YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 FANCIES, FASHIONS AND FADS 
 
 MAYFAIR AND MONTMARTRE 
 
 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 LADY DOROTHY NEVILL
 
 "On the shining yards of heaven 
 See a wider dawn unfurled . . 
 The eternal slaves of beauty 
 Are the masters of the world."
 
 YESTERDAY AND 
 TO-DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 RALPH NEVILL 
 
 AUTHOR OF "MAYI'AIR AND MONTMARTRE" 
 
 WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR 
 AND FOUR OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 METHUEN & GO. LTD. 
 
 36 ESSEX STREET W.G. 
 
 LONDON
 
 First Published in ig22
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I LADIES FIRST i 
 
 II NEW MEN 27 
 
 III OLD ACRES 50 
 
 IV CLUBLAND 77 
 
 V I. PASSING LONDON in 
 
 VI II. PASSING LONDON 137 
 
 VII OUR MASTERS 160 
 
 VIII STIGGINS, CHADBAND & Co 178 
 
 IX BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER .... 217 
 
 X ACROSS THE CHANNEL 245 
 
 INDEX . . 283 
 
 2038773
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR FACING PAGE 
 
 From a Drawing by CHRISTOS SIMATOS. 
 
 COVENT GARDEN MARKET . . . . . . .130 
 
 From a Photograph by SPORT AND GENERAL PRESS AGENCY, LTD. 
 
 SITE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 152 
 
 From a Print after J. GENDALL. 
 
 REGENT STREET WITH THE COLONNADE . . . ' . .216 
 
 From a Print after T. HOSMER SHEPHERD. 
 
 VERDUN IN 1810 .......... 266 
 
 From a Water-colour in the possession of Sir CLAUDE CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY, Bart.
 
 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 LADIES FIRST 
 
 DASHING young ladies have always aroused 
 hostile comment from an older generation. 
 The Girl of the Period of the 'sixties, for in- 
 stance, was the subject of bitter denunciation. The 
 new woman of the 'nineties with her mannish ways 
 and dress also came in for a good deal of abuse. 
 
 Even at the beginning of the present century, when 
 a fashionable young lady wore a dress which was 
 so long that it concealed her toes, serious people 
 said all sorts of things about her, just as the older 
 generation says things about the younger to-day. 
 
 Nevertheless the only people whose opinion she 
 values, that is, " men," always seem perfectly satis- 
 fied. Whether her dress be high or low, or her skirt 
 long or short, she always seems beautiful or attractive 
 to them. 
 
 Whatever may be the failings of the modern girl, 
 every one must admit that she is generally natural 
 in her ways, and does not pretend to be shocked when 
 she isn't. 
 
 The Victorian young lady, even when not frankly 
 prudish, was apt to take offence at anything which 
 she thought she ought not to have heard. 
 
 There were, it is true, girls who prided themselves 
 i i
 
 2 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 upon being natural. Nevertheless, though they de- 
 clared that they liked people to call a spade a spade, 
 those who did so were apt to get into dreadful trouble. 
 
 Quite a number of people speak of the doings of 
 the modern girl in much the same horrified tone 
 as that in which they discussed atrocities during 
 the war. Nevertheless the young lady in question 
 is probably no worse, if no better, than her predecessors 
 of former generations. 
 
 In spite of the (to a great extent) assumed prudery 
 of a past age, a good many of the fair sex were any- 
 thing but immaculate. What is one to think when 
 it is remembered that the children of that Countess 
 of Oxford who was the heroine of one of the last of 
 Byron's amours were once cynically described as the 
 " Harleian miscellany " ? 
 
 About the same time the Duke of Devonshire of 
 the day was openly living with Lady Betty Foster 
 an intimate friend of the Duchess whose successor 
 she eventually became. 
 
 Lady Caroline Lamb pursued Byron with shameless 
 insistence and when he broke off relations with her 
 wrote a revengeful novel. As the poet said in ' ' Beppo, ' ' 
 
 " She played the devil and then wrote a novel." 
 
 Morals in those days were certainly no better than 
 they are now, but the light of publicity then beat 
 much less fiercely. People were more careful about 
 retailing stories of celebrated people. To-day one 
 is often reminded of Tennyson's remark concerning 
 a garrulous old lady full of scandalous reminiscences. 
 
 " Dr. Johnson," said she, " used to stir his lemonade 
 with his finger, which was often dirty." 
 
 " The dirt," said the Poet Laureate, "is in her 
 own heart." 
 
 Vulgarity rather than vice would appear to be the
 
 LADIES FIRST 3 
 
 besetting sin of most of the modern damsels who 
 openly profess themselves disdainful of what used 
 to be known as " aristocratic reserve." 
 
 Old-fashioned people deplore that the habit of 
 speaking in a loud and raucous voice, calling people 
 by nicknames and indulging in familiarity on very 
 short acquaintance should have become an ordinary 
 feature of social life. 
 
 The young ladies of a past era were, on the other 
 hand, shy and reserved and often dull it is indeed 
 the dread of being classed as the latter that has spurred 
 on many a modern damsel to extravagances of an 
 undignified kind. It must also be remembered that 
 young men and young women meet together more 
 often and on more intimate terms than would have 
 been tolerated in the past. 
 
 Girls of to-day are certainly more wideawake 
 than their predecessors. Not a few of the latter, 
 however, did know a good deal, but it was the day 
 of " Demure Pusses," and while keeping their know- 
 ledge to themselves they made use of it perhaps 
 even more than some of the flamboyant damsels of 
 to-day. 
 
 In Society, however, they appeared to be shy and 
 reserved. The great majority were then brought 
 up on exactly the same plan. Almost all of them, 
 whether musical or not, were taught singing, then 
 considered an indispensable part of a young lady's 
 education. 
 
 One shudders when one thinks of the boredom 
 which had to be endured listening to vapid sentimental 
 songs sung by young Misses, in a voice so soft as to 
 be almost inaudible three yards from the piano. 
 This perhaps was the best thing about these melodies 
 which in almost every case were far more popular 
 with the performer than the listener.
 
 4 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The recollection of horrors such as this and of 
 the stilted, forced conversation of those days makes 
 one realize that in a world where so much has de- 
 teriorated woman has certainly improved. 
 
 As regards amusements, the Victorian young lady 
 had a much worse time than her successor of to-day, 
 who quite frankly owns she is out for a good time and 
 generally gets one. Never was there such a golden 
 age for those fond of dancing, never were good partners 
 so easily found, or better music provided. 
 
 While so many of the women and girls of to-day 
 cultivate their minds they are by no means careless 
 as to appearance and dress. 
 
 The Victorian young ladies, blindly following what 
 they were told was the fashion, rarely understood 
 how to make the most of themselves. Modern girls, 
 on the other hand, know how to adopt a style of 
 hairdressing or costume well calculated to accentuate 
 their good points, do not slavishly follow a fashion 
 which is unsuited to them and, above all, are well 
 turned out and neat. There was much dowdiness 
 in Victorian times ; as long as a dress was in the 
 fashion, not too much care was devoted to putting 
 it on. 
 
 There is little doubt but that within the last twenty 
 years the general appearance of women has con- 
 siderably improved, modern costume being better 
 calculated to set off feminine charms than the lengthy 
 and voluminous draperies which swathed the tightly 
 corsetted beauties of past generations. 
 
 The fact that some frivolous damsels have carried 
 their affection for short skirts to great lengths is no 
 argument for the return of the dust-ridden, microbe- 
 bearing trains which, from the point of view of hygiene 
 or art, had nothing to recommend them. 
 
 The most sensible and witty suggestion as to ladies'
 
 LADIES FIRST 5 
 
 skirts was that once made by Mr. Harvey, the American 
 Ambassador. 
 
 " A skirt," said he, " should, like an after-dinner 
 speech, be long enough to cover the subject, but short 
 enough to be interesting." 
 
 While the taste of Englishwomen in dress has 
 been perfected, it is to be regretted that so many of 
 them cannot divest themselves of the idea that a 
 good effect is achieved by meaningless adornments, 
 such as odd bunches of leaves and fruit stuck on to 
 belts and hats, the crown of which not infrequently 
 presents much the appearance of a Russian salad. 
 
 It is by means of a carefully calculated simplicity 
 that Frenchwomen contrive to look well-dressed; 
 this together with extreme neatness and perfection 
 as to detail in only the Parisienne of even limited 
 means presents the chic appearance which all the 
 feminine world tries to copy. 
 
 The modern girl fully realizes the value of looking 
 nice. She has entirely discarded the old muffling up 
 methods which impaired the appearance of her less 
 sophisticated predecessors, and, as has been justly 
 said, would rather feel cold in pretty thin silk stockings 
 than warm in ugly thick ones. 
 
 This after all is but self-sacrifice in order to present 
 an attractive appearance to the world in general. 
 The type of girl in question, frivolous and pleasure- 
 loving as she may be, enjoys life thoroughly and is 
 a refreshing contrast to the pretentious, languorous 
 young lady of other days who, as the Irishman said, 
 did not know what she wanted and wouldn't have 
 been happy had she got it. 
 
 A curious modern mania is that for wearing furs 
 all the year round. Many ladies no doubt do this 
 because it is the fashion, others merely because they 
 are chilly by nature and the sort of people who will
 
 6 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 never feel warm until they are put into Golder's Green. 
 
 On the whole, however, the tendency has been to 
 discard various articles of attire, among which may 
 be numbered the corset, for which it would seem 
 many ladies now have no use. 
 
 Though a past generation would have been horrified 
 at this, there is no doubt but that in a number of 
 cases women have acquired grace and freedom of 
 gait. Besides this, they are far healthier and better 
 than were the wasp-waisted, trussed-up females of 
 the Victorian age. 
 
 The most ugly period of feminine dress would 
 appear to have been in the 'sixties of the last century. 
 Nevertheless some attractive-looking ladies were 
 painted by Winterhalter, that favourite Court painter 
 of the Victorian Era, who, whatever may have been 
 his artistic shortcomings, certainly had a genius for 
 arranging groups and posing his sitters. 
 
 If somewhat cold in his style he contrived to tone 
 down the ugliness and eccentricities of fashions highly 
 destructive of feminine beauty. 
 
 Perhaps his most successful portrait was that of 
 the Empress Eugenie in a costume akin to that of 
 Marie Antoinette as a shepherdess of the Trianon 
 with a bevy of maids of honour around her. 
 
 People speak of the vanished charm of the Victorian 
 young ladies, but those who remember some of those 
 poor things are inclined to doubt whether the greater 
 freedom enjoyed by her successors has not been a 
 blessing to society at large, of which the healthy- 
 looking, neatly-turned-out modern girl is such a 
 conspicuous and delightful ornament. 
 
 Feminine costume in the immediate past was 
 rarely becoming to its fair wearer. A glance at 
 old-fashioned photographs easily proves this. The 
 fashion of muffling up the neck, of big sleeves, volu-
 
 LADIES FIRST 7 
 
 minous and lengthy skirts, together with hats perched 
 at all sorts of unbecoming angles, now seems positively 
 ridiculous. Nevertheless every fashion seems quite 
 reasonable in its time, even the hideous dress-improver 
 or bustle excited little adverse comment when every 
 woman wore one. 
 
 Though the professional beauties of the 'eighties 
 were undoubtedly for the most past beautiful women, 
 they gained little enough from their dress, even when 
 it was theatrical as in the snowstorm photograph of 
 that day, in which the sitter was shown in furs and 
 a muff, while a shower of snow fell all about her. 
 
 The poses of that day were too often stiff, angular and 
 artificial, also there was no softness about the photos, 
 which lacked the artistic finish, which is now not 
 uncommon. 
 
 Nevertheless a certain section of the public bought 
 them freely, the most popular of all probably having 
 been the portrait of Miss Maude Branscombe, in the 
 costume of a nun. 
 
 Mrs. Langtry's photograph must also have sold 
 by the thousands, as did those of some other Society 
 beauties, whose likenesses were displayed hi the 
 Burlington Arcade, where more than one shop window 
 exhibited a regular series of professional beauties. 
 
 While woman's dress, from every point of view, 
 has improved, feminine hairdressing, which in old 
 days cannot be said to have existed at all, has made 
 even greater strides ; becoming simplicity and neat- 
 ness being now the rule rather than the exception. 
 
 On the whole, in spite of all statements to the 
 contrary, it is doubtful whether a pretty girl ever 
 had such a chance of looking nice as she has to-day, 
 the result of which is that the standard of feminine 
 beauty has, or at least seems to have, grown very 
 much higher.
 
 8 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Among other changes in feminine ways the adoption 
 of suitable costumes for special sports must not be 
 forgotten. 
 
 When the bicycle craze was at its height in the early 
 'nineties, a special dress consisting of baggy knicker- 
 bockers, known as bloomers, was invented in Paris, 
 and worn by a few go-ahead young ladies on this 
 side of the Channel. The costume in question, though 
 to-day it would merely be considered ugly, for a time 
 created some sensation as being fast. 
 
 A good deal of water, however, has flowed beneath 
 London Bridge since then, and the fashion of riding 
 astride by young ladies in breeches and boots has 
 ceased to arouse even comment. As a matter of 
 fact, great latitude is now permitted in the way of 
 feminine dress, most people having ceased to be 
 surprised at anything. 
 
 The " ratcatcher " costume, popular with both men 
 and women riders, cannot however, be called an 
 improvement as compared with the riding-habit 
 and frock-coat with top hats. The graceful Amazons 
 and well-turned-out horsemen of the past were far 
 more attractive to the eye than the motley crowd 
 which now frequent the Row. 
 
 The so-called woman's movement, with its ridiculous 
 fads and extravagances, has happily left the great 
 mass of English womanhood unmoved. In spite 
 of the evil sex hatred which certain of its supporters 
 seek to promote, the movement in question may 
 even have done some good in stimulating thought 
 among the more serious-minded of the fair sex. Any- 
 how, woman as she is to-day, in spite of all her de- 
 tractors, is from a social point of view generally rather 
 a charming creature, the little air of authority which 
 she occasionally seeks to assume imparting a subtle 
 piquancy to her conversation which, in spite of all
 
 LADIES FIRST 9 
 
 modern attempts to assimilate the education of girls 
 to that of boys, remains in the vast majority of in- 
 stances delightfully feminine. 
 
 Though women are supposed to have gained much 
 by their so-called emancipation, men, socially, have 
 gained a good deal more, for there is no possible 
 doubt but that the modern woman, in addition to 
 looking smart, is a far more intelligent and agreeable 
 companion than her predecessor of thirty or forty 
 years ago. 
 
 There were, of course, exceptions, but in the main, 
 young ladies, owing to their bringing up, were apt to be 
 affected or dull which could not, with justice, be said 
 of many of them to-day ! 
 
 As for the actual result achieved by the grant 
 of the vote as to which the Press made so much fuss, 
 in actual practice it has hitherto really amounted 
 to nothing at all, for except by the unwritten laws of 
 society, which are now to some extent more lenient, 
 it is several centuries since women were really op- 
 pressed. 
 
 They have, of course, been given the suffrage, 
 which the majority probably didn't want, and are 
 made to serve on juries, which no one can possibly 
 like but things remain much as of old. It is the 
 votes that a woman sways which make the differ- 
 ence, not her only solitary vote. 
 
 It must also be admitted that on the whole, women 
 have not misused either of the two above-mentioned 
 privileges if privileges they can be called. 
 
 As a matter of fact, it is an open question whether 
 mentally women are inferior to men. 
 
 Among other accusations made against the fair 
 sex, they have been declared to be destitute of humour. 
 This is scarcely fair. Though apt to be deficient in acute 
 analytical power, humour is by no means denied
 
 io YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 to a number of them. There are comedies by 
 female writers which have humorous points. The 
 authoress of " Pride and Prejudice," " Sense and 
 Sensibility," and other works, can scarcely be said 
 to have been deficient in humour. Assuredly, examples 
 would be frequently forthcoming of women whose 
 works of fiction have given evidence of an unusual 
 degree of humorous fancy. 
 
 That women are highly efficient in a clerical capacity 
 has now long been recognized, their only drawback 
 being a certain pardonable liability to be carried 
 away by emotion under exceptional circumstances. 
 Such was the case with the female war-worker with 
 an unsatisfied grievance who, labouring under great 
 excitement, wrote, " I have cohabited with all the 
 members of the War Council in turn without re- 
 sult." 
 
 The outlook of womankind is now much wider 
 than it was during the Mid- Victorian age. 
 
 We are indeed a long way from the days when, 
 according to female novelists, a few assembly balls 
 and morning visits, a journey to London or Bath, 
 or some improvised private theatricals, or a packet 
 of love-letters signed with the hero's initials were 
 the events, the emotions and the aspirations of a 
 young lady's lifetime ! 
 
 If we are to believe the novels of that vanished 
 day the pretty demure little things fainted a good 
 deal and were rather given to writing lengthy letters 
 to aged relatives and clergymen residing in the 
 country where they often went to stay. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, they were dreadfully afraid of 
 cows, subject to agonizing headaches, presumably 
 produced by bad cookery, and made the worst of 
 every passing discomfort. Even when they waltzed 
 it was usually with heavy hearts and dizzy brains,
 
 LADIES FIRST n 
 
 the sight of their hero talking to other girls quickly 
 reducing them to a condition of blank despair. 
 
 As a matter of fact in the past, when woman's sphere 
 was very limited, novel writing was often, like tears, 
 the vent and relief of many a chafing spirit longing to 
 give voice and expression to the silence of a dull and 
 gloomy life in the midst of which it was struggling. 
 Hence the emotional pessimism of many of these 
 tales, the telling of which eased their writers, while 
 mildly moving a sympathetic generation of feminine 
 readers. 
 
 While the Englishwoman has been obtaining various 
 rights and privileges, the exercise of which has made 
 no particular difference, Frenchwomen have shown 
 no desire for political power. As a matter of fact, 
 in her own special way the latter has always influenced 
 the destinies of France. Voting could not increase 
 her already preponderant power. 
 
 Frenchwomen, as a rule, are not very fond of their 
 English sisters, who are much more unlike them than 
 Englishmen are unlike Frenchmen. 
 
 To the Parisienne who, as a rule is the very incarna- 
 tion of dainty and attractive femininity, the English- 
 woman appears somewhat cold and censorious. 
 
 The intense fear of doing the wrong thing or knowing 
 the wrong people which inspires English people, more 
 especially the women, is rarely met with across the 
 Channel ; the French, except when they have some 
 particular object in view, are intensely independent, 
 and owing to the Republican institutions of the country, 
 snobbery, which amongst us is perhaps more rampant 
 than ever, is limited to a particular class. 
 
 While seldom really beautiful the Parisienne is 
 so neat and well turned out that her advent is cal- 
 culated to put the male sex in a good humour. 
 
 She herself, as a rule, is the best-natured little
 
 12 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 creature in the world. Smile at her and nine times 
 out of ten she will smile back at you. Not that she 
 means anything by doing so, it is merely a graceful 
 acknowledgment that she appreciates the tribute 
 rendered to her charming appearance. 
 
 Take care not to try this in London, however, for 
 Englishwomen, not having the same self-possession 
 and being generally on the defensive, you will stand 
 a fair chance of being handed over to the police. 
 
 Just at present (December, 1921) the Parisienne 
 is dressed in black, a colour for which there is a regular 
 craze among Frenchwomen. 
 
 Unlike her English sisters who try to follow this 
 fashion she rarely wears black stockings. 
 
 The mania for dark-coloured dresses did not exist 
 before the Great War, possibly the prevalence of 
 mourning accustomed the Parisians to sombre feminine 
 costume which is certainly becoming. 
 
 Maurice Donnay said, " Une grande deuil sans 
 chagrin pour une blonde c'est le reve." 
 
 One of the great differences between an English and 
 a French woman is that the former, though unwilling 
 to admit it, very often regrets not having been born 
 a boy the latter, on the other hand, is quite content 
 with being a woman. 
 
 The Englishwoman, indeed, is often Androgynous 
 pas vraiement femme as the French say. 
 
 This is why she wants to go in for masculine 
 professions and to play rough games, all rather pitiful 
 symptoms of unsatisfied aspirations which can never be 
 realized. 
 
 "If," says the poor thing, " I can't be a man, I 
 can at least copy his ways." A sort of curious third 
 sex is sometimes the result of this process. 
 
 The law which enables ladies to recover large sums 
 as compensation for Breach of Promise of Marriage is
 
 LADIES FIRST 13 
 
 a constant source of wonder to the French, who, hard 
 and matter-of-fact as they are in money matters, are 
 nevertheless unable to understand how cash can be 
 claimed as a solatium for wounded feelings. Though 
 in some cases, where expenses have been incurred, the 
 injured party is justly entitled to compensation great 
 abuses are undoubtedly connected with this Law. 
 
 As a matter of fact, a rich young man is exposed 
 to considerable dangers at the hands of rapacious 
 Femininity. 
 
 Enormous sums have occasionally been allotted to 
 attractive ladies who claimed to have had their feelings 
 trifled with by a wealthy swain. 
 
 Concerning one case of this sort, a well-known man 
 of letters wittily said : 
 
 " These are expensive days indeed when old mis- 
 tresses cost as much or more than old masters." 
 
 Although so many modern women are delightful 
 from every point of view, a certain number whom 
 good fortune has endowed with more wealth than 
 brains are apt to make themselves ridiculous. 
 
 Such are the ones generally of no conspicuous per- 
 sonal attractions who imagine that every man wants 
 to make love to them. Such women see Don Juans 
 where they do not exist. 
 
 " Poor Mrs. So-and-so," said a lady, " told me she 
 was terribly upset at being followed by a horrid man 
 in Bond Street." " I suppose," put in a good-natured 
 friend, " she was afraid he might not catch her 
 up." 
 
 Another unsatisfactory type is the woman who, 
 simply brought up and having no money of her own, 
 has contrived to marry a rich man. Not having 
 sufficient brains to realize that the wealth at her com- 
 mand is merely the result of good luck she adopts 
 a patronizing attitude towards her poorer friends of
 
 14 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 other days and makes herself generally odious by her 
 arrogance and conceit. 
 
 One of this class whose education had been neglected, 
 made the somewhat startling announcement that she 
 was going to give two big balls one for the beau monde, 
 the other for the demi-monde, by which somewhat 
 doubtful appellation she merely meant to indicate 
 the people who were not quite at the very top of the 
 social tree. 
 
 Another lady, anxious to be in the fashion, told a 
 friend that in future she intended to have her hair 
 waved by Boticelli who, she understood, was a smart 
 if expensive man. 
 
 This, however, was beaten by the fair student of 
 history who said her favourite study was reading the 
 wonderful story of the Moors in Mexico ! 
 
 What may be called " Society Socialism " is an 
 entirely modern development, pretty well limited to 
 England and America where the " Parlour Socialist " 
 has become recognized as a regular type. 
 
 The latter, though professing great solicitude for 
 his less fortunate fellow-creatures, is seldom very 
 backward in pushing aside anyone who stands in his 
 way. An ardent champion of the cause of the common 
 people in the world-wide war against capitalism, he 
 or she is apt to glory in being a soldier of the great 
 army of labour. 
 
 Most of them, however, to judge from their luxurious 
 surroundings, seem to be a long way from barracks. 
 
 Not a few do not conceal their longing for an imme- 
 diate revolution of a drastic kind. 
 
 Rosewater methods or delay merely provoke their 
 scorn, they want the revolution now so as hand in hand 
 with the workers they may march towards the goal 
 of universal happiness. 
 
 Forgetful that the golden dawn of the revolutionist
 
 LADIES FIRST 15 
 
 generally resolves itself into a blood-red sunset they 
 sweep all sane arguments aside. 
 
 " What matter/' said a charming lady, whose glass 
 might have contained vitriol instead of champagne, 
 " if there is famine and massacre in Russia ? Think 
 how glorious it will all be in a hundred years," after 
 which she took another mouthful of Peche Melba. 
 Her enthusiasm for the revolution was only slightly 
 damped by the difficulty she found in getting caviare. 
 The same lady was wont to declare that one met such 
 horrible people in Society, so different from the 
 dwellers in the East End, with whom she said she 
 always longed to live. 
 
 A milder school of Socialist seems to be of opinion 
 that it would be a good thing to put the advanced 
 Labour Party into office because they might do well 
 and if they didn't the experience would be useful as a 
 warning against doing it again. 
 
 The latter argument seems rather like burning one's 
 house down to show the folly of leaving lighted lucifers 
 about ! 
 
 Alas, all optimistic theories, like the waxen wings 
 of Icarus, are apt to melt away when subjected to the 
 fierce rays of the sun of experience. 
 
 With a number of ladies political convictions are 
 always an affair of the heart, of reasoning from a 
 moderate and unimpassioned point of view, they know 
 nothing. 
 
 Before the days of extreme Socialism and Bolshevism, 
 certain hostesses professing a Liberal role would express 
 an emotional dislike for tyrants sprung from the 
 wrongs of regicides and the poverty of patriot exiles 
 who had found shelter in London. 
 
 At their parties would be found refugee Italian 
 noblemen who had escaped with one shirt from the 
 clutches of some Archduke whom he had sought to
 
 16 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 exterminate and French plotters with somewhat dis- 
 tant ideas of sacrificing themselves for Liberty and 
 their beloved France. 
 
 Many of such ladies, however, ended up as stout 
 Tories, who welcomed Archdukes and thought the 
 Empress Eugenie sweet. 
 
 The life of a certain kind of wealthy woman consists 
 in buying everything she does not want and paying 
 for nothing she can help smiling upon all mankind 
 but her husband, and being happy everywhere but 
 at home. , 
 
 At one time horseplay in country houses was fashion- 
 able, much to the dismay of many of the guests. 
 
 Speaking of one of these ragging parties, a French- 
 man who had been asked if he had not had fun, said, 
 " I smile ver' moche, but one such fun was enoff." 
 
 As a matter of fact, a certain proportion of people 
 who are in Society are fools but these exist in 
 every walk of life. 
 
 That great pessimistic philosopher Schopenhauer 
 at the end of his life used to go every day to a table 
 d'hote where it was his practice before beginning a 
 meal to put a coin on the table. 
 
 This was intended as a present for any of his fellow- 
 guests whom he might hear saying anything of un- 
 usual intelligence or sense. Never, it is said, did he 
 have occasion to part with it. 
 
 Irascible and in some ways of an abnormal dis- 
 position, Schopenhauer was more level-headed about 
 worldly affairs than most men of his type. He main- 
 tained that the sole function of Government was to 
 keep order, abominated sentimentalism and greatly 
 admired the English whose language he spoke with 
 ease. 
 
 He considered Utopian schemes for the perfection 
 of Humanity sheer nonsense, while his views on the
 
 LADIES FIRST 17 
 
 relations of the sexes were exceedingly matter-of-fact 
 and original. 
 
 He alone, perhaps, has pointed out that man, on 
 whom so much abuse is showered for running after 
 woman, being in reality but the eternal victim of a 
 necessary delusion, is in reality more deserving of pity 
 than of blame. 
 
 " The true reason of all the fuss," said he, " is not 
 the gratification of pleasure, but the next gener- 
 ation." 
 
 Nevertheless the old cynic could be genial enough, 
 having seen more of the world in general than most 
 philosophers, the majority of whom live in a world of 
 pure theory. 
 
 Mixing with very commonplace people is not un- 
 congenial to men of highly developed brain. 
 
 Herbert Spencer, it is said, was partial to living 
 in boarding-houses because the conversation there put 
 no strain upon his intelligence. In his latter years 
 at least the philosopher in question was entirely taken 
 up with his own theories, could not bear contradiction 
 or even argument, which he avoided by putting sound- 
 stoppers in his ears. 
 
 Someone has said Society without fools would be 
 like a plum pudding without flour too strong for 
 human digestion. There is, however, no chance of 
 the world having to suffer from any ailment produced 
 by such a cause. 
 
 As a matter of fact, thoroughly stupid society is not 
 entirely devoid of a charm of its own ; a surfeit of 
 brilliant conversation carried on by half a dozen clever 
 people too often tends to become tiring, whereas the 
 meaningless babble of ordinary commonplace folk 
 makes no demand upon the mind at all. Sages occa- 
 sionally show their deep worldly wisdom in exhibiting 
 intense appreciation of a fool. An active mind con-
 
 i8 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 demned to be perpetually alert may indeed repose 
 upon vacuous talk as upon a pillow. 
 
 Fools supply the narcotic element of Society ! 
 
 More noxious than fools are snobs, a number of 
 whom oddly enough have no need to indulge in such 
 an unpleasant form of folly. 
 
 It is quite a mistake to think that snobbism flourishes 
 most among people of humble birth. 
 
 The very opposite is the case. Men and women of 
 aristocratic descent are not infrequently the worst 
 offenders. Witness the nobleman of ancient lineage 
 who, having had two charming wives of no particular 
 birth, said, "It is a mistake to think that marriages 
 between people of different social grades must be 
 failures. I have twice married beneath me and the 
 result in each case has been highly satisfactory ! ' 
 
 When blue-blooded ladies become pushers they are 
 twice as shameless as their middle-class sisters, very 
 often taking immense trouble to become acquainted 
 with ephemeral celebrities whom their grandparents 
 would not have troubled to nod to. 
 
 A sense of honour must of course be lacking in the 
 complete or perfect snob. Snobbism, indeed, like prig- 
 gism, to which it is closely akin, really indicates a lack 
 of mental perspective. Unlike priggism, however, 
 which seldom obtains any substantial advantage for 
 those suffering from it, certain forms of snobbery can 
 be turned to profitable account, substantial benefits 
 not infrequently resulting from judicious adulation 
 heaped upon wealthy individuals fond of flattery. 
 
 In addition to this, snobs often rise to a quite com- 
 manding social position when they in turn receive the 
 homage of other snobs still on their promotion. 
 
 " Smartness/' whatever that may mean, is the goal 
 to reach which a number expend an unbounded amount 
 of energy and of money.
 
 LADIES FIRST 19 
 
 Some of the "smart set" people profess great devo- 
 tion to music or sculpture and paint a little themselves. 
 " I am wedded to my art," said a lady of this kind ! 
 
 " If that is so," remarked a caustic critic, " every 
 picture she has painted is sufficient reason for a divorce." 
 
 From time to time various coteries have arisen in 
 Society, the members of which claim to have a special 
 interest in literature and the Arts. Such a one was 
 the " Souls," some of whom certainly had beautiful 
 bodies. Sir William Harcourt, being one day asked 
 whether he belonged to this select circle, replied, " No, 
 I'm afraid there are a good many ' slips ' among them." 
 
 The interest taken by Society in Art rarely seems very 
 real, being for the most part directed towards some 
 artist or painter who has founded or thinks he has 
 founded an entirely new style or school. The craze, 
 however, generally lasts but a limited time, after which 
 some new-comer is taken up only to be dropped when 
 his popularity is exhausted. 
 
 It must be confessed that without the support of 
 certain social leaders Grand Opera would seldom be 
 heard in London. Notwithstanding all statements 
 to the contrary, the great mass of the English people 
 do not appreciate serious music. 
 
 It is true that a special musical public exists, but 
 this alone would not be able to make Opera pay, 
 without the aid of various wealthy individuals, ready 
 to pay substantial sums for boxes at Co vent Garden. 
 Another section of the " smart set," when not engaged in 
 posing for the camera or promoting entertainments 
 in aid of charities and otherwise, like their Victorian 
 predecessor, " Mrs. Leo Hunter," are fond of getting 
 hold of any exotic celebrity. 
 
 During the present year one of their finds was 
 Monsieur Chaliapine, the Russian singer, who is said to 
 have been allowed to leave Russia on the understanding
 
 20 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 that he should disseminate Bolshevist propaganda in 
 Europe. 
 
 Though highly successful from a musical point of 
 view, the poor man somewhat disappointed the ladies 
 who entertained him. 
 
 To begin with, he appeared absurdly gentle for a 
 Bolshevist. Content to follow the ordinary usages of 
 society, he did not call for grilled baby or other grue- 
 some dish. Besides this, he had no relics of the terror 
 not even so much as one of the Tzar's toe-nails 
 adorned his watch-chain ! 
 
 To make matters worse, this somewhat disappointing 
 visitor from the land of Lenin and Trotsky repeatedly 
 bewailed the absence of his wife and family, detained 
 as hostages in Russia. 
 
 His protestations of affection for home life were 
 entirely bourgeois and scarcely to the taste of the 
 "Society" which has little sympathy with those 
 specializing in this sort of thing. 
 
 Appreciation of Art and Music among the smart 
 set is too often merely prompted by a desire to be in 
 the fashion and join in gushing over some exotic 
 performer or singer. 
 
 Apt to gush over foreign artistes, purely British Art 
 is little to the taste of Modern Society. 
 
 When in June, 1922, the Leeds Choral Union gave 
 a superb performance of Sir Edward Elgar's fine work, 
 " The Apostles," at the Queen's Hall, according to 
 Mr. George Bernard Shaw, there were only Princess 
 Mary, Viscount Lascelles and about four other people 
 in the stalls. "The occasion," said G. B. S., "was 
 infinitely more important than the Derby, Goodwood, 
 the Cup Finals, the Carpentier fights or any of the 
 occasions on which the official leaders of Society are 
 photographed and cinematographed laboriously shak- 
 ing hands with persons on whom Moliere's patron,
 
 LADIES FIRST 21 
 
 Louis XIV and Bach's patron, Frederick the Great, 
 would not have condescended to wipe their boots." 
 
 At the same time as has before been said, Opera 
 at Covent Garden could not be given without the 
 support of a number of wealthy people who take the 
 boxes. In addition to this it cannot be denied but that 
 a certain section of the public goes more because it 
 has an idea that Society is in the habit of being present 
 than from any real love of the Opera itself. 
 
 Pleasure seeking, it must be remembered, is a grim 
 business to many, and of all pleasures those of Art 
 and Music are most commonly undertaken from a 
 sense of duty. 
 
 Still, though the Opera is to a large class merely a 
 place of parade and would be deserted were music 
 alone its attraction, there are a certain number of 
 individuals with cultured tastes to whom Covent 
 Garden affords real enjoyment. 
 
 It is curious how certain people will delightedly rush 
 to hear any exotic singer, actor or lecturer provided 
 he has been well advertised and creates something of 
 a sensation. 
 
 After the performance is over they flock behind 
 the scene to load him or her with their congratulations 
 and indulge in all sorts of high-flown rodomontade 
 while "viewing the remains." 
 
 It is a pity they do not devote their energies and 
 money to the encouragement of some of our own 
 struggling artistes. However, the English and Ameri- 
 cans have always had a fancy that foreigners are more 
 gifted than their own people. This especially applies 
 to the musical world, it being a well-known fact that 
 quite a number of English singers have assumed 
 Italian names in order to get on. 
 
 A notable case of this, I believe, was the late Signor 
 Foli whose real name was Mr. Foley, he being English
 
 22 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 or Irish by birth and having not the slightest con- 
 nexion with Italy. The name Campbell has also, I 
 believe, been effectually Italianized by being converted 
 into Campobello. Examples of this kind of thing 
 were and probably still are anything but rare. 
 
 In old days impecunious members of the British 
 aristocracy found it comparatively easy to marry 
 wealthy heiresses from the other side of the Atlantic 
 but those days are gone. 
 
 Discriminating American visitors to Britain, it is 
 said, alarmed at the huge increase of the Peerage pro- 
 duced by the constant ennoblement of wealthy no- 
 bodies, are beginning to make inquiries as to the origin 
 of the titled people whom they chance to meet. 
 
 Some difference they seem to think should be made 
 between a titled financier who has but recently bought 
 his Peerage, and what they call a " blood Peer," 
 that is to say, one whose family obtained distinction 
 a couple of hundred years ago. 
 
 British noblemen are no longer able to dictate 
 conditions as in former days, when a strong-minded 
 member of the Peerage with a great notion of his 
 own importance, having married an American heiress 
 of very humble origin, made it a sine qua non 
 that her very unpresentable father should never set 
 his foot in England. 
 
 The old gentleman, however, having been seized 
 with a fancy to pay a visit to his son-in-law, suddenly 
 arrived, upon which his son-in-law wanted to engage 
 a tutor to teach the uncouth millionaire how to speak 
 English and also how to eat his meals. 
 
 The choice of an aristocratic husband is now a 
 matter for careful deliberation among wealthy families 
 in the ''States." 
 
 The mother of a very wealthy American young lady 
 recently hesitated for some time whether her daughter
 
 LADIES FIRST 23 
 
 should marry a rather dissipated foreign grandee or 
 an impecunious but quiet and gentlemanlike English 
 peer. 
 
 Owing to unsatisfactory reports concerning the 
 foreign grandee, choice ultimately fell upon the English 
 peer. A telegraphic summons : " Grandee off, send 
 the Lord," dispatched to an accommodating English 
 friend caused the jubilant nobleman to sail for America 
 at a day's notice. He gives complete satisfaction 
 as a husband. 
 
 In Rome perhaps more than in any other capital, 
 American dollars have captured Society. 
 
 A large number of the Italian nobility have married 
 Transatlantic heiresses. Only by such alliances in- 
 deed have they been able to retain possession of their 
 palaces and estates. 
 
 Old families, no member of which has been able to 
 adopt such a means of restoring its financial fortunes, 
 have for the most part been obliged to retire to their 
 porters' lodges after their mansions have been let. 
 
 A certain number of the French aristocracy have also 
 married Americans ; the children of such unions, 
 probably on account of their bringing up, rarely show 
 serious traces of American methods or ideas. 
 
 Before the war a few German noblemen had American 
 wives. At the present time, however, it is unlikely 
 that any member of the Prussian aristocracy will be 
 able to regild his tarnished coronet with Yankee gold. 
 
 It must be admitted that American ladies are now 
 well informed about the countries they visit and do 
 not make awkward mistakes like the one who was 
 presented to Louis Philippe at a reception at the 
 Tuileries. The King talked to her at length of his 
 recollections of the United States and of the various 
 persons he had known during his exile in that country. 
 
 " Oh, sire ! " replied the lady, very pleased, " they
 
 24 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 all have most pleasant recollections of your Majesty's 
 sojourn over there, and wish nothing better than that 
 you should go back again ! ' J 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, who was standing close by, 
 was so amused at this that he burst into a loud fit of 
 laughter. 
 
 This is, of course, a similar story to the one of the 
 English visitor to Rome, who, on his presentation 
 to Pius the Ninth, told his Holiness that the one thing 
 he really wished to see was a Papal Conclave ! 
 
 In the earlier days of the American invasion, amusing 
 incidents used sometimes to occur owing to the ignor- 
 ance of continental sovereigns and statesmen as to 
 everything connected with the great Republic beyond 
 the seas. 
 
 In the middle of the last century, for instance, the 
 United States having then no diplomatic representative 
 at the Tuscan Court, visitors from that country were 
 always presented to the Grand Duke by Mr. Maquay, 
 the well-known banker of Florence. 
 
 The last Grand Duke, an odd, lethargic man, was 
 extremely awkward at his receptions, during which 
 he always appeared to be making a painful struggle 
 against the consciousness that he had nothing to say 
 and would shuffle about standing on one foot or 
 another. 
 
 Presenting a distinguished American visitor to him 
 one day, Mr. Maquay whispered that the latter was 
 connected by descent with the great Washington. 
 
 " Ah ! le grand Vash ! " said the ruler of Tuscany 
 and quickly changed from one foot to the other. 
 The American was quite disconcerted. 
 
 Many an American husband toils like a slave for 
 years piling up dollars. 
 
 And what is the end of it all ? A spoilt and dis- 
 contented woman with two maids, two chauffeurs,
 
 LADIES FIRST 25 
 
 three motor-cars and a hundred trunks at the Ritz 
 Hotel in Paris ! 
 
 Young ladies from the United States often openly 
 declare that they attach the greatest importance to 
 the making of money. In consequence of this the main 
 business of an American husband is too frequently 
 limited to acquiring the vast sums which his wife 
 expects to squander in a heedless way. 
 
 Many a man under these circumstances becomes 
 changed into a sort of automatic machine for pro- 
 ducing the wealth which she, whom nature designed 
 to be his helpmate, has come to regard as her rightful 
 tribute. 
 
 As a French writer has made his American hero say : 
 
 " Transgressing the laws of nature we have abased 
 ourselves to become the slave of the feminine creature. 
 
 " We allow our wives full licence to show their 
 charms to the ogling convoitise of idlers. They have 
 become accustomed to exact a perpetual surfeit of 
 flirtations in which their pitiable husbands have to 
 think themselves happy to be authorized to take a 
 share." 
 
 Transatlantic visitors to England, it is amusing 
 to note, are generally surprised at any social success 
 achieved by their own friends. 
 
 An American lady who, being asked whether she 
 knew some compatriots who were also in London, 
 said, " No I don't. As a matter of fact, though every 
 one knows me in New York, I only know two or three 
 people myself." 
 
 The nice social gradations, which appear to be a 
 feature of American Society, are difficult for English 
 people to understand. 
 
 A great fault of would-be fashionable American 
 women is their lack of punctuality a vulgar trait 
 which ignorant people are apt to think rather smart.
 
 26 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Setting aside the irritation caused to others, this 
 habit is fatal to culinary excellence. A first-class 
 Chef is rendered powerless by such barbarism. 
 
 That prince of gourmets, " Grimod de la Reyniere," 
 said, " Guests may wait for a dinner, but a dinner 
 must never wait for guests." 
 
 If Society were organized on a really civilized basis, 
 persons who make a point of being habitually late 
 would be ostracized till thev had learnt better manners.
 
 II 
 
 NEW MEN 
 
 ARISTOCRATIC isolation, as a student of social 
 history has pointed out, was not at any time a 
 characteristic of the English upper class. There 
 was always intercommunication of a friendly char- 
 acter between the aristocracy and the people, the 
 children of the former, owing to force of circumstances, 
 becoming in time identified with the proletariat, 
 who in their turn sent new recruits to swell the ranks 
 of the Peerage. 
 
 New-comers of this sort, however, generally had 
 some other title to consideration besides mere wealth. 
 
 The great Sir Robert Peel is supposed to have 
 said : "I respect the aristocracy of birth and of 
 mind, but not the aristocracy of money/' 
 
 Were he alive to-day his capacity for respect would 
 certainly not be overtaxed. 
 
 The aristocracy of birth now counts for practically 
 nothing that of mind is extremely limited in numbers, 
 that of money alone possesses power and commands 
 something which in a remote degree resembles 
 respect. 
 
 It is curious to think that not a great number of 
 years ago almost the whole of English politics was 
 directed from Mayfair, in or near which district most 
 of the party leaders had their abode. Public opinion 
 as reported from the provinces always, however, 
 
 27
 
 28 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 played a great part in the framing of Tory or Liberal 
 policy. 
 
 At one period of the Victorian Era Lady Londonderry 
 wielded real influence, which she used in favour of 
 Disraeli, in which respect she resembled another great 
 lady Lady Jersey, to whom " Dizzy " had once 
 rendered an important service, having taken great 
 trouble to assist one of her relatives under peculiarly 
 delicate circumstances. This she never forgot, and 
 did everything she could to help him. 
 
 Among prominent hostesses the late Duchess of 
 Devonshire was about the last great lady whose know- 
 ledge of men and affairs gave her a unique social 
 position of quite a different nature to that enjoyed 
 by the ordinary hostess of the present day, who in 
 many cases is little more than a mere caterer for 
 flocks of guests, many of whom are scarcely known to 
 her. 
 
 Society, like the rest of the world, prides itself upon 
 being up to date. If it has outgrown the somewhat 
 snobbish veneration which was once accorded to birth 
 and rank, the cult of the golden calf has, without 
 doubt, increased ; multi-millionaires have taken the 
 place of the old aristocracy. The old idols have been 
 broken largely through a transfer of idolatry. 
 
 Money, if there is enough of it, will now get anyone 
 into Society. Even if he have the brain of a child 
 and the appearance of an ape, no millionaire need 
 ever despair ! 
 
 It is now indeed rather easier for anyone who is rich 
 to get into Society than to get out of it. 
 
 No wonder that occasionally a clever nouveau riche, 
 who has attained his ambition and got into what 
 he considers the best set, becomes disillusioned and 
 wonders whether after all it was worth while. 
 
 A clever novelist said some people spend the first
 
 NEW MEN 29 
 
 half of their life trying to get into Society and the 
 second trying to keep out of it. 
 
 The modern English, notwithstanding their favour- 
 ite boast as to not caring for foreigners, are more 
 tender towards wealthy aliens than any other people 
 in Europe. 
 
 White, black or yellow, they are warmly welcomed 
 by the smart set provided they have plenty of cash. 
 
 It used to be said that a certain millionaire who 
 had in early life espoused a lady of Eastern origin 
 had fitted up a large room on the ground floor of his 
 mansion to resemble the surroundings to which his 
 wife had been accustomed. 
 
 Sand and stones were spread over the floor where 
 his wife sat in a tent. When the fancy seized her, 
 rumour declared, she would swarm up a palm well 
 furnished with cocoa-nuts which it was her delight 
 to hurl down upon the startled lap-dogs seated beneath. 
 
 Nevertheless the fashionable world was glad enough 
 to go to the lady's parties. Once Society has made 
 up its mind to accept people they do not much care 
 who or what they are. 
 
 One hostess who gave two kinds of parties, one 
 small and intimate, the other large and promiscuous, 
 was said to receive en menage and en menagerie, a 
 rather successful mot which much amused the spirit- 
 uelle lady of whom it had been said. 
 
 Besides employing money in order to get in with 
 the right set, a number of obscure individuals have 
 obtained acknowledged positions as social leaders 
 by specializing in old ladies, and being very attentive 
 and civil to such as were " worth while." 
 
 Provided they entertain and are fairly agreeable 
 few questions are asked about the origin of a host's 
 wealth nowadays. 
 
 Speaking of an individual who had made a great deal
 
 30 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 of money through successful deals in wheat, a playful 
 cynic, in answer to an inquiry, said : " Who is he ? 
 Well, I'm not certain. Either a corn-merchant or 
 chiropodist one of the two, I know." 
 
 The judgments of modern society are not remark- 
 able for consistency. As the old proverb says, one 
 man may steal a horse while the other may not look 
 through the stable door. Certain persons like Shad- 
 rach and Meshach are protected by a mysterious force 
 against the usual effects of the heated furnace. Such 
 people, instead of courting retirement, seek as much 
 society as they can get. Instead of covering up 
 their humiliations or misconduct, they treat it all 
 as something quite in the ordinary course of things 
 and, in a large number of cases, the world they live 
 in cheerfully accepts them. A first-class Chef will 
 do wonders. As long ago as the 'eighties a certain 
 lady's entrees succeeded in causing Society to regard 
 her husband's defalcations and peculations (the 
 penalty for which he had somehow managed to evade) 
 in a lenient way. 
 
 The importance of good cooking as an aid to dip- 
 lomatic negotiations was fully recognized by Napoleon 
 I, who, when he dispatched the Abbe de Pradt to 
 gain Poland over to his side, summed up his in- 
 structions by saying, " Tenez bonne table et soignez 
 les femmes." 
 
 Lord Melbourne also understood the advantages 
 to be derived from good food and wine, it having been 
 his practice to let every one know when any particularly 
 fine champagne had been secured for his cellars. 
 
 In those days it was easier to find and keep first- 
 class chefs than it is at the present day. 
 
 Besides expecting to receive huge salaries, the 
 latter are often difficult to deal with, and like spoilt 
 children accustomed to having their own way.
 
 NEW MEN 31 
 
 During the Great War, one of these masters of the 
 culinary art, who was enormously fat, having been 
 recalled to the colours, was very much upset to find 
 that there was no chance of his being placed in the 
 firing-line. 
 
 Great was his disgust on hearing that a place had 
 been allotted to him in the kitchen. 
 
 Told to prepare dinner for the men of his company, 
 he threw down his pots and pans in a fit of rage. 
 
 " You expect me to cook for a lot of poilus ? I, 
 who have been chef to so many Ministers and Milords ? 
 Eh bien ! I decline. Fight, yes, but cook, no ! " and 
 as he stuck to his word, and was much too fat to do 
 any marching, he was eventually sent home. 
 
 Entertaining is an art in itself in which it is not 
 given to every one, even if very rich, to excel. 
 
 A wealthy host can, of course, offer his guests all 
 sorts of expensive luxuries, but if he leaves every- 
 thing to his servants, the result is rarely satisfactory. 
 
 A giver of really successful dinners is usually an 
 individual who devotes infinite care to the supervision 
 of every detail. 
 
 Some, who liked combining economy with efficiency, 
 have carried this to an extreme. 
 
 One host contrived to give dinners which were 
 generally recognized as excellent at a very moderate 
 cost. 
 
 By previous arrangement, the lady of the house, 
 her daughters and near relatives never partook of 
 any expensive dishes such as ortolans or quails. Two 
 brands of champagne were provided, one for the 
 ladies and the other for the men, which arrangement 
 worked very efficiently except on one or two occasions 
 when some dowager, who had some inkling of what 
 was going on, insisted upon being served with the 
 right stuff.
 
 32 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Gorgeous fruit was always in the centre of the 
 table, but when the time came for dessert it was handed 
 round with lightning rapidity and in a manner which 
 made people reluctant to disturb the beauty of a dish. 
 
 The truth was that the fruit in question was usually 
 hired for the night, only that part of it which did not 
 go back to the shop being paid for. 
 
 By such methods, and the aid of a butler who was a 
 marvellous carver, the expense of entertaining was 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 It is said that conversation at dinner-parties has 
 deteriorated, but as a matter of fact it is rare to find 
 the English shine in anything like a general discussion ; 
 not a few indeed are afraid of it, if any argument 
 or controversy arises they think there is going to 
 be a row ! Butterfly talk, that is flying from one 
 topic to another as a butterfly flits among flowers, 
 is generally the most popular form of passing away 
 time, good talk being very rare. 
 
 Not so very many years ago broad stories used to 
 be told after the ladies had left the table. As a rule 
 they were excessively stupid, but a certain type of 
 old gentleman seemed to enjoy them. Conversation 
 was then, of course, more restrained in the presence 
 of ladies than it is to-day, the fair sex affecting a 
 prudery in most cases composed partly of ignorance 
 and partly of affectation they know better to-day 
 and provided the speaker be amusing he is allowed 
 a very fair run. 
 
 In old days, however, anyone dowered with a 
 Rabelaisian wit had to wait till the ladies had gone. 
 
 A celebrated raconteur after a dinner at which 
 the hostess had sat too long said : ' There is no 
 material difference amongst women but this that 
 one woman has the sense to leave the dinner-table 
 sooner than another."
 
 NEW MEN 33 
 
 " Young gentlemen, remember this when you have 
 to make the choice of a wife ! ' 
 
 Invitations issued two or three weeks beforehand 
 do not make for the success of a dinner-party. Some 
 of the most pleasant dinners of the Victorian Era 
 were given by a Minister who made a practice of 
 inviting any eminent or agreeable person whom 
 he had met in the course of the day. Curious as it 
 seems, it may almost be laid down as a rule that 
 a party which has been got together in a hurry is 
 nearly always sure to be agreeable. 
 
 Happy audacity is a precious quality at a dinner- 
 party. The guest who has the splendid courage to 
 talk to someone across the table whom he scarcely 
 knows is a real treasure at a dinner-party, the success 
 of which is greatly promoted by people being brought 
 together and made to feel that for that evening at 
 least all are friends. 
 
 A dinner-table overloaded with massive ornaments 
 is a great mistake, the presence of huge vases or 
 candelabra is equivalent to that of one or two dis- 
 agreeable guests, unconsciously tending, as it does, 
 to prevent good talk and geniality. Above all, orna- 
 ments should be kept low, otherwise they interrupt 
 sight and sound. 
 
 The modern practice of dining late, except in that 
 it shortens the evening, has little to recommend it. 
 Though it has become the fashion to delay dinner till 
 after eight, most people really prefer an earlier hour. 
 
 Dining later than he is usually accustomed to do 
 makes a man inclined to be censorious, whereas the 
 fortitude which he exhibits when food is supplied to 
 him earlier than his usual time is remarkable. The 
 Zoological Gardens provide a good lesson upon this 
 point. 
 
 Unpunctuality of course is fatal to good cookery, 
 3
 
 34 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 late comers ought not to be waited for, a good dinner 
 should be served with the imperturbability and 
 irrevocability of fate. 
 
 It should proceed independent of everybody and 
 should pursue its regulated march of perfect punc- 
 tuality regardless of the errors or misfortunes of the 
 guests. The latter, if late, should be made to share 
 the fate of Sir Harry Winscot in one of Theodore 
 Hook's novels. The latter having come very late to 
 a Marquess's dinner had to be content with the ice 
 and wafers which the rest of the company were then 
 consuming. 
 
 Ignoring the appetite of a Baronet of unpunctual 
 habits, his host had given special orders to that effect, 
 and Sir Harry accepted the sentence without protest. 
 
 A quarter of an hour's law is at all events the most 
 which should be granted. It may be added that the 
 loathsome and vulgar practice of being habitually 
 late, like some other things which we could well be 
 rid of, comes from America. 
 
 The habit in question has unfortunately spread 
 to such an extent that at certain houses it is difficult 
 to be late, for no one is ever in time. 
 
 Another unpleasant modern development is the 
 mania for darkness which has seized the West End. 
 Some people now give dinners in a dim light, after- 
 wards taking their coffee amid positive gloom. 
 
 The gastronomists of a past age, who had forgotten 
 more about entertaining than their successors will 
 ever learn, held that the success of a dinner-party 
 was greatly enhanced by plenty of light. The present 
 worship of darkness, however, is no doubt in some 
 degree prompted by a desire to give the faded charms 
 of some of the female guests the best chance of escaping 
 notice. 
 
 While Americans who are hospitable enough are
 
 NEW MEN 35 
 
 apt to spend a good deal of money upon entertaining, 
 it is doubtful if the majority get their money's worth. 
 
 Prohibition in all probability will increase the 
 number of wealthy visitors from across the Atlantic. 
 The advent of a great American millionaire, however, 
 no longer creates the sensation which it did twenty 
 or thirty years ago. 
 
 In the 'nineties considerable excitement was aroused 
 by the arrival of the " head of the House of Astor " 
 in London. To judge by the American papers, it 
 then seemed as if the United States of America were 
 in some danger of becoming disunited on the question 
 as to who really has the right to style themselves by 
 this impressive and important appellation. Even 
 the English Press began to discuss this important 
 question. " The Times " in its excitement spoke 
 of the "House of Aaron" instead of "Astor." A 
 slip which must have seemed almost blasphemous 
 to journalists across the Atlantic. 
 
 When one reads the American Press and sees the 
 amount of space devoted to the doings of various 
 people whose existence is of no particular interest 
 to the world at large, one must not forget that America 
 is the land which has produced the publicity agent, 
 that specialist in puffery, the intensity of whose efforts 
 may be gauged by the proceedings of an individual 
 in charge of a prominent Cinema-artist ! 
 
 As the ship bearing the latter was nearing the 
 shores of England a well-known and highly respected 
 newspaper proprietor received a wireless message 
 offering him three thousand pounds in consideration 
 of which sum he was to arrange for a telegraphic 
 greeting from 360,000 English boy scouts and later 
 on take the chair at a " quite private " dinner of a 
 thousand people at the Carlton ! 
 
 Millionaires of foreign origin, in spite of the reputed
 
 36 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Conservatism of the English, have had a considerable 
 effect upon Society with a big S. 
 
 With the influx of the rich foreign element has 
 come a new conception of life altogether, and wealth 
 as the ultimate end of existence has been placed upon 
 a pinnacle which it never occupied before. In one 
 respect, however, there can be no doubt but that 
 many of the new English have deserved well of their 
 newly adopted country : this is in their magnificent 
 gifts and bequests to hospitals and charities. 
 
 Many of the new rich who indulge in sport, it must 
 be admitted, are good fellows. One wonders what 
 the state of the British Turf would be without them 
 now that its former great support, the British aris- 
 tocracy, has been stripped of its wealth ? 
 
 Most of the new rich have been too busy all their 
 lives to cultivate a taste for jokes, but now and then 
 some of them have a queer sense of humour. One 
 individual used to indulge in a mischievous trick 
 which he often played to his own immense satisfaction. 
 He made a practice of accumulating cigar bands, 
 an easy form of collecting, at which he became highly 
 proficient. 
 
 Buying a number of very cheap cigars, of dif- 
 ferent sizes, he would invest them with bands bear- 
 ing the names of all sorts of well-known and costly 
 brands. 
 
