic studs"--whatever they were--are things
of the past. They are all gone. Gone too is "half-price" at the
theatres. At Bath, the "White Hart" has disappeared with its waiters
dressed so peculiarly--"like Westminster boys." We have no serjeants now
like Buzfuz or Snubbin: their Inn is abolished, and so are all the
smaller Inns--Clement's or Clifford's--where the queer client lived.
Neither are valentines in high fashion. Chatham Dockyard, with its
hierarchy, "the Clubbers," and the rest, has been closed. No one now
gives _dejeunes_, not _dejeuners_; or "public breakfasts," such as the
authoress of the "Expiring Frog" gave. The "delegates" have been
suppressed, and Doctors' Commons itself is levelled to the ground. The
"Fox under the Hill" has given place to a great hotel. The old familiar
"White Horse Cellars" has been rebuilt, made into shops and a restaurant.
There are no "street keepers" now, but the London Police. The
_Eatanswill Gazette_ and its scurrilities are not tolerated. Special
constables are rarely heard of, and appear only to be laughed at: their
staves, tipped with a brass crown, are sold as curios. Turnpikes, which
are found largely in "Pickwick," have been suppressed. The abuses of
protracted litigation in Chancery and other Courts have been reformed.