The Aesthete as Caricatured by Punch Magazine
The Six-Mark Teapot. Aesthetic Bridegroom. “It is quite consummate, is it not?” Intense Bride. “It is, indeed! Oh, Algernon, let us live up to it!”
An Aesthetic Midday Meal. At the luncheon hour Jellaby Postlethwaite enters a pastrycook’s and calls for a glass of water, into which he puts a freshly-cut lily, and loses himself in contemplation thereof. Waiter. “Shall I bring you anything else, sir?” Jellaby Postlethwaite. “Thanks, no! I have all I require, and shall soon have done!”
Aesthetic Pride. Fond Mother. “You live too much alone, Algernon!” Young Genius (Poet, Painter, Sculptor, etc.) “‘Tis better so, Mother! Besides I only care for the society of my equals, and – a – such being the case – a – my circle is necessarily rather limited.” Fond Mother. “But surely the society of your superiors___” Young Genius. “My what, Mother! My Superiors! WHERE ARE THEY!!!”
An Infelicitous Question. Aesthetic Youth. “I hope by degrees to have this room filled with nothing but the most perfectly beautiful things. . .” Simple-Minded Guardsman. “And what are you going to do with these, then?”
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