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We intimated that Master Joe Smart is what is vernacularly termed a tiger: and he is sharp enough, were he a child of an order higher than the Mobility, for a lion. His jacket has no stripes upon it, certainly; which perhaps (at times, at least) it deserves to have: but his waistcoat has. He belongs to a menagerie, consisting chiefly of individuals of the equine and canine species. It will be seen at a glance what striking advantages our young tiger has derived from his contact with aristocracy. His attitude, gestures, and expression of countenance, indicate a knowledge of the world and of the usages of Society much beyond that of his comrades; and although it is undoubtedly very improper to smoke cigars, as he is doing, yet there is a certain air of committing an offence, which greatly palliates its enormity; and such an air he displays. A cigar, too, is infinitely preferable to a nasty pipe. He is moreover wearing what we at once recognise as a hat, coat, intervening garments, and boots, whereas rude imitations of these articles of attire are all that most Children of the Mobility appear in. The cultivation which his intellectual faculties have received, has given him a vast superiority over his acquaintance. None of them dare—we have already explained the word,—to "chaff" him. His felicity of expression, particularly as regards terms of raillery, would render the contest hopeless; even if the aggressor were not, at the first onset, disarmed by his speaking eye. We mean, his left eye, which he causes to speak very eloquently on proper occasions, by closing it in a peculiar manner.
The best place for the social education of youth is the drawing-room.
PLATE VI. Master Bob White and Master Nick Baggs.
