Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-02-29
A BRITISH GIIOwL.


Griffin says
Another English characteristic, strong
ly developed and even grotesqucly Carl
catured in America, is the love of big
things, which is, after all, failing Gkin
to virtue, and which will guide America
into fair pastures when adversely and Mr..
Matthew Arnold shall have chastcned and
purified Philistia. At present Americans
are satisfied with things because tLcy are
large ; and if not large they must have
cost Il great deal ofmoney. One evening,
at the Nladisonsquare Theatre, an Ameri-
can observed to me "Th0t is the most
expensive drCp-scene i'll the world" II
was q glOrified curtain of embroidery,
with golden crane and fairy landscape
and might justly have been claimed as
tho most beautiful drop-sccne in the
world but this was not the primary idea
in the Yankee mind The two houses
most beautiful architccturally in Mich
igan avenue at Chicago wero shown to me
as -million-d dollar houses. A horse
is not praised for his points, but as hay
ing cost so many thousand dollars a man,
who certainly may possess no other virtue
as owning SO many millions. The habit
OF making size reason for admiration is
less jarring to an educated taste than that
OF making money the standard OF beauty
and virtue.
The Metropolitan Opera House at New
| York, which has been opened this season,
| is the latest illustration Of the American
love Of big things because they are big.
| This theatre is said to be the largest il
the world and was built by wealthy New
| Workers who were unable to buy boxes at
the original Opera House, as their prop
rietors did not think fit to die or vacate as
quickly as the aspirants mado money.
| The result has been the present house, in
which may be nightly seen the miserable
and unmusical millionnaires, from Van
dsrbllt, like royalty, in the centre, to Jay
Gould in the depth of his stnge box, like
a financial spider waiting to suck the
blood of n new victim, feiguing pleasure
they do not feel, applauding, with con-
sistent Ignorance at the wrong time and
in the wrong place. A similar scene Of
anguish was surveyed by Satan when, III
NIilton's song, he rose from the fiery
house cannot be compared with those of
Paris, Vienna, Moscow and London.
which have all and each their special
charm. Its architect visited Europe, and
carefully collected for reproduction every
thing that he could find ugly or incon-
venient, and then built the largest, the
meanest, the most ill-arronged opera
house, the worst for sight and sound, to
be found in the world. New York, whose
opera-going society is hardly twentieth
of that of London in the season, cannot
support two opera houses and on the six
or seven occasions that | have bcenin the
new house it was half empty. But the
love of big things has been grati1ied, al
though the interests of music and the
public have been sacrificed.
Lord Colerdge, in his speech ut the
Academy of Music in New York, said :
"The first question that is almost always
put to me is whether / was not
amazingly struck with the vast size OF the
country. IT was not size that particularly
impressed mo. If size were to be regarded,
/ should say that smallness rather than
bigness should be insisted on. Men are
, great in proportion to their natural nd-
vantages. What Of theR size ofyour count
ry? You did not make it. 1t is not size
but products that are to be looked to. y
This argument does not commend itself
to the American mind, which but slowly
comedies that pound Of dynamite may
be more energetic than barrel Of Guu
powder, and drop Of prussic acid than q
pint of castOr-Oil.
Although the Lord Chief Justice OIL
this occasion indulgcd his American
friends with little playful satire, he was
stiIl less The critic He wos tbo rnG,4 a
the American bar, and no Englishmau il
recent years has received in the States +
= more cordial or generous welcome. TIL,
high rank and reputation Of the Chic
tIo 1;to,o,,, ,1;st;,,at;a,, o,,,,otod -;.l, ~,
name cor;binoJ ,v;tb lie emo rreso,,c, woe, NJ,
on1 oo,,rti-- raor,,o,s ;r,,,rn-.d1 ON,
cLo,.,1oi Ar,e;.oI, sooio+,. III, ,,r,.,,os,
t rron, c,tr N c,ty ,ros oiIToost tri,,n,;,hol
! and his 0ninion Of his Losts and tLni
a country as cynro.hnI in L,s sreocIos ",
e donbtless heartfelt md eincnra C;pesf
+ and hosts were ,outuolIv orot;ncJ
{ NAV howpver he oucstiny,oi whptl,er !
II was oItoaotbcr consistent win thc Gicnit,
n If thn C2ief Jnstico ~ FnGioni - he car
D rio1 ohout Amer;ca 1il,o Rornu,,,s uC,roof
n ast SHOW ON Fo,tI, " ne nn oIynrtiec.,,e,,
a of the rIorv of tLof remorkaIIo cnnntry
u Refter fbe dinner ~ berha Will frca'iolyGl
a tLon torrsoin and conyos-boclr d,lci,s VII
s sary;tndn All i ,n,,st ho oJr1ittoJ tha
l. a mi eynreoe;on Of nni,,;on anI ind,,iC
s encn of tbo cr;ticoI ~, i,,dica, s,1;riI Yro.
= in,Soseiiie i, tI'ooo fron'n,,t ,at
/ ond recentions II 10 ~ aftor Iinin
IS with friend tLot We con bHst c,it;r;2
e the orronoement of L,s Lonso ON tLn ma,
n s f iie fanlii,, r. =; t','o Vii tot I
l. li-n aO '.io. NJ
~ fon tho A,in,.iao,il - nTi ''0SI
Is aro;, t,aI, vow, eo,,a;IIo n,,i
~ ,iIi1N slrI ir OlP NJ
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