COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTHACTS. 125 



generation, he would look in vain for the strength of 

 limb, the Saxon energy, the mens sana in corpore sane 

 which has carried us successfully in every land, 



*' If some old warrior read this, perchance he may 

 emile with contempt; but, before he does so, I would 

 recommend him to take his stand at nine in the morn- 

 ing in any thoroughfare leading to London ; scan care- 

 fully the thin, pale faces on every omnibus ; measure in 

 his mind's eye the narrow shoulders, the shuffling walk 

 of the great majority of pedestrians; and then let him 

 tell me if he can recognize any of the manly elements 

 which were, in his early day, the pride and glory of his 

 country. No ! Tobacco meets us at every corner : it 

 smokes on every omnibus, like the reeking of a dung- 

 hill; puppies, in the guise of officers and disguise of 

 gentlemen, puff their impertinence into ladies' faces, 

 who may be unprotected in the streets ; tailors' clerks 

 and shopboys, taking advantage (query!) of the early 

 closing movement, light their cigars as they draw on 

 their gloves for an evening's ramble; and little boys, 

 from the costermonger to the crossing-sweeper, form 

 smoking-clubs of from three to twelve, passing their 

 one pipe from mouth to mouth, in the secluded nooks 

 of every alley, from the railway arch to the mythical 

 arcana of the Adelphi. It is here that vice grows strong 

 in company, and here the little boy receives his first 

 practical instruction in larceny from his more advanced 

 confederates ; around the pipe, young pickpockets hold 

 their parliament. 



That this is so, no one can deny. It is a grave and 

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