“Ladies are the leading features; many of them are renowned for great literary acquirements; most are accomplished; and the highest honours are inwardly awarded them by the opposite sex. If a lady enters a room, all the gentlemen rise from their seats, nor will they be seated again until she has chosen one for herself. If a lady drops a handkerchief, the men all rush to pick it up, so as to save her the trouble of stooping; when she speaks, all are attentive; and when she sings and plays, the whole company are hushed into such profound silence, that you might hear a pin drop.
“When dinner, supper, or whatever the repast may be, is announced, the master of the house leads out the lady highest in rank present, the others being handed out by respective gentlemen; the lady of the house remaining till the last, when she is conducted to the refreshment-room by the gentleman of the highest rank present. In England men and women usually wear no covering on the head whilst in-doors, with the exception, however, of matrons, who wear caps made of some elegant lace material, and widows who, according to custom, put on weeds for a certain period after the husband’s decease. Weeds means a peculiar cap, composed of white muslin, in shape both ugly and unbecoming. Notwithstanding this, my friend Mrs. ---, who is a widow ever looks charming and beautiful. But to return to the dinner; when it is finished, the ladies at a given sign from the mistress of the house, rise and leave the table. The gentlemen remain seated for about half-an-hour longer, during which interval they sip their wine, eat fruit, and converse. In England they offer wine and meat in abundance, but water and bread is but scantily supplied. No smoking is allowed within doors, nor is it genteel to smoke in the streets—or even to smell of smoke when you enter the society of ladies; in fact they smell it as quickly as the gazelle does the hunter. Gentlemen who are fond of tobacco, have regular smoking rooms, or go to their clubs to indulge in a cigar; but the majority eschew smoking altogether. Our nation labours under a very false impression in supposing that the English are a people with very few ideas of religion; and in imagining that because they do not observe fasts and festivals, and cross themselves, they are almost worse than infidels. In no country is the Sabbath more strictly or rigorously regarded than
in England. Not only are the shops and places of public entertainment closed on that holy day, but in some families in England even cooking is not allowed. The churches and chapels are literally crowded with well-dressed men and women twice a day. And there are many families that attend Divine service once or twice a week. Besides this, they support many splendid charitable institutions, hospitals for the sick and maimed, poor-houses for the paupers, foundlings for the unfortunate, and in fact, have institutions for the relief of every description of disease and infirmity to which human nature is subject. Nor must I omit to mention the public schools, and colleges for children of both sexes, where thousands are clothed, housed, fed and educated at the public expense, and where they will receive instruction that will fit them for any sphere; besides these, there are also innumerable private charities, and Her Majesty the Queen herself, takes the lead in distributing large bounties annually in the cold winter time—fuel, clothing, blankets, and many other requisites to the friendless and needy. Nor is it only for the temporal welfare of others that they exert themselves. Missionary establishments are supported by voluntary contributions, and the annual revenue or income of these institutions, consisting of millions of piastres, is expended in supporting missionaries and schools at home and abroad. Ladies and gentlemen who die worth immense fortunes, leaving no heirs to inherit, bequeath the bulk of their fortunes towards the furtherance of charitable objects.
“There are merchants in London, and in some of the other principal towns in Great Britain, who are in possession of princely fortunes, and they always go on augmenting their wealth by any feasible scheme for the
improvement of commerce—such as the laying on of a new line of steamers, or the construction of railroads. Schemes that require millions of money as a first outlay, and before any profits can be hoped to be realised, are discussed with the utmost sang-froid by the merchants on Change, that is, at a large elegant building, set aside and built expressly for merchants to congregate and transact business. If the scheme is approved of to-day by a number of leading merchants, and the sum requisite be five millions sterling, by this day fortnight, at latest, the money is contributed and safely lodged in the banker’s hands. Such, Mashallah! is the expeditious method adopted by English merchants, the richest commoners of the richest kingdom in the world.
“The fashionable world of London has fashionable hours for everything. Ladies sometimes do not get up before mid-day, and then usually breakfast in their private apartments, and not unfrequently in bed. The afternoon is the fashionable time for receiving visits; they dine when, in our country, people are thinking of going to bed; and this is not all, for, by the time that the son of Lebanon’s first refreshing siesta may be said to be over, these people are thinking about amusing themselves for the night. At about ten o’clock, fashionable evening parties commence. Some people are invited to four or five of these in the same evening, and they may perhaps go to all, remaining but a few minutes at each. Ladies and gentlemen dance till past midnight. Bands of delightful music are playing; the rooms are arranged like fairy land; the girls are so beautiful, and dressed so elegantly, that the whole scene is like a realisation of the fabulous tales of the Arabian Nights. Then there is also the opera, where professional singers and dancers are employed; and the magnificence with
which the stage is decorated, the lights, the music, the dancing—so airy that the girls barely touch the ground with their toes. All is as a scene of magical enchantment, till the curtain drops amidst thunders of applause, and you are led out by your friends in a state of mental aberration. The next morning you awake, and look over your last night’s expenditure, and you find a few such items as the following:—
| £ | s. | d. |
| Piastres. |
Grapes (ten paras’ worth in Syria) | 0 | 10 | 0 | = | 55 |
Opera-ticket | 1 | 1 | 0 | = | 110 |
Supper, Cab-hire, etc. | 1 | 11 | 6 | = | 165 |
|
|
|
|
| --- |
| Total | 330 | |||
“Three hundred and thirty piastres for a few hours’ entertainment! Such is but a trifling instance of the daily expenditure accruing in London, this great mart which offers such numberless enticements to spend money; but, on the other hand, few, if any, places in the world present greater opportunities for amassing wealth. The very atmosphere of this great city seems to infect its inhabitants with an insatiable desire of becoming rich; such is, indeed, my own case, and it will be my constant endeavour to gain such a fortune as shall entitle me to be the enviable possessor of an English home, and become a domesticated man, and at the same time enable me to forward the interests of my own dear country, by contributing to the construction of hospitals, schools, etc., where my brethren and ‘the stranger that sojourneth in the land’ may receive relief.
“Men in this country seldom think of marrying before they are thirty or forty years old; girls never before they are sixteen; but I must mention one thing which