 With a few well-chosen words of appreciation of a 
 guest's knowledge of tobacco, he would produce one 
 of these cabbage cigars and entreat him to express 
 his opinion. 
 
 In a large number of instances the latter would be 
 highly favourable, but every now and then the malicious 
 millionaire would catch a Tartar who refused to be 
 taken in. Nevertheless he got a good deal of fun 
 out of his inhospitable tricks, which, it should be
 
 NEW MEN 37 
 
 added, he took care to play only upon persons whom 
 he knew were unlikely to take offence. 
 
 There are millionaires who never realize the power 
 of riches, men who spending nothing do not know 
 how to live. 
 
 Such men draw a wide distinction in their minds 
 between actual money that is coin of the realm and 
 the large sums employed in speculation or investment. 
 
 While they will buy thousands of pounds' worth 
 of stock without flinching, the needless expenditure 
 of a few shillings causes them positive agony. The 
 one is playing in counters, the other is paying in cash. 
 
 The main source of satisfaction which such men 
 derive from their wealth is the sense of power which 
 so few, perhaps happily for the world, understand 
 how to exercise. 
 
 Though often vulgar and blatant, the millionaire 
 who likes making a great splash is really the best 
 of the two ; at all events he gets and gives pleasure 
 out of his money, which he does not regard merely 
 as a symbol of the many things he might do but 
 doesn't. 
 
 For this reason the abuse showered upon wealthy 
 men who entertain is apt to be illogical and unfair ; 
 taking them at their worst, they at all events circulate 
 money ! 
 
 Besides the millionaires who succeed in Society, 
 there are others who fail ; the latter soon cease to 
 be heard of. 
 
 Exactly why such people do fail, it is difficult to 
 say. 
 
 Some are too staunch to the friends of earlier days, 
 whom they will insist upon asking to their parties. 
 Others, though they make unheard of efforts to get 
 on, just fail to achieve success. Somehow, the wrong 
 people seem to get asked to their parties, while the
 
 38 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 right ones, though asked, always seem to stay away. 
 
 Others just hover on the threshold of Society, but 
 never manage actually to get through the door. 
 
 Millionaires, like other people, are apt to have their 
 ups and downs, and some of them are but fleeting 
 visitors to the West End. 
 
 It is all very well to talk about the legitimate rewards 
 of services to commerce and industry. 
 
 If a speculator fails he goes down amidst execrations, 
 if he succeeds he gets adulation and a peerage. 
 
 A meteoric speculator makes his pile, buys a fine 
 house, and is welcomed on all sides by reason of the 
 gorgeous entertainments to which Society flocks ; 
 but he too not infrequently meets with a reverse, and 
 the wealth accumulated by a successful stroke having 
 suddenly melted away, the pampered one disappears, 
 leaving no trace whatever of his brief passage except 
 an exploded reputation, and a number of unpaid 
 bills. 
 
 To do them justice, those who have made a fortune 
 quickly generally know how to bear losing it again. 
 The writer remembers one individual who from very 
 humble beginnings in the City contrived to become 
 what people called a millionaire. 
 
 As a matter of fact, though wealthy he did not 
 deserve such an appellation. Nevertheless by a 
 lucky coup he had amassed sufficient money to take 
 a large country house where he for a time enter- 
 tained lavishly. Smart Society, or at least a certain 
 portion of it, soon began to discover his merits and 
 some very exalted visitors were eventually induced 
 to attend one of his house-parties. 
 
 Just, however, as this happy event occurred his 
 speculations went wrong and before many months 
 were over his name had been almost forgotten by 
 the majority of his fashionable guests. Things went
 
 NEW MEN 39 
 
 worse and worse with him, till at length he was reduced 
 to eke out a livelihood by driving a taxi. 
 
 Never, however, did he repine, remaining gay 
 and smiling as in the days of his prosperity. 
 
 And he had his reward, for not very long ago by some 
 means or other he again pulled off a lucky coup and 
 unless he should sustain another reverse he will be 
 giving another series of fashionable house-parties 
 in the near future. 
 
 A typical instance of the proverbial instability of 
 mercantile prosperity in the eighteenth century was the 
 strange career of William Beckford, son of a famous 
 Lord Mayor, whose luckless Palace at Fonthill tottered 
 to its fall just as it had been completed. 
 
 In an earlier age examples of the same kind were 
 more abundant than is usually believed witness the 
 De la Poles, a family of mercantile origin which after 
 acquiring high honours and rich estates, after 
 flourishing for one hundred and fifty years, found its 
 light and glory extinguished for ever. 
 
 In the nineties a regular flock of reputedly wealthy 
 individuals appeared from South Africa, but many 
 of them made but a brief sojourn in the stately man- 
 sions of the West End. 
 
 A few shrewd individuals, mostly of foreign ex- 
 traction however, did contrive to draw huge fortunes 
 from the Rand, in which respect they were more 
 successful than a quantity of Englishmen, who put 
 much money into the mines and got little out. 
 
 South Africa certainly enriched a few conspicuously 
 astute individuals belonging to the Hebrew race, 
 and to do them justice they have since spent their 
 money in no niggardly manner. It has been wisely 
 said that every country has the Jew it deserves, and 
 England, which has always followed a just and tolerant 
 policy towards the Hebrew race, has reaped her reward
 
 40 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 by having a number of excellent citizens who belong 
 to it. 
 
 The Anti-Semitism which of late years has somewhat 
 increased in virulence across the Channel, is com- 
 paratively rare here. A certain number of English 
 people, however, are more or less affected by it, 
 varying from out-and-out haters of the Hebrew race to 
 individuals who cannot abide Jews unless they happen 
 to be very rich indeed. 
 
 Most fathers, indeed, whatever their views may be, 
 are pleased enough to see members of their family 
 marry rich heiresses belonging to the chosen race, 
 which, within the last eighty years or so, has furnished 
 a fair number of brides to the peerage. 
 
 " Ah well ! ' humorously complained a young 
 nobleman who was about to contract one of these 
 alliances. " There will be no chance of my joining 
 the heavenly choir of angels when I die. Sitting 
 on a damp cloud playing a Jew's harp is about all 
 I can now hope for/' 
 
 The modern English, at least in what used to be 
 called the Upper Classes, seem to have lost all dislike 
 as to their children contracting matrimonial alliances 
 with persons belonging to another race or professing 
 other religions. 
 
 The easy acquiescence of Protestant parents in the 
 marriage of their sons or daughters to Roman Catholics 
 who insist upon any offspring being brought up in the 
 latter faith would seem to show that modern society 
 no longer attaches any particular importance to diver- 
 gence of Faith. 
 
 They are not of the same way of thinking as the 
 old Scotch lady of whom Professor Strahan recently 
 told us in the " Quarterly." 
 
 A friend, confident he had convinced her that there 
 was little difference between Protestant and Catholic
 
 NEW MEN 41 
 
 regarding the essentials of Christian belief, was firmly 
 disillusioned by her remarking, " Ah man, but I canna 
 abide that Virgin Mary." 
 
 Among the so-called Upper Classes indeed practically 
 all prejudice against the Pope and Popery seems to 
 have died away. 
 
 Indifference has played some part in bringing about 
 this state of affairs, but a far greater factor has been 
 the " High Church Movement/' which has gradually 
 accustomed people to certain modes of thought and 
 to certain ceremonies which have rendered adherence 
 to the Church whose ritual they ape far less shocking 
 than it would have appeared to an earlier generation. 
 
 It may here be remarked that the increase of 
 Catholicism among the Well-to-do Classes has not 
 been followed by any similar increase among the people 
 at large. 
 
 The Lower Middle Class in particular remains 
 austerely Protestant. 
 
 Before 1914 the West End was full of wealthy men 
 whose accent betrayed their Teutonic origin. Nor 
 did they limit their energies to Finance, quite a number 
 who were fond of " Bolitics " being unswerving advo- 
 cates of " Pritain for the Pritish." 
 
 Owing to the war, financiers of this kind found their 
 position uncomfortable, for which reason not a few 
 went to the trouble of changing their names. 
 
 One individual of strongly Semitic appearance, 
 whom we will call " Isenbaum," eventually succeeded 
 in getting his patronymic altered to " Montmorency." 
 
 A week later, to the surprise of the authorities, he 
 was back again. 
 
 ' Whatever do you want now ? " was their inquiry. 
 
 " I vant to change my name." 
 
 " But you have only just done so." 
 
 " Never mind, I am ready to pay."
 
 42 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 ' The fact is, my dear sir, that no one looking at 
 me would believe that the name I have now was my 
 real von. I vant to change it to Jones, so ven anyone 
 asks me if I have changed my name I can say : ' Yes, 
 it used to be Montmorency.' J 
 
 Most gentlemen of this kind, to use their own lan- 
 guage, have more " prains than peauty." Not ill- 
 natured for the most part, and inclined to be generous 
 to their female friends, they have, however, no idea 
 of being done. 
 
 A certain financier of foreign origin was known to 
 be carrying on a liaison with a very charming and 
 pretty lady. All went well till one day she found to 
 her disgust that she was being watched. Furious 
 with rage she consulted a mutual friend who promised 
 to have things put right. 
 
 He remonstrated with the financier, but the latter 
 merely smiled. 
 
 " Ven I pays, I follows," was his reply ; however, 
 he promised to make his detectives more circumspect 
 in future. It was the same financier who remarked 
 after a disappointing day's shooting that at a previous 
 shoot good sport had been enjoyed, and he had sent 
 away over four hundred " braces," upon which a 
 guest promptly rejoined, " In that case, my dear 
 fellow, you can hardly expect to keep up your bags." 
 
 Another rich anglicized financier having purchased 
 a country estate, some neighbours who came to pay a 
 rather dilatory call found, in place of the new squire, 
 his brother (a man endowed with a considerable sense 
 of humour) . Being naturally unaware that their host 
 was not the owner of the house, they at once began 
 to apologize for not having called before. " Pray 
 don't apologize," was the reply. " I see you are 
 taking me for my brother, the Englishman. As a 
 matter of fact, I am only the d d German ! "
 
 NEW MEN 43 
 
 Financiers are not often witty. An exception 
 however was Baron James de Rothschild of a former 
 generation. 
 
 Meeting an uppish young Frenchman who had just 
 come from Tahiti the Baron inquired if anything 
 remarkable had struck him in that island. " Nothing 
 particular," said the Frenchman, " except that the 
 women are very pretty and friendly, besides which I 
 noticed a total absence of pigs and Jews." 
 
 " Let us both go there at once, my dear fellow," 
 promptly replied the Baron ; "we shall make our 
 fortunes." 
 
 On another occasion Mires at that time celebrated 
 and afterwards notorious came to see him to obtain 
 his support in a business matter. The Baron, however, 
 did not fancy it, and said so rather abruptly. " Any- 
 how," said Mires, " I hope you won't eat me up." 
 " My dear sir," was the reply, " my religion forbids 
 me." 
 
 Another millionaire of luxurious tastes who made a 
 hobby of keeping several motor-cars, all of different 
 makes, was told by a friend : 
 
 " You were driving in a Daimler this morning and 
 here you are going out to dinner in a Rolls-Royce." 
 
 " You don't suppose," was the reply, " that I ever 
 let my day car know what my night car does." 
 
 The second generation which often shows little trace 
 of any foreign origin is apt to consider itself superior 
 to the founder of the family. An instance of this was 
 the host who, when giving a great party, upon being 
 asked, " Is your father here ? " replied : " Well, no ; 
 hang it all, you know one must draw the line some- 
 where." 
 
 The family of a new millionaire, who from a social 
 point of view was regarded as being quite impossible, 
 having arranged to give a smart dinner-party at the
 
 44 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 paternal mansion, contrived on some pretext or other 
 to get their father not to attend. 
 
 All went well till after the fish, when the butler 
 became visibly agitated, while through the open door 
 came the raucous voice of someone speaking with a 
 strong Teutonic accent. " I do not care, even if I 
 do haf to haf my dinner upstairs, I do not see vy I 
 should haf it cold ! " 
 
 On the other hand, owing to a lax and luxurious 
 bringing up the offspring of the new rich are sometimes 
 more unpresentable than their parents. 
 
 The chauffeur of an unpopular nouveau riche was 
 one day defending his master to a fellow-servant. 
 
 " I tell you," said he, " they may say what they 
 like, the old man ain't so bad, but, by Jingo, you should 
 see our eldest son ! '' 
 
 One of these young men wanting to get into a good 
 club, and tackled as to his origin, said, " Father wasn't 
 much, but mother was in the stud book." 
 
 The new rich occasionally find that the wife married 
 in their less affluent days is out of her element in 
 fashionable society. Consequently it is sometimes 
 dangerous to inquire after that lady's health. 
 
 " How's your wife ? " inquired a friend who had 
 himself gone through the divorce court. 
 
 " Well, if it comes to that," was the reply given with 
 a humorous semblance of indignation, " How's yours ? " 
 
 While a great deal has been said about the extra- 
 vagance and folly of dissolute young scions of aristo- 
 cracy, very little is heard of the vices of the sons of 
 rich manufacturers and financiers who in a number of 
 cases appear to be better at looking after their money 
 than their offspring. 
 
 In quite a large number of cases the latter have got 
 through large fortunes with extraordinary rapidity ; 
 rarely indeed does the son of a self-made millionaire
 
 NEW MEN 45 
 
 show any of the shrewdness and pertinacity which 
 produced his father's fortune. 
 
 Education, or the lack of it, is no doubt largely to 
 blame for this. 
 
 A man born in humble circumstances becomes rich 
 owing to hard work and concentration. His son, 
 brought up with every luxury at his command, is sent 
 to a fashionable school where, in addition to becoming 
 acquainted with all sorts of methods of spending money, 
 he acquires an idea that he is too fine a gentleman to 
 spend his time doing any serious work. 
 
 As a result of this and of the fast society he thinks 
 it fine to frequent, he becomes absolutely useless, with 
 the result that his father's hard-earned wealth too often 
 drifts into the hands of rooks and harpies who dog the 
 young man's path. 
 
 A certain kind of nouveau riche is apt to try and give 
 himself airs. 
 
 " There were some queer people at the Duchess's 
 party last night," said one of this kind. " I was sur- 
 prised to see several foreigners there, quite ordinary 
 people. I am sure none of their names could be found 
 in the Almanach de Gotha." 
 
 " Nor in the Almanach de Golgotha, either," retorted 
 one of his listeners, an answer which quite silenced the 
 exclusive one. 
 
 " Fancy," said another, " only a few days ago I 
 was dining at my friend's, So-and-so, and there was 
 no fish." 
 
 " I suppose," said a quiet man from the other end 
 of the table, " it had all been eaten upstairs." 
 
 The new rich indeed occasionally require special 
 treatment. 
 
 A young sporting aristocrat who was very civil to 
 them, finding that they behaved in a patronizing 
 manner towards him, determined to try other methods.
 
 46 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Meeting a nouveau riche of foreign extraction one 
 day, he very civilly said, " How are you ? " 
 
 " I don't remember you," said the financier (who 
 did), " where was it we met before ? ' 
 
 " Oh, in HeU, I think," was the reply. 
 
 The next time the parvenu saw the young man, he 
 ran across the street to shake hands with him ! 
 
 There is of course considerable excuse for rich 
 financiers treating people who are very civil to them, 
 coldly. The poor creatures are so accustomed to being 
 pestered for charitable subscriptions, loans and even 
 gifts, that they mistrust politeness as being the pre- 
 lude to some expensive request. 
 
 On the other hand, when anyone treats them 
 roughly, they know they are not going to be asked for 
 anything, in consequence of which they are more 
 inclined to be civil than if spoken to with deference. 
 
 Snubs which cost nothing do not affect them at 
 aU. 
 
 One of the new rich, apt to boast of how much he 
 paid for things, said to a guest at dinner : 
 
 " You can't guess what that wine cost me ? ' 
 
 " Surely not, I only know that it is excellent." 
 
 " Well now, I can tell you, for I made a careful 
 estimate the other day. When I add the interest to 
 the first price, I find that it cost me the sum of just 
 ten shillings per glass." 
 
 " Good gracious ! You don't say so ? " was the 
 reply ; after which, draining his glass, the guest hastily 
 presented it again with the remark : 
 
 " Fill up again as quick as you can, for I want to 
 stop that confounded interest." 
 
 As a rule the new rich do not trouble themselves 
 much about Politics. Some few, however, go into 
 the House of Commons as a preliminary to buying a 
 Peerage.
 
 NEW MEN 47 
 
 A few who have been the architects of their own 
 fortunes it is true began life as violent Radicals, ready 
 to expatiate on the woes of the proletariat struggling 
 against the world-wide dominance of Capital. Since, 
 however, prosperity came their way most of them have 
 gradually changed their point of view, and now com- 
 placently admit that the capitalist, besides being 
 necessary, is not such a bad sort of man after all. 
 
 Another type of millionaire has altered his views in 
 an exactly opposite direction. 
 
 Having begun life as a rough fighter, too busy 
 pushing his fellow-creatures aside to bother about 
 humanitarianism or social progress, once he has made 
 his pile, he takes to championing the cause of the 
 common people, and delivering addresses upon the 
 responsibilities connected with the possession of wealth 
 a sared trust which he professes himself hardly able 
 to bear. 
 
 Such men are particularly fond of telling of the 
 beauties of a frugal and simple life for others. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Altruism and the elevation of 
 Humanity are often the favourite fads of wealthy 
 manufacturers who have made their money by getting 
 other people to work for them on the cheapest possible 
 terms ! 
 
 Another kind of business man, while in a perpetual 
 hurry himself, seems to want every one else to be in 
 a hurry too. 
 
 As he will tell you, he has no patience with the idle. 
 
 Ever occupied in doing something or somebody, he 
 is quite unable to understand anyone being content 
 to go about the world in a leisurely fashion, losing 
 golden opportunities of rushing people into deals and 
 driving bargains at lightning speed. 
 
 This kind of financier, however, too often comes to 
 grief, the really solid man with plenty of money behind
 
 48 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 him being more often slow and deliberate in everything 
 he does, including drawing cheques. 
 
 It is curious how financiers and bankers acquire 
 certain mannerisms. For instance, when a big City 
 man puts his hands behind his back and rubs the base 
 of his spine anyone may be sure that he will not get 
 what he is asking for. 
 
 The methods of business men when dealing with 
 non-business people are always peculiar and occasion- 
 ally contemptuous, the ordinary individual who has 
 not mastered the art of guarding against the wiles of 
 his fellow-man, and when possible getting the best of 
 him, being, in the minds of those skilled in living on 
 human weaknesses, but a poor creature. 
 
 A special jargon calculated to confuse the uniniti- 
 ated, is current in commercial circles, the word " mis- 
 apprehension " being especially popular. 
 
 A business man trying to evade the carrying out of 
 an inconvenient engagement, is very apt to plead that 
 he has been " labouring under a misapprehension " as 
 to its exact terms. On the other hand, he has no 
 sympathy with non-business men suffering from similar 
 failings. 
 
 No doubt the care and trouble taken to secure every 
 possible farthing is necessary enough, but after all it 
 is not by hard work or accuracy that enormous fortunes 
 are made. 
 
 A certain amount of wealth can, it is true, be accu- 
 mulated by patient industry, but millionaires are not 
 made that way, but by great speculative coups which 
 at one fell swoop produce sums which the hard work 
 of a couple of generations would be quite unable to 
 accumulate. 
 
 The acquisition of some special information, the 
 rapid comprehension of a particular situation, or the 
 realization of some immediate need, have converted
 
 NEW MEN 49 
 
 several petty little tradesmen into wealthy Peers of 
 the Realm. 
 
 A good deal of the " business " with which a certain 
 kind of financier occupies himself is in sober reality 
 nothing more than colossal gambling, in which astute 
 juggling with figures plays a great part. Once a 
 speculation has succeeded or failed, its promoters are 
 apt to speak of it in the casual way racing men 
 allude to past bets. 
 
 " What was the C.B. Syndicate ? Ah, you may well 
 ask ! " said an unsuccessful speculator who had in- 
 volved himself and many others in ruin. " Between 
 ourselves," added he, "if I am allowed to go to smash, 
 the scandal will be so great that I think the banks 
 should be made to see the necessity for their coming 
 to my assistance ! '
 
 Ill 
 
 OLD ACRES 
 
 IN the Tate Gallery is a clever picture by a Victorian 
 artist depicting a scene which with certain differences 
 must have been enacted all over England since the 
 close of the Great War. 
 
 " The Last Day in the Old Home," as it is called, 
 shows a country squire drinking a last toast with his 
 little son, while all around him are evidences that he 
 and his family are for ever leaving the ancient home 
 of his ancestors, 
 
 The turf and the gaming-table have brought his for- 
 tunes to a low ebb, the whole picture indeed, following 
 a favourite Victorian fashion, having clearly been 
 designed to point a moral. 
 
 " Last days in old homes " are now of frequent 
 occurrence, but in the vast majority of cases it is not 
 dissipation but taxation amounting to confiscation 
 which has brought them about. 
 
 Family trees, like all other trees, must eventually 
 perish, the question being only one of time. 
 
 What race in Europe, wrote Sir Bernard Burke, 
 surpassed in royal position, personal achievement 
 and romantic adventure the Plantagenets equally 
 wise, as valiant and no less renowned in the Cabinet 
 than in the field ? 
 
 Nevertheless in 1637 the great-great-grandson of 
 Margaret Plantagenet, herself the daughter and heiress 
 
 50
 
 OLD ACRES 51 
 
 of George, Duke of Clarence, had come down to being 
 a cobbler at Newport in Shropshire ! 
 
 In the middle of the nineteenth century died Stephen 
 James Penny, sexton of St. George's, Hanover Square, 
 and a descendant of Thomas Plantagenet, Duke of 
 Gloucester, fifth son of Edward the Third a strange 
 descent truly from sword and sceptre to pickaxe and 
 spade ! 
 
 The main causes of the ruin of county families in 
 old days was some spendthrift addicted to the gaming- 
 table, the race-course and other forms of costly 
 dissipation which a career of unbridled profligacy 
 entails. 
 
 Ill luck on the other hand, certainly pursued certain 
 individuals ; against this there is no remedy. Cardinal 
 Richelieu wisely said that one should never continue 
 to employ an unlucky man. 
 
 The electioneering struggles of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, together with the rivalry of county families, were 
 responsible for the downfall of a number of the old 
 gentry, who eventually became too impoverished to 
 retain their place against new-comers enriched by trade 
 or professional success. 
 
 Certain forms of commercial enterprise, it used to be 
 said, brought bad luck to the descendants of those 
 who had been engaged in it. 
 
 An estate acquired by the slave trade almost to a 
 certainty, the superstitious declared, never continued 
 for more than two or three generations in the same 
 family. 
 
 The profits of usury, also accounted an unholy 
 pursuit, melted away after they had been held by three 
 or four people, while misers were seldom the patriarchs 
 of families of lasting prosperity. 
 
 A Victorian authority upon genealogy remarked that 
 the more distant a country was from London the
 
 52 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 more lasting were its old families. But few of the old 
 stock, said he, were to be found in Middlesex, Surrey 
 or Essex ; while in Northumberland, Cheshire, Shrop- 
 shire, Devon and Cornwall, all remote from the Metro- 
 polis, many a stem planted in feudal times still flour- 
 ished. Few however of the old historic names which 
 once held paramount sway in particular localities even 
 then were borne by a male descendant. 
 
 In Herefordshire, for instance, though a county 
 peculiarly rich in ancient families, but three or four 
 landed proprietors, it was once asserted, could show a 
 male descent from those recorded in the Visitations. 
 
 It is often difficult to discover exactly what has 
 become of some county family. Not a few which 
 have been declared extinct still survive in other climes. 
 
 Many an English gentleman of ancient descent, 
 finding himself without patrimony, has gone beyond 
 the seas and there found a happiness and prosperity 
 denied to him in the land of his birth a more satis- 
 factory solution surely than staying at home and 
 ending his days in a pauper's suit of clothes ? 
 
 Some few, however, have managed to make the best 
 of a bad job without leaving home. 
 
 Such a one was that Mr. D'Arcy of Kiltullagh and 
 Clifden Castle, Galway, who after the ruinous sale of 
 his estates took orders and worked as a clergyman 
 in the district which had been his own property. 
 
 Many are the noble families which have faded or 
 seem to have faded utterly away. Who in these days 
 has heard of the Reresbys of Thrybergh descended 
 from a Norman soldier of Duke William's conquering 
 army ? After centuries of honoured prosperity Sir 
 William Reresby, Bart., squandered the whole of the 
 family estates, Thrybergh itself, it is said, having been 
 lost by him on a single main cock-fighting indeed 
 largely contributed to this profligate's ruin !
 
 OLD ACRES 53 
 
 The last Baronet was his brother, Sir Leonard Reresby, 
 who succeeded to nothing but a name, the Baronetcy 
 having been stripped of every acre of the broad lands 
 which had once belonged to those who held it. 
 
 Another forgotten family is that of the Norwiches 
 of Brampton. 
 
 Of them it was said that they " rose and fell by the 
 smiles of woman." Margaret Holt, the heiress of 
 Brampton Manor, gave her heart and hand to Simon 
 de Norwich, together with her mansion and lands. 
 
 Sir William Norwich, Bart., a voluptuary of the 
 eighteenth century, drank the cup of pleasure to the 
 dregs and lost his estates at cards to Sarah, Duchess 
 of Marlborough. An outcast from the home of his 
 ancestors, he left but a bare title to the member of 
 his family who succeeded him. 
 
 So poor became Sir Samuel Norwich, who held the 
 Baronetcy in the nineteenth century, that his widow 
 had to earn her livelihood by washing. 
 
 She died in June, 1860, her husband having for some 
 years before his death been a sawyer in Kettering 
 his father, Sir John Norwich, had died in the work- 
 house. 
 
 The heir to the Baronetcy, Sir William Norwich, 
 is said to have gone to America in the 'seventies, where 
 it was reported he was doing well. 
 
 In these days it seems strange to think that when 
 the Income Tax was first imposed by Sir Robert Peel 
 in 1842 it was only yd. in the pound. 
 
 During the Crimean War it rose to is. 4^., which 
 was considered enormous, but anything like the present 
 rate was never dreamt of till recent times. 
 
 A certain school of Radical politicians have always 
 taken a delight in railing against landowners and 
 squires. To-day the latter, forced to sell their acres, 
 are swiftly lessening in numbers, while their class has
 
 54 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 lost practically all political importance whether 
 England as a country will be the better for the dis- 
 appearance of its landed gentry the future alone can 
 reveal. 
 
 Gone the " magnificent asses/' as Lord Beaconsfield 
 called this particular type, and with them a number 
 of squires who owned moderate-sized estates. 
 
 Throughout the latter part of the last century 
 owners of land began to realize that the triumph of 
 Democracy would mean their ruin, and time has shown 
 that the fear of the " people " which so many of the 
 squirearchy entertained was not unjustified. At 
 present indeed the rich pay rather more than their 
 share of the taxes, while faddists and the proletariat 
 make all the laws. 
 
 Landlords indeed seemed to be singled out by 
 would-be reformers for severe and drastic treatment, 
 and though they behaved admirably in the Great 
 War, their reward has been merely a further increase 
 of burdens, which, unless somehow lightened, must 
 result in their economic extinction. 
 
 What, however, does self-denial or sacrifice matter 
 to politicians ready to shake hands with any thief 
 or murderer, provided doing so seems likely to promote 
 the success of their pet theories, and Utopian ideas. 
 
 In the first decade of the twentieth century a 
 number of country mansions were built or rebuilt, 
 while very large sums were spent in additions, restora- 
 tions and making elaborate gardens. 
 
 It was, as it were, the St. Martin's summer of the 
 English country house, and many an old tumbledown 
 building which had been converted into labourers' 
 cottages or other uses regained something of the 
 ancient dignity which it had possessed at the time of 
 its erection. 
 
 Besides this, elaborate additions converted many
 
 OLD ACRES 55 
 
 a more or less humble abode into the semblance of a 
 small palace. There were a good many rich people 
 in England then, and wealthy purchasers were easily 
 to be found. Many a landlord must bitterly regret 
 having been so lavish as to costly improvements, 
 It is now out of the question for any but the very 
 rich to support the expense of a huge mansion where 
 one cannot live without a multitude of servants. The 
 latter, besides being difficult to get, require larger 
 wages than they used formerly to be paid. 
 
 The halcyon days of country-house life as under- 
 stood by the old squirearchy were in the Mid-Victorian 
 days so admirably described by Surtees, when million- 
 aires of alien origin were rare and the standard of 
 living devoid of the luxurious extravagance which 
 prevailed just before the Great War. 
 
 An atmosphere of general happiness and robust 
 enjoyment seems to have pervaded rural existence 
 in those days when the great landowners freely en- 
 tertained the poorer squires and gentry instead of limit- 
 ing their hospitality to fashionable friends from town. 
 
 That amusing Baronet, Sir Moses Mainchance, 
 is the sole character who in any way approximates 
 to the modern millionaire, and even he appears as 
 having been on good terms with his humbler neighbours, 
 none of whom he ignored or snubbed as modern 
 mushroom millionaires are apt to do. 
 
 The well-drawn picture of Lord Ladythorne, taken, 
 it has been said, from one of the Dukes of Rutland, 
 shows how popular as well as powerful a great terri- 
 torial magnate could contrive to be. The old fashion 
 of entertaining all the county on certain occasions 
 during the year linked rich and poor together and 
 produced a genial spirit among all classes, the very 
 memory of which has now long been lost. 
 
 Those were the days when just a few men with
 
 56 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 fortunes of commercial origin were beginning to pur- 
 chase country estates and seeking to make them- 
 selves acceptable in local society by hospitality of a 
 lavish kind, such as that dispensed by Mr. Puffington, 
 that amusing figure of a good-natured but not hard- 
 riding master of hounds with his memories of Christ- 
 church and the blue-blooded young fellows with whom 
 he had strolled down Bond Street in the days of a 
 proud and happy youth. 
 
 It is clear from these clever books, though there 
 was a considerable respect for aristocracy among 
 the country gentry of the time when they were written, 
 the modern worship of wealth did not as yet prevail. 
 Gradually, however, landowners, unless they possessed 
 a large fortune, became too poor to compete with 
 new-comers endowed with wealth. Before the war 
 quite a number of the sons and grandsons of wealthy 
 Victorian parvenus in their turn found themselves 
 eclipsed by yet richer men who only coming down 
 for week-ends, or for sport, took no interest in county 
 affairs and made no attempt to enter into social 
 relations with their neighbours. 
 
 This completed the breach which had gradually 
 been widening between the landed proprietors, their 
 tenants, and what remained of the smaller squirearchy 
 and the farmers. For this reason the recent breaking 
 up of large estates will not, except in certain instances, 
 make the difference it would have done even thirty 
 years ago. It is indeed possible, though not highly 
 probable, that it may infuse fresh vigour into country 
 life, the purchasers of a number of farms being yeomen 
 closely identified with their locality for many genera- 
 tions likely permanently to reside on the land and 
 thus originate a new class of squires who may revive 
 the pleasant social traditions which absentee landlord- 
 ism almost consigned to oblivion.
 
 OLD ACRES 57 
 
 Be this as it may, it is sad to see the disappearance 
 of old names from counties where they have been 
 respected for many generations. 
 
 An atmosphere of supreme complacency hung 
 about many of the old aristocrats, who, like Louis 
 Quatorze, believed that their existence was of real 
 importance to the world in general. One old noble- 
 man, " A Blood Lord," as the Americans say, that is 
 a Peer of ancient descent, made a practice of ending 
 his letters with the words " Je me porte bien " 
 I am in good health. A reassuring statement likely 
 to set the recipient's mind at rest as to there being 
 nothing wrong with the Universe. 
 
 On the whole, however, these men of the old school 
 were thorough gentlemen at heart besides being 
 generally courteous and dignified in manner, which 
 is more than can be said of many of the new rich 
 who think they have taken their place. 
 
 " It may be a very fine old house/' said a nouveau 
 riche after a visit to one of England's historic homes ; 
 " I wish I could say as much for the port." During 
 another visit the same individual, who prided himself 
 upon his skill with the cue, did not think that the 
 rather old-fashioned billiard room afforded him a 
 fair chance of showing his proficiency. 
 
 Accordingly on a subsequent visit he brought his 
 own balls and cue, airily telling another of the guests 
 who appeared surprised, "I'd have brought my own 
 table too if there had been room for it on the top 
 of the motor ! " 
 
 Feudalism, in spite of the invective of Radical 
 politicians, had totally disappeared from England by 
 the middle of the last century. Traces of its senti- 
 ment, however, lingered in certain sequestered corners 
 of rural counties remote from main roads and railways 
 )ld-world villages where the population, its habits,
 
 58 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 customs and conditions had remained almost immov- 
 able. 
 
 Here, when the squire appeared, every voice was 
 hushed, every hat raised and every eye cast down. 
 " He's a-coming," someone would say, and outside the 
 village church rustics would nudge one another in 
 order to prepare themselves for the advent of the 
 august presence. 
 
 In the west and south-west counties, and in some of 
 the extreme northern ones, this sort of thing lingered 
 longer than in the Midlands and manufacturing 
 districts. 
 
 Rich commercial men who bought estates possibly 
 did as much as anything to destroy the feudal idea, 
 which ceased to flourish with the disappearance of old 
 families which for generations had owned the soil. 
 
 The old style country gentleman indeed had good 
 reason to regret the coming of newer and richer rivals. 
 
 Quite a number of the old squires were by way of 
 supporting Radicalism, but this showed itself rather 
 in a general scepticism and an indisposition to support 
 rather than any desire to attack existing things. 
 
 Though given to expressing dislike of any drastic 
 changes and apprehension as to its result, the feeling 
 of most squires, whether they called themselves 
 Liberals or Tories, was a sort of vague confidence 
 that nothing very dreadful was likely to happen in 
 their time and that at all events property was secure 
 enough in their own country. 
 
 This being so, no wonder that the majority were 
 somewhat apathetic about politics, there being, in 
 their opinion, not very much really worth making a 
 row about. 
 
 Only a comparatively small number were awake 
 to the responsibilities of their position and to the 
 social forces which slowly though surely were preparing
 
 OLD ACRES 59 
 
 an England hostile to the social privileges and power 
 of those owning much land. 
 
 Many country houses in old days possessed fine 
 libraries formed by some studious squire of the past. 
 Most of the rare or valuable books from such collections 
 have now found their way to the auction room. Many, 
 however, must have been destroyed in a more careless 
 age. 
 
 In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 
 many fine old libraries were terribly neglected, with 
 the result that they fell into an appalling state. Broken 
 windows sometimes provided an opening for ivy 
 which, in one case, pushing itself as far as a bookcase, 
 destroyed a number of volumes worth hundreds of 
 pounds owing to water in rainy weather being conducted 
 as by a pipe and soaking into the paper, which of 
 course decayed. 
 
 In another case a broken skylight admitted the rain, 
 with the result that several Caxtons and other early 
 English books got into a rotting condition. 
 
 Water is a great enemy of books even in the form of 
 damp which attacks them outside where it fosters 
 mould, and inside where it encourages the growth 
 of the ugly brown spots which so often disfigure 
 prints. 
 
 These " foxey stains," as they are called, are es- 
 pecially liable to attack books printed in the early 
 part of the nineteenth century, when bleached white 
 paper had become the fashion. 
 
 Contrary to general opinion, glass-doored bookcases 
 are worse for books than open shelves, the absence of 
 ventilaton assisting the formation of mould. 
 
 The Victorian fashion of cutting out prints and 
 illustrations to make screens was responsible for a 
 good deal of harm done to valuable books. 
 
 An even more destructive mania was that which
 
 60 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 prevailed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 when there arose a craze for collecting illuminated 
 initials taken from MSS. and arranging them on blank 
 pages in alphabetical order. 
 
 A famous collector of early woodcuts* Mr. Caspari 
 used to purchase illustrated books and take out 
 the plates which he mounted on Bristol boards. 
 
 Portrait collectors have destroyed many books 
 by abstracting frontispieces. 
 
 Fine illustrated books in particular have many 
 enemies. 
 
 Owing to the English law of Primogeniture, estates 
 formerly remained in the same family for generation 
 after generation. This has undoubtedly benefited 
 the Empire by causing younger sons to sally forth 
 and make their own way all over the world. 
 
 Nevertheless fierce attacks have been made upon 
 a law which sacrificed all the younger branches of 
 a family in order to keep intact the fortune of the 
 eldest-born son. What does it signify (said a critic 
 who had probably suffered by it) if thousands are 
 deprived of their natural rights, and driven forth 
 into the world to seek for the means of existence, 
 unfitted, too, as they are, for labour, by their habits 
 and education ? What does it matter if a quantity 
 of wretched " scorpions " groan beneath the weight 
 of their poverty, so that the head of the family con- 
 tinues to loll in luxury and roll in wealth, while his 
 younger brothers are treated as though they were 
 bastards, for they have neither inheritance nor birth- 
 right. 
 
 There is, however, more to be said for the law 
 of Primogeniture than appears at first sight. 
 
 The critic in question does not seem to have realized 
 that the abolition of Primogeniture in France has 
 been largely responsible for the small families which
 
 OLD ACRES 61 
 
 in view of the vast increase of population in other 
 nations are something of a danger to the Republic ! 
 
 The education of the eldest sons of landowners 
 might as a general rule have been better and more 
 suited to make them fit for the position they were to 
 occupy. From a purely physical point of view it 
 was usually sensible enough. 
 
 Brought up on a healthy diet and kept much in the 
 open air, the heir to a country estate was early initiated 
 into the mysteries of horsemanship, while taught 
 to laugh at tumbles. 
 
 At Eton he learnt to swim, row or play cricket. 
 Presence of mind, judgment and indifference to pain 
 he acquired from football and other games, while 
 fighting and fagging made the young aristocrat 
 realize that he was not to have everything his own 
 way in the world, thereby counteracting the servility 
 of servants and stablemen by which the sons of all 
 rich men and not only country gentlemen were 
 wont to be beset. 
 
 At Oxford or Cambridge, hunting and shooting 
 completed what cricket and boating had begun, 
 the result in theory and often in practice being a 
 manly, modest and athletic young Englishman with 
 gentlemanlike ways. 
 
 It was on leaving college that the critical period 
 in the life of a young country gentleman began. 
 
 He might go straight into Parliament or into the 
 army, he might go to the Bar or merely decide to 
 settle down at home with his family. 
 
 Though a few years passed in a crack regiment was 
 scarcely calculated to enlarge the mind it was prefer- 
 able to the latter, for a young man of about twenty- 
 five, who had nothing to occupy his time but hunting 
 and shooting, was hardly likely to become a brilliant 
 or useful member of society.
 
 62 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 As a matter of fact, not an ineffectual way of 
 breaking up an old family property is to take care 
 that an eldest son has no regular profession ! 
 
 This sort of thing is rather popular with mothers 
 stricken with philanthropic or humanitarian mania, 
 who have a sort of vague idea that they are assisting 
 the progress of the world by bringing up their off- 
 spring to reform the world. There are of course 
 cases in which a boy of weak vitality is content to 
 develop into a prig, but ninety-nine times out of a 
 hundred the result is that the young man bored to 
 death at home plunges into every sort of dissipation 
 and eventually finds himself obliged to sell the family 
 estates. 
 
 When fond parents declare (as the writer has 
 heard them declare) that they are going to educate 
 their son to be a Member of Parliament, they do 
 not realize that in all probability they are merely 
 dooming him to a career of idleness, eventually to 
 be crowned by financial catastrophe. 
 
 The wealthy young man of good family who has 
 been made to go into politics by his family in order 
 to keep him away from what they consider to be 
 more undesirable pursuits, is usually a mere puppet 
 in the hands of wire-pullers, who instruct him as to 
 what he shall do or say. Being generally well primed 
 with answers to questions likely to be asked at meetings, 
 he generally gets through such ordeals fairly well. 
 When, however, he is left to himself, the results are 
 sometimes surprising. 
 
 " Should you be prepared to support legislation 
 as to the age of consent ? " asked a hard-featured 
 bespectacled female. 
 
 " Certainly, I should either leave it to Local Option 
 or make it compulsory," was the reply, after which the 
 assembled company went home.
 
 OLD ACRES 63 
 
 While not possessed of the autocratic powers 
 exercised by his class in the eighteenth century, 
 many an heir to broad acres in Victorian days having 
 undergone no preparatory process, except that 
 afforded by a public school and University, was too 
 apt to get into a way of dictating to his inferiors like 
 that petty tyrant who often fed the pen of the satirist. 
 
 The life of the ordinary country gentleman of Mid- 
 Victorian days was indeed passed in a round of 
 occupations which were quite inadequate to keep 
 him at the same level as the majority of his class 
 who lived in town. The consequence was that a 
 number never realized either the responsibilities or 
 the power appertaining to what was in truth a privileged 
 position. 
 
 Not a few drifted into dissipation and frittered away 
 their estates, while a certain number gradually got 
 into much the same mental state as the four-footed 
 occupants of their own farmyards. 
 
 Some of the expectant heirs of the past did not 
 show very good taste, scarcely concealing their im- 
 patience to succeed to the paternal acres. 
 
 Such a one was the spendthrift who always short 
 of money in congenial society was wont to exclaim : 
 " Would that I could literally say the beginning of 
 the Lord's Prayer." 
 
 In old days landowners and squires went up to town 
 only for the season some never went at all. 
 
 It was the introduction of the railways which turned 
 the English aristocracy into Londoners. The com- 
 parative difficulties of travel and the length of time 
 it occupied in old days made a visit to town quite 
 an event for those who lived any considerable dis- 
 tance from the metropolis. 
 
 The consequence was that certain provincial towns 
 had a sort of season of their own. This indirectly
 
 64 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 infused life into the country-side and prevented the 
 terrible dullness which now drives so many up to London. 
 
 Provincial towns have now become infected by a 
 good deal of the ways and spirit of London without 
 having anything of the special advantages which 
 London has to offer. 
 
 Everybody knows everybody else no longer, while 
 the leisurely gossiping style in which the tradesmen 
 were wont to do business has been abandoned for the 
 colder and more impersonal methods prevailing in 
 the metropolis. 
 
 The changes that came upon all English life since 
 the middle of the last century are of course not 
 apparent to the present generation, nevertheless they 
 were very great ; according to old people the very 
 character of the population seems to have changed. 
 
 When landlords were able to live upon their estates 
 and were content with a more or less simple country 
 life, enlivened only by an occasional party of their 
 friends, the country house was no inconsiderable 
 political force. The views of its possessor, indeed, 
 greatly influenced the neighbourhood, whilst as a rule 
 a fairly contented tenantry followed their landlord 
 Whig or Tory and voted according to his lead. 
 
 The agricultural labourer of the 'fifties and 'sixties 
 was naturally very ignorant, a fact which profoundly 
 shocked social reformers who about that time began 
 to pay great attention to him. 
 
 Mr. Roebuck on one occasion walked into his garden 
 in Hampshire, with " The Times " in his hand, and 
 told a labourer there that the Duke of Wellington 
 was dead. 
 
 "I'm sorry for he, sir, who was he ? " was the 
 answer, which roused Mr. Roebuck to much virtuous 
 indignation as to the lack of education among the 
 lower classes.
 
 OLD ACRES 65 
 
 He admitted that the man was shrewd and clever, 
 besides having been quite ready to own his ignorance 
 in a straightforward fashion. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the mere fact that he knew 
 nothing about the Duke of Wellington did not show 
 that he was either incompetent or unhappy. 
 
 An individual's education must be measured by 
 what he does and not by what he does not know. 
 
 Thousands of clerks and small tradesmen would 
 have known very little more about the Duke of 
 Wellington than the Hampshire labourer, but probably 
 not one in a hundred would have been above the 
 meanness of pretending to know all about him. 
 
 In those days the lot of an agricultural labourer 
 was certainly hard. 
 
 During the middle of the last century it was cal- 
 culated that, working from his earliest days when he 
 was worth sixpence a week to frighten crows, till 
 the age of sixty, when in most cases he was worn 
 out, the average individual employed on the land 
 earned in the whole of his life from eight hundred 
 to a thousand pounds. 
 
 All things considered this was much too little, it 
 was indeed marvellous how they managed to bring up 
 families and even save something for old age as a 
 few of them contrived to do. 
 
 It is wonderful that there was so little discontent. 
 It should, however, be realized that the families to 
 which labourers belonged had often been on the 
 same estate for hundreds of years. 
 
 In addition to this, not only did all classes below the 
 highest aristocracy mix and mingle much more easily 
 than they do now, but the trading classes in villages 
 and country towns, and the working class approached 
 very closely to each other a kind of association 
 which is unheard of at the present day. There was, 
 5
 
 66 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 indeed, no great social gap between a well-to-do 
 merchant and his housemaid or shop boys. They 
 all dined together in the kitchen, and often passed 
 the evening in the same apartment. The middle 
 class in the country had not yet taken that upward 
 bound which has carried it to the very top of the tree, 
 and the labouring classes had not yet begun a descent 
 which has brought the great mass of them to a condi- 
 tion perpetually verging upon pauperism. They were 
 indeed as they had been for generations, and as the 
 class immediately above them did not appear to be 
 so very much better off the envious feelings of workmen 
 and labourers were seldom aroused. 
 
 It must also be remembered that the rustics of a 
 past age had a certain amount of rough amusement. 
 Judged from our present standpoint their sports and 
 games were for the most part brutal, but they served 
 the purpose of keeping villagers in a good temper. 
 
 For the most part contented with their lot they 
 seem not to have suffered from that unrest which is 
 the curse of modern times. 
 
 Now and then, it is true, some adventurous spirit 
 finding rural life too dull would break away from it 
 and set out to seek his fortune in the outside world. 
 
 In old days landed property was handed on in 
 unbroken succession from father to son, large estates 
 rarely coming into the market, and then only as the 
 result of misfortune or extravagance. 
 
 Landlords and tenants grew up together and the 
 relations between the two were, in most cases, good. 
 It must, however, be confessed that by the end of 
 the last century the link had become considerably 
 weaker, a new generation of landowner having 
 arisen who resided little in the country, except for 
 purposes of sport. The traditional respect of the 
 English peasantry for its aristocracy had greatly
 
 OLD ACRES 67 
 
 lessened, in a considerable degree, owing to the latter 
 being lacking in certain characteristic qualities of the 
 English noble of the old school. Nevertheless a 
 great number of old estates seemed likely to remain 
 in the hands of families who had held them almost 
 from time immemorial, but the Great War altered 
 aU that. 
 
 In an incredibly short time the owners of broad acres 
 grew poorer and poorer, and could the " sad historian of 
 the pensive plain " return to-day he would find the once- 
 flourishing squires and parsons in very sorry plight, 
 victims of what Sir Rider Haggard has called " the 
 cruel, grinding and unjust taxation, which in one form 
 or another is exacted from the soil." 
 
 The great financial depression, which affects every 
 one, is of course almost entirely the result of the 
 heavy taxation which remains to us as one of the 
 many unpleasant souvenirs of the Great War. 
 
 Without doubt, enormous sums were squandered 
 by the Government during that prolonged struggle, 
 but it must be remembered that a certain amount of 
 extravagance at home was necessary in order to keep 
 the populace in a good temper. 
 
 Had anyone been conscripted directly hostilities 
 had begun, vast sums would have been saved, but 
 as matters went, the Government found itself con- 
 fronted by the menace of a discontented proletariat 
 making impossible demands, to guard against which 
 they proceeded to pay workers extravagant wages. 
 
 In spite of all this, vast sums were needlessly 
 squandered. The system of gratuities was possibly 
 the most iniquitous of many forms of wasting public 
 money. 
 
 In an enormous number of instances the young 
 fellows who received them went off and spent the money 
 in 3 week. In other cases the recipients were quite
 
 68 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 well enough off to have dispensed with a gratuity 
 altogether. 
 
 Discrimination should have been exercised in this 
 matter, and gratuities only given to officers who were 
 really in need of them. Also, the money should not 
 all have been handed over at once, but administered 
 for the benefit of the individuals who were entitled 
 to receive it. 
 
 Though the Great War gave the finishing blow to 
 the expiring fortunes of the large landed proprietor 
 he had not been in a really good way since 1879. 
 
 For thirty years before that, British agriculture 
 had enjoyed great prosperity, but with the era of 
 great ocean-going steamships, carrying wheat from 
 Canada and the United States, great depression came 
 upon the land, the years following being disastrous to 
 landowners, who were further crippled by unjust 
 and ill-considered legislation. Before 1879 the latter 
 had real control of their property, while the taxes 
 were not oppressive as they have subsequently become. 
 
 In 1870 the land in England fed some 26,000,000 
 people, which number in 1914 had decreased by no 
 less than 10,000,000, a very different state of affairs 
 from that prevailing across the Channel in France. 
 In 1789 the land in that country fed 25,000,000. 
 To-day it feeds over 40,000,000, and does so far better 
 than ever before ! 
 
 A striking instance of the positive loss, sometimes 
 suffered by owners of land, was the balance sheet of the 
 Duke of Bedford, which last year showed how an 
 agricultural estate of 16,600 acres in the Home 
 Counties, bringing in 23,437, resulted in a positive 
 loss of 2,518. The rent roll of this estate, when other 
 items of expenditure amounting to 2,672 had been 
 deducted, thus showed a deficit amounting to no 
 less than 5,190 !
 
 OLD ACRES 69 
 
 The consequence of this is that landowners and 
 squires who do not possess large private means find 
 themselves obliged to part with their country houses 
 and estates. 
 
 In a large number of cases where the owners manage 
 to struggle on and live in their ancestral mansions 
 the gardens have fallen into a pitiable condition. 
 
 Many a mansion with its grounds once the pride 
 of the country-side has become nothing but a white 
 elephant to its impoverished possessor, one gardener 
 being retained to do the work of the fifteen or twenty 
 employed before the Great War. Some hunting men 
 may have to copy Whyte-Melville, who one season 
 hunted on a carriage horse. 
 
 " However do you get him to go over the jumps ? ' 
 asked a friend. 
 
 " The simplest thing in the world," was the reply. 
 " Whenever I come to a fence I catch my saddle a 
 sounding crack and shout out ' home.' ' 
 
 "Thinking it's the carriage door which has shut, 
 the gallant animal jumps the obstacle like a bird." 
 
 At the present time the only hope of big country 
 houses being saved seems to be in their being taken 
 by the new rich or by Americans with sufficient 
 dollars to keep them up. 
 
 As a rule, new owners from across the Atlantic seem 
 ready to spend vast sums in improving grounds and 
 redecorating old houses ; curiously enough in a great 
 number of cases they quickly tire of the mansions 
 they acquire. 
 
 The alterations and improvements made by trans- 
 atlantic visitors generally run more or less in the same 
 direction. Stables near a house they generally cannot 
 abide they seem to think it vulgar to have such 
 buildings close by, and either convert them to some 
 other use or pull them down altogether.
 
 70 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Elaborate iron gates are much to their liking and 
 the simple ones which have swung to and fro for 
 generations of English squires quickly give way to 
 ornate specimens of the modern metal-worker's art. 
 
 Americans are also fond of scattering Venetian 
 well-heads and stone benches about their grounds, 
 while their women have a mania for the Louis XV 
 and Louis XVI styles a habit which has wrecked 
 many attractive old English rooms. 
 
 On the whole, however, old houses renovated by 
 these sort of people are comfortable enough, their 
 main fault perhaps being the clear evidences of the 
 carte blanche which has been given to some fashionable 
 decorator. 
 
 The new rich or American millionaires are but 
 seldom in touch with those living around their man- 
 sions, hired either for sport or pleasure. The modern 
 standpoint as regards country life is well demonstrated 
 by the remark of a lady whose husband had bought 
 a country house, and was told that some pleasant 
 people lived in the country-side near by. " Pleasant 
 or not, it matters little to us," was the retort; ''we 
 shan't see anything of them we shall get our friends 
 down from London with the fish." 
 
 The new rich, like the old aristocrats of the eighteenth 
 century, are often fond of seeing their country houses 
 surrounded by spacious and well-kept lawns. 
 
 " Ah," said one, " you don't know what a lot of 
 money I have to spend in keeping all this in order," 
 and he pointed to the vast expanse of green, which 
 stretched away from the front of his house. 
 
 " Did you ever see so much grass ? Sometimes, 
 when it's cut, I really do not know what to do with it." 
 
 " Eat it, of course," put in a cynical bystander, 
 which remark stopped any further disquisitions on 
 the magnitude of the estate.
 
 OLD ACRES 71 
 
 The latest edition of Burke 's " Landed Gentry " 
 records the advent of a new social order, there being 
 more than two hundred fresh entries. It is noticeable 
 that none of the great auctioneering firms bid for 
 large estates ; perhaps, as a partner in one of them 
 remarked, they know too much about them. 
 
 Several great war profiteers, however, have acquired 
 large properties ; one of these made a bid of half a 
 million sterling for a country seat of historic importance, 
 within a reasonable distance of London. 
 
 Such purchasers, however, are apt soon to tire of 
 living out of town ; they lack the " country instinct," 
 besides becoming dismayed at the calls and claims 
 made upon a great landowner's purse. 
 
 In one case a commercial magnate put up the stately 
 mansion he had purchased before he had even got 
 into it ; in another, a millionaire who had accumulated 
 his vast fortune by shipping, after buying a famous 
 castle kept it only for two years. 
 
 The only satisfactory thing about all this seems to 
 be that a large proportion of the land, which has 
 changed hands, has been acquired by farmers and 
 men of moderate means, who are already occupiers. 
 These, it is to be hoped, will form a new yeoman class ; 
 but if the present unjust system of penalizing those 
 owning the soil be continued, this too must eventually 
 disappear. 
 
 The way in which the land is changing hands can 
 best be realized by a glance at the advertisement 
 columns of a weekly paper dealing with property and 
 its sale. 
 
 Taking a number of that excellent weekly J " Country 
 Life," which is a good index as to the market in estates, 
 I found on the first page a well-known historical Hall 
 to be sold " at a very low reserve." 
 1 October 15, 1921.
 
 72 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 On the second, a beautiful Jacobean mansion, with 
 grandly timbered undulating park. Farther on, " A 
 fifteenth-century moated Hall," with the Lordship 
 of an ancient Manor near Bury St. Edmund's, "a 
 Freehold Manorial Property," once the home of the 
 poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Lord Howard of Efnngham, 
 with remains of an old Gate House in the district of 
 Newbury. " A highly interesting and original six- 
 teenth-century residence," "a charming old sixteenth- 
 century House." " A well-known estate in Sussex," 
 " a charming old Manor House in Hertfordshire," 
 " a fine residential sporting and agricultural estate 
 near Truro," " an imposing castellated Mansion " 
 near Lincoln, " a Georgian Mansion in mellowed red 
 brick " at Sawbridgeworth all these, together with 
 countless country houses of lesser importance, were 
 for sale. 
 
 Since the Armistice of 1918, rural England indeed 
 may be said to have come under the hammer, estate 
 after estate being thrown upon the market in endless 
 succession. 
 
 The Duke of Sutherland has sold Lillieshall ; Lord 
 Chesterfield, Holme Lacy ; and Lord Ebury, Moor 
 Park. 
 
 Other estates which have been sold, or are for sale, 
 are Eastwell Park, Horsley Towers, and Taymouth 
 Castle in Perthshire, with 57,335 acres, the property 
 of Lord Breadalbane. 
 
 Among historic country mansions which have come 
 under the hammer has been Stowe, which, with its 
 gardens, terraces and classic temples, was knocked 
 down for 50,000. 
 
 Its contents, including a dining- table 65 feet, and 
 much furniture and porcelain, were sold at the same 
 time. 
 
 Cassiobury, Ashridge, Stoneleigh, Gosford, Beau
 
 OLD ACRES 73 
 
 Desert, Heythrop, together with numbers of other 
 county estates, are either sold, let or left uninhabited. 
 
 Lord Crewe has sold his Madeley estate. Lord and 
 Lady Glanusk, having closed their Welsh seat, live 
 in a little fishing cottage on the Wye. Lord Sherborne 
 is parting with Bibury Court. 
 
 In Northamptonshire Lord Spencer has closed his 
 ancestral home at Althorp. Castle Ashby is shut up. 
 Wakefield Lawn, the seat of the Duke of Grafton, 
 has been left by the owner, and its contents sold. 
 
 Since the death of Lady Wantage the great baronial 
 mansion at Overstone has been dismantled and put 
 up for sale. Hitherto, however, all efforts to dispose 
 of it have failed. 
 
