3-070-843 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Do you object to smoking, Sir?", 1881. Illustration to "People I Have Met". 'I was travelling from London to Brighton; my sole companion in the car was a young gentleman who could at once be recognised as a Ritualist, a Priest...He wore a crucifix, suspended from his watch-chain, and his attire consisted of a black suit...The dog-collar which rose above the black cloth was of spotless purity, and the grey gloves which the young ecclesiastic allowed himself - his only deviation from strict black and white - seemed to have been purchased of Jouvin that very morning, so well did they fit and so unclouded was their hue. The cloth, too, of that hopelessly-made coat was of the finest, and I soon remarked that my companion's boots were patent-leathers. The crucifix was of gold, suspended from the bar of a gold chain of solid and artistic workmanship. He looked so odd a fish that as soon as we were off I began to think how I could manage to get into conversation with him: but it was he who began. "Do you object to smoking, Sir?" - "Not at all." His was the question, mine the (untruthful) reply. He had already produced a cigar-case in Russian leather, with a monogram in gold letters, surmounted by a coronet'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.