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Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864

"Passages from the American Notebooks, Volume 1"

--A vendor of patent medicines, Doctor
Jaques, makes acquaintance with me, and shows me his recommendatory
letters in favor of himself and drugs, signed by a long list of people.
He prefers, he says, booksellers to druggists as his agents, and inquired
of me about them in this town. He seems to be an honest man enough, with
an intelligent face, and sensible in his talk, but not a gentleman,
wearing a somewhat shabby brown coat and mixed pantaloons, being
ill-shaven, and apparently not well acquainted with the customs of a
fashionable hotel. A simplicity about him that is likable, though, I
believe, he comes from Philadelphia.--Naval officers, strolling about
town, bargaining for swords and belts, and other military articles; with
the tailor, to have naval buttons put on their shore-going coats, and for
their pantaloons, suited to the climate of the Mediterranean. It is the
almost invariable habit of officers, when going ashore or staying on
shore, to divest themselves of all military or naval insignia, and appear
as private citizens. At the Tremont, young gentlemen with long
earlocks,--straw hats, light, or dark-mixed.


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