The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-25 00:00:00

DALLINGS.

FROM ELIZA COOK'S JOURNAL.

Very few people are without their " petting"_propen-
skies in some medium or other. Most of us have some
idiosyncrasies of partiality, and adopt " darlings" that
we foster and adhere to through thick and thin, though
very often we scarcely like to own our besetting preju-
dices, and are sometimes even quite ignorant of the
small weaknesses that exist with our stronger psycholo-
gical developments. One of the commonest objects of
this propensity set up by humanity is a " darling child ;"
and, with all due deference to parental feelings, we have
found this object among the most ridiculous and mon-
strous specimens of blind idolatry. We will not elabo-
rately irritate the philoprogenitiveness that converts Mas-
ter Sydney's savage kicks into gentle playfulness, and
Miss Rosa's passionate scream into a mere proof of good
spirits, lest we should incur the unforgiving censure of
doting pa's and ma's, and be recorded as something un-
natural ; though we entertain a firm conviction that the
undue petting and indiscriminate indulgence of a child is
amongst the greatest follies and social pests that mark
domestic life. Others exhibit the propensity in the shape
of a "darling" dog; and this animal must have its china
plate and delicate food thrust before it until it becomes
a mass of obesity alike troublesome to itself and others.
It must be led through crowded streets by a dainty rib-
bon or exquisitely-wrought chain, at the risk of upset-
ting the wayfarers, and with the cruel deprivation of its
natural liberty. A most mistaken degree of attention
surrounds the existence of the poor beast. The animal
is the victim of affectionate assiduity, and, between feel-
ing and fondness, constitutes a laughable illustration of
the "petting" propensity. There are other household
annoyances in the shape of " darlings" besides spoiled
children and waddling dogs. What will our gentlemen
readers say if we venture to suggest that the " darling"
cigar may become as conspicuously objectionable as any
I old maid's parrot or pug. Do not start, ye discreet en-
joyers of the fragrant leaf—ye who smoke in moderation,
and who can exist three consecutive hours without the
company of tobacco. We have a most kindly liking for
the society of a fine Havannah at proper times and places,
and hail the perfume with honest goodwill ; but when an
unfortunate smoke-ridden man is never to be seen without
his "petted" cigar stuck between his lips, when he pa-
teonises the Virginian vegetable to an extent that saturates
his Hyperion curls and superfine clothes with an offevesi
odour, constantly presenting the atmosphere of a tap-
room to the noses of all around him,—then we say that
the " darling" cigar constitutes an unseemly and selfish
indulgence, quite as worthy of reprehension and con-
tempt as the single lady's lap-dog. Another unfortunate
"darling" to which the "stronger sex" most lovingly
incline is "the bottle." Oh ! what a bitter curse is en-
gendered by this morbid infatuation ; Woe betide the
strong man, the paragon of reason and wisdom, who
lavishes his affectiou on the wine-flask, and who cannot
be happy away from his adored Alcohol. Let him hug
the "darling" to his breast, and cling to it with his eager,
burning lips ; let him swear by its excellence, and revel
in its fascination ; but the darling object of devotion
shall change its form into the demon of desolation and
the petted fiend shall gurgle forth its taunting laughter
at the degraded idiot whose bloodshot eyes, foul breath,
and nerveless limbs bear evidence of its having been
" loved unwisely and too well." Some set their affections
on a darling medicine, and become insanely devoted to
calomel, Epsom salts, or castor oil. Some take to petting
"Morrison's pills;" some pin their faith on " Dover's pow-
ders," and nothing is more common than a violent attach-
ment to "carbonate of soda." An aunt of ours chose to
take it into her head that " Cockle's pills " would regene-
rate the brains, blood, and bones of the whole world, and
we suspect that she cut us out of her will on the ground of
having detected us in flinging the nauseous boluses into
the fire, instead of swallowing them. We know a family
of seven boys and girls with pnly nine sound teeth
among them, this dental misery having been caused by
the father's rantic advocacy of calomel. Cold, cancer,
or catalepsy are all met by him with the everlasting
"five grains and a black draught," and many people
imagine that two of his children, a parrot, three cats,
and a spaniel, all fell victims to his most terrible of in-
fatuations "a darling medicine."
What led us to talk of this subject was a visit from a
gentleman who keeps in his vocabulary of the English
language what many of us do,—a "darling" word, which
he lugs, neck and heels, into his sentences, whether it be
aptly placed or not. Most of us have this distinguishing
oral feature of "darlingism,"—some word or phrase which
forms the spoilt child of our conversation, and has its
own way, right or wrong. The gentleman we allude to
has such a decided attachment for the adjective " ab-
surd," that we believe his tongue would be paralysed if
the dissyllable were denied it. He declares that the
rainy weather is "most absurd ;" that the violent rup-
ture between the Press and the Playhouses is "intensely
absurd ;" that the odes on the death of the Duke of
Wellington are "ridiculously absurd," that his little
daughter taking up with the measles just as the family
were packed for Brighton was "provokingly absurd :"
and when we informed him that a mutual friend had
died, he exclaimed, with elongated face, "Dear me, how
very absurd " Now, in two of these instances, the
application of the darling word might be tolerably judi-
cious, but in the other three it sounded rather mal cl,
propos. However, it forms his pet fraction of our lan-
guage, and he would, doubtless, be most unhappy with-
out the unlimited use of it. Another respected person
in our circle has the pet phrase of "so and so," and
fondles it to a very conspicuous degree. He is intel-
ligent and well informed beyond the average of men,
—can make a clever speech, and write articles on
ethics, but in every-day conversation he cannot get on
for three consecutive sentences without falling over this
petted phrase. He is somewhat given to politics ; and
here is a specimen of his opinions ?—" Don't talk to sae
about the mitigation of the malt tax, and so and so, as
being any essential relief to the consumer. The brewers
will get the great benefit, and so and so : their mono-
polies at present are quite abominable. And then the