 Fawsley Park stands empty since the death of Lady 
 Knightley. The valuable treasures it once contained, 
 as in the case of so many old county houses, have 
 been sold. 
 
 Milton Hall, near Peterborough, still remains open, 
 but rumour has it that the owner, Mr. G. C. W. 
 Fitzwilliam, will have to close it up unless there is 
 some relief in the way of taxation. 
 
 The Marquis of Linlithgow has reluctantly had to 
 give up living at Hopetown House, while the Duke 
 of Portland has foreshadowed a similar fate for Wei- 
 beck. 
 
 Many mansions have been abandoned and more than 
 one turned into a school. Lord Hindlip has quitted 
 Hindlip Hall, and Elsenham Hall, Essex, is inhabited 
 only by a caretaker, having, according to the owner, 
 Sir Walter Gilbey, become merely a burden upon his 
 estate. 
 
 A short time ago the Press stated that because of 
 the heavy burden of taxation, Lord Boyne, brother-in- 
 law of Lord Lascelles, had decided to dismantle Brance- 
 peth Castle, near Durham.
 
 74 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 If such is the case, this stately building is likely to 
 become a ruin, any idea of adapting it to modern 
 purposes as a sanatorium or training college being 
 out of the question, owing to the prohibitive cost. 
 Nevertheless it is to be hoped that some way of 
 saving this historic castle may be devised. 
 
 Brancepeth originally belonged to the Nevilles, but 
 was forfeited to the Crown, owing to the participation 
 of Charles, Earl of Westmorland, in the Rising of 
 the North. 
 
 Granted by James the First to his favourite, Robert 
 Carr, the latter in his turn forfeited the property, 
 upon which it was sold in 1636 to Ralph Cole, Esq., 
 of Newcastle. 
 
 The family to which the latter belonged had risen 
 almost at a bound from the smithy to the Baronetage, 
 but its fall was almost equally swift, the last Baronet, 
 Sir Mark Cole, dying in such abject want that he had 
 to be buried in Crossgate, Durham, at the expense of 
 his cousin, Sir Ralph Milbank ! 
 
 As for the Earl of Westmorland, the failure of 
 his ill-planned and rash insurrection drove him to 
 seek shelter in Flanders, to which country he escaped. 
 His vast inheritance, however, was confiscated, and 
 he suffered the extremity of poverty. In 1572 he 
 was living in the Low Countries on a miserable pittance 
 allowed him by the bounty of the King of Spain. 
 So deplorable had been his previous condition that 
 Lord Seton, writing two years earlier to Mary, Queen 
 of Scots, stated that " the Earl of Westmorland had 
 neither penny nor halfpenny." 
 
 The estates of which the unfortunate nobleman 
 had been deprived were, according to contemporary 
 accounts, worth 400,000 doubloons per annum, which, 
 in money of the present day, may be reckoned as 
 about 150,000.
 
 OLD ACRES 75 
 
 Lord Westmorland, in spite of his pitiful condition 
 and regrets for the loss of Brancepeth and Raby, 
 survived his plight for more than thirty years, eking 
 out a wretched existence, till he died penniless and 
 forgotten in 1601. 
 
 The recent announcement that, owing to heavy 
 taxation and cost of upkeep, Lord Londonderry 
 found himself obliged to shut up Seaham Hall, Durham, 
 is yet another rather melancholy sign of the times. 
 
 Though the contents are to be sold, it is understood 
 that the public will continue to be allowed the free 
 use of the grounds. 
 
 Seaham Hall, which was acquired by the London- 
 derry family from Sir Ralph Milbank in 1822, has a 
 certain historic interest, as having been connected 
 with Byron, for it was in the drawing-room in 1815 
 that the poet was married to Miss Milbank, daughter 
 of Sir Ralph, who then owned the place. 
 
 On Friday, 9 June, 1922, Cassiobury Park, a historic 
 seat which had belonged to the Earls of Essex since 
 1677, was put up for sale, but owing to no offer having 
 been made, withdrawn. 
 
 Parham House, near Arundel, Sussex, the ancient 
 home of the Zouches, has been sold to Lord Cowdray. 
 Compton Verney has passed into a stranger's hands. 
 
 Finally Edenhall, the ancient home of the Musgraves, 
 was recently stated to be up for sale. Sir George 
 Musgrave, who was its possessor in early Victorian 
 days, was the beau-ideal of a country gentleman of 
 the old school. Rarely or ever did he go to London. 
 Not like some of his neighbours because of the expense 
 of moving a household, for he was a rich man, but 
 because his idea was that a country gentleman's proper 
 place was on his own acres, and because London had 
 no temptation for him. 
 
 Reputed to be the best landlord in the county, he
 
 76 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 looked upon all his numerous tenants and labourers 
 as a good king should look upon his subjects, fealty 
 and loyal attachment being repaid by protection, 
 kindness and assistance. 
 
 Any man who in Sir George's hearing should have 
 talked of the relations between a landlord and his 
 tenants as a purely commercial matter would have 
 stood a good chance of being kicked off the land. 
 
 Sir George was adored by all the country-side, and 
 though the stout Cumberland and Westmorland 
 farmers and their men were good and loyal subjects 
 of Queen Victoria, for all practical purposes of rever- 
 ence and obedience, their real sovereign was the owner 
 of Edenhall. 
 
 Sir George was the most hospitable man in the world, 
 and loved to entertain in the good old-fashioned way. 
 He would brook no tampering with time-honoured 
 observances connected with dinner. 
 
 A young visitor, being anxious to get back to a 
 pretty girl who had been his neighbour at the meal 
 in question, once tried to escape from the dining-room 
 before the signal to move had been given. 
 
 " Come back ! ' roared Sir George, before the 
 astonished young shirker could get to the door, 
 " Come back ! We won't have any of your damned 
 pioneering habits here ! Sit down and stick to your 
 wine, or by the Lord, I'll have the door locked." 
 
 Longfellow wrote of the Luck of Edenhall, an ancient 
 decorated glass goblet which has been the property 
 of the Musgraves time out of mind. On it is inscribed 
 the legend : 
 
 "When this cup shall break or fall, 
 Farewell the luck of Edenhall."
 
 IV 
 
 CLUBLAND 
 
 AT the time of the outbreak of the Great War 
 the majority of West End Clubs, besides being 
 in a sound financial position, found little diffi- 
 culty in keeping their membership up to the required 
 number. 
 
 Well-to-do men then often belonged to half a dozen 
 Clubs, while only using one or two, but whether they 
 did so or not their subscription went to swell the Club 
 funds. 
 
 The war, however, altered all this. With the great 
 increase of taxation people began to look about for 
 every source of retrenchment, and one of the first 
 economies in which a number indulged was to restrict 
 the number of their Clubs. 
 
 Meanwhile prices had risen far beyond anything 
 dreamt of before the war, in consequence of which 
 much of West End Clubland began to find itself in an 
 awkward financial position. 
 
 Intensely conservative and averse to any kind of 
 innovation, very few of these old-established institu- 
 tions have made any serious effort to avert that 
 extinction which at present it is to be feared may be 
 their ultimate fate. 
 
 Setting aside the fact that in these days the majority 
 of men are too poor to belong to more than one or two 
 Clubs, various causes have contributed towards the 
 
 77
 
 78 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 precarious position which many a Committee now finds 
 itself compelled to face. 
 
 Besides a large number of resignations, many mem- 
 bers were killed in the War. 
 
 All this, together with an increased expenditure, 
 produced by the rise in prices, heavily crippled Clubs, 
 which before 1914 had easily paid their way. 
 
 Prospects in West End Clubland are at present 
 anything but bright. Younger men fond of dancing 
 not unnaturally consider Club smoking-rooms dull, 
 while the increasing popularity of golf takes many out 
 of town once their business hours are over. 
 
 In addition to this, the social prestige which was 
 once attached to membership of certain West End 
 Clubs, has during the present century considerably 
 waned. The result is that there no longer exist 
 waiting lists as in the days when it took five or six 
 years before a candidate came up for election. Clubs 
 which provide bedrooms for members undoubtedly 
 have a pull, and it is not improbable that in the 
 future a certain number may follow the example set 
 across the Atlantic and become aifiliated to country- 
 house Clubs, which will provide a number of sports 
 and open-air amusements. The great success of Rane- 
 lagh would seem to show that there is an opening for 
 such a development. 
 
 Altogether modern developments have hit Clubs 
 very hard. The unjust and absurd restrictions of 
 war-time which never should have been applied to 
 West End Clubs of old standing and unimpeachable 
 reputation got quite a number of members into the 
 habit of staying at home in the evenings, and the 
 social amenities of Club life have in consequence been 
 seriously curtailed. 
 
 It is true that, to some degree, the restrictions in 
 question have been removed, nevertheless the atmo-
 
 CLUBLAND 79 
 
 sphere of gloom, which they produced, has, as yet 
 not been entirely dispelled, and many a Club smoking- 
 room, where, in old days, men might be sure of passing 
 a pleasant evening, are practically deserted after dinner. 
 
 The idea of enforcing these restrictions in West 
 End Clubs was merely another example of the modern 
 Anglo-Saxon craze for interfering with personal liberty 
 even when no possible good can result. 
 
 Obsessed by fear of the cry " one law for the rich, 
 one law for the poor," the authorities were ready to 
 perpetrate any absurdity rather than be called " un- 
 democratic." 
 
 It is noteworthy that in Paris, in which city the 
 Radical ideas so popular in modern England had their 
 origin, practically no attempt was made to interfere 
 with reputable Clubs during the war. 
 
 The French, however, are judicious in interpreting 
 the principles of 1789, whereas the English, labouring 
 under the mistaken impression that Radicalism entails 
 social slavery, tolerate every sort of interference with 
 personal liberty without protest ! 
 
 The London Club in its present form is just about 
 a hundred years old, it having been during the earlier 
 part of the last century that it began to draw away 
 from coffee-houses and restaurants precisely the class 
 of customers who were the latter's best support. 
 
 French hotel-keepers and restaurateurs who had 
 started business north of Oxford Street and in Leicester 
 Square felt the depression severely, while gradually 
 the last of the old coffee-houses found themselves 
 compelled to close their doors. A few Clubs, however, 
 had existed long before all this. 
 
 It is said that the first modern mansion in Pall 
 Mall which was used as a Club was No. 86, a house 
 originally built for Edward Duke of York, brother of 
 George III. Towards the end of the eighteenth
 
 80 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 century it was opened as a " subscription house," and 
 called the Albion Hotel. 
 
 In later years the house in question was absorbed, 
 together with other buildings to form the War Office. 
 No vestiges of it now remain, the site being occupied 
 by the palatial Automobile Club, built after the War 
 Office had moved to its new buildings. 
 
 Erected by Messrs. Mewes and Davis in the French 
 style, the Club-house in question, though well propor- 
 tioned and abounding in good details, seems somewhat 
 out of place on its present site. 
 
 It has been said with some truth that the undoubted 
 merit of the design would show to far better advantage 
 had this Club-house been situated facing a large open 
 space or Park. 
 
 As it is, the length of the fa$ade seems rather un- 
 suited to the comparative narrowness of Pall Mall. 
 
 It is a pity that the new building next door has 
 been erected in a different style. 
 
 A number of quaint usages formerly prevailed in 
 Clubland. 
 
 Once a member was within the doors of his Club, 
 he was supposed to have become invisible to the 
 outside world and was not expected to notice acquaint- 
 ances who might be passing by outside. 
 
 It was also contrary to etiquette, if standing at a 
 Club window, to take off one's hat to ladies walking 
 past in the street. This, however, does not seem to 
 have prevented Clubmen from looking at the latter, 
 if young and pretty, for in the early part of the last 
 century governesses were warned to make their young 
 charges walk on the other side of the road to White's, 
 from the famous bow-window of which a number of 
 old bucks were said to be in the habit of ogling any 
 attractive members of the fair sex. 
 
 The custom of giving change in silver having the
 
 CLUBLAND 81 
 
 appearance of being just fresh from the Mint prevailed 
 at one or two old West End Clubs, notably at Arthur's. 
 
 Here they had a special method of washing coin of 
 the realm which produced a very satisfactory result. 
 
 A Club in which there was much card playing often 
 had its own counters, each of which was marked with 
 the particular sum which it was to represent. At 
 Brooks's, White's and Boodle's may be seen specimens 
 of these relics which have been carefully preserved. 
 
 Little attention was formerly paid to decoration in 
 Clubs. 
 
 Up to the end of the last century there were no 
 pictures of any kind in quite a number of them. Such 
 decorations as existed were often crude in the extreme. 
 At one Piccadilly Club, which was located in a fine 
 house containing a good deal of work by Robert Adam, 
 a beautiful ceiling was crudely daubed with purple, 
 red and yellow paint, laid on, members jokingly said, 
 by the Club cook, who carried out the colour scheme 
 in imitation of one of his own ices. 
 
 Notwithstanding the inartistic appearance of Club 
 rooms of that day, the general effect was often not 
 uncomfortable ; anyhow it satisfied the members, the 
 older of whom openly expressed their dislike of any 
 change. Most Clubs in old days were solemn places 
 with a number of old members sitting in chairs which 
 by a sort of unwritten law were always at their disposal 
 or creeping silently about casting critical and sometimes 
 outraged glances at new-comers who seemed out of 
 keeping with the peculiar atmosphere of rooms which 
 these veterans had come to consider their own special 
 domain. 
 
 When as an effect of the aesthetic revival pictures 
 began to be hung on artistically tinted walls, not a few 
 denounced the innovation as being effeminate. 
 
 " Flower-boxes, indeed ! who wants flower-boxes ? ' 
 6
 
 82 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 growled an old Crimean veteran. " They'll be making 
 the smoking-room into a lady's boudoir next ! ' 
 
 Just before the outbreak of the Great War, however, 
 several West End Clubs spent considerable sums on 
 flowers, and the members of one or two, indeed, prided 
 themselves upon the magnificent floral display in their 
 windows. 
 
 Old Clubmen hate change ; consequently the advent 
 of the electric light and the telephone were viewed with 
 great disfavour by most of them, who protested against 
 new-fangled inventions being imported into their own 
 special retreat. 
 
 When the question of installing the new illuminant 
 was discussed, a number of older men went so far as 
 to threaten to resign, but its immense superiority 
 over gas being soon evident, in the end they grudgingly 
 admitted that perhaps after all it was an improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The telephone, however, aroused more serious and 
 lasting opposition and at a certain Club one old member 
 was so infuriated at its having been adopted that he 
 had a fit, from the effects of which he eventually died. 
 
 At a number of old-established Clubs men spoke only 
 to their own friends and when they did so in very low 
 tones. 
 
 The majority of the members scarcely indulged in 
 any conversation at all, everything being conducted 
 with the solemnity proper to a house of mourning. 
 
 At one of these abodes of silence in Pall Mall a 
 member is reported to have rung for the groom of the 
 chambers and pointing to a prostrate form on an 
 adjacent sofa said, " I think you had better take that 
 gentleman away ; to my certain knowledge, he has been 
 lying there dead for over a week ! ' 
 
 At another an aged habitue, having been spoken to 
 by a complete stranger to whom he had not been intro-
 
 CLUBLAND 83 
 
 duced, was so flabbergasted that he went home and 
 took to his bed which he never left again ! 
 
 A foreign visitor being taken over one of these 
 solemn institutions was so impressed by its solemnity 
 that he took it for a Museum. 
 
 " The building is magnificent," he exclaimed in a 
 reverential tone, " but where do you keep the 
 specimens ? ' 
 
 There were, however, a few lively souls whose 
 Bohemian tendencies were of such a pronounced kind 
 as to be irrepressible even in the most serious resorts. 
 
 Such a one was the irresponsible young spark 
 who, having been elected to an old-fashioned Club, 
 made his first appearance there after a particularly 
 good dinner. 
 
 Having ordered a brandy and soda, it was brought 
 to him by a waiter with hair of a brilliant red. 
 
 "By Jove," ejaculated the young man, "I can't 
 stand such a blaze of colour after dinner," and taking 
 an ink-pot from a table close by he emptied it over 
 the waiter's head. 
 
 Prompt expulsion was the result, but to do the 
 thoughtless joker justice he sent the waiter a handsome 
 present. 
 
 There were more eccentric men in West End Clubs 
 in old days than is the case to-day. One member 
 who, though very unconventional in his ways, could 
 not be called mad, was known for his mania of " cock- 
 ing snooks " at other members when he thought they 
 weren't looking. The effect of a serious-looking grey- 
 headed old gentleman indulging in this street urchin's 
 trick was ludicrous in the extreme. Time after time 
 the member was cautioned by the Committee, and 
 eventually, I believe, was made to resign. 
 
 A more serious case of eccentricity which culminated 
 in a retirement to an asylum was the case of the member
 
 84 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 who at various intervals would send for all the back 
 numbers of " Truth " from the very beginning and then, 
 after having looked at one or two of them, instruct 
 the hall porter to tell Lord Salisbury, or whoever might 
 be in office, that the Queen had decided that the Gov- 
 ernment should resign. 
 
 Billiards used formerly to be much played in Clubs, 
 but to a great extent Bridge seems to have taken its 
 place. 
 
 At certain Clubs indeed the same people meet at 
 the same hour every day in order to indulge in this 
 game. 
 
 So great is the devotion which it inspires that during 
 the war certain little coteries of men over military age 
 sat unmoved at the card-tables while Zeppelins and 
 aeroplanes sought to destroy London over their heads. 
 
 Nor did the end of the great struggle move players 
 who had sat playing their rubbers through four years 
 of warfare. 
 
 The night before the Armistice was signed, a member 
 who was known to have exceptional sources of informa- 
 tion, came into the card-room of a certain Club, and 
 said to some friends at a Bridge table : 
 
 " The War is over, the Germans are going to sign." 
 
 " I make it no Trumps," remarked one of the 
 players, and the game continued without comment. 
 
 " I tell you the War is over." 
 
 " A pity you didn't make it a heart," said the no 
 trumper's partner, " we should not have lost the 
 trick." 
 
 " You don't seem to understand, at last we are going 
 to have peace." 
 
 " I don't believe it," said another player, without 
 showing any interest. " Now then, partner, we are 
 game and twenty-seven to nothing, so don't do any- 
 thing rash."
 
 CLUBLAND 85 
 
 Customs of a past age died hard in Clubland. Though 
 duelling in England is supposed to have long become 
 obsolete, duels have been arranged there within com- 
 paratively recent years. 
 
 Towards the end of the last century a beau sabreur, 
 who at that time was a prominent figure in a well- 
 known West End Club, was called out by a fellow- 
 member on account of undue attention having been 
 paid to the latter's wife. 
 
 The challenge was accepted and a meeting arranged 
 to take place near Boulogne, where the combatants 
 proceeded in due course. 
 
 " The pistols are all right, Harry, old boy," said 
 the beau sabreur to a friend he had brought over to act 
 as his second. " You've got cartridges, I hope ? ' 
 " Five hundred of them ! " " Good God, we're not 
 going pheasant shooting, man ! " exclaimed the duellist, 
 who eventually returned to England uninjured, several 
 shots having been exchanged without effect. 
 
 More recently at a Diplomatic Club, two secretaries, 
 attached to the Embassies of a couple of Great Powers 
 (which have since ceased to be great), had a tiff during 
 which one of them snapped his fingers at the other. 
 
 Though this was rather serious from a foreigner's 
 point of view, the affair looked like being patched up 
 till the German Military Attache got wind of it. 
 
 The latter, whose face was scarred with sword cuts 
 and who looked upon duelling much as a keen sports- 
 man looks upon fox-hunting, declared] that a court 
 of honour must immediately be held and, as he con- 
 stituted himself president, the result of its delibera- 
 tions was not difficult to foresee. 
 
 A duel was declared inevitable and the secretaries, 
 who were anything but anxious for the fray, were in- 
 formed that all necessary arrangements would be 
 made.
 
 86 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 They met in the Forest of Fontainebleau where, 
 much to the disappointment of the English members 
 of the Club who declared " that both the damned 
 fools deserved to be killed," three shots were fired 
 without any damage, except to the trees. 
 
 The number of meals served at West End Clubs has 
 enormously increased within the last twenty years. 
 Owing to increased facilities of locomotion and other 
 causes, quite a large number of members, who are 
 engaged in business, go to their Club for lunch. 
 
 In the days when bachelors lived in the old-fashioned 
 furnished rooms, where lunch and dinner were pro- 
 vided, " dining at the Club " was to many quite an 
 event. 
 
 To-day when the majority live in flats, where only 
 breakfast can be obtained, men are obliged to go out 
 for their meals, consequently the Club dining-room 
 to many has become a sort of College Hall, where 
 members, more or less habitually, dine and lunch. 
 
 The flat system has, of course, enormously changed 
 the existence of men-about-town who to-day would 
 not be satisfied with the dingy lodgings in which their 
 predecessors, even when well off, were generally con- 
 tent to live. 
 
 Whether there is an improvement in Club cookery 
 or the reverse, it is difficult to say. Formerly, owing 
 to the smaller number of members, there was often 
 greater attention to detail. On the other hand, men 
 were not apt to be so luxurious and did not demand 
 all sorts of expensive luxuries directly they had come 
 into season. 
 
 In Mid- Victorian days, though Soyer was chef at the 
 Reform Club, most London Clubs provided very 
 unambitious cooking.
 
 CLUBLAND 87 
 
 It is said that when Francatelli heard that his 
 master the French Ambassador was going to dine at 
 the Athenaeum he exclaimed : 
 
 " Ah ! mon pauvre maitre je ne le reverrai plus ! ' 
 
 Nevertheless at that period a number of the regular 
 frequenters of Clubs were great gourmets, who might 
 have been said to live for eating and drinking. 
 
 Staunch conservatives, as a rule the only way to 
 obtain their approval of changes was to give them a 
 good dinner. 
 
 " You can always get round old Gullybelly," said a 
 committee-man, "if you fill his stomach. ;i 
 
 " Yes," assented a friend, " unfortunately you have 
 to go such a long way in order to get round ! ' 
 
 Even Clubs which made no attempt at providing 
 an elaborate cuisine took care that members should 
 be able to call for a bottle of the best. 
 
 The wine indeed was often superb. 
 
 Forty years ago, and perhaps even a little later, 
 Boodles' had a magnificent cellar and there were other 
 Clubs which could provide port and also claret which 
 were something to remember. 
 
 Of cigars and cigarettes only two or three sorts at 
 most were provided, smoking not being then as popu- 
 lar as it is to-day, and members only being allowed to 
 smoke in certain rooms set aside for that purpose. 
 
 Pipes were absolutely prohibited throughout most 
 Club-houses : gradually, however, they came to be 
 allowed in the smoking-room and in many Clubs of 
 to-day they may be smoked with as much freedom as 
 is accorded to the cigarette or cigar. 
 
 There used always to be a box of snuff on the mantel- 
 piece of Club smoking-rooms, and in certain cases it still 
 lingers there to-day. 
 
 At one time it used to be the custom for smokers to 
 go and indulge in a cigar at their pet tobacconists,
 
 88 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 hence the existence of the cigar divans, which have 
 now practically vanished from the West End. 
 
 The reason for this, no doubt, was that smoking was 
 generally tabooed in private houses, even the owners 
 of which were wont to go down to the servants' hall 
 when they wanted a whiff. 
 
 Though members of West End Clubs are extremely 
 given to grumbling at the way things are done, it is 
 noticeable that, as a rule, few of them ever take the 
 trouble to attend the Annual General Meeting. Till 
 the day when that event is to take place is imminent, 
 a number of them are full of threats as to the accusa- 
 tions which they are going to bring against the Com- 
 mittee, while others have all sorts of schemes which 
 they declare they are about to ventilate. 
 
 When the day arrives, however, nothing usually 
 happens. 
 
 No wonder a cynic said the only object of such 
 gatherings was to enable members to display their 
 cowardice. The attendance indeed is usually ridicu- 
 lously small, while the only speakers are certain men 
 who, year after year, indulge in much the same halting 
 discourses people who seize this rare opportunity 
 for airing their oratory. 
 
 As a matter of fact, such disinclination to attend 
 meetings at which questions vital to the very existence 
 of Clubs have to be considered is anything but credit- 
 able to the many who abstain mainly because they say 
 such meetings bore them ! 
 
 This habit, or rather fashion, for it is little less, is 
 without doubt in some degree responsible for the 
 parlous state into which not a few West End Clubs 
 have recently sunk. What is nobody's business should 
 be everybody's business, and the sooner this is realized 
 the better for certain Clubs which, in spite of their 
 apparent prosperity, are really on their last legs.
 
 CLUBLAND 89 
 
 A very different state of affairs prevails in Paris 
 where Club members keep a very watchful eye upon 
 everything concerned with finance or management. 
 
 At one of these " Circles," where about four hundred 
 members appeared to hear the annual statement and 
 elect new members of the Committee, the writer having 
 expressed his surprise, a Frenchman said, " Do you 
 think we are such fools as to pay our subscriptions 
 and then not care how the money is spent. That 
 sort of thing is all very well for girls and children, but 
 sensible men naturally like to see that their affairs 
 are being properly managed." 
 
 In former days the West End contained a fair 
 number of conspicuous and picturesque figures con- 
 nected with Sport and the Turf of the robust, vigorous 
 type, of which the late Sir John Astley was a good 
 example. 
 
 To-day there are very few. 
 
 The veteran Lord Coventry, that fine old English 
 gentleman and sportsman who tenaciously adheres 
 to his top-hat, is one. Lord Chaplin, who years ago 
 won the Derby with Hermit, is another. 
 
 More of a country gentleman than a man-about- 
 town, Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, notwith- 
 standing his seventy-six years, full of vigour and 
 vitality, may still occasionally be seen in Piccadilly. 
 
 The typical Clubmen of a former generation have 
 also disappeared. Such a one was the second Sir 
 Robert Peel, an imposing figure always clad in a frock- 
 coat and top-hat tilted at a particular angle. 
 
 Sir Robert was full of memories and stories of the 
 Peel Administration, Lola Montes, Palmerston, Lady 
 Blessington, and Count d'Orsay. He was a strange 
 survival of another age, living in full accord and 
 sympathy with a younger generation with interests 
 of a totally different order. His own youth had
 
 90 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 been one of a somewhat turbulent kind fond of 
 fun and frolic, it was said that having come into 
 collision with the police, who threatened to run him 
 in for some exuberant prank, his retort, " My father 
 didn't create you to arrest me," so staggered the 
 representatives of the newly created force that they 
 let him go. 
 
 In his last years Sir Robert, who had made many a 
 heavy wager in his time, usually limited his specula- 
 tions to very small amounts, though now and then 
 his old passion for gambling would get the better of 
 him, usually with unfortunate results. Such was 
 certainly the case one day that he had gone to see a 
 parachute descent at the Alexandra Palace. Walking 
 up to the scene of operations with a friend, a three- 
 card-trick man by the roadside chanced to catch the 
 old Baronet's eye. " The old swindle," said he ; never- 
 theless he stopped and listened to the man's patter. 
 In the end he started betting just for fun and 
 finished up by losing every penny he had in his 
 pocket. 
 
 " Do you know," said he, " that you are a swindler, 
 a thief, and a vagabond ? Upon my word, as a Magis- 
 trate, I do not know that I am doing my duty by not 
 giving you in charge ? " after which Sir Robert strode 
 away in high dudgeon. 
 
 In his last years his speculations were mainly limited 
 to bets of half a crown on games of billiards, which he 
 spent a good deal of his time in watching. From the 
 keen interest he displayed it seemed likely that he got 
 just as much fun out of this modest investment as he 
 had formerly done from backing some fancied horse 
 for a thousand. 
 
 Full of interesting stories of incidents of past days 
 he could, when he chose, be the best of company. 
 He was, however, not invariably accurate as to details,
 
 CLUBLAND 91 
 
 in which he differed from a fellow-Clubman of an 
 entirely different kind Lord Clanricarde, a well- 
 known figure at the Travellers' and the St. James'. 
 
 As a young man he had been in the diplomatic 
 service, and his recollections of Italian life before the 
 unification were probably unique. His mental gifts, 
 cultivated by omnivorous reading, were of the very 
 highest order, and, had he cared to enter public life, 
 there is no question but that he would have attained the 
 highest distinction. His exceedingly original disposi- 
 tion, combined with a distaste for society, however, 
 prevented him from coming to the front. As an art 
 connoisseur he was highly esteemed. For years a 
 well-known figure at Christie's, his opinion was often 
 sought by those anxious either to buy or to sell. The 
 Marquess himself, however, never made any sensational 
 bids, contenting himself with picking up china or 
 objets d'art only when they were to be obtained at a 
 reasonable price. 
 
 Among his own art treasures was the famous jewel, 
 originally in the Mogul's treasury at Delhi, and brought 
 back by Canning from India the Hercules with the 
 diamond sword one of the three great Cinquecento 
 jewels of the world. Its late owner, on several occa- 
 sions, afforded the public an opportunity of inspecting 
 this heirloom by lending it to art exhibitions. 
 
 The jewel in question, it may be added, formed part 
 of Lord Clanricarde 's bequest to Viscount Lascelles, 
 in whose possession it now is. 
 
 It has been said that the fondness of the latter for 
 fine pictures and for objets d'art was one of the reasons 
 which caused Lord Clanricarde (who had observed his 
 great nephew at Christie's) to make the young man his 
 heir. 
 
 The Marquess, though he could scarcely have been 
 called a sociable man, spent a good deal of time in
 
 92 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Clubs where his unconventional habits sometimes 
 brought him into conflict with Committees. 
 
 Though as a younger man he had been fond of a 
 good cigar, his favourite form of tobacco in old age 
 was a pipe. 
 
 Previous to the war the latter was prohibited in any 
 but one or two Club-rooms, but his Lordship, who held 
 strong views as to personal liberty, often transgressed 
 this regulation, with the result that written remon- 
 strance would follow. Another breach of rules in 
 which he occasionally indulged was to eat a light meal 
 elsewhere than in the dining-room as, however, he was 
 an old member known to hold unconventional views 
 not much attention was paid to such lapses. 
 
 When he lunched or dined in a coffee-room, his menu 
 was usually peculiar. He liked chops done absolutely 
 to a cinder, and would often finish a meal with a banana 
 dipped into a cup of coffee. He would get all the 
 condiments and pickles in the Club put upon his table, 
 his idea no doubt being not to waste his table money. 
 " His Lordship," as a Club steward once said, " liked 
 profusion," but only when there was little to be paid 
 for it. 
 
 Though the nobleman in question was certainly 
 economical, he was far from deserving the abuse occa- 
 sionally lavished upon him as being a bad landlord. 
 His rents were not high ; in certain cases indeed, owing 
 to some cause or other, tenants lived practically rent 
 free, but whatever the amount was, unlike some 
 weaker men, he insisted upon its being paid. Neither 
 entreaties nor threats moved him attacks upon 
 agents he did not notice at all. "If," wrote he to 
 one of the latter who had been shot at, " my tenants 
 think they will intimidate me by shooting you they will 
 find themselves woefully mistaken." 
 
 Always insistent upon good fires being kept up in
 
 CLUBLAND 93 
 
 his Clubs, Lord Clanricarde never allowed his house- 
 keeper to use more than one scuttleful of coals a day 
 at home. This was in his latter years when he lived 
 in a modern flat in Hanover Square, to which he had 
 moved from the Albany. 
 
 There, owing to the cold, he had been wont to 
 experiment with various types of stove. 
 
 Henry Labouchere, who had been in the diplomatic 
 service with the Marquess, and remained on friendly 
 terms with him throughout his life, called one winter's 
 day and found the latter in high glee. 
 
 " At last," said Lord Clanricarde, " I have found a 
 first-class method of keeping this place warm ! Look 
 at this new stove, anything more perfect I have never 
 seen, and I know something about stoves as you will 
 realize if you will follow me/' 
 
 Taking his visitor into the passage he showed him 
 a number of stoves of various kinds, all of which he 
 said he had tried in turn. 
 
 " The difficulty is," added he, " to know what to do 
 with them." 
 
 " I will tell you," said Labouchere. " Have the 
 whole lot lit and then you can fancy you are in the 
 next world." 
 
 Labouchere himself, as a matter of fact, was always 
 complaining that he could not keep warm. On a 
 sweltering hot day at Pope's Villa, when every one, 
 except himself, was overcome by the heat, he expressed 
 himself as being perfectly comfortable. " To tell the 
 truth," said he, " if I had my way I should spend my 
 summers astride the Equator and my winters in 
 Hell." 
 
 Another well-known West End Clubman of the past 
 was the Honourable Kenneth Howard, who died in 
 1903. 
 
 Originally in the Foreign Office, for many years
 
 94 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 before his death he had acquired the reputation of 
 being the most inveterate Londoner in existence. 
 
 Winter or summer, nothing would induce him to 
 leave town, while, according to a legend which was 
 generally believed, he had never strayed into the 
 region which lay beyond the confines of the Marble 
 Arch. 
 
 He belonged to a great number of Clubs and passed 
 his days going from one to another, a life which he 
 apparently enjoyed, for his features always wore an 
 expression of reposeful calm. 
 
 In great request as a diner out, he was very popular 
 with hostesses, for whose benefit he kept a list of 
 eligible young men whom they eagerly welcomed to 
 
 their dances. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The centre of London Clubland may be said to be 
 St. James's Street, in which stands White's, the oldest 
 Club of all founded. 
 
 Though closely connected with the social history of 
 the eighteenth century, the Club-house has no great 
 architectural interest, the fa$ade having been re- 
 modelled by Lockyer in 1850, when an upper story 
 appears to have been sacrificed in order to heighten the 
 large room beneath. 
 
 At the same time all the old mantelpieces were 
 swept away. 
 
 The whole place indeed was remodelled with, perhaps, 
 none too satisfactory results. 
 
 It seems a pity that more attention was then not 
 paid to the plans of Robert Adam, who, in 1787, 
 had prepared a scheme for the entire rebuilding of the 
 Club. 
 
 The original drawing, which is of considerable 
 interest, may be seen in the Soane Museum in Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields.
 
 CLUBLAND 95 
 
 In 1888 White's again underwent renovation, hav- 
 ing come under the management of the Hon. Algernon 
 Bourke. The latter roofed in the courtyard to form 
 a billiard room, and made several other alterations 
 of a practical kind. 
 
 As a result of all this, the famous old pump, the 
 water of which had been held in high repute by many 
 past generations, ceased to exist. 
 
 Had Mr. Bourke not taken the Club over it would 
 probably have ceased to exist, the exclusive ideas of 
 a number of the older members having made men wary 
 of coming up for election. Previous to 1888 White's 
 was a rather formidable place for new members to 
 enter at all. 
 
 In the sacred bow-window facing St. James's Street 
 none but a certain number of privileged old members 
 ever dared to sit, a usage to which, together with 
 others now long forgotten, no one had the temerity not 
 to conform. 
 
 The interior of old White's was not very artistic 
 or impressive. No prints decorated the Club walls 
 and the general impression conveyed was rather dingy. 
 
 There was fine old silver, however, as well as some 
 good furniture, of which very little now remains. 
 
 One of the most curious pieces was a dining-table 
 in the centre of which was an open space occupied 
 by a net. At this table in the brave days of old 
 several generations of bucks and blades had caroused. 
 In order to check the number of bottles drunk, the 
 corks of the latter were thrown one by one into the 
 net, where they reposed in the middle of the jovial 
 circle till the time came for someone to count them. 
 
 It is to be regretted that this table, together with 
 other relics of the eighteenth century, has passed out 
 of the possession of the Club. 
 
 White's up to comparatively recent years had a
 
 96 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 piano in one of its rooms, formerly used as a sort of 
 drawing-room. A number of old-fashioned Clubs 
 then had music-rooms and as late as the 'seventies it 
 appears not to have been unusual for members to play 
 and sing to one another after a big dinner. It must 
 be remembered that in those days, when Club member- 
 ship was comparatively limited, house dinners at 
 which every one knew every one else were general. 
 
 A good deal of conviviality usually occurred and there 
 is no doubt this custom promoted good-fellowship 
 among Club members. 
 
 Arthur's Club, in St. James's Street, was the original 
 abode of White's, which occupied it from 1697 to 1755. 
 It has, of course, been greatly altered and enlarged 
 since then. In the eighteenth century, owing to the 
 association of a Mr. Arthur with the management of 
 White's, the latter Club was frequently spoken of as 
 Arthur's ; this naturally originated an idea that the 
 two Clubs were at one time connected. This, however, 
 was never the case, Arthur's having originated from 
 a coffee-house of that name kept by Robert Arthur, 
 from 1734 to 1756 proprietor of White's chocolate 
 Home which in 1696 occupied 69, St. James's Street. 
 Though Arthur's is said to have been founded in 1765, 
 no mention of its existence appears to have existed 
 from the time of Robert Arthur's death until the year 
 1811. 
 
 In 1781, however, Miles and Evans started a Club 
 upon the present site at 69 and 70, St. James's Street. 
 This, known as " Miles 's Club," was a fashionable 
 card-playing resort mentioned by Hoyle which flour- 
 ished till 1809 when, its popularity having waned, 
 Miles 's ceased to exist. 
 
 Two years later, in 1811, Arthur's Club acquired 
 the premises when much structural improvement oc- 
 curred, the architect having been Thomas Hopper,
 
 CLUBLAND 97 
 
 who erected the present stone front with Corinthian 
 columns. Though the main portion of the original 
 house must have then been pulled down to make 
 way for the great staircase and central hall, some few 
 remains may still exist. It is said, for instance, that 
 the moderate-sized room on the ground floor, now 
 used as a strangers' dining-room, is a relic of Francis 
 White's chocolate house and was taken by Hogarth 
 as the scene of his " Modern Midnight Conversation/' 
 It may here be added that the chocolate house in ques- 
 tion ceased to exist as a public resort in 1736, when the 
 house was turned into a Club indifferently known as 
 White's or Arthur's till 1761, when Robert Arthur 
 died. Six years before it had moved across the street 
 to the " Great House " at No. 38, where White's has 
 remained ever since. 
 
 The Club-house, looking on to St. James's Street, 
 which dates from 1811, is built in a simple but dig- 
 nified style. A great portion of the interior is sacri- 
 ficed to an elaborate staircase, which fills a hall reaching 
 right to the top of the house. 
 
 This Club is fortunate in possessing a good deal of 
 silver plate which is very attractive. 
 
 Founded as essentially a country gentleman's Club, 
 one of the unwritten rules allowed any member to 
 call for a handkerchief and a pair of slippers. This 
 no doubt was for the convenience of squires who, 
 having ridden into London, wanted to take off their 
 riding-boots and rest their feet. 
 
 Another old custom at Arthur's, as has before been 
 said, was the washing of silver, in order that members 
 might always be given clean change. 
 
 The general atmosphere of the Club-house, essen- 
 tially gentlemanlike and restful, it is to be hoped 
 may long remain unchanged. 
 
 A fine old Club-house is Boodle's, concerning which, 
 7
 
 98 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 in an admirable lecture to the Royal Institute of 
 British Architects, Mr. Stanley C. Ramsey recently said 
 " that of all the eighteenth-century Clubs which 
 remain to us this was the most complete externally 
 and internally." 
 
 The beauty and interest of the exterior of this Club- 
 house are certainly unimpaired, but the same can 
 hardly be said of the interior, where within the last 
 two years considerable alterations have taken place. 
 
 Besides some changes at the back of the large sitting- 
 room on the ground floor, the introduction of a lift, 
 and the building of a new lavatory, involving the demo- 
 lition of a part of the house, which, it is true, was not 
 of the highest interest, a new dining-room has been 
 constructed behind the great saloon, the style of which 
 is entirely out of keeping with that of the rest of the 
 building. 
 
 The construction of the room in question, which 
 takes the place of a passage, has involved the blocking 
 up of the great doors of the saloon which can now 
 not be opened. 
 
 When it is added that the design of the new metal 
 fittings for electric light and other purposes is in no 
 particular style, it may be gathered that the alterations 
 can scarcely be said to be worthy of the high standard 
 of artistic excellence which distinguishes most of the 
 original work in this fine old Club-house. 
 
 The large saloon happily, beyond having been taste- 
 fully restored, remains in its original condition, a 
 reproach to those responsible for the hideous new 
 dining-room the other side of its blocked doors. 
 
 At Boodle's some of the earlier lists of " Managers," 
 as the Committee were called, have borders which 
 are embellished with coloured illuminations. 
 
 This practice, which lasted right up to the 'eighties, 
 was, I believe, not followed at any other Club.
 
 CLUBLAND 99 
 
 The Cocoa-tree, which is located at 64, St. James's 
 Street, has a history stretching back into the eighteenth 
 century, at the end of which it flourished as a sporting 
 resort. At No. 86 is the Thatched House, a Club which, 
 as its name denotes, was started long before the days 
 of iron girders and reinforced concrete. 
 
 Brooks's Club, on the west side of St. James's 
 Street, founded in 1764, was, it is said, originally in 
 Pall Mall. 
 
 Brooks built it, where it now stands, in 1778. Henry 
 Holland, from whom the site had been acquired, is 
 sometimes said to have been the architect, but com- 
 petent critics ascribe the work to James Wyatt. 
 
 The original character of the exterior has been, in 
 some degree, impaired by modern alterations. These 
 however have but little affected the inside where the 
 " Great Subscription Room " on the first floor, where 
 Fox indulged in so much high play, remains intact. 
 
 The ceiling with its fine ornamentation is a fine 
 specimen of the decorator's art. 
 
 It was from outside Brooks's that the fourth Marquess 
 of Queensberry, a nobleman of unconventional ways, 
 started to win a wager at the end of the Victorian 
 Era. 
 
 In the course of a discussion the Marquess offered to 
 bet that he would walk naked in the middle of the day 
 from Brooks's to the Bachelors' in Hamilton Place. 
 
 The bet having been taken, Lord Queensberry got 
 hold of an old four-wheeler cab and having cut part 
 of the bottom out so arranged the sides that anything 
 underneath was more or less invisible. 
 
 This having been done he entered the " growler " 
 outside Brooks's, took off his clothes inside and the 
 driver having been instructed to drive slowly, walked 
 naked completely sheltered by the framework of the 
 cab to the appointed goal where, having put on his
 
 ioo YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 clothes again, he got out and triumphantly claimed 
 the sum he had won. 
 
 At 74, St. James's Street is the Conservative Club, 
 a typical building of the Early Victorian period, erected 
 from designs by George Basevi and Sydney Smirke. 
 Both collaborated in the exterior. Inside, however, 
 the ground floor was by Bassevi and the first floor by 
 Smirke. 
 
 The latter also built the Carlton in Pall Mall during 
 the 'fifties of the last century. Though not conspicuous 
 for any great artistic merit, this Club-house has been 
 well described as being the exposition of a very com- 
 plete and definite idea. 
 
 From an architectural point of view the most 
 important Club-house in Pall Mall is that of the 
 Athenaeum, founded in 1824 for judges, barristers, 
 physicians, authors, philosophers and artists, all of 
 whom, with politicians, still constitute the bulk of its 
 membership. 
 
 The Club-house was built by Decimus Burton in 
 1827. The frieze, however, was the work of a Scotch 
 sculptor, John Hemming, whom Croker insisted 
 should be employed. 
 
 A copy of that of the Parthenon, its effect is orna- 
 mental and distinguished, but, at the time, members 
 of the Club did not think so, especially as funds origin- 
 ally intended to build an ice-house paid for this classical 
 ornament. Hence the epigram : 
 
 I'm John Wilson Croker, 
 I do as I please, 
 They ask for an Ice-house, 
 I'll give 'em a Frieze. 
 
 The Hall of the Athenaeum is remarkable for eight 
 pale primrose pillars on broad bronzed bases, copied 
 from the Temple of the Winds of Athens, supporting 
 the panelled wagon roof, the Pompeian designs on
 
 CLUBLAND 101 
 
 which are after original designs. The two statues 
 in niches, Venus Victrix and Diana Robing, were 
 chosen by Sir Thomas Lawrence, who also designed 
 the Club seal. The Club-house, it is interesting to 
 recall, stands on the west end of the courtyard of 
 old Carlton House, the smoking-room being exactly 
 under what was the Prince Regent's dining-room. 
 
 The Athenaeum, it may be added, seems to have 
 existed in a somewhat different form before the 
 actual date given as the Club's foundation. The 
 first Secretary was the great chemist Faraday. There 
 seems always to have been some prejudice as to 
 smoking, which was first introduced by Thackeray. 
 For a number of years the facilities for indulging in 
 tobacco were limited, but within recent times more 
 ample accommodation has been provided for those 
 wishing to indulge in the fragrant weed. 
 
 At the Athenaeum, Herbert Spencer was wont to 
 play billiards and the cue which he used is still 
 preserved. 
 
 It was probably in the billiard room here that the 
 philosopher, having received a sound beating from a 
 younger player, said, " Sir, skill such as yours argues 
 a misspent youth ! " 
 
 The Athenaeum has always been a haven of repose 
 for studious men not wishing to be disturbed. Idle 
 chatter is not heard within its dignified walls, and 
 Herbert Spencer cannot have found much use for the 
 curious " ear-stoppers " by the aid of which he was 
 able to shut out the sound of conversation which 
 was not to his taste. 
 
 The Athenaeum possesses an excellent library, 
 amounting to some 80,000 volumes. This together 
 with the learning of the majority of its members is 
 quite in keeping with its badge an owl, Minerva's 
 own bird.
 
 102 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The Travellers', next door to the Athenaeum in 
 Pall Mall East, was built by Sir John Barry in 1832, 
 at a cost of 23,000. 
 
 From an architectural point of view the elevation 
 of the Club, on the Pall Mall side, has been highly 
 praised. 
 
 The interior, however, while carefully planned, 
 possesses no features of particular interest. 
 
 In its early days the Travellers' attracted a good 
 deal of attention because a candidate for admission 
 was required to have been five hundred miles distant 
 from London, a considerable sensation being caused 
 at that time by the discovery that several members, 
 who had originally entered their names, had not 
 travelled the prescribed distance. An investigation 
 was demanded, so much stir being made that the 
 newspapers of the day published lists of places, a 
 visit to which was a sufficient qualification for mem- 
 bership. 
 
 Barry also built the Reform Club in 1837. Sim- 
 plicity and repose have been called the chief features 
 of the building, which, to some degree, seems to have 
 been inspired by the Farnese Palace, which the 
 architect was accused of copying. 
 
 Nevertheless there is a certain individuality about 
 the fagade, the successful treatment of which caused 
 a number of other buildings to be erected in something 
 of the same style. 
 
 The University Club in New York is a recent example. 
 
 On the other hand, the Army and Navy Club, at 
 the corner of Pall Mall, leading into St. James's 
 Square, is almost a frank copy of the Palazzo Rezzonico 
 at Venice. 
 
 Externally one of the finest Club-houses in London, 
 Messrs. Parnell and Smith built it in 1848. 
 
 All traces of Carlton House and its gardens have now
 
 CLUBLAND 103 
 
 long disappeared from this neighbourhood, but the 
 columns of its portico are at the National Gallery. 
 
 Carlton House itself narrowly escaped destruction 
 in 1824, for on the 8th of June a fire broke out in 
 one of the sitting-rooms, which was entirely destroyed, 
 and with it some of the valuable pictures. Three 
 years after this the whole place was pulled down. 
 
 In place of the beautiful gardens and noble trees 
 have arisen Carlton House terrace, and the Athen- 
 aeum and United Service Clubs. The opening of the 
 south portion of Waterloo Place occupies the exact 
 position of the front of Carlton House. 
 
 The United Service Club is said to have had a more 
 restrained and artistic exterior when it was built by 
 Nash in 1828. 
 
 Thirty years later the members called in Decimus 
 Burton " to ornament and improve it " ; the result 
 may still be seen. 
 
 The spirit of the original designer, however, is still, 
 more or less, retained in the interior, where the grand 
 staircase remains one of the finest examples of its 
 kind in London. 
 
 The Union Club, which has been called a link 
 between the Clubs of Pah 1 Mall and St. James's Street, 
 was erected from designs by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., 
 in 1822. 
 
 While not entirely unsuccessful from an architectural 
 point of view, Sir Robert does not seem to have been 
 able to make full use of his opportunities. 
 
 With the College of Physicians this Club-house 
 forms a complete block, on which a noble building 
 might have been erected. 
 
 The Guards' Club, which up to recent years was located 
 in Pall Mall in a house, was built in 1850. Its original 
 premises had been in St. James's Street. Like many 
 other West End Clubs, its early beginnings arose at a
 
 104 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 coffee-house, which formed a convenient meeting-place 
 for officers. 
 
 In 1832 was instituted the University in Suffolk 
 Street. The original idea, which was to provide a 
 social centre for dignitaries of the Church and Uni- 
 versity professors, has since been considerably widened ; 
 however, all members must have been either at Oxford 
 or Cambridge. 
 
 The original house was pulled down some years ago, 
 when a new building, not very severe in style, was 
 erected in its stead. 
 
 Eleven years later was established the Oxford and 
 Cambridge at No. 7, Pall Mall, which, besides being a 
 very good Club of the old-fashioned type, was some 
 years ago noted for its excellent claret. 
 
 The Garrick, founded in 1831 at 35, King Street, 
 was designed " to bring together patrons of the drama 
 and its professors ; and also for offering literary men 
 a rendezvous." 
 
 The scope of the membership has since been some- 
 what extended, a considerable number of lawyers 
 being on the list to-day. 
 
 The Garrick was originally started as a Bohemian 
 Club, but from the very first a considerable number of 
 men-about-town well known in Society seem to have 
 been members. Though the original purpose of the 
 Club, which was to afford a meeting-place for literary 
 men, actors and artists, has happily not been lost 
 sight of, the Garrick has always occupied the position 
 of a first-rate social Club. The late King Edward 
 when Prince of Wales became a member, and the 
 number of distinguished men who have at one time or 
 other had their names in the Club list is a very long 
 one. 
 
 Edward VII, as is well known, lost no opportunity 
 of showing himself sympathetic towards the dramatic
 
 CLUBLAND 105 
 
 profession as a young man at Cambridge he was 
 pleased to accord his patronage to the A.D.C. 
 
 A pleasant sociable Club, the Garrick continues to 
 enjoy great and deserved prosperity. Within recent 
 years considerable additions have been made to the 
 unique and valuable collection of theatrical portraits 
 on its walls, in addition to which the arrangement of 
 the rooms and scheme of decoration have been con- 
 siderably improved. 
 
 The Raleigh, in its day a well-known Club, as a 
 popular resort of sporting men-about-town disappeared 
 when the building which housed it was pulled down, 
 and though for a time there was a talk of its rising 
 Phoenix-like to enjoy a new spell of prosperity, the 
 increased cost of construction and other causes, pro- 
 duced by the war, seem to have killed it altogether. 
 
 During the middle of the last century there were 
 quite a number of high-class Bohemian Clubs in 
 London where actors, authors and artists met. 
 
 Such a one was the Athenian, the dinners of which 
 took place on Saturdays in a private hotel at the 
 bottom of Norfolk Street, Strand, with a view over 
 the Thames. A number of notable men, including 
 Harrison Weir and John Ryder, were members of 
 this coterie which eventually became merged in the 
 Arundel Club, which was lodged in a fine house at the 
 end of Salisbury Street. 
 
 Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of 
 England, Sir Frank Lockwood, Mr. H. Wills, the 
 dramatist George Rose, W. S. Gilbert and Joseph 
 Knight, were at some time all members here and for 
 years this Club was noted for the brilliant talk and 
 social amenities which were to be found within its 
 walls. 
 
 For various reasons, the chief of which .probably 
 was the necessity for a change of premises, the Arundel
 
 io6 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 eventually languished and has now long ceased to exist. 
 
 Other literary and artistic resorts were the Reunion 
 Club in Maiden Lane, Strand, and the Urban Club 
 at St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, while a number of 
 inns and hostelries were well-known meeting-places 
 for younger men of slender means who had not yet 
 made their mark. 
 
 Stone's coffee-house in Panton Street was at one 
 time noted for its good company, while a cheery 
 supper could be eaten at the Coach and Horses oppo- 
 site Somerset House. 
 
 An amusingly named Club came into being in the 
 'sixties shortly after the Anthropological Society was 
 founded, when a number of members, including 
 Swinburne, having agreed to meet and fill up the 
 interval between Council meetings at four in the 
 afternoon and eight in the evening, called themselves 
 the " Cannibal Club " out of respect for those savage 
 races which it would be the main business of the 
 Society to study. 
 
 Among Clubs of a special kind must be classed 
 the little-known " Goat," a Club of recent origin, 
 the premises of which are in Regent Street. 
 
 The membership here is strictly limited to officers 
 of the Royal Navy, with the younger of whom the 
 " Goat " is a favourite meeting-place, for nowhere 
 else in London can accurate Naval news be so easily 
 obtained. 
 
 Like certain of the old St. James's Street Clubs, 
 which originated from inns, the name of the " Goat " 
 was taken from an inn in Clifford Street, Bond Street, 
 where naval officers were wont to meet. 
 
 The old Beefsteak Society dined in a room at the 
 Lyceum Theatre, but the Beefsteak Club, which may 
 be considered its successor, has its own Club premises 
 in Green Street, Leicester Square, including a dining-
 
 CLUBLAND 107 
 
 room with a well-designed high-pitched roof in which 
 the Club device of a gridiron has been appropriately 
 introduced. 
 
 The flourishing condition of this Club, the sole 
 attraction of which is pleasant social intercourse, 
 clearly shows that the spirit which animated so many 
 Clubs of past days is not extinct. 
 
 The Beefsteak has neither billiard nor card rooms, 
 does not admit strangers, and makes no pretence of 
 providing anything beyond well-cooked English food ; 
 nevertheless it is one of the most agreeable resorts 
 in London and, unlike many elaborately appointed 
 Clubs, seems never to be in want of candidates. 
 
 Within the last fifty or sixty years several Clubs 
 have taken up their abode in Piccadilly, notably the 
 Turf, one of the few which even in these days still 
 retains a certain amount of social prestige. 
 
 The finest Club-house, however, from an architectural 
 point of view is the St. James' (which on the Club 
 note-paper has always been spelt with but one s). 
 The mansion which it occupies (No. 106, Piccadilly) 
 was originally Coventry House, purchased in 1764 for 
 ten thousand guineas by the sixth Earl of Coventry 
 from Sir Hugh Hunlock, who could not afford to 
 put the roof on. 
 
 A cistern, bearing the initials H. H., may still be 
 seen in the area. 
 
 Certain rooms here were decorated by Robert Adam, 
 while the facade in the late Palladian style, is one of 
 the most artistic and noteworthy in Piccadilly. 
 
 The ceiling of what is now the dining-room on the 
 first floor, it may be added, is a brilliant example of 
 Robert Adam's decorative work. 
 
 As an example of an eighteenth-century English 
 nobleman's town mansion, this house, which remains 
 almost in its original state, is highly important.
 
 108 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Some time after No. 106 had been left by the 
 Coventry family, who appear to have removed some 
 of the mantelpieces to Croome, it became, for a time, 
 the private residence of the French Ambassador, 
 Count Flahaut, the son of Talleyrand and the grand- 
 father of Lord Lansdowne. 
 
 It was afterwards the abode of the Coventry House 
 Club, which seems to have existed mainly for purposes 
 of High Play. 
 
 In any case it was popular with the men-about- 
 town of mid- Victorian days, for Surtees, in one of 
 his books, speaks of the former as leaning over the 
 balcony, which still exists to-day. 
 
 The original founders of the St. James' Club were 
 Lord Granville and the Marquess d'Azeglio, who at 
 one time shared rooms with the former nobleman in 
 Bruton Street, Berkeley Square, and in all probability 
 then exercised a good deal of influence over that 
 statesman. The Marquess d'Azeglio died in 1890. In 
 his day he had been a handsome man and genial 
 companion. 
 
 The Savile, which is located at No. 107, Piccadilly, 
 is a very pleasant little Club with a membership 
 largely composed of men with literary and artistic 
 interests. 
 
 In 1914 several unobtrusive private houses next 
 the Savile Club were demolished to make way for a 
 gigantic hotel. The war, however, prevented the new 
 structure from getting any farther than a mass of 
 girders which, up to the present year (1922), has 
 imparted a rather skeleton-like air to this part of 
 Piccadilly. 
 
 The Isthmian, on the other side of the St. James' 
 Club, has since the Armistice unfortunately closed 
 its doors. 
 
