Then came the younger non-dancing men--a class of the community who wear
black cravats and waistcoats, and thrust their thumbs and forefingers in
their waistcoat-pockets, and are called "talking men." Some of them are
literary, and affect the philosopher; have, perhaps, written a book or
two, and are a small species of lion to very young ladies. Some are of
the _blase_ kind; men who affect the extremest elegance, and are reputed
"so aristocratic," and who care for nothing in particular, but wish they
had not been born gentlemen, in which case they might have escaped
ennui. These gentlemen stand with hat in hand, and their coats and
trousers are unexceptionable. They are the "so gentlemanly" persons of
whom one hears a great deal, but which seems to mean nothing but
cleanliness. Vivian Grey and Pelham are the models of their ambition,
and they succeed in being Pendennis. They enjoy the reputation of being
"very clever," and "very talented fellows," and "smart chaps"; but they
refrain from proving what is so generously conceded. They are often men
of a certain cultivation. They have traveled, many of them--spending a
year or two in Paris, and a month or two in the rest of Europe.
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