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    Iv. December 5, 1851. < §P|®Lena Bella,—...

    ' ne enough to imagine such an extinction . Life abounds , and will yet show itself ; but the wonderful thing is to see how far it is stifled or perverted . To a stranger , perhaps still more to one who is strange by habit and yet familiar with it by memory , this compression is terrible . The _Frenchman is amazed at the English " Sonday ; " but I am appalled rather at the working day in its most familiar hours . Not that there is an absence of emp loyment or amusement ; but the employment is not pursued for its own sake , with the hope of its object , or the love of fiction ; and the amusement is fretted down to a mere rag of pleasure . The peasant toils in the field , without any living care for the corn that

    is to spring up under his hand ; he toils for his " wages" only . The English themselves notice how every artistic feeling has declined in handicraft trades : a bricklayer used to take a pleasure in laying his brick with an exact fitness , in spreading his trowel with a sweep that showed the master's hand ; the tailor took a pride in supplying cloth that laughed at time , and in sewing it so that the toughest cloth should wear before the work of his hands should give way . I have boasted of this to Italians , or backed

    Giorgio _' s boast . But now the Englishman has forfeited his fame : the tailor ' s stitches yield , before the newest gloss goes off , and almost as soon the stuff itself gives way . A degenerate and dishonest oblivion of the object runs through all trade . Once , the English tradesman could boast that all he sold was " sterling ; " but now , Edwardes tells me , on the strength of scientific inquiries , which have even been published in a medical paper here , that even the houses of best repute have used a reputation for fairness as a cover for practising adulteration , while exacting the highest price for a supposititious certificate of the genuine in all that they sold .

    It appears to me to be the same , so far as I have had an opportunity of witnessing it , in " the upper classes . " Not that I deny the pretty grounds which I mentioned at Werneth , nor the " comfortable" mansion , with its breakfast room opening on to the lawn—not so damp , in summer , I was told , as I found it ; nor do I deny the agreeable leisure of an English family in villeggiatura ; still less the intelligent conversation , none the less intelligent for being unstudied and often moved by common topics ; nor do I deny the good cookery , none the worse for borrowing from the Continent a little more disguise for that which , in the middle class , seems to

    be supplied more directly from the butcher ' s stall ; nor the superabundance of luxuries—the burdensome conveniences , the science of using which must come with practice alone ; nor the graceful music with which the evening closes—sometimes , Sundays excepted ; and the music oftener graceful in its composition than in its execution . Though I do assure you that amongst those leisurely classes you may meet with musicians who can execute their work as well as " professional" folks—as well as either of you , dear Helen , bating , perhaps , your insight into the soul of the thing . But no , I am wrong ; no Englishman that ever I heard yet , except

    Stanhope , can fling himself into the labour of art as Giorgio does . An Englishman never burns his ships—never " cuts his painter ; " but . be launches even into song , with a rope round his waist , lest he should flounder . I do not deny the agremens of an English country -house ; nor could Giorgio himself deny its listless hours , its never-ceasing want of purpose . Invariably —except in a few solemn households , and possibly in those proudest of mansions to which I have not yet penetrated beyond "the dining-room and saloon—you arc told that the house is " Liberty Hall . " The chief and best-used privilege is , the freedom to yawn .

    It is exactly the same in the ways of the English in public matters . We laugh in Italy at a nobility that has lost its station and power ; but ni England you would have to laugh at a nobility which is deliberately suffering its own power to lie idle and rust . Estates of great extent , and immense value , are in thc hands of men who do nothing in relation to those estates , except to receive the rents ; or who make a few " improvements " as a great stroke of patriotism . The rest they leave to the steward . The distance in intercourse between the " Land Lord" and the common man

    would iinuizc you : it is not less than that between the peasant and the fcmg with you . At John Audley's I met Lord Werneth , the son of tbe nobleman whose Cheshire estates arc continuous with Audley's , and who will leave large pieces of England in charge to bis son . Werneth is a ' ne fellow ; and he has told me how perplexed he is to consider what he shall do for the numbers placed under his influence ;—to better tbeir _condition , to make them men ; but he confesses that very few , almost none of " own order , are intent on the same considerations . Tbe amusements of _""* and London , in the season , arc sufficient at first ; then the

    amnsc"ciif . s of fhe ; House of Commons , for a change ; and then the amusements lie House of Lords become very suitable as advancing years suggest quieter recreations . All tbe " movement . " that delighted me when I first "' "incil to England is a delusion—a surface rufHe— -one of the amuset nfs ji substitute for tbe theatres , whieh share in the general suppression 'c _, and fhe general _insipidity . Tbere is no real movement . Nothing s ( b ) iic in public ; just now that could not be done by thc officers of a coni"" - In every department of life , public or private , political or ooui'" <» nal , if is the auu of journeymen . And in working the 'machinery of life according to rule , life itself is ii iced . The Englishman tells you tbat you must see him in his home : » _'i he will not let you in . The home , indeed , looks quiet and , " respcet' . und everything is sacrificed to keep it so—in appearance ; but of __ H _thnig . H that haunt it , he will not speak . Formerly , when superstition _ix-iinitted the belief that houses were «• haunted , " yon were told not to

    Iv. December 5, 1851. < §P|®Lena Bella,—...

    talk of the ghost , lest it should appear : now the English home is haunted by its ghosts , and they are not talked about . I am not speaking in metaphors : it is literally the fact , that the custom of England forbids all conversation on the consequences of the English system of society . Is it not strange , that Englishmen can do , or suffer universally , what they dare not speak about ? Is it possible that such a people can really have a religion , can reallv believe in anvthing ?

