The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-02-27

side or outside It's magic circle, would give
exactly the same definition of it. The
nearest approach to such an account of the
matter as might please everybody may be
found in an epigram by the late Mr..
Abraham Hayward man not given to
epigrams except in quotation, and certainly
one of the most competent authorities on
most social questions. He was for forty
years an important and sometimes domi-
nant figure in London drawing rooms. /
once asked him to define Society. He
answered, "Society consists Of the people
we know.
From Mr. Hayward this was sufficient
explanation. The merit oft lay, in part,
in It's authorship. In the mouth of an
outsider it would have meant nothing, or
would have been limited to the company
of his fellow outsiders. Yet even in Mr..
Hayward mouth the phrase lacks preci-
sion, or perhaps requires, like difficult
classical text, a good deal Of comment and
elucidation The subject is less simple
there than here, if only because London is
SO much larger than New York, and be-
cause London has undergone within a gen
Grafton a social transformation. Go back
a. century, and the contrast is still more
striking In the days of Walpole and
Selwyn, Society consisted of three or four
hundred people, and was perhaps at that
period, both in England and in France,
the most agreeable and brilliant collection
of human beings anywhere to be met.
You had, however to take the precaution
to be born into this set. There was no
admission to it from the outside, or almost
none. In much later generations the ex-
clusiveness was hardly less. Lady Jersey
in her time held the keys to the gates of
this paradise; and after her, Lady Pal
merston. 1t has always been the fashion
to speak of Lady Palmerston as if she
ruled strongly and kept the standard high,
but the truth is that it was she who opened
the doors widest to men and women whose
sole claim to pass inside was political. A
card to one of Lady Palmerston' assem-
blies was card in the hands of the party
whip, and he it was who played it; it was
means of winning or of rewarding
doubtful vote. [ do not know whether
what is called the whips list had then
come into use for social purposes. The
whip is the party manager in Parliament,
and it has so befallen that the catalogue
of the faithful which he drew up primarily
for political purposes and for division lists
has passed into use for very different pur-
poses. Tako the two chief whips of the
House of Commons together, and their
inventory includes all members Of the
two chief political parties, together with
their wives and daughters, and sometimes
even their cousins and their aunts. When
an official or political reception is to be
oiyen. these lists come into requlsltlon.
1t may be necessary to say that in London
social distinction, or even social recogni-
ton, by no means follows as a matter ol
course upon political distinction. 1t may
or may not; but if it does, it will be found
that personal qualities have done more to
obtain it than those which are political
At the Admiralty, or at the Foreign Office,
| or at one of the large private houses where
people are invited with view to party
benefit, may always be met large numbers
of persons who are not to be seen on other
and more strictly social occasions They
are those who figure on the whips lists.
They make their one or two appearances
during the season, and then disappear and
are seen no more.
Nor are mere riches passport, though
I believe the contrary is commonly sup
posed to be true. London is full of rich
people who, socially speaking are nonen-
ties: not because there is anything against
them, but because they belong to another
world, and not to this one which we are
considering. Walking one day, early in
nv London experiences, with Mr.. King
lake, through a well-known quarter of the
far West End of London, | asked him
who lived in certain house. 81 do not
know, he answered, adding, in his re-
Elective way; Nothing in London is more
remarkable than such a district as this.
For the last half-hour we have been wan
dering among houses the possession OF
which implies wealth. You could not live
in sucb house for less than $4,000 or
91O, 600 year, often more, and not a
single person you ever saw or heard OF
lives in any one of them. They have a
society of their own, but it is not Society,
They are important persons in the City, OF
in whatever department of business or IN
dustry they belong to. And the chances
are that London sees their names for the
first time when they die and their wills
are published in an illustrated weekly pa
per with the amounts of their fortunes.
The same may be said, and will seem
perhaps still more surprising, of Literature,
Art, Science No one of these by itself
and of itself is guarantee of social ad.
instability. Nor is Rank / have found
it more difficult to persuade people cf tnis
last than of any other negative proposition
about English Society A notion has pre-,
vailed in America that the peerage Is Of
itself the Golden Book in which are writ
the names of the elect. Wealth ano
Rank-those are the two true tests or true
certificates of position. But they are not
There are scores and scores Of peers, anc
many hundreds of the possessors of lesser
titles, who are unknown in London society
If YOU read-and a good many people d'
read-the lists published of guests a
smart parties and weddings, their names
never appear The people themselve
never appear. They have their own lace
and perhaps high place, in the schem'
of things, but it is not this place. Some
times they do not care for Society; some
times Society does not care for them.
A Centurys Struggle for the Fran
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