• • .• NOT SO BA]) AS THEY SEEM.
A SUDDEN burst of censoriousness has come like an East wind over the British metropolis. The journals and their correspondents are allturning up their eyes at the wickedness of the world and at the increase of scan&lous sins. "go one," says the greatest of all journals ' No one who is familiar with all parts of this metropolis can deny that certain vices, at least their public demonstrations, are immensely' on the increase. For the ostentatious openness of these evihh London--withove believe the single exception of Hamburg—has not a.; parallel in Europe. The minty may be worse elsewhere, but the Shbvi is less, the nuisance More suppressed.• But this is the temptation, these the snares and pitfalls; of the very class which our modern education complains tat it cannot grasp or recall—the very class that now quits the shop or the Warehouse at an earlier hour. Benevolence in these days knows how to set free, but not how to catch again. It can break the fetter and snap the bar—force the prison'door and break down the walls—fill our colonies of our metropolis With liberty boys and girls, and so far reStore theworld tothe semblance of happier tunes ; but when the cage is thrown open,—and the birds are fled, it may be to crime, to privation, and to suffering—it has not the art to call them back, or teach them how to use their liberty."
A correspondent of the same journal, "Quocumque Verum," quotes extracts from a letter addressed by Mr. Reeves to the Bishop of London, denouncing "the rapid multiplication of places of sinful amusement or pernicious pleasure." .
"Not to shock your Lordship's ear by allusion to fouler haunts of profligacy, allow me to dwell somewhat in detail upon one of the marked phenomena of the de3.:4 niean the-ziqiid multiplication of Plirces—of sinful amusement or perniciouspleasure, and the large _investment' bf capital therein, with the double view of rendering them more attractive to, and of
bringing them within the reach of the million: • " The casinos, to which the wealthier resort, and at which every woman is of disreputable or doubtful character, have in some cases an attendance each night of Mini 1000 to 1500. These places are making 'painful havoe with public morals. • ' ' " " ' "The singing, supper, and smoking rooms, at which young men congregate till late at night, under the worst of influences—wore it only by the habits of extravagance they induce—tend to multiply such guilt as the recent trials of Robson, ltedpath, and Agar have revealed. " And for the classes below, the public-house, with its spacious concert or music saloon, expensively decorated, and offering the stimulants of music, song, tobacco, and strong drink, is doing a kindred work all through the metropolis, by demoralizing our mechanics and artisans whose growing habit now is to a fearful extent to abandon their homes adfamilies for the destructive excitement thus placed within their reach."... , • . . •
There is much truth in these complaints, and much fallacy.-
,
much right appreciation, mach misconception:. The taste displayed by " society " in the choice of its pleasures is upon the whole not always of the best; but the fact that Robson, Itedpath, and Agar, have frequented certain amusements, does not entirely condemn the character of the entertainment. We midi suspect that " Quocumque Verum" and Mr. Reeves would shut tip the Operahouse ; and some places which might be included in the descriptions which we have quoted have been visited, not only by the wealthy, but by the refined and the philosophical. We have for example, seen Prince Albert mentioned as among the visitors _at_Oiemorne ; and we could mention other illustrious persons who have been met there, other philosophers. . But there is a good deal of misconception in the whole statement. The most striking "change that has occurred in London within the memory of living men, is for the better: Men who are not3,et old can remember the days when Regent Street was not, and yet when the great thoroughfares of London, especially-at night, presented spectacles that would now be absolutely impossible, for their flagrant profligacy and open indecency—something between the present view and that seen in Hogarth's prints. Open and outrageous drunkenness has to a great extent disappeared from the public streets, notwithstanding_ the steady 0.easumPtioxi of exciseable drinks. The public-houses, which are here de
scribed as being so' decorate and public,-houses, scribed as being so' decorate and public,-houses, sight and sound,.
are in fact imniensely improved in coniparisolr_witt.what the same houses used to be.. They urn more cleanly, more orderly, better lighted, and more careful of their charactdr rnot only because the police would interfere with disorder, but because "the company" has learned to dislike that which is riotous or "low." Because they are not so repulsive as they used to be, better classes occasionally look in to see what is going on ; and thus another kind of light is thrown into that lower world, which does more good than harm. We see more of what is going on; and • that man whose too severe frown makes his family hide its face and heart from his sight certainly does not do his best to keep up the
morals of the household. .
But after all, it is admitted that even in the madhouses men must have recreation of some kind. Recreation is difficult in this overgrown town, and nearly impossible for very numerous classes, except through.the ministration_of tkose who make amusement a trade ; hence the public must go to the concert-room, the publichouse, • the tea-garden. The true-made Of -still "further elevating the public; then, is to look to its amusernente—to-elevate the public-house, the concert-room, and the tea-garden ; and ifiit is precisely what the best reformers have been aiming at Diits many as you can to Ham_pton.Court. Induce as many as you can to bring their wives and families to share the tea-party. Assist the Crystal Palace Company in opening its domain of pleasant atmosphere, pretty scenery; and not useless aniuiements.• Provide the public with parks wherever you can. • Add to these improvements a better distribution of our streets, our homes, our means of transit, with drainage to purify the atmosphere ; and we shall continue that improvement which some, who forget the past or
have never seen it, take for deterioration.
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