Thursday 12 June 2014

Social Customs

Non-fiction - essay
First published in The Spectator, 29th April 1937*
1,515 words
(First read 12/06/2014)

Presumably the title Social Customs among the Extremely Rich and Fashionable in Victorian London wouldn't have been deemed catchy enough.  This reads somewhat like EFB's notes for his quartet of novellas Old London, which was published in the September of the same year.  He covers: the development of Belgravia, that swankiest of London districts; the 'season' and country house-parties; carriage etiquette; dinner-parties; entertainments at Buckingham Palace and elsewhere; seemly conversation; and so on and so forth.  It's all jolly interesting if you're interested in that kind of thing, but doesn't really tell you much which, if you're interested in that kind of thing, you wouldnt've known already.
You can read the article online here.

*The essay was collected in Sea Mist: Collected Spook Stories Volume 5 (2005), under the title Social Customs in 1837.

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