THE QUEEN has suggested to the Irish the propriety of mending their own
clothes. Hitherto, when we have sent steel to Ireland, it has been in
the shape of swords and bayonets. QUEEN VICTORIA, however, a right royal
housewife, presents sister HIBERNIA with a packet of needles.
* * * * *
[Illustration: TRUE FEELING.
"_My dearest Brother, confide in me. You are ill?_"
"_Ill, Jemima! Broken-hearted--dying! For six months I've sought
her--all my money gone in advertisements and inquiries; but she is lost
to me for ever!_"
"_She?_"
"_Yes! The Woman who Starched that Collar!_"]
* * * * *
THE LANDLORDS' MEETING AT THE LONDON COFFEE HOUSE.
Some of our daily contemporaries have published an advertisement,
headed, "THE TIMES _versus_ ENGLISH HOTELS," and consisting of six
resolutions passed at a meeting of the principal Hotel-keepers of Town
and Country, held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, on the 15th
instant.
What end the public-house-keepers proposed to themselves in publishing
those resolutions, it is not very easy to conceive. A mere resolution
that a newspaper, in criticising hotel prices, has abused the liberty of
the Press, will not persuade any reader of the paper to think so. The
worst thing that has been, or could have been done to the landlords by a
newspaper, was the publication of their bills: do they resolve this to
be exceeding the bounds of just criticism?
Unnecessary wax-lights, at 2_s._ a pair; port and sherry fifty per cent.
above market price; swipes calling itself ale, at 1s. per pot; these and
all such items, if obviously extortionate, cannot be exhibited in any
other light by the simple resolution of the extortioners, even if that
be framed and glazed.
There is just one use which we may imagine these ostensible resolutions
to serve. Perhaps they are put forward by way of blind to the real ones
which were formed at this assembly of publicans. The following,
probably, are those which the gentlemen actually concurred in:--
Resolved, unanimously--
I. That an agitation has been raised against hotel charges by the Press,
which, if unchecked, will perhaps result in the reduction of them, by
terrifying some of us into diminishing our prices, and necessitating the
rest to follow their example.
II. That it is our interest to resist the attempt thus being made to
compel us, by intimidation, to moderate our bills.
III. That such resistance can be effectually maintained only by a firm
combination amongst ourselves, based upon a determination to stand by
each other, in the endeavour to perpetuate those exactions which we now
levy on the British Public; but that by hanging closely together, we may
defy the Press, hold the public at our mercy, and safely despise and
disregard popular opinion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account