Income tax, and so and so, is not at all fairly aCil;tei;
'tis a difficult matter to please every one, certainly, but
the lower and middle classes, and so and so, always have
to kick and struggle for their rights." Now, this may
'seem exaggerated ; but we give our honest word that it
is a faithful report of the gentleman's every-day style of
eloquence. Some years ago we knew a resident trades.
man in a country town who had so little regard for truth
that the most outrageous scandals and most unqualified
" Munchausens" were always traced to his gossipping
inventions. He knew secrets that never existed; he
maligned characters that were as good as most peo-
ples ; he magnified cut fingers into broken arms,—the
nettle rash into small-pox ; and, in short, was recog-
nised by all that knew him as the most finished liar in
existence. This man had a " darling phrase," which
was ever on his lips, and, strange to say, no less an
antithesis to his mental and moral vernacular than
" the fact is." " Well, Mr. Thompson," said we, as we
met him in the High-street one day, " how is it that
you have not come to hang those curtains, as you pro-
mised to do last week ?" "Why, the fact is, ma'am,"
he began, "that Mrs. Thompson has been laid up with
a sort of fever, and the young ones are all very queer :
the fact is, we think they've got the measles, and my
man Edmonds+ has been out upon the loose for these last
ten days : the fact is, I'm going to part with him, but I
hope to get your curtains up to-morrow : the fact is, I
must ; ter I've got to go to London the next day." We
discovered in due time that every word he uttered was
false. This was a fair sample of the man's general ve-
racity, and his adaptation of such a pet phrase has
always appeared to us as the height of mendacious
audacity.

Some time since we were in the habit of meeting an
elderly lady whose loquacity was of the "perpetual
motion" order, and whose darling word at every third
breath was neither more nor less than " everythine—
a tolerably comprehensive side-wind to tack upon, and
often employed in a most unwarrantable and ludicrous
manner. " Well," said she one morning, as we greeted
her, "how was it you were not at Lucombe's juvenile
party last night ? They wanted you to help, and every-
thing. You should have seen little Harry Gibson,
—he ate two muffins, a sally-lunn, and four bis-
cuits, and everything, for his tea. They had such
a twelfth-cake,—and Tommy Lucombe wanted
to pull Jenny Lind off the middle of it, but his
mamma wouldn't let him, and then he showed his tan-
trums, and everything. He's a sad, wicked-tempered
child, that, and I shouldn't %yonder if he came to be
hanged for murder, and everything." This was the
way in which she entertained us for nearly an hour.
We heard lately that the old lady was sadly reduced in
circumstances, but we could not help observing to our
informant that it was utterly impossible she should have
lost " everything."
A young organist at a country church had the fa-
vourite expression of " I see" constantly in use. "Din-
ner is almost ready below," we observed. " Yes, I
see," would be his prompt assertion. " What a lovely
sunset we shall have !" was our exclamation one even-

ing. " Yes, I see," was his response. " Edwin, my
dear, your hat is getting very shabby," said his mother
to him. " Yes, I see," replied he. Now the most
curious part of this "darlingism " is, that the unfortu-
nate youth is stone blind.
Some small specimens of humanity in our circle of in-
timacy have lately adopted a darling word of rather a
strong nature, and the pertinacious aptness with which
they apply it is amusing. "How's your papa, Frank ?"
said we to the young gentleman in a tunic. " Oh, he's
got a a stunning' toothache, and it makes him so
" cross,"was the reply. "Who taught you that vulgar
word ?" was our interrogative, while we assumed as Mrs.
Trimmer-like an air as possible. " Why, cousin Wil-
liam," exclaimed a most delicate-looking little lady, just
up to the shoulder of the tunic, "and ma scolds us for
saying it ; isn't it a stunning' shame ?" We expr,,ssed
our very proper sense of galvanic sensation at their idul-
gence in such atrocious language, and with such impres-
sive effect, that, after an affectionate farewell, a scroam-
ing intimation was conveyed up stairs that they were
going for a "stunning" walk.
Now, suppose we look "at home," and just inquire if
we have any darling vernacular of our own. We can-
didly confess that we have ; and if any one would take
note of our conversational exclamations, " a great ;mis-
take" would be found ever and anon upon our tongue.
Luckily. as the world goes, it is not so often seriously out
of place as many darling phrases are ; but what we should
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