    To the English child there are , —as the best of English modern statesmen used to say , and as his countrymen are always saying after him , — three courses open . He may fall in with the usages of the country and time , and if he be of a very moderate medium disposition , he may be happy , especially if to a character little prononce he adds the possession of so much wealth as to make him master of his material circumstances ; though , even then , it will be necessary that his feelings should not be engaged too deeply in the fate of those around him , however " near and dear . " This division of English society represents so much of orthodox

    happiness as there is in the country . The second path open to English society , is to submit to the laws , however grievous , sink slowly under the oppression , and forego the life which is seen from a distance , but not enjoyed , as the free country is seen by the prisoner . This , in its various degrees , is the most numerous class . The third course is to break the laws j and this , also , is a class much more numerous than that of the arraigned criminals , who . have but little in common with the outlaw class to which I direct my thoughts . The law-breakers run the greater risks , enjoy the most sense of life , and comprise a larger portion of the active

    intellect of the country . I have now been in England three months , and I have just told you my general impressions ; but I will make my meaning clearer when I leave the general impressions , and tell you particular instances of sacrifice or rebellion . Where shall I , begin ? Let us plunge into the middle of " society" where it is most congregated —at a party . " Christmas parties" are beginning , and I am holding Miss Johnson to her promise of showing me the middle class when it is " very gay ; " but it is not to a party of that kind that I mean . It is one that will better suit us , since it is a more miscellaneous gathering . Mr . Allan

    Buchanan is the son of a vast manufacturer , at Glasgow or Liverpool , I forget which—the first of his race , since it has been enriched , who has the courage to shake off " the factory ; " and his wife , appreciating his ambition , collects around her all the notabilities who will attend parties of her stamp . She has a very large house , beautifully furnished ; her arrangements in the way of attendance—so say the learned—are exactly what they ought to be . She has a natural genius for that sort of dominion , and can collect around her the best of friends , the best of servants , and the best of lions . Of irreproachable character herself , tbere is an amiable and intelligent freedom in her presence which permits thc congregation of as strange a medley as any part of the world could witness .

    I went with Stanhope , Edwardes and his wife coming after us . Large rooms , filled , but not to a crush—Mrs . Buchanan ' s taste is too exquisite to copy that fault , even of the very highest in the land ; an atmosphere of light , with breezes of perfume glancing here and there ; a buzz of conversation , subdued to a velvet whisper , broken once or twice by the brazen exclamation of some dowager of equal majesty and effrontery—no dame de la Halle can match an English dowager ; a general stir throughout the polite mob , some ever still , others moving about , elbows _avcII disciplined , utterance adjusted to the most finished letincnce ; a perpetual summer lightning of epigram and repartee , often empty , sometimes worthy of any Ana and occasionally a burst of splendid music from lips of your own countrymen , Elena—or rather of Giorgio ' s . How apt I am to transpose your nativity !

    Whom should I meet iu that picksomc _markets-place—and it is a market place , as any careful mother , with daughters to sell , would confess to you . By the way , these market-places almost have their " quotations , " and " the So-and-so girls" may be " quoted" at their premium or discount with a frightful accuracy . But I am forgetting my encounter with one who looked astonished to meet me , though we have met so often , and never , I think , twice in the same place —( Jiulia Sidney . She is as dashing as ever , as

    handsome—handsomer , a trillc more brilliant , a trille thinner , a trille more worn ; and as startlingly _" natural" as she was at sixteen . You cannot remember bow recklessly natural that was . When she saw me , sin ; looked at lirst slightly daunted ; surveyed me , to see if I could puss muster ; seized me , took me under her protection , as "' a . country cousin from Cairo ; " and by making herself protectress , guarded against any hick of savoir f ' tiire in me that might bring discredit upon ber . Her provident playfulness amused me , but I dill not let ber see that L noted if .

    She grew animated with her work , and showed me all the notables , all the lions , all the monsters of tbat strange crew--with the secic 1 ; history ol all . Hut what surprised me was tin ; proportion of _Hoheniiens in that good lOnglish bouse . There stood a patrician , whose step-children were a wonderful image of himself ; another who had a brace of mistresses— "but that is not the wonder ; the curiosity is , that Danvers ' s girls are sisters , and he makes them live together —//* peace . " There moved another whose conduct at cards had been " bushed up ; " and then another . There followed a host— " all wild , you know : most men are so . " In the midst of them was Lord Voltaire , an evangelical philanthropist , with a cut and mien that made him as indistinguishable from thc waiters as they were

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11091852/page/21/