New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-08-19
LONDON SOCIETY.
TX.
CONVERSATION AND THE DIFFERENT STYLES
OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.

dom none perhaps is more StrlhlHk tho" WV N'-
in the fashion of talk The note of to-day Is noe
the note of twenty years ago. or OF the genei",'o
which preceded. The Literature. the biographic"i
literature the "reminiscences of the last nifty years
are full Of the renown of great takers MacauiaS
may be taken as o type of them lie was INC SUI
pcrior of all in his style. but the style was one
which prevailed. and it is fair TO Judge 10 Nv l's
best example or exponent No fame on the whoie'
is eoual TO his in his own manner The world mas
had every means of judging OF 1t ana OF him. Sir
George Trevclyan's biography Of his uncle has
made him a familiar figure and greater favorlte
with the world than he before these records Of
his private life had been made public. No bogra-
pher could well have more Of that permitted pre-
possession in favor Of his subject than the brill
liant nephew of his brilliant uncle had. lie has.
however. done his hcro-worshipping with consum-
mate literary skill He does not shock his reader:
he attracts him the most Indifferent reader cannot
help syinpathlze with the hero. Yet imagine few
PEOPLE have laid down the book without vague
wonder whether Macaulay was really an agreeable
man in society whether this marvellous CONVEX
On-marvcllous it really was-was really con-
versation.
have asked q number OF persons who knew Ma
caulay well who met him often. who made part OF
the world he lived in. who sat with him at table,
who listened to him. whether his immense reputa-
ton was deserved and whether he would now be
thought good talker quote nobody. but sum
ND the general sense OF all the answers in one
phrasc-he would be thought bore. whether
that is Il reflection on Macaulay on the society
of to-day is an open question, but the opinion can
not he far wrong. Macaulay.' sad talKer
whose conversation ranged over three generations
did not talk he lccturcd He chose his subject
II mattcred little what. and he delivered discourse
on it, poured out masses of facts. of arguments OF
ffV- hn
no humor. he was not a critic as he himself con-
fcsscd he was devoid of imaginative or poetic fac
ulty But he had the most prodigious memory
ever possessed by human being. and on tins he
drew without stint and without end People IN
those DAYS listened him. his authority was estab-
lishcd his audience docle. nobody interrupted
controversy was out of the question Now con-
tinucd the witness no dinner table would stand
il; he would be stopped. contradicted. his long
stories vetoed no monopoly or monopolist is toll
Grated. If you wanted TO know about Queen Anne
You could go home and read cyclopedla'
This is perhaps overstated; the picture is over
drawn Macaulay is made as much too black as
Trevclyan has made him too white. But it is true
in substance and it will give you notion of the
change in the fashion of talk which, as began by
sayin. has really taken place. Everything now
is touch and GO Topics treated lightly, and
above all briefly; if you want to preach sermon
YOU must get into pulpit or newspaper; preach
IL ut table you cannot. The autocrat who held
sway over the company and forced them to listen.
has vanished. Perhaps it is the democratic ten
dcncy OF the age which has driven him out OF the
field or ont of the drawing at any rate. he is
gone and nobody wants him back. You may tell
n story but you must in Hayward's phrase. cut 1t
70 the bone. The ornamental elaboration the
trcking out your tale with snowy togs-purpurels
pawnis-the eisurcly prolong CATION Of the narrative
once practised, can be practised no more III you
do not cut il short you will be cut into. and before
you arc half way through another man Will have
begun and finished his, and your audience Will have
gone over TO the enemy. Worse still, If you per-
,st YOU may for once have your way but 1t Will be
for once only. your host makes the appalling as
covery that you are impossible, and he asks you not
again,-neither he nor any of the company NO
reputation is so universal that of the bore: 10
other criminal is so Stunned by his fellow men,
II is this rapidly, this lghtness OF sound, which
makes it so difficult for the provincial or the for
eipner TO catch the note of modern society in Lon
don Seldom does either succeed at once. VI the
provincial will say nothing he shall be lett un'
sung But tho transient visitor has painful eX-
periences at times. because he insists on bringing
with him to London the manners and customs
which he has found avail in his native land
Women make few mistakes: their preternatura
ouclxness of perception. their instantaneous IN
sight into the real condition of things perfectly new
TO them. their intuitions are so many extra senses
and safeguards 1t is the male foreigner whose
tact cannot always be depended on to carry hin
safely over the social reefs and shoals which sur
round him in the sea he has never navigated before
He comes let us say from Central Africa; TIT
Congo is his home. lie is a cultivated. an accom-
plisbcd man: but not quite what is here under
stood by a man of the world. lie belongs IN TACT
10 that same past generation which had so heaVl
n hand or such genius for getting to the bottom
of a subject: and sometiems staying there. lie ]
asked to an evening party. lie goes correctly al
tired and bent on conquest lie is not content VII
the silent bow or the word or two of commonplace
greeting to his hostess which here are thought sui
Gcient He comes TO a dead halt at the top OF III
staircase sets forth in elegant language his plea.
nrc at seeing her, his pleasure at being asked. III
Measure he expects from seeing so many pleasan
people his pleasure at having quite uneXpectedl
found the English civil to the tribes OF Centra
Africa. Long before he has finished. the pres
nrc of quests arriving behind him has carried bill
nm into the middle OF the drawingroom, and IN
compliment which he began to his hostess
completed in the ear of stranger
His friend introduces him to the stranger;
woman of the world and of the London worl'
She receives him precisely she receives min
tenths OF her acquaintance icIn"po Div wv
shakes hands with him. seeing that he eXpec
II. then. after two or three Of those vapid sci
,ences which do duty for conversation in sut
crush turns to newcomer. Our friend fro
the Congo thinks she does not care for convers
ton. and, il he be sensitive. that she does
,are for him Again he is introduced, -presente
1 may say between dashes. is only used here
ntroductons to royaltes-and again the Engh
lady. young or old, does her best to be civil
him. but her civilities too are of the same hee
ing kind 1t does not occur to her that III
dark cousin from over the sea expects TO cXchan
opinions with her the Irish question. or
extract a full account of her views on the corr
Iation of forces. She also turns away. and ait
4. a-r.rria llnns ln