 This Club, which filled an obvious want as a social
 
 CLUBLAND 109 
 
 centre for young men who had just left the University, 
 was founded in 1882, being then domiciled in Lord 
 Brougham's fine old mansion in Graf ton Street. In 
 a few years it had migrated to Walsingham House. 
 When that building, which had not been erected for 
 very many years, was pulled down to make way for 
 the Ritz Hotel, the Isthmian once more moved to 
 105, Piccadilly, which in its day had been the Pul- 
 teney Hotel and the residence of Lord Hertford and 
 of Sir Julian Goldsmid. 
 
 Up to the outbreak of the Great War, the Isthmian, 
 which in a portion of its new premises was able to 
 entertain ladies, seemed to have embarked upon a 
 career of uninterrupted prosperity, there having been 
 as many as 1,500 members upon the Club list. 
 
 Its disappearance was a real loss to the younger 
 generation of Clubmen, and it is to be hoped that 
 with the advent of better times a Club of a similar 
 kind may once more come into being. 
 
 In Piccadilly are a number of Clubs of comparatively 
 recent origin. The largest of these is the Junior 
 Constitutional, now numbered 101, Piccadilly. The 
 Club-house built not so very many years ago, while not 
 entirely above criticism from an architectural point 
 of view, seems to fulfil the requirements of a large 
 membership. 
 
 The Badminton is at No. 98. At No. 95 is the 
 American Club, located in a comparatively new man- 
 sion. The house which the latter replaced was once 
 the abode of Mr. Jones, the retired tailor who formed 
 the splendid collection now at the Victoria and Albert 
 Museum. 
 
 After Lord Palmerston's death, No. 94 (Cambridge 
 House) was reported to be about to be pulled down in 
 order to make way for a Roman Catholic chapel. 
 Happily this fine mansion, now occupied by the Naval
 
 no YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 and Military Club, was spared. Had a chapel been 
 erected it would have added another chapter to the 
 curious history of this site, which originally was 
 occupied by an inn. 
 
 The Junior Naval and Military at No. 96 has not 
 yet attained its majority. 
 
 The Cavalry Club is of no great age. The Cavendish 
 close by, which is a good deal younger, occupies 
 premises for a brief period known as the Junior 
 Travellers'. 
 
 The Royal Thames Yacht Club at 80 and 81 only 
 moved into its present premises a few years ago. 
 
 Opposite the Bachelors' in its day considered quite 
 a startling innovation, but now one of the well-known 
 Clubs of London has arisen the Argentine Club. 
 The mansion which it has acquired was built by the 
 late Mr. George Herring, a financial magnate whose 
 early days were connected with the Turf, of which 
 he had many stories to tell. 
 
 Going farther afield the new Guards' Club, a portion 
 of which is allotted to ladies, is at 41 and 43, Brook 
 Street. 
 
 Wells' Club, a pleasant meeting-place for men-about- 
 town interested in sport of every kind, is in Old Bond 
 Street, while not far away in Clifford Street is Buck's 
 Club founded since the Great War. This, though not 
 entirely a military Club, has a membership largely 
 composed of young officers, the staff being mainly 
 Guardsmen who served in France. 
 
 Admirably managed, Buck's has broken new ground 
 in starting a much-appreciated oyster bar. 
 
 One of the amenities of this Club is the charming 
 old panelled house in which it is located. While in 
 every respect up to date, care has been taken not 
 to impair the charm of the fine old woodwork, with 
 which it abounds.
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 
 
 MACAULAY was reputed to have walked 
 through every street in London, but the 
 great city of his day was of course almost 
 insignificant as compared with the vast agglomeration 
 of houses which now constitute the ever-increasing 
 capital. 
 
 Mother Shipton is said to have prophesied that in 
 course of time Highgate Hill should be the middle of 
 the town and possibly she was not so far out in her 
 forecast after all. 
 
 Whether an enormous city is a good thing is an 
 open question ? Queen Elizabeth thought not, for she 
 and her immediate successors did all they could to 
 limit its confines. In July, 1580, the building of 
 houses within three miles of any of the City gates 
 was prohibited, and in 1602 a proclamation dealt 
 with the " restraining of the increase of buildings," 
 and the " voyding of inmates " in the cities of London 
 and Westminster and for three miles round. 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of regulations, the Plague 
 and the Great Fire, which destroyed 13,200 houses, 
 London continued to grow. 
 
 All great cities seem to follow a law which causes 
 them to spread in a particular direction, the tendency 
 being towards the west. In this they seem to be 
 but following the dictates of some mysterious natural 
 
 111
 
 H2 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 law, for all the great migrations of the white race 
 have been in a direction contrary to the rotation 
 of the globe. The Egyptians, Semites, Greeks, Romans, 
 Normans, Arabs, Turks and Barbarians, as well as 
 Christopher Columbus and the ancient navigators, 
 all journeyed towards the west, and it is a remarkable 
 fact that all movements in the opposite direction, 
 even when led by an Alexander or a Napoleon, have 
 signally failed. 
 
 Belgravia, which is a southern wing of the West 
 End, was mainly built between 1826 and 1852 ; since the 
 latter date, however, it has greatly extended, houses and 
 streets having now long obliterated what not such a 
 very long time ago was the rural village of Chelsea. 
 
 South Kensington, of course, is of quite modern 
 growth. As has aptly been said, " The West End, 
 indeed, is always moving into the country and never 
 getting there." 
 
 Paris, though it has spread up the Champs Elysees, 
 finds its further progress impeded by the Bois de 
 Boulogne. 
 
 London, however, has no checks of this kind, and 
 goodness knows where it will eventually end. Ever 
 since the days of the Plantagenets it has been travelling 
 westwards. From the City it spread to the Strand, 
 Canonbury and Clerkenwell. In the time of the 
 Stuarts it embraced St. Clement Danes and Whitehall. 
 
 Bloomsbury and Soho arose under William III 
 and Queen Anne, while in the reigns of the Georges 
 the Portland, Portman and Grosvenor estates became 
 covered with houses. 
 
 Owing to the haphazard manner in which the suburbs 
 of London were developed, much natural beauty 
 was needlessly destroyed. Little account was then 
 taken of anything beyond the erection of rows of 
 hideous houses.
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 113 
 
 In the early part of the nineteenth century a 
 superb view was to be obtained from the heights of 
 Islington. To-day this seems impossible, yet people 
 used to make a point of arriving at Sadlers Wells 
 Theatre an hour before the time of commencement, 
 for the express purpose of sitting in one of the arbours 
 of the adjoining tea-gardens, in which in the spring- 
 time grew lilacs and honeysuckles, and afterwards 
 fine hops and scarlet-runners. Watching the boys 
 fishing in the new river under the shade of the fine 
 trees, and drinking a pint of wine sent over from 
 the theatre passed the time away. 
 
 In those days an hour's walk took you from Blooms- 
 bury to fields, hedgerows and green lanes, all now 
 long covered with bricks and mortar. 
 
 It is strange to reflect that not very much longer 
 than a century ago the Bayswater Road originally 
 Bayswater Lane was purely rural in its surroundings. 
 
 Though a very old London thoroughfare, Oxford 
 Street is a comparatively new name ; in the earlier 
 part of the last century it was called Oxford Road. 
 At the end, in the old days, was Tyburn Turnpike, 
 a veritable barrier, closing not only this road but the 
 Edgware Road too. Here stood a single turnpike 
 man who took toll and gave tickets in exchange. 
 
 It is a matter of congratulation that when the 
 houses east and west of Stratford Place, Oxford Street, 
 were recently rebuilt the square Adam posts with 
 their lions were preserved. 
 
 Just inside at No. I lived for a time Richard Cos- 
 way. Later on, however, he moved to No. 20, on the 
 opposite side of Stratford Place. 
 
 Oxford Street, of course, was so called from being 
 
 the highway from London to Oxford. In 1708 it 
 
 was known as Tyburn Road, and the exact year 
 
 in which it first received its present name is uncertain. 
 
 8
 
 H4 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 New Oxford Street, opened for carriage traffic in 
 March, 1847, occupies the site of the rookery of St. 
 Giles, through which the new thoroughfare was driven 
 at considerable cost. 
 
 All that remained of this infamous Rookery, long 
 notorious as being the resort of thieves, sharpers 
 and other disreputable people, was in the autumn 
 of 1849 condensed in ninety-five wretched houses in 
 Church Lane and Carrier Street, wherein nearly 
 three thousand people were crammed into a space of 
 ground little over an acre in extent. 
 
 At the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign many 
 interesting relics of old London still stood, as well as 
 curious bits of the ancient villages at Hampstead, 
 Hackney, Bromley and elsewhere. Fairfax House 
 at Putney and the so-called Cromwell's House at 
 Shepherd's Bush were still in existence, as was Earl's 
 Court House, which had been the residence of Dr. 
 John Hunter from 1764 to 1795. In addition to this, 
 the ancient inns of Southwark and of Holborn were 
 still in their picturesque, if somewhat battered con- 
 dition. To-day little remains of all these interesting 
 relics of the past. 
 
 Here and there linger strange vestiges of the 
 London of long-past days. 
 
 Such are the little red plates of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster which mark the boundaries of the Savoy owned 
 by the Duchy since the thirteenth century. 
 
 In May of the present year, 1922, thirteen jurymen, 
 selected at the Easter Court leet of the Manor, per- 
 ambulated its boundaries and the Liberty of the Savoy 
 to see that the little red plates were in their proper 
 places. 
 
 A picturesque touch was given to the procession 
 by a couple of beadles bearing staves tipped with 
 silver emblems in one case the silver anchor of the
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 115 
 
 parish of St. Clement Danes, in the other the figure 
 of St. John the Baptist. 
 
 The limits of the points visited may roughly be 
 said to have lain between No. I, Fleet Street and 
 the Lyceum Theatre. 
 
 While archaeologists deplore the destruction of old 
 buildings and the lack of interest taken in their fate, 
 it is but fair to the present age to remember that 
 only within comparatively recent times has any 
 solicitude whatever been shown towards the work 
 of generations which have passed away. 
 
 The men of the Renaissance were quite ruthless 
 as regards the finest specimens of Gothic architecture 
 and scarcely anyone in the eighteenth century hesi- 
 tated to destroy where their comfort was concerned. 
 
 The Victorian age was destructive in a different 
 way, much vandalism being perpetrated under the 
 cloak of " Restoration/' Some of the fine old City 
 churches which were in good repair have suffered 
 with the rest. They could not even let alone the pew 
 in St. Olave's, Hart Street, where garrulous old 
 Samuel Pepys used to sit, but must pull down the 
 gallery in which it stood and affix an elaborate modern 
 tablet to the wall close by; such a memorial is no 
 compensation for the interesting associations which 
 have been destroyed. 
 
 Reverence for the work of past ages is purely 
 modern, and it must be admitted that the demolition 
 of any building of historical interest arouses real 
 opposition to-day. 
 
 Great regret was expressed, for instance, at the 
 disappearance of Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street, 
 which began to be taken down in 1901, the painted 
 windows having been removed for transportation to 
 Horsham early in that year. As a matter of fact, 
 though the building occupied the site of the Monastery
 
 n6 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 of Grey Friars, only a row of arches, once a cloister, 
 had survived the various changes made in a long 
 course of years. 
 
 The Great Hall, though not a bad imitation of 
 Gothic work, was built between 1825 an d 1829, the 
 designer being John Shaw, while the pseudo-Eliza- 
 bethan Grammar School was an even more recent 
 addition. 
 
 The old houses, which, up to comparatively recent 
 years, abounded in Fleet Street and the Strand, 
 besides being often quaint or picturesque, served a 
 good purpose in preserving " the atmosphere " of 
 London. 
 
 In 1893, Hare Court, Temple, a curious relic of 
 old London, was removed. At No. 4, in 1787, Wolfe 
 Tone had chambers. The buildings indeed had many 
 interesting associations. 
 
 At No. 122, Great Portland Street, demolished in 
 1898, Boswell is said to have spent the last years of 
 his life, and here he appears to have died on 19 May, 
 
 1795- 
 Boswell is usually said to have died at No. 47, but 
 
 this is owing to Great Portland Street having been 
 renumbered and in part renamed. Kossuth, the 
 Hungarian patriot, during his residence in England, 
 in 1850, lived in this house. 
 
 In 1901 was demolished No. 22, Catherine Street, 
 Strand, once the office of the "Echo." 
 
 Notwithstanding its modern cement front the house 
 was an old one. Here during the reign of Queen 
 Anne was carried on the business of John Walsh, a 
 famous musical-instrument maker, and music pub- 
 lisher, who published Handel's principal works. 
 Walsh's picturesque sign was " The Golden Harp 
 and Hautboy." 
 
 In the middle of the nineteenth century the premises
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 117 
 
 were turned into a theatre, at which period the front 
 appears to have received its coat of cement and some 
 decorations emblematic of the drama which still 
 remained at the time of the demolition. 
 
 One of the very few surviving old houses is a shop 
 close to the Temple Bar memorial. 
 
 Bloom's, as it was called, was up to 1921 tenanted 
 by an optician. Now he has gone, the old house 
 will probably soon be demolished. 
 
 Two interesting old houses at the Charing Cross 
 end of the Strand disappeared during the Great 
 War. 
 
 An appeal for their preservation was made to the 
 London Society, but owing to the state of affairs no 
 action could be taken, so these relics of another age 
 shared the fate of so many interesting buildings 
 which once abounded in Wych Street, Booksellers 
 Row, and other old-world thoroughfares. 
 
 A striking sign of the times has been the disappearance 
 of almost all the great mansions which once housed 
 the British aristocracy. 
 
 In Piccadilly, though Coventry House and Cam- 
 bridge House remain, having been turned into clubs, 
 Devonshire House is doomed, with the result, it is to be 
 feared, that Lansdowne House close by will eventually 
 share its fate. 
 
 Harcourt House was demolished some years ago, 
 and the remains of Bolingbroke House, an old building 
 at Battersea, with historical associations, are, it is 
 said, shortly to be cleared away. 
 
 The one remaining wing of the old mansion in 
 question retained a Jacobean staircase and Cedar 
 Room, as well as several elaborate ceilings, which 
 together with some Queen Anne panelling have been 
 sold to a dealer in antiques. 
 
 Pope, it is said, wrote his " Essay on Man," in
 
 n8 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 the Cedar Room, from which a secret passage led to 
 St. John's Hill, Clapham Junction. 
 
 The house was last used as offices for clerks and 
 typists of a big flour mill. 
 
 This is far from being the only abode of the old 
 English nobility which has been made to serve purely 
 utilitarian purposes. 
 
 St. George's] Hospital, it is curious to remember, 
 occupies the site of Lanesborough House. The Hos- 
 pital in question takes its origin from the Westminster 
 Infirmary, which was originally founded in Petty 
 France in the year 1719, and was the first hospital 
 for the sick supported by voluntary contributions. 
 In 1724 the Infirmary was removed to Chappell 
 Street, but more room being required, two places 
 were proposed : the one being some houses belonging 
 to a Mr. Green, and the other Lanesborough House. 
 This was the country residence of the first Lord 
 Lanesborough, a nobleman extremely fond of dancing, 
 who was satirized by Pope in the fines : 
 
 " Sober Lanesborough dancing with the gout." 
 
 Lord Lanesborough, living as he then did on the 
 outskirts of London, put on the front of his mansion : 
 
 "It is my delight to be, 
 Both in town and country," 
 
 The majority of the Governors were in favour of Mr. 
 Green, but the minority and the medical] officers 
 seceded in 1733, and took Lanesborough House, which 
 was open for the reception of patients on i January, 
 1733-34. It was soon found to be too small, and wings 
 were added to the old house. In 1825 it was decided 
 that an entirely new house should be erected, and the 
 rebuilding was forthwith commenced by William 
 Wilkins, R.A., in the rear of the old hospital, and 
 was finished in 1834. In 1851 the south wing was
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 119 
 
 extended at its western end, and in 1859 the north and 
 south wings were raised a story. 
 
 Burlington House, though it has not actually 
 ceased to exist, has been divided up between the 
 Royal Academy and the London University. North- 
 umberland House, with its beautiful gardens, has 
 long been destroyed, the ground having been built 
 over in the 'seventies. 
 
 The mansion, though not very ornate in detail, 
 had an interesting fa$ade with huge double doors 
 always kept closed. The lion which crowned the 
 old mansion (with its tail pointing in contempt towards 
 the City), which is now at Sion House, was a never- 
 failing object of interest to country-people visiting 
 London ; and it was a favourite joke of mischievous 
 boys to tell any rustic of more than common credulity 
 that if this lion were watched long enough it would 
 certainly be observed to wag its tail. Not a few 
 returned to their homes firmly convinced that they 
 had actually seen this happen. 
 
 Northumberland House was an historical edifice 
 which the craze for " modern improvement " should 
 have spared. 
 
 Half a million was the price paid for the house and 
 grounds about three acres of land and the descen- 
 dant of the builder was able to lay the " flattering 
 unction to his soul " that he had not disposed of his 
 inheritance at a sacrifice. In 1873, however, when the 
 purchase was concluded, there was considerable 
 opposition to the demolition of the old mansion 
 which had for so long been a London landmark. 
 
 " If there were no other way of getting from Charing 
 Cross to the Embankment than by the destruction 
 of Northumberland House, with its associations, 
 its art collections, and most interesting Jacobean 
 faade," said a critic, " we should feel that resistance
 
 120 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 would be useless, although we will not admit that 
 even then it should not be attempted. We believe 
 that an association, a touch of sentiment, a reminder 
 of the past may, under circumstances, be of more 
 value in the education of a nation than a short cut. 
 But we are strongly of opinion, with all respect for 
 the professional advisers of the Board, that an equally 
 good approach might be obtained without this very 
 costly sacrifice." 
 
 One reason why no great fight was made against 
 the demolition of Northumberland House was that 
 its gardens had never been accessible to the public. 
 
 The locality, it would seem, cannot have been a very 
 agreeable one for private residents. 
 
 North of Charing Cross was a labyrinth of narrow 
 streets and courts reaching to the Seven Dials which 
 had real terrors for parents who feared lest children 
 straying into it should be kidnapped by some of the 
 disreputable characters with which the district was 
 supposed to abound. 
 
 Seven Dials and the slums surrounding it have 
 now long disappeared, swept away by the opening 
 out of Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. 
 
 Buckingham Palace stands on the site of two older 
 mansions. 
 
 In 1666 the Lord Arlington, who was a member of 
 the Cabal Administration, hired Goring House and 
 renamed it Arlington House. He it was who, in that 
 year, first brought tea to England, and it is probable, 
 therefore, that the first cup of tea drunk in this country 
 was brewed where Buckingham Palace now stands. 
 
 Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, purchased the pro- 
 perty in 1698, and built a new house in the place of 
 the old in 1703, which he named Buckingham House. 
 The situation was exceptional. From the gates spread 
 the Mall, where the world of London lived the greater
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 121 
 
 part of the day and much of the night ; and at the 
 back there was country as far as the eye could reach. 
 
 George III bought for 21,000 Buckingham House 
 from John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1761 
 that is, a little over fifty years after it was built, the 
 date of the latter event being 1703. Buckingham 
 House was pulled down in 1825, and the present palace, 
 which cost about a million of money to erect, was 
 completed in 1837, having taken twelve years to build. 
 Queen Victoria, who succeeded to the throne on 20 June, 
 1837, was the first sovereign to occupy it. This 
 was on 13 July, 1837, less than a month after her 
 accession. It was the joke of the day that Bucking- 
 ham Palace was the cheapest Royal residence in the 
 world, for " it was built for one sovereign and furnished 
 for another." 
 
 The building itself, which is of a somewhat barrack- 
 like style, was built by Nash and Blore. The remodel- 
 ling which the exterior has undergone in recent years 
 has greatly improved it. 
 
 The design for Spencer House, which looks into the 
 Green Park, though known as having been the work 
 of Vardy, is said to have in reality been taken from a 
 drawing by Inigo Jones, the pediment alone being 
 purely original. 
 
 Wimborne House in Arlington Street, before receiv- 
 ing its present name, was successively known as Beau- 
 fort House, Hamilton House and Walsingham House. 
 It was the interior of this house, it is said, that Hogarth 
 utilized as the scene of the wonderful series illustrating 
 the marriage d la mode. Lord Houghton was one of 
 its first occupants and in 1870 a great party was given 
 there to inaugurate the opening of a telegraph cable to 
 India, in those days considered a great feat. Messages 
 were sent to the Viceroy during the evening and con- 
 gratulatory replies duly received, whilst most of the
 
 122 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 intellect and rank of London were amongst the guests. 
 Mr., afterwards Sir John, Fender was the host. 
 
 No. 5, Arlington Street, up to a few years ago pre- 
 sented much the same appearance outside as it did 
 when it was the residence of Sir Robert Walpole in 
 the eighteenth century. 
 
 His son Horace, the author of the famous letters, 
 also lived in this house from 1742 to 1779. 
 
 Within recent years the old brick front, or at least 
 the lower part of it, has been covered with stucco, 
 while the ground-floor windows have been altered 
 and cut down. A not uninteresting survival of old 
 London Street architecture, this unobtrusive little 
 house might well have been left in its original con- 
 dition. 
 
 Lower down the street on the other side was the 
 residence of another Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. 
 
 This house, with a huge nondescript addition pro- 
 jecting over what must once have been a courtyard or 
 garden, is chiefly remarkable for being one of the 
 ugliest buildings in the West End of London. 
 
 This probably disturbed Lord Salisbury not at all. 
 As is notorious, he rather gloried in being called a 
 Philistine, a term which he wittily defined as " being 
 assailed by the jawbone of an ass ! " 
 
 No. 19, Curzon Street, once the residence of his 
 illustrious predecessor, Lord Beaconsfield, though not 
 remarkable from an artistic point of view, is a more 
 pleasing structure. 
 
 In the same street " Wharncliffe House," a pleasant- 
 looking old mansion with a grass plot and trees in 
 front, has been rechristened " Crewe House." 
 
 Londonderry House has also had another name, 
 having formerly been Holdernesse House. Here, on 
 occasions of great state, Frances Anne, Lady London- 
 derry, was wont to sit enthroned and be so haughty
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 123 
 
 in her manner that people would jokingly ask one 
 another, " Are you going to see Lady Londonderry 
 insult her guests to-night ? ' The ways of this lady 
 indeed seem to have resembled those of a female 
 potentate of an Oriental court. Old Dr. Fuller (the 
 last known of the apothecaries) was once summoned 
 to dislodge a fish bone from her throat, and when 
 imperiously told to begin, was obliged to say that he 
 was quite unable to get within many yards of her 
 ladyship's throat in consequence of her crinoline form- 
 ing an insurmountable barrier. 
 
 Gloucester House, as was inevitable, did not long 
 survive its last occupant, the old Duke of Cambridge. 
 Soon after his death it was demolished, a new building 
 containing highly luxurious flats being built on its 
 site. The ground floor is now used as a motor show- 
 room of an elaborate description. 
 
 Apsley House, which was built by Henry Bathurst, 
 Baron Apsley, and Lord High Chancellor in the 
 eighteenth century, was originally red brick. 
 
 In 1828, however, it was faced with Bath stone, while 
 the front portico and western wing with a gallery 90 
 feet long were added by Messrs. Wyatt. In other 
 respects the old house seems to have remained intact. 
 During the ferment consequent upon the introduction 
 of the Reform Bill the Great Duke of Wellington put 
 up bullet-proof iron shutters these, however, were 
 taken down by his successor in 1855. 
 
 There have been two Melbourne Houses one Mel- 
 bourne House, Whitehall, and the other Melbourne 
 House, where the Albany is now. 
 
 The courtyard of this mansion was originally enclosed 
 by gates, while behind was an entrance on to Savile 
 Row, from a garden on ground now covered by the 
 Chambers of the Albany. 
 
 At the end of the eighteenth century, Lady Mel-
 
 124 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 bourne lavished large sums on the adornment of the 
 house, to decorate which various artists were em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Cipriani painted the ceiling of the ball-room, while 
 Wheatley embellished several other apartments. 
 Biagio Rebecca, a well-known painter and associate 
 of the Royal Academy, was also employed. 
 
 About 1790 the Duke of York, struck with the 
 beauties of the mansion, and complaining that he was 
 tired of Whitehall, Lady Melbourne, after obtaining 
 her husband's consent, agreed to an exchange of resi- 
 dences, which much pleased her admirer. 
 
 Mexborough House in Grafton Street was demolished 
 at the end of last century. Besides offices which 
 extended down the hill to Berkeley Street there existed 
 a cowhouse which was the last of its kind in the West 
 End. 
 
 Ashburnham House, 30, Dover Street, which had 
 been erected by James Brudenell in 1729, was purchased 
 by the second Lord Ashburnham about 1759. A gate- 
 way and lodge entrance appear to have been pro- 
 vided in 1773, when Robert Adam was called in to 
 make alterations. 
 
 Till its demolition in 1897 this mansion remained 
 the town house of the Earls of Ashburnham. 
 
 Carrington House in Mayfair is a moderate-sized 
 building with a somewhat curious front. One or two 
 good ceilings are within, but no particular history 
 appears to be attached to the building. 
 
 Round the corner in Carrington Street lived the 
 celebrated Kitty Fisher, but the exact house in which 
 this beauty lived has not been identified. 
 
 Her extravagance, according to contemporary chroni- 
 clers, appears to have been great. On one occasion 
 she is said to have eaten a bank-note for a large sum 
 placed between two pieces of bread and butter.
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 125 
 
 She is also said to have been rapacious, all of her 
 noble friends being expected to leave a hundred guineas 
 every time they visited her house. 
 
 On one occasion the Duke of York, brother to 
 George III, left only fifty, upon which Miss Fisher gave 
 orders that he was not to be allowed within her doors 
 again. 
 
 In 1849, Chesterfield House was let by the sixth 
 Earl of Chesterfield to the first Duke then Marquess 
 of Abercorn. The sixth Earl of Chesterfield sold the 
 house in 1869 for 170,000 to Mr. Charles Magniac, 
 who by selling most of the garden, stables and out- 
 buildings recovered practically the whole sum he had 
 paid and had the house for nothing. 
 
 In the 'eighties it was acquired by the late Lord 
 Burton from whose widow Lord Lascelles purchased 
 it in 1920. 
 
 In the 'nineties the father of the latter, Lord Hare- 
 wood, sold Harewood House, Hanover Square, to the 
 Royal Agricultural Society, who used it and occupied 
 it for some years till it was demolished, when a block 
 of residential flats was erected on the site. At the 
 time of the sale there was a great craze for doing away 
 with barriers, and the one in Harewood Place, through 
 which people without a key had only been able to 
 walk, not drive, was removed. 
 
 The incursion of wheeled traffic which resulted from 
 this change, in a great measure destroyed the amenities 
 of living in the house, and no doubt contributed towards 
 its ceasing to be a private residence. 
 
 The mantelpieces, together with a number of plaques 
 painted by Angelica Kaufmann, were removed to Lord 
 Harewood's new residence in Upper Belgrave Street, 
 where the beautiful Adam dining-room was reproduced. 
 The fanlight over the front door may be seen in the 
 Victoria and Albert Museum, while portions of the
 
 126 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 highly ornamental stair-rail found their way into 
 various private houses. The mansion, it may be added, 
 was originally built for the Duke of Roxburgh, from 
 whom it was acquired in a somewhat incomplete state 
 by an ancestor of the last owner. 
 
 As was not unusual in great mansions, the stables 
 and laundry occupied a good deal of space, stretching 
 back as far as Oxford Street. 
 
 For some time the house with its splendid rooms was 
 occupied as offices. Eventually, however, it was 
 demolished, and on the site arose a big block of flats. 
 
 With the encroachment of business premises Han- 
 over Square became less of a fashionable quarter, with 
 the consequence that old residents gradually went 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In 1900 disappeared the Hanover Square or Queen's 
 Concert Rooms. Within its walls various forms of 
 entertainment had rejoiced several generations. In 
 its last days ventures of the gigantic club kind failed 
 to succeed ; as a matter of fact, the old place might 
 have been said to have been " everything by turns 
 and nothing long." Concerts, assemblies, lectures, 
 readings and meetings had at various times sought 
 to attract the public. 
 
 In the 'sixties, when the rooms were noted for the 
 concerts given there, a monthly magazine of new 
 music was issued entitled " Hanover Square." 
 
 On the cover of this magazine was a view of the 
 Square, showing the Pitt statue and St. George's 
 Church in the background. 
 
 Hertford House, which now houses the Wallace Col- 
 lection, was once the French Embassy. Lord Hert- 
 ford, it is said, desired to remove the pictures, but 
 abandoned this scheme on account of the opposition 
 of his tenant, who insisted that if it were carried out 
 the whole house should be thoroughly redecorated.
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 127 
 
 The fourth Lord Hertford spent the end of his life 
 in Paris, where he owned No. 2, Rue Laffitte. 
 
 Part of the house he let. His own suite of rooms, 
 which was on the first floor, was said to be the most 
 luxurious in Paris. It contained rooms furnished 
 respectively in the styles of Louis Quatorze, Quinze, 
 and Seize, the only flaw in this scheme of decoration 
 being the fire-dogs or andirons in the Louis Quinze 
 room, which experts criticized as being of the period of 
 Louis XVI. Mr. Frederick Hankey, a collector, 
 occupied the second floor. 
 
 In 1698, William III purchased Nottingham House 
 for 20,000 from the second Earl of Nottingham, 
 together with twenty-six acres of land. That is the 
 origin of Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens. 
 William and Mary altered and added to the house, 
 according to designs by Sir Christopher Wren, and laid 
 out the gardens under the superintendence of Lenotre, 
 who was gardener to the Tuileries. Anne reigned next, 
 and continued to build, and added thirty acres to the 
 grounds. George I added the great staircase and the 
 Cube-room, being advised in these matters by Kent. 
 
 George II followed, together with Queen Caroline, 
 and the latter increased the Gardens by assimilating 
 a large portion of Hyde Park. This Queen was anxious 
 to enclose St. James's Park, and asked Sir Robert 
 Walpole how much it would cost to do that. " Only 
 three Crowns," was the answer. It is to Queen Caro- 
 line that we owe the ornamental waters in Kensington 
 Gardens. 
 
 George III removed his residence to St. James's 
 Palace. 
 
 Baron Grant, a financial meteor of the late Victorian 
 Era, purchased a large area of slum-land close to 
 Kensington Palace, demolished the houses, and erected 
 Kensington House a big barrack of a place surrounded
 
 128 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 by its own grounds. How many thousands Baron 
 Grant paid for the site and spent in erecting and in 
 decorating the house cannot be guessed ; but Kensing- 
 ton House was only once used, and that on the occasion 
 of the Bachelors' Ball, which was given there on 
 Thursday, 22 July, 1880. 
 
 It is curious to note that according to a claim recently 
 made in " The Times," by Messrs. Hampton & Sons, 
 No. 7, Kensington Park Gardens was the first private 
 house in London to be lit by the electric light. This 
 was in the early 'eighties, and the arrangements for 
 the installation in which the conducting wires were 
 insulated in glass were arranged by the occupier 
 the late Sir William Crookes, O.M. 
 
 Though Holland House may be said to be in danger 
 there seems to be no immediate fear of its destruction. 
 
 Here old Lady Holland at one time held a sort of 
 "court." Owing to her elopement, she was never 
 received at St. James's ; nevertheless she was made 
 a great deal of by the leading ladies of the Whig party, 
 who used to crowd to her evening receptions, and her 
 youthful escapade was in latter years almost totally 
 forgotten or overlooked. 
 
 Lady Holland's dictatorial ways and passion for 
 interfering with and upsetting everybody were noto- 
 rious. At times, indeed, she was positively insolent. 
 She was declared, for instance, on one occasion when 
 a very shy young man was sitting next her at dinner, 
 to have plunged her hand into his pocket, drawn out 
 his handkerchief, and, with a sniff of disgust, given it 
 to the servant behind her chair, with the words, " Take 
 that to the wash ! ' In Count D'Orsay, however, 
 Lady Holland met her match, for seated next him at 
 dinner during the early days of his residence in England, 
 she kept letting her napkin slip from her lap, expecting 
 that the awestruck young foreigner would continue
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 129 
 
 to keep picking it up, as a commanding motion of the 
 hand on each occasion directly indicated. Polite at 
 first, he soon wearied of what he discerned to be no 
 accident but a mere piece of impertinence, which was 
 effectually checked by the words : " Should I not 
 do better, Madam, to sit under the table in order to 
 keep passing you your napkin more quickly ? ' 
 
 Scarsdale House, Kensington, was demolished a 
 good many years ago, the site being occupied by 
 Ponting's. Stratheden House, Knightsbridge, in which 
 Lord Campbell wrote his " Lives of the Lord Chancel- 
 lors," was pulled down about twenty-three years ago. 
 
 In 1900 disappeared Harley, once Brunswick House, 
 at the corner of Brunswick Place and Marylebone Road 
 where once lived the Queen of Oude. 
 
 In its last years it had become the Convent of Marie 
 Reparatrice, a chapel having been built in the grounds. 
 
 A block of flats now covers the site. As a matter 
 of fact, the Marylebone Road has suffered more changes 
 than most thoroughfares, Hospitals, Flats and Railway 
 Stations having pretty well obliterated any picturesque 
 features it formerly possessed. 
 
 It is now difficult to realize that within living memory 
 districts now covered with streets and villas were 
 purely rural, composed of farms and market gardens 
 from which produce was sent into London. 
 
 By the middle of the last century, however, the farms 
 close around the metropolis were steadily but slowly 
 disappearing ; London was spreading itself, and the 
 area of supply for its needs was rapidly growing wider. 
 
 By the 'sixties the Deptford and Bermondsey gardens 
 had been curtailed, those at Hoxton and Hackney 
 covered with houses, while the Brompton and Kensing- 
 ton nurseries, the home of vegetables for centuries, 
 had been dug up and sown with International Exhibi- 
 tion Temples, Italian gardens, together with the 
 9
 
 130 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 beginnings of new streets, with the result that they 
 would never grow another pea or send a single cauli- 
 flower to market. 
 
 During the earlier portion of the nineteenth century 
 there were ten thousand acres of ground within four 
 miles of Charing Cross under cultivation for vegetables, 
 besides about three thousand acres planted with 
 fruit to supply the London consumption. Gradually 
 the growth of London pushed the market gardener 
 farther and farther into the country, and as time went 
 on the railway, to a great extent, took the place of 
 the wagons which, for many generations, had made 
 their way to Co vent Garden. 
 
 Old salesmen of the market lived to see Guernsey 
 and Jersey, Cornwall, the Scilly Isles, France, Holland, 
 Belgium, Portugal and many other more distant 
 places, competing with the remote outskirts of the 
 metropolis ; a staggering blow to such veterans must 
 have been the first arrival of choice early peas from 
 such a country as Algeria. 
 
 The old-fashioned Covent Garden porters were some- 
 thing of a race apart, having a strong taste for sport 
 in its various forms. Often they were the owners of 
 square-headed bull-terriers, which could give a good 
 account of themselves in a fight. Quite a number of 
 these men were experts with their fists, while others 
 were ready to back themselves at running. 
 
 The packing of vegetables upon market carts is a 
 special art ; loads of lettuces and cabbages ten feet 
 high being roped and netted down so tightly that 
 when unloosened it seems marvellous that they should 
 have been pressed into such a space. 
 
 Another feature of the market is the dexterity with 
 which men bearing baskets and cases on their heads 
 pass hither and thither, dodging one another in a way 
 which is only the result of long experience.
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 131 
 
 The whole place is a veritable beehive, pervaded by 
 an air of roughness, showing that buyers, salesmen, 
 and porters are no respecters of persons, their motto 
 being work first and politeness afterwards. Visitors 
 who stand about watching what is going on have to 
 keep a sharp look out lest in the scuffle and hurry they 
 are not bumped against or even knocked over. 
 
 It has been said that the district known as Covent 
 Garden has more literary and human interest than any 
 other spot in London. 
 
 The Bedford Coffee Tavern, which stood at one end 
 of the Piazza, was intimately associated with Garrick, 
 Foote, Quin, and other notabilities, while at the 
 north-west corner, where now is the National Sporting 
 Club, was Evans', a famous meeting-place for men 
 of wit and fashion. There once, it is said, as many as 
 nine Dukes dined on one evening. The Piazza Hotel 
 was one of Sheridan's favourite resorts. In long-past 
 days Covent Garden was a highly fashionable quarter. 
 Here in the Piazzas, between 1666 and 1700, resided 
 the Duke of Richmond, the Marquess of Winchester, the 
 Earl of Oxford, Lord Brownlow, Lord Hollis, Lord 
 Newport, Lord Lucas, Sir Kenelm Digby, Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller, Sir Peter Lely, and many others. King 
 Street, Henrietta Street, and other adjacent thorough- 
 fares also housed a large number of persons of quality. 
 
 Something more than two centuries ago, Covent 
 Garden was a grand square or Piazza, and even to-day 
 the fringe of houses which surrounds it are full of 
 anecdote and history as is the gloomy old colonnade 
 and what remains of the cluster of old taverns, once 
 popular with the men of pleasure of a vanished age. 
 
 Covent Garden, indeed, though it had once been 
 monastic property, attached to the Convent of West- 
 minster, was at the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, a sort of English Palais Royal, full of roystering
 
 132 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 blades and pretty girls, while drink flowed in abun- 
 dance. 
 
 A number of celebrated Anonymas lived close to 
 the garden, while their humbler sisters went to seek 
 admirers beneath the shelter of the colonnade, which 
 to-day is about as gloomy and deserted as a Cathedral 
 aisle. 
 
 Even as late as the 'twenties of the last century, 
 Pierce Egan describes his heroes, Corinthian Tom and 
 Jerry Hawthorne, as going to Covent Garden in search 
 of nocturnal sport. 
 
 All that, however, is now a thing of the past and the 
 whole place is as staid and solemn as the church which, 
 with its churchyard full of mouldy but undying cele- 
 brities, occupies such a conspicuous position on one 
 side of it. 
 
 From time immemorial Covent Garden to-day the 
 Vegetable, Fruit and Flower Garden of London was 
 always spoken of as an appanage of the Abbey of 
 Westminster. 
 
 Stowe, in his " Survey of London," refers to the 
 Garden as a possession of the Abbey ; since time out 
 of mind and as far as it is possible to judge, it would 
 seem conclusive that the Garden had always been used 
 by the monks and friars and by the clergy of West- 
 minster generally as a burying-ground. It was far 
 distant from the boundaries of this abbey and monas- 
 tery as distance was reckoned in those days. Never- 
 theless in the space now bounded by houses and the 
 Piazza the monks of Westminster grew their turnips, 
 cabbages and carrots. 
 
 At one time the Covent Garden had been used as 
 a burial-ground, but, fairly astute, the monks realized 
 the value of the ground as a commercial centre. At 
 the same time they were generous enough, and many 
 a favoured servitor or the freedman of some serf-owner
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 133 
 
 who had paid heavy dues to purchase Masses for the 
 repose of his soul, was granted the privilege of erecting 
 a mediaeval stall outside the Convent Garden walls, 
 where he made a living by the sale of fruit and vege- 
 tables. 
 
 As time went on, however, the monks began to 
 realize that they needed the coin themselves, and for 
 this reason the rents and dues of the fruit and vege- 
 table costermongers outside the convent walls were 
 recognized as a regular income. 
 
 In course of time came Henry VIII, whose reign 
 was disastrous to English Monastic Institutions. 
 
 The religious houses were dissolved and their pro- 
 perty taken away, the King's chief agent in this being 
 Thomas Cromwell, a man with ideas and followers. 
 
 Among the latter was John Russell, the scion of a 
 Dorsetshire family, and also a William Sissylt, an enter- 
 prising Welshman, who had attached themselves to 
 his train ; and it is likely that the bright idea of inquiry 
 into the monastic wealth emanated more directly from 
 their brains than from that of Thomas Cromwell. 
 
 The fact remains that the monasteries and religious 
 houses were raided and that the King got all the money 
 he needed, and, further, that those who backed and 
 supported His Majesty and his Vicar-General, Thomas 
 Cromwell, Earl of Essex, were duly rewarded. 
 
 As was natural, a great scramble took place for the 
 monastic spoils. The Russells at first had to be con- 
 tent with but a small remuneration, and this mostly 
 in the country, where rents were moderate, but their 
 services were not forgotten. The Duke of Somerset, 
 uncle of Edward VI, had to be considered first, and 
 he was the first secular owner of the Convent Garden. 
 
 The Earl of Bedford on the attainder of the Duke of 
 Somerset was awarded the Covent Garden as a Crown 
 gift.
 
 134 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 For more than a hundred years after the Russells 
 came into possession of the estate in 1552 they appear 
 to have abstained from interference with old customs. 
 The garden was preserved as a garden and the fruit 
 and vegetable vendors who had been in the habit of 
 occupying stalls outside its walls and of dealing with 
 the old monks were allowed to pursue their occupations 
 without disturbance. The only difference, so far as 
 they were concerned, was that they bought from the 
 Earl of Bedford's steward instead of purchasing from 
 the porter or sacristan of the convent. There is no 
 evidence even that the stall-holders were asked to pay 
 any rent or dues for their privilege. 
 
 Rent, dues and tolls came later, but not until the 
 Dukes of Bedford had recognized the need for a central 
 market. London had by then grown all round the 
 old Convent Garden, and the place had become the 
 recognized place for the exchange of vegetable produce. 
 
 The Earls of Bedford levied both rent and tolls 
 under the Royal Letters Patent granted to them by 
 King Charles II in 1670, but there is little evidence to 
 show that they regarded these as likely to form an 
 important item in their revenue until the early years 
 of the last century when the Duke applied for the new 
 Act of Parliament, and was granted practically a fresh 
 Charter on the 27th June, 1828. The Duke of Bedford 
 then erected the present market buildings at his own 
 expense, these being practically completed in 1831. 
 
 In 1856 was built the Floral Hall at the expressed 
 desire of Mr. Gye, the operatic impresario. He had 
 long cherished an idea for a huge central flower-market, 
 which should supply the needs of all London, and so 
 when the building was erected in 1856, simultaneously 
 with the rebuilding of Covent Garden Theatre, after 
 the fire, it received its name of The Floral Hall, though 
 by the strange irony of fate it has become more a centre
 
 I. PASSING LONDON 135 
 
 for the wholesale fruit and vegetable trade, the florists 
 and nurserymen being content to carry on their trade 
 on the south side of the market square. 
 
 During the Great Plague most of the farmers and 
 fruit growers near London became alarmed and fled, 
 in consequence of which the sellers of Covent Garden 
 had to enter into negotiations with distant growers 
 and farmers who lived as far away as Hertfordshire, 
 Kent and even Hampshire. In the Covent Garden 
 of to-day there are persistent and numerous legends 
 to this effect, every legend laden with a wealth of cir- 
 cumstantial detail, but one and all shadowy and vague. 
 
 All the legends, however, concur in one respect, 
 namely, that there are certain growers who, as some 
 recompense of their gallantry, were awarded the 
 privilege of sending their produce toll-free into the 
 market. It is even alleged that these said growers 
 enjoy this privilege to the present day, and here and 
 there one is told that Messrs. A, B and C are the owners 
 and beneficiaries under the old grant. But that is 
 about as much as can be ascertained. The Superin- 
 tendent of the Market has heard of these privileges 
 and desirous to discover whether they really exist 
 has tried to trace the legend to its source. He is said 
 to believe that at one time at least it was founded 
 upon truth. 
 
 The rights, privileges or charters may have once 
 existed and probably did so, but it is practically cer- 
 tain that they have ah 1 lapsed to-day, either through 
 the death or disappearance of the heirs of the original 
 owners, or else through their failure to keep their 
 privileges alive. 
 
 St. Paul's, Covent Garden, on the western side of 
 the Market, was built by Inigo Jones about 1633, the 
 cost of its erection being borne by Francis Earl of 
 Bedford. In 1727 it was repaired by the Earl of
 
 136 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Burlington. Totally destroyed by fire on 17 September, 
 1795, the church was rebuilt by John Hardwick, the 
 plan and proportions of the original building being 
 retained. 
 
 In front of St. Paul's hustings used to be erected 
 at times when there was an Election and here before 
 the Reform Bill raged many a fierce contest in which 
 Fox, Sir Francis Burdett and other popular candidates 
 took part. 
 
 Not far away from Covent Garden another great 
 market existed up to comparatively recent times. 
 
 It is hard to realize that almost till the middle of the 
 last century the ground now occupied by Charing Cross 
 Station was Hungerford Market, where great quantities 
 of fish were sold. 
 
 The Market in question ran right down to the river, 
 and smacks from Whitstable and other ports came 
 close up to discharge cargoes of fish and oysters. 
 
 The latter were then not considered a luxury at all. 
 Owing to their moderate price they were well within 
 the reach of all classes. Dickens indeed said that 
 " Poverty and Oysters " always seemed to go together. 
 
 Near Hungerford Market there formerly existed 
 stairs for embarking on river-steamers or getting into 
 the wherries which at that time were still to be hired. 
 
 A foot suspension bridge which spanned the river 
 was removed when the present hideous railway bridge 
 was built. 
 
 Re-erected at Clifton the former is now a conspicuous 
 object for railway travellers leaving Bristol for the 
 West.
 
 VI 
 II. PASSING LONDON 
 
 PICCADILLY, " this radiant and immortal street/' 
 as Mr. W. C. Henley called it, has lost most of 
 its brilliancy since the war, the ever-moving 
 throng of well-dressed men and gorgeously apparelled 
 women, who were formerly to be seen on the pavement 
 during the season, having given way to a very drably 
 arrayed crowd of passers-by. As far as the men 
 are concerned, their dress is now much about the 
 same as that worn in the Mile End Road. 
 
 Whatever may be said about the blessings attached 
 to a Democratic Age, no one can maintain that it is 
 conducive to the decorative or the picturesque. 
 
 In the 'seventies and 'eighties the streets of the 
 West End were full of well-turned-out equipages and 
 smartly dressed men. 
 
 The hideous cloth cap, the badge of modern Demo- 
 cracy, was scarcely to be seen at all and there was 
 still some little sartorial difference between the classes. 
 To-day, except for slight variations in cut and material, 
 every one more or less dresses alike it is the age of 
 universal mediocrity which a cynic has said delights 
 neither the eye nor the understanding. 
 
 Happily, there is still some diversity in ladies' 
 dress; it is to be hoped that the horrible idea of a 
 standard costume for women, which was mooted 
 during the war, will never meet with success. Our 
 
 137
 
 138 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 thoroughfares are quite sad looking enough without 
 further efforts to rob them of the sparse patches of 
 colour shown by gaily dressed girls and women. 
 
 The sartorial splendour which distinguished the 
 loungers of a past age has no place in the hurry and 
 bustle of modern life. 
 
 The last few years have witnessed the complete 
 disappearance of the dandy who, under various names, 
 was for generations one of the features of West End 
 life. 
 
 Long before the Great War he had almost vanished, 
 and the struggle in question drove him out of existence 
 altogether. 
 
 Gone also the aged buck, who was not an uncommon 
 figure in the West End during the Victorian Era. 
 His disappearance, however, need cause no regrets. 
 
 At his best he was a dissipated old fop at his 
 worst a melancholy relic of days that had long passed 
 away, resembling as he did a dismal ghost wandering 
 amidst scenes where he and his contemporaries had 
 once been the glasses of fashion and the moulds of 
 form. 
 
 Though dandies, bucks and even typical men-about- 
 town have passed away, here and there are to be found 
 individuals who refuse to be entirely dominated by 
 the levelling tide of democratic encroachment. Such 
 a one was the resident in the West End who, when- 
 ever he had occasion to make use of a taxi, took care 
 that one of his servants should clean it first. 
 
 Quite a modern feature of West End life is the 
 invasion of Hyde Park by the proletariat. The great 
 resort of fashion in the Victorian age, it was then 
 full of well-dressed people at the correct hour on 
 Sunday afternoons. 
 
 The amenities of the Park in question were in con- 
 siderable danger at the time of the Great Exhibition,
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 139 
 
 when a number of the trees were very nearly cut down 
 in order to make way for the huge building to be erected 
 by Paxton. 
 
 The latter's great antagonist was Colonel Sibthorp, 
 an honourable and gallant member of the House of 
 Commons, who made a brave and successful fight 
 against the proposed act of vandalism. 
 
 " Make what fuss you like about your modern ideas 
 of industry," said the gallant Colonel, " but you shall 
 not touch the trees ; they are worth all your industry, 
 and all your foreign knick-knacks, and free-trade and 
 nonsense, and, indeed anything that ever came from 
 Manchester." 
 
 Paxton 's reply was, " Let the old trees stand, we 
 will roof them over ! " and he built his glass house 
 one hundred feet higher in the middle, and thus made 
 the transept. Then there was room for everything and 
 everybody men and merchandise, stray children and 
 lost petticoats, bad coffee, clever pickpockets from 
 England, France and Germany. 
 
 No capital in the world could boast such a splendid 
 display of fine equipages as were to be seen in the 
 Park during the Victorian Era. 
 
 The long sumptuous array of carriages, drawn by 
 fine horses, went a good many years ago with the 
 advent of the motor. 
 
 Piccadilly during the season was also a fine sight. 
 There is now, however, no longer any " insolent 
 parade " of luxury by the dwellers in Mayfair, most 
 of whom find it a hard struggle to continue living 
 there at all. To conjure up luxury and wealth one 
 must think of the great company of shadows, who, 
 in former days, lolled in their carriages or trod the 
 paving stones in all the radiance which wealth or 
 credit could provide. 
 
 Nor are the mansions in and around this district,
 
 140 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 except in rare cases, any longer full of costly old 
 furniture, plates and pictures with everything to 
 contribute to the satisfaction of material desires. 
 
 Valuable pictures and objets d'art have, to a great 
 extent, gone to Christie's, while the owners of great 
 houses cannot afford to keep up the state for which 
 such palatial abodes were originally constructed. 
 
 A number of fine old mansions have lost their 
 ancient fagades or have disappeared, but though altered 
 in 1889 and again during the Great War, No. 139, 
 Piccadilly, in Byron's day 13, Piccadilly Terrace, 
 or the Terrace Piccadilly, as he sometimes called it, 
 still stands. A number of changes, including a 
 marble staircase and a lift, have however somewhat 
 impaired the old-world atmosphere of the interior 
 since the poet's day. 
 
 It was Hobhouse who arranged the lease for him, 
 and got the Duchess of Devonshire to agree to a rental 
 of 700 a year. 
 
 Byron's large bedroom on the first floor no longer 
 exists in its original form, a drawing-room having 
 taken its place. There used to be an old tradition 
 that on certain nights the door of this room would open 
 of itself, and those who had witnessed this declared 
 that this was followed by an unseen presence making 
 its existence felt. A strange patter of footsteps was 
 also said occasionally to have been heard. 
 
 In the library it was that Byron, sitting moodily 
 immersed in bills, found his wife standing before him. 
 
 " Do I bore you ? " asked she. 
 
 " Damnably," was his reply, marking a very different 
 state of mind from that he had been in when she had 
 transcribed " The Bride of Corinth " and " Parisina " 
 for her husband. 
 
 In this room had sat Moore, Sheridan, Leigh Hunt 
 and Rogers, the banker-poet.
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 141 
 
 During the last alterations a mantelpiece which, 
 though of a rather mixed style, possessed a considerable 
 historic interest as having been in the house in Byron's 
 time, was for some reason or other removed. A 
 great admirer of the poet had years before more than 
 once attempted to buy it from Lord Glenesk, who, 
 however, refused all offers. 
 
 Taken away and stored at a housebreaker's, this 
 relic, which seems to have escaped notice, was happily 
 seen by a discerning lover of the Arts, in whose library 
 at 17, Bedford Square, it has now found a fitting and 
 appropriate resting-place. 
 
 Piccadilly, in which a number of well-known people 
 have lived, is gradually losing its residential character. 
 
 The death of Mr. Burdett-Coutts, and the subsequent 
 dispersal of the treasures contained in No. I, Stratton 
 Street, W., snapped a last link with Victorian days. 
 Here his wife, the philanthropic Baroness, used, it is 
 said, to let her friends know whether she was in or 
 out by the position of a china cockatoo, which always 
 hung in a front ground-floor window, and faced one 
 way or the other according to a prearranged code. 
 
 The old box-like Georgian houses, which were so 
 abundant up to the mid- Victorian times and later, 
 were scarcely things of beauty, but there was a dignity 
 about some of them which is not to be found in the 
 palatial buildings of to-day. Covered with scrolls, 
 pillars (generally supporting nothing) and uncouth 
 statuary, very few of these erections attain any real 
 artistic success. 
 
 On the other hand, modern architects are certainly 
 clever in designing interiors, material comfort being 
 well provided for, while considerable skill is shown in 
 making the most of limited space. 
 
 Old houses, though often quaint and picturesque, 
 are seldom very agreeable to live in.
 
 142 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 A feature of the West End before the Great War 
 was the abundance of flower-boxes which gave many 
 a street quite a gay appearance. 
 
 Altogether there is not much brightness about the 
 West End to-day. A depressing result within the 
 last two or three years has been the number of dis- 
 charged soldiers who are to be seen trying to make a 
 few shillings by the sale of matches and other small 
 wares. 
 
 No doubt a certain amount of these men are impostors, 
 but it has been admitted that there is a good deal of 
 distress among those who fought for us in the Great 
 War. 
 
 This being so it would seem that the money sub- 
 scribed to erect a number of monstrous monuments 
 would have been better applied by going to swell a 
 fund for the relief of poor soldiers and those dependent 
 upon them. 
 
 What is the use of adding Lady Chapels to Cathedrals 
 which are rarely filled ? 
 
 Memorial crosses and stained-glass windows are 
 admirable things in their way, but food and clothing 
 for needy men, women and children are a great deal 
 more necessary. 
 
 What a fine thing it would have been if 50 per cent. 
 of all the money raised for War Memorials had had 
 to be devoted to a fund for English sufferers from the 
 Great War ? The clergy might well have taken the 
 lead in such a movement. Alas ! that they should 
 be so given to wasting their opportunities ! 
 
 The fashion of ladies out for a walk having a footman 
 to follow them was more or less a thing of the past as 
 far back as the 'eighties, though a few old-fashioned 
 people still adhered to it. 
 
 The practice of making footmen wear hair powder 
 as well as knee breeches in the day-time, lasted far
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 143 
 
 longer ; in fact, in some houses, they were to be seen 
 as late as the end of the last century. 
 
 Practically all the small perambulating industries 
 of Mayfair have disappeared. Here and there a flower- 
 seller trundles his barrow, but street cries are pro- 
 hibited and the halcyon days of his little trade are 
 past. 
 
 Punch and Judy, who delighted countless" genera- 
 tions, have been moved on by the hand of the law. 
 
 But a short time ago the present writer to his great 
 delight came across one of these shows, a last survival 
 possibly of a freer age. 
 
 The little stage had been set up on a large refuge at 
 the junction of several streets and the performance was 
 affording amusement to a number of small people, 
 nursemaids and humble folk. 
 
 For a time a policeman forbore from making his 
 presence felt. A scream from Punch, however, even- 
 tually roused his sense of official importance and in 
 a few moments Punch, Judy and the rest of the actors 
 (all of immemorial antiquity) were huddled in a basket 
 and together with their little theatre wheeled away 
 by their depressed impresario. 
 
 The whole scene was highly typical of modern 
 London where anything, no matter how harmless, out 
 of keeping with the scheme of life prescribed for us by 
 our rulers, is ruthlessly driven out of existence. 
 
 The changes which are constantly occurring in 
 a great city pass unnoticed except by the very few. 
 During the last thirty years, for instance, large por- 
 tions of Piccadilly and of the Strand have been 
 pulled down and rebuilt, yet those who witnessed the 
 alterations have scarcely any idea as to the appearance 
 of the buildings which were destroyed. 
 
 Who now remembers the old Bath Hotel which stood 
 up to the time of the erection of the Ritz or even
 
 144 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Long's in Bond Street which quite recently ceased to 
 exist ? 
 
 Other old buildings in Piccadilly which disappeared 
 many years earlier have entirely faded out of recol- 
 lection. No one seems to regret the houses for years 
 occupied by the War Office in Pall Mall or remembers 
 that the statue of Sydney Herbert, which now stands 
 side by side with Florence Nightingale near the Guards' 
 Crimean Memorial, was once a prominent feature in 
 a courtyard now covered by the Automobile Club ? 
 Great cities cannot, of course, exist without change, 
 but it is well that time-honoured buildings should not 
 be allowed to pass unnoticed away. It is to be hoped 
 that wherever possible photographic records showing 
 their exact appearance have been preserved ? 
 
