SPRING AND WINTER PASTIIVIES 199 



true of the individual, it is equally true of the 

 nation, proof of the incipient senility of our 

 native land being therefore within the reach of 

 anybody who cares to take a census of modern 

 picnickers. 



To-day, indeed, the picnic as a rural pastime 

 has fallen into disrepute, and seems unlikely to 

 regain its ancient popularity. The fashion still 

 prevails to a certain extent in the upper reaches 

 of the Thames, where many worthy people derive 

 an unholy pleasure from leaving broken bottles, 

 banana-skins, and scraps of greasy newspaper on 

 the grounds of those riparian landowners whose 

 notice-boards threaten the trespasser with the 

 utmost rigour of a legal prosecution; but else- 

 where the number of picnickers has sensibly 

 diminished. 



Most men seem to prefer the joys of golf to 

 the delights of consuming buttered scones on 

 down or mountain-side, and women — though 

 naturally born picnickers — are beginning to 

 realize that the much-overrated bosom of Mother 

 Earth supplies but a poor substitute for the chair 

 and table which the gourmet regards as indis- 

 pensable to comfort at meals. Roman Em- 

 perors and their courtiers seemed able to eat 

 satisfactorily in a recumbent position, and but 

 seldom suffered from "luncher's cramp" (if we 

 are to believe Ovidius Naso); but the ordinary 



