Mr. Harcourt does not at all like our defenoe of
Rotten Row as a spectacle amusing to the democracy which would be spoilt by the admission of street cabs. In a letter to the Times, published on Thursday, he says :—" I observe that one of your weekly con- temporaries defends this distinction on the ground that the greatest enjoyment in life is that of gaping with wondering delight at fine people and smart equipages. I don't dispute that the writer accurately expresses his personal sentiments, but I fancy that this idle admiration of fashion is rather the weakness of the literary than the operative Spectator." Suppose that sneer to be as near the truth as it is far from it, and what would it amount to ?—The Editors of the Spectator admire a fine picture : the workmen do not : therefore smudge the picture !
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