A BEAU. 283 



dealer would be more respected from his manners 

 being coarse or vulgar, or that his dress should be 

 that of a cow-dealer ; quite the reverse : his address 

 may be that of a gentleman, and his dress also, with- 

 out any offence to any one: but let that dress be ap- 

 propriate to his pursuits, and if he is fortunate enough 

 to have something of the address of the gentleman, he 

 will not make it more so by attempting the puppy- 

 dandy gentleman, a character by the by now nearly 

 exploded among men of family and fashion : it is, 

 therefore, perhaps not so inappropriate as I at first 

 stated it to be in certain horse-dealers in contradis- 

 tinction. I know no man whose dress and address 

 were always more in character with his pursuits in 

 life than Mr. John Shackell, of Oxford Street ; always 

 in good taste : and let any man point him out to a 

 stranger as a country gentleman, neither his appear- 

 ance nor manners would induce you to doubt his being 

 so ; arid Beau Shackell was always a bit of a Count 

 too, was a very good-looking, not to say handsome 

 man, and knew it : but I never saw him sport satin 

 (among his horses at least). I have known men take 

 a copy of his dress as a riding one, but I never knew 

 an instance of his forgetting himself so far as to copy 

 that of any one of his customers, and then wear it in 

 his yard. 



Let us return to our dealer in proper dress, if such 

 a one is now to be found, or at all events to a man 

 who is not a would-be gentleman. The customers of 

 such men lie a good deal I should say among young 

 City men, who sport their hack or buggy with the 

 knowledge and consent of the Governor, and fre- 

 quently their hunter without. Our dealer, knowing 

 these are safe men, lets them have the latter, and pay 



