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The Richmond Hoax
Jests Home
ONE of the best practical jokes in Theodore Hook's clever Gilbert
Gurney, is Daly's hoax upon the lady who had never been at Richmond
before, or, at least, knew none of the peculiarities of the place. Daly
desired the waiter, after dinner, to bring some maids of honor--those
cheesecakes for which the place has, time out of mind, been celebrated.
The lady stared, then laughed, and asked, What do you mean by 'maids of
honor?'--Dear me! said Daly, don't you know that this is so courtly
a place, and so completely under the influence of state etiquette, that
everything in Richmond is called after the functionaries of the palace?
What are called cheesecakes elsewhere, are here called maids of honor;
a capon is called a lord chamberlain; a goose is a lord steward; a
roast pig is a master of the horse; a pair of ducks, grooms of the
bedchamber; a gooseberry-tart, a gentleman usher of the black rod; and
so on. The unsophisticated lady was taken in, when she actually saw the
maids of honor make their appearance in the shape of cheesecakes; she
convulsed the whole party by turning to the waiter, and desiring him, in
a sweet but decided tone, to bring her a gentleman usher of the black
rod, if they had one in the house quite cold!
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