10 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



not of this general interest that I would now speak. 

 Nor is it my intention at present to glance at the 

 hotels wherein " quaintness " is specialized, 

 whether intentionally or no. There are thousands 

 of them ; and all of them well worth the discrimi- 

 nating traveller's attention. Concerning some of 

 them as the old inns at Dives- sur-Mer and at 

 Mont St. Michel whole books have been written. 

 These depend for their charm on a mingled gift of 

 the unusual and the picturesque. There are, as 

 I have said, thousands of them ; and of their 

 cataloguing, should one embark on so wide a 

 sea, there could be no end. And, again, I must 

 for convenience exclude the altogether charming 

 places, like the Tour d' Argent of Paris, Simpson's 

 of the Strand,* and a dozen others that will 

 spring to every traveller's memory, where the 

 personality of the host, or of a chef, or even a 

 waiter, is at once a magnet for the attraction of 

 visitors and a reward for their coming. These, too, 

 are many. In the interest to which I would draw 

 attention, the hotel as a building or as an in- 

 stitution has little part. It is indeed a fa9ade, a 

 inise en scene before which play the actors that 

 attract our attention and applause. The set may 

 be as modernly elaborate as Peacock Alley of the 



* In old days before the " improvements." 