 For the last thirty years Piccadilly has been changing, 
 but only within the last decade has its outward char- 
 acter undergone drastic alteration. 
 
 Huge blocks of buildings given up to offices, stores 
 and flats, have taken the place of unobtrusive old 
 houses which have become too small for modern 
 commercial needs. 
 
 On both sides of St. James's Street, for instance, 
 ornate and gigantic structures have arisen, while 
 Walsingham House, itself a modern building, together 
 with the old Bath Hotel, have been demolished to make 
 way for the not undignified Ritz. 
 
 Across the way, the Berkeley, once known as the 
 St. James's Hotel, besides having doubled itself in 
 size has been crowned by an extra story. As for the 
 old Egyptian Hall, the Home of Mystery, for so long 
 identified with the magic feats of Maskelyne and Cooke, 
 that has long given place to a huge mass of business 
 offices beneath which a new arcade forms a not un- 
 pleasant means of communication with Jermyn Street. 
 
 The Burlington Arcade on the other side of the road
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 145 
 
 has changed little, except for having been heightened. 
 The toy shops, where several generations of West End 
 children have delighted to linger, are still there. On 
 the other hand, the old place seems entirely to have 
 lost a certain reputation for being frequented by 
 pretty ladies and gay old dogs which clung about it 
 as late as the 'eighties. The old time Lion Comique 
 used to be rather fond of singing rather suggestive 
 songs about the frequenters of the Burlington. To- 
 day his allusions would be meaningless and out of date. 
 
 In former days newspapers used to be sold near the 
 entrance, but this is now a thing of the past ; a news- 
 vendor, however, is generally to be found on the other 
 side of the road at the corner of St. James's Street. 
 
 Modern Piccadilly has only two book shops 
 Hatchard's and Sotheran's in its entire length. May 
 and Williams, where are to be found papers and maga- 
 zines, quite recently moved to a street not far away. 
 
 Piccadilly Circus, which had remained unchanged 
 since Shaftesbury Avenue came into existence, has 
 now fallen into a condition of architectural decrepitude, 
 the south-eastern Quadrant being in a state of demoli- 
 tion. 
 
 In the middle of the last century the Quadrant 
 was especially popular with foreigners wont to frequent 
 the Colonnade. The latter, however, was alleged to 
 be a meeting-place for undesirable characters which 
 ultimately led to its being pulled down. 
 
 " The Quadrant has fallen farewell to the shade 
 And the cabbage cigars of that cool colonnade, 
 There lap-dogs no longer are vended by thieves, 
 Nor Poles wear great stars, in which no one believes. 
 
 " The Frenchmen have fled to some other retreat, 
 With their quaint puckered trousers and mal chausses feet, 
 And the scene, where their eloquence charmed us before, 
 Resounds with Republican argot no more." 
 10
 
 146 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 It is difficult to realize that up to some ninety 
 years ago, Piccadilly was rendered picturesque by the 
 multitude of coaches which left the White Horse 
 Cellars or the White Bear, another coaching inn on 
 the other side of the street, for various destinations. 
 
 Telegraphs, High-Flyers, Magnets and Independents, 
 the Wonder and its rival, the No Wonder, both cele- 
 brated on the Western Road, the Devonport Quicksilver 
 and many others all successively clattered along the 
 old thoroughfare, where now horses are rarely to be 
 seen. 
 
 North-country coaches started from other parts of 
 London, which then sent out an infinite succession 
 of teams all over the country. 
 
 One of the sights of London for country cousins in 
 those days was to see the mails starting at 8 p.m. 
 from the Post Office. The great day for this was the 
 King's birthday, when all the guards wore new scarlet 
 coats, and the horses' heads were all decked with 
 flowers, one of those pretty and picturesque sights of 
 which the secret has been lost to the dull drab world 
 of the twentieth century. 
 
 There was indeed a good deal of colour to be seen 
 in the metropolis even of the early days of Queen 
 Victoria's reign. Happy-go-lucky days when London 
 at night was policed by a number of very heavily 
 great-coated watchmen, equipped with huge rattles 
 and stable lanterns, old gentlemen, for the most part 
 asleep in their boxes, and even when awake, not very 
 formidable to professional evil-doers. 
 
 When the Post Office was built at St. Martin's le 
 Grand, a great outcry was raised at the erection of 
 such a huge edifice, so enormously larger, it was sup- 
 posed, than could possibly ever be needed. Long 
 before its demolition, however, it was found quite 
 insufficient for the needs of a postal service which had
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 147 
 
 increased far beyond anything that at its inception 
 could have been believed. 
 
 Ruskin declared that the English had always built 
 rather for rats and mice than for men. Our insular 
 architecture, full of small detail and rarely showing 
 any great comprehensive plan, lends considerable 
 colour to this view, though on the other hand the soar- 
 ing genius of Sir Christopher Wren shows that one 
 great English architect at least rises superior to such 
 a judgment. 
 
 It is the evident striving after artistic effect which 
 ruins the appearance of most of our great modern 
 buildings. Dead mechanical accuracy has taken the 
 place of the natural aesthetic sensibility which was the 
 natural heritage of another age. The object of most 
 modern designers would appear to be the exhibition 
 of as many samples of ornament as possible. A 
 haphazard choice of ornament and decorative mould- 
 ings seems dictated by a spirit sadly lacking in a sense 
 of fitness or restraint. 
 
 The true beauty of a building lies in its perfect ex- 
 pression of function or else in the clear expression of 
 an idea. In the work of the modern architect there is 
 rarely a happy medium between the cruel efficiency 
 of a mere workhouse or factory and the extravagant 
 decoration of a luxurious hotel. 
 
 While great blocks intended for purely commercial 
 purposes must of necessity be erected in a great modern 
 city, they need not be made hideous by meaningless 
 embellishments and meretricious adornment. 
 
 Within recent years some improvement is to be 
 noticed in this respect. " Self ridges, " in Oxford Street, 
 is a good example of a huge edifice which though 
 purely utilitarian has a certain dignity of design. 
 
 But what can be said of the audacious, ostentatious, 
 nightmare hideousness of the railway arches, viaducts
 
 148 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 and stations of modern London ? Or of some of the 
 Victorian hotels ? 
 
 One of the most striking instances of architectural 
 failure is the building known as the new Law Courts 
 a veritable example of pseudo-Gothic run mad. 
 
 Another architectural monstrosity is the Tower 
 Bridge, which an artistic critic has described as " a 
 dismal reminiscence of vague feudal memories covering 
 up all sense of logical purpose and functional care, 
 with the result that it produces nothing but a sense 
 of pity or disgust." 
 
 As to our London statues, the less said about the 
 majority of them the better ! 
 
 One of the most costly to erect was the Duke of 
 York's Column, at the head of the steps leading down 
 into the Park. This was designed by Benjamin Wyatt, 
 and put up between the years 1830 and 1833. The 
 column is of Scotch granite, the statue of bronze at 
 the top having been the work of Sir Richard Westma- 
 cott. The whole expense of this frightful erection 
 was defrayed by public subscriptions. 
 
 The idea of erecting this unwanted statue was an 
 absurd one, and cynics of the day said that it repre- 
 sented the Duke of York turning his back on his 
 creditors. 
 
 The column itself is ninety-four feet high, and at 
 one time jumping down from the top and being smashed 
 on the broad stones at its base was a fashionable 
 mode of committing suicide. It's a pity that none 
 of the poor wretches ever thought of overthrowing 
 and jumping down with the statue of the Duke of York. 
 
 One of the chief causes of disfigurement of public 
 monuments in London is the staining of the stone by 
 rain-droppings from the bronze ornaments alas ! 
 too often disfigurements of which modern sculptors and 
 architects are so fond.
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 149 
 
 A striking instance of what bad taste can do is 
 the case of Russell Square, which up to not so very 
 many years ago had about it a dignified eighteenth- 
 century air produced by the sober Georgian houses 
 which had remained pretty much the same as when 
 built. 
 
 One fine day, however, those responsible for the 
 management of the "artistic" Estate inaugurated a 
 policy of wholesale barbarism with regard to the old 
 fasades, round the windows and doorways of which 
 they affixed weird terra-cotta ornamentation quite out 
 of keeping with the Georgian style, as well as ludicrous 
 owing to their lack of proportion. 
 
 Nonsensical from an architectural point of view, 
 the only possible reason which can have dictated such 
 an alternative must have been a desire to convert 
 these sober old houses into poor imitations of the 
 gigantic Russell Hotel which dominates one side of 
 the Square. 
 
 At the same time most of the old Georgian fanlights 
 were replaced by art nouveau designs. The whole 
 thing, owing to what has been well described as its 
 "inherent beastliness," shows middle-class contempt 
 for Art in its most extreme form. 
 
 The so-called art nouveau mentioned above seems 
 particularly dear to the bourgeoisie, as well as to the 
 Germans whose modern buildings often have an 
 appearance of truly nightmarish horror. 
 
 In Russell Square, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury 
 Square, once dwelt many Judges and legal luminaries, 
 but even in the early days of Queen Victoria's reign 
 the latter were moving westwards. The district 
 indeed had been to some extent deteriorated in social 
 estimation. This, however, during recent years, it 
 has to a considerable extent recovered. There is a 
 certain old-world charm about the whole region,
 
 150 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 which with the exception of that part of Russell 
 Square disfigured, as has been said, by meaningless 
 and meretricious ornamentation, has changed less in 
 appearance than other parts of eighteenth-century 
 London. 
 
 Vandalism, alas ! inseparable from the march of 
 civilization as it appears to be, when routed in one 
 place reappears in another. 
 
 Like the fabled Phoenix, it rises triumphant from 
 its own ashes, and one iconoclast whose destructive 
 schemes are rendered abortive is soon replaced by 
 another. 
 
 In addition to the defacement of old buildings, 
 there is the modern curse of advertisement which 
 disfigures not only our great cities but the rural 
 districts. Crude designs, vaunting the especial merits 
 of some new purgative or pickle, impair the charms 
 of green fields and meadow lands, skirting the railways 
 of the country-side. 
 
 There are advertisers who it has been aptly said 
 would not hesitate to affix their placards to the towers 
 of Westminster Abbey, or to the Dome of St. Paul's 
 happily up to a certain point, the energies of these 
 gentry are subject to a control, which posterity 
 possibly will see fit to make even more severe. 
 
 The new electric advertisements, which at Piccadilly 
 Circus in particular nightly rejoice the eye of the 
 country cousin, come under a different category. 
 While these ingeniously designed " fire pictures " 
 are in some cases quite amusing, their constantly 
 changing flashes of coloured lights impart a certain 
 brightness to London at night. 
 
 From time to time schemes of a grandiose or rather 
 monstrous nature are mooted with the idea of im- 
 proving the metropolis. 
 
 Such a one was the design for a colossal Babylonish
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 151 
 
 Arch in commemoration of those who fell in the Great 
 War. 
 
 Another was an elaborate plan for the rebuilding 
 of a great part of Westminster as a colossal Empire 
 War Memorial. This was the idea of the late Major 
 C. J. C. Pawley, a well-known architect, who pro- 
 posed to cover fifteen acres in the triangle between 
 the Abbey, the Tate Gallery and Victoria Street, 
 with buildings mainly devoted to purposes of educa- 
 tion, science and art. The carrying out of this scheme 
 would have cost some two million pounds or more. 
 A Memorial Chapel to those who fell in the Great 
 War formed part of it, besides which the interior 
 of Westminster Abbey was to be freed from a number 
 of statues. These were to find a permanent home 
 in the new Chapel which was part of the plan. 
 
 The Abbey has no doubt suffered a good deal by 
 the redundant amount of statuary with which it is 
 filled. 
 
 Sir Francis Chantrey, the famous sculptor, did great 
 harm there. Among other acts of vandalism he 
 deliberately destroyed and carted away the greater 
 part of a magnificent old stone screen in order to 
 make room to introduce his abominable monument 
 to James Watt ! Not content with this, he scraped 
 off most of the inlaid and painted work upon the 
 monument over the remains of the Standard Bearer 
 at Agincourt, in order to prevent these clashing 
 with the dead white marble of the statue he had 
 carved. 
 
 Quite a number of architects have tinkered with 
 the exterior. 
 
 Dead buildings tell no tales seems to have been 
 the maxim acted upon by Pearson when he practically 
 rebuilt the North Entrance in 1892. 
 
 The tracery of the gable was then completely
 
 152 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 destroyed, though it was said to have been one of the 
 finest pieces of ancient work in England. 
 
 The ground upon which the House of Commons 
 stands was originally covered with a number of 
 picturesque old buildings. 
 
 It was, however, perhaps not a bad thing that 
 fire should have rendered the erection of a new and 
 palatial building necessary. Sometime or other the 
 site would have had to be cleared and as a matter of 
 fact the great edifice in which British laws are made 
 is not unworthy of its magnificent situation by the 
 banks of the Thames. 
 
 Pugin and Barry may justly be said to have proved 
 equal to the task which they took in hand. The 
 silhouette of the huge Palace at Westminster, with 
 its towers and finials is neither disagreeable nor 
 undignified. 
 
 As a reproduction of the Gothic style, the Houses of 
 Parliament at Westminster are not above criticism ; 
 nevertheless the elaborate workmanship, vast amount 
 of detail, and imposing magnificence of the whole 
 pile create an effect worthy of great praise. During 
 the time when these buildings were being erected, 
 there was controversy between Sir Charles Barry 
 and Pugin as to their respective shares in the design ; 
 the spirit of the latter, however, pervades all the 
 details, while Barry's work is not so free or fanciful. 
 The Victoria Tower, which is much higher than it 
 looks, rather dwarfs that portion of the Palace in 
 close proximity to it. Originally this Tower was 
 intended to be higher, but in a fit of economy the 
 House of Commons insisted on its being docked by 
 some thirty or forty feet. The Clock Tower with 
 " Big Ben " within was designed to have a pierced 
 open top; the architect, however, found himself 
 obliged to fill in the spaces with windows, which
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 153 
 
 produce rather a clumsy effect. " Big Ben," it may be 
 added, received its name in compliment to Sir Ben- 
 jamin Hall, the Commissioner of Works at the time 
 when the great bell was hung. Though it has long 
 been cracked, it has boomed over London effectively 
 for very many years. The large hand of the clock 
 connected with it is over fourteen feet long. 
 
 The plans for the Houses of Parliament were con- 
 siderably hampered by Westminster Hall, with which 
 the architects did not exactly know how to deal. 
 Eventually it was turned into a sort of entrance hall 
 to the two houses, and thus lost its significance as a 
 separate work. The more modern exterior treatment 
 carried out by Pearson in his own style has nothing 
 very striking about it. Perhaps its greatest merit 
 is the general plainness of these additions, which are 
 quite free from the riotous ornamentation in which the 
 same architect indulged in his so-called restoration 
 of the northern entrance to the Abbey, when Wren's 
 far more satisfactory work was ruthlessly swept 
 away. 
 
 Barry, it may be added, conceived a plan for 
 heightening Westminster Hall by raising the roof all 
 through by hydraulic machinery. Happily this mon- 
 strous scheme was never put into action, and the 
 wonderful old timbers, beyond having been judiciously 
 freed from decay and repaired by the Office of Works, 
 remain practically as they were when erected by 
 William Rufus. 
 
 Unlike Paris, modern London, except for its mag- 
 nificent Parks, suffers from lack of space. As a well- 
 qualified art critic has justly said, " Portland Place 
 is the only roadway in London that gives one room to 
 spread the wings of one's civic consciousness." 
 
 The West End up to the latter part of the Victorian 
 Era contained a number of old-fashioned shops, the
 
 154 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 outside of which had remained unchanged since the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 Such a one was Lambert's, the well-known silver- 
 smiths, formerly in Coventry Street, a house with 
 a quaint old-fashioned shop-front, which was only 
 abandoned by the firm a year or two ago. 
 
 For a time before its demolition, the building formed 
 part of the business premises of Messrs. Lyons. 
 
 About the only other old shop-fronts in the West 
 End which now survive are Lock's, the hatter, in St. 
 James's Street, and that of Messrs. Savory & Moore, 
 the well-known chemists in New Bond Street (of a 
 later and more ambitious type) and the well-known 
 bowed front of Messrs. Fribourg & Tryer at No. 34, 
 Haymarket. 
 
 The exterior of this famous tobacconist's has, 
 it is said, remained practically unchanged since 1720, 
 about which year the firm was founded by Monsieur 
 Fribourg, a Swiss, whose entries in the first ledger 
 (still preserved) were often made in French. 
 
 A feature of the interior is a very handsome Adam 
 glass-panelled screen, with glass-panelled doors. 
 This would appear to have been put up to separate 
 the shop from a living-room, which, however, has 
 long been put to other uses. 
 
 The original business of the firm was mainly the 
 sale of snuff, which was sold in considerable quantities 
 up to the middle of the last century. 
 
 A favourite snuff in old days was Spanish Bran, 
 which cost 3 a pound. 
 
 Prince's mixture, as formerly supplied to the Prince 
 Regent, [was to be found in West End Clubs up to 
 quite recent times. 
 
 Numbers of hay carts and wagons must have 
 lumbered past the doors of this old shop in former 
 days, for as late as 1830 hay and straw were sold in the
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 155 
 
 Haymarket which was originally so called, on account 
 of the St. James's Market held here from the reign 
 of Elizabeth till when, by Act of Parliament, it was 
 removed to Cumberland Market, Regent's Park. 
 The Haymarket was early built upon, and there is 
 a token of " James Warren in the Hay Market," 
 with the date of 1664, registered in Akerman's work 
 on " Tradesmen's Tokens," but the street was not 
 paved till the year 1692, previous to which date the 
 hay and straw carts had paid no toll. At this time, 
 however, sixpence was levied on a load of hay, and 
 twopence on a load of straw. 
 
 In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century 
 a number of the nobility lived in the Haymarket, 
 including Lord Scarborough, the Duchess of Devon- 
 shire, the Duke of Dorset and others. 
 
 In a house on the east side of the street lived Pope's 
 " Narcissa," the celebrated actress, Mrs. Oldfield 
 the great-great-great grandmother of the present 
 writer. 
 
 George Morland, the painter, was also born in this 
 thoroughfare, and here it was that his father, a worth- 
 less creature, set him to paint pictures while yet a 
 child. 
 
 The famous little theatre in the Haymarket was 
 built in 1720. This theatre, though at times it has 
 had to struggle against great difficulties, has always 
 been able to hold its own in competition with the 
 larger theatres. A great number of the most cele- 
 brated actors and actresses have made their debut 
 here. Mrs. Abington, John Edwin, Miss Farren, 
 afterwards Countess of Derby, Elliston, Listen, 
 Henderson and Jack Bannister, all made their first 
 bow to a London audience at this theatre. William 
 Thomas Lewis, more generally known as Gentleman 
 Lewis, acted here from 1776 to 1781. Macready
 
 156 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 played here as did Sothern who drew vast crowds 
 with his impersonation of Lord Dundreary. Its 
 recent history has been more or less one of prosperity. 
 
 It is a curious fact, this theatre was not lighted 
 with gas until April, 1853, owing to a prejudice of the 
 proprietor, the late Mrs. Morris, who bound the lessee 
 to continue the lighting of the house with oil. 
 
 Mozart, then a musical prodigy of eight years old, 
 played at the little theatre in February, 1765, with 
 his sister, who was four years older. 
 
 Not very far away in King Street is Christie's, which, 
 though rebuilt some years ago, has changed little 
 as a West End institution. 
 
 The original founder of the firm Mr. James Christie 
 issued his first catalogue as far back as 1766. The 
 offices of the firm then were in Castle Street, Oxford 
 Street, and the " Great Room " where sales took 
 place in Pall Mall. The business premises were next 
 door to where Gainsborough, the painter, then lived, 
 and Christie introduced to the latter some of his 
 best clients. In recognition of this, Gainsborough 
 painted a fine whole-length portrait of Mr. James 
 Christie, still the property of the family. In 1897 
 an admirable marble medallion of the founder of the 
 firm, sculptured by Mr. Brock, R.A., from a drawing 
 by Rowlandson, was set up over the inner doors 
 leading to the auction rooms in King Street, St. James's. 
 
 For more than one hundred and fifty years 
 Christie's have been before the public as auctioneers. 
 Not very long after the famous business was started 
 it became a veritable London institution. 
 
 In its earliest days the firm in question was quite 
 ready to sell almost any class of property : coffins, 
 Sedan chairs, dripping-pans, barrel-organs, razors, 
 and even pigs and poultry figure in some of the oldest 
 catalogues.
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 157 
 
 In 1795, Christie's sold seventy- two tons of " excellent 
 meadow-hay " to the Duke of Queensberry, who paid 
 247 i6s. for it. 
 
 The practical monopoly of the sale of the finest 
 pictures and objets d'art was gradually acquired. 
 Property of incredible value, together with many 
 famous and priceless collections, have passed through 
 the famous firm's hands, indeed few of the great 
 families of England have not at one time or other 
 sent cherished possessions to the rooms in King Street. 
 
 It was at Christie's that Mr. Jones, the donor of 
 the celebrated collection now at the Victoria and Albert 
 Museum, acquired the knowledge which enabled him 
 to accumulate that wonderful assemblage of French 
 furniture and china which he bequeathed for the 
 benefit of the nation in a will made some three years 
 before his death. For a comparatively long period 
 of time before he commenced to buy, Mr. Jones was 
 in the habit of making a careful and constant inspection 
 of the various objets d'art sent to these auction 
 rooms to be put up for sale. In this way he refined 
 his taste and became a fine judge of those particular 
 forms of art which are so richly represented in the 
 collection now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. 
 
 A great sale at Christie's is one of the events of a 
 London season. The artistic possessions of many an 
 old family have passed through the well-known rooms. 
 
 A notable sale at Christie's was the dispersal of the 
 Eglinton jewels in 1894. These included a necklace, 
 ear-rings, and brooch said to have belonged to Mary, 
 Queen of Scots. They were of enamelled gold, set 
 with rubies, emeralds and pearls. 
 
 According to tradition the necklace, together with 
 the picture by Holbein in Eglinton Castle, were given 
 by Mary to Mary Seton, one of the Queen's " Marys." 
 The necklace and picture are said to have come to the
 
 158 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Montgomeries through the marriage of one of them 
 with the heir of the Setons in or about 1611. It 
 seems more probable that Hugh, the fifth Earl of 
 Eglinton, made a settlement of the Earldom of 
 Eglinton, together with the property attached thereto, 
 upon his cousin, Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther. 
 
 The father of the possessor of the jewels was at the 
 time of the sale said to have discovered the Mary 
 Stuart necklace and the Holbein picture in the muni- 
 ment room at Eglinton Castle. Another gem of the 
 collection was a black pearl necklace, composed of 
 six large pearls set in diamond clusters. 
 
 Though, as a rule, the value of the objets d'art 
 put up is well understood by those attending the 
 sales, from time to time astounding bargains have 
 been secured. At the disposal of the Clancarty 
 Collection, for instance, a picture was purchased for 
 five pounds by a leading connoisseur peer which 
 possessed an intrinsic value of almost as many hun- 
 dreds. For some unknown reason it had completely 
 escaped the notice of the professional experts. 
 
 At the famous Bentinck sale, the late Sir William 
 Gregory, who was a first-rate judge, acquired for a 
 few pounds a work of art which was really worth 
 several hundreds. This was a Velasquez, one of the 
 four very valuable pictures bequeathed by Sir William 
 to the National Gallery, of which he was a trustee. 
 
 Occasionally a sale fails altogether, and the lots are 
 withdrawn. Such was the case in 1908, when, with the 
 laudable intention of founding a home for necessitous 
 people, Mr. John Gooch sent a collection of old masters 
 to Christie's. 
 
 The result, however, entirely failed to justify his 
 expectations. For eleven of his Rembrandts only 
 899 173. was bid ; three pictures by Rubens fared 
 even worse, the highest bid being 42 los. The
 
 II. PASSING LONDON 159 
 
 climax, however, was reached in the case of a Murillo, 
 for which but twelve guineas was offered ; all further 
 lots were withdrawn. 
 
 The most recent big sale at Christie's was that of 
 the art treasures which had belonged to the Baroness 
 Burdett-Coutts. 
 
 This lasted for seven days, and realized 142,280. 
 
 Other great sales, sold at the famous rooms during 
 the last four years, have been that of Mr. Justice Day 
 in 1909, which brought 103,546, Mr. A. Young's 
 in 1910, 154,000. 
 
 A very large sum, no less than 350,000, was obtained 
 in 1912 for the collection of Mr. J. E. Taylor, of the 
 " Manchester Guardian." 
 
 A big art sale has an atmosphere of its own ; there 
 is a sort of suppressed excitement, something akin 
 to that of a sporting crowd on the day of a classic race. 
 
 The excitement in question, however, does not seem 
 to affect the great dealers, seemingly quiet, easy- 
 going men who make their bids with a sort of automatic 
 calm, quite devoid of ostentation.
 
 VII 
 OUR MASTERS 
 
 TN common fairness, it must be admitted that 
 politicians of to-day have to deal with far more 
 
 difficult and complicated questions than ever con- 
 fronted their Victorian predecessors. 
 
 The eclipse of several Great Powers, and the creation 
 of a number of small states, has created an entirely 
 new situation in European politics, while it has not 
 conduced towards that stability which it should be the 
 aim of statesmen to promote. 
 
 Though the problems are great, those who attempt 
 to solve them seem light-hearted enough. 
 
 There was, for instance, a good deal of levity during 
 the Conference at Cannes, the scene of the burlesque 
 lesson of golf given to M. Briand which sent the latter 
 into retirement. 
 
 Without any doubt the fall of the French Premier 
 was due to the irritation engendered among Frenchmen 
 at the sight of pictures of their Prime Minister on the 
 links with photographers and cinematographers in 
 attendance. Jazz bands, it was said, were a prominent 
 feature of these Riviera junketings ! 
 
 In Paris it was rumoured that the next Conference 
 would take place at Chamonix, Mr. Lloyd George 
 being anxious to teach Monsieur Briand how to 
 toboggan. 
 
 The comments of the French Press on the picnic 
 
 160
 
 OUR MASTERS 161 
 
 at Cannes were scathing in the extreme not that they 
 objected to golf, but because the spectacle of one elderly 
 Premier giving another elderly Premier comic lessons 
 in the game seemed to them undignified as well as 
 unseemly in connexion with deliberations of a serious 
 and highly important character. 
 
 The English public, however, does not seem to be 
 able to understand this point of view, and remains 
 mute as a giraffe. Accustomed as it is to every sort 
 of expensive extravagance on the part of its political 
 rulers, this little comic interlude seemed merely in- 
 offensive and cheap. 
 
 Think, however, what effect such proceedings as took 
 place at Cannes would have produced on a former 
 generation. 
 
 If at the Conference of Berlin Lord Beaconsfield had 
 undertaken to teach Prince Bismarck to ride a bicycle 
 and insisted upon running him up the street with 
 photographers in attendance, the public of the day 
 would not have thought it very funny. 
 
 "Autres temps, autres mceurs," however; at pre- 
 sent almost any antics executed by people in the 
 limelight are greeted with tolerance, if not approval. 
 
 For the present, however, it would seem that we 
 are to be deprived of any further developments of 
 what the French call " Cinema-diplomacy," those 
 light-Jiearted, if not inexpensive gatherings of pro- 
 fessional politicians, at which besides teaching some 
 foreign Premier golf, Mr. Lloyd George, like a conjurer 
 producing a rabbit, triumphantly extracts some vague 
 resolution or other from the depths of his coat-tails. 
 
 Whatever he may produce from his own pocket the 
 British Premier is certainly clever at making other 
 people turn out theirs. 
 
 Never has the tax-gatherer displayed such ruthless 
 rapacity as under the Lloyd-Georgian regime ! 
 ii
 
 162 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 " Little Welsh Wizard ! " said a sorely-tried citizen, 
 ruefully looking through a pile of forms connected with 
 the confiscation of a third of his annual revenue, under 
 the name of Income Tax. " Little Welsh Blizzard " 
 would be a better nickname considering the devastating 
 activities of the Government over which he presides ! 
 
 One great illusion under which English politicians 
 seem to suffer is that any question, however serious it 
 may be, or any friction between Nations can be effect- 
 ually settled by the use of pens, ink and paper. 
 
 Treaties and agreements they think capable of 
 creating a new heaven and a new earth. The bad faith 
 of Germany in 1914 has apparently made no impression 
 upon them at all. 
 
 It would be far better for the peace of Europe if 
 these gentlemen would realize that as long as the world 
 lasts individuals from time to time are sure to arise 
 who will say, as Alexander I of Russia once said to 
 Talleyrand : " You are always talking to me of prin- 
 ciples. As if your public law were anything to me ; I 
 do not know what it means. What do you suppose 
 all your parchments and your treaties signify ? ' 
 
 A modern English characteristic is an idea that human 
 nature can be changed. In spite of the cold, hard 
 lessons of experience we are perpetually being told 
 that war is going to be ended and that all mankind is 
 about to settle down to a perpetual peace. 
 
 The day when force of arms settles differences is (we 
 are informed) about to pass away, nations in future 
 willingly consenting to adjust all differences in a 
 friendly manner. 
 
 " No miller ever turned the current of water from 
 his own mill," and, except under compulsion, no 
 nation will ever consent to conditions adverse to its 
 own interests. 
 
 Politicians and philanthropists may prate about the
 
 OUR MASTERS 163 
 
 New Era, and cite the superiority of moral force to 
 cannon, while Mr. Lloyd George reiterates his forecast 
 as to the "golden dawn." When anything which 
 really stirs one nation against another occurs the result 
 as in the past will be strife such is the law of Nature 
 which no one can repeal. 
 
 The flabby attitude adopted by sentimental politi- 
 cians does anything but increase the prestige of England 
 abroad, where incalculable harm has been done by 
 idle babble concerning self-determination and other 
 fallacious nostrums. 
 
 Democratic institutions, no doubt, have come to 
 stay for a while, nevertheless all the world does not 
 agree as to their unqualified success. 
 
 Norway, for instance, proclaimed not a Republic 
 but a Monarchy, because, in the words of Nansen, 
 the Norwegians wished for domestic peace, alliances 
 abroad and an economical administration at home 
 three things that are rarely associated with Republics. 
 
 In France the nation has practically recovered from 
 the political fever known to history as the Great 
 Revolution. 
 
 The English, on the other hand, are just beginning 
 to be affected by that tremendous event, the aims and 
 ideas of which most of them but imperfectly under- 
 stand. 
 
 Incoherence not infrequently marks some of the 
 movements promoted by persons carried away by 
 what to them are new ideas. 
 
 Within recent years, for instance, a number of the 
 clergy have begun to profess what they call " Christian 
 Socialism." This is surely somewhat curious, if not 
 irregular, behaviour in the servants of a state-sup- 
 ported Church ? 
 
 The idea seems to be to capture the Proletariat, 
 but it is unlikely that such methods will attract any
 
 164 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 large body of intelligent workers. Socialism by its 
 very nature must be more or less hostile to all Churches. 
 The Revolutionists of 1789 dealt with priests in a most 
 drastic way, and on the Continent advanced Radicalism 
 never fails to proclaim its hostility to all forms of 
 religion. 
 
 From the point of view of increasing the popularity 
 of the established Church this is but another of a 
 long series of mistakes made since the Oxford move- 
 ment drove a large number of Low Church working- 
 men and labourers into the arms of the Nonconformists. 
 
 The Bishops, it is true, have hitherto not made any 
 open profession of Socialistic tenets. They content 
 themselves with loud clamouring for drastic laws and 
 regulations to check the tide of intemperance and vice 
 which their own teaching has apparently been totally 
 unable to stem. 
 
 A more lamentable confession of failure than this it 
 is difficult to imagine. 
 
 The idea that Socialism and Religion can go hand 
 in hand is utterly fallacious. " The Democracy of 
 which Christian Socialists profess to be so fond will 
 probably not tolerate priestcraft any more than auto- 
 crats. Incompetent and corrupt Ministers are the 
 ruin of Monarchs. Intolerance and claims to infalli- 
 bility drive men out of the Church. God and Kings 
 suffer for the faults of their servants." 
 
 Though laws, or rather their enforcement, are based 
 merely upon the power to enforce them, our public 
 men are always jabbering about the failure of physical 
 force to bring about any desired end. 
 
 How they have the face to do this, in view of their 
 constant practice of yielding to it, passes belief. 
 
 In small matters the slightest show of physical 
 force frightens our Government so much that it 
 invariably gives in almost immediately.
 
 OUR MASTERS 165 
 
 Women got the vote mainly, if not entirely, because 
 they made themselves a nuisance to Ministers, who 
 went in constant fear of assault. 
 
 The " Treaty " with the Irish Free State is an even 
 more striking example, for, quibble and misrepresent 
 as much as you like, it was in sober truth nothing but 
 a triumph of the gunmen. 
 
 And now, in spite of the lesson which had to be so 
 dearly learnt, here are our flabby humanitarians once 
 more crying out against the French merely because 
 the latter realize that unless they safeguard themselves 
 Teutonic hordes will again be devastating Europe. 
 
 1 " Blind, Blind, the dead your folly killed cry out, 
 Remember, now and ever, France sees clear ! " 
 
 Certain public men go about ridiculing any idea 
 of Germany wanting a revenge, and some of them 
 actually have the impertinence to blame France for 
 keeping up an efficient army. 
 
 These are the same sort of people who wanted to 
 leave Poland (which the French eventually saved) to 
 the tender mercies of the Bolsheviks. 
 
 And they go on prating about humanity and pro- 
 gress ! English politicians however are not the only 
 people who seem hypnotized by the idea that crimes 
 connived at by individuals who have managed to 
 seize the reins of government no longer count. The 
 King of Italy, according to all reports, dined quite 
 cheerfully with the Bolsheviks at Genoa, no thought 
 of the poor murdered Czar having apparently spoilt 
 his dinner. 
 
 The Monarchs of a past age took a very different 
 view of that sort of thing. 
 
 Joseph II, Emperor of Austria, being on his way 
 to Brest stopped a whole day to examine the fine 
 
 1 From a poem by Clyde Furst in the " Forum."
 
 166 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 harbour of Nantes in Bretagne. It was at the time 
 of the insurrection of the United States of America 
 and the ships were all dressed with their colours, in 
 compliment to the illustrious visitor to Nantes. Among 
 them the new flag of the insurgents, on which were 
 thirteen stars, a symbol of the new constellation rising 
 in the west, was pointed out to the emperor, but the 
 latter turned away his eyes. " I cannot look at that," 
 said he to Count Menou, the commander of the place, 
 who attended him : " my trade is that of a royalist." 
 
 In spite of the unlimited bloodshed and murder of 
 recent times, the idea of past generations that man is 
 by nature perverse has been succeeded by a ridiculous 
 theory that he is by nature something of an angel. 
 
 The real truth is that there are very good people 
 and very bad people, the majority being something 
 between the two. 
 
 Without being a cynic of the school of Lord Byron, 
 who believed in the depravity of humanity in general, 
 and of himself in particular, one may be allowed to 
 express a doubt whether the majority of human beings 
 are as perfect as a certain school of Radicals is always 
 trying to make out. 
 
 The adjectival homage now so generally accorded 
 to the Proletariat is purely modern the old-fashioned 
 idea having been that the common people had more 
 than their fair share of original sin. 
 
 As a matter of fact all classes of the population, 
 making allowance for the difference in their environ- 
 ment, are equally virtuous and equally vicious. 
 
 The inhabitants of the slums, however, whose time 
 is fully taken up by a keen struggle to live, have 
 neither the leisure nor the mental capacity to form 
 sound and well-balanced opinions, which, after all, they 
 can scarcely be expected to do. 
 
 For this reason they are apt to become an easy prey
 
 OUR MASTERS 167 
 
 to designing agitators who, knowing they will not be 
 called to account, are ready to make every sort of 
 extravagant promise. 
 
 An agitator harangued a mob of workmen from a 
 smart motor. 
 
 " Comrades, you have got the eight-hour day ; 
 that's right enough, but only a beginning. You must 
 have the six-hour day, working only five days a week." 
 
 " Hurrah ! " cried the crowd. 
 
 " Naturally," continued the speaker, " your salaries 
 will be doubled, and in a short time you will have the 
 four-hour day." 
 
 The crowd cheered more heartily than ever. 
 
 " I may add," he went on, " that before long your 
 infamous employers will be made to bring your pay 
 to your houses." 
 
 Renewed cheering greeted this announcement, after 
 which the spokesman sank into his cushioned seat and 
 bade the chauffeur drive on. The latter, who, however, 
 apparently had little sympathy with his master's 
 sentiments, addressing the crowd as it made way for 
 the motor, said : 
 
 "One thing I do know, which is that whatever 
 happens, you men will always be made fools of." 
 
 Jabber about Democracy and Social Reform seems 
 strangely to appeal to the modern mob, whose gulli- 
 bility may some day undo the great work accomplished 
 by an England which endured but did not gesticulate. 
 
 The twentieth century, according to the Press, is 
 full of new movements and ideas, one of the chief of 
 which one gathers is the "New Comradeship of the 
 Sexes." 
 
 Exactly what this is seems to be obscure. As far 
 as can be made out the ultimate result is usually the 
 same as that of the older comradeship which has 
 prevailed since the Fall.
 
 168 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The notion that the relations between man and 
 woman have changed, or will ever change, is in reality 
 so outrageously ridiculous that it is not worth a 
 moment's discussion. 
 
 Social habits and customs may alter, but the immut- 
 able law of Nature, sublimely indifferent to such 
 paltry matters, ever continues to exercise its ruthless 
 sway. 
 
 A philosopher, who, unlike a number of his fellows, 
 was possessed of a considerable quantity of common- 
 sense, once said : " Man suffers from three great 
 illusions the first that happiness is to be found in 
 this world ; the second that it will be found in the next ; 
 and third and last that future generations will somehow 
 attain it." 
 
 As a matter of fact, as far as human intelligence, 
 which of necessity is finite, can divine, mankind appears 
 to move within a circle the limits of which it is never 
 allowed to pass. 
 
 This is why all chatter of new Eras is but idle 
 babble. The great mainsprings of human energy and 
 endeavour remain the same throughout the ages. 
 When their tension slackens it will merely show that 
 the vitality of the race is beginning to become exhausted 
 and that man, a creature who in his time conquered 
 all the animal creation and in some measure mastered 
 the forces of nature, is about to vanish from the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 The love of power, the love of woman and the love 
 of money remain the most powerful incentives in the 
 modern world as they were in the past. 
 
 The main purpose of Nature, as far as can be divined, 
 is the unlimited increase of every species. 
 
 In the case of animals, insects and birds, various 
 circumstances act as a check. 
 
 In the case of man, who has conquered all other
 
 OUR MASTERS 169 
 
 animals, a great number of natural checks have been 
 removed, with the result that humanity is possibly 
 heading for the greatest catastrophe the world has 
 ever known. 
 
 There is no doubt whatever that in Europe one of 
 the principal causes of poverty, misery, and social 
 unrest, is the enormous increase of population, which 
 has occurred during the last hundred years. 
 
 This is, of course, the real problem of the modern 
 European world without doubt it is responsible for 
 much poverty and suffering and, without anyone 
 having realized it, was one of the true causes of the 
 Great War. 
 
 If a bowl be filled with water it will slop over after 
 it has reached the brim, and no power on earth, secular 
 or ecclesiastical, will ever stop it from doing so. 
 
 The world's food supply increases so slowly that 
 except among the well-to-do classes only a small 
 percentage of couples are able properly to feed more 
 than three children. 
 
 Large families among the poor, who unhappily are 
 the very people apt to have them, are in reality a 
 source of national weakness rather than strength. 
 Unemployment, social unrest, and misery are the direct 
 outcome of such a state of affairs. 
 
 Curiously enough France, which is the only country 
 which keeps its population within bounds rather 
 too much so as a matter of fact is not infrequently 
 called decadent on that account. 
 
 We hear little, however, about the small amount of 
 unemployment which exists across the Channel as 
 contrasted with the two million " out of works " in 
 our own over-populated country ! 
 
 It is unlikely that poverty and unemployment will 
 ever entirely cease to exist. Socialism, Communism 
 and all the other isms at best can be but palliatives
 
 170 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 of an amateurish and ineffective kind. The one real 
 remedy, which possibly some enlightened generation 
 of the future may see fit to recognize, is the limitation 
 of a country's population in proportion to that 
 country's natural and industrial resources. 
 
 The subject of posterity opens up unlimited specula- 
 tion, so much so, indeed, that anyone indulging in it is 
 liable to the same rebuff as was once administered to a 
 tedious speaker by Henry Clay. " You, sir," said the 
 orator, " speak for the present generation ; but I 
 speak for posterity." 
 
 " Yes," was the reply, " and you seem resolved not 
 to stop until the arrival of your audience." 
 
 Very few politicians present a genial appearance 
 before posterity. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the majority of great men, or 
 men who think themselves great, are too much occupied 
 with what the world calls serious affairs to pay much 
 attention to social amenities. 
 
 Samuel Pepys certainly does present a genial 
 appearance, but then with all his merits he cannot 
 be called "great." 
 
 It is the men of pleasure whose doings are deplored 
 by their contemporaries who interest and amuse the 
 generations which follow after them. 
 
 Casanova (whom I recently saw classed as a notorious 
 criminal, a good instance of Anglo-Saxon ignorance 
 or cant) has left a fascinating record of his adven- 
 turous life, which forms a human document of the 
 highest interest. 
 
 Mr. Hickey, who rollicked about eighteenth-century 
 London and other places, conveys an idea of unre- 
 strained gaiety in his Memoirs. 
 
 Is there a student of human nature who would 
 not prefer to spend an evening with either of the 
 above mentioned two in preference to having a
 
 OUR MASTERS 171 
 
 solemn dinner with some great politician or lawyer 
 of the past ? 
 
 While politicians are far more in the limelight 
 than literary men during their lives, the latter have 
 their revenge as regards the estimation of posterity. 
 
 The letters of great statesmen, as a rule, fetch a very 
 small sum, while those of celebrated literary men often 
 command large prices. 
 
 As for minor politicians, their doings soon pass into 
 utter and eternal oblivion, while the humblest scribbler 
 stands a chance of being resurrected as a curious or 
 interesting writer by some future age. 
 
 Most of our latter-day politicians are in their daily 
 life scarcely such serious men as those of the past. 
 
 It was not natural for the latter to be frivolous, and 
 the occasions on which they relaxed were rare. 
 
 Lord Derby said that Gladstone's "jokes were no 
 laughing matter " ; be this as it may, very few of them 
 seem to have been recorded. 
 
 On one occasion, when being entertained by the 
 head of a great condiment-making firm, he did, however, 
 sum up the situation very neatly. 
 
 A long string of Colemans having been led up to 
 be introduced to him, the Grand Old Man as he sat 
 down to dinner said : "I see we are all ' mustard 
 here.' " 
 
 The Grand Old Man had rather a limited vision 
 as to the inhabitants of foreign countries. 
 
 Native Christians under Mohammedan rule, for 
 instance, he always imagined as law-abiding, religious 
 folk, leading much the same kind of orderly life as his 
 own villagers at Hawarden, to whom he read the 
 lessons every Sunday. 
 
 Though his opponents accused him of insincerity, 
 he was sincere enough according to his own lights. 
 
 When he had doubts about the real merits of any
 
 172 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 measure which it seemed advisable to bring forward, 
 he always set out to convince himself first, and, 
 invariably succeeding in the task, was then able to 
 support it with real fervour. 
 
 Oratory in Gladstone's day counted for a good 
 deal more than now, but then there were finer orators. 
 At the present day there are few politicians capable 
 of holding an audience enthralled. 
 
 Certain speakers rely greatly on the talents of the 
 reporters ; they mutter, they stutter, and leave out 
 half sentences, and next morning at breakfast it is 
 quite a pleasure to see what a lucid, reasonable, and 
 consistent speech they have managed to deliver. 
 
 The best way for a speaker to ensure a good re- 
 ception is, of course, that employed in Soviet Russia, 
 where the art of riveting the attention of an audience 
 is thoroughly understood. 
 
 Trotsky, for instance, always obtains an enthusiastic 
 hearing, the method employed being for the " red 
 sailors " accompanying him to fire a volley into the 
 crowd should the great Humanitarian's remarks not 
 be greeted with sufficient warmth. 
 
 As this is well known, the arrival of his private 
 train is always the signal for extraordinary enthusiasm 
 on the part of those unfortunate enough to find them- 
 selves in the railway station. 
 
 This train, by the by, though the exterior is 
 adorned with brightly coloured scenes of workers 
 enjoying the blessings of Communism, has an interior 
 rather more luxurious than that used by the murdered 
 
 Czar. 
 
 ***** 
 
 One of the tragedies of modern England is the 
 insignificant result produced on the people in general 
 by our elaborate and extravagant system of education. 
 
 There are three kinds of ignorance. Ignorance
 
 OUR MASTERS 173 
 
 pure and simple miscomprehension of what one 
 does know and the wrong sort of knowledge. 
 
 The second, it would appear, is most prevalent 
 among the general public. The great mass of the 
 populace only see as far as the end of their noses, 
 and cannot realize that the study of the past is useful 
 because it enables mankind to understand the present 
 and future. 
 
 One's whole lifetime should be an education. We 
 ought to learn everything we can from how to talk 
 to how to die. 
 
 A fair estimate of the educational progress of the 
 British people can be formed from occasional visits to 
 Museums. 
 
 Mr. Raikes, a Postmaster-General of the 'nineties, 
 once declared that a member of the Cabinet, being 
 curious to see how the public appreciated the 180,000 
 a year voted to encourage science and art at South 
 Kensington, one fine day paid a private visit to the 
 collections on view there. Room after room and 
 gallery after gallery contained no visitors at all, 
 but at last he came to a man at a desk who was 
 earnestly reading. Peeping over his shoulder the 
 Minister found that the object of the visitor's study 
 was the "Sporting Times" or "Pink 'Un." 
 
 As a matter of fact, the study of history and of 
 the past seems antipathetic to the modern English 
 mind. Even those whose lives are passed in places 
 identified with famous events and people are apt to 
 pay slight attention to historical accuracy. 
 
 When King Edward VII, 1 then Prince of Wales, 
 visited Canterbury on 29 May, 1897, the Dean is 
 reported as having referred to Edward, the Black 
 Prince, as the Prince's ancestor. As a matter of 
 fact, both the Black Prince's sons died childless. 
 1 "Notes and Queries," 8th Series, 24 July, 1897.
 
 174 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The Mayor of another city in Kent paid much the 
 same dubious compliment to Queen Victoria, who he 
 said was descended from Queen Elizabeth and Queen 
 Mary I, neither of whom had any legal offspring. 
 
 Considering the slight value that the majority 
 put upon intellectual merit as compared with pro- 
 ficiency at games or athletics, it is really surprising 
 that the huge sums squandered without any adequate 
 return do not arouse more serious protests. 
 
 A peculiar feature about the modern Englishman, 
 however, is his partiality for expensive schools. 
 Though he himself may never open a book, he will 
 nevertheless expatiate on the necessity for other 
 people doing so. 
 
 Every one seems to want every one else to be highly 
 educated, especially at the public expense. 
 
 Amiable " Highbrows," such as that expensive 
 Minister for Education, Mr. H. A. Fisher, who, having 
 passed his early years eagerly acquiring knowledge, 
 thinks that everyone else should be made to do the 
 same. 
 
 When compulsory education was introduced some 
 fifty years ago, high expectations were entertained 
 as to its wonderful results these expectations have 
 not been justified. 
 
 Enormous sums of money have been absolutely 
 wasted, whereas, had a sound policy of simple common- 
 sense teaching been followed, the populace would 
 not have remained as hopelessly ignorant as it is 
 to-day. 
 
 It is notorious that very few children leave an 
 elementary school with sufficient knowledge to read 
 a daily paper with intelligence. 
 
 We have the faddists to thank for this, as for many 
 other costly idiocies perpetrated in the name of 
 progress.
 
 OUR MASTERS 175 
 
 The enormous sum expended upon education includes 
 43,800,000 for the salaries of elementary teachers 
 alone during the present financial year (1922), nor 
 does this take into account the amount which will 
 eventually be required for their pensions. 
 
 In 1913-14 only 16,416,000 had to be spent in 
 this way. It will thus be seen that the elementary 
 teachers in question cost 27,384,000 per annum 
 more than they did before the war. 
 
 Fisherism, and the somewhat dubious system of 
 education which it stands for, is very costly, and the 
 unfortunate taxpayer may well be allowed to inquire 
 whether the ever-growing expenditure which he has 
 to support yields any adequate results. 
 
 The results of allowing intellectual wastrels to 
 spend enormous sums of the public money on their 
 peculiar fads are anything but satisfactory, as a 
 thorough and impartial investigation would show. 
 
 Quite a large number of children leave school 
 just as ignorant as when they first entered it. In 
 January, 1921, a manager of the West End Chobham 
 school moved a resolution against paying a man 10 
 a week to teach children of 14, who, if given a para- 
 graph in a newspaper to read, were unable to do it ! 
 
 The experts of the Board of Education declare that 
 children learn nothing during the last three years of 
 the elementary course. 
 
 " And that," tritely remarked an astute critic, 
 " is why they want to create an immense and ex- 
 pensive network of secondary and continuation schools 
 to make good the shortcomings of the elementary 
 ones ! ' 
 
 What children do learn is in many instances the 
 very opposite of what a proper system of education 
 should inculcate. The school medical officer for 
 Rutland, in a recent annual report, said that he had
 
 176 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 heard a schoolgirl of 13, who had been told to go 
 on an errand by her mother, coolly inform the latter 
 that such work as " running errands " was illegal 
 under the Act of Parliament governing the employ- 
 ment of children out of school hours ! 
 
 If our modern educational system has failed to 
 justify the hopes of those who first started it, it has, 
 at all events, more or less abolished the cockney 
 twang and the habit of putting H's where they are 
 not wanted and vice versa. The speech of all classes 
 has been assimilated, while phrases and locutions 
 which were peculiar to certain callings have been 
 swept away. 
 
 Formerly the Universities had their slang, just 
 as the costermongers had theirs. 
 
 A special kind of slang was used by the inner circles 
 of the fashionable world. The specialities of all these 
 various idioms, however, were not interchangeable, 
 nor, for the most past, intelligible outside each par- 
 ticular set, which made use of them. 
 
 Incidentally, popular education has practically swept 
 local dialects away ; here and there something of the 
 old intonation may linger, but of the old idioms and 
 phraseology little or nothing remains. 
 
 There appears to have been some few changes in 
 pronunciation since George the Third was King. 
 
 " Oblige " was then certainly pronounced " obleege," 
 which after all is merely what it is in its original 
 French. " Gold " seems also to have been called 
 "gould," and "James," " Jeames," while the "a" 
 in " danger," " stranger," and the like, appears to 
 have been sounded as it is in " man." 
 
 On the whole, however, the difference between the 
 English spoken then and that spoken now was probably 
 not very great. 
 
 Walter Savage Landor always dropped his aspirates
 
 OUR MASTERS 177 
 
 and habitually spoke of 'and, 'ead and 'ouse ! He 
 was, it is said, the only man in his position in life 
 who did so ; considering his genius and culture such 
 a lapse seems very strange. 
 
 The cockney habit in question has now to a great 
 extent disappeared. In its palmy days it occasionally 
 produced complications. 
 
 A certain well-known Bishop whose name began 
 with L, having one day arrived at Paddington, could 
 not find his luggage in spite of the fact that his name 
 was clearly to be read on every article of it. 
 
 This he attempted to explain to a porter, who was 
 very busy bustling about the van. " Oh ! that's 
 your name, is it," he understood the man to say, 
 " then the best thing you can do is to go to hell." 
 
 The Bishop, who was very pompous, was, perhaps 
 not unnaturally, much upset at this and determined 
 to report the porter to the authorities, who in due 
 course assumed a very sympathetic attitude towards 
 the complaint of the indignant divine, the offender, 
 whom they assumed to have been drunk, being ordered 
 to furnish his explanation. 
 
 "Well, sir," said he to the chairman of the Board 
 before whom he appeared, " what could I do ? I 
 was very busy at the time and when the gentleman 
 told me his name was Luscombe, I thought the best 
 thing I could do was to tell him to go to L for his 
 luggage. He'd have found it there all right." 
 
 It was indeed, as the Bishop eventually agreed, 
 a case of a misplaced aspirate, special spaces marked 
 with the letters of the alphabet being reserved for 
 passengers' luggage. The authorities, while ex- 
 plaining the man's mistake, regretted that their 
 porters, who were rarely anything but civil, seemed 
 quite unable to learn how to say L correctly. 
 
 12
 
 VIII 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 
 
 THE contention that no one should criticize his 
 or her own country, besides being absurd, is 
 unpatriotic. 
 
 Protests against tyranny of no matter what kind, 
 either serious or comparatively insignificant, have 
 never done a country anything but good, and as at the 
 present time England is suffering from a recrudescence 
 of that Puritan fanaticism which perpetually calls for 
 needless laws and regulations, it is a positive duty to 
 denounce the faddists who have already obtained 
 dominance over their somewhat lethargic country- 
 men. 
 
 Every faddist, of no matter what kind, is at heart a 
 tyrant, and as such deserves the hatred and contempt 
 of those who have the slightest conception of, or 
 regard for, the rights of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Across the Atlantic social liberty now scarcely 
 exists. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour 
 has become a humiliating sight for any thoughtful 
 American on his return from a country like France, 
 for he must realize that as it comes in view all real 
 liberty is left behind. 
 
 In England things as yet are not quite so bad. 
 Nevertheless fanatics are everywhere and always 
 demanding laws preventing people doing things of 
 which Puritanism disapproves ; if our so-called Social 
 
 178
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 179 
 
 Reformers are allowed to have their way, England will 
 be made about as " free " as it was in the days when 
 people were burnt for their religious opinions. 
 
 When the present writer attacked modern British 
 hypocrisy in " May fair and Montmartre," certain 
 critics declared that his view was an exaggerated 
 one. 
 
 Speaking of this to a well-known business man, 
 moderately fond of amusement, the latter agreed that 
 the extent of modern English hypocrisy was almost 
 unbelievable. " Think of this/' said he, "if I, who 
 am fond of a pleasant evening, go to a Bohemian 
 supper-party or to a night-club, a day or two later 
 a number of my business colleagues are sure to be 
 informed of it, the news, typewritten as a rule, being 
 underlined in red." 
 
 There is little social freedom in London, every one 
 is afraid of every one else. 
 
 Owing to a certain inclination to allow matters to 
 slide, the Londoner of the present day good-naturedly 
 ignores interference with his liberties, the result of 
 which is that those who spend their time curtailing 
 them are emboldened in the " Killjoy " crusade. 
 
 Any one who protests is also liable to be denounced 
 as a supporter of vice. 
 
 The distinction between state-imposed virtue and 
 the natural growth of civilization is not obvious to 
 people who do not trouble their brains about the 
 principles of ordinary freedom and justice. 
 
 What should be the work of the Priest has become 
 that of the Policeman. 
 
 Nevertheless, no permanent improvement of a 
 nation's habits or morals can be effected by physical 
 force. The withdrawal of the guardians of law and 
 order, notwithstanding all boasts of social progress, 
 would certainly be followed by an outburst of dissipa-
 
 i8o YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 tion such as would astonish the easy-going, comfortable 
 class which is ready to believe that the wayward 
 passions of humanity can be effectually stifled. 
 
 An example of this occurred during the police strike, 
 when some astounding scenes were enacted in certain 
 parts of the West End. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the streets are once more well 
 lit, London is sadder by night than it was in the days 
 when the old hansom cabs plied for hire. Unlike 
 Paris, where the possibilities of nocturnal adventure 
 are great, and where people are free to stay up as 
 long as they like, there is a sort of smug " won't do 
 to be late " kind of feeling in the air. 
 
 For some inexplicable reason early hours are more 
 or less imposed upon the Londoner whether he likes 
 them or not, it being the opinion of those who watch 
 over his life and morals that to go to bed late is not 
 "respectable." 
 
 The modern English, indeed, believe in plenty of 
 sleep. 
 
 Sleep indeed ! Our Solons are always talking about 
 sleep ! And the time we can snatch from slumber is 
 so short ! 
 
 Goodness knows, all of us in the natural course of 
 events will get enough of it twenty-four hours round 
 the clock without stopping, which is all the more reason 
 to get a little fun and amusement out of life while it is 
 still possible for us to be awake. 
 
 London probably is the only capital in the world 
 where out of war time the authorities would dare to 
 make early going to bed compulsory. 
 
