The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-09-20
The Englishman's Grand Tour OF
To day.
RI nndon World

London World
The departure of bevy of lords and lord
lings, Flooding members OF Parliament, and
smart p lical aspirs hts, via the Atlantic ferry,
proves thar the modern grand tour is under
taken without reference to the old condition OF
membership in the travellers olub-that the can
didase must have been 5000 miles east of Pail
Mall. When the plan of finishing the educa-
ton of young gentlemen, by allowing them to
pass certain time in the train of a great mo-
bic at court, or in the wars, went out OF date,
and to trail pike in the low countries mas no
longer one of the liberal arts the cities and So
ciety of France and Italy contended for the
palm, or rather the plume, of fashion once en-
joyed by Venice alone. Young men of rank
and fashion still swan in gondola, but gath
cred wit to practice on housekeeping youth in
Paris and Aix-les Bains, at Rome, Florence
and Turin, and at the gaming tables of the
Rhenish prince bishops, as well as at the Ri
dotto in Venice. At these places, the grand
tourists encountered much company, of a
mixed description. They met the Admirable
Chevalier de Balibari, his excellency the Count
Cagliostro, and the pretty Luerezia, and the
illustrious Giacomo Casanova, with his watch
ia each fob his Gordon of the Spur sometime \
mistaken for the Saint Esprit, with an ace upI
his left sleeve, and his right hand ready with
carte and tierce. They unquestionably spent al
great deal OF money in sham antique marbles:
and well-doctored copies of the old mastars
II very rich, they pulled down their country
houses, and replaced them with Palladian'
structures, such as miniature temples of the:
winds, parthenons and pantheons. Neverthe-l
less, the old grand tour had its uses. The fu- :;
ture peer or member of Parliament, with orI
without his "bear-leader," was away from En-A
gland for perhaps a couple of years. He y
manned long enough in foreign countries TO ac-.
qnire some idea of their language and man
uers: he lived in the best and wittiest SOCIETY,"
that existed in the known world; and If he;
happened TO be clever person, got rid OF someI
prevalent English superstitions about thes
playing fields of Elton, the merit of ridingI
straight across country, and the capacity of
any Englishman to beat three Frenchmen onE
any fair field of battle.
We have changed all that. 1t is no longerb
held necessary to the education of youDgs
man with prospects that he should pass Ger
tain time at the various courts of Europe. TheI
prevalent craze now is that every body should
20 TO America The good-natured Americans
are very fond of English folk They baveI
shown a generous disposition ever since theyI
beat us in yacht building and lock making in!
1851, and the feeling has not been decreased
Dy the ALABAMA award aDO JH6 VlCtOrY VI lrO-f
quois. And they love an English lord, event
II be is only one by courtesy. Their hospitality
is proverbial. They not only receive theirb
guest, but take charge of him and pass him ons
to their friends-in short, put him through, asS
it is called in the vernacuar.
To be put through by Americans of the bestT
class il agreeable operation TO undergo, fors
one is feted, dined and danced in every CENTER
and then passed on 10 renewed hosptalities
But il is agreeable and exciting, rather THAI
instructive. The subject of the operation will:
have no time to assmilste the knowledge, toI
weigh it or to check il. What, for instanc /
will he gain in the way of insight into the Gu \
rious problem now being worked out, OF theE
evolution of what is practically negro pation3
from the wreck of a slave-holding republic Il
He will find that politics are not fashionableE
in the best American society, and that al
Knickerbocker scorns to cast a vote which,
may be neutrslized by that aristocrat's boot
black. He will find plenty of agreeable andl
clever men, and still more agreeable and clev-i
er women. He may acquire taste for rswI
tomatoes clans and shredded cabbage, andl
for nearly raw wild ducks; but, SO far as good;
American society is concerned, he will find 1t,
minus political conversation, a reflection OF:
that of Europe To catch the national charac
teristics, 10 plumb the unspeakaole depths Of
political intrigue and that ofice-seekng which
seems 10 cling like pesJilence TO purely dem-
ocratic institutions, he must go beneath the.
surface.