The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-11-08
EdtnbnrEh.

cr1t1clSm at the expense of their beau
tif,l city. It is amusing to observe
the confident tone in which they al
lude to its charms, the same calm
superiority of manner with which we
Bostonians descant upon the Club. 4"
I met friend, q native, who escorted
me about with an air which said,
plainly, Don't be afraid of praising
it too highly, nothing you could say
would be taken for fattery. 1 am
accustomed to the ecstacy of travel
ers. 1t can be readily imagined that
such an enthusiast would turn green
with astonishment on finding me in
sensible to its beauties, rs indeed he
did, and devoted the remaining two
days of my stay to my instruction in
Edinburgh life and morals! It is
something between city like London
and Il country town. It has the ad-
vantages of one and the simplicity of
the other. That stern law of caste,
the barriers of which no man dares
break down in London, is very feeble
In Edinburgh. A man may act indie
pendently there, may keep servants
or not, may roll in his carriage or
walk, may actually dress out of IA
shlon, and yet keep his social position.
Many families occupy but one story
of house, so that single building
may be hired or owned by four or five
individuals. Truly they must be kind
hearted and reasonable to discuss
their various fortunes and settle
family jars under one another's noses.
No one seems afraid of his neighbor;
the School for Scandal does not
flourish in Edinburgh, and when peo-
HE quit the city for the holidays, the
houses are left without inmates and
simply locked. This is common in
America, but a Londoner would think
you mad to suggest such thing.
There Is sense of equality among
the Scotch which the English cannot
understand, and I Will give an ex-
ample by quoting from an English
paper. "However low his class, the
rough in Edinburgh will always listen
quietly and reply gravely, never gibes
without q reason, and never puts on
that brutally sullen manner with
which an Englishman of the same
kind cloaks the naauraise honte which
comes of inferiority. The sense of
equality, though not so externally
patent as In France, is just as strong,
and rather more real, the reverence
for money being distinctly less.
Though servants in Scotland submit
to discipline which would drive SER
wants in England frantic, and the So
cial interior always gives way, say for
example, in a crowd, to a social SUI
IL
them, and dislike of that conde-
scending, half satirical manner which
makes educated Englishmen so hated
in all countries but their own, and in
their own, keeps classes SO terribly
apart. \ Scotch cabby, for example,
can converse-a thingno Englishman
of the lower class ever attempts
and IN Edinburgh a tr;.desman of the
lowest order, though far more anxious
for custom than Londoner, talks
with his eyes on yours, and without
an eternal stirring.
The Enghshman is brutal and sui
len, because his ambition and hope
are dead. His position in life is fixed,
and he bears an intense hatred for the
social superiors who have fixed it for
him. A low Englishman always acts
as If you were about to crush or abuse
him, and he was determined to fore
stall you, and the servants cringe and
creep about for a penny in way that
is indescribably disgusting. Nothing
of this is seen in Scotland. The
peasant and workman are cheerful
and polite, because the influence of
caste does not weigh upon them, nor
the influence of wealth AS the bar
riers between classes are broken down,
the lower classes rise in the scale of
manhood. In this last respect France
and Scotland bear some resemblance
to America, but England breads it,
and hence the brutality of her lower