New-York tribune., 1878-10-01
ANGLo-FRENCH TOPICS.
sALA AND BRITISH CASTE.
GEORGE AUGUSTUS sALA AS A BoHEMAN-wH
1,rr,rnr, r,r,snrEnr y - nIsrINCIION

doing the Exhibition. what WONDERFUL genius
he has for throwing out sprats 20 catch sal
mons. l heard one Of the Levys of The
Telegraph confess last Summer that their pa
per owes two-thrds of its advertisements
to George Augustus. He is without parallel
in the art of writing pus. Subscribers to the jour
nal must read them. They cannot help it. and the
puifs are done IN such an ofi-hand, etfeIvescent
clown-at-the-fair style as never to compromise
the serious side of the paper. Sala, when
he puhs Outrageously a tradesman. always
secures to himself D retreat. He can say
Il was only joking. What Ounce you were
not to zee it before told your G. A. s. is IN the
nature of fireworks. He goes up in blaze and
comes down ina smell of burned powder. You
cannot help admiTing the fzzing rockets, the
showers of blue, red and green stars, the
fiery serpcnts, which, after rushing an in
slant through tho sky, go ont in an explo-
sion and leave no trace of themselves anywhere.
Sala has also the frankness of pyrotechnic display
Roman candles and the other things of the same ma
ture which Ruggiere sends into che air do not set up
to be diamonds and carbuncles. They are the gilt
terng objects Of this world which do not want to
pass for gold. In this respect my distin-
euished confrere of The Telegraph is very
much of the Roman candle nature. lie
set up to be gold! The idea has never once,
self to his mind. In land where a bankers book
is reTeTenced equally with the Bible, Saa frequently
confesses that It is Gods own mercy he is not
pauper. II is his destiny to make a great deal Of
money, aud to be perpetualy in debt and impecuni-
Gus. The yellow guinea and he by some intiexi-
bic law of nature condemned, from the moment
they meet, to part company. That coin Is not arls-
tocratic in its aiuties Look at the iilthy-handed
sort of persons to whom it grayitates at
Ioundsditch aud in the Julengasse of Frankfort
Sala would account FOR its repulson to him by say
ing that il has an uneOnquerable aversion to the
smell of Gin and water. zee this gifted Bohemian
lounging often about the Exhibition. Years are be-
ginning to tell upon him; though his pen
is sparkling a8 ever. He is personally
known TO all the tradesmeu IN the British section
who would, am sure, were he to appeal to the
public for IA subscription which would keep him in
honorable for the rest of his life. at once cover
it. They all swear by Sala and many of them with
good reason. If he is himself familiar with the
Court of Bankruptcy, he has with his brilliant
puffs kept scores of houses. which are among
the most thriving in London from making its
acquaintance.
1t may occur to you to ask why should, in speak
ing of Sala's admirers in the British section, bave
used the word " tradesman" instead of exhibitor"
All tradesmen in the English courts at the Champs
dc Mars, are exhibitors, but all exhibitors
there are not tradesmen In speaking of the
American section should not make this distinction.
YOu may ask what is the difference between an ex-
hbtor who is a tradesman, and tle one who is not.
To perceive it we should have resided some time in
the British Islands As every landhOlder has yeo-
man who cultivated his land for his support,
whether his tenure was fee simple copy
hold or lease-hold. so you may conclude
that everyone living by the sale of his
manufactured wares Is a tradesman He
is not. That friend of America Thomas Bayley
Potter. NJ F. for RocLdale, who had wholesale
stores for Manchester dry goods, was not trades
man. It would never occur to an English noble
man to call RansOme Sims Il Head tradesmen,
though they retail their agricultural implements.
Nor does John Bright belong to the tradesman-cae-
CORY Yet he has stores in three different Cities where
a single web of his carpeting can be purchased.
Jeremiah CoIman, of mustard" celebrity, would
be classed by Belgrayian matron with Bright. But
Minton Ca-,pbell, of the MInton Works, would NOT,
unless he we're in Parliament. Binns, the able di-
rector Of the Worcester Porcelain Works. is all over
tradesman SO is Ellington, the great silycrsmith,
from whom Tiffany has snatched tine grand prize"
DOCS he not transact business" hear the American
reader ask " on a vast scale ~ Assuredly. Never
theless he Is a tradesman and there are houses in
the West End where the ladies of his family would
be i'll received, ifreceived at all. wherein ies'
again hear. "the puzzling distinction be-
tween the exhibitor who is a tradesman,
and the one who is nOtp | can, my
self perfectly well seize it,, though | can
with difficulty define it. The, from Belgrayian
point of Wow, low caste exhibitor, though Inc were
rich as Crgsus, and the owner by purchase OF War
wick Castle, is the one who solIcts the patronage
of the nobility and gentry aud the unobiectiOn-
able is he who does not care for 1.-THE
selling 10 shopkoepers. costermongers and so
on Bnus Is glad TO be patrOniZed by
Lady Dudley. Lady Dudley's taste, which
il fertilizer runs through the show at the Exhibition
of the Worcester products: he thinks It rank
beresv 10 eriticise unlayOrably the absurd perfO-
rated tea-cups costing EGO sterinc of which she Is
so fond Elkington lays himself out 10 eater to
iIe fancies Of individual millionalres. Prima
foce an American might regard the dis
tinction 10 which, apropos ~ w. A. Sala, call hls
attention. as absurd. used 10 THINK lt was nntli
reflected somewhat over the matter and acquired
wide experience of life. sin" quoth worldly wise
Solomon "leth between buying ana selllng"-
that is, when the man who sells knows knows ms ms
a bnyer who is also an expert IN It. lie VINO. Ike
Thomas Bayley Potter, vends to dealers, has few
temptations to cheat because ne mas I9 40 wlth
hard blunt, wlde-awake men, who would at once
detect dishonesty and Oversbarp dealing and resent
H. Opportunity makes tho thief. In the instance
| have just given, there would DO no opportunity
for thIeying. But when the customers belong to
the mobility ana gentry il is another matter The
merchant frequently finds himself in the presence
Of hipplsh aud fantastic ladies' and indeed gentle
men with plenty of money IN their purses,
and but little knowledge about industrial
art and manufactures. In giving infinite trouble
thew deiude themselves with the notion that they
are securing what Addison. called cheap, penny
worthsD Honest brevlty Of speech wOuld starte
them. They are used to be taken smoothly. The
merchant finds that he must humor their whims
and angle with them. lie drawn into
| u,t and when lo his way, INTO
tyisti1g the truth and he loses his sef-respect to
the point of Ito make use Of an English schoolbOy