The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-20
fined place-the home of the meek-eyed
Quaker-at all events such has been the
observation of F. N. H.
The Wealth of London.

tNineteenth Century.I
Hyou chance to pas before these London
houses between one and two in the after
noon. the shining silver and the shining
linen of the luneheon-table will intrude
themselves on your sight, even without
your throwing an indiscreetly piercing
eye through the large and well-polishnd
glass pane of the thousands of ground
floors you pass by. Together with the
sight comes upon you the thought of the
expensiveness of the life which the in
mates of these thousands of Identical
three widowed houses lead. To speak the
striking languages of numbers, and 10
take rough estimate, one might say
that on every one of these dwellings
comes yearly income of at least f1, 200;
that is to say, double the average income
of the same class of society in the richest
country of the Continent, France, four
fold that of a German, eightfold that of
an Italian family of the s,me position.
Nay, the revenue of an Italian Minister
himself-ever since the radical friends of
the poor taxpayers on the day of their
accession to office raised the salary by
f300-does not vet attain to two-thirds
of that income which suppose necessary
for the maintenance of an ordinary house
bold in one of the simpler abodes of the
West End of London. And all these
well-to-do people are English. They are
not like the rich Of Paris and Rome, the
privileged few of every distant country,
hocking together in Western capital, as
in great pleasure factory or round a
curiosity shop. All the inmates of these
houses wear the British stamp as we'll as
the houses they inhabit, and suggest at
once the wealth of the whole higher mid
die class in this country. At the same
time as the expensiveness, their style of liv
ing suggests the artifciali'y of the whole
fabric required to maintain modern ex.
istence when it has reached the develop
ment it has attained in this island. For
it is not the superAulties, it is the ne
cessities of the life gentleman must lead,
if he wishes not to l,se caste, which entail
so complicated machinery; and what
are necessities for the lower class in tie
''clear climates of fantasy and perspira-
ton" Sterne loved 80 much-the first
and direct gifts of nature: a glass of pure
unintoxicating wine, of ripe refreshing
fruit, of green wholesome vegetables,
warmth even and cleanliness-become
luxuries in country which lives half on
machine products, half on foreign i'm
ports; for the distance from natural, un-
manufactured life is more perceptible in
an English country seat than in an Ital-
ian or South France city. If Italy were
shut up tomorrow. it seems that few
would lose their work. and nobody would
undergo great privations at any rate, the
poor would suffer but little, aud the mid
die class not much more, as there is a
practical equality in exclusively agricul,
tural countries of Southern climes which
is unknown to nations of more advanced
and consequently more artificial civil
zation. For, even when the whole ma
chine is working normally, and all the
supplies are flowing in regularly. it still
requires money, aud much money to pro-
cure theH simplest comforts and enjoy
ments of life.