This Day to the Ring in Hyde Park for a Walk to get me an Appetite, and
look at the fine Folks and People of Fashion riding in their carriages,
which it do much delight me to behold. But, good Lack! what a strange
Notion of the Pleasure of a Drive; with the Carriages in a close Line
jammed all together, and sometimes coming to a dead Stop like the
Omnibuses in Fleet Street of an Afternoon, and seldom moving on faster
than Mourning Coaches at a Funeral. Did see many mighty pretty young
Ladies; and one sitting in a Landau with a Coronet on the Panel, upon
whom I did smile, but perceiving that she did turn up her Nose at me, I
did look glum; howbeit, another comely Damsel that I smiled at did blush
and simper, which gave me Joy. It was as good as a Play to watch the
young Guardsmen, with their Tufts and Mustaches, riding straight-legged,
and them and the other Bucks taking off their Hats and kissing their
Hands to the charming Belles as they passed them by. But it was rarer
still to behold a Snob that strove to do the same Sort of Thing, and did
get laughed at for his Pains. Then what Sport to observe the fat
Coachmen, in their Wigs, something like Bishops', sitting on their
Boxes, and the Footmen behind with their parti-coloured Liveries of drab
and green, and red and yellow Plush, and gold-laced Hats, Shoulderknots
and Cockades, bearing their Canes, and their Noses to the Sky, holding
their Heads as high as Peacocks for Pride in their Frippery and plump
Calves! These Fellows are as fine as Court Cards, and full as
Ridiculous, and they do divert me in the Extreme: only their bepowdered
Pates do offend me, for I think the Fashion an uncleanly one; and after
all, I wonder how their Masters and Mistresses can delight in dressing
them out so much like Mountebanks. Did note divers Noble Lords and
Gentlemen of the House of Commons whom I did know either by Sight or
from the Caricatures in the Shop-Windows. From four to five o'Clock
around the Ring and up and down by the Serpentine to make my
observations. Methought how jolly these fine People must be, and how
happy they looked compared to a Beggar Boy whom I did spy squatting on
the Grass: yet no Doubt many of them have Troubles enough, and some may
be even short of Cash to pay for their Vanities. After that, to the
Corner, by the Powder Magazine, nigh to Kensington Gardens, to see the
Company alight from their Carriages, and take an Inventory of the
Ladies' Dresses, whereof to furnish an Account to my Wife. Then away
home at half-past Five, and so to Dinner off a Shoulder of Mutton and
Onion-Sauce, which my Wife doth make exceeding well, and my Dinner did
content me much; and thereupon I did promise my Wife a new Bonnet, the
Like whereof I had seen on a Countess in the Park, and so both in great
Good Humour, and very loving all the Evening.
[Illustration: _A DRAWYNGE ROOM DAY. SAYNTE JAMES HYS STREETE._