A CIVIC SENSE IN ENGLAND ?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is good to know from the article in the Spectator that some English people deplore the hideousness of all our manufacturing towns and the C3 population that they are inevitably breeding—Z26 would be nearer the mark where some of them are concerned. The dreadful compla- cency of the average British citizen, content with such cities, strikes forcibly anyone having the good fortune to live most of the year in a country whose manufacturing cities arc open to no such reproach as ours. Even a great industrial centre, such as Zurich, is a clean and dignified city, and Berne is one of the most beautiful, though among the busiest little cities in the world. I shall never forget the horror of some Swiss friends of mine when we ran through Sheffield on the Midland Railway two years ago. The sordidness and gloom of it seemed to sink deep into their memory. They murmured repeatedly at the time, " Comme c'est aftreux ! " and months later recalled the terrible impression it had made upon them. Ruskin's simile of the man who washes his face and hands but is content to have his feet dirty always recurs to me when I see Englishmen so smug about their country, but content to have such filthy cities.—I am,
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