A Little Dinner at Timmins's by William Makepeace Thackeray

On the arm of her Fitzroy, Rosa went off to Fubsby's, that magnificent / shop at the corner of Parliament Place and Alicompayne Square, -- a / shop into which the rogue had often cast a glance of approbation as he / passed: for there are not only the most wonderful and delicious cakes / and confections in the window, but at the counter there are almost sure / to be three or four of the prettiest women in the whole of this world, / with little darling caps of the last French make, with beautiful wavy / hair, and the neatest possible waists and aprons.

Yes, there they sit; and others, perhaps, besides Fitz have cast a / sheep's-eye through those enormous plate-glass windowpanes. I suppose it / is the fact of perpetually living among such a quantity of good things / that makes those young ladies so beautiful. They come into the place, / let us say, like ordinary people, and gradually grow handsomer and / handsomer, until they grow out into the perfect angels you see. It can't / be otherwise: if you and I, my dear fellow, were to have a course of / that place, we should become beautiful too. They live in an atmosphere / of the most delicious pine-apples, blanc-manges, creams, (some whipt, / and some so good that of course they don't want whipping,) jellies, / tipsy-cakes, cherry-brandy -- one hundred thousand sweet and lovely / things. Look at the preserved fruits, look at the golden ginger, the / outspreading ananas, the darling little rogues of China oranges, ranged / in the gleaming crystal cylinders. Mon Dieu! Look at the strawberries / in the leaves. Each of them is as large nearly as a lady's reticule, and / looks as if it had been brought up in a nursery to itself. One of those / strawberries is a meal for those young ladies, behind the counter; they / nibble off a little from the side, and if they are very hungry, / which can scarcely ever happen, they are allowed to go to the crystal / canisters and take out a rout-cake or macaroon. In the evening they sit / and tell each other little riddles out of the bonbons; and when they / wish to amuse themselves, they read the most delightful remarks, in the / French language, about Love, and Cupid, and Beauty, before they place / them inside the crackers. They always are writing down good things into / Mr. Fubsby's ledgers.