New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-24
ANGLOMANLAC S IN LONDON.
AN INFATUATIoN FOB EVERYTHING ENG
LISU
London letter to The San Francisco Argono

! London letter TO The San Francisco Argonaut.
One of the glaring anomalies observable in the
actions OF wealthy Americans who come 10 Lon-
don in these days is that they almost lnvariaDly
| stay at the old-fsshioned hotels conducted upon
| the English plan And not only do they select
those which are merely different in their style OF
| general management from American notes, ous
eagerly seek admittance to those whose ways ana
customs would have been antiquated in the reign
| OF Queen Anne, and are renowned for the ooseIV-
ance of all those petty rules which make tne
lives or the English uppe- classes ridiculous IA
the eyes of the rest Of the world but without
which there are some English people who Ter
yently believe the nation would not he safe nor
Why Americans should do this is past compre;
hension, unless ii be the result of that pima
infatuation for everything English which is the
lstenee. It cannot I've because they like it-rcally
Like 1t. If 1t be done for the qualification OF
curiosity, purely and only, we -m..ht be ape 10
understand it, II American ladies and gentlemen
of large and unlimited means want 10 see what
characteristic English hotel is like ard go TO IL
so &c. see, it is one thing But il they go because
English people go TO it, and that, therefore, u
must be the correct thing to do, don't you know,
il is quite another / am afraid the latter motive
controls the whole business All can say is, II
is pitiful and enough 10 bring blush OF shame
to the faces of real Americans. 1t is not as II
there were no hotels in London conducted on the
American plan, and, rs In the days when George
nothing but dark and dingy little English hotels
TO q to. But there are dozens of hotels such as
are the rule ii America, and under the roofs OF
which you would be justified in suppOsing On
American lady or gentleman would feel thoroughly
| at hOme AT any one of the modern hotels any
American, with an American love Of comfort,
miSht be cGnIent,d There they can haye not 19
room, an elevator and n table d'hote Every
| thing with perhaps slight English tinge) which
| they are accustomed to in America they can have
| at these hotels. Yet Americans seem to prefer
| the opposite. Instead Of going TO the sort of
hotels they nave been used to all their lives, and
their fathers before them-the sort of hotel which
even some open-rnndcd English people are gener-
| Gus enough to admit are the best hotels Ill the
world-they turn their backs upon them and
rush to Longs, Claridges and Morley's,, where
| they are no more really at home than bird would
As rule the better classes in England do not
stay at hotels in London. Some do Of course but
| and when in London during the season they live
in them. But sometimes when obliged to be in
| town when the season Is over, they may go for q
| night or two to a hOtel-and to hotels such as
| Longs and Claridge's But they go to hotels OF
! this kind simply because they prefer them; and
they prefer them because they have always been
| accustomed to them. They would sooner walk
upstairs than be carried mp by lift they would
rather have their bath in a portable tqb by
! their bedside than in the most e!aborotey APP
| pointed bathroom; they would sooner shave them
| selves than go down to the hotel barber-shor and
are decidedly happier with a small can of hot
water, brought up by the chambcrmaid, than they
| would be If drawing il themselves from silver
plated tap. The very things they do not like In
hotel, .fericans do ior ought to- the very things
| they do like, Americans do not lor ought not to-.
| Yet it is all reversed directly Americans come TO
! London.
Another thing: IT costs a lot more money to
stay at Longs or Claridges than at the American
hotcls-or rather those English hotels which are
| kept on the American plan. BESIDES which, all
and every Of the great swells of high life. when
ever they may be compelled to go 70 London
| hotel, always 90 10 Longs or Clardge's. or one
OF the other leading West End family" hotels
| In which case their arrivals and departures are
carefully ,chroncled and published in the Fashion
| able Intelligence column of The Morning Post. y
! The American-plan hotels do not soar to this
height. The great puzzle 10 Englishmen in this
! respect is why Americans wanI 70 show of in
| England. They can understand their liking to
live well and have nice things and 10 live in good
houses as they themselves do; but what they do
not comprehend is why they do not prefer America
to swagger in. English 'swagger,"' in its ir1lest
sense and meaning, is indulGcd in only in England.
! ! alludc, Of course, TO the best people. They
swagger at home; because it is perfectly legitimate
lege and habit to do swagger things and
| 10 be thought very swagger by people
beneath them It is the snobs who swag-
ger when they go abroad on the astonish-the-na-
| tiveS principle. They cannot swaGger at home
and they 90 abroad. On the other hand, the
really swagger people in England are quiet, un-
| stay anywhere out OF England. If you. see man
| travelling with half dozen servants. showing up
! at every station. and great row and noise going
| on whenever he makes his appearance. be SIRE
4
dukes and earls go about like other people They
| keep their Swagger for their own country and do
| not assert themselves abroad. Therefore, they
| cannot imagine why Americans who have stand
| ING at home not content with it I suppose
yon might talk and write till dOomsdav, but You
could not hope 70 impress these American swag-
| gercrs abroad with the utter dad FORM" in
English eyes, of the things they do. OF course
| they have o right TO do what they like-if they
can pay for II. But because q man is able TO pay
for a thing Is not justification for his doing it
| or having il.
| once met n great, big. burly, overbearing man,
| crossing over from BOulocne TO Folkestone. I
| will not say what nationality his was. but will
remark that ha made himself both detcstable and
ridiculous TO the other passengers by his sef-as-
sorting manners. When we got 70 the train for
London he was occupying a frst-class compart-
ment all to himself. and it so happened that the
| train was so crowded that several ladies were
| forced TO wait for the next one Still this
creature pePrcd out Of his window and in rcply
TO some Of the pain-spokrn comments which filed
the air, remarked complacently: We'll. | can
paw for il, can't l?7
Whenever I have since heard reOple justified
for what they do by being told that thev can pay
| for it, always think of this man. Oh, no. It
! isn't matter of ability, but good taste. And
| that money will not carry il off has been shown
| i'm the baccarat case where the Wilson's got such
q scoring from the socitOr-general.