[Footnote 7: The author of this much-quoted phrase was said to have been an Eton boy, but I have been unable to trace his name or subsequent career.] [Sidenote: _The New Mobility_] At the beginning of this period bicycling was fashionable. The lines "To Julia, Knight-errant" in 1895 refer in whimsical vein to the brief vogue of bicycling parties by night in the City, organized by "smart" people. Battersea Park was also frequented by fashionable riders; but _Punch_, with a sure instinct, saw that the craze would not last, and in the same year foreshadowed donkey-riding as the next modish recreation. The advent of "mokestrians" was a mere piece of burlesque, suggested perhaps by the popularity of the sentimental coster song introduced by Mr. Albert Chevalier, but the speedy disestablishment of the bicycle as a fashionable means of locomotion was correctly foretold in one of the latest pictures from the pen of Du Maurier. Here one of a group of fair bicyclists in the Park expresses her ardent desire for the passing of a tyranny which she hated and only obeyed because it was the fashion. Motoring was another matter, because it was expensive and luxurious, and _Punch_, philosophizing in 1904 on the probable results of a mode of motion which combined speed of transit with the immobility of the passenger, predicted the advent of an obese and voracious "motorocracy" with Gargantuan appetites and mediæval tastes. In a "Ballade of Modern Conversation" which appeared in 1905, the three outstanding topics are Bridge, motors and ailments, and about this time _Punch_ printed a picture of a gentleman who, when asked what was his favourite recreation, replied, "Indigestion." [Illustration: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE! FUTURE DUKE: "What are you goin' to do this mornin' eh?" FUTURE EARL: "Oh, I dunno. Rot about, I s'pose, as usual." FUTURE DUKE: "Oh, but I say, that's so rotten." FUTURE EARL: "Well, what else is there to do, you rotter?"]