Paris herself again in 1878-9 . as the rever-beration of his golden-tipped staff onthe marble pavement as he precededthe bridal cortege or the funeral train,from the great west door to the chan-cel ! His whiskers alone, in theirblackness and their bushiness, were asight to see. A few more inches, alittle more hirsuteness, and he mighthave been a drum-major. He wascontent to remain a beadle. But, ah,the vanity of things mundane! Gold-laced coats and cocked hats will notlast for ever; and a Suisse out ofelbows is clearly a most unseemlypersonage. So the fabriciens havebought him, it is to be hop
Paris herself again in 1878-9 . as the rever-beration of his golden-tipped staff onthe marble pavement as he precededthe bridal cortege or the funeral train,from the great west door to the chan-cel ! His whiskers alone, in theirblackness and their bushiness, were asight to see. A few more inches, alittle more hirsuteness, and he mighthave been a drum-major. He wascontent to remain a beadle. But, ah,the vanity of things mundane! Gold-laced coats and cocked hats will notlast for ever; and a Suisse out ofelbows is clearly a most unseemlypersonage. So the fabriciens havebought him, it is to be hoped, a newsuit; and his abandoned finery hascome—whither ? Into the portion of weeds and outworn faces,intothe Slough of Shabby Despond of a secondhand clothes booth in theTemple. Why have I never seen a British beadles cocked hat inDudley-street, Seven Dials ? Parish beadles, it is true, are almostan extinct race ; still the Bank of England and many of the CityCompanies are yet justifiably proud of the beadles they IN THE TEMPLE. 209 Close to the church, as sumptuarily represented in the Marchedu Temple, the stage raises somewhat saucily its head. Priestsand players are not yet Mends in France. The clergy have notyet forgotten or forgiven Le Tartuffe. The players have neitherforgotten nor forgiven the clergy for their refusal, during the FirstRestoration, to give Christian burial to the remains of a oncepopular actress.* Happily in the secondhand clothes galleries ofthe Temple the motley costumes of the greenroom elbow, amicablyenough, the bygone wardrobes of the sacristie. Did you everdrive down the Toledo at Naples at Carnival time ? All the fan-tastic gear that Callot ever imagined seems to have been broughtto light in the masquerade warehouses of the Toledo. The com-plete accoutrements of scarlet fiends, horns, hoofs, tails, and all;harlequins dresses, pierrots dresses, are hung out, like banners•on the outward walls, while hideous masks grin and leer at you
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