The night side of London / by J. Erving Ritchie.

  • Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing), 1820-1898.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The night side of London / by J. Erving Ritchie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    142/304 (page 126)
    which had been noticed were referred to dog Latin, and poetical quotations were plentifully thrown in; and by twelve, amidst the plaudits of the audience, the affair, so far as the Judge and Jury Club was concerned, was over. Then there was supper for such as wished it, and an entertain- ment to follow, either in the shape of a concert or of an exhibition of Poses Plastiques. To these subsequent entertainments ladies were generally admitted—and perhaps the less I say about them or their proceedings the better. If I refer to them at all, it is but as an illustration of the drink- ing customs of society. These Judge and Jury Clubs after all were but an excuse for drinking. They were held at public-houses,—there was drink- ing going on all the time the trial lasted, the waiter took care that your glass should not be empty a minute—nor could sober men have listened unless they had the drink. An attempt was made to in- troduce this kind of thing into the provinces, but it did not answer. In all our provincial towns there exists more or less a public opinion which guarantees decency to a certain extent. In the metropolis this public opinion does not exist. No