 At the beginning of May, 1922, Scotland Yard was 
 pleased to announce that it had decided to grant no 
 more special permits for the extension of the drink 
 hours at West End Restaurants on two nights a week ; 
 a privilege which for two years had been a popular
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 181 
 
 feature of West End life was thus, for no particular 
 reason, withdrawn. 
 
 This shutting down of places which are recognized 
 as having always been well conducted is typical of the 
 way in which Londoners are bullied into virtue ! 
 
 The smartly turned out mounted policeman with his 
 Prussian cap is truly not an unfitting symbol of the 
 modern spirit which has dragooned London into an 
 austerity which would have considerably astonished 
 citizens of the 'sixties or even the 'eighties. 
 
 Dora dealt a severe blow to what is called the night 
 life of London, and though to some extent restrictions 
 have been relaxed the sitting up habit which, whatever 
 its evils, conduced to good fellowship and conviviality, 
 has not been revived. The West End indeed seems 
 to have entered upon a permanent phase of dull- 
 ness. 
 
 The convivial licence which prevailed in London 
 some sixty years ago can hardly be realized to-day. 
 It is all very well to say that such a state of affairs 
 was really nothing but the leavings of the " Tony 
 Lumbkin age," it was something more than that. 
 The Cider Cellars in Maiden Lane, the " Coal Hole " 
 in the Strand, and a number of kindred resorts, may 
 not have furnished a very elevating form of enter- 
 tainment, but they were the expression of a certain 
 side (not the best) of the English character, and as such 
 were of greater interest than the milk and watery 
 songs of to-day which nine times out of ten are the 
 expression of nothing at all. 
 
 Over-regulation, apathy and a certain heaviness of 
 mind, have now banished anything like spontaneous 
 gaiety from the metropolis. Ultra-respectability, the 
 great fetish of modern England, is violently hostile to 
 anything but purely conventional enjoyment. 
 
 This state of affairs is to some degree caused by
 
 182 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 climate and race, the main reason for it, however, is 
 the state of mind of the inhabitants. 
 
 That London was formerly almost as gay a city as 
 Paris we know from the chronicles of the eighteenth 
 century. Even in mid- Victorian days open-air pleasure 
 resorts were accessible to all. 
 
 The average Englishman, except in very rare cases, 
 can no more forget his respectability than he can get 
 rid of his shadow. 
 
 The word " improper " is the badge of his slavery. 
 Let anything, however natural in itself, be tabooed 
 by having this sacred label fastened upon it, and he 
 will shrink from it as from an object tainted by the 
 plague. 
 
 Highly courageous, from a physical point of view, 
 he is too often a moral coward, fearful of what the 
 world, and more particularly his neighbours, will say 
 or think. 
 
 Owing to his three meals a day, abundance of 
 slumber, and lack of imagination, originality is not 
 his strong point. 
 
 From a conversational point of view he is usually 
 quite lamentable. 
 
 On the other hand, his judgment is said to be good, 
 but it is not astonishing that anyone who so rarely 
 dares to give his views, should not often be wrong ? 
 
 The Frenchman, on the other hand, while often 
 insincere and devious in his ways, almost invariably 
 has the courage of his opinions. 
 
 Sceptical and highly tenacious of personal liberty, 
 he cares nothing for what others think. Endowed with 
 a very active imagination, his tongue easily runs riot, 
 when the most unrestrained utterances flow from his 
 lips. 
 
 " Are you married ? " asked an English lady of a 
 vivacious Parisian.
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 183 
 
 "No, Madame," was the reply, "I am only a 
 poacher." 
 
 The Parisian accustomed to the freedom of his own 
 beautiful City cannot understand how a civilized people 
 can allow themselves to be bamboozled by fanatics 
 whose idea of progress would seem to consist in the 
 early closing of restaurants, the suppression of night 
 clubs, and the hounding of wretched women from 
 pillar to post ! It is to be hoped that when our very 
 costly system of national education does make a 
 real impression upon the people, they will take drastic 
 means to put an end to all this ill-considered and 
 unnecessary solicitude for their " Heaven save the 
 mark ! " moral welfare. 
 
 At present harassing regulations and unnecessary 
 ordinances, which would not have been tolerated before 
 the war, scarcely arouse hostile comment. The most 
 ridiculous theories are allowed to pass unchallenged, 
 while the faddist, with his useless and gloomy schemes 
 for producing an impossible, if ideal, world, stalks 
 abroad unchecked. 
 
 There is an explanation for this which may be true. 
 
 The French and Germans have been accustomed to 
 fight one another almost from immemorial antiquity ; 
 the Great War for them, therefore, was merely a bigger 
 one than those which had gone before. On the 
 Continent warfare indeed is far more of an ordinary 
 incident of existence than for the English, who in such 
 wars as they waged in the past, generally sent but a 
 small number of troops a sort of football team to 
 stiffen and strengthen the nation or nations which 
 they wanted to win. 
 
 In the Great War, however, for the first time, the 
 sanguinary actualities of warfare were brought home 
 to England, while all its young manhood had to take 
 up arms.
 
 184 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The result, though the English are naturally unwilling 
 to acknowledge it, is that the whole nation more or 
 less is unconsciously suffering from shock. 
 
 This is possibly why the people put up with so much 
 which their forefathers would have bitterly and actively 
 resented. 
 
 As a matter of fact, there is no doubt but that from 
 the point of view of intelligence and common sense the 
 modern English are inferior, not only to their forbears, 
 but to our allies of the Great War across the Channel. 
 
 An English resident in Paris who had not been in 
 London for five or six years, after spending six weeks 
 in the latter city, said : " The thing which strikes me 
 about modern London is its childishness. A sort of 
 infantile love of control for control's sake seems to 
 dominate the metropolis." 
 
 One of the results of this mania was the creation 
 of the Women Police that strange body of females, 
 one of whose chief functions, according to a cynic, was 
 
 " To spy 
 On those who gave the gladsome eye." 
 
 Speaking in the House of Commons, the Home 
 Secretary, Mr. Shortt, said : 
 
 " The fact of the matter was that wherever they 
 had employed policewomen, they had been obliged to 
 employ policemen to protect them in case of need. 
 He was stating facts." 
 
 As a result of an inquiry by experts it was found that 
 the pay, uniform, rent and establishment charges in 
 connexion with a force of a hundred women constables 
 and their officers cost nearly 50,000 a year. 
 
 The authorities, after a thorough and lengthy trial 
 of the women patrols, became convinced that while 
 not a necessity, they were too expensive to maintain 
 as a luxury.
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 185 
 
 In this view they were supported by the Geddes 
 Economy Committee, who in their report stated that 
 the utility of women from a police point of view was 
 negligible. It might have been imagined that anyone 
 possessed of sense would have known this without the 
 help of Experts and Committees. Nevertheless, in 
 order to please the faddists, no serious protest against 
 this scandalous waste of public money was ever made 
 indeed, a certain section of cranks wished to increase 
 the number of women doing work for which women 
 by nature are totally unfit ! 
 
 If the metropolis is in certain respects curiously 
 Puritanical, its life is wild and rollicking compared to 
 that led by people in the provinces. The provincial 
 spirit fairly revels in restrictions and regulations, 
 while a peculiar narrowness permeates such amuse- 
 ments as it is good enough to permit. 
 
 No one has spoken out more sensibly on this subject 
 than Mr. Nevinson, that gifted artist, who possesses a 
 courage deserving of all praise. 
 
 Nothing could be better than his denunciation of 
 bourgeois Puritanism as exemplified in the black 
 monstrosity of Manchester. We are always hearing 
 about the joys of the higher life. The highbrows of 
 Manchester, says he, have produced nothing but 
 intellectual stagnation and " Manchester." 
 
 What can be more dreadful than the Provincial 
 Sunday, that triumph of middle-class bigotry and 
 intolerance ? 
 
 Though few realize it, the strict observance in question 
 is of purely Jewish origin. 
 
 Extreme dullness being not a natural part of the 
 religious theory of a Christian Sunday, the strictness 
 so dear to Nonconformists and others is not really due 
 to any religious convictions, but part of the homage 
 which the Middle Classes delight in paying to that
 
 i86 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 unknown divinity, who decides without appeal what 
 is and what is not improper. It is the same kind of 
 subservience which produces that love of superficial 
 decorum and represses every spontaneous impulse 
 likely to lead to momentary breaches of the strict 
 observance of propriety. 
 
 " A curious and amusing thing among you Chris- 
 tians/' said a clever Hebrew, fond of studying 
 various faiths, " is your adoption of our Sabbath, 
 which you quite wrongly believe to be connected with 
 your own religion, whereas in reality it belongs to 
 us." 
 
 Not content with dominating London, our self- 
 constituted guardians of morality have lately been 
 extending their energies farther afield. 
 
 Last year Ex-Councillor Clark very kindly under- 
 took to supervise the bathing at various watering- 
 places, while more recently an explosive moralist, 
 " Councillor Grimes," the representative of Staines 
 on the Thames Conservancy, expressed himself " scan- 
 dalized by the disgraceful river scenes and abandoned 
 river-goers who sully the fair Thames from Staines to 
 Maidenhead." 
 
 English watering-places are especially apt to be 
 dominated by the Sabbatarian. A typical example 
 of this is Eastbourne, the streets of which abound in 
 preternatural virtue as well as trees. 
 
 No rowdy tourists invade the precincts of this 
 seaside resort, while the whole place exudes an air of 
 decorum calculated to overawe any Bohemian pleasure- 
 seeker who may have strayed into one of the principal 
 strongholds of British respectability. 
 
 Bathing here on Sunday is prohibited after noon. 
 Formerly you might not bathe after nine ! 
 
 The most riotous form of recreation permitted on 
 the seventh day, is a walk or drive up to Beachy Head
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 187 
 
 this, I believe, has not yet been decreed to constitute 
 a Sabbath desecration ? 
 
 To be fair it must be admitted that for persons in 
 delicate health or with weak nerves, Eastbourne is 
 a restful retreat. 
 
 The strange confusion of mind which causes a large 
 section of the English bourgeoisie to imagine that 
 the strict observance of the Sabbath is part of the 
 Christian faith was recently exemplified at Leeds, 
 where the City Council forbade Sunday golf on the 
 municipal links. 
 
 It is possible, of course, that a preponderant 
 number of the ^Ediles in question were of the Sem- 
 itic race, in which case their action was quite logi- 
 cal. If, on the other hand, they claim to be Chris- 
 tians it was utterly absurd the ancient Rabbin- 
 ical restrictions on work or play during the Sabbath 
 day having nothing whatever to do with Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 Since the rather wild but merry old days of the 
 eighteenth century, Provincial towns for the most 
 part dominated by the middle-class spirit which is so 
 hostile to gaiety cannot be said to provide many 
 social amenities or amusements. 
 
 It is, however, not entirely fair to say that out of 
 London there is little intellectual ambition. There 
 is indeed a good deal, but those affected by it are 
 seldom content to remain out of London, which 
 sooner or later becomes the permanent abode of most 
 of the abler men. 
 
 As for the mass of the inhabitants of provincial 
 towns, they are content to get their intellectual life 
 down by the train in letters from London correspond- 
 ents, which generally give a very fair idea of what is 
 going on in the world in general. As a matter of fact, 
 many of the most successful Pressmen have graduated
 
 i88 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 in the provincial Press, a large section of which is now 
 admirably conducted. 
 
 From the point of view of social freedom British 
 colonies appear to be just as narrow-minded as pro- 
 vincial towns, which is probably partly why the great 
 City of the Thames exerts a wonderful charm over 
 those who by force of circumstances are obliged to 
 live far away. 
 
 " I just long to get back, my mind can never keep 
 away from London, although over 7,000 miles away," 
 wrote a charming lady from a somewhat remote region 
 of the African veldt. 
 
 " Somehow when you've lived in it, felt it, when 
 you've heard it, seen it, smelt it (glorious motor-buses, 
 etc.), it's London calling every day ! I conjure up 
 imaginary things in this sullen, sleepy silence and heat 
 thoughts of my friends, thoughts that thrill, thoughts 
 that set me longing for the music of the traffic in the 
 streets." 
 
 Exiles in such places hear dull old London calling 
 to them month by month ! 
 
 In the Colonies, Puritanism has of late years put 
 forth fine luxuriant growths. Johannesburg, where in 
 the 'nineties a good deal of ultra-Bohemianism pre- 
 vailed, allows no Sabbath amusements at all. Every 
 cinematograph show and every bar is closed ; the only 
 relaxation allowed being semi-sacred concerts at certain 
 clubs. 
 
 No wonder a correspondent branded the Johannes- 
 burg Sunday as being deadly dull. 
 
 On weekdays no night clubs exist, the nearest 
 approach being a very respectable so-called " Cabaret " 
 show on Friday nights at the Carlton Hotel. 
 
 Altogether the Middle-Class spirit seems to have 
 done its work very thoroughly in this mining town, 
 erstwhile reputed to be a centre of gambling and
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 189 
 
 hectic gaiety now more Sabbatarian than Paisley. 
 
 This " dullification " of Colonial towns, though 
 preferable to the lawless state of affairs which it in 
 some cases supersedes, without doubt acts as a deter- 
 rent to true colonization. 
 
 It is only natural that those who have accumulated 
 wealth in South Africa or Australia should sigh for 
 more social freedom. No wonder that the moment 
 a man's pile is made he loses no time in hastening back 
 to the more unfettered life of great European cities. 
 
 Some little time ago the " Brighter London Move- 
 ment " came into being. This, according to its 
 manifesto, among its other aims seeks to make London 
 less dull. One of the first efforts of its promoters was 
 a mild petition to the Licensing Magistrates beseeching 
 that august body not to rescind its decision to allow 
 certain Hotels and restaurants to supply alcohol with 
 supper. This began : 
 
 " We, the undersigned, wish to express our gratifi- 
 cation to the Licensing Magistrates of the area covered 
 by the theatres for their very kind interpretation of 
 the recent Licensing Act . . . and respectfully urge 
 that the concession thus granted may be made per- 
 manent." 
 
 Thus might a body of slaves address an Oriental 
 Despot ! 
 
 It seems a pity that the Brighter London Movement 
 should have adopted this cringing attitude towards 
 a number of Magistrates who while (unlike some of 
 their colleagues in other districts) deserving of some 
 praise, in reality did nothing more than carry out the 
 spirit of an Act of Parliament which was passed speci- 
 ally to accord a very moderate measure of social 
 liberty to London citizens. 
 
 Considering that it is an acknowledged fact that 
 many thousands of Americans and visitors of other
 
 190 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 nationalities have been driven away from London by 
 harassing regulations (with the result that vast sums 
 of money are spent abroad instead of here), it surely 
 was not necessary to adopt such an abject attitude as 
 regards this matter ? 
 
 Timidity is the great fault of modern English 
 defenders of Liberty, who rarely exhibit vivacity or 
 dash. 
 
 Contrast this attitude with that of the Puritans, who 
 meet their opponents with the cry of "A ' Brighter ' 
 means a ' Tighter ' London." 
 
 With unparalleled impudence one of these people 
 wrote to the papers claiming that London to-day, 
 with all its restrictions, is a much brighter city than 
 Paris ! 
 
 A more ridiculously mendacious statement than this 
 it is impossible to conceive ! As a matter of fact, 
 what has been somewhat unctuously described as " the 
 sobering discipline of the war," has quite blotted out 
 the former as a pleasure city ! 
 
 If those responsible for the Brighter London Move- 
 ment really mean business, they should first of all study 
 and then copy the methods of the other side, which 
 have been so eminently successful in producing a 
 Duller London. 
 
 Pious resolutions about beautifying the North and 
 South Side of the Thames Embankment will not curb 
 the activities of Teetotal fanatics ! 
 
 What is wanted is a common-sense programme of 
 war to the knife against Prigs and Puritans, whose 
 machinations should be ruthlessly exposed on every 
 possible occasion. 
 
 The energies of those concerned in the Brighter 
 London Movement have been well directed in 
 making the London Council consent to allow Sunday 
 games in the Parks. A number of senseless killjoys
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 191 
 
 having hitherto prevented the public from making 
 use on Sundays of 2,500 acres, every inch of which is 
 paid for by the people. Anything more monstrous 
 than this it was impossible to conceive ! 
 
 A characteristic contribution of the L.C.C. towards 
 the " brightening " of London was its demand for 
 powers to control any flags and banners suspended 
 across the streets. 
 
 Compliance with a number of tedious formalities 
 is just the thing to encourage people to decorate their 
 houses on gala occasions, and the result of this new 
 development will probably lead to no flags being 
 exhibited at all. 
 
 The Puritan spirit in its most obtrusive and narrow 
 form indeed permeates a number of the restrictions 
 and ordinances for which the L.C.C. is responsible. 
 
 Its ridiculous action with regard to the Midnight 
 Follies, and the admission, or rather non-admission, 
 of children under 16 to cinematograph performances, 
 are recent instances of the extreme to which narrow- 
 minded bigotry is capable of going. 
 
 The Cabaret idea, by the by, is not a new one, having 
 been in full swing in Paris during the early part of the 
 last century. The famous " diners du Vaudeville " held 
 at the Rocher de Cancale attracted numbers of people 
 to that restaurant. So great was the crowd that 
 private rooms, from which the songs could be heard, 
 were booked two months in advance. 
 
 Nor is the craze for dancing a novelty in the metro- 
 polis. 
 
 In the late 'forties of the last century much the same 
 kind of mania gradually seized pleasure-loving London. 
 
 Travellers came back from France with bright 
 legends of the joys to be found at the Chaumiere, 
 with its bosquets and Montagnes Russes ; of the 
 guinguettes on the outskirts of Paris ; of the Chateau
 
 192 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Rouge ; and lastly, of the glittering Bal Mabille, with 
 its palm-tree lights and trellises of bronze vines. 
 Much was written and heard of the ruling spirits of 
 Terpsichore, whose names were known all over Paris 
 " Mogador," la grande brune, the graceful Frisette 
 and Rigolette, of the veteran Chicard and of the 
 inimitable student Brididi le moulin perpetuel, as 
 he was called in the Quartier Latin whom no one could 
 approach in his wonderful gyrations. 
 
 From time to time we hear a good deal about the 
 beneficent effects of the County Council policy in the 
 way of having improved the morals of London. In all 
 probability the morals of London are in exactly the 
 same condition as if the County Council had never been 
 brought into existence. Nothing, however, will ever 
 induce our Killjoys to recognize this. The most 
 discreditable exploit in the way of moralization upon 
 which the County Council ever embarked was the 
 sending of paid spies to secure evidence against doubt- 
 ful massage establishments. The expenditure of public 
 money upon such a purpose was too much for one of 
 the London magistrates, who did anything but con- 
 gratulate the Council upon this disgusting, if novel, 
 method of attempting to secure convictions. 
 
 The activities of the L.C.C. are not by any means 
 limited to poking its nose into cinema palaces and 
 massage shops. 
 
 Sated with pornographic investigation and dis- 
 cussion, some of its members want to invent new 
 methods of impeding the traffic. 
 
 In February, 1922, the Ministry of Transport refused 
 the requests of the Highways Committee of the London 
 County Council to forbid vehicles from being driven 
 between stationary tramway-cars and the kerb, because 
 of the danger to passengers. 
 
 Wonderful London !
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 193 
 
 In justice to the County Council, however, it must be 
 admitted that of late years it has ceased to indulge 
 in philanthropic enterprise resulting in little but 
 increased taxation of the ratepayers. 
 
 One of these forgotten but expensive ventures was 
 " the Farmfield Colony for Drunkards." 
 
 This interesting social experiment in an existence 
 of ten years cost the ratepayers 100,000 without, of 
 course, materially affecting drunkenness. 
 
 Only 19 per cent of the six hundred cases dealt 
 with proved amenable to treatment whatever that 
 may mean, the percentage of cures was a good deal 
 less. 
 
 To return to the subject of the fabled " night life " 
 of the West End that nocturnal carnival of the 
 underworld which has long ceased to exist ! 
 
 After twelve o'clock at night there are comparatively 
 few people in the streets of the West End, the only 
 creatures freely allowed to amuse themselves after 
 that hour being the cats. The latter have enormously 
 increased in numbers within the last few years. 
 
 Certain thoroughfares are full of them, indeed these 
 feline wanderers and their loves bid fair to become 
 almost as much a feature of the metropolis as pariah 
 dogs formerly were of Constantinople. According to 
 a competent authority there are no less than 250,000 
 cats in the metropolis and their number continues to 
 increase unchecked. 
 
 Though a great fuss is made by the authorities as 
 to granting an extension of hours to restaurants, a 
 few well-conducted Clubs are occasionally allowed to 
 remain open till two. 
 
 Of these, Giro's and the Embassy easily distance all 
 
 their rivals, both of them, in addition to dancing and 
 
 first-class bands, providing excellent food, equal if not 
 
 better than that to be found at the best restaurants. 
 
 13
 
 194 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 It is a far cry from such decorous institutions to the 
 old Gardinia, or to the slightly more decorous resort of 
 night birds, named after the games inaugurated by 
 Sisyphus, the founder of Corinth in honour of the sea- 
 god Melicertes, for centuries annually celebrated on the 
 "Corinthian Isthmus." 
 
 The name " Corinthian," the Tom and Jerry associa- 
 tions of which had been made famous by Pierce Egan, 
 it is curious to note, was once rejected as the appella- 
 tion of a social Club for men of the Universities as 
 " Conveying a meaning of licentious fastness and 
 extravagance which no public-school man could afford 
 to countenance." 
 
 The Parliamentary Committee of the London Licen- 
 sing Justices in April became much concerned about 
 night clubs against which they wished active measures 
 to be taken. It is earnestly to be hoped that no 
 fuller powers will be extended to these gentlemen, 
 whose narrow-minded Puritan policy is a greater 
 menace to London than any night club can ever 
 be. 
 
 One of the objections urged against these resorts 
 was that they were places of refuge for women of a 
 certain character, a good instance of cruel middle-class 
 cant in its most unchristian aspect ! 
 
 Goodness knows local justices, who are not elected 
 and therefore have no mandate from the people, have 
 done too much harm already by their abominable 
 interpretation of the Licensing Act to be allowed any 
 further opportunities of enforcing their Puritan fads. 
 
 At the present time there would appear to be a 
 tendency towards even further interference with 
 freedom. 
 
 Licensing justices, owing to the careless drafting of 
 the Act of Parliament which was designed to restore 
 something of the liberty enjoyed by Londoners before
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 195 
 
 the war, have been cutting down the hour of serving 
 alcohol to 10. 
 
 The deliberations of the justices of the County of 
 London as to the closing of licensed premises show 
 what sort of people preside over our so-called liberties. 
 
 Speaking on 29 October, 1921, one of them, Mr. 
 Henwood, said there would be a " general demoraliza- 
 tion " of London if the closing hour were fixed at n 
 o'clock. 
 
 Another, Mr. Atwood, who was so good as to suggest 
 10.30, declared that the Justices had been " stampeded 
 into the question of later hours by the theatre pro- 
 prietors." 
 
 Mr. Atwood's amendment, however, having been 
 lost by 60 votes to 6, a resolution was passed that 
 the hour of closing for the whole of London should be 
 10 p.m. 
 
 The most suitable comment upon these proceedings 
 is the remark of a Frenchman who, having been asked 
 if any restrictions of this kind were likely to be adopted 
 in Paris, replied : " Our forefathers did not make 
 the Great Revolution in order that we should indulge 
 in such buffoonery." 
 
 The " drys " scored a victory on 14 November, 1921, 
 the Marylebone licensing justices deciding that the 
 closing hour for the borough should be 10 p.m. on 
 week-days and 9 p.m. on Sundays ! 
 
 A phalanx of clergy, led by the Bishop of Willesden, 
 was heard in opposition, though why the narrow- 
 minded views of these men representative of a class 
 which should not interfere with such matters carried 
 any weight it is difficult to understand. 
 
 While these Solons devote serious consideration to 
 the question of whether respectable people shall be 
 allowed to consume alcohol with their supper or whether 
 a particular district shall have its licence curtailed,
 
 196 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 unrestricted drinking goes on all night in certain 
 parts of London, the alcohol consumed being of the 
 worst and most fiery kind possible. 
 
 The petty and harassing restrictions dear to social 
 reformers have produced a great number of more or 
 less secret resorts run by undesirables for undesirables. 
 
 In some ways our Puritans could not more effectually 
 have increased vice had they deliberately set out to 
 do so. 
 
 One consequence of drinking restrictions is the 
 " Moonshine party," often an occasion for unrestrained 
 dissipation of a reckless kind. 
 
 In order to be able to arrange these parties, people 
 take studios which are solely devoted to purposes of 
 pleasure. Meanwhile, artists who take their work 
 seriously, unable to pay the exorbitant rents cheerfully 
 agreed to by the invaders, have to do the best they 
 can in a converted shed or stable. 
 
 For the existence of the " Moonshine party " the 
 Puritan Social Reformer is directly responsible. With 
 the increase of this sinister individual's activities, 
 there has come into existence a great deal of hidden 
 debauchery and private vice. 
 
 Ignorant of the world and its ways, such people 
 imagine that anything can be done by laws and regula- 
 tions. You can restrict the hours of public drinking, 
 suppress suppers, and harry all outward manifestations 
 of illicit love, but there is one thing you cannot suppress, 
 and that is human nature, eternally impatient of 
 restraint. 
 
 It would be well if the public could be convinced 
 that too often the self-constituted guardians of British 
 temperance and morality, living as they do in a world 
 behind the looking-glass, make statements which bear 
 no relation to actual facts. Even when shown to have 
 been entirely wrong they continue to persist in the
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 197 
 
 wild theories which are so dear to the unbalanced mind. 
 
 As a matter of fact, realities mean nothing to people 
 who are always propounding schemes for Utopias of 
 an uncomfortable and impossible kind. 
 
 The pity is that so much energy should be wasted in 
 all sorts of fantastic crusades to improve the world at 
 large while so little attention is devoted by Social 
 Reformers to their own families and the persons with 
 whom they are in immediate contact. 
 
 This is why the children of Philanthropists and 
 Humanitarians are apt to go to the bad. While their 
 parents are lecturing and pushing their fads on others, 
 their own offspring gets into all sorts of queer ways 
 owing to being left to run wild at its own sweet will. 
 
 While a number of Puritans are quite sincere, 
 instances of their leading double lives are not by any 
 means unknown. 
 
 Awkward revelations sometimes take place, and 
 relatives of defunct Social Reformers are apt to be 
 sadly disillusioned even shocked ! 
 
 " Some time ago a disconsolate widow ordered a 
 very elaborately carved memorial to her late husband, 
 upon which, amid a wealth of elaborate carving, was 
 to be engraved : 
 
 " ' Rest in Peace ' 
 
 ' The stone had been set up for some months when 
 the lady again appeared at my office. ' I want you,' 
 said she, ' to have that inscription erased from my 
 husband's tomb. In view of certain circumstances 
 which have come to my knowledge since his death, 
 the words in my opinion are inappropriate.' 
 
 ' The monumental mason pointed out that consider- 
 ing the elaborate character of the ornamentation 
 such a proceeding would be little short of an act of 
 vandalism.
 
 198 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 " The lady thought for a while and then inquired, 
 1 Is there room to add anything then ? ' 
 
 " He told her there was. 
 
 " ' Well,' she said, ' make the inscription run like 
 this,' and taking a piece of paper she wrote : 
 
 " ' Rest in Peace 
 Till I come.'" 
 
 There is in England a certain class of person who 
 is too apt to believe that anything can be done by Acts 
 of Parliament. 
 
 Something seems to them very unjust or very hard, 
 and they immediately invoke legislative interference 
 to stop it. 
 
 It is no doubt very unjust that the male Praying 
 Mantis should form the wedding breakfast of his 
 terrible mate, and it is certainly hard that the drone 
 who is the successful wooer of the Queen bee should, 
 as an immediate result of his nuptials, meet with a 
 peculiarly unpleasant death ; nevertheless laws and 
 regulations are quite powerless to prevent these 
 tragedies from taking place, as they are to stop human 
 beings from doing a good many things which are 
 morally indefensible. 
 
 It is all very well to say " this shall not be " when 
 uncontrollable forces decree the contrary. Certain 
 Legal prohibitions, though pleasing or profitable to 
 those who draft them, are, owing to the nature of things, 
 bound to be ineffective. 
 
 Humanity cannot be dragooned into virtue. 
 
 The leopard cannot change its spots, or the Ethiopian 
 his skin. Man with his craving for strong emotions 
 will assuredly find means of gratifying them, and it 
 is mere hypocritical rubbish to assume that in the 
 future milk and water is to be the elixir of life. 
 
 Social Reformers when attacked are very expert
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 199 
 
 at sheltering themselves behind fine phrases while 
 expressing disapproval of personal freedom which tends 
 towards licence, they claim that their goal is " the 
 larger liberty of devoted service to others," which in 
 reality merely means that they desire to impose 
 their own narrow ideas upon other people. 
 
 At the Newington Sessions in February, 1922, 
 Canon Durell said that " the object of licensing re- 
 strictions was to secure greater freedom." This state- 
 ment deserves much the same comment as that made 
 by Napoleon on a speech of the Abbe Sieyes. 
 
 A prominent supporter of restrictions on personal 
 liberty is the Bishop of London, who is always calling 
 out for legislation to prevent drinking and other things 
 of which he does not approve. Having succeeded in 
 closing up the music-hall lounges and thereby hounded 
 a number of unfortunate women into the streets 
 (where they do ten times as much harm than before), 
 he now heads protests against respectable people 
 being allowed to obtain alcoholic refreshment with 
 their supper. 
 
 The whole thing is pathetically ludicrous, and could 
 only be taken seriously in a country where personal 
 freedom has become little more than a tradition of a 
 vanished age. 
 
 A noticeable feature of several licensing sittings has 
 been the obtrusive attitude of the clergy, who in some 
 cases have gone so far as to sing the Doxology on 
 hearing that their restrictive efforts have proved 
 successful. 
 
 The Pendulum indeed has visibly swung towards 
 social repression. 
 
 Pendulums, however, never fail to adjust themselves 
 in the end, and no doubt in due course a reaction will 
 occur. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, London seems likely to remain
 
 200 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 not only the dullest City in Europe, but also the great- 
 est centre of triumphant intolerance and cant which 
 Europe has ever seen. 
 
 This, while seemingly rather to the taste of its 
 inhabitants, has a most repellent effect upon foreign 
 visitors, which is why Paris, once again full of life and 
 free, if somewhat expensive, amusements, literally 
 seethes with foreign visitors ready to spend money. 
 
 Of late (June, 1922) various articles have appeared 
 vaunting the attractions of London as compared with 
 Paris. " There is more life in London than Paris. 
 There are better shows in the theatres, better and 
 cheaper goods in the shops." 
 
 The latter statement is true, but what on earth 
 have shops got to do with the joy of life ? 
 
 As for the other contentions, they can only have been 
 made on the Coue principle of " every day London is 
 getting brighter and brighter." 
 
 The whole thing is ridiculous ; how can the metro- 
 polis, a city where you may not buy cigarettes after 
 eight, besides countless other restrictions, have any 
 chance of being as gay and amusing as Paris where 
 anyone within reasonable limits is free to do exactly 
 as he or she likes ? 
 
 Who but a madman indeed would in these days 
 come to London for a pleasure trip ? 
 
 Music-halls, owing to the triumph of Puritanism, 
 have practically ceased to exist. The lounges where 
 men from all parts of the world were before the war 
 wont to meet old friends have been improved out 
 of existence. 
 
 In addition to this, there are no lively supper resorts 
 as on the Continent, while a number of ridiculous 
 restrictions, apparently devised to goad otherwise 
 sober people into drinking as much as possible in a 
 limited time, harass and annoy anyone accustomed
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 201 
 
 to the social freedom of the other side of the Channel. 
 
 " What do I think of London ? " said a vivacious 
 French lady ; "I will tell you. Most of the people 
 in the street look as if they were going to a funeral. 
 Watch and see how many smiling faces you will see 
 during a walk scarcely one. As to a laugh, I fancy 
 that is absolutely forbidden by one of your many laws." 
 
 Anything likely to assist their cause is at once 
 seized upon by Temperance cranks, who show very 
 much more activity than those who profess them- 
 selves in favour of liberty. 
 
 A poor woman commits suicide, and in the course 
 of the investigations which follow she is found occasion- 
 ally to have visited night clubs. 
 
 Immediately a howl is raised as to the demoralizing 
 character of such places, and, should the poor creature 
 (like hundreds who do not frequent restaurants or 
 night clubs) be proved to have been addicted to drink, 
 we are at once told that this was owing to the extension 
 of hours. 
 
 If certain reformers have their way, life in England 
 will hardly be worth living at all. 
 
 In an article in that excellent monthly the " Nine- 
 teenth Century," a writer not very long ago gravely 
 put forward a plea for a particularly noxious extension 
 of the censorship of public entertainments. " Why," 
 said he, " should it not be possible to make vulgarity 
 a misdemeanour equal in gravity to indecency and 
 subject to the same penalties and pains ? ' 
 
 On the same principle it might be asked why should 
 the " bourgeois " apostles of narrow-minded Puritan- 
 ism, who are responsible for the intellectual stagnation 
 now prevailing in England, not be thrown into the 
 Thames ? 
 
 The English have become so accustomed to inter- 
 ference with personal liberty, that, provided they are
 
 202 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 accompanied by slimy protestations as to the promo- 
 tion of morality and the like, restrictions, however 
 ridiculous, leave them unmoved. 
 
 It is not so with the French. " Ah," said a little 
 Parisienne, to whom the writer had been trying to 
 explain that the closing of restaurants in London at 
 midnight was supposed to promote godly life, " your 
 law-makers think, no doubt, that they will go to the 
 ' del.' But let them make no mistake, the Bon Dieu 
 does not want canaille of that sort up there. He likes 
 cheerful, lively people and not ' ces sales empecheurs 
 de danser en rond,' who seem so popular in your 
 country/ 
 
 The Bon Dieu she spoke of, however, was not the 
 unforgiving, austere God of the Puritans but the lenient 
 Deity who, according to the poet Berenger, does not 
 grudge his moonlight to amorous couples courting 
 beneath great trees and in sequestered glades. 
 
 Such doings, however, are not at all to the liking of 
 our Puritan rulers, and London parks are places better 
 left alone by persons of an amorous disposition, for 
 within their sacred precincts demonstrations of affection 
 are frowned upon by the authorities. We are a long 
 way from the jolly, easygoing England of Rowlandson's 
 day when public osculation, as the artist's drawings 
 show, went on unchecked. 
 
 On 24 January, 1922, a parson (parsons seem very 
 unfortunate in the parks) was brought up at Marl- 
 borough Street charged with an offence in Hyde Park. 
 His defence was that the girl charged with him had 
 merely been sitting on his lap. " We were not doing 
 anything except kissing. I don't see any harm in 
 kissing ; everybody does it," he added. 
 
 Nevertheless the poor man was fined five pounds, and 
 the girl two. 
 
 Clergymen of amorous disposition will be wise to
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 203 
 
 avoid the parks for their love-making but in view 
 of the elaborate and costly moral spy system of modern 
 London it is difficult to see where the poor things 
 are to go ! 
 
 The frequency of these Hyde Park police prosecu- 
 tions seems curious. 
 
 In quite a number of cases, men have been con- 
 victed and their innocence afterwards been vindicated 
 on appeal. 
 
 On ii February, 1922, a daily paper which has begun 
 to do good service in defending the much-threatened 
 liberty of the individual said : " The whole thing is 
 becoming scandalous. A couple of policemen, often 
 a hundred yards away, accuse a perfectly respectable 
 citizen of unseemly conduct, and haul him off to the 
 police-station. No evidence other than theirs is 
 offered ; the magistrate (so hard of hearing, it would 
 seem, that he cannot even catch a request for an 
 adjournment) disposes of the case in ten minutes, 
 and fines him." 
 
 The very day this article appeared, Mr. Mead, 
 saying that the evidence of two constables was incon- 
 sistent, dismissed a charge of insulting behaviour in 
 Regent Street. 
 
 A highly respectable tradesman of fifty-two had 
 been arrested on a charge of insulting young women, 
 none of whom however, as the police admitted, had 
 made any complaint ! 
 
 The alleged insult, it should be added, was walking 
 round women and peering into their faces. There 
 was no corroboration and the whole thing would appear 
 to have been an outrageous case of excessive zeal. 
 
 As matters stand at present, it is obviously dangerous 
 for any man to walk in the Park alone. If he so 
 much as looks at any woman, he may be handed over 
 to the tender mercies of the Marlborough Street
 
 204 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Magistrate. It is not adequate compensation to be 
 acquitted on appeal. 
 
 As for the unfortunate Traviatas of the streets, the 
 poor creatures, in defiance of laws supposed to guaran- 
 tee the liberty of the subject, besides being hunted 
 from pillar to post, are liable to arrest by plain-clothes 
 officers, in reality merely police des mceurs, who haul 
 them off before magistrates not apt to show undue 
 leniency towards feminine frailty. 
 
 The introduction of this special body of moral spies 
 into England seems to have been allowed to pass 
 unnoticed by the Press. It used to be a proud boast 
 of the Briton that the continental system of a police 
 des mceurs should never be allowed to defile this country ; 
 nevertheless in the West End of modern London their 
 activities are in full fling. 
 
 The whole question of whether police disguised in 
 plain clothes should be allowed to arrest women (when 
 no complaint has been made) should be thrashed out 
 as matters stand now, the poor creatures are entirely 
 at the mercy of the latter, who are naturally anxious 
 to convict, in return for the money expended upon 
 the force to which they belong. 
 
 All this sort of thing cannot fail to impair the well- 
 earned popularity of the London Police, hitherto 
 rightly considered to be a force beyond reproach. 
 
 That this still applies to the vast majority of its 
 members is undoubtedly true, all the more then 
 should this precious reputation be safeguarded by not 
 resorting to methods which in other countries have 
 made the police loathed and despised. 
 
 Surely it cannot seriously be maintained that London 
 wants a body of plain-clothes men to act as what is 
 little else than morality spies ? 
 
 The functions of the police should be to keep order 
 and prevent crime.
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 205 
 
 Anything beyond this is totally opposed to the ideas 
 and traditions of an England which, let us hope, is 
 too proud to copy the doubtful methods which have led 
 to so much trouble in other countries. 
 
 Democracy, as understood by the modern English, 
 consists in levelling everybody down to a special 
 standard of mediocrity, whereas true democracy should 
 be the result of an exactly contrary process. 
 
 The fact is that, as the French have noticed, the 
 English but dimly comprehend what democracy means, 
 while they completely ignore its inevitable limitations. 
 
 The idea, for instance, that it is necessary to enforce 
 drink restrictions upon West End Clubs where no 
 one drinks to excess, merely because a few people are 
 apt to get drunk in Public Houses, is pathetically 
 absurd. 
 
 Modern England in its new democratic garb resem- 
 bles a savage chieftain, when for the first time he 
 assumes European dress and puts it on all wrong. 
 The French, on the other hand, having gone through 
 various phases of democratic turmoil and strife, have 
 ceased to be carried away by Utopian ideas of a 
 nonsensical kind such as find ready acceptance in 
 England. 
 
 Attempts to put down the over-indulgence of a de- 
 graded few, by a corrective application so sweeping 
 that the whole nation is branded with the insulting 
 imputation of being unfit to enjoy liberty, cannot fail 
 to weaken respect for the law, which above all things 
 should be founded upon justice and common sense. 
 
 Though a number of the night resorts of Paris remain 
 open all night, drunkenness is very rarely found in any 
 of them. And why ? Because the French will not 
 tolerate it and have no sympathy for drunkards, 
 whom they despise. 
 
 Here we put restrictions upon sober people, while
 
 206 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 drunkards, whom every one rather pities, are always 
 able to obtain as much alcohol as they like ! 
 
 The placid acquiescence of the English in ridiculous 
 restrictions on their personal liberty is quite modern. 
 
 The old English would not tolerate anything of the 
 sort ; witness the fate which, in the 'forties of the last 
 century, befell the efforts of a certain Scotch fanatic, 
 Sir Andrew Agnew, who asked Parliament to coerce 
 the nation into his own notion of the virtuous and the 
 godly. His attempt to control the morals of the 
 people by State and police machinery evoked a storm 
 of sarcasm and ridicule, and he and his programme 
 were literally snuffed out of existence by a song more 
 coarse than comic, the burden of which throughout 
 ah* broad and independent England was, " This is the 
 song of Sir Andrew Agnew." But it answered the 
 purpose, and well, for it put the whole army of hypo- 
 crites to the rout. 
 
 Would that something might be done to curb the 
 energies of the latter to-day. 
 
 Acts of Parliament and County Council ordinances, 
 though claiming to purge London of vice, and delight- 
 ing Stiggins and Chadband, have, in reality, done 
 nothing of the sort. They have merely driven it out 
 of sight, into more dangerous and noxious forms 
 underground. 
 
 The morality of London has certainly not been 
 improved by the modern rule of excluding Cyprians 
 from restaurants and music-halls, an arbitrary and 
 cruel policy which has merely filled certain streets 
 of the West End with a horde of wretched women 
 scuttling from spies and police like frightened 
 rabbits on a summer's night. 
 
 However, the Puritans are pleased, and as their 
 susceptibilities are considered more important than 
 the general well-being, it is likely that for some time
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 207 
 
 at least a sane policy dictated by experience and 
 common sense will not be allowed to prevail. 
 
 The so-called "cleansing of London/' instead of 
 effecting any improvement, has positively made things 
 a good deal worse, for the closing of the lounges and 
 the drink restrictions are in some degree undoubtedly 
 responsible for the spread of dope and disease. 
 
 The ruthless harrying of unfortunate women has 
 made a number of them reckless, with the result that 
 they have become perambulating agents for the sale 
 of cocaine. 
 
 In a lounge or promenade where they are known and 
 their energies strictly controlled such women are 
 comparatively harmless, but hunted from pillar to 
 post and reduced to the level of despised social out- 
 casts, the poor creatures soon become the prey of 
 unscrupulous Asiatics and other wretches by whom 
 the traffic in cocaine is mainly kept going. 
 
 There is no doubt that a number of Chinese have 
 accumulated what to them are large sums by dealing 
 in dope. 
 
 It should be realized that the sale of one little packet 
 brings in as much or more than a Chinaman at home 
 would earn in a year. 
 
 Cunning to a degree, he has innumerable methods 
 of smuggling the drug into England. Who is to know 
 that the pretty Chinese paintings in his possession 
 have a thick coating of a white compound, mainly 
 composed of cocaine, spread over the other side of the 
 rice-paper ? Once safely in London the cocaine is 
 easily removed and converted into powder. There 
 are many other equally ingenious ways of evading 
 detection. 
 
 Even if a Chinaman be detected and sentenced to 
 imprisonment, he finds nothing much to grumble about. 
 
 To begin with, the accommodation and food are
 
 208 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 probably much more luxurious than anything he has 
 been accustomed to in China. 
 
 Six months or a year in an English prison are rather 
 like a free six weeks at the Ritz to a clerk from the 
 suburbs. 
 
 Also he is able to earn a little money, and as he is 
 invariably well behaved, he soon obtains a number of 
 minor privileges which he does not fail to put to a 
 profitable use. 
 
 Imprisonment will never stop Chinese from dealing 
 in drugs ; the only remedy is to deport them to their 
 own country. 
 
 A favourite rendezvous of cocaine sellers appears 
 to be the Cavell Memorial, in the neighbourhood of 
 which a brisk traffic in little packets of the drug is 
 said to prevail. 
 
 Contrary to what might be imagined, this is not 
 merely because the monument in question has an 
 aspect likely to make a special appeal to those addicted 
 to stupefying drugs, but because the number of streets 
 which here converge afford convenient means of escape 
 to vendors who may have reason to think they are 
 observed. 
 
 The prominence given to cases of drug taking and 
 selling in all probability tends to increase the evil. 
 Sensational articles dealing with the subject arouse 
 curiosity, with the result that a certain class of reader 
 becomes not disinclined to try what dope is like ? 
 
 According to a Parisian writer who made an inquiry 
 into the sale of cocaine, the vendors of that drug in 
 Paris may be divided into several categories. To 
 begin with, there are the importers who furnish them- 
 selves with supplies in Germany, which are retailed 
 by waiters and loafers in second-rate restaurants as 
 well as by a horde of disreputable persons of both 
 sexes ready to make money no matter how.
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 209 
 
 In addition to this, a certain number of doctors who 
 are themselves victims of the drug are not too scru- 
 pulous as to enabling their patients to obtain it, 
 further facilities being also afforded by a number of 
 so-called chemists who cannot resist the temptation 
 of making a larger profit out of one packet of cocaine 
 than is yielded by the sale of a thousand bottles of 
 eau miner ale. 
 
 The greatest number of victims of the dope fiend 
 according to those in a position to know are fashionable 
 women, actresses, singers, dancers and girls belonging 
 to the demi-monde. All of these carry on an active 
 propaganda among their friends and acquaintances, 
 for all who take cocaine have a mania to induce others 
 to follow their example. 
 
 A number of so-called intellectuals, a class which 
 includes poets and painters dabbling in all sorts of so- 
 called art, are also to be found in the growing army 
 of drug takers. 
 
 For such as those mentioned above, Cocaine becomes 
 a religion, and that being so has its apostles and martyrs, 
 for which reason prosecution and imprisonment is 
 too often powerless to abate the evil which it seeks to 
 combat, an additional reason for which is that drug 
 vendors are themselves often victims of the scourge 
 by the sale of which they live. 
 
 According to certain Chauvinists, Germany does all 
 she can to further the sale of cocaine in France, a 
 number of German agents having received instructions 
 from Berlin to sell as much of the drug as possible 
 to the French, profits not to be taken into account, 
 provided a sufficiently large number of the hereditary 
 enemy are reduced to a state of demoralization. 
 German soldiers lost the last Great War, but German 
 chemists may win the next. 
 
 Nor can the multiplication of laws and regulations 
 14
 
 210 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 be said to have acted as an effectual check on drugging. 
 It is indeed rather doubtful whether it has not made 
 the evil worse, the sale of cocaine in England bringing 
 in far larger profits than in any other country. 
 
 The best method of stopping drugging would be 
 the incarceration of anyone addicted to the vice in 
 a home for six months, the home in question to be as 
 uncomfortable as possible, consistent with treatment 
 calculated to restore the offender to his or her normal 
 condition. 
 
 The idea of making persons addicted to dope or 
 drink thoroughly uncomfortable does not, however, 
 seem to commend itself to social reformers in this 
 country. 
 
 They prefer to close up resorts which they think 
 are responsible for the evil, and to make people who 
 do not dope or drink uncomfortable, which ridiculous 
 policy is responsible for most pieces of so-called 
 temperance legislation. It would be better to take a 
 leaf out of the book of our allies across the Channel. 
 As has before been said, the French dislike drunkards 
 and are not given to crying over them as we are. An 
 habitual inebriate indeed has an exceedingly bad time 
 among them, whereas in England he can go rolling 
 about all over the place with very slight chance of 
 being subjected to any great personal inconvenience. 
 
 Every one is more or less sorry for him, while tee- 
 totallers regard him as a valuable adjunct in their 
 campaign to stop the world in general from taking 
 alcohol. 
 
 There would be a great deal less intemperance if 
 those addicted to it were treated with ruthless severity 
 and roughly hurled out of any resort as they are in 
 France. 
 
 Though for a time the Press took up a very sensible 
 attitude as regards the need for doing away with
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 211 
 
 restrictions and thereby producing a Brighter London, 
 the death of a dancing instructress who was said to 
 have taken cocaine, immediately produced a sensa- 
 tional campaign against Night Clubs, in which the 
 Puritans naturally joined. 
 
 Something between a hymn and a howl was imme- 
 diately raised by the more emotional daily papers, 
 night clubs were denounced and more drastic legisla- 
 tion demanded. 
 
 One justly popular illustrated weekly, hitherto not 
 given to sensationalism, came out with a full-page 
 article attacking night clubs. What particular good 
 was intended to be done by this, it is difficult to see ? 
 
 No doubt there are a number of bogus night clubs, 
 but if such places are rigorously suppressed, it merely 
 drives the vice which they shelter into more secret, 
 and therefore more dangerous places. 
 
 It is no use saying, as the writer of the article 
 somewhat hysterically said, that the night club is but 
 " a hovel of unbridled licence, a scandal that cries 
 aloud to high heaven, and a perpetual shame, a mockery, 
 a crime." 
 
 There is nothing particularly new about such places. 
 Ever since great cities came into being they have existed, 
 and they will probably continue to exist as long as 
 insensate Puritanism drives all open nocturnal amuse- 
 ment underground. 
 
 It is the Puritan, and the Puritan alone, who is 
 responsible for the illicit drinking den with its accom- 
 paniment of vice and disease. 
 
 It is urged against the lower kind of night clubs 
 that they harbour women of the town of course they 
 do. Provided the poor creatures behave with pro- 
 priety, there is no reason why they should not seek 
 the shelter of such places, when they are hounded 
 and harried about the streets by plain-clothes police !
 
 212 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 While not the slightest sympathy is ever shown 
 for any of the wretched women who, driven into the 
 streets, are hustled about from pillar to post, much 
 emotional gush is lavished over any girl who happens 
 to be murdered or meets her death by cocaine. 
 
 " Another beautiful butterfly lured to her doom by 
 London's night life " is the sort of description applied 
 to a victim of this kind once she is dead alive she is 
 spoken of and treated merely as a social pest. If 
 the intolerant, unchristian fanatics, who make it 
 their own especial business to watch over the morality 
 of London, did not insist upon these poor women 
 being hounded out of well-conducted resorts such 
 tragedies would far more rarely occur. Indirectly, 
 our Reformers have a good deal to answer for. 
 
 The humble Cyprian, after all, has as good a right 
 to live her life in peace as the sanctimonious humbugs 
 who have managed to impose their cruel and un- 
 christian ideas upon an unthinking and gullible people. 
 
 When, however, one of these fits of sensational 
 Puritanism sweeps over London people seem to lose 
 their heads. 
 
 The result of the anti-night club agitation was that 
 a few women were hunted out of rather undesirable 
 resorts, some of which, for a time, were closed. 
 
 In addition to this, there was a good deal of " wailing " 
 at the idea that anyone should want to dance after 
 midnight. 
 
 This for some obscure reason was supposed to 
 promote "dope." 
 
 The whole agitation was pathetically absurd. 
 
 Though strong efforts are made to check drug taking 
 in Paris, no one there has been so foolish as to suggest 
 that the all-night resorts of Montmartre should be 
 suppressed. 
 
 The Parisians, however, are not silly people nor
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 213 
 
 are they carried away by sensational newspaper 
 articles as are their neighbours on the other side of the 
 Channel. 
 
 The so-called cocaine revelations (which probably 
 indirectly increased the number of those taking the 
 drug) of course afforded a splendid opportunity for 
 a fresh outburst of Puritan intolerance. 
 
 A lady connected with the Women's Auxiliary 
 Service, after stating that in her opinion it was not 
 an advantage that public-houses should be kept open 
 later than ten, declared that what was wanted was 
 a band of women who should be positive geniuses as 
 detectives to ascertain what goes on in Night Clubs. 
 
 The idea of these female guardians of morality was 
 no doubt inspired by a clause in an American Bill 
 recently promoted by Assemblyman William Duke, of 
 Alleghany County. 
 
 This ridiculous piece of meddlesome legislation 
 seeks to enforce the appointment of matrons who are 
 to see that there is at least four inches between partners 
 dancing at licensed dance halls. 
 
 These dragons of virtue are also to take care that 
 the regulations prohibiting " hugging " and " cheek 
 to cheek " dancing are rigorously enforced. 
 
 Another lady, apparently much moved by sensa- 
 tional accounts of doings in dancing resorts, wrote an 
 impassioned article against Night Clubs which, in her 
 opinion, not only demoralized female frequenters, 
 but also contributed towards depopulation by pro- 
 ducing a class of female not given to having a family. 
 
 The war, she said, had killed off a great number of 
 men who would not be replaced if the Night Club evil 
 were allowed to rage Unchecked ! 
 
 Considering that over-population has become a 
 serious problem in this country, overcrowded as it is 
 with people who every year find it more and more
 
 214 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 difficult to live, if such a statement were really true 
 the Night Club would almost have a right to be con- 
 sidered one of the most beneficent institutions in 
 England. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, the number of females fre- 
 quenting such places is too small for any sterility on 
 their part to influence the birth-rate. In addition 
 to this, careful investigation would show that a great 
 number of them are already mothers, dancing resorts 
 being far more popular with married women than with 
 innocent young girls who, for various reasons, are not 
 generally to be found in such places. 
 
 If those who make it their business to supervise 
 other people's amusements would only realize that 
 neither howling about social evils, nor seeking drasti- 
 cally to repress them, has the slightest effect in abating 
 the vice of a great city, we should be a good deal nearer 
 a solution of certain pressing social problems, such as 
 the prevention, if not the extirpation, of disease 
 which now, thanks to the idiotic policy so triumphantly 
 advocated by Puritans, is more rampant in the West 
 End than in the days when a more tolerant and sensible 
 policy prevailed. 
 
 Though the life of the Metropolis has been seriously 
 changed by what Stiggins & Co. unctuously call 
 " the sobering discipline " of the war, the young man- 
 about-town is probably no better and no worse than 
 his predecessors. 
 
 Making allowances for the alteration in manners 
 and fashion, the vast majority of the well-to-do youth 
 of to-day remains much the same as that which 
 flourished in the freer and more joyous London of 
 fifty years ago. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted that the rough, 
 vulgar, sporting type seems to have become more rare 
 than in the past, when foolish young men thought it
 
 STIGGINS, CHADBAND & CO 215 
 
 fine to talk about adultery and the Turf, though most 
 of ,them, as a cynic said/' knew nothing about either." 
 Some of them, however, though pretty tough customers, 
 prided themselves on their refinement. 
 
 Such a one was the young fellow who said, " Though 
 I'm known for my Louis Seize manners, don't you run 
 away with the idea that I'm taking any damned ' No ' 
 for an answer." 
 
 Elaborately and carefully dressed, these young 
 sparks might be seen strolling down Piccadilly, or at 
 Long's or Hatchett's. Foreigners were rarer then than 
 they are to-day, though some few were well-known 
 figures in the West End. Also there were a number 
 of broken-down sporting men, who, with more of a 
 past than a future, eked out a precarious livelihood 
 by betting and making themselves useful to the gilded 
 youth of that careless age. All this sort of thing has 
 now disappeared. 
 
 Where there is so much folly to deplore it is pleasant 
 to know that the English, though they seem to have 
 lost a good deal of that old independent spirit for which 
 they were once renowned, have not in any way lost 
 their love of sport. 
 
 A glance at the daily Press is sufficient to convince 
 anyone of this. Year by year the public would appear 
 to grow more interested in games and racing no 
 newspaper which ignored the latter has any chance 
 of success, a fact which has been brought home to a 
 few individuals who have attempted to exclude all 
 news relating to betting. 
 
 Football within recent years has achieved enormous 
 popularity. Even ladies risk the inevitable discomforts 
 of an enormous crowd to be able to see some well- 
 advertised match. 
 
 Sir Claude de Crespigny, a recognized authority, 
 whose varied sporting experiences cover a considerable
 
 216 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 number of years, fully agrees with the opinion expressed 
 above. 
 
 Writing to me on this subject he says : " Judging 
 by the number of gun licences taken out, and clubs 
 for athletic and other sports, one must conclude people 
 are more sporting now than they were in the past, 
 though, of course, there are a large percentage of 
 slackers except at the cocktail bar." 
 
 He is not of opinion that there has been any deteri- 
 oration in glove contests, the popularity of which has 
 so greatly increased among every class. 
 
 " Boxing, as distinguished from fighting," says he, 
 " has vastly improved since my youthful days. 
 
 " It is, however, enough to make Tom Sayers turn 
 in his grave to think that a Frenchman could extend 
 an Englishman, much more beat him/'
 
 IX 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 
 
 A NOTICEABLE feature of modern London life 
 is the almost total eclipse of Bohemianism, 
 which beyond question makes life brisk and 
 lively, besides breaking the monotony of industry 
 and checking the excesses of cant. While its evil 
 side generally brings its own punishment, that which 
 is good about Bohemianism tends to invigorate the 
 world, which it cheers and enlivens like a draught 
 of moral champagne. 
 
 It is impossible to identify Bohemianism with any 
 system of opinions or any condition of existence. 
 
