The weather was very spiteful on Whit-Monday. Not content with
being bad, which is its normal and therefore, on Conserva- tive principles, its rightful condition, it chose to delude Eng- land into an idea that it was good. Up to twelve o'clock, the day, though a little too hot, was clear, and women all over England turned out in new summer dresses, which by two o'clock were • spongy pieces of wet rag. How many gowns and bonnets were spoiled it is impos- sible to say, but as the rain seems to have been universal from Liverpool to Ramsgate and from Hull to Exeter, the direct cash loss to the poorer classes must have been enormous. The Londoners, perhaps, suffered most, for shelter for the crowds the metropolis turns out is physically unattainable, even when the public-houses are thronged to the roof. It is a pity that there are no means, in London at any rate, of giving an authori- tative warning from Greenwich on statute holidays as to the chance of rain. In this case the barometer showed clearly what was coming, and an official intimation on the post-offices would have saved millions from discomfort and thousands from heavy loss. The temper of the people, under the circumstances, was wonderful, the heavy rain being accepted with a kind of resigned helplessness quite pathetic to see.
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