The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-07
The Smart Set in England.

The persistency with which some English
journals discuss Lady JEUNE's structures
on the so-called smart people" in London
society, has drawn forth n protest from the
Spectator, which takes the sensible view
that the persons in question are really not
of much consequence, and, IL the news
papers woul let them alone, would attract
very little attention. The same thing may
be said Of the corresponding fashionable
coterie in all great cities. 1t is the notoriety
given to its members, half in fun, by the
press that causes them to conceive a laugh
ably exaggerated idea Of their Importance.
The preteXt for considering the English
smart set seriously, as a sociological phe-
nomenon, Is the assumption that when the
most conspicuous section of high society
grows corrupt, society AZ a whole must he
growing corrupt, too, and stumbling
toward catastrophe or revolution. The
Spectator can see no ground for the rs
sumption. IL points out that there
never was a time, since civilized States were
founded, when there did not exist, some
where near the centre, a smart set, some
times fast, always frivolous, and in one way
or another devoted to money, simply because
that Is the instrument of luxury. Thu
smart people have always been the
same: splendid in apparel, greedy OF
gain, lax in their view of sexual
relations, vulgar in thought, and haunted
with a desire, inconsistent with the pre-
tended loftiness of their position, for grand
entertainments, c~eremonials, and even for
fine eating. There Is a monotony in the
colors with which such persons have always
been depicted. From sheer repetition, the
accounts of them have come to he as
dull as dishwater. IL Is, indeed, ad-
mitted by the Spectator that the English
smart set may be worse now than II was in
the beginning of Queen VICToRIA's reign,
for obvious reasons, one being tina the SOW
ereign who once exercised a wholesome in
huence has withdrawn into seclusion. On
the other hand, it is AS certainly better than
the analogous coterie during the reign of
the last GEORGE, more observant Of public
opinion, and less gross.
Tn point, however, OF the Spectators
article is that, whether the present smart
set in England is better or worse than It's
predecessors, Is a matter Of very little mo-
ment. The members of it are simply no
bodies in the permanent English scheme.
According to the Spectator, the English aris-
~tocracy Is just what 1t has always been, a
mixture, but just now, as II happens, with an
unusual proportion Of mobiles in il who may
neglect their political duties, but who per-
form their country duties well. 1t may be
a subject of regret that they nave not more
OF the Prussian idea that a noble should
serve the State, but il Is pronounced silli-
ness TO compare them, as a whole, with the
mobiles of Versailles in the last century. As
for English society at large, the immense
body OF those who are at once cultivated
and well on, the Spectator AYERS that it
never was better. Its men work as hard as
anybody, its women are faithful and true,
and both evince a sympathy with the work
ing millions such as is absolutely new in
English history, England, indeed, we are
assured, is choked with families who
need not work, who are as cultured
as were the MEDIcI, and who live
lives, which, IL a little humdrum, are
thoroughly good, judged by any stand
ard. The Spectator says that the improve
ment in the rural districts and country
towns, during the last half century, Is, to
those who can rely on their memories, post
lively amazing. IL is not denied hat too
many nice people may ave substituted re-
spectability for the Christian ideal, but they
are pronounced as much superior TO the
rowdies of fifty or forty years ago, as the
latter were TO the denizens of Alsatia in
STUART times.
Such, at all events, Is the deliberate judg-
ment Of the journal, which, in the opinion
of intelligent readers of English newspapers,
comes nearest to answering BULwER's CON
Of the consummRte social observer,
But see with step more solemn and more allow
Comes the supreme spectator OF the show"
II expresses candidly and sObeTly the be
lief that the corruption Of the smart set in
England, II In truth il be corrupt, does not
far downward, n more than it did in
the reign Of CHARLES IL and that, If The