 Charles II and Louis XIV were both on a par as 
 regards their morality, but Charles was an out-and-out 
 Bohemian, while the Sun King delighted in con- 
 ventionalism and etiquette. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, though a champion of Church and 
 State, had Bohemian leanings. Fielding was an 
 almost typical Bohemian, being perfectly happy as 
 long as the means of immediate enjoyment were 
 before him. 
 
 The unfortunate thing about men of unconventional 
 life and ideas is that they have a way of dying off 
 as they draw towards middle age. They may, it is 
 true, see a good many people under the table, but the 
 latter get their revenge by seeing them under the sod. 
 
 The classical Bohemian who was often met with in 
 
 217
 
 218 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 a past age has now completely disappeared. Not a 
 few of them held not only that a knowledge of ancient 
 literature atoned for everything, but that the want of 
 it was fatal to all other merit. 
 
 The modern world for some reason or other is 
 not favourable to the development of individuals 
 with original or amusing idiosyncrasies, the con- 
 stant interchange of ideas and similarity of life in the 
 present time tending to produce a community of 
 character while reducing every one to pretty well the 
 same level. People's angularities are quickly smoothed 
 away, and like flints which have had their edges and 
 corners rubbed off, many become akin to pebbles which 
 cannot be distinguished one from the other. 
 
 Writers and artists of past days were apt to be 
 careless about their personal appearance. 
 
 One celebrated and picturesque figure in the literary 
 world, it is said, seldom had his hair cut. Fond of 
 reading by candlelight, he declared that he depended 
 upon chance burnings to keep it at a convenient 
 length. 
 
 Bohemians of the old school indeed were often 
 eccentric in their appearance. The majority were 
 rather untidy, but some few went in for clothes of 
 an elaborate and striking kind. 
 
 Such a one was Horace Mayhew, who is described 
 as having usually worn a mulberry-coloured frock- 
 coat, with velvet collar and cuffs, a frilled shirt, 
 protruding from a low waistcoat, fawn-coloured 
 trousers and highly varnished boots. His nickname 
 was " the wicked Marquess," it being said that he was 
 the only Bohemian writer who thoroughly represented 
 " the man-about-town." 
 
 Mayhew it appears was also noted for always being 
 late. 
 
 He got up late, breakfasted late, supped late,
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 219 
 
 went to bed late, and finally married when of mature age. 
 
 Charles Keene, the famous " Punch " artist, be- 
 longed to quite another school. He was the old type 
 of Bohemian who could not understand how anyone 
 who made their living by Art or Literature could 
 be waited upon by servants in livery, possess a carriage 
 or horses to ride. Thick boots, an overcoat and 
 wallet, together with a stout stick and an old pipe, 
 were practically all the outfit he considered necessary 
 for a trip into the country. 
 
 Perhaps the Bohemian of Bohemians was the 
 caricaturist Carlo Pellegrini, whose limited knowledge 
 of English and peculiar expressions made him the 
 most amusing of companions. In addition to this, 
 he possessed much natural wit which, when necessary, 
 he could exercise to excellent effect. 
 
 Though extremely talented in his own line, Pelle- 
 grini never succeeded in making any large sums of 
 money ; indeed, he died poor, having been, like most 
 Bohemians, a man of improvident habits. 
 
 A Bohemian artist of the 'sixties, Matt Morgan, an 
 original but rather unequal cartoonist, first attracted 
 attention by his work for " Fun." 
 
 While on the staff of that then amusing little pub- 
 lication he would unblushingly trace likenesses of 
 public characters from Tenniel's cartoons a habit 
 he playfully called " founding himself on Tenniel," 
 but later on when employed upon the " Tomahawk," 
 he developed a distinctive style of his own. 
 
 A good deal of the letterpress in the " Tomahawk " 
 was daring and Matt Morgan followed suit in his 
 cartoons. 
 
 One of the latter which was interpreted as an attack 
 upon Queen Victoria while she was still mourning the 
 death of the Prince Consort attracted a good deal 
 of unfavourable attention.
 
 220 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 " The Empty Chair," showing a vacant throne, 
 conduced, it was said, to the end of the " Toma- 
 hawk's " existence. 
 
 Nevertheless much of Matt Morgan's work was 
 clever and to the point, his satire upon the Turf and 
 its victims being trenchant in the extreme, while he 
 showed considerable power when dealing with various 
 political questions. 
 
 The only member of the staff of the " Tomahawk " 
 now alive would appear to be that well-known and 
 clever writer, Mr. T. S. Escott. 
 
 " Fun," it may be added, the external appearance 
 of which was got up as a sort of imitation of " Punch," 
 was started by H. T. Byron and others in the 'sixties. 
 Its original price was a penny, and a number of clever 
 writers, including W. S. Gilbert and Sir Francis 
 Burnand, were among the contributors. 
 
 On Wednesday nights the latter, following the 
 example of " Punch," dined together in a tavern 
 near Temple Bar. 
 
 At that time " Fun " was extremely bright ; but 
 in its last days (it would seem owing to a dearth of 
 humorous writers) this weekly like others of its kind 
 ceased to be amusing, with the result that it died a 
 lingering death. 
 
 The " Man in the Moon " was another journalistic 
 venture brought out by Albert Smith, owing to a 
 quarrel he had had with " Punch." 
 
 Albert Smith, it is said, was entirely in the wrong, 
 but nevertheless he was always having a hit at his 
 antagonist. Indirectly, however, the " Man in the 
 Moon " contributed towards " Punch's " prosperity, 
 for from its staff came Shirley Brooks, who at Douglas 
 Jerrold's invitation joined that of the older paper. 
 
 During the Victorian age there were quite a number 
 of men who made a living out of writing sensational
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 221 
 
 stories for various publications. That most excellent 
 little publication " Notes and Queries " recently had 
 a mention of Mr. Edward Viles who, though apparently 
 a prolific author, wrote only the titles of sensational 
 novels published under his name. 
 
 Notwithstanding a weakness to pose as an author, 
 Mr. Viles was a most kindhearted and generous man 
 ever ready to assist writers who were in trouble and 
 save their homes from the bailiff. 
 
 According to a contribution of " Notes and Queries," 
 Robert Louis Stevenson called on Viles with the 
 MS. of "Treasure Island," which he left with the 
 latter. 
 
 A week later Viles wrote to the young author to 
 say that he " did not think much of the stuff, but was 
 willing to purchase the tale to be rewritten by a more 
 competent hand." 
 
 Stevenson called for the return of his manuscript, 
 which, when eventually published, achieved such a 
 deservedly great success. 
 
 Readers of MSS., like readers of plays, often fail 
 to perceive when there is a gold mine within their 
 reach. 
 
 While the England of to-day is vastly different 
 from that of the 'sixties, there still exist people who 
 pride themselves upon their unconventional lives, 
 while styling themselves Bohemians. Formerly, as 
 has been said, a certain number of London actors, 
 artists and literary men really did lead free and easy 
 lives, but all that has now long been over. As a 
 matter of fact, the only Bohemian life the modern 
 English really admire is that of other countries as 
 pictured in plays and books. 
 
 The French say : " Les Anglais aiment la vie de 
 Boheme quand elle n'est pas de chez eux." 
 
 This is why people gush about Villon and Verlaine,
 
 222 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 both of whom led lives calculated to scandalize the 
 average Englishman. 
 
 In Paris, however, where complete social liberty 
 prevails, Bohemianism still flourishes, though not so 
 much perhaps as in the early 'eighties when the Chat 
 Noir was a great resort for writers, poets and artists 
 with unconventional views. 
 
 A gifted survivor of this little band is the artist 
 Adolphe Willette, whose clever and fanciful studies 
 of Pierrots are a delight to the eye. 
 
 The main characteristic of most real Bohemians is 
 that whenever they achieve anything good it is by 
 their own innate cleverness rather than by application. 
 There appears to be a narrowness in professional 
 pursuits which is alien to their disposition, and they 
 are rarely able to overcome their antipathy to long 
 hours and regular work. 
 
 In the old easygoing days there were quite a 
 number of Bohemians in the army and a few in the 
 navy, in which service such officers were known as 
 Q.H.B.'s, that is " Queen's hard bargains." Men 
 of this sort, after being paid off after a long voyage, 
 would often not trouble to go and see their family, 
 having a vague impatience of the paternal roof which 
 caused them to spend their leave at the Union at 
 Plymouth, the Quebec at Portsmouth, or at Hat- 
 chett's in Piccadilly, at all of which hostelries they 
 consumed a good quantity of champagne. This was 
 in the days before the rank of mate had been sup- 
 planted by that of sub-lieutenant, beyond which some 
 of the old school never rose. They may be said to 
 have staggered through life good officers, but rough 
 in their ways, quarrelsome but honourable messmates, 
 with a now long extinct nautical prejudice against 
 military men, with whom some of the oldest had 
 fought duels.
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 223 
 
 Not a few after retiring from active service fell 
 upon evil days, the most inveterate topers among 
 them, when overtaken by impecuniosity, being apt 
 to claim friendship with anyone likely to stand drinks. 
 
 " We are old friends," said one to an acquaintance 
 who had often helped him in the past, "we have drunk 
 a great deal of brandy and water together." " Yes," 
 was the reply, " that is true enough. You drank 
 the brandy and I drank the water." 
 
 In these days many actors prefer Society to the 
 Bohemian existence to which so many of the old 
 school were partial. 
 
 Not a few of the latter were full of original 
 wit, notably one who died a few years ago, after a 
 long and honourable career on the stage, with which 
 his family had been connected for several generations. 
 
 During the reign of Queen Victoria, the Income Tax 
 officials once pressed him rather hard. 
 
 Eventually he sent them a cheque. 
 
 ''Here are your dues," wrote he, "but please 
 inform the ' Berkshire widow ' that she is not to rely 
 upon me as a permanent source of income." 
 
 It was the same humorist who, at a Bohemian 
 Club one evening, considerably frightened a couple 
 of young Guardsmen who had recently been elected. 
 
 Sitting on each side of him at dinner they entered 
 upon an animated conversation upon the subject of 
 dress. Having exhausted hats, clothes and hosiery, 
 they finally came to boots the old actor could stand 
 it no longer. 
 
 ' Young men," said he in the peculiar sing-song 
 voice in which on occasion he was wont to indulge, 
 "we do not care to hear when or where you buy your 
 boots." 
 
 Solemnly tapping his head he continued, " Brains, 
 not boots, is what we want here, and if you haven't
 
 224 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 got them, the sooner you go elsewhere the better 
 we shall be pleased." 
 
 The Guardsmen, thoroughly cowed, never dared 
 talk of clothes or boots before the old man again. 
 
 The last of the literary Bohemians was that delightful 
 character, Mr. Joseph Knight, a bibliophile who, in 
 addition to a great amount of other work, at one 
 time edited " Notes and Queries," that excellent 
 and interesting little weekly which it is pleasant to 
 see flourishing once again, as it was wont to do before 
 the Great War. 
 
 A most amusing companion, when in congenial 
 company, even as an old man, he never seemed 
 to want to go to bed. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Knight, though quite at home with 
 young people, belonged to another age than the present, 
 and his like will probably not be seen again. 
 
 Another typical Bohemian was the late Mr. Fred- 
 erick Warre, who died some fifteen or twenty years 
 ago. As a young man he had been in diplomacy, 
 but at the end of his life he lived in one of the old 
 Bloomsbury Squares, in a house filled with curiosities 
 of every kind, together with odds and ends of no 
 particular value. Among other things he possessed 
 a copy of every number of the " Daily Telegraph " 
 ever since it had been started. Several wagon-loads 
 of paper were removed from his cellar after Mr. Warre 's 
 death, for besides the " Daily Telegraph " he had 
 accumulated a great deal of other printed and written 
 matter. 
 
 As an old man he dined every night at a small 
 Bohemian Club, where it was his invariable practice 
 to note down who the other diners were, together 
 with what he had for dinner. Hundreds and hundreds 
 of these slips were found after his death, which occurred 
 at a very advanced^age.
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 225 
 
 Mr. Warre even when getting on for eighty kept 
 very late hours, but as he generally stayed in bed 
 till the evening, it did not affect his health. 
 
 Some others who, turning night into day, burnt the 
 candle at both ends, probably shortened their lives. 
 
 " Poor So-and-so," said a friend to W. S. Gilbert, 
 " I fear he is in a bad way." 
 
 " Why, what's the matter with him ? ' 
 
 " Oh, every sort of thing appendicitis, colitis, 
 besides which he sits up too late." 
 
 " All-nightis, I suppose," said Gilbert, who was 
 as quick and happy in ordinary conversation as he 
 was in his carefully written plays. 
 
 People were fond of making presentations to each 
 other in old days, but occasionally owing to lack of 
 funds some of these tributes rather missed fire. 
 
 A distinctly original note was struck by one spokes- 
 man, who, addressing the individual whom it was 
 desired to honour, said : " We are aware that as 
 a likeness there is considerable room for improvement. 
 As a matter of fact, we had hoped to have got a first- 
 class artist to paint it, but as the subscriptions failed 
 to come up to expectation we had to do the best we 
 could." 
 
 " I hope you will realize that no stone was left 
 unturned. All your friends were written to, and 
 great trouble was taken to make the proposed presenta- 
 tion generally known." 
 
 " The result, it must be confessed, is distinctly 
 disappointing, nevertheless we hope you will accept 
 what, in spite of its artistic mediocrity, is a very 
 tangible testimony of general esteem and regard." 
 
 A forgotten Bohemian of the old school who, though 
 he had once, as a novelist, made a fine income, died in 
 March, 1890, at New York. 
 
 This was John Frederick Smith, a writer of sensa- 
 15
 
 226 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 tional fiction. For years he wrote serials for the 
 " London Journal," some of which were illustrated 
 by woodcuts drawn by Sir John Gilbert. 
 
 In 1855 he became a member of the staff of " Cassell's 
 Illustrated Family Paper," and wrote novels in it 
 during ten years, at the end of which he rejoined the 
 staff of the " London Journal." 
 
 Mr. Smith's methods, when writing, were highly 
 original, his work being strictly limited to the weekly 
 instalment expected of him. 
 
 On a certain day (the office boy having received 
 strict instructions not to allow the writer to leave the 
 premises before the requisite amount of copy had 
 been delivered), Mr. Smith was shut up in a room 
 at the office of the Journal, together with a bottle of 
 port. Here, pipe or cigar in mouth, he would com- 
 plete a week's instalment of any tale upon which 
 he might be engaged, and when this was finished, 
 taking it to the cashier, he would draw his pay and not 
 return again till the next week. 
 
 Though at the height of his popularity receiving 
 a good income, he lived at a boarding-house in Blooms- 
 bury, where, it is said, he made no friends among his 
 fellow-boarders. 
 
 The amount of work he produced was prodigious. 
 
 A few of his novels have survived, and it is said 
 are still popular to-day. 
 
 In mid- Victorian days, literary men were apt to 
 be unconventional in their ways and habits. 
 
 The original staff of " Punch," for instance, was 
 largely tinged with Bohemianism. The vivacious 
 weekly in question took its second name, the " London 
 Charivari," from a French daily sheet which has now, 
 I think, ceased to exist. 
 
 The word signifies " marrow-bones and cleavers," 
 by which the rough music which formerly greeted
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 227 
 
 unpopular married couples was produced. The 
 " Charivari " often took physical defects as the sub- 
 ject of its caricatures. It is said that the discovery 
 that the head of Louis Philippe resembled a pear, 
 by Philippon, one of the caricaturists of the " Paris 
 Charivari," annoyed Louis Philippe more than the 
 attempt upon his life by Fieschi, and that his famous 
 "law of September," against the Press and pictures, 
 was due to the " Pear-portrait." 
 
 Many comic papers have come and gone since 
 those days, but " Punch " has seen them all out. 
 Moreover it is probably better written and more witty 
 to-day than at any previous time during its history. 
 
 Another flourishing survival of other days is the 
 " Pall Mail Gazette " ; the first number which appeared 
 on 7 February, 1865, cost twopence. Its leading 
 article, written by Mr. Greenwood, the editor, dealt 
 in a sympathetic manner with " The Queen's Seclu- 
 sion," whilst a long letter by Anthony Trollope made 
 a strong appeal on behalf of the North in America. 
 It also contained the first of a series of letters from 
 Pitt Crawley, Bart., to his nephew, Pitt Crawley, 
 about to enter Parliament this was the work of Sir 
 Reginald Palgrave. 
 
 The name " Pall Mall Gazette," it should be added, 
 was chosen in allusion to the journal that Thackeray 
 invented for the benefit of Arthur Pendennis. 
 
 A discreditable Victorian venture in Society 
 journalism was " The Queen's Messenger," edited 
 by Grenville Murray, who possibly had been one ? 
 
 The existence of the publication in question was 
 ended by the appearance of a scurrilous article from 
 the editor's pen in which Lord Carrington's father 
 was attacked. 
 
 As a result Grenville Murray was charged with 
 perjury, fled the country and never returned.
 
 228 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 A clever enough writer could he have curbed the 
 acerbity of his pen, the latter, at one time, had actually 
 been part-proprietor of " The World." 
 
 Grenville Murray who, in addition to a good deal 
 of journalistc work, wrote quite a number of books, 
 died in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century. 
 
 There was a good deal of Bohemianism about 
 several of the Victorians connected with journalism, 
 though most of them became staid enough as time 
 rolled on. 
 
 The death of Mr. Thomas Gibson Bowles during the 
 present year passed conparatively unnoticed con- 
 sidering the brilliant abilities which he had possessed. 
 Besides being a Parliamentarian with an unrivalled 
 knowledge of procedure, Mr. Bowles had been connected 
 with more than one journalistic venture, notably 
 " Vanity Fair," which at one time had a number of 
 distinguished contributors. 
 
 Among these were the late Mr. Fred Clay, the late 
 Sir Arthur Sullivan, who did the occasional musical 
 criticisms ; the late Duke of Marlborough, then Lord 
 Blandford ; Sir Hubert (then Mr.) Jerningham, who, 
 as an attache at the British Embassy in Paris, con- 
 tributed the weekly " Paris Letter " ; and Mr. 
 Labouchere, who at intervals wrote vigorous and 
 startling notices on City and financial subjects. He 
 it was who originated that now popular form of 
 criticism on mercantile speculations. Shortly after 
 the first appearance of " Vanity Fair," the late 
 Carlo Pellegrini commenced his long series of inimitable 
 caricatures in that paper. 
 
 The latter was in course of time succeeded by the 
 late Sir Leslie Ward, whose recent death was lamented 
 by a large number of friends. 
 
 A gifted caricaturist, Sir Leslie contrived to catch 
 a likeness in an extraordinary short period of time.
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 229 
 
 The great success of " Vanity Fair," published at a 
 shilling, suggested the idea of the sixpenny Society 
 paper, and caused Mr. Edmund Yates, in connexion 
 with the talented if unscrupulous Mr. Grenville Murray, 
 to produce " The World." In this, for the first time, 
 the journalist proper took a prominent part in the 
 actual writing of Society journalism. Up till then 
 contributions for such publications had been mainly, 
 if not entirely, drawn from the ranks of Society itself. 
 In time, for the sum of 3,000, Mr. Yates bought 
 out his original partner, Mr. Murray, and became 
 himself the sole proprietor. A difference between 
 Mr. Yates and Mr. Labouchere subsequently prompted 
 the latter to produce "Truth," which is practically the 
 only Society paper which has survived. Victorian 
 poets were less Bohemian than the journalists. 
 
 Though Swinburne, before he retired to the Pines, 
 Putney, was at times very irregular in his habits, 
 the end of his life was most respectable. 
 
 Tennyson would never have been called a Bohemian, 
 and Mr. Alfred Austin was most domestic in his habits. 
 
 He was a good writer of prose, and for years wrote 
 very excellent leading articles in the " Standard." 
 A strong Conservative, he was an ardent advocate 
 of Tory principles. 
 
 As a platform speaker, however, he was somewhat 
 handicapped by his stature, the smallness of which 
 was apt to detract from a somewhat grandiloquent 
 utterance. 
 
 On one occasion, in the midst of an impassioned 
 speech, he was considerably discomfited by a flippant 
 voice calling out, " Them dwarfs are so sarcy 1 " 
 
 The Poet Laureate in question was rather fond of 
 reciting his own poetry which not every one appreciated. 
 
 A leading light of the Scottish Bar, discussing the 
 profits of authors, after dinner once said, " From a
 
 230 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 material point of view, Mr. Austin, I suppose you 
 do pretty well ? ' 
 
 " Well, I manage to keep the wolf from the door ! " 
 
 " Not by reading him your poetry, I hope ? " was 
 the somewhat cynical retort, which sent the author 
 of " The Garden that I love " away to bed. 
 
 Literary men with Bohemian tendencies used 
 formerly to have several meeting-places in London, 
 one of the best known of which was Bertolini's Hotel. 
 It stood in St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square, and 
 was demolished twenty- two years ago. 
 
 As late as the middle of the nineteenth century 
 it had been a noted resort of writers, actors and 
 musicians. Tennyson and Albert Smith were at one 
 time regular frequenters. 
 
 In a parody of " She wore a wreath of roses," the 
 latter wrote : 
 
 "He dined at Bertolini's 
 
 The night that first we met; 
 A single pint of port there was 
 
 Upon the table set ; 
 His dinner had the lightness 
 
 And his voice a humble tone, 
 Of one to whom a shilling 
 
 Was not intimately known." 
 
 Curiously enough the late Mr. Wheatley, who rarely 
 missed any building of interest, makes no allusion to 
 Bertolini's in his description of St. Martin's Street in 
 London, Past and Present. The late Mr. Austin 
 Dobson, in an article he wrote entitled " A House 
 with a History," confused Bertolini's with No. 35, 
 St. Martin's Street, where Newton and afterwards 
 Madame d'Arblay lived. 
 
 It was left to that most valuable little publication 
 " Notes and Queries " to correct all this. 
 
 Attached to the Cider Cellars in Maiden Lane
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 231 
 
 was a room used by members of what was called the 
 Cider Cellar Club. Here were wont to foregather a 
 number of actors, authors and men-about-town. 
 Thackeray was an occasional visitor here, as he appears 
 to have been at other Bohemian resorts. Notwith- 
 standing this, he has not much good to say of 
 Bohemians in general in his books. As a matter of 
 fact, he is generally rather severe on the somewhat 
 unrestrained amusements of the London of his day. 
 A pity he did not live into the present age when 
 every one's pleasures are regulated and restricted, 
 and Rabelaisian wit is at a decided discount. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth century there 
 were a number of restaurateurs in the neighbourhood 
 of Manchester Square on the north side of Oxford 
 Street. Such were Parmentier, confectioner to the 
 Prince Regent, Signor Romualdo, and Monsieur and 
 Madame Morin, at whose establishment excellent 
 wine was to be found. " Mohammed," described 
 as a native of Asia, kept an eating-house much fre- 
 quented by nabobs and connoisseurs of Oriental cookery. 
 
 A few years later a French cook named Jacquier 
 provided first-class French dinners at the Clarendon. 
 To Fladong's in Oxford Street went naval officers, 
 while Stevens Hotel in Bond Street, a fashionable 
 resort of military officers, and men-about-town, was 
 so exclusive that strangers were seldom lucky enough 
 to secure one of the tables which solemn waiters 
 generally said were already engaged. 
 
 Bertolini's was only one of several small foreign 
 restaurants which existed in London long before the 
 days of the Carlton and the Savoy. Others were 
 Epitaux's in Pall Mall, which was still in existence 
 in the 'eighties, Rouget's in Leicester Square, and 
 Grillion's where the Grillion Club met. 
 
 It was here that one April evening, in 1883, Mr.
 
 232 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Gladstone, who had been a member since 1840, dined, 
 and according to an entry in the Club book was served 
 with one bottle of champagne. Lord Houghton, 
 who was the Poet Laureate of the Club, celebrated 
 the Grand Old Man's lonely dinner in verse, the two 
 first lines of which ran : 
 
 Trace me the workings of that wondrous brain 
 Warmed by one bottle of our dry champagne. 
 
 As late as 1875, with the exception of the Cafe 
 Royal and a few small restaurants of the type men- 
 tioned above, London was comparatively poorly off 
 for public dining-places. 
 
 Country cousins, foreigners and clubless bachelors 
 were indeed very badly provided for, the chop-houses 
 and antiquated hotels of the Covent Garden quarter 
 being for the most part expensive as well as bad. 
 A dinner from the joint and a pint of inferior wine 
 usually cost something not far short of ten shillings ! 
 
 As for the more modern flashy and pretentious 
 dining-room with cheap gilding and fly-flecked plate- 
 glass mirrors, an execrable dinner was about as ex- 
 pensive as the meal it presumed to imitate taken at 
 a first-class restaurant on the Boulevards. 
 
 A good dinner, on the other hand, could be procured 
 at certain hostelries on the river. Lovegrove's East 
 India Dock Tavern, for instance, was still popular with 
 West End diners in the 'seventies. This, the Ship, and 
 the Trafalgar at Greenwich, as well as the Ship at 
 Gravesend, were all famous for their whitebait. 
 
 It was then quite common for hostelries to be noted 
 for some especial dish. The proprietors of several 
 prided themselves upon their beef or mutton, gour- 
 mets belonging to the old school being very particular 
 about the quality of their meat. 
 
 Old-fashioned gastronomists declared that scientific
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 233 
 
 breeding had improved mutton really worth eating 
 off the face of the earth. Immature meat killed at 
 two years old was a different sort of thing altogether. 
 
 George III knew what he was talking about when 
 he said that very little venison was equal to a haunch 
 of four-year-old mutton. 
 
 A gourmet of former days who lived near Lewes in 
 Sussex used to eat mutton with an almost religious 
 ceremonial, a little silver saucepan being placed 
 by his side when the leg of mutton, or two little legs, 
 appeared in a dish before him. After the meat had 
 been cut the abundantly flowing gravy was trans- 
 ferred to the saucepan, a couple of glasses of tawny old 
 port and a sufficient quantity of currant jelly and 
 cayenne were added, after which the whole was warmed 
 in the dining-room and resulted in the production of a 
 chocolate-coloured sauce very different from the 
 watery looking pink gravy which accompanies mutton 
 in modern days. 
 
 As the nineteenth century drew towards its close, 
 a new kind of foreign restaurant began to make its 
 appearance. 
 
 The original Romano's in the early 'eighties was 
 a very Bohemian resort in high favour with the staff 
 of the " Sporting Times," Pitcher, Shifter, and the 
 more serious but equally attractive Dwarf of Blood. 
 
 Most of the frequenters knew each other very 
 intimately and strangers were sometimes subjected 
 to a good deal of chaff. 
 
 " How are the other bridesmaids ? " was the greeting 
 received by an over-dressed young dandy who on his 
 first visit looked like giving himself airs. 
 
 Romano's, though a rather more staid resort than 
 in the old days, still flourishes. Here in former days 
 the maitre-d' hotel was Luigi, who has since made the 
 Embassy Club such a conspicuous success.
 
 234 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The Blue Posts in Cork Street, where a good old 
 English dinner could be obtained, was still going 
 in the 'eighties ; while the Bristol, in the same street, 
 was a very favourite dining resort. Every evening 
 it was filled with men-about-town, many of them 
 in company with ladies. Compared with restaurants 
 of to-day, it was quite an unpretentious place, there 
 being no foyer or entrance hall, but merely a small 
 room for guests to wait in. 
 
 There was a set dinner at IDS. 6d. a head, which 
 was quite good, while the champagne and other wines 
 were excellent. 
 
 The female portion of society was, as a rule, but 
 poorly represented ; ladies did not go much to restaur- 
 ants in those days. Sporting characters, however, 
 abounded, and there was always a sprinking of the 
 burlesque stage, which gave the place a pleasant 
 and vivacious appearance. 
 
 For some years the Bristol remained a popular 
 dining place. There was then, indeed, nothing in the 
 West End to compete with it except the still flourishing 
 Cafe Royal, but the late Mr. Ritz altered all that. 
 
 He it was who first realized the fact that there was 
 a public ready to appreciate the attractions of well- 
 designed and spotlessly clean surroundings, together 
 with accessories of the table, such as linen, china, 
 glass and plate of good quality and design. 
 
 The opening of the Savoy at the end of the 'eighties 
 inaugurated a new era in English restaurant life. 
 
 The private rooms named after various Gilbert 
 and Sullivan successes were considered a great novelty ; 
 nevertheless, only some forty years before rooms in 
 hotels, especially in Lancashire, were frequently named 
 after statesmen and distinguished soldiers and sailors 
 such as Wellington and Nelson. 
 
 The Savoy was the first restaurant to provide music
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 235 
 
 during meals a fashion which has now become more 
 or less general. 
 
 The curious thing is that while so many people 
 declare that they dislike a band at lunch and dinner, 
 the most flourishing restaurants are those which 
 have one. 
 
 An amusing story with reference to this was given 
 in some recollections of that vivacious traveller Mr. 
 Harry De Windt. 
 
 Mr. G. R. Sims, the clever writer and unrivalled 
 authority on London life, while strolling along the 
 Thames Embankment one summer's evening, stopped 
 to listen to the strains of a Hungarian band, which 
 could be heard through the open windows of the 
 brightly lit Savoy. 
 
 On a seat near him he saw a dishevelled hag 
 one of the ragged homeless outcasts, whose wretched 
 existence seems to be an insoluble problem of great 
 modern cities. 
 
 The woman was mumbling and moaning and Mr. 
 Sims offered to relieve her hunger or distress. 
 
 " Oh, it ain't 'unger nor yet pain," was her reply. 
 "It's that beastly band up there what plays like this 
 every night up to all hours and prevents a body getting 
 a wink of sleep ! " 
 
 " You can't do nothink to stop it, it's the lore what's 
 at fault ! ' And the angry old hag, drawing her rags 
 around her peevishly, turned on her seat as a Park 
 Lane millionaire might turn in his luxurious bed when 
 disturbed by a barrel organ. 
 
 On the whole, Mr. Ritz's career was one of wonderful 
 success, for after he had left the Savoy he made the 
 reputation of the Carlton, the name of which is 
 synonymous with luxury and comfort throughout the 
 civilized world. 
 
 His great success as a hotel-keeper was without
 
 236 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 doubt largely founded upon his favourite maxim 
 "le client n'a jamais tort." 
 
 The trifling loss entailed by changing dishes a 
 visitor does not fancy, or paying attention to even 
 frivolous complaints is more than compensated by 
 the increased attendance which results from such 
 a policy. 
 
 Another favourite expression of this great hotel- 
 keeper, which he was apt to make use of when a 
 decision had to be taken, was " Let us take the beef 
 by the corns," a somewhat free translation of the 
 French phrase, " Prendre le taureau par les cornes." 
 
 A man of immense energy, sometime before he died 
 he had an idea of building a gigantic hotel in the 
 Alps, the hall of which was to be decorated with 
 scenes illustrating his career, showing among other 
 incidents his early life as a poor Swiss boy, as a waiter, 
 as manager of the Grand Hotel, Monte Carlo, as pro- 
 prietor of the Hotel de Provence at Cannes, and finally 
 his triumphs at the Savoy and the Carlton. 
 
 The idea of this somewhat original method of 
 decoration was probably taken by Mr. Ritz from 
 that carried out by M. Scribe, the celebrated play- 
 wright, in a house he once fitted up for himself in the 
 Rue Piagalle. 
 
 In the study were five panels, on which were pictures 
 representing the history of his life. The first showed 
 an old shop in the Rue de la Cordonniere, with the 
 sign board " Scribe, cloth dealer." This was his 
 father's home. The second panel represented " the 
 entrance to the Gymnase Theatre," which was the 
 home in which M. Scribe attained his celebrity. 
 The third was called " Happy Days," and was a picture 
 of his country home at Sericourt. The fourth was 
 called " Honours," and showed the portals of the 
 French Academy, to which M. Scribe belonged; and
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 237 
 
 the last, entitled " Repose," represented a comfortable 
 brougham going along the streets of Paris with the 
 dramatist reclining inside it. 
 
 Mr. Ritz has been dead for some years, but the 
 movement he inaugurated endures, and to-day hotels 
 exist practically in every Capital in Europe, which 
 provide everything to make life comfortable. 
 
 The " tipping " nuisance, however, still continues, 
 and there is little likelihood that it will ever disappear. 
 
 From time to time the question of " tip or not to 
 tip " arouses discussion. Among the warmest par- 
 tisans of a non-tipping system are waiters and other 
 persons who benefit by this form of recompense. 
 
 Their idea seems to be that a fixed charge should 
 take its place. That is to say that 10 per cent or 
 more should be added to dinner and hotel bills. 
 
 As a matter of fact, such a reform would merely 
 result in the public being made to pay more while 
 obtaining no compensating advantage in return. 
 Before long, almost without doubt, tipping would 
 again be the order of the day while the fixed charge 
 would remain. 
 
 No one will ever stop people from rewarding others 
 for civility or special attention. 
 
 Increased taxation and cost of material since the 
 Armistice has hit first-class hotels very hard. 
 
 The enormous amount of money which one of these 
 establishments is obliged to disburse before making 
 a profit, may be gauged by the amount annually 
 expended in replacing broken glass and crockery as 
 well as silver-plated goods which have disappeared. 
 
 At the Ritz Hotel the total sum allotted to these 
 purposes is now not far short of 4,000 per annum ; 
 at the Savoy, which is or course much larger, the 
 expenditure on such items is probably double as much. 
 
 At the Carlton Hotel during the year 1920-1921,
 
 238 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 the money spent on repairs and renewals alone came 
 not far short of 45,000. 
 
 All this has naturally led to increased charges : no 
 one under the circumstances would object to a reason- 
 able rise. In some cases, however, restaurant prices 
 have become outrageous, everywhere lunch and dinner 
 are far more expensive than before the Great War. 
 
 A good dinner with champagne and liqueurs could 
 then be procured at a first-class restaurant for some- 
 thing like (2, los. ; to-day the same dinner would cost 
 about 4. 
 
 The price of food, notwithstanding recent falls, is 
 still higher than it was in 1914 ; but there is no 
 excuse for minor items, such as potatoes, which should 
 now be quite cheap, being often monstrously dear. 
 
 As for the wine, which in many cases has doubled 
 in price since pre-war days, there is also cause for 
 criticism, though various reasons have rendered the 
 situation in this respect more difficult for restaurant 
 keepers. 
 
 Good clarets, except the most expensive brands, have 
 virtually disappeared, and the white wines quoted in 
 modern lists are at present rarely of first-class quality. 
 
 Champagne but a short time ago was at a ridiculous 
 figure ; though very gradually decreasing in cost, 
 brands even of no particular repute are still priced 
 at a figure which eight years ago would have been 
 deemed absurd. 
 
 After the Armistice 2 los. was no uncommon 
 price for a bottle of very mediocre wine, while well- 
 known brands were down, in many a wine list, at a 
 far higher figure. 
 
 The great wine-selling firms are now beginning to 
 deplore the high price still charged for this sparkling 
 wine, well knowing, as they do, that the restaurants are 
 seeking to make an exorbitant and unreasonable profit.
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 239 
 
 With justice, they fear that the champagne habit 
 may disappear altogether, a thing which looks ex- 
 tremely likely at the present time. 
 
 Various circumstances seem to foreshadow a number 
 of unprofitable years for Rheims and Epernay, which 
 have already suffered grievously through the war. 
 
 The only sane policy for champagne growers to 
 adopt is to stipulate that those purchasing their 
 wines should give a guarantee not to seek an undue 
 profit upon their retail sale. Should this be done 
 and prices come down, the satisfactory pre-war 
 situation may eventually be restored. 
 
 Though a good deal of money has been made by 
 the retail sale of champagne at an extravagant price, 
 the present position of the trade is not encouraging. 
 
 Anarchy in Russia, the impossibility of doing any 
 business in Germany, Austria, Roumania and other 
 countries, together with prohibition in the United 
 States, restrictions in Sweden, Norway and Canada, 
 together with quasi-prohibitive duties in England, 
 Spain and Denmark all this does not look very 
 hopeful for the poor peasants and vine growers, while 
 the shippers declare that unless things improve, 
 they and every one else connected with Champagne 
 will have to face inevitable ruin. 
 
 At dinner-time, before the Great War, not a few 
 club members regularly took their pint of wine : 
 
 "While champagne in close array, 
 Pride of Rheims and Epernay, 
 Not in bottles, but in dozens 
 (Think of that, ye country cousins), 
 Stood of every growth and price 
 Peeping forth its tubs of ice." 
 
 All that, however, is now a matter of the past, the 
 sparkling wine in question being now only drunk on 
 special occasions.
 
 240 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 A good instance of the decrease of champagne 
 drinking is afforded by the amount consumed at 
 Westminster. In the first year of the present Parlia- 
 ment one member in every three ordered champagne 
 with his dinner, whereas at the present time but one 
 in thirty ever takes it. 
 
 There is no doubt that " champagne " played 
 a part in contributing towards the defeat of the Ger- 
 mans in the Great War. 
 
 When, as a result of the battle of the Marne, the 
 latter were in retreat, numbers of their men were put 
 out of action owing to the amount they drank while 
 passing through the champagne district. Happily 
 they did not have time to get down into the cellars, 
 but they drank every bottle on which they could 
 lay hands above ground, with the result that the 
 French came upon whole bodies of troops who had 
 been rendered incapable by deep potations. 
 
 Champagne also played an important part in the 
 defence of Rheims ; large numbers of troops de- 
 fending that city being lodged in the cellars, where 
 neither aerial bombs, nor poison gas could harm them. 
 
 Under the circumstances it was no wonder that 
 an enormous number of bottles were emptied ; the 
 soldiers, indeed, took what they wanted. 
 
 It was not, however, the amount they drank which 
 did the greater part of the damage, but the amount 
 they smashed. 
 
 A regiment fresh from fighting would come down 
 to rest, and the tired and thirsty men would seize 
 bottles from a mass piled one on top of the other, 
 and break the top off, the quicker to get at its contents. 
 Every bottle that was pulled out generally caused 
 three or four others, which lay on the top of it, to be 
 smashed, consequently the amount of breakages was 
 enormous.
 
 BOHEMIANISM AND GOOD CHEER 241 
 
 The French soldiers, what with what they drank 
 and what they smashed, got through a very large 
 quantity of champagne, but it must be remembered 
 that they were defending Rheims for four solid years, 
 and during that period were always sleeping in close 
 contact with piles of bottles or rows of casks full of 
 the best wines. 
 
 What men under such circumstances could have 
 resisted the temptation ? 
 
 A great many regiments composed principally of 
 troops trained for attacking (troupes d'assaut) were 
 in turn quartered in the principal cellars. The 
 latter were also used for resting the soldiers after a 
 stay in the trenches the firm of Pommery always 
 had between 1,000 'and 1,500 men quartered in their 
 establishment. 
 
 Moreover, the military authorities took possession 
 of the place to store their ammunition, established 
 subterranean telephone communications with the front 
 French lines and with Head-quarters. 
 
 In spite of all this and during the worst phases of 
 the bombardment, the firm of Pommery carried on 
 its principal work. Old men, women and children 
 lodged in the cellars where there was even a school 
 for the little ones. 
 
 All tried hard to maintain the economic activity 
 of the establishment of the buildings of which, when 
 the Armistice arrived, nothing remained but ruins. 
 
 The cellars of the great champagne firms suffered se- 
 verely, but, as a compensation, they realized that Rheims 
 had been saved largely owing to their champagne. 
 
 After the invader had been beaten off, General 
 Gouraud entertained a large number of his brave 
 soldiers at a lunch, the main feature of which was a 
 profusion of salmon mayonnaise washed down by 
 copious draughts of champagne. 
 16
 
 242 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Up to 1870 dry champagne was hardly as much 
 drunk as sweet, but after that date the first named 
 triumphed all along the line, while the famous vintage 
 of 1874, as far as England was concerned, caused many 
 people who had been used to the sweeter champagnes 
 to alter their view. 
 
 The Cuvee of Messrs, Pommery Brut, 1874, was 
 especially remarkable. It was, as a matter of fact, 
 the late Mr. Hubinet, who was agent for this famous 
 firm, who was the real introducer of dry champagne 
 into this country. 
 
 The still white wine known as Sillery was the most 
 popular form of champagne during the eighteenth 
 century. Sparkling champagne existed, but owing to 
 primitive methods of production, had great drawbacks. 
 
 It had to be drunk quickly, being apt to lose its 
 limpidity, and if decanted its effervescence. There 
 were then no labels of any shape or form and every 
 wine merchant sold whatever kind he could get hold 
 of under his own name and on his own responsibility. 
 Champagne glasses were thin, tall and tapering, the 
 very opposite of the saucer-shaped ones so popular in 
 Victorian days. 
 
 At the middle of the last century " Sillery " was 
 still imported by certain West End wine merchants, 
 but its popularity was then well on the wane. The 
 still Sillery of 1857 was however, in considerable 
 request ; some of this vintage as late as 1900 fetched 
 1403. per dozen at a sale at Christie's. At the same 
 time Ruinarts' still Sillery, 1865, was sold for 1455., and 
 some 1868 vintage from i8os. to 2555. per dozen. 
 These high prices, it may be added, were due to the 
 fact that still Sillery had then become a scarce wine. 
 
 Sillery was a popular champagne in the eighteenth 
 century, when it was brought prominently into notice 
 by the Marechale d'Estrees of the family of the Brularts,
 
 243 
 
 Marquises of Sillery and Puisieux, to whom the estate 
 on which the vines were grown belonged. 
 
 The social position of this lady enabled her to secure 
 recognition of the Vin de la Marechale, as it was 
 called in most exalted quarters the famous chateau 
 of Sillery, where Madame de Genlis declared that she 
 had spent the happiest days of her life, long ago passed 
 away from the Brularts. During the last century its gate- 
 ways, turrets and drawbridges were thoroughly restored. 
 
 A Marquis de Sillery is said to have first introduced 
 the wine of his name to the roues of the Regency. 
 
 At one of the famous suppers at Anet, twelve pretty 
 girls, in the light attire of Bacchanals, at a given 
 signal placed flower-wreathed bottles of this champagne 
 upon the table. Henceforth, Sillery was an indis- 
 pensable adjunct at the petits soupers which were so 
 fashionable at this period. 
 
 The secret of producing sparkling champagne was 
 discovered by a worthy monk of the order of St. 
 Benedict, who in 1688 was cellarer at an Abbey 
 dedicated to St. Peter four or five miles from Epernay. 
 
 Dom Perignon, as this monk was called, being fond 
 of good wine, after having substituted pieces of cork 
 for the flax dipped in oil, which had up to that time 
 served to close up bottles, one day conceived the idea 
 of " marrying " the produce of one vineyard with that 
 of another, and in the course of further experiments, 
 found out a way, too, of making an effervescent wine, 
 dainty to the taste and exhilarating in its effects. 
 
 In due course, the new wine, named champagne, 
 found its way to Versailles, where the Roi Soleil is said 
 to have recovered a modicum of his youthful vivacity 
 under the influence of the creamy flowing vintage. 
 
 As far as can be ascertained Dom Perignon, and those 
 who took up his discovery, never exactly understood 
 how the effervescence of champagne was produced.
 
 244 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 The majority held that, to a great degree, it depended 
 upon the time of year at which the wine was bottled. 
 Others, however, ascribed it to the influence of the moon 
 and various other causes of an astounding kind. 
 
 Good old Dom Perignon, whom we should all remem- 
 ber with gratitude, died about 1715, his remains being 
 laid beneath an inscribed stone in the chancel of the 
 Abbey Church of Hautvilliers. 
 
 The brotherhood has long disappeared. In its day 
 it had given twenty-two Abbots to various Monasteries, 
 as well as nine Archbishops to the See of Rheims, 
 besides which, all lovers of good cheer should remember 
 the old Abbey as having been the cradle of champagne. 
 
 In the chancel of the church there is, or was, a black 
 marble slab, setting forth the merits of Dom Petrus 
 Perignon, and another in the central aisle, to the 
 memory of Dorn Theodoricus Ruynart, one of the 
 ancestors of the Rheims Ruinarts well known in con- 
 nexion with their champagne. 
 
 A picturesque gateway tower, together with other 
 buildings, were destroyed by fire during the vintage 
 of 1878, when Messrs. Moe't & Chandon of Epernay, to 
 whom the remains of the Abbey and certain of its 
 lands belonged, lost several thousand pounds worth 
 of champagne. 
 
 The Great Napoleon would appear to have been 
 interested in champagne, for over the entrance to the 
 cellars of Messrs. Moe't & Chandon, at Epernay, a 
 black marble tablet was erected stating, in gilt letters, 
 that on the 26th of July, 1807, Napoleon the Great, 
 Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and Protector 
 of the Confederation of the Rhine, honoured commerce 
 by visiting the cellars of Jean Remi Moe't, Mayor of 
 Epernay, President of the Canton, and Member of the 
 General Council of the Department, within three weeks 
 p/ the signature of the Treaty of Tilsit,
 
 X 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 
 
 ALL things considered, the Cross Channel jour- 
 ney between England and France has changed 
 comparatively little since the day of the old 
 sailing packets the narrow gangways on which unfor- 
 tunate passengers are huddled when going from ship 
 to shore or shore to ship, indeed, are merely relics of 
 that vanished age. Another quite unnecessary sur- 
 vival, and one which causes delay, is the practice of 
 shipping and unshipping luggage, piece by piece, 
 manual labour being employed. The railway trucks 
 containing baggage should be swung on to the ship 
 and off it by means of cranes, which effects a great 
 economy of time. This is already done on certain 
 journeys, but it might well be extended to more. 
 
 Passengers on at least one Continental train a day 
 should be allowed only a minimum of hand baggage. 
 The modern habit of carrying suit-cases, which are 
 really trunks, in the hand is responsible for an enormous 
 amount of trouble and discomfort. 
 
 While the effects of the Great War have undoubtedly 
 tended to prevent people from going abroad, a number 
 have done so merely to profit by the rate of exchange. 
 
 The curious situation produced by the varying value 
 of paper money some little time ago actually caused a 
 traveller to make a profit out of assaulting the police. 
 
 An Austrian who went to Spain on business in 
 
 245
 
 246 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 1919, having got into a quarrel, ended by striking a 
 policeman. 
 
 Having been arrested, he was released on bail, 
 fixed at 5,000 pesetas. For these he had to pay 12,000 
 Austrian crowns, against which he energetically pro- 
 tested owing to loss by the exchange. 
 
 Spanish justice is dilatory and only two years later 
 in Seville was the case tried, the assailant being fined 
 1,000 pesetas. 
 
 The remaining 4,000 pesetas were consequently 
 returned to the Austrian, and, owing to the difference 
 in the rate of exchange, he was able to get 1,840,000 
 crowns for them. A profit of 1,828,000 crowns thus 
 accrued to him from his assault on the guardian of 
 law and order. 
 
 It was just about a hundred years ago on 22 
 January, 1822 that the mail from Calais to Dover 
 was, for the first time, carried on a vessel propelled 
 by steam. The difficulty in those days appears to have 
 been the inadequate space provided for fuel. 
 
 There have been many routes between London and 
 Paris, in the 'forties of the last century there were 
 indeed no less than seven. 
 
 The shortest, quickest one in 1843 was via Shoreham 
 and Dieppe. 
 
 London to Shoreham by rail, thence to Dieppe by 
 steamer. From Dieppe to Rouen by diligence, the 
 rest of the journey to Paris by rail. Time about 
 twenty hours cost 2 i8s. 6d. 
 
 The Dieppe route in spite of the longer sea journey 
 is at the present day as good as any other. The quaint 
 old Norman town has much which should interest 
 visitors from across the Channel, some of whom it 
 is to be hoped realize what we owe to that part of 
 France. 
 
 As an admirable historian, Professor Haskins, has
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 247 
 
 pointed out in a recent work, 1 "It is in England that 
 the most permanent work of the Normans survives. 
 The English central Government is their creation, their 
 customs shaped English society and jurisprudence, 
 while their Kings and nobles were the dominant class 
 of the country. 
 
 " The Norman strain indeed exerted an influence 
 out of all proportion to its numerical strength with- 
 out William the Conqueror, the English would not be 
 ' themselves/ whatever else they might have become." 
 
 " The English, their colonists, and the Americans, 
 are all heirs of the Normans, inheriting the talent for 
 political organization and State building which were 
 among the endowments of Duke William, who, in 
 addition to being a warrior, was statesman, diplomat 
 and leader of men." 
 
 During the Napoleon wars contempt for the enemy 
 across the Channel was not unnaturally promoted by 
 those at the head of affairs. 
 
 Fox-hunting squires laughed at the unsporting 
 tendencies of the frog eaters of France. They did not 
 realize that the customs of the chase and Tally-ho 
 itself had been introduced into England by the 
 Normans. 
 
 Tally-ho indeed is merely "Taillis en haut,"a hunt- 
 ing-cry of Duke William's men. 
 
 Englishmen, however, look upon the Norman as 
 just as much a foreigner as the native of any other 
 country. 
 
 The ancient Greeks spoke of all other nations on the 
 face of the earth as " barbarians " ; and for a period 
 they were quite right. It used to be said, probably 
 with some degree of truth, that every Englishman 
 thanked God in his morning prayers that he had not 
 been created a foreigner. " He is a foreigner, but a 
 1 " The Normans in European History."
 
 248 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 very nice man ! ' "A very gentlemanly foreigner, 
 indeed ! ' " What a pity he is a foreigner ! " Offen- 
 sive compliments of this sort fell very frequently from 
 British lips. 
 
 The old English aristocracy, though most of them 
 openly professed their dislike for the French, neverthe- 
 less derived a number of their qualities from Normandy, 
 that fair province of France just across the Channel. 
 
 Pride of birth, tenacity, and love of sport were all 
 of them characteristics of the Conqueror's knights and 
 though many of the families founded by the latter 
 had long been extinct, their influence unconsciously 
 swayed the more modern nobility which had succeeded 
 them. To return to the Channel passage. 
 
 Another route in old days was via Shoreham and 
 Havre. This took about twenty-four hours and cost 
 over three pounds. The other routes were via Havre, 
 Calais and Boulogne. 
 
 From London to Boulogne by steamer and thence to 
 Paris by diligence was said to be the least fatiguing 
 way of reaching the French capital, the sea journey 
 generally not taking more than five hours. Passengers 
 might expect to reach Paris in thirty-three hours and 
 the cost was only 2 8s. 
 
 Boulogne is an interesting old walled town, and so 
 is Calais, though since the demolition of its ancient 
 defences, including the gate which Hogarth painted, 
 the place has lost much of the charm it possessed for 
 English people fond of relics of the past. 
 
 Calais and the district surrounding it, one should 
 remember, for a considerable number of years was 
 English soil, and the ruthless destruction of the gate 
 alluded to above took place, it is said, because it bore 
 the arms of England with which country the French 
 (it was a good many years previous to the Entente) 
 were then not on too good terms.
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 249 
 
 In old days the Englishman who had crossed the 
 Channel often felt himself at a considerable disadvan- 
 tage owing to his ignorance of the language, but to-day 
 when so many Frenchmen are well acquainted with 
 English, whatever may be his linguistic shortcomings, 
 he may feel quite at his ease. 
 
 Provided that he be well equipped with funds, 
 " Banco " and " Je t 'adore " are about all a wealthy 
 pleasure seeker requires to exhaust the joys of fashion- 
 able casinos and the night life of Paris. 
 
 Once well launched upon a round of enjoyment in 
 that gay city it does not usually take him long to become 
 fairly proficient in Parisian slang. 
 
 There is no mode of instruction so thorough as what 
 the French call " la grammaire de 1'oreiller," a form of 
 learning the language very popular with admirers of 
 the fair sex. 
 
 Every one more or less is now well acquainted with 
 the journey from the coast to Paris, the main features 
 of which are a series of long level plains ; Amiens and 
 the glorious forest of Chantilly, some thirty-five minutes 
 after passing which the traveller sees the towers of the 
 Sacre Cceur perched on the summit of Montmartre, 
 dominating the great city so intimately connected with 
 pleasure, history and romance. 
 
 Close by the great church still stands the Moulin 
 de la Galette, the only survivor save one of many 
 windmills which in past ages crowned the summit of 
 what was then a rural spot. 
 
 Up to 1884 it was still working, but to-day its sails 
 no longer revolve, possibly because, as a poet said, 
 they are too heavy with souvenirs of the lovers who 
 have lingered beneath their shade. Nevertheless the 
 vivacious heart of la Boheme still beats in the old mill, 
 the ground surrounding which has for many years 
 been a well-known dancing resort.
 
 250 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Only in 1830 did Montmartre begin to lose its rural 
 character. About that period public balls began to 
 make their appearance. At one of these order was 
 maintained by a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, 
 who with a sword by his side ruthlessly ejected anyone 
 not dressed in suitable fashion. 
 
 At the barriere Rochechouart, close to the wall 
 which then separated Montmartre from Paris, stood 
 the Lion d'Or, where, besides a dancing hall, two rooms 
 were provided for clients who did not dance. One of 
 these rooms was open to all, but the other was rigor- 
 ously reserved for old clients who liked to eat and drink 
 in perfect peace. 
 
 On the walls of the former was inscribed in large 
 letters, " Chambre des Deputes " ; on those of the latter, 
 " Chambre des Pairs." As a chronicler of the day said : 
 " The results of this arrangement were very much the 
 same as occurred in the edifices where legislators 
 decided the fate of France, everything sooner or later 
 resolving itself into smoke." 
 
 In Montmartre till 1882 stood the Chateau Rouge. 
 In its last days it had become a cabaret and dancing 
 resort of no great repute, but three centuries before its 
 walls had sheltered the loves of Henri IV and Gabrielle 
 d'Estrees who had been sumptuously lodged there by 
 that vivacious King, who would no doubt have been 
 scandalized had he foreseen that the home of his beauti- 
 ful favourite would one day re-echo to the heavy tread 
 of the coalheavers and butchers of modern Montmartre. 
 
 It is not inappropriate that the memory of " Le 
 Vert Galant," so fond of the fair sex and pleasure, 
 should be so closely connected with " la butte," to-day 
 the head-quarters of those facile pleasures which 
 Henri IV loved so well. 
 
 When this King of joyful memory was beseiging Paris, 
 the Abbess of Montmartre, according to the custom of
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 251 
 
 the time, was a young girl of rank, Marie de Beau- 
 villiers, aged sixteen and extremely good-looking. 
 
 Ever susceptible to the charms of beauty, Henri IV 
 fell in love with her and, taking his staff with him, 
 established his head-quarters on " la Butte." 
 
 In consequence of this things became very lively, and 
 it was a long time before the Archbishop of Paris 
 succeeded in restoring austerity among the nuns. 
 
 The famous windmills of Montmartre, once thirty 
 in number, but now reduced to two, were originally 
 built to supply the wants of this Nunnery, founded by 
 Queen Adelaide, wife of Louis le Gros. 
 
 Within the last sixty years Montmartre has lost its 
 rural character and become part of Paris. 
 
 Nevertheless there are still some quaint little streets 
 full of creameries, little millinery establishments, and 
 pawnshops where many souvenirs of facile love have 
 found a resting-place. 
 
 Appropriately enough Henri Murger Bohemian of 
 Bohemians lies buried in the cemetery of Mont- 
 martre. Born just over a hundred years ago, in Paris, 
 he died, worn out by poverty and hard work, before he 
 was forty. 
 
 It is pleasant to know that his Centenary did not 
 pass without a celebration at his tomb. Here, after 
 some appropriate oratory, a lady recited " La Chanson 
 de Musette," and the Muse of Montmartre laid a spray 
 of flowers on the earth beneath which the author of 
 La Vie de Boheme sleeps his last sleep. 
 
 Adolphe Willette, gifted artist and true Bohemian, 
 has many stories to tell of Montmartre in the 'eighties. 
 In those days many writers and artists had their 
 abode there. It was then that Willette painted for 
 Rodolphe Salis of the Chat Noir, the clever and curious 
 picture called by the artist " Parce Domine." 
 
 This was painted in the Chat Noir itself where on
 
 252 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 many an evening the artist with Rabelaisian songs 
 ringing in his ears carried out his idea of picturing 
 a ghostly crowd of pleasure-seekers eternally doomed 
 to sorrow hovering over nocturnal Paris with their 
 piteous appeal of Parce Domine ! Parce Domine tuo ! 
 
 The son of an old Bonapartist officer, Willette, in 
 his interesting book " Feu Pierrot," tells how, having 
 taken his mother to see this picture one morning, at 
 an hour when the more unconventional frequenters 
 of the Chat Noir were not likely to be about, the cele- 
 brated Colonel Lisbonne, who had been a well-known 
 figure during the Commune, burst in. He wished to 
 find a second for a duel with one of his old enemies, 
 a Versaillais who had boxed his ears. 
 
 The youthful Willette, after some conversation, 
 got rid of the old Communist, but his mother, deeply 
 shocked that her son should be on speaking terms 
 with such a man, would listen to no explanations but 
 sadly made her way back to the last resting-place of 
 the great Emperor, over whose tomb watched her hus- 
 band, Colonel Willette, who, since his retirement from 
 active service, lived with his family at the " Invalides " 
 where he occupied an official position. 
 
 In spite of plaints as to Pierrot and Pierrette having 
 been driven from Montmartre by modern commercial- 
 ized pleasure it certainly remains the head-quarters 
 of nocturnal gaiety, all vestiges of which have been 
 banished from a London wrapped in the heavy slumber 
 of intolerant Puritanism. 
 
 At the same time the high prices prevalent at its 
 more fashionable resorts, together with the obligatory 
 champagne at from seventy to ninety francs a bottle, 
 have rendered these establishments impossible for 
 Bohemians with only moderate means. What would 
 the heroes and heroines of Murger have thought of 
 expenditure on such a scale ? The money spent in
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 253 
 
 one evening's amusement in Montmartre by a pair of 
 modern lovers would have kept Rodolphe and Musette 
 in luxury for a month ! 
 
 In Paris itself, besides a quantity of amusements 
 which appeal to the pleasure-seeker, there are fine 
 buildings, relics of the past and of the great Revolution. 
 A number of great architectural interest connected with 
 that tremendous event have, however, disappeared, 
 notably the Temple where the bestial cobbler, Simon, 
 is supposed to have tortured the poor little captive, 
 Louis XVII. The Princess, who was afterwards 
 Duchess of Angouleme, was the last Royal prisoner 
 immured here ; and in 1811 Napoleon had the donjon 
 razed to the ground. The King of Rome had just 
 been born ; and the proud and exultant father some- 
 what too sentimentally observed that in demolishing 
 the Temple he wished to throw into oblivion all memory 
 of a place in which a Royal child had suffered so much 
 dire anguish. 
 
 Scarcely a trace of the damage done by German 
 Zeppelins or aeroplanes is now to be seen, but the 
 Municipal Council has affixed commemorative tablets 
 on buildings where shells or bombs fell during the 
 Great War. 
 
 The first of these tablets was placed on the Maternity 
 Hospital in the Boulevard Port Royal, others may be 
 seen in the Rue du 4 Septembre, the Rue de TAncienne 
 Comedie and in the Rue Antoine. 
 
 Near the Porte St. Denis in the Rue de la Lune is 
 another. Here a shell fired from " Big Bertha " took 
 off the top story of a house at the corner of the Boule- 
 vard. 
 
 The Rue de la Lune, it may be added, possesses a 
 certain historic interest on account of No. 38 having, 
 in the days of the ill-fated Louis XVI, been the head- 
 quarters of the crack company of the Royal Guard.
 
 254 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 It was at the junction of this street with the Boule- 
 vard that the Baron de Batz (concerning whom 
 Lenotre has written a fascinating book), with several 
 companions, made an attempt to save the King while 
 the latter was being taken to the guillotine. 
 
 As was only to be expected, this wild escapade 
 failed, all who took part in it, with the exception of 
 de Batz, being disarmed and made prisoners. 
 
 At the Rue de la Lune are a number of very thin 
 buildings ; the narrowest of all, and probably the 
 narrowest in all Paris, is a house dividing the Rue de 
 Clery from the Rue Beauregard. 
 
 Here is to be seen a tablet, not a record of a German 
 bomb, but a reminder that in 1793 it was the abode of 
 Andre Chenier, the poet. 
 
 Most Englishmen, ignorant or unmindful of the fact 
 that Paris is a city containing people who work very 
 hard, look upon it as being mainly given up to pleasure 
 and amusement. 
 
 The idea that the French are a purely frivolous 
 nation is to a great extent produced by the difference 
 between the two races. 
 
 While the English are lethargic, the French are 
 excitable not so much perhaps in these days as in 
 the past, when under certain conditions even high- 
 placed officials were known to get into a positive 
 frenzy of excitement. 
 
 Not so very many years ago, when the attitude of 
 the natives in an Eastern Capital had become threaten- 
 ing, the French Representative, for some reason or 
 other, suddenly concluded that everything was lost. 
 
 " Nous sommes trahis," he exclaimed, and burnt all 
 his Archives. 
 
 Nobody else did, and when the trouble had passed 
 away, endless trouble and confusion confronted the 
 officials at the French Legation, who had reason to
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 255 
 
 envy the calm shown by the representatives of other 
 countries. 
 
 The French mentality and its natural indifference 
 as regards the rest of the world is well illustrated by 
 the following incident. 
 
 On the outbreak of the Great War, in July, 1914, a 
 French military attache, talking to a Dane with 
 political influence in his own country, concerning the 
 effort France was about to make to recapture Alsace- 
 Lorraine, said : 
 
 " Now is the time for you Danes to strike a blow 
 and recover Schleswig Holstein which the Prussians 
 tore from you in '66." 
 
 "Yes," replied the Dane, "that's all very well, but 
 for you defeat, after all, only means the loss of a couple 
 of provinces or so, for us it means ' everything.' ' 
 
 " Yes," said the Frenchman, with a shrug of his 
 shoulders, "but your everything is so small." 
 
 This kind of thing of course does France no good, 
 and produces a mistrust of its inhabitants which a 
 number of them do not deserve. 
 
 The French, on the other hand, are often doubtful 
 whether the English who declare they like France 
 are entirely sincere. 
 
 "It is to be feared," said a cynical Frenchman, 
 " that the love for France, which some Englishmen are 
 fond of expressing, is too often prompted by apprecia- 
 tion of good dinners in Paris a liking for the amenities 
 of wintering on the Riviera with the prospect of a 
 gamble at Deauville or other pleasant French summer 
 resort ! " 
 
 Foreigners in Paris are very apt to say that the French 
 only think of one thing. This impression is certainly 
 encouraged by some of the theatrical announcements. 
 
 During one week, for instance, the playbills of the 
 Comedie-Fran9aise ran as follows :
 
 256 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 " Sunday : Le Cocu imaginaire ; Monday : Aimer ; 
 Tuesday : Aimer ; Wednesday : On ne badine pas 
 avec 1'amour ; Thursday : Aimer ; Friday : T Amour 
 medecin ; Saturday : Aimer." 
 
 The posters of plays and revues are usually less 
 restrained in design than is the case in London. 
 
 Usually, however, they convey a fair idea of the sort 
 of entertainment provided at the theatre or music- 
 hall which they advertise. Nevertheless English visi- 
 tors to Paris are constantly expressing their surprise 
 or disgust at what they have unwittingly gone to see. 
 
 Of recent years many have contracted a habit of 
 going to places such as the Casino de Paris or the Folies 
 Bergeres, and then leaving because of the nudity 
 displayed in certain scenes. 
 
 Considering that absence of clothing has always been 
 a feature in Parisian revues, which every one knows or 
 ought to know, such a display of prudery is very much 
 out of place. 
 
 The Parisians themselves merely laugh at such 
 foolishness, remarking that those who frequent such 
 entertainments know very well what to expect. 
 
 English abroad have always had a mania for adver- 
 tising the great delicacy of their moral susceptibilities. 
 
 Speaking of a new revue at the Folies Bergeres a 
 critic said: 
 
 " One cannot but hope that if this house wishes to 
 retain the English and American patronage, on which 
 it has so long thrived, this ineffably vicious scene will 
 be withdrawn and something that leaves a less nasty 
 taste in the mouth substituted." 
 
 As a matter of fact, scenes such as this are staged 
 mainly because they are known to attract Anglo- 
 Saxon visitors. The French though not shocked by 
 nudity are quite indifferent about it. Leaving a 
 theatre in a state of outraged propriety has no
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 257 
 
 effect upon Parisian revue writers, while impassioned 
 denunciations of the vicious doings and dances to 
 be witnessed on the French stage are capital advertise- 
 ments for certain music-halls. 
 
 The production of real revue as given at Parisian 
 theatres is out of the question in London. 
 
 The censorship regulations as to interpolating dia- 
 logue, together with the law of libel, effectually render 
 anything of the sort impossible. 
 
 Apart from the elaborate productions mentioned 
 above, there are always several clever and amusing 
 pieces to be seen. The French excel in the revue, 
 which in Paris is usually a witty summary of current 
 events and not mere inane hotchpotch of childish 
 turns graduated to suit the susceptibilities of the 
 suburban mind. 
 
 The Jardin de Paris so popular with several genera- 
 tions of English visitors disappeared some little time 
 ago, the municipal authorities having restored the 
 ground it occupied to the Champs Elysees. The band- 
 stand, around which so many well-known dancers 
 footed it, still remains, reminding those who knew 
 the spot in the 'eighties and 'nineties, of La Goulue 
 and Grille d'Egout, of La Sauterelle, Nini Patte en 
 1'Air, Jean Avril and many others whose memory has 
 long faded from Parisian life. Though it never 
 possessed the brilliancy of Mabille, the Jardin de Paris 
 was pleasant enough on a warm summer night with 
 its lights glimmering among the trees, and something 
 of the semi-rural air which distinguished kindred 
 resorts of other days, such as Vauxhall and Cremorne. 
 Though there are more dancing places in Paris than 
 there were twenty years ago, its disappearance leaves 
 a void, which may before long be made larger by the 
 abolition of the Cafe des Ambassadeurs, not far away, 
 the site of which is, it is said, also to be once more 
 17
 
 258 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 formed into the pleasure-grounds of which it origin- 
 ally formed part. 
 
 The quadrille eccentrique or can-can which was the 
 speciality of the dancers at Parisian public balls has 
 lost a good deal of its popularity, having been sup- 
 planted by the Jazz. Nevertheless it is still danced 
 at the Bal Tabarin and other haunts, so its tradition 
 is not likely to die out. 
 
 Known as la quadrille eccentrique in France and the 
 " can-can " in England this curious form of dancing 
 achieved immense popularity in the 'thirties of the 
 last century. A strange individual named Le Battut, 
 the son of a rich Frenchwoman of good birth and an 
 English chemist, first introduced that dance into 
 Parisian balls. Up to his time it was unknown out- 
 side low suburban resorts, but gradually growing more 
 popular it became at one time quite a feature of the 
 Opera Balls. 
 
 The Cafe Concert like the London Music-Hall seems 
 to have seen its best days. 
 
 It is curious how the lapse of years invests even the 
 most frivolous things with a certain mysterious pathos. 
 A short time ago, was given in Paris, a review of the 
 old Cafe Concert songs sung in the 'eighties of the last 
 century, taken from the repertoire of Judic, Duparc, 
 Theo, Libert, Paulus, and others. 
 
 For a few brief hours, as it were, the vanished voices 
 of these stars were heard once again, and the effect 
 of both the comic as well as the sentimental ditties 
 was described by a critic as having something strangely 
 moving about it. The compositions in question, 
 though not very highly esteemed in their own day, 
 seemed to possess delicacy and taste. The sentimen- 
 tal ones had not lost their subtle fragrance nor the 
 comic their flavour. 
 
 At one of the former places of amusement in the
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 259 
 
 Champs Elysees a school for golfers was established 
 a short time ago. Here those desirous of becoming 
 proficient on the links could come and take lessons 
 from a professional who, I believe, made quite a good 
 thing out of his teaching. 
 
 Sport in France, which formerly was taken by the 
 English as a sort of joke, has latterly come to be looked 
 upon by the French as something of a National asset, 
 a Ministry of Sport having been established, which has 
 already done excellent service. 
 
 Proficiency in games or with the fists is now highly 
 esteemed across the Channel. When any Frenchman 
 takes part in a big fight away from home, an official 
 is told off to attend, while official congratulations are 
 offered to all who comport themselves in a manner 
 likely to reflect credit upon their country. 
 
 The result of this Government patronage of games 
 and sport must be highly gratifying to its inaugurators. 
 The prowess of Carpentier and a number of French 
 Boxers is generally acknowledged, while this year 
 (1922) for the first time the match of Rugby football 
 played between France and England was a tie. 
 
 As for racing, on the race-courses in the vicinity of 
 Paris it seems to have taken a new lease of life since 
 the war. 
 
 The flat racing at Longchamps in the spring and 
 summer is always delightful, while the Grand Prix, 
 though the enclosures are dreadfully crowded, is one 
 of the great events of the Parisian season. 
 
 The first Grand Prix was run in 1862 when it was 
 won by the Ranger. A good many vigorous protests 
 were made in England against the race being run on 
 a Sunday, but by these the French declined to be 
 swayed. As a matter of fact, notwithstanding Anglo- 
 Saxon plaints at the iniquity of Sunday racing, the 
 beautiful courses at Longchamps and Auteuil are very
 
 260 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 popular with visitors from across the Channel on many 
 a fine Sabbath day. 
 
 It was the great Emperor who first introduced racing 
 into France. Probably with an eye to the horsing of 
 his cavalry, he decreed that there should be races, and 
 races of a sort there were, chiefly in the Department 
 of the Orne and at a hippodrome at Le Pin, the seat of 
 a Government stud established by Colbert in the days 
 of the Roi Soleil. 
 
 The chateau still exists, together with a horse-breed- 
 ing establishment. Both are well worth a visit. 
 
 Auteuil race-course was first opened to the public on 
 10 November, 1873, those responsible for the venture 
 having been a small group of members of the Cercle 
 de la Rue Roy ale. 
 
 The names of most of the founders, it may be added, 
 are perpetuated in the titles of various important races. 
 
 In the early days an attendance on a grand steeple- 
 chase day was about 20,000 people ; but within recent 
 years, owing to the huge crowds, the enclosures have 
 become inconveniently crowded. 
 
 According to the terms of the new lease granted 
 to the Auteuil steeplechase race-course by the Paris 
 Municipal Council, the rent paid is to be a hundred 
 instead of fifty-thousand francs for a further period 
 of fifty years. 
 
 Improvements, which will cost about 400,000, are 
 to be carried out during the ensuing year, the spring 
 and autumn fixtures being transferred to Le Tremblay 
 during the alterations. The hurdle and steeplechase 
 tracks will be newly laid in a manner suitable to 
 modern requirements, new stands built, and the 
 paddock enlarged. 
 
 The idea is to make Auteuil, which is to be reopened 
 in 1923, as up to date and attractive as is the far- 
 famed flat race-course at Longchamps.
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 261 
 
 The reconstruction of the stands at Auteuil is to 
 commence after the Great Steeplechase week in June. 
 Meanwhile, owing to the vast sum required for the 
 alterations, the Societe des Steeplechases has had to 
 make drastic reductions in stake money during the 
 present year. 
 
 A curious incident occurred at Auteuil in 1920, of 
 which no newspaper report ever appeared. 
 
 It was a very wet day, and that part of the stand 
 reserved for ladies was very little filled, only about a 
 dozen being present. 
 
 Just as a race was about to be run, about 200 men 
 climbed over the railings and occupied the vacant 
 places, taking no notice of the uniformed attendants, 
 who tried to prevent them. 
 
 When the race was over, the raiders filed down the 
 stairs in quite orderly fashion. They never appeared 
 again and, during their presence in the stand, did not 
 molest the ladies, who, however, were very much 
 frightened. 
 
 The explanation of this mysterious incursion would 
 seem to be that the invaders held Bolshevist ideas and 
 wished to make a public protest against a few ladies 
 monopolizing a spacious and sheltered stand, while 
 a number of the general public had to stand out in 
 the wet. 
 
 The reason why they never returned probably was 
 that police agents who had observed their incursion 
 cautioned them against doing so. These men were 
 respectably dressed. They carried no race-glasses, 
 and it was evident that they were not regular fre- 
 quenters of the Turf. As has been said, they were 
 probably a band of extremists who thought they 
 might arouse feeling against what they considered an 
 unjustifiable privilege. 
 
 The Pari Mutuel, or totalisator, as installed on
 
 262 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 French race-courses, was invented by M. Joseph Oiler, 
 who died aged 83 in April, 1922. He it was who 
 founded the Nouveau Cirque, the original Moulin 
 Rouge and the now defunct Jar din de Paris. The 
 system first came into operation in 1874, at an office on 
 the site of the present Olympic music-hall, in addition 
 to which vans with their betting apparatus attended 
 Parisian race-meetings. 
 
 The authorities, however, disapproved of the ven- 
 ture, and in 1875 M. Oiler was tried and punished, 
 after which the Pari Mutuel was not heard of for a good 
 many years. 
 
 Some thirteen or fourteen years later, however, 
 an attempt was made to suppress betting altogether. 
 The lists and bookmakers' stands on French race- 
 courses were removed, and anyone found making a bet 
 arrested. 
 
 The result, as might have been foreseen, was most 
 unfortunate. 
 
 Racing without betting is impossible, and for about 
 ten days irate crowds booed and hissed as races were 
 run. A considerable number of troops, cavalry as 
 well as infantry, were required to keep order on the 
 courses. The situation in short became impossible. 
 
 Monsieur Goblet, the Minister of that day, who 
 was held responsible for the suppression of betting, 
 was said to go in fear of his life some declared that 
 he had been compelled to hide ! 
 
 Serious dissatisfaction prevailed, to put an end to 
 which the Government eventually announced that 
 though bookmakers could not be tolerated, the Pari 
 Mutuel would at once be installed. From that day 
 to this that particular form of speculation has pre- 
 vailed on French race-courses. 
 
 A certain percentage of the money taken goes as a 
 tax, the proceeds of which are applied to charity,
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 263 
 
 horse-breeding, and the support of racing. Before the 
 war, when this tax was fairly moderate, the receipts 
 were very large. Since the Armistice, however, the 
 percentage having been somewhat unduly increased, 
 a rather smaller sum has been taken. Illicit betting 
 also largely increased a short time ago with the result 
 of further curtailing the money passing through the 
 machines, but in this respect matters now appear to 
 have somewhat improved. 
 
 Though M. Oiler had nothing to do with the Pari 
 Mutuel after it had been established by the Govern- 
 ment, the tickets connected with it were, and are, 
 printed at a factory at Putaux which he had built 
 for his original venture ; this is now managed by his 
 nephew, M. Henri Oiler. 
 
 While there has been a good deal of discussion as to 
 the possibility of doing away with betting altogether, 
 experience shows that the evils of gambling are best 
 mitigated by regulations which while making people 
 lose their money under fair conditions at the same time 
 benefit the poor. In this direction the French Govern- 
 ment, it must be admitted, has achieved a fair measure 
 of success, for, owing to the tax or percentage levied 
 upon baccarat banks and bets on race-courses, a very 
 large sum is now annually available for charitable 
 purposes and for hospitals. 
 
 It is a pity that such a view has not been adopted 
 by Government in England. Unfortunately and un- 
 reasonably though Stock Exchange operations, no 
 matter how speculative they may be, are regarded with 
 complacency, a very considerable number regard bet- 
 ting as being disreputable if not positively wicked. 
 
 This was perhaps never better shown than at the 
 death of the ill-starred Marquess of Hastings, upon 
 which occasion a great London daily, whilst very 
 severely criticizing the defunct nobleman in its largest
 
 264 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 type, had a column and a half in equally large type, 
 dedicated to the praise of Baron James de Rothschild. 
 The Baron was a prudent speculator, not a rash 
 gambler he had also been successful and in England 
 much is pardoned to success ! 
 
 From time to time ah 1 sorts of ridiculous laws in- 
 tended to prevent the public from indulging in betting 
 on horse-racing have been proposed by Puritan busy- 
 bodies. This particular form of cant, though hitherto 
 defeated in our own country, meets with more success 
 across the Atlantic. 
 
 In October, 1921, a Bill passed through the American 
 House of Representatives which sought to prohibit 
 the transmission by mail of newspapers publishing 
 betting odds on horse-racing, prize fights or other 
 contests of strength, speed or skill ! 
 
 In England while not exactly liking to make betting 
 a crime those responsible for the laws affecting it have 
 merely placed a premium upon dishonesty. 
 
 Anything more iniquitous and ridiculous than the 
 state of affairs produced by what is known as the 
 betting-by-cheque decision it is indeed impossible to 
 conceive. 
 
 The judgment in question was to the effect that any 
 or all money paid by cheque in settlement of a betting 
 or other gambling debt can be reclaimed by the loser, 
 his heirs or the trustees of his estate. 
 
 Naturally it cuts both ways, if a backer is able to 
 sue for money paid to a bookmaker, the latter has the 
 same right to sue a layer. 
 
 The Act under which the Law Lords gave their 
 decision curiously enough says nothing about horse- 
 racing. It was passed to protect people from losing 
 large sums in the gaming houses which flourished 
 during the earlier part of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The best criticism of the absurd and unjust state of
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 265 
 
 affairs produced by this judgment was that passed 
 by the " Daily Express," which said : 
 
 " All gambling and betting may be wrong. It may 
 even be more wicked to risk money on a fallible horse 
 than on an equally fallible rubber or oil share. But it 
 is certain that the whole system of gambling legis- 
 lation in Great Britain is a mass of inconsistency, 
 absurdity and hypocrisy." 
 
 Whether the pari mutuel will ever be seen on English 
 race-courses is a doubtful question. To begin with it 
 seems at present extremely unlikely that legislative 
 sanction would be ever accorded to such a form of 
 speculation in this country. In addition to this, the 
 introduction of the Totalisator might be resented as 
 an innovation by habitual votaries of the Turf. Its 
 introduction would certainly be resented by book- 
 makers. 
 
 Adversity makes strange bedfellows, and the opposi- 
 tion of the latter to the legal toleration of such a new 
 form of betting would probably receive strong support 
 from Puritans. 
 
 Once the Grand Prix is over all Paris flocks to the 
 country or to the seaside. 
 
 Rural France is most attractive, besides which many 
 now go to see the battlefields of the Great War. 
 
 The traveller must, however, expect to put up with 
 a certain amount of discomfort. 
 
 English country Inns are too often miserably bad, 
 with their stuffy, ill-decorated coffee-rooms and poor 
 fare, but there is a lot of nonsense talked about the 
 wayside hostelries of the Continent. 
 
 The golden omelet, about which travellers are apt 
 to go into raptures, is in these days too often com- 
 pounded of Chinese eggs, while the meat and fish are 
 not infrequently beneath contempt. 
 
 English Inns usually have a supply of fairly good
 
 266 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 beef and mutton. The pity is that those responsible 
 for the management seem totally ignorant of the art 
 of serving food in an attractive manner. 
 
 A fortune is awaiting any enterprising restaurateur 
 who devotes his energies to remodelling the hostelries 
 along the great motor routes in both England and 
 France. Absolute simplicity, spotless cleanliness, to- 
 gether with careful attendance and good simple food, 
 would attract numbers who, warned by unpleasant ex- 
 perience, take care never to stop except at large towns. 
 
 For the French a visit to Verdun with its famous 
 Tranchee des Baionettes, where a whole company of 
 soldiers sleep their last sleep, with their rifles and 
 bayonets still sticking out of the ground, forms almost 
 a sacred pilgrimage, but many English and Americans 
 wend their way there too. For the former, indeed, 
 the old fortified town, quite apart from its magnifi- 
 cent defence, should possess a peculiar interest. 
 
 To Verdun during the Napoleonic War the Emperor 
 sent a number of English prisoners who, being on parole, 
 were allowed to spend quite an agreeable time. They 
 could lose their money at Roulette and make love to 
 the local ladies, privileges of which many of the younger 
 officers availed themselves to the full. 
 
 Not a few romances originated from their period of 
 captivity at Verdun, of which most of these prisoners 
 seemed to have had a pleasant souvenir. 
 
 The view of the old town with its quaint towers 
 and waterwheels was painted on the spot in 1811 by 
 Philip, son of Mr. P. C. de Crespigny, M.P. for Aid- 
 borough, when a prisoner of war. It is now the pro- 
 perty of his sporting kinsman, Sir Claude Champion de 
 Crespigny. 
 
 Never did the French soldier fight better than when 
 defending Verdun, the old fortress originally built by 
 Louis Quatorze.
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 267 
 
 A fine tribute to him is the poem quoted by Monsieur 
 Francois Dechelette in his " L' Argot des Poilus " : 
 
 " C'est 1'archer de Bouvines, et le dragon d'lena, 
 C'est un monde, un epoque, un symbole, une aurore, 
 Un rayon prodigieux, un astre, un meteore ; 
 Un beau reve enchasse dans du cuir et du fer, 
 C'est parfois un sourire, et parfois un enfer, 
 D'Artagnan dans Brutus, Kleber dans Cyrano, 
 Un poilu, c'est une ame avec un numero." 
 
 The modern Frenchman really loves the land of his 
 birth, and it is a well-known fact that numbers of young 
 soldiers died with the words " Vive la France " on 
 their lips. 
 
 Though no doubt just as patriotic the English have 
 not such a keen, all-embracing love for their native 
 soil as animates our Allies across the Channel. 
 
 The reason is not far to seek. France is really a 
 pleasant country where liberty is something more than 
 a mere word. 
 
 Also it is an old country full of ancient historical 
 memories and souvenirs well known to most of its 
 inhabitants. Besides this it has a spirit of romance 
 which, though the troubadours who sang it have 
 gone, still endures. 
 
 And Liberty and romance, though our prigs may 
 sneer, are fine things capable of inspiring real and 
 ardent affection. 
 
 The conservatism of the French in country districts 
 is great and they still retain phrases in vogue hundreds 
 of years ago. 
 
 The Maid of Orleans in her lonely dungeon, after she 
 had been captured and imprisoned, proudly said to 
 the Earls of Warwick and Stafford : " You think when 
 you have slain me you will conquer France ; but that 
 you will never do. No ! Although there were a
 
 268 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 hundred thousand more ' Goddams ' in this land than 
 there are now." 
 
 During the late war in certain districts the peasants 
 still alluded to the English soldiers as " Goddams," 
 which expression had evidently come down to them 
 from the days of St. Joan of Arc. 
 
 The French peasantry are a frugal people with their 
 own peculiar usages and ways. An English officer 
 who during the war had rendered a service to a small 
 French farmer, was asked by the latter to come and 
 take a meal in his house. 
 
 When the Englishman arrived at the farm-house and 
 had sat down to lunch, he found himself in a low- 
 ceilinged room very simply furnished, with white- 
 washed walls, the only attempt at ornament being one 
 coloured picture which hung just above his host's seat. 
 In the course of the meal at which the whole of the 
 farmer's large family took part, there was a good deal 
 of talk concerning the merits of " notre grand pere," 
 who the Englishman learnt had been a wonderful old 
 man of impressive appearance. 
 
 " Look for yourself," said the host, " there he is 
 above my head." The Englishman did look and to his 
 amazement perceived the features of Mr. Gladstone. 
 With great tact he spoke of the extraordinary resem- 
 blance of the picture to the deceased English statesman. 
 " Well," said his host, " the fact is we were going to 
 have a portrait of le grand pere painted from a photo- 
 graph, when my wife, who was shopping in our little 
 country town, happened to see this picture. As it 
 was a good likeness and cost very little, she decided to 
 buy it and we all of us like it very much." 
 
 This portrait of the Grand Old Man originally pub- 
 lished by some English Weekly still decorates the little 
 French farm-house. 
 
 Since the Armistice the popularity of the French
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 269 
 
 " plages " has once more revived. At the same time 
 a great change has come over the pleasant little resorts 
 which are now too expensive for those of moderate purse 
 wont to spend their holidays there previous to 1914. 
 
 At French watering-places public gaming is rather 
 more general than it was before Deauville, Biarritz, 
 Aix-les-Bains attracted the wealthier players. At 
 Deauville in particular high stakes are the rule during 
 the height of the season. 
 
 Looking back at some notes of the past I see that 
 in 1909 one player alone a very rich gambler fond 
 of high stakes lost a milhon francs. 
 
 During the present year a wealthy English gambler 
 lost at baccarat no less than eight millions of francs. 
 This, of course, represents much less than it would 
 have done in 1914 ; still it is about 150,000 ! 
 
 The loser of this large sum, however, being of a 
 certain age and well used to play will probably recover 
 some of his money in the end. Anyone who takes 
 big banks at baccarat must be prepared for serious 
 losses in addition to which the cagnotte in course of 
 time becomes a serious tax. 
 
 " Every great city is the embodiment of a great idea, 
 every town of pleasure," once said Lord Beaconsfield, 
 "should be the expression of a caprice." 
 
 The average French watering-place with its Casino 
 and unfettered amusement is, more or less, the expres- 
 sion of a caprice the English seaside resort never. 
 
 The most agreeable one in England is probably 
 Brighton. 
 
 Without going so far as an ultra-enthusiastic admirer 
 who wrote that all who have gazed upon the beauty of 
 that Sussex town have remained her lifelong captives, 
 it must be admitted that London-by-the-Sea has more 
 luxury and attractions than most English watering- 
 places.
 
 270 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Old Brighthelmstone had its days of romance there 
 is little of that about it now, but a good deal of solid 
 comfort. 
 
 Though singularly devoid of trees it has the great 
 advantage of being encircled by the green glory of 
 Downland. This inspired the enthusiastic praise of 
 so keen a lover of the country as Richard Jefferies. 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes described Brighton as 
 " A magnificent city built for enjoyment," and accord- 
 ing to our insular ideas he was not altogether wrong. 
 
 Nevertheless, were the town run on Continental 
 lines (which it never will be) Brighton would become 
 far more enjoyable. The absence of a Casino with its 
 numerous attractions here, as at all seaside resorts, 
 places Brighton at a great disadvantage, compared 
 with its very much less pretentious rivals across the 
 Channel. 
 
 There can be no possible comparison between the 
 amenities of an English seaside resort and those of a 
 French one. 
 
 At the former all amusements cease about half-past 
 ten in the evening, whereas in France Casinos remain 
 open as long as anyone wishes to remain in them. 
 
 Piers with their somewhat dismal surroundings are 
 no substitutes for Casinos, which in addition to a 
 restaurant and first-class music enable visitors to 
 indulge in speculation at Boule and Baccarat. 
 
 The bathing facilities abroad are also as good or 
 better than those to be found at home, while the 
 whole life is full of a bright spirit of social freedom, 
 which finds no favour with the local authorities on 
 this side of the Channel. 
 
 The main drawback of the French Plage is the 
 rapacity of hotel-keepers who, careless of the proverb 
 as to killing golden geese, can rarely resist fleecing 
 visitors on every possible occasion a stupid policy
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 271 
 
 which in the end must prove anything but profitable 
 to a hotel-keeper. 
 
 At English watering-places things are better in this 
 respect, though it must be admitted that the cooking 
 and service often leave much to be desired. 
 
 The regular visitors, however, who keep seaside 
 Hotels going, do not seem to mind this, for year after 
 year they return, being apparently quite content with 
 the very elaborately drawn-up French Menus intended 
 to cover an indifferent, if pretentious, cuisine. 
 
 While English watering-places are dull they are 
 usually safer places for young men than the seaside 
 and health resorts on the Continent. 
 
 Some of the latter abound in undesirable people of 
 both sexes Lord Lonsdale, it is said, first met the 
 German Emperor at Marienbad. 
 
 " It only shows," this popular sporting peer is 
 reported to have remarked on the outbreak of war, 
 " how careful one should be in making acquaintances 
 at foreign watering-places ! ' 
 
 The most luxurious and amusing French plage, at 
 least during the height of its season, is Deauville. 
 
 Though the Due de Morny was the founder of its 
 prosperity, he was probably attracted to the Normandy 
 coast owing to the sketches of an artist named Mozin, 
 who years before, roaming about in search of the pictur- 
 esque, had come upon what was then the mere fishing 
 hamlet of Trouville-sur-Mer. 
 
 Mozin was so charmed with the varied beauties of the 
 site and of its neighbourhood that he filled his album 
 with views which became the talk of the artistic and 
 pleasure-seeking world of Paris. His enthusiasm 
 made many converts, and visitors from the fashionable 
 world flocked to the spot in order to judge with their 
 own eyes of the justice of the artist's praises. 
 
 Others who seconded the Due de Morny in making
 
 272 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Deauville a fashionable seaside resort were Prince 
 Demidoff, the Marquis de Massa and a member of the 
 great banking family of Lamtte. 
 
 An Englishman, Dr. Olliffe, who was well known in 
 Parisian Society during the Second Empire, also did 
 a good deal to assist the popularity of the new Plage, 
 one of the chief attractions of which lay in its magni- 
 ficent sands, of late years rendered attractive to the 
 eye by beds of red geraniums which have been laid 
 out near the line of villas facing the sea. 
 
 It may be added that a short distance inland is the 
 little town of Touques situated on the right bank of 
 the river of the same name separating Deauville from 
 Trouville. 
 
 Touques, which contains some curious old houses, 
 should have a peculiar interest for English visitors. 
 
 Thomas a Becket laid the foundation-stone of the 
 still existing church of St. Thomas, and here William 
 Rufus embarked to be crowned King of England in 
 1086. 
 
 Not far away may be seen the remains of the Chateau 
 of Bonneville-sur-Touques, where William the Con- 
 queror was wont to reside. 
 
 Touques, though now a sleepy little place, was of 
 considerable importance in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Relics of its vanished grandeur continued long after 
 the sun of its prosperity had set, the town continuing 
 to enjoy the honour of having a Governor till 1789, 
 when all such officers were swept away. 
 
 Though Deauville was made fashionable by the Due 
 de Morny, this Norman seaside resort sank into com- 
 parative obscurity after the fall of the Second Empire, 
 when Trouville took its place. Deauville, however, 
 within recent years has completely turned the tables 
 upon its rival. 
 
 Under the very capable management of Monsieur
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 273 
 
 Cornuche, with its splendid new Casino and magnificent 
 Hotels, it has entered upon what looks like a career 
 of uninterrupted prosperity. 
 
 The Hotel de Normandie, built in accordance with 
 the best traditions of the local style, is a really pic- 
 turesque building, while the Casino, with its huge 
 foyer, theatre and well-appointed gaming-rooms, offers 
 all sorts of distractions to visitors who can lose their 
 money at baccarat amidst agreeable surroundings. 
 
 With plenty of money in his pocket, a visitor can 
 lead the most easy and pleasant life in the world. 
 
 In the morning he can bathe or look on while charm- 
 ing Parisian nymphs disport themselves among the 
 waves. In the afternoon he can play golf, while the 
 Casino with its fine band and theatrical performances 
 are there to amuse him when he is tired. Baccarat he 
 can play pretty well when he likes, while during the 
 race week he can back his fancy to any extent. 
 
 A feature of Deauville in the season is the multitude 
 of red geraniums which are planted all over the place ; 
 the confines of Monsieur Cornuche 's dominions are, as 
 it were, marked out by this flower, which imparts an 
 air of brightness to a number of spots which formerly 
 were mere wastes of sand. 
 
 Another charming seaside resort is Dinard in 
 Brittany. This of recent years may be said during 
 its season to have become a sort of little Deauville. 
 
 Twenty or thirty years ago life at Dinard could be 
 lived very cheaply, and the result was that a number 
 of English with small means made it their permanent 
 abode. 
 
 In those days, of course, though the natural attrac- 
 tions of the place were always alluring, there were not 
 the facilities for luxurious living and amusements 
 which exist to-day, when a charming and well-con- 
 ducted Casino together with first-class Hotels have 
 18
 
 274 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 made the Breton watering-place fully equal in its 
 amenities to older established rivals which have long 
 been noted for attracting the pleasure-loving and 
 fashionable world. 
 
 In France gaming, provided it is carried on according 
 to a carefully drawn-up code of regulations, has been 
 tolerated for years. 
 
 In Belgium, where the authorities seem less sensible, 
 a less satisfactory state of affairs prevails. 
 
 At one time gambling is allowed at Ostend and other 
 Belgian resorts at another suppressed. 
 
 Whenever an announcement appears that all play 
 in Belgium has been prohibited a certain section of 
 the English Press indulges in a chorus of unctuous 
 congratulation, while the usual time-worn phrases as 
 to the demoralizing effects of gambling are once more 
 trotted out. 
 
 One enthusiastic writer declared that the public 
 conscience of England had too long been outraged by 
 the proximity of such a dangerous temptation ; and 
 the Belgians were told that they might anticipate 
 reaping a golden harvest as the result of the high- 
 principled^ attitude which had been adopted, the 
 English being now able to visit Ostend without fear 
 of contamination. 
 
 The Belgians that season kept the gaming-rooms at 
 that watering-place closed. To their dismay, however, 
 no English visitors worth anything particular arrived 
 and those who did, on finding that there was no 
 gambling, left as speedily as possible. 
 
 Since that unfortunate experiment in repression the 
 tradesmen of Ostend have not been so averse to the 
 tables. On the contrary they now petition for them 
 to be kept going, well realizing that they are a real 
 attraction to wealthy people from across the water. 
 
 There was once what was practically a regular
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 275 
 
 gaming-house on English soil. This was in the 'fifties, 
 when mild roulette was played on the island of Heligo- 
 land. A miniature roulette-table there was much 
 frequented by joyous Israelites and English officers 
 from the mainland. In 1856, however, an outraged 
 English tourist wrote a furious letter to " The Times," 
 complaining of such horrors existing under the British 
 flag. He denounced the scandalous desecration of 
 the English name, and so forth ; and in consequence 
 the Governor issued an edict against the roulette. 
 Play, however, on a diminutive scale continued there 
 some time longer. 
 
 Since the Armistice the inhabitants of this little 
 island have petitioned the German Government to 
 allow the reopening of a Casino with gaming-tables. 
 
 The islanders, who appear to be in a bad way, declare 
 that the advent of visitors is the only thing which will 
 restore their weak financial position. 
 
 It is however rather doubtful whether such an 
 establishment would now prove profitable. 
 
 The greatest gaming-house in the world the Casino 
 at Monte Carlo has like most things suffered owing 
 to the Great War. 
 
 Last year's season on the Riviera was a success, this 
 year's is a slump. Hotel-keepers on the Riviera, 
 owing to the huge charges of 1920, do not appear to 
 have done well in 1921. Suites for which 250 francs a 
 day was paid during the former year remained unlet, 
 in spite of the fact that they were offered at some- 
 thing like half the price, board being included ! During 
 the winter season of 1921 the number of persons who 
 had obtained admission to the Casino was 18,000 less 
 than in the previous year. 
 
 The Riviera, with its beautiful coast-line full of 
 sunny spots for shady people, seems, of late, to have 
 become unpopular with visitors. To some extent
 
 276 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 this is certainly due to the rapacious methods of hotel- 
 keepers and other chartered harpies ; the latter, 
 unmindful of the old proverb about killing the golden 
 geese, having sent many a visitor away, vowing that 
 in future he or she would leave the Riviera severely 
 alone. 
 
 The last season was said by old frequenters of the 
 Riviera to have been the worst they ever remember 
 and they are probably right. 
 
 As for the French, those who had experience of the 
 exorbitant charges and gross profiteering of hotel- 
 keepers the year before seemed to have warned their 
 friends about it, with the result that comparatively 
 few French people went south. 
 
 All this will eventually, no doubt, have a good effect 
 in bringing the harpies to reason ; at the end of last 
 season the Sporting Club at Monte Carlo, which was 
 formerly the most expensive place in which to dine, 
 had become comparatively moderate. 
 
 Monte Carlo, however, remained very dear. At 
 Mentone, on the other hand, you could practically 
 fix any terms you liked. Everything last season was 
 very different from the year before when the place, 
 together with other Mediterranean resorts, was crowded 
 with visitors from England. 
 
 A Frenchman at that time suggested that as the 
 English had occupied the Riviera, it would be a delicate 
 compliment to their love of restrictions to institute a 
 passport system by which no Frenchman could enter 
 this Anglo-Saxon zone without a visa. 
 
 " As things are now," said he, " we feel rather 
 nervous lest we should be considered intruders in this 
 part of our country." 
 
 Up to comparatively recent years a considerable 
 number of Parisians went to the Riviera to gamble, but 
 they have less need to do so now.
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 277 
 
 Since the war a number of gambling clubs, which 
 are really gaming-houses, have sprung up in Paris. 
 To these admission is easy, consequently the company 
 frequenting them is apt to be mixed. In spite of this, 
 decorum generally prevails in a great measure owing 
 to the tact of those who conduct such places. 
 
 The proprietor of one of them, whenever any 
 trouble or disorder arises among his clients, makes a 
 point of quelling it by his personal intervention. One 
 of his favourite methods, after calling for silence, is to 
 say : " Remember, gentlemen, that here you are ex- 
 pected to behave in exactly the same way as you do 
 in your other club the Jockey." 
 
 The profiteering of a bumper season has driven 
 people away from fashionable resorts like Cannes and 
 Monte Carlo, the boot indeed seems on the other leg 
 now, and if European trade does not improve, visitors 
 will be more or less able to fix their own prices. 
 
 Riviera restaurant-keepers, dressmakers, tradesmen 
 and other harpies have naturally fallen into a state of 
 gloom and depression which must to some degree be 
 shared by the Societe des Bains de Monaco whose 
 Casino has, of late, done very badly. 
 
 At the end of January, 1922, half the season being 
 over, its receipts were six million francs below what 
 they ought to have been. 
 
 Maximum stakes are rarely played and the quietude 
 of the rooms is in striking contrast to their old-time 
 animation. 
 
 Roulette tables, from which the main profits of Monte 
 Carlo are drawn, have been but poorly frequented. 
 The rush and bustle of other days has been succeeded by 
 the monotonous drone of a leisurely croupier calling 
 out numbers which cause but little excitement. 
 
 The Casino authorities at Monte Carlo have more 
 than once altered their policy as regards the croupiers,
 
 278 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 who originally were absolutely forbidden to accept 
 tips. 
 
 At the end of the last century this rule was relaxed 
 with the not unnatural result that rich and generous 
 players received more attention than poorer ones. 
 
 Gradually the whole thing became something of a 
 scandal, with the result that once more the giving of 
 douceurs was strictly forbidden. 
 
 Now once again tipping is allowed, and the croupiers 
 are reaping a rich harvest. During the season of 
 1920-21, these gentlemen have received no less than six 
 and a half million francs at the present rate of ex- 
 change over 120,000 ! 
 
 Individual tipping, it should be added, is not 
 allowed. The money has to be placed in a sort of 
 money box, kept by the chef de partie of every table, 
 who hands it over, when full, to a special department. 
 
 At the end of the season, half the contents of the 
 boxes is allotted to the croupiers, the remainder being 
 distributed among the Casino servants, a superannua- 
 tion fund, i 
 
 The growth of Monte Carlo has within the last thirty 
 years somewhat impaired its picturesque appearance. 
 
 In the 'eighties it was quite a small place, there were 
 no night cafes, and most people were in bed by twelve. 
 
 One of the amenities of Monte Carlo in those days 
 was taking long drives on the excellent road which 
 skirts the coast. 
 
 Comfortable little open carriages drawn by two 
 gaily caparisoned ponies were on hire, and after a long 
 sitting in the Casino, there was no better way of ob- 
 taining a refreshing stock of ozone, than to go for a 
 brisk spin in the direction of either Mentone or Cannes. 
 
 Once the season was over, the owners of these car- 
 riages, who were generally the drivers, made their 
 way across the mountains to Aix-les-Bains, where they
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 279 
 
 once more found the clients who furnished them with 
 a comfortable livelihood. 
 
 It used then to be said that the clergyman of the 
 English Church at Monte Carlo never gave out any 
 hymns under number thirty-six, as he had discovered 
 that some of his congregation had made a practice of 
 carefully noting down the numbers with a view to 
 backing them at roulette. 
 
 The lot of an English chaplain at a Continental 
 gaming resort cannot be a very pleasant one. As a 
 rule, unobtrusive and obliging to all, frothy-mouthed 
 bigots are apt to urge him to denounce the evils of play, 
 overturn the tables of the money changers and alto- 
 gether play havoc with the Temple dedicated to the 
 Goddess of Chance. While, however, fanatics threaten 
 to withdraw their subscriptions from the church fund 
 unless such drastic things be done, another and really 
 more important section are not at all disposed to 
 tolerate attacks upon the facilities offered for a little 
 nutter. 
 
 The best thing a poor chaplain can do is to abstain 
 from all interference. After all he is but a visitor in a 
 foreign land and this being so has no mandate to 
 interfere with the customs and amusements tolerated 
 by local authorities. 
 
 From time to time the modern Anglo-Saxon mania 
 for interference with personal liberty has made attempts 
 to make its influence felt on the Riviera. 
 
 When Monsieur Blanc was alive and still ruled at 
 Monte Carlo, some ultra-virtuous Anglo-Saxon fre- 
 quenters of the great Temple of Chance undertook to 
 conduct an investigation into the morals of a certain 
 section of the female frequenters of the gambling- 
 rooms. 
 
 The result was that about three hundred ladies were 
 declared to be votaries of Venus, a lamentable state of
 
 280 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 affairs which the zealots reported with a protest to the 
 directorate. 
 
 In reply, M. Blanc merely told them that the 
 gambling-rooms were not a place of worship. 
 
 The founder of Monte Carlo was very human and 
 many amusing stories have been told about him. He 
 once even succumbed to the fascinations of his own 
 tables. Being one day at Homburg, where his croupiers 
 were raking in pots of money, he suddenly remembered 
 that his wife's birthday was at hand. Pondering what 
 to give her as a present a peculiarly attractive parasol 
 caught his eye as he was strolling amongst the shops. 
 He was told that twenty marks was its price. Monsieur 
 Blanc was a careful man, and it seemed to him that to 
 pay so much for a parasol was extravagant. Neverthe- 
 less he ordered it to be set aside for him, saying that 
 he would call and pay for it later. 
 
 Strolling towards the Casino the thought suddenly 
 struck him : "To win twenty marks in the rooms is 
 quite easy numbers of people do it, but they don't 
 stop ; which is the reason I make so much money. 
 Why shouldn't I win the price of this parasol make 
 my twenty marks and walk out ? ' 
 
 Walking up to a trente-et-quarante table and un- 
 obtrusively stationing himself behind a group of 
 players, Monsieur Blanc furtively slipped twenty 
 marks on the red black won. Forty marks on the 
 red black again won. Eighty marks on the black 
 red won. He now became excited and, the money he 
 had in his pocket being exhausted, edged towards an 
 astonished chef de partie, to whom he was, of course, 
 well known, and instructed him to place one hundred 
 and sixty marks on red. The croupier dealt the cards, 
 and red lost. By this time every one had realized that 
 Monsieur Blanc was staking against his own tables, 
 and the whole room flocked to see such an extra-
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL 281 
 
 ordinary sight. The croupiers thought their chief had 
 gone mad, for he stood looking fixedly at the cards, 
 entirely absorbed in the effort to recover his losses and 
 win the price of the parasol. He went on playing, 
 however, till he had lost about 1,000, when suddenly 
 realizing the situation he rushed out of the rooms. 
 For some time afterwards Monsieur Blanc was 
 considerably chaffed about this exploit, which was 
 said to have been the only occasion on which he had 
 been known to play. "Ah!" he would say, "that 
 was the dearest parasol I ever bought in my life." 
 
 With reference to English interference with the 
 internal affairs of other countries, it is noteworthy 
 that the crusade against pigeon shooting at Monte 
 Carlo has merely resulted in the prohibition of that 
 pseudo-sport in England ! In spite of innumerable 
 letters to the Press the slaughter of doves still con- 
 tinues in various French watering-places and pleasure 
 resorts. 
 
 Pigeon shooting is undoubtedly a wretched form of 
 sport, if a sport at all, but when all is said and done 
 it is probably not more cruel than pheasant shooting. 
 As regards cruelty, indeed, it is probably six of one and 
 half a dozen of the other. 
 
 The French, besides bitterly resenting interference 
 with their internal affairs by foreigners, know this 
 very well, as they have not failed to point out in 
 articles begging the English to mind their own busi- 
 ness. 
 
 As a matter of fact, I think I am right in saying that 
 some sixteen or seventeen years ago, when there was 
 a great agitation against pigeon shooting, the Royal 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 
 after a careful investigation of how the pseudo-sport 
 was carried on at the Gun Club, confessed that they 
 had discovered no brutality at all.
 
 282 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 As for the French Government putting down pigeon 
 shooting by law, such a thing is extremely unlikely, 
 serious trouble having already arisen over an attempt 
 to suppress the bull-fights popular in the South of 
 France. 
 
 The population of that region violently resent all 
 interference of this sort. At a Congress held at Lunel, 
 near Montpellier, in February, 1922, seventy-one 
 French bull-fighting clubs resolved to defend the 
 " usages and customs of Southern France and Algeria 
 with the utmost energy."
 
 INDEX 
 
 Agnew, Sir Andrew, 206 
 Alexander I of Russia and 
 
 Treaties, 162 
 American Club, 109 
 Apsley House, 123 
 Argentine Club, no 
 Arlington Street, 122 
 Army and Navy Club, 102 
 Arthur's Club, 81, 96, 97 
 Ashburnham House, 124 
 Astor family, 35 
 Athenaeum Club, 100, 101 
 Austin, Alfred, 229, 230 
 Automobile Club, 144 
 d'Azeglio, Marquess, 108 
 
 Bachelors' Club, no 
 Badminton Club, 109 
 Beckford, William, 39 
 Bedford, Duke of, 68 
 Beefsteak Club, 106, 107 
 Belgravia, 112 
 Bertolini's Hotel, 230 
 Bishop of London, and re- 
 strictions, 199 
 Bloom's, 117 
 Bohemian Clubs, 105-6 
 Bolingbroke House, 117, 118 
 Bolsheviks, 165 
 Boodle's, 97, 98 
 Boswell, 116 
 
 Bowles, Mr. Thomas Gibson, 228 
 Branscombe, Miss Maude, 7 
 Briand, M., 160 
 
 Brighter London Movement, 189 
 Brighton, 269, 270 
 Brooks's, 99 
 Brunswick House, 129 
 Buckingham Palace, its history, 
 
 120, 121 
 
 Buck's Club, no 
 Bull-fighting, 282 
 Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 141 
 Burke, Sir Bernard, 50 
 Burlington Arcade, 7, 144, 145 
 Burlington House, 119 
 Byron, 2 ; his house, 140, 141, 166 
 
 Carlton Club, 100 
 Carlton Hotel, 231, 235, 237, 238 
 Carrington House, 124 
 Casanova, 170 
 Cavalry Club, no 
 Chaliapine, 19, 20 
 Champagne, 238-44 
 Chaplin, Lord, 89 
 Chesterfield House, 125 
 Christian Socialism, 163, 164 
 Christie's, 140, 156-9 
 Christ's Hospital, 115, 116 
 Cider Cellars, 181, 230, 231 
 Clanricarde, Marquess of, 91, 92, 
 
 93 
 
 Clark, Ex-Councillor, 186 
 Clubs, 77-110 
 Cocaine, 207-10 
 Cocoa Tree Club, 99 
 Conservative Club, 100 
 
 283
 
 284 
 
 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 
 
 Country Houses in the Market, 
 
 Country Life, 71, 72 
 
 Covent Garden Market and its 
 
 history, 130-6 
 Coventry, Lord, 89 
 de Crespigny, Sir Claude Cham- 
 
 pion, 89 
 
 D'Arcy of Kiltullagh, 52 
 Deauville, 269, 271, 272, 273 
 Devonshire House, 117 
 Devonshire, Louise, Duchess o f , 
 
 28 
 
 De Windt, Mr. H., 235 
 Dinard, 273 
 
 Disraeli, 28, 54 ; his house, 122 
 Dobson, Austin, 230 
 Donnay, Maurice, 12 
 Duchy of Lancaster, 114 
 
 Edenhall, 75, 76 
 Egyptian Hall, The, 144 
 Empress Eugenie, 6, 16 
 Epitaux's, 231 
 Escott, Mr. T. S., 220 
 
 Fisher, Mr. H. A., 174 
 Fisher, Kitty, 124, 125 
 Foli, Signor, 21 
 Fonthill, 39 
 
 Fribourg and Tryer, 154 
 Fun, 220 
 
 Garrick Club, 104, 105 
 Gladstone, his joke, 171 
 Gloucester House, 123 
 Goldsmid, Sir Julian, 109 
 Goat Club, 106 
 Goring House, 120 
 Grant, Baron, 127, 128 
 Grenville Murray, 227-9 
 Grimes, Councillor, 186 
 Guards' Club, 103, 104 
 
 Hanover Square Rooms, 126 
 Harcourt House, 117 
 Harcourt, Sir William, 19 
 Harewood House, 125, 126 
 Haymarket, The, 155 
 Herring, Mr. George, no 
 Hertford House, 126, 127 
 Hickey, Mr., 170 
 Holland House, 128 
 Holland, Lady, 128, 129 
 Houses of Parliament, 152, 153 
 Howard, Honble. Kenneth, 93, 
 
 94 
 Hungerford Market, 136 
 
 Islington, 113 
 Isthmian Club, 108, 109 
 
 Joseph II of Austria, 165, 166 
 Junior Army and Navy Club, 
 
 no 
 Junior Constitutional Club, 109 
 
 Kensington House, 127, 128 
 
 Labouchere, Henry, 93 
 Lamb, Lady Caroline, 2 
 Lambert's, 154 
 Landor, 176, 177 
 Lansdowne House, 117 
 Lanesborough House, 118 
 Lascelles, Viscount, 20, 125 
 Lloyd George, Mr., 160-3 
 Lock's, 154 
 
 London, Relics of Old, 114 
 Londonderry House, 122 
 Louis Philippe, 22, 23 
 
 Maquay, Mr., 24 
 Mary, Princess, 20 
 Melbourne House, 123, 124 
 Melbourne, Lord, 30 
 Mexborough House, 124 
 Mire's, 43
 
 INDEX 
 
 285 
 
 Morland, George, 155 
 Musgrave, Sir George, 75, 76 
 
 Naval and Military Club, 109, 
 
 no 
 Northumberland House, 119, 
 
 120 
 
 Nottingham House, 127 
 Norwich family, 53 
 
 Oldfield, Mrs., 155 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge Club, 104 
 
 Oxford Street, 113, 114 
 
 Pawley, late Major C. J. C., 151 
 Peel, Sir Robert (ist), 27 
 Peel, Sir Robert (2nd), 89, 90 
 Penny, James, 51 
 Pepys, Samuel, 170 ; his pew, 115 
 Piccadilly, 137, 139, 143-6 
 Pius the Ninth, 24 
 Punch and Judy, 143 
 
 Quadrant, The, 145 
 Quarterly Review, 40 
 Queensbury, 4th Marquess of, 
 his wager, 99, 100 
 
 Raleigh Club, 105 
 Ramsey, Mr. Stanley C, 98 
 Reform Club, 102 
 Ritz, Mr., 234, 235, 236 
 Roebuck, Mr., 64 
 Rothschild, Baron de, 43 
 Royal Thames Yacht Club, no 
 Russell Square, its moderniza- 
 tion, 149 
 
 St. James' Club, 107, 108 
 St. Olave's, Hart Street, 115 
 Salisbury, Lord, 122 
 Savile Club, 108 
 
 Savory & Moore, 154 
 
 Savoy, Boundaries of the, 114, 115 
 
 Scarsdale House, 129 
 
 Schopenhauer, 16, 17 
 
 Selfridge's, 147 
 
 Shaw, George Bernard, 20, 21 
 
 Shaw, John, 116 
 
 Souls, The, 19 
 
 Spencer, Herbert, 17, 101 
 
 Spencer House, 121 
 
 Strahan, Professor, 40 
 
 Stratheden House, 129 
 
 Surtees, 55 
 
 Tate Gallery, 50 
 Tennyson, 2 
 
 Thatched House Club, 99 
 Travellers' Club, 102 
 Tuscan Court, The, 24 
 
 Union Club, 103 
 United Service Club, 103 
 University Club, 104 
 Unpunctuality, 25, 26 
 
 Vanity Fair, 228, 229 
 Verdun, 266 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, 122, 127 
 Ward Sir Leslie, 228 
 Warre Mr. F., 224, 225 
 Wells' Club, no 
 Westminster Abbey, 151, 152 
 White's Club, 94-6 
 Whyte-Melville, 69 
 Willette, Adolphe, 222, 251, 252 
 Wimborne House, 121 
 Winscot, Sir Harry, 34 
 Winterhalter, 6 
 Women Police, 184 
 World, The, 228, 229 
 Wyatt, James, 99
 
 Printed in Great Britain by 
 
 Butler & Tanner, 
 Frome and London.
 
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