The cover image was restored by the transcriber and isplaced in the public domain.
THE
EXCLUSIVES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
Printed by J. L. Cox, Great Queen Street,
Lincoln's-Inn Fields.
THE EXCLUSIVES.
CHAPTER I.
THE BOUDOIR.
The boudoir of a woman of fashion exhibitsin its history, if faithfully recorded, apicture of the manners, modes, and morals ofthe times; and, however little such thingsin themselves might deserve to be handeddown, or registered as objects of imitation,yet to chronicle them for the day would notbe without its use. The sensible part ofmankind would laugh at the follies, and wonderat the extravagance, which the page ofsuch ephemeral history unfolded; while theactors in the scene might possibly view in the[2]mirror held up to them their own lives, andtheir own actions, in a new and truer light.
Lady Tilney's boudoir,—the boudoir parexcellence,—was not in fact a boudoir, accordingto the old legitimate meaning of the word.Indeed, Lady Tilney herself, the presidingdeity of the sanctuary, professed her contemptof legitimacy in boudoirs, as well as in sovereigns;at least she did so in words, though,like many other professors, her words andactions frequently contradicted each other;and it may be questioned if there are anygreater despots, than those who inveigh mostagainst despotism.
But to return from this digression to theboudoir. Lady Tilney's boudoir was destinedto the reception of far other votariesthan those of the old rabattu god of love.No: her boudoir was visited by persons of avery different character from those who wereformerly the frequenters of such a scene.Authors, poets, political intriguers, artists,and committees for the management of thestate of society, formed the chief personages[3]among those who figured there, and their businesswas of a very different complexion fromthat of the supposed use, or original meaningascribed to a boudoir.
In the former, of old, the painted harpsichord,the huge cabinet, the gigantic chimney-piece,the tapestried wall, were suited to thesilken garb, and bag and sword, that formedthe attire of the male part of its visitants; aswell as to the hoop and fly-cap of the ladieswho presided there. In this modern templeof idolatry, only a few of the ancientdecorations were allowed a place, such as themarquetry cabinet, the or-moulu clock, or vaseof C