GOOD • BEHAVIOUR BEFORE STRANGERS..
WE are setting our houses in. order against the arrival of. the strangers—that is, literally and externally ; for we notice more than. the ordinary spring-tides in the flood of paint this year Still thereare occurrences which make us blush- at tames,. for the con- dna& of the inhabitants.
Alderman Carden is-exerting himself very laudably to improve the ethics of omnibus and cab ; but an incident which happened in the course of his knighterrantry emwsee something lower than despondency itself can reach in the-fallen state-of humbug nature. Apart from mortification. on moral grounds, the incident was amus- ing.. Mr. Carden heard the conductor of an omnibus which went only to-Knightsbridge tell two persons,. who were evidently strange taLondon, that he would take them to ihe Exposition: the Alderman undeceived the strangers-on the spot r the conductor resented the interference with that emphasis-and' vigour for which his tribe are ; but some one having dropped: a hint that the Alder- man was one of the Sheriffs, the omnibus-man's manner underwent a sudden and most charming metantorphosia He averred; in gen- tlest accents, that he had not the least intention. of offending the Sheriff': he did the Sheriff the honour of a call on the following day ; and even after the failure of this amiable " dodge " in the Police-office; there was a certain obstinacy of sweetness- about the man_ which could scarcely arise from any motive but sincerity. And- he let out " the secret" of the extortion.: a conductor is appre- ciated, it seems, by the employer ohms according to- tlie shillings which he brings back; how got, . it does not much matter. The conductor bears- the-brunt of the odium; but the real .extortioner is the respectable employer behind. Travellers are used to exorbitant demands-on the Continent, but England. has- set up peouliar pre- tensions for fair dealing; and if the trading- spirit has not eaten too deeply into- the vitals of the body politic, perhaps it would be as- well if omnibus-owners were to help Alderman. Carden in pre- serving the national character. Easter Monday was a trying occasion. The English painted by- themselves have a. reputation for, being " jolly " : your conserva- tive of " merry Old England" is rathee-proud of " forgetting him- self" on set occasions mostly distinguished in the ecclesiastical Wender ; but then, as his.head is strong and "his heart always- in- the •right place," he never commits himself.. This is all per- fectly true of the merry Old England on the stage ; but a foreigner who had seen the careworn aspect of the Londoners on Easter Monday, outward-bound, might correctly have surmised that they have lost the. art of being jolly ; aril if he had mingled among the- same population at night, homewarebbound, he. would. hardly have allowed that they conduct their convivialities on sound. aesthetic principles. At. certain hours on either side of: midnight,, among the many parties wending homeward, on foot, or in omnibus,. the sober bore no overwhelming proportion.. The general aspect of the suburbs suggested. ft: fear that. the next mormng the description of M. Wey, in his Guides d Londres,—a book which, tells the. Continental visitors to-London. that. the English- man finishes his day at divers fast places of entertainment, and that "next. morning the Policemen are engaged is picking the drunken-of both sexes out of the getter. The Policemen; how- ever, are not so dilatory ; they get that done before morning: Still we are.glad.that.Easter Monday has been: got. out of thelway;be- fore-the-Exposition. Another sore point iathe artistic poverty of the Metropolis ; but to cover 'this defect a-very ounning device Iras,been use botle in Westminster and, the City.. In, the Court of Common Council, a worthy member has suggested that pictures and other treasures of art in possession of companies, &c., should be drawn from their obscurity ; a proposition laughingly set aside. But one advantage is gained by the motion : fames is spread. abroad„ that we-have pictures if. they were but visible. " When your poor father died," cries Mrs.. Malaprop, " it. is tmaDOWM the tears I shed." The Na- tional Gallery is a very weak point indeed, but a semi-official an- nounoement is put forth, that a new National Gallery is to be built. The building in. Trafalgar Square,, then, is no longer tlie- National Gallery—it is the repudiated Gallery : as our pictures are unseen, so our National Gallery is unbuilt ; and perhaps, under the cir- cumstances, that is by far the best arrangement. Would it not be convenient- to put our sobriety and fair dealing under the same sort of theoretical abeyance during the summer? If not, we must try to be sober. and honest, however hard the exertion may be.
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