Office.—Warning. To give the Office, make people aware.
Offley’s.—A sporting hotel, the resort of the Corinthians of the day was in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. To the men about town the excellence of Offley’s catering was well known. In cooking a beefsteak, he was unrivalled; and many a gentleman who had a great stake in the country would walk miles to have a small steak in London, cooked and dished up under the superintendence of “Old Offley” together with a nip of ale, the quality of which was on a par for excellence with the other good things of the house.
Mr. Offley lies buried in the churchyard of St Paul, Covent Garden, only a few feet from the back window of the room which was the scene of so many agreeable orgies. Shortly after his death a hearty toast to his memory was drunk in claret, over his grave, by a few of the jovial herd who loved him in life, and respected him in the tomb.
Ogles.—Eyes. Queer Ogles, bad eyes.
Olympic Theatre.—Was originally erected by Philip Astley, and opened with horsemanship, September 18, 1806. The theatre was leased in 1813 to the celebrated R. W. Elliston. On Monday, November 12, 1821, a dramatised version of “Tom and Jerry,” by Charles Dibdin, was produced: Tom, Mr. Blake; Jerry, Mr. Oxberry; Logic, Mr. Vale. Madame Vestris had the management to 1839, then followed Mr. George Wild, Miss Davenport, and Watts. The theatre was destroyed by fire March, 1849; re-built and opened by Mr. Watts, December 26, 1850.
Omnibuses.—The first pair of London omnibuses started from the Yorkshire Stingo, public-house, in the New Road, to the Bank of England and back, on Saturday, July 4th, 1829. They were constructed to carry twenty-two passengers, all inside, and were drawn by three horses abreast. The fare was one shilling, or sixpence for half the distance, together with the luxury of a newspaper. A Mr. J. Shillibeer was the owner of these carriages, and in order that the introduction might have every chance of success and the full prestige of respectibility, he brought over with him from Paris two youths, both the sons of British naval officers, and these young gentlemen were his “conductors.” They were smartly dressed in blue cloth, after the Parisian fashion. Their addressing any foreign passenger in French, and the French style of the affair, gave rise to an opinion that Mr. Shillibeer was a Frenchman, and that the English were indebted to a foreigner for the improvement of their vehicular transit, whereas Mr. Shillibeer had served in the British navy, and was born in Tottenham Court Road; yet he had afterwards carried on the business of a coach builder both in London and Paris. His speculation was particularly and at once successful, for he insured punctuality and civility; and the cheapness, cleanliness, and smartness of his omnibuses were in most advantageous contrast with the high charges, dirt, dinginess, and rudeness of the drivers of many of the “short stages” and Hackney coaches, who were loud in their railings against what they were pleased to describe as a French innovation, and many were the street-papers and ballads issued on the subject both for and against the “Shillibeer’s” and “French Hearses.”
The ’Buss, the ’Buss, the Omnibus!
That welcomes all without a fuss;
And wafts us on with joyous sound,
Through crowded streets on our busy round,
Reckless of cold and gloomy skies,
Or the driving storm as it downward hies:
Stow’d snug in thee! stow’d snug in thee!
I am where I would wish to be,
While the rain above and the mud below
Affects me not where’er I go——
Though the sleet and the slush be ankle deep,
What matters? while I can ride so cheap!
What matters? &c.
I love, oh how I love to ride
In cozy converse, side by side,
With some sweet sly enchanting one,
Who lets her little ’larum run
Till scarcely can the listener know
If that or Time more swiftly go!
Henceforth I’ll know the terrible bore
Of “padding the hoof” no more, no more;
But back to his seat I so oft have press’d
I’ll spring, to be wafted the while I rest:
For thou, dear ’Bus! art a home to me,
While I am snugly seated in thee.
While I am, &c.
On the Town.—A man of the world: a person supposed to have a general knowledge of men and manners. In short Up and Down to everything!
Operators.—Pickpockets.
O.P. and P.S.—The name given to a tavern in Russell Court, Drury Lane—See Kean’s Head—This sign was construed several ways according as it suited the different tastes of its visitors. The stage-players took it in its original sense, to denominate the tavern a theatrical house;—and the O.P. and P.S., according to its technicality upon the stage, thus—O.P. Opposite Prompter, and P.S. the Prompt Side. The men of the world placed it in another point of view, “Come and see me to-night,” said they to a friend, “at the O.P. and P.S., where you will be sure to meet some Old Pals, and hear Prime Singing.” And the Bacchanalians hailed the O.P. and P.S. as the harbour containing fine Old Port and Prime Sherry.