you british fellows sure know how to live !
just read : beau brummell - the ultimate man of style by ian kelley .
from the chapter : a day in the high life
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i will attempt to scetch the day of a young man of fashion ; and of such a one a single day describes his whole life .
he thinks of rising about 11 in the morning , and having taken a slight breakfast , puts on his riding coat and repairs to ... all the fashionable streets off hyde park ... visits the most noted shops and ... after bespeaking something there , he ... drives from one exhibition to the other , stops at the caricature shops and , at about three drives to a fashionable hotel .
here he takes his lunch , reads the papers , arranges his parties for the evening and strolls home at five .
his toilet he finds prepared and his valet is waiting for him ... by seven he is dressed and goes to dinner ...
at nine he goes to the play . not to see it ... but to flirt from box to box , to look at the ladies whom he knows and to show himself to others whom he does not ... he then proceeds to a rout , a bal , or the faro bank of some lady of distinction ... about four in the morning , exhausted with fatigue he returns home ; to recommence , the next morning , the follies of the past day .
just a footnote :
unfortunately , the syphilis paid him a visit at an early age and the mercury treatments were not very pleasant - he lost all his teeth , his hair ... ...
still , he lived it up for a while ... before he had to flee to france when his gambling debts got a little heavy , poor sod !
