The Henson Journals

[150]

Monday, August 6th, 1923.

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Bank holiday emphasizes the separation of classes more than anything else, for then is disclosed not merely the sharp differences of social circumstances, or the gross contrasts of economic fortune, but the profounder discords of taste and temperament. The "masses" love & enjoy noise, crowding, & infinite vulgarity: the "classes" seek to be quiet, aloof, & in surroundings of good taste. At least, that was once the case, but now I know not what miserable magic has been at work on the cultured, the leisured, & the well–endowed. They appear to be emulating the [depraved] illiterate multitudes who sustain them by their labour, & give a foil to their self–indulgence by their suffering. When an "upper class" becomes vulgarised, the last shreds of justification for its existence are disappearing. It is perhaps the case also that there is a change within the gross multitude itself. Refined taste, and a loathing for the noise & crowding of popular life are growing in the children of the poor, to whom, in the circumstances of the modern world, opportunities of education in some poor sense, & even some meagre leisure have come. It is even possible that the bicycle, & its abominable developments the motor–bicycle, and the side–car may in some case provide means of escape for these elect individuals, who constitute within the bosom of democracy the materials of a new and better aristocracy.

[151]

I spent the morning in loafing about the garden reading intermittently the volume of the Cambridge Modern History which treats of the 'Restoration' of Europe after Waterloo, and Byron's Poems. These were suggested by the Rede Lecture. The 'Morning Post' contains an article on the Anglo–Catholic Congress by a Roman Catholick. He makes some highly effective points against the Bishop of Zanzibar, & of course represents me as an utter heretick! It is indeed odd that I, who am first & last a national churchman, should be paired with Zanzibar as the leader of an "extreme" party!

We had tea at Ossington Park where Lady Eleanor Denison showed us the gardens which the Speaker laid out. She is a talkative lady, very fanatical against Germans & Lloyd George! We motored to Sutton where sports were proceeding. Hal Laurie rode in a jumping match, but, as his pony refused to jump, he made no figure. Mr & Mrs Procter came to dine. He was the many–times–married parson who preached on Sunday. The Vicar of Sutton is Bartley, a son of the old M.P. who used to attend S. Margaret's, & who founded the Penny Bank. The parson is said to have become "High"! Mr Fox Strangways, the tutor of the boys, came to dinner. After dinner Sidney Lawrie played the violin. The lad has evidently an uncommon gift.

The weather was brilliant.

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