Friday, August the 20th, 2010

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The Reverend And The Dandy

Yesterday's crumbs of Babinskiana provoked an inundation of letters from female readers imploring me to post a picture of the Reverend John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew, he of the head of hair like a great ball of spun white silk, so they could print it, cut it out, put it in a frame, and make it the centrepiece of a shrine at which they could adore him, as so many women did when he was—becomingly, remember—alive. I managed to track the Reverend down here, where you may note he is categorised not merely under “cassock”, “clergyman” and “Victorian” but also “arms crossed” and “keen eyed”. Et voila!

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Not to be outdone, a plethora of male readers beseeched me, similarly, to post a picture of Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurévilly, the boulevard magnifico, of the gold-knobbed cane and hand-held mirror, no doubt so they could pick up some invaluable tips on personal grooming. As always, I am happy to oblige.

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Please note that these pictures are of Bellew and Barbey d'Aurévilly themselves, not of the criminal lunatic Babinsky in disguise, first as one, emerging from a hovel, then as the other, prancing off a pier.