New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-24
LONDON IN THE AUTUMN.


irpoN ruR pFcIuAR CORRESPONDENT OF rIiE TRIBUNE.l
LONDON. Sept. 27.-There is a certain gloom III re-
turning to London at the end of September ihe
holidays are not over; September is just as Strictly
month for play August and your TRENDS are SUN
on tbe Continent or nj the seaside beating UP the
yncors and stubble in the North lou get letters from
the more highly favored of them. dated at famous
country places and filled with that ncver-endins
socal gossip Of which London iselfs, al the prop
or season the source and centre. Whether yon care
for this or not you care for the soclety
oE some Of the people who for it. don't ION
in the chorus Of those who proclaim that London
only begins 10 be endurable in February, still less OF
the more exquisite few 20 whom life IN the metropo
lis is bore till the Easter vacation is over Far
from it, There arc at least nine months in the year.
perhaps ten. when London is fun of good people,
people good to know and talk with. But the ten
months begin with October and II is still only sep
tcmber and the people who lend charm to metro
politau life will not rs n rule he here for another
week OF two Or if here, they are passing through
as the rather too apologize phrase is Some OF the
hest of them are not above the slight weakness OF
disliking 20 be thought permanently recstabiished
in town ouite so early They have been visiting IN
Kent: they are gong to visit in lOrkshlre they
STAY over day or two to make some purchases
the blinds are kept down OH the front windows the
very servants are told to answer not al nome, 10
everybody save the few ntimates wh0can he trusted
with the secret II will hardly do TO nave been
less than two months away; three are bet
ter: and the weeks you cap pass III
great houses, the greater number OF topics You
will have for the dinners of November. For the
dinners rocommence almost at once} even in Octo-
her you may get an invitation or two and by the
last of Autumn the season sets in with considerable
rcor. | have even known dinner-party to be
given in September; and no i'll consequences followed
suppose nobOdy-mless. perhaps, foreigner
would dare saw he was present at snch an entertain
ment in London at that period of the year. Secrecy
is secured by the guilty completely of guests ana
hosts. 4 foreigner however, has 10 sense OF moral
responsibility, and do not mind coniesslng that
am asked to dine tomorrow, and mean to CO. WIN
similar recklessness / set down the ct that have
actually within the last few days, met three or tor
friends. We did not turn the corner nor cross the
street nor look particularly ASHAMED as we met, nor
even say we were going to take the evening tram
For if il be an advantage be foreigner, il IS not
less an advantage to he journalist, we all weTe
am by virtue of your profession privileged to be at
all times in sorts cf places. and never bnsh Ior
being found there. TO he both foreigner and Jour
nalist is l need not point out, 10 combine as many
advantages and immunihes this world can be
expected Ia afford to one man.
Still il is hardly enough 10 discover that there are
three OF four people whom Won know among the
tlree or fonr millions who surround You, and can
not altermy feeling that the end of September is
for those who do not enjoy the advantages mentioned
too early for recommending London life SatlSfac-
torilv There is something IN the very atmosphere
of the CITY which tells YOU Won are not expected.
Your servants are cvl-Euglish servants. with all
their faults are seldom uncivl-bnt they wear
c1ieved look ms if their own vacation had been
unduly abridged. You 90 to lunch ut your favor
ite club and the door which usually stands 50 wide
omen is shut and instead OF welcome from the
hall-portcr. YOU find half sheet of paper pasted
ourv on a panel aporisinc you that during the
necessary repairs and renovation of the building,
members Of the - Club have been invited TO be
the guests of the - Club; probably a club you
nartlcularlv dislike and where You certain to
meet people yOu do not want to meet; where You
know nothing about the cook or the wine, and the
WATERS know nothing about you, and don't think II
worth while 10 take the trouble to learn your habits
OF humor your whims; where YOU get the worst cut
of the Joint. and thought eXacting II You
want the evening paper before tomorrow morning.
MANY minor miseTies Of life beset you Most of the
excitements of daily life wanting. Bnt you may
gradually come to remark that i'll this, as in most
other Painful crises, compenSanon-l don't say
always an adaquate One-s not wanting. If yOu
do not get all yOu think Yourself entitled to, You
get much eager attention from those on whom you
have no claim stroll into a shop, and Won have the
whole establishment at yOur service If Won buy
balf-a-crowu's worth of anything, the proprietor
offers you change with bow and written receipt,
with what he calls his grateful thanks Hal han
son-cab and the driver regards you as benefactOT,
touches his hat in answer 10 urupted fOTcinger,
touches il AGAIN as yOu tell him where to drive;
fairly takes il off in a paroXysm of gratitude when
Won discharge him with sixpence over his fare.
That very man has sworn at yOu last May
becauae Won did not make the sXpence a shilling.
He has been tanned as other wild animals have been
tanned bv hunger, and fawns on You instead OF
showing his teeth; winch rule, indeed You
vould not care to see. Nou may have yOur pick OF
good places at the theatre the only drawback to
this consolation being that from the best seat there
j. nothing to see which can interest. or amuse any
rational human being except from It's sheer badness
The actors too. are having a vacation, and Summer
programmes, played-out pieces by provincial per
formers are still to the fore in such Of the theatres
As are not closed entirely. Plays which were pro-
duced al the end Of the season, and damned beyond
hone of resurrectiOn figure impudently the bills
in staring capitals with certificates of their excel
lence conceived in that peculiar dialect of which
only the managerial brain is maser-all superlatives
and mostly bad grammar In this matter of public
amusement. the law Of compensation. which / in
vOled above, breaks down.
1t rs open TO anybody who has followed me thus
far to ask Why, then, did you 20 back to London at
such season. VIII tell mm iDgenuously. | had
been spending part of the Summer IN Yorkshire.
You will remark that l say Yorkshire, which is
huge county, instead Of specifying the town This
il rhetorical artifce, universally employed in good
society, TO stimulate the imagination of the nearer
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