The Open Air 



cardinal, anything the imagination fancies; the 

 brightest parasol is a matter of course. Stand, for 

 instance, by the West Pier, on the Esplanade, look- 

 ing east on a full-lit August day. The sea is blue, 

 streaked with green, and is stilled with heat; the low 

 undulations can scarcely rise and fall for somnolence. 

 The distant cliffs are white; the houses yellowish- 

 white; the sky blue, more blue than fabled Italy. 

 Light pours down, and the bitter salt sea wets the 

 pebbles; to look at them makes the mouth dry, in 

 the unconscious recollection of the saltness and 

 bitterness. The flags droop, the sails of the fishing- 

 boats hang idle ; the land and the sea are conquered 

 by the great light of the sun. 



Some people become famous by being always in one 

 attitude. Meet them when you will, they have 

 invariably got an arm the same arm crossed over 

 the breast, and the hand thrust in between the buttons 

 of the coat to support it. Morning, noon, or evening, 

 in the street, the carriage, sitting, reading the paper, 

 always the same attitude; thus they achieve social 

 distinction ; it takes the place of a medal or the red 

 ribbon. What is a general or a famous orator com- 

 pared to a man always in the same attitude ? Simply 

 nobody, nobody knows him, everybody knows the 

 mono-attitude man. Some people make their mark 

 by invariably wearing the same short pilot coat. 

 Doubtless it has been many times renewed, still it is 

 the same coat. In winter it is thick, in summer thin, 

 but identical in cut and colour. Some people sit at 

 the same window of the reading-room at the same 

 hour every day, all the year round. This is the way 

 to become marked and famous; winning a battle is 

 nothing to it. When it was arranged that a military 

 band should play on the Brunswick Lawns, it became 



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