THE OLD AND THE NEW ORDER IN ENGLAND.

Evening Star, Issue 12093, 14 January 1904, Page 8

THE OLD AND THE NEW ORDER IN ENGLAND.

[By, Wtbert Reeve, in tho ‘.Adelaide Register.’]

’ - .English people love amusement, and this love - has increased a hundredfold within .; the last fifty years. Life was taken far ■ more seriously in the days of our forefathers | than it is npw.? Men and, women-, of. the respectable middle class were content then to follow their over their placesDf and allowing themselves a week or’ fortnight for a holiday in the course of a year, for an' inexpensive jaunt into the country; whilst A few visits ’ 'to the theatre or some ,other, amusement contented them. A tour on the Continent, or a trip to Paris even, was a 'luxury for " the few. What is it now? A matter of ■ little consideration. A Cook’s excursion carries people cheaply here, there, and everywhere, Messrs Cook have much to answer for in the pleasant extravagances of travel, and at the same time much to be thanked for on account bf the healthful change they give to thousands. -. • —The. Workers Opportunities.— • The working man, even if trade is less profitable than it used to be, and if the Germans and Americans are usurping his industries, will have his amusements to-day, and his holidays on every opportunity ; and ' he has every tchance of getting them. Fine parks and open places are provided in every borough’ for his enjoyment, where he can play cricket and-football. If he wants a trip into the countrv there are luxurious ; elertric trams like those to Hampton Court miles there and back for is. If be likes music, the County Council and boroughs provide, during the season, a fine band for’him at least once a week, chiefly on Sunday. If he wishes to read, where are there finer libraries and reading rooms than in England? Here he can see the newspapers and journals, and get > himself np in the politics and news of the day. The ’ richer classes, the representatives of the “ good old county families,” have changed their habits, too. They axe no longer content to spend tho greater part of the year at their country houses. That is too dull for life as it is now. They must have the excitement of amusement in London during the season, and on tha Continent out of it. It is somewhat pitiful to look into the advertisements of the papers, and day after day see the old manor houses and parks for safe. County families are dying out, or we known no more in the grand old houses where they entertained their guests! Who. knows Christmas nowadays as Dickens -describes it? The games, the Yule log, the - merry stories are, things of the past. They are old-fashioned, out of date. Far more exciting amusement is necessary; and the expenses of these hew diversions leave no . balance to keep up the old houses—so they pass into other hands. The rich trader, the American millionaire, who has no sympathy or family pride in a past, steps in and takes possession. The house serves for a few weeks’ hunting and shooting, and much card playing; and there’s an end. The familiar connection and interests of landlord, and tenant in the old friendly spirit no longer exist in England. —Prevalence of Gambling.— With respect to gambling, particularly on Sundays, several clergymen are seriously taking the question up. Parties go down to these country houses from Saturday to Monday for the sole purpose pf gambling, and thousands of pounds are lost and won,, / and women are great offenders. What highborn educated people will do in' this craze cannot be better iEustraeed than by the'fact that, in the height of his fame. Tod Sloane, the dishonest aid now disgraced little American jockey, used to hu invited and taken down to these parties, and thousands of pounds he was known to have' lost to his entertainers, or their “swell” friends. —Sunday Entertainers.— Sunday is now the great day when people lay theraselvqs out. for recreation. The command to “ rest on the seventh day ” is a thing 'of ages ago, unknown, to the young generation of the present.' If the form of going to church ia maintained the congregation, must be amused. The service must not last beyond am hour; a professional singer .must be engaged; cr , - (as in, one fashionable church I know) thby have .a ■ splendid choir of sixty -trained voices; and,-..t0 make amends;for the congregation being detained for an hour oyer religious matters, half an hour is given at the 'end .to selections from oratorio and sic of a very high class, very finely-ren-dered. Afternoon is devoted to driving, ■ tea, and friepjis, and the evening very often, to dinner at one of the fashionable restaurants and to private theatricals or concsrt «tertainments. Even eating cannot be accomplished • without musical accompaniment. In., all the best restaurants a band ' of mnsdc is kept to play twice a day at • ’ luncheon and dinner. Of course, the immense increase in’ these establismhente is to . - be accounted for by so many people, living in flats, which can be had from £SO a year to £BOO. They enable people to do away • with the staff of servants required in a house, and they can live with less responsibility and more fredom. Servants are a great trial, and very independent. Only > tbs- other day I was dining with friends, ' when the hostess said: “I am sure you will not /mind our waiting on ourselves. The -c/rvant who waits has gone for her music i lesson,‘and I dare not object, or she would ! ohably give notice; and the cook, who is musical, would very likely follow her.” —Dinner and Drama.— We may conclude that theatrical aanuse-m-mts; rank next tc eating, not before, for . ’ the performance of the chief piece must! commence at 8.150 or 9 o’clock, so that * diners may not be harried or disturbed.' After the luxuries of a modern dinner they are accustomed coolly lo stroll into the stalls, generally after the first act has commenced, to tho disturbance and annoyance df people already there, who really take an interest in the performance, and want to know what it is about. This acounts -for the -popularity of musical pieces with no plot, but plenty of go—deficient in sense, .music-hall fun. handsome dresses, and *well-shaped ballet legs. All this is no tax upon the brkin, and it is amusing. Mr Pinero has just made a stir by a speech .in ~ which he claims in a satirical way a little more consideration for the real drama—for serious work, which by the present system is practically banished from the stage. Managers and the public who also plead for better treatment are bestirring, themselves , by letters, opinions, and speeches on tho subject, but they differ considerably about ~ the remedy. The only way would be for the manager, if he has a good piece, to pro- , dnee it at the proper time, and keep latecomers out of their seats until the act is oyer. Mr Pinero suggests high tea. This would be too great a sacrifice for people who breakfast between 9 and 11 o’clock, luncheon from 1 to 2, tea at 5, and have an elaborate dinner between 7 and 8 o’clock, and a full supper when the performance is over. It would interfere with this festive programme. Mr Barrie Las written a comedy on indigestion from overfeeding. AH sorts of trouble and misunderstanding arise, and are summed up in the title ‘ Little Mary.’ Now, people don't talk about, the stomach. They have got a pain in “little Mary.” Tins is more likely to do good than serious homilies, but the doctors don’t' like it. They protest, knowing, that if ridicule made people sensible in -eating half their business would be gone. It would be a serious loss. At public and large private 'dinners it is the usual thing to have • profesional angers both- week day and Sunday, and on the Sunday it is. a favorite idea to have music hall entertainers. ..There is one advantage certainly—it helps to reduce the length of the interminable speches one has to listen to in England. ■ ' , —New Plays.— ' .In; the theatres we have had few serious pieces. - ‘Dante’ has been - the most portent, by Sir Henry *lr7ing. It waswondirfully put on the stage. The progreaive stages of Dante’s-dream, the dcor of hell, ■ the barque v of Charon, the circle of rocks, and the-Valley of Asphodels, werfe -the most. remarkable illustrations of stage effect, weird and wonderful. The .play itself, without (he mounting, was decidedly odowSardon’s, usual form. It is heavy, wanting in continuity,. and unsatisfactory in plot; and Irving, to my mind, makes Dante-too old. One cannot well 'conceive swob. X aaaa unpairuc Beatrice, and etheca

