LONDON AMUSEMENTS.
Mears EDGBWORTH would applaud the change which is gradually working in the amusements of the Londoners—they are becoming so "rational." Shakespere unreformed is sent to the suburbs, and is replacing the lower class of pieces that once filled Sadler's Wells; at the Princess's the Bard of Avon, remodelled, is promoted to do the work of the gentlemen who illustrates any moving panorama "—the dramatic poem becomes a text illus- trating a series of instructive pictures. A Highland gentleman fights o'er again his battles with the lions ; Albert Smith ascends Mont Blanc every evening, in presence of a company more com- fortably seated than any audience of old. The Crystal Palace offers an hotel and grounds, in which the rational Londoner may study the arts and sciences, from the antediluvian sera to the last invention, and may wander through the Parthenon and the Al- hambra to the sound of the last polka. The Surrey Gardens be- come the charge of a joint-stock company which undertakes to give the universe an extension of Jullien !—larger chorus, greater works, higher singers ; the music of Europe offered to the inha- bitants for the evening of a vast Cremorne ; and recitation of Shakspere added as an accompaniment to the harmonies of Men- delssohn. He that runs, and pays the small charge of one shilling, may survey the whole round of poetry, painting, music, archaeo- logy, architecture, anthropology, descriptive geography, zoology, photography, and all the products of all the chief trades in Lon- don. Surely this is rational recreation ! The countryman of Rosamund may compare his instructive de- lassemens with the amusements of the great Napoleon III and his fair Empress, who signalize their first visit to Bayonne, not by a survey of the town or an inquiry into its statistics, but by a second-rate bull-fight. How would that improve the mind ? There is indeed one small defect in all these modernized amuse- ments. They are calculated to fit the purse of "the million," to accommodate the growing love of ease, and to save bodily re- straint. But they do not give the public anything. to do. Now, the heart and soul of the most healthy amusement is active par- ticipation. The opening of Hampton Court and Parks on Sunday takes men out of the beer-shops, and gives them walking or riding recreation ; the steamers offer another form of conveyance ; but none of these are active sport. The " fast" class may join in the dance at Cremorne, but it is at the peril of mingling with the fastest. Horse-racing is action, certainly ; it once promoted the breeding of horses, and " the owner " sometimes rides him- self : but horse-racing has degenerated to a dull trade in gamb- ling with little horses, and it is on the decline. Lord's Cricket- ground remains open ; but upon the whole we do not find
cricket-ground extension or tennis-court extension accompany- ing other Metropolitan extensions. It has been said that the character of a people may be seen best in their amusements ; and if so, the English are a quiet race, especially the town- bred English. The upper classes go sporting in the season ; a limited circle handles bat and balls at Lord's ; some gen- tlemen take fencing lessons ; boating is a common amusement with young men ; but upon the whole, to lounge somewhere for a
shilling, and look at museums, pictures, panoramas illustrated with descriptive wit, or Shakspere made instructive, is the turn of amusement that fits the present character of the average Lon- doner. It is a blameless turn—perhaps too blameless,
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