THE "SMART SET."
[To THE EIMTOR OF THE 4. STEOTATOIL,"] Srit„—Do you not concede too much to the latest exponent of the fallacy that this is a specially mercenary age ? You say "money can give so much more now than it could." But is not the very reverse the fact P Compare the fortune of the R,othsehilds with that of the Fuggers ; can it be asserted that the richest family of the nineteenth century has got as much for its money in social position and political power as the richest family of the sixteenth century P The comparison is still more unfavourable if for the Fuggers the Medici be sub- stituted. Has any money-getter of the nineteenth century done much more brilliantly for himself than Samuel Bernard, the financier of Louis XIV. and the Regency, or attained anything like the commanding position of Jacques Conn ? Has any City man of modern times had a more successful
career than Richard Whittington P Is it not rather the fact, paradoxical as the assertion may appear, that the money-making capacity has been pore appreciated in aristocratic than in democratic communities, and has been rewarded far more liberally, both politically and socially P In a media3val community, I fancy Jay Gould or Cornelius Vanderbilt would have been pressed into the service of the State and reached the highest rank therein. Again, you seem to acknowledge the existence of Sir Gorgias Midas. But is not Mr. du Maurier's creation, a purely conventional figure ? I ask for information, and shall be content to accept Mr. du Manner's, or Lady Jenne's, or your assurance that such a being exists, in which case I can only be thankful that my humble social position deprives me of all chance of meeting him. But even if he be really drawn from life, is there any incident in his career which can compare for uneducated vulgarity on the one hand, for snobbish truckling to wealth on the other, with what is recorded about Hudson, the Rail- way Xing P—Hudson who lived in the blameless days of the early Victorian period.—I am, Sir, &c.,
270 Strand, London, September 25th. ALFRED NUTT.
[We fear Midas exists in the flesh—ED. Spectator.]
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