with-jmch deathless love. By the lait mail the piece is said to he a failure in 'America. Onepf the most charming plays,-and one of thp’ best acted,'.has been ‘Old Heidelberg/ 'at-' the SI, ’James's. Its plot and ■ setting’ were purely’,'illustrative of the German Court, and student life, and its episode, of the love of the Prince for the peasant girl wan charmingly natural. . We have ’at Her Majesty’s ‘Richard the. Second,’ playing to fine business' One grand recommendation is the magnificence of its staging. It serves also to show that Shakespeare does not necessarily mean ruin, »as some managers and many of the public ore so- fond of proclaiming. At the Adelphi there is the great Italian actress Dose, playing to high prices—as ranch as 15s stalls. Comparing her with Sarah Bernhardt, the latter is undoubtedly the greater artist—greater in range'of characters? and greater in power. I much prefer Bernhardt in ‘Dame Aits Camellias.’ The new drama .by Pinero, ‘Letty,’ is playing to crowded • houses." It seems to be a moral problem, of virtue and deceit, with a vein of sarcasm running throughout': ‘ Quality Street,’ * Cousin Kate,’ and Monsieur Beancaire ’ are pursuing their very pleasant successful runs, and the spectacular drama ‘ F.ood Tide ’ at Drury Lane no one seems to care much about

